Religion: The Affluent Monasteries

In Washington last week, Archbishop Patrick A. O'Boyle of Washington solemnly carried out one of the rarer ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church: the formal blessing of a new abbot. He gave his benediction to the Rt. Rev. Alban Boultwood, O.S.B., and handed him a copy of the Holy Rule of St. Benedict as a reminder of an abbot's responsibilities. Then, as a choir chanted the Te Deum, Abbot Boultwood formally accepted the fealty of 37 monks from St. Anselm's Abbey, the capital's only Benedictine monastery. American-born and British-educated, Father Boultwood, 50, was chosen by the monks (in a secret ballot)...

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