A Benedictine monastic alliance based in France has created a new foundation to support development projects worldwide.
“The new Benedictus Foundation wants to encourage and support social works,” explains Abbot Jean-Pierre Longeat OSB, president of the Alliance for International Monasticism (AIM) based in Paris.
The Benedictus Foundation was founded in 2021 by AIM and the Friends of Monasteries Worldwide (AMTM). It is being sponsored and housed by Caritas-France, which handles administrative matters.
“Very often, monasteries develop agricultural activities or schools and dispensaries. Benedictus will allow us to help these social commitments of the monasteries,” explains the 68-year-old Benedictine abbot.
With some 1,800 monastic communities, AIM is united through the Benedictus Foundation to “participate in the transformation of society, placing people at the centre,” Abbot Jean-Pierre says.
Often modest and silent, the monks and nuns through the foundation will be able to share their social dynamics with those around them.
The influence of the monasteries on these development projects is all the more valuable since their presence is long term and stable.
However, in order to carry out these programmes, the monasteries will have to adopt business techniques.
“We don’t agree on everything; we don’t operate in the same way. But confronting monastic life with the business world can be enriching,” explains the president of AIM.
Until now, AIM’s mission has been to support new monastic foundations around the world. This was primarily focused on Africa, South America and Asia.
It has helped with the training of monks and nuns and with supporting development projects for communities.
Representatives of Benedictine monasteries gathered in Paris this week with delegates of companies to compare views on the world’s challenges including climate, urbanisation and globalisation.
Featured speakers included Abbot Longeat and Pierre-André de Chalendar, president of the Saint-Gobain Group and lecturer in the business school at Institut Catholique of Paris.
“We must find an alternative to commercial and economic globalisation,” Abbot Longeat insists. He added, we must “deepen our fundamentals for the benefit of a new global humanity.”
He says the COVID-19 crisis has offered valuable lessons in this respect. During the various lockdowns, the Internet intensified links between communities and distant people.
“We are entering a new era,” predicts the abbot, “in the sense of the great geological eras.”
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