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August 17, 2020By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
What do you know about St. Joseph Abbey in Spencer?
Perhaps you’ve purchased Trappist Preserves, Trappist Ale, vestments from The Holy Rood Guild or religious items from the gift shop.
Perhaps you’ve gone there for a retreat, or joined the monks for Mass or prayer.
Prayer is a key reason why the abbey exists, and the sale of these specialties helps make that possible.
For a glimpse into the life of the monks, let’s hear from their new leader, Trappist Abbot Vincent Rogers, 68, who was elected to a six-year term on July 23.
Abbot Rogers said he was born and raised in California and got his bachelor’s degree in social science from the University of California, Irvine.
So how did he end up a Trappist in Spencer?
“I was all set to sign up” at a Benedictine monastery in California when “I decided the young woman (he wanted to marry) was more important,” he said. She was in school in Boston and he studied briefly and taught one year in Boston and got his teacher’s credential in California.
When the relationship didn’t work out, he revisited the Benedictines in California, who suggested he look at Benedictines involved with teaching on the East Coast, he said.
“I got into teaching in part because I needed to make a living, but I was really more interested in prayer,” Abbot Rogers said. He’d been influenced by Trappist author Thomas Merton. So he looked at St. Joseph’s Abbey, where he was also advised to consider other Benedictine places, he said. He did – and returned to the abbey.
“I figured: ‘It’s time for me to retire from teaching after one year,’” he said. “I really loved teaching, but I knew what I had to do.”
He entered the abbey in 1977, made his solemn profession in 1986 and was ordained a priest in 2010.
He was elected abbot by St. Joseph’s monks, he said. To make sure protocols were followed, the election was presided over by Abbot Gerard D’Souza, from the Abbey of the Genesee in New York. Abbot Eamon Fitzgerald, the Trappists’ abbot general in Rome, confirmed the election.
Abbot Rogers succeeds Abbot Emeritus Damian Carr, who headed the abbey for 24 years.
Trappist is a nickname for the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, founded in France in 1098 to modify the Benedictine way of life, adhering to the sixth-century Rule of St. Benedict, the abbot said.
The structure links the monasteries, whose abbots (and now Trappistine abbesses too) gather to legislate for the order, he said.
Trapists have a charism of praying, staying at their monastery in a cloistered life.
Abbot Rogers said each day in Spencer they pray the Liturgy of the Hours: vigils (matins in Latin) at 3:30 a.m., lauds (morning prayer) at 6 a.m. (6:30 a.m. on weekends) followed by Mass, sext at noon, none at 2 p.m., vespers (evening prayer) at 5:40 p.m. Monday-Saturday (5 p.m. Sundays, followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament) and compline (night prayer) at 7:40 p.m.
Usually the public may join them from small side sections of their chapel, but because of the coronavirus that is suspended, Abbot Rogers said.
The Blessed Mother is the patroness of Trappist monasteries; they celebrate as their feast day her Assumption into heaven on Aug. 15, he said.
“We are … trying to continue our special mission … to pray for the diocese, the Church and the world,” Abbot Rogers said. “The vision is to continue our cenobitic communal life of prayer in solitude and silence for the sake of the Church.” (Cenobites live in community instead of alone, as hermits do.)
As for his specific vision, Abbot Rogers said that each abbot faces certain issues.
“At this time, one of our big issues is the reduction, and the aging of, the community,” he said. So he needs to examine the care of their elderly and infirm and the staffing of their industries.
They have about 50 monks, two men in formation and three seeking to come and discern a vocation with them, he said.
“We try to earn our own living as far as possible,” Abbot Rogers said. He said they also have lay people helping in the infirmary, maintenance, service positions such as cooking, and their industries: Trappist Preserves, The Spencer Brewery and The Holy Rood Guild, the liturgical vestments workshop.
The jam and beer is available in local stores and vestments can be ordered online, Abbot Rogers said. The monks hope to re-open their gift shop, which sells a variety of items, including books, in September, he said.
“We also have a guest house where we welcome retreatants,” he said. “It’s a form of hospitality” and another way to support the abbey, but is closed right now because of the virus.
Word of mouth from retreatants, and the abbey website, are key ways prospective monks learn about St. Joseph’s, he noted.
The abbot is responsible primarily for the spiritual welfare of the monks, but also concerned with temporal needs, and delegates monks to help him, he said.
For many years he directed The Holy Rood Guild and for the past 10 years was cellarer, the monk who watched over the monastery’s temporal aspects, and kept the abbot informed about their industries.
“One of the abbot’s duties is to give talks to the (monastic) community,” Abbot Rogers said. This used to be an occasion to tell the monks about something from the Rule of St. Benedict, he said, “and nowadays the abbot will talk on the Rule and other … spiritual topics.”
He said he would also be happy to give retreats to Bishop McManus and priests of Worcester Diocese like Abbot Emeritus Carr did. And he would like to concelebrate the annual Chrism Mass at St. Paul Cathedral, where representatives from religious orders, parishes and other institutions get their holy oils.
– For more information see www.spencerabbey.org.
