Jefferson City native, a Helias Catholic graduate, to serve in worldwide Benedictine post in Rome
Still bound by vows and his heart’s longing to the hills of northeastern Oklahoma, Benedictine Father Patrick Carter will spend the next several years working and ministering about the hills of the Eternal City.
The Jefferson City native and professed monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of Clear Creek in Oklahoma has been appointed secretary of the Curia of the Benedictine Confederation, headquartered at Sant’Anselmo in Rome.
He’ll help the newly-elected Benedictine abbot primate with correspondence, information technology, hosting visitors and organizing visits to Benedictine monasteries throughout the world.
“This means I will be here in Rome for some years, working for the Benedictine Confederation, as well as teaching a little here in the Benedictine university,” said Fr. Carter, a graduate of St. Joseph Cathedral School and Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City.
The Confederation is a point of contact and cooperation for every Benedictine monastery in the world, with each operating independently from the others under the Rule of St. Benedict and in proper communion with the hierarchy of the Church.
Abbot Jeremias Schröder of the Benedictine Archabbey of Sankt Ottilien in Germany, who was elected abbot primate of the confederation in mid-September, nominated Fr. Carter to serve as secretary.
Abbot Primate Schröder succeeds former Abbot Primate Gregory Polan, former abbot of Conception Abbey in Missouri, who recently completed his term.
“Abbot Polan served for eight years, and people really appreciated him,” said Fr. Carter. “He did a really good job, despite all the difficulties of the global pandemic.”
Solutions
Fr. Carter’s first visit to Sankt Ottilien Archabbey in Germany’s Bavaria region in 2021 brought back memories of his childhood.
“Growing up in Jefferson City, going to St. Joseph School, I found what I’d call a Catholic spirit, a Catholic piety, a Catholic sentiment,” he recalled.
“When I went to Bavaria, it reminded me of Wardsville — the countryside and the people,” he said. “I felt very, very at home.”
Fr. Carter was studying and teaching in Rome when he became acquainted with Abbot Schröder.
The abbot asked Fr. Carter to visit Sankt Ottilien and help upgrade the information technology there.
Fr. Carter did so with permission of his own abbot.
The archabbey needed a new system for properly storing and managing the information on all the monks and all their monasteries for their congregation.
Fr. Carter knew what to do, having built computer databases to accomplish those tasks at his home monastery and for the Benedictine Confederation.
“And basically, the archabbot and I worked really well together,” said Fr. Carter. “We got along great and did some pretty complex things.”
Fr. Carter continued helping the German Benedictines in-person and remotely, befriending the monks there in the process.
“When you have contact with other parts of the Universal Church, you get a sense of the universality of the Catholic spirit, Catholic piety, Catholic faith,” he said. “Despite the difference of culture in place, it really strikes you as universal.”
Cooperative venture
Pope Leo XIII (+1878-1903) created the Benedictine Confederation to help foster unity and collaboration among the hundreds of self-contained Benedictine monasteries and congregations throughout the world.
He established Sant’Anselmo as the confederation’s headquarters in Rome.
“It’s where the abbot primate and his curia reside,” said Fr. Carter.
Over time, the Confederation has become a nexus for the Benedictine communities throughout the world, as well as a point of contact to other orders such as the Trappists and Cistercians.
“It’s a center not so much of power, but of contact, of influence, of cooperation among monasteries,” said Fr. Carter.
The new abbot primate has a slate of projects in mind for his eight-year term and needs a vibrant curia to help accomplish them.
“There are various projects for communication in the Benedictine Confederation, for statistics and membership,” said Fr. Carter.
Sant’Anselmo operates on the generosity of Benedictine abbots allowing their monks to serve there.
The Confederation has been understaffed in recent years, due to there always being more needs than available monks.
The day Abbot Primate Schröder got elected, he talked to Abbot Philip Anderson of Clear Creek about allowing Fr. Carter to be the Confederation’s secretary.
It’s always a sacrifice for any monastery — especially one that’s growing as fast as Clear Creek — to give up a teaching monk for an extended period.
“My abbot was generous in allowing me to stay, and the new abbot primate was extremely appreciative of that,” said Fr. Carter.
The abbot primate travels a lot, visiting monasteries and attending gatherings of Benedictine abbots around the world.
Fr. Carter won’t have to travel as much but will need to go to some meetings of various monastic groups.
Discussions are also under way for Fr. Carter to teach a class in moral theology at the Benedictine Athenaeum (institute of study) at Sant’Anselmo.
“I like to think about and write about the ethics of technology and the changes that have come about as a result of our use of technology and the internet and video-conferencing and such things,” he said.
“I think about a lot of the existential questions people tend to ask in light of these developments, and the functional principles we need to put into place relative to all of that,” he stated.
Christian life
Fr. Carter said two dictums from St. Benedict of Nursia, the sixth-century founder of Benedictine monasticism, are a summary of the entire Christian life:
“Listen carefully to the Master’s precepts,” and “prefer nothing to the love of Christ.”
“They are what the Christian does,” said Fr. Carter. “For the martyrs, that meant to witness to the death. For the monk, it means to live in the monastery as a man of prayer in a way that doesn’t let anything else become the priority.”
His home monastery, Our Lady of Clear Creek (clearcreekmonks.org) in Oklahoma was founded on farmland in 1999 by Benedictines from Notre-Dame de Fontgombault Abbey in France.
The monks are contemplative, meaning they devote their time and energy to working and praying in community at the monastery, rather than serving in parishes and other ministries.
They promote fidelity to the Pope and cultivate devotion to the Blessed Mother.
Nighttime brings what’s called the Great Silence, during which no one speaks unless absolutely necessary.
When in Rome
Abbot Primate Schröder’s term is for eight years, and he could stand for election to another term if he wishes.
Fr. Carter’s term has no limit. His abbot put no restriction on the amount of time he serves in Rome, where he’s been undertaking doctoral studies since 2021.
He remains a monk of Our Lady of Clear Creek Monastery.
“It’s always temporary,” he said. “All the monks that are working here or teaching, all still remain a member of their own monastery, of their own congregation.
“I will always go back and visit and maintain contact with my monastery,” he added. “I’ll still go back and still be an active part of my community.”
Fr. Carter has permission to hear Confessions in the Diocese of Rome.
He’s excited to spend 2025, in which the Church will celebrate the Jubilee Year “Pilgrims of Hope,” in the Eternal City.
“I will very easily go many times through all the holy doors,” he said of the special pilgrimage doors that are only open in Rome’s four major basilicas during jubilee years.
Jubilees are generally held every 25 years and occasionally years in between.
The most recent jubilee year was the Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2016.
Many more pilgrims than usual visit Rome during jubilee years.
Benedictine Fathers are assigned to St. Paul Outside the Walls, one of the four Major Basilicas.
“I could become a confessor there during the holy year,” he stated.
Fr. Carter speaks fluent Italian and uses its commonalities with other language to understand some French and Spanish.
“And then, there are a lot of English-speakers, from America and other English-speaking countries,” he noted.
He finds it interesting to see how people from different places throughout the world approach the Sacrament of Confession.
“The approach people from Germany or Italy or America take is often quite different,” he said. “But, through all these cultural differences, you also see the universality.
“It’s quite edifying, really. Very beautiful,” he said.
Fr. Carter often goes to Confession in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
“It’s fascinating, really incredible, and it’s beautiful to see,” he said of the massive, 16th-century Baroque church that stands where St. Peter was martyred and his earthly remains buried.
He’s noticed that while Rome has its share of tourists, most people who visit the great basilica are on pilgrimage and see it as their universal home.
“It feels in the Catholic heart as if it’s home, and it’s really beautiful,” he said.
Prayers and priorities
Fr. Carter asked for prayers to remain rooted in his monastic vocation while serving away from his monastery and in such a large, beautiful city.
“Being in Rome is a real blessing,” he said. “You are at the heart of the Universal Church, and you’re in contact with people from all over the world.
“But it’s a big, modern city,” he noted. “You have to maintain a monastic spirit and monastic heart. That’s not automatic. It has to be done intentionally.
“I certainly need prayers to maintain attachment to my community, to monastic life, to the monastic charism,” he said.
