The annual November AIM International Council meeting was held at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery in Erie, PA. It was the second time the two-day November meeting was held in the USA but only the first time at the sponsoring monastery of the US Secretariat. The Council met in three joint sessions with the US Board of Trustees. Both groups also met separately to attend to annual business.

In their joint sessions the groups heard updates on monastic communities that have been founded in the United States since 1960, and communities founded outside of the United States by US abbeys and monasteries. Sr. Gisela Happ, OSB, Secretary General of AIM, shared extensive information on the latest grant requests received at the AIM International offices in Vanves, France, outside of Paris.

Most interesting was a morning panel which began with presentations by five Council and Board members on ongoing formation efforts and experiences within their congregations and communities. After their presentations an open forum of further experiences, concerns and questions led to much discussion and idea-sharing on this important issue of community life.

The Council members who arrived early were able to visit various corporately-sponsored ministries of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, the AIM USA book service system, and the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, a family-friendly research and information center on environmental topics, particularly those of the Great Lakes region and Erie’s Presque Isle State Park.

Attending the 2009 AIM meeting were Council members:

Sr. Aquinata Böckmann, OSB, Missionary Benedictines of Tutzing; Fr. Mark Butlin, OSB, AIM International team; Sr. Placid Dolores, OSB, AIM International office; Sr. Gisela Happ, OSB, Secretary General of AIM; Sr. Judith Heble, OSB, CIB Moderator; Abbot Timothy Kelly, OSB, President: American Cassinese Congregation; Abbot Timothy Kelly, OCSO, Procurator General: Trappists; Fr. Martin Neyt, OSB, President of AIM; Archabbot Jeremias Schröder, OSB, President: St. Ottilien Congregation; Abbot Ugo Tagni, OCist, Rector: St. Bernard College; Abbot Armand Veilleaux, OCSO, Abbey of Scourmont; Abbot Primate Notker Wolf, OSB, Sant’ Anselmo; Sr. Adelaida Ygrubay, OSB, Vicaress, Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing.

AIM USA Board of Trustees members in attendance were: Abbot John Denburger, OCSO, Our Lady of Genesee; Archabbot Justin DuVall, OSB, St. Meinrad Archabbey; Sr. Michaela Hedican, prioress: St. Bede Monastery; Sr. Kathryn Huber, OSB, AIM USA Board president; Abbot Neal Roth, St. Martin’s Abbey; Prior Konrad Schaefer, OSB, Monasterio NS de Los Angeles; Abbot Paul Mark Schwan, OCSO, Abbey of New Clairvaux; Sr. Anne Shepard, OSB, prioress: Mount St. Scholastica Monastery; Sr. Christine Vladimiroff, OSB, prioress: Mount St. Benedict Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, visits with AIM President, Fr. Martin Neyt, OSB, and Abbot Ugo Tagni, OCist. Monastery; Sr. Susan Doubet, OSB, AIM USA.

The parent organization of AIM USA was founded in 1960 by the International Confederation of Benedictine Abbots at their Congress of Abbots meeting.

At its founding, the acronym AIM stood for AID for Implanting Monasticism. Its purpose was to encourage the establishment of monastic communities in developing countries. Monastic communities referred to are those that follow the Rule of Benedict— Benedictine, Cistercian and Trappist.

Alliance for International Monasticism has become the official name for AIM internationally and at national levels in 2000 to better foster a spirit of alliance and mutuality among the 400 monasteries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and those is the western nations.

Visit the AIM International Web Site

Father Martin Neyt, OSB, President of AIM
administers the international office
with the assistance of Sister Gisela Happ, OSB, Secretary General.

The AIM International Council

The five main objectives of AIM are as follows:

1. To foster co-operation and solidarity among monastic communities throughout the world.
2. To support the development of monastic life in different cultures. Mutual reflection on these forms of life will be an aid to uncovering the meaning of monastic life and the manner in which it should be rooted in the cultures of the world
3. To provide a centre for the communication of information with regard to possible monastic foundations. With the collaboration of the Abbot Primate and the Superiors General of the monastic Orders, AIM holds up-to-date information concerning aid, solidarity and formation in the monasteries.
4. To heighten awareness of monastic life throughout the world, both within the monasteries themselves, in the Church and in society at large. AIM maintains contact with MID, the Dialogue between Christian monasticism and other non-Christian forms of monastic life.
5. To encourage the creation of new structures for human, Christian and monastic formation.