Re-election of Our Abbot

Yesterday morning the conventual chapter (all solemnly professed monks) met and, according to the procedures laid out in the Cistercian Ritual, re-elected our abbot, Francis Michael Stiteler, for another 6-year term. In the evening, all of us gathered in the Chapter Room for his installation. According to the format, he confessed his faith in the Nicene formula and promised to uphold the gospel and Church teaching. Then each monk in turn knelt before him, placed hands in his hands and promised obedience. The solemnly professed promised obedience to him "and to the Rule of Benedict until death." We who are temporarily professed promised obedience to the Rule "according to the norms of the Constitutions of the Order."