Benedictines welcome women to make temporary
commitment
By ARTHUR JONES
NCR Staff
Religious life without a lifetime commitment. Its been
floated as an idea.
Now the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pa., have done something
about it, welcoming Christian women of all ages and life stages to become
temporary members for one to three years.
Almost 150 years ago, 27-year-old Benedictine Sr. Benedicta Riepp
arrived in the United States from Germany about to change the only way of being
a Benedictine woman at that time -- the life of the cloistered nun.
Riepp developed Benedictines in active ministry.
Now, in a world in which people can expect four and five career
changes in a working lifetime, is the moment to offer a new variation on the
existing Benedictine theme, said Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister, Eries
dean of spirituality. Women will make temporary commitments through the
Benedicta Riepp Program.
As the Erie Benedictine community developed it, the program
invites temporary members to live in community to acquire the spirit of
monastic spirituality that will bolster the rest of their lives. Benedictine
monasteries are linked together through a federation but are autonomous
entities.
Todays culture is transitory, said Erie prioress
Sr. Christine Vladimiroff . Yet we have people coming to us all the time
who want to touch our lives and be immersed in our spirituality. So were
going to make it possible for them to do it in a more systematic way.
It is a one-year commitment, renewable for up to three years,
which would enable Christian women to fully participate in the monasterys
prayer life, community life and ministries.
They will be expected to live celibate lives during their
monastery stay and, whatever their income level, live at the same $70 a month
level as the sisters. Each temporary member will have a mentor on Benedictine
spirituality and engage in directed and independent study of Benedictine
literature and tradition.
If the members have cars, they may keep them. The Benedictines
make clear, said Chittister, that this is a lifestyle immersion, not a
job. We dont pay and nor do they.
Three years ago, said Chittister, she tried to raise the topic of
temporary members at a national vocations conference. It got nowhere. She mused
on it and earlier this year presented it to the new prioress, Vladimiroff, to
the communitys council and to its formation team. The plan was presented
to the entire Erie community in August.
This isnt some Chittister thing, she said.
After 1,500 Benedictine years, this is not a leap. Were dealing
with the Middle Ages notion of claustral oblates, an old Benedictine
term for oblates who live inside the cloister. But we cant call them
that, because who is going to understand the term?
Nor is this the monastic tradition watered down into service only,
a Benedictine Peace Corps. They are not guests or
observers but members, scholastics in the true, though not
canonical, sense of the word, she said.
The communitys discussion paper states, Unlike those
who intend to make a permanent commitment, they are not voting or vowed
members. They are people whose ongoing circumstances as widows, mothers,
professionals, may require future commitments. They come knowing theyre
not going to stay. They are not hung up in canonical categories; divorced
people wouldnt need an annulment.
Chittister said, We have 62 women were in contact with
on a regular basis who come to us, they love us, we like them, they dont
stay. Why? Im completely convinced its because this culture no
longer supports the concept of perpetuity. We are the one institution left in
Western culture that implies stay forever even before you walk in the
door.
Such innovative programs are essential, Chittister said, because
the old sources of persons attracted to religious life -- parish schools and
parish-based spirituality -- are at best weakened or smaller. We no
longer have consistent networks. Yet I am convinced that people are as
interested as ever in religious life.
The community could accept up to perhaps a dozen temporary
members.
It will have a cost on us in human terms and financial
terms, said Vladimiroff, and if we were business people wed
do a cost-benefit analysis. But thats foreign to us. We feel we have
something precious to give in terms of charism, the gift of
Benedictinism.
Since the recent announcement, she said, serious conversations
have already begun with two women. There are 140 Erie Benedictines, median age
62, active in ministries that include art, social work, retreat centers and
inner-city ministries with the poor.
Those are some of the ministries in which the temporary members
would be engaged. If it were an outside, salaried activity, the woman would be
expected to bank that income and live as do the sisters, until she left the
monastery.
Admission is by interview, personal biographical essay and
thorough discernment. There is a three-month probationary contract, followed by
an extended contract.
The Benedicta Riepp Program will provide instruction in the
Liturgy of the Hours and the psalms, in the Benedictine Rule, monastic
spirituality and literature; in the lectio and guided book discussions;
insertion into the community, immersion in the history of spirituality and
spiritual direction.
National Catholic Reporter, December 3,
1999
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