Monastic Formation today
(Part One)

Lectio divina

Mother Anna Chiara Meli, OCSO

Prior of Mvanda (DRC)

The Beatitudes,

a Map for Monastic Formation

‘Who can bring us happiness?’ many say.

Lift up the light of your face on us, O Lord.

Psalm 4.7

There is no doubt that this verse of the psalm is an excellent key for us to enter into a meditation on the Beatitudes. In fact it is a question of the pursuit of happiness. This is a universal search, for everyone wants to be happy. But what sort of happiness? The eightfold ‘happiness’ of Matthew’s Beatitudes lays before us a road to happiness fairly distant from common criteria of happiness. Who today would dare to proclaim happy those who weep, those who hunger, or even the merciful? Our world points us rather to images for happiness diametrically opposed to these: those who laugh, those who are full, the strong and so on. The road indicated by the Beatitudes leads to the same answer as our verse of Psalm 4: the face of Christ. In fact it seems clear enough that the Matthean Beatitudes are above all an interior portrait of Jesus, the poor man par excellence, enabling us to unveil his face.

As M. Dumais points out, ‘Jesus was able to proclaim the Beatitudes because he was the first to live them out. They reflect his experience in his concrete practice of faith and hope, interwoven with suffering and the perspective of death. This makes Jesus the guarantor and model of a happy life.’[1] According to Matthew Jesus begins his proclamation by a call to happiness.

A. Chouraqui sees behind the expression ‘happy’ an Aramaic word which suggests a call to movement, ‘Forwards!’. The happiness to which Jesus calls us is to build with him. It is received from God, but rests also on our choices, our commitment. In this we are in line with the Scriptures. For example in Psalm 1 happiness is promised to anyone who does not associate with murmurers but ‘whose delight is the law of the Lord, and who ponders his law day and night’. One kind of murmuring must give way to another, a change of interior disposition. The vain plotting of the peoples (Ps 2), which so easily finds an echo in ourselves, must be silenced so that we can be rooted in the Torah, like the tree planted beside the flowing waters. Psalm 2 also ends with a beatitude, ‘Blessed are all who trust in God’. It would be possible to resume the Beatitudes by ‘Blessed are those who resemble Jesus. Blessed are those who find their joy simply in being close to the Father’.

Another interesting aspect of the Beatitudes is that the seven last can be seen as a declension of the first. All are in fact aspects of true purity of heart. We must thoroughly understand this first Beatitude. Although the expression ‘poor in spirit’ is unique in the whole of Scripture it has a biblical foundation and is linked to other expressions in the Gospel of Matthew: ‘pure in heart’ (5.8) and Jesus ‘gentle and humble in heart’ (11.29). Purity of heart is a spiritual condition which determines a person’s whole attitude. ‘A spirit which is pure in heart is not self-sufficient but recognises its poverty and its need of others to live and grow.’ Hence the interpretation now commonly accepted, ‘Happy are those who know that they depend totally on God, who leave themselves entirely in his hands’.[2] The anawim are the socially oppressed, those incapable of asserting their rights, obliged to bow before the rich and powerful. The term came to be used to designate those who ‘bow down before the Lord’ and depend upon him for everything because they recognise their poverty. This means that the anaw, the poor in heart, recognises what he is, a creature whose richness lies in God. He is open and welcoming. For such a person salvation is a gift to be received rather than a task to be accomplished. The first Beatitude is the basis of all the others, since it expresses the fundamental attitude required to enter the Kingdom. Without it we cannot be enriched and live and grow in communion with God and other people.’[3]

As we have said, this first Beatitude contains all the others. It is a sort of matrix. Everything which follows explicates some aspect of the person who is truly pure in heart. And we have already said that the truly pure in heart is primarily Jesus himself. This becomes clear across the other three Beatitudes, the gentle, those who are afflicted and the merciful.

‘Blessed are the gentle’, the term used (praus) is not used in the other gospels and occurs only twice elsewhere, in Mt 11.29, ‘I am gentle and humble of heart’ and Mt 21.5 (quoting Zc 9.9), ‘Look, your king is coming, gentle and riding on a donkey.’ Both instances have to do with the humility of Christ. He is THE gentle one. The gentle are those who, like him, find their joy in doing the work of God.

‘The gentle does not try to do violence to God, to snatch from him what he wants. He accepts God’s timing and mode of action. So he is not weak, but on the contrary a believer who possesses great strength of character.’[4]

‘Happy the afflicted’ – of course, if we compare this Beatitude with that of Lk 6.21, which includes all the poor whom life has not spared. But we should add that the word penthos (affliction) occurs only once, in Mt 9.15, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?’

Therefore the afflicted are also those whom the absence or neglect of God profoundly affects. Jesus is so afflicted that his Father’s house should have become a lair of merchants and brigands, that the law of the love of God should be used to load heavy burdens on the backs of the simple, that this same Torah should be used against people rather than for them. In short, he is afflicted at this distortion of the face of his Father.

‘Happy are the merciful’: in the Old Testament mercy is above all an attribute of God. His mercy consists primarily in pardoning faults and acting in favour of people in need. The word translated in the Bible by ‘mercy’ (rehem) designates primarily the uterus, the mother’s womb.

To be merciful is to be ‘gutted’ at a situation of evil or misery. The merciful are those who effectively open their hearts to others and act to soothe their distress. On the basis of Mt 25 it is possible to go further and conclude that the beatitude of mercy includes all the service which one is called to do for a neighbour in distress.[5]

The parable of Mt 18.23-35 shows that forgiveness of others flows from the forgiveness received from God. The experience of being pardoned by God should make us in our turn ready to forgive others who have wronged us. The reception of forgiveness is real and authentic when the one who receives it shows its fruit by pardoning in his turn. One cannot fail to hear an echo of the words of Christ on the cross, ‘Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.’

Unhesitatingly, one can hear an echo of a Christological reading of each of the other beatitudes. These allow us to form some impression of the beauty of ‘the most handsome’ of the children of men, and through him a reflection of the beauty of the Father.

[1] M. Dumais, Le sermon sur la Montagne (Matthieu 5-7), CE 94, Paris, Cerf, 1995, p. 18.

[2] Idem, p. 23. This first beatitude is really the beatitude of impotence, of weakness, of submission to God. It is the daily condition of those whom the Old Testament calls the anawim (from the root ‘to be bowed down’, whence the translation offered by E. de Luca for this beatitude, ‘blessed are those who bow down before the wind’).

[3] M. Dumais, Le sermon sur la Montagne (Matthieu 5-7), CE 94, Paris, Cerf, 1995, p. 18-19.

[4] Idem, p. 20.

[5] Ibidem, p. 23.

Perspectives

Dom Bernhard A. Eckerstorfer, OSB

Rector of Sant'Anselmo, Rome

Theological Education

and Monastic Renewal

Looking at recent theological and monastic publications it is striking that most of these are concerned with contemporary challenges. There can be no doubt that we are faced with changes which for many of us signal the entry into a new era. Like the Church as a whole, monasteries too are looking for ways that will carry them into the future. This search becomes particularly urgent when the continued existence of a given commnity is at stake. Against this background, the question of Benedictine studies and training becomes not only a pressing issue but also one that is not free of risk.

The main title of this issue of the AIM Bulletin contains the key-word ‘Today’. It is true that monastic formation has always tried consciously to situate Benedictine life in contemporary social realities. It is also true that, given the existence over many generations of a strong element of continuity in Church and society, one model was regarded as adequate. Against this, our own situation is not so clear: in the middle of epochal changes, attitudes and practices that hitherto were taken for granted are no longer proving sustainable. At the same time, new paradigms have not been established and no-one knows what the future will look like. We all feel, and may even have become conscious in our concrete experience, that new ways of being and acting are inevitable. But we also ask which of these new ways will really prove reliable guides to and in the future.

I am convinced that in the present situation theology is a decisive element in Benedictine formation and for the articulation of new directions for our communities. But we also need to recognise that monasticism can and ought to play an important role in theological renewal. As in political, social and cultural life one can observe a lack of orientation, a lack indeed that is leading to a breakdown of institutions and generally accepted convictions and ways of thinking that hitherto had provided a foundation, so too in the Church and theology one can observe a change. In this regard, the word ‘crisis’ is on everyone’s lips and the original meaning of this word can help us in discussing our topic. Basically, the word ‘crisis’ means and promotes ‘discernment’ and ‘decision’.

I should like to deal under three headings with the topic suggested to me. First, I should like to look at monastic initiation, its meaning and the form it takes. I was master of novices for twelve years and already before that I experienced in my own development the need for a thorough and well-grounded initiation. As a second point, I should like to outline how monastic practices are actually theological activities. Finally, I shall present the role of the university in the renewal of Benedictine life.

Monastic Formation as a Theological Process

In monasteries in particular we see that the communication of the Faith basically means the introduction to a specific way of life. In an homogeneous religious society, attitudes and practices become natural because they are shared and supported by the majority. In a pluralistic society, however, in which belief is only one of many options, processes which hitherto had been taken for granted must be specifically addressed so that they may not be lost but must also be formulated in a new idiom that does justice to the changed context.

When a person enters the monastery, she or he begins a many-layered learning process. In the first years, many practices that are engrained in the community’s life are consciously communicated; consciously, that is, in the sense of reflected on and questioned. This is important if the individual is not only to appropriate what is embedded in the community but also to make it her or his own. In this way, the monastic life is renewed in every person received into the community. This happens through a process of personal appropriation in the community, aware of the reality of the present, thereby becoming a reality that can be lived.

The introduction to Benedictine life is a theological process. The monastic project has always understood the individual nun or monk as someone who is searching for God, as one who brings to the monastery an appropriate way of thinking. In order to be a theologian in the original sense, one does not need to have a doctoral degree from a theological faculty. There are people who are intellectually and spiritually competent who live a ‘theological’ life and can communicate this to others. I should like to illustrate the significance of a foundational introduction by drawing on a personal experience: when at the age of 29 and after a lengthy period of study both at home and abroad, I was told by my abbot and master of novices after I had entered my abbey, ‘You already have a theological doctorate under your belt. What else can we teach you?’ They seemed to think that without any further ado I could serve, for instance, a pontifical Mass. But I had never been an altar-boy and pontificals had not formed part of my specialised study of Protestant theology in North America! I was clueless and awkward as compared to my fellow-novice, who had come directly from the monastery school into the novitiate and who had been trained in ways I was not familiar with.

My monastery had overestimated the significance of my university studies for life in the monastery and underestimated a young theologian’s need for monastic initiation. In every monastery there are elderly consoeurs and confreres who for decades have followed their path with integrity and become spiritually mature examples for those coming after them – more by what they are than what they do, more by behaviour that has become second nature rather than by their many words. Looking back on my first years in the monastery, I recognise such confreres, including the aforementioned abbot and master of novices, neither of whom considered themselves to be great theologians, as my teachers.

It is true that I had to learn how to understand my new identity and this did involve an intellectual insertion. One of the gifts of my novitiate was that along with other basic texts, I was given the chance to read most of the works of my patron, Bernard of Clairvaux. This was a new learning experience! I was able to read without the pressure of preparing for examinations or academic assignments and assessments. But I was not able automatically to adjust to a correct reading of the great monastic figures and their intellectual history. It was a blessing that immediately after the novitiate I was sent to Sant’Anselmo where for decades, over 100 of my confreres had studied. It was part of the credo of our abbot at the time, ‘Every confrere, if he wishes, should have the possibility of living at Sant’Anselmo for at least one semester.’

In Rome I encountered what was for me a new kind of theology. Suddenly, I was praying and eating with professors and students. And it is here that the secret of Benedictine formation lies: living and thinking flow in, out and over each other. Of course, here theological reflection on and of Benedictine life stands in the foreground. This became clear to me first when I participated in certain academic exercises but even more through personal contact with Benedictine theologians who helped me to integrate my previous theological studies, that I had done as a lay student, with my monastic life. It is precisely this interpenetration of concrete living and deep understanding that characterises monastic life – a life that cannot exist if this concrete living and deeper understanding are split into separate, unrelated, compartments.

Shortly before my final profession, I experienced a crisis. Suddenly, other ways of life became attractive and my four years as a monk began to appear like an experiment with an expiry-date. Looking back, I am conscious that my decision to make final profession was essentially based on the theological ‘saturation’ of my new way of life along with my contact with world-wide monachism, particularly as I experienced the latter during my two years in Sant’Anselmo.

Concrete Introduction to Monastic Practices

The basic building-blocks of monastic renewal consist in monastic usages which must be newly emphasised, understood and inculcated. Monastic formation ends up in a void when it takes too much for granted or already in place in the individual. No longer can we take anything for granted when dealing with the younger members of our communities! Starting from the most basic elements, we need to realise that what appear to be most banal everyday experiences need to be thought through. What and how are we doing things? What rhythms and structures hold us together? The monastic way is not something simply to be imitated but its meaning also needs to be grasped and in a further step questioned and modified, we could even say, transformed. For this to happen, what might be called a mystagogy of monastic practice is required. In such a mystagogy, foundational elements of the monastic tradition in all their richness need to be examined and explained but also given a contemporary articulation: Stabilitas and conversatio, the monastic cell and the wider monastic living-space, reading and self-discipline, loneliness and community...

One of the essential monastic competencies consists is learning how to read. On a world-wide basis we cannot foresee the significance of the digital revolution for our civilisation, cannot see how this revolution changes our societies. This revolution certainly could contain opportunities for monasticism. We should not, however, be blind to the fact that it presents an access to a reality that is foreign to the Benedictine spirit. Social media are based on short, snappy, messages full of symbols and abbreviations that are only briefly current and often retrievable only in the short-term. The digital approach to the world has little time either for the reflective rhythm of a polished text written with conscious effort or, associated with this, a culture of the book as hitherto practised. But can monasteries dispense with such a culture?

In lectio, young sisters and brothers are introduced not only to religious content but also provided with theological skills: this involves spending an hour or at least half-an-hour every day over months and years, exclusively to the mulling over of a text. This experience of reading is consolidated in meditatio, leading in turn to wisdom. Sapientia comes from sapere, a word that can be translated as ‘tasting’ and ‘savouring’. This provides the basis for oratio. But particularly in a highly technologised world this requires much patience and perseverance. Teaching in the novitiate must hold fast to the reading of theological texts which are then discussed. In this process, the individual’s personal opinion is less important than a grasp of ‘what is the author saying?’ in the given text.

Monastic formation must facilitate a more profound grasp of reality and counter the constant tendency to skip from one fleeting textual extract to the next. This can be done by fostering a comprehensive reading experience. It may be the case that the ability of our monasteries to advance into the future can be gauged by whether or not we actually read the books we possess or whether our libraries degenerate into dumping-grounds or at best imposing monuments to what was in the past a living search for God. Is it not one of the essential theological tasks of contemporary monasticism to give new vibrancy to the culture of reading? It would not be the first time in history that monasteries were guardians of learning.

From the Monastery to the University and Back

More than was the case in earlier times, one sees in today’s candidates the need for initiation in the Faith. The nun or monk is formed, educated, by being trained in a reading that is understood and savoured. She or he is thereby empowered to discover a whole cosmos of religious meaning. An experienced professor of theology at a state university once said to me, ‘A person who has gone through a novitaite studies differently here.’ I must say, however, that in my experience of Central Europe, many who come to our monasteries display a certain aversion to university theology. On the one hand, this stems from an acadamic narrowness that sees theology as possessing ‘scientific’ credibility only when it has as little as possible to do with lived faith. On the other hand we have here an example of a limited awareness of what academic theology can and must offer to our monasteries.

Theological teaching and research in the university, when these are coupled with dialogue with other disciplines, offer their own structure for the practice and reflection mentioned above. After 20 years in my monastery in Austria I recognise once again in Sant’Anselmo the freedom offered by the academic ambiance, an ambiance that prioritises study, but study parallel to spiritual life. Consequently, individuals can choose a philosophical, theological or liturgical specialisation and with their chosen field interact with and cross-fertilise those of other specialisations. The coronavirus crisis has shown us how new technoogy can be used in the eductional process. Obviously, we hold fast to the face-to-face model of teaching that prioritises on-site personal interaction and that highlights particularly the city of Rome and with it the Univeral Church as a central beacon of theological experience. But we are increasingly extending our on-line offerings in order to make it possible for those who cannot come to Rome to interact with the personnel and academic programmes at Sant’Anselmo.

We should not underestimate the extent to which work in the academic institutes of religious orders or state faculties contributes to the vitality and credibility of our Benedictine life. It is telling in my view that new monastic foundations usually go hand-in-hand with renewed theological reflection; a reflection drawing primarily on a fresh appropriation of monastic sources. This is what was foreseen by the Second Vatican Council: a return to the sources (ressourcement) linked with a search for ways of living appropriate to contemporary realities (aggiornamento). Academic theology can play an essential role in this process. Lived faith as expressed in monastic praxis, needs critical reflection and the raising of the profile of a rich tradition on the contemporary horizon. This will safeguard monasteries from all kinds of one-sidedness, devotionalism and ideology.

Vice versa, monasteries with their theological tradition have much to say to the contemporary academic world. Recently, the dean of a theological faculty in a state university bemoaned the fact that in today’s society and culture, theology is hardly noticed. We see, nevertheless, that the secular world is indeed interested in a lived witness of faith. It is precisely where theology is perceived as a spirit-led expression of belief and living of the service of God, that other disciplines, along with people who are searching for a convincing alternative, are indeed interested. At least from the perspective of Central Europe I can say: despite the many crises which the Church has experienced and is experiencing in its present pastoral situation - experiences that have not spared the monasteries - interest in the Benedictine life on the part both of believers and sceptics remains consistently high. In monasteries they find embodiments of their desires for ‘another kind of life’ and want to be inspired by the intellectual riches and spiritual strength of older traditions. This should encourage us to integrate our Benedictine way of life with an appropriate way of thinking and seeing, from the novitiate up to the university. In this way, monasticism can contribute to a renewed theology in a missionary Church that, in the words of Pope Francis, relies not only on theological experts in universities and bureaucrats in ecclesiastical administration.

Perspectives

Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, OCSO

Abbot General

Experientia,

an experience of continuous formation[1]

What I most like about the program Experientia is the way it came into being. I have, in fact, been an interested bystander and witness to its evolution since the General Chapter of 2014. For me, it has all the signs of the parable of the mustard seed in the Gospel. At its meeting at the end of the General Chapter of 2014, the Central Commission elected Sister Marie Mouris of Val d’Igny Abbey as Central Secretary for Formation. Her first task was to listen to what was said at the General Chapter about formation and the needs of the communities in this area. To gather such first-hand information, she wrote to the abbots and abbesses of the Order to inquire about their desires and needs, and also to see whether they could offer members of their houses who would be free and willing to help needy communities. Among the replies Sister Marie received, there was a suggestion that a newsletter should be published to share information on what is being done both in Regions and in communities in the area of formation, such as sessions, courses, and workshops. That suggestion was followed up at once and now the Newsletter is in regular circulation among the Order’s secretaries for formation and beyond. This initiative is much appreciated. It allows for the sharing of information, stimulates thought, and encourages communication and relationships among the secretaries, while also fostering possible collaboration among them.

Sister Marie not only listens; she also reflects. During the year 2015 she asked: ‘How can we get the Regions to work on the intuition that came out of the General Chapter of 2014 in the area of formation?’ The intuition she had in mind was in the form of a question posed by a Capitulant: ‘How can we promote an integral mystical formation?’ Sister Marie then managed to persuade seven abbots and abbesses to write on this topic from their experience, and the result was a booklet that was warmly welcomed.

Our ‘Guidelines on Formation’ (Ratio Institutionis) speak of the community itself as ‘formative’. This assertion, together with Sister Marie’s own conviction and the experience of some Regional meetings, led to the thought that it would be good to devise a simple proposal for the continuing formation of sisters and brothers of all ages. This would provide an opportunity for us to return communally to our Cistercian roots, to deepen our sense of identity, and to encourage individual study and lectio.

The Central Commission, meeting in 2016, in its discussion of Sister Marie’s report, encouraged the project and advised looking for someone with the skill and experience necessary to see it through. The Commission proposed Father Michael Casey of Tarrawarra Abbey for the task, and he happily accepted. A group was set up to work under Father Michael, and together they developed the program. Sister Marie described its contents and methodology in some detail to the General Chapter of 2017. The Capitulants then voted their support and encouragement of the programme as a project that merits consideration by communities of the Order.

The program bears the title Experientia. It is aimed at enabling monks and nuns of today to reflect on their lived experience of monastic life and then to confront that experience with texts chosen from the Cistercian and monastic tradition. In this way, the long experience distilled in our tradition can shed light on our present-day experience and offer us encouragement, motivation and direction in living the Cistercian grace in our contemporary world. Nine areas of experience are chosen for consideration, and they cover important areas of human and monastic living. Some of these topics are: ‘the journey so far’, ‘desire freed from desires’, ‘community’, ‘prayer’, and ‘diminishment’. As these headings clearly suggest, we have before us a program intended not just for the more studious, academic or intellectual monks and nuns among us, but one designed for the ordinary nun or monk in the stall. At bottom the project seeks, quite simply, to foster reflection on authentic human living, and on how to do that well as monks and nuns who follow the particular tradition of evangelical life expressed in the Rule of Saint Benedict and the Cistercian tradition.

I would here like to express my gratitude to Father Michael and the members of the group that has fashioned this program, as well as to those who have a role to play in its implementation. This is an Order-wide project, both in its conception and in its implementation.

It is the unpretentious fruit of simplicity. It has sprung from a listening and attentive spirit and is fuelled by an appreciation for the Cistercian charism, lived in its diversity throughout the world, as well as by intelligence, clarity of purpose, and competence. I warmly commend it to all the communities of the Order. May Experientia find a home in our monasteries, not just as an addition to our libraries or archives, but as an instrument of good works that will enable us to live our lives in today’s world with serenity and ardour and in the communion of Christ’s love. And may he bring us all together to everlasting life!

[1] Foreword to Volume 1 of Experientia, available on the OCSO website: https://www.ocso.org/formation/experientia. Courtesy of Dom Eamon Fitzgerald.

Perspectives

Dom Robert Igo, OSB

Monastery of Christ the Word, Macheke, Zimbabwe

Ongoing training:

Monastic Life after Covid-19

Permit me to share some initial and random thoughts in response to the paper delivered by the Abbot President of the English Benedictines, ‘Transforming our monasteries  for a new era’. What the ‘new’ normal will be is anyone’s guess and there are plenty of wild guesses! Years back in the UK there was a campaign launched to educate young children to cross the road safely, it was called ‘The Green Cross Code’. At the core of its message were three words: STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN. These words returned as I read and reflected on this proposed project.

It struck me that within the English Benedictine Congregation there are five monastic communities that are outside the United Kingdom and therefore have a very different perspective, one that is not rooted in English culture. That is particularly true of the foundations in Peru and Zimbabwe. With regard to Zimbabwe, we were very clear from the outset that our primary task was to plant the seed of monastic life according to the Rule of St Benedict, not the cultural  customs and structures of an English monastery. That being said, we were also clear that there was on our part no intention of passing judgement on the latter, simply a desire to face the reality of a new and very different culture. For this reason we spent much time trying to articulate what we thought were the key principles of Benedictine life without which we would cease to be sons of St Benedict.

In other words we did not enter upon this foundation with the notion that we already had all the answers. We came in a spirit of needing to learn from, not just impose upon the culture and people of Zimbabwe.  In that sense I have come to understand that the process never seems to end! Life after Covid-19 is in many respects not dissimilar  to making a foundation in a new and unfamiliar culture; therefore  the experience of the two foundations of the EBC just might have something to offer in terms of flexibility, commitment and patience. Genesis 12 has often come to mind during these twenty-four, nearly twenty-five years – it is has been a journey of faith and trust rather than of absolute certainty.

With this in mind I wonder if as an initial stage of this ‘Project’ it might be profitable if each community within the EBC were invited to reflect on the following questions:

1. What have been two or three positive aspects of our experiences of ‘lockdown’ with regard to: (a) our life of prayer together and personally, (b) spiritual reading (c) fraternal interaction, (d) a deeper appreciation of the Rule?

2. In what ways has the experience focused our sense of monastic identity and mission?

3. How has this experience highlighted our particular strengths or weaknesses?

4. What has it revealed about our traditional apostolates and possible future opportunities?

5. What from the above would we desire to build upon and strengthen in the coming months and years?

These are but a few questions which would perhaps lead to some useful ‘lived experience’ casting a light that in turn might enable each individual monastery to look to the future with hope and then help the EBC (that is, the Abbot President and General Chapter) to provide useful support and facilitation. As the Constitutions make clear, the EBC is a collection of sui juris monasteries of monks and nuns. It is not a corporate entity that can be managed from above, but rather requires a grass-roots engagement with a process of monastic renewal, not dissimilar to that outlined in two exhortations by Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium and Gaudete et Exsultate.

How could the monasteries of our Congregation best respond to the present situation with a renewed sense of mission – a hunger for holiness and to share the joy of the Gospel - and thus lead to a genuine pooling of shared experience, wisdom and resources by following the three elements of the ‘Green Cross Code’? We need of course to STOP, and in many ways the external imposition of lockdown has created just such an opportunity. Yet each monastery could perhaps seek positively to create time for individual members and the community as a whole to engage in serious guided reflection. This leads us to LOOK, perhaps by providing a series of reflective questions, such as the ones outlined above, which could easily be improved upon, so that the EBC might corporately ask the same questions, even if the answers will of necessity be different. But in order to prevent the ‘spirit of introspection’ arising we need to LISTEN not just to ourselves but to the Church in which we are situated. It is one thing for us to ask what kind of monasteries we want to be, but what kind of monasteries does the local and national Church want us to be and (more importantly) need us to be?

Let me be personal for a moment. When we arrived in Zimbabwe we made sure that we came into contact first with the Bishops, priests and religious. To date we have given retreats to every diocese in terms of the priests and given preached or individually guided retreats to members of every religious congregation. This was not merely as an exercise in exposure but a deliberate attempt to learn from them how we could be an authentic spiritual resource. We needed to know what they were expecting of us as monks. What were their real needs? This dialogue has been fruitful and built up trust and has naturally led to the second stage, that of engagement with the lay faithful. If Christ the Word is to be a monastery rooted in the soil of Zimbabwe, then we needed to treat that soil with respect and learn what the soil was truly like. I would suggest that something similar needs to happen with any ‘Project’ to transform our monasteries post-Covid-19.

Anyone familiar with epidemiology will tell you that this virus is likely to be part of our life for years, if not decades to come – I think of the HIV pandemic which continues to infect thousands each year and yet still no productive vaccine has emerged. Viktor Frankl spoke of the ‘barbed wire syndrome’ which caused inmates of concentration camps to die inwardly before they died outwardly. Some saw the wire and lost hope, while others saw the wire and knew there was life beyond. My point is this, much positive has already emerged from the experience of the last three to four months which surely has to be harnessed. Two examples spring quickly to mind. First, the strengthening  of our sense of fraternal life due to an enforced enclosure; I am sure this has had benefits that self-conscious seminars on ‘Community Building’ could never have achieved. Second, the creative way that communities have attempted to use social media etc in streaming Masses and retreats which have been highly appreciated even though the quality was not that of Warner Brothers! This creativity needs to continue and develop. This is where we need to reach out to the local and wider Church for advice and expertise. There are many exciting pastoral opportunities that this virus has brought to light, and engaging in dialogue with the Church at large will assist us greatly.

The spiritual vacuum which this virus has revealed is begging to be filled, and our monasteries need to be ready and equipped to move into this ‘field hospital’ situation with clear spiritual resources. If we ourselves however are not looking and reflecting on the Gospel and the Rule and seeing where these can assist the people of our day, then we will retreat into creating programs, structures, strategies that are paper-bound not people-led. They will get people to scratch where they are not itching. This is a God-given opportunity that will truly test the spiritual authenticity of the English Benedictine understanding  of monastic life.

I offer these random thoughts in the spirit of wanting to engage in the renewal of our monasteries. I realise this is only a beginning, but it is an exciting one.

Perspectives

Dom Bernardo Olivera, OCSO

Former Abbot General of the Trappists

Discernment of a Vocation

according to the Rule of St Benedict

This conference of Dom Bernardo Olivera on initial formation, given at the session for formators at the session of ABECCA in 2019, seems to us useful in explaining concretely such formation on the basis of what St Benedict envisages in the Rule.

The abundance and the lack of vocations are generally causes which underline the importance of discernment. Lack of vocations often invites us to run the risky process of ‘trying out’ candidates. Abundance of vocations may lead to a failure to check out the harvest adequately. Our purpose is to consult the teaching of St Benedict in his Rule, a teaching which covers the ground from the moment just before entry to full monastic profession.

St Benedict certainly had the charism of discernment of vocations, and when it comes to vocations he is highly practical: he bases himself on what can be seen and observed. There are four particular and general criteria offered by the Rule:

Persevering patience

The first criterion of the Rule features at the beginning of chapter 58:

Someone who wishes to embrace monastic life should not be given an easy entry, but as the Apostle says, ‘Examine the spirits to see if they are from God’. So if the person who presents himself patiently endures all the trials inflicted on him and the difficulty of admission, and if he persists in his request, let him enter. He should stay for a few days in the guesthouse of the monastery (Rule 58.1-4).

It is a question of a preliminary discernment to test the candidate and see whether he is touched by the Spirit of God in coming to the monastery. Benedict draws attention to two points which are easy to verify, perseverance and patience. The factor of time will help to verify these two aspects. If, after a period of several days the candidate perseveres in his request and accepts the delays put up against him, one can be sure that the Spirit of God has led him to the monastery. This does not, of course, show that he is obliged to embrace monastic life. Patience is the first virtue which the candidate must exercise. Patience – with oneself and with others – is a priority in monastic life. Without patience there is no communion with the paschal sufferings of Christ, nor profound and generous communion with the deficiencies of the brothers of the community (Rule, Prologue and chapter 72).

Pastoral comment: often, influenced by lack of vocations, some people rush to admit candidates, leaving this criterion aside, though it is mentioned in all the Rules and in general in the monastic tradition. For the same reason the candidate is often not warned of the rough and difficult ways on which the road to God leads (chapter 58).

The search for God

‘To watch with scrupulous care, whether in very truth he seek God and be solicitous as to the Work of God, obedience and humiliations.’ (58,7)

The search for God in this context leads us on the search not for a hidden God but for a God from whom we have turned away and to whom we have decided to return, a God who has anticipated our search by his own search for us (Prologue 2 ; chapter 58).

Note that Benedict tells us to ‘observe’. In these terms the criteria of discernment which he puts forward require careful observation. The suggestion is that this observation is done by all the brothers of the community. It is presupposed that the senior capable of gaining souls (the novicemaster) is responsible for this observation in a special way. The observation must be carefully done. This particular observation refers to its intensity and above all to its length. What subtlety and perspicacity do not achieve is easily done by time itself. The passage of time reveals the secrets of the heart. The object of attentive observation is not the intention (invisible) of the candidate with regard to monastic life but his behaviour (visible), and this in a triple perspective: the gift of himself to a life of prayer, the acceptance of the will of others and everything which puts the pride of the candidate under his feet. Note that it is not enough that he should dedicate himself to prayer, to obedience and to humility; he must be given over to it with an acceptance devoted, fervent and full of good zeal.

- The Opus Dei

In what concerns the Opus Dei prayer has the first place. Benedict is consistent with what he says at the beginning of the Rule, ‘First of all, when you prepare to do a good work, ask Him with insistent prayer to bring it to a good end’ (Prologue 4). For the sake of clarity and to leave no room for doubt, ‘Prefer nothing to the Opus Dei’ (chapter 43). Note that the Opus Dei refers to the Divine Office, but as an expression of a general effort of attention to God. Pastoral comment: it is not only the candidate’s ‘request’ to participate in the Opus Dei actively and conscientiously that should be observed, but also the way in which he integrates with the praxis urged on him by formators, use of choir-books, chant, study, history, theology, structure of the liturgy of the hours, mystagogy, the prayer of the psalms, the need for the spirit to accord with the heart.

- Benedictine obedience

Benedictine obedience is a consequence of prayer (cf. Rule chapter 6) and therefore has a certain priority. The first step in humility is obedience without delay (chapter 5). The demands of obedience (fervour, good zeal) lead to an obedience not only to superiors but also to all the brothers of the community (chapter 72). This obedience unites the monk to Jesus Christ who said, ‘I come to do not my own will but that of him who sent me’ (chapter 7, quoting John 6). Pastoral comment: it is important to keep in mind that there exist two sorts of obedience with regard to liberty: forced obedience, in which the motive force is fear, and obedience by conviction, in which the motive force is choice. In the first kind of obedience liberty is restrictied by fear of punishment; in the second free will prevails (liberty motivated by reason). This is the voluntary obedience of which Perfectae Caritatis speaks.

- Opprobia

The possible source for opprobria is the text of St Basil (Basil’s Rule, 6-7) referring to lowly and common tasks, regarded by the secular world as servile. St Benedict takes over the whole life of the candidate in order to further humility by inevitable humiliations (Rule, chapter 7). This is how the candidate for monastic life begins, by adhering to Jesus Christ who shows himself gentle and humble of heart, and who came to serve not to be served (Mt 11.29; Mk 10.45). Pastoral comment: it is not a matter of being expressly and deliberately humbled, but of accepting a life of service and humility.

- Conclusion

Benedict is very concrete: the search for God shows itself in combatting egoism and pride, since they impede communion with Jesus Christ and one’s neighbour.

Let us note also that the three criteria proposed by the Patriarch find a certain correspondence with the ladder of humility. In fact the first step of humility corresponds to the relationship of the monk to God. The second and fourth refer to obedience. The fifth to eighth steps put forwards ways of lowering oneself in connection with shame or humiliation. For reasons which we do not know – literary or pedagogical? – Benedict does not mention silence as a criterion of discernment. Nevertheless steps nine to twelve of the ladder of humility speak to us about it. In short St Benedict’s proposal can be reformulated in two questions: is the candidate for religious life seeking to follow and to imitate Christ in his prayer, his obedience and his self-denial? Are prayer, obedience and humility at the service of a genuine search for God?

L’observance de la Règle

Le troisième critère clé consiste dans la confrontation avec la Règle de vie de la communauté.

Saint Benoît dit qu’elle doit être lue au candidat trois fois en entier avant de faire sa promesse finale. La capacité du candidat à observer patiemment ce qu’elle prescrit est également un critère de discernement (58, 9-16).

Commentaire pastoral : Les comportements obéissants et humbles doivent vivifier l’observance de la Règle entière, cette observance étant une preuve supplémentaire de la recherche de Dieu. En plus de la règle de saint Benoît, le candidat doit connaître les coutumes de l’Ordre contenues dans les Constitutions et les Usages de la communauté.

Le bon zèle

La demande que le candidat à la vie monastique doit manifester est intimement liée au bon zèle, typique de quelqu’un qui décide de s’éloigner des vices et de diriger ses pas vers Dieu. Par conséquent, le chapitre 72 de la Règle, sur le bon zèle ou l’amour plus ardent, offre des critères supplémentaires pour vérifier le don de sa vie et sa croissance dans la vie divine.

En bref, les critères du bon zèle peuvent être présentés comme suit :

– se respecter les uns les autres (honneur) ;

– se soutenir mutuellement (patience) ;

– s’obéir mutuellement (obéissance) ;

– renoncer à soi-même, pas à son voisin ! (abnégation-oblation) ;

– s’aimer (fraternité, sororité) ;

– craindre Dieu avec amour (début de la sagesse) ;

– aimer l’abbé / cela avec une affection sincère (filiation) ;

– ne rien préférer au Fils unique ! (Christocentrisme).

Commentaire pastoral : Un novice qui ne brûle pas, au moins parfois, d’un zèle ardent même s’il est un peu excessif, court le risque de devenir un médiocre profès solennel. La sagesse populaire pourrait traduire ainsi ce texte de la Règle : un nouveau balai balaye bien et un vieil âne « n’arrive pas à trotter ».

Conclusion

Il est évident que ces critères, en particulier le critère du bon zèle, ont une valeur, non seulement pour l’entrée dans la vie monastique et la persévérance, mais aussi pour le passage du moine et de la moniale dans la vie éternelle.

La doctrine du Patriarche, en raison de sa base évangélique, conserve toute sa valeur. L’enseignement de saint Benoît exposé ci-dessus doit être pris en compte et retraduit pour les circonstances du monde d’aujourd’hui.

La manière dont ses principes sont incarnés peut changer et s’enrichir.

[1] Intervention à la session des formateurs de l’ABECCA (2019).

Perspectives

Sister Marie-Enosh Cho, OSB

Prioress of Busan (South Korea)

The Formation of Benedictines

in South Korea

On the occasion of a questionnaire on monastic formation, sent out by AIM to different regions of the world, one of the responses concerned monastic formation in South Korea. We think that it will be of interest to give this contribution as it stands, since it shows the solutions adopted in a region which shares the conditions and concerns of other regions.

I- Initial Formation, Noviciate

For the initial formation each Congregation runs its own programme. This formation focuses on prayer, study, work, and community life. It may include seminars or workshops tailored to a better understanding of human nature. Between entry into a community and first profession there is generally a period of four years for women (one year as aspirant, one as postulant, two years as novice) and two to three years for men.

Some Congregations have their own classes for spirituality, catechesis and theology for this initial formation. Others send their candidates to the theological institute of another Congregation or diocese. During this formation attention is focused on a life of prayer, education and experience of the religious life.

Course : Bible, dogmatic theology, liturgy, spirituality, psychology, social teaching of the Church, the Rule of St Benedict, constitutions, statutes and customs of the Congregation, ecology, English, Latin, liturgical music, organ.

Seminars on the understanding of self and of relationships, communication.

Regular spiritual accompaniment and psychological help if necessary.

Experience of a temporary apostolate.

II- Juniorate

1- Length:

Five or six years for women, three to seven for men.

2- Content:

For women:

Spiritual orientation with the mistress of the temporarily professed, regular meetings and retreats.

A ‘second noviciate’ of a year before permanent vows, work and study, the Thirty-day Retreat of St Ignatius of Loyola.

Regular meetings of the young professed within each Congregation.

Work within the Congregation and/or missionary apostolate for the Church.

Experience of the mission and apprenticeship in English for future missionaries.

Monthly regional meetings for the temporarily professed.

For men:

Study of philosophy and theology at the seminary in view of the priesthood. Monks not intended for the priesthood also study theology and other matters needed for the apostolic mission.

Participation in seminars in spiritual psychology for self-understanding.

Requirement of counselling individually or in groups.

Participation in missions and apostolic work.

3- Inter-Congregational Formation

Annual reunion for young professed of the Korean Benedictine Orders.

III- Continuing Formation

1- Programmes of continuing formation organised independently by each Congregation

For women:

Participation in programmes of continuing formation put forward annually on Church teaching and understanding of human nature.

Participation in programmes of contining formation organised by the various Congregations.

Thirty-day retreat for tenth, twenty-fifth and fortieth anniversaries of religious profession.

Participation in programme of formation for renewal between six and twelve months before Silver Jubilee (25 years).

Formation Seminars for elderly sisters.

Pilgrimages abroad.

For men:

Participation in formation and seminars provided within each Congregation.

Pilgrimages abroad.

2- Participation in courses

These courses, which focus on personal development, mid-life needs, the responsibility for movement, are put forward by the Institute of theology and the Institute of formation, and are organised by the association of major superiors.

IV- Seminars and Meetings for Formators

1. Preparation intended for formators in charge of initial or continuing formation.

After solemn profession courses on theology, Scripture, monasticism, the Rule, spiritual psychology, etc.

Courses on the formation of formators in Korea or abroad.

Formation for spiritual accompaniment: the association of major superiors are planning a course next year.

2. Continuing formation of formators

The formators meet each year; they set up a programme of meetings and organise sessions and discussions on the relevant subjects. These meetings are very active at the heart of the association (initial formation, continuing formation, religious life and the elders…).

Participation in international meetings of formators organised by the Benedictine Confederation.

V- Formation of Superiors

Conferences and meetings intended for Benedictine superiors are organised twice a year by the association of major superiors. They meet also to hear conferences or to discuss a particular subject.

The superiors of small Benedictine communities meet each year for formation and to discuss their role and responsibility.

There are also meetings for Bursars.

Supplementary Information about the Formation of Korean Benedictines

The Benedictine Orders of Korea belong to the following Congregations : St-Ottilien or Tutzing (Germany), Olivetan Sisters (Switzerland), Olivetan Brothers (Italy). These Congregations (with the exception of the Olivetan Brothers, who came to South Korea in the 1980s) all began in China or North Korea, which are now under a Communist regime. The communities, which have all undergone expatriations, exiles and imprisonments by the Communist governments, are now part of South Korea. The Korean Benedictines have grown and established their stability. They bear witness to the Benedictine spirituality in the Korean Catholic Church, and serve the Church by various ministries.

The Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing and the Olivetan Sisters are not enclosed and have undertaken apostolic ministry. They make a big group and include hundreds of members. Their distinguishing mark is that they undertake apostolic work and live in small communities.

Even though the number of vocations has declined sharply in the last twenty years, they remain relatively important by comparison to other countries. This is probably due to the effort put into formation and study. Korea was a missionary country. Catechesis, theology, Scripture and spirituality were considered basic to initial formation and deepening of the Christian spirit. All this has favourably influenced the apprenticeship and understanding of the fundamental principles of the consecrated life.

Perspectives

Dom Brendan Thomas, OSB

Belmont Abbey (United Kingdom)

The Monastic Formators’ Programme

For a long time monastic communities throughout the world had been asking for some help for those called to work in the important area of formation. After some years in preparation the first Monastic Formators’ Programme (MFP) took place in Rome in 2002. The next programme is scheduled to run from March to June 2022.

The course is held in Rome where participants have the experience of being part of an international Benedictine family and have the benefit of instruction from some of the most respected monastic teachers of our time. It is run in co-operation with Sant’ Anselmo with the wholehearted support of the Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation (OSB) and the Abbot General of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (OCSO).

The Programme is open to monks and nuns and sisters following the Rule of St Benedict who are either currently working in formation or preparing to do so in the future. For three months participants form a monastic community, studying and praying together, but with a sense of pilgrimage to special places of our Christian and monastic heritage including Norcia, Subiaco and Monte Cassino. The programme is divided between Rome and Assisi. In Rome accommodation is at Sant’ Anselmo. The move to Sant' Anselmo for the first part of the programme was considered a great success by staff and students alike. It was good to be part of the wider Benedictine family, although the MFP group kept its own identity, liturgy and rhythm of life. It was an ideal central and peaceful location.

Each session of the Programme can take a maximum of 25 men and women. The language of the course is English and all participants are required to have a good working knowledge of it. So far over 360 people have participated.

Aims of the Programme

MFP is an intensive programme that demands a serious investment of study over a period of 3 months. The aims are threefold:

ACADEMIC: to provide a deeper appreciation of the monastic tradition and its values.

PEDAGOGICAL: to reflect on how we communicate this tradition with love and enthusiasm.

PASTORAL: to deal with questions of discernment and human and spiritual development.

Character of the Programme

This Programme is rooted in the teaching of St Benedict and the monastic tradition. It is composed of:

LECTURES on a range of topics related to the monastic tradition and formation today.

GROUP REFLECTION and discussion to share experience, insight and expertise.

EXCURSIONS and visits to monasteries and historic Christian sites.

COMMUNITY LIVING with those from different countries and cultural backgrounds, with a regular framework of prayer.

Programme Contents and Staff

The content varies slightly from year to year, but the following is an indication of the topics covered over the three months:

The monastic dynamic of Christian discipleship; earthing Benedict; reading Benedict’s Rule in the land of Benedict; the art of winning souls; pastoral care of novices; the paschal dimension of monastic life (during Holy Week); the call to be human: issues in vocational discernment; the challange of living friendship and celibacy in community; sources of the monastic tradition: Basil the Great; John Cassian; the Rule of the Master; desert elders; Augustine of Hippo; monastic history from Benedict to the present day; lectio divina and the Psalms; helping novices to pray; the witness of community; conversion; monastic commitment; spiritual accompaniment in the monastic context.

The permanent staff of the programme are:

Dom Brendan Thomas OSB, monk of Belmont Abbey, England, where he is currently Prior and Novice Master. He has been the Director of the Programme since its start in 2002.

Dom Javier Aparicio is a monk of St Ottilien Abbey and is Prior of the community of Rabanal del Camino in the north of Spain. He has been involved in formation work in the St Ottilien Congregation and is on its Council. He is a former participant of MFP and is joining the staff from 2019.

Dom Mark Butlin OSB, the Associate Director is a monk of Ampleforth Abbey, England, and has wide international experience working for AIM with responsibilities for Asia and English-speaking Africa. Previously he ran the Recyclage (Renewal) Programme at Sant’ Anselmo. He was at the forefront of the conception of the Programme.

Recent courses have brought together some of the best teachers from the monastic world. Amongst regular contributors are Sr Aquinata Böckmann OSB from Rome; Abbot Bernardo Bonowitz OCSO from Brazil; Dom Michael Casey OCSO from Australia; Dom Colmán O’Clabaigh OSB and Sr Brenda Dolphin from Ireland; Dom John Mark Falkenhain OSB and Dom Columba Stewart OSB, from the USA as well as Abbot Primate Gregory Polan OSB.

The 2019 Programme had 23 participants from 20 different countries: 10 women and 13 men; Cistercians and Benedictines of various Congregations. We hope and pray that their three months of study and reflection will enrich their communities in the coming years. We were particularly pleased to welcome some new teachers, including Dom Mauritius Wilde, Prior of Sant’ Anselmo and Dom John Mark Falkenhain, monk of St Meinrad and professor of psychology there.

The next Programme: 2022

Sadly we have had to cancel our 2021 Programme because of the pandemic.

Application forms for the Programme for 2022 can be downloaded from the website or sent to you as an email attachment. Please contact Fr Brendan if you would like further information. Please contact us after Easter 2021. The closing date for applications will be September 30th 2021. Later applications will be considered according to the availability of places.

The all-inclusive fee for the Programme is expected to be €6,900 (Euros) which represents the actual cost per person of putting on the Programme. Thanks to the generosity of supporters of the Programme a limited number of bursaries and scholarships will be available for those communities in need of assistance.

For further information please contact:

Dom Brendan Thomas, Director,

Monastic Formators’ Programme

Belmont Abbey,

Hereford HR2 9RZ

Great Britain

brendan@belmontabbey.org.uk

Tel.: (+44) 1432 37 47 34

Website: www.monasticformators.org

Perspectives

Sister Agnes Bruyère, OCSO

Prioress of Masina Maria, Ampibanjinana (Madagascar)

The Formation of Formators in the Monasteries

of Madagascar and the Indian Ocean

In the AIM Bulletin 116 of 2019 Dom Christopher Vuillaume, Benedictine, monk of Mahitsy, gave an excellent summary of monastic life in Madagascar. After mentioning that the Madagasy monks and nuns of our monasteries have taken on major responsibilities in our communities, he adds, ‘We in Madagascar are living at a crucial moment when our vocation to seek God in monastic life must express itself fully, and no doubt richly, in and through the local culture, among monks and nuns who will have to translate it according to their own gifts and those of their people. This is a task at once delicate and passionate, a responsibility which no one can take on for them.’

It is in this context that we must acquire for ourselves an adequate formation for our formators, at the same time suitable to our culture and careful to pass on what is really essential. In fact vocations are numerous in most of our houses, especially those located in the more ancient regions of evangelisation, notably the highlands of Madagascar. The average age in our communities is not very high, and in recent years the geographically grouped foundations have spread to the four corners of the Island and even as far as the Seychelles. Nineteen monastic communities of this large region were founded between 1920 and 2014, but eight of them are less than thirty years old, five of them being Madagasy foundations.

The Conference of Major Superiors in Madagascar organises formations and sessions for novicemasters and mistresses of all the Congregations. Some of our communities participate in them regularly. The formation at Antanarivo lasts an academic year, centred on Lovasoa. Sessions last a week and focus on varied themes, the canon law of religious life, spiritual accompaniment, the psychology of the young and its interaction with the spiritual life, Benedictine spirituality, etc. These meetings and moments of teaching, shared with other apostolic Congregations, are precious, since they help formators to understand better the challenges faced by young people, changes of culture, the expectations of the young and the obstacles they meet in the development of their vocations. But for monastic life itself we have felt the need to arrange specific sessions led by teachers who know our form of life well. Several formators of our communities have followed courses on formation in France, such as the Ananias programme, which is multi-cultural and much appreciated.

In addition to all this, at the level of the Conference of Monasteries of Madagascar and the Indian Ocean, we try to arrange a session for monastic formators which we would like to be repeated every two years, In fact between 2012 and 2019 we succeeded in organising two. The first took place in April 2012 at Ampibanjinana (Fianarantso), led by Mme Thérésa, a psychologist, on the theme, ‘Personal competence in the role of novicemistress, transmitting the charism’ for a little group of nine sisters, six Carmelite, two Benedictine and one Cistercian. In 2016 at Antsirabe Sisters Marie-Florence and Clarisse-Odette, PFM, led a session on the theme, ‘To equip oneself in self-help and help to others’ with twenty-one participants (seven Carmelites, four Claretians, five Benedictines, three Cistercians, two Trinitarian nuns. In 2019 the session lasted twice four days. Sisters Marie-Florence and Clarisse-Odette looked after the first four days. The Jesuit P. Georges contributed teaching on discernment in formation. On the final day a visit of two monasteries on Fianarantsoa closed the session. There were more than forty participants, nearly all the communities having sent at least two people. Postulant-masters, novices, young professed, superiors – all those engaged on monastic formation were represented.

When one asks formators what they expect from formation it is very frequently a question of accompaniment and discernment. Monastic formation touches the whole being, not only the intellectual domain, especially in the countryside and in the life of the monastery. The novicemaster and mistress must be vigilant on every front, formation human, affective, cultural, intellectual, spiritual. They must also be alert that the different cultures in the noviciate itself really fit together in a real communion, rather than being source of conflict. This is a task which requires great openness and many human qualities, notably the ability to listen. This can be learnt better by the advice of an elder person than in books.

During the three sessions between monasteries and as an addition to the very rich teaching combined with a lively pedagogy (alternance of conferences, sharing in small groups, role-play and relaxation-exercises, every participant had the opportunity of an individual session with one of the leaders. This was greatly appreciated, and those who took part in the session realised that ‘our mission to the novices begins with ourselves.’

The subjects touched on by Sisters Marie-Florence and Clarisse were: the stage of psychic development, conflict-management and the qualities required to be a formator. P Georges raised the subject of the biblical foundations of discernment, the art of helping young people become adult and mature in their relationship to God and in their responsibilities. He stressed the necessity for the formator to cultivate a deep relationship with Christ, which remains the sole foundation, the purpose of formation and the whole life of the monk.

The need for sessions of this kind is very great. The difficulty is to find leaders who are conversant with the specific needs of monastic life. Another difficulty is the cost of travel. It is only through the help of AIM that the formators were able to come to Maromby in such large numbers in 2019; we are very grateful to them. In future years we hope also to be able to welcome experienced monks and nuns from other regions to help our formators and superiors.

Perspectives

Dom Olivier-Marie Sarr, OSB

Abbot of Keur Moussa (Senegal),

President of the Structure Sainte-Anne

The Structure Sainte-Anne

The Formation of Teachers

in the Monasteries of West Africa

To respond to a real need of well-formed monks and nuns to teach in their respective monasteries the superiors of the Francophone monasteries of West Africa a few years ago had the fine idea of creating the Structure Sainte-Anne (SSA). This article is intended to present its mission, its objectives, and some prospects for the future.

Its Mission, an Initiation

‘As Saint Anne initiated on the ways of Wisdom the Virgin Mary, who gave the world the Eternal Wisdom of the Father, so this structure aims to initiate brothers and sisters of the monasteries of West Africa to form their brothers and sisters in the search for God by instruction in monastic theology.’ (Statutes of the SSA)

By these words the superiors of the Francophone monasteries of West Africa wished to define the objectives of this platform and at the same time to explain the choice of a name of this structure placed under the patronage of St Anne. The analogy with the role of St Anne is used to motivate the choice of a method dear to Africans, that of initiation. This term in fact evokes an essential link in traditional African education. Initiation is the process of transmission which corresponds to a rite of passage. We can understand it in two ways, the passing of a ‘minor’ to adulthood by the transmission of a tradition or of knowledge generally reserved to adults. To apply this to the African monastic tradition, the SSA wishes to offer a formation for monks and nuns, Benedictine and Cistercian, of Francophone West Africa who are already dispensing a course or who are preparing to do so. In other words, it concerns brothers and sisters who have had the benefit of a philosophical and theological course in loco provided by their seniors in monastic life, possibly with important contributions from external teachers, or by attendance at a seminary or Catholic University.

Four Objectives

In general, on completing several years of formation, these newly-formed monks and nuns are called to transmit in their turn the knowledge acquired. Of course, completion of a formation, often with very good marks, does not in itself guarantee the ability to prepare and pass on the content received and often well assimilated. It is at this level that the SSA comes on stage, since its founders put four principal objectives before themselves:

1. To form the teachers to prepare a course on the Bible, monastic theology and liturgy, stressing above all the content and the pedagogy, and offering some directions of research.

2. To allow the monasteries of Francophone West Africa to benefit for some years from brothers and sisters specialising in the above subjects.

3. To stimulate intellectual life in the monastic milieu.

4. To contribute to the development of monastic reflection in Africa.

To fulfil these objectives it is essential that the formator should have acquired a good method of work and a solid, scientific methodology to seriously prepare a course by working out a plan balanced and well-structured, and a rich and up-to-date bibliography. Since method constitutes, with pedagogy, the key to the transmission of knowledge, we have tried – for the session initially planned for this summer (but postponed to next year at the same period because of the health crisis) – to consecrate a month-long module to methodology. It seemed to us essential to offer our young teachers the didactic, pedagogical and methodological tools which they need to be able to succeed in the task confided to them. However, we must not halt there, for other construction-sites must be explored.

Some Perspectives

In view of the irregular timing of these sessions (about every four years), the distance between monasteries, limitations of finance and logistics, the SSA must continue to be a permanent tool to serve the formation of teachers in our different monasteries. Consequently it is called upon to arouse and create a real solidarity between the different members on the subject of intellectual formation. Such mutual help must consist, for example, of putting together and making available a list of teachers in our monasteries and allowing them, each in his or her particular specialisation, to work together, help one another, exchange courses and teaching material. To that end we plan to create an internet platform with the objective of offering to all our monasteries of West Africa the opportunity of consulting or visualising courses, reading or downloading a bibliography, articles and reviews with the help of the Athenaeum of Sant’ Anselmo, the AIM and other equivalent structures. In this way we can supplement the deficiencies of our libraries. Not only that. We are well aware that certain monasteries sometimes lack competent personnel on the ground for the studies of their young people in formation. It would fall to the director of the SSA and the animating team to advise superiors on the structures existing in our region which contribute to a successful integration of monastic and intellectual life. The studium of philosophy and theology at the monastery of Our Lady of Bouaké is a good illustration of this.

In fact the initiation outlined above is a process of maturing. It is dynamic, and it offers a range of possibilities which ally tradition, progress and initiative. Of course the challenges of yesterday are not those of today, but formation always remains a vital need for our communities. It is the task of SSA to adapt and respond to fresh needs of our monasteries in the matter of formation of teaching monks and nuns.

Perspectives

Sister Michelle Sinkhorn, OSB

Monastery of the Immaculate Conception, Ferdinand (USA)

Wisdom Connections T4

The Wisdom Connections T4 program, which has been in place for six years, has become a common monastery word for many Benedictine communities. The official name of the program is Wisdom Connections: Timeless TraditionsTechnological Times and is often called the T4 program or simply T4 for short. T4 is a Benedictine Formation program which uses technology to provide initial and ongoing formation classes for members of Benedictine communities. The program is also used to connect newer members and their formation directors with each other across the world.

The program was originally funded by a generous grant from the GHR Foundation and was implemented by many Benedictine sisters throughout the United States. During the grant period, the first 3 years, participation in the program was limited. However, since the end of the official grant, the program has been opened up as a membership-based opportunity for women’s and men’s Benedictine communities from anywhere in the world.

There are currently 49 monasteries in the T4 program. They are from seven different countries – Australia, Canada, Ireland, Korea, Lithuania, Nigeria, and the United States. There currently are a total number of 2,499 community members in the T4 communities.

The T4 program offers access to a secure digital library with presentations by Benedictine scholars such as Abbot Primite Gregory Polan, Sister Irene Nowell, Fr. Jerome Kodell, Sister Ephrem Hollarman, Fr. Terrence Kardong, Sister Joan Chittister, and many more. Some topics include Benedictine History, Liturgy of the Hours, Profession/Vows, Rule of St. Benedict, Scripture, Benedictine Spirituality, and Personal Awareness/Development. There are currently over 312 videos in the library with 44 different presenters. Several more presentations / classes are still in the process of being taped and edited.

The T4 program also offers access to a variety of resources to go along with the videos. A biography page is provided for each presenter. This page includes a photo of and information about the presenter as well as titles and descriptions of all presentations s/he has in the T4 library. For presentations where it is applicable, there is also access to handouts and any other supporting documents provided by the presenters. These can be printed out or saved electronically and used for classes or formation days.

For ease of use, a full list of all presentations in the T4 library is easily available on the T4 web page. For members, this document has clickable hyperlinks that go directly to the biographies, videos, and handouts. If a little more guidance is needed, members have access to T4 specific instructional materials including a T4 Technology Handbook and homemade videos showing how to use various parts of the T4 program. While most communities are able to figure everything out with these resources, if a community needs a little extra technological help, a 1-2 day in-person T4 orientation and training in English may be available (this is an added expense above the membership fee).

If T4 members so choose, there is opportunity for your initial formation members and initial formation directors to participate in T4 Relationship Building groups using a video conferencing program called Zoom. These groups are organized by T4 volunteer committee members and run by T4 volunteer moderators. Each group of initial formation members and their moderators meet on a regular basis at set times, depending on what each group decides. It is an opportunity for new members to share their journeys with each other, ask questions they might have, or study something specific together.

Likewise, the formation directors have their own groups in which they can share their experiences, formation curriculums, joys, struggles, and more. There are 34 initial formation members in the U.S.A participating in relationship-building groups, and 14 in Australia and 22 formation directors in groups of 5-6 each.

If your community is interested in T4, the newly renovated website includes pages with information about the program as well as a downloadable list of the presentations included in the program. Also included on the web page is a list of benefits that come with paid T4 membership as well as testimonials of current T4 members.

The T4 membership fee is $500 U.S. dollars per year due every December 1st. This membership fee grants access to all the T4 resources. A downloadable membership form is available on the home page of the T4 web site: www.wisdomconnectionst4.org

If you have questions, or would like further information, please contact the program’s Project Director & Technology Administrator, Sister Michelle Sinkhorn, OSB at t4srmichelle@gmail.com or call her at 812-367-1411, ext. 2898. For international calls, she is also available via WhatsApp. If you are interested in the contact information, please email her for the number.

Monastic Life and work

Isabelle Jonveaux

Monastic Economy

as an Agent of Change

Whatever the economic model developed by communities, right through monastic history it is clear that monasteries have always been forces for social change. The historian of the Benedictine Order, Philibert Schmitz, speaks of the ‘civilising influence’[2] of the monks in Europe. To what extent can monasticism play a part today in innovation and development?

1. Why are Monasteries Places of Innovation?

In the course of history monasteries have always been places of innovation and development, despite the fact that in no way has this been their primary objective. This shows that the monastic structure has its own characteristics which lead to this dynamic. According to Olivier de Fardan[3] innovation is defined as ‘a grasp of techniques, knowledge or new organisation (in general under the form of local adaptations, borrowed or imported) of currect techniques, knowledge and ways of organising’.[4] He stresses also that innovation must be considered a social process.

First of all, a monastic community is not an economic group whose aim is to make a profit. Theoretically the economy remains at the service of the community to enable it to survive. Consequently this introduces the possibility of risk-taking because the immediate goal of the community is not subject to the report of an annual budget. Besides this, the community is long-lasting: this group lasts longer than a single enterprise and therefore can afford to take risks and invest in human capital. In accord with the idea of stability (stabilitas loci) a monastic community looks far ahead. Furthermore, this grouping is for most of the time at peace socially: it defines itself as a group of persons seeking God. The durability of the community makes possible the transmission of experiences and of knowledge. One thinks for example of the work of monastic copying which made possible throughout the Middle Ages the transmission of knowledge of medicine, agriculture, botany, etc. Finally, the long history of monasticism can improve various dimensions and furnish an example of experience lived by other communities or in other eras: ‘The remarkable stability of monasticism is in large part a stability of memory, a continuity of understanding spanning thirty generations’.[5] Even if a community is young, each monastery dovetails into the monastic tradition which gives it legitimacy.[6]

2. Economy and Development in Africa

In developing countries, where monasticism is often a recent planting, communities play an important part in economic and social development. Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan defines development as ‘an ensemble of social processes brought on by deliberate operations of transforming a social milieu, undertaken by agents exterior to this milieu but eager to change it.’[7] In the case of monasticism, however, development takes on different dimensions. As had already been mentioned, innovation and development are not in themselves the goal of monastic life, but can become positive external factors. This shows that development is a consequence of activities motivated by a monastic goal, that is, they serve the religious goal of monastic life. For example, the monks of the Middle Ages developed hydraulic power to gain more time for prayer.[8]

The development achieved by monasteries in contemporary Africa is normally an external spin-off from activities or innovations of the monastery. So the Abbot of Keur Moussa says, ‘We do not innovate deliberately. It just happens.’ Communities of the Benedictine tradition have always developed in and around the monastery conditions which enable them to serve the needs of the community. In the framework of a new foundation this means that the monks or nuns work to make their lands arable, secure the presence of water, and introduce or generate electricity. The Abbey of Keur Moussa in Senegal has adopted as their slogan, ‘The desert will flower’ (Isaiah 35.1). It has in fact made possible the culture of lands which were previously arid, and has introduced new species into the environment. The increase in paid work in the locality has also contributed to the local economy by giving the local people employment. For a Kenyan monk of the monastery Our Lady of Mount Kenya it is a question of the chief dimension of their work of development. Indeed the formation of monks and nuns is also a direct part of this development. Indirectly, the monastery is taking part in the development of the region by attracting a population which settles in the neighbourhood to profit from the work, from a dispensary and from a school.

Another dimension of monastic development occurs as a response by monks and nuns to local needs. Since the first religious communities in Africa were missionary congregations whose aim was to develop schools, dispensaries and hospitals, the same expectations exist wherever monks or nuns move into a new environment. For this reason the monks of Keur Moussa, who came from Solesmes bringing with them a strictly contemplative and enclosed style of monastic life, needed to open a school and a small dispensary. Of course as soon as possible they confided the school to the laity and the dispensary to an apostolic Congregation of sisters. As a monk remarked in conversation, ‘The women came to give birth and the monks needed to help them, though this is not the mission of a monk!’ The monastic communities also often support social programmes, as for example the monastery of Our Lady of Mount Kenya takes part in a farming project without land in order to help poor families become self-sufficient.

3. Monastic Economy as an Alternative Economy

Monastic economy can also constitute a force of change within the economy by introducing alternative ways of living. For example in the European context monasteries try to offer an alternative to the capitalist approach, and in certain cases are developing reflections and presenting courses on the subject. A French sister, Nicole Reille, speaks of the economy of the Congregations as a ‘prophetic economy’, thanks to the witness which it can bear to the world of ethical land use.

The alternative dimension of the economy of African monasteries can be seen also in the specific context of its difference from the accepted norms of society. A first dimension concerns that way of working lived and justified by the monastic ideal. Since work could at first sight seem contradictory to the monastic ideal, monks and nuns put forward at interviews different forms of justification. For example a young sister at Karen said,

‘I do it with love, not just doing it, I do it with a lot of love. Until they feel themselves that this cloth is washed with love. Even when you sweep you sweep a place with love and somebody will look at it and say “Yes, this was done with love.” It doesn’t matter what you have gone to school for, but what matters is what you give to the community.’ (04/2014).

An interesting example comes from Séguéya in Conakry Guinea in the particular situation of a communist state where the monks are contributing to giving a new worth to labour: the monks do manual labour, they do what they can to earn money.

‘Guinea has this particularity that it does not really have a culture of work because of the political system. People have lost the culture of work. Seeing our brothers labouring and working the land gives people a desire to do the same thing. I think that the message is getting across’ (4/07/2016).

A second dimension is the human and social management developed by communities towards their work-forces. The social dimension of recruitment is a criterion which is often more important than the economic performance. The bursar at Keur Moussa explains,

‘The most important thing is the social dimension. From the very beginning we put into pratise the social decision to help those around us who had no work and who came asking for work. We would have liked to do more, but our resources were limited. We help a lot of people around us’ (4/07/2016).

In addition, certain African communities pay the social contributions of their workers, which is not common in that society.

Finally, lasting development and ecology are subjects which are being implanted more and more in African communities. Thus the community of Keur Moussa is now practising biological farming. Or in Kenya the monks are developing solar energy and recycling of water while they wait to be connected to the central supply. The monastery of Agbang (Togo), which also lives on solar energy, constitutes a source of electricity for the Peuhl bushmen, who come to the monastery to recharge their telephones.

Conclusion

What about monastic economy? There is no such thing as monastic economy as such, but several forms of economy of monasteries which depend on the political and religious history of each country and the present social and economic conditions. Of course certain common tendencies may be observed in the direction in which communities are trying to focus their economic activity. The form of economic activity plays an important part in the plausibility of monastic life in a society because it often constitutes one of the main links with the outside world. It also influences the form of monastic life and vice versa. The economy of African monasteries is an economy which seeks stability and reflects in detail the socio-economic context of the monastery and the influences which motivated the founders. But it is also through their economic activity that monateries can play a part in the development of their environment. Without it being of itself a goal of monastic life one may observe, in the terms of Max Weber, a ‘chosen affinity’ between monastic economy and economic, social and cultural development of the environment in which the monastery is located. Hence monastic life can have an influence on its local environment and even – if the monastic matrix is sufficiently weighty – influence society itself, as we have seen it did in the European environment.

[1] Isabelle Jonveaux is a sociologist, course-leader at the University of Graz and member of CeSor (Paris). She works principally on questions of monastic life (economy, work, physical conditions, asceticism) internet and religion (on-line religious practices, lack of internet), but also on fasting and alternative diets. At present she is developing a research-project on Catholic monastic life in Africa). The present article is part of her contribution in the framework of the colloquium of the Monastic Institute of Sant’Anselmo in Rome on ‘Monastic Life and Economy’ (cf. Studia Anselmiana, Monasticism and Economy, Rediscovering an Approach to Work and Poverty, Acts of the Fourth International Symposium held at Rome, June 7-10, 2016).

[2] P. Schmitz, Histoire de l’ordre de Saint Benoît, vol 3, Œuvre civilisatrice jusqu’ au XIIe siècle, Maredsous 1943, p. 18.

[3] Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan is a French and Nigerian anthropologist, currently Professor of Anthropology and Director of Studies at the College of Higher Studies and Social Sciences of Marseilles.

[4] J.-P. Olivier De Sardan, « Anthropologie et développement. Essai en socio-anthropologie du changement social », Marseille-Paris 1995, http://classiques.uqac.ca/contemporains/olivier_de_sardan_jean_pierre/anthropologie_et_developpement/anthropo_et_developpement.pdf [accès : 11-11-18].

[5] R.H. Winthrop, ‘Leadership and Tradition in the Regulation of Catholic Monasticism’, Anthropological Quarterly, 58 (1985) 30.

[6] Olivier De Sardan, ‘Anthropologie et développement’.

[7] M. Derwich, ‘La Vie quotidienne des moines et chanoines réguliers au Moyen-Age et Temps Modernes’, Warsaw 1995.

[8] I. Jonveaux, Le Monastère au travail, Paris 2011.

Arts and culture

Dom Guillermo Arboleda, OSB

Abbot of Envigado (Colombia),

President of the Subiaco Mt Cassin Congregation

The new monastery of

Our Lady of the Assumption, Envigado

The Benedictine monastery of Our Lady of the Assumption was founded in 1954 in the Zúñiga quarter of the town of Envigado on the edge of the conurbation of Medellín. In its origin and for some years the monastery was semi-rural in its position and its socio-cultural identity. But urban development has profoundly modified this character. At present the community finds itself in a residential quarter of the town. Since its foundation the monks have given the complete priority of their care to the Benedictine College of Santa Maria. The community and the College have shared the same buildings, with one part for each.

Nevertheless, from the beginning of the foundation the monks lived in a place which was their own, but when the new College was built in the 1960s the monks lived in top three storeys of the new building. In the basement they set up a temporary chapel. This space had originally been envisaged as a garage for the school buses. The provisional arrangement lasted fifty years!

In 2011 the community started to feel an urgent need for a space which lent itself better to the common life and the regular observance, a little separate from the life of the school. At the beginning the idea was to move the monastery outside the town, but a canonical visitation advised the community not to move away but to re-order the earliest building of the foundation in the lower part of the property. At that time it was being used as a guesthouse. Thus the new monastery was built between 2016 and 2018 on the basis of already-existing architecture. The community moved into the new building for Holy Week of 2019, and on 22nd April the new church was consecrated.

This church is in the form of a Latin cross, orientated. There is a single nave eight metres wide and twenty-four metres long, crowned by a little apse for the president’s chair. The transept is 13 x 8 metres. In its centre is the monastic choir. Two small side-altars are placed on one side and the other, one dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption and the other to St Benedict. The paintings of the Virgin and of St Benedict are the work of the Colombian master Gregorio Cuartas, at one time a monk of La Pierre-qui-Vire (France). The altar is located just below the entrance to the apse. On the ceiling of the apse is painted a Christ Pantocrator with its main lines in mosaic; the ambo is in the centre of the choir.

On the left hand side of the church is a separate bell-tower. In the first floor of the tower is located the Blessed Sacrament chapel, linked to the church by a vaulted passage. The remains of the deceased monks have been transferred to the second storey of the tower, in individual niches placed in the eastern wall. On the third story of the tower the monastic library is to be found, together with a workshop for restoring books.

As one can see, the church combines the Roman grand lines and basic plan with elements of Creol decoration typical of colonial churches (false beams in the transept, the colour of the timbers of the ceiling, walls whitened with chalk, decorative incisions in the fresh cement for the interior and exterior tympanums of the central door). In front of the church is a little cloister which includes the narthex, with a fountain in the middle of the patio.

Aerial photographs show the new building as a whole. In the centre is the church, facing the closed courtyard. To the north the cloister with all the dependencies needed for the monastic community. To the south the porter’s lodge, parlours, a room for groups which can accommodate a hundred persons, the library and house for guests. All these spaces are gathered round another small wooded cloister.

The community chose to put the library in this exterior zone to allow guests and visitors who so desire to consult and read its riches, about which they are able to learn on-line beforehand. The guesthouse comprises eight rooms, all en-suite. The school and the monastery are separated by a high fence and a green enclosure.

The offices of the direction and administration of the College (which counts 1,000 students) are confided to a qualified lay team. The monks ensure the pastoral life of the school community (students, teachers, parents, auxiliary staff). Since 2015 the school has joined the network of Benedictine schools of the worldwide Benedictine Confederation. Participation in the meetings as well as constant communication with other Benedictine schools has contributed to consolidating a programme of education and catechesis in accord with the basic lines of monastic spirituality.

So the Abbey of Envigado is indeed an urban monastery with a school, located in a residential sector of the town. The separation between the space for the school and that of the monastery achieved by the new building has allowed us to continue the pastoral work for the school, but has provided the monks with greater intimacy for their community life. The architectural disposition of the new monastic area, the green spaces, which include also an orchard, all contribute to the harmonious development of monastic life. In the middle of the turmoil of a city and in the excitable atmosphere of a school of a thousand students, the Benedictines of Envigado share the life-ideals of all monks and nuns who follow the Rule of St Benedict, the search for God ‘under the guidance of the Gospel’. Thus they aim to make the monastery an island of peace and prayer at the heart of the city.

Monks cells. The guesthouse on the left, and the library on the right. Patio in the sector of the gate, leading to the library, at the hostel and the conference room.

A page of History

An Excerpt from the Website of the Congregation of Tutzing

The Missionary Benedictine Sisters

of Tutzing

How it all began

‘Global prayers’ is the name adopted by a celebrated contemporary movement of religious renewal on the world scale, and that is how our community could have been represented from the word ‘Go!’ In fact what is today considered new was already put into practice by our sisters several decades ago. They set their hearts on advancing the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ in the whole world. That was why they left everything and committed themselves to an uncertain future.

The founder

Their founder was a Benedictine monk of Beuron, Dom Andreas Amrhein (1844-1929), originally from Switzerland. In an era when several missionary congregations came into being – Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (1855), Comboni Missionaries (1867), White Fathers (1868), Steyl Missionaries (1875), Marianhill Missionaries (1882) – the question which was piercing his heart was whether Benedictine life and mission were incompatible. In the course of long years of research and combat within himself, with his superiors and various authorities, he showed his penetrating grasp. Despite numerous obstacles put in his way, no one could prevent him developing his inspiration and putting it into practice.

 An Inspiration

In 1885 Dom Amrhein presented at Münster, on the occasion of the 32nd German Catholic Day, his idea of a ‘Benedictine community for missionary work in foreign lands’. The previous year he had founded a mission-house for men at Reichenbach in the High Palatinate. At that time, so politically anti-clerical, he secretly cherished the dream that women also should share in this task.

The Spark at Münster bursts into Flame

Three weeks later the first four women, all from Westphalia, set off on an adventurous journey to the south of Germany. They wanted to set off for India, but God seemed to have other plans for them. The beginnings of this community of men and women of Reichenbach were difficult. Political conditions of that time dictated that practically everything had to be done in secret. The material situation was extremely complex, not to say hopeless.

New departure at Sankt-Ottilien

As early as 1887 a second house was founded at Emming, now Sankt-Ottilien, where the whole community soon installed themselves. Riechenbach was wholly abandoned. At Emming the two branches of the community thrived. All lived in conditions of great simplicity and poverty. The communities had to face numerous problems, and were confronted with enormous tasks. Many young people joined this work. It was necessary to provide for them and build quarters in which they could live. It was equally urgent to introduce them to religious life and to form them professionally. They were soon to be sent abroad. There they would be left to their own resources and must be seen to be proclaiming the faith in a responsible manner, at the same time being active in the field of medicine and education as in many other spheres.

First Steps in the World

Very soon Dom Amrhein accepted the offer to take charge of a zone in East Africa. The apostolic prefecture of South Zanzibar had been created by pontifical decree on 16th November 1887 and entrusted to the ‘new German Benedictine Congregation for Foreign Missions’. This was the first time the missionaries of the new family could be sent abroad.

So in an astonishingly short time, that is, from the end of 1887, the first brothers and sisters dared to take the first step which would revolutionise their future: on 11th November 1887 the first group (one priest, nine brothers and four sisters) arrived in East Africa, in Tanganyika. They and others who were expected to follow them began building mission-houses there. They underwent great reverses. Illnesses of which they had no knowledge attacked several of the still young brothers and sisters – the cemetery at Dar es Salaam is eloquent on the subject. In 1889 the first house at Pugu was attacked, and the brothers and one sister were killed. Nevertheless in Germany, despite the bad news, many young people continued to enter. In 1896 the two communities of Sankt-Ottilien numbered sixteen priests, thirteen clerics, forty-six brothers and seventy-one sisters. Need for space at Sankt-Ottilien became more and more pressing, and the sisters were looking intensively for their own house.

Spiritual center of Tagaytay (Philippines). Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Jinja (Uganda).

The Mother-House, the Path of Independence

So it was that in 1902 the decision was taken to instal the sisters at Tutzing. As early as 1887 the sisters had founded a little community at Reichenbach which ran a kindergarten. Then a large convent was built in a meadow at Tutzing where all the sisters could live. On 1st January, 1904, the community counted 119 sisters. This stage represented far more than a change of place for the sisters. It led them on the road to independence. If at first this was not easy, the future was to show that it was a far-sighted decision which was to lead the community into an unexpected development. The fraternal link with the brothers of Sankt-Ottilien has nevertheless endured to this day.

In the World

The priority of the sisters was to serve the preaching of the Gospel and be at the service of populations. After the first shared missions (monks and sisters) to what is now Tanzania, where there are still two priories at Peramiho and Ndanda, the sisters engaged themselves under the far-sighted direction of the first prioress, Mother Birgitta Korff, on a new foundation in a country unknown to them, Brazil. An old colleague of Dom Andreas Amrhein at Beuron and Maredsous, Dom Gerard von Caloen, had become abbot of Olinda (Brazil) in 1896, and invited the sisters to take on missionary work in Brazil. He asked Mother Birgitta for sisters for the education of girls. This new foundation took place in 1906. Five sisters left for the Philippines, full of zeal for the mission. Numerous other missions were to follow on every continent.

At present the sisters work in seventeen countries on four continents:

In Europe: Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland

In America: Argentine, Brazil, USA

In Africa: Angola, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda

In Asia: South Korea, India, Philippines.

The Mother-house is in Rome. In 2017 the Congregation counted 1,336 religious in 136 houses.

Monks and nuns, witnesses for our times

Mother Marie-Madeleine Caseau and Sister Lazare de Seilhac, OSB

Congregation of St Bathild

Mother Bénigne Moreau

Odile Moreau (1924-2020)

Mother Bénigne (1924-2020) was born Odile Moreau on 10th August 1924 at Baume-les-Dames, baptised on 24th September 1924 at Voulaines, a village on the Côte d’Or where her family, who remained ever dear to her heart, had a property. After training as a nurse, she entered the postulate at Vanves on 13th November 1936, and received the habit under the name of Sister Bénigne on 8th September 1947. After her profession on 21st November 1948 her skill in forming relationships soon earned her the position of assistant to the guestmistress. Nevertheless she was very soon, in November 1952, sent to reinforce the community in Madagascar. She made her permanent vows at Ambositra on 18th December 1953. Nominated prioress of Ambositra in 1959, she developed a great affinity with the Malgasy culture. She was glad to support the foundation of Mananjary and to prepare that of Joffreville. She played an important part in the creation of the Union of Religious Superiors of Madgascar.

Her election as Prioress General of the Congregation in June 1975 brought her back to France. It was a great sacrifice for her to leave Madagascar, for she felt in harmony with the country and the various aspects of its culture. This experience helped her to have a deep understanding of what it meant for the brothers and sisters to return from a foundation to which they had given their lives.

During the twenty-three years of her absence (she had returned only for two General Chapters) the community at Vanves had lived through plenty of events: the first foundation in Vietnam, the fusion with the last monastery of Fontevrault, a foundation at Benin, the transfer to Saint-Thierry, the modification of the status of Vanves. The revision of the Constitutions was in progress. During the years after the Second Vatican Council her experience would be precious for the forming of the Statutes of the Congregation of Sainte-Bathilde and for the transition which this implied. She who had no affection either for law or for change used to smile at being the ‘last Prioress General and first President’. The Prioress General had to be also prioress of Vanves. She needed to face complex situations. She accumulated the two charges of prioress of Vanves and Prioress General, and later President of the Congregation from 1975 to 1989 during a period of great change in the life of the Church. Her clarity of vision allowed her to be a key figure in the formation of the CIB (Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum); she was invited to Rome with Mother Flavie, abbess of the Abbey of Limon, for the Congress of Abbots of the Benedictine Confederation.

In accompanying the revision of the Constitutions she maintained excellent relationships in Rome with the Congregation for Institutes of the Consecrated Life, helping them to realise what the Benedictine Sisters of Sainte-Bathilde really were. Working with P. Denis Huerre, who valued her highly, she prepared with the Council of the Congregation the request presented to the General Chapter of 1981 to be associated with the Congregation of Subiaco.

One of her great sorrows was to be unable ever to go to Vietnam because of the political situation. She supported and guided life at Etoy, with our sisters, the Deaconnesses of Versailles and of Saint-Loup, remaining warmly attached to anything which advanced Church unity. The presence of Sister Edith (a Deaconness) at Vanves during the year 2019 did her much good. At the General Chapter of 1989 she passed the baton to Mother Emmanuel, remaining Vicaire, while Mother Beatrice de Martigné was Counsellor, and Mother Emmanuel relied on her. Often the Council was held at Cours, a house which belonged to the congregation, and of which she was very fond. Her talent for external relationships helped many people, often priests, to find again the way of hope and of peace after spending time at Vanves.

She remained prioress of the community of Vanves till 2003, taking a vivacious interest in speculation about a future life. She saw the position of Vanves at the gate of Paris as essential, a great port of call for anyone, with the presence of the AIM, and fully open to anyone in distress, either sisters or anyone who felt welcomed for what they were, without judgment. During the years she spent as superior Mother Bénigne was a great supporter of AIM. For many years she was a member of the Council of Administration. She had always particular consideration for the officials of this organisation, especially those who lived there, and she was always welcoming to members of the international team at their meetings two or three times a year. She continued her care for communities of the Benedictine family on all continents well after her time as superior. Monks and nuns passing by Vanves, whether as members of the AIM or not, benefited always from an open fraternal ear. She suppported no less the AMTM (the Association of Friends of the Monasteries across the World), the association which so helps the AIM, and had a warm friendship with several of its members.

After a year spent in the community of Martigné-Briand she returned to Vanves, where she made herself available to several sisters, accepting in faith the profound changes which were taking place, not always seeing the need for them, but serenely accepting them, until advancing age obliged her to play a less full part in the activities and to spend a little more than a year in her room in the infirmary, with some ‘absences of mind’ which she patiently accepted.

Monks and nuns, witnesses for our times

Dom Matias Fonseca de Medeiros, OSB

Monk of the Abbey of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

Dom Basílio Penido

(1914-2003)

1. Christo nihil praeponere – to prefer nothing to Christ)

When during the afternoon of 24th November 1961 Dom Basílio Penido received from the apostolic nunciature the decree of the Holy See appointing him abbot-coadjutor of the Abbey of Olinda (Brazil), the young prior and vicar-general of the abbey nullius[1] of Rio de Janeiro, he ‘knew not what to say’.[2] This totally unexpected news shook him profoundly. A happy and heartfelt monk, Dom Basílio loved his community and his brother monks and did not want to leave either his monastery or the city of his birth where his family still lived. Nevertheless, the decree hardly gave him a choice: he must obey – and leave! His intention was nevertheless to say ‘No’ a second time.[3]

To calm him down, his abbot, with the Roman document still in his hand, told him to go before the tabernacle and ‘listen to the dear God’. During this moment of prayer and agony two words came to his mind, obedience and humility. As a former pupil of the Jesuits he had learnt from St Ignatius the virtue of ‘obeying like a corpse’.[4] But also, as a son of St Benedict he well knew that ‘the first step of humility is obedience without hesitation; this characterises those who hold nothing more dear than Christ.’ His prayer finished, his soul in peace, he also chose his abbatial motto, Christo nihil praeponere, (to prefer nothing to Christ). The events which followed showed that the choice was not merely coherent but above all the consequence of everything that would occur during his ministry of abbot at Olinda (1962-1987) and president of the Brazilian Congregation (1972-1996). His departure for Olinda was ‘a real sacrifice of Abraham’.

In 1966 he went to Rome for the first time to take part in the Congress of Abbots of the Benedictine Confederation, the first after Vatican II. Thanks to the circular letters sent to his community at Olinda with great richness of detail, the readers were able to follow step by step the unfolding of the Congress, focused on the renewal of monastic life in the optic of the Council, something neither simple nor easy, as Dom Basílio remarked!

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1914, he lived there till the age of six, when his father, appointed military attaché to the League of Nations, had to move to Paris with his whole family. Very gifted with languages other than Portuguese the little José Maria (his baptismal name) easily mastered French at the college Sainte-Croix de Paris where attended primary school, and at the same time English at home with his British nanny. After José Maria had made his First Communion in the Parisian parish of Notre-Dame de Grâce de Passy, his family returned to Brazil after three years of absence.

After his studies at the College Santo Inácio in Rio the young man entered the noviciate of the Jesuits. Nevertheless, his vivacity of temperament did not fit the demands of Ignatian discipline. Exhausted, he left the noviciate and entered the faculty of medicine in order, six years later, having received his doctorate, to become a monk. It was difficult for him at that stage to follow the monastic observances. ‘I was flat out’, he used to say. All the same, these experiences had moulded him; without losing any of his authenticity and without the least bitterness, he had matured!

When he had been a medical student he had begun to attend the Ação Universitária Católica where the university young people used to gather, and he found himself at the launch of the Instituto Superior de Estudos Católicos. Many of these, with their great interest in the liturgical and patristic renewal, had entered the religious life and secular clergy. As he found communication easy and was always full of enthusiasm, his general culture, large circle of friends and his great simplicity he soon became a great leader. An open and welcoming personality, thirsty to hear and see everything, though not worldly, no moral, political or social problem escaped him. His spirituality was deeply rooted in the Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola and in the Rule of St Benedict; he loved also other spiritual authors such as St John of the Cross, St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Charles de Foucauld and Thomas Merton. A passionate reader of French literature, he knew well the writings of Jacques Maritain, Paul Claudel, François Mauriac, Julien Green, Charles Péguy among others, and also Georges Bernanos, who became a personal friend during the latter’s exile in Brazil. The renewal of the Church, theological thinking and above all monastic life during the post-conciliar years found in him a fervent and faithful supporter. The introduction of this renewal and a changing world required considerable wisdom and prudence, and he did not hesitate to do the right thing when challenges presented themselves. His talent for listening and for community dialogue enabled him gradually to introduce the conciliar reforms and among them especially an ecumenical openness. In 1966 he welcome three brothers from Taizé to Olinda. Living in a house beside the abbey the brothers were well integrated into the community, taking part in some of the liturgical Offices, community meals and manual labour. Care of the poor in a sad condition of distress in the environs of the monastery was a particular preocupation of his. Vast territories owned by the abbey were, with the consent of the community and the civil authorities, given to the most dispossessed so that they could have their own homes. Thus was born at Olinda a new quarter still named Vila São Bento.

To ensure that they keep in step together, at the time of the Congress of Abbots in 1967, at the invitation of Dom Basílio the abbots and priors of the Brazilian monasteries present met together to reflect on his project of establishing closer links of friendship between the different communities living under the Rule of St Benedict. They needed to find a common language which could express the monastic charism, vocation and mission in the face of society. In the fear of losing their own traditions, the abbots had some difficult conversations, for besides the monasteries of the Brazilian Congregation there was a good number of other Congregations. Nevertheless the decision was taken to found a monastic Conference of Brazil, CIMBRA, of which Dom Basilio was elected the first president.

II. In carcere eram - I was in prison

The year 1964 marked a decisive turning-point in the political and ecclesiastical life of Brazil. On 31st March took place a military coup which was to last twenty-one years.

A few weeks later Mgr Helder Camara became Archbishop of Olinda and Recife. At first relationships between the new archbishop and the authorities in power were respectful and dialogue was possible. However, as the regime hardened, acts of repression followed. Imprisonment of the opposition, torture and political persecution made links between the two parties increasingly difficult. Thanks to his good relationships with several officials Dom Basílio[5] became the intermediary between Dom Helder, frankly and openly opposed to any sort of violence, and the military government of Recife. While remaining on the side of the archbishop, of whom he was a faithful and even intimate friend, he managed this tricky mission successfully. A man of great courage, sometimes audacious, during these dark years, when persecution, followed by prison and torture, was touching the lives of young university students, he did not hesitate to shelter some of them in the monastery in order to facilitate their flight and save their lives.

Political prisoners, young or not, were numerous at this time. As priest and doctor he was able to visit them regularly in the prisons. Before entering he had to undergo all kinds of humiliations from the policemen in charge of them, which he tolerated with admirable patience. At community meetings occasionally, very discreetly, he might tell a story. At one of these an indignant brother asked how he could put up with all these difficulties. In all simplicity he gave this answer, ‘Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus used to say all is grace; you see, God has given me the very special grace of sharing in the sufferings of Christ in this way, and so at the last judgment Jesus will say to me, “I was in prison and you visited me’’.’ Dom Basílio was always a man of pardon and mercy.

His pectoral cross was wooden and bore his motto, ‘Christo nihil praeponere’. One day during a visit a prisoner out of curiosity asked to have a closer look at it, saying nothing. Two weeks later this young man, who was a skilled woodworker, presented him as a sign of friendship and gratitude, in the name of all his fellow-prisoners, a new wooden pectoral cross, identical with the original but bearing the inscription ‘In carcere eram’ – I was in prison. Dom Basílio was very moved and thereafter began to use it.

Sa croix pectorale était en bois et sa devise – « Christo nihil præponere » – était gravée sur elle. Un jour, lors d’une visite, un prisonnier qui, curieux, regardait la croix, lui demanda de la voir de près, sans rien dire. Deux semaines après, ce jeune qui avait quelque connaissance de menuiserie, en signe de reconnaissance et d’amitié, lui fit cadeau, au nom de ses compagnons de prison et en son propre nom, d’une nouvelle croix pectorale aussi en bois, exactement semblable à l’originale mais avec une nouvelle devise : « In carcere eram » (« J’étais en prison »). Très ému, depuis lors dom Basílio commença à l’utiliser.

The love of Christ above all other was the one great passion of his life. His deep attachment to the Church and to the brethren, his tireless struggle for ‘those who hunger and thirst for justice’, especially the poor and prisoners, his firm commitment to renewal of monastic life, authentic and faithful to the tradition but at the same time open and welcoming to modern values, witnessed to his fidelity to Christ and the Gospel. The final years of his life, already ailing, were passed in the monastery of his profession. It was there that he returned to God on 2nd June 2003 at the age of 88. He had opened new ways in the joy and peace of Christ.

[[1] Title given by the 1917 Code of Canon Law to territorial abbeys. In 2002 the Holy See suppressed this title and privilege of the Abbey of Rio de Janeiro.

[2] Quotations from Dom Basílio recounted later when Dom Basílio was reminiscing about his life to his novices.

[3] Postulated to be Abbot of Rio a first time in 1948 he had firmly refused election on the grounds that ‘he was too young and had had no experience’ in his own words. He was then 34 years old.

[4] ‘Perinde ac si cadaver esset’, a Latin expression in the old Jesuit Constitutions, which he later loved to repeat in conferences to his novices about obedience.

[5] His father, though by now already dead, had been Admiral of the Brazilian Navy, where three of his nephews were senior officers.

News

Dom Jean-Pierre Longeat, OSB

President of the AIM

The Secretariat of AIM

Sister Mary Placid Dolores has just returned to her own country, where she has been elected President of her new Congregation. She has served AIM with great conscientiousness and perfect fidelity for fifteen years. Everyone remembers her comforting smile and a steadiness of temperament rarely equalled. Always attentive to the needs of each individual, she was careful to ensure that no one lacked anything. She followed through each file of requests for aid from the monasteries and took the part of the smallest and weakest. She is short in stature but great in heart. We regret her departure but hope that there will be opportunities for us to meet again and even collaborate afresh, especially in the Philippines.

Because of her departure and after profound reflection we have decided to reduce the amount of space rented in the building of the Benedictine sisters at Vanves. The offices of AIM and AMTM are now joined together in one place at the entrance to the monastery, where the rooms and centre of life for the AIM are located. This re-arrangement has been most successful and fully satisfactory. It will enable us to achieve some saving, to the benefit of monasteries which apply to us.

News

Mother Mary Placid Dolores, OSB

My years at the AIM (2005-2020)

All is Grace!

This short witness of life and work is the fruit of almost fifteen years of experience at the Alliance Inter-Monastères / Alliance for International Monasticism (AIM) - France. Dom Jean-Pierre Longeat was very kind to ask me to write this piece. He knew my hesitancy to this kind of work, but I just said Yes!

There were people instrumental for my coming to work and serve at AIM. First is Abbot Jeremias Schröder, osb, president of the Missionary Benedictines of St Ottilien - Germany, Sr Gisela Happ, at this time, secretary general of AIM and the aggreement of Mother Consilia Marcellones and my community. I believe there are others from AIM who did not know me but have nodded in agreement that I should come. I was eager to embark on a new adventure in my monastic life and render worldwide service to monasteries through AIM. There was the excitement of being immersed in a strange and new European land and culture.

From the Philippines, I arrived in France at the end of September 2005. There was warm welcome both from Sr Gisela who met me at the airport, Father Martin Neyt, president of AIM at this time, and the Benedictine community of St. Bathilde at Vanves. Father Jean-Pierre Longeat succeeded Father Martin and Sr Christine Conrath was co-secretary at AIM.

We relate to people and share ideas through communication. The first important thing then was to learn the French language. The intensive course took me about nine months – not perfect, but daily life and communication became easier. It is a very beautiful and interesting language – a blessing indeed!

In the next two years, building construction began. The Benedictine proprietor of the monastery buildings consented to the initiative and endeavour of AIM to renovate two building-sites for the Studium and the AIM staff house. Sr Gisela managed this work and we thank all the generous donors for having supported this building work. Sr Mikaël Takahashi, osb, a Japanese sister from the Monastery of the Annunciation in Liège, Belgium, graciously accepted the invitation to take charge of the academic life of students arriving to live at the Studium.

From 2006–2016/17, young Benedictines, Cistercians and Trappistines studied at Paris for their theological formation or other formation courses for which their communities had sent them. In sum, there were sisters/nuns from: Congo (2), Togo (1), Ethiopia (1), Brazil (4), Vietnam (4) and the Philippines (3). Some apostolic Mexican sisters on their way to missions in Africa temporarily stay at the Studium for a language-course in Paris. The sisters who have graduated went home being able to serve their communities better, either as superiors, formators or in community services in other fields. The fraternal life and student ambiance with the Benedictine community have been an unforgettable and beautiful experience which many of them say they will always remember and remain forever grateful to AIM.

My work at AIM became interestingly varied but at the secretariat, my concern was mostly focused on projects and reports from monasteries. For years with Sr Gisela, we prepared files for the meetings of the Board and Council. AIM holds regular meetings every year. The International Team (seven to nine members) meets regularly, two or three times a year. The Council meeting of AIM in October or November every year is held normally in monasteries outside France. I am sincerely grateful for the opportunity to join these meetings which are very rich because of the topics, discussions and sharing of news around the monastic world. AIM has great concern for the monasteries of the Benedictine family in the world and for monastic life today. Thank you to all the members whom I met during these meetings. Getting to know and having listened to them speak their wisdom was invaluable.

The lighter side of AIM work is the ordinary life. The two or three days of Bible sharing and planning before work at the secretariat was spiritually refreshing and fraternal. Being able to live beside the Benedictine community of Vanves was a privilege where fraternal life and sharing developed during the years. The zeal for the liturgical life is evident. It has been joy to beautify a small garden of flowers as well or just do some dusting around!

To sum up my experience, I can only say ‘Thank You’ to all the people whom God has allowed to cross my path. A bridge is built in every encounter with different people. I believe European culture has been the nucleus of the culture around which Christianity was formed. The experience both personal and through reading is very enriching and invaluable. There is the tendency to dig its riches through books but there is always a lack of time and exposure! But for all that, I thank God and I thank all who have been God’s instruments to my growth both in spirit and in person.

Before I end, this little narrative would be defective without a mention of the AMTM, the lay branch of AIM who fostered their generosity and its spirit. Their regular Council meetings held at the AIM offices were occasions to meet them.

I thanked God for the fraternal friendship developed through those years in the one objective of helping monasteries in the world of AIM.

News

Dom Jean-Pierre Longeat, OSB

President of the AIM

A Journey in the Argentine (continued)[1]

Friday 27th September, 2019, the Abbey of Niño Dios

A visit to the monastery of Niño Dios in the region of Paraná, near the town of Victoria.

We arrived at about midday, having passed through large expanses of the Argentine pampas under a magnificent Spring sun. The abbot came to meet the car in front of the monastery, and we found the community in the cloister, ready for lunch in the great refectory. There are about a dozen monks.

The monastery of Niño Dios, the Child God, was founded by the Abbey of Belloc (France) in 1899, the first Benedictine monastery in Latin America. The Bishop of Paraná wanted a solid and numerous community of religious for his vast diocese. He went to the sanctuary of our Lady of Luján and asked the Virgin for a religious community for his diocese. He was put on the track of the Abbey of Belloc by a French missionary priest. The civil authorities of the time would hardly have allowed the establishment of a religious community or order unless it was dedicated to education or social activities, so that the monks were pressingly begged to open an industrial agricultural school as soon as possible. As for the activities developed by the community in the course of these years, the pastoral care of the town and the whole county of Victoria from 1899 to 1988 should be mentioned. The parish, placed under the patronage of Our Lady of Aranzuzu, a vast area including islands, with many chapels and religious centres, was served exclusively by the monk-priests of the community.

Their priestly and missionary activity was not limited to Victoria and the province of Entre Ríos but stretched out into various regions of the country. In some of them the monks remained for several years. In Our Lady of Itatí, in Azul, in the province of Buenos Aires, they were responsible for an asylum, a chapel and a school (from 1921 to 1934). At Larramendy in the same province of Buenos Aires they looked after a school and a country chapel (1917-1924).

The abbey has founded several other monastic communities, the Abbey of Christ the King at El Siambón, Tucumán (Argentina) in 1956, the priory of La Pascua at Canelones (Uruguay) in 1976, which has unfortunately just closed. In 1982 they assumed the responsibiity of the priory of St Benedict of Llíu-Llíu in Limache (Chile). The private Institute of John F. Kennedy in the town of Victoria has depended on the abbey since 1965, and the Institute of Education San Benito, dedicated to the formation of teachers and professional development has also been is also under their care since 1983. The community promoted the construction of a residential quarter, whose first section was inaugurated in 1971. The social and sports club San Benito, the centre of various cultural manifestations, whose antecedents go as far back as 1959, was also born at the initiative of the monks, and it should be noted that the abbey is an important employer in the region.

In 1997 the community elected its present abbot, in the person of Dom Carlos Martin Oberti. On 29th August the new abbey church was consecrated. It is built in a luminous neo-Roman style, and is dedicated to the mystery of the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

After the meal there was a meeting with the community, clustered round the Benedictine liqueur which the monastery makes. We spoke of the situation of monastic life in the world and the emphases which should be encouraged. It was a good discussion, each giving an echo of his own experience and speaking of the subjects nearest his heart. The community is at a special moment since the prior of the monastey of Cristo Rey died recently on a mountaineering expedition. His body was found some days after his death, a difficult stroke for the monastic family.

After this meeting we made a tour of the monastery and particularly the crypt, where is installed the famous statue of the Child Jesus which was brought from Belloc and which gives the monastery its name. The fact that this great monastery is today reduced to a little but lively community is striking. It should be entrusted to the Father to fulfil its work just as the Son of God did.

Monastery of the Benedictine Sisters of Paraná

We arrived at the monastery of Paraná in the evening . It is a foundation of the Abbey of Cordoba. We were welcomed by the little community of eight sisters, a spontaneous welcome, warm and open, giving the impression of a family. The prioress, Mother Isabel, is a lady of experience, the spiritual heir of the Abbess of Cordoba, Mother Candida Cymbalista, of whom I spoke above (Bulletin 118) ; she speaks excellent French. I attended Vespers and then we dined at the guesthouse in company with two young ladies who were staying there. They work in that region for a French cheese-firm called ‘le Caprice des Dieux’. We chatted pleasantly while one sister of the community stood near me, like Abraham at the Oak of Mambre. I was uncomfortable and tried to join in serving, but she would have nothing of it and was determined to carry her service through to the end.

Saturday 28th September

After the morning Office Mother Prioress took me on a visit of the place. We began with the new buildings of the jam-factory. Formerly tucked into precarious workshops, the community and its employees can now expand into better-adapted spaces with all the necessary technical facilities. The bursar of the monastery is legitimately proud of the assistance (including that of AIM !) which she gathered up to arrive at this result. The community has been permanently under construction since its foundation in 1987. The number of nuns has always been limited to about eight. Several young people have joined, and slipped into the customs of the original community. The sisters are looking forward to the construction of a small church, when the present church will become a library. The interior of the buildings for the community could be extended into a final wing which would complete the cloister.

Right from its beginning this community has been marked by its openness to the people around it. The neighbouring village was set up by a colony of Germans from the area of the Volga. This too is in constant construction. It does not yet have the status of a municipality although it is three or four generations old. The region of Entre Ríos in which we are is marked by the existence of villages or towns created by migratory movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Mother Prioress insisted that I should visit the village. We passed a very German church with a low steeple (because of lack of funds). There is a small supermarket from where the sister who was guiding me made several sorties to a pharmacy, a school and various leisure areas. Everyone knew everyone else: it was like one large family in which all the sisters have their place. Everyone greets them and has a little chat.

Returning to the monastery we found a number of people at the door. The sisters are accessible, but do not allow themselves to be invaded. The monastery has also a group of about twenty very loyal oblates. It was impossible not to be touched by this little visit. In a certain way the community of Paraná shows possible directions for monastic communities of the future. Of modest size, inserted into the countryside both social and ecclesiastic, these communities, well rooted in their vocation of prayer and community, are a positive sign and a hope that social life can be good, and a more fraternal world can be envisaged. Fragile as it is, the community at Paraná has a part to play.

Sunday 29th September

Departure from Paraná at eight o’clock in the morning. Sister Andrea took a lift and Mother Isabel would also be on the journey because both of them are to take part in the meeting of EMLA at Cordoba where I too am to be. The first leg of the journey took us to Rafaela, a town located some three hours away. There is a foundation of the Abbey of Santa Escolástica de Buenos-Aires (the first community which I visited on my arrival in the Argentine). Santa Escolástica has also founded a monastery in Uruguay and another in the Argentine at San Luis (which has just been reduced to the status of a dependent house because of its difficulty in developing.

We arrive at Rafaela for the Sunday morning Mass. There was a crowd because the sisters were welcoming the group of deacons of the diocese, about fifteen of them. In the course of the ceremony two new members were to be admitted as candidates for the diaconate. This is the group which is animating the Mass. The community joins in the chants and general high parochial ambiance, though keeping to their place in a reserved part of the church. The community of sisters of Rafaela was founded at the request of the bishop, who was then a great friend of the Abbey of Santa Escolástica. The sisters were installed in a diocesan centre and built the monastery on the edge of this centre. They were entrusted with the ministry of welcome and animation, which gave them a wholly particular status in the diocese. It is an interesting example of how the Benedictine way can adapt itself even drawn from a relatively classic stem like that of Santa Escolástica.

The monastery is very lively and its prayer-life is full of all the intentions of the local church. The sisters play a concrete part in the welcome of groups for discernment of vocations and preparation for baptism. They maintain a well-nourished contact with the bishop and his priests. Their guesthouse is full at least for every weekend throughout the year. After the Mass the sisters showed me round the property, underlining the support given by AIM. They have a workshop for liturgical ornaments and make hosts. After lunch we left for the five-hour drive to Cordoba.

When we arrived I found to my surprise a quite different context with the young community of Benedictine sisters of Cordoba. They are rightly named Gaudium Mariae the Joy of Mary, with reference to the episode of the Visitation to which the community witnesses with fitting joy. We were welcomed with open arms especially because other members of the session had already arrived. We shared a picnic supper and I was glad to see again in this lovely atmosphere several superiors and other members of communities whom I had already met in earlier sessions in Latin America.

The session of EMLA took place in the days that followed. They were rich in varied interventions, meetings, visits, strong in spiritual value. Monks and nuns need to meet to support, inform and encourage one another to live their life with the dynamic of the Word of God (that was the theme of the session) under the guidance of the Gospel. May God be blessed for such gifts in the strength of his love!

[1] The first part of this article appeared in Bulletin no 118, p. 98-106.