Volume 37, Nr. 2, June 2007 Richardton, ND 58652
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What Graces Hide in Changing Times?Sister Renée Branigan of Sacred Heart Monastery, Richardton, ND, was a recipient of a monastic studies grant from the American Benedictine Academy, to study the relationships of monastic communities with “individuals and groups outside of the monastery who may impact viability as a monastic community.” The following interview is an introduction to her research. Why the questionnaire? In 2000, at the American Benedictine Academy convention, Reading the Signs of the Times: The Good News of Monastic Life, we heard from a panel with the title “Monasteries Without Walls.” Already by that time, the number of people showing up on monastery doorsteps seeking something other than entrance for a lifetime was legion, and the number has continued to grow. I’m just amazed and continue to wonder not so much “Why?” but “What is being asked of us?” What graces lie in the “at-homeness” that so many sense with us? I am no kind of “-ologist” with an expertise to incise these questions. My training is in communication and spirituality, rooted in a natural inability to resist asking questions. Over these years, I’ve had hours of conversations with others who also wonder why our monasteries are high traffic areas and yet our memberships dwindle. So the short answer is that this questionnaire arose from a longstanding case of fascination indigestion! Did you have any working hypothesis? In my prayer and in my conversations, I found myself working from an image rather than from any logical set of principles. I see those of us committed to cenobitic monastic community as “tenders of the fire.” Benedict’s one question to us upon entry is whether or not we truly seek God. Those of us who answer “yes” have a sense that we will most easily find God within this particular community, within its example, support, sustenance, etc. A Jesuit in a course I took on “apostolic spirituality” at Creighton continually emphasized that we must all cultivate “monasticism of the heart.” I think that phenomenon is alive and well in those who come to us, and perhaps that is why they are drawn to the “professionals,” those of us who profess what we live and live what we profess. There is real fire within our communities: love for God, for one another, for our ministries – and yet we grow smaller. But the opportunities to profess in the oblate communities or some other associations that cultivate this “monasticism of the heart” are there and they are expanding exponentially. I simply reached a point where I got tired of the bemoaning the lack of vocations and decided to look around at who was coming to us instead of who was not. We had more and more people coming to our monastery than ever before, who saw us as far more alive and valuable a people than we were seeing ourselves. We were being sustained and supported, not in the old way by our own membership and work, but by people who held us dear and wanted to be in our presence for a while, to participate in some way in our life and ministry. As guests or friends, they shared their time, talent, or treasure with us. They came to stand with us around the fire of God’s presence that we were tending with our lives. They came for warmth and light, some for a short time and some for years, some in a form of committed relationship and some just passing through. Continued > > > |
OSB | ABA | AMNewsletter
The American Monastic NewsletterPublished in February, June and October | |
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Judith Sutera OSB |
The Mission of the American Monastic Newsletter is to be an instrument of communication and information for Benedictine monasteries of North America and members of the American Benedictine Academy. |
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Submit any announcements or articles for publication in the American Monastic Newsletter to Judith. Please submit any address changes for the American Monastic Newsletter to Renée. |
Renée Branigan, OSB |
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Adel Sautner OSB |
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