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Eugene J. Hayes, O.Praem.

Abbot of Orange

Vicar of the English Speaking Circary

 

From the Vicar

Fr. Paul Murray, an Irish-born Dominican who teaches in Rome gave us our annual retreat. From his talks I was able to glean that he was one of a select circle of priests to whom Blessed Mother Teresa, over the years, looked for guidance and direction.

He related that Mother Teresa, asked one time to sum up the Gospel, immediately responded: “Five words....” Then counting them off on her fingers she said: “You did it to me.” Then she repeated herself “You did it to me.” That compendium of the Gospel aptly sums up the truth at the foundation of her life spent “joyfully serving Christ under the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor.”

Yet as the world has discovered in recent weeks, Mother’s joyful service was itself also a disguise of sorts. Amidst a minor media storm her name once more made headlines, even appearing on the cover of the September 3^rd issue of Time magazine, entitled: “The Secret Life of Mother Teresa – Newly published letters reveal a beloved icon’s 50-year crisis of faith.” Crisis of faith? Well not exactly.

With the publication of the book “Mother Teresa: Come be my light” containing her private correspondence with spiritual advisors (correspondence which she asked explicitly to be destroyed) we discover that, with the exception of one month’s time in 1958, she labored for all of her life as a Missionary of Charity in what theologians of the mystical life call “the dark night of the soul.” During that brief period of days in 1958 she wrote in marked contrast to what usually flowed from her pen: “Today my soul is filled with love, with joy untold, with an unbroken union of love.” For the rest of her life of service, it seems, she accompanied Jesus in his darkest hours.

Blessed Mother Teresa’s foundational insight says something to us. As she did, so we, under a special title as Norbertines, seek to love God in others and others in God. And as for her so for us, God is masked under varied disguises of confreres with whom we live and all those others to whom we minister. It was her joy and is our mission, through our ministry within and without, to give the divine image a greater relief. In her spirit, may our multi-faceted ministry refashion within all those whom we serve a more striking and fuller resemblance to the Lord who is to be loved in all.  >>Back<<

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Tom Meulemans, O.Praem.

Paoli

 

Editor's Page

 

John Cardinal Foley

The last time I talked face-to-face with Philadelphia's first native son to be elevated to the rank of Cardinal [1], was briefly during the reception following his consecration as archbishop in 1984.  Since then we have only exchanged Christmas cards and short notes.  But from the sixties through the early eighties we frequently found ourselves in each other's company.

One of the early years I taught at Bishop Neumann high school in Philadelphia, John[2] called me.  He was learning the workings of the local metropolitan Catholic news weekly - of which he would eventually become editor - and called to find out what was going on in the Catholic Speech and Debate League - to write a story on the subject.  I learned later (from others) that he'd been a national champion debater himself in his pre-seminary days.[3]

Not too long after ordination, he was sent to Rome for the duration of Vatican II - from where he filed six articles a week for the archdiocesan newspaper.  Later he (sometimes simultaneously) worked in a center city parish, taught theology and coached speech/debate at a large diocesan high school, and was frequently the "Catholic representative" on such TV/radio programs as "Ask the Clergy."   Sometimes I substituted for him in the latter category, and during this period I saw him almost weekly at speech and debate contests.  

He became editor of the Philadelphia Catholic Standard and Times in 1970.  Shortly afterwards he joined me on the Board of Trustees of the area chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.  Many of the 50-60 board members were politicians (including a former mayor), heads of firms, banks, utilities, colleges, funds, media outlets, or companies - and largely men of high prestige, power, wealth... The members drawn from Catholic, Protestant and Jewish clergy must have been chosen for other reasons.

Some years later he was asked if he would be willing to be the featured speaker at the annual awards banquet for some 500+ speech and debate students and their families - at one of the large catering halls in northeast Philadelphia.  He was willing, and the date was agreeable.  How long should the talk be?  Around ten minutes.

The night of the banquet I had my stop watch with me (for another purpose).  Those of us planning the event were sure that Father Foley's speech would be very close to exactly 10-minutes.  And he took precisely ten minutes - on my stop watch.  He was also very clear[4], concise, focused and concrete; very articulate, with excellent eye contact and directness with his audience.  His theme came from the League's catch phrase: toward articulate Catholic/catholic leadership! - and his speech, like his 23 years in Rome heading the Pontifical Council for Social Communication[5] excellently exemplified that aphorism in practice.  

This Norbertine Communicator

Don Kommers, like Cardinal Foley, debated in high school.  Some of Don's later accomplishments are listed at the end of the commencement address he presented last spring to those graduating from St. Norbert College.  What he has to say about the college is laudatory, insightful, and useful for Norbertine educators.

Andy Ciferni's reflection picks up from where the Kommers' address ends:  how do we more exactly and usefully define who we are - and what we are/should be about.  Also recommended are two spirituality essays, two historical items, and three travel (learning experience) articles.  

And have a blessed Christmas!  >>Back<<

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Footnotes:  

1.  He was one of two U.S. clerics thus elevated (along with 21 from other parts of the world) this November 24th.

2.  He was ordained to the priesthood May 19, 1962.

3.  I learned (again from others) that he graduated at the head of his class in grade school, high school, and college.  At St. Joseph College (now University) he graduated summa cum laude and was the president of the student body.  

4.  He always carefully enunciates all three (not just two) syllables of words like "Catholic" and "forensic" without being pedantic about it.

5.  Cardinal Foley is the commentator for the English language telecasts of Masses and ceremonies from St. Peter's Basilica - for instance on Christmas Eve.  These are usually carried on the NBC network in the U.S.

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Francis W. Dorff, O.Praem.[1]

De Pere / Albuquerque

 

Lazarus[2]

>>Back<<

 

Oh no.

He’s calling me forth again.

 

Why can’t he leave me alone?

It’s all over now.

The tears are shed.

The tomb is sealed

And death has had its way.

 

Now I’m on my way to Abraham.

Why can’t he leave me alone?

 

Yet how good it is to hear his voice....

How it hurts me to hear him cry....

What power stirs within his prayer...

it flows right through that stone

and warms these bones

with the life-giving love

that we have known

and shared together.

And things were changed.

And we were changed.

And all was changed.

 

Yes, Lord.

I’m coming.

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Footnotes:  

1.  Fr. Dorff was born (1934) in Philadelphia, vested as a De Pere Norbertine in 1952, and ordained in 1960. After graduate studies in Rome and Paris, he was awarded his S.T.D. in 1965. Since, he’s engaged in a great variety of educational, leadership, counseling, writing, and related ministries.  (Editor’s note).

2.  From the “Ordinary” section of Fr. Dorff’s book Last Night I Died: Poems from Retirement, p. 134. Reprinted with author’s permission. (Editor’s note).

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St. John Baptist de la Salle

Founder of the Brothers of Christian Schools[1]

The extraordinary fasting and the eminent virtues of St. Norbert led to his being chosen Bishop in spite of his reluctance. In this position he could not tolerate vice, and he denounced it boldly in all those who were scandalously abandoning themselves to its practice. On this account, some persons were offended and looked for a chance to kill him How true it is that the impious and the dissolute cannot tolerate anyone who opposes their disorderly lives.

St. Norbert escaped this danger and then fought a heretic who denied the reality of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist, and destroyed his error. Is not this the function of a Bishop, to oppose vice and to maintain the faith in its vigor and strength?

This is also what you cannot dispense yourself from doing, if you wish to fulfill well your ministry, to prevent students from abandoning themselves to vice and to dissolute conduct, and impress firmly and solidly on their minds the truths of our faith, which are the foundations of our religion.

Norbert (ca. 1080-1134) was born at Xanten, near Cologne, and brought up a member of the imperial court, where he lived a worldly life despite his ordination to the subdiaconate and his plans to become a priest. He was thrown from his horse one day in a thunderstorm and thereupon underwent a spiritual experience of conversion alluded to by de la Salle, which is sometimes compared to the conversion of St. Paul. He founded a monastery at Prémontré, near Soissons, and an Order of Canons Regular (Premonstratensians, or Norbertines, sometimes called White Canons from the color of their habit). Their purpose was to combine community life and the ministry of the priesthood. In 1126, he was made Archbishop of Magdeburg, and he helped St. Bernard correct the schism of the antipope of his day. He accompanied the true Pope, Innocent II, when in 1133, he returned to Rome.  >>Back<<

Donald P. Kommers

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN USA

Bishop Zubik, Abbot Neville, President Hynes, Members of the Faculty and Board of Trustees, graduates and parents. I’m deeply honored for this opportunity to extend my congratulations to the graduates of 2007 and a warm welcome to your parents, families and friends.

I should tell you that for me, this is also a kind of homecoming. I was born in Green Bay, grew up in a small town thirty miles south of here, and spent four years on this campus as a student of St. Norbert High School, which at the time occupied the top two floors of Boyle Hall, a stone’s throw from here. As a boarding student, I was privileged not only to live and study under the tutelage of the Norbertines, but also to attend high school on a college campus where all of its facilities, including the library, laboratories, and faculty members, were at my disposal. Although I went East to college and have resided in other states and countries for the last 47 years, I remain a Wisconsinite to the bone but more importantly the Norbertine spirit runs through my veins, for which reason I’m delighted to be here today.

When President Hynes invited me to deliver this address, I accepted immediately and enthusiastically, but then wondered what I should say and what advice I might give you on this auspicious occasion. As an academician, I have heard scores of commencement addresses over the years, most of which have been consigned to the limbo of oblivion, or worse, to the hell of boredom, and that includes no less than President Eisenhower’s address to my graduating class of 1954. I thought I might try humor, like suggesting that as you enter life’s journey to keep in mind what air force instructors tell their student pilots, namely, “always to make sure the number of your landings equal the number of your takeoffs,” but I knew this strategy would land me flat on my face. Alternatively, drawing on my own professional background, and in a more serious vein, I might have offered a set of reflections on some substantive issue such as German-American diplomacy in the post 9/11 world, the constitutional presidency and the war powers, or the role of religion in American public life, but this would not do because the length of such a speech would have induced groans from this audience, not to mention that President Hynes said he would blow the whistle on me if I talked longer than twelve minutes. Finally, I thought of doing what most commencement speakers do, namely to applaud your achievements, bolster your self-confidence, exhort you to change a broken world, or say something about the lessons I’ve learned – and which you might take to heart – for leading productive and satisfying lives. As for instructing you in the lessons of life, my competence is probably all too limited. I cannot tell you how to succeed in the business world. After all, I’ve never had to meet a payroll, as the saying goes. Except for two years in the United States Marine Corps, I’ve spent my entire adult life in universities or research institutes, here and abroad. Having observed, studied, and written about law, politics, and government for much of my life, I’d feel more at ease speaking about the responsibilities of citizenship or the need for moral vision and renewal in various phases of American life and law.

But I’m going to resist this temptation, too. What I would like to do instead, in the minutes remaining, is to say a few words about this college and what you have received here. I do so because what you have received here will largely determine what you can give back to your local communities, your chosen professions, your country and – no less importantly – your church. You are now part of this college, just as this college is now a part of you. It’s an identity that for each of you should be a source of immense pride, and I’ll tell you why in a moment. But first I want to remind you that the biography of this place is a remarkable odyssey in American higher education. Consider: Fr. Bernard Pennings – later Abbot – founded this college in 1898, starting with an astronomically  high enrollment of two students, both training for the priesthood. The college enrolled 18 students in 1902. The number rose to a modest 58 in 1907, exactly 100 years ago. A decade later, in 1918, he wrote a letter to his brother in Holland boasting of a college that now housed 150 students along with “three cows, 70 chickens, three cats, and a fine dog.

Fr. Pennings’s correspondence during these early years reveals the agonies of growth and financial difficulties through which the college was passing. He complained bitterly about the high cost of flour, potatoes, coal, and building materials. In the same year, 1918, he had to shut down the college four weeks before the normal end of the Spring semester for lack of money to feed and house its students. Needless to say, the Canons Regular of Premontre who taught here received no compensation for their labor except the satisfaction of knowing that they were on the threshold of building something special in this state and region of the country. Speaking of the Norbertines, we should never forget, in the midst of the college’s current prosperity and lay leadership, that their blood is in the bricks of this place. What a model of leadership they provide us with today. Pennings  in particular teaches each of us what one person of vision and faith can accomplish on this side of eternity.

What was truly remarkable about the college in its infancy was its elevated academic curriculum. It was built not only on theology and moral philosophy, but also on the classics of Greek and Roman literature, including their representation in music and the arts, a Norbertine tradition, incidentally, that continues to this day. The classics were privileged because they were considered useful alike for students both of theology and business. Yes, business students. St. Norbert College offered several commercial courses, as they were then called, to accommodate the interests of a rising class of builders, growers, and other entrepreneurs. The curriculum represented a perfect blend of the classical and the vocational, of repose and movement, of contemplation and action. These combinations were no accident. They reflected – and continue to reflect – a Norbertine tradition of learning, prayer, and community service.

Now fast-forward to the present. What we see here today on this campus is an amazing success story. The physical plant alone inspires awe. Six buildings graced these acres when I left in 1950; today, by my count, there are no fewer than thirty-five, a reality that might even have surprised Abbot Pennings. But buildings alone do not make a college. The real worth of this place is in the quality of its students, its faculty, and its curriculum – and here the standards are those of excellence. U.S. News and World Report recently ranked this institution in the top five of 170 mid-western liberal arts colleges, a notable tribute, it needs saying, to the vision of your faculty and the leadership of your president. But high rankings fail to capture the magic of this place or how it differs from other colleges with which St. Norbert has been compared. To begin with, this college is cut to human scale. What makes this college a real community is that most of you know one another. But you also know your professors and they have come to know you, inside and outside the classroom, all of which makes a college of this size and reputation one of the best educational experiences in America. 

But there is more. Your curriculum, which I’ve closely examined, is in several ways distinctive. One is particularly impressed with its catholicity, by which I mean its universalism. Fex colleges of this size have globalized the curriculum as much as you have –  ranging from your Center for International Education to no fewer than ten study abroad programs. Equally impressive is a core curriculum that elevates the humanities while affirming their unity with the social and natural sciences. And while your education here has been profoundly humanistic, it has not ignored the practical and quantitative skills needed in an expanded world of finance, trade, and commerce. Even your ROTC program is unique because St. Norbert is the only college of its size – to my knowledge – in which the U.S. Army has approved the training of its officers.

St. Norbert College is special for yet another and more important reason. As your president has remarked, this college is the only one in the world to combine the liberal arts, Catholicism and the Norbertine tradition. Taken together, these legacies underscore the organic unity of reason and faith, for all three seek to discover and espouse the truth. In short, no less than an incarnational view of the world is preserved and perpetuated here. It is a view that elevates human dignity and equality and does so by affirming God’s presence in human affairs. You are truly blessed to be graduating from this institution, for you are leaving this college – we all hope – with an appreciation of life’s religious dimension, a respect for transcendental values and a quiet confidence in the compatibility of faith and reason. In short, you are more than equipped – intellectually and spiritually – with the capacity to distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, good from bad, beauty from ugliness and the permanent from the ephemeral. It is this enviable power of moral discernment – lost to much of the world – that has put marrow in the bones and mettle in the spirits of St. Norbert graduates.

As I conclude, I want to share an embarrassing truth with you. My generation does not have much to be proud of. The generation ahead of me has been called the “greatest generation.” After all, its members won the good war, rebuilt Europe and established a foundation for international peace and security. But the world today is messier than when I graduated. In recent decades, we Americans have made unbelievable advances in science, technology, and cybernetics and on the social front we have made notable strides in race relations and gender equality. But I’m afraid we have left you with an America marked by corporate corruption, environmental degradation, the breakdown of the family, abominable crime rates, an increasing gap between rich and poor, a mounting cultural sleaziness and a corresponding lack of civility in our public life, not to mention the moral scandal that has plagued our own church – all signs, I dare say, of collapsing public and private morality, the erosion of shared values, an indifference to the common good and broad-based political irresponsibility,

But there is little doubt in my mind that because of your education here each of you has been empowered to do something about the condition of our civic and social life. I’m not going to tell you what your responsibilities are. Your education here has done that for you. All I can say is that we are counting on you to participate in a much-needed project of moral, social, cultural, political, and even religious renewal. The graduates of St. Norbert College are needed in each of these spheres. As Benedict XVI advised us recently in Deus Caritas Est, his moving encyclical letter on love and charity, “Building a just social and civil order ... is an essential task which every generation must take up anew.” Our hope is that your generation will respond accordingly – and please do not bequeath to the next generation the world you have inherited from us.

Finally, and above all, remember this: You need not be on the national stage to engage in the project of moral and civic renewal. In truth, it cannot be done from there. It will begin wherever you find yourself after today, whether in your professional community of law, medicine, ministry or teaching, in the world of banking, finance or trade, in your local community, in the voting booth, in your church, or even in your own home. This is where the project must begin. It must begin with the individual and in the spirit that inspired the founder of this college.

So once again my congratulations to each of you and your parents, your mothers in particular  on this day (Mother’s Day), who made it all possible.  >>Back<<

About Commencement Speaker Donald P. Kommers

Donald Kommers holds the Joseph and Elizabeth Robbie Chair in Political Science at the University of Notre Dame and is also a member of Notre Dame’s law faculty. His M.A. and Ph.D. degrees are from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also studied law. In 1998, he received an Honorary L.L.D. from Germany’s Heidelberg University.

Dr. Kommers has held many prestigious positions and received numerous fellowships throughout his distinguished career. He has been a resident scholar in Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court, an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow on the law faculty of Cologne University (Germany), a Max Planck Society Fellow in the Max Planck Institute of International and Comparative Public Law in Heidelberg, a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Tokyo in Japan, and the winner of the Alexander von Humboldt Prize for senior U.S. scholars.

He has also received major grants and senior fellowships from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society and the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Between 1980 and 1982 he served as an advisor to President Carter’s Commission on the Holocaust, and in 1991 he was co-winner of the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award for an article on privacy published in “The World and I” (September 1990).

With more than 100 major publications to his name, Kommers is highly regarded by both legal scholars and political scientists.  >>Back<<

Footnotes:  

1.  Source:  text supplied by the author and used here with his permission (Editor's note)

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Andrew D. Ciferni, O.Praem.

Daylesford

 

Some Reflections on

What Distinguishes the Norbertines

or

Premonstratensian Charism

at the Dawn of the 21^st Century[1]

>>Back<<

Editor’s notes:

(1) Andrew shares these thoughts with us all – hoping for our discussion and feedback to him and/or other members of the committee. (2) The editor has made minor changes in Andrew’s original text (e.g., adding “St. Norbert” before his first mention of “College”) to help clarify concepts for those of us who weren’t participants in the original meeting.

Second version[2]

Apparently we have been unsuccessful in communicating to our colleagues and students the particular nature of our call. On the other hand, as I hope to point out below, exemplification and “presentism” are, in fact, key elements of Norbertine charism about which we should have no embarrassment but should rather embrace more explicitly.

Before attempting to articulate what I believe may be a specific and clear Norbertine charism-mission at St. Norbert College and Archmere Academy, allow me to address some of the premises represented by Duquette and Hickey. 

1) Because we have not been as explicit as we could have been and can be, does not mean that we have no clear articulation of charism-mission.

2) The call for the Norbertines “to step up to the plate”[4] in defining the particularity of their vocation should indeed call from us some soul-searching about how we have failed to be clear about our call both in word and example (docere verbo et exemplo)[5].

3) The present challenge for us to articulate our vocation provides a unique opportunity for us to both mine our tradition (ressourcement) and be more consciously aware of the gifts and blessings at hand to expand and deepen our call in our times (aggiornamento).

Our tradition is not our sole spiritual resource. Our culture(s) present not only new challenges but also new possibilities. The tension created by returning to one’s roots while simultaneously seeking evangelical inculturation, I suggest, accounts for no small amount of the confusion that has marked Catholic life since the early sixties to the present.

4) We need to become perhaps painfully self-conscious in examining our individual experience as members of the culture(s) into which we were born and now participate in for therein we may well discover our past and present resistance to what in the Norbertine tradition challenged our past and continues to challenge our present praxis. Our failure to live docere verbo et exemplo may be a bigger block to our clearly communicating our charism than any failure of verbal articulation.[6]

Below is the new Mission-Vision Statement of the Order approved and accepted by the General Chapter 2006.

Mission-Vision Statement of the Order of Prémontré

Drawn by our merciful and Triune God,

we are called as baptized

to follow the poor and risen Christ

in a radical and apostolic way of life

according to the Gospel, the Rule of Saint Augustine

and the charism of Saint Norbert,

the founder of our Premonstratensian Order.

 

Our way of life is marked by:

a lifelong seeking after God through fraternal community,

a never-ending conversion by giving ourselves to the church

of our profession in communion with the self-emptying of Christ,

in imitation of Mary pondering God’s Word,

and in ceaseless prayer and service at the altar.

 

From the choir and altar we go to serve the human family

in a spirit of simplicity, hospitality, reconciliation and peace

for the benefit of the Church and the world,

especially where Christ is found among the poor, the suffering,

and among those who do not know him.

 

We pray that what God’s Spirit has begun in us

may be made perfect in the day of Christ Jesus.

 

Features of the Canons Regular of Prémontré:

Following again the model of the Dulles article, I list what I believe are our Norbertine features (principal marks of our particular charism). Under each in italics are lines from the Mission-Vision Statement. Then in bulleted paragraphs (in this color) are some initial thoughts/comments that I think might be expanded through more serious study, reflection and discussion. The last sentence in the box (in italics) is a question that might serve ongoing discussion of this important topic.

1. Lifelong Conversion in and through Stability to a local church

- a lifelong seeking after God

- by giving ourselves to the church of our profession

• Yes we are present.  Being present in one place and setting down deep roots there for centuries is one of the most distinguishing qualities of Norbertine life for it is grounded in what is most specific to the charism of all canons regular, namely, the promise of stability to one church in life.  Thus even though the recently published Norbertine Hagiologion and Goovaerts' older work on Norbertine authors, artists and scholars make it clear that the Order has from its beginning committed itself to the academic, artistic and professional training of its members, the lives of these members committed to abbeys schools, parishes and missions - and not to universities - accounts to a large degree, I believe, in our seeming lack of front rank scholars.[7]

On the other hand this kind of stability tends to create an environment in which Norbertines are more available to more people over a longer preiod of time than is the case among members of more modern orders.

Stability also makes of abbeys centers for cultural development, e.g., medieval agronomy, scriptoria, baroque libraries, nineteenth century natural history collections, twentieth century schools, perennial centers for the collection of art and the training of artists, and centers for music.

What evidence is there for this among us?

2. Contemplative Integration

- in imitation of Mary pondering God’s Word,

• Carol Neel's October 2006 lecture at the college demonstrated the high caliber of theological writings at the Order's beginning.  Carol also showed how in its origins study, lectio divina and pastoral care were integrated in a way particular by canons regular.

In our educational apostolate, as in all our ministries beginning with our common life and prayer, we are calle3d to form people into a "contemplative capability".

This constitutive contemplative dimension of our life and the centrality of liturgical prayer also create among us a high prioritization for aesthetics (magnificent churches, libraries, refectories and other public spaces, etc.)

Can we share personal experience of this reality?

3. Worship and Pastoral Care

- in ceaseless prayer and service at the altar.                    

- from the choir and altar we go to serve the human family

• Stability to a church is for the purpose of assuring the praise of God in that place and the pastoral care of those who gather in that church for that purpose.  This leadership in prayer and liturgical preaching is at the very core of the canonical vocation.

Can we bear personal witness to this through individual narratives?

4. Communio

- drawn by our merciful and Triune God, we are called as baptized

• This concept retrieved and revitalized by and since Vatican II and employed extensively in the papacy of John Paul II has become such a theological commonplace that we Norbertines tend to forget that it was the organizing concept for our Constitutions years before it became a commonplace.  Unfortunately even among us it is often understood and employed as more of a sociological reality (community) rather than as a theological reality rooted in our participation in the life of the Trinity and exhibited more and more in our sense of connectedness with the entire human family.

A particular manifestation of Norbertine communio for the life of an educational institution is our international character that holds potential for mutual support and assistance.

Can we explain the difference between communio, community, common life and camaraderie to others?

5. Collaboration

- a lifelong seeking after God through fraternal community

• The development of priestly spirituality in the West and a culture in which individual choice has very high priority has militated against our having a clear sense of the collaborative nature of priesthood and ministry within a canonical community.  The professor was correct.  We are called to 'exemplification' but more correctly we are called to 'corporate exemplification', not to private practice.  Here the centrality of the liturgy in our life becomes the privileged place of "docere verbo et exemplo".

Our corporate leadership in prayer (concelebrated Eucharist and commitment to daily celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours in medio populi) might well be the most distinguishing mark of a school shaped by Norbertine charism rather than by another.

At the same time, because of Vatican II's common call to holiness, our contemporary diminishment (aging and lack of vocations) may be seen as providing an opportunity for the retrieval of an original vision of laity in communion with our canonries that was not possible in the past.   

How do we understand this and see it operative among us?  What are the challenges in it?

6. Hospitality

- in a spirit of simplicity, hospitality, reconciliation and peace

• Providing shelter and care for the homeless, the sick and the sojourner is a most traditional Norbertine apostolate (the medieval senodochium).  Our houses and our schools are to be places of spiritual renewal, shared friendship, creative reflection and discussion.

How does this become operative in a school setting?

7. Shaping a Culture in Dialogue with Other Cultures

- in a spirit of simplicity, hospitality, reconciliation and peace

-  for the benefit of the Church and the world

• I place this feature last because I think it can be the one that integrates all the others.  Jay Fostner began his ministry as SNC's Vice-President for Mission and Heritage by setting out the goal of creating a Catholic and Norbertine culture at SNC.  I find this an attractive proposal.  John Allen of NCR lists the "Quest for Catholic Identity" as one of the mega-trends shaping our future.  An identity is created by a formative environment.  I have referred to this before by using Ed Foley's concept of "ecological perspective"[8].

Because Norbertines vow themselves to lifelong conversion in one place they tend to create an abbey culture that then shapes a school culture and which has a strong impact on local culture.  This setting down of deep roots for centuries traditionally makes Norbertine abbeys great repositories of the material culture of a region, centers for the development of agriculture, learning centers, and now more than ever, centers for spirituality.

In the last analysis, I believe, it is not what particular characteristics ("features") a community can list as shaping its particular charism, but how virtues and values held by all Catholics are worked together to express and shape a particular culture.

The challenge is to define and live Norbertine Ecology at St. Norbert College.

Is this already happening?  If so, where and how?  Where does it need the most attention?

>>Back<<

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Footnotes:  

1.  This title is consciously borrowed from Cardinal Avery Dulles' recent article, "What Distinguishes Jesuits?  The Ignatian charism at the dawn of the 21st century," America, January 15-22, 2007, 20-25.

2.  This piece was written for the Norbertine focus group that met at St. Norbert Abbey under the auspices of the Mission and Heritage Office of St. Norbert College.  It was rewritten in the light of that focus group's discussion.  Participants in the discussion were Norbertines T. J. Antry, A. D. Ciferni, A. Cribben, S. Cuccia, R. Finnegan, J. Herring, S. Jadin, T. Lauerman, A. McBride, D. McElroy, D. Noel, J. Tremel, and Dr. William Hyland, Director of the Center for Norbertine Studies at SNC.

3.  "Religion, Heritage and Today, Catholic School" The Archmerean LXVI (Spring-Summer 2006), 18-19. This article is a summary of Dr. Hickey's dissertation, Identifying and Maintaining Religious Heritage Amidst Conflict and Diminishing Religious Presence in a Catholic High School.

4.  Quote from a SNC administrator.

5.  The summary phrase from Carolyn Walker Bynum's book of the same title concerning the characteristic of the spirituality of 12th century canons regular.

6.  The conversation of tradition, culture and reflection on individual experience comes from the method of theological reflection developed by James and Evelyn Whitehead in Method in Ministry.  

7.  Abbot Jos Wouters of Averbode writes on canons regular and education in his recent talk at the 50th anniversary of Averbode's school in Brasschaat. "Reguliere kanunniken en het onderwijs," Averbode 34:4 (Dec 2006), 20-25

8.  Ed Foley, "Eucharistic Praxis in Ecological Perspective:  A Capuchin Look," Review for Religious (July - August 2001), 342-364.

John L. Bostwick, O.Praem.

De Pere

 

“Changed from

Glory into Glory”[1]

Author’s note: This article is taken from the book "Becoming Divine: Essays on Theosis in Honor of Father Alexander Men" edited by Bishop Seraphim Sigrist. This particular piece was written in response to talks given at this symposium in honor of Fr. Men held on July 24, 2007 in New York City.

Dainin Katagiri Roshi,[2] the founding abbot of the Minnesota Zen Center offered this illustration in a discussion of institutional religion: it is like being given a set of wooden sticks.  One can take those sticks and build a cage. A cage, of course, is meant to confine, to set limits, to protect, perhaps. Someone else could take those same sticks and build a trellis. A trellis is a structure that supports, that lifts up and allows the plant to be exposed to sun and rain, the elements that nurture it and allow it to grow. Some folks experience religion as a cage – rigid confining, restrictive; others experience religion as a structure that supports, allows for nourishment, growth and freedom.  What's the difference? The basic building blocks are the same. The difference is in the attitude of the person. The person can choose to create something that restricts and binds or to create something that supports growth and freedom.  

So, what's with quoting a Buddhist teacher in a reflection on theosis? My comments are just that: a reflection written some weeks after listening to some wise and scholarly thoughts on the topic of theosis. I have pondered what I heard that sultry evening in New York City, July 24, 2007, at St Mary Magdalen Orthodox Church, reflecting on them in my heart, and trying to make sense of my initial response.

The Christian person - the human person, really - receives the gift of an incredibly rich tradition of faith, a tradition of such breadth and depth that is very hard to take it all in and to appreciate the wonder of what is handed on. The various strains of Christian tradition don't often showcase the whole tradition in its full beauty. Rather, they emphasis this or that dimension and the most of us receive a partial and limited experience of Christian faith and life.

To pick up on Katagiri Roshi's image. We receive a body of tradition, often enough somewhat incomplete, and we have to make something of it. What is it that claims our attention?  Where do we place the emphasis? What are the consequences? There is the objective reality of Christian faith. The Tradition. The Truth. And there is our perception of it. Listening to the talks given at the First (Annual) Fr Men Lecture broadened and enlivened my perception in a way that animated a sense of hope, of humility, freedom and joy.

Hope

The Christian life is as much about process as it is about event. Last February there was a bit of tension in my class between a student and me. "Pat" was from a Baptist background, a good, faithful Christian. He took exception to a point I made in class that "salvation" is not simply achieved by a discrete act or event such as "accepting Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior" or even such an event as being baptized. I suggested that while there are indeed special moments for many, salvation is a process, that even with such an event as "being saved" or being baptized, life is not static. One has to continue to live and grow into the Christian life. Conversion is a lifelong process of growth into Christ. Someone told the story about an evangelist approaching her on the street and asking, "Are you saved?" How would we respond? My most honest response would be "I am being saved." It is a process! But in the interests of real honesty, I'd have to confess that I'd probably dodge the question entirely, rather than get caught up in a theological debate on a street comer!  By the end of the semester, Pat and I found ourselves agreeing; he came to appreciate the dynamic reality of the Christians life and the ongoing nature of conversion.

Both "conversion" and "theosis" reflect hope. They both are about transformation and growth. Both are dynamic rather than static. Both are ways of describing the Christian life; in a way, both are drawing from the same human experience as "raw material." Yet there is a significantly different emphasis or focus. The implicit message of conversion seems to focus on human activity, on our turning away from sin and turning towards Christ, our letting go on one way of life and embracing another, our leaving behind one mindset and acquiring a new way of thinking.  Conversion is about becoming holy, but it seems to be primarily from the human perspective.

"Theosis" suggests also a dynamic movement of transformation and growth in holiness, but with an emphasis of what God is doing in Christ in human lives. While the person is not passive in the process, theosis highlights the divine action of grace within the human person and the human community.

For me, conversion emphasizes moral change and highlights sin even in our turning away from it. Theosis seems to move beyond morality in an ongoing transformation which is future oriented that, while not denying the reality of sin, transcends it to focus on the goal: becoming holy as God is holy.

It is the vibrant, dynamic, positive and God-focused emphasis of theosis that carries a dominant sense of hope in a way that seems more alive than the conversion model alone. Both share some of the same qualities: process, growth and, ultimately, hope. Yet I think the God-focused model of Theosis is less ambiguous and more energizing as it continually draws the human person forward.

Humility

There are two ways in which the discussions of theosis evoke an awareness of humility and both of these are, of course, positive. The first and fundamental one is the inherent focus on God and God's action in human life. The human person and especially the human individual is not the center of the universe. First, God is both beginning and end, origin and goal of existence. Humans are accustomed to think of self as center. This can be a source of unhealthy pride; it can also be a great burden. That salvation is God's work, indeed, with our cooperation and openness, but God's work nonetheless, frees us from the burden. Theosis, salvation as a work of grace, frees us to receive God's gift and to grow into it. There is a synergy here that acknowledges the first place of God and frees us to be human but also invites us into a partnership with God in His work.

The distinction between "person" and "individual" is important. The "person" is person-in communion. "Individual" is self-in-isolation. I would suggest that this state of being in isolation is a way of describing hell. The human person is created for communion, for being in relationship.  Our identity - even "my own" identity is found in relationship to God, to other people, to creation.  That "I" am not complete in myself, but rather find my “self” in communion should evoke a healthy - and grateful - sense of humility.

One of the themes, a central theme of the reflections given last July, was to reflect on theosis in a context larger that simply the individual human person, to expand the context to a larger social, even a cosmic reality. This too would free humanity from bearing the burden of the whole of creation and integrate humanity into relationship, into community, into the whole created order.  This is a corrective to a distorted sense of self, a distorted sense of religion, a distorted understanding of how human beings relate to the world around us.

Our times demand a shift away from a truly untraditional "Jesus and me" sense of the spiritual life. One of the ancient Fathers[3] said "solus Christianus, nullus Christianus" - a Christian alone is no Christian. The focus on an individualized, isolated relationship with God is a distortion.  While our spiritual life may indeed be deeply personal, it is not privatized or simply individual.  Human beings, after all, are social beings. There must be an awareness of the larger community, beyond even family or friends or church, but the human community. There will be awareness especially of the weakest or most vulnerable of human sisters and brothers. The most alive of the renewal movements promote this kind of integration into the larger network of human relationship.  I'm thinking here of groups like Taize, Sant Egidio, the Catholic Worker movement and many others.

The environmental crisis calls us to a broader vision of how humans relate to the big picture of the earth and the cosmos. The simple shift from seeing our task in relationship to the world as stewards and caretakers rather than agents of domination and exploitation places us in a more healthy and God-pleasing position. This shift is also an act of humility - not in the sense of self-abasement, but rather in accepting the truth about the place of humans in the created order as an integral part of a larger reality, indeed with a special vocation and a unique relation to God, yet in relation to the whole of creation for which we bear responsibility.

Freedom

A God-centered hope and the sense of right-relation which is humility yields the gift of freedom. When we realize that God is fundamentally for us, that Jesus Christ is God's unambiguous "Yes!" to humanity,[4] that God is indeed "the Lover of humanity," we become free, free of the burden of sinfulness, free of the obligation to save ourselves. We become free to say "Amen" to God's "Yes," free to embrace the gift of life, of wholeness, of holiness that God offers.

The eighth chapter of the Letter to the Romans is a bold hymn in praise of the life giving freedom that God is working within us, a freedom from condemnation provided by life in the Spirit of Jesus;[5] a freedom that allows us to recognize and name God “Abba;”[6] a recognition that the inward struggle is both real and life-giving, a positive, creative entry into the freedom of the children of God.[7]  We can be free of condemnation, free of fear and free for life in the Spirit of God - free for holiness because of the love of God in Jesus Christ.[8]

I have never found the "sinners in the hands of an angry God" approach to be terribly motivating. The Catholic version can be found in the retreat conference on "Hell" in James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The vivid images inspire terror rather than awe. One wonders what these horrific images have to do with love, whether the love of God for us or our love for God.  Theosis is about God's loving self-gift in Jesus Christ whose humanity invites us and gives us the freedom to share the divine holiness.

Joy

I left the symposium that hot July night with profound sense of joy. There was the joy of an evening well spent among fine people and the joy of hearing words of wisdom, thoughtful words, challenging words. The joy of that event would last for a time, but there was a deeper joy embracing me that night, the joy of knowing the power and possibility of God's love for creation, for humanity, God's love even for me. The articulation of theosis, God's invitation and desire that we share by grace the holiness that is God's by nature, is a proclamation of renewal and restoration for it is a restoration of what creation was intended to be according to God's originating vision. It is wholly positive –  not pretending that sin and evil do not exist, but moving beyond them to what, please God, will be.

The text of the Charles Wesley hymn recognizes both the original and the future glory –  "changed from glory into glory," transformation not only of humanity but also of creation in the fulfillment of God's plan, so that God might be "all in all."[9]

Fr. Alexander Schmemann famously wrote that the most damning critique of Christianity was Nietzsche's claim that Christians had no joy. Yet Christianity is from the very beginning the proclamation of joy.[10]   Joy marks the beginning of the Gospel in Christ's birth and the end of the Gospel in His Resurrection. Joy marks the beginning of the Biblical story in the Creation and the restoration of Creation in the heavenly Jerusalem. Joy is the beginning and end of our life in Christ, where we will be "lost in wonder, love and praise."[11]  >>Back<<

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Editor’s note:  John L. Bostwick, O.Praem., a native of Cleveland, Ohio, was vested in 1964 and ordained in 1976. Prior to his present assignment as an adjunct instructor of religious studies at St. Norbert College, De Pere, he taught on the secondary school level especially in Green Bay, WI and attended numerous schools, institutes, and programs to enhance his graduate degree in theology. John has also served his community in such positions as the Abbot’s council and house superior and is a former De Pere Communicator correspondent.  

Footnotes:  

1.  Charles Wesley, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" verse 3. Worship (Chicago: GIA Publications, 1986) no. 588.

2.  This illustration was given in a lecture, which was taped.  While I no longer have access to the tape, this is how I remember it - not as an exact quote, but, as I recall it, the "spirit" of Katagiri Roshi's statement.

3.  Tertullian

4.  2 Cor 1:19-20

5  Romans 8:1ff

6.  Romans 8:15

7.  Romans 8:18-26

8.  Romans 8:31-39

9.  1 Cor 15:28

10.  Alexander Schmemann.  For the Life of the World (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1973.) p. 23

11.  Charles Wesley, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" Worship Hymnal (Chicago: GIA Publications, 1986) no. 588, verse 3

Andrew H. Smith, O.Praem.

Storrington

Storrington Priory

1882-2007

125 Years of Life

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On the Solemnity of Our Lady of England, 24^th September 2007, a Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving was celebrated in the Priory Church to mark 125 years of Norbertine Community Life in Storrington. The Principal Celebrant was the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, assisted by Bishop Kieran Conry, our Local Ordinary, together with the Prior and Community plus invited priests and deacons of our Diocese of Arundel and Brighton.

To understand the “why” of a community in Storrington it is necessary to look at the difficulties of the Church in post-revolution France when the Concordat of 1801 did not mention religious institutes because the French government (of The First Consul - Bonaparte) thought them to be undesirable and the Holy See did not wish to push the issue. The only exceptions were institutes devoted to seminary formation, priests who were members of foreign mission societies, who were useful for spreading French influence overseas and the Trappists, because they lived apart from the world. However religious communities did return to France, often being privately encouraged by the Pope of the day to be re-established. Around 1850 foundations began to multiply even though the law remained unchanged and Pope Pius IX invited Father Edmond Boulbon to restore the Norbertines in a land which once knew the great Abbey of Premontre and 91 other Premonstratensian Abbeys.

Aged 18 years John Baptist Boulbon entered the Trappist Cistercian Abbey at Amiens which had been founded by St. Bernard and where he was given the religious name of Edmond. After his ordination in 1843 the abbey community had to move premises and the abbot sought to purchase another and so Fr. Edmond, who had the gift of oratory, was asked to become a wandering fund-raising preacher. He was very successful so then he was sent to establish a monastery on the Island of Reunion, but opposition from government agents led to its failure. From there he spent eighteen months on St. Helena doing duty as the pastor. With much time on his hands to reflect Boulbon planned a new Cistercian community where magnificent liturgy might be celebrated. However his abbot told him his aims were not compatible with the customs of Citeaux and others advised him to restore the Primitive Observance of the Order of Premontre which would help him join the duties of monastic life with those of the clerical life.

In 1855 the Bishop of Soissons bought the abbey of Premontre in