Volume 30, Nr. 2, June 2000 Richardton, ND 58652
The community of St. Martin Monastery (Rapid City, SD) has elected Lorane Coffin, OSB, as their prioress. Father Henri Capdeville was elected prior at the Olivetan Holy Trinity Monastery (St. David, AZ).
Reelected to continue in their service as prioresses were Ruth Ksycki, OSB, St. Mary Monastery (Nauvoo, IL) and Marie Fujan, OSB, St. Paul's Monastery (St. Paul, MN).
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Celebrating the fifth anniversary of the <www.osb.org/> Web site, the "Benedictine Information Technology" section of the American Benedictine Academy, in conjunction with the ABA convention, is hosting a pre-convention workshop entitled "ABA Web Designers' Guild: From Scriptorium to the Wild and Wooly Web." Held all day on August 9 and continuing a half day on August 10, it will require participants to arrive on the afternoon of August 8, 2000. This workshop is for anyone interested or currently engaged in writing or designing Web pages. Planners note that it is, however, "unrealistic for anyone with no knowledge of creating or maintaining a Web site to expect to learn to do so in a day and a half." The sessions will offer some fundamental material that applies to both beginners and advanced users, filled with examples but little, if any, hands-on designing. Topics include "Web Site Design," "Designing Web Sites for Universal Accessibility," and "Cascading Style Sheets." There will also be small group activity addressing such things as "Creating Graphics for the Web" and "Web Tools."
The chairperson of the Benedictine Information Technology section is Richard Oliver, OSB. The facilitator for the pre-convention workshop is Patrick Cooney, OSB. If you have particular suggestions for the workshop please feel free to contact either Patrick Cooney or Richard Oliver. The fee for the pre-convention workshop is $50 to cover room and board.
Visit the new Bede Griffiths Web site <www.bedegriffiths.com/> with feature articles and sites for biography, contemplative dialogue, questions and answers, and meditations. There are also links to major intermonastic dialogue sites, resources in the United States and abroad, current dialogue events, pictures, contemplative wisdom articles from Big Sur, and much more. See for yourself and enjoy surfing.
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Saint Benedict Center, Madison, WI, is the home of the Sisters of St. Benedict, an ecumenical community of women, and their retreat and conference center. The retreat space overlooks an ancient glacial lake and restored prairie, nestled among rolling hills, woodlands and nature trails. Several coming retreats focus on the experience of Benedictine life and ways in which to bring monastic values into contemporary life. For more information, contact them at
Saint Benedict Center
Box 5070
Madison, WI 53705
Phone: (608) 836-1631
Web site: <www.benedictinewomen.org/>
In this era when there is so much concern about interreligious dialogue, there are many who have just as much trouble, or more, with the dialogue with others of their own faith tradition. Raimon Pannikar's classic The Intrareligious Dialogue has been reissued in a revised edition with four new chapters (New York: Paulist Press, 1999, 160 pp., $19.95, ISBN 0-8091-3763-1). In it, this renowned thinker, born into both a Catholic and Hindu heritage, reflects on what it means to dialogue authentically. He identifies several attitudes and models with which one approaches any dialogue, then establishes certain basic parameters and identifies various pitfalls. The many faces of ecumenism and personal faith are examined. Short chapters at the end explore concretely some very diverse styles of dialogue as illustrated by Buddhists, Hindus and even Ramon Lull.
The book is extremely well organized and has a strong outline form. Thus, any group wishing to approach an intensive dialogue with others of different viewpoints could easily use this book for personal reflection, for identifying their own approach and for laying groundwork. Needless to say, it is also good reading for anyone who wants to examine their own notions and skills in every kind of ideological communication with others.
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Anyone who teaches about, or has interest in, the desert monastic tradition will welcome Lucien Regnault's The Day to Day Life of the Desert Fathers in Fourth Century Egypt (Petersham: St. Bede's Publications, 1999, 257 pp., ISBN 1-879007-34-7, $24.95). Etienne Poirier, Jr. is the translator of this work by Regnault, a monk, scholar and novice master from Solesmes. This is a very detailed book which uses extensive examples from the desert literature to piece together a general picture of the early monastic life of Egypt. There are chapters on such practical aspects as diet, housing, clothing, work, visitors and the daily schedule. There are also examinations of the fundamental theological concepts like demons/angels, solitude, hospitality and charity.
Each chapter points out the diversity of practices, citing different stories and personalities and using copious footnotes to document. The author is careful to steer the reader away from extreme interpretations of the literature. He clearly supports the view of this desert lifestyle as much more healthy, balanced and moderate than many would imagine. This can be very helpful to those who find the desert stories extreme or bizarre, as well as for those who are attempting to introduce that lifestyle to the student or curious newcomer to this body of texts.
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New City Press of Hyde Park, NY, produces a series of books which give excerpts from the works of a variety of spiritual writers in a very user-friendly format. The small and inexpensive volumes (usually around 150 pages and selling for $9.95) are more than mere sound bytes. They are an attempt to present the essential theology of that person in a careful selection of representative texts of a few paragraphs or a few pages. Among the monastic figures in the series are William of St. Thierry (ISBN 1-56548-106-2), Bernard of Clairvaux (ISBN 1-56548-089-9), both introduced and edited by Basil Pennington, OCSO, and a soon to be released volume on Aelred.
Each volume includes an introduction and a chronology of the writer's life and, in the case of Bernard, a section called "Words of Life" which does give memorable single-sentence quotes. The short selections in these volumes suggest themselves as a lectio source as well as a sampler for the student or other reader interested in an initial exposure to the personalities and thoughts of great spiritual thinkers of the past. The whole series offers works by men and women of many eras and styles (e.g. Catherine of Siena, Francis de Sales, Luther, Therese) and provides a good collection for library, reading room or retreat center.
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One should not be misled by the title of Praying With Benedict: Prayer in the Rule of St. Benedict by Korneel Vermeiren, OCSO, and translated by Richard Yeo, OSB (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1999, 132 pp., ISBN 0-97907-790-5). This phrase "Praying with. . ." seems to have become the standard title for various series of books which take the writings of the saints and develop meditations around them for personal prayer. This is something totally separate from those series. It is not a prayer book but a book about prayer and how Benedict and the monastic tradition understood prayer.
The author identifies various elements and teachings of the early church and how they shaped Benedict's times and thought. Using a very clear outline and progression, the author leads the reader through the history, with very interesting and helpful chapters elucidating the term "Work of God" and its evolution, the manner of prayer and the place of Eucharist. Intelligent and clear, brief and direct, here is a good historical introduction with a spiritual challenge for any who would take up the Benedictine spirit of prayer. It seems especially suited for oblate and novitiate study as it gives background information intended to undergird an appreciation of the practice and spirit.
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