Volume 39, Nr. 3a, October 2009 Richardton, ND 58652
This week in the mail I received a Monastery Greetings catalog selling handmade crafts and food from both men's and women's monasteries. Some of these, but not all, were contemplative groups. I saw products from many monasteries whose members are in ABA and other active Benedictine associations. The pages were festooned with cookies, jams, fruitcakes, and icons to mention a few of the wares. Each item is identified with the community that makes it. The organizer of the catalog said the proceeds were to assist the communities financially.
There was a time when Benedictine monasteries were all self-sufficient: farming, raising animals, cultivating gardens, making gravel and bricks, and staffing natural remedy pharmacies. Cottage industries, such as crafts and food, supplemented these endeavors to provide for clothing and other necessities. Certainly this was true in Benedicts time and for a long time afterwards. Self-sufficiency was an integral part of the first Benedictine houses in America as well. Which of us didn't have a farm or a large garden or a vestment department? How many of us relied on egg sales or honey sales or altar bread sales to provide for those items that required cash?
Our American enculturation has changed the way we provide for ourselves and for the future of our communities. We staffed parish schools, pastored parishes, opened hospitals and orphanages, and established colleges and universities. These kinds of ministries changed our lifestyles and put new pressures on our ability to live the lifestyle identified with traditional Benedictinism. We were no longer in total control of our honorarium, we needed professional credentialing, and we often ministered miles away from our monasteries, forcing us to create new styles of creating community.
In the renewal time following Vatican II, much attention has been given to these issues. Scholars, members of ABA, have provided frameworks for discussion, and historical background and development to guide our discussions. Many have experimented with new responses that incorporate pieces from earlier times with new realities, trying to find the right balance. The 21st century will see a new evolution of monastic life, but what we are experiencing now is a blend of the past with the present to create this future. It is not a retrogressive time but a time in which elements of the tradition are being forged into new directions.
The Rule of Benedict sets an ideal of balance between work and prayer. Life styles that are heavy-labor intensive do not work so well with that. I have spent a lot of time in Africa the last few years and I see the monks and nuns working from dawn to dusk hoeing gardens, tending livestock, raising cash crops, and hauling water. Balance is hard to maintain in the face of such odds. I have also been a college president for many years and seen my Benedictine colleagues struggle to keep up and yet not get caught up in the pressures to publish, do research, merit promotions, teach an extra class, etc.
Whatever world we live in, balance between work and prayer is a constant struggle. One would hope selling jams and jellies signals a simpler, more balanced lifestyle and not another pressure to an already full schedule.
These are monastic issues that we as members of ABA research, contribute our expertise to, share and study in our communities. The network created by ABA strengthens our ability to share wisdom and mutually enrich our communities. Together we continue to explore. As T. S. Eliot said, "What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know that place for the first time."
Jacquelyn Ernster, OSB
ABA President
jernster@mtmc.edu
A recent presentation by one of our sisters regarding Sister Aquinata Böckmanns intense course on the Rule of Benedict (.doc) spurred me to think more deeply about the role of discipline and penalties in our monastic way of life. It is not a popular thought, but one which I believe deserves some exploration and thoughtful reflection. This made me think of my own canonical education regarding Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, entitled "Sanctions in the Church."
One canonical commentator has spoken of the Church's system of penalties as having two purposes: to restore peace and order in the Church community and to reintegrate the offender within the community. Canon 1312.1 provides two types of penalties, each to address one of these purposes. "Medicinal penalties" or censures (e.g., excommunication) strongly emphasize reconciling the offender within the community, whereas "expiatory penalties" (e.g., dismissal from the priesthood) emphasize restoring community order, repairing scandal, and deterring would-be violators of ecclesiastical discipline (this is taken from one of my canon law professors, Father Thomas Green, in the New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, p. 1530).
While both types of penalties have their place and are significant in the life of the Church, I want to focus primarily on "medicinal penalties," as I believe that is the concept that Benedict had in mind in the Rule and, particularly, in what Sister Aquinata Böckmann refers to as the "correctional code" or "healing code" of the Rule. (See Fry et al., RB 1980, Appendix 4: "The Disciplinary Measures in the Rule of Benedict," p. 419, which warns against attributing "canonical status" to Benedicts disciplinary legislation. I agree that such would not be a true attribution. The Appendix continues: "The major portion of St. Benedicts corrective legislation is found in RB 23-30 and 44.")
Benedicts basic premise regarding discipline is that "there ought to be due proportion between the seriousness of a fault and the measure of excommunication or discipline. The abbot determines the gravity of faults" (RB 24.1-2). The idea of proportionality of correction to the seriousness of the fault or offense is characteristic of Benedicts good sense about the human reality which is shown throughout his Rule. RB 1980, p. 426, describes it as "a rule for monasteries that is sane, balanced. . . ."
According to Benedicts provision for correction, the first level for "less serious faults" is exclusion from the common table (RB 24.3). The next level, reserved for "serious faults," includes not only exclusion from the common table but also from the oratory and from speaking with other members of the community (RB 25.1-6). The next level, if previous disciplinary efforts are not effective, is that the offender will "feel the strokes of the rod" (RB 28.1). Thereafter, the whole community is to pray to bring about the health of the sick [offender]" (RB 28.5). Finally, if all else fails, the offender will be expelled from the community (RB 28.6). RB 1980, p. 421, says, "But even this is a matter of degree inasmuch as Benedict allows for a threefold expulsion from the monastery before the action is definitive" in RB 29.
It is clear that Benedicts correctional system aims at bringing back the wayward into the fold of the monastic community. He applies medicine as it is needed to cure the sick one. See RB 28, especially, for the idea of the abbot as a wise physician applying various medicinal remedies for the erring member. Benedict provides other "medical personnel" to assist in caring for the sick. He prescribes sending senpectae, that is, mature and wise members to support, urge and console the wayward one (RB 27.2-3). Benedict goes on to remind the abbot that it is his "responsibility to have great concern and to act with all speed, discernment and diligence in order not to lose any of the sheep entrusted to him. He should realize that he has undertaken care of the sick, not tyranny over the healthy" (RB 27.5-6).
It is clear to me that Benedicts design of bringing back the wayward, of curing the sick, is what the Code of Canon Law's medicinal penalties are all about. As one commentator on the penalties in the code has said, the penal process to impose penalties should be undertaken only after it is found that fraternal correction or rebuke or other means of pastoral solicitude cannot achieve the goals of repairing scandal, restoring justice and reforming the offender (see canon 1341 for this threefold purpose of imposing penalties).
It is the erring members action(s) which actually cause(s) the excommunication. That is, the wayward action is a self-imposition of excommunication. It is a recognition that by the wayward behavior the erring member has placed him/herself outside the community (ex/communio). The phases of excommunication as provided in the Rule are merely indicators to the erring members of the effect of their own actions. While excommunication seems harsh, it is sometimes necessary to impress on the erring member the need to reform, and to give the member the inherent solitude of being set apart from the rest of the community to come back to his/her senses.
Perhaps the healing quality of quiet and solitude is also why retreats and days of recollection are important for the unity of community members. But because the erring member may not be aware of the consequence of the wayward action, Benedict says it must be brought to his/her attention by the various phases of excommunication as outlined in the Rule. Benedict's keen understanding of the human situation is seen clearly in his "corrective legislation" found in the Rule. It is also an important source of the Church's wisdom in its penal process in bringing back the one who has wandered, in healing the sick.
Readers are invited to email me with questions or suggested topics for future canon law columns.
Lynn McKenzie, OSB
Sacred Heart Monastery, Cullman, AL
slm@knight-griffith.com
Prioress Ruth Fox, OSB, of Sacred Heart Monastery, Richardton, ND, was recently reelected to continue her ministry of leadership.
Sister Sandra Meek, OSB, a member of Mother of God Monastery, Watertown, SD, has been installed as administrator of Our Lady of Peace Monastery in Columbia, MO.
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Father Denis Meade, OSB, hosted the annual Juniors' Institute, June 15-26, at St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, KS. Two presenters were featured, for one week each, to instruct the 22 monks. Father Kevin McGrath, OSB, of St. Bernard's Abbey, Cullman, AL, spoke on the subject of liturgy, and Father Bernard Disco, OSB, from Saint Anselm Abbey, Manchester, NH, gave presentations on patristics. In addition, enjoyable trips were made during these days to a K.C. Royals baseball game, Conception Abbey, and the WW I Memorial Museum in Kansas City.
The ten monasteries whose junior members participated were: St. Meinrad Archabbey (St. Meinrad, IN), St. Vincent Archabbey (Latrobe, PA), Saint John's Abbey (Collegeville, MN), St. Martin's Abbey (Lacey, WA), St. Anselm Abbey (Manchester, NH), Prince of Peace Abbey (Oceanside, CA), St. Andrew Abbey (Cleveland, OH), Holy Cross Monastery (West Park, NY), Blue Cloud Abbey (Marvin, SD), and St. Benedict's Abbey (Atchison, KS).
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The Academy joins the monks of St. Procopius Abbey, Lisle, IL, in mourning the death of Father Michael Komechak, OSB, who died recently. As professor and art curator at Benedictine University in Lisle, he was able to gather a collection of more than 3,700 pieces of art. As a loyal member of the ABA, he worked to make the visual arts an integral part of the Academy, through both the development of a special interest section and the inclusion of an art display as part of each convention. His own photography also enhanced and immortalized the conventions.
Another loss to the Academy was the death of Father John Oetgen, OSB, of Belmont Abbey in Belmont, NC. Father John was a notable contributor to ABA activities and had received its Lifetime Fellow award.
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Monks, nuns and lay folks representing Benedictine retreat centers across the US gathered August 20-23 at Benedict Inn, Beech Grove, IN, for the seventh biennial conference of the Association of Benedictine Retreat Centers. The theme, "Visioning Benedictine Retreat Ministry for Century 21," provided the focus for a lively, collaborative dialogue.
Well-known monastic scholar, Father Terrence Kardong, OSB, identified cultural currents having an impact on retreat ministry in his keynote addresses. Directors and staff of many of the 35 centers holding membership in ABRC also experienced a short lectio retreat using illuminations from the Saint John's Bible facilitated by Sister Juliann Babcock, OSB, Prioress of Our Lady of Grace Monastery. They also engaged in spirited sharing of practical and innovative ideas related to spiritual ministries at their monasteries.
The organization's purpose is to foster the Benedictine charism in retreat ministries. The leadership team includes executive director, Sister Jeanne Ranek, OSB (Yankton, SD) and Abbot Leo Ryska, OSB (Benet Lake, WI), Sister Micaela Randolph, OSB, (Atchison, KS) Sam Rahberg (St. Paul, MN), Sister Dorothy Manuel, OSB, (St. Joseph, MN) and Sister Jean Maher (Duluth, MN). Membership is open to all Benedictine and Cistercian retreat centers or monasteries engaged in retreat ministry. More information is available at <www.theabrc.org>, where there is a web directory with links to all member centers' websites, or by contacting Sister Jeanne Ranek at <jeanne.ranek@mtmc.edu>.
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The 23rd chapter of the Federation of St. Benedict was held at Saint Benedict's Monastery, St. Joseph, MN, July 21-27. With the theme of "Monastic Witness: Gift, Challenge, Hope," Sister Shawn Carruth (Mount St. Benedict Monastery, Crookston, MN) was the keynote speaker.
To discern the character and shape of the member communities' witness, sessions were designed to reflect on some women forebears as encountered in Scripture and in the earliest monastic life for women. The questions to be addressed regarded how to be witnesses to the eschatological vision of Christianity in a contemplative way of life, how patterns and practices of monastic life have contemporary meaning, how the sensate aspects of the monastery itself are formative, and what wisdom the tradition holds for the hope of human flourishing in these critical times.
In addition to the discussions and other business, there were elections for a new president and two council members for a six-year term, 2009-2015. Federation council members, Sisters Maureen O'Larey (St. Placid Priory, Lacey, WA) and Agatha Muggli (Annunciation Monastery, Bismarck, ND), and chapter delegate Sister Linda Soler (St. Paul's Monastery, St. Paul, MN) coordinated the election process, with Sister Maria Tasto (Monastery Immaculate Conception, Ferdinand, IN) as facilitator for the election process. Sister Michaela Hedican, the present president, completed her six-year term and was ineligible for another term since she was elected prioress by her community, St. Bede's in Eau Claire, WI.
The chapter elected Sister Susan Hutchens of St. Mary Monastery in Rock Island, IL, as their new president. She will be assisted by the returning council members and by newly elected members, Sisters Mary Jane Berger (St. Joseph, MN) and Linda Soler (St. Paul's Monastery, St. Paul, MN). Sister Agnes Muggli, previous council member, was chosen to be federation vice-president. The federation represents sisters of twelve communities in the US, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Japan, and Taiwan.
When the ABA board met last January in Tucson, we spoke about reinstating what was once informally referred to as "The Monastic Researchers' Newsletter." Since I had really appreciated that occasional contact with persons doing study, research, and writing in Benedictine monastic studies, I volunteered to try to get it off the ground again. It was at the board meeting in January of 1991 that what were being called "interest groups" would hitherto be designated as "Sections of the Academy."
As far as I can ascertain, the monastic researchers' section of ABA began sometime in the late 1980s. What may have been the first researchers' "newsletter" was circulated in the fall of 1988, and was compiled by Sister Mary Forman from minutes taken during the "special interest" section which met at the ABA convention in Bismarck in 1988. As far as I can remember, Father Terrence Kardong, OSB, has been the faithful and intrepid convener of the ABA monastic researchers at each convention.
As a result of a preliminary search in the ABA archives, it appears that the monastic researchers' newsletter was published quite regularly between 1988 and 2000. The editors during these years were Sister Mary Forman and Fathers John Klassen and Columba Stewart. The last edition to be found in the archives is dated November 2000, (probably because Father John was elected abbot that winter!).
I believe the time is right to reinstate the Monastic Researchers' Newsletter. Our membership has been enlivened by new monastic members, oblates, and other lay scholars in recent years. The first issue was recently sent by e-mail to those who had been listed as interested in the newsletter. It is available online as a PDF document.
If you would like to be added to the list, or prefer a hard copy, please contact me at <ehollermann@csbsju.edu> (or) College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, 37 South College Avenue, St. Joseph, MN 56374, 320-363-5931.
Sister Ephrem Hollermann, OSB
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