Volume 38, Nr. 2a, June 2008 Richardton, ND 58652
As I write this, my last column as president of ABA, I want you to know what an inspiring, challenging and hopeful experience these years have been for me!
At the top of this reflection is gratitude for the cooperation and generous service of the members of the ABA board. They have been active players sharing in the leadership and work of preparing for the ABA convention, Monastic Spirituality: Expanding Merton’s Vision at Sacred Heart Monastery / Mount Marty College, Yankton, SD, August 7-10, 2008. Their interest and suggestions were important and a support to me as plans developed organically and moved forward in the power of the Spirit.
Planning for the convention was my top priority as I came on the ABA board as vice-president and began to learn my responsibilities. Those two years flew by quickly, opening into the role of president which went beyond the specifics of convention planning. In this role I found that I needed to track and continue to show leadership and support for the many works of ABA. This is a short list of the far-reaching works ABA engaged in:
In working with the various interests of ABA, I have been impressed over and over again with the kind of leadership that is typical in a monastic organization. We monastics, both cenobites and oblates, are formed and transformed in “charismatic” leadership in the best sense. I hesitate to use the word “charismatic” because of the definition that word has in some religious and secular realms. But our leadership, as monastic people, is truly charismatic. The Greek root, charismatikos, clearly emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit when “charismatic” is the adjective modifying the noun “leadership.”
I think that Dom Bernardo Olivera, OCSO, could have been describing the type of leadership from which monastic people work in this statement from the article, Reflections on the Challenge of Charismatic Associations:
Participation in a collective charism facilitates the formation of the members of a determined group, produces a better cohesion of this same group, forms a more solid identity, gives the sense of belonging to a spiritual family, is a source of creativity and strength for responding eagerly to the signs of the times. (http://www.ocso.org/HTM/asoc-car.htm)
ABA is vital with charismatic; that is, Spirit-filled, shared, lateral leadership. We depend on it; it is what we have and what makes our working as an organization possible. So I want to celebrate the gifts of leadership that so many of you have shared with me. It is to you, the members, the sponsors, regular and occasional convention participants, friends who touch into the ABA website, and all who take nourishment from ABA offerings and activities. I am indebted to many of you who write, edit, organize, and do local and global outreach for ABA from computers, post offices and banks.
Thomas Merton’s take on monastic responsibilities to the world, our Convention 2008 focus, was bound by cloister but practiced leadership in a global context. Even so, I am convinced that ABA, as one small monastic organization, has through charismatic leadership expanded our worlds. It has changed them. It has given us channels for contacts. It has nourished friendships with people of many faiths and cultures.
My prayer is that ABA will continue to grow and bear fruit--that ABA will always offer incentives for integrating intellectual acumen and spiritual wisdom in the monastic way. This is our spirit, this is our life-breath.
Theresa Schumacher, OSB
President, American Benedictine Academy
St. Benedict’s Monastery, Saint Joseph, MN
tschumacher@csbsju.edu
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Non-canonical monastic communities
In recent years there has been some interest in learning about and understanding what have come to be called “non-canonical monastic communities.” The phrase means those monasteries which have not been, or are no longer, canonically approved by competent church authority. For example, a monastery of diocesan rite is canonically approved by the diocesan bishop in his diocese (see canon 579). A non-canonical monastery has no approving competent church authority.
An example of this reality will more readily elucidate the meaning and functioning of such non-canonical communities. The Sisters of Saint Benedict at the Monastery of Saint Benedict Center, Madison, WI, were an institute of pontifical rite. However, in 2006, because of a desire to admit non-Catholic vowed members of their monastery--a move that they had been contemplating for more than a decades--the sisters voluntarily dissolved their institute and were dispensed from their canonical vows. At the same time, they became the Benedictine Women of Madison at Holy Wisdom Monastery and they are no longer canonically established by the Roman Catholic Church. They explain their change of status:
The change in status and name did not happen because of any disagreement with the Roman Catholic Church. The changes came about because the sisters had developed a genuine appreciation of and dedication to ecumenism. Later, they sensed a call of the Spirit to extend the possibility of religious life in the monastic tradition to women of any Christian tradition.
Structures of the Catholic Church do not allow members of a religious order to be other than Roman Catholic. The decision to extend membership to other Christian women necessitated the change of status.
(Quoted from “Frequently asked questions regarding the monastery name change.” On website http://benedictinewomen.org.)
They further explain that the individual sisters who were Roman Catholic remain Roman Catholic, but that “Holy Wisdom Monastery is not formally part of the Catholic or any other church. . . . There are no formal ties of Holy Wisdom Monastery with the Catholic Diocese of Madison.” They have made profession in the new ecumenical monastery, but this profession is not canonically recognized.
This non-canonical community was previously a member of the Federation of Saint Gertrude. Now they seek status as an “affiliated monastery” of the federation. That decision will be determined by the federation chapter delegates at the 2008 chapter meeting of the federation. In preparation for that decision, the Federation of Saint Gertrude has done much study and writing about incorporating “affiliated monasteries” to their federation and, in 2006, the “Affiliated Monastery Norms” were adopted. In those norms is found the definition of an affiliated monastery of their federation:
An affiliated monastery is one that follows the Rule of Benedict, is admitted to the Federation, and observes the norms of the Federation. However, it is not established by nor bound to the norms of the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. An affiliated monastery may follow the ecclesial tradition of a particular Christian church or may be ecumenical. Church is interpreted by an ecumenical monastery in the broadest sense rather than in the narrow sense of Roman Catholic Church or any other denomination.
In 1999, as the federation was preparing for this reality of welcoming affiliated monasteries, it wrote in an adjunct document, “The forms of community professed with the Benedictine spirit may be many and varied. The Spirit’s call will not be hindered, and new manifestations of that Spirit within the Benedictine tradition are welcomed.” In that same adjunct document, it was noted: “The Code of Canon Law does not apply to the affiliated Christian monastic community, except as specified otherwise in the proper law of the Federation, when it is deemed inappropriate or non-applicable by the President with appropriate consultation. In the procedural norms, the phrase ‘President of the Federation’ shall be substituted for ‘Apostolic See’ or ‘diocesan bishop.’”
Interestingly, the abbot primate, Notker Wolf, traveled to Madison to help mark the first year of the newly established ecumenical monastery. According to an article published in the August 17, 2007, issue of the National Catholic Reporter, Abbot Notker said that the Benedictine women of Madison may be able to experience “a deeper unity than a juridical one--a unity not so much in the head as in the heart and in life.” He added that this effort “is an expression of unity in diversity.” He lauded the ecumenical monastery as one that can be instructive to the world. “In learning to live together and work together and respect each others’ differences, perhaps we can overcome our problems.”
The Benedictine Sisters of Holy Wisdom Monastery
in Madison, as well as the Federation of Saint Gertrude of which they aspire
to become a part, have shown
one way that a canonical monastery transitioned to become a non-canonical monastery,
yet retain the Benedictine heritage and support of a larger federation. The
experience may be unusual but it is not unique. The Federation of Saint Gertrude
is also considering accepting one of its former canonical monasteries, The
Dwelling Place Monastery at Martin, KY, which became an ecumenical non-canonical
monastery in early 2008, as another “affiliated monastery.” (See
www.mttabor.com for a video presentation of who the Mount Tabor Benedictine
Sisters are as an ecumenical monastery in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky.)
In addition, in 1999, the federation chapter determined that it would only
grant affiliated membership to the federation to non-canonical monasteries
that were originally independent canonical members of the federation until
the federation has further experience of affiliated membership.
Author’s notes: A special word of thanks to Sister Kathryn Huber, OSB, president of the Federation of St. Gertrude. Sister Kathryn provided to me, at my request, the federation documents describing the history of this transition for these two member monasteries from canonical to non-canonical and their request for incorporation into the federation as “affiliate monasteries.”
Again, I am requesting readers to email me with suggested topics for future canon law columns. Please send to me at <slm @ knight-griffith.com>.
Lynn KcKenzie,
OSB
Sacred Heart Monastery, Cullman, AL
slm@knight-griffith.com
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An abbots’ workshop was held January 24-28, 2008, with a theme of environmental responsibility. Father Sean McDonagh, an Irish Columban, spoke from his book, Climate Change, and Sister Annette Marshall and Dr. William Bartlett spoke from their book, Listening to the Earth. Sean spoke from years of experience in the Philippines. The other two speakers have experience in leading groups through environmental audits, and invited the attendees to review what steps they have taken in their monasteries toward efficient energy use, limiting emissions, saving resources through recycling, etc.
Abbot Primate Notker Wolf made a presentation and offered a DVD which had recorded his activity in 2007. One abbot member of his council has contacts with foundations in Switzerland and has gained a 200,000 Euro grant for computer installations at Sant’Anselmo. Dr. Stephen Butler, a Tampa surgeon who is a neighbor of St. Leo Abbey in Florida, began attending Mass at the abbey, became aware of Sant’Anselmo and its financial needs, and has now joined the board of the Saint Benedict Education Foundation, as the fundraising efforts are now called. He also spoke convincingly to the group of his interest and support.
The abbot primate’s vision for vocation recruiting is that the community must be a living community with good liturgy, vision, faith practice and real community life. Liturgy should be beautiful, but not a “going back.” It should be a liturgy for the young. Vision includes clarity of purpose and a sense of “what is our contribution to the church.”
Copies of A Warrior in God’s Service were distributed to twenty-four abbots and priors, several of whom said they planned to use it for table reading. The book is a biography of Father Henry Lemke, the Benedictine of Saint Vincent’s who came west and was the first Benedictine to serve the faithful in the Atchison, KS, area.
The 2008 Congress of Abbots will be September 17- 27. The program will feature Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., a Vatican retreat master, Bernardo Olivera, OCSO, and a variety of workshops. The 2009 American abbots’ meeting will be at St. Bernard’s, AL, February 13-17.
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Several communities have recently held election for leadership positions. Reelected to continue in their ministry are the following:
Prioress Sharon McHugh, OSB – St. Walburga Monastery, Elizabeth, NJ
Prioress Patricia Henry, OSB – Monasterio Pan de Vida, Torreon, Mexico
Prioress Phyllis McMurray – St. Mary Monastery, Rock Island, IL
Prioress Kristine Anne Harpenau, OSB – Monastery Immaculate Conception, Ferdinand, IN
Newly elected superiors include:
Prioress Nancy Miller, OSB – Annunciation Monastery, Bismarck, ND
Prioress Benita DeMatteis, OSB – St. Benedict’s Monastery, Pittsburgh, PA
Abbot Christopher Schwartz, OSB – St. Andrew Abbey, Cleveland, OH
Prioress Yvette Mallow, OSB – St. Martin Monastery, Rapid City, SD
Prioress Catherine Higley, OSB – St. Gertrude Monastery, Ridgely, MD
Prioress Michaela Hedican, OSB – St. Bede Monastery, Eau Claire, WI
Abbot Elias Dietz, OCSO – Gethsemani Abbey, Gethsemani, KY
St. Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo, CA, has a new prior administrator, Father Damien Toilolo, OSB, and Father Stephen Coffey, OSB, has been appointed superior of Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey, Pecos, NM. The Congregation of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration has chosen Sister Pat Nyquist, OSB, as their prioress general.
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The U.S. Secretariat of the Alliance for International Monasticism has added two new board members, Brother Mukasa Theodore, OSB, of St. Leo’s Abbey, St. Leo, FL, and Father Paul Mark Schwan, OCSO, of New Clairvaux Abbey, Vina, CA.
In addition to its annual Lenten collection, AIM this year collected funds to assist African communities with their HIV/AIDS care. The sisters at Chipole, Peramiho and Njombe-Iringa in Tanzania, and sisters at Kwa-Zulu, South Africa, as well as the monks of Macheke, Zimbabwe, have all received assistance for their ministries with care of the sick and orphaned, and education and support for families and the public.
AIM would like to draw attention to a short news video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=41izXAzzflo) which tells the story of the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of Victory in Kenya and the sanctuary it offered to hundreds of refugees during the recent civil unrest there.
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Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, IN, hosted the annual meeting
of the Conference of Benedictine. More than 50 prioresses, representing monasteries
in 25 states and in Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, Mexico, Peru, and Puerto
Rico, gathered for business, education and mutual support.
“Receive All as Christ,” was the focus of a workshop on cultural diversity issues, presented by staff from the Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) of San Antonio.
Among other items of business, Nancy Bauer, OSB, prioress of Saint Benedict Monastery, St. Joseph, MN, was chosen to be Region 9 conference delegate for Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum (CIB). The CIB is the international organization of all the communities of Benedictine women.
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The Ottilien Missionary Benedictines have accepted an invitation from Jaime Cardinal Ortega y Alamino, archbishop of Havana, to found a monastery in Cuba. The archabbot plans to send four monks from various monasteries of the congregation to Cuba before the end of the year.
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