V. The Community

The Cistercian way to sanctity, the union of man with God, is that of a life lived within a community. Twelfth century Cistercians were fond of referring to Acts 4:32 as their model:

(#14) The Holy Spirit Monks take time out for God's provisions in the Refrectory

The community of believers were of one heart and one mind. None of them ever claimed anything as his own; rather, everything was held in common.

As St. Bernard wrote, contemplation is the knowledge of God flowing from a loving union with His will. And the ordinary way to that union of wills with God is the union of wills with others for His sake (cf. I Jn. 4:7-8).

The men who constitute the Monastery of the Holy Spirit (their number reached almost 100 in the late 1950's but has remained constant at around fifty to sixty professed monks for some fifteen years) are of diverse types and have come from all over the United States and from several foreign countries. Because of the tie with Gethsemani, the midwest and northeast are especially well represented. They are of radically differing personalities, have diverse gifts and education, and are here because of diverse reasons. The living, loving and working together of these individuals is responsible for the collective personality and atmosphere of the monastery. The encouragement of individual traits and talents constitutes a further instance of this community's openness to circumstances.

Another prime factor in the formation of its composite character, however, has been the succession of its abbots. For along with its emphasis on the communal life, Benedict stressed the importance of the abbot. If fact, he defined his preferred type of monk, the cenobites, as those who live communally in monasteries "and serve under a Rule and an abbot."

The leader is important for any institution, since he sets the tone. But the role of a monastery's leader exceeds this function. Benedict writes that the abbot is "believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery" and is thus the monk's father (abba) and lord(dom'nus). Consequently, he must reflect Christ, showing his monks all that is good and holy more by example than by words. The obedience and reverence due this person comes, Benedict explains, "not for any pretensions of his own but out of honor and love for Christ" (RB, ch. 2, 63, 64). Since the relationship between monks and abbot has always been somewhat conditioned by the culture of the time, a brief consideration of the abbatial role is necessary to gain proper insight into the essence of monasticism, historically as well as in modern times.

In certain periods the abbot had been seen as the paterfamilias exercising control over his sons. At other times he has been considered as guide and teacher leading his sons toward mature autonomy. He may also be seen as brother among brothers, charged with a special office. The evolution of this office in the twentieth century offers evidence for the on-going need to interpret the timelessly valid aspects of monastic life for changing times, and the succession of abbots at Holy Spirit during the past forty years reflects a shift of emphasis found within the church as a whole. It also shows that the Conyers community has been given the leadership it has needed at particular times, and that it has been blessed with outstanding guides in its spiritual development.

Frederic Dunne, the founding abbot of Holy Spirit, entered Gethsemani at the close of the nineteenth century; thus his monastic training and his abbacy were in the mode of nineteenth century Trappist spirituality. He expected strict obedience of his spiritual sons as their sure road to sanctity, yet his severity was tempered with love. The pioneers recall the time he addressed them in Chapter in his sternest manner: "I don't want anybody in this monastery walking heavily," which they interpreted as his usual admonition against breaches of silence, until he continued: "Because my heart is here... and I don't want you stepping on my heart heavily." He took all the initiative himself, as his planning for the new foundation evinces, not for self-aggrandizement, but to spare his monks the contact with the outside world. But if he held the reins tightly in his own hands, he was also able to assess his monks well and to draw out the best in them. Of the twenty he chose for Georgia, an extremely high percentage persevered. And he chose so wisely for their first superior, that when he died just four years later, Gethsemani would recall that same man as its own abbot.

Dom Frederic's choice had fallen on James Fox, and when Holy Spirit was made an abbey in 1946, the community elected him its first abbot. Endowed with a vibrant personality and abundant energy, Dom James had finished Harvard at age twenty, had served as a naval officer in World War I, then attended Harvard business School before entering Gethsemani. Like Frederic Dunne, he had been trained in the old school of Trappist monasticism, and his abbatial style reflected this. But he was also a man of the twentieth century, ready and able to use twentieth century methods and means if they could further the monastery. Fox had, for instance, worked with the Treasury Department after the war, and through his Washington contacts he managed to get an AAA priority rating from the government for the monastery construction. This feat both insured the monastery a supply of building materials and raised the community greatly in the estimation of its Conyers neighbors, who recognized American ingenuity when they saw it.

When Dom James left Holy Spirit in 1948 and the community elected an abbot for a second time, their choice indicated the new direction they were taking. They sought not a brilliant administrator and stern disciplinarian, but rather a spiritual father, someone who had already guided many of the founders in their monastic vocation. Robert McGann had served for years as novice master, first at Gethsemani, then at Holy Trinity in Utah. Descriptions of him invariably include the words "gentle, kind, fatherly," and one hears him referred to with conviction as a saint. Although deeply devoted to Trappist traditions, he stressed the abba of his office more than thedominus. His concept of abbot is seen in the fact that he always asked prayers for himself, and in reading the line from chapter two of theRule always emphasized the "ought" in "What kind of man the abbot ought to be." It is reported that when he heard about his election as abbot, he commented that "the Holy Ghost must have had a distraction."

Dom Robert's loving concern for his immediate monastic family was also directed toward the wider monastic community of the Order. Once settled at Conyers, he started visiting the other Strict Observance houses in the U.S., thus laying the groundwork for the unity of American Cistercians. Death ended his abbacy abruptly in 1957. In France, he contracted pneumonia, then after seeming to recover, suffered a fatal heart attack in Paris.

The community chose as its third abbot a monk of their community who had been with Dom Robert in France, Augustine Moore. Father Augustine had spent the weeks of Dom Robert's illness at his bedside and had heard him pour out his hopes, concerns, ideas for Holy Spirit. He received this outpouring as a testament and felt that he need only continue to work toward Dom Robert's vision of the monastery. The actual physical building begun under Robert would reach completion under Augustine. More significantly, the openness to the Spirit would continue to develop.

Dom Augustine's background was varied. A diocesan priest before he chose Trappist enclosure, his intellectual and diplomatic gifts had been recognized first by Frederic Dunne who sent him to Conyers as professor in the seminary, then by the Order itself which made him Definitor for the English speaking monks. In this capacity he visited most of the houses of the Order, and thus had been able to observe diverse styles of leadership and various forms of communal life. He became abbot at a time of transition within the Catholic Church, stirred up as it had been by Vatican II. The new atmosphere of personal responsibility apparent in many areas of the Church came with Augustine to Holy Spirit. He began to delegate authority, legislation by abbatial fiat gave way in many areas to decision by committee, and he encouraged initiative on the part of his monks. He continued the dialogue among the American houses of the Order and arranged for the first regional meeting of Trappist superiors which has in turn led to a greater role of the U.S. Cistercians in the Order.

During the nineteen-sixties Augustine also stressed the monastery's responsibility for the Catholic Church's North Georgia diocese. When Holy Spirit was founded, North Georgia was still a part of the Savannah diocese, and diocese and monastery have developed together, with Holy Spirit offering its facilities, both physical and spiritual, to the priests of the diocese. A feeling of mission for the whole Church in Georgia has been engendered in the monks; and those who have regular contact with the non-monastic community - through spiritual direction, the guest house, book store, green houses, stained glass work, etc. - are able to view such activity as an extension of their monastic office into a genuine ministry to the Mystical Body of Christ.

The growing sense of responsibility toward others includes that toward other houses of the Order, a development common to all Cistercians within the past few decades. As the monks in individual houses have grown more inter -dependent, they have simultaneously become more aware of the needs of their fellow monks throughout the world. For example, for several years, monks from Holy Spirit have resided at new foundations in Africa, teaching and sharing their experience of Cistercian life, but also learning from their African brother and sister monks. And in the summer of 1985 Holy Spirit began its own daughter foundation by accepting candidates from Venezuela into its community. These men are receiving their formation in Cistercian monastic spirituality at Conyers. But as members of their own distinct community, they will then return to Venezuela as the pioneers of a new house there.

When the time came to elect a new abbot at Conyers, it seemed natural that a monk from a different culture and with an extensive knowledge of the Cistercian Order might be chosen for this role; and in 1984 the community elected Armand Veileux its abbot.

Armand had served in several offices in his home monastery of Notre Dame de Mistassini in the province of Quebec, an instance of "co-responsibility" which he feels monasticism can and should exercise in the world today. After that he had helped to begin a foundation in Africa and had given retreats and seminars in several monasteries of the Third World. In his scholarly work on the Desert Fathers, in particular Pachomius, Dom Armand has been studying the nature of the communal life, the relationship between abbot and community, between monasticism and the world. When asked if being a monk and an abbot gives him special insight into his scholarly research, he smiles and replies that rather the reverse is true. This reply indicates that the Cistercian Order continues to learn both from tradition and from the present moment.