Spring Speaker Series

Recordings of all the presentations from the Spring 2025 Liturgy Speaker Series are now available on the American Benedictine Academy YouTube channel. 

SECTIONS

Many members of the Forum belong to ABF “sections.” Sections facilitate communication among members who have common interests. Current sections are Archives, Monastic Researchers, Visual Arts, and Library.

The Archives Section is for those who keep the archives of their monasteries and for all friends of the archives. Monastic archives house community records which are no longer in current use but are of enduring value, ensuring their availability to scholars and researchers. The Archives Section is a resource for newly appointed monastic archivists as well as a community for all monastic archivists and archive volunteers. The Archives Section meets during the biennial ABF conference, at which time those in attendance discuss current projects and concerns. Between times, section members keep in touch by e-mail on an as-needed basis. If you would like more information or have suggestions, please contact: Virginia Jung, OSB, St. Scholastica Monastery, 7430 N. Ridge Blvd., Chicago, IL 60645 [email protected]

The Monastic Researchers Section is a forum for those studying monastic history, spirituality or related fields and includes many scholars who are not members of religious communities as well as the monastics. The section meets during the biennial ABF conference to inform others of their current projects and interests and to share resources. There is a regular newsletter which announces new publications by members, topics of current research and other items to facilitate networking among those fostering scholarship in this field, edited by Father Greg Peters, OblSB. Sister Colleen Maura McGrane is the current convenor of the section and may be reached at: [email protected]

The Visual Arts Section provides for sharing and support among ABF members who practice painting/drawing, sculpture/pottery, photography, textile arts, or any branch of the visual arts.

The Library Section provides a forum for monastery librarians as well as librarians of their sponsored institutions and anyone interested in monastic resources.

OTHER RELATED ACTIVITIES

Benedictine Studies Sessions are sponsored by the Forum at the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. The congress is a worldwide gathering of scholars that takes place every May, and the ABF is one of many organizations that sponsor sessions. Each organization decides its themes for the following year at the time of the meeting. In late summer a call for papers is circulated and all sessions have to be organized and confirmed by October. Thus anyone wishing to participate should consult the congress website during the designated time frame or, if someone has a particular area of interest and would like to propose a topic for a future session, they may contact the ABF organizer:

Hugh Feiss, OSB
Monastery of the Ascension
541 East 100 South
Jerome, ID 83338
[email protected]