Catholic religious order of monks to cut ties with Benet Academy
A Chicago-area religious order of monks said this week they are ending their affiliation with a DuPage County Catholic high school, which in recent months hired a woman in a same-sex marriage to coach the girls lacrosse team.
In a joint statement from Benet Academy Chancellor, Abbot Austin Murphy, OSB, and Benet Academy Board Chairman Dennis Flynn, officials said a “transition in the sponsorship of Benet Academy” is expected in the coming months.
“Events in recent months have been an occasion for the Benedictine monks of St. Procopius Abbey to examine their future relationship with Benet Academy,” officials said. “After much deliberation, the monks as a community have discerned that they no longer have the resources needed for governance and oversight of the Academy.”
While officials said “alternatives for the Academy’s governance are being studied,” for now, the Abbey will continue its role in the governance of the high school.
“The goal is that Benet Academy will continue to operate with an emphasis on academic excellence and Catholic identity within the Benedictine tradition,” officials said.
In an update to the Tuesday announcement, Benet Academy Head of School Stephen Marth said in a statement that “contrary to some reports circulating in the media earlier today, know of our steadfast commitment to ensuring that the Academy will maintain its Catholic identity, in the Benedictine tradition, for years to come.”
Marth said a committee including representatives from the Diocese of Joliet, the American Cassinese Congregation of Benedictines, the Benet board of directors and school administrators “will collaborate on the successful completion of this important process.”
Murphy was not immediately available to comment Wednesday.
But last fall, Murphy said Benet’s decision to hire Amanda Kammes, an alum of the school, as lacrosse coach, “raises the question of what a Catholic high school should require from those who work with and form its students.”
“In particular, is it necessary that the witness of their public lives not be in opposition to Catholic moral teaching? I believe this requirement is necessary and, therefore am deeply troubled by the school’s decision which calls into question its adherence to the doctrines of the Catholic faith,” Murphy said in a Sept. 28 statement.
“Pope Francis has been clear that our love and respect for all persons is not in contradiction with Church doctrine on the sacrament of matrimony and teachings on sexuality,” Murphy said. “At the same time, it is important to note that honest disagreements about the morality of homosexual acts should not be construed as hate. If we give in to the voices that say that disagreement equals hate, then we allow civil discourse to perish.”
Kammes was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
Dozens of alumni, parents and students came out in support of Kammes last fall, when her job offer was briefly rescinded after she listed her wife as an emergency contact in her onboarding paperwork.
One of those alumni, Tim Jacklich, said this week’s announcement the Abbey was ending its role with the high school leaves many unanswered questions.
“There is so much that remains uncertain at this point, and what this means for Benet, who will be in charge, and what will be the vision,” said Jacklich, a 2016 Benet graduate.
“The important thing is that Benet Academy did decide to hire Amanda (Kammes), who was an immensely qualified candidate, which I think reflects positively on what the school’s future might look like,” he added.
St. Procopius Abbey was formed in 1885, when a group of Benedictine monks from St. Vincent Archabbey took over the direction of St. Procopius Parish in Chicago, according to the Abbey’s website.
“While living the monastic life, the new community served the faith of Czech and Slovak immigrants by founding a high school, college, printing press, and seminary as well as by doing parish work,” according to the website.
Operations for the Abbey eventually were transferred to Lisle, and by the 1960s, the community “refocused its energy on its educational work, as remains the case today,” according to the website.
A new monastery building was built for the monks in 1970, and the community currently includes 20 monks, some of whom are in their 80s and 90s.
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