Indeed, the Benedictine charism implies a collective witness: monks forming a community to live their balanced life of public and private prayer, all the while supporting themselves by the work of their own hands. How, then, does an assignment outside the abbey fit into this formula?

     By way of an answer, it needs to be said that no monastic community can be judged apart from its own history and circumstances. Our founders were from Einsiedeln. This Swiss abbey, almost from its beginning in the 10th century, was pressed into temporal and ecclesiastical jurisdiction that left it responsible for parishes and convents. To this day, Einsiedeln’s abbot has quasi-episcopal authority over ten parishes served by the monks, and in this way the abbey is responsible for nearly twenty thousand souls. It was only natural that Assumption Abbey would continue Eisiedeln’s apostolic tradition, especially within the context of the American frontier.

     Today, Assumption Abbey serves a number of parishes with pastors, including the community of Richardton which uses the abbey church as its parish. Monks also serve as chaplains in hospitals, and for communities of religious women.