The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-19
CATHOLIC LITURGY TO BE CULTIVATED
 BY ABBEY CHURCH

]. Benedictine Priory to Be
 { established First in Vi
 cinity of New York.
 Plans are being perfected by small
 group of Americans now at Downside Abbey, Somerset, England, for the es- | tablishment in the United States of a : Benedictine priory and later of a great abbey church, to be devoted pri- ! naarily to the development of the litur- : gical worship of the Roman Catholic Church. The priory will probably be erected in the vicinity of New York City.
 .a One of the projectors of the plan is Dom Leonard Sargent, formerly Mas ter of Novices of the Protestant Epis-
 copal Order of the Holy Cross, but since his conversion to Catholicism
 s6veral years ago a Benedictine monk attached to Downzide Abbey. Dom
 Sargent, who is in this country in the
 interest of the movement, has receiv-
 ed promises of support from hierarchy and laity alike. The plan is under
 stood to have the sanction of Pope Benedict XW., who upon his success
 sion. to the throne of St. Peter took the name of the founder of the order,
 At recent meeting of the Catholic Converts League held at the Hotel Plaza, Dom Sargent, before a repre- sentative gathering of clergy and Cath
 olic society folk, described the pro- iect. He said:
 Although the tab1ishment will be
 made somewhere in the East, the pri-
 ory, it.. is hoped. will supply a need that Is felt in many parts of the Cath oIfc Church in America. The aim is to develop the Church's liturgical worship in such way that the laity may have a share insit-the high mass and the divine office sung daily in the. priory chapel, and in time in the ab- bey church. Here will be afforded al- 90 to clergy and laity an opportunity 1or either formal retreat or for opfritual rest and refreshment. Fur thermore, 1t is hoped that the monks
 may make some useful contributions to the American Church in the fos- tering of ecclesiastical scholarship.
 If from the Abbey of St. Gregory u ican house can be founded in this country, we shah have among us a successor Of Doual, of Westminster, of the ancient spanish monasteries, al continuance in this western world of a life that goes far back in history and that ,has bden blessed and fructi-i fled by the blood of it's martyr
 For all this the Americans at 4 1-.J-> their compatriots can give them. Land must be secured, in the country, al part of the priory begun. andyA sufii- cient endowment assured from which the commnnity can live. If in la ter yearA, an abbey school is estab 1ished. that will be one source of in come. Hut at the outset the needs If the house must be provided in oth-
 Dom sargent went on to trace the chief chAracteristics of the Order of st Renedict Relative to these he
 -~When we speak of the order, we ere surveying fourteen centuries of a life that embraces prayer and wor- ship, nationrwfde missionary actfvf- ties, the develcpnent Of scho1arshfp. md all those influences that have btli1t uD the civilization that signifies the Chrfst1anfxa41on of Europe. The monks were the leaders Of thought. the frends of rfch and poor. their guides and teachers, the promoters Of q social '..up1tft' that no modern movement has ever eaualed.
 What they, achieved in other days E the Inheritance Of and an inspira- ton to their aBccsssors to-day. What the sons of St. Benedict once did they are doing now under conditions of 1l,pdern hfe The spirit is the same the1Q laEtaFaKR direct by the same motive as before; the Benedictine 1 aims are identieal with those of the l past te worship God, for Himself and on behalf of His people, and to un-1 dertake any enterprise that He mayj put into their hands.
 ssW'heR it is asked, What is the work of the Haonks?' the answer tss Whatevef God appoints at a given time or in a particular sphere. The monk is bound primarily to the opus l Dei, the life of prayer, and out of that comes his capacity for any missionary work that the divine economy selects for him. His life is both centeEnpla tive and active, but the conteapla- [ tive must come first if the other is to be sfiicient."
 Dom Sargent explained that, strictly speaking, the Benedictines do not form q religious order. They are, rath- CT aAkederation of families each house being integral, self contained group living under the patriarchaI, author itys of the Abbot. The ideal is that of the family, not of highly organ ized religious community, a demesticsl rather than military ideal. Other had .dourished, he said, and been serviceables to the. Church | In the way of organization; the Bene- dictines as SC many representations of the Christian family specialized, had done their part.
 Bound together by the rule of the holy patriarch, St. Benedict said Dom Sargent, land by the inherited of their nonastic life, they have set the example of what everyl Christian is called to be, "a witness for God. and an influence for good among neighbors and associates. This life is marked by certain salient features freedom, and peace. The ideal is not one of austerity but of discipline that allows. with gen. erous considerateness, for the weak ness of human nature.
 It is life of obedience but one h which the proper freedom of the