Volume 38, Nr. 3a, October 2008 Richardton, ND 58652
Merriam-Webster says "relevant" means having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand. Faced with an increasingly secular world, dwindling church attendance, smaller religious houses, we sometimes ponder whether religious life is relevant in the twenty-first century. As Benedictines, we refine that question to ask if Benedictinism is relevant. We know from our history we have been creators, leaders, reformers, models, archetypes but what about now, what about today?
This past summer at the ABA conference in Yankton we had the opportunity to hear about Thomas Merton from a variety of aspects. We learned about his theology of ecology, about his interest in Islam and other world religions, his intertwining of radical interiority with global consciousness. These topics are high on the relevance list for the 21st century. We were presented with an image of someone who lived and understood Benedictinism in the 20th century and integrated it with the major themes of the 21st century. Ecology, globalism, cross-cultural understanding, and consciousness of self with its potential and its limitations were the images given us of Thomas Merton. ABA gave us an insight to someone who was relevant, religious, and lived the Rule of Benedict.
In 2010 the biannual meeting of ABA will focus on Benedictinism and evangelization. Historically we have always been involved in bringing monasticism to new cultures and new lands. From Augustine to modern day foundations in China and re-foundations in Denmark, Benedictines have brought Christianity and Christian culture to new frontiers. Bishop Claude Champagne of Canada says, "Being a mission church today involves seeking to discover the other, knowing them for what they are in their culture, their mentality, in their search for a human life, for the profound meaning of life." Benedictines do that with their values of presence, humility, listening, and respect for each other. The Benedictine mode of evangelization is most relevant to the call of the Church to see evangelization in a new way.
I recently read Thomas Friedman's book Hot, Flat and Crowded calling for a green revolution to renew the earth and provide for its future. As I read I was reminded of several articles I have read in the past year in the national press, which cited innovations related to this topic being tried in Benedictine houses. Benedictines are on the cutting edge of the ecology movement by virtue of their commitment to use the things of the monastery as vessels of the altar. Through farming practices, forest regulations, self-generation of electricity, gardens and orchards, Benedictines have cared for the earth before it became fashionable and now are a resource for the rest of society.
Benedictines have a "significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand." Through organizations such as the ABA, we explore that impact and deepen our understanding of our legacy and commitment to being relevant. As Mary Oliver says in an essay, "Poetry [read Benedictinism] isn't a profession, it's a way of life. It's an empty basket; you put your life into it and make something out of that." ABA is well worth your time and commitment as the organization that helps us fill that empty basket. If you are not already a member, do join today.
Jacquelyn Ernster, OSB
ABA President
jernster@mtmc.edu
******
From the responses I have received about the 2008 ABA convention, Monastic Spirituality: Expanding Merton's Vision, it was a success! The mountains of preparation before we arrived were obvious. The hospitality while at Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton, SD, was superb. All the speakers were truly scholars. They lifted us up as Benedictine monastics and encouraged us in our efforts to be responsive to the monastic way in our times and places today. Let me recap briefly.
Dewey and Victor Kramer spoke of Merton as one who experimented with being obedient to the times. "When we ponder Merton's commitment to obedience and ask what this means in terms of monastic responsibility for the world, we must remind ourselves of his sustained enthusiastic commitment to the firm belief that his personal spiritual journey: conversion, baptism, profession, continuing prayer and work as monk, writer, priest and artist became more and more to perfect a life in God, and thereby to keep seeking the best ways to be open and obedient to the Holy Spirit as the conditions of that life vocation and culture shifted. Through God's mercy Merton was able to perceive, and in God's mercy, he kept acting."
Beverly Lanzetta opened us to our contemplative and mystical callings: "Merton possessed a global spiritual consciousness premised on a distinctive mystical vision of the person." In the deep self was an essential reality: each and every soul in its center was pure and untouched by sin or by illusion. Drawing on the writings of the esteemed Muslim scholar, Louis Massignon, Merton adopted the phrase le point vierge [virgin or primordial point] to describe the "apophatic point of the mystic's deep knowledge of God . . . and the secret center of the heart." This intuitive capacity of the heart came to represent for Merton "a point of nothingness [at the center of our being] which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark that belongs entirely to God. . . . This little point . . . is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody."
A side note: Sister Eligio (MiSeon Ryu), a member of the community of Olivetan Benedictine Sisters of Busan, South Korea, attended the ABA convention. She has asked and received permission from Dr. Beverly Lanzetta to translate into Korean the paper she gave at the convention, "Mystical Union in the Global Community: Thomas Merton's Radical Interiority." What an affirmation for Beverly Lanzetta's work and for ABA's mission "to cultivate, support and transmit the Benedictine heritage within contemporary culture."
Kathleen Deignan urged us to steward and love the earth and all creation. "But one can discern the seeds of what might be called Merton's eco-monasticism germinating in his vivid awareness of our ecological crisis. In these seminal themes we hear his prophetic voice sounding an evolutionary challenge to monastic people: bring to planetary awareness the potentials of a life long re-patterning of human consciousness; embody the bios practikos -- the life-ways intended to restore the sanity and vitality of the human person in right relation to creation; practice and teach obedient listening to the 'Voice of the Earth,' the deep lectio of the Book of Creation. Be witness to the presence of paradise."
Sidney Griffith introduced us to the several and far-reaching non-Christian friends of Merton: "In these musings on his relationship with the non-Christian Suzuki we can see Merton struggling for a sense of authentic, interreligious dialogue, which both respects the exigencies of his Catholic faith and at the same time respects the faith of his interlocutor.
Only twenty or thirty years later, in the wake of Vatican II's Nostra Aetate (1965), do we find theologians seriously addressing this problem, of how to reconcile what we have since come to call the double imperative of 'dialogue and proclamation.' As for Merton in his own time, he said in a letter to his friend, the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, on 18 January 1962: 'I cannot be a Catholic unless it is made quite clear to the world that I am a Jew and a Moslem, unless I am execrated as a Buddhist and denounced for having undermined all that this comfortable and social Catholicism stands for: this lining up of cassocks, this regimenting of birettas.'"
At the ABA board meeting following the convention, we discussed publishing the proceedings in book form and on the ABA website. Some speakers are planning to publish their papers in journals and we do not want to thwart that effort. Therefore, the board formulated the following statement: The papers given at the ABA Convention, 2008, Monastic Spirituality: Expanding Merton's Vision, will be published in the bi-annual "Proceedings" but will not be available on the ABA website until we have obtained all permissions necessary from the presenters.
Yes, participants are already asking when the Proceedings will come out! Since the 2006 convention proceedings have not been published, the board decided to put both the 2006 & 2008 Proceedings into one volume.
Thank you for all your prayers and support for the success of the convention. It truly capped my service to the Academy! I am grateful to all who buoyed me up with their good wishes and support.
Theresa Schumacher, OSB
Past-President, American Benedictine Academy
tschumacher@csbsju.edu
The purpose of the novitiate is "to give the novices a greater understanding of the divine vocation" (Canon 646). The canon adds that it is the vocation proper to the particular institute which the novices are to understand, and with which the novices are to clothe themselves. This recognition of the uniqueness of each institute is found throughout the canons on consecrated life in the code and is reflective of at least two of the principles by which the 1917 code was revised; i.e., respect for the special characteristics of the charism and mission of each institute as well as subsidiarity.
The latter principle, which indeed was a principle of revision for the entire code, was intended to allow for decisions to be made at the most appropriate level. In the canons on religious life, subsidiarity provided for flexibility in institutes. Canon 646 goes on to say: "During the novitiate the novices are to experience the manner of life of the institute and form their minds and hearts in its spirit. At the same time their resolution and suitability are to be tested." The Rule of Benedict's requirement of testing the novice is reflected here.
The recognition of the uniqueness of each religious institute's charism is further reflected in canon 650 which provides that "the manner of formation is to be defined by the institute's own law." (Recall the canon law column of February 2008 in these pages which discussed the importance of shaping and continually revising our own constitutions and community handbooks.) Canon 651 directs what may be self-evident in our monastic houses—that "the novice director is to be a member of the institute who has taken perpetual vows and has been lawfully designated." If a novice is to be shaped in the life of the monastery, then the novice director must be a member of that monastery so that s/he can pass down what s/he herself/himself learned as a novice and in living the life there.
A reminder to monastic leaders and formation personnel that the code directs: "Those in charge of the formation of novices are to be members who have been carefully prepared, and who are not burdened with other tasks [also translated: "not impeded by other duties"], so that they may discharge their office fruitfully and in a stable fashion." (canon 651 §3, emphasis added) In this time of shrinking numbers and multiplying duties, it is difficult to follow this precept. However, if attracting, forming, and keeping new members are important to our monasteries, then follow it we must.
Our formation directors need to be "carefully prepared" by having lived monastic life and also by being schooled in monastic history, the Rule, and related matters. They must not be "impeded" in this important work of formation by over-demanding tasks in addition to their ministry of formation. Only in these ways will our directors of formation be fruitful and stable in their work. Note that the Latin of this section of the canon uses the word fructuose which is translated here as fruitful. The Latin should not be confused with a requirement that the novice director be "sweet" (as in sweetened with fructose!) but rather is required to be fruitful; i.e., his/her work with the novice should bear fruit in the way the novice comes to live and becomes faithful in the monastic way of life. (Being sweet is not a prerequisite for the novice director, though perhaps at times that too could be fruitful!)
Canon 652 is a rare, long, five-section canon which speaks of the novice director, the novices themselves, and the work of the community as a whole in formation. Here I will single out Canon 652 §4 which reads, "By the example of their lives and by prayer, the members of the institute are to ensure that they do their part in assisting the work of formation of novices." While the code is clear that "the governance of novices is reserved to the director of novices alone" (canon 650 §2), other community members provide an important balance. In order for novices to be formed in the way of life of the monastery, all of the members must do their part. Canon 652 §4 points out that members are to do this both by "the example of their lives" and "by prayer."
This requirement of all monastics is an important call and one about which it is important to be reminded. I commend to your reading an article that appeared in the Fall 2008 Horizon magazine (for vocation directors) entitled, "The Current State of Vocations and Where We Go from Here" by Brother Paul Bednarcyzk, CSC, pages 32-37. He challenges readers to re-look at the way we live our lives in community and to be willing to ask ourselves hard questions about whether we are living authentically and in a way that will help attract and keep new members. While you have that issue of Horizon, you might also wish to read, "Listening for God: a Benedictine Approach to Discernment," by Brother Christian Raab, OSB, associate vocation director of St. Meinrad Archabbey, pages 19-21. His comments about communal discernment are especially relevant here. He says, "St. Benedict is wise about the way individuals and even communities can fall into complacency and tunnel vision. He strongly holds that others can help clarify our perceptions and challenge us to be what we are called to be."
Readers are invited to email me with questions or suggested topics for future canon law columns.
Lynn KcKenzie, OSB
Sacred Heart Monastery
Cullman, AL 35055
slm @ knight-griffith.com
The Mixed General Meeting (MGM) of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (OCSO) was held at Domus Pacis in Assisi, Italy, September 2-23. The Cistercians have separate general chapters for the monks and nuns at the meeting, but much of the meeting is attended by all together. Gathering from around the world, each day's liturgies featured the language and customs of a different region. During the course of the meeting, each region crafted and presented a regional report on the state of Trappist lives in their area.
In addition to the business of the reports and the acceptance of new member communities, there were also presentations leading to fruitful discussion. Benedictine Abbot Primate Notker Wolf spoke, as did speakers on vocations/formation of new members, and lay people desiring some form of lay associations with monasteries.
An important portion of the time was spent in preparing, both practically and prayerfully, for the election of a new abbot general. Dom Bernardo Olivera, outgoing leader, gave a summary of his time in office, and delegates scrutinized the potential successors. Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, of Mount Melleray Abbey in Ireland, was elected as abbot general.
* * * * * *
The Congregation of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration have elected Ramona Varela, OSB, to be prioress of their monastery in Tucson, AZ, and Sean Douglas, OSB, prioress for the Clyde, MO, community. James Cronen, OSB, is the new prior administrator of Mount Saviour Monastery in Pine City, NY.
In other monastic elections, Virginia Evard, OSB, was chosen as prioress of St. Benedict's Monastery in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Maureen McCabe, OCSO, is the new abbess of Mount St. Mary's Abbey in Wrentham, MA. Christopher Schwartz was elected abbot at St. Andrew's Abbey in Cleveland, OH, and Abbot Damian Carr, OSCO, was reelected to continue his service at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer MA.
* * * * * *
On May 8, 2008, at the 43rd International Congress of Medieval Studies, the ABA sponsored two four-paper sessions on the topic, "Benedictine Saints and Sanctity." The papers were delivered in roughly historical order, beginning with Eric Shuler (University of Notre Dame) "Following and Serving the Poor Christ: Monastic Ideas of Sanctity," and ending with Laura Swan, OSB (St. Placid Priory, Lacey, WA), "Dame Gertrude More's Search for God." The papers were delivered by four men and four women, three monastics and five lay scholars. In my estimate, these 2008 sessions were best ever ABA-sponsored sessions at Kalamazoo.
Unfortunately, ABA has been allotted only one session, which will be "The Rule of St. Benedict and Its Interpretation," for the congress in May of 2009. Dr. E. Rozanne Elder, who coordinates the many sessions at the Congress sponsored by the Institute of Cistercian Studies, has asked the congress directors to have the Benedictine sessions in the same building as the Cistercian sessions. We have also requested that our Benedictine session be coordinated with one sponsored by the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame on "Claustrum and Saeculum" so that our session and theirs will form a continuum and not occur simultaneously. As a result, the Medieval Institute in 2009 will be a good place for a crash course in medieval monastic studies.
Reports about the congress have been sent to all the monasteries in the United States and it is hoped that the summaries of the papers will enable others to benefit from the scholarly work of the participants. Through letters and an article in The American Monastic Newsletter, Benedictines with interests in medieval monasticism have been invited to submit papers. Such efforts should bear fruit over time.
ABA is doing an important service in assuring a Benedictine presence at the Medieval Institute each year. Thank you for that.
Hugh Feiss, OSB
Coordinator of ABA sessions at Kalamazoo
*****
One of the conditions of receiving a monastic studies grant from the American Benedictine Academy is that the recipient publishes a report in this newsletter regarding how the money was used and the result. Dorothy Baroch received an award in 2007 to assist in conducting the survey described below. Her research investigated the process for a canonical visitation. She is now working on a book regarding use of the concepts of canonical visitation in a parish setting.
As part of a monastic studies research project, conducted in 2007 and funded in part by an American Benedictine Academy grant, one hundred monasteries in the United States and Canada received survey packets related to the visitation process. The author received sixty-three responses from superiors or those they designated as responders. In addition, there were interviews with twenty-seven individual monks and sisters, representing six different monasteries.
Listen carefully . . .
. . . are words of wisdom and guidance woven through the fabric of Benedictine
monasticism for more than fifteen centuries, words that invite consideration,
awareness, and response. They form the basis for visitation, a canonical
institute begun in the early church, and a practice developed by Benedictine
Congregations and Federations to review the spiritual and temporal well-being of
a monastery.
My monastic studies report shows that, at least in those communities that responded to the survey and interviews, visitation has not become an outmoded practice. Many of the monasteries involved in the study continually seek to improve their preparation process, using a variety of approaches including such tools as surveys, group meetings, strategic planning and "appreciative inquiry" (See David L. Cooperrider, et al, Appreciative Inquiry: An Emerging Direction for Organization Development, Stipes Publishing, 2001).
Are the pre-visitation work and the time spent on visitation worth the effort? Based on the wide-ranging responses to question #7 in the survey (examples of positive change), one could answer a resounding "Yes."
Monasteries upgraded or instituted health-care systems. Communities continually work to improve their prayer life, communication skills, and relationships. Excerpts from the list of positive changes include, but are not limited to:
One responder's comments seem typical of how the results of visitation affect the majority of monastic communities: "The most significant result of this hard work has been a deepened level of communication and a commitment to address issues that need to be addressed. There has been reconciliation of past hurts and recognition that individuals and the community are making good efforts in this area. The end result: there is as lot of good zeal among the monastics!"
(Anyone who is interested may contact Dorothy to get a copy of the full 6-page report on her research.)
Dorothy Hill Baroch
Leavenworth, WA
Oblate of Queen of Angels Monastery, Mt. Angel, OR
dhbwrites@charter.net
*****
Recordings of Convention PresentationsAmerican Benedictine Academy
|
All American Benedictine Academy members are invited to apply for a Monastic Studies Grant. The grant provides funds to support projects which foster the mission of the ABA, "to cultivate, support and transmit the Benedictine heritage within contemporary culture."
Grant support may be used for research, travel, or other modes of exploring and promoting the Benedictine heritage. It may also be used for travel expenses and registration fees for the purpose of presenting a paper on a monastic topic related to the Benedictine heritage at a scholarly convention. A total of $1150 is available to fund these annual grants.
Applicants must be members of the ABA. Applications will be selected on the basis of:
Recipients of grant support must be willing to submit a report on the use of the grant and/or a brief summary of the topic of the scholarly paper to the ABA board of directors within a year from the completion of the project or presentation of the paper for which the grant was given.
Application must be received by December 15, 2008. Recipients will be chosen by the ABA Awards Committee and approved by the ABA Board of Directors at their meeting in January 2009. The awards will be announced immediately thereafter.
To apply for a grant please supply the following information:
Send completed grant applications (Word document via e-mail preferred) to:
S. Mary Kay Panowicz OSB
ABA Awards Chair
Sacred Heart Monastery
1005 W. 8th St.
Yankton, SD 57078
Phone: 605-668-6021
Email: mkpanowicz@mtmc.edu
*****
Next ABA Convention
St. Benedict's Abbey/Benedictine College
Atchison, Kansas
August 5-8, 2010
The American Benedictine Academy held the biennial business meeting of its membership on August 9, 2008, during the ABA convention at Mount Marty College, Sacred Heart Monastery, Yankton, SD.
Laura Swan, OSB (St. Placid Priory, Lacy, WA) was elected to be vice-president for the next two years, succeeding to the presidency in 2010. From a ballot of twelve candidates the following were elected to two-year terms on the board of directors: Ephrem Hollermann, OSB (St. Benedict's Monastery, St. Joseph, MN), Mary Kay Panowicz, OSB (Sacred Heart Monastery, Yankton, SD) and Aaron Raverty, OSB (St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, MN).
The members also heard reports on various topics. Adel Sautner, OSB, secretary gave the financial report and noted that the current membership consists of 301 individual members and 95 sponsors and donors. Of the members, 199 are monastics, 69 are oblates, and 33 are laypersons, clergy, and hermits. Most new memberships are a result of email contact via the ABA's webpage.
Members also heard reports on the various activities and services of the Academy, as well as those of the visual arts, archivists, and monastic researchers' sections. A survey of the BIT (Benedictine Internet Technology) Section indicated that the section had served its purpose. BIT will be disbanded as a section, but personnel will be available for workshops connected to the biennial conventions as needed.
ABA commemorated members deceased since the last convention: Sister Bernice Simon (St. Martin Monastery, Rapid City, SD), Father Paschal Baumstein (Belmont Abbey, Belmont, NC), Sister Nivelle Berning (Saint Benedict's Monastery, St. Joseph, MN), and Sister Susan Berger (Annunciation Monastery, Bismarck, ND).
The next convention will be held at St. Benedict's Abbey/Benedictine College in Atchison, KS, August 5-8, 2010, with the theme "Benedictines and Evangelization."
In convention years, the ABA sponsors a competition for monastics in their early years of community life. Anyone who is not yet perpetually professed is invited to submit a short research paper based on the history and archival resources of his or her own monastery.
Four entries were received for the 2008 ABA Junior Essay Competition. They were "The Building of Subiaco Abbey Church" by Br. Patrick Boland OSB (Subiaco Abbey, Subiaco, AR), "Defining 'an Indefinite Period': On the Resignation of an Abbot" by Novice (now Bro.) Frederick Devett, OSB (Marmion Abbey, Aurora, IL), "A Year's Worth of Sermons" by Br. Nicholas Koenig, OCSO (New Melleray Abbey, Peosta, IA), and "A Benedictine Motherhouse in Zell: Dreams and Disappointments" by S. Julie Peak, OSB (Sacred Heart Monastery, Yankton, SD). The winner of this year's award was Sister Julie, who received free attendance at the convention, membership in the ABA, and a book. All who submitted essays receive a year's subscription to The American Monastic Newsletter.
Members of the Awards & Grants Review Committee for 2006-2009 were Gerry Allen, Oblate (Bellevue, NE), Phyllis Thompson, Oblate (Nanaimo, BC, Canada) Dorothy Neuhofer, OSB (San Antonio, FL), Dorothy Jean Beyer, OSB (Mt. Angel, OR) and Eugene Hensell, OSB (St. Meinrad, IN). Mary Kay Panowicz, OSB (Yankton, SD), board member, chaired the committee.
Theresa Schumacher, OSB
Past-President, American Benedictine Academy
tschumacher @ csbsju.edu
Membership is open to any individual
interested in the Benedictine heritage
and the purposes of the Academy.
Annual membership costs:
$20 for one year and
$25 for two years until 2012.
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