Volume 35, Nr. 3,   October 2005                   Richardton, ND 58652

President's Message

Of Hurricanes, Convention Plans, Semesters and Websites

The double-whammy of hurricanes Katrina and Rita occupied the minds and hearts of men and women worldwide. Three monasteries were in the area affected. Saint Joseph Abbey in St. Benedict, LA, lies north of Lake Pontchartrain. Although many trees were damaged on August 29, the buildings were spared, and natural gas generators provided limited light and power. The monks were able to offer temporary shelter in the seminary and abbey to a large number of displaced persons

The nuns of Our Lady Queen Monastery, Tickfaw, LA, first enjoyed electricity again on September 3 and two of the infirm sisters returned after evacuation. The small Benedictine community of Holy Cross Monastery in Beaumont, TX, lost many trees on the property, but the buildings were relatively unscathed. They accelerated the return of electricity for their neighbors by offering the retreat house to the regional power company, Entergy, for use by the company's workers.

Although the Benedictines escaped disaster, many families did not, and they are still homeless, grieving and in shock. The quality of response by local and federal government is still under investigation, but the evidence of generous support throughout the nation and from abroad testifies to the human values of empathy, compassion, altruism and philanthropy.

In June I visited St. Procopius Abbey and Benedictine University in Lisle, IL. I met with all members of the local convention committee appointed by Abbot Dismas Kalcic: Fr. Michael Komechak, host; Subprior Columban Trojan, coordinator; Br. Augustine Mallak, liturgist; and Fr. T. Becket Franks, liaison. Ms. Denise West coordinates special events at Benedictine University. Our conversations inspired confidence in me that the conventioneers will be well received, housed and fed. I also attended Mass at Sacred Heart Monastery and met with Prioress Judith Heble. By the time of our convention the renovations in the monastery should be complete, and the sisters will be happy to receive visitors from the Academy for tours.

In July the Catholic Biblical Association met for the first time in Collegeville. The occasion allowed me to meet S. Carolyn Osiek, RSCJ, Professor of New Testament at Brite Divinity School. She has published widely on the family in the New Testament. She will be a featured presenter at ABA 2006. The Board of the Academy will convene January 13-15, 2006, at Saint Procopius Abbey to finalize plans for the convention, meet with the local committee, and tour the facilities.

School sessions are well underway at this time of year, and many members of the Academy are busy with classes, papers, tests and advising. In my own work I stumbled upon a website I had not yet visited. "Inner Explorations" is a place "where Christian mysticism, theology and metaphysics meet Eastern religions, Jungian psychology and a new sense of the earth." More than 500 web pages, 2,500 pages of text, and 1,000 images provide an ample supply of material that fosters spiritual reflection. Check it out.

Best wishes to all for a successful fall semester.

Bro. Richard Oliver, OSB
ABA President
Saint John's Abbey
roliver@csbsju.edu

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Monastic News Omnibus

New Monastic Leadership

Several monastic communities have recently elected new leadership. They are as follows:

Benedictines of Perpetual Adoration, Clyde, MO -- Prioress Pat Nyquist, OSB
Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, KS -- Prioress Anne Shepard, OSB
St. Scholastica Monastery, Duluth, MN -- Prioress Lois Eckes, OSB
Emmanuel Monastery, Baltimore, MD -- Prioress Kathleen White, OSB
Holy Angels Convent, Jonesboro, AR -- Prioress Mary Anne Nuce, OSB
Our Lady of Peace Monastery, Columbia, MO -- Prioress Mary Jo Polak, OSB
Monasterio Santa Escolastica, Humacao, Puerto Rico -- Prioress Angela Berrios, OSB
Westminster Abbey in Mission, BC, Canada -- Abbot John Braganza, OSB

The Benedictines of Perpetual Adoration, Tucson, AZ, reelected Prioress Lupita Barajas, OSB, to continue her ministry of leadership.

In international elections, the Good Samaritan Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict of Australia, Japan, Philippines and the Republic of Kiribati chose Sister Clare Condon, SGS, to be the next congregational superior. Sisters Maria Tasto, OSB, and Jane Becker, OSB, from Ferdinand, IN, facilitated the discernment.

The Camaldolese Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict elected Dom Bernardino Cozzarini, OSB, Cam., of the monastery of Camaldoli, Italy, as prior general of this congregation which includes Camaldolese men and women in the United States and other countries.

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Remembering Two Monks

In Memoriam

Saint Joseph Abbey, Spencer, MA, reports the death of Father M. Basil Pennington, OCSO, on June 3, 2005, subsequent to a car accident in April. Father Basil was a prolific and popular writer on spiritual topics and introduced many to the daily practice of lectio divina.

Brother Roger Schutz, 90, the founder and prior of the ecumenical Taizé Community in France was stabbed to death by a Romanian woman during Vespers on Tuesday, August 16. About 2,500 international youths were present for the service at Taizé (Saône-et-Loire), near Cluny, in Burgundy when the attack occurred. Brother Roger began the ecumenical monastic movement during World War II, when the Swiss-born monk, living in Taizé, provided a refuge for those fleeing the conflict, irrespective of their religion. It grew into a worldwide movement, especially popular among young people, to foster reconciliation among Christian denominations.

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Nuns in the West II Dialogue

Sponsored by Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (MID) and graciously hosted by the Hsi Lai Chinese Buddhist Temple in Hacienda Heights, CA, Nuns in the West II gathered 26 nuns for interreligious dialogue May 27-30. Of the twelve Buddhist, one Hindu, and thirteen Christian participants, six Buddhist, one Hindu, and eight Christian nuns had participated in the first Nuns in the West gathering in 2003, and several were participants in other MID-sponsored dialogue events, including the Gethsemani Encounters and the Benedict's Dharma Conference.

The dialogue topics for this gathering were drawn from a précis of the 2003 dialogue as well as from topics proposed at the table this year. While all of the topics have universal appeal for nuns throughout the world, those addressed in this session were the following: the practices of meditation, mindfulness, the use of dialogue as a way to achieving world peace, the necessary balance between contemplative practice and compassionate service, and the exercise of authority.

Participant Jeanne Ranek, OSB, observed: "We learned that we could bond with one another on some mystical level and as friends even as we felt at an impasse because of our disparate worldviews and lack of common concepts. At moments we glimpsed the abyss that divides our worlds and we groped for terms and concepts that both groups could relate to. At other moments, a profound resonance melted barriers. In all cases, an authenticity, a willingness to address the delicate issues of difference, a readiness to learn or to be at an impasse characterized the spirit of the gathering."

One of the Buddhist women, Bhikshuni Tubten Chodron, praises the value of such dialogue. "The power of women of different faiths meeting together and sharing in harmony cannot be understated. Although we alone cannot cure the world's ills, we can give an example of hope to others, and our gathering is a contribution to world peace."

Reports by these two participants and other information about the meeting are on the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue website <www.monasticdialog.com>.

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Oblate Congress Gathers

As this issue goes to press, the first World Congress of Oblates has just ended in Rome on September 29, 2005. It gathered Benedictine oblates from around the world, selected locally to represent their countries for a week of learning, dialogue and prayer. A longer report will appear in the next issue and the Newsletter invites oblates who attended to send the editor their own reflections and comments for inclusion in the feature <JSutera @ mountosb.org> .

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Monastic Liturgy Forum
Discusses Paschal Triduum

Forty-two monastic liturgists from across the US gathered at St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, AR, August 17-20. Founded in 1988, this was the tenth national meeting of the Monastic Liturgy Forum.

Keynoters Genevieve Glen, OSB, of Saint Walburga Abbey in Virginia Dale, CO, and Andrew Ciferni, O. Praem., of Daylesford Abbey in Paoli, PA, addressed the topic of Unfolding the Paschal Triduum in a Monastic Setting. One major objective of their presentations was to help liturgists develop a model for decision-making when preparing Triduum liturgies in their local monastic environment.

The speakers were continuing the scholarship presented in 2003 at the MLF gathering in Beech Grove, IN, by Abbot Patrick Regan, OSB, of St. Joseph, LA, and Sant' Anselmo in Rome. (See the MLF Newsletter 16:3, Spring 2005 and the March 2005 issue of Worship.) Summaries of the 2005 presentations will be published in upcoming issues of the MLF Newsletter. Nine men's and nineteen women's communities sent representatives to Arkansas, including the Cistercian community of New Melleray Abbey, IA, and the ecumenical Community of Jesus from Orleans, MA.

Five monastics and their communities were recognized for service on the steering committee of MLF in recent years: Miriam Schmitt, OSB (Bismarck, ND), Patricia Schneider, OSB (Glendora, CA), Elias Lorenzo, OSB (Morristown, NJ), Michael Leek, OSB (Pecos, NM), and Julian Peters, OSB (St. Meinrad, IN).

Current steering committee representatives are Andrew Ciferni, O. Praem.; Dunstan Moorse, OSB (Collegeville, MN); Rita Rauschendorfer, OSB (Richardton, ND); Stephanie Schroeder, OSB (Fort Smith, AR); Patricia Ann Toscano, OSB (Yankton, SD) and Colleen Winston, OSB, chair (Covington, KY).

The Monastic Liturgy Forum was initiated to address the unique aspects of monastic liturgy, an assembly which lives, works, and prays together daily, creating a relationship within the group very different from that of a parish community. Other traits that differ markedly from parish communities include the way liturgy is entwined with daily life and the monastery's position within diocesan organizational structure.

The next meeting of will be in June or July, 2007, at Sacred Heart Monastery, Yankton, SD. It will be the first joint meeting of MLF with the Benedictine Musicians of the Americas. The mutually significant topic to be addressed will be the impact of changing community life on the celebration of liturgy.

For general information about the Monastic Liturgy Forum, contact

Colleen Winston, OSB
St. Walburg Monastery
2500 Amsterdam Rd.
Villa Hills, KY 41017
E-mail: colleenmlf @ yahoo.com
www.osb.org/mlf/

For copies of tapes from the 2005 conference or information on MLF membership or newsletter, contact

Dunstan Moorse, OSB
Saint John's Abbey
Collegeville, MN 56321
E-mail: dmoorse @ csbsju.edu

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St. Gertrude Federation Meets

The Federation of St. Gertrude held their general chapter at Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton, SD, June 30-July 6. Sixty delegates representing sixteen Benedictine women's monasteries attended the chapter.

With the theme "Monastic Life: Hastening on With Hope and Joy," the meeting included keynote addresses by Sister Karen Joseph, OSB, of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (Clyde, MO) and Father Godfrey Mullen, OSB, from St. Meinrad's Archabbey (St. Meinrad, IN).

The business portion included task force reports, decisions on directional statements for the next four years, and the election of a federation council. Sister Kathryn Huber of Monastery Immaculate Conception (Ferdinand, IN) was re-elected to continue as federation president.

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From the Hurricane Zones

The monks at Saint Joseph Abbey and Seminary College near New Orleans were blessed to have been spared loss of life and major structural damage by Hurricane Katrina. Nevertheless there have been many effects from the storm and its aftermath. It is estimated that they have lost seventy-five per cent of their pine forests (and the revenue from those lands), possibly from tornados spun off by the hurricane. Their camp buildings were damaged and other programs have also been suspended. The community was fortunate to have natural gas backup generators and their own artesian wells for drinking water. These enabled them to shelter a large number of refugees, including the archbishop of New Orleans and his predecessor, many elderly religious women, and friends and neighbors.

Now that the initial crisis is past, infirm monks have been relocated to other places temporarily and many other adjustments, large and small, have had to be made. The Seminary College students began their semester later than planned, but are now back on campus. They will be joined on the campus temporarily by Notre Dame Seminary, the theologate for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

For several years, the monks' bakery, with the help of benefactors, has been providing 1000 loaves of bread per week to the poor through charitable organizations in the area. Although some of these were in hard-hit areas and are not open, the commitment of the monks continues. For a week, a natural gas leak near the bakery halted production. Once it was repaired, however, they began baking again and delivering the bread instead to nearby shelters.

Soon after the disaster, Abbot Justin Brown sent a message to concerned friends, saying, "We ask you to join in thanking God that we have been spared the loss of life and the destruction of property that many in our area suffered, and we thank you for the prayers and support that we know you are offering on our behalf during this period."

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At Our Lady Queen Monastery in Tickfaw, LA, a dependency of Saint Scholastica Priory in Petersham, MA, two sisters were evacuated to Baton Rouge, but were able to return in a few days. The monastery, located about 25 miles from Covington, suffered no damage.

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Holy Cross Monastery, a diocesan Benedictine monastery in Beaumont, TX, found itself directly in the path of the eye of Hurricane Rita. Although Beaumont experienced extensive flooding and wind damage, both monks currently residing there were in Massachusetts at the time of the disaster. They returned to find only moderate damage to the buildings but necessary massive cleanup on the property, especially of fallen trees in driveways and around buildings. They report: "We are slowly getting back to normal as utilities are being restored and cleanup is underway."

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BOOK REVIEWS

Noted scholar of things Cistercian, David Bell has produced a work of length and depth in Understanding Rancé: The Sprituality of the Abbot of La Trappe in Context (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2005) 371 pages, ISBN 0-87907-105-2. Bell recognizes the many controversies around this reformer, founder of the Trappist version of Cistercian spirituality, that became the dominant version.

He tries to explain the spirituality of seventeenth-century France, especially the development of Jansenism, and the changing forms of monastic life. After examining such elements as what Rancé read, who his enemies were, how he came to monastic life himself, and other elements of his world, he tries to synthesize the life of this man and how he came to be the man he was. The author acknowledges that this is a challenging task, particularly because the spirituality and culture were so different from today. He notes that very few modern Cistercians admire the man.

Nevertheless, Bell forges ahead to simply lay out the history, theology and worldview of the period and to show Rancé through his work and his writings. The book, Bell says, is not intended to be a biography. It turns out to be a writing about a life which is also a writing about a period and a nation and a religious order and a church.

It is obvious that the author has done much research and he wants the reader to know he has just scratched the surface. An unusual resource is a page or two at the end of each chapter called "Further Reading." Bell gives a little narrative, not just a list, of where one might go to find out more about various elements of that chapter or writings by the people mentioned in it. Almost all the resources are ones that are available in English. An extensive annotated bibliography of all of Rancé's writings, as well as things written about him is also included.

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Hardly a month goes by that there is not some new book by or about Thomas Merton. The recent offerings are of more substance than value than much of what has been appearing lately. Cassian and the Fathers: Initiation into the Monastic Tradition by Thomas Merton (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2005) 305 pages, ISBN 13: 978-0-87907-001-4, is the first volume in a new series to be called "Monastic Wisdom Series."

The book is based on the notes, typescripts and tapes of Merton's lectures to the novitiate students on the early monastic tradition. Patrick O'Connell has edited these resources into a single narrative. It remains mostly in the form of an outline, with many topics divided by numbers and containing sentence fragments. The names of early monastic founders and writers are followed by a paragraph of information about the person and then a rapid shift to the next one. Anyone who has taught monastic history will probably recognize and identify with this method.

Nevertheless, there is a continuity which provides what Merton was attempting to provide: a solid overview of the early monastics, their spirituality and their philosophy. There is also a sense of what Merton himself believed and valued. There are many paragraphs which are his own analysis and explanation. Even in the outline segments, it is clear whom and what he thought important for new monastics to learn.

The voice of Merton is far more clear and personal in I Have Seen What I Was Looking For (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2005) 260 pages, ISBN 1-56548-225-5. Father Basil Pennington edited this collection of selected spiritual writings. It contains some poems and some excerpts from Merton's prose, and reflects a broad range of his interests and sentiments.

Because each selection is quite short, the message is loud and clear. These are some of the true gems of Merton's thought, conveniently distilled and organized. Thus, the book would lend itself perfectly for daily lectio, as one can find in a paragraph of Merton's best thoughts enough to think about for a day or many days.

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Strangers to the City: Reflections on the Beliefs and Values of the Rule of St. Benedict by Michael Casey (Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2005) 212 pages, ISBN 1-55725-460-5, is a book filled with what readers most appreciate about this author. He is a monk who has absorbed the teaching of St. Benedict and is always looking at how it plays out in the real world.

The chapters in this book are not named for the monastic values as one might expect them (hospitality, prayer, humility, obedience, etc.) The values are all there, but he challenges the reader by tackling them under such titles as "dispossession," "generativity," and "antecedent willingness." He places them in practical contexts of what one might see in any monastery or in the individuals who reside there.

He has clear expectations about what makes for psychological health as well as holiness and, indeed, that health is necessary for a truly holy life. He challenges some of what may pass for acceptable behavior in vivid terms. There are a number of sections of this book that could be used for vigorous discussion in a community because they bring up matters that mean the difference between a community that is thriving and one that is deteriorating.

Casey's insights are deep; his language is precise and colorful. He asks hard questions while recognizing the humanness of those who inhabit monasteries. While some of his reflections apply most specifically to those who live celibate lives in community, there is much here for the oblate or anyone attempting to live a Christ-centered life in contemporary culture.

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Membership Enlarged

Additional members, sponsors and donors have been added to the Membership List for 2005 first published in the June 2005 issue of The American Monastic Newsletter. The additions comprise 25 memberships, 10 sponsors, and 5 more donors. The combined totals are 309 members, 81 sponsors and 11 donors. Membership in the Academy runs from January through December. Membership renewed for 2006 insures reduced rates for the biennial convention in August 2006.

American Benedictine Academy Convention 2006

Benedictine University, Lisle, IL, is the site for the ABA Convention that will be held August 10-13, 2006. The theme for the convention is "Family." Abbot Primate Dr. Notker Wolf, OSB, will give the opening address in Saint Procopius Abbey Church. Other speakers include Dr. Carolyn Osiek, RSCJ, New Testament scholar and president-elect of The Society of Biblical Literature; Father Terrence Kardong, OSB, editor and commentator on the Rule of Saint Benedict; and Dr. Judith Simmer-Brown, Buddhist scholar and professor at Naropa University, CO.

Further details and registration information will appear in the next American Monastic Newsletter.

American Benedictine Academy
Proceedings 2004

Papers presented at the 2004 American Benedictine Academy Convention are now available for purchase in a single book. Contributors include:

Rosemary Rader, OSB
Kathleen Norris, OblSB
Benet Tvedten, OSB
Shawn Carruth, OSB
Terrence Kardong, OSB
Rene McGraw, OSB
Anne McCarthy, OSB
Michael E. Komechak, OSB
Irene Nowell, OSB
Patrick Henry PhD
William Skudlarek, OSB
Richard Oliver, OSB
Novice Arthur Sealy, OSB

Copies can be purchased for $10 each ($15 for non-members; includes postage) by writing to

Renée Branigan, OSB
Subiaco Manor
2441 10th Ave. W #10
Dickinson, ND 58601-2778

Checks are to be written to "The American Benedictine Academy."

 

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