NEEDS

Over the last thirty-five years Sant' Anselmo has changed from being primarily a school for Benedictines and other monks to being a school like others in Rome at the service of the universal church. However, the focus has been on providing an education for the students there, sometimes at the expense of basic infrastructure needs. This is especially true as the Benedictine Confederation attempts to support students from third-world countries and from poor monasteries which cannot afford the cost of study in Rome. The past approach has been to curtail expenses to a minimum and postpone capital improvements to meet these more pressing, student-related expenses.

The Saint Benedict Education Foundation was established to help raise funds for these urgent needs of our international Benedictine University in Rome. Financing from the Benedictine Confederation alone will not meet these needs, so the Saint Benedict Education Foundation must look for sources from other areas within and outside of the Church.

The Church at Sant' Anselmo, where students pray their Divine Office, and which hosts many weddings, is one of the most urgent needs for restoration. A portion of the courtyard roof above the door to the Church collapsed this spring, and water damage from leaking windows and portions of the roof threatens the windows as well as the intricate mosaics in the apse and on the floor of the Church.

Students experience classrooms much as their forebears did before them, without the technology and internet availability most Americans take for granted. One of the most pressing needs is acquiring the technology to support learning and scholarship in the twenty-first century. And the Benedictine Confederation s attempts to welcome all qualified students, regardless of whether or not their sending monastery is able to pay, has also created a demand for student aid. And while scholarships and tuition assistance are compelling needs that possess human faces and names, there are other important needs that also contribute directly to the learning environment. One critical area is the endowment of academic chairs to insure that the university remains a world-class teaching institution. Closely allied is the need for financial support of the institute's esteemed series of publications: scholarly books, textbooks, lectures, acts of international congresses, and, since 1984, the official journal of the Liturgical Institute, Ecclesia Orans.

Sant' Anselmo also hosts many important liturgical conferences and programs, and the need is pressing for an Aula Magna (large lecture hall). Plans are to build this hall underneath the second courtyard, to make best use of the space and the grounds.

The Library, which houses an important collection of books and documents, has several pressing needs: maintaining specialized collections in liturgy, monasticism and history of theology in an up-to-date manneer with the ability to preserve the more delicate documents in its collection with a climate-controlled, environmentally safe manner.

Sant' Anselmo has for too long postponed the capital improvements necessary for it to maintain its righful place among Rome's pontifical universities. The university also must provide for the faculty members who train the future clergy of the Catholic Church, those priests and members of religious orders who will continue to spread the Gospel throughout the world, well into the future.