Suchergebnisse

Introduction. New ways of looking at old institutions / Richard W. Bauman and Tsvi Kahana -- pt. 1. Legislatures and democratic theory. Principles of legislation / Jeremy Waldron ; An exact epitome of the people / Russell Hardin ; Political accountability, proxy accountability, and the democratic legitimacy of legislatures / Jane S. Schacter ; Constitutionalism, trade legislation, and 'democracy' / Chantal Thomas -- pt. 2. Legislating and deliberating in the democratic legislature. Legislative judgment and the enlarged mentality: taking religious perspectives / Jennifer Nedelsky ; Should we value legislative integrity? / Andrei Marmor ; Nondelegation principles / Cass Sunstein ; Populism, the legislative process and the Canadian Constitution / Harry Arthurs -- pt. 3. Constitution-making by legislatures: the explicit version. Legislatures as constituent assemblies / Jon Elster ; Legislatures and the phases and components of constitutionalism / Ruth Gavison ; Legislatures and constitutional agnosticism / Patricia Hughes ; Constitutional amendments and the constitutional common law / Adrian Vermeule -- pt. 4. Constitution-making by legislatures: the implicit version. What do constitutions do that statutes don't (legally speaking)? / Frank I. Michelman ; Conditions for framework legislation / Elizabeth Garrett ; Super-statutes: the new American constitutionalism / William N. Eskridge, Jr. and John Ferejohn -- pt. 5. Constitutional interpretation and application by the legislature. Interpretation in legislatures and courts: incentives and institutional design / Mark Tushnet ; Constitutional engagement 'outside the courts' (and 'Inside the legislature'): reflections on professional expertise and the ability to engage in constitutional interpretation / Sanford Levinson ; Legislation as constitutional interpretation: another dialogue / Andree Lajoie with Cecile Bergada and Eric Gelineau ; The Constitution and congressional committees: 1971--2000 / Keith E. Whittington, Neal Devins, and Hutch Hicken -- pt. 6. Is legislative constitutionalism possible?. Democratic decision-making as the first principle of contemporary constitutionalism / Jeremy Webber ; Legislative constitutionalism in a system of judicial supremacy / Daniel A. Farber ; Between supremacy and exclusivity / Owen Fiss ; Legislatures as rule-followers / Frederick Schauer ; Popular revolution or popular constitutionalism? Reflections on the constitutional politics of Quebec Secession / Sujit Choudhry -- pt. 7. The legislature in dialogue: domestic and international contexts. Disobeying parliament? Privative clauses and the rule of law / David Dyzenhaus ; Look who's talking now: dialogue theory and the return to democracy / Andrew Petter ; An international community of legislatures? / Daphne Barak-Erez ; Legislatures in dialogue with one another: dissent, decisions, and the global polity / Heather K. Gerken.

Social democracy, it is often said, is nice but pricey. Whatever its merits in the rich countries of Western Europe, social democracy is frequently dismissed as an infeasible model for developing countries. Based on generosity towards the poor and protection against market competition, the argument goes, social democracy is only possible in consensual, homogeneous and affluent societies with an extraordinary commitment to equality. In third world countries that are conflict-ridden, heterogeneous and poor, does the social democracy have any relevance? In this article we offer a more agnostic view of the feasibility of the social democratic model of development in the third world. First, we argue that consensus, homogeneity, and affluence are products of the social democratic model, not prerequisites. Second, we claim that the central social democratic policy as a development model was the policy of wage compression attained through highly centralized wage-setting institutions. Third, we argue that the economics benefits of wage compression would be as significant in South Africa, Brazil or India today as they were in the Nordic countries between 1935 and 1970. The political feasibility of a policy of wage compression, however, is open to doubt, hence our agnosticism regarding whether or not the social democratic road to affluence can be repeated. In this paper we consider social democracy to be model of development rather than an end state. In particular, we will not enter into the debate regarding the future prospects of social democracy in Western Europe within the context of European economic integration, a common currency, an aging population and the ever increasing cost of providing the best health care that money can buy. The achievements of social democracy as a development strategy in terms of combining the socialist virtues of equality and security without losing the capitalist virtues of economic efficiency and technological dynamism are not seriously in dispute. What are disputed are the answers to the following questions: What was the contribution of specifically social democratic policies to the high level of affluence and equality in Northern Europe today. Would the policies that successfully promoted development in Northern Europe be equally effective and feasible in the third world in the context of an increasingly integrated global economy?

An updated edition showcasing the social health of the least religious nations in the worldReligious conservatives around the world often claim that a society without a strong foundation of faith would necessarily be an immoral one, bereft of ethics, values, and meaning. Indeed, the Christian Right in the United States has argued that a society without God would be hell on earth.In Society without God, Second Edition sociologist Phil Zuckerman challenges these claims. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews with more than 150 citizens of Denmark and Sweden, among the least religious countries in the world, he shows that, far from being inhumane, crime-infested, and dysfunctional, highly secular societies are healthier, safer, greener, less violent, and more democratic and egalitarian than highly religious ones.Society without God provides a rich portrait of life in a secular society, exploring how a culture without faith copes with death, grapples with the meaning of life, and remains content through everyday ups and downs. This updated edition incorporates new data from recent studies, updated statistics, and a revised Introduction, as well as framing around the now more highly developed field of secular studies. It addresses the dramatic surge of irreligion in the United States and the rise of the "nones," and adds data on societal health in specific US states, along with fascinating context regarding which are the most religious and which the most secular

Prescient essays about the state of our politics from the philosopher who predicted that a populist demagogue would become president of the United StatesRichard Rorty, one of the most influential intellectuals of recent decades, is perhaps best known today as the philosopher who, almost two decades before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, warned of the rise of a Trumpian strongman in America. What Can We Hope For? gathers nineteen of Rorty's essays on American and global politics, including four previously unpublished and many lesser-known and hard-to-find pieces.In these provocative and compelling essays, Rorty confronts the critical challenges democracies face at home and abroad, including populism, growing economic inequality, and overpopulation and environmental devastation. In response, he offers optimistic and realistic ideas about how to address these crises. He outlines strategies for fostering social hope and building an inclusive global community of trust, and urges us to put our faith in trade unions, universities, bottom-up social campaigns, and bold political visions that thwart ideological pieties.Driven by Rorty's sense of emergency about our collective future, What Can We Hope For? is filled with striking diagnoses of today's political crises and creative proposals for solving them

The religious intellect must recognize that in the nineteenth century it confronts a unique situation, unprecedented both in the depth of its challenge and in the extension of its claims. During that period, the denial of the reality of God rose to achieve an articulate and influential presence within the intellectual culture of western Europe. This denial was no longer the persuasion of this or that idiosyncratic figure such as Diagoras of Melos or Theodore of Cyrene in preChristian antiquity; nor did it constitute the mentality of a peculiarly enlightened cast such as the d'Holbachian circle in Paris in the eighteenth century. During the nineteenth century, "the eclipse of God" advanced much farther, descending massively upon modernity and upon the world that it embraced as non-European nations fell under the influence of Western thought. This eclipse circumscribed an absence of religious faith or of any living theistic affirmation, together with an attendant sense of alienation, indifference, or hostility toward religious doctrines, presence, and institutions. This atheism or secularism or agnosticism together with its cognate indifference or contempt for the religious was unique within the history of the world in the public acceptance it secured during that century, in the ascendancy within particular subcultures it gained, and in the rapidity of increase it enjoyed among intellectuals and the formative sources of culture. It came to shadow all ranks of society in Europe, from workers to bourgeoisie to intellectuals, gathering strength to spill into the twentieth century with an ideational force unmatched since the Protestant Reformation. During this steady devolution of religious affirmation, not only did the judgment about the validity of religious belief fall under suspicion and question, but the nature or content of religious ideas themselves did as well. The religious culture of Europe was being reconfigured because the notion of "God" was being reconfigured. God was coming to be seen now as the alienation of the human species in favor of an imaginary subject or as the structure of the human society now writ large or as the projection out of fear and longing of oedipal necessities. Each of these reconfigurations lent new shapes to political economy or theology, literature, philosophy, and rhetoric. Emerging as the psychological dynamic that explained religious ideas were such terms as Vergegensti:indlichung and Enti:iusserung, objectification and alienation, and the face of God changed, as in some way the hermeneutics of suspicion registered the human interests that had created it.1 But there was another, very different historical development in modernity's disclosure of the profound projection within religious belief. The initial grammars of religion revealed that the human was the truth of the divine. The second wave of interpretation would tear off this mask and see beneath it not the human but the antihuman. God is revealed as - to borrow a term from Spanish mysticism - el enemigo de natura humana, the enemy of human nature. The discovery of this equation between the divine and the diabolical was both the product of the nineteenth century and one of the fundamental reversals of the sacred in the history of religion. This discovery the following essay attempts to outline in a series of very broad brush strokes. To do so, it proposes: (1) to indicate something of the dialectic that lies at the origins of modern atheism, the paradoxical sources of modern atheism;2 (2) to examine the radical shift in fundamental thinking that took place in the nineteenth century- in what Hobbes called the "First Grounds of Philosophy"; (3) to trace the effect that this produced in the basic evidence advanced for the reality of God; ( 4) to outline some classic moments in the massive rise in atheistic consciousness that these philosophical and theological arguments dialectically occasioned; (5) to identify the "god" that emerges from these counterpositions.

In the nihilistic thought of the present day, or to be more exact, in postmodernism, the avoidance of the epistemological problem of God is drastically noticeable. Knowledge of God, though difficult, is always possible. But in atheism we find the thesis that it is impossible to achieve knowledge of God, simply because He does not exist. In agnosticism and contemporary relativism, the hypothesis is that nothing can be known or ever will be known of God. For the ideologies that are a product of atheism, the main work of the human being is to create a new civilization founded on political autonomy in opposition to God. The human being, on the other hand, cannot forget God without forgetting his own identity as well. In daily life he lives in tension, with an internal battle. People seek substitutes for the realities to which they are linked, but they turn out only to be pale reflections of the Absolute from which they had tried to free themselves. The proof is the development of the so-called new religions, sects, the new age movement and also other esoteric models that try to substitute Christ. In the quest for modern man, with the existentialist assertion that God is love, the Pope wants to give an answer to the doubts that have arisen in our epoch due to ideologies and diverse philosophical systems. He seems to say openly, if God is love this means that He has not died. What has worn out is the anthropomorphic thoughts and the caricatures that we have made of Him. That God is love is not one of so many images but the very foundation and the absolute criterion of all the images that come close to the living God. The present Pope, who comes from a culture in which a demythologisation of the Bible was often postulated, demythologises the face of God that our history had deformed in a profoundly serene way. Adopting a humanist language, he aims to remind us that Christ is the revealed love of God made man for love of mankind. He is a God that is love in His human aspect. ; En el nihilismo contemporáneo, o si se prefiere, en la postmodernidad, se nota drásticamente el desplazamiento del problema gnoseológico de Dios. El conocimiento de Dios, aunque difícil, siempre es posible. Pero en el ateísmo nos encontramos con la tesis de la imposibilidad de conocer a Dios, sencillamente porque no existe. Para el agnosticismo y el relativismo contemporáneos la hipótesis es que de Dios ni se sabe nada ni podrá saberse nada. Para las ideologías herederas del ateísmo el obrar fundamental del hombre se dirige a crear una nueva civilización fundada en una economía política autónoma frente a Dios. El hombre sin embargo, no puede olvidar a Dios sin olvidar también su propia identidad. En el encuentro con lo cotidiano vive en tensión, en lucha interna. Busca los sustitutos para las realidades a las que está ligado, pero cae en sucedáneos del Absoluto del que había querido liberarse. Lo testimonian los desarrollos de las llamadas nuevas religiones, las sectas, la new age y otros modelos esotéricos que quieren sustituir a Cristo. A la busca del hombre moderno, con la afirmación existencial Dios es amor, el Papa quiere dar una respuesta a las dudas suscitadas en nuestra época por las ideologías y los diversos sistemas filosóficos. Parece decir abiertamente: si Dios es amor, significa también que no está muerto. Lo que está agotado son las concepciones antropomórficas y las caricaturescas que hemos hecho de Él. Dios es amor no es una de tantas imágenes sino el fundamento y el criterio absoluto de todas las imágenes que quieran acercarse al rostro del Dios vivo. El Papa actual, proveniente de una cultura en la que a menudo se postulaba una demitologización de la Biblia, de una manera profundamente serena demitologiza el rostro de Dios que había deformado nuestra historia. Adoptando un lenguaje humanista quiere recordar que Cristo es el amor revelado de Dios que se ha hecho hombre por amor al hombre. Es un Dios-amor en el hombre.

[ES] Dar respuesta, desde el ámbito jurídico, a la necesidad de la asistencia religiosa y a la presencia de los capellanes en las Fuerzas Armadas es responder a todos aquellos que de una u otra forma la cuestionan. Si constatamos la necesidad y somos capaces de justificarla y fundamentarla, tendremos que ver, con sinceridad y al margen de posibles prejuicios o intereses personales o de otro tipo, qué modelo es el más idóneo para lograr que la asistencia religiosa y espiritual, al militar creyente, sea lo mejor y más efectiva posible. El gran desconocimiento, incluso, prejuicios provenientes de etapas anteriores, ya superadas, hace que algunos se interroguen sobre la razón de ser de la presencia de capellanes en los ejércitos. Esos interrogantes surgen a todos los niveles y en muchos sectores de nuestra sociedad, incluso en aquellos que están directamente implicados (Estado, Iglesia, Ejército). Hay creyentes que cuestionan y no entienden la presencia de sacerdotes en la milicia. Laicos, sacerdotes o incluso algún obispo llegan a plantearse y a preguntar si esa presencia, en un medio armado y preparado para la guerra, es compatible con la fe y el Evangelio. Por otra parte, algunos militares piensan que, con la presencia de capellanes católicos, puede existir un predominio de la Iglesia católica en la institución militar, con la consecuente discriminación de otras confesiones religiosas, o simplemente que la asistencia religiosa no es necesaria, al no sentir ellos personalmente tal necesidad debido a unas u otras razones (ateísmo, agnosticismo, indiferencia, etc.). El poder político, en ocasiones, se replantea la presencia y el modelo debido a su natural preocupación por defender la igualdad y la laicidad del Estado. Desde que la anterior Vicepresidenta del Gobierno, Dª. María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, anunciase en el Congreso de los Diputados la reforma de la Ley Orgánica de Libertad Religiosa, el tema ha adquirido actualidad. La verdad es que poco se sabe, a día de hoy, de la pretendida reforma y del enfoque que se dará a la misma. ; [EN] To respond, from the legal field, the need of religious attendance and the presence of chaplains in the armed forces is to respond to all those who in one way or another the question. If we find a need and are able to justify it and justify it, we have to do with sincerity, apart from possible bias or personal or otherwise, which model is best suited to ensure that religious and spiritual assistance, the Christian military , is the best and most effective way possible. The great ignorance, even prejudices from previous stages, and overcome, makes some wonder about the reason for the presence of chaplains in the army. These questions arise at all levels and in many sectors of our society, including those directly involved (State, Church, Army). There are believers who question and do not understand the presence of priests in the military. Laity, clergy or even a bishop come to ask and ask if that presence, half armed and prepared for war, is compatible with faith and the Gospel. Moreover, some soldiers think that with the presence of Catholic chaplains, there may be a predominance of the Catholic Church in the military, with the consequent discrimination against other faiths, or simply that religious attendance is not necessary, not they personally feel such a need because of one reason or another (atheism, agnosticism, apathy, etc.). Political power sometimes rethinks the presence and natural model due to its concern to uphold equality and secularism of the state. Since the former Deputy Prime Minister, Ms. Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, announced in the House of Representatives reform of the Organic Law of Religious Freedom, the issue has become today. The truth is that little is known, today, of the intended reform and will approach to it.

Go east of Dallas on Interstate 30 until you reach Highway 67 near Mt. Vernon. Take that on east and about 30 minutes before you reach Texarkana, you'll arrive in a little town of about 1,000 people named Ingersoll. Well, it was called Ingersoll when it was founded around 1875. But the name was unofficially changed to Redwater ten years later and was made official by the Post Office almost a decade after that. How the name came to be changed is a story worth telling. Let's begin with the name Ingersoll, or should I say, Robert Green Ingersoll. That's the man the founders admired and decided to name their new town after. You may have never heard of Robert Green Ingersoll, but that's only because you didn't live in the late 1800s in America. Back then Ingersoll was one of the most famous people in the nation. He was friends with Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain and Ulysses S. Grant. He was a giant in the Republican party and any Republican who wanted to succeed at the national level needed and lusted after Ingersoll's endorsement – and his oratorical talents. Had he wanted to, he would have made a formidable candidate for the Presidency himself, except for the little problem of his nickname: he was known everywhere in America and abroad as "The Great Atheist" or the "Great Agnostic." There is, of course, a great deal of difference between atheism and agnosticism, but for fundamentalist theists, there is no difference because both groups are destined for eternal damnation. Ironically, it was the concept of Hell that Ingersoll most despised and likened to a vengeful fairy tale. In any case, such a label, whether agnostic or atheist, was considered too great a liability for a politician in that era to overcome. Might be still. Despite his reputation as a free-thinker and anti-religious zealot, he was well liked. Many religious people truly enjoyed his company and found him warm, engaging, charismatic, eloquent, even brilliant. Ingersoll attacked religious belief, but never the believer. From 1860 to 1899, he was one of the highest paid speakers in America – and mostly he spoke about the dangers of religion, even though he himself had been a Presbyterian minister's kid. The subjects he spoke about, like "Some Mistakes of Moses" and "The Frightful Dogma of Hell," were considered blasphemous by many, but he nonetheless packed the halls where he spoke with believers and skeptics alike. He called HIS religion "humanity." His central doctrine was this: "Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so." Ingersoll was quite ahead of his time. He was an outspoken abolitionist and for voting rights for blacks and women. He said it was a shame to think that women were always restricted to the shallow wisdom of their husbands. People used to gather in front of his home in Washington, D.C., to pray for his conversion. One woman visited him in his home often to try to convert him, but she finally, after seeing him accept both the high and mighty and impoverished into his home with equal graciousness, gave up. She apologized and told him, "I do not care what you believe. You are leading more of a Christian life than I ever hope to accomplish." But Ingersoll's fame died with him, in 1899. It seemed he would be confined to the century that had defined him. So we return now to Texas. How did Ingersoll lose his town? Well, in 1886 a revival meeting was held there and it was a mighty successful one in terms of saving souls. There were 110 people from that region baptized, or – you might say – born again in that week. And given that the town only consisted of about 50 to 60 people then, it suddenly became thoroughly devout and could not suffer the indignities of living under the name of a famous agnostic. So they all agreed to rename the town Redwater, after a new well was found to yield red water. So that is how Ingersoll, Texas, became Redwater, Texas. And how Robert Green Ingersoll became, as The Washington Post called him in 2012, "the most famous American you never heard of."

¨The actions taken by the Armed Forces are not a mere overthrow of a government but rather the final closing of a historical cycle and the opening of a new one in which respect for human rights is not only borne out by the rule of law and of international declarations, but is also the result of our profound and Christian belief in the preeminent dignity of man as a fundamental value.¨ (…) ¨It will be the objectives of the Armed Forces to restore the validity of the values of Christian morality, of national tradition and of the dignity to be an Argentinean; (…) a final solution to subversion in order to firmly found a reorganized Argentina on the values of Western and Christian civilization by eradicating, once and for all, the vices which afflict the nation. This immense task will require trust and sacrifice but has only one beneficiary the Argentinean people¨ (1). With these words the military junta addressed the Argentines after taking over the government through a coup d'état the 24th of March 1976. Already in this first official communication it is possible to find the strong messianic discourse where the armed forces were fulfilling their holy mission to protect the Christian-national identity of the country.For the first time in the history of Argentina catholic-nationalism, as a nationalist ideology, had an absolute control of the State and was backed by the entrepreneurship and by important sectors of the middle class.(2) The military junta, leaded by Jorge Rafael Videla, was the perfect embodiment of a permanent alliance between religion and fatherland. The armed forces were compelled, being the institution that gave birth to the nation, to fulfill a decisive role in the "holy mission" to morally regenerate the country. This would have allowed Argentina, and therefore all of the Western-Christian civilization, to not just vanquish communism but, also, all of its roots like liberalism, democracy and agnosticism. The military, alongside the Argentinean Catholic Church and its supporters, were convinced that the final battle of the "third world war" was taking place in Argentina. Generals Ramon Camps and Menéndez would even call the "Argentinean theater of operations" as third world war, where they thought the international subversive movements were playing a pivotal role (3). This extremely eschatological feeling was completely different from other similar Cold War scenarios in other developing countries. In Argentina the "final showdown against international communism" syndrome was exacerbated by this alliance between the sword and the cross that would fight communism in order to make a "healthy" society possible, which would lead the way to the regeneration of the "atheist infected" western world. This expectation was the pillar of messianic spirit that justified the extermination plan.But the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (National Reorganization Process), as the military junta denominated the period that begun with the coup d'état, was more than an extermination plan; it aimed at a total "restoration" of society. The speech given by Lieutenant Jorge Eduardo Goleri at a book burning gathering in Córdoba in April 1976 clearly shows what the Junta was aiming for: "God's will requires that the military preserves the natural order manifest in the Western and Christian civilization to which Argentina is integral, but the East had organized a massive international conspiracy to subvert that civilization by restructuring society in accordance with the seditious and atheistic doctrine of communism. We are facing the imminent doom of our way of being Christian under the assault of subversion"(4).The Junta regarded itself as the creative agent of historical destiny(5). In their eschatological mindset they were analogous to the Messiah. They saw themselves as the mythological/biblical Hero that defended the most sacred/holy interests and appeared when a series of afflictions required his abilities of salvation. The Hero needed a nemesis in order to act and what better foe than international communism. But the latter was constructed in a Manichean, epical and apocalyptical manner. The myth of the Hero was opposite to the myth of a "Metaphysical Enemy". The former would engage in a Mythological/Holy War against an invisible but encompassing "Evil". Violent acts from left-wing guerrilla groups, which the Junta labeled as terrorism, perfectly ascribed that ontological description. Communism, with its terrorist offspring, was foreign, atheist and ideological. The military, then, had to combat it not just in the streets or countryside; but in the people's minds, and souls, as well. Guerrilla fighters were just the armed side; the roots of communism, meaning of terrorism and anti-Catholicism, were to be found in individuals that had ideas contrary to the Juntas' weltanschauung. They were ideas that opposed the catholic foundations of the nation and the society that it embodied.The Junta's adversary was an essentially ideological foe as General Videla stated to a British journalist: "A terrorist (read communist or atheist) is not just someone with a gun or a bomb, but also someone who spreads ideas which are contrary to Western and Christian civilization" and he continued, "…Subversion is all action that seeks the alteration or the destruction of the people's moral criteria and form of life, with the end of seizing power and imposing a new form based upon a different scale of values"(6). The guerrilla was not the most dangerous enemy; because in military terms it was already defeated before the Junta took power. The nemeses were communism, liberalism and democracy, ideologies that advocated an "Anti-Christian Revolution" that subverted the catholic foundations of the country(7). Accordingly, the subversive was guilty of the most serious crime against the Augustinian concept of "Common Good". In this latter sense, the battle against that invisible, but spiritual, Evil was a conflict inside each one of us. Like Massera said: "…the Third World War is not only fought in battlefields but, more importantly, in the believer's soul" (8). This Holy War mobilized the Junta as a "warrior-savior", as a modern crusader fighting for God and freedom from foreign atheist ideologies. This, in part, self-perceived holy mission strengthened the Junta's self-image as Christ's vicar, as crusading defender of Christianity and its Natural Order from the "pagan agents and antinational beings of the Antichrist"(9). Not surprisingly, the military profession was defined by Monsignor Bonamín as a profession of religiosity. Consequently, it is no wander that before the armed forces toppled Isabel Peron's government, they asked for the Catholic Church benediction the night before the coup(10). The Argentinean Catholic Church was as deeply as it could possibly be involved in this crusade. The Crusade's sanctification by the ChurchAfter Videla and Massera were blessed by the heads of the Argentinean Episcopate the night before the coup, Parana's Archbishop and military Bishop Adolfo Tortolo announced that the Catholic Church would positively cooperate with the new government (11). The Church was actively supporting and legitimizing the imminent armed forces' putsch. This probably did not surprise the future Junta's leaders. In December 1975, just three months before the coup d'état, Tortolo had called for the military to inaugurate a "purification process" and his subordinate Bonamín had stated, during the mass in front of future Junta leader General Viola, that Christ wanted the armed forces to be beyond their function in the future (12). The vicars of Christ on Earth were actually telling the military what were their Lord's orders. This symbiosis between the sword and the cross continued even after the first accusations of human rights violations against the Junta. On October 1976, Tortolo declared that he did not know of any evidence that proved that human rights were being violated or abused. In 1977 he went even further by affirming that the Church thought that the armed forces were acting accordingly to the special demands of the present juncture; meaning that the military was fulfilling its duty (13). The same with Bonamín's declarations regarding the role of the armed forces: "…it was written, it was in God's plan that Argentina did not have to lose its greatness and it was saved by its natural custodian: the army"; "…Providence has given the army the duty to govern, from the Presidency to the intervention in a trade union"; and finally "…the anti-guerrilla fight is a battle for the Republic of Argentina, for its integrity, but also for its altars (…) This fight is a fight in morality's defense, of men's dignity, ultimately a fight in God's defense (…) That is why I ask for the divine protection in this dirty war to which we are committed to." (14)The vast majority of the Argentinean Catholic Church favored and strongly supported the military junta's government and repression. Only four of the eighty-four clerical members of the Argentinean Episcopate publicly denounced the regime's repression (15). However, the Church was not just backing the Junta because it legitimized its sacred duty to defend the fatherland or because it identified itself in the Junta's messianic mission; but because Church also had to deal with its own internal enemies. The Argentinean Catholic Church was, perhaps, the most conservative Latin-American national Church. It was strongly in disagreement with the three most important progressive movements inside the Catholic Church: the Second Vatican Council, the Third World Priesthood Movement and the Latin-American Episcopal Council of Medellin. The Theological Liberation Movement that spread through Latin America during the 60s and 70s was extremely popular among young Argentineans. Several priests identified themselves with the Movement and tried to bring change to the Argentinean Church through their communal and pastoral actions among poor sectors. Additionally, several Montoneros' members were former catholic school's students that had radicalized, in part, because of their experience with the Theological Liberation Movement. The Catholic Church, then, supported, or did not protest too much against, the "internal cleansing" done by the military; like the killing of Father Mujica, Angelleli and four Palotines clerics among other cases (16).Lastly, the Catholic Church was involved in a much sinister way with the Junta's actions. The heads of the Argentinean Church knew about the repressive methods being used by the security and armed forces and chose not to condemn them. They considered them as necessary sacrifices for the Common Good. Nevertheless, several clerics went further by assisting and taking an active part in the implementation of torture and other repressive mechanisms used by the Junta. More than two hundred prelates participated in four different ways: offering confession/absolution to the victims before being executed or thrown into the sea; assisting the torturers by playing the "good cop" role; being themselves the torturers; and, by confessing and spiritually assisting the torturers and other victimizers (17). The priest Christian von Wernich is, maybe, one of the best examples of the fusion between the cross and the sword. Not only he assisted the torturers in their tasks, he even was involved in the kidnapping and torture of several desaparecidos and in the infiltration of exiled groups in New York (18). He, among others like Archbishop Plaza, Fathers Astigueta, Castillo and Perlanda López that also assisted torture sessions, justified the repressive methods, not considering them sins, by legitimizing their, and the military, behavior under the Augustinian and De Vitorian doctrines of "just war". The support of the Catholic Church for the fight against subversion and its blessing was a pivotal element in the implementation of the plan of extermination and its suppressive mechanisms. The repressive methods, chosen by the Junta, were not void themselves of a messianic and divine nature. Divine and Redemptory Violence The three main types of violent acts that reflected the Junta's Messianic crusade, which were an integral part of their repressive methods, were: torture, thevictim's throwing into the sea and the appropriation of the victims' children by families deemed proper by the military. These violent means, chosen by the perpetrators to perpetually annihilate the ideas that were subverting the Argentinean Catholic traditions, were constructed under the discourse of "love" in two different ways: firstly, the kind of love upheld by Thomas Aquinas where the authority could legitimately kill evil-doers when the formers were motivated by charity. The crusading Junta envisaged that the repressive methods it used had a transcendental value. That type of violence was constructive rather than destructive, insofar as it was able to eradicate evil in order to create good (19). Love was considered the reason for an act of violence, for a punishment that redeemed the sinner, disregarding whether the latter survived the penitence. General Ramón Camps, commenting of how the detention centers perfected the victims through torture, said: "It is love that prioritizes and legitimates the actions of soldiers. The use of force to put an end to violence does not imply hate since it is nothing other than the difficult search for the restoration of love. In the war we are fighting, love of social body that we want to protect is what comes first in all of our actions" (20). Massera and Videla also referred to the dictatorship's repression as an "act of love" or "work that began with love"(21). All these statements reflected how the just war's discourse of Christian charity was in their minds by giving love a pivotal place.Secondly, there was another, and more complex, kind of love in the Junta's Christian-inspired crusade, which contrasted with the former metaphysical type and appeared exclusively in the torture tables of the detention centers, and should be labeled as sexual love. The torture sessions were filled of sexual symbolisms and discourse. The eroticism present in the torments was the exteriorization of the torturer's sexual -religiously repressed- desires into the body -the sexual surrogate totem- of the tortured. Consequently, the act of torture symbolized the act of sex(22). Like Jacobo Timerman perfectly put it, the Junta's violence was the emotional and erotic expression of a militarized nation (23).An expression orchestrated by the use of the picana. The latter was the preferred torture instrument used by the torturers for many reasons. Historically, it was first used by the nationalists during Uriburu's dictatorship and it was extremely effective in administering the desired amount of pain. However, symbolically, thepicana represented, better than other torments, the rawest manifestation of the Junta's conception of power related to "love's twofold sense". Considering torture as a Christian act of love, the picana was the necessary instrument to get a confession from the torturer that would eventually get him redemption. But thepicana had to fill a "void space". According to the perpetrators the victims were atheists (then they were not Argentines), which meant that in order to get any kind of absolution they had to, somehow, recognize and accept the Word of Christ. The Word would fill the empty victims; but first the picana would have to fill them with the will to "repent" and "convert". Once the tortured had received several electric shocks, they would receive and recite the Word by being ordered by the torturers to deliver Catholic prayers (24). Through these confessions the Junta's self perceived role of being the vicars of Christ on Earth was realized every time. They had defeated the atheist enemy but, employing Christian charity, they also had won the battle for the subversives' souls. Redemption was offered to anyone, even the irrecoverable cases. Even if their bodies were deprived of life their souls were saved. One of the ways that the ones not redeemed during confession were granted spiritual salvation was by the purifying power of water. By throwing them into the sea alive they were bestowing them a new, or first, "baptism" (25). It was the perpetrators' holy mission to redeem the victims' souls in life or in death. The picana, when considering torture as a sexual act, was also a phallic symbol. The torturer would make use of the picana-phallus to inflict pain and, at the same time, through the victim's screams and spasms satisfy his own repressed sexual desires. The perpetrator would systematically use the picana-phallus in the erogenous parts of the body. The body of the tortured would then transform into the sexual object of the repressor's desires. A sinful object that had to be purified with repent or conversion but only after the torturer's sexual desire had been satisfied (26). Symbols of divine violence can be found in other examples of torture sessions during the Junta's dictatorship. The torturers would yell at the captives, and would also made them say, "Viva Cristo Rey" and would make them thank God for another day by make them recite prayers before sleep. The picana was sometimes referred as "giving holy communion" as well as water-boarding was named "baptism". Among the many names that the torture chambers were given by the perpetrators there were: "the confessionary" and "the altar" (27). The latter clearly reflects the idea of sacrifice embedded in the repressors' minds. Regarding the victims' religious creeds the torturers would make a distinction between the recoverable and irrecoverable cases. Among the former ones there would be victims that had a catholic background because they had gone to catholic schools or because they knew how to recite prayers (28). Nevertheless, being catholic was not synonym of survival. The irrecoverable Catholics would only have their souls saved, but not their lives. Amid the desaparecidos there were an important proportion of Jews. About 1% of the Argentine population was of Jewish origin, but 20% of desaparecidos shared the same religious background (29). The Junta believed in an international communist conspiracy that, like the Nazis before, was leaded by the Jewry. Being Jewish meant being a Bolshevik. Additionally, the Junta's Messianic trope further propelled the kidnapping and execution of the community that, according to them, was responsible for Christ's crucifixion (30). Lastly, the appropriation of the desaparecidos children by the military was, perhaps, the most sinister of the Messianic-inspired repressive acts done by the military., The kidnapped pregnant women that gave birth in captivity, after being tortured regardless of their condition, were deprived of their children. The newborns were appropriated by families that would rise according to Catholic tradition. Motivated by Christian charity and its doctrine, these children would avoid the atheism, Judaism or wrongly conceived Catholicism that their parents would have offered them. These newborns were, according to the Junta, truly "innocent" and deserved to have the chance to live a proper life in genuine catholic families. Concluding RemarksThe Messianic ideology during the dictatorship was present not only in the Junta's ideology, but also in its discourse and repressive methods. Even if not everything that happened during the military regime can be explained through the catholic-nationalist ideology, the latter provides the essential motivation for the government. It is difficult to imagine that the magnitude, and chosen methods, of the repression would have been the same without the Messianic trope. By comparing the level of Argentinean repression to other military regimes of the Southern Cone in the same period, the distinction is remarkable. Not only the repressive mechanisms used by the Argentinean dictatorship were distinct, and more sadist and cruel, than the Chilean, Uruguayan and Brazilian cases, but the amount of Argentina's desaparecidos dwarfs those cases.Additionally, the Argentinean Catholic Church was the only one to completely back the regime and its repressive methods. In Chile, for example, the heads of the Church were divided in supporting Pinochet. Ultimately, the majority of the Church would condemn the Chilean regime. Regarding the political leadership, there are no religious discourses that serve as justification for the regimes in the other Southern Cone's dictatorships. The military juntas of those countries never legitimized their governments or their respective coup d'états in God's will or the salvation of Christian-Western civilization. National security and the fear of communism were their justification. Even if the regimes were ideologically justified, these were never of a religious nature like in the Argentinean case. It is probably the catholic-nationalist ideology, matured in the 30s, augmented by the international communist conspiracy typical of the Cold War that prompted the Junta in Argentina to completely wipeout what they perceived as atheist and foreign elements in society. Without a Messianic military that was ready to fight a crusade in order to restore order to the nation and without the blessing and active support from the Church, the repression would not have had the size and the horror that it had. The armed forces were fighting what they thought was the last crusade of the 20th century against the atheist forces of communism. The "Third World War" was already happening to them. Winning it was more than strategic, it was a holy mission. (1) Excerpts from a radio announcement made by the Junta after taking control of the State. Cited in Loveman, David and Davies, M. Thomas; The Politics of Antipolitics: The Military in Latin America; University of Nebraska Press; Lincoln; 1978; pp. 177. (2) See Novaro, Marcos and Palermo, Vicente; La Dictadura Militar; Paidos; Buenos Aires; 2003. (3) See Clarin, June the 26th 1976. Cited in Novaro, Marcos and Palermo, Vicente; La Dictadura Militar; Paidos; Buenos Aires; 2003; pp. 93. (4) Cited in Frontalini, Daniel and Caiati, Maria C.; El mito de la guerra sucia; CELS; Buenos Aires; 1984; pp. 90. Note how the East is viewed as the geopolitical source of "evil" similar to the Nazis' fear of the East. (5) See Graziano, Frank; Divine Violence. Spectacle, Psychosexuality, & Radical Christianity in the Argentine "Dirty War"; Westview Press; Boulder; 1992; pp. 120.(6) See CONADEP; Nunca Más; Eudeba; Buenos Aires; 1984; pp. 342. (7) See Castro Castillo, Marcial; Fuerzas armadas: Ética y represión; Nuevo Orden; Buenos Aires; 1979; pp.120. (8) Massera, Emilio; El país que queremos; FEPA; Buenos Aires; 1981; pp. 44. This concept of an internal and spiritual struggle is common to all religious fanatic ideologies. For example the original significance of Jihad was that of the soul's struggle against temptation. The concept would later evolve to holy war. (9) As subversives were defined by Ramon Agosti. Cited in Verbitsky, Horacio; La última batalla de la tercera guerra mundial; Legasa; Buenos Aires; 1984; pp.16. (10) La Nación, March the 25th 1976; cited in Mignone, Emilio; Iglesia y Dictadura; Colihue; Buenos Aires; 1986; pp.25. (11) See Mignone, Emilio; Iglesia y Dictadura; Colihue; Buenos Aires; 1986; pp.25. Additionally, Tortolo was Videla's private confessor. (12) Ibid; pp. 25(13) Ibid; pp. 26-28. (14) Ibid; pp. 30-31. (15) See Novaro, Marcos and Palermo, Vicente; La Dictadura Militar; Paidos; Buenos Aires; 2003; pp. 99 (16) Ibid; pp. 97(17) See Mignone, Emilio; Iglesia y Dictadura; Colihue; Buenos Aires; 1986; and CONADEP;Nunca Más; Eudeba; Buenos Aires; 1984; pp. 342-360. (18) See Mignone, Emilio; Iglesia y Dictadura; Colihue; Buenos Aires; 1986pp.179-188. (19) Graziano, Frank; Divine Violence. Spectacle, Psychosexuality, & Radical Christianity in the Argentine "Dirty War"; Westview Press; Boulder; 1992; pp.152(20) See Camps, Ramón; Caso Timerman: punto final; Tribuna Abierta; Buenos Aires; 1982; pp. 21. (21) CONADEP; Nunca Más; Eudeba; Buenos Aires; 1984; pp. 348. Additionaly, it is interesting to notice how Carl Schimitt's political theology theory is translated into the Junta's discourse. In this sense, the Junta's actions would be a Schimittian case of politics not being able to be dettached from religion. This, in turn, would contradict several secularization theories. See, Schimitt, Carl, Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignity, Chicago Univertisty Press, Chica, 2006.(22) Interestingly, Saint Augustine described copulation in such a dreadful way that it seemed like an act of torture. See Foucault, Michel; Historia de la Sexualidad: Vol. 1, La voluntada del saber; Siglo XXI; Buenos Aires; 2008; pp. 37. (23) See Timerman Jacobo; Preso sin nombre, celda sin número; De la Flor; Buenos Aires; 2002; pp. 17. (24) See CONADEP; Nunca Más; Eudeba; Buenos Aires; 1984; pp. 347-360; and Graziano, Frank; Divine Violence. Spectacle, Psychosexuality, & Radical Christianity in the Argentine "Dirty War"; Westview Press; Boulder; 1992; pp. 166. (25) It is rather interesting to note that throwing victims alive into the sea or rivers was a common killing method used by other strongly catholic Messianic inspired authoritarian regimes or groups. The falangistas would throw communists, anarchists and socialists (and whoever they thought was not catholic enough) to the rivers during the Spanish Civil War. The Algerian French and later the OAS would throw FLN suspects to the Mediterranean during the Algerian War of Independence. Even in Argentina, during the 1930s, the nationalists were talking about pushing the communists into the sea. A more detailed research should be conducted on this issue. Probably the Spanish Inquisition's torture methods, involving boiled water or a pool where the suspected heretics would drown, clearly influenced all of these cases into using natural sources of water to purify their sacred lands from the nonbelievers. (26) For more on torture as a sexual act and the picana as phallus see Graziano, Frank; Divine Violence. Spectacle, Psychosexuality, & Radical Christianity in the Argentine "Dirty War"; Westview Press; Boulder; 1992; pp. 158-190. (27) CONADEP; Nunca Más; Eudeba; Buenos Aires; 1984; pp. 26-50. (28) Many tortured victims remember how the torturers were clearly surprised to see the formers wearing crosses after making them take out their clothes. In some of these cases the torturers would say to the victims that their life would be saved because they were Christians but had lost their way and it would be the repressors' task to show them the right path. (29) See Novaro, Marcos and Palermo, Vicente; La Dictadura Militar; Paidos; Buenos Aires; 2003; pp. 115. (30) During the trial of torturer known as Jorge "El Tigre" Acosta a witness remembered him saying, after killing a captive while torturing him, that he was happy that he had died because he was going to be freed but he did not want a Jew to walk freely in Argentina; all Jews were guilty because they had killed Christ. See Diario Perfil; "Juicio al Tigre Acosta por el asesinato de Hugo Tarnopolsky"; May the 12th 2007. *Estudiante de Doctorado, New School for Social Research, New YorkMaestría en Estudios Internacionales, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos AiresÁrea de Especialización: Procesos de formación del Estado moderno, sociología de la guerra, terrorismo, genocidio, conflictos étnicos, nacionalismos y minorías.E-mail: guere469@newschool.edu

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Of i.'3 fcr'.f hundred cpecial-jh cf value and importance, the most attractive to uai.ilis etymology, an un-source of interest and enjoyment, Often of surprise and -wonder.—OCTOBER, 1890. & C. I1ERRU9I CO., fublisners. Springfield, Mass. The College Metcuty. [VOL. V. GETTYSBURG, PA., JUNE, 1897. No. 4. :f.\ THE COLLEGE MEfiCUftY', [published each month during the college year by the Students of Pennsylvania (Gettysburg) College. IR. L. SMITH, '! |C. E. FLECK 'el. At Seminary. SUNDAY, MAY 30th. 10.30 A M.—Baccalaureate Discourse in College Church, to the Senior Classes of Seminary and College, by M. Valentine1, D. D., LL. D. MONDAY. 8.00 P. M.—Baugher Lecture on Christian Worship, in Semi-nary Chapel, by Rev. Dr. E. T, Horn, of Reading, Pa. I MONDAY, TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY forenoons, Examinations. WEDNESDAY. j 2.00 P. M.—Holman Lecture on Art. X, of Augsburg Confes-sion, in Seminary Chapel, by Rev. F. P. Manhart, of Baltimore, Md. ' 7,30 p. M,—Alumni Address, in Christ Church, by Rev. Victor Miller, Leitersburg, Md. THURSDAY. 1 9.00 A. M.—Meeting of Board of Directors. 17.30 P. M.—(traduating Exercises in Christ Church, Addresses by Several Members of the Class and Conferring Diplomas. LITERARY. WAS LESSING RIGHT ? BY REV. EDWIN HEYL DELK. Mr. John Fiske writing his essay on Les-. sing's "Nathan the Wise," in 1868, said: "The fame of Lessing is steadily growing. Year by year he is valued more highly and valued by a greater number of people. And he is destined, like his master and forerunner Spinoza, to receive a yet larger share of men's reverence and gratitude when the philosophic spirit which he lived to illustrate shall have become in some measure the general posses-sion of the civilized part of mankind " I confess to a very warm admiration for the man, and for much of his critical work in art and literature. Lowell's characterization is so ipt, that I would not mar it by an attempt at •esh expression. He says : "In the history if literature it would be hard to find a man so italwart, so kindly, so sincere, so capable of ;ieat ideas, whether in their influence on the intellect or the life, so unswervingly true to e truth, so free from the common weakness his class. Since Luther, Germany has given lirth to no such intellectual athlete, no son so ■erman to the core. Greater poets she has ad, but no greater writer; no nature more I finely tempered." Much of Lessing's work is still significant. His early attacks on the pedantry of poor Gottsched's French classicism, his denial of Corneille and Ractne as proper models for the German drama, his seizure of the secret of ] Greek sculptural expression, was all true and I enduring work. His leadership in the true classical revival was healthful. His contribu-tion to Germany's awakening national life, in his dramas of Mina and Emilia, was ennobling and abiding. For all this critical and con-structive work-, he had an established basis in thought. His service in this sphere of intel-lectual life was constructive, and ended in something specific and satisfactory. Even his critical disputation with the irate theologian Goeze, was helpful to genuine scholarship, de-spite its negative results, because, it was, at heart, a fight for freedom of Biblical investiga-tion. But, if as a man, and a critic of art and lit-erature he still holds so large a place in mod-ern thought; as a thinker on ultimate prob-lems, I do not believe, Mr. Fiske to the con-trary, that Lessing's philosophical spirit is sat-isfactory to serious men of either the religious, or scientific type. Lessing's memorable trib-ute to *the inherent superiority of the search for truth, to the truth itself, is a brilliant ex-pression of his philosophic spirit. "Not the truth of which any one is, or supposes himself to be, possessed, but the upright endeavor he has made to arrive at truth, makes the worth of a man. For not by the possession, but by the investigation, of truth are his powers ex-panded, wherein alone his ever-growing per-fection consists. .Possession makes us easy, indolent, proud. If God held all truth shut in his right hand, and in his left hand nothing but the ever-lasting instinct for truth, though with the condition of forever and ever erring, and should say to me 'choose!' I should bow humbly to his left hand, and say, 'Father, give ! pure truth is for Thee alone !' " In the first half of this confession of his philosophic attitude, Lessing expressed a noble 65 THE COLLEGE MERCURY. fact—the worth and joy of intellectual con-quest. But, to declare that endless bafflement, in the search for truth, is the thinking man's true paradise, is contrary to the aim of both genuine science and religion. Life and eter-nity are facts too momentous for us mortals to be forever playing blind-man's-buff in. Truth for Lessing was not a fixed point, it was only an endless advance toward such a point. To have arrived there, he declares, would have been a disappointment. Was Lessing right? This attitude in his philosophy of life arose from a limitation of his nature. Lessing was preeminently a critic. His dramas, though full of action, lack inspiration. He had poetic and constructive ability, but for any probing into that realm beyond the palpable phenom-ena of life, or any emotional craving for a spiritual transformation through worship of the divine—to both the scientific and religious quest for ultimate truth, he was largely Pagan. It is one thing to believe with a regretful agnosticism, that the ultimate force behind all phenomena is unknowable, and to declare with Lessing, that we would rather have the search, than to meet the eternal mystery face to face. And yet, many of Lessing's admirers claim him not only as a theist, but as a Christian, and this, despite his declaration to Jacobi, in 1780, that he was a disciple of Spinoza—the master pantheist. Just how such different views of Lessing's Christianity arose becomes clear if we keep in mind what he considered Christian, and what the best minds have cen-tered on as the essence of the Christian faith. To understand Lessing's satisfaction with the endless search for truth we must discover his idea of religion and Christianity. For him, there was no absolute religion. All religions contained truth, as much truth as the age, in which they were helpful, could apprehend. As the different races progressed in intellectual and moral culture, their theologies and moral-ity became more spiritualized and considerate. The noblest expression of the religious life, he found in Judaism, as expanded by Jesus. Les-sing claimed to believe in the religion of Jesus, but not in the Christ of Christianity. It was the religion of "goodness," which Jesus taught, that always commanded his reverence. Berthean says: "If this so called religion of Christ is the true Christianity, then' Lessing was certainly a true Christian, a Protestant in the full sense of the word ; and he has carried further the work of Luther. But if on the other side, those are right, who. on the in-stance of Schleiermacher, consider the personal relation to the person of the Saviour, and not the doctrinal system, as the essence of Chris-tianity, then Lessing was, in spite of the deep veneration which he always nourished for Jesus of Nazareth,rnot a Christian man." Still, in his "The Education of the Human Race," his last religious testament, Wackernagel, Stirm and others think they have discovered a decided progress towards Christianity. The truth seems to be, that, even at the end of his life, Lessing's theological standpoint was still in the process of formation; that is, unfinished, unsettled. I can not help but feel that this Wandering Jew choice is neither sane, nor pro-found. Making all allowance for St. Paul's; vivid conviction of Christianity's truth, the attitude of Lessing recalls the Apostle's de-scription of certain Greeks who "were ever learning, but never able to come to a knowl-edge of the truth." Christ insisted upon calling himself "The Truth." The central truth of Christianity is neither its ethics, nor its body of divinity, hut the personal Christ—the supreme revelation ol God's person and love. For the ethics of Jesus, and His spiritual kingdom, Lessing had unbounded admiration. But admiration is lid adoration. That the highest truth is incar-nated in a perfect personality, Lessing seems] to have missed. Here, at the heart of Christ we are promised, and do receive, rest; after the-long quest for truth. Augustine, who ffl quite as profound, and as well acquainted witt life as Lessing, was glad to end his search ifl the rest of God through Christ Jesus. M man who prefers an endless quest for infiuil THE COLLEGE MERCURY. 66 [mystery, to a vitalizing' Communion with the [soul of Jesus is, I fear, doomed to struggle on [forever into the mocking gloom of an endless night. « ♦ » CHARLES DANA GIBSON AND HIS DRAWINGS. ' his I \\::: .led, this] pro-1 ml'sl the I del l'\Y IV,'.- Thel tyisl , but] DIIO!| :s ■hi Is noil (near leeii'l fcrri: |r tbel vn I ffiffl ii i: Anl llini: Mr. Gibson is without doubt the greatest I illustrator of the day. There seem to stand out, among the multitude of illustrative art-fists who are now making our literature doubly I interesting by their delightful pictures, two [.■whom the world acknowledges to be the fore- Imost, Charles Dana Gibson, of the United [States, and Phil May, of England. Of these, [Mr. Gibson, by general consent, holds the first iplace in the eyes of the English as well as the : American people. For us Americans at least, there would be no great difficulty in saying why Mr. Gibson has thus received this preference over Phil May. While the drawings of Mr. May, dealing as they do, with the children of the poorer class of England, are delightfully unique | types of the London street urchin, yet they seem to lack that refined tone notice-able in all of Mr. Gibson's work. It is a marked feature in the work of many illustrators that the excellence of their execu-tion varies from time to time. Not so with [our artist. True, we ma}7 say of one of his [drawings, as in contrast with another, "This is better ;'' but when we analyze our reason why ye think so, it comes out every time that it was j the subject matter, and not the execution of it, that lead us to say, "This is better." This leads to the remark that Mr. Gibson's 'ideas" for his pictures, blending with his charming manner of execution, constitute the jreat attractiveness of his work. This is es-pecially noticeable in his work for "LIFE." ■Sis centre double page drawings in this pub-lication are always the expression of some up-to- date, interesting idea or fashionable folly; portrayed for us in a realistic and impressive vay that words could never do. He seems to Jo more head work than any of his contempo-raries, and it is this that interests us so greatly in his work. In the last few years he has confined him-self, besides his work for "LIFE," to the illus-trating of stories, chiefly those of Mrs. Burton Harrison and Richard Harding Davis, to those of the latter to a greater extent in recent years. The charming adaptability of Mr. Gibson's drawings to Mr. Davis' stories is but another expression of the close friendship and similar-ity of thought existing between the two men. It has been said of Richard Harding Davis and his novels that they are "fresh, free, graceful and virile." They are four adjectives well chosen, and not one too many, and it is remarkable how perfectly transferable they are between the author and his personal friend, the artist. Both these men, in their several crafts, are, as every one knows, in exceptional degree interpreters of the cultivated life of our own immediate day and country, not with oversight of its foibles and vices, but also in all its young and joyous health and beauty, its improved understanding between the youth of both sexes, its manly and womanly natural-ness, the kindness of its sun-and-breeze gayety and candor, and the unparaded earnestness of purpose and principle which so frequently un-derlies this laughing surface. This is said with Mr. Gibson's work the more pointedly in mind, and but enumerates the characteristics which tend to give it its pre-eminent and uni-versal popularity. Doubtless a great proportion of Mr. Gibson's admirers are more familiar with his illustra-tions than with the personality of the artist. He is no less interesting than his drawings. Charles Dana Gibson is a tall, smooth-faced, athletic looking man, not yet thirty years of age. The impression he makes as he leans back in his chair and talks of art, books, travel and kindred matters is that of a man upon whom success has cast no pernicious influence, a man whose inherent modesty has not been destroyed by the applause of a noisy world; one whose own personality furnishes the naivete of his fascinating drawings. He is frank without being brusque, dignified but not ■'illi'-ii'.imwm 67 THE COLLEGE MERCURY. cold, self-poised but not egotistical. So says Van Zile, in Current Literature. Mr. Gibson is a student of literature, es-pecially liking Thackeray who understood art-ists. Yet of course, as an illustrator in heart-iest sympathy with the thought and feelings of his own times, he feels obliged to keep in touch with the best work of the day, and ex-presses great admiration for the work now be-ing done in fiction by several young American authors, prominent among whom, of course, he considers Richard Harding Davis. Van Zile says of him: A feature of Mr. Gibson's fame which must be a source of the happiest pleasure to him, is the unanimity with which writers, artists, critics, editors, and the great reading laity of all ranks and orders, concede his power and charm. There seems to be but one verdict as to his place as an artist. His technical skill, his concientious study of con-temporary life, his sympathetic insight, his charming ability to tell without violence to truth, what he wants to tell, while he leaves all else untold, and his absolute wealth in that indefinable but essential quality which gives the distinction of individuality to the work of an artist, have combined to set him, before he is yet thirty years of age, in the very front rank of contemporary illustrators. THE TREASURE OF LAKE DEMBEA. John Streslow, physician of Middlesex, was so fortunate as to be named sole heir to his grandfather's estate. John Streslow, senior, gave to his grandson, besides his money, a taste for travel, which that young man had hitherto been unable to gratify. Therefore, it was natural for him to be very happy over the prospect of years in foreign lands. The estate to which he had succeeded lay along the Hudson not far from New York, and, of course, before long Streslow, from his constant association with the men of the city, was elected a member of one of its leading clubs. His intention was to remain at home for a year, and then leave for an indefinite period. A strange find one day altered his purpose. While looking through his grandfather's papers he happened upon two rolls tied to-gether with a leather thong. The one was of parchment, and on it was a diagram of an in-terior portioii of Egypt, about the sixth cata-ract of the Nile, and some strange characters of a language unknown to Streslow. The other roll was of paper, and was a translation of the former, stating that by following the route laid down in the diagram, one would) find a kind of stone with the power of partially overcoming gravity ! To the young man, whose mind had always been of a scientific turn, this idea was especially captivating, and he at once determined to sail within the I month, and announced his intention at the| club next evening. "To Egypt?" asked a young fellow. ''Yes,I to Egypt," answered Streslow. "And I ain| going with a purpose; too." "Perhaps you will bring back a treasure,'11 suggested another sneeringly. "Perhaps," was Streslow's only reply. And so, about two weeks after, the men the club were somewhat surprised to find th their friend had persevered in his intention,! and that he had really sailed for Egypt. He took the shortest possible way and al-| lowed nothing to draw him away from grand object of his search. Three weeks afterl leaving home he found himself at Alexandria,! where he hired an intelligent guide, and niadel ready for his journey up the Nile. Theyl reached the village Senuar on the banks of tliel Blue Nile, and set out at once for Lake Demi bea among the Talba Waha Mountains. Theyl travelled alone, for fear of possible danga| should their errand be known. By following the chart carefully they their way but twice in all the twenty-fi«l miles. A week's travelling through mani difficult places and with varied adventures brought them to the grotto specified. It wa| a long, irregular opening in the side of a clifl just a little above the surface of a small pM I THE COLLEGE MERCURY. 68 • I iiatl all the! ifterl iri ladel 'till icivi lie; :igfl| lo| tanl Lire] id which ran down to the shore of the lake. AH remained outside while Streslow made some investigations. The entrance grew higher but [narrower as he advanced, and a short pas-sage way brought him to a large rock-hewn room. He called Ali to bring material for [lights, and soon the ceiling and walls were shining with many colored splendor. A nurn- Iber of rocks were strewn about. From the Barge room several passage ways led into [deeper recesses. Following the one indicated [Streslow soon came to a larger room than the prst, but the floor of which appeared to be tiled. [The rock seemed to be a kind of granite, with (very distinct white and black markings. With Ihis first step upon the level floor Streslow felt fa strange sensation of lightness. He nearly (fell forward on his face, and to save himself he [put his hand against a rock, which rolled [away from him like a hollow rubber ball. He leaped in the air and barely escaped knocking lis brains out against the roof of the cave. iHis weight was as nothing. He had found Ithe treasure ! And now taking two pieces or llayers of the rock, which was of much the jsame formation as slate, he made his way to the light again and back to Sennar. The chief and his people received him [kindly, crying in their language, "Hail, stranger," and conducted him to a hut near pat of the chief, where he was waited on by some of the chief's slaves. There were some sick in the village, and |hat evening just at sunset the priest of the ribe invoked the Sun God for them, standing upon a block of this wonderful stone. Both Bi and Streslow noticed it, and Ali scented danger, if they should be discovered, for he mew that the people considered this stone the rift of the Sun God himself, and they consid-ered that any one who did not worship him tiad no right to its possession. While lying in their hut that night, before ?oing to sleep, Ali was acquainted with the act that they should have to leave the village pder cover of the darkness. And when every-ting was still, and all were asleep, as they thought, the two stole forth toward the river. But one of the servants of the chief saw the stone, and a guard was set, so that the two men had hardly reached the river until all the village was aroused and in pursuit. Arrows and spears fell all around them as they made their way down stream, but fortunately they escaped safely, and before many days reached Alexandria. Streslow arrived at home in good time and that same night dropped in at his club, to the surprise and delight of his friends, who were at once eager to hear the account of his travels. Friday night of the same week was set for his story and for the exhibition of his "treas-ure," of which he had very briefly told them. When the time came the rooms were crowded, and at the proper time Streslow re-lated the incidents of his journey as we al-ready know them and exhibited the wonder-ful stone in regard to which there was so much expectancy. But, wonderful to state, whether on account of the influence of the at-mosphere of unbelief that pervaded the club, or from-some other cause, the stone had lost its power, and had it not been that Streslow was a man of untarnished reputation he would have been dubbed a second Muuchausen then and there. He gave them a speech instead of an experiment. "I am not to blame for the failure to-night. A month ago that stone did what I claimed for it. Perhaps the change in climate accounts for the loss of its power. But I am ready to take the tour to Egypt again, with any man or men to prove that there lies a wonderful power in the treasure of Lake Dembea." His words drew the applause of the mem-bers, but no one was willing, nor has anyone since been willing, to risk life and fortune merely for the sake of annoying nature. A girl, a wheel, A shock, a squeal, A header, a thump, A girl in a lump, A bloomer all torn, A maiden forlorn. ■■■■■■■^■■■■■■■■■■■iHHHBB 1 69 THE COLLEGE MERCURY. 'TEAGIC FEAGMENT (?)" "Men may come and men may go But I go on forever." "Boast on, oh dancing Tiber In this cheerless rainy weather ! But when this season passes, And the drought of summer comes, Or chilling blast of winter Your shallow stream benumbs; No more will voice be left you To sing your vaunted song ; No more be heard your boasting As you gaily prattle on." ******** Thus mused the college senior, In a vein so new and strange, And so very unaccustomed To his usual narrow range, That he stopped and slightly started From his state of sad depres-ion, That a hardened chap like he was To such thoughts should give expression, And should think it worth his while To abuse this little way-sb earn, Which had seemed almost too trifling To be subject of his day dream. Yet while he sought to chide it, As though a naughty elf, He knew, in cvcri/ sailertCe, He was thinking of—HIMSELF. COLLEGE LOCALS. C. E. FLECK and J. H. MEYER, Editors. Good Bye ! Exit Ninety Seven. Examinations—not "exams." Two straight games from State—we're all right. The Sophomores manifest the usual activity in collecting Botany specimens—they may be seen on the search for specimens almost any fine afternoon. One of them was heard to say he could analyze a flower in five minutes— quick work. "Earnie" has great difficulty in getting to-gether the members of the Athletic Associa-tion. This reminds us of some other things around here. Niels L. J. Gron, '93, who recently visited here, contemplates a course at Oxford. He is a firm friend of the MERCURY, and will write us something on University life there. The Freshman Glee Club have been recently dispensing their melodious strains over the campus. ' 'Music hath charms.'' We have now another track to cross at the Reading Depot as we go to meals. Surely there should be flagmen there now. Senior dignity is still more in evidence as Commencement approaches. We may look for a general cleaning of rooms this week. The duties and pleasures of the coming va-cation form an absorbing theme for thought just now. A Senior speaking of a certain game re-marked : "I would like to say confidentially that the chances for success are very probable." The members of the Omega Delta society have come out with new pins. They make a nice appearance. A Seminarian is now giving lessons in kick-ing. Lying on his back, he kept a swing at bay with his pedal extremities for fully five minutes. His dignity is the only thing that suffered from the experience. The real college life of old Pennsylvania be-comes more apparent as Spring advances. No matter how pressing work may be, the boys find time to linger on the campus for a few minutes before going to their rooms of an evening. This is one of the phases of college life which many of the Alumni remember with pleasure. It is a fine custom. In Physics one day, when the class was about to write a paper on the torsion of the wires holding two eggs, a bright fellow was heard to remark : "Which is the spoiled egg?" Dr. N. answered with a chuckle: "That will appear when your paper comes in." It was several degrees cooler for some minutes thereafter. Dr. S.—"Mr. K., what secretes the saliva?" K., '00—"The gastric juice." A nine from Seminary played the Sopho-more class team Saturday, May 22nd. The game was exceedingly interesting, but was without any special features, except error; Inasmuch as the runs on both sides were too many to be counted, no one tried to give an official score. It is but natural for us to feel somewhat east down in spirit when we learn that we shal have to work Ascension Day, this year. Itii only a church festival, but this is a church i& stitution, and no pressure of work ought to be allowed to displace service on that day. W should have at least half the day to ourselves. THE COLLEGE MERCURY. 70 at ve an itli The Seniors finished their work with an ex-amination Tuesday Morning, May 25th, and The course of '97 in college is ended. The Mass is jolly and jovial, and there is not a man in college who does not hate to see them leave lis. May they have much success in life, is the wish of the MERCURY. D., '00, (seeing posters announcing a straw- Berry festival)—"Is this Senior L. T. L. the Senior class of College or of Seminary ? '' From all accounts the new dormatories are kn assured fact. The buildings will be in the Kyle of English cottages, each a memorial to the donor. We understand that two are promised. These neat structures will improve the appearance of the campus very materially. ■)ne need not question the fact that Pennsyl-vania College is growing. I Prof. H.—"Mr. S., who were Hale and Arnold. S., '97—"Spies in the civil war, Professor." Platonic philosophy has confused "Perlie" on lates. . The '98 Spectrum has appeared at last, and Hie book is well worth waiting for. A marked lharacteristic of the book is its originality. I |he Spectrum reflects great credit upon the 1 Bass of '98. Earlier in the month an excursion party of '. jeologists- from the leading universities of | America, paid a visit to the battlefield in honor j H Sir Archibald Geike, the most eminent ge- i llogist of England. They were here only a I Jiort while and spent all their time viewing ! lie field. The Senior tour to the Euray Caverns did I jot materialize. Many expressions of regret ' have been heard. During the past week Professor Himes agree-ibly surprised the Sophomores, who were ut-rly unprepared for the recitation, by voluu-ering to give them a lecture on the "Edu-tional Value of Poetry." The lecturer was ven the strictest attention, and the favorable marks about it show that the class appreci-ed the talk very much. They would not be verse to spending many an hour in like man-lhe Businessmen's League, of Philadelphia, lent last Saturday and Sunday in town. They lid a short visit to the College, but spent lost of their time on the battlefield. Some in of influence in railroad circles accompa-lied the party. A few weeks ago a crowd of Freshmen vis-ited the "haunted house" near New Oxford, and spent the night there. There was much throbbing of hearts whenever squeaking of doors or windows would occur, and a general silence at louder noises. All the boys were not so timid, however, and some managed to sleep a while. Perhaps the number of visitors compelled the ghosts to withdraw, for there was no appearance of spirit forms. We ad-mire the nerve of the Freshmen. Some of the men of the College have taken to horticulture. The line upon which they ex-pend the most energy is raising onions. We very easily obtain a knowledge of this fact by means of the odors which exhale from the lungs of those engaged in the business, and by the tops of onions which are strewn through the halls a number of mornings in a week. Onions and fresh water crackers do taste good at night. The fact that we shall have examinations on Decoration Day is raising a great deal of feeling among the boys. Every hour of a National holiday is each man's own, to use as he desires. Of course we cannot have it other-wise than it has been decided. Perhaps next year we will have a holiday or two. Commencement week with its gayeties is casting its shadow before it, and is throwing its spell over the students. This is the com-ing season of the whole school year, and one is amply repaid for remaining. The week will be rendered livelier by class reunions, and other events of like character. Let all who can, remain. The concert by the Glee Club, on Tuesday night, will be better than it has been in former years. One can spend a pleasant evening listening to our own musical organizations and be well repaid. /\LUlV|Nl- R. L. SMITH and J. H. BEERITS, Editors. '40. D. J. A. Seiss' congregation, of Phila-delphia, will receive large bequests from the estate of the late Miss C. Shaeffer, a very wealthy heiress. By her will an eighth part of her estate goes to Dr. Seiss' congregation, to the Seminary, to Muhlenburg College and to missions. '41. Rev. Geo. Parson, D. D., of Sunbury, Pa., preached the dedicatory sermon on the 7i THE COLLEGE MERCURY. evening of April 25th, when the Grace Evan-gelical Lutheran church of Sunbury was dedi-cated. '46. W. M. Baum, D. D., of Phila., is president of the Board of the Northern Home for Friendless Children. At a recent meeting the finances of the institution were found to be on a firm basis. '47. Dr. L. E. Albert, of Philadelphia, rep-resented the Pastors' Fund at the Susque-hanna Synod, held at Watstown, Pa., May 4. '48. Over 30,000 copies of Dr. Conrad's edi-tion of Luther's Small Catechism have been issued by the Lutheran Publication House for the author. '49. An account of the death of Rev. Elias S. Henry was given in the last number of the MKRCURY. A few additional facts have been sent to us. He was a director of the Theolog-ical Seminary during the 70's; president of the East Penn'a Synod, 1875-76; never missed a Conference or a Synod; celebrated the silver jubilee of his pastorate, 1877, and celebrated the 40th anniversary of the same in 1892. '50. Dr. Valentine, of the Seminary, will preach the baccalaureate sermon to both the graduating class of the Seminary and College at the same time, Sunday, May 30th, in the College church. '53. Dr. W. F. Ulery was in town about the middle of the month on business. '53. Rev. A. H. Waters spends from Octo-ber to June in Florida, and holds services every Sunday in the beautiful church at Mel-rose. Melrose is one of the finest winter re-sorts in the South. '55. Rev. J. A. Kunkelman, D. D., pastor of St. Andrew's, at Atlantic City, extends, through the columns of the Observer, a most cordial invitation to all seaside visitors to wor-ship in his church, corner of Pacific and Mich-igan avenues. The Dr. will give you all a hearty welcome. '55. Rev. E. Huber, D. D., Prof, of English Bible, paid a beautiful tribute in the Lutheran Observer to the memory of Rev. E. S. Henry, '49, notice of whose death appeared in the last MERCURY. '56. Wm. M. Weidman, M. D., of Reading, Pa., was elected President of the State Medi-cal Society at it's meeting in Pittsburg, May 18th. Dr. Weidman is one of the most prom-inent physicians in the State, and is a man worthy of the high honor conferred upon him. '56. We were sorry to learn of the painful accident of Rev. H. W. Kuhns, Omaha, Neb., who broke an ankle bone recently. '56. Rev. B. E. Kramlich is pastor of the Topton, Berks County Union church. At a recent celebration of the quarto-centennial of the church a new organ was dedicated. '57. Dr. L A. Gotwald, a member of the Theological Faculty, Springfield, Ohio, re-cently gave an entertainment to the Senior theologians. '57. Dr. H. L. Baugher, President of the General Synod, delivered an excellent address to the Central Association of Luther Leagues, held at St. John's church, Pittsburg. '59. Rev. J. G. Gcettman suffered a para-lytic stroke while attending the Central Asso-ciation of Lutheran Leagues at St. John's church, Pittsburg. He is in a very precarious condition. '60. Rev. B. F. Apple, of Stroudsburg, Pa., established a Sunday school about 18 months ago, which resulted in the dedication of a church on May 9th. '60. Dr. H. M. Richards, of Allentowu, Pa., attended the recent conference, held at St. John's church, Nazareth, Pa. '61. A magnificent memorial window was unveiled in St. James' church. Rev. J. B. Remensnyder, D. D., pastor, during las! month. Dr. Remensnyder is very successful in his work. He delivered an address upon "Melancthon as Theologian," at the recent session of the Lutheran Conference of New York and New Jersey, held at Ramsey, N.J. '61. Rev. J. B. Remensnyder, D. D., of X. Y. City, had an article in the Lutheran Worli of May 13th, entitled, "That Transubstanti-ated Slander." The Doctor upholds his posi-tion in regard to the Lord's Supper and breab down false accusations that he teaches transub-stantiation. '63. Rev. M. Colver's church, at Galion Ohio, recently raised a large sum for thi famine sufferers of India. Rev. Colver vril preach the baccalaureate sermon to the gradu-ating class of the Galion high school on Suit da}' evening, June 13th. '64. Dr. F. L. Seip, of Allentown, Pa., sev.| eral weeks ago, preached a sermon and pet I THE COLLEGE MERCURY. 72 !SS formed the act of consecrating a splendid $1500 pipe organ to the St. Steven's church, Wilmington, Del. '65. Rev. Dr. J. C. Koller, pastor of the (First Lutheran church of Hanover, Pa., vis- [ited Gettysburg a few days ago. Dr. Koll-fer's congregation, of which he has been pastor [for over twenty years, numbers about a thou- [sand members and is active and flourishing. '65. Dr. H. W. McKnight has been away [several days during the past month working [among the friends of the College in the inter- Jest of the new dormatory. He has met with considerable success. '65. The Lutheran church at Greenvillage, Pa., has celebrated it's 50th anniversary this month. Dr. T. C. Billheimer, of the Theo-logical Seminary, preached the anniversary sermon on Sunday, May 16th. '66. The Sixth Annual Conference of the [Woman's H. and F. Missionary Society, was Iheld May 13, in Ziou's Lutheran church, iWayuesboro, Pa., of which Rev. H. S. Cook [is pastor. '67. At the recent Susquehanna Synod held lat Watstown, Pa., May 4th, Dr. Chas. Albert, ■of Philadelphia, represented the Publication House. '67. Rev. W. E. Parson, of Washington, D. IC, will spend his vacation in Maine this sum-uer. '67. Rev. C. J. Cooper, of Allentown, Pa., Iwas one of those who attended the conference {recently held at St. John's chirch, Nazareth, ?a. 67. Rev. D. K. Kepner, pastor of Emanuel Lutheran church, of Pottstown, Pa., died on lay 9th, from heart trouble and nervous pros-tration, after a severe illness. He was one of phe best known ministers of the Pennsylvania f>ynod. 68. The Indianapolis Journal praises very highly a sermon on Gen. Grant, preached re- |ently by Rev. D. L- McKenzie, pastor of the first Lutheran church of that city. '68. W. C. Stoever, Esq., has contributed |0 the May number of the Lutheran League Teview a very interesting article, entitled, ['The Passavant Memorial Hospital." It con-tains much information upon Lutheran institu- :ions of that nature and upon Mother Houses, 'stablished for training deaconesses, and shows their value to the church and their great gen-eral usefulness '69. Rev. J. A. Clute, D. D., President of Midland College, preached morning and even-ing on May 16, at the Woman's Memorial Mission, Council Bluffs, Iowa. '69. The Grand Army of the Republic of the Department of Colorado and Wyoming has unanimously elected Rev. J. W. Fiukbinder, pastor of the Lutheran church at Colorado Springs, as chaplain for the next year. '70. Thos. J. Stahle, editor of the Gettys-burg Compilei, who has been confined to the house this winter is recovering slowly. '72. The new Lutheran church at Vander-grift, Pa., Rev. J. W. Poffinberger, pastor, which, when completed, will be one of the handsomest churches in the Pittsburg Synod, will be dedicated on June 22nd. Rev. Pof-finberger deserves great praise for his success-ful work. '72. Rev. W. E. Fischer, of Shamokin, Pa., filled the the pulpit of the First Lutheran church at Watstown, Pa., on Sunday morning, May 9th. '72. Rev. J. A. Koser, of Sioux City, la., was assisted during Passion Week by Rev. H. L- Yarger, '63, of Whitewater, Kansas. '72. Dr. S. Stall's new book "What a Young Boy Ought to Know," is spoken of in commendatory terms by many eminent men. '73. To allow more time to prepare for meeting of Gen. Synod, Sec. W. S. Freas is making a number of exchanges, among whom were Rev. W. S. Hinman, of Columbia, and Rev. J. M. Riemensnyder, '70, of Milton. '73. Rev. Jeremiah Zimmerman, pastor of the Lutheran church at Syracuse, N. Y., is lecturer 0:1 numismatics in the Syracuse Uni-versity, a large and flourishing institution of that place. '73. Rev. J. F. Hartman, D. D., of Al-toona, Pa., represented one of the Boards of the church at the Susquehanna Synod, held at Watstown, Pa., May 4th. '74. St. Mark's church, Hanover, Pa., has given freely towards the relief of the Cold Springs church, and the pastor, Rev. C. M. Stock, has shown a very benevolent spirit also. '74. An interesting sketch of the Lutheran church, at Myersville, Md., has been published by the pastor, Rev. W. L. Remsburg, in The Guide of that place. '74. Charles A. Suesserott, Esq., of Cham-bersburg, was in town recently. 73 THE COLLEGE MERCURY. '75. Rev. E. D. Weigle, D. D., of Mechan-icsburg, spoke at the dedication of the First Lutheran church of Altoona, Pa., on Sunday, May 23rd. 77. G. W. Gross, Principal of York County Academy, has five boys ready for college next fall. The Academy has been a good feeder to our college. '77. Rev. J. J. Young, D. D., spoke upon "Melancthon's Life and Character" at the spring meeting of the Southern Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which con-vened at Ramsey, N. J., on May 17th. Dr. Young's congregation in New York City held services, on May 9th. in memory of Dr. A. C. Wedekind, '46, their former pastor, The Social Union (the young men's society organ-ized during the late Dr.'s ministry) remem-bered him especially by a beautiful and appro-priate floral offering. '78. Rev. O. C. Roth, President of Mary-laud Synod, filled the pulpit of the Trinity church, Taneytown, Md., on Sunday evening, May 9th. '78. Congressman Geo. J. Benuer visits the town as often as his legislative duties at Wash-ington permit. '78. Rev. C. L- McConnell, of Mifflinburg, Pa., will preach the baccalaureate sermon to the Seniors of Susquehanna University, at Selin's Grove, Pa. '78. Dr. W. C. Boteler, of Kansas, Mo., is now in Washington, D. C, and is a promising candidate for Auditor of the War Department. The Dr. is quite prominent, being editor of the North American Medical Review, and Secretary of the Kansas City Periodical Press Club. He is a son-iu-low of the late Secretary of War, George W. McCreary, of Iowa, who framed the compromise act that settled the threatened sectional clash in 1876. '79. Dr. A. C. Wentz, Hanover, Pa., was one of the prominent speakers who addressed the Convention of the State Medical Society that met in Pittsburg, May 18, 19 and 20. He has the distinction of being the fourth Vice President of the State Society. Dr. Wentz keeps thoroughly up to the times in every way, and thus comes to gain these well merited dis-tinctions. We wish him still greater success. '80. Prof. Daniel Fleisher, Ph. D., has just completed another very successful year as Superintendent of Public Schools at Wellsboro, Pa. Prof. Fleisher's reputation as a thorough and enthusiastic student of the Latin Classics is wide spread. '80. Rev. M. F. Troxell, D. D., pastor of Grace Lutheran church, of Springfield, 0., presided over a mass meeting held in the State Capitol of that city, for the purpose of raising funds and supplies to relieve the famine-stricken inhabitants of India, and his- conduct of the meeting and appointment of committees is highly commended by the Springfield Monitor and the Rcgistei. Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage made the principal address. Liberal donations were received. '82. Rev. A. R. Steck, pastor of St. James Lutheran church, of this place, will preach the baccalaureate sermon to the graduating class of Irving College at Mechanicsburg, on June 6th. '83. Rev. H. L- Yarger, of Whitewater, Kansas, made an address on the Board of Church Extension before the North-western Conference of the Kansas Synod, which con-vened May 4th, at Chapman. Kansas. '83. Rev. H. G. Buehler, Uakeville, Con., will edit the "Junior Notes" in the Augsbmd 7'eache? for June. No doubt they will give en-[ tire satisfaction as Mr. Buehler has the ability.! '83. Rev. C. W. Baker, York County Con-ference Missionary, is more than busy these! days getting churches ready for dedication,f laying of corner-stones and breaking ground. He is the man for the work and the place. '85. Rev. Reuben S. Stair, after some fivel or six years of faithful labor in the Kreutz! Creek charge. Hellain, York county, Pa., hasj offered his resignation, to take effect, June 1. '85. Rev. E. E. Hoshour, of Bellefonte, isal delegate to the General Synod from the Ceu-r tral Pennsylvania Synod of which body hen secretary. His work at Bellefonte, Pa., is pro-1 gressing successfully. ''85. Rev. Chas. T. Aikens, Vice Presidentl of the Central Pa. Luther League, will repre-F sent that body at the convention of the State! League, which will be held in Altoona, Junastor of the Protestant Episcopal church, of ■\)peka, Kan., on April 21st. '92. Rev. H.'E. Berkey, the successful pas-or at Red Lion, may well feel proud of the position he holds as editor of the York County v-.utheian. The paper is excellent and merits 11 ^earty support. 93- Report has it that City Solicitor Ara- »uou, of York, is the coming nominee of the ■e.B|Pemocratic party for Mayor of that, thriving iic Wf- I '93. At the recent meeting of the Juniata onference of the Central Pa. Synod, the fol-wing members of Gettysburg's banner class participated; Rev. A. J. Rndisill, Rev. J. M. puss and Rev. G. M. K. Diffenderfer. '93- The graduating exercises of the Belle-nte High School will prevent Prof. A. Reist Rutt from attending the reunion of his class during Commencement week. He will grad-uate a class of seventeen on the evening of June 3rd. He will enjoy his vacation with his class-mate, Rev. G. M. K. Diffenderfer, at Newport. '93. Niels L. J. Gron paid his Alma Mater a visit a short time ago. It will be remem-bered that Mr. Gron completed a trip around the world, last July, meanwhile making a specialty of studying international questions. In the recent presidential election he was ap-pointed by the Republican National Committee to work amongst the Scandinavians in the North-west, and he fulfilled his mission with such success that it is rumored he will be our National representative at the Danish court. He is now attending the reunion of his class at Harvard, and will also be present at the re-union of his class here during Commencement week. He will have an article in the July number of the Arena on "The French Consti-tution Compared with the English Constitu-tion." He may take a special course of study at Oxford University, England, next year. '93. Rev. Wm. H. Ehrhart has been in town several times lately, working up the re-union of the class of '93, to be held here dur-ing Commencement week. '93. Rev. E. E. Neudewitz took an active part in the work of the Southern Conference of New York and New Jersey, held at Ram-sey, N. J. Rev. Neudewitz has a very flour-ishing mission in Jersey City. '93. The members of the Luther League of the church of the Atonement, Rev. F. H. Knubel, pastor, recently purchased a hand-some pulpit Bible and presented it to the con-gregation. '93. The Luther League, of St. Mark's church, Washington, D. C, Rev. John C. Bowers, pastor, is steadily growing in numbers and usefulness. A recent entertainment given under it's auspices netted the League $50, $45 of this was handed over to the church treas-urer for the use of the congregation. '93. W. L. Ammon, Esq., has been elected City Solicitor of York, Pa. Ex-'94. Rev. Warren Nichol will graduate from Mt. Airy Seminary at the coming Com-mencement. He has received a call to Bed-minster, Pa. '94. F. H. Bloomhardt has been elected to 75 THE COLLEGE MERCURY. the presidency of the John Guiteras Medical Society, of the University of Penn'a. '94. At a recent annual convention of the Susquehanna Synod, held at Watstown, Pa., Matthew Kemp and R. W. Mottern were or-dained as ministers of the gospel. Ex.-'95. Newton J. Walter has completed his second year at the United Presbyterian Seminary at Allegheny and will engage hi supply work in York and Lancaster counties this summer. '95. Roscoe C. Wright will finish his theo-logical studies this year, and will be ready in June to enter upon the work of the ministry, for which he has every qualification. '95. On May 1st, Rev. Moritz G. L. Rietz entered upon his work as pastor of the Luth-eran church at Chatham, N. Y. This is Rev. Rietz's first charge and we wish him great success in his labors. '96. W. H. Menges is now the Junior mem-ber of the firm of Menges & Stauffer, dealers in grain, coal aud produce, Spring Grove. Rev. E. D. Weigle, D. D., '75, and Rev. H. H. Weber, '82, General Secretary of Church Extension, delivered addresses at the dedication of the First Lutheran church, of Altoona, on Sunday, May 23rd. Trinity Lutheran church of Taneytown, Md., of which Rev. D. Frank Garland, '88, is pastor, was dedicated on Sunday, May 9th. A sermon was preached at the re-opening serv-ices on the previous Thursday evening by Rev. G. W. McSherry, '80, the former pastor. Those participating in the services of re-open-ing and dedication were Dr. M. Valentine, '50; Rev. W. H. Dunbar, D. D., '71; Rev. O. C. Roth, '78; Rev. Luther Kuhlman, '79, and Rev. B. F. Allemau, D. D. The cost of re-modeling and re-furnishing the church is be-tween $16,000 and $17,000. grounds, the game with them on the 8th was close. The result of the game was doubtful until the last man was put out in the ninth in-ning. Burns pitched a fine game. The Indi-ans were able to get but 3 hits off of him. Dale played an excellent game at second, accepting 8 chances without an error. ATHLETICS. H. C. ROEHNER. Editor. Base-ball, of course, has been the all absorb-ing form of athletics this month; and the rec-ord of the club has been an excellent one. That we have had a team to be proud of every-one admits, aud we are glad to see the interest that the boys have taken in it. INDIANS—First game. As is always the case with the Indians on our GETTYSBURG. AB R H PO A E White. 3b 5 Dale, 2I1 5 Tate, Leisenring.il) Ilurns,(cap.)p Gladfelter, ss. 4 o Roehner. cf. 4 o Spealraan, rr. 4 o Wolf, If 2 o Herman, If. 1 o 2 1 3 1 2 9 o 1 15 INDIANS. AB R H PO A 1 Buckhart, c. 40071 Shelafo, p, ss. 4 I 1 1 i Jamison, ss. p 4 1 1 16 Miller. W , 3b 3 o 002 Miller, A., cf. 41000 Hudson, rf 40 I 11 0 16 1 000 0 ' 5 Pierce, lb 3 Archiquet'e.lf 4 Eastman, 2b. 3 Totals 3S 5 S 27 16 5 Totals 33 3 3 27 17 3 Earned runs—Gettysburg, z. Home Run—Burns 2 base hit I —Hudson. Stolen bases—Gettysburg, 2; Indians. 3. Bases on I balls-By Burns, 2; Shelafo, 3. Struck out—By Burns, 11; Shel-1 afo 3; Jamison. 4. Passed balls—Tate, 3. Time of game-no. I Umpires—McPherson, and smith-ail Indian. STATE COLLEGE—First game. The game at State was very close and excit-ing. Both pitchers were in fine form. Burns got himself out of several very tight places. Once with the bases full and only one out, lie struck out the next two batters. Three hits were bunched on Nesbit in the fifth inniner. GETTYSBURG. AB R n 0 A K White, 3b 4 0 0 10 " 0 31 1 0 2 Dale, 2b 5 Tate, c 5 Leisenring, lb 4 Burns, p 4 Gladfelter, ss. 4 1 Roehner, cf. 4 Herman, If. 3 0 Spealman, rf. 1 Brown, rf. 2 0 1 0 0 13 1 1 11 I) 1 1 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 STATE COLLEGE All It Albert, lb 4 0 Miller, If. 3 0 Beehtel, 2b 4 0 Hayes, rf. 4 0 Spiesman, c. 3 Curtin, 3b 4 Nesbit. p 4 0 Steward, ss 3 0 Findley. of. 3 0 H 0 A 1 8 1 1 0 0 2 :: 2 0 1 1 0 14 0 0 0 II 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 Totals 3G 3 6 27 7 4 Totals 33 0 1 2; Bases on balls—State, 1; Gettysburg, 3. Passed balls—Spie man, 2. Stolen bases—State, 2; Gettysburg. 3. Struck out " Nesbit, lfi; by Burns, 16. Time of game—1.45. Umpire—Leele. 1 2 Gettysburg 1 0 1 ■ I 4 5 0 1 7 8 9 0 II State. 00000000 0-i BUCKNELL. The game played with Bucknell, at Lewis-burg, on the 17th, would have been won easily had we had a fair show. The action of tbi management at Bucknell must be condeiimeii for allowing such an incompetent umpire fa any college game. Even the players admitted that we did not receive fair treatment. Tht game was marked by the hard hitting of tht Gettysburg boys, knocking Bucknell's crack pitcher, Shorten, all over the field : The score follows : GETTYSBURG. R White, 3b 0 Dale, 2b 0 Tate, c 1 Leisenring, lb 1 Burns, lb. p 1 Gladfelter, ss 1 Roehner, cf. 1 Herman, If. 1 Brown, rf. 0 0 I) 3 0 3 12 3 0 1 E 0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 0 13 24 BUCKNELL. R Gearv, lb 1 Conover, ef. 1 Griffith, 2b 2 Grimm, If. 1 Mttlkie, ss 2 Catterall, c 1 Jenkinson, rf. 0 Garner, 3b 0 Shortell, p 1 Totals . 9 THE COLLEGE MERCURY. 76 SCORE BY INNINGS 1284 56789 ,.,.,". 11 2 I) 0 0 5 U 2 0 X—a ■msbirg::::'.:::::::::. 0 0 0 s 0 » o.o-p-8 two base hits—Mulkie, 2; Uladfelter. Three base hits—Tate, ■tarns Catterall Double plav—Urown to Leisenring. Stolen ■bes—Gettysburg, 2. Hit b> [litcher-Geary, Shonell. Bases on Kfs hortell, :'■: l.eiseiiviiiir. 2. Struck out—Leisenriiig, i: IBiinis I: Shonell, 6. Time of game-2.10. Um lire -Wilkinson. The boys had a fine time on their trip of 5 Bys to State and Bucknell. Arrived here on Tuesday at 2 and played State here at 3 P. M. STATE COLLEGE—Second game. Again State was compelled to bow down to Gettysburg. This game was somewhat more ■citing than the game at State College. The ipposing team were able to get but one hit off p Burns. The errors charged against Dale Ire very excusable, since he was not in a fit Ridition to go into the game because the muni) of his right hand was badly bruised Bile playing against State . at State College. laving no competent substitute for his posi-lion, he pluckily consented to go into the (ame. Tate's batting was a feature, having , hits out of 5 times to bat. The score is as [follows : GETTYSIU'RU. AB It H 0 A E Hte, 3b 5 1 1 4 -' 1 Be, 2b S 1 2 2 n (i Ete, e 5 1 4 10 3 0 Benring, lb 3 oioi o Jrns, p 3 0 0 0 s o [ladfelter, ss. a 0 0 0 1 1 Btoer, el'. 3 0 0 10 0 erninn, If. 3 10 0 0 1 Iwyer, rf 4 1110 0 Totals. . 30 5 9 27 10 S STATE. Albert, lb. Miller, If. Becntol, 2b. AB It II l> A i: 3 0 0 iS 1 0 3 O 0 4 0 0 10 0 2 2 1 Hays, rf icpt 4 2 10 0 0 Brandt, of Spiesman, c. Curtin, 3b. Nesbit, p Stuart, ss. 3 0 0 4 0 0 4 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 0 ii 9 2 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 12 1 •Findlcv 10 0 0 0 0 Totals 31 2 1*28 11 5 mencement week give great promise of being close and exciting. The preparation for the other athletic feat-ures of Commencement week are rather "la-tent" as yet, but no doubt will materialize. The July number (Commencement number) will contain a general summing of athletic matters and the averages of the individual players on our team. Findlev batted for Xesbit in ninth inning. Gladl'eiter out, hit by batted ball. jtrned rims— Gettysburg 1. Two base hit—Dale. Stolen ies—Tate, Hayes. Double play-Nesbit to Albert. Bases on fa-Gettysburg, 5; State, 5. Struck out—Nesbit, 8: Burns, 9. ssed balls Spiesman, I. Wild pitch-Burns, 1. Time of me—1.45. Umpire—Kuendig. SCOKE BY INNINGS. 12 34 5 0789 tysburg 1 01 000210—5 .te 0 10 0 0 10 0 0—2 verything was running smoothly until we pnt to Carlisle on Saturday, the twenty-sec-d, and played the Indians. The whole me was a big joke—on us—to the score of i, the tabulated score of which will be ven in next issue. The game between the Sophomores and the |eminarians on the same date must have been 'Ore interesting—the1 score being 25-23 in wor of '99. The matches of the tennis tournament are w being played off to the interest and usement of the on-lookers, and the "glory" ■he participants. The finals during Com- TOW|vJ y\fslD SEIVll|SlAF{Y NOTES. K. W. WOODS, Editor. TOWN. Rev. H. S. Jenanyan, principal of St. Paul's Institute of Tarsus, Asia Minor, his wife and cousin, who witnessed the Turkish massacres in Marash, spent last week in Gettysburg in the interest of the relief work foi widows and orphans in Armenia. Their plea for the op-pressed came with peculiarpower. Large col-lections were make in the various churches to relieve the sufferers. Through the efforts of Amos Eckert a sprinkler was secured for the middle of the Square. The Square will be sprinkled morn-ing and evening, which will add much to the comfort of those residing in that vicinity. Messrs. M. and T. E. Farrell received the contract for the avenue over Little Round-Top to connect Hancock avenue with the Confed-erate avenue. The work was begun several weeks ago and will be completed by the latter part of the summer. Some very necessary improvements have been made lately around the P. & R. termi-nus. Among them is the railing placed at the passenger station, back of which the cabmen will be required to stand hereafter. We are very glad to see this, and it will take away a great deal of unnecessary nuisance, both for excursionists and students. Mr. George E. Spangler has moved his stock of musical instruments into his new building on York St. Mr. Charles Deardorff moved his sewing machine business into the same room also. Prof. Klinger moved last week from the Eagle Hotel to his new home on Baltimore St. Rev. D. W. Woods, Jr., pastor of the Pres-byterian church, of this place, preached an eloquent sermon last Sunday afternoon to a •• ) Skelly Post Room, No. 9, 77 large audience in G. A. R. Hon. William N. Ashman, LL- D., will be a guest of the College during Commencement week. He will deliver an address before the Young Men's Christian Association in Christ Lutheran church, on Sunday evening, May 30th. Judge Ashman is an instructive and entertaining speaker and is often called upon to address religious organizations. The Senior class, of Wilson College, Cham-bersburg, visited the Battlefield last Monday. They were accompanied by Dr. S. A. Martin, President of the college. Miss Elizabeth Leopold, of Wilson College, will sing at the services in Christ Lutheran church, next Sunday. John B. McPherson will deliver the Memo-rial address at Fairfield on Decoration Day. About one hundred Baptists from Boston visited the battlefield last Tuesday. They were on their way to a convention to be held in Pittsburg. The Union League from Philadelphia spent Saturday and Sunday in this place. They took in the battlefield and from all accounts had a very pleasant trip. The Coal Exchange from New York visited the historic field last Tuesday. They had their headquarters at the Hotel Gettysburg. SEMINARY. Ten Seniors are now located. Rev. Matt. S. Kemp has received a call to Smicksburg and Trade City, Indiana county. Rev. W. C. Ibach attended the Washington monument dedication, in Philadelphia, May 15th. Messrs. Newcomer and Lecrone, of the mid-dle class, attended the dedication of the Luth-eran church at Spry, York Co., on the 23d. Mr. S. F. Miller preached at Round Top last Sunday evening. Mr. W. Hartman filled Rev. Leiseuring's pulpit, Chambersburg, May 23rd. Rev. J. H. Harms will be installed pastor of Trinity Lutheran church, Chambersburg, on Sunday, June 6th. Rev. Herbert Alleman, former pastor, now of Christ church, this place, will preach one of the sermons. THE COLLEGE MERCURY. Rev. A. Bredenbeck has returned from hj.| recent visit to Philadelphia. Rev. L. B. Hafer has received a call the Fort Washington charge near Philadel-I phia. M. W. M. Cross, eclectic, begins his workf at Stone church on baccalaureate Sunday. Rev. Killian preached at Smithsburg, I last Sunday. Mr. B. R. Lantz, of the Middle class, supply the Lutheran church at LawrenceJ Kan., during the summer. Mr. C. H. Brosius will take charge of Di.l Weber's church, Sunbury, Pa., during tbe| summer. A summary of the Seminary catalogue i«| the current year shows a total enrollment i sixty-two, divided as follows : Seniors, IJ, Middlers, 24; Juniors, 17; Eclectics, 2; Graduates, 6. FRATERNITY NOTES. PHI KAPPA PSI. The Chapter sympathizes with Dr, J. Cl Goettman, '59, who was recently afflicted will a stroke of paralysis. '56. H. W. Kuhns, D. D., one of the Ckl ter members of Pennsylvania Epsilou, recentil met with a painful accident sustaining a fra| ture of the ankle. '82. C. S. Duncan was visited by C. i Meloy, of Penn. Zeta, for a few days las week. '92. Clayton J. Ziegler, York, Pa., paidtlj Chapter a very welcome visit on the 15th ins| R. R. Miller, '93, and R. E. Miller, '94,3 engaged in business in Pine Grove, Pa. '95. W. B. Keefer is playing 2nd basei the Reading ex-College Men's team. '95. H. M. Witman contemplates takii another year at the Yale Divinity School. '96. Carty expects to visit the Chapter do| ing Commencement week. '97. White was called home recently, oivifl to the death of his uncle PHI GAMMA DELTA. A fine half-tone electro of Bro. H. L. Hoj man, ex-'95, Yale '97, appears in the Art THK COLLEGE MERCURY. 78 number of the Qunrterly. Bro. Hoffman has the honor of being the First Gymnast of Yale. The Chapter at Yale is building a house [which, when completed, will be one of the [finest of the kind among the colleges of our country. Bro. J. S. Albert, Gamma Philo, a member I of the State College base-ball team, was a wel-come visitor to our Chapter last week. Bros. L. E. DeYoe, '86, and E. H. Wirt, ['95, paid short visits to Gettysburg this mouth. Bro. E. E. Blint, '90, [.College base-ball game. witnessed the State The Lutheran church, Taueytown, Md., ^was dedicated last week. Bro. D. F. Garland, 18, pastor. Bro. C. W. Fairbanks, Theta Dentrou, of Indiana, made his first speech in the Senate last week. PHI DELTA THETA. Rev. Chas. Reinewald passed through Get-tysburg. May 14, on his way to New York. Rev. L. S. Black has returned to Johnstown. le will visit Gettysburg again during Com-mencement week. Harry Ehrhart spent the night of May 14 in town. Dave J. Forney has just recovered from a slight illness. Markel was very pleasantly surprised on the |5th, by a visit from his father and sister. Carver spent Sunday, the sixteenth, at his home in Hanover. ALPHA TAU OMEGA. E. L. Koller, '98, assisted the choir in the dedicatory services at Taueytown, Md., Sun-day, May 8th. L. DeWitt Gerhardt, '89, visited the Chap-er May 8th. | Ralph Cannon, ex-'g5, spent Sunday, May 16th, with the Chapter. Percy Hoover, '95, now a student at the U. Jf P., was the guest of the Chapter for a few days. P. W. Koller, of the graduating class of Seminary, preached in the First Lutheran church, Hanover, Pa., Sunday, May 16. LITEFJARY SOCIETIES. R. D. CLARIS, Editor. It is very unfortunate that, as soon as the pleasant days and evenings begin to arrive, the attendance at the meetings of our literary societies should decrease so markedly. There is no excuse for such a state of affairs; our halls are both very pleasant to be in on these spring evenings, and we are sure the members need the literary drill just as much now as at any time. There seems to be a general tend-ancy among the boys to give literary matters a second place, and especially in the latter half of the spring term. It is to be hoped that a fresh enthusiasm will take hold of us next Sep-tember and that then our presidents will not be required to hunt around over the campus and through the buildings to find a quorum. PHILO. The society has made an addition to its library in the shape of a book screen—a very necessary and handsome improvement. The new officers who have been elected to serve next year, are the following : President, C. H. Tilp ; Vice President, S. M. Herman ; Recording Secretary, I. Z. Im-ler ; Corresponding Secretary, J. H. Beerits ; Critic, Miss Myers ; Janitor, C. H. Bottiger. PHRENA. At a recent business meeting the following were installed as officers of Phreua Society : President, Meisenhelder; Vice President, Lauf-fer: Recording Secretary, Clare; Chaplain, Enders ; Monitor, McCaruey ; Librarian, Diehl ; Assistant Librarian, Musselman ; Critics, Miss Frey, Bikle, Jr., Reisch, Diehl; Janitor, Keller. Mrs. Sweet—Do you find it economical to do your own cooking ? Mrs. Burnem—Oh, yes; my husband doesn't eat half as much as he did when we had a cook.—Ex. Quoth a medical student named Proctor, As he staved off a creditor's letter, "Tho' I'm not known yet as Dr., I am known far too well as a Dr.'' —Ex. I ADVERTISEMENTS. v ha PIMSYiLVATO '' (\\ _ . \ A' I. Classical Course for the Degree of A. B. II. Scientific Course for the Degree of B. S. III. Post-Graduate Course for the Degree of Ph. D. IV. Special Course in all Departments. V. Elective Studies in Junior and Senior Years. VI. New Testament Greek and Hebrew in English Bible Department! Observatory, Laboratories and new Gymnasium. Four large buildings. All building! heated with steam from central plant. Libraries, 25,000 volumes. Fine Museum. Expense! low. Department of Hygiene and Physical Culture in charge of an experienced physician! Accessible by frequent railroad trains. Location, on BATTLEFIELD of Gettysburg; mol pleasant and healthy. . PREPARATORY DEPARTMENT, in separate buildings, for bojf and young men preparing for business or college, under special care of the principal and thre assistants, residing with students in the building. For full particulars, apply for catalogue ti HARVEY w. MCKNIGHT, D. D., LL. D., PRES'T., Pennsylvania, Cotteg-e^ G>e,ilysb.mg> p3 GENTS' FURNISHER, I H (MY(K(P^ No. 11 Baltimore St., $Pm JUIO A./1L JL JOJELOg CETTY^BimC PA B^Overcoats and Winter Suits at a Big Sacrifice. ~JOHNL. SHEtiDST N£W CIGAR STORK Next door lo W. M. Depot, Gettysburg, Pa. w, w* HBSXTXTXG, ott\\_tR \n BREAD, BOLLS, PRETZELS & CBACKEBS YORK STREET, GETTYSBURG. B®° Reasonable Rates to Clubs. ADVERTISEMENTS. No. 42 North 9th Street, PHILADELPHIA. Acknowledged Headquarters for ANYTHING I EVERYTHING in tlie way of BOOKS FOR CHURCHES, FAMILIES, i V >Z LEGES and SCHOOLS, and LIT-ER: I TURE FOR SUNDA Y SCHOOLS. PLEASE REMEMBER That by sending your orders to us you help traild up and develop one or Hie Church's Institutions, with pecuniary advantage to yourself. Address orders to HENRY S. BONER, Superintendent, No. 42 North 9th Street, Philadelphia. BARBER -^=SHOP. Proprietor, BALTIMORE STREET. f^M^WM it^h^d^^^m mSammr- Made of 5% Nickel Steel Tubing. ■ ,^$sh >■■■ Strongest Efl&SR %:--■-:-■■ ■BICYCLES* THE PLACE FOR STUDENTS TO GO. ONLY FIRST-CLASS TONSORIAL WORK. DAVID TROXEL .DEALER IN. FINE CROQERIES 4riD MOTIONS. York Street.^ ♦•HOTEL 8ETTYSBUR6* -^©AfiSBB SHOP.K-Centre Square.

Issue 59.3 of the Review for Religious, 2000. ; Continuing Formation Apostohc Life Fertility and Intimacy Seeking God MAY JUNE 2000 VOLUME 59 NUMBER 3 Review for Religious helps people respond and be faithful to God's universal call to holiness by making available to them the spiriiual legacies that flow from the charisms of Catholic consecrated life. Review for Religious (ISSN 0034-639X) is published bimonthly at Saint Louis University by the Jesuits of the Missouri Province. Editorial Office: 3601 Lindell Boulevard ¯ St. Louis, Missouri 63108-3393. Telephone: 314-977-7363 ° Fax: 314-977-7362 E-Mail: foppema@slu.edu Manuscripts, books for review, and correspondence with the editor: Review for Religious ¯ 3601 Lindell Boulevard ¯ St. Louis, MO 63108-3393. Correspondence about the Canonical Counsel department: Elizabeth McDonough OP P.O. Box 29260; Washington, D.C. 20017 POSTMASTER Send address changes to Review for Religious ¯ P.O. Box 6070 ° Duluth, MN 55806. Periodical postage paid at St. Louis, Missouri, and additional mailing offices. See inside back cover for information on subscription rates. ©2000 Review for Religious Permission is herewith granted to copy any material (articles, poems, reviews) contained in this issue of Review for Religious for personal or internal use, or for the personal or internal use of specific library clients within the limits outlined in Sections 107 and/or 108 of the United States Copyright Law. All copies made under this permission must bear notice of the source, date, and copyright owner on the first page. This permission is NOT extended to copying for commercial distribu-tion, advertising, institutional promotion, or for the creation of new collective works or anthologies. Such permission will only be considered on written application to the Editor, Review for Religious. LIVING OUR CATHOLIC LEGACIES Editor Associate Editors Canonical Counsel Editor Editorial Staff Advisory Board David L. Fleming sJ Clare Boehmer ASC Philip C. Fischer SJ Elizabeth McD0nough OP Mary Ann Foppe Tracy Gramm Barbara J. Soete SSND James and Joan Felling Kathryn Richards FSP Joel Rippinger OSB Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla SJ David Werthmann CSSR Patricia V~qttberg SC MAY JUNE 2000 VOLUME 59 NUMBER 3 contents 230 continuing formation Theological Education in Jesuit Formation Avery Dulles SJ shows that some principles from St. Ignatius Loyola help in dealing theologically with three characteristics of our technological age: the expansion of personal freedom, the sharpening of historical consciousness, and globalization. 241 From Resentment to Acceptance: Elderly Religious Return Benedict Auer OSB looks at the adjustments necessary for the healthy return of elderly religious retiring to a larger community setting. 249 apostolic life Electing Leaders in Women's Congregations Beatrice M. Eichten OSF explores the issue of power in community, as it underlies both election and ongoing leadership/membership relationships. 263 Apostolic Religious Communities in America: Moving in the Right Direction! Francis W. Danella OSFS stops, glances back appreciatively at the road U.S. religious life has traveled, turns again, and sees encouraging signs on the new road ahead. 271 Look to the Future Joel Giallanza CSC identifies some five essential tasks if religious life is to continue moving vigorously into the future. Review for Religious 277 fertility and intimacy Fertility Awareness and Women Religious Ren~e Mirkes OSF presents medical and spiritual-theology reasons for the practice of fertility awareness in the lives of consecrated women religious. 286 "I Stand Here Ironing": Delays in Developing Intimacy among Candidates and Members Suzanne Mayer IHM addresses intimacy concerns at two points: (1) if women entering religious-life communities come deficient in forming voluntary closeness and (2) if formation within religious life lacks such vital experiences. 294 seeking God Sharing Our Spirituality: Top-Down, Bottom-Up, or Lateral? Bertrand Webster FMS gives perspectives to consecrated people sharing a spirituality which likely was a lay inheritance in its origin. 299 Two Journeys: Coming Home and Going on Pilgrimage Janet Malone CND proposes hard questions to women and men religious about being at home in their community and about being available for a true pilgrimage. 3 11 Let Me Alone! True Christian Solitude Donald Macdonald SMM gives insights into why solitude is a necessary part of our Christian life and how it can be practiced. departments 228 Prisms 318 Canonical Counsel Duration of the Novitiate: General Norms 324 Book Reviews May-June 2000 Ergiveness is a major theme of this jubilee year. Forgiveness is not unknown in various religious traditions, but it holds central place in Christianity. The one truly Christian prayer--the prayer common to all ChristiansIis the Our Father as taught by .Jesus. In this prayer, the only phrase that interrelates God's action and our own is forgiveness. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who tres-pass against us." As we recognize anew in this jubilee year, forgive-ness does not come easy to us. It is hard for us to ask for forgiveness. Moreover, while God is ever ready to for-give, we do not so readily find other persons forgiving us when we express our sorrow and our desire to be forgiven. From those who seek forgiveness, others may ' ask more--the fulfillment of this or that condition, the probation of longer time, a retribution that demands something beyond the debt incurred--before they even consider forgiving us. In the United States, the inmates on death row may truly be contrite and seek forgiveness, but the state and those offended still demand punish-ment, the punishment even of death. If we limit our-selves to a justice system, there is little place for forgiveness, whether it is the justice formally imposed by a secular judicial system or informally exercised by us in our day-to-day familial and more general social interactions. The worldly social context in which we are immersed makes it difficult, then, for us to forgive as Review for Religious well as to .seek forgiveness. The difficulty goes beyond the indi-vidual seeking forgiveness or the individual offering forgiveness. Each one is involved in the decision made regardless of the other individual involved. We know that we may seek, even beg, for-giveness and meet a stony heart. We also know that we may offer forgiveness, but we may be met by the turning away of the offend-ing party. Regardless, the beauty of the grace of forgiveness remains for the one seeking to forgive or to be forgiven, even when it is not reciprocated. Above and beyond the difficulty of a forgiving attitude is the true wonder of reconciliation. For reconciliation to happen, which is beyond forgiveness, it takes two--both parties active and, in a way, passive as well. From the first moment in the pursuit of rec-onciliation, a cooperation, a working together, is necessary. That forgiveness should be an integral part of our everyday Christian living is presumed. But, as St. Paul imaged it, our real work as Christians is the v?ork of reconciliation. We are given by God the "ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor 5:18). In such a ministry, we will know the demands of dialogue, and we will experience the fatigue of negotiation. But this effort is required if we are to act a~ ambassadors of reconciliation. As we live this jubilee year, we find ourselves called as Christians to live, with renewed effort, the forgiveness that must be an integral part of our life with Christ. But more, we step for-ward to work at a special responsibility within our Christian voca-tion: to be a people committed to laboring for reconciliation. In a world, in a nation, in a church, in parish life, in family life, in community life, we have much to do if we are to work at being ambassadors of reconciliation. David L. Fleming SJ Note: I draw your attention to the most recent Best of the Review book, titled Praying as a Christian. You will find it a rich resource book for personal growth, for help in counseling and directing others, and for class study and discussion. Please see the last page of this issue for the order form. 229-- May-June 2000 continuing formation AVERY DULLES Theological Education in Jesuit Formation Jesuits ire fortunate in having some principles for the study of theology spelled out for them in the writings of St. Ignatius of Loyola, including the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. Ignatius himself, as we know, spent some eleven years of his adult life in studies, and sev-eral of these years were devoted specifically to the study of theology. He and all of his first companions obtained masters' degrees at Paris before they embarked on their apostolate. Having experimented with various programs of study, Ignatius became convinced that the curriculum at Paris was the best, and he prescribed that theology should not be taught until'the student has received a solid foundation in philosophy (Constitutions, §366).' St. Ignatius and Theology Anyone reading the Spiritual Exercises or the Spiritual Diary will be struck by the deep theological content of Ignatius's piety. For him the most holy Trinity, the incarnation of the Son, the redemptive death of Christ, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the mediation of Mary and the saints were not just 23,0 Avery Dulles SJ presented this paper 30 December 1999 at the New Millennium Formation Conference held in Barrington, Illinois. His address is Fordham University; 441 East Fordham Road; Bronx, New York 10458. Review for Religious theological theorems. They were realities known to him from experience, so much so that in his Autobiography he claims he would have believed these great mysteries of faith even had they not been taught by Scripture and the church. Through prayer every Jesuit should seek to attain something of this kind of experiential knowl-edge in order to have a more personal apprehension of what God has revealed. Theology is supremely important for the religious life, accord-ing to St. Ignatius, and was foundational for the apostolate of the Jesuit order. In a crucially important paragraph of the Constitutions he writes: Since the end of the Society and of its studies is to aid our fellowmen to the knowledge and love of God and to the salvation of their souls, and since the subject of theology is the means most suited to this end, in the universities of the Society the principal emphasis ought to be placed upon it. Accordingly, there should be diligent treatment by excel-lent professors of what pertains to scholastic doctrine and Sacred Scripture, as also to that part of positive theology which is conducive to the aforementioned end, without entering into the part of canon law directed toward court trials. (§446) In the 16th century many humanists, including Ei'asmus, advo-cated the abandonment of Scholasticism and a return to Sacred Scripture and the church fathers as sources for theology. Ignatius was himself ardently devoted to the Scriptures, as is evident from every page of the Spiritual Exercises. He also had a great love for the fathers, as may be seen from many of his letters, such as the Letter on Obedience and the Letter on Perfection, both addressed to the scholastics of Coimbra. In the Spiritual Exercises Ignatius declares that the study of the fathers is well suited "to rouse the affections so that we are moved to love and serve God our Lord in all things." But he then adds that the Scholastic .doctors, such as St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure, and Peter Lombard, had the advantage of being able to build on the teachings of the fathers and saints. They are, moreover, better able to define and elucidate the doctrine of the faith according to the needs of our times, and to expose and refute prevalent errors and fallacies (§363). It is noteworthy that Ignatius picks names from the golden age of Scholasticism and omits more recent theologians such as Scotus, Occam, Biel, .Gersgn, and Nicholas of Cusa, all of whom he may have seen as less reliable. A further point that Ignatius makes in favor of the Scholastic May-June 2000 Dulles ¯ Tbeological Education The term "hie 'archical church" was a favorite of Ignatius, occurring three times in the text of the Spiritual Exercises. doctors is that they were able to profit from "the decisions of the councils and the definitions and decrees of our holy mother church" (§363). Emphatically a man of the church, Ignatius con-sidered that theology had to be done within the church and in obedience to church authorities.2 While he upheld the value of mystical graces, whether received by himself or by others, he insisted that such graces should be tested for their authenticity by reference to the teaching of the church. No conflict was possible for, as he put it, "one and the same Spirit" is at work in the hier-archical church and in the most intimate personal experiences (§365). Authentic mystical gifts, he once wrote to Francis Borgia, are to be esteemed, "always provided that humility and reverence are preserved towards our holy mother church and towards the rulers and teachers appointed in her." 3 The term "hierarchical church" was a favorite of Ignatius, occurring three times in the text of the Spiritual Exercises (§§ 170, 353,365). This epithet may in fact have been an original coinage of Ignatius himself.4 He looked upon the church as an organized society in which some members by divine institution exercise spiritual authority over others. In the first of his Rules for Thinking with the Church, calling for obedience of the judg-ment, he insists that "we must put aside all judgment of our own~ and keep the mind ever ready and prompt to obey in all things the true spouse of Christ our Lord, our holy mother, the hierarchi-cal church" (§353). In Rule 13 he lays down what some regard as a scandalous principle: "What seems to me white, I will believe to be black if the hierarchical church so defines" (§365). This principle, I submit, should be almost self-evident for Catholics. The faithful are required to believe on the authority of the church mysteries such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, all of which are contrary to sensory appearances or to our ordinary ways of thought. As Thomas Aquinas writes in his famous Eucharistic hymn Adoro te devote: "Seeing, touching, tast- Review for Religious ing are in thee deceived; / How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed."s In a particular way Ignatius and his first companions trusted the guidance of the pope, whom they saw as the vicar of Christ, for the teaching and government of the universal church. According to Hugo Rahner, "Christ's vicar in Rome was for [Ignatius] a kind of supreme instance of that visibility which was both an essential mark of the church ,nd a necessary yardstick for measuring the invisible.''6 For this rea~.on he and his first companions placed the Society at the disposal of the pope, so that he might direct them to do what was most conducive to the glory Of God and the sal-vation of souls. They were convinced that Christ himself, through the mediation of his vicar, would show them the way to his greater service) That act of confidence was amply justified by the suc-cessful collaboration to which it led. In the Constitutions Ignatius laid down some very clear direc-tives about the kind of doctrine that should be taught in the for-mation of Jesuits. He writes, "The doctrine which they ought to follow in each subject should be that which is safest and most approved, as also the authors who teach it" (§358). A little later he v~rites: "Those books will be lectured on which in each subject have been deemed to contain more solid and safe doctrine"(§464). In the remainder of the paragraph, Ignatius specifies that there should be lectures on the Old Testament, the New Testament, and , the Scholastic doctrine of Thomas Aquinas. Ignatius's insistence on safer and more approved opinions does not flow from timidity, but from a holy reverence for the purity of God's word. Lest any-one think that these norms of St. Ignatius are no longer relevant aCto tmhep leevmee onft atrhye Nthoirrmd sm aipllpernonvieudm. i,n i t1 m99a5y bbye tuhsee f3u4lt tho G neontee rtahlat the Congregation reaffirm these principles in slightly modified lan-guage. The norms specify: 101. Professors should bear in mind that they do not teach in their own name, but in the church, in accordance with the mission received from the church, and that they teach joined together in charity in the Society of Jesus. Hence, they should let themselves be guided by the mind and will of the church, show proper respect for the teach-ing authority of the church, and have regard for the build-ing up of the faith in their students and in all the faithful. At the same time they should keep in mind those who are separated from us. May-June 2000 Dulles * Theological Education 102. Both professors and scholastics should faithfully adhere to and diligently study the written word of God along with sacred tradition. Let them have high regard for the teaching of the holy fathers and other doctors, specif-ically St. Thomas, and for those authors of the Society who are highly regarded in the church. 103, §1. Professors should clearly distinguish between matters of faith to be held by all and teachings approved by the consent of theologians. Probable, new, and personal explanations are to be proposed modestly. Norm 104 provides for the removal, in certain cases, of pro-fessors whose teaching departs from the doctrine of the magis-terium. As these quotations abundantly show, Ignatius did not con-ceive of the Society as a kind of theological avant-garde, adven-turously blazing new trails for the magisterium to follow. He would have condemned any such attitude for its lack of humility and sub-ordination. Jesuits, in his view, should prefer the safer and more approved doctrine and never fail in respect for the hierarchical teachers. Thanks to their acceptance'of the doctrine of those who teach in the name of Christ, they will have a solid base from which to engage in fruitful theological reflection. Ignatius and his companions were keenly alert'to the dan-gers posed by reform movements in the church of their day, espe-cially to crypto-Protestant positions being preached in Catholic pulpits in Italy by priests such as Bernardino Ochino, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Agostino Mainardi. To guard against such doctrinal innovations, Ignatius, after moving to Italy in 1535, added the last five of the Rules for Thinking with the Church (SpEx §§366-370). He there advocates speaking with great pru-dence so as not to play into the hands of those who are seeking to undermine the doctrines of the church. These rules apply, he says, "above all in times which are as dangerous as ours" (§369). Were he alive today, he might find our own times no less dan-gerous than the early 16th century. ---234j The Jesuit Theological Tradition The early Jesuits threw themselves into the struggle against heresy throughout Western Europe. They rendered outstanding service as papal theologians at the Council of Trent. Though few in numbers, they were largely responsible for the successful preser- Review for Religious vation of Catholicism in Austria, Bavaria, the Rhineland, the Low Countries, and Poland. Peter Canisius and Robert Bellarmine, as doctors of the church, provided the theological rationale for this work. Inspired by love of Catholic truth and devotion to the Holy See, many Jesuits laid down their lives in the effort to regain England and Scotland for the faith. In subsequent centuries Jesuits, working closely with the Holy See, led the opposition to Baianism, Jansenism, Gallicanism, and various forms of rationalism and fideism, thus helping the Catholic Church to clarify and develop its own doctrine. The dogmatic schemata for Vatican I were almost exclusively com-posed by Jesuits. Under Leo XIII and Pius X, the Society promoted the renaissance of Thomistic philosophy and The Ignatian theological heritage is not static and repetitive, but dynamic and cautiously creative. theology. In the 20th century Jesuits were at the forefront of many movements of renewal, such as biblical studies, the liturgical move-ment, the ecumenical movement, and the theology of ressource-ment, sometimes miscalled la nouvelle thdologie. The Ignatian theological heritage, therefore, is not static and repetitive, but dynamic and cautiously creative. As Ignatius him-self adapted the Spiritual Exercises to different persons, consid-ering their age, health, education, and intelligence, so the church must adapt its presentation' of the Christian message to the chang-ing times. This process of adaptation is a delicate one because in our haste to adapt we could easily lose sight of the real content. My advice to the student and the young Jesuit theologian would therefore be to immerse himself in the sacred sources of Scripture and tradition, knowing that one cannot pass on what one has not first received. Ignatius himself spent more than .a decade in philo-sophical and theological studies before presenting himself for priestly ordination, and we should not do less. He loved the Scriptures, the fathers, and the Scholastic doctors, especially Thomas Aquinas, and we can drink at the same wells. Only after having mastered Christian doctrine in its purity and integrity can we adapt our presentation of it without risk of losing the substance. May-June 2000 Dulles * Theological Education I The Technological Age To whom or to what should we adapt as we are swept into the third millennium of Christianity? Obviously, to our own age. Although this age is too complex to be described in a few sen-tences, it might be designated, in a word, as the age of technol-ogy- an age replete with dazzling new possibilities for transmitting the faith, but also with unprecedented dangers for faith itself. The rapidly burgeoning means of electronic communication make it possible to reach new audiences and to present the faith in more varied ways than were previously possible. But we cannot be sure that our presentations will be effective. Can we confront people with the Christian message in its full depth and integrity, eliciting a firm response of faith? The ambivalence of the age is illustrated by several new factors, all intimately connected with technological advancement: the expansion of personal freedom, the sharpening of historical consciousness, and globalization. Each of these factors demands a theological response. The expansion of human freedom results in part from technol-ogy itself. Until now, people's lives were generally predetermined by the circumstances of their birth. Their nationality, their social status, their language, their occupation, and likewise their religion were normally those of their parents and grandparents. While this is still the case in many parts of the globe, it is increasingly less true in affluent countries such as our own. People are what they choose to be. Religious adherence is a matter of personal decision. St. Ignatius, living at the dawn of the new era, grasped the crucial importance of decision making and made it the central theme of the Spiritual Exercises. He had an acute perception of the gift of freedom and of the need to use it wisely. In his Rules for Thinking with the Church, he put his followers on guard against what he called "the poison of doing away with liberty" (§369). Down through the centuries Jesuits have contributed to the theology of freedom in various fields. Some, such as Luis Molina, dealt with the dilemma of human freedom and divine sovereignty in the distribution of grace. Jesuit moral theologians, defending freedom ofconscience, opposed rigorism in its various forms. Jesuit political theologians, protesting against tyrannical govern-ments, helped to lay down the theological foundations for the modern democratic state. Closer to our own time, John Courtney Murray was the principal architect of Vatican II's epoch-making Declaration on Religious Freedom (Dignitatis humanae). Review for Religious In our culture today, freedom is badly misunderstood. All too many define it as an entitlement to do what I choose without regard for my responsibilities. Freedom is seen as something opposed to commitment, and thus also to religious commitment, including especially commitment to the priestly or religious state. We urgently require a philosophy and theology in which freedom is linked with responsibility. It needs to be more clearly shown that freedom is enhanced and fulfilled by adherence to the true and the good, and that only Christ, who is the truth, can make us truly free (Jn 8:32). A second characteristic of our technological era is the inten-sification of historical consciousness. Under the impact of new inventions, our world is changing so rapidly that we are in danger of estrangement from the past. It is easy to fall into a kind of his-torical relativism, in which the certainties of our predecessors are subjected to doubt or rejection simply because they are old. In the religious area, some find it difficult to give more than a tentative and provisional assent to articles of faith, assuming that they may be invalidated by some future discoveries. Standing as he did at the end of the Middle Ages and the dawn of modern times, St. Ignatius knew how to deal with historical change without loss of permanent truth. Although he was involved in the Catholic Reformation and established an original style of Catholic religious life, he was quick to recognize and resist osten-sible reforms that were contrary to the true Catholic spirit. In our day we face even more radical problems. Since Christianity is a historical religion, we should have no difficulty in accepting the fact of change. But history is not the ultimate horizon of the human spirit, which reaches out to the eternal. Through God's gift, the human mind can grasp permanent and unalterable truths. With the aid of deep philosophical and the-ological study, we can help our contemporaries to see that God will not cease to be God and that Jesus Christ is always to be adored as the Son of God, the same yesterday, today, and for-ever (Heb 13:8). The church is and remains the pillar and the ground of truth (1 Tm 3:15) because Christ remains with it to the end of the age (Mr 28:20). A third characteristic of our era is globalization. Our con-sciousness is not limited to any particular region, nation, or con-tinent. Religiously, this means that we are increasingly exposed to the claims of many different religions and ideologies. In a country May-June 2000 237 -- Dulles ¯ Tbeological Education such as the United States, innumerable churches and religions rub shoulders day by day. Is it not arrogance, some ask, for any religion or church to claim privileged access to the truth? 'Here again Ignatius can be a guide. Living at a time when Western Europe was ceasing to be religiously united, he realized the need to resist unsound doctrines. W~th a vision encompassing the whole world, he sent out companion Jesuits to evangelize the new world, Africa, and Asia. Before long, Francis Xavier would be debating with bonzes in Japan, and Jesuit missionaries would be inculturating the faith by means of the Paraguay reductions and similar experiments in the Americas. Today we are witnessing religious and cultural interaction on a much vaster scale. The new situation creates opportunities for understanding and dia.logue, overcoming the parochialism of the past. But it also contains dangers of hostility and conflict or, at the other extreme, agnosticism and religious indifference. Some fall into a superficial religious relativism, as though Buddha could be for Buddhists and Krishna for Hindus what Jesus Christ is for Christians. One of the major problems of our day is to construct a viable theology of religious pluralism--one that gives due value to all religions without compromising the dogmatic truths of our Christian faith. Discerning the Times In its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes), the Second Vatican Council recalls the church's duty to "scrutinize the signs of the times and to interpret them in the light of the gospel" (GS §4). It declares that the church, led by the Spirit of God who fills the whole earth, "labors to deci-pher authentic signs of God's presence and purpose in the hap-penings, needs, and desires" of men and women of our day (GS §11). A little later the same document points out that it is the task of the entire church--pastors, theologians, and the laity--"to hear, distinguish, and interpret the many voices of our age, and to judge them in the light of the divine word" (GS §44). St. Ignatius is an outstanding master of the art of discern-ment. In the book of the Exercises, he provides two admirable sets of rules for the discernment of spirits. He puts us on guard against deceptions in which we might easily be entangled. These principles, I believe, apply not only to individual decision mak- Review for Religiotts ing about something like a vocation, but also to the church's effort to discern the signs of the times and to adapt prudently to new conditions of life. In this connection it is well to keep in mind another key Ignatian principle, that of agere contra. Ignatius bends over back-ward, so to speak, in order to defend the church on precisely those points where he sees the enemy employing his deceptions. Several times in the Exercises he states that we should always do the oppo-site of what the tempter, or the evil spirit, is urging (§350). "The enemy," he writes, "becomes weak, loses courage, and turns to flight with his seductions as soon as one leading a spiritual life faces his temptations boldly, and does exactly the opposite of what he suggests" (§325). When the traditional doctrine of the church is being attacked, we should avoid anything that smacks of compromise. On the con-trary, we should present the received doctrine at its full strength, throwing our entire weight on the side of the scales contrary to the dominant temptation. Ignatius himself does this in his Rules for Thinking with the Church, in which he calls upon Catholics to praise the religious institutions and practices thaf are currently under attack. It will be for the Jesuits of your generation to organize the Society's response to the dominant temptations of the present age. The church requires a team of highly educated persons, able to engage in the intellectual apostolate on a variety of levels and in various modes, such as teaching in schools and universities, preach-ing, writing, and electronic styles of communication. Mere activism is not enough. The church has the right to expect from the Society of Jesus the capacity to understand the problems at some depth. We must see the plausibility of the fal-lacies and be sensitive to the temptations to dilute or fall away from the faith. And, having seen these things, we should throw ourselves wholeheartedly into the struggle, acting energetically against the predominant temptations. The Topic and the Point I may seem to have gone somewhat beyond my assigned topic, which was to deal with Jesuit formation. But I believe that noth-ing I have said is beside the point. I am pleading for a theology that is solidly founded on Scripture and tradition, utterly loyal to the May-June 2000 Dulles ¯ Theolog~cal Educa~ion m'agisterium and to the pope, nourished by reverent prayer and sacramental worship. In matters open to debate, we Jesuits should, I believe, follow the safer and more approved opinions. At the same time we should courageously face the deepest questions of our own day, making the necessary adaptations without the slightest compromise in matters of doctrinal truth. Using the techniques of Ignatian discernment, we should seek to mount a balanced cri-tique of the emerging technological culture. To do this we need an updated theology of freedom, of historicity, and of intercultural and interreligious dialogue. If the Society of Jesus is seen to be effectively addressing cru-cial issues such as these, it will earn the gratitude and respect of all who love our holy faith. It will attract talented and dedicated can-didates and will, I believe, enjoy a new springtime at the beginning of the new millennium. Notes l The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary. Norms (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996). Numbers refer to paragraphs of the Constitutions. 2 On Ignatius as vir ecclesiasticus, see Henri de Lubac, The Splendor of the Church (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), pp. 241-278, esp. pp. 249 and 258-267. 3 Hugo Rahner, Ignatius the Theologian (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990), p. 229. 4 Yves Congar, L'Eglise de Saint Augnstin i, l'gpoque moderne (Paris: Cerf, 1970), p. 369. s I here use the translation by Gerard Manley Hopkins. In the orig-inal Latin these verses go: "Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, / Sed auditu solo tuto creditur." 6 Rahner, Ignatius the Theologian, pp. 219-220. 7 Rahner, Ignatius the Theologian, p. 221. --- 2405 "Review for Religious BENEDICT AUER From Resentment to Acceptance: Elderly Religious Return Ibn recent years a topic of concern for religious communities, oth male and female, has been the return of large numbers of community members who are now retiring or have become too old or ill to continue in their present apostolates. Many come back full of resentment, not wishing to return under any cir-cumstances to an institution they left twenty, thirty, or even fifty years ago. The place they return to is not the place they left. In many cases they left before Vatican Council II and now are return-ing to a motherhouse or monastery they never lived in--for it has taken on a totally different aspect physically, psychologically, and even spiritually. Not only are they not prepared to come "home" to such alien places, almost like different planets; they return as strangers. The religious who have remained home or are now living in the moth-erhouse often do not know these returning persons except as names on rosters or ordos. Sadly, these religious often see the returning members as a burden or an intrusion. The welcome is there, but sometimes not as real as it should be. Superiors find themselves faced with people who have not wished to return, who may have been sent away years ago because they were not "good" community members or were more adapted to the external apos- Benedict Auer OSB returns to our pages after some years. He has a doctorate in Christian spirituality and is an associate professor of edu-cation at Saint Martin's College; 5300 Pacific Avenue, Southeast; Lacey, Washington 98503. -24! May-j~tne 2000 Auer ¯ From Resentment to Acceptance tolate. And meanwhile the local community wonders who these incoming people are. This is a crucial issue for our graying communities, and one that is only now starting to be addressed. Having raised the issue with many different religious communities, I have found one uni-versal response: "Yes, it is occurring with us, but what do we do?" It would be foolish to think that I have a universal answer, but I know that we need to look at the problem. This article will address some common issues and may help us think about our hospitality toward longtime members who have not lived at home, but are now returning to that "home" as a place to die. Offering Hospitality A key to Benedictine hospitality is "treating all guests as Christ." Usually Benedictine monasteries are noted for their hos-pitality. It is easy to treat guests well because they come and even-tually go. Being hospitable to our own members who come and stay is more difficult. But in truth these returning religious are guests too. Why? Because they have to be newly introduced to what life is like now at a given institution or motherhouse. Even such a simple thing as the daily horarium is new to them. Many left years ago when 4:30 or 5 was the rising hour and often the entire Office and even Mass were crammed into a small section of the day so that "other things could be done." After Vatican II the Liturgy of the Hours came to be said at the proper times, yet out in the parish and school apostolates this was often not the case. The people returning may not have been saying the Office regularly or may have been saying it only in a modified form. Those who prayed the liturgical hours in private have to relearn doing it once again as a member of a choir or community. But how do you gently yet firmly instruct someone who has been a religious or monk longer than you have been alive? Returning members need a care-filled orientation. (It might not be good to call it an orientation, but that is what it is.) They are deeply in need of compassion. They have been serving the community for most of their lives, often entering at fourteen or sixteen years of age and giving their entire lives to the service of the Lord as members of that community. When they are "forced" to return to the motherhouse or monastery, they have the rug pulled out from undertheir feet. They leave behind the local Review for Religious support system they have had for many years, and in some cases, because of distance or infirmity, they are unable to maintain even minimal contact with their friends in their former surroundings. Often these religious feel more alone than eve~" at a time when they need friends and support persons more than ever. The people of the motherhouse or monastery community are so busy with various responsibilities that they have little time to help these returnees adjust to their new environment. Someone within the community should be appointed just for this purpose. Sadly, a one-week retreat has not been enough to introduce these religious to rudimentary aspects of life in their old yet new com-munity. Many people in the new community do not know them: they have heard of them, but they do not share common experiences. One or two of their classmates may have remained at or returned to the institution, but this is seldom enough. Psychologically they feel abandoned. They have given their lives to an apostolate, and now it has left them, at least in their own estimation. Where they are now required to go and live is not what they expected; it is not how they expected to await death. Many missionary orders have this same problem after their members have spent years in a mission thousands of miles away. Aging missionaries may be required to leave all the friends they have made in the missions and to return to a climate in which they no" longer feel at Aging missionaries may be required to leave all the friends they have made in the missions and to return to a climate in which they no longer feet at home. home. In such circumstances they need to be given a reintroduc-tion that will help them move from being guests to being fellow religious once again. They need someone to accompany them at Office recitation and even to inform them about community events and about simple things like how to use the washing machines and where to find various necessities like mops or bandages. Gentling Resentment Another problem is anger or resentment. Many of these members are not returning as happy campers. Some are down- May-June 2000 243 -o- Auer * From Resentment to Acceptance right angry men and women. They have to go through the steps on death and dying outlined by Elisabeth Kiibler-Ross, for their previous lives have ceased to exist. At first they are in denial, denying that thirty or forty years have passed and that what they have given their lives for no longer needs them. Many felt them-selves irreplaceable and now find themselves, in one way or another, abandoned. The natural next step is anger. Recently I was present when a returning monk was met by another monk before dinner. The returning monk was angry, and so, when the other monk said, "Isn't it great to be home and no longer responsible for a large parish?" the response was less than edifying. The returnee brought to speech what was inside. Another monk, asked whether he was happy to be home after being away for years, replied, "This is not my home." These were not the right places and times for such feelings of resentment to come out. But no other place or time had been arranged, and so the feelings spilled out here, much to the embarrassment of the community and of the guests who were present. For all concerned, better occasions should be created for returnees to articulate their anger. Then, of course, bargaining begins along this line: "I will go back eventually to do some parish work, or teach part-time, or help the new priest." Additionally, bargaining will take on many different character-istics. Eventually the returnees realize that they have exagger-ated a feeling of despair~maybe not total despair, but despair nevertheless: "I am waiting to die . . . I have nothing to look forward to but death. I have no value." Communities often fail to realize that this crisis is taking place. I have heard superiors say, "Well, you now have time to rest," the worst response that could be made. These people do not want to rest: perpetual rest is staring them in the face. They need a program that helps them see aspects of them-selves they have forgotten. As active religious, they may have been neglectful of prayer. Some reintroductions to contempla-tive prayer might help, but people should not be pushed into them. One monk told me that at ninety-six years of age he was in charge of praying for vocations. He took this responsibility seri-ously. He had worked in parish ministry until he was ninety-five and now was adjusting to inactivity and doing an excellent job of it. He had reached the final stage: acceptance. He had accepted that he would not be returning to his apostolate, but would Review for Religious remain home. This was not fatalism. Religious all too frequently move from despair to fatalism, and everyone around them suffers, and prays for their happy death, and hopes it comes quickly. There are, of course, also many who return and do not take long to pass through these stages and adapt quickly to community life, at least on the surface. I remember a returning monk (he had been a parish priest and a hospital chaplain) who seemed to fit in immediately. But six months later he was dead. I remember find-ing him in his cell with paper on his bed so his shoes would not make a mark on the bedspread. He was a good man, but as an introvert nothing came out; his feelings remained within, and he soon died, never really having accepted his fate. Some religious returning to the community are not just anx-ious, but living in fear. One religious told me that his order has set aside a house in Ireland for its retiring members. They are sent there from the missions to die. Many have spent their lives in African countries, and now, returning after forty or fifty years, they are scared. Death is easy to address in someone else but not in ourselves. Some of us feel unafraid of anything until we are faced with our own vulnerability and eventual death. Some returnees are sick or even terminally ill, but many are not. A cousin of mine, after spending much of her life in missionary work in China, was imprisoned by the Japanese during World War II and by communists afterwards. When she finally returned home, she was sent to a new convent built just for the elderly. There, isolated from the convent and motherhouse she knew, she felt abandoned by her sisters. She wanted to walk the grounds of the convent she had been a part of long ago. She could not. After a few years she died, I believe not from illness but of a bro-ken heart. I have talked with many other retired and elderly reli-gious who feel the same. There are, of course, illnesses that require special treatment. And there are terminal cancer patients who need help the com-munity cannot adequately give. But some commfinities have cre-ated "dumping ground" convents or monasteries for their elderly or retired religious, places to put them so they are not in the way. Of this, one superior said, "They are happier together." Are they? I wonder. For they are now without meaning in their lives. They do not have around them their fellow religious to help them, nor are they let in on what is occurring in their reli-gious congregation. May-June 2000 Auer * From Resentment to Acceptance r Finding Meaning. Part of the problem is that these returnees need something to do. Their lives seem to have lost meaning. In a monastery the suggestion was once made to assign several retired monks some manual labor to do, like cleaning a floor or setting up the refec-tory for meals. The abbot's response was "These are priests. They cannot be asked to do manual labor." How sad! Many of them would have loved to do something. Any service given to the com-munity is better than sitting and watching television all day long. Communities have to find ways to employ returning religious. Today, when many retire quite young, a good number start new careers. Permitting and encouraging this is the least we can do for them. We should call on the abilities of our retired members. We should give them as much attention as we give to the recruit-ment of new members, for this reason among more urgent and important ones: the treatment that candidates see our elderly and retired members receiving will affect their own decision to enter or stay in the community. Most communities have addressed the issue of caring for ill members and those with handicaps. We have insurance policies, we have arrangements with nursing homes, and we have even added infirmary wings to our buildings. But beyond that not much is done. One sees elderly members wandering listlessly down community hallways. They need access to events in the house and in the surrounding community. My parents and many others in their eighties travel across the country to visit people and to see things that interest them. Many elderly religious have interests they were once too busy to pursue, and now they have time. I know a monk who wrote articles on contemplative prayer until he was in his late eighties. Some religious can finally work on the rose garden that they never had time for before. My pre-sent abbot hopes to write that book on birds, an intense interest of his, when he retires. Communities sometimes have to help their elderly discover what they would like to do. We can help people do this by initi-ating some semiretirem~ent programs in which people can start cultivating other interests before they turn eighty or ninety. This is not the job of the superior alone, but also of the entire com-munity, including the older people themselves. Religious should not look at retirement or a smaller work assignment as an indi-cation of their own failure. These things are, rather, new oppor- Review for Religious tunities to grow in ways that most of us will be called to do. Hopefully, religious will be encouraged not to work themselves to death, something that communities too often considered sim-ply heroic. Working ourselves to death is likely to be suicidal, not heroic. I heard one aged religious say, "It is one way out of here." What a sad comment on a life dedicated to Christian prin-ciples and an active apostolate! Included in this program to re-form our returning religious should be some counselors to work with them. Many may think that these religious would not go near a coun-selor, but I disagree. They may have been too busy to take the time for their own personal growth, and now they are able to do so. Some may need extensive counseling to help them cope with a fear of death, facing the unknown, and even facing themselves. We are all called to conversion, and many have not had the time to really convert in the Lonergan sense, "to probe into the depths of our being" and accomplish "a radical trans-formation." I have seen elderly and retired members of communities do just that. I have heard stories of hor-ror: "Father was such a terror in the classroom," "Sister was a beast toward her children in the first grade." I have met these people at seventy or eighty and found them delightful and deeply religious. What had happened? Often they were not suited to teaching, but more often they had undergone a radical conver-sion in their latter years. This call was to acceptance, and many have accepted their vocation with a new emphasis on contempla-tion or prayer. Such transformations are a joy to behold. Their communities have been supportive and given them an opportunity to tell their stories, stories that are stories of God, of God in their lives. Indeed, such stories are more for our benefit than theirs. Each of us walks a similar path, and we need to hear the witness of those who have gone before us. Father John Scott OSB, a professor of history at St. Martin's College and a confrere, has done a wonderful job of accumulat-ing an oral history, recording what people can recall and tell us of our past. Although it is an historical record, it is also a story of individuals being called to conversion--struggling with and finally accepting what has happened in their lives. Experience Communities sometimes have to help their elderly discover what they would like to do. 247 May-June 2000 Auer * From Resentment to Acceptance comes first, meaning later. Father Scott helps monks in our com-munity see the meaning of their lives by helping them tell their story. Many other communities are doing similar things with oral history. Finally, I would suggest something else, a change in our for-mation programs. During formation religious should be explic-itly taught that we do not own our apostolates. They do not belong to us; they are our mission, and our mission is from Jesus Christ. Many religious spend their lives building kingdoms-- from snack bars to institutions to parishes. They consider these their own domains. But apostolate assignments may be changed. Young recruits need to be made aware of this when they enter, and they may also need to be reminded from time to time so that they remember it even when they are eighty or ninety. These suggestions may give rise to further dialogue on this continuing problem. In justice we cannot assign persons to one or two apostolates over a span of fifty or sixty years and then not help them adjust to a new segment of life: retirement. Whatever their temperament or their virtue, the elderly of the present and the future need compassion, and new members need to see that we treat our returning lifelong members with as much charity and hospitality as if they were simply guests. They, of course, are more than guests. The love we show them is an important con-temporary way of following St. Benedict's recommendation to treat all guests as Christ. Bibliography Auer, Benedict. "Monastic Asylums," on institutionalization and monastic formation. Human Development 19, no. 4 (Winter 1998), pp. 35-39. Ferruci, Piero. What We May Be: The Vision and Techniques of Psychosynthesis. London: Thorsons, 1995. Fry, Timothy, ed. The Rule of St. Benedict in English (RB 1980). Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1982. Goffman, Erving. Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, 1961. Lonergan, Bernard, SJ. "Theology in Its New Context." In The Theology of Renewal, Vol. 1. Montreal: Palm Publications, 1968. Review for Religious BEATRICE M. EICHTEN Electing Leaders in Women's Congregations Election in a religious community is always a time of anxiety, tension, and hope. The impact of elected lead-ership on each person and on the future of the commu-nity is significant, even though communities know that in four to six years new leaders will be elected. When women's religious congregations elect leadership, they deal with a number of issues: their conscious and uncon-scious learnings about power, the changing role of lead-ership, and the qualities members look for in their elected leaders. I will explore the issue of power in com-munity as it underlies both election and ongoing lead-ership/ membership relationships. Then I will reflect on implications this has for the function of leadership and on qualities needed and called forth from those serying as congregational leaders. Power and Community Relationships Power is a human reality, and operates in religious communities as it does in other groups. People have per-sonalpower coming from their identity and presence. In Beatrice M. Eichten OSF is a consultant with religious communities of both men and women and with congrega-tions that sponsor healthcare. Her address is P.O. Box 406; Winona, Minnesota 55987. May-June 2000 249 E~cbten * Electing Leaders addition, certain persons exercise informal power through their influence, whether in a negative or positive way. Organized groups select or elect persons to exercise formal power to help them stay focused on and faithful to their goals. These same expressions of power are present in religious con-gregations, especially in the matter of electing and then relating to their elected leaders. There is value in understanding the func-tion of power within this process of electing some women to exer-cise formal power within the congregational structures, structures that all the members together have defined for the congregation. Power is a word and a reality that women in general consciously avoid. It is for most women a negative word connoting undesirable characteristics, and it is a reality they try to deny. This is not true for men. Vv'hy is that? Women's Relationship to Power Dr. Pat Heim in her book Hardball for Women looks at the games children play to explain why women relate to power so dif-ferently from men.~ Though her book relates to women in business settings, I will explore how her explanation of childhood learn-ings also applies to women's religious congregations. Women's main focus is relationship. As children, women learn how to be competent interpersonally and how to develop and sus-tain relationships with others. Today many girls participate in team sports--a rare thing for girls ten or fifteen years ago. Given that recent change, some of the learnings attributed to boys will undoubtedly happen for girls. Most of today's women, however, and most of today's women religious, have done almost all of their playing one-on-one with other girls, usually with a best friend, sometimes with two friends. What Girls Tend to Learn at Play How to play one-on-one. Girls develop interpersonal skills, including how to "read" and respond to another's emotions. The skill works well for adult women in families, communities, and work settings as they tune in to emotional dynamics and offer care and nurture to the persons involved. Playing one-on-one, how-ever, can keep women from going beyond how something affects another to acting on principles and deciding what serves the larger Review for Religious whole. Knowing that some members will be upset by the decision may paralyze many a woman who needs to make hard decisions. Also, playing one-on-one, with its focus on individuals, can prevent women from envisioning the whole and defining clear responsi-bility and accountability within a large group of people. How to get along. Good little girls learn to be sweet, cahn, gen-tle, charming, mild, and helpful. Conflict, assertiveness, and direct confrontation are to be avoided at all costs. Instead of being up front and direct, girls learn indirect methods of dealing with dis-sension, such as involving a third party, dropping hints, or practic-ing avoidance, all in order to pre-serve the relationship. All women religious in conflictual situations recognize these and similar meth-ods in themselves. In fact, other women often see directness on the part of women as aggressive and pushy. This sometimes leads to conflict. In religious congrega-tions, where relationships are important and carry a "familial" character, conflict may feel very threatening. It is important, however, that it be dealt with directly, not in a blaming or judgmental way, but with each person owning her own experience and feelings. Unfortunately, some people, in their desire to maintain "nice," "positive" relationships, may see this directness as causing trouble, causing damaged relationships. How to be fair to everyone. Little girls try to resolve conflicts by compromising and being fair so that everyone wins. They want to be sure no one feels left out, and so they flatten differences to make everyone "all the same." When that carries over into adult relationships, some convoluted relationships occur between elected leaders and members. Members are not all the same; they each have unique gifts and needs. Setting a policy for all because a few need limits, and creating a committee rather than asking a person with special skills to do a task, are two examples among many. Being "fair to everyone" can cause chapters and assemblies to set-tle for a middle-of-the-road arrangement when they should be promoting a visionary life. An effort to accommodate everyone's sense of direction for the community leads to an unfocused and hard-to-accomplish plan. An effort to accommodate everyone's sense of direction for the community leads to an unfocused and hard-to-accomplish plan. 251 3lay-June 2000 ' Eicbten ¯ Electing Leaders I ] How to engage in play as a process. Girls' games seldom have a goal (one does not "win" at dolls or playing house). If there is a purpose, it is to get along with playmates,.create intimacy, and share imaginative ideas. This learned behavior serves congrega-tions well when it is the time for dreaming, for developing ideals and fostering goals. The challenge is to follow this up with clear assignments and holding people accountable, thus bringing the dreams into reality. All communities have reams of documents filled with wonderful ideals. Have they brought them to fruition? Have they stopped the process because it would be unpopular or because the responsible persons did not follow through and no one dared confront them? How to negotiate differences. For girls, decisions are reached by group consensus. When there are different views about the best way to set up doll house, or whose turn it is to play dress-up, girls learn to talk their differences through, take turns, compromise. The goal is a win/win outcome, not a win/lose one. "You want to play house, I want to play nurse. Okay, you be the mommy and bring your sick baby to me at the hospital." This is a learning that supports collaborative models of leadership and efforts at recon-ciliation. The goal is not "anything goes"; it is true collaboration that aims at the good of the whole. The risk is that including every-one's ideas leads to a mediocre outcome. How to keep the power "dead even." Girls grow up in flat orga-nizations, not hierarchies. They learn to cooperate within a web of relationships for the sake of preserving friendship. It does not take long for a little girl to discover that, if she wants to be the leader and starts giving directions, her playmates will call her bossy and avoid her. As a result, girls try to keep the power "dead even" and learn to exercise it ve.ry carefully. This is a learning that makes elected leadership in congregations very difficult. For, even though the power of elected leaders is not "dead even" with that of other members, the latter still tend to define for themselves how obedi-ence and authority will be understood and carried out, in routine functioning and also in special efforts regarding mission or com-munity or both. How that reality is dealt with is critical for con-gregations' life and vitality. When it is not dealt with,.when communities attempt to flatten power and authority, untold energy is spent on internal dynamics rather than on mission and vision. Such learnings from their earlier years have an effect on how women religious relate to each other in community. Men, on the Review for Religious other hand, learn very different behaviors from their childhood play, which often involves numbers of boys in team play. Women who have grown up playing team sports will recognize as their own some of the learnings males tend to acquire. Whether women have grown up learning things typical of women or men, those learnings have implications for women religious. Things Boys Tend to Learn from Their Play How to compete. Competition is the name of the game. The games little boys play involve adversarial relationships: us vs. them. They learn that competition and conflict are stimulating and fun, to be welcomed, not avoided. They also learn that when the game is over the game is over. The adversarial, competitive relationship during the game does not affect their relationships afterwards. After a bruising discussion over a controversial issue, men will often go out together to play a game of golf. Women, on the other hand, may have learned to compete, but they are likely to take the competition personally and retain negative feelings towards one another afterwards. How to always do what the coach says. Boys learn early that, in order to win the competition, there must be a leader or coach to focus strategy and effort. This creates a structural hier-archy unlike the flat organization common among girls. In order to move up the hierarchy, boys and men learn to do what the coach or boss says--period. No negotiation! How to be a good team player. Boys learn early that they will not always get to be team captain or coach and tell others what to do. Most often they will be in the position of receiving instruc-tions. Good team members learn to give up their individuality and independence for the good of the-team. They see the importance of supporting the other team members so that the team wins--a win that is "their" win. (Women have a more difficult time sacri-ficing their individuality for the team goal.) Men also learn that, to be a good team member, it is vital to know how to play with peo-ple you do not like, but whose skills will help the team win. (Because women tend to personalize conflict, they have a more Good team members learn to give up their individuality and independence for the good of the team. -2Y3 -- May-June 2000 Eicbten ¯ Electing Leaders difficult time getting past their dislike of the person to the estab-lishment of a good working relationship.) How to be a leader. Despite the team nature of their play, boys do at times get to take on the mantle of leadership. This gives them the opportunity to experience their own authority, to prac-tice leadership, to give directions and make them stick. When they do, they are rewarded and valued for their leadership. How to be aggressive or appear aggressive. In order to do well for the team, little boys learn that it is important to look like a mean, aggressive player, even if they do not feel all that tough. They learn power plays that help create an illusion of power. (As we will see later, women are more likely to accommodate one another, to negotiate.) How to take criticism and praise. In sports, boys receive con-stant criticism from the coach and from other players. They learn the connection between getting feedback and improving their per-formance. They also learn how to take criticism as feedback so it does not damage their self-esteem and destroy their feelings of self-worth. (For girls, however, criticism is not usually experienced as feedback about behavior or performance. It is more often expe-rienced as criticism of their person.) Howto stay focused on the goal. Rather than perfecting the details (as girls and women might), in team play boys set their sights on the goal line. If they make a mess in getting there or knock some-one over, that is just part of the game. They learn early on that they cannot do everything perfectly, but that perfection does not really matter, since winning is what counts. Winning is all that matters. Boys play games to win. Their stance is that there is no point to playing the game if you are not going to win. And, in order to win, you must take risks--playing it safe will never make your team number one. Half the time, boys will lose. Rather than feeling devastated by the failure, boys learn how to take a loss, learn from it, and move on. (On the other hand, women tend to replay the failure over and over, to beat themselves up for failures and attempt to fix blame. This is reflected in women's response to negative evaluations of com-munity meetings. They are overly sensitive, paying greater atten-tion to one or two criticisms of the meeting than to three hundred positive evaluations.) How to have a game plan. Little boys play in crowds, not in dyads or triads as little girls do. So they need a way of organizing Review for Religious an unwieldy group of people. They do so by following the coach's game plan. They learn early that, if each one plays independently of the others, the team will not score that coveted touchdown. (For adult women, their own individuality and creative expression are important. It is difficult for them to subordinate their indi-viduality to the team goal--note such areas as dress, living arrange-ments, ministry, and availability for leadership positions and motherhouse roles. Adult women can set their independence aside, but they intend to do it consciously and for a significant reason.) Would that the behavior patterns that girls and boys develop could be combined in such a way that the best of both would improve people's ways of being and working together. Member/Leader Relationships among Women Women need to be alert to power relationships. In girls' play, direction is negotiated, not set by a power figure. There is no sin-gle leader, and, even if one is identified as an official leader, she is expected not to act the part. What does that lead to? Girls learn early that negotiation is the key to getting things done their way. More often than not, a woman's goal is to bring others around, not direct them. When women are in a hierar-chical structure, their discomfort with not having "dead even" power, with being a subordinate or a boss, can lead to inappro-priate negotiation after a decision has been reached, or to passive-aggressive behavior. Such behavior is more likely when the person in power is a woman--"Who does she think she is?" The response of communities needs to be "She thinks she is, and she is, your elected community leader (or your supervisor, or your local com-munity leader)." Sometimes women sabotage other women in power through indirect cattiness, gossip, negativity. Often these women are responding unconsciously to their negative perception of another woman's power. Leaders need to practice and encourage direct communication, done so as to build and maintain relationships that express genuine interest in the other sisters as persons. Women in leadership, as they move from membership to elected leadership positions, realize quickly that the move changes relationships with other women in community. This is because the flat relationships women enjoy are antithetical to hierarchical relationships. The elected leader, like it or not, is in a position of xYlay-June 2000 Eicbten ¯ Electing Leaders power. Friendships can be lost or damaged when one is elected to lead the community. Simple statements made by the leader can seem to carry negative meanings, but such outcomes derive more from the hearer's family and communal experience than from the words and their intent. Also, confidentiality may prevent leaders from disclosing every reason and circumstance; this, too, may bring negative judgments and unfounded criticism upon them. Women leaders may find that their need to be liked keeps them from doing a competent job. The desire to preserve harmo-nious relationships can make it difficult for a leader to make the tough, right decisions, knowing that Sister X will be angry with them. Consultation and team processing can help the leader move toward making the needed decision, but it may still damage some relationships. If the decision is tough but fair, however, people will eventually come around. It is helpful for congregational members and leaders to under-stand how power tends to affect relationships among them. On some projects both women and men find it relatively easy to use power appropriately or to acquiesce in its use. But, when there are disagreements in their communal and personal lives, leaders and members of women's communities need to be alert to power dynamics. We will look at some behaviors as they operate in con-flict situations. Exercising Power in Conflict Accommodation. Accommodation means giving in; the others are allowed to have their way. This may be appropriate when oth-ers feel strongly about something and you really do not care. But, because women have been trained to accommodate others for the sake of preserving the relationship, it is important for them to attend to what is important to them and to be willing to take a stand on that issue. Inappropriate accommodation occurs when persons do not know what they want or feel, when they give up what is important to them in order to keep the peace, or when they decide to "help" another win because they see that it is impor-tant to him or her. Avoidance. In avoidance, a conflict is ignored in the hope that it will disappear. Women commonly do this because they detest confrontation. A situation that is avoided, however, worsens for having been ignored. When conflict is not addressed directly, it Review for Religious does not go away; it just goes underground. The hostility gets rechanneled into passive-aggressive, destructive behavior. Women use a particular kind of avoidance, especially in communication. They avoid addressing the issue directly with the relevant parties because that could damage the relationship. Instead, they drop hints (and think they have been clear), or they tell others about the dispute (and hope it will get back to the person concerned). Compromise. In compromising, you win some and you lose some. "I'11 give you this if you give me that." They do not get all they want, but they decide half a loaf is better than none at all. The down-side of compromise is that it may be used to avoid the interpersonal work that happens when people resolve conflicts through collaboration as described below. Competition. In competition there is usually a winner and a loser. Men are very comfortable with competi-tion and often make things a win/lose dynamic. For women, a win/lose dynamic is not attractive. They tend to see it as not "fair" or "dead even," and thus damaging to relationships. Collaboration. In collaboration, two individuals or groups find a way to work out their differences so that both are satisfied with the result. They delve into why they hold such disparate views. Collaboration takes time and trust. For a worthwhile discussion, persons must care about their own underlying concerns, be will-ing to understand the other side, and be open to appropriate influ-ence. When differences are resolved collaboratively, relationships are improved; the level of trust increases. Women are adept at col-laboration because as children they have learned to share equally with everyone and to focus on being fail to others. Men tend to be less adept at collaboration because they focus on winning, on doing better than their colleagues. Women look for solutions that help everyone win. These learnings about power continue to operate in women, often unconsciously and often in contradiction to their profes-sional training and the c6mmunal/spiritual values they espouse. They affect women's perception of themselves as leaders in com-munity and of those they elect as leaders. It is important that con- When conflict is not addressed directly, it does not go away; it just goes underground. May-June 2000 Eicbten ¯ Electing Leaders gregations give attention to these unconscious learnings as they reflect on the meaning of leadership as a call to ministry. The Ministry of Leadership in a Religious Community Leadership in a religious community is a ministry, one that facilitates and focuses the purpose and goals of the community. Often women called by their community to serve in the ministry of leadership need to put aside their current ministry--where they feel effective, secure, and significant--in 6rder to serve their con-gregation. The call of the Spirit draws such women to place their gifts and their vulnerabilities at the service of their sisters and the church, going beyond individual and sometimes even communal needs and concerns to global needs and concerns. They do this knowing that leadership is a dynamic, relational exercise of power between members and leaders, a relationship fraught with opportunities and risks. Elected leaders, in their for-mal exercise of power, are called to help members work together for the common good and achieve spiritual and ministerial ideals. The function of that leadership is defined and authorized by the. community, and is exercised through the community's governance model in a mutual obediential manner. Leadership, then, is an experience of reciprocity, of being both leader and follower. I~ asks all, especially those elected to leader-ship, to take the initiative, to see problems, and to point toward creative solutions--to give direction and to take action that moves the community towards a common goal. Leadership is relational. It is based on mutuality and respect even as the differing roles and responsibilities of the elected lead-ers and the members are recognized. Being relational begins with both leaders and members seeing the value of each person's gifts and weaknesses, seeing these as part of the communal reality of persons drawn together for mutual witness and service. Not every-one is capable of doing this. Leadership focuses on the common good, and so leaders are asked to: ¯ go beyond the perspective of the individual to the perspective of the whole; ¯ see the congregation as part of a bigger whole and to keep it from getting enclosed or focused only on surviving; ¯ bal-ance the purpose of the congregation with the good of the indi-vidual; ¯ keep the mission as the focus, going deeper into its Review for Religious meaning and reality in their charism and community life; ¯ be spiritual leaders, relating to community charism, to personal and communal spirituality, and being attentive to how the Spirit is moving the community into the future; ¯ be stewards of congre-gational resources guiding decisions relating to ministerial, finan-cial, material resources available for the accomplishment of mission; ¯ be stewards of human resources by attending to the personal and communal needs of each member; ¯ carry out corporate responsibilities, which include sponsorship, ministry engagement, administration of the congregation's properties, assets, and liabil-ities, and civil and canonical legal responsibilities; ¯ carry out canonical responsibilities (these involve community viability, mem-bership, documents, relationships with dioceses and the broader church, and convening the community for governance through the congregation's governance model). Qualities for Leade.rship in a Religious Community What does all this have to say about qualities needed for lead-ership today? Community leadership moves one into a complex set of relationships with the community (remember what was said above regarding women and "dead even" power), the church, and the public. It calls for the development and public exercise of many skills in order to carry out the functions defined and expected by community. Leadership pushes one to an awareness that encom-passes both individual and common good within the context of the broader world. Because of this, it is important to feel positive about the min-istry of leadership. It cannot be simply an obligation or a duty. If a person accepts congregational leadership, she needs to have energy and willingness for such service. This comes from a sense of personal readiness and ability for community service. It comes, too, from a personal vision and hope for the life of the congrega-tion, even as one acknowledges the limitations and pains experi-enced in the all-too-human experience of living community. The person needs to know herself as gifted and called to leadership both by community members and by her own inner spirit. This call assumes a faithful relationship to God, who challenges, guides, and sometimes pushes one in new directions. Being a leader today requires being a learner, a communicator, and a unifier. As a learner, a leader needs to be able to think, open May-June 2000 Eicbten ¯ Electing Leaders to influence, and ready to gather relevant information. As a com-municator, she needs to be adept at both listening and speaking. As a unifier, she is called to draw together the diverse gifts and talents of members, associates, and ministry partners. Leaders need to be willing to make tough decisions for the good of the whole and to base their decisions on clear principles and careful consideration. Leaders need a consultative, collabora-tive style for decisions affecting the life of the members. Because they also carry organizational and canonical responsibility and authority, they need to be able and willing to make leadership decisions affecting the good of the congregation. The leader needs to be visible and to make connections within the community and within the larger church and society. Research shows that outstanding leaders emphasize setting goals and achiev-ing them by careful planning and by building group commitment; they give less attention to the personal adjustment of members.2 Against the background of women religious thinking of their leader as "Mother" (nurturer, caretaker), this change in leadership style can be misunderstood as "not caring for the members." In every community there are members who want "a mother" who spends her time nurturing and being available to individual members. Other members want a leader that inspires vision, mobilizes energy, supports risk taking, and is engaged in church and world issues. The challenge for leaders is to know their leadership role and to address and deal effectively with members' differing expectations. Martin Heidegger says that to be human is to be called to become a "shepherd of being." Each person carries that call. The leader carries this call for herself and for the community, shep-herding her own well-being and the well-being of the community. The leader needs to know that her leadership is based on human-ity, her own and the congregatiori's. This requires knowledge of herself as a person of intellect and feeling, 6f gift and limitation, as one called but also a sinner, blessed and still in need of conver-sion. The leader is called to compassion and mercy as well as truth-telling and tough love; she needs to see the person, not just that person's deficient performance or its impact on the community's image. The leader is called to keep alive the vision of this human, blessed community of persons drawn together in personal and communal experiences as an expression of the face of God in our world. She does this by working to create an inclusive community of persons who, simultaneously gifted and vulnerable, are corn- Review for Religious mitted to mutuality and respect, to growth in holiness and faith-ful witnessing to the presence of God in our world. A leader needs to understand that leadership is an invitation to be creative through frailty. The first reality of the incarnation is the principle of limitation. We are not God. There is no such thing as a "perfect" leader, with all the gifts and skills needed. Leaders need colleagues that balance and compensate for limitations. They need community members who are willing to support, to be direct and honest, and to allow for frailty and mistakes. Leaders and members need to be comfortable with the experience of the inter-dependence of gifts and limitations. Concluding Questions Power can be a positive force in the life of a congregation-- power with and for, power that energizes and challenges, power that knows and loves the strength, gifts, and limits of all the com-munity. As women religious reflect on how power can and should benefit themselves and their communities, there are many areas for personal and communal exploration. I will put these questions in a personal mode, since that is where each person needs to start. ¯ How does what I learned as a girl about power operate in my life? ¯ What learnings from group (boys') play would be helpful in enhancing my relationships in community~ At work? ¯ How might making those learnings conscious help me relate better with oth-ers in my local community? In regional and large community gath-erings? At work? ¯ How do I view leadership before and after leaders are elected? How does that affect my communication, sup-port, and conflict patterns, both with the leaders and with other members? ¯ How does my approach to elected leaders diminish or enhance my engagement in con, gregational endeavors? ¯ How do my relationship to power and my view of leadership and its impli-cations affect my availability for service to community in the lead-ership role? Honest answers to these questions and in-depth conversation about their implications in member/leader relationships could move a community to a greater readiness to see leadership focus° ing--beyond the "nurturing mother" role--on the achievement of communal goals through careful planning and through building group commitment. It would, I believe, strengthen the interplay between member and leader and would lead to better communi- May-June 2000 Eicbten ¯ Electing Leaders cation, to a healthier dynamic among adults properly aware of their own and the organization's power, and would enhance engagement around communal goals. Notes ~ Pat Heim PhD with Susan K. Golant, Hardball for Women: Winning at the Game of Business (New York: Penguin Books, 1992). z David J. Nygren CM and Miriam D. Ukeritis CSJ, "Religious- Leadership Competencies," Review for Religious 54, no. 3 (May-June 1993). Free and Groaning We are children of earth In birth Goslings Tapping On the shell of our next Resurrection Creaking branches wind-moved Almost into flight Not Quite Tight-bound buds breaking Flames that leap Anchored in ash Clouds thai float in th~ sky But the clouds weep Autumn leaves let loose We dance and we die Careless clowns With foolish faces Wild doves flying So in need Of footing places Riders of reckless surf Baptized in waves As for me I am a free Woman Constrained Chained ¯ At once being born And giving birth Crucified I survive Alive Alive! Mary Alban Bouchard CSJ 262 Review for Religious FRANCIS W. DANELLA I Apostolic Religious Communities in America: Moving in the Right Direction! During the thirty-five years since the Second Vatican Council, religious life has endured a trial by fire. At the beginning of a new century, a mixture of cautious optimism and open despair is often evident when religious speak about their communities' future. While numbers continue to decrease and members continue to age, one wonders if the cautious optimism is not simply denial. The perspective of history, however, would sug-gest that, while some congregations will die, others will serve well into the next millennium. Some will even flourish2 Thirty-five years after the council, some trends seem to encourage that spirit of cautious optimism. Many religious com-munities have wandered through the post-Vatican II desert, and they perceive there might be a "Promised Land." These religious communities are successfully exploring their roots and the stories and spirituality that underlie those roots. This has led to a clearer sense of identity and then to internal renewal and a clearer sense of mission. Apostolic religious communities are emphasizing mission even as they cope laboriously with the endless issues of maintenance. Beyond mission they need to address the issues of community life Francis W. Danella OSFS, clinical assistant professor of pastoral the-ology at the Catholic University of Aanerica, served recently as director of planning for his province. His address is Oblates of St. Francis de Sales; 2200 Kentmere Parkway; P.O. Box 1452; Wilmington, Delaware 19806. May-June 2000 Danella * Apostolic Religious Communities in America and vocations. After the thirty-six years of my religious life, I would prefer never to discuss community life and vocations again. But the time for reassessment on both fronts is at hand. Not to muster the strength to ask the difficult questions regarding these two issues would be to the detriment of these apostolic religious communities of ours. Below we will consider religious life before the council, the challenge of the post-Vatican II church, and the future direction of apostolic religious communities with respect to mission, commu-nity life, and vocations. The fundamental mission underlying the particular apostolates became blurred. Religious Life before the Second Vatican Council As a young man I wanted to know, love, and serve God in this world so as to be happy with him in the next. Towards this goal I sought a singular focus and complete absorption. This desire, com-bined with a predisposition toward teaching, led me to my religious community, whose pri-mary ministry is teaching. There I learned that religious life in my community is about three things: the search for God, eschatologi-cal witness, and the education of youth. Other apostolic religious congregations are similar, but their specialized ministry may be something different in the con-text of religious community. All people are called to search for God. An inner yearning to find our origin, purpose, and destiny gnaws at all of us from the time we are able to think clearly. The catechism had clear answers for the children of immigrants to this country, and their own chil-dren in turn. Religious life became the place in which persons could be devoted full-time to this quest, with fewer distractions to get in the way. Religious gave eschatological witness to a kingdom that was not of this world. While religious were building the kingdom of God on earth, they were clearly giving witness to a fullness of life beyond this one. This religious witness was evident in their lifestyle, their way of being in the world. In this context vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience made sense. The virtues of humil- Review for Religious ity, gentleness, and simplicity became ways in which God's people could experience powerfully God's presence in the persons of these devoted servants. Most religious congregations devoted themselves to a partic-ular good work. Most engaged in a ministry of education, health-care, or social work. Most often religious congregations were in service of the poor or the lower middle class. Religious life suc-cessfully educated and cared for immigrants and their children. Many in the Catholic community were able to develop their skills and intellectual gifts, thereby acquiring a better standard of living and a richer and fuller life. Catholics were now positioned to have major influence on the American culture. During the years preceding the council, religious congrega-tions were deeply absorbed in the work that they did so well. An unfortunate by-product of this successful period of religious living is that many religious congregations became identified with their work. Many perceived their charism to be education, healthcare, or social services. As the ministry of service became more intense, the fundamental mission underlying the particular apostolates became blurred. The Challenge of the Post-Vatican II Church With the advent of the Second Vatican Council, religious were challenged to renewal. The council said: "The up-to-date renewal of religious life comprises both a constant return to the sources of the whole of the Christian life and to the primitive inspiration of the institutes, and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time.''2 The effort of religious institutes of the last thirty-five years to be faithful to this .injunction has borne much fruit. The movement forward has been a struggle. The emphasis on freedom and personal responsibility evident in the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes) had a profound effect on the future direction of religious life. There was a strong emphasis on each religious developing his or her gift to the fullest. This was in sharp contrast to the tradition of many religious communities, which determined the needs of the schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and so forth and then decided who would fill the need, no matter what their personal preference. This corrective from moving in lockstep to a more May-June 2000 Danella ¯ Apostolic Religious Communities in America individual way of developing one's gifts and talents was met with varying degrees of acceptance. Many religious communities resisted the more individual approach and the quest for self-fulfillment. Such resistance had disastrous consequences because it failed to recognize the legiti-macy of what was being sought. Consequently, there was no inte-gration between individual needs and community priorities, between personal growth and the common good. In this atmo-sphere, self-fulfillment became an end in itself rather than the means by which religious became all that God was calling them to be in the service of the church. At times this led to an exaggerated individualism and a misguided quest for self-fulfillment that was reinforced in American society by our strong bent toward indi-vidualism. In this period there were parallels with the best and worst of the human-potential movement. In the main, however, religious life was attempting to be faith-ful to the council's injunction to return to the primitive inspiration of the institute and to adapt to modern time. The efforts to recap-ture the spirit of the foundation have been the singularly most hopeful development in religious life since the council. This quest has led to internal renewal and a new sense of mission. There are common elements among the groups that have taken this course, a commonality that is clearly the work of the Spirit. Most groups have recaptured and reinvigorated for our time the spirit of their foundations. Many have experienced a resurgence in scholarship in their spiritual traditions. This new look at foundational texts and spiritualities is leading to an internal renewal. The search for God is once agaiia on track. With a clear sense of their origin, purpose, and destiny, religious congregations are in a better position to carry out their mission in the service of the church. Those faith-ful to the task will play a large role in shaping the future direction of the church. Ok/It The Future Direction of Religious Life Mission. A clear identity has led to internal renewal and a clear sense of mission. Apostolic religious communities are focused on living and disseminating their charism. Religious congregations that were instrumental in improving the quality of life for gener-ations of immigrants have begun to share their charisms with an educated lay faithful as they assume their expanded role in the Review for Religious church. Just as apostolic religious communities helped generations of immigrants to assume their rightful place at the table in American society, they will assist the current generation to assume their rightful place as religious leaders in our society. Religious life can help the laity to be the leaven in the world that the Second Vatican Council desired. By virtue of their baptism, the lay faithful share in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly office of Christ. Besides being faithful to the duties of their state in life, they are called, as the council points out, to work at the evangelization and sanctification of all God's people. They do this when they endeavor to have the gospel spirit permeate and improve the temporal order.3 Parish communities need to help the lay faithful to be aware of this mission and to carry it out. Religious congregations, too, can assist the lay faithful in their efforts at evangelization, sanctification, and the transformation of the temporal order. They can create forums in which lay people can come to understand their role and develop a plan of action for permeating the temporal order. Recently I participated in a symposium on the care of the dying jointly sponsored by George Washington University Medical Center and the Center to Improve Care of the Dying. Among the participants were medical doctors and other healthcare profes-sionals intently interested in how patients' spirituality affects their overall well-being. These dedicated healthcare professionals are carrying out the council's mandate to permeate the temporal order with the gospel spirit. One physician told me of her involvement with the Carmelite community, of the importance of the Carmelites in her life. Inspired by them, she has been instrumental in bring-ing courses on the spiritual dimensions of healthcare to medical students across the country. Last year I was captivated by a piece in Wilmington's Catholic newspaper on the graduation ceremony at a local private high school, the Salesianium.4 A graduating senior had spoken at some length about the influence of Salesian spirituality in his life. This was no passing comment. He detailed the teachings of De Sales that had influenced him, pointing out that he and his fellow graduates could take such teachings with them into their life ahead. This is the direct result of the school's effort to live and disseminate its charism. One physician told me of the importance of the Carmelites in her life. 267 May-June 2000 Danella ¯ Apostolic Religious Communities in America The many new forms of community life that have appeared need to be reevaluated. Apostolic religious communities need to live and disseminate their charisms for the well-being of the church. They need to share the theological and spiritual wisdom of their traditions, tra-ditions that answer the fundamental questions of origin, purpose, and destiny. They need to share the spiritual practices that guide daily living and daily choice. Apostolic religious congregations can encourage and even bring together people of similar professions and people from different walks of life to put together a plan of action that responds to the council's call to bring the gospel spirit into the temporal order. This is precisely what many apostolic communities excel in today. They need to reinforce their efforts. They need to have clear pastoral plans for the future. They need to bring even greater zeal and enthu-siasm to this vital mission. Many apostolic religious communities are effectively developing lay leadership and entering into collaborative ministry with the laity. They share with the lay faithful not only their spirituality but their mission as well. Religious communities are moving in the right direction and will greatly help a new generation of lay faithful to fulfill their complex mission in today's world. Community Life. Religious life of the future will be lived by those young men and women who currently are associates, novices, temporarily professed, and young perpetually professed. We need to listen to what they are saying to us. Some tend to be more con-servative than those of us who have reached our middle years, but this must not lead to new polarization o'r a new age of friction resulting from personality differences or other biases when there may be no substantial differences at all. My own experience suggests that the young enthusiastically embrace the efforts of congregations to revisit their spiritualities and to disseminate their charisms. This is an exciting mission. The young also seek a community life that is based on community prayer, mutual concern, hospitality, and self-sacrifice. They seek a religious community that is a genuine witness to both the "already" and the "not yet." Thirty-five years after the council, the many new forms of community life that have appeared need to be reeval-uated. For example, those who question the suitability of parish Revlew for Religious ministry for religious communities deserve a hearing. I would dis-agree, on the ground that parishes are ideal places for dissemi-nating the charism and helping the lay faithful to become the leaven in the world, but I would agree that we need to reassess the ways in which parish community life is lived. We need to hear the wisdom of all the members in order to make good, Spirit-filled decisions. Hearing all sides of issues can lead to a rich response. Also, we must examine the vitality of our eschatological witness if the choice for poverty, chastity, and obedience is to continue to make sense. We owe this to one another, to ourselves, and to those we will invite to join us. Vocations. What are we to do about the shortage of vocations? I remain convinced that the best advertisement for religious life is faithful, enthusiastic religious charged by their clear sense of pur-pose and mission. We need to be especially attentive to women and men in their twenties and thirties who have not made a per-manent commitment and who know in their hearts that there is more to life than what they are currently experiencing. Men and women of every age have been attracted to religious communities that have a clear purpose and mission and a healthy community life. Today as in the past the young and not so young will be attracted by religious who clearly put the welfare of others ahead of their own. We must not turn our vocation offices into maintenance oper-ations focused on numbers and survival. Vocation directors need to touch all potential candidates with the spirit of the institute, whether their final decision is to enter or not. A faithful, enthusi-astic commitment to mission will captivate the minds and hearts of those inspired by the Holy Spirit to look into this form of life. Furthermore, beyond traditignal vocations, we need to rec-ognize and affirm the enormous asset that lay associates are to our congregations. These women and men share not only in our spir-ituality but also in our mission. Influenced by the enriching guid-ance of the traditions embodied in apostolic religious communities, they make a unique contribution to the church. Religious life exists in the service of the church, whose future is assured by Christ in the gospel. And so with courage, hope, and determination and most especially with faith, we can march con-fidently into this millennium. We walk with our God, who began the good work in us and who will bring it to fulfillment. May-June 2000 Danella ¯ Apostolic Religious Communities in America Notes ~ See Sean Sammon FMS, "The Transformation of U.S. Religious Life," in Living in the Meantime, ed. Paul J. Philibert OP (New York: Paulist Press, 1994), pp. 23-38. 2 Pofectae caritatis (Decree on the Up-to-Date Renewal of Religious Life), §2. ¯ 3Apostolicam actuositatem (Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People), §2. The Dialogue, 10 June 1999. Spring Prayer To Whoever makes hard wood of maple grow and bud, sprout green lace of leaf; to Whoever breaks open frozen ground to receive water and seed to bloom; to Whoever stirs tiny throat of wren to sing, waking sleepy human to dance; to Whomever, I send up hope-filled cry, dizzy praise, begging for the same miracle to pulse in me. Patricia G. Rourke Review for Religious JOEL GIALLANZA Look to the Future paope John Paul tells us in Vita consecrata: "You have not only glorious history to remember and to recount, but also a great history still to be accomplished! Look to the future, where the Spirit is sending you in order to do ever greater things" (§110). "A great history still to be accomplished! Do ever greater things"--an affirming image and a challenging mandate, to say the least. And yet speaking about the future of religious life always runs the risk of degenerating into soothsaying, its content far removed from .reality. It would be interesting if we could somehow eavesdrop on religious at the beginning of the 1900s, and more so at midcentury, as they spoke about or even predicted religious life's future. Their descriptions of how religious institutes would look in the year 2000 probably assumed that our sponsored ministries would keep mul-tiplying, that the majority of our members would be in active midlife, that our next chapter might consider--"if there is a real need"--expanding our one retirement facility, that formation houses would be veritable skyscrapers with No Vacancy signs hang-ing out in front, and that vocation promoters would be requesting a year off to process the multitude of applications already received. By contrast, today's prospective vocations and our members in for-mation are sometimes stunned to learn how many entered our communities in the early and middle years of the 20th century and are surprised to learn the median age of the present members. The numbers can evoke a nod of wonderment even in those who knew of and experienced something of that earlier era. Joel Giallanza CSC has written for us a number of times. His present address is Congregation of Holy Cross; 1101 St. Edward's Drive; Austin, Texas 78704. 271 -- May-3~une 2000 Giallanza ¯ Look to the Future We have sobered enough in the past thirty years to know that the "greater things" of which Vita consecrata speaks cannot be summed up in statistical increases and demographic optimism. Nevertheless, it would be inaccurate to characterize contempo-rary religious as inactive, discouraged, cynical. Admittedly, some of this is present and operative, but in fact it always has been. Such characteristics come with the reality we call human nature. Lack of energy or enthusiasm, discouragement, cynicism or uneasiness about the future flow more from the inconsistencies and variables within our human nature than from the current situation of reli-gious life within the church. What, then, do we look to in the future? I would suggest some essential tasks. I would say we need to be ready and willing to do these tasks if religious life is to continue moving vigorously into the future. The tasks I mention are necessarily basic and general; they must be addressed from the experience of local communities and individual religious in their living of their particular institute's heritage and tradition. __ 2_72 Build and Cultivate Relationships We call ourselves sisters and brothers of Christ, of one another, of God's people, for the sake of greater sisterhood and brotherhood in the church. Vita consecrata emphasizes this relational character of religious life (see §60). Our very titles as religious have more to do with the kind of relationships that we are called to have and foster and support than with any hierarchical arrangement in the church. The task before us is to sharpen our skills for building and cultivating relationships. The witness value of doing this should not be underestimated. Religious live and work in societies and settings in which rela-tionships are expendable because individual independence has become a priority to preserve at all costs. People desire personal autonomy over all else. In response, religious must be entre-preneurs of union, cooperation, and reconciliation. We must become experts at initiating and nurturing relationships, over short and long distances, in times of blessing and burden, with sincerity and integrity. We should not underrate the transforming power of the witness we can give simply through the friendships we estab-lish among ourselves and the variety of relationships we build with and among others. That witness reflects the importance we assign Review for Religious to Jesus' mandate of love and the commitment we have to build-ing and cultivating relationships. Demonstrate the Possibility of Permanent Commitment Our way of life witnesses to the fact that permanent commit-ment is a possibility for human nature. Too often in our world, commitment is interpreted as a temporary arrangement; perma-nence is perceived to be beyond human capability. And significant decisions in life are made accordingly. Further, explicitly short-term commitments are also considered adjustable, to fit the pri-orities of one or several individuals. We see the effects of such common cultural patterns even within the church. The durability of a commitment comes to be gauged by the comprehensiveness and precision of the legal specifications that make it binding. On the other hand, legal rearrangements can be used to dissolve the commitment; forever is conveniently reinterpreted as "for as long as I am interested." By our religious profession, we claim that commitment is a matter of the heart, not legal provisions. It is the heart, the Lord's own dwelling place, that gives meaning and direction to our activ-ities in ministry and community. Commitment is rooted in and nourished by the convictions of the heart. Our life as religious often stands as a wonder to others, partly because of their fasci-nation with its components--vows, community living, types of ministry, prayer, and so forth. The more intriguing wonder, how-ever, will be simply that we choose to and profess to and do live this way forever, and thereby demonstrate the possibility and reality of permanent commitment. Show and Accompany Others along the Pathways to God There is a hunger evident among people, a growing desire to find a path toward union with God. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in spiritual matters of all types and tradi-tions. In response to this our task is twofold. First, we must our-selves be acquainted with some pathways to God and speak with integrity and sincerity and some fluency of our own relationship with God. Second, we must accompany others along the pathways May-June 2000 2.73- Giallanza ¯ Look to the Future of the spiritual journey. We need not be trained spiritual direc-toi's to offer basic, everyday support and encouragement, but we do need to love the Lord and be faithful to a life of personal and com-munal prayer. Otherwise our accompaniment is more theoretical than real. The pathways to God are known most clearly and surely by actually traveling along them. Only so much can be absorbed by the head. It is the heart that must be saturated with the knowl-edge of the ways to union with God. A significant part of our com-mitment in religious life as people of prayer is to know those pathways by heart. Whatever the nature of our ministry, however we encounter others in daily life and work, we as religious, as peo-ple committed to the mission and message of Jesus, must actively encourage and enthusiastically accompany others along the path-ways to God. They expect us to know the way. And we should. The pathways to God are known most clearly and surely by actually traveling along them. Notice and Take Up Emerging Apostolic Needs The needs of the mission to which our religious institutes respond are always emerging and ever endless. Even though our communities have been involved in some specific ministries for years, possibly even since our foundation, it is important to deter-mine if those ministries continue to address specific contemporary needs.' There will be undoubtedly much emo-tion surrounding such a determination. Very fine may be the line marking the difference between continuing a ministry because it responds to the current needs of God's people and continuing a min-istry because the religious involved are trained to do it and have not considered an alternative. And, because ministry has a large part in shaping our identity, people may resist any serious exploration of alternatives. In "determining the continuing relevance of particular min-istrieb, the institute's heritage and vision and values must have a guiding part. We should ask ourselves, "What would catch the apostolic attention of our'founders and foundresses today? What emerging and pressing needs would urge them to send us in response?" Admittedly, the world and the towns and countrysides in which they lived and worked were quite different places from Review for Religious those we experience today, but we must try to glimpse and describe what they would do in response to our world and church and soci-ety and culture. Such an'effort would express our fidelity to the heritage and charism that have marked our religious communities from their foundation. And that fidelity would give us a fresh vital-ity for addressing today's emerging apostolic needs. Clarify Our Heritage, Glimpse and Sketch Its Future In recent years religious institutes have spent time and energy exploring the spirituality of founders and foundresses and the her-itage they have passed on to us. Much of that was done to fulfill the church's mandate to revise constitutions and rules. It would be a mistake to think that the time and effort spent have brought the task to completion. Today religious--particularly male lay reli-gious- often express the feeling of being invisible within the church. While some of that invisibility has to do with church struc-tures, we must guard against contributing to it by any lack of famil-iarity with the unique heritages of our various institutes--especially their relevance for today and for tomorrow. That familiarity will enable us to answer two important ques-tions that touch our identity and our effectiveness in carrying on Jesus' mission. First, what contribution does my religious insti-tute make to the church today? Second, what challenges does my religious institute present to the church today? Answering such questions is no simple task, but it will be less daunting if we con-tinue to clarify our institute's heritage with a view to the future. Be Always Ready These tasks should be supplemented from the experiences of religious within the context of their own communities and min-istries. The tasks identified here can support and strengthen our continuing fidelity to this way of life in general and to our own reli-gious institute in particular. The tasks, of course, are not com-pletely new to religious. I mention them to emphasize the need for examining our present approach to them and for refining that approach as necessary for continued effectiveness. These tasks will be accomplished differently in accord with each religious institute's p~rspective on living the gospel. The common ground will be the qualities of life that energize and guide May-June 2000 275" Giallanza ¯ Look to the Future I the efforts of all religious in completing them. Our effectiveness in addressing these tasks will be determined by our attentiveness to living these qualities. To build and cultivate relationships we must be people of love. In demonstrating the possibility of permanent commitment, we proclaim that we are people of hope. Suggesting pathways to God and accompanying others along them require thfit we be people of faith. To notice and address emerging apostolic needs, we must be people of discernment. And all these qualities of life assume that we are people of prayer. Love, hope, faith, discernment, passion, and prayer lie at the very heart of our efforts to look to, prepare for, and work toward a future for religious life that is marked by integrity, credibility, and vitality. I close this brief reflection with a text from Vita con-secrata reminding us .of the sacred responsibility we bear and of the graced consequences that flow from committing ourselves anew to live our consecrated life: "Be always ready, faithful to Christ, to the church, to your institute, and to the men and women of our time. In this way you will day by day be renewed in Christ. and contribute in your own unique way to the trans-figuration of the world" (§ 110). Traditional Practice Values mixed with a touch of the past, bring together rituals and habits, turning them into modern ideas. Donna Bauman Review for Religious REN]~E MIRKES Fertility Awareness and Women Religious I thoroughly agree with the Mock Turtle who advised Alice that "no wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.'" Whether I am undertaking a journey, a life vocation, or for that matter this composition, I ought to have my telos or end securely in mind. The goal of this essay is to offer an apologia for the practice of fertility awareness in the life of a consecrated woman religious. More specifically, it is a personal apology for this activ-ity and how it metamorphosed in my very doing and experiencing it. By that I mean that the program of charting the cycles of my fertility--at base a natural dis-cipline-- gradually evolved into a practice that benefited me and my commitment to my vowed life on a meta-physical or super-natural level. Beginnings I attribute the circumstances that disposed me to see a theology behind the practice of fertility awareness to two events that were simultaneously occurring in my life. In the first place, I had been tracking my ovulation and menstrual cycles for two years through a system of Ren4e Mirkes OSF is the director of the Center for NaProEthics, a division of Pope Paul vI Institute; 6901 Mercy Road; Omaha, Nebraska 68106. 277 - May-June 2000 Mirkes * Fertility Awareness and Women Religious What is the significance of "'being a body" as a man or a woman ? charting that is specific to Creighton NaProEducation Technology. While tracking fertility is most generally taught to married women as a component of a moral means of family planning, unmarried women also use it as a way of tracking their gynecological health. It was for this latter reason that I adopted the exercise. In the second place, in the same two-and-a-half years, I was immersing myself in the pope's theology of the body as prepara-tion for my work as a Catholic ethicist. One day I read something that proved to be the turning point in my practice of tracking my fertility. Pope John Paul II, explaining the complementary nature of the vocatons of Christian marriage and consecrated religious life, noted the following. Marriage and religious-life decisions presuppose "the learning and the interior acceptance of the nuptial meaning of the body, bound up with the masculinity and feminin-ity of the human person.''2 If I was correctly understanding the Holy Father, he was suggesting that, even though this kind of sexual knowledge and understanding is typi-cally associated with the decision to marry, it must also be present in those who are called to a celibate life. In other words, both married persons and celibate religious must ask the important anthropological question: What is the significance of "being a body" as a man or a woman? Furthermore, and with great import for me in my daily practice of charting, the pope went on to insist that, given this "full consciousness" of the truth of the human body, "a man or a woman who has vgluntarily chosen continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven must daily give a living wit-ness of fidelity to that choice, heeding the direction of Christ in the Gospel" (italics mine).3 If I were to couch in Thomistic language what happened when my practice of fertility awareness intersected with these insights of John Paul, I would speak in terms of matter and form. As these two life experiences converged, the "material" aspect of my project of fertility appreciation fell into place, and it simultaneously received a new "form." I was charting my fertility every day. But, with the new light of grace that came from my studies of the pope's personalist thought, I began to see this practice in its more comprehensive Review for Religious moral and spiritual implications. The pope's insight acted as a powerful reminder to me that I must be a personal testament each new day to my vowed commitment. With this important new dimension, tracking my fertility was a personal experience whose benefits could very well far exceed those initial ones of health and bodily stewardship. Now it was also an effective tool that brought me into direc~ contact with the meaning of my vowed life, particularly the meaning of the total way I had vowed myself to love Jesus and the members of his body. The earthy, biology-based practice of fertility awareness became, from this point forward, a direct contact with the essential meaning of my vowed life, particularly the meaning of my vow of chastity. Tracking my fertility and my gynecological health could be an integral component of a daily "living witness" to my decision to become a bride of Christ forever. Health Benefits The cumulative information from the practice of tracking fer-tility on a regular basis gives a woman a picture of what her cycles look like when they are normal. Against this yardstick she can more readily notice indications of physiological change that it would be good for her to be aware of. The following are some of the gynecological conditions that are not healthy and to which the practice of charting cycles might alert a woman in the future.4 First, PMS (premenstrual syndrome) will frequently manifest itself in the charting with biological markers that signal hormonal deficiencies. These include a limited mucus cycle, premenstrual brown bleeding, or a short post-peak phase, all of which are abnor-mal cyclic developments. A religious sister might suspect she is experiencing PMS because she struggles with the classic psy-chophysical symptoms seven to nine days before her menses (bloat-ing, fatigue, irritability, depression, breast tenderness, carbohydrate craving, weight gain, headaches, and insomnia) and because of what she sees on her chart. The hope is that, having evidence from both her charts and her lived experience, she can get medical help early before this condition escalates into a debilitating psychoso-matic condition,s Second, endometriosis can be detected in abnormal symptoms that the woman religious and her instructor-practitioner may notice, perhaps from the very beginning of her charting process. May-June 2000 Mirkes ¯ Fertility Awareness and Wo~nen Religious [ I must be a personal testament each new day to my vowed commitment. These signs include the presence of premenstrual and postmen-strual spotting, a limited mucus cycle, and a short post-peak phase, all conditions that deviate from the defining parameters of a nor-mal cycle. At the identification of these symptoms, the sister could be referred to a physician and thereafter take a proactive kind of stewardship over her gynecological health. Third, one of the early warning signs of endometrial cancer is abnormal bleeding. Women who do not chart could easily miss this sign or dismiss it as insignificant. That will not happen with the sister who is charting, since she has been instructed to note on her chart any bleed-ing that is abnormal in either its timing or its color. Needless to say, the earlier one detects this type of cancer, the better.6 Fourth, it stands to reason that there are proportionately as many celibate women as there are married women in the general population who experience such conditions as irregular cycles, irregular bleeding, or dysmenorrhea. These sisters should know that there are physicians trained by the Pope Paul vI Institute who prescribe cooperative hormone replacement therapy (HCG or pro-gesterone) that often alleviates these conditions.7 And, good news, these situations can be treated without recourse to a medical reg-imen that introduces the abnormal, artificial chemical environ-ment of the oral contraceptive into the woman's body. Fifth, cervicitis, inflammation of the cervix, is another condi-tion that can be diagnosed early with the knowledge that comes from charting one's cycle. Again, the early detection of this disease will give the woman a running start in its medical management. There are two specific criteria for the identification of cervicitis. One is the presence of sticky, tacky, or gummy mucus in the woman's early pre-peak phase. The timing of this type of mucus is abnormal because in go6d health the woman observes it only dur-ing her peak time of fertility, in and around ovulation. The other is the presence of sticky, tacky, stretchy, or gummy mucus in the post-peak phase; it may also be yellow in color. This type of mucus could signal a health problem by reason of the abnormal time of its appearance. Sixth, a woman can identii:y the problem of a luteal ovarian cyst when, besides the experience of pain in her side, the post- Review for Religious peak phase.of her cycle is longer than normal. Clinical research at the Pope Paul VI Institute shows that these tumors will often shrink and disappear when they are managed nonsurgically through coop-erative hormone replacement therapy, particularly, progesterone therapy. Finally, as a woman religious approaches menopause, chart-ing will also help her identify certain pre- and peri-menopausal conditions that need to be carefully monitored. For example, she might observe long ptt ~ods of peak-type mucus that could involve critical adverse effects on gynecological health because it would mean a prolonged estrogemc stimulation of the uterus. Unchecked, this unhealthy situation cou'd lead to a precancer-ous uterine condition. In the case of irregular cycles (another perimenopausal symptom), it is good for a sister to be noting it on her chart and discussing it with her practitioner and physician. Most of the time the woman religious will be assured that this irregularity can be expected in perimenopause and need not be a problem or a concern to her. It is, however, only in a fertility awareness program of regular observation of cervical mucus that the precancerous condition or worrisome pre- and peri-menopausal conditions can be carefully identified and monitored in their very earliest appearance. Moral and Personal Benefits I consider the intersection of human and divine realities in fertility awareness to be yet another example of our human nature's inherent capacity for God. The development of a theology from what is a natural (and, for some, perhaps a pedantic) exercise pro-vides yet another "window" onto what I believe is the basic rela-tion between God and human persons. Human nature, including my human sexuality and fertility, is open to receiving a transfor-mative meaning from the side of the supernatural. Things human, including my fertility, although they are decidedly of an unstable, transitory, and mixed character, have an obediential potency for stable, lasting, and pure supernatural realities. It is my conviction that, if we women religious peer through the window provided by the experience of fertility appreciation, we will have a view of how the supernatural life of God confers on human nature, including human fertility, the very completion toward which it tends. What we will see is that to be fully human May-June 2000 Mirkes ¯ Fertility Awareness and Women Religious in the existential, historical living out of the meaning and the truth of our human sexuality and fertility is to live a life of grace. Bear with me as I repeat something I have already mentioned. That I would be so bold as to speak in terms of a theology of a prac-tice that is at base natural is testimony to the reciprocally inte-grative way that nature and grace function in our lives as persons who are at once physical and spiritual. I experience the practice of (racking my fertility, now trans-formed by grace, as an ever renewing reminder that, in the essen-tial nature of my sexuality, God has created me to be a gift. The reality slowly begins to sink in: Human beings, myself included, are the only creatures on earth that God created for their own sakes, and I find myself by making a gift of myself (see Gaudium et spes, §24). I hav~ my origin in the love of my parents and in the person of God, who is love. In this context should I, could I, doubt that the deepest meaning of who I am is that of a person who exists ~r another? The truth to which fertility awareness points is the mys-terious paradox summed up in Simone Weil's thought, "We only possess what we renounce." And that renunciation applies even to my very sell In short, I will find myself only when I give myself away. Keep ifi mind that the supernatural "form" of the practice of tracking fertility not only brings the process itself to its fullest meaning, but als'o helps the one who uses the method to more precisely understand the ethos of her personal being. No longer is charting only a way of tracking gynecological health and coming to fertility appreciation on a biological level. It is a growth-inducing encounter between a woman religious who practices fertility awareness and the wisdom exemplified in John Paul II's theology of the body. A consecrated woman religions who genuinely gives herself to others in community and receives oth-ers as gift experiences the opposite of a lust that uses rather than loves the other. Instinctively such a woman religious will want to curb any spirit of competition between herself and other persons-- within or outside of her comm

Issue 26.6 of the Review for Religious, 1967. ; i~onfessions o~ Religious W~men by Sister M. Denis, S.O.S. 981 Protestant Women in Religion by Elsie Gibson 1 O11 ¯ Postulancy, Noviceship, Profession by Jbseph F. Gallen, S.J.~ 1i326 Self-Study for Renewal 0 :: by Benedict M. As.Key, O.P. 1034 The Secular Religious by George B. Murray, S.J. 1047 Renewal in Historical Perspective by Eugene A. L~Verdiere, S.S.S. 1056 From a Johannine Desert by John T. Carrnody, S.J. 1065 Religious Vocation: A Decision by Sister M. Cordula, C.S.A. 1081 Guidelines for Formation by Robert Y. O'Brien, S:J. 1090 Indwelling Summit by T~omas Dubay, S.M. 1094 Paper in Religious Life by Richard M. McKeon, S.J. 1113 The Infused Gift of Humility by Joseph de Guibert, S.J. 1117 Poems 1129 \ Views, News, Previews 1130 Questions and Answers 1134 Book Reviews 1140 1967 Indexes 1163 VO~.UME 26 NUMBER 6 November 1967 NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS On February 1, 1968, P~viEw voR RELIGIOUS will pub-lish clothbound reprints of volumes 21 to 25 (1962-1966) inclusive of the REwEw. These clothbound reprints will cost $7.50 each per volume or $37.50 for all five volumes. However, until January 31, 1968, these volumes will be sold at a special prepublication price o[ $6.00 per volume or $30.00 for the entire set of five volumes, provided that orders are accompanied by lull payment in U.S.,'I. [unds and are postmarked on or belore January 31, 1968. The first twenty volumes (1942-1961) inclusive of the P~v~Ew have already been reprinted in twenty cloth-bound volumes. These normally sell at $6.50 per volume or $130.00 for the set o[ twenty. However, from November 15, 1967, to January 31, 1968, inclusive, they will be sold at the special price of $5.00 per volume or $100.00 for the set of twenty. On February 1, 1968, and thereafter the price of these first twenty volumes of the REvIEw will return to their normal price of $6.50 per volume. Postage and carriage costs will be paid by the R~vi~w when full payment in U.S.A. funds accompanies orders; in other cases postage and carriage costs will be charged to the purchaser. Orders for all the above should be sent to: REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 612 Humboldt Building 539 North Grand Boulevard St. Lbuis, Missouri 63103 SISTER M. DENIS, S.O.S. The Confessions of Religious Women INTRODUL'I~ION As was apparent from Part I of this study,* few priest-confessors and sister-penitents are satisfied with the pres-ent situation of the confessions of women religious. Eleven serious problem areas were defined through questionnaires answered by both priests and sisters. The purpose of the second half of this study is to present some practical suggestions towards solving these prob-lems, including fundamental changes in attitude, changes in exterior structures, and modifications in canon law and liturgical rites in an effort to render this encounter of the religious woman with the forgiving Christ as meaningful as possible. The sudden death of Father J. A. Glarmont, C.Ss.R., one of the original co-authors of this study, has affected the viewpoint of the present paper. Many of the ideas contained therein, particularly those pertaining to the role of the confessor, are taken from the notes of and previous discussions with the late Father Clarmont. May this understanding priest, who dedicated many years as a confessor to women religious, continue to guide con-fessors and sisters by his spirit and his intercession with the forgiving Christ. 1. The Problem of Change (a) ,4pproaches to Change. Change for the sake of change or haphazard approaches to change may be of little value and may, in fact, perpetrate much harm. In Part I we have attempted to analyze those factors which tend to render the sacrament of penance less meaningful, thus clearly defining our objectives. In the present paper we shall attempt to apply modern sacra- ¯ The first part of this study appeared in REvmw FOR RELIGIOUS, v. 26 (19fi7), pp. 581-fi03. Sister M. Denis, S.O~q., writes from 62 Hargrave St.; Winnipeg 1, Mani-toba; Canada. VOLUME 26, 1967 981 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 982 mental theology to the existential sittiation. Finally, we shall complement our findings with the many sound positive suggestions from the questionnaires returned by the priest-confessors and sister-penitents. On the part of the priest and sister reader, we caution wisdom to dis-cern what changes can be affected in their own particular situations. Present structures cannot be transformed immediately. Although many of the conditions surrounding the con-fessions of women religious are deplorable, the funda-mental change is a reorientation of one's own attitude through deeper knowledge, prayerful insight, and subse-quent personal renewal. Therefore, the following sug-gestions will derive their greatest practicality from their bearing on current conditions. However, we must avoid the temptation to rest in the present situation. Ultimate reform of present structures by reasonable means and through proper channels should be the concern of every priest-confessor and sister penitent. (b) Means of Effecting Changes. Individuals must never lose sight of the truism that changes ar~ effected by people in the concrete, not ideas in the abstract. The most practical and lasting changes are those which proceed from personal experience, not those which are' imposed from above. With respect to the confessions of women religious, grassroot discussions should take place within each convefit among the sisters concerning their particular problems. The difficulties revealed in Part I of the present study might serve as guidelines for these discussions. Then a frank and open dialogue between the confessor(s) and sisters of a given convent would re-sult in greater mutual understanding concerning the various aspects of this sacrament. The questionnaires revealed serious misunderstandings, primarily due to lack of open communication. With the rapid growth of diocesan synods and diocesan committees of religious, suitable channels are being instituted for effective pres-entation of these problems and suggestions to the re-spective bishops. And finally, the principle of collegiality and the corresponding strengthening of regional con-ferences of bishops augur much hope for efficacious ac-tion in alleviating many of the problems surrounding the confessions of women religious. THEOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF PENANCE The familiar parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15) has been cast by Christ in a certain framework which has value for our consideration of the sacrament of pen-ance. Refreshingly free of the juridical elements that have dominated theological thought for centuries con- cerning penance, the parable illustrates the dynaJic and positive aspects of this sacrament. For the sake of Iclarity we shall refer to these aspects as the personal, inierper-sonal, ecclesial or communal, and cultal dimensions of the sacrament of penance. Indeed, these dlmenstons I are blended so carefully in the parable that only~ upon careful reflection can each be distinguished from the others¯ The son has sinned against the father. His sin a d con-sequent remorse, repentance, and conversion are not mere applications of some remote abstraction; t~ey are intensely personal. "! am dying of hunger. I will leave this place.1 have sinned." x As a sinful person, the prodigal presents himself to his father and seeks for-giveness. The immediate drama of forgiveness takes plaice be-tween two persons. In acknowledgang hts sxn the son declared, ". I will go to my lather and say: Father, have sinned against heaven and against you.' "2[ Sin is the disruption of an interpersonal relationship with the Father. Of the father we read: He ran to the boy, clasped h~m xn hxs arms and kissed hlm tend.erly.' The sinful person is received by the forgiving person. In this forgiving encounter the movement is not all one-sided. When the son came into view, the father ~ran to . him. The very acts of repentance and corresp?nding forgiveness with the bestowal of gifts, amid great joy and happiness, flow from an intense love between father and son. It is clear, however, that the act of loving forgiveness goes beyond the re-establishment of relations between father and son. There is a real need to celebrate this event in the community. Announcing the return [of the son to the entire household, the father called for group festivities. The manner or cult of the celebration was c~efully specified. The best robe, a ring and sandals were or-dered for the son. In a common eating of the lfatted calf the entire community, with music and dancing, re-joiced at the return of the prodigal. To the eider son's I angry objections over such a display, the father's answer I indicated that the real nature of forgaveness has per-sonal, interpersonal, communal, and cultal dimensions: "My son, you are with me always and all I t~ave is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and re- XLk 15:18. All scriptural quotations are taken from T~e Jeru-salem Bible edited by Alexander Jones (Garden City: Doubleday, ~ Lk 15:18. e Lk 15:21. ÷ ÷ ÷ Contessions ol Religious Women VOLUME 26, 1967 983 4, 4, Sister M. Denis, S.O .S REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 984 joice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found." 4 In discussing these dimensions as they relate to the confessions of women religious, two errors should be avoided; first, that the apparent divisiveness caused by separating each dimension from the others be not trans-ferred to the unity found in the sacramental encounter; and second, that one dimension be not emphasized to the detriment or exclusion of the others. In no way are we attempting a complete theology of the sacrament of penance. 1. Personal Dimension In ~he past some confusion regarding the nature of penance has resulted from a mistaken notion of the per-sonal dimension of this sacrament. The result of this confusion, in which the words "private" and "personal" were often erroneously interchanged,led to a dichotomy between theory and practice. Theoretically, penance was upheld as a public act of the Church, but in practice it was reduced to a private act of an individual. While always a personal act, penance is never a private act. The personal dimension of penance is essentially a conver-sion. Sin itself is personal. When approaching the sacrament of penance, one comes to accuse, not excuse oneself. Seeing sin as a transgression of a law, a mere external act or even as a failure in one's own moral growth is not to comprehend it as a personal rebellion against God. "The Old Testament. concept of sin is, as it were, the reverse of the Old Testament concept of God." 5 More than a mere act, sin is a state or condition of the person who has turned from his original commit-ment to God. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the matter of the sacrament of penance is the very person of the penitent:6 "Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man." 7 Before shedding this burden, the sinner must first ac-knowledge it as his own. In the initial acts of the sacra-ment of penance the penitent assumes his responsibility for and accuses himself of this sinful condition. Thus, the religious in the devotional confession approaches the sacrament as a sinful person. Far too much emphasis in such confessions has been placed on the legalistic recital of specific acts and not enough on the condition of the sinner. ¯ Lk 15:31-2. ~ Louis F. Hartman, C.Ss.R., (tr.), Encyclopedic Dictionary oI the Bible (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963), p. 415. 6St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae (New York: Benziger, 1947), 3, 84, 1, Reply Obj. 1, 2, 3. 7 Lk 5:8. It follows, then, that the sorrow of the sinful ]~erson must likewise be personal: a sorrow which emanate from the sinner's very being, a sorrow which is rooted in the fact of her sinful condition, a sorrow which resul~s in a conversion of the whole person to God. Neither regret nor remorse are adequate expressions of true sorrow. Re-gret applies primarily to actions for which one is not personally responsible. Remorse, on the other h~{nd, is a counterfeit of true sorrow and falls short of the~ mark in that it remains preoccupied with one's own ~ainful condition with no desire for reparation. True sorrow, however, is found in a theologically and psychologically sound understanding of repentance which spnngs from faxth, is sustained by hope, and culminates ~n love." s At the heart of true repentance is a vital movement of hope--that hope which ~nspirIe .s the sinful person to return to the Father who fo~rglves. Within this context of hope the sinful person experi-ences contrition or sorrow of a communal and personal nature--communal because of the evil done to the [Chris-tian community, and personal because of the evil done to oneself by offending the Holy Spirit. Note, however, the other-centeredness' or love-centereOness ot tins repentance. Another characteristic of true repentance is a s~ncere humility in which the sinful person perceives his situation with truth. Essential to the notion of re-pentance is also the desire for reparation--"a ppsitive loving attitude which he must adopt m order to sausfy for the evil committed insofar as that is possible." The whole dynamism of repentahce culminates' in a turning of the whole person to God: Even if there should be no new sins since the previo,~s con-fession or if sin has already been forgiven in previous sacra-ments and contrition, the Christian, e.g., in the devotional con-fession, stillengages in meaningful action: he makes sacrament or sign to God that he is a sinner, contrite and grateful in praise of God s mercy. He witnesses sorrow not merely for sepa-rate acts of sin, but sorrow that he the person has separated himself from the Father's love. He witnesses the turning, re-begun or continued, of his whole person back to the Fatt~er.1° In this sense we speak of the personal dimensioni ~f the sacrament of penance as metanoia or conversion:l"It is not the unconditional absolution, but the 'sacramentali-zation' of the human acts which constitutes, wi~h the pardon certified by the words of the priest, the [ ;acra-s Charles Davis, "Penance," an unpublished lecture deliv red at The Divine Word Centre; London, Ontario, on October 12,11966. ~ Pierre Remy, S.M., "Theolog~ of the Sacrament of P~nance" in M.-B. Carra de Vaux Saint:Cyr et al., The Sacrament of ~enance (Glen Rock: Paulist Press, 1966), p. 69. / ~°Roderick Hindery, O.S.B., "Penance, the Sacrament 6f Con-version," Homiletic and Pastoral Review, v. 65 (1964), p. 205. ÷ ÷ ÷ Ctmtessions oI Religious Women VOLUME 26, 1967 985 ¯ ment of Penance." ix Thus the sacrament of penance is not limited to the confession-absolution encounter with the representative of the Church, but begins with the repentance of the sinful person. Indeed, this very move-ment of conversion, usually prior to the confession-ab-. solution encounter in our present rite, is one of the first fruits of penance: When a person has reached an achieved repentance in the sense of having reached .the moment of charity and the return to God in justifying charit); before confession, yet his con-version still needs to be rendered stable through the comple-tion of its ecclesial expression and in continuing the process of conversion is thus con-solidated, completed, in thus being fully expressed ecclesially. The whole process is sacramental and the sacrament continues to be effective because it continues to em-body and thus consolidates and intensifies the conversion.= ÷ ÷ ÷ Sister M. Denis, $.0.$ REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 986 2. Interpersonal Dimension Helpful in alleviating much of the routine that fre-quently accompanies the reception of penance is a deep understanding, enlightened by faith, of the sacrament as an encounter with Christ. This encounter is the very essence of the interpersonal dimension of penance. As stated in the previous section, the personal aspect of penance is essentially a conversion. This conversion is a recognition of, a turning toward Christ. In our sin-fulness we meet Christ, but we refuse to recognize Him. In our repentance we turn toward Christ in the mystery of His death and resurrection. Our actions must ex-press, must symbolize effectually the application of His death-resurrection in our lives. By this metanoia we die to our sin and rise to a new life in Him. The very act of repentance, the beginning of the sacramental process, is an encounter with the risen Christ, who is the source of the sinner's conversion. As a commemora-tive sign, penance actualizes those historically unrepeat-able actions of Christ. In this sense the sacrament brings about the same process of transformation undergone by Christ in His death-resurrection,la The encounter with the death-resurrection of Christ by one's own death to sin finds its fullest expression in the Church. Not only is the human community of the Church the embodiment of Christ in the world today, but the Church, through the sacraments makes Christ's redemptive action present in a particular time and place. Because penance is an action of Christ who embodies forgiveness through the Church's liturgical action and = Dom Claude Jean-Nesmy, Conscience and ConIession (Chicago: Franciscan Herald, 1965), p. 41. = Davis, "Penance." ~ Davis, "Penance." an action of the penitent who expresses sorrow arid re-pentance, it is an intense interpersonal encounter ~f per-son with Person. Charles Davis expresses this sacramen-tal encounter as "a meeting point where mutual personal union comes to fruition in an embrace and is~ thus intensified. Christ is present to us and we to Hiha." In the confession-absolution encounter--be it "com-munal or individual--Christ is present to us through the words and actions of His Church; we are present to~ Him through our words and actions acknowledging our sin-fu~ condition. Too often the interpersonal dimension of penance on the purely human level is either overlooked or Imini-mized. In auricular confession this encounter of Christ and the penitent is externally symbolized by thle hu-man encounter of the confessor and the penitent ~vhich . should be as meaningful as conditions and personah-ties permit. They should be present to one another as persons, not as automatons: "The sinner has ~o be brought into contact with God through his relatlqnshap with his confessor, as one man to another." 15 IJnfor-tunately, the present rite and traditional practices £re-quently militate against this mutual personal presence on the human level. 3. Ecclesial Dimension In considering the personal dimension of penance we have discussed the nature of the sinner's conversion; in examining the interpersonal dimension of penance we have attempted to describe how the sacrament is an en-counter not only with Christ's representative but with Christ Himself. This personal repentance, this personal conversion must be within the context of the Christian community. The sacramental meeting with Christ like-wise, takes place in and through the Church. No~ only as the sacrament of penance a gaft to each andivadual sinner, but it is also a gift to the Church as a ~,hole. Women religious belong to the People of God especially through their respective ~ommunities'bythe evangehcal~ " counsels which "join their followers to the Church and her mystery in a special way." 10 Therefore, the com-munal dimension of penance should have a special meaning for sisters whose mode of life is a visibl~ sign of the community life of the Church. | The current sacramental rite and practices dd not, 1~ Charles Davis; "The Sacraments Linked with Grace," a lecture delivered at The Divine Word Centre; London, Ontario, (Jctober 6, 1966. ~Adrienne von Speyr, Conlession, the Encounter with C ist in Penance(Montreal: Palm Publishers, 1964), p. 209. :e Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, paragraph 44. 4. 4. Conlessions oy Religious Women VOLUME 26, 1967 987 4. 4. 4. $i~ter M. Denis~ $.0.S. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 988 as yet, adequately emphasize the presence of the ecdesial community. Nevertheless, the sacramental actions of re-pentance and the avowal of one's condition of sinful-ness signify the reconciliation and intensification of the penitent's union with the community, the People of God, the Body of Christ. Sound theology has always stressed the ecclesial character of penance: The res or thing, states Saint Thomas, which this sacrament, like the Eucharist, signifies, is ultimately the unity of the Church which sin disrupts, thereby affecting indirectly every member's life and strength in Christ.1. More recently, Schillebeeckx writes: The ecclesial effect of the Sacrament of Penance is recon-ciliation with the Church as the Sacrament of our reconciliation with God in Christ. The Church is the earthly manifestation of God's redeeming mercy, and confession is visible contact with the Church precisely under this aspect. It establishes us in the ecclesial status of penitents who, by the performance of the penance required by the Church and through the mercy of her absolution, become reconciled with God Himself.as From the first part of this study it was evident that many sisters and confessors had little or no realiza-tion of the ecclesial value of penance. The importance of this dimension is a theme which will be repeatedly stressed throughout the second part of this study. The spirituality of religious is shifting from a strongly in-dividualistic piety to a more balanced understanding of their solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Christ. With this deeper understanding of their social involvement, sin and consequent repentance will be re-alized more efficaciously in its relation to the hindrance or promotion of the reign of Christ in His Church upon earth. In the early Church the ecclesial character of pen-ance was so strongly emphasized that private confes-sion similar to the form in use today was not common until the seventh century. Although penance at this time was received only once in a person's life, the char-acteristic features of this early rite bring into sharp focus the communal and ecclesial nature of the sacra-ment. During this time the state of the sinful person corresponded directly to his exterior situation in the Christian community. After a private confession of sins to the bishop and a public avowal of one's interior state the penitent was cut off from participation in the Eu-charistic celebrations and the prayers of the commun-ity. When he attended the Liturgy of the Word, he re- 1~ Hindery, "Penance, the Sacrament of Conversion," p. 207. aSE. Schillebeeckx, O.P., Christ the Sacrament o] the Encounter with God (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1963), p. 174. mained in sackcloth and ashes at the back of the Church: "In response the entire community prayed for him, join-ing its penance to his. To state it another way, the prayers and penance of the guilty ones were assumed into those of the community." 19 Just before Easter, if the bishop deemed the sinner to be wholly converted to God, he was dramatically ad-mitted to complete reconciliation with the Church. Ab-solution was public and the penitent was led to his place within the faithful where he was once more ad-mitted to communion with Christ and with his brothers. Then, as now, it is "through a corporate action, a rite of the Christian community, that .the Christian's repentance is sealedl consecrated and brought to its con-clusion." 20 In the sense that penance is an action of the Church it is thus a corporate action, not merely the private ac-tion of an individual. Everytime this corporate action is performed the pilgrim Church comes closer to God, and the members within the Church are more united to each other and thereby to God in Christ. In a paper given at a convention of religious canon lawyers of the East-ern United States, Father Cornelius Van der Poel, C.SS.P. strongly recommended that steps be taken to "increase the awareness of the social dimension of the sacrament in which as a community all come closer to God, and each individual becomes more closely attached to the community, since all forgive all for the sake of Christ whose holiness they express." 21 4. Cultal Dimension Often there is a tendency to regard the sacraments only as a means to salvation and to fail to appreciate their value as symbolic acts of worship. Particularly helpful to sisters who make frequent devotional confes-sions is an understanding of the sacrament of penance as an act of worship. Herein lies its cultal dimension. In both the administration and the reception of pen-ance, cultal values are easily neglected because of the emphasis on the individual penitent. Implicit in the confession of one's sinful state is a confession of, a wit-ness to the mercy, justice, and holiness of God. Thus the p~nitent's attitude is directed toward God and does not become wholly immersed in self: "As every sin is anti- 19M.-B. Carra de Vaux Saint-Cyr, O.P., "The Sacrament of Penance: An Historical Outline" in Carra de Vaux Saint-Cyr et al, The Sacrament of Penance, p. 20. ~ Paul Anciaux, The Sacrament of Penance (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1962), p. 9. = Cornelius Van der Poel, C.Ss.P., "The Confessions of Religious," Jurist, v. 26 (1966), p. 226. ÷ ÷ Contessions ot Religious Women VOLUME 26, 1967 989 cultal at its root, a failure of worship, because it makes not God but self the center, so conversion iscultal, an act of worship." ~2 Like the repentant Peter, the sinner's confession is "more than a mere act of self-accusation: it is a confes-sion of love." 23 "Lord, you know everything; you know I love you." ~4 In spite of the pain and difficulty some-times associated with the sacrament of penance, the sister-penitent would do well to reflect upon her con-fessions and see them in their true perspective--within the context of the official cult or worship offered to God by the Church. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS The theoretical justification of the following sugges-tions for maki~ng the reception of penance more mean-ingful to women religious is based on the theological dimensions of penance just discussed,, and the practical-ity of these suggestions is hopefully derived from the pre-cise areas posed as problems by confessors and sisters (see Table 1). Some of these suggestions can be effected immediately in most ~ituations; others call for modifi-cations which can only be made by those on the admin-istrative or legislative levels. The primary concern of all should be directed toward expressing the full signifi-cance of the sacramental encounter. To this end, recommendations will be made concern-ing the freedom of the individual; sacramental train-ing; the examination of conscience; the whole area of the confessional dialogue including the relationship be-tween the confessor and penitent, the telling of sins, the role of the confessor and spiritual direction; the en-vironment of the confession; and the sacramental rite. + 4- + Sister M. D&enOls.S~. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 99O 1. Freedom At the basis of most sisters' problems concerning penance is an almost uniform lack of physical fxeedom regarding frequency,-time, place, and the choice of con-fessor. Immediate steps should be taken to reform pres-ent legislation, that is, canon law and religious rules, and the equally 'binding local customs surrounding weekly confessions for religious in order to insure fxeedom and liberty of conscience. The present canons on the confessions of women re-ligious and their confessors were framed in a specific historical milieu and necessarily reflected the circum- = Hindery, "Penance, the Sacrament of Conversion," pp. 207-8. m B. Hiiring, C.Ss.R., ,4 Sacramental spirituality (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1965), p. ~tJn 21:17. TABLE I Diffr~ulties Encountered by GonJessors and Sisters in the Sacrament of Penance Cited by 66 Confessors Di~culty Routine . Time problems . Lack of freedom . Insufficient training . Examination of conscience. Impersonal relationship . Confessor not understanding. Environment . Rite . Number of Con-fessors 33 12 36 16 30 5 8 35 20 Cited by 133 Sisters Difficulty Routine . Time problems . Lack of freedom . Insufficient training. Difficulty in confess-ing . Impersonal relation-ship . Confessor not under-standing . Parish priest for con-fessor . Lack of suitable di-rection . Environment . ,. Rite . Number of Sisters 53 0, 36 36 51 10" 56 93 38 "23 sisters have their parish priest as confessor stances of the time. Most women religious, to all in-tents and purposes, were cloistered. Even the active orders, the majority of which originated since the eight-eenth century, were relatively sheltered. Since the sis-ters did not normally leave the convent easily, the weekly visit of the confessor became an established institution. Ironically, laws which were made to insure freedom of conscience at one time in history, became tyrannical and inhibiting in another era. The interpretation of canon 595, section 3: "Superiors should see to it that all religious.approach the sacrament of penance at least once a week" has been a moot question. What-ever the true interpretation may be, the fact is that .too often, in too many convents, and to the detriment of too many persons, the canon has been literally interpreted and sisters were forced to approach the sacrament weekly, In January, 1966, the Committee on Religious Affairs of the religious canon lawyers of the Eastern United States unanimously agreed that these sections of the Code of Canon Law should be thoroughly re-vised, an Without waiting for canonical reformation, future chapters of religious women should examine their re- Van der Poel, "The Confessions of Religious," p. 214. 4- 4- 4- Conlessions ot P~ligio~ Women VOLUME 26, 1967 991 Sister M. Denis, $.0~. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS spective rules and delete all legislation binding sisters to the reception of the sacrament at specified intervals. Many sisters are disturbed by such passages in their rules which they consider to be binding. What is in the area of personal conscience cannot be legislated for an entire community. In localities where literal interpretation of canon law does not prevail, and the religious rule does not pre-scribe weekly confession, the sisters should not be obliged by custom to receive the sacrament of penance weekly. To the superior, the Decree on the Appropriate Renewal of the Religious Life enjoins: ".he must make a special point of leaving them appropriately free with respect to the sacrament of penance and direction of conscience." 26 The ~requency of reception should be governed by each sister's needs and desires~both of which are fostered by an intelligent appreciation of the sacrament of penance. As was suggested by many on the questionnaires, the sisters, where possible, should be free to receive the sac-rament of penance wherever they wish and to whom-ever they wish. This would involve a radical departure from the present custom of confessors appointed to come weekly to the convent. Sisters today have great .freedom of movement. To say that they are not able to go out of the convent for confession whenever needed is unrealis-tic. Several cloistered religious expressed a desire for this same freedom. It is deplorable that in existing sit-uations, women religious do not have the same freedom regarding the reception of the sacrament of penance as do lay people. On paper, for example, Quum de Sacra-mentalibus, 1913, sisters are ensured the liberty to con-less outside the convent whenever they wish; but until the whole convent structure of weekly confession is mod-ified, this freedom remains in the realm of theory and is not effective in fact, as most sisters will attest. Instead of the confessor coming weekly to each con-vent for confessions, he could come at regular intervals to be determined at the local level, for a communal penance service. More will be said later concerning a communal rite, but we would here recommend that in ¯ such a communal penance service, private confession be not of obligation for the reception of the sacrament. Such an arrangement would greatly relieve both the overburdened confessors and confessers. Regular ar-rangements for freedom of access to penance could be made locally for sick and infirm sisters. ~Decree on the Appropriate Renewal oI the Religious LiIe, paragraph 14. 2. Sacramental Training In spite of the flood of recent literature on penance, the questionnaires revealed that very few sisters have had any mature training to deepen their knowledge and appreciation of this sacrament they receive so often. Much of the routine reception encountered can be di-rectly attributed to personal ignorance--and invincible ignorance at that. Many sisters expressed a wish to have a better theological understanding of penance, particu-larly as an encounter with Christ and as an ecclesial act. ' Authorities cannot presume sucl~ training or expect that sisters somehow r~ceive the help needed through reading, retreats, or sheer spiritual osmosis. Such a pro-gram must be consciously planned and applied accord-ing to local constitutions and the needs of the sisters. It should be theological in scope and practical in applica-tion. Just as it is hardly realistic to presume that the preparation for one's first confession is sufficient for a lifetime, so also is it unreasonable to believe that a thorough grounding in the novitiate is adequate for one's whole religious life. Indeed, there are novitiates which do not even include in their formation programs a study of penance and its place in the life of a religious. All life is a growth; and a life in and for Christ is no ex-ception. Beyond the novitiate and juniorate, provision should be made for continuing education in this sacrament which plays so important a role in the life of a religious. In addition, to personal reading, the sisters in each house, as a community, could study recent books and articles on the subject. Superiors might provide tapes by prominent theologians; local confessors or compe-tent priests might give dialogue conferences on the sub-ject. Discussions where the sisters of a given house could share their insights and solve their common problems would be another valuable means for deepening one's knowledge and appreciation of the sacrament. The following outline suggests topics to be included in a program of study for religious women on the sacra-ment of penance. Every topic in this or similar pro-grams should bear directly on the individual sister's reception of penance that she may receive this sacra-ment with. greater meaning and hence derive much spiritual benefit. The appended references, which are by no means exhaustive, were selected primarily as basic sources because of their practicality, timeliness, and simplicity of approach. Conlesslons o! Religious Women VOLUME 26, 1967 993 ÷ + ÷ Sister M. DS.eOn.iSs., REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 99,t Program of Study I. Sacramental Theology A. Nature of the Sacraments in General B. Nature of the Sacrament of Penance I. Personal Dimension--as a Conversion 2. Interpersonal Dimension--as an Encounter with Christ 3. Ecclesial Dimension--as a Reconciliation with the Christian Community 4. Cultal Dimension--~'as an Act of Worship C. History of the Sacrament of Penance D.Pertinent Legislation 1. Vatican II Documents 2. Canon Law 3. Religious Rule II. Nature of Religious Life III. Nature of Sin IV. Examination of Conscience V. The Actual Confession of Sins VI. Relationship with the Confessor VII. Spiritual Direction and the Sacrament of Penance Basic References on Penance I. M.-B. Carra de Vaux Saint-Cyr et al., The Sacrament of Penance. Glen Rock: Paulist Press, 1966. Paperback. An excellent compendium of modern theological thought on penance. The following four chapters, containing a good balance of theory and practice, are especially ,helpful: "The Sacrament of Penance: An Historical Outline '--A summary of the changes that have taken place in understanding this sacrament from the early Church to Vatican II. "Theology of the Sacrament of Penance',--Particularly clear and penetrating theological study in which the various dimensions, especially the ecclesial dimension, of penance are investigated. "Con-fession and Spiritual Direction in the Oriental Church"--A study of how the Eastern Church has been more faithful than the Western Church in maintaining a perspective of the sacrament that is closer to that of the early Church. "Toward a New Examination of Conscience"--A modern effort to renew the examination of conscience in a wider vision of a few funda-mental convictions on which the true destiny of man is con-structed before God. 2. Adrienne yon Speyr. Confession: The Encounter with Christ in Penance. Montreal: Palm Publishers, 1964. A non-technical treatment, based on trinitarian theology and the mission of Christ, of the entire sacramental process. Von Speyr thoroughly penetrates the inner meaning of penance and successfully integrates confessibn into the Christian's everyday encounter with Christ. Especially enlightening are the chapters on the confessions of religious, the confessions of contemplatives, the confession in active orders, the practice of confession, and the office of confessor (which includes spiritual direction). 3. Bernard Htiring, C.Ss.R. A Sacramental Spirituality. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1965. A treatise on sacramental theology, simply s~ated, which leads to a prayerful understanding of the sacraments. The section on me grace of confession, pp. 95-106, is one of the most helpful treatises on the cultal dimension of penance. The section on the Church as a "sacrament" of willingness to do penance, pp. 109-118, places the sacramental action in its ecclesial context. 4. E. Schillebeeckx, O. P. Christ the Sacrament of the En-counter with God. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1963. Difficult reading, but basic sacramental theology. Par-ticularly helpful in understanding penance as an encounter with Christ. 5. Roderick Hindery, O.S.B. "Penance, the Sacrament of Con-version," Homiletic and Pastoral Review, v. 65, (1964), pp. 203-8. An outstanding popular treatment of the four theological dimensions of penance with practical suggestions for imme-diate and long range implementation. 6. Roderick Hindery, O.S.B. "Confession and Legalism," Sisters Today, v. 38 (Jan., 1967), pp. 157-61; and "The Sacrament of Penance and Cheap Grace" in Sisters Today, v. 38 (Feb. 1967), pp. 188-93. Both articles are directed toward sisters who make frequent devotional confessions. An attempt to dispel former legalistic attitudes by replacing them with a positive theol6gical under-standing of sin, conversion, and penance. 7. Dale Olen, O.F.M.Cap. ',Devotional Confession," REviEw for R~.Lxc~ous, v. 25 (1966), pp. 1030-41. A successful effort to raise routine and mechanical confes-sions back to their proper place as truly decisive moments in the Christian experience. 8. L. J. Lebret and T. Suavet "Examination of Conscience for Adults," Crosscurrents, v. 7 (1957), pp. 289-93. A unique examination of conscience which indicates many deviations and omissions which are not usually mentioned but which tend to diminish the freedom of the individual in his relations to God and man. 9. William Barclay. The Plain Man Looks at the Beatitudes. London: Fontana Books, 1963. Paperback. An examination of the meaning of the beatitudes for modern man in the light of the Old and New Testaments and biblical language. 10. R. Howe. The Miracle of Dialogue. New York: Seabury, 1965. Paperback. Contains penetrating insights for the sacrament of penance if read with the confessional dialogue and the relationship of the confessor and penitent in mind. 11. PSre Gardeil, O.P. The Holy Spirit in the Christian Li[e. London: Blackfriars, 1953. Thomistically oriented, prayerful treatise on the gifts of the Holy Spirit with a chapter on each corresponding beatitude. 12. Dom Claude Jean-Nesmy. Conscience and Confession. Chi-cago: Franciscan Herald, 1965. Especially intended for those who cannot undertake a systematic study of modern historical and theological works on penance. Emphasis is on the concepts of God, others, and future, rather than sin, me, and the past. Pages 113-26 contain an examination of conscience by referring to the New Testa-merit-- not a "list" in the usual sense. 3. Examination of Conscience The whole area of sisters' examination of conscience was viewed with sharp criticism by priest-confessors and with great dissatisfaction by sister-penitents. Unfortu- 4" 4" 4" onfessions ot Religious Woraen VOLUME 26, 1967 995 ÷ 4, ÷ Sister M. Denis, .~: S.O.S. REVIEW FOR REFIGIOUS nately, the examination of conscience tends to dwell on minutiae, on petty violations of the rule and cus-toms; for many it is negative and legalistic, a stereo-typed catalogue of failings, entirely too introspective, pertaining to self and not to social obligations, center-ing on actions rather than on the root causes (the in-ner dynamism which B. H~i{ing terms "acts" 27) or at-titudes of which actions are only the external signs. These criticisms may be reduced to the fact that the sisters' examination does not truly and authentically re-flect her personal condition before God. Rather, atten-tion is deflected to certain external factors--to one's rule, the teaching of the novice mistress, or most often to one of the many current "lists" which purport to be aids. The sister should examine her conscience accord-ing to her lights not her lists. Whatever is patently sin-ful or deliberately.opposed to the commandments of God, the rule, or the vows will be readily apparent without undue scrutiny. The examination, therefore, should be an aid to a healthy self-knowledge and center on one's trends and attitudes. For any real progress, sis-ters have to alter this mentality which is concerned with delineating every little point laid down by some-one else. The human person cannot be put into neat and sharp categories. Keligious, although they live in com-munity, are no exception. One wonders if religious would have such difficulty with the examination of conscience if it were not for the auricular confession that follows. The longer a woman is in religious life, the more intense this problem becomes. Perhaps the answer lies in the following com-ment of Father Louis Monden, S.J.: As the inner life grows stronger, the same phenbm~non may occur for the confession of sins as happens in prayer: it be-comes increasingly poor in ideas and in words.= Certainly the strain would be greatly mitigated by com-munal penance in which th~ sister presents her sinful person for absolution without having to be concerned over suitable verbalization. In the Oriental Church the sinner "does not consider the offence against God or the objective violation of the law in the act of his sin. His own iniquity is the center of his sorrowful meditation and draws forth his tears; he grieves for having distorted the image of God in his heart." 29 However, the fact re- ~Bernard H~iring, C.Ss.R., The Law o[ Christ, v. 1, (Cork: Mercier Press, 1960), p. 89. = Louis Monden, S.J., Sin, Liberty, and Law (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1965), p. 51. ¯ ~* Philippe de Regis, S.J., "Confession and Spiritual Direction in the Oriental Church" in Carra de Vaux Saint-Cyr et al, The Sacrament of Penance, p, 84. mains that auricular confession is still customary in the western Church. Because of the uniqueness of each human per.son, an examination of conscience cannot be taught; its method must be fostered. The principles which follow might serve as a guide by which a sister can develop her own method of self-examination without resorting (o "lists" or confessional aids. At certain times detailed examina-tion lists may be beneficial and should be used. Two such examinationss° are very useful in helping to erad-icate a legalistic mentality concentrating on external detail. These authors have composed penetrating ques-tions which attempt to plumb the depths of the moral personality. A sister would do well to study these lists; then attempt to incorporate this spirit and new direc-tion in her own personal examination. However, slavish adherence to a certain manner of examination is too restrictive and does not leave room for consideration beyond the categories on the printed page. Furthermore, if used, the sister should seek to understand the rea-sons behind certain failings. Many make the mistake of using these lists for the verbalization of confessional matter. Principles Ior a Personal Examination of Conscience: First, the examination ol conscience is based on the New Testament morality of love. At the center of New Testament morality is the person of Jesus Christ. His moral precept which was the fulfillment not the repetition of the Mosaic Law can be summed up in the word "love." And this love was exemplified in His human life: "Jesus went about doing good."al Quite radically, Christ spelled out the moral blueprint for a life of love in the sermon on the mount where He enun-ciated the beatitudes (Mr 5:3-11). Indeed, the remain-der of the sermon on the mount might be consid-ered a further elucidation of these initial principles. Through prayerful meditation each sister could discover the implications of the beatitudes in her ,life; in them are contained the core of Christian commitment,a2 The first beatitude of poverty of spirit could be approached as follows: ~o L. J. Lebret and T. Suavet, "Examination of Conscience for Adults," Crosscurrents, v. 7 (1957), pp. 289-93. P. Liege, O.P., "Toward a New Examination of Consciehce" in Carra de Vaux Saint-Cyr et al, The Sacrament of Penance. 81 Acts 10:38. aUTwo very helpful references on the beatitudes are: William Barclay, The.Plain Man Loolts at the Beatitudes (London: Fontana Books, 1963); P~re Gardeil, O.P., The Holy Spirit in the Christian Li]e (London: Blackfriars, 1953). + 4- 4- Con]essions o~ Religious Women VOLUME 26, 1967 99~ 4- S~t~r M. S.O.S. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 998. Some New Testament Relerences Mr. 6:24 Luke 10:38-42 Mr. 6: 25-34 Luke 12: 33--4 I Th 4:11-2 Jn6:27 Col. 3:23 Related Themes (to be applied in one's own situation) The balance and tension between detachment and involvement. Complete trust and faith in God. Openness to God and His Word encountered in the Eucharist, the Scriptures, and in our fellow-man. Recognition and .appreciation of the goodness in created goods. (Over-possessiveness is basically disrespect for the goodness placed there by God.) Acceptance of what we are and have. Utter dependence on God alone, not on self, law, ritual, or institution. Complete abandonment. Poverty according to our religious profession. Personal responsibility for communal witness of poverty. Another fruitful source for an examination based on the law of love is St. Paul's First Episde to the Corinthians, Chap-ter 13, 1-7. Dora Claude Jean-Nesmy has prepared a positive program, meditative in form, for an examination of conscience based on key texts of the New Testament.TM Second, the examination of conscience reflects the per-son's basic options. Moral considerations have been en-riched by religious psychology with the concept of "op-tion"--" A choice, not with respect to a spedfic object, but with respect to the totality of existence, its mean-ing and direction." a4 At some point in his life a per-son acquires a basic orientation which influences either consciously or unconsciously all particularchoices. Lov-. ing God is a conscious choice of God, so much so that all other choices are influenced by this one--the fund-amental option. This permanent underlying tendency of the will is not necessarily expressly formulated; rather it is implicitly embodied in some particular choice. Once made, the fundamental option gradually deepens and pervades a person's whole moral life. Therefore, one's attitudes should be examined with reference to this basic set of the wilh To what extent has my choice of God been effectual in daily actions? Or the converse: To what extent have my daily actions reflected my funda-mental choice of God above all else? In this way, a religious can examine without undue introspection, the basic trends of his life. In addition to the fundamental Christian option, a sister, by her decision so.lemnly to vow total commit-ment to Christ, makes a further option which we shall term the religious option. By this option the religious ~ Jean-Nesmy, Conscience and ConIession, pp. 113-26. ~ Monden, Sin, Liberty and Law, p. sets her will in a particular direction--as a religious and as a 'member of a specific community. Here the basic orientation is influenced by the vows and the spirit of the religious institute. Here, too, the religious option penetrated the whole being of the person. In other con-texts the religious option is often spoken of as iden-tification with one's community. When a sister examines herself with respect tb this religious option, she is con-cerned with how she has effectually lived this fundamen-tal choice. Observing the vows and the rule are here considered not as legalistic ends in themselves but al-ways in reference to this free and deliberate choice. Finally, the sister's examination of conscience should be based upon what we shall call personal option. Here we are speaking of those intense moments of grace, those charisms by which a person approaches God as an 'T' to a "Thou." For Saint Teresa of Lisieux it was the Little Way. Real progess in sanctity is dependent upon faithfulness to the particular way Christ has called each one. The sister's response to this intensely personal call constitutes her personal option. Her examination of con-science then focuses on the extent of her fidelity to this life pattern. The cultal dimension of penance will thus have more meaning for the sister if she realizes that penance is an act by which these three options are re-newed and subsequently deepened. Third, the examination of conscience goes beyond the personal dimension to the social dimension. Sin and guilt can never be considered in isolation, for no man is an island. Therefore, in examining her conscience the sister must be aware of her solidarity with the hu-man community, the Christian community, and her own religious community. She cannot be concerned merely with her own failure but must bear her part of the im-personal and communal guilt of these three levels of so-ciety. One who criticizes the social group is usually not cognizant of the fact that she is really criticizing her-self. Self-criticism is not a bad thing, provided it does not remain sterile words. If a sister is dissatisfied with certain actions or inaction of her community, then she should examine the cause of her dissatisfaction. If the cause is within herself, then it likely can be traced to a weakening of one's own freely chosen option. If such cause truly rests in the social group, then she herself is, in part, responsible to the extent that she is a mem-ber of that group. In this connection Adrienne yon Speyr writes of a certain tension between one's own sin-fulness and the sinfulness of the group which also fails short of Christ's demands: "We confess as members of the Church, the community, and we have to take the ÷ ÷ 4. Contessions ot Religious Women VOLUME 26, 1967 999 ÷, 4" Sister M~ Den~s, $.0.S. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS I000 community along with us and include it in the ac-tion." s5 We do not wish to give the impression that an ex-tremely thorough examination of conscience is necessary before each confession. By following one or more of the above principles itis hoped that the sister will be able to construct for .herself an examination of conscience that is realistic, reflects the inner dynamism of her own life', and is open to growth in the Spirit. 4'. The Confessional Encounter Much of the frustration experienced by sisters in the confessional would be eliminated when they are given the ~ opportunity to confess whenever, wherever, and to whomever they wish. In spite of the difficulties posed by the present rite and environmental conditions of private confessions (which will be discussed later), .certain sug-gestions can be made in order to make this encounter a. more meaningful one. Since private confession ob-viously involves two people, the confessor plays an im-portant role in helping or hindering this sacramental encounter. If he regards the hearing of sisters' confes-sions as another task imposed on him, one cannot be sur-prised to find a corresponding attitude among the sis-ters. (a) The Relationship between Con[essor and Penitent. "As priest and penitent become aware that they are en-gaged not in an impersonal inquisition, administration, or treatment, but that together and personally they cele-brate the convei:sion of the sinner and the mercies of God, they will seek to express themselves like human persons." ~6 Detrimental to the interpersonal relation-ship necessary between confessor and penitent is a mech-anistic approach in which the confessor is seen as an absolution dispenser and the penitent as some disem-bodied voice in the dark. Each speak their part, in turn, according to a rigid formula and the ritual is over. Rather, a climate of love should pervade the confes-sional atmosphere with both parties manifesting mutual concern and mutual consideration. What Reuel Howe says :at;out dialogue has great significance for the con-fessional encounter:¯ Each must try to speak honestly out of his own conviction, discipline his subjective feelings, seek patiently to keep aware of the other as another person, and try to keep open to the meaning of everything that happens in the relationshipY ~Von Speyr, Con]ession, the Encounter with Christ in Penance, p. 157. ~ Hindery, "Penance, the Sacrament of Conversion," p. 205. ~ R. Howe, The Miracle oI Dialogue (New York: Seabury, 1965), After the penitent has revealed himself, the confessor, through his words of advice, admits the penitent to share in his insights and his life of prayer. Truly the Psalmist's words apply: "Deep is calling to deep." as In this most sacred of relationships dialogue becomes both communi-cation and communion in the Spirit: As each person speaks and responds honestly to the other, each moves toward the other and includes him. This kind of meeting between man and man cannot occur without an im-plicit meeting between man and God. To really see another is to see the Other, and to really love another is to love the Other.~ (b) Confession of Sins. Because of the natural reti-cence in revealing one's inner state, penitents often depersonalize their confession by resorting to conven-tional phraseology. Formalism rather than authenticity prevails. Quite often the penitent's words and inner feel-angs are only remotely similar. Although one should re-late one's sins and/or failings in a straightforward man-ner, indicating the nature of the act and the reasons which prompted it, the neat formula taught in grade school: "L__.about._.____times." is more often a hin-drance than a help in the confessions of mature women religious. In order to promote real dialogue the peni-tent's manner and tone should be conversational rather than recitative. More important than a detailed list of sins as to number and kind is a revelation of the status of one's heart by endeavoring to reveal the roots and in-terrelations of sins. The confessions of the religious should reveal the inner dynamism which guides her life --the dynamism which springs from her basic options. And since the religious is a member of a certain com-munity, her confession should reflect this fact: "The con-fession of a religious must bring out her failure., as a member of a particular order, whose basic character must come to the fore." 40 However, .there is and can be no panacea for the con-fessional act which should be regarded "not as a de-vice for obtaining juridical forgiveness, but as a peni-tential work which makes a truly humble, authentic, personal sacramental expiation of great value." 41 Truly penitential works are always painful and difficult. (c) The Role of the Confessor. Romano Guardini once referred to love of God and love of neighbor as a "live current completing a circuit from God to people, per- ~s Ps 41-2:7. ~ Howe, The Miracle o! Dialogue, pp. 105-6. ,OVon Speyr, Confession, the Encounter with Christ in Penance, p. 128. ,1 Davis, "Penance." ÷ ÷ ÷ Contessions ot Religious ~Vomen VOLUME 26, 1967' 1001 Si~Wr M. Denis, $.0~. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 1002 son to person, and back to God." 4~ In the sacramental encounter the confessor completes the circuit between God and neighbor. Because the sacrament is a sign the human element in penance cannot be slighted. Unfortunately, the words "involvement" and "open-ness" have tended to become cliches in modern thought and language. But the reality to which these words point is vital to the sacramental encounter. By his words, ges-tures, and attitudes the confessor must become person-ally involved in the sacramental action. Through him the Spirit speaks. In him the sister-penitent experiences a meeting with the forgiving Christ. As one confessor wrote: I think sisters are looking for more than a kind, well-in-formed, understanding confessor. They are looking for a kind, well-informed, understanding confessor filled with the Spirit of God. If there is a problem because some priests are stupid, there is even a greater problem because we are not saints, men 6f prayer, men who really believe in the power of the Spirit working through us and through the power of the Sacrament. The confessor should listen with complete openness, in-terest, and acceptance, striving to glimpse the unique in-dividuality of the other person. In keeping with modern sacramental theology the confessor should be more aware of his role as mediator and witness to the conversion of the penitent and less conscious of his role as judge. To concentrate only on the validity of the sacrament is to lose sight of the riches of the sacrament. In what very practical ways does the confessor help in making the sacrament of penance more meaningful for the sister? 1. By reciting the required prayers, formulae from the heart and not just from the lips. 2. By not rushing the sacramental encounter. 3. By actively listening to her account and/or problems. 4. By manifesting a sincere interest not only in what she says but also in what she is. 5. By a non-judgmental acceptance of her as a unique person whose approach to God is likewise unique, as a woman whose psyche is distinctly feminine, and as a religious whose sincere desire is to grow in Christ. 6. By offering words of enlightenment as well as words of encouragement. 7. By presenting an opportunity for her to open up but without being too inquisitive. 8. By helping her to delve into the motivation for her Quoted in Thomas Radloff, S.J., "Interpersonal Relationships," REvmw FOR RELmIOUS, V. 21 (1962), p. 547. sins and faults, not being satisfied with a mere cata-loging of sins. 9. By enabling her to see the workings of the Spirit in her life. 10. By endeavoring to embody not only the personal and interpersonal dimensions of penance but also the ecclesial and cuhal dimensions. 11. By creating the atmosphere for ~uitful dialogue in the confessional. 12. By striving to remove all vestiges of formalism. 13. By relating to the penitent as a person to a person. A word of caution is in order here. As indicated previ-ously in this study, the problems and their respective solutions surrounding the confessions of women relig-ious are interrelated and interdependent. It is apparent that the confessor cannot exercise his role properly un-less certain other structures and attitudes discussed in this study are modified. (d) Spiritual Direction. In speaking o[ spiritual direc-tion in the confessional, we are referring to the exhorta-tion or counsel offered by the confessor following the penitent's manifestation of conscience. The distinction between the sacrament of penance and spiritual direc-tion, even in the narrow sense described above, must always be maintained. The role of the confessor qua confessor is to set free from sin; the role of the confessor as director is to foster growth in Christ. Although the primary purpose of penance is the forgiveness of sins with absolution being the central act of the confessor, nevertheless, words of counsel traditionally have been an important and expected adjunct to the sacrament. In the age of assembly-line confessions, of necessity, con-vent confessors tend to minimize or neglect this area of pastoral guidance, but the need for spiritual guidance remains. The confessional is usually not the place for detailed and protracted spiritual direction, although the need may be discovered in the confessional. When speaking words of counsel to the penitent, the confessor must be conscious of his instrumentality. The manner in which he speaks is uniquely his, marked by his own personality, and is a self-revelation of his own life of prayer; but the content of his message comes from the Holy Spirit: His words, while uttered in the Spirit, must also convey his own personal involvement, his knowledge, his designs. He must manifest the fact that he acts along with the Spirit, and not speak in a languid, indifferent manner . The priest is there present at a process which makes a sinner into a saint, and his words must serve to accompany this transformation, in fact to lead the sinner to it; consequently, they must be so tender and + + + Conyessions o~ Religious Women VOLUME 26, 1967 1003 yet so telling, so penetrating, that the change is effected simultaneously with their utterance.'~ In proffering counsel to the sister-penitent the confes-sor should avoid two extremes: first, basing his exhorta-tion only on the weekly liturgy, becoming impersonal and contributing to routine reception; and second, re-ferring only to the matter just confessed, becoming sub-jective and unduly isolating the penitent's situation. Rather, he should seek to combine these two avenues by first commenting on the penitent's confession objec-tively, pointing out aspects and motives unnoticed by the penitent, always with a view to enabling the sister to draw practical conclusions herself; then, by relatir~g the penitent's situation to the broader spectrum of the Church, showing its relevancy to a point of doctrine or the current liturgy. The sister-penitent then sees her-self in the proper perspective of an individual before God and as a member of the Christian community. Even though spiritual direction in the usual sense of the terms is advisable for most sisters, the plain fact re-mains that suitable directors are few and far between. The confessor should be aware that, for many, the con-fessional exhortation, however brief, is the only source of personal advice. Therefore, his words should be chosen with care, knowing that the sister-penitent has come to intensify her union with Christ by the sacra-mental deed and its accompanying intimate personal as-sistance. ÷ ÷ Sister M. Denis, S.O.S. REVIEW ~oR REI.IGIOt~S 1004 5. Environment On the subject of the confessional environment, one confessor wrote: "It's difficult to experience the life-giving power of the sacrament in a vertical casket." Practically half of the priests and sisters who cited the environment as a problem wished improvements in the traditional confessional; the other half desired an open confrontation in a counseling-type room. Any improvements or changes in present confessional structures should reflect the theology of the sacrament, respect the penitent's right to anonymity, insure com-plete privacy, and provide for ordinary human com-fort- materially and psychologically. Women today, especially sisters, are very sensitive to their position in the Church. They should have the same right as men to confess wherever they wish and not be re-stricted to places approved for the confessions of women. Such rules do not apply to personal spiritual direction, oftentimes more intimate than the confessional encoun- ~Von Speyr, Confession, the Encounter with Christ in Penance, pp. 209-10. ter. Sometimes the sister would like to receive the sacra-ment of penance during a period of spiritual counsel-ling, but present legislation prevents this outside the approved confessional. When an individual sister desires to go to confession, she should be given the freedom to confess elsewhere, as for example, in a parlor. An ideal environment for the convent confessional would be a separate counseling room--bright, cheery, and airy--with a less formal atmosphere where one could go with openness and joy. Provision could be made for those who desire anonymity by having the tradi-tional confessional screen on one side of the room. On the other side, comfortable chairs could be provided for those who wish to see the priest directly (see diagram below). Thus both priest and penitent could converse in a normal tone without fear of being overheard. The merely psychological effect of space and light would strengthen the sacramental significance of renewal, of resurrection. Proposed Confessional-Room (Not drawn to scale) Left Side: Arrangement for an open confrontation with desk and chairs. Right Side: Arrangement for anonymous confession: (1) Screen (2) Confessor (3) Penitent. Since the ideal is usually far from the real, present convent confessionals should be examined carefully by the sisters concerned. The solutions to these problems are contained in the very recognition and acknowledg-ment of the problem, as indicated in Part I of this study. Where there is darkness, let there be light; where there are .poor acoustics, let there be soundproofing; where there is a curtain on the grill, let it be optional. The ingenuity of the sisters who use the confessional, not necessarily the architect who designed it, will pro-duce the most practical suggestions. Most sisters will answer any request for suggested improvements like the Sister who wrote: "Just give me a paper and pencil and a ruler, and I'll show you." 6. Rite Since most changes in the rite of the sacrament are beyond the scope of either the priest-confessor or the ÷ ÷ ÷ Contessions ot Religious Women VOLUME 26, 1967 1005 ÷ ÷ Sister M. $.0.S. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 1006 sister-penitent, we shall discuss the present private rit-ual, a communal ritual permitted by current legisla-tion, and finally, proposals for a communal ritual not yet permitted by Church legislation. The guidelines have been established by Vatican II: "The rite and for-mulas for the Sacrament of Penance are to be revised so that they give more luminous expression to both the nature and effect of the sacrament." 44 (a) Private Celebration of Penance. In October, 1966, the Bishops of Canada in a statement on the Liturgy of Penance wrote: "Individual or private celebration of the sacrament of Penance still retains all of its value: through personal contact and through the attitude of the priest, the penitent can truly experience the mercy of God." 45 Although the present rite leaves much to be desired in its signification of the various dimensions of penance, nevertheless, the penitent and confessor can seek to embody the significance of penance in mean-ingful words and actions. A slavish recitation of the "Bless me, Father . " formula only begets routine and is a hindrance to dialogue with the confessor. The peni-tent should simply ask the confessor for his blessing that she may have the grace to express her sinful condi-tion before God and His Church. The priest should wait until this request is made before giving his blessing with sincerity of expression. Then the penitent states the interval of time since" her last confession and any necessary information regarding her state in life before beginning the revelation of her state before God. Father Hindery suggests that the penitent endeavor to express the ecclesial and cultal aspect of the sacrament by be-ginning one's confession of sins with the words: "I con-fess to Almighty God and to the whole Church through you, Father, that I am a sinner and that God's mercy in renewing my. conversion is worthy of great praise." 40 If the penitent keeps in mind the value of her act as a personal conversion to God, and the intensification of her union with the community, she will have less diffi-culty in expressing herself. The confessor then offers a suitable exhortation bearing on the penitent's confes-sion, emphasizing the importance of this act as an en-counter with Christ. Instead of the usual three Hail Marys, some confessors are asking their penitents to do an act of kindness toward someone less fortunate. The penance, a means of reparation, should bear some apparent relation to the sins confessed. In some areas " Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, paragraph 72. ~"The Liturgy of Penance," a mimeographed statement from the Canadian Hierarchy, Ottawa, October, 1966. ~ Hindery, "Penance, the Sacrament of Conversion," p. 207. the confessor asked the penitent to suggest a suitable penance for herself. (b) Present Communal Celebration. Earlier in this pa-per we recommended that communal penance be cele-brated at regular intervals. Under present legislation where both confession and absolution must be private and individual, communal celebration would be more meaningful from the ecclesial-and cultal viewpoint but would not relieve the overburdened confessor. For greater effectiveness these communal celebrations should be brief, consisting of a few opening words by the con-fessor, a carefully selected reading from Scripture, a brief homily bearing on the Scripture and the sacrament of penance, the singing of an appropriate Psalm, the redta-tion of the Confiteor (which is an admirable communal acknowledgment of one's sinfulness), a kiss of peace and mutual reconciliation, and individual confession and ab-solution. The kiss of peace and a suitable dosing hymn may be delayed until after the individual confessions are heard, particularly in a small group. (c) Proposed Communal Celebration. It is one of the main theses of this study that the liturgy of the sacra-ment needs to be completely revised so that it will an-swer real needs and become a vital sign: "The sacra-ments are immutable in their substance, for it was Christ who fixed once for all the central core. But the outer shell can vary according to the needs of time and place." 47 To this end we propose that sisters have ac-cess to a communal celebration of penance in which the individual ~onfession of sins be optional and be not necessary for the reception of the sacrament. Those who wish to confess privately should have the opportu-nity to do so at this or another time. For this celebra-tion, which could be more elaborate because of few or no private confessions, the celebrant would prepare a very timely homily from which the sisters could derive spiritual help. A public examination of conscience, directed by the confessor, with time for private exami-nation might be also included. Absolution would be communal. The solemn rite of the sacrament of penance, al-though archaic and omitted from recent editions of the Roman Pontifical, was rich in expressing the unity between God, the Church, and each Christian. A com-pletely communal celebration would witness to the sol-idarity of the Christian community. By her very pres-ence the sister proclaims her sinful condition before God, before the Church, and before her community. Together. with her community she becomes recondled to ,7 Carra de Vaux Saint-Cyr, The Sacrament o] Penance, p. 4. ÷ ÷ ÷ Conyessions ot Religious Women VOLUME 26, 1967 1007 God and to her sisters whom she. may have offended. As a corporate body they worship God in celebrating the sacrament of penance by praising His m~rcy. In the National Catholic Reporter Father Hindery lists six advantages of communal penance which stresses: 1. Less emphasis on our own sorrow and a greater re-alization of the forgiving action of Christ. 2. Greater expression of sorrow by an awareness of one's solidarity in sin and in the sorrow of others. 3. An intensification of penance as a reconciliation with God. 4. An accent on the full liturgical or worshiping dimen-sion of penance. 5. A restoration of Christian tradition which was prac-tically universal until the year 589 A.D. 6. An alleviation of the problem of rote and haste which breeds formalism.4s One can only hope that liturgical advances will has-ten the day when communal celebration of penance is possible in the manner outlined above. Theologically, there is very little problem with a communal absolution and the dispensation of individual confession (where grave sin has not occurred). To worship God publicly with our fellow Christians as a sinner and precisely in this character of a sinner is one of the most authentic acts we can perform. It is not sufficient to know and to realize the various theological dimensions of the sacra-ment of penance; one must be able to experience them effectually in a truly meaningful communal celebration. Slsger M. Denis, S.O~. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 1008 CONCLUSION In the introduction to his book, Conscience and Con- ]ession, Dom Claude Jean-Nesmy included a comment which applies equally well to. the impetus of this en-tire study on the confessions of women religious: "One cannot just choose to ignore the very frequent, precise and distressing complaints about the difficulty of con-fessing and about the deplorable conditions in which this sacrament is sometimes administered." 40 In order to ascertain the extent and seriousness of these complaints as objectively as possible a survey-questionnaire was sent to a crosscountry sampling of priest-confessors and sis-ter- penitents. That there were problems~serious prob-lems-- was established beyond doubt. The common de-nominator of these problems seemed to be a deadening routine. Both confessors and sisters indicated that lack ~s Roderick Hinder),, O.S.B., "Communal Penance in the Renewal of the Sacrament--Towards Fullness of Sign," National Catholic Reporter, v. 2 (October 19, 1966), p. 6. ~0 Jean-Nesmy, Conscience and Con]ession, p. ix. of freedom, time problems, insufficient training, unsuit-able examination of conscience, difficulty in confessing, an impersonal relationship, the confessor's lack of un-derstanding, spiritual direction, the environment, and rite were all contributory factors to this all-pervasive routine. The obvious interrelation of these problems calls for solutions which are likewise interrelated. In turn, inter-related solutions demand cooperation of all persons con-cerned from the sister-penitent to the priest-confessor to the bishop responsible for the pastoral care of his people. If the fundamental problem in the devotional con-fessions of religious is routine, then the basic solution is to counteract routine by bringing about a more mean-ingful celebration and reception of this sacrament. But a mere change in rite and externals is not sufficient. There must be a change in attitude. For the individual sister, this calls for a sound theo-logical knowledge of the nature and effects of penance. Her sacramental training must continue beyond grade school preparation for first confession and should be cen-tered on her state as a religious. In her examination of conscience and the subsequent confession of sins she will endeavor to reflect the inner dynamism of her life, not merely taking refuge in a stereotyped, deper-sonalized multiplicity of unrelated minutiae. The confessor's attitude toward administering the sac-rament of penance in general and toward each sis-ter- penitent in particular has a great effect on the meaningfulness of the sacramental encounter. Indeed, his role is so important, that should all other circum-stances be unfavorable, his openness, understanding, and helpfulness will result in much benefit for the sis-ter- penitent. His brief exhortatory remarks will be per-sonal enough to apply directly to the confession just heard, yet universal enough to lift the penitent out of herself into the wider perspective of the liturgy. Both participants should be aware of one another as unique persons striving for the fullness of the Christian life. From a healthy interpersonal relationship on the human level, both confessor and penitent will realize a personal encounter with the forgiving Christ. The sacra-ment, though of divine institution, is a human sign. Three factors, the rite, the environment and freedom of access, at the present time beyond the immediate con-trol of either the individual confessor or the individual penitent, contribute greatly to a more significant cele-bration of penance. The present environment should be a more effective symbol of life than of death. In ad-dition to a redesigned confessional room, which would + + + Ctmless~ns of Religious Women VOLUME 26, 1967 1009 allow for either anonymous confession Or an open con-frontation, the sister or any woman should not be lim-ited to "approved places." As the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (paragraph 72) noted, the present rite needs to embody visibly and experientially the theolog-ical dimensions of penance. The present crisis can be traced to certain deficiencies, which have been perpetrated for centuries, in .the ad-ministration and reception of penance. In turn, these deficiencies on the practical level can be traced to cer-tain limitations in theological thought stemming from the seventh century when the notion of the sinner's rec-onciliation with the ecclesia was de-emphasized by an overstress on his personal reconciliation to God. However, the first step in any solution to the many problems surrounding the confessions of women reli-gious is a rescinding of compulsion--either by law or by custom--to confess at stated intervals, in a stated place, to an appointed person. When sisters are given the re-sponsibility concerning their own sacramental needs, much of the routine and dissatisfaction will disappear both for the frustrated penitent and overburdened con-lessor. It was the ardent hope of the authors of this study that the su~estions and recommendations contained therein will not remain sterile but will be openly discussed by those concerned and followed by concrete action. Vati-can II is not over; it has just begun. The urgency ex-hibited by the conciliar documents is not limited to the hierarchy but is directed toward the People of God--- collectively and individually. Effective reform must be preceded by objective recognition, honest acknowledg-ment and open discussion of the problem. Then posi-tive suggestions will be fruitful: It we labor to re-establish the proper perspectives., then Penance, far from seeming a tiresome task which must be post~, poned to the last possible moment, will reveal itself as one of t~he most ei~cacious and most constant means by which we can be restored to a purifying and life-giving contact with the Church, with Christ, and with God.~° ~ Jean-Nesmy, Conscience and Conlession, p. xvii. $t~ter M. Denis, $.0~. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS lOlO ELSIE GIBSON Protestant Women in Religion Catholic sisters and Protestant women minist.ers ten sense an underlying kinship when they become ac-quainted on college campuses or in dialogue groups,. Both have vowed .themselves to the service of God through Christ and the Church. True, the promises are different but the central intent is the same. Is there any similarity between our sense of vocation and that which moves nuns and priests to the religious life? How do our churches receive and direct our aspirations? What is our daily work? To find answers I sent a questionnaire to apprbxi-mately 300 ordained women most of whom belong to Churches engaged in the Consultation on Church Un-ion. There were no check lists, no multiple choice que-ries. My purpose was not to gather statistics but rather to gain a knowledge of persons, to discover what their experience has been and is, to learn what they are thinking today. One hundred fifty-eight responded to the questions. In addition, ten letters were received ex-plaining why the recipients were unable or unwilling to respond. Replies came from thirty-two states and. two from Canada. Differences do not run along denomina-tional lines but are within denominations. Generaliza-tions based on such an approach are, of course, impos-sible; nevertheless,'tentative impressions are made, and it is these which I shall try to convey in this article. The. first question was: (a) Why did you go into the ministry? (b) Why did you choose to be ordained? Please answer a, b, or both. Almost everyone answered both inquiries. I have grouped the replies loosely without trying to force their meaning into a preconceived mold. They over.lap and in a number of instances could have been placed in more than one category. ÷ ÷ ÷ Elsie (Mrs. Royal J.) Gibson lives at 197 Oxford Street; Hartford, Connecti-cut 06105. VOLUME 26, 1967 lOll 4" 4" "+ Elsie Gibson REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 1012 1. Many went into the ministry because the Church was their life. They had never considered a vocation apart from the Church. "My earliest remembrance was in the direction of the ministry," says one. "My father was a circuit-rider then, and my mother helped him, teaching and preaching herself. My favorite game was playing deaconess (a Methodist order). Church work was as natural as breathing." Another reflects, "As I see it now, my call to the ministry was implicit in my coming to know God when I was eleven. At any rate, through my.high school years, I haunted the church so much that when I came home from some event I was greeted, 'Well, did you lock the church tonight?' It was a beauti-ful building to haunt, and the people I met there were excellent folks for a teen-ager to idealize." A third says that she was influenced by parents who were active church people: "Mother was Superintendent of the Pri-mary Department for 25 years and I worked with her when I was a teen-ager. Grandfather was a Presbyterian minister and missionary among Indians. I wanted to go, into foreign missionary service but was not accepted health-wise." "1 played minister rather than dolls, nurse or teacher," says another who never thought seriously of any occupation save the ministry. 2. A larger number trace their motivation to a "call." This word covers a variety of meanings and not every woman explained her use of it. One terse reply said merely, "God's call.'" The majority, however, wrote a paragraph or more. "Originally I went to seminary with the intention of becoming a director of religious education. During the two years required in the School of Religious Education, the call to the parish ministry gradually began to germinate. I had several deeply re-ligious experiences during this~ time which had more to do, I think, with the [ellowship with other students than with the actual courses I was taking. I fought hard against any idea of going into the parish ministry, know-ing that there would be a great deal of opposition from my family and having my own particular antipathy toward women ministers! Nevertheless, by the time 1 received the M.A. in Christian Education, I had de-termined to stay on an additional two years to earn a B.D. I still had in mind the possibility of the teaching nfinistry, and how I actually wound up as a parish min, ister I really do not know. It just happenedl As each opportunity has presented itself to me, I have taken this as an indication of the ways in which God would have me serve, and have always found such service to be very satisfying to me." Another offers this interpretation: "I went into the ministry because I felt a definite call from God. I would like to explain that I am a member of the Friends Church, and we do not ordain ministers. Our belief is that only God ordains: it is a work of the Divine and man cannot ordain. Thus, according to our Friends Faith and Practice which is similar to the statements of doctrinal beliefs and organizational practices of other denominations, a minister of the Gospel is 'recorded.' Actually the process of recording of a minister in the Friends Church is equivalent to that of ordination in other denominations." An interesting underscoring of her point is found on page 147 of Faith and Practice, sent to me by another Friends' pastor: "And, since the Friends' concept of the recording process is the Meet-ing's recognition of one's Christian character and grace in the ministry, it appears quite outside the Quaker spirit and temper for any one to 'ask' to be recorded a minister! Such a request would seem to be fairly clear evidence to a Monthly Meeting on Ministry and Coun-sel that the time had not yet arrived for action." So, even in a Society as free as the Friends, it is the Church that decides. A Disciples of Christ minister writes: "I think I can say that, although I'm convinced I was called of God, it was through a series of circumstances over a number of years that led me to the final decision to enter the min-istry. I'm sure that if I had been a man, friends in the church would have suggested it much sooner." This explanation is given by a woman in the United Church of Christ: "I did not intend to become ordained when I sought my B.D. but the urging of the minister under whom I worked and the Dean (of the Seminary) made me think of it and I finally got to the point when I had to say 'Yes' rather hoping ! would not be ac-cepted by the association as I was not going into the pastoral ministry. But they--and my advisers--seemed to think I should find a rich pastoral ministry on the college campus and I must say I have. Chaplains are usually men and both men and women at times need a woman for consultation, confession, reassurance." Others said, "An experience of personal revelation too dramatic to relate in a questionnaire," and "a strange compulsion which I never quite understood" but which "as I look back on it now, I believe was the way that God 'called' me." An element of resistance to God's call runs through a number of the responses I received. Choices which in-volve risk are easy for no one. Women heading toward the ministry may face family disapproval or resistance on the part of the church and society with corresponding economic pressures. Years must be given to education with little assurance of the rewards that usually fol- 4" + ,4- Protestant Women in Religion VOLUME 26, 1967 1013 Elsie Gibson REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 1014 low such effort. So it is not. surprising that crucial de-cisions were postponed. One woman, moved by a ~ollege course in New Tes-tament to devote herself to the Church, did volunteer so-cial work and served as pastor's assistant. She then took nurses' training and spent a year in Public Health nurs-ing which "confirmed me in the conviction that the basic and most urgent need of all sorts and conditions of men is spiritual, and made me want to spend my life in seeking to minister to that need through the church." She is now a pastor. After serving ten years as a professional worker in both YWCA anal Girl Scouts, another relates that she "felt a real need to combine my professional skill in Camping with nay concern for Christian Education. It was recommended to me by both local and national" leadership of my denomination that I should seek, there-fore, the BD degree instead of the MRE." One who was working on her doctorate in mathe-matics turned instead to the ministry with this account: "There were two elements in this choice: the feeling of the need of people for what the Gospel could offer and a definite sense of 'call.' Without this sense of call, I'm not sure that I could have persevered. This has been a basic continuing element and accompanied by just as certain a sense of being guided. Both are hard to de-scribe. They do not make for any constant self-assured certainty on the conscious level but rather for a deep sense of urgency and commitment." 3. The third group makes no mention of a divine call but possibly the same summons has come through the voices of the world's need: "Desiring to go into the ministry but knowing my inadequacy to be a pioneer I delayed taking this step until I was almost fifty years, old. I delayed even after I graduated from Seminary. Then I was asked to preach in an isolated situation where i was needed. The experience of preaching con-firmed my belief that I ought to become a minister. Ordination naturally followed this." Another "felt drawn to full time Christian vocation and after a summer in the mountains of Virginia I saw a need for women ministers. The parish never had a trained minister because it could not support a man and family. I also observed the work of an Episcopal deaconess in the area and she did the practical work of a clergyman save for the sacraments." A pastor in Arkansas was "impelled by an overwhelm-ing desire to win souls for Christ and to minister to the needy--the sick and unfortunate. After some very ac-tive years I found it inconvenient to send for a man, minister to administer the Sacraments, to baptize and marry my parishoners. I have ministered in some more or less isolated areas and sometimes had to wait far be-yond reasonable time to get the help I needed," This woman, retired now after fifty-six years in the ministry received a certificate of honor from her denomination. "I have worked in the backwoods areas where I have assisted in making caskets for the dead and have been by the side of the doctors when the babies arrived," she recalls. At the age of seventy-eight she is preaching in churches that would otherwise be without services and making hospital calls where people confront major sur-gery. A number in this group were pressed into service dur-ing the war years by denominational officials who knew their gifts and potentiality. There are no typical replies, for every situation was different. 4. The vocations of man and woman sometimes merge when a couple meet in seminary and decide to marry. If the responses I have received are at all characteristic, this does not mean the disappearance of the woman's vocation though it may be so interpreted because she is not always listed in an independent position after the marriage. A United Church of Christ woman says: "My husband and I were ordained together in the first parish we served after leaving Seminary. I have never intended to b~ an ordained minister. But at that time it seemed to us that we wanted our ministry to be a partnership in service. We felt we could serve most effectively together if we were both ordained. I believe it has proved to be so." This woman has not been "employed" since her marriage. Their four children are either engaged in or preparing for full-time Christian service. A unique reply comes from a Baptist minister's wife who had had experience as assistant pastor in one church and as youth director in another: "I entered the pastor-ate because my husband was going to travel in his new position (denominational fund raising) and we had three small children whom I could not take around the coun-try, moving every couple of months." She was asked to remain in the church to which she was giving interim service and has been there thirteen years. The three chil-dren were in school at the time the decision had to be made. Their little son told his teacher: "My father is a preacher of funds; my mother is a preacher of the Gos-pel." 5. Those whom I shall include in this group have gone into the ministry through suffering--physical, in-tellectual, or spiritual. Two, giving specialized minis-tries, are victims of cerebral palsy. Others have been through agnosticism, loss of faith, or questionings so in-sistent they entered seminary to try to find answers a~ad ÷ '÷ "÷ Protestant Women in Religion VOLUME 26, 1967 1015 ÷ ÷ Elsie Gibson REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 1016 ended with a vocation. Significant work is being done by widow~. One, now in her eighties, was widowed with five children at the age of thirty. Although she was a chnrch member, she found no consolation in her re-ligion; but she was slowly led, thr6ugh a combination of wise pastoral guidance and despair of her ability to go on, to such confrontation with Christ that she became a person of vital faith. In gratitude she offered her serv-ices, almost on impulse, to a home missionary of her church. She was appalled when opportunity became con-crete but has been outstanding in her devotion to New England rural churches. She took them into the work of the world long before The Secular City appeared and has been the recipient of four honorary degrees. "An early test came when she was called in the night by a parishoner whose wife had been murdered. Her minis-try in this circumstance had to be given simultaneously to the father of the man who, after committing the mur-der, took his own life. Another widow with four grown children is giving full time as a trained chaplain in two large city hos-pitals. Still another is teaching chaplain and minister in a home for unwed mothers. Other 'widows, whose hus-bands were ministers, have finished the necessary train-ing and are pastors of churches. II ~e have seen some of the factors that influence Prot-estant women to devote their lives to the Church. Since religious orders in Protestantism are small and limited to a very 'few denominations, they do not present an alternative to ordination to the woman who desires a full ministry. But how do churches receive a woman's Wish for ordination that she may serve more freely? The (then) Congregational Church met this question in an acute form in 18't7 when Antoinette Brown faced the authorities of Oberlin Theological Seminary ~ith her desire to become a candidate for the ministry. They' were horrified. Armed with unflagging courage and such biblical texts as Joel 2:28 (". I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall proph-esy," reaffirmed by Peter at Pentecost), she persevered and was ordained in 1853. The free churches have long recognized the ministry of women although the propor-tion of women to men remains small. When the Evangelical and Reformed Church entered into conversations with the Congregational Christian Churches, prior to the formation of the United Church of Christ, it had no ordained women. A woman of E. and R. background writes: "I felt drawn to the ministry as powerfully as an object is drawn by a magnet. I wanted to be ordained and enter into the full-time .min-istry, but. I believed our church would not ordain women., because there were none ordained . One of my professors whom I deeply admired and respected opposed ordination for women." She married a minister and served as fully as possible for ten years following her graduation from Seminary because "I was interested in serving the Lord and not in promoting ordination for women." When she learned that the absence of or-dained women in her denomination was due to the fact that none had applied rather than to the Church's re-fusal to ordain them, she made application, was ac-cepted without difficulty, and serves as associate pastor with her husband. Another woman, the first to be or-dained in a different denomination, says: ."My purpose in seeking ordination was to enable me to serve in and through the church better.'. It was only a means rather than an end." The Methodist Church, always strongly committed to the effort to recognize gifts bestowed by the Holy Spirit, faced problems with its women in the early twentieth century. They had been seeking an outlet for what the Spirit seemed to be saying within them. Due to its polity, the Methodist Church faced a more complicated problem than the free churches had confronted. But in 1919 women were granted local preachers' licenses and in 1924 provision was made for their ordination. They could not be admitted to an annual conference, how-ever, so they were not assured of placement in a local church. In 1919 the American Association of Women Ministers was formed under the leadership of Miss M. Madeline Southard and Mrs. Ella L. Kroft, both Metho-dists. An article by Miss Southard which appeared in a 1923 issue of The Woman's Pulpit says: "The original purpose .of our Association was to bring women who preach into fellowship with each other . Another pur-pose that developed as we planned and prayed was to secure equal opportunity for women in the ecclesiasti-cal world . The third purpose as stated in our con-stitution is to encourage young women whom God has called to preach." This group, including women ofo six-teen denominations with "others applying," refused to impose rigid doctrinal or educational tests for mem-bership although a large proportion of its women were college graduates, some with master's and doctor's de-grees. They also refused to make distinctions based on race. Men have been welcomed as associate members and are free to attend any meetings. The Association is small today, including only a frac-tion of ordained clergywomen. There are a number of reasons for this. Women of the nineteenth and early 4. 4. 4. Protestant Women in Religion VOLUME 26, 1967 1017 Elsie Gibson REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 1018 twentieth centurihs were crusaders~for suffrage, tem-perance, abolition of slavery, and ecclesiastical status. The mo~lern woman does not want to enlist in the war of'the sexes; she wants cooperation with men in church and society. W. A. Visser 't Hooft, former general secre-tary of the World Council of Churches, has put it well: "The reason for the emancipation of women in the Church is not the barren fight for the r~ghtg of women, but the fruitful discovery of their spiritual gifts, of their full creative contribution." 1 The old image lingers in the Association but is changing under the influence of women, young and old, who see the new picture. Though probably not a member of the Association (I do not know), one woman expressed the new attitude of her sister ministers' thus: "I am a rather unorthodox member of the clan because I do not class myself as a woman minister, but as a minister. Woman minister seems as artificial to me as negro minister, tall minister, blonde minister, etc:" M~mbership in Methodist annual conferences was not opened to women until 1956 which means that they were not assured of placement until that time. To have this full participation, however, they must meet stiffer educational requirements. Some women are so well es-tablished and have been so successful in pastorates that they do not need to rise above the classification of "ap, proved supplies"; younger women will doubtless be go-ing on to become full members of annual conferences. The Presbyterian Church did not admit women to the preaching ministry at all until 1956. They were permitted to become ruling elders before that time: So ordained Presbyterian women are still having pioneer experience. One says that, in her first year as pastor of a church, "two situations were difficult: out of towners who Came to a local cemetery for interment preferred a man of another denomination to a Presbyterian woman pastor." Also, "a girl of my own congregation who was consulting about a wedding confessed she would not 'feel married' unless a man did itll We arranged with a Congregational minister. We both had a part in the service tho I would have preferred to be excused. The long-term results were good, however. The father later became a trustee of the church during my pastorate." She emphasizes the need for patience and t~ct during the period of transition and has had many gratifying ex-periences along with the difficulties which were un-avoidable. Another who, as an associate pastor was to share all 1 Quoted by Elsie Thomas Culver, Women in the Worl~t o[ Reli-gion (Garden City: Doubleday, 1967), p. 212. responsibilities with the senior minister, remarks: ". parishoners were somewhat nervous about a woman's preaching. I was, therefore, in the parish eleven months before preaching my first sermon. However, once I had preached there was no longer any opposit!on and even considerable enthusiasm about my preaching. There was salary discrimination against me as a woman. I regret to report that this continues in my present job." It is one thing for a denomination to permit the or-dination of women, but it is quite another thing for them to find assured acceptance in a local church. So-cial and psychological attitudes vary according to re-gion and according to the economic and educational background of the parish. A denominational official can recognize a woman's gifts and ability, and give her his full backing.He cannot, however, save her from pain-ful experiences growing out of the immaturity of those she goes to serve. It is for this reason that seminaries feel obliged to caution women against placing their hopes too high. One who teaches religion in a college says that the Pres-ident of her seminary told her she "would have more satisfying opportunities to preach (as a guest) if I be-came a college professor than if I went into the parish ministry." She found this true and others indicate the same advice and outcome. Those responding to the questionnaire, however, have been drawn to many types of vocation within the min-istry. Some are called to educational work and are easily guided into a teac.hing position. Others, wanting only to be useful, can adapt ~themselves to varied situations. But there are those who feel they must become pastors at any cost. "I was told in Seminary," one such a per-son says, "that because I was a woman, I could never expect to be called to a church of any size. I did not expect to, realized this, and have been content with churches under two hundred. Observation has shown that there are hundreds of men in the same sized churches and smaller. I cannot complain of the treat-ment I have received." Another says: "Since I had a real sense of mission I did not mind taking a small church and working at making it into a strong one. This has been my pleasure several times." No one admires self-pity and least of all in a servant of Christ, Many Christian men are trying to make it possible for women to accomplish the .work to which they believe God is calling them. A number of women voice their appreciation of this fact, one stating: "I have always accepted the fact that, being a woman, I ~vould not have a chance to serve in the 'desirable' parishes, but that has not bothered me, since I am + 4. 4. Protestant Women in Religion VOLUME 26, 1967 1019 ÷ ÷ ÷ Elsie Gibson REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 1020 somewhat missionary minded anyway. I have found that there are a small minority of men, in the ministry and in administrative positions, who have the same crusad-ing feeling about women's rights in the ministry that I have about civil rights, and I have been fortnnate in that one or two have usually been around to fight my battles for me." The mores of any society yield slowly; and while men are doing the fighting, women must exercise patience un-der scrutiny at all levels in the Church as their efforts are watched and examined and the fruit of their work evaluated. "I think it is by performance rather than pressure that women will come to be accepted as min-isters," one of them says, summing up the situation; and another observes: "Since my ordination I have found that generally speaking if one goes about one's work without fuss about 'difference' one is generally respected and usually accepted." III We turn now from the motivations and opportunities of these women to the work they are actually doing. First, a summary of the questionnaires. Eighty-0ne are serving local churches, 52 as pastors, 13 as associate or assistant pastors, one as nfinister to youth and 15 as ministers of education. Eight hold posts in Christian ed-ucation on the state or national level. Two hold execu-tive posts related to women's work. One serves as as-sociate minister of a conference. Eight teach: one is in a private school, serving also as chaplhin; four teach re-ligion at the college level; three teach in seminary (two other respondents having retired from seminary posi-tions). Two are full-time chaplains. Three are evange-lists. Five have gone back to school for further graduate work, one being in her last quarter of clinical pastoral training. Seven have a writing ministry, four of these having passed retirement age. Sixteen are wives whose work it is hard to classify because of its variety (married women also appear in earlier categories). Sixteen are re-tired, some being quite advanced in years but all re-maining as active as possible in interim and supply preaching, writing, and small group ministries. Seven are serving in institutions closely allied to the Church. Two might be said to have left the ministry but are still within the Church. The work of a Protestant pastor differs considerably from that of a priest. Baptism and Holy Communion are the only sacraments in most Protestant Churches and they require a rather small proportion of a minister's time. Weddings and funerals, not usually associated by Protestants with a sacramental ministry, do not take much time except in large churches with inadequate staffs. So the Protestant pastor is engaged in study and sermon preparation, conducting worship, pastoral call-ing, administrative work, and community service. He tries to visit the sick and to introduce the Church to newcomers of his own or perhaps no denomination in the locality, especially when such persons have appeared at a Church service or their need has been called to his attention by a parishoner who knows of their desire to see a minister. He may do counseling at the Church. He spends hours with lay persons who hold responsible positions--Sunday School teachers, deacons and deacon-esses, trustees, youth sponsors, and others. He works also with small groups meeting for Bible study and prayer, leadership education, and youth activities. This would comprise the week's schedule for a woman min-ister also. Reading between the lines of my responses, I dis-cover that eight women are supporting themselves by secular employment and doing as much of the above work as possible in the churches they serve. One clerks in a grocery; another is visiting lecturer in science at a university. Teaching, nursing, and social work are men-tioned. The majority of pastors, however, are giving full time to the Church. Protestant people prefer the ministry of a married man if they can support him, so most women minis-ters will be found in struggling churches or churches which find it hard to get married ministers for other reasons. One writes: "I believe that there is a place in Protestantism for a celibate ministry. There are parishes in which a single person can work where it would not be practical for a family to live. The parish I now sei've is one that has a very hard time keeping a minister; it is a depressed coal mining area where ministers' wives do not want to bring up their children, and I don't blame them--I would not bring up children here either; but since I am single I have been able to stay on a small salai'y and do a work that really needed to be done." In 1941, a Methodist bishop asked a young woman to go and see if she could revive a church which was dis-integrating. She found a building with every window broken and no heating plant. On the pulpit was a note: "There are no members and no money. Here's the key." A school official told her: "Go back where you came. Even by police statistics it is a frightful area." She called from door to door and faced an empty church for four Sundays. Then two women came, bringing their children, and she started a Sunday School. At the end of fourteen years she was able to give up secular employ, ment; the church could support her. Now, after 26 + 4. + Protestant Women in Religion VOLUME 26, 1967 1021 + + + Elsie Gibson REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 1022 years, she serves the same church with a membership of 1,094. It has sent out one missionary, four ministers, has another graduating from seminary and still others looking toward full-time Christian work. Her r~sponse on the questionnaire as to why she entered the ministry was: "The Methodist Church needed me." Doubtless any bishop would endorse that statement. This woman may have unusual gifts of administration. --they have had an excellent building programmbut many from whom I heard seem able to manage the af-fairs of a parish well. A Michigan woman writes: "I have to date served three parishes and we have built a new church building in each place. I would have been happy to have let the men do that, though." Others felt they were not equipped to handle such projects and pre-ferred to work on a multiple staff where they would not have administrative duties. When women are assistant pastors they usually carry heavy responsibility in Christian education, pastoral calling, or both. Twenty-five years ago, schools or de-partments of religious education were separate from the theological, divisions of seminaries though on the same campuses. The education courses were taken mainly by women. They demanded extensive study of educa-tional theory and practice as well as field work but a minimum of theology. The theological sections, in which nearly all the students were men, did little or nothing in the way of training for educational work. Tension resulted between the male minister and the female director of education, the pastor thinking the woman did not know what she was trying to impart and the director of education feeling that the pastor was a dismal failure when it came to imparting anything ex-cept to adults. Since the woman had had fewer years of graduate study and was in a subordinate position on the staff, as well as from the cultural angle, she felt frus-trated. This picture is changing. A widow who serves as a director of Christian educa-tion has expressed the matter clearly: "I was ordained because at the time I was in seminary it seemed to me that there was quite a gulf between people working in the Christian education field, which I had prepared to do, and the ministry of the church. In other words, all too often the clergy did not interest themselves in edu-cation, because they felt that it was the 'field of the edu-cator, and in fact, they did not bother to find out too much about it. The person in Christian education went about his duties and the minister about his and they were each in his separate world. This led to misunder-standing and at times situations where there was rivalry and outright antagonism. By completing the full three- year course for the B.D. degree and by being ordained, I wished to show my belief that ihe work of the church is one; that whatever I did I wanted to do with the wel-fare of the total church in mind; that I was prepared to understand the work of the ministry in its widest scope and to see my task in the broadest terms." Another woman explains her desire in seeking ordination: "Be-cause it is my conviction that one who works profes-sionally in the educational ministry of the church should have the same training and status as those who are min-isters of Word and Sacrament. The ministry is one; the preaching and teaching ministry cannot be separated." Women with this full preparation frequently become associate pastors rather than assistants and their views are treated with appreciation and respect in the area of their special competence. The church school is under their direction, also adult education projects and leader-ship training of various kinds. They-may have respon-sibility for morning wors.hip when children or youth are involved. The ministers of the church work as a team, associates having been interviewed by the senior pastor so that he carl determine whether additional staff have points of view which will make it possible for all to serve together happily. The women from whom I heard in such situations were glad to participate in a team minis-try. Others who share responsibility, particularly in pas-toral calling and counseling, felt a multiple staff should always include a woman. A number in such positions said there were problems a woman would not discuss with a male minister, and vice versa, so that the pres-ence of a woman on the staff gave members of the congregation a choice. One respondent mentioned that a minister of another denomination had sent a dis-turbed woman to her for counseling even though he "did not believe in women ministers." Several who have had experience in chaplaincy work feel that it is a mis-take for men to counsel emotionally disturbed women and girls and vice versa. Older women often find satisfaction in a special min-istry to senior citizens, shut-ins, those in nursing homes and hospitals. This frees the senior pastor from all ex-cepf. the most urgent calls. The woman assistant or as-sociate takes Holy Communion to the sick and others who cannot come to the church. She conducts worship in nursing homes and often preaches in the absence of the senior minister. Thirty-four ministers' wives responded to the ques-tionnaire; thirty-two respondents are married to men who have other vocations. Unless economic circum-stances demand it, they do not leave the home when 4. 4- + Protestant Women in Religion VOLUME 26, 1967 1023 ÷ ÷ ÷ E|sle Gibson REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 1024 their children are below school age; but this does not mean they have "left the ministry." A mother of four children whose husband is in business says that she con-tinued her work until their fourth child came: "I have found that a full-time parish is too much for me to manage while the children are young. I have every in-tention of returning to the parish ministry as soon as the children are all in school, and able to be a little less de-pendent on me." In the meantime she is able to supply pulpits and conduct Christian education workshops. Another minister's wife who is serving a church part time says: "I am devot.ing all the time I feel I can to my parish duties because my family takes precedence . Fortunately, the church I currently serve does not ask for more. But in any case, until the youngest child is in school, I could not do more. If I fail my children, I fail--period. However, with these limitations I am giv-ing supportive help to a small congregation of aging persons (mostly single .women) and there doesn't seem to be anyone else around who could bother with them at the moment." Other wives, while accepting interim and supply work, do not serve as pastors and do not expect to do so. They are absorbed.in the work their husbands are do-ing, giving him assistance in tasks for which they have special gifts. The parish he serves is actually receiving the service of two ministers "for the price of one." Such churches make no de,rnands upon a woman's time but gratefully receive whatever assistance she can give. This will vary with the age and number of her children. She may give practically full time as they grow older. Protestant churches are often unaware of the work done by ministers' wives above the local level and es-pecially in ecumenical circles. I recall a large board meeting where the que.stion was suddenly asked: "How many here are ministers' x4ives?" Nearly all the women were, and it was laughingly decided that some-thing must be done abont such a situation for "what if all our husbands were to move at once?" One min-ister's wife writes: "Our little boy is just a year old so I will not be working professionally for a while. However, I am very much involved in our Church Women United gronp, and feel that the witness i am making now is perhaps greater than the witness I was able to make as a professional Christian education person." In various ways a number observed that a Christian home at the heart of the parish is in itself a form of witness. A young minister's wife states: "I've found thai often women will talk their family and marital problems over with me first. Often they want to talk to both of us. When a woman needs to break down and have a good cry, she'll often come and cry with me." Another expresses an idea which I have pondered myself: Are women led into specialized ministries? Certainly many of us who are mar-ried are so engaged. We are doing work that in many in-stances requires ordination but that others have neither the time nor the financial support to do. A young woman, ordained and having to decide whether her ministry will be given as a single or married person, writes: "I think that women were made to stand along-side men in the family, church and society." She rejects stereotypes of women as do most of those responding to my questionnaire. It seems to me that the role of woman in the Church is an nnsolved problem. Their gifts and abilities are numerous, and they cannot be forced into one of half a dozen molds predetermined by society. T.hey must have sufficient freedom to become what God intended them to be. They need the help of the men of the Church, but not their domination, to find where they belong. One woman cannot generalize for another what the ideal wife and mother must be and do. There is as much variety within this "order" as within any other. I think that perhaps the greatest need of the Church in our generation is a deep interior listening to what the Holy Spirit seems to be saying, not only to our-selves but through others. The natural human tend-ency is to try to shape others either to our own vocation or to our mental image of the calling he thinks he has. There is a bewildering multiplication of vocations to-day when almost everyone is some kind of specialist. But we are reachiug out toward mt~tual understanding. Years ago, the founder o1~ the American Association of Women Ministers chided me for my interest in the Roman Catholic Church. She could not fathom it. Aged and infirm now, unable to fill out the questionnaire, she rose from bed and scribbled a brief note which in-cluded the words: "I have found very real fellowship with Catholic Sisters both here and once when I was ill and they took me in almost as one of them. 'Just like us' I overheard one of them say to another of me." Our feelings may be ambivalent at times as we consider the radical differences in our separate states; but faith in Christ leads us to affirm that we will yet be one Body---even in the eyes of the world. + 4. + Protestant Women in Religion VOLUME 26, 1967 1025 JOSEPH F. GALLEN, S.J. Directives on the ¯Postulancy, Noviceship, and Temporary Profession ÷ + ÷ Joseph F. Gal-len, s.J., writes from St. Joseph's Church; 321 Willings Alley; Philadelphia, Penn-sylvania 19106. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 1026 In an address to the International Union of Supe-rioresses General, given in Rome on March 7, 1967, Archbishop Philippe, Secretary of the Sacred Congrega-tion of Religious, communicated the following new ori-entations or directives of the Sacred Congregation of Re-ligious on the postulancy, noviceship, and temporary profession in apostolic congregations of religious women. These directives had been p.reviously approved by the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation, Cardinal~ Antoniutti. The directives should obviously be studied by all institutes, also of men. These new orientations are di-rectives, suggestions, the thinking, the mind of the Sa-cred Congregation. They Were not imposed as obliga-tory. The norms of the motu proprio Ecclesiae sanctae (nn. 6-8) remain in full force. The general chapter therefore has the authority to change the constitutions experimentally provided the changes are not contrary to canon law and the purpose, nature, and character of the institute are preserved. Prudent experiments con-trary to canon law, if judged profitable, will be freely i~er-mitted by the Holy See, but canonical changes are effec-tive only if and when they are permitted by the Holy See. The general council has the same power of experimenta-tion in the periods between chapters according to condi-tions to be determined by the chapters. See Rv.wEw for RELXGmUS, 25 (1966), 957--65; 26 (1967), 5--18. The new orientations of the Sacred Congregation are listed below as directives. The remarks are my explanatory comments on the directives. DIRECTIVE I. PRE-POSTULANCY NOT RECOMMENDED. A pre-postulancy would be a period before the postulancy spent in one of the houses of full external activity, in which therefore the aspirant would be in contact with the actual life of the institute, would know the life she is to live when her formation is completed, and a more realistic judgment of her vocation could be made. The thinking of the Sacred Congregation of Religious is that this purpose should be included in the postulancy and not that there should be an added and special pre-postu- .lancy for all. Remarks. The directive of the Sacred Congregation stated above would not preclude the imposing or recom-mending of such a pre-postulancy to a particular aspi-rant or aspirants before admission. Some institutes of sis-ters are now demanding or tending to demand a year of work after high school, two years or the completion of college before entrance. All such requirements are based on what is stated to be the fact of experience, that is, that greater maturity than now had is at least advisable before entrance. Such experimental require-ments should be carefully thought out and, if put into effect, their results are to be accurately observed and studied. Maturity is an individual matter, and some high school graduates are sufficiently mature for entrance. A partial or complete college education is not a guaran-tee of maturity, Contact is to be maintained with the applicant during the period of any such delayed en-trance, e.g., by the vocation director. The psychological and personality testing of applicants should help the judgment on sufficient maturity. DIRECTIVE II. POSTULANCY. Necessity. In religious in-stitutes of women of.perpetual vows, there is to be a postulancy for all of at least six month~ but not longer than a year (c. 539, § 1). Prolongation. Whether the pre-scribed postulancy is six months or longer, as above, it may be prolonged but not more than six months (c. 539, § 2). Place. The postulancy may be made in the novitiate house or in another house of the institute where the discipline prescribed by the constitutions is faithfully observed (c. 540, § 1). Manner. The postulants are to make the postulancy as a distinct group under the spiritual guidance of a mistress (c. 540, § 1). Pur-pose. The postulancy is to remain, as now almost solely viewed, a period of spiritual and religious initiation for the noviceship, but it may also be considered and em-ployed as a time of probation and trial in the works of the institute. It may be made in one of the houses of full external activity. Consequently, the postulants would be in contact with the actual life of the institute, would know the life they are to live when their forma-tion is completed, and a more realistic judgment of their vocation could be made (c. 540, § 1). Authority ]or Directives VOLUME 26, 1967 1027 4" 4" 4" Joseph F. Gallen, .S.L REVIEW: FOR RELIGIOUS 1028 changes. The institutes themselves may make these changes because none of them is contrary to canon law and therefore does 'not demand the authorization of the Sacred Congregation of Religious. Remarhs. It is not a canon but the practice of the Holy See in approving constitutions that has excluded a postulancy longer than a year. Canon law did not and does not forbid either study or occupation in the ex-ternal works of the institute during postulancy. Canor~ 540, § 1 permits that the postulancy be made in houses of full external activity "where the discipline prescribed by the constitutions is faithfully observed." DIRECTIVE III. CLOTHING OR RECEPTION OF THE HABIT (BEGINNING OF THE NOVlCESHIP). Type of ceremony. The mind of the Sacred Congregation of Religious is that the clothing or reception of the habit should be reduced to a purely community ceremony, held in the chapel of the novices or of the religious house, without the pres-ence of the families or ecclesiastical authorities, and especially without solemnity. Reason. The reason is to accord the due and superior importance to religious pro-fession, which in many institutes of religious women was given less solemnity and appeared to have less impor-tance than reception. The Commission for the Imple-mentation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy is preparing to formulate a ceremonial for religious pro-fession. Remarks. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, n. 80, states: Moreover, a rite of religious profession aml renewal of vows shall be drawn up, in order to achieve greater unity, sobriety, and dignity. Apart from exceptions in particular law, this rite should be adopted by those who make their profession or

Issue 48.3 of the Review for Religious, May/June 1989. ; R~z,.'n~w vor R~.t~3~oos (ISSN 0034-639X) is publishcd bi-monthly at St. Louis University by thc Mis- ¯ souri Province Educational Institute of the Society of Jesus; Editorial Office: 3601 Lindcll Blvd. Rm. 428: SI. l.x~uis. MO 63108-3393. Sccond-class postagc paid at St. Lxmis MO. Single copies $3.00. Subscriptions: $12.00 pcr year: $22.00 for two years. Other countries: for surface mail. add U.S. $5.00 per year; for airmail, add U.S. $20.00 per year. For subscription orders or changc of address, write: R~,.'u~w voa R~t.~Gous: P.O. Box 6070: Duluth. MN 55806. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rv:vtv:w v(m REI.I(;IOtJS; P.O. Box 6070; Duluth, MN 55806. David L. Fleming, S.J. Iris Ann Ledden, S.S.N.D. Richard A. Hill, S.J. Jean Read Mary Ann Foppe Editor Associate Editor Contributing Editor Assistant Editors Ma\'/June 1989 Volume 48 Number 3 Manuscripts, books fnr review and correspnndence with the editor should be sent to REvtEw wm Rr:t,t(;mt~s; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. la~uis, MO 63108-3393. Correspondence about the department "Canonical Counsel" should be addressed to Rich-ard A. Hill, S.J.; J.S.T.B.; 1735 l~eRoy Ave.; Berkeley, CA 94709-1193. Back issues and reprints shnuld be nrdered from R~:\'t~:w vo~ R~:~,nntms; 3601Lindell Blvd.; St. la~uis, MO 63108-3393. "Out nf print" issues are available frnm University Micrnfilms International; 300 N. Zeeb Rd.; Ann Arbor, MI 48106. A major pnrtion of each issue is also available on cassette recordings as a service for the visually impaired. Write to the Xavier Snciety fnr the Blind; 154 East 23rd Street; New York, NY 10010. PRISMS . Color plays an important role in our human lives. Before modem psy-chological studies were done about color and its effect upon our human psyche, the Church emphasized color to highlight liturgical seasons and to enhance individual feast-day celebrations. Both the colors for deco-rating altar, tabernacle, and sanctuary and the colors for priestly vest-ments and stoles conveyed a mood or feeling of the season or feast. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS over the past ten years has distinguished its is-sues within any one volume by color. Willy-nilly, whether by foresight or only upon reflection, color for us, too, tends to have a certain sym-bolic relationship to the seasonal and liturgical placement of an issue. An obvious point can be made with the blue cover of this issue--a blue which is associated with Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, and with her special identification with the month of May. In more recent times, the popular place of Mary in the devotional lives of Catholics has dimmed. The Vatican II renewal of our liturgy and sacramental celebrations necessarily focused our attention and re-education upon the central mysteries of our faith-life. Devotions in their myriad forms of litanies, novenas, vigils or holy hours, and various other pious practices--whether in honor of Mary or of any of the saints-- naturally received less attention during this period. Our time and ,our en-ergies were being re-directed so that we could recapture the Eucharistic celebration and the other celebrations of sacraments with all the fervor and participation that marked our popular devotions. It sometimes appeared that, with popular devotions less emphasized, Mary and the saints were also losing their place in Catholic life. Instead, this has been a time of nurturing fresh growth, with new insights and em-phases to invigorate and renew our faith-lives. The recent Marian year stands as a proclamation of the renewed understanding of Mary's place in the life of the Christian faithful. In this issue, we look through four different prisms at Mary. The first article is "Mary in Contemporary Culture" by Father Stan Parmisano, O.P. Just as Mary has played a distinctive role in the various ages of the Church, for example, in the "lady" ideal of the Middle Ages culture, so we need to ask how our relation to Mary facilitates our Christian re-sponse to.the issues and values prevalent in culture today. The author 321 399 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 stimulates our own thinking about the hidden ways in which Mary might be said to be prevalent in our culture. The second article in this issue is "Through Mary" by Ms. Hilda Montalvo. As wife, mother, and teacher, Ms. Montalvo calls us all into a personal reflection upon what the dogmas about Mary mean to us. She points the way to seeing how Marian dogmas are necessarily Christian dogmas, helping us to clarify our own relationship with God and to en-rich the meaning of our human lives. Sister Mary Eileen Foley, R.G.S., writes the third article on Mary, raising the question in her title, "Reflections on Mary, Bridge to Ecu-menism?" In view of an existing Reformation tradition in which the honor given to Mary continues to divide Roman and Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Christian from the majority of other Christian churches, Sis-ter Mary Eileen suggests ways of seeing how a new understanding of Mary may well be in our day a true ecumenical bridge. The fourth article allows us all to pursue further at our leisure the most recent writings on Mary. Father Thomas Bourque, T.O.R., pro-vides us with a selected bibliography of writings about Mary which have been published between the time of Paul VI's exhortation, Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and John Paul II's encyclical, Mother of the Redeemer. Hopefully this compact bibliography can serve as a helpful resource for a fresh and renewed understanding of Mary's role in the lives of Christian peoples. Finally, I will note that in a newly added section to our Book and Cassette Reviews area, called "For the Bookshelf," we have briefly noted the contents of a few books about Mary just recently published. I hope that you will find the occasional addition of this section to Re-views a help in highlighting those recently published books, which we want to note and can often group around certain themes or issues. David L. Fleming, S.J. Mary In Contemporary Culture Stan Parmisano, O.P. Father Stan Parmisano, O.P., is Regent of Studies for the Western Dominican Prov-ince. He teaches at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California in the area of Religion and the Arts. His address is 5877 Birch Court; Oakland, California 94618. ~ have been asked to specify the difference Mary, the Mother of Jesus, makes or can make in our contemporary culture. Let me first propose some principles, or basic thinking, that may help toward a fruitful dis-cussion of the complex of issues and subjects involved in the question. Afterwards, we may consider some of these particulars in terms of Mary and her possible role within them. We think of the presence or absence of Mary, as of Jesus, in terms of visibility or of imaginable or intelligible content. Thus if there is a dearth of "thinking" about Mary or of images of her, we would say that she is absent in our time; on the contrary, we would say that she was pre-sent in former times, especially in the medieval and early renaissance worlds, when she was quite "visible" in the content of theology, art, architecture, poetry, music. But there is another kind of presence: invis-ible, unconscious, the presence of form rather than content, the kind of presence we are asked to look for, say, in non-representational art or in music, or in poetry where the music or rhythm precedes idea and image and helps create them. t This is a presence of thrust, of dynamic, of spirit ¯ . . like that of the Spirit of God (ruach Elohim) hovering over the yet unformed waters of chaos and warming them toward visibility and life. I want to suggest that perhaps Mary is present here and there in our time in this last manner, and that we should strive to promote her more universal presence in this direction as well as in that of visible content. In fact, this is the direction in which we should seek to define culture 323 324 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 itself. Culture is not a matter of any one specific content or subject or activity nor of all taken en masse. Rather, it is the inherited dynamism or spirit or form that produces each of them in all their various nuances, though it itself is affected and reshaped by them.z The same is true with regard to God and Jesus: it is not so much the content of our thought about them, not the images we have of them that is telling, but what un-derlies these, beyond thought and image, inspiring and shaping the con-tent of our belief. I would regard Mary in a similar way. In the earliest Church there was not, perhaps, much content or visibility of Mary, at least when com-pared to Jesus and his male disciples, to Paul and his entourage. But, to borrow an image from one of her later lovers, I would suggest that she was there from beginning to end as "atmosphere," as "world-mothering air, air wild," as form or spirit shaping the emerging thought and action of the Church.3 Certainly it was in her modest context, her "atmosphere," that Christ was preserved from mere myth and acknowl-edged as substantially and earthily human (so Paul's almost casual aside: "born of a woman"). By the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance that spirit had blossomed into a fullness of content. Then that content be-gan to harden till in some instances and locales it quenched the moving spirit and became identified with Mary. And could it be that Vatican II tried to recover her spirit, the "form" of Mary? If so, we must not mis-take what it had to say about Mary for the fullness of Mary but, with its beginnings, refocus on the thrust of Mary in our time and beyond. In speaking of Mary's presence in this way I would hope to suggest another presence, that of the Holy Spirit. Saint Maximilian Kolbe spoke boldly of Mary as the quasi-incarnation of the Holy Spirit, emphasizing the latter part of this hyphenation. Since then, less venturesome theolo-gians have accentuated the quasi.4 In any case few Catholic theologians will deny Mary's special and intimate relationship with the Spirit. They go hand in loving hand, indissolubly Wedded--not only because they were cooperatively together at the conception of Christ and later at the birth of the Church, but because they have a kind of natural affinity. Both are hidden, in the background as it were, but dynamically so, strik-ingly reemerging at critical moments in Jesus's adult years--as when the Spirit leads Jesus into the desert to prepare him for his ministry, and when Mary, waiting for Jesus "apart from the crowd," inspires in him the revolutionary declaration as to his true and lasting kindred (Mk 3:31 - 35). There are other shared characteristics. These are discoverable in cer-tain movements or thrusts of our time, and I suggest that we look here Mary in Contemporary Culture / 395 for the presence of Mary/Spirit in our time as well as in any explicit Marian theology or devotion. Some of these revelatory movements are as follows. The interiorization of religion. Certainly emphasis today is on the sub-jective aspect of belief and morality. Even those who rightly uphold the objectivity of belief and morals are concerned more than ever with lib-erty of conscience, personal and cultural limitations of understanding, the virtue of prudence and its largely intuitive functioning, the unique-ness of a given "situation," the restoration in one form or another of casuistry(the individual case). But interiorization, subjectivity, intuition are of the unpredictable Spirit "who blows where he wills" and of the traditionally feminine rather than of the predictably and predicting ra-tional and the traditionally masculine. Purged of all excess and distor-tion, they are, in other words, of the Holy Spirit and Mary. Contemplative prayer. In the last twenty to thirty years there has been in the western world a mounting interest in and practice of medita-tive prayer, sparked by eastern imports such as TM, Zen, Yoga, and now developed along lines of traditional Christian contemplation. This prayer is seen now to be not just for the select few, mainly among nuns and monks, but for all in whatever walk of life. Here is obviously another aspect of interiorization and the letting go of content in favor of a poised and expectant darkness. It is not a looking to what is outside (image, word, symbol, creed) but to what is within, to the private, personal "reve-lation," to what God is "saying" to me here and now--like a pregnant woman turned inward, quietly aware of the mystery growing within her. Here again is the Holy Spirit praying within us when, as St. Paul tells us (Rm 8:26-27), we do not know what to pray for (that is, when all con-tent is surrendered) and here is Mary, the silent, surrendering contem-plative par excellence. Unseen, unfelt, they are at the heart of so many today who are trying to pray such prayer, and so many others desper-ately in need of it if only to avoid being torn apart and scattered by the noise and confusion of a world off-center. Ecumenism. Another mark, and need, of the contemporary Church is ecumenism, conceived now as the unification not just of the various Christian churches but of the worldreligions as well. Again we may see here the stirring of.the Spirit who is the bond of love, the vinculum cari-tatis, uniting Father and Son, the one hovering over the deep bringing, at the Father's Word, order out of chaos, the one forming and securing the one Church in the beginning. And as Mar~,, with and in the Spirit, brought to birth the one undivided Christ, so is her labor today with re- 326 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 gard to the Church. It is the opinion of many Catholic theologians that Mary should be downplayed today so as not to offend our Protestant broth-ers and sisters and thereby impede ecumenism. I should think it would be just the opposite, providing the depth of Mary is presented, which is her spirit, her form more than her traditional content; yet the latter, in the purity of Church teaching and practice, is of marked importance, too, for itself and for what it reveals of her spirit and the new directions that spirit may take, for all the churches, in the future.5 Social Justice. Whereas in former times we would speak of charity and the works of charity, now the cry is for justice and the doing of jus-tice: we do for the poor not so much out of our love and their need as out of our sense of justice and their rights. Again, in the past justice has been in the main the province of the male, the one actively engaged in the world, in politics, business, civil defense, and so forth. But women are more and more coming to the fore in it, seeking justice for themselves and for the marginal and oppressed in general. Here we may note a fresh dynamic of Mary--the seed of which, however, was there from the be-ginning. Thus those writing of Mary today, particularly women, view her in the context of the women of justice in the ancient Hebrew world-- Esther, Deborah, Judith--and see a whole theology of social justice in Mary's Magnificat.6 And if the movement toward social justice is of the Holy Spirit, who as creative Love seeks balance, harmony, substantial peace and concord, then, yes we can find, if we look, the Spirit's spouse at work with the Spirit toward the same goal. Mary, while drawing us within in contemplative stillness, also directs us outward to the Christ who lived and lives in our objective, tangible world and identified him-self with the quite visible poor and needy. She points to this Christ dwell-ing outside us as well as within, just as does the Holy Spirit who, as the gospel tells us, is there to remind us continually of all Christ has visibly done and audibly spoken. Perhaps part of the new "content" of Mary today is this visibility of the woman in works of justice and peace, not as having lost the interiorization, the contemplative spirit, the gentle, mothering love of her past, but as gaining something in addition: the hid-den life while, paradoxically still remaining hidden, come forth openly to help heal the world. Mary remains what she was in the past and there-fore under the press of current need becomes someone new for the pre-sent. When considering Mary in her relationship to women, past and pre-sent, we must be cautious. Christ is male; his maleness is part of his his-tory, and history is important in the religion known as Christianity. But Mary in Contemporary Culture / 327 his maleness is meant mainly as a means of access to his humanity and person which are neither male nor female. Christ is equally for both men and women, though, of course, in different ways according to different psychologies and cultures. However, the h~stoncai fact of Christ s male-ness has often dominated our thinking about him, with regretful results; as when, in spite of changes in psychologies and culture it is used to jus-tify an ongoing exclusive male ecclesiastical leadership. Similarly with Mary. Her femininity is a providential part of her history, but it is as a human being and person that she is of greater moment. Accordingly she is for the man as well as the woman; she serves both equally and both are equally to learn from her, though, again, in different ways. Yet her femininity has had its influence, for good and bad. For bad." it has tended to limit our ideal of the Christian woman to what it was in Mary's own day and to which, accordingly, she herself was in good measure bound. For good: it has softened our conception of God and so made our ap-proach to God easier, more inviting, loving rather than fearful. In and through the gospels, past art and poetry and drama, seeing God in the arms and in the care and "power" of this then insignificant Jewish woman--quiet, gentle, lowly, we find some of that same womanhood rubbing off, as it were, on Father God. A fair part of the accessibility of Jesus himself, his merciful compassion, is the fact that he has Mary as his flesh and blood mother. Without her, would we be altogether con-vinced of the mercy of God and the understanding compassion of Jesus? Here is one way in which the "content" or dogma of Mary has affected us in the past, with its mark still upon us, thankfully. In the present thrust of woman toward justice, with Mary behind (and before) her, it would be tragic if this content were surrendered in favor of one that is hard, merely active, superficially and imitatively masculine. Eventually God himself might regress into the terror and cruelty of past and present dark religions. Mary, the Spirit, and Christ Above I recalled the bold but, to my mind, accurate Mariology of St. Maximilian Kolbe. Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit in a unique way, such that we can speak of her as the very incarnation of the Spirit, with some reservation (quasi). As indicated above, some Catholic theo-logians are embarrassed by this as by much else in the Church's past the-ology and practice concerning Mary. They think it an exaggeration of the biblical teaching and find it an impediment to union with our Protes-tant sister churches. As to the first objection we must insist that Scripture was not meant Review for Religious, May-June 1989 to stand alone: it sprung up out of the Church (community of believers) and its seeds are meant to grow within the Church under the care of the same Spirit who once inspired it. There was an initial content, to be re-spected as the Spirit's word through all time; but there were also drives, dynamisms within the original word, forms yet to find their specific con-tent or matter. Thus the gospels' powerful presentations, lovingly and carefully lingered over, of the relationship between Mary, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit cry out for meditation and penetration and so the revelation of truths beneath the surface. Thus we have the doctrines of the Immacu-late Conception, Assumption, the Queenship of Mary, and so forth; and her quasi-incarnation of the Spirit. This last is not to make a god of Mary. The gospels are clear on this score: Mary is the handmaid of the Lord, his lowly servant. Rather it is to point up something in God--the femininity, womanhood,, motherhood of God. Mary can be looked upon in two ways: as an historical person, flesh and blood, the daughter of Anna and Joachim (or of whomever), the physi-cal, natural mother of Jesus. Here she is all and only human. But she must also be seen as symbol, but the special kin~ of symbol that makes what is symbolized present in very reality. Thus as the Eucharist does not simply remind us of Christ but makes him really present upon our altars, so Mary does not simply recall the Holy Spirit to our minds and point us in the Spirit's direction; she makes the Spirit. really present among and within us. Seeing her we see the Spirit, as seeing the Eucha-rist we see Christ himself. This is a good and legitimate reason for ad-dressing the Spirit as feminine--not as a sop for the marginal woman but simply because as there are reasons for addressing God as Father or Son there is this equally cogent reason for addressing God as Mother.7 As in time, in the mystery of the Incarnation there is eternal Father, mother Mary, and Son Jesus, so in eternity there is Father and Son with mother-ing Spirit as their bond of Love. As for the difficulties such teaching may hold for ecumenism, they may be only initial difficulties. As suggested above, if we view Mary and present her in terms of form, thrust, spirit, and not just as already shaped content, and if we continually move deeper within this content in context of present needs and lawful desire, perhaps Protestants will eventually come to see what Catholic belief and theology have long since held as truth and will thank us for having led the way back home, as we have reason to thank them for having helped bring us back to much that had been lost. One final remark before considering some of the specifics of our sub- Mary in Contemporary Culture / 329 ject: it has to do with Mary's relationship with Christ. Again, in sensi-tivity to Protestant criticism and in reaction to exaggerated statements about Mary and misguided devotion to her, Vatican II and ecclesiastical documents and theology since have been most careful to insist upon the subjection of Mary to Christ. Salvation is through Christ alone; he is the one mediator between God and humankind. There is little if any talk about what formerly there was lots of talk about, namely of Mary as co-redeemer and mediatrix of all graces. Such theologizing, it is believed, and the devotion arising from (or producing) it detracts from the power and mission of Christ. But I wonder if we are not here misconceiving power and the whole matter of Christ's redemptive work. We seem to be equating Christ's (God's) power with power as we ordinarily think of it: dominating rule, often exclusive. But Christ's power is not univo-cal with ours, and he himself quite literally took the greatest pains to turn the tables in the matter: "You know how those who exercise authority among the gentiles lord it over them . It cannot be like that with you. Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the rest . Such is the case with the Son of Man who has come, not to be served by others, but to serve" (Mt 20:25-28). And what about the power of love, which is Christ's power, or that of helplessness: the power of the sick to draw upon the strengths of oth-ers to heal and console, the power of the ignorant to create scholars and teachers, and so forth? I have often observed that the one with most power in a family is not the father or mother but the newly born baby, the whole life of the family revolving around the child precisely because of its powerful helplessness. If this seems farfetched relative to God, we have only to think of the Christ child in the crib at Bethlehem and the adult Christ upon the cross on Calvary. And what of the power of one who knows how to share his or her power, which requires greater strength, ability, "power" than to keep it all to oneself? I should think the great power of Christ, of God himself, is most manifest in the power to empower, to raise others to his very life and level. Jesus at the Last Supper remarked: "I solemnly assure you, the one who has faith in me will do the works I do, and greater far than these" (Jn 14:12). Not ex-clusive but inclusive--such is the power of Christ. Though our Holy Father in Redemptoris Mater follows Lumen Gen-tium in insisting upon Mary's subordination to Christ, h~, together with the Vatican II document, reiterates an old principle we ought to consider with equal care: "The maternal role of Mary towards people in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows 330 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 its power" (emphasis mine). Why not assert this aspect of Christ's power and see Mary as true queen "at the side of her Son," as the encyclical expresses it? Indeed, for centuries and still today, at least in our Christ-mas liturgies and devotions, we see the King rather in the power of his mother and in her arms, enfolded by her who gives him to the nations: "and so entering the house, (they) found the child with Mary his mother. Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me . He went down with them then, and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them . Figlia del tuo figlio, queen of heaven" (Mt 2:1 I ; Lk 1:43; Lk 2:51; T. S. Eliot, Dry Salvages, after Dante's Paradiso, xxxiii). In one mariological conference that I attended the speakers were in-sistent that we not view Mary apart from Christ. I kept thinking yes, but might not the reverse also be true: we must not view Christ apart from Mary. In Redemptoris Mater, John Paul several times reminds us of the indissolubility of the bond between Mary and Jesus and explicitly de-clares that "from the very first moment the Church 'looked at' Mary through Jesus, just as she 'looked at' Jesus through Mary." Christ does not want to be viewed in splendid isolation with everyone insisting that everything and everyone else is subordinated to him. His own image of himself is of one who serves, just as Mary's self-image is of the Lord's handmaid, neither thought less of their dignity for that: "Behold, all gen-erations shall call me blessed" (Lk 1:48). Mary is the first-fruits of the redemption, the Church in promised fulfillment, the Mother of the Re-deemer, of God himself, the spouse of the Holy Spirit and the effective symbol of the Spirit's presence and action in the world--this woman who embodies the very motherhood of God holds the new creation in her arms and nurtures it, just as she did her divine Son centuries ago. She has a greater, more powerful (loving) role in the work of redemption than much of our present theology is prepared to concede or any of us begin to imagine.8 At the conclusion of Redemptoris Mater we read: ". the Church is called not only to remember everything in her past that testifies to the special maternal cooperation of the Mother of God in the work of salva-tion in Christ the Lord, but also, on her own part, to prepare for the fu-ture the paths of this cooperation. For the end of the second Christian millennium opens up as a new prospect." Our Holy Father also calls for "a new and more careful reading of what the Council said about the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the mystery of Christ and the Church . " Renewed thinking about Mary and action relative to her Mary in Contemporary Culture / 33"1 are called for.9 But we are to do our thinking and acting in the context of both Scripture and the wider tradition, and of current need. We are to listen to the living Spirit as "she" shows within this treasure, Mary, both the old and the new. Mary and Some Specifics of Culture: Psychology In light of the above generalized reflections on Mary and contempo-rary culture I would like to comment briefly upon several segments of our culture in terms of Mary's possible role within them. In the area of psychology, so overwhelmingly influential in the shaping of our contem-porary culture and such an intimate part of it, it depends on what psy-chology we are talking about. If it is Jungian depth psychology, we need not look long or far to find Mary's place within it. Much of the work has already been done by the master and his disciple. Jung maintained that ideas and archetypes such as the anima, the intuitive, the dark, the yin--in general, the feminine--are underdeveloped in our western cul-ture, with disastrous results. His psychology must go even further today and add they are also on the wane in much of the eastern world in com-petition now with the west in its masculine drives toward action and domi-nance, rational knowledge and acquisition. This psychology's percep-tion, then, of the need for Mary or some equivalent dynamic is evident. Jung himself expressly spoke of the need in terms of Mary. He rejoiced over the definition of the doctrine of Mary's assumption, declaring it to be "the most important religious event since the Reformation." At last the feminine was given the exaltation it requires and deserves.~° However, as suggested above, and as Jungian psychology insists, we must not think of the feminine exclusively in terms of the woman. In the past maybe so, and in our present world still many women may be said to possess more of the "feminine" than do men. But feminine charac-teristics are meant to be part of the male psychology as masculine ones of the female, and cases abound where dominance in one or the other is reversed. I think of the two great sixteenth-century Carmelites. Both Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross had the organizational skills and drives and other "masculine" traits appropriate to founders and reform-ers of religious orders, and in these Teresa, as evidenced in her numer-ous religious foundations and governance thereof, may be said to have surpassed John. Again, both were richly passive, intuitive, contempla-tive, steeped in dark and mystery and in cleaving, passionate love, all notable feminine characteristics. Yet it is John, at least as revealed in his poetry, who appears the more feminine: he is the anima, the woman pas-sive under the strong and passionately active love of a quite virile God. 332 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 To what extent, therefore, the feminine characteristics are de facto ¯ found in women more than in men may be moot. But they are definitely the major component of the psyche of the woman Mary as she appears in the gospels. Mary's strong, paradoxically active passivity (she brings .forth the Word as she receives it), her alert and watchful hiddenness, her concern and compassion for those in need (Cana) and for the suffering (Calvary), her motherhood (of Christ and the Church), her deep, loving fidelity (from thefiat of Nazareth and before to that of Calvary and be-yond) are purposely emphasized that both men and women might real-ize their indispensability in each life that would be Christ's. They are also underscored to draw our attention to the feminine in Christ, whom oth-erwise we might tend to view simply as masculine: visibly out front, ac-tive in his preaching, teaching, healing, immersed in religious contro-versy-- a male among a world of males. In the context of his mother (and the other women who surround him), Jesus is still masculine but we are forced to attend to the deep roots of his masculinity, which is his femi-nine Spirit: his passivity (his prayer and passion), his hidden life even as he actively encountered the world, his cleaving love and compassion unto death, his motherhood (Mt 23:37; Lk 13:34). In Mary's presence, her "atmosphere," such qualities of Christ are not simply seen, but they are seen to be the best of him. Jesus was so powerfully and creatively masculine--such a leader for his time as for all time--because his mas-culinity was rooted in and suffused by the feminine, the Spirit. It is Mary who as his mother nurtured him in this, and who helps draw our atten-tion to it. It is she, then, who as our mother nurtures us in the same Spirit and in a similar way. As for other psychologies suffice it here to say that Mary should be looked for behind and within any therapy working toward healing and wholeness. Again, it is Christ who is the healer, but it is Mary who in-itiates the process by bringing Christ to birth, in the world at large and in each individual. Mary, one with the Spirit, struggles and groans in each of us to bring us to the wholeness, the sanity of Christ. Like her, and with her, we concentrated on the activefiat that allows it all to hap-pen. Politics, Economics, Sociology In the political, economic, and sociological concerns of our time Mary points up the need for the hidden, the contemplative, and for uni-versal justice (as in her Magnificat), and, though unnoticed, she is be-hind and within all creative efforts toward these ends. The absence of the contemplative, of the feminine in general, in contemporary politics Mary in Contemporary Culture / 333 is evident, and results have been tragic. Because they lack roots, our poli-tics, both domestic and foreign, change even as they are being formed; and this condition is aggravated by lack of goals other than immediate and pragmatic. But it is the contemplative spirit that gives depth and con-stancy and lights up the future and beyond. Also, our current concentration is upon superficial differences and divisions (my need, my race, my country, my self) rather than on our deeper oneness, which only contemplation, in the one God-centered form or another, can reveal and promote. Further, the disturbance we experi-ence within and among nations may well have as its root cause the fail-ure of the contemplative, the fruit of which is "the peace that surpasses understanding." And so we find divisions among us, the growth of fear, the expan-sion of military might to safeguard our "own" war or the cold threat of war. We look, then, to Mary, universal Mother and Queen of peace, for political healing. She is already there, in this felt social need, but also in those religious orders of men and women whose main concern is con-templation. One of the concrete ways in which the state might help work its own remedy, and so implicitly acknowledge Mary in its functioning, is itself to encourage and promote contemplative communities within its boundaries. These would help make up for the failure of prayer else-where and would be invitation and incentive for the rest of us to unite ourselves with them, at least from time to time, and so help bring our nation and the world to greater depth, unity, and peace. If the need for Mary and what she represents is obvious in politics, it is more so in the field of economics. Here the masculine dominates to the complete exclusion of the feminine, and material concerns have been so isolated from the spiritual that never the twain do meet. This is especially disturbing when we realize that it is economics that determines even our politics. Science too, as technology, is subordinated to it and dominated by it. Indeed, economics has become the dominant factor of our culture or a-culture; it is our pseudo-religion, often becoming, in fact if not in theory, the determining force in more legitimate and traditional religion. If, then, Jesus needs to be born into our world today, it is cer-tainly here in our economic systems and practice. And if born here, he may begin to penetrate the rest of our world. So once again we look to Mary to mother Jesus where he is most needed and we do what we can to help her in the birthing. To see sociology in terms of Mary is to reconsider love. Whatever the other theories as to the origin of society, from the Christian perspec- 334 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 tive it is love that first brings us together and, accordingly, it is love that is society's fundamental problem. So from its beginnings Christianity has taught that the basic unit of society is not the individual but the family which (ideally) is the product of love; and social workers, I believe, would readily agree that it is the lack of love, with the resulting fear and loneliness, that is their chief concern. But today love which is meant to unite is itself fragmented. Sex, in-tended to be integral with love, has been divided from it and made to function alone with all the consequent evils, both mental and physical, that plague our society. The inward-outward directions of love have also been severed, so that now it is either love of self (inward) to the exclu-sion of others or the love of others (outward) to the neglect and loss of self. One of the results of this is the breakup (further division) of the fam-ily which, accordingly, is now challenged by sociologists as the de facto basic unit of society. Mary can and, in secret ways, does have a curative place in all of this. Her love was integral. It reached out to others in and through Christ's large love; indeed, she brought that very love to birth. But she also reached deep within herself to the Spirit of love wherein she found her personal growth and happiness: "All generations will call me blessed." True, she "knew not man." But this does not mean her love was sexless. It is the myopia of our time that sees sex as having but one kind of expression. Mary can alert us to look for the depth in sex and sexual love and so open to us new possibilities of love. And love restored to wholeness should work toward the restoration of the centrality of fam-ily with consequent diminution of fear and loneliness. The Arts and Sciences Mary can have, and has, her place in those areas of our culture known as the arts and sciences. In any presentation or exercise of the hu-man, as in the arts and sciences, we are to see Christ, of course, but also Mary who, in her Immaculate Conception and her conception and birth-ing of Christ, was the first to bring the human to perfection. But as in Christ the human is perfected in and through the divine (Christ's person and divine nature) so also we find Mary bringing the human to perfec-tion in, through, and toward the divine. Again, it is a matter of whole-ness, which our contemporary world tends always to divide. Apart from the divine the human can only degenerate into the inhuman; but with the divine all of its gifted potential is realized. It is in this sense that the only true humanism is Christian humanism. Thus in the arts and sciences Mary is present as they express and promote the human, and she is dy- Mar), in Contemporary Culture / 335 namically present, moving them forward and deeper into the divine to become divinely human. Christ alone might be said to suffice for this: he is the one who in his very person brings the human to perfection. But Mary gives assurance of and added emphasis to Christ's humanity (he is of herflesh) and his divinity (she is Mother of God) and is responsible for the becoming of these in our world (she conceives and nurtures the perfect human being). She is behind the process of the arts and sciences. Here, then, as elsewhere in our contemporary world, Mary, together with her Son, may be found, not just as a possibility, but as actively engaged in shaping a reemerging culture. Our concern ought to be to look for them together and, having found them, enter into their work. NOTES ~ "I know that a poem, or a passage of a poem, may tend to realize itself first as a particular rhythm before it reaches expression in words, and that this rhythm may bring to birth the idea and the image; and I do not believe that this is an experience peculiar to myself." T. S. Eliot. "The Music of Poetry" in On Poetry and Poets (New York: 1957), p. 32. z Eliot again: "Culture cannot altogether be brought to consciousness; and the cul-ture of which we are wholly conscious is never the whole of culture: the effective culture is that which is directing the activities of those who are manipulating that which they call culture." Christianity and Culture (New York: 1949), p. 184. For Eliot's summary definition of culture see p. 198. 3 Gerard Manley Hopkins in "The Blessed Virgin compared to the Air We Breathe." 4 Ren~ Laurentin, indeed, disapproves of the expression altogether, reserving the term "incarnation" for that bf Christ alone~ However, he proceeds to speak of Mary as "pure transparency for the Spirit . . . she is wholly relative to the Spirit; this indeed is at the very core of her deep relationship to Christ and the Father." "Mary and the Holy Spirit," in Mary in Faith and Life in the New Age of the Church (Ndola- Zambia: 1983),"pp. 287-288. 5 See note 9 below for C. Jung's defense of Mary, precisely as in Catholic dogma, as a remedy for a defective Protestantism. In a letter to The Tablet, Sept. 5, 1987, p. 944, Dora Bede Griffiths, writing from his ashram-in Tamil Nadu, South India, suggests a rapprochement, between eastern religions and Christianity through the femi-nine. He notes that in Hebrew the "word for the Spirit (ruach) is feminine and in the Syrian Church, which spoke a form of Aramaic, which is close to the Hebrew, reference was made to 'our Mother, the Holy Spirit.' " The same for the Hebrew word for Wisdom (hokmah): it too is feminine and "this Wisdom is described as 'coming forth from the mouth of the Most High' as a feminine form of the Word of God." He suggests the possible enrichment of our Christian tradition by contact with Hinduism which "has no difficulty in calling on God as 'My Father, my Mother' and with Mahayana Buddhism which conceives of the highest form of Wis-dom as a feminine figure. Dora Bede does not mention Mary here, but it is my sug-gestion that she it is who concretizes the divine feminine, gives it flesh. Thus she 336 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 is the one who, rather than impede universal ecumenism, is meant to help in its re-alization. 6 There are the fine women theologians writing on Mary, such as E. S. Fiorenza and E. Moltmann-Wendel. But I am also thinking of the poets who perhaps do even more to deepen and broaden our knowledge and appreciation of Mary: a Caryll Houselan-der of the past generation and an Ann Johnson of the present. For the Magnificat especially, see the latter's Miryam of Nazareth: Woman of Strength and Wisdom (In-diana: Ave Maria Press, 1984). 7 In his essay "Sur la maternit~ en Dieu et la feminit6 du Saint-Esprit," Escritos del Vedat !I (1981), Yves Congar argues from Scripture and Tradition to the femi-ninity of the Holy Spirit, but is here silent as to Mary's role in the "sacramentiz-ing" of it. The essay may also be found in Theology Digest 30:2 (Summer, 1982) pp, 129-132. 8 Solus Christus, as solafides and sola scriptura, requires severe qualification. For centuries Catholic theologians have argued vigorously against ~he two latter formu-lae. They have been rightly suspicious of such exclusivity in view of the fullness of Christian revelation. For the same reason, perhaps, they should also challenge the solus Christus, this time in view of the fullness of Christ who is our revelation. 9 In an interview carried in America (June 6, 1987), pp. 457-458, Cardinal Suenens stressed the incompleteness of Vatican II's declaration on Mary. "I felt we needed to say more . She is not merely an historical figure; from the beginning she has been given an ongoing mission to bring Christ to the world." ~0 C. G. Jung, "Answer to Job," in Psychology and Religion: West and East, trans. by R. F. C. Hull, Bollinger Series XX (Pantheon Books, 1958), p. 464. Jung goes on to criticize Protestantism for its criticisms of the dogma. "Protestantism has ob-viously not given sufficient attention to the signs of the times which point to the equal-ity of women. But this equality requires to be metaphysically anchored in the figure of a 'divine' woman, the bride of Christ." Jung realizes that the dogma does not give Mary "the status of a goddess," still "her position (now) satisfies the need of the archetype." 1 don't know how this last can be, however, unless it is in and through Mary that we recognize that within the godhead itself the feminine is real-ized in the Person of the Spirit. Through Mary. Hilda S. Montalvo Hilda Montalvo is currently teaching at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida. She is a wife and mother, currently a candidate for a Doc-torate in Ministry. She has completed the graduate program in Christian Spiritual Guid-ance from the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Washington, D.C. Her ad-dress is 7151 Pioneer Road; West Palm Beach, Florida 33413. The other day at a Lay Ministry workshop there was a spontaneous burst of applause when I shared my way of praying Mary's life. From the be-ginning of my spiritual journey over twenty years ago I have had an in-tuitive knowledge that the objective "facts" and titles about Mary were important not only because they honored and revered the mother of God but also because they spoke of my reality as a human being and a Chris-tian. These Marian dogmas have helped me to clarify and understand my basic assumptions of myself, my relationship with God, and the mean-ing of my life. I have always had a problem with original sin. To inherit Adam's sin is simply not fair, and so at seven I became an agnostic. The idea of a God that punishes and condemns innocent people--and I experi-enced myself as innocent--was repulsive and frightening. Christianity was not good news. If I was good, if ! kept the commandments, then God would love me. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception simply meant that God had wai.ved that evil from one person. To be born with original sin was bad enough but at least it was a shared human experi-ence and it explained (somewhat!) evil and death. But if Mary was born without it, not only was she not totally human but her "fiat" was pre-destined and she had no actual freedom. Christianity became good news when I realized that the fall/ redemption concept of original sin was simply one way of understand- 337 331~ / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 ing the Genesis story. The traditional interpretation of the story of Adam and Eve posits a paradise lost because of disobedience and the conse-quent punishment of suffering and death. But modern biblical interpret-ers such as Brueggemann are recognizing that the fundamental revela-tion of Genesis is that God's creation is good and that God is constantly gracing and blessing it. God made man and woman in "our" image and it was very good. That has to be the most important assumption of our spiritual life. Each person must come to a personal conviction of this truth that is not only an intellectual response but a lived, grounded ex-perience. The story of Adam and Eve is now being understood as that moment in history when human beings first become self-consciously aware, the first truly human act. Before that there was simply undifferentiated ex-istence; total unconscious dependence on environment and relationship, such as each baby.lives through his or her first year. The process of be-coming self-conscious, of becoming autonomous, in a child can be de-scribed a bit facetiously as the "terrible two's," in humankind, as the Fall. Original sin is not a 'thing' that we are born with: it simply de-scribes in mythological language our natural tendency for independence. Catholicism has always affirmed that grace builds on nature. Crea-tion spirituality, which has its origins in the earliest writer of the Bible, the Yahwist, emphasizes the constant presence and blessings of God in spite of the seeming sinfulness of his creatures. The main thrust of the whole Yahwist Saga which culminates in that beautiful and simple story of Balaam and the talking ass (Nb 22:25) is to celebrate God's refusal to curse his people and his insistence of unconditional love and bless-ing. We, like Balaam, are blinded by our needs and expectations. Per-haps .the Immaculate Conception is yet another reminder of our innate gracefulness? Could not this be the fundamental celebration of baptism? Jesus experienced the unconditional love of his Father at his baptism; we celebrate this same unconditional love and our acceptance into a lov-ing community at our baptism. Mary's Immaculate Conception could be the reminder of God's unconditional covenant with each one of us and the celebration of his covenant through one individual. It is not a nega-tive gift--but a positive statement: God is with us and for us. Original sin (and now I can begin to forgive God and Adam!) is the mythical explanation of our desire for independence from God and his creation--autonomy--with the inevitable consequence of alienation and death. Baptism is the celebration of the fact that God not only loves us unconditionally but is present within us and among us; it effects what it Through Mary / 339 signifies. The truth and hope beyond individualization is unity with God and interdependence with others--co-creators of the parousia, paradise, but now conscious and mature and in freedom. Mary is the archetype of this truth which has been named as Immaculate Conception. At the experiential level I resonate with Mary's "fiat." I also have experienced, am experiencing, the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and have been afraid and anxious. I also wrestle with the "how" and "why" and the "why me." I also (carefully and tentatively) have said "fiat" and Christ has become incarnate, is now conceived, and contin-ues to be conceived in my life moment by moment. I also have felt com-pelled to go forth and share this good news with others. I give birth daily to Christ in my family, in my ministry. I also sing daily "My soul mag-nifies the Lord, my spirit exalts in God my savior." Mary's story is my story and every Christian's story. She is the ar-chetype of the Disciple as well as the archetype of Woman and Mother for both men and women. An archetype, in Jungian terms, is an image in thepsyche that when recognized and owned can serve to integrate be-liefs, feelings, and behavior. Unless one allows the Word to be con-ceived within one's very being, Christianity remains barren and lifeless, a moral code. It is onlywhen I become willing to accept the transform-ing gracefulness of God's love and presence in my life that I become ca-pable of writing my own Magnificat. As I journal the events of my life I become aware that God "has done great things for me," not least of which is to radically change my values and priorities. Mary is both virgin and mother. If this is understood only in the physi-cal sense, it is simply a faith statement that speaks exclusively of Mary. Mary "undefiled" stands above and beyond created reality, sexuality, and life itself. By implication, then, all persons who express their love sexually, even in stable and committed relationships, are impure, cor-rupted, polluted, tainted, or unclean. The list of synonyms in Roget's Thesaurus is much longer. But dogmas and doctrines speak of the truth of our nature and our relationship with God and with one another. Thus it behooves Catholic Christians to question what God is revealing through this dogma. Might it not mean that "perpetual virginity" means a life of integrity and innocence in any walk of life? Every disciple must conceive and birth Jesus; must be reborn; must be both virgin and mother regardless of his or her sex or sexuality. This way of perceiving Mary's virginity and motherhood can be especially fruitful for men who, in Jung's terms, project their ideal image of woman instead of accepting and owning their own femininity or anima. Mary Review for Religious, May-June 1989 within, for all disciples, symbolizes openness, receptivity, gentleness, gracefulness--many of those feminine virtues that have been lacking in our contemporary society. As a wife and mother I recognize and celebrate both the gift of moth-erhood and the wholeness and purity of my own life that is bespoken of through virginity. In and through motherhood I continue to be uncon-taminated, unprofaned, spotless, unblemished, andchaste. As I pray this dogma I become more comfortable with the paradoxical reality of my own inner being; I begin to name and own my authentic self; I become more open and vulnerable to the healing presence of Christ within. To meditate on the dogmas of Mary in this fashion helps us come in touch with the paradoxical nature of creation. It helps us to see be-yond the either/or stance that divides, judges, and creates conflict and war. It helps us to accept that much broader vision of both/and that is so freeing and encompassing. It helps us to see and understand the dif-ference between facts and Truth, between knowledge and wisdom. It is an invitation to live and enjoy mystery, to be surprised by newness and resurrection and Presence. Meditating on the dogma of the Assumption can be especially help-ful for us in recognizing our projections of the categories of time and space unto life after death. We were taught that heaven and hell were places for all time---eternity. Purgatory was a transient place of purifi-cation. The time and place one went to depended on one's choices. All very neat and logical--and totally contradictory to Revelation. The mag-nificence and mystery of the Spirit's presence in the Church is especially obvious in this dogma of the Assumption. Again we must take it seri-ously and symbolically--in the deepest sense of symbol which is to point beyond the literal sense to the mystery of which it speaks. Mary, the Dis-ciple, is assumed, taken up into heaven, body and soul, after her death. In mythological language she passes into timelessness and spacelessness. She simply is. Westerners tend to equate rational thought with knowledge, thus de-nying intuitive, imageless wisdom. The Assumption--as the Resurrec-tion- is revealed knowledge that goes beyond rational logical thought into mystery and Truth. But as finite human beings we factualize and ex-teriorize the nameless, misunderstand symbol, and live mystery as if it were actuality. The invitation of the dogma of the Assumption is to .let go of our need to understand, to know, to control, and simply trust the goodness and kindness of God. The invitation is to live this life to the fullest and trust that God will take care of our future--name it resurrec- Through Mary / 341 tion or assumption. The invitation is to experience beyond imagining and to live with the paradox of knowing but not understanding. My skepticism/agnosticism has served my faith in the sense that by doubting, questioning, and mistrusting religious experience I have not succumbed to superstition or fanaticism. On the other hand--as was pointed out to me by a wise fellow-traveler--skepticism was also an "ego defense, behind which lies a fear of change and loss of control that giving in to the religious experience may bring." Gifted with this insight I have consciously approached the dogma of the Assumption with as much of an attitude of "letting-go" and an open mind as possible. This has allowed me to see beyond the constricting barriers of space, time, matter and form. It has encouraged me to become open to mystery and surprise and to think in other terms than those of classical theology which comes to logical and rational conclusions about the mystery of God: "It is fitting and right." The Assumption means that when I die I become present. The.As-sumption means no more time, space, dualism, paradox. The Assump-tion means no more becoming. All the barriers to fullness of life that I have struggled with either because of environment or because of genes will disappear and I will become--I am, one with Christ. Catholics have traditionally prayed "through Mary to Jesus." This archetypal way of praying Mary, in fact, allows Jesus to become incar-nate in our very being. As I "ponder" the Immaculate Conception I be-come aware of the goodness of creation and my innate gracefulness; I conceive Jesus' within me by the power of the Holy Spirit; I give birth to him daily and discover him in others; I slowly let go of my need to control through power and knowledge. Through Mary belief statements become faith experiences; factual knowledge becomes lived Truth. I can then say with Paul: "I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me." Some Reflections On Mary, Bridge To Ecumenism? Mary Eileen Foley, R.G.S. Sister Mary Eileen Foley, R.G.S., has been teaching courses in Scripture in a par-ish and to her own Sisters, in addition to her free lance writing. She has been princi-pal and teacher of special needs of teenage girls. Her address is Convent of the Good Shepherd; Cushing Hill Drive; Marlboro, Massachusetts 01752. The hopeful days of ecumenism following Vatican Council II in the 1960s highlighted a maj6r difference between Catholics and Protestants, namely, devotion to Mary. For a long time after the Reformation in the sixteenth century, there was an absence of any productive or even respect-ful communication between us, and consequently there was little under-standing of each other's point of view, especially regarding the mother of Jesus. Historical Background Devotion to Mary, an outstanding characteristic of most Catholics, became the dividing line, with symbolic rather than logical origins. Mary represented Catholicism, against which the Reformers were protesting on the Continent. About the same time in England, the suppression of Catholicism un-der Henry VIII was more specifically directed against the papacy. The destruction of monasteries, however, depri red the people of religious in-struction and centers where Mary was honored; as a consequence, devo-tion to her almost died out. Elizabeth I, motivated politically rather than religiously, continued her father's efforts to dominate Ireland, capitalizing on the anti- Catholic movement by implementing the policy of "Anglicization 342 Mary, Bridge to Ecumenism? / 343 through Protestantization." In Ireland, the mere possession of a rosary was sufficient evidence of treason against the Crown, and was punish-able by death. Under Cromwell's dictatorship in England, Anglicanism, as well as Catholicism, was repressed, and even the celebration of Christmas was forbidden. "Where was the Blessed Mother in thought and practice if her son's birthday was repudiated by the law of the land?"~ Divinity vs. Discipleship Influenced by the history and the politics of the times, misunderstand-ings grew in regard to the Church's attitude toward Mary. Protestants were disturbed about the apparent centrality of devotion to Mary; it seemed to be taking something away from Christ. Non-Roman Catho-lics balk at giving Mary the title of "Co-Redemptrix," fearing that Christ will be displaced as unique mediator of salvation.2 In time, Catholics were able to hear Protestants voice their concern about our apparent "divinization" of Mary, yet countless explanations to the contrary did not seem to convince them, either to put their fears at rest or to allow them the comfort and friendship of the Mother of God. The Council actually approached the subject of Mary with the concerns of non-Catholics in mind, even over the objections of some of the bish-ops, who felt that ecumenism should not be the focus of a document on Mary. Some wished her to be declared Mediatrix of All Graces, but this did not happen at the Council. Actually no separate document on Mary materialized. In the final analysis, Mary appears in the context of the document on the Church. In a discussion of Christ (the Redeemer) and the Church (the Redeemed), she is very clearly identified with the Church, the people of God, rather than with Christ, the Son of God. The document portrays her, not as Christo-typical but as Ecclesio-typical. The implications of this decision were far-reaching indeed. First, this is a very different focus from that to which we have been accustomed. We have tended to see Jesus and Mary together, and while Mary was by no means deified, we did tend to .pray to them together. We looked up to them. Her stance now, however, is with us, the re-deemed, the beneficiaries of the passion and death of Christ. Discipleship Part of the reason for the change seems to be the emphasis on Mary's role in Scripture as disciple. As a hearer of God's word, she is an out-standing disciple of Christ, and she is logically first among his disciples :344 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 and members of the Church. The concept of disciple, clearly presented in .the Scripture, seems to be more acceptable to our Protestant brethren and carries with it no overtones of divinity. All four Evangelists as a matter of fact paint her portrait as the faith-ful disciple, and in so doing, they reflect this role as seeming to surpass her title of Mother of God. "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you," cried a woman in the crowd, to whom Jesus responded, "Yea, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it" (Lk 12:27-28). "Your mother and brethren are outside, awaiting you," he was told, and he deftly responded with a question: "Who is my mother? Who are my brethren? He who does the will of my Father, is mother, brother, and sister to me" (Mk 3:31-35). Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and the disciple whom Je-sus loved. "Woman, behold thy son," he said; then to John, "Behold thy mother" (Jn 19:25-27). Jesus is speaking to his ideal followers, who henceforth will model discipleship for all who desire to follow the Mas-ter. It struck me while comparing these Gospel passages that the Evan-gelists are at great pains to demonstrate that Mary's dignity comes from the fact that she was a woman of faith, which is the outstanding charac, teristic of a disciple. She was open to the word of God and completely obedient in carrying out whatever it called her to do. Whether it was ac-ceptance of the angelic message ("be it done unto me according to thy word," Lk i:38) or responding to the call to go to Bethlehem, then Egypt, and finally Calvary, she modeled clearly for us what the disciple of Christ should be. Grace and Discipleship No one, it seems, could be faulted for honoring one who followed Christ so perfectly. Yet, here again, differing beliefs on grace playa part. Protestants believe that salvation is effected by God alone, that hu-man nature plays no role. Protestants tend to view human nature as totally corrupted by sin, and grace as the merciful disposition of God to forgive and to treat the sin-ner as justified . To speak of human cooperation is to underestimate either the radical nature of human sin or the absolute gratuity of grace. In this perspective (from the Protestant point of view) the use of Mary's fiat becomes a primary example of Catholic presumption of God's sov-ereignty, making God dependent on humanity or making a creature mu-tually effective with God in the work of redemption.3 Mary, Bridge to Ecumenism? / 345 Resistance to the title "Co-Redemptrix" is related to this belief also. The Catholic point of view has been adequately stated, and to quote Tambasco again: "Mary's life simply reflects the fullest effects of grace which enable a faith-filled freedom that responds to and engages in the sovereign work of God in Christ .F.reedom does not substitute for grace, or grace, freedom."4 Because she is preeminent in carrying out his word, Mary's signifi-cance lies, according to the synoptics, in this characteristic of disci-pleship, more than the fact that she is Jesus's natural mother. At the foot of the cross, howe~,er, the beloved disciple, John, and the faithful disci-ple, Mary, seem to be called to discipleship in terms of a family rela-tionship, specifically that of mother and son. The role of disciple now seems to be expressed best in terms of mothering! Discipleship And Motherhood Actually, Mary conceived Jesus by means of an act of faith, the mark of the disciple: When the invitation to be Christ's mother is proposed to her, she says, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word" (Lk 1:38). And then the Word becomes flesh . Faith comes first, and then motherhood. John, too, is to carry out his discipleship in similar terms. In his First Letter, John's words are as tender as any mother's: "Remain in him now, little ones . See what love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called the children of God! Yet that is what we are' (1 Jn 2:28; 3:1). Mothering is what disciples do. Whatever our ministry is, we hope to bring to it compassion and caring. As a teacher l felt honored to be involved in nurturing the intellectual and spiritual growth of students. The Scriptures are full of mother images that apply not only to a disci-ple but were, in fact, chosen by the Lord for himself. The scriptural im-age of Christ weeping over Jerusalem is very explicit: "How often have I wanted to gather your children together as a mother bird collects her young under her wings, and you refused me!" (Lk 13:34). The disciple of Christ shares in his life-giving approach to those to whom he has been sent. Life-giving calls up images of motherhood, and lately it has been very popular to speak of God as Mother. Julian of Nor-wich often prayed to "Mother Jesus." Mary images motherhood for us, not only her own, but the motherhood of Christ as well. Even the Apos-tle Paul says: "You are my children, and you put me back in labor pains until Christ is formed in you" (Ga 4:!9). Finally the God of the Old Testament speaks through Isaiah: "Can 346 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 a mother forget her infant, or a woman be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Yet even if she should forget, I will never forget you" (Is 49:15). It looks to me that, although Protestants accept the fact that Mary is the mother of.Jesus, they do not seem to see her as their mother, too. While we sometimes see ourselves in the role of mothering, at other times we, too, need to be nurtured or affirmed. The mother of Jesus seems to be a natural one to turn to, especially since we understand that she has been given to us in the words spoken to John, "Behold thy mother" (Jn 19:27). The motherly qualities so ~befitting a disciple are surely present in a special way in Mary, the paramount disciple of all. Doctrine, Scripture, And Tradition Another possible ecumenical barrier regarding Mary is the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (Mary conceived without sin) and the dogma of the Assumption (Mary taken into heaven, body and soul.) A dogma is a doctrine that has been presented for belief, and the idea of the evo-lution of dogma is an enlightening one for many, Catholics included. A doctrine emerges from tradition, which has been explained as follows: Tradition is the living faith experience of the Church which preserves the truths enunciated in the Scriptures but also explicates these truths, draws out what is hidden, and develops more fully insights consistent with but not wholly expressed in the biblical text.5 As has been better expressed above, sometimes a dogma affirms what was not known in complete form from the beginning, but devel-oped from reflections on, for example, the mystery of the Incarnation, and has been the constant teaching of the Church for centuries. Dogma may appear to have been imposed exteriorly, in a context that is a-historical. The vagueness of its scriptural basis is difficult for Protestants, who are biblically, and therefore, historically, oriented. Rootedness in history and Scripture, sources that are being mined assiduously by Catho-lics today, may well provide the undergirding necessary to place devo-tion to Mary in properperspective for all. The aforementioned dogmas on Mary were defined during what we now call the Marian Age (1850 to 1950), although they have been part of the tradition of the Church since the sixth century. Belief (in the Assumption) originated not from biblical evidence nor even patristic testimony but as the conclusion of a so-called argument from convenience or fittingness. It was fitting that Jesus should have res-cued his mother from the corruption of the flesh and so he must have Mary, Bridge to Ecumenism? / 347 taken her bodily into heaven.6 At the end of the sixth century, they began to celebrate the Immacu-late Conception in the East, but it remained unknown in the West until the eleventh century . To eastern ears, which had a different under-standing of original sin, it meant only freedom from mortality and genu-ine human weakness.7 Such doctrines are based on what has been described as "theology from above," or an understanding of the Incarnation as originating in the Trinity. When the Father sent his Son to earth to be born of the Vir-gin Mary, it was incompatible with his nature that the Son would inherit original sin, taught to be transmitted through birth into the human race. Therefore, it was appropriate that Mary be conceived immaculate. The honor is for the sake of Jesus, not Mary. The Communion Of Saints An understanding of the communion of saints, a belief shared by both Catholics and Protestants, may be helpful in seeing Mary's role more clearly. The idea seems to have originated with the martyrs who gave their lives for Christ, and, as a result, were believed to be enjoying his presence and the rewards of their sacrifice. Obviously, they would be in a unique position to be allowed by God to hear the prayers of those still struggling on and would be willing and able to offer these petitions for help to Christ himself, in whose presence they now live. The idea of intercessory prayer is accepted by most people, who pray not only to the saints who have distinguished themselves in the service of God, but to their own friends and relatives who led good lives on earth and as-suredly are still mindful of the needs of those they have left behind. Peo-ple who are still living are also asked to pray for the intentions of oth-ers! That people should present their petitions to Mary in order that she might intercede with her Son for them follows logically in this tradition. It would seem that he would be especially attentive to one who was his model disciple on earth, to one who spent, her life hearing his word and accomplishing it, especially if she were interceding for one who was ask-ing her help to be an effective disciple also. - In ordinary life we often speak to someone with influence in order to present our case. Such is the nature of intercessory prayer, not to be confused with praying directly to Mary,'as if she were able to grant these petitions herself. Protestants dislike seeing Mary in the role of Media-tor, since Jesus Christ is the one Mediator. A movement at the Council to declare Mary Mediatrix of all Graces was scrapped, although this be- Review for Religious, May-June 1989 lief has been part of the tradition of the Church since the eighth century. The ecumenical dimension of the Council reflected the Church's percep-tion of herself now as a world church, with respect for the truth possessed by all churches. Theology -From-Below The contributions of Karl Rahner to contemporary religious thought seem to have great value for the ecumenical movement. Rahner, consid-ered to be one of the greatest theologians of our time, is especially im-pressed with the sacramentality of creation--the fact that God himself is revealed in his works. When creation first came from the hand of God as recorded in Genesis, it was seen to be good--to be holy. God was in his creation from the beginning. Although it was good, it was not com-plete, and in the p.rogress of time, all creation moves to fulfillment, which is finally achieved in Jesus Christ. Rahner's idea is that Christ emerged naturally from God's creation, rather than emphasizing his "being sent down from heaven." He says things often like "the more one is like Christ, the more he is truly him- ~elf." To be like Christ is to approach being a perfect human being. Rahner's ideas allow for experiential learning on the part of Jesus, like any human person going through the normal stages of growth and de-velopment. This Christology is very attractive to a Catholic today, and perhaps it has been better known to Protestants all along. This Christology does not deny his divinity, of course, but the em-phasis is very different from the implications of the theology:from-above design, which seems to emphasize his divinity more, although it does not deny his humanity. One argument advanced was that since one is the mother of a person, rather than a nature, it seemed logical to em-phasize Mary as Mother of God. "In 451," writes Charles W. Dickson, a Lutheran pastor who has served as Chairman of the Commission on Ecumenical Relations of the North Carolina Council of Churches: the Council of Chalcedon dealt with the subject of dual natures by af-firming the inseparability of the two natures, each nature being pre-served and concurring in one person (prosopon) and one subsistence (hy-postasis). 8 Reverend Dickson continues: If this Chalcedonian formulation is given serious attention in contem-porary Protestant thought, some feel the human nature of Christ will not continue to suffer the devaluation of the past, nor will, therefore, its pre- Mary, Bridge to Ecumenism? / 349 cursor in the Incarnation--the Virgin Mary.9 The title, Mother of God, does seem to imply that Mary is divine, and although Protestants accept Mary as the mother of Jesus, tradition-ally they seem to resist the title of "Mother of God." In pagan mythol-ogy, the mother of the god or gods was considered to be a goddess. There seemed to be anxiety in New Testament times from the beginning not to equate Mary with the pagan goddesses, and although this distinc-tion has always been understood by Catholics, it may have looked to Prot-estants that we were divinizing Mary. Popular Religion - An Aid To Ecumenism? In view of the ecumenical dimension, the relationship between sym-bol, basic human need, and religion is very important. Clifford Geertz says that religious symbols provide not only the ability to comprehend the world but to endure it. Man depends upon symbols and symbol systems with a dependence so great as to be decisive for his creatural viability and, as a result, his sen-sitivity to even the remotest indication that they may prove unable to cope with one or another aspect of experience, raises within him the grav-est source of anxiety. ~0 In worship, people tend to clothe God with attributes that will meet their innermost needs. Sometimes in the past the abstract definitions of the theologians left people cold. God was oftentimes seen to be a dis-tant, transcendent God, and a judging God, who dispensed rewards and punishments in strict accordance with one's deeds. People were longing to see him as loving and compassionate, like a mother. If ordinary Catholics had been accustomed to reading the Scripture for themselves, as they are beginning to do now since Vatican II, they might have experienced firsthand the motherly concern of Jesus for the poor, the sick, and the scorned. Probing the Bible now, one is touched, for example, by his attitude toward women, especially disgraced women, regardless of the disapproval of males present. I do understand, however, that Bible reading for Catholics was sharply curtailed at the time of the Reformation due to so many people leaving the Church because of pri-vate interpretation of the Scripture. We understand now that in God there is a perfect balance of so-called masculine and feminine qualities; thanks to insightsfrom psychol-ogy, we are more theologically sophisticated than our predecessors. How-ever, in the early centuries of Christianity, people turned to the feminine Mary, in whom they felt that they had a ready-made mother who cared 350/Review for Religious, May-June 1989 about them. Based, no doubt, on the idea of the communion of saints and the practice of asking for the intercession of the martyrs, who were surely with God, there was a normal development of devotion to Mary, who, as the mother of Jesus, w,a_.,s seen to be more than willing to help those for whom her Son died such a cruel death. Popular Religion And The Apparitions When Catholics finally turn to the Scripture for news of Mary, they are amazed at how little is there! The immense body of material that is available on Mary derives from tradition and also from popular religion, which is based on Mary's relationship to Jesus ~nd the needs of people. Our knowledge of her has been shaped also by .accounts of her various appearances throughout the world. However, as Tambasco comments: ". (the) return to biblical and ecumenical considerations has rightly reduced these devotions to a minor role (p. 71)." Their value is in the Gospel teaching that each affirms. The Church moves very slowly in granting approval for belief in ap-paritions, and even when approval is received, there is no obligation to believe. The one important guideline in regard to any appearance is the fact that nothing is presented or ordered that is contrary to the constant teaching of the Church. An example would be when Mary reportedly appeared to Catherine Labour6 in France in 1830 and to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, also in France, in 1858, she said, "I am the Immaculate Conception," a tra-dition in the Church since the sixth century. At LaSalette she insisted on the observance of the Lord's Day, which the people were ignoring, treating Sunday as any other day. She also re-proved them for blasphemy and taking the Lord's name in vain, thus un-derscoring the second and third commandments. At Fatima she asked them to do penance and to pray for peace. In 1879 at Knock, in County Mayo in Ireland, she said nothing at all! She appeared with St. Joseph and St. John, beside an altar sur-mounted by a lamb and a cross, over which angels hovered. The Irish saw in her appearance a message of comfort for the persecution they had suffered for their faith, dating back to the sixteenth century. They iden-tified the symbols with those of the heavenly liturgy in the Book of Reve-lation, seeing in them an affirmation of their fidelity to worship. Priests had risked their lives to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, symbolized by the Lamb. St. John the Evangelist is holding the Gospel book in one hand, with the other hand raised, as if he is making a point in a sermon. Mary, Bridge to Ecumenism? / 35"1 The theme or instruction accompanying each visit was not a new teaching in any way, but an old teaching which needed a new emphasis, depending on the times. When I was at Knock in 1987, I remember think-ing to myself: it really doesn't matter whether Mary actually appeared here or not! All around me at the shrine there was evidence of faith, as people prayed, participated in the liturgy, reflected on the passion of Christ at the stations, or were merely kind and friendly to each other. I felt a renewal of my own spirituality in such a faith-filled atmosphere. The element of pilgrimage is, of course, very strong at Knock, and pil-grimage from the earliest days has been a vibrant expression of popular religion among people. Pilgrimage Pilgrimages stemming from the apparition at Lourdes are legendary. According to Victor and Edith Turner (Image & Pilgrimage in Christian Culture, New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1978), who did an anthropological study on popular religion, people do not necessarily go on pilgrimage for the cure, but for the atmosphere in which their spiritu-ality is nourished. People see a pilgrimage, or a journey, as a symbol of the journey of life, and they value their association with fellow trav-elers oriented toward God in the service of neighbor. There is a leveling of classes on a pilgrimage; kings travel with ordinary folk, as will be the case in heaven. They volunteer as stretcher-bearers or wherever there is a need, and are energized in the role of service to their fellow human be-ings. In writing about pilgrimages to the shrine of Our Lady at Guadalupe, Segundo Galilea says that here the rich can discover the world of the poor and become sensitive to their need for justice and reconciliation. The movement towards Mary obliges the rich to go out of themselves and to meet the poor. It gives the poor a sense of security and allows them to meet the rich without apology, on an equal footing. Mary is, then, one of the rare symbols of integration in Latin America . ~ The apparition at Guadalupe in i 53 I, perhaps one of the first appa-ritions on record, is said to to be a large factor in popular religion in Latin America, and as a result, has given impetus to the liberation theology movement there. It has touched the hearts of the oppressed, making them feel that they are loved by God, and consequently raised in their own self-esteem, to the point where they are seriously struggling for self-determination in their living situation there. 352 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 Mary and Liberation Theology A new reading of Luke's gospel, which emphasizes salvation his-tory, yields much that is pertinent today in regard to saving, or liberat-ing, the oppressed. Accustomed as we are to seeing Mary as queen, it is a new thing for us Catholics to see Mary as a peasant woman as she was at Guadalupe, and, indeed, at Nazareth. It is a challenge for us to take another look at the Magnificat, which we sing every day in the Liturgy of the Hours. There are places in South America where the recitation of the Magnifi-cat is forbidden, as being subversive. Mary's song begins with the praise of God. "My soul proclaims the glory of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." The use of the word Savior emphasizes her stance with us, in need of salvation. She re-fers to herself as his lowly handmaid, on whom he has looked with fa-vor. All generations will call her blessed because he, the mighty one, has done great things for her. In countries where there is no middle class, but only the poor and the rich, who possess all the wealth of the land, the poor hear Mary's Magnificat message in the Virgin of Guadalupe: He has shown might in his arm; he has scattered the proud in their con-ceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty (Lk 1:51-53). They look to God for the mercy he promised to "our fathers,"-- and here all peoples sharing the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of Christ, unite in looking back even to the patriarchs, to whom God prom-ised mercy and liberation, which was accomplished first through Moses and eventually through Jesus Christ. And now there is hope for these poor also. The Exodus and Exile theme of liberation fit the situaiion to-day. A new look at Scripture will allow us to see Mary as homeless and as an exile, driveh out of her homeland to Egypt for the safety of her child. Popular religion often forges ahead of the theologians, and the hier-archy has only recently given its approval to the liberation theology move-ment in Latin America. A Latin American theologian says that the Mariology of Vatican II was more preoccupied by dialogue and relations with Protestants than with the simple people and popular Mariology. What is important now is to prolong the'deep and rich Mariological affirmations of Vatican II by a popular Mariology, a renewed Mariology . ~2 Mary, Bridge to Ecumenism? / 353 The basic idea of this renewed Mariology is that Mary is the sign and sacrament of the motherly mercy of God towards the poor, of the ten-derness of God who loves and defends the poor (Puebla, no. 291). ~3 (ital-ics mine) How will these considerations serve as an ecumenical bridge for us? By recognizing the need among peoples for freedom of conscience, free-dom from oppression, freedom of religion, justice for all. It is said that the problem with the doctrines presented for belief in former days was not with the dogmas themselves, but with authority. (Belief in the Im-maculate Conception predated the Reformation.) The wording was that he who did not believe, let him be anathema! Even Martin Luther did not deny the doctrines themselves, but pronounced them pious opinions. John XXIII insisted that there be no condemnations! He condemned no one. Evangelization itself must be an invitation, even a lure, to Christi-anity. No one is to be coerced in this matter in any way. John Paul II in Mother of the Redeemer.says that the Church's jour-ney now, near the end of the second Christian millennium, involves a renewed commitment to her mission. In the words of the Magnificat, the Church renews in herself the awareness that the truth about God who saves cannot be separated from his love of preference for the poor and humble, expressed in the word and works of Jesus. These points are di-rectly related to the Christian meaning of freedom and liberation' (p. 51 ). One must be free from oppression in order to respond to the call of Christ to do one's part toward the building up of the kingdom of God. In discussing Mary's role at the wedding feast at Cana, when she ad-vised Jesus that "they had no wine," the Pope sees this as expressing a new kind of motherhood according to the spirit and not just according to the flesh, that is to say, Mary's solicitude for human beings, her com-ing to th'em in the wide variety of their wants and needs (P. 30-1). I feel that the orientation toward ecumenism observed at Vatican Council II, especially in regard to Mary, has borne fruit and hopefully will continue to do so in the future. I am intrigued by the interpretation offered by Edward Yarnold in regard to reconciling Protestants and Catholics in regard to the Immacu-late Conception and the Assumption. It is possible that Christians disagree over the symbolic form of doctrine, while not disagreeing over the theological meaning. Thus, Roman Catho-lics could take literally that Mary was immaculately conceived and then assumed into heaven, but that is just the symbolic meaning. Protestants might not agree with that, but could accept the ultimate theological mean- 354/Review for Religious, May-June 1989 ing that says God's grace requires response, providers conditions for re-sponse, and results in sanctification even after death. There would thus be theological unity with a plurality regarding symbolic meaning. ~'~ When the late Rev. Arthur Carl Piepkorn, was professor at Concor-dia Seminary, St. Louis, he explained that "other Christians" (he did not refer to them as non-Catholics) have taken hope from references to Mary at Vatican II as follows: It may yet happen in our time that there will come about a happy bal-ance between excess ardor in the veneration of the Mother of God and in excessive coldness to the role that God himself has given her in the drama of human salvation. If it does, as I pray it will, we shall see in our time what the "Mag-nificat" placed on the lips of the mother of God--'All generations will count me blessed.' Other Christians feel that the more we esteem Mary, the more we honor her Son; when men (sic) refuse to honor Mary, they really do not believe in the Incarnation.~5 NOTES ~ William L. Lahey, "The Blessed Virgin Mary in the Theology and Devotion of the Seventeenth-Century Anglican Divines," Marian.Studies,,XXXVlll (1987), p. 143. 2 Anthony J. Tambasco, "Mary in Ecumenical Perspective," What Are They Say-ing About Mary? (Ramsey, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1984), p. 54. 3 lbid, p. 57. '~ lbid, p. 58. 5 lbid, p. 60. 6 Richard P. McBrien, Catholicism (Minneapolis: Winston Press Inc., 1980), p. 873. 7 Ibid. 8 Charles W. Dickson, Ph.'D., "Is a Protestant Mariology Possible?" Queen of All Hearts (Vol. XXXIX, No. 4) Nov./Dec. 1988, p. 26. Quoted from Willison Walker-- A History.of the Christian Church, p. 139. 9 lbid, p. 26. ~0 Clifford Geertz, "Religion as a Cultural System," Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion (London: Travistock Publications, Ltd., 1968), p. 13. ~ Segundo Galilea, "Mary in Latin American Liberation Theologies," ed. Bertrand de Margerie, S.J., Marian Studies, XXXVIII (1987), p. 57. ~2 Victor Codina, "Mary in Latin American Liberation Theologies," ed. Bertrand de Margerie, S.J., Marian Studies, XXXVIII (1987), p. 49. ~3 Ibid. 14 Quoted in Tambasco, What Are They Saying About Mary? p. 64. ~5 "Lutheran Hails Mary in Vatican ll's Words," The Boston Pilot (June 29, 1973), p. 2. Prayer and Devotion to Mary: A Bibliography Thomas G. Bourque, T.O.R. Father Thomas Bourque, T.O.R., is Chairperson of the Philosophical and Religious Studies Department of St. Francis College in Loretto, Pennsylvania. He has been involved in youth ministry, parish ministry, and the ministry of Catholic education and adul( education. His address is St. Francis College; Loretto, PA 15940. The Marian Year is meant to promote a new and more careful reading of what the Council said about the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the mystery of Christ and of the Church . We speak not only of the doctrine of faith but also of the life of faith, and thus of authentic "Marian spirituality," seen in the light of tradition, and especially the spirituality to which the Council exhorts us. Marian spirituality, like its corresponding devotion, finds a very rich source in the historical expe-rience of individuals and of the various Christian communities present among the different peoples and nations of the world. John Paul II Mother of the Redeemer, #48 ~,lohn Paul II invites all of us to reflect upon our.journey of faith with our Lord in light of our relationship with his Mother Mary. As many Catho-lics and Christians continue to question the role of Mary in the Church today, the Pope's encyclical is very timely. Solid devotion to Mary can only spring from an authentic knowledge of her role in salvation history. The Mariology of John Paul lI's encyc-lical, Mother of the Redeemer, as well as the Mariology of Paul Vl's ex-hortation, Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, can truly be summed in the words of Paul VI: "In Mary, everything is relative to Christ and de-pendent upon him." Both pontiffs remind us that Mary is never to be 355 356 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 considered in isolation. She must be seen in relationship to Christ, the head, and to his Body, the Church. Both Paul VI and John Paul II con-tinually link Mary to Christ, and not only is Mary Mother of Jesus, but also to the Church. The basic principle of Mariology is that Mary is Mother and Associ-ate of the Redeemer. She is a woman of faith, simplicity, loving avail-ability, and a disciple of faith. As a follow-up to the Marian year, the following selected bibliogra-phy is offered as an aid for reflection and prayer. This selected bibliog-raphy can serve as a guide to study and reflection on the contemporary devotion to Mary. The concentration of this work is a modern approach to Mariology from the time of the apostolic exhortation, Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the time of promulgation of the encyclical let-ter, Mother of the Redeemer. The selected bibliography is divided into four sections. The first sec-tion consists of books which deal with Marian prayer, devotion and spiri-tuality. The second section lists articles from periodicals from the years 1974 to 1987. Encyclicals and pastoral letters are cited in the third sec-tion, while typescripts and tape cassettes of value are cited in the fourth section. Books and Pamphlets: Ashe, Geoffrey. The Virgin. London: Routledge and Paul, 1976. ¯ Bojorge, Horacio. The Image of Mary: According to the Evangelists. New York: Alba House, 1978. Branick, Vincent P., ed. Mary, the Saint and the Church. Ramsey, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1980. Brown, Raymond E., ed. Mary in the New Testament. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978. Buby, Bertrand. Mary: The Faithful Disciple~. New York: Paulist Press, 1985. Callahan, Sidney. The Magnificat: The Prayer of Mary. New York: Seabury Press, 1975. Carberry, John Cardinal. Mary Queen and Mother: Marian Pastoral Reflections. Boston: St. Paul Editions, 1979. Carretto, Carlo. Blessed Are You Who Believed. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1982. Carroll, Eamon R. Understanding the Mother of Jesus. Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1979. Cunningham, Lawrence and Sapieha, Nicolas. Mother of God. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1982. A Mary Bibliography / 357 Deiss, Lucien. Mary, Daughter of Zion. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1972. Flanagan, Donal. In Praise of Mary. Dublin: Veritas Publications, 1975. --. The Theology of Mary. Hales Corner, Wisconsin: Clergy Book Service, 1976. Flannery, Austin P. The Documents of Vatican II. New York: Pillar Books, 1975. Graef, Hilda C. Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion. New York: Sheed and Ward, Two Volumes, (Volume I, 1963 and Volume II, 1965). --. The Devotion to Our Lady. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1963. Greeley, Andrew M. The Mary Myth: On the Femininity of God. New York: Seabury Press, 1977. Griolet, Pierre. You Call Us Together." Prayers For the Christian As-sembly. Paramus, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1974. Guste, Bob. Mary At My Side. Mystic: Twenty-Third Publications, 1986. Habig, Marion. The Franciscan Crown. Chicago: Franciscan Her-ald Press, 1976. Harrington, W. J. The Rosary: A Gospel Prayer. Canfield, Ohio: Alba House, 1975. Haughton, Rosemary. Feminine Spirituality: Reflections on the Mys-tery of the Rosary. Paramus, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1976. Hertz, G. Following Mary Today. Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Press, 1979. Houselander, Caryil. Lift Up Your Hearts to Mary, Peace, Prayer, Love. New York: Arena Letters, 1978. Hurley, Dermot. Marian Devotion For Today. Dublin: C. G. Neale, 1971. Jegen, Carol Frances. Mary According To Women. Kansas City: Leaven Press, 1985. Jelly, Frederick. Madonna: Mary in the Catholic Tradition. Hunt-ington, Indiana: Our Sunday .Visitor Press, 1986. Johnson, Ann. Miryam of Judah: Witness in Truth and Tradition. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1987. --. Miryam of Nazareth. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1986. Jungman, Joseph A. Christian Prayer Through The Centuries. New York: Paulist Press, 1978. 351t/Review for Religious~ May-June 1989 Kern, Walter. New Liturgy and Old Devotions. Staten Island, New York: Alba House, 1979, 119-184. Kung, Hans and Moltmann, Jurgen. ed. Mary in the Churches. New York: Seabury Press, 1983, Concilium, volume 168. La Croix, Francois de. The Little Garden of Our Blessed Lady. Ilkley, England: Scholar Press, 1977. Long, Valentine. The Mother of God. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1976. Maestri, William. Mary: Model of Justice. New York: Alba House, 1987. Malinski, Mieczslaw. Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious Reflections on Life and Rosary. Chicago: Claretian Publications, 1979. Maloney, George A. Mary: The Womb of God. Denville, New Jer-sey: Dimension Books, 1976. Moloney, John. Pilgrims With Mary. Dublin, Ireland: Irish Messen-ger, 1976. Obbard, Elizabeth Ruth. Magnificat: The Journey and the Song. New York: Paulist Press, 1986. Pelikan, Jaroslav. Flusser, David. Lang, Justin. Mary: Images of the Mother of Jesus in Jewish and Christian Perspective. Philadelphia: For-tress Press, 1986. Pennington, Basil. Daily We Touch Him. Garden City, New Jersey: Doubleday, 1977, 135-148. Rahner, Karl. Mary, Mother of the Lord. New York: Herder and Herder, 1963. Randall, John. Mary, Pathway To Fruitfulness. Locust Valley, New York: Living Flame Press, 1978. Ratzinger, Joseph. Daughter Zion: Meditations On The Church's Marian Belief. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1983. Rosage, David. Praying With Mary. Locust Valley, New York: Liv-ing Flame Press, 1980. Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Mary, the Feminine Face of the Church. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977. Schillebeeckx, Edward. Mary, Mother of the Redemption. London: Sheed and Ward, 1964, 164ff. Sheed, Frank. The Instructed Heart--Soundings At Four Depths. Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Press, 1979. Stevens, Clifford. The Blessed Virgin: Her L~]'e & Her Role In Our Lives. Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Press, 1986. Tambasco, Anthony. What Are They Saying About Mary? New A Mary Bibliography / 359 York: Paulist Press, 1984. Unger, Dominic J. The Angelus. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1956. Viano, Joseph. Two Months With Mary. New York: Alba House, 1984. Wright, John Cardinal. Mary Our Hope. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1984. Articles: Abberton, J. "On the Parish: Marian Devotion." Clergy Review. 63 (April 1978), 147-150. Albrecht, Barbara. "Mary: Type and Model of the Church." REvtEw ~oR REt~tG~Ot~S. 36 (1977), 517-524. Alfaro, Juan. "The Marioiogy of the Fourth Gospel: Mary and the Struggles for Liberation." Biblical Theology Bulletin. 10 (January 1980), 3-16. Barrionveuo, C. "For A Better Rosary." Christ to the Christian World. 18 (I 979), 304-307. Billy, Dennis J. "The Marian Kernel." REview ~oR R~t.~ous. 43 (May/June 1983), 415-420. Blackburn, Robert E. "The Reed of God Continues To Flourish." U.S. Catholic. 47 (May 1982), 2. Browne, Dorothy. "Mary, the Contemplative." Spiritual Life. 23 (Spring 1977), 49-60. Buby, B. "The Biblical Prayer of Mary: Luke 2:19-51 ." R~v~w RE~.tG~Ot~S. 39 (July 1980), 577-581. Buono, Anthony M. "The Oldest Prayers to Mary." Catholic Di-gest. 48 (August 1984), 111-113. Burns, Robert E. "Don't Let Sleeping Devotions Lie." U.S. Catho-lic. 52 (January 1987), 2. Carberry, John Cardinal. "Marialis Cultis: A Priestly Treasure." Homiletic and Pastoral Review. 78 (May ! 978), 7-13. Carroll, Eamon. "A Survey of Recent Marioiogy." Marian Stud-ies. 36 (1985), 101-127. b. "A Survey of Recent Mariology." Marian Studies. 35 (1984), 157-187. --. "A Survey of Recent Marioiogy." Marian Studies. 31 (1980), 11-154 (Similar surveys may be found within volumes 24 to 31 of Marian Studies). b. "A Woman For All Seasons." U.S. Catholic. 39 (October 1974), 6-11. 360 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 --. "In the Company of Mary." Modern Liturgy. 9 (May 1982), 4-10. -- "Mary After Vatican II." St. Anthony Messenger. 91 (May 1984), 36-40. --. "Mary and the Church: Trends in Marian Theology Since Vati-can II." New Catholic World. 229 (November-December 1986), 248- 250. --. "Mary, Blessed Virgin: Devotion." New Catholic Encyclope-dia. 9 (1967), 364-369. -- "Mary: The Woman Come Of Age." Marian Studies. 36 (1985), 136-160. --. "Prayer and Spirituality: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Catholic Prayer-Life." Today Catholic Teacher. 12 (March 1979), 40-41. Chantraine, George. "Prayer Within the Church." Communio. 12 (Fall 1985), 258-275. Ciappi, L. "The Blessed Virgin Mary Today and the Contemporary Appeal of the Rosary." Origins. 44 (October 30, 1975), 4. Clark, Allan. "Marialis Cultus." Tablet. 228 (April 6, 1974), 354- 356. Colavechio, X. "The Relevance of Mary." Priest. 36 (June 1980), 14-16. Coleman, William V. "A Peasant Woman Called to Guide the Church." Today's Parish. 13 (May-June 1981), 7. Coiledge, E. "The Church At Prayer: To The Mother of God." Way. 19 (July 1979), 230-239 and 19 (October 1979), 314-321. Conner, Paul. "The Rosary Old Or New?" Sisters Today. 59 (Oc-tober 1986), 108- I 10. Curran, Patricia. "Women Reclaim the Magnificat." Sisters Today. 55 (August-September 1983), 24-30. Daly, Anne Carson. "A Woman For All Ages." Homiletic and Pas-toral Review. 86 (May 1986), 19-22. Davies, Brian A. "Mary In Christian Practice." Doctrine and Life. 26 (June 1976), 403-407. Deak, Mary Ann. "Mary's Faith: A Model For Our Own." Catho-lic Update. UPD 108 (I 978). Dehne, Carl. "Roman Catholic Popular Devotions." Worship. 49 (October 1975), 446-460. Demarco, A. "Hail Mary." New Catholic Encyclopedia. 6 (1967), 898. Donnelly, Dorothy H. "Mary, Model of Personal Spirituality." A Mary Bibliography / 361 New Catholic World. 219 (March-April 1976), 64-68. Emery, Andree. "On Devotion To Mary." New Covenant. 11 (May 1982), 12-14. Finley, Mitchel. "Rediscovering The Rosary." America. 148 (May 7, 1983), 351. Fischer, Patricia. "The Scriptural Rosary: An Ancient Prayer Re-vived." Catechist. 20 (October 1986), 21. Flanagan, Donald. "The Veneration of Mary: A New Papal Docu-ment." Furrow. 25 (1974), 272-277. Frehen, H. "The Principles of Marian Devotion." The Marian Era. 10 (1971), 34-36 and 272-277. Foley, Leonard. "Mary: Woman Among Us." St. Anthony Messen-ger. 94 (May 1987), 12-16. Gabriele, Edward. "In Search of the Woman: Reformulating the Mary Symbol in Contemporary Spirituality." Priest. 42 (February 1986), 28-29. Gaffney, John P. "APortrait of Mary." Cross and Crown. 24 ~Spring 1975), 129-138. h. "Marialis Cultis: Guidelines to Effective Preaching." Priest. 38 (December 1982), 14-18. Galligan, John Sheila. "Mary: A Mosaic Joy." REw~wFoR R~L~G~Ot~S. 43 (January-February 1984), 82-92. Galot, Jean. "Why the Act of Consecration to Our Lady?" Origins. 3 (January 18, 1982), Galvin, John P. "A Portrait of Mary In the Theology of Karl Rahner." New Catholic World. 229 (November-December 1986), 280- 285. Gordon, Mary. "Coming To Terms With Mary." Commonweal. 109 (January 15, 1982), 1. Green, Austin~ "The Rosary: A Gospel Prayer." Cross and Crown. 28 (June 1976), 173-178. Grisdela, Catherine. "How May Processions Began." Religion Teacher's Journal. 18 (April-May 1984), 28. Gustafson, J. "A Woman For All Seasons." Modern Liturgy. 9 (May 1982), 4-10. Hamer, Jean Jerome Cardinal. "Mary, Our Foremost Model." Con-templative Life. 10 (1985), 173- i 74. Hanson, R. "The Cult of Mary as Development of Doctrine." Way ,Supplement. 51 (Fall 1984), 8-96. Hebblethwaite, P. "The Mariology of Three Popes." Way Supple- 369/Review for Religious, May-June 1989 merit. 51 (Fall 1984), 8-96. Herrera, Marina. "Mary of Nazareth in Cross-cultural Perspective." Professional Approaches For Christian Educators. 16 ( i 986), 236-240. Hinneburgh, W.A. "Rosary." New Catholic Encyclopedia. 12 (I 967), 667-670. Hofinger, Johannes. "Postconciliar Marian Devotions." Priest. 37 (January 1981), 43-45 and 37 (February 1981), 15-17. Hogan, Joseph. "Hail Mary." Sisters Today. 57 (January 1986), 258-261. Jegen, C. "Mary, Mother of a Renewing Church." Bible Today. 24 (May 1986), 143-166. Jelly, Frederick M. "Marian Dogmas Within Vatican II's Hierar-chy of Truths." Marian Studies. 27 (1976). --. "Marian Renewal Among Christians." Homiletic and Pastoral Review. 79 (May 1979), 8-16. --. "Reply to 'Homage To a Great Pope and His Marian Devotion: Paul VI.' " Marian Studies. 31 (1980), 96-98. -- "The Mystery of Mary's Meditation." Homiletic and Pastoral Review. 80 (May 1980), 11-20. Johnson, Elizabeth A. "The Marian Tradition and the Reality of Women." Horizons. 12 (Spring 1985), 116-135. Karris, Robert J. "Mary's Magnificat and Recent Study." REVIEW ~OR REt~G~OUS. 42 (November-December 1983), 903-908. Keolsch, Charity Mary. "Mary and Contemplation In the Market-place." Sisters Today. 54 (June-July 1983), 594-597. Kerrigan, Michael P. "The Beginnings Of A New And Prosperous Way of Life." New Catholic World. 229 (November-December 1986), 251. Kleinz, John P. "How We Got The Hail Mary." Catholic Digest. 50 (May 1986), 55-57. Koehler, A. "Blessed From Generation to Generation: Mary In Pa-tristics and the History of the Church." Seminarium. 27 (1975), 578- 606. --. "Homage To A Great Pope And His Marian Devotion." Marian Studies. 31 (1980), 66-95. Krahan, Maria. "The Rosary." Mount Carmel. (Autumn 1977), 124-131. Kress, Robert. "Mariology and the Christian's Self-Concept." REVIEW ~OR RELiGiOUS. 31 (1972), 414-419. Lawrence, Claude. "The Rosary From the Beginning To Our Day." A Mary Bibliography / 363 Christian World. 28 (July-August 1983), 194-201. Leckey, Dolores. "The Rosary Time of My Life." Catholic Digest. 47 (October 1983), 57-58. Leskey, Roberta Ann. "Ways To Celebrate Mary." Religion Teacher's Journal. 17 (April-May 1983), 28-29. Lewela, M. Pauline. "Mary's Faith-Model Of Our Own: A Reflec-tion." Africa Theological Journal. 27 (April 1985), 92-98. Low, Charlotte. "The Madonna's Decline and Revival." Insight. (March 9, 1987), 61-63. MacDonald, Donald. "Mary: Our Encouragement In Christ." REviEw FOR REt.tG~Ot~S. 44 (May-June 1985), 350-359. -- "Our Lady of Wisdom." REvtzw FOR REt.~G~Ot~S. 46 (May-June 1986), 321-331. Main, John. "The Other-Centeredness of Mary." R~w~w FOR RELIG~Ot~S. 38 (March 1979), 267-278. Maloney, George A. "A New But Ancient Mariology." Diakonia. 8 (I 973). 303-305. -- "Do Not Be Afraid To Take Mary Home." Catholic Charis-matic. 1 (October-November 1976), 30-33. --. "Mary and the Church As Seen By the Early Fathers." Diakonia. 9 (1974). Marino, Eugene A. "Mary: The Link Between Liturgy and Doc-trine." Origins. 14 (December 27, 1984), 467-471. Marshner, William H. "Criteria For Doctrinal Development in Marian Dogmas." Marian Studies. 28 (1977), 47-97. "Mary and the Saints." National Bulletin on Liturgy. 12 (Septem-ber- October ! 979), 178-183. Mary Francis. "Blessed Mary: Model of Contemplative Life." Homi-letic and Pastoral Review. 8 i (Mary 1981), 6-12. Mary of the Sacred Heart. "Remember the Rosary." Religion Teacher's Journal. 20 (October 1986),39-40. McAteer, Joan. "What the Rosary Means to Me." Ligourian. 72 (October 1984), 16-20. McCarry, Vincent P. "Mary, Teach Us To Pray." Catholic Digest. 50 (May 1986), 40-43. McDermott, John Michael. "Time For Mary." Homiletic and Pas-toral Review. 83 (May ! 983), I i- 15. McHugh, John. "On True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary." The Way Supplement. 25 (Summer 1975), 69-79. McNamara, Kevin. "Devotion to The Immaculate Heart of Mary." 364 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 Furrow. 36 (October 1985), 599-604. -- "Mary Today." Furrow. 31 (July 1980), 428-450. Miller, Ernest F. "Why We Honor Mary?" Liguorian. 63 (August 1975), 13-15. Montague, George. "Behold Your Mother." New Covenant. 10 (May 198 I), 4-7. Moore, M. and Welbers, T. "The Rosary Revisited." Modern Lit-urgy. 9 (May 1982), 4-10. Motzel, Jaqueline. "Growing Through the Rosary." Liguorian. 73 (October 1985), 28-3 I. NC News Service. "Mary: An Image of Obedience and Freedom." Our Sunday Visitor. 75 (April 12, 1987), 17. Nienaltowski, Mary Ellen and Metz, Kathleen. "How Do We Pray The Rosary?" Religion Teacher's Journal. 21 (March 1987), 17-18. Noone, P. "Why Catholics Hail Mary?" U.S. Catholic. 44 (May 1979), 47-49. Nouwen, Henri J. "The Icon of the Virgin of Vladimir: An Invita-tion to Belong to God." America. 152 (May 1 I, 1985), 387-390. O'Carroll, M. "Recent Literature On Our Lady." Irish Theologi-cal Quarterly. 45 (I 978), 281-286. Offerman, Mary Columba. "Mary, Cause of Our Joy: A Bibliogra-phy On Mariology." REvl~.w ~oR RE~.~lous. 35 (1976), 730-734. Palazzini, P. "The Exhortation Marialis Cultus and the Rosary." Origins. 27 (July 4, 1974), 9-10. Pellegrino, M. "Comments on the Apostolic Exhortation: Marialis Cultus." L'Osservatore Romano. 35 (August 29, 1974), 3-1 I. Pennington, M. Basil. "The Rosary: An Ancient Prayer For All Of Us.'" Our Sunday Visitor. 72 (October 23, 1983), 3-ff. Peter, Val J. "Marian Theology and Spirituality." Communio. 7 (Summer 1980), 100-178. Puzon, B. "All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed." Sisters Today. 45 (May 1974), 533-537. Quinn, Jerome D. "Mary the Virgin, Mother of God." Bible To-day. 25 (May 1987), 177-180. Rasmussen, Eileen. "Accept Devotion To Mary." National Catho-lic Reporter. 11 (January 3 I, 1975), I I- 14. Rausch, Thomas P. "The Image of Mary: A Catholic Response." America. 146 (March 27, 1982), 231-234. Roberts, William P. "Mary and Today's Classroom." Catechist. 18 (April-May 1985), 28-29. A Mary Bibliography / 365 Schreck, Alan. "Devotion To Mary." New Covenant. 13 (July- August 1983), 14-18. Senior, Donald. "New Testament Images of Mary." Bible Today. 24 (May 1986), 143-166. Shea, John J. "Mary's Melody of Amazing Grace." U.S. Catho-lic. 47 (May 1982), 6-10. Smith, Herbert. "Mary: Mother and Disciple." Liguorian. 73 (Oc-tober 1985), 52-53. Smith, Joanmarie. "Re-Seeing the Rosary." Professional Ap-proaches for Christian Educators. 16 (1986), 12-15. Smith, Patricia. "Images and Insights: Mary In A Modern Mode." New Catholic World. 229 (November-December 1986), 269-273. Smolenski, Stanley. "Rosary or Chaplet?" Homiletic and Pastoral Review. 86 (October 1985),9-15. Snyder, Bernadette. "Who's Praying the Rosary Today?" Liguorian. 74 (October 1986), 2-6. Speyr, A. "Prayer In The Life Of The Blessed Virgin." Commu-nio. 7 (Summer 1980), 113-126. Stahel, Thomas H. "Redemptoris Mater." America. 156 (May 2, 1987), 353-354. Tambasco, A. "Mary: A Biblical Portrait For Imitation." New Catholic World. 229 (November-December 1986), 244-271. Tannehill, R.C. "The Magnificat As Poem." Journal of Biblical Lit-erature. 93 (1974), 263-275. Tutas, Stephen R. 'Who Is Mary For Me?" REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. 43 (September-October 1984), 778-780. Unger, Dominic J. "Does the New Testament Give Much Histori-cal Information About the Blessed Virgin or Mostly Symbolic Mean-ing?" Marianum. (1977), 323-347. Van Bemmel, John. "How To Pray The Rosary." Religion Teacher's Journal. 17 (April-May 1983), 29-30. Ward, Jack. "The Rosary-A Valuable Praying and Teaching Tool." Catechist. 19 (October 1985), 24-25. Ware, Kallistos, Timothy. "The Jesus Prayer and the Mother of God." Eastern Churches Review. (Autumn 1972), 149-150. Zyromski, Page. "Rosary Meditations Especially For Catechists." Catechist. 20 (October 1986), 20-22. Church Documents, Pastoral Letters and Addresses: John Paul II. "Address to a General Audience About the Rosary As An Opportunity of Pray With Mary." Origins. 44 (November 2, 1981 ), 366 / Review for Religious, May-June 1989 --. "Address to the Faithful About Mary and Her Spiritual Testa-ment." Origins. 30 (July 25, 1983), 2. --. "Address to the Faithful Saying That With the Rosary We Are Armed With the Cross and the Word." Origins. 41 (October 10, 1983), I. --. "Address to the Faithful Saying That Mary Is Present In Every Liturgical Action." Origins. 8 (February 20,, 1984), 10. --. Address to the Faithful Stressing Devotion to Mary Our Mother." Origins. 880 (April 9, 1985), 12. ~. "Address to the Faithful Urging Honor to the Infinite Majesty of God Through Mary." Origins. 891 (June 24, 1985), I. --. "Homily Announcing A Fourteen Month Marian Year To Be-gin Pentecost Sunday." Origins. 16 (January 15, 1987), 563-565. --. Mother of the Redeemer. Boston: Daughters of St. Paul, 1987. --. "Renewal of the Act of Consecration of the World to the Mother of God." Origins. 14 (April 2, 1984), 9-10. --. Redemptoris Mater. Tablet. 241 (March 28, 1987), 355-359. National Catholic Conference of Bishops. Behold Your Mother: Woman of Faith. (Pastoral Letter on the Blessed Virgin Mary). Wash-ington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, November 21, 1973. Paul VI. "Apostolic Exhortation: Marialis Cultus." L'Osservatore Romano. April 4, 1974. ~. "Mary, Model of the Church." REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. 34 (March 1976), 161 - 164. ~. "Renewal of Devotion to Mary." The Pope Speaks. 20 (1975), 199-203. --. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Boston: Daughters of St. Paul, 1974. Poletti, U. Cardinal. "Significance, Value and Practice of Devotion to the Rosary." Origins. 42 (October 16, 1975), 9. Transcripts, Lectures and Tapes: Clark, Alan. "The Holy Spirit and Mary." Mary's Place In Chris-tian Dialogue. (Occasional Papers and Lectures of the Ecumenical), 1982, 79-88. DeSatage, John and McHugh, John. "Bible and Tradition in Regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary: Lumen Gentium." Mary's Place In Chris-tian Dialogue. (Occasional Papers and Lectures of the Ecumenical), 1982, 51-60. Dimock, Giles. "Practical Devotion to Mary." Marian Conference A Mary Bibliography / 367 at the University of Steubenville, 1986, (Cassette). Hutchinson, Gloria. Mary, Companion For Our Journey. Cincinnati: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1986, (Cassettes). Peffley, Bill. Prayerful Pauses With Jesus and Mary. Mystic: Twenty-Third Publications, 1987, (Audiocassettes). Pittman, Robert S. "The Marian Homilies of Hesychius of Jerusa-lem." Ph.D. Thesis. Catholic University of America, 1974. Powers, Isaias. Quiet Places With Mary: A Guided Imagery Retreat. Mystic: Twenty-Third Publications, 1986, (Audiocassettes). Scanlan, Michael. "Prominence of Mary: The Time of Visitation." Marian Conference at the University of Steubenville, 1986, (Cassette). Ware, Kallistos. "The Mother of God in Orthodox Theology and Devotion." Mary's Place in Christian Dialogue. (Occasional Papers and Lectures of the Ecumenical), 1982, 169- ! 81. An Ignatian Contemplation on the Baptism of Our Lord Michael W. Cooper, S.J. Father Michael Cooper, S.J., teaches in the Theology Department and the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University of Chicago. His address is 6525 N. Sheri-dan Road; Chicago, Illinois 60626. Baptism has once again become an integral part of the Christian experi-ence. Instead of simply an individual event between God and the bap-tized, the sacrament once more celebrates a person's entrance into the community of believers. Moreover, with the renewal and expansion of the understanding of ministry, it is baptism that now offers the founda-tion for the call to mission and service for every member of the People of God. Even with all these rich theological and liturgical developments, I have still found it difficult to make any vital connection between them and my own baptism. In part, I simply have no sentiments or recollec-tions to explore or deepen. Like many other pre-Conciliar born, I was rushed to the local parish on the Sunday following my birth to save me from a sudden case of limbo. Nor does my mother have any spiritual re-membrances of my baptism to share with me, since on that day she was still in the hospital recuperating from my worldly entrance. Thus until very recently the experiential and spiritual sense of my own baptism re-mained in a limbo of its own. The meaning and power of my own baptism finally came alive, how-ever, as I shared Jesus' experience of his own baptism during several pe-riods of prayer on my recent thirty-day retreat. The thrust of contempo-rary spirituality reminds us to pay close attention to our human experi-ence- whether in prayer, in ministry, or in the rest of life--and to ask 368 Contemplation on Baptism / 369 what the Lord might be saying or how he might be inviting. Often these moments become actual revelations of God's living Word for us-~either individually or collectively. Through these experiences we realize the Gos-pel no longer as. a onetime event in the past but as always happening-- and now most immediately to us. From this perspective of the ongoing Gospel I share the fruits of a very transforming experience of the baptism of our Lord. Though admit-tedly the very personal encounter of one individual, maybe my experi-ence will contribute to our collective efforts to reclaim the experiential and spiritual roots of our baptismal call to community and ministry with God's people. I entitled this article "An Ignatian Contemplation . . ." to highlight a very definite approach to praying the Scriptures. Instead of methodi-cally plodding through the Gospel, I contemplated, that is, I watched at-tentively and receptively the scene of our Lord's baptism, letting it touch my mind and heart. I began by reading through the scripture text (Mt 3:13-17) several times, then I put down my Bible, closed my eyes, and let the event come alive before the inner eye of my imagination. Following Ignatius' instructions in the Spiritual Exercises (no. 114), I then took my place in the scene, so that I would be experiencing the baptism as an engaged participant and not as a disinterested spectator. Paying attention to the persons, their words, and their actions, I contem-plated the event as if it were happening now for the first time. On the banks of the Jordan, Jesus steps out from the crowd and pre-sents himself to his cousin John for baptism. His voice filled with emo-tion, John protests saying, "I should be baptized by you, yet you come to me!" But Jesus responds very straightforwardly. "Let it be for now." Then in a very powerful moment of the contemplation, I hear Jesus go on to explain himself, "I'm no different from the rest of the people gath-ered here. We're all struggling to gain our human freedom and whole-ness. With all the fear and unfreedoms we carry around from growing up plus all the pressures and demands on us today, it's a wonder we're not more wounded than we are." For Jesus, this very heartfelt experience becomes his baptism into a deep identification and solidarity with the rest of the human family united together in the struggle to become more human and free. Jesus' words to John then cannot be taken as some sort of pious self-effacement. Rather, our brother Jesus is experiencing his baptism as a deep, deep bond-edness with the human family gathered at the healing waters of rebirth and wholeness. 370/Review for Religious, May-June 1989 As I continue to contemplate the baptism unfolding before me, I am drawn to even closer physical proximity with Jesus by the magnetism of his human compassion and tenderness. At the same time I begin to feel close again to several friends from whom I have parted company because of certain decisions on their part that hurt me very deeply. Along with this new feeling of closeness comes the realization that despite the pain and darkness that have separated us, there exists a deeper bond of soli-darity in the human struggle that binds us together. We are no different from each other or from the rest of the people on the face of the earth. In one way or another we are each carrying around within us parts of our wounded child and of our stressed adult. The shadow of our fuller human potential and psychic wholeness always seems to lie just beyond our reach. With this realization a lot of the bite to my pain and anger subsides and I hear myself saying very serenely, "In our choices and endeavors, we really do try to give as much as we can at the moment. Sometimes our responses aren't adequate or all that the situation might call for or that we or others might hope for. Because we will always be carrying around our wounded and unfinished selves, we at times end up creating pain and darkness--for others as well as for ourselves--despite our best and freest possible intentions at that moment. I am no different from the rest of mortals. We are all in our own way longing and strug-gling for our human freedom and wholeness as daughters and sons of the living God." These intense feelings of solidarity with my friends that ac-company these reflections free me to let go of a lot more of the pain and misunderstanding in our relationship. And almost immediately these peo-ple actually appear on the banks of the Jordan and, ecstatic and teary-eyed, we embrace one another. By this time Jesus and John are sitting off to the side talking intently to one another. I am savoring the wonderful feelings of reconciliation and the pure joy of this moment when all of a sudden my attention switches. Several close friends for whom I had initially been either .teacher, spiritual director, or mentor become present to me. These new feelings of solidarity in the human struggle now bring a different sort of bondedness with them. Any leftover images of being in some way "the expert" or "the helper" or simply the one who is a couple of steps ahead of the others seem to disappear forever. I am just acutely aware of'how similar our journeys and struggles have been at such a profound level. A marvelous celebration of deep friendship and belonging to each other takes place as they, too, appear on the banks of the Jordan and I jump up to embrace them. Contemplation on Baptism / 371 This first moment of the baptism climaxes as I join hands with my friends who have come to the Jordan. Together with Jesus and John we dance in circles and zigzag chains across the sands. Then we run into the water to splash and frolic like little children and truly we are, because so many of the hurts and wounds of growing up and of adult life are be-ing healed. This wonderful moment comes to a close when with ecstatic reverence we take turns baptizing one another in these life-giving wa-ters of human compassion and solidarity. The second major moment of the baptism begins as Jesus steps out of the water. This time the heavens open and a voice proclaims, "This is My Son, the Beloved, on whom My favor rests." Along with his sense of profound solidarity with the human family, Jesus now experiences most intensely his deep, deep solidarity with God. Because the baptism has become not only Jesus' but mine as well, I feel myself being drawn into that same solidarity with God. I now hear a voice from the heavens addressed to me, "You, too, are My son, the beloved, on whom My favor rests." Initially, I simply rest in this deep sense of belonging to God. Though still feeling very much the earthen vessel, chipped and bro-ken in so many ways, I receive nonetheless a strong assurance in the prayer that I will have whatever I need by way of resources for my per-sonal journey and for my ministry. With God's favor there will be enough of hope, courage, and justice, of human and psychic energy, and of whatever else needed for today with more to come tomorrow. The Lord has spoken . Rather than end a prayer that is really only be-ginning to unfold, I simply thank the Lord from the depths of my spirit for sh.aring the baptism with me both in contemplation and in life. This Ignatian contemplation of the baptism of our Lord invites sev-eral brief comments. First of all, we realize that the foundations for a renewed understanding of Christian baptism do not come so much from our own sacramental initiation as from sharing the experience of baptism with Jesus. Like the Lord, we are baptized into covenantal solidarity with both our brothers and sisters and with our gracious God. From this perspective, baptism loses much of its static notion as sim-ply a once-in-a-lifetime event. Especially for adults being baptized or re-claiming their baptismal call, as we did in this contemplation, the cele-bration of baptism becomes a dynamic initiation into a lifelong process that continues to open up new levels of human and divine solidarity as our Christian existence unfolds day by day. This sacred bondedness with the human family confronts the blatant Review for Religious, May-June 1989 barriers and subtle alienation that separate us from each other. Baptism invites us to embrace the human family--both near and far--as "my peo-ple" and not just God's people. Our experience is meant to mirror that of Jesus: "I am no different from anybody else." The heart of the mat-ter remains this recognition that we are all struggling with varying de-grees of success for our human freedom and wholeness--two of the gate-ways to encountering the divine in ourselves. Here, too, our experience follows the pattern of Jesus in discovering his own divinity. In facing the forces that would shrink, wound, or destroy these most precious gifts of God to us, we plumb the depths of our human resources and discover the wellsprings of the divine energy in us as well. Second, this baptism into human solidarity against the enemies of our humanity celebrates our entrance as adults into the Christian com-munity. We now recognize and claim for our own this community both broken and healed yet always struggling for greater wholeness. Third, this very sacred experience of human solidarity becomes the foundational stance for each Christian's involvement in ministry as part of our baptismal commitment. It is only from a vital sense of bonded-ness to each other that we can enter into the.joys and struggles of one another without pretense or feigned empathy. By the Lord's design we are in this human struggle together. Baptism then celebrates our call to be companions to one another and to all our brothers and sisters in the unfolding of the kingdom of God in our time. Fourth, the divine bondedness solidifies as we hear the voice from heaven address us withthe same love and promise offered to Jesus: "You are My beloved on whom My favor rests." This proclamation then nurtures our heartfelt sense of belonging utterly to God. Moreover, this divine connectedness touches all the dimensions of who we are, so that we begin to look and feel more and more with the eyes and heart of our gracious God on our~e, lves, others, and our world. In the face of our human wounds and inadequacies, this sense of di-vine favor sustains Christian perseverance and empowerment for life and ministry. We can be stretched to the limits of our understanding and of our physical and psychic energies, yet we now know deep down that no matter what comes God's favor will sustain us this day and there will be more of what we need tomorrow. From the Lord we need only ask with Ignatius in the Suscipe of the Spiritual Exercises: "Give me only Your love and Your grace; that is enough for me" (no. 234). For those hungry to deepen their commitment to Christian commu-nity and ministry, an Ignatian contemplation of the baptism may be the Contemplation on Baptism I 373 occasion to nourish those desires as they share this moment with Jesus as though it were happening for the first time. We never know whom or what we might meet on the banks of the Jordan! the woman with the hemorrhage i was tired of their pity and their prayers now for how many years each face became compulsive to be good with kindness--their helpful helplessness i've seen their looks that worried into silence "i'm so sorry" drove me to distraction until they learned my shame would last God only knowswperhaps forever then they disappeared like frightened children and the very thing

Issue 45.2 of the Review for Religious, March/April 1986. ; Vocation Ministry A Sociological View of Commitment Religious and Secular Institutes Imagination Within the Act of Faith Volume 46 Number 2 March/April, 1986 REvIEw FOR REI,IGIOUS (ISSN 0034-639X), published every two months, is edited in collaboration with the faculty members of the Department of Theological Studies of St. Louis University. The editorial offices are located at'Room 428:3601 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63108-3393. REVIEW EOt~ REI.IGIOUS is owned by the Missouri Province Educational Institute of the Society of Jesus, St. Louis, M O © 1986 by REVIEW FOR RELtGIOOS. Composed. printed and manufactured in U.S.A. Second class postage paid at St. Louis, MO. Single copies: $2.50. Subscription U.S.A. $ I 1.00 a year; $20.00 for two years. Other countries: add $4.00 per year (postage). Airmail (Book Rate) $18.00 per year. For subscription orders or change of address, write REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS: P.O. Box 6070; Duluth, MN 55806. Daniel F. X. Meenan, S.J. Dolores Greeley, R.S.M. Iris Ann Ledden, S.S.N.D. Richard A. Hill, S.J. Jean Read Editor Associate Editor Review Editor Contributing Editor Assistant Editor March/April, 1986 Volume 46 Number 2 Manuscripts, books for review and correspondence with the editor should be sent to REVIEW FOR RELIGtOUS; Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108-3393. Correspondence about the department "Canonical Counsel" should be addressed to Richard A. Hill, S.J.; J.S.T.B.; 1735 LeRoy Ave.; Berkeley, CA 94709. Back issues and reprints should be ordered from REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS; Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108-3393. "Out of p~int~ issues and articles not published as reprints are available from University Microfilms International; 300 N. Zeeb Rd.; Ann Arbor, MI 48106. A major po~on of each issue is also available on cassette recordings as a service for the visually impaired. Write to the Xavier Society for the Blind; 154 East 23rd Street; New York, NY I0010. The Vowed Life in a Secularized World Desmond O'Donnell, O M.I. Father O'Donnell's earlier "Focused Freedom: To Someone in Formation"appeared in the issue of January/February, 1985. He is a General Councillor for his community and, though often on the road, may be addressed at its Generalate: Oblati di Maria; C.P. 9061; 00100 Roma Aurelia, Italy. ouring out a plethora of easy answers to complex questions does not bring us any closer to permanent solutions. Neither is it helpful to offer a new one-word solution for everything taking place in the Church at this time. And yet secularization might be a useful umbrella-word ~,to explain much, of what is taking place both, to the Church and to the vowed life today. If it is in fact found to be a satisfactory seminal term, it will also help us to focus rather than to diffuse our response. It can aid the process of discernment. Situating the Question The good news about our way of life is that a deep spiritual renewal is being experienced by many and that the importance of prayer is being rediscovered. There has been a notable updating in theology and real--if not always successful--attempts to build authentic faith-communities. There also is a growing freedom and practice of discernment about our apostolates and about our private lives as well. There is other news which does not' seem so obviously good, such as the large numbers who left us, the small numbers joining and the increasing median age. In some places, community life is moving towards becoming politely-shared space, enclosing many unspoken polarizations about deep realities among us. Authority has tended to go from heavy-handedness to 161 "i69/ Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 ¯ laissez-faire and so consensus about anything of serious communal signifi-cance is often hard to come by. Governments gradually move in to take over our institutions, either because we have chosen to let them or because they have helped themselves. The degree to which all this is related to secularization is disputable, but related it is, and I will try to show why this is so. Before we go into this, may I look at some more personal experiences of vowed people in most countries today--experiences which I think are related to secularization even more deeply than those mentioned above. Many of us have been through more or less severe vocational question-ing of some kind in recent years, because the rationale of our way Of life did not seem capable of answering the questions popping up all around us. Maybe it was triggered off by simply seeing one of our now-married novitiate companions do equally good apostolic work and do it well. It may also have been that we grew tired of mobility, or just vaguely short of motivation for the continual questioning of our chosen lifestyle. Many of us have found some new difficulties in prayer, as God seemed to withdraw and leaqe the world to evil pebple. Or maybe the emergence of so many small friendship-groups has left us out in the cold called "com-munity life." The variety of new prayer-forms and so many seminars, have a way of increasing our desire for some stability and wondering if it might not be found elsewhere, In response to'all of this, many felt the growing ambiguities and endless updating led them to personal selectivity in belief and practice. Others moved to the edge~of the storm by choosing some form of fundamentalism or an atheism' which expressed itself in mere social horizontalism while still remaining in the ~3ongregation. Some of us chose to becom~ left-wing unloving critics of the present and others moved to become right-wing uncritical lovers of the past, as the middle ground grew unpopular and became such a solitary exprience. These deeper and more personal phenomena~ are related to modernization and secularization too, as I will try to demonstrate. And so the response to these experiences, might first be to understand the meaning of modernization and the resultihg secularization-experience. Modernization The amount of knowledge in the world continues to increase because of constant research and it is rapidly diffused through very efficient communicatioh systems. Modernization is what happens when the knowledge is~ transferred into technology, which then has ~increasing and unforeseeable effects on economic growth, on social systems and on political decisidns. Inevitably the individual too is affected in his or her The Vowed Life in a Secularized World / 165 values, attitudes, beliefs and behavior. Most of us remember the discovery of plastic 'in the 40s, of the transistor in the 50s, of computers in the 60s, of microcomputers in .the 70s and now we observe technology move forward into genetic engineering in the 80s. All of these have affected people and systems in serious and often irreversibl~e ways. This march of modernization shows no signs of slowing down and often appears to have its own~self-propelled, autonomous momentum. It took one hundred twelve years for photography to go from discovery to commercial product, fifty-six for the telephone, thirty-five for the radio, fifteen for radar, twelve for television and only five for transistors to find their way from the laboratory into the market. Again, as each of these products comes on the market, it touches--and in the case of genetic engineering, tampers with human nature and human systems in often lastingly significant ways, It is with the human effects of modernity that we are concerned and these are sometime.s good, sometimes evil, and often ambiguous. Moder-nity can lead to human community and comfort,-.or to pollution and poverty for millions; it can facilitate or disrupt human values; it can enrich °a poor country or steal its unrenewable sources of energy; it can help in the diffusion of truth or of lies through the media and it can pass on productive information or child,pornography. In each of our .lives it can .make the superfluous become the convenient, ~the convenient become the necessary and the necessary become the indispensable, thus changing human nature itself. ~ Peter Berger's definition summarizes, all this: "Modernization is the transformation of the world, brought about by the technological innova-tions of the last few centuries having economic, social and political dimen-sions all immense in scope." With many otherwriters he goes on to outline the many very,personal effects resulting from the economic, social, political ones in his definition, Secularization is a very significant one of these. Secularization It is important to stress that we are not talking here about secularism which is a theory, an ideology denying the existence of God or at least his action and relevance in the world. Nor is secularization .to be equated with atheism when in fact it might be the very opposite experience for many who are desperately trying to hold on toGod who seems to be withdrawing from them. And certainly it would be simplistic to think that secularization is the same as materialism, Secularization is claimed to.be more a fact than a theory, a reality more than an ideology, a process taking place more than.a point of view. While it "i64/ Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 can lead to secularism, materialism, or atheism, it is in fact none of these. Some religious people find words like secularism, materialism and atheism convenient labels for what is happening in the Church or in_the vowed life today and it may be a description in some cases, but it is not addressing the deeper and more pervasive reality we call secularization. Secularization manifests itself when explanations of reality previously attributed to mythical or religious sources, are shown to have .rational ones, as when the~scientist takes over from the witch doctor, the. psychologist assumes some previously priestly functions or when a technological discovo ery,disintegrates a theological theory. A group of Animists in Java lost their gods a few years ago when a new seismographic station began to foretell and explain volcanic eruptions more accurately than the local holy man, The Diak people of Borneo lost their fear of and their belief in their forest gods when bulldozers razed the jungle. For some people, the study of a good theology of providence could have a similar effect. These people are experiencing secularization. In a similar way, many modern Christians first felt uncomfortable and then felt their faith questioned by a good church-history book, an accurate TV documentary, a skilled psychiatrist, two men on the moon, an old law proven pointless, a church authority found unworthy, a symbol disappear-ing or a culture collapsing~-all more or less the result of modernization. The resulting discomfort and questioning within the individual person, is close to the secularization-experience. It is an experience of no longer having one overall reference-point--a feeling of increasing disintegration. If you are experiencing that somehow God is withdrawing because religious explanations are increasingly less necessary, that the quantum of the secular is increasing at the expense of the sacred, that maybe~ God is now less necessary as a postulate for human living or that because of modern evidence your longheld experience of God is no longer a comfort-able one, you are probably undergoing the pressure of the secularization-experience. This is not a decisionnor even a desire to become an atheist; even if it could lead to it. Nor is it necessarily the result of "giving in" to materialism or to less-than-moral behavior, admitting, of course, that both of these can easily increase its momentum. If you are not undergoing the experience of secularization, then it is still important to uiaderstand it, because most of the peopl~ you are trying to evangelize, especially in the developed world, are probably experiencing it. It is from this fact that the present great missiological question arises--how announce the Good News of Jesus Christ to a secularized world? Moderni-zation and its result in secularization are now recognized as cultures, new cultures, ever-changing cultures and it is at this point that we recognize the The Vowed l_Jfe in a Secularized World / 165 break between faith and culture today. Thus for the modern person, secularization is a feelin~ of dissonance in .trying to hold together what is happening in the world and what the Bible seems to say about God's providence or what is often said in churches and what is taking place in real life around us. It results in discomfort with one's present experience of God. Any naive belief in the immediacy of God will be challenged .by secularization and modernity. Old fashioned god-words and some ecclesiastical jargon will appear increasingly irrelevant to sincere secularized persons everywhere. Secularization can be defined as the grad-ual disappearance of mythical and religious legitimations or explanations of society. Living with the ambiguities of the secularization-experience leads to a temptation to take refuge in fundamentalism which can be described as believing more and more in less and less in order to feel secure, or in agnosticism which is a lazy neither-nor ~land excusing one from the strug-gles, doubts and decisions which are part of any faith. Let us now try to analyze the challenge and opportunity which secularization offers the vowed life. The Vowed Life For the vowed life, secularization can be a deep call and a deep grace. Lumen Gentium calls us to enrich, challenge, encourage and stimulate the Church by our lives and our action (Par. 44). This is all the more reason why we must study, understand and give a gospel response to seculariza-tion, to a secularized world. Because secularization implies change at so many levels of human existence, we should recall that sociologists stress the vital importance of internal consistency for all groups in time of change. This internal consis-tency- our basic authenticity measured against what we claim to be--is now a matter of survival. Institutions which lack internal consistency are likdy to disappear in tim~s of rapid change, especially if their external image is also unclear. For these reasons, we who profess the vowed life must address the phenomenon and the grace of secularization. May I suggest that there are five areas where God might well be speaking to us in all this? ~ansmitting a New Integrating Presence of God Secularization, as we saw, forces us to find a new presence of God, a presence which permeates, integrates, energizes for action and which brings human and divine values into secular realities. Karl Rahner spoke of the vowed woman as having a profession which has no justification from the "166 / Review for :Religious, March-April, 1986 secular point of view even if she performs many useful secular tasks. What then might her iprofession and that of vowed men be? It is surely--as it always was--to give or rather to share with people their own experience of God. This is a demanding task; it demands that we each have such an experience first of all. We will have to pass on "so.mething which we have seen with our own eyes, that we have watched and touched with our own .hands" (1 Jn l:l'b) and it will be vital that "in Christ we speak as men of sincerity, as envoys of God and in God's presence" (2 Co 2:17), It seems to be a call to discover and lead in a new integrating mysticism as this quote from John Macquarie expresses: ¯ It is interesting to note that Bonhoeffer, though he advocated a 'worldly' Christia°nity, made it 'perfectly explicit that the kind of w0rldline~ss that he had in mind has nothing to do with the immersion in"material pursuits and enjoyments that we commonly associate with the "worldly' man. Bon-hoeffer makes a :statement that ought to be'pondered by those who invoke his support for a thoroughly secularized Christianity. He says: 'In Christ we are offered the possibility of partaking in the reality'of God and in the reality of the world, but not in the one without the other The reality of God discloses itself only by setting me entirely in the reality of the world, and when I encounter the reality of the world, it is always already sus-tained: accepted and reconciled in the reality of God.' There is a dialectic here that takes us beyond any naive world affirmation, just as it rules out any false religiosity. God,is met in the world, but the world is known in its reality only as Grd's world? Back in 1970, Karl Rahner wrote: Maybe we [he was addressing his own Society] ourselves have been super-f! cialized by the consumer society. Maybe we ourselves have not come to any original experience of God. Maybe we have not taken .the .trouble to let others participate in the mystical technique leading.to such an expe-rience. If all that is the case, we have of course, no alternative but to take refuge in a secular horizontalism which tries to interpret and live our own lives on the same level . The coming thing is the spiritual dimension, the experience of God, the taste of eternity no matte~ how valid our social involvement (with ~regard to which we have a terrible'lot to make up). The coming thing is sober peace, in face of all the absurdity of existence, the absurdity which no social involvement will spirit away. That rather bour-geois- chequered spirituality which was found--to outward appearances at least--in the orders before the first world war and which influenced reli-gious life too much~ may belong to the past and the young may say rightly that it is useless.from the start. But a new spirituality in religious life and in the Church will be assured of a real future. Whatever form this new spirituality will have, it must surely~be a very 7he Vowed life in a Secularized Worm personal "faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake" (Ga 2:20) and a very integrating one, enabling us to "bring everything together~ under Christ" (Ep 1:10). This--it seemsto me--is the most serious challenge which secularization puts to vowed communities today. Integration Through Reflection As we saw, one of the deepest effects of secularization is disintegration. There is no longer any one overarching human legitimation for the think-ing person today. We, even as vowed people, stand and struggle side by side with the modem person in loneliness, doubts, fears' and feelings of disinte-gration. We too are among the "new poor." The third world is closer to us than we think; it is inside our shirts especially if we have already chosen the still greater poverty of fundamentalism with iis moral, dogmatic and spirit-ual naivet6 and ~elitism. We are, however, expected to .stand with our fellow Christians in seren-ity and in a "peace which the world cannot give" (Jfi 14:27). We stand with them in a spirit of confidence too, as Jesus did with his disciples, when for him and for them everything seemed lost; "I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but be brave; I have overcome the world" (Jn 16:23). Only a life of prayer can discover and sustain this peace, this joy in the midst of a secularizing experience. Jesus led a busy life and had constant calls on his service, but we find the source of his power in the actual physical withdrawal, to be with God: "His reputation continued to grow and large crowds would gather to hear him and to have their sickness cured but ~he would always go away to some place to be alone and pray" (Lk 15:16). The form of prayer for today would seem to be what Macquarie calls "prayer as thinking";5 it is a prayer.which reflects on what God is doing in the world more than on what he,has done in scriptural times, without of course neglecting this latter. It is a praye~: which keeps our spiritual faculties alive. All reality, especially fast-changing or disintegrated reality~ is opaque and this is especially true in the m6dern world when ambiguity is part of life everywhere. We need to sharpen our spiritual eyesight to see what Bonhoffer described as the "holy depths" of.things and events. It is not so much a prayer "giving us time to refuel, but a prayer'which gives us increased awareness for better and deeper involvement and which motivates us for the human task of offering the world salvation from '~'everything that oppresses the.human person especially sin and the .evil one" (EN n. 9). Lest we ourselves succumb to the burnout of compulsive activity or the dropout of ceaseless seminars this life of "prayer as thinking" 1611/ Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 seems essential. . A long time ago, Christopher Dawson observed: "Men today are divided between those who have kept their spiritual roots and lost their contact with the existing order of society, and those who have preserved their social contacts and lost their spiritual roots." Could this be a descrip-tion of vowed persons today? Relativization of All Reality ~ I read somewhere that the Talmud says we will be held accountable to God for all the legitimate pleasures we have not enjoyed. When all this is said and dqne, there still remains the fact that so many of life's legitimate-- or even essential--pleasures are denied millions today, in even our devel-oped world. There also stands the fact that "we have not here a lasting city" (Heb 1:3:14) ahd that we possess only the certaintY of Christian hope: "We have a sure hope and the promise of an inheritance that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away because it is being kept for you in the heavens" (1 P 3:4). One part of our mission is to keep.Christian hope clearly before people and thus relativize reality, both good and evil. Secularization or not, the human person has a tendency to appropriate goods, material and spiritual, to hold them closely and even to be possessed by them. Our lives if they are lived in the simplicity and detachment which we .profess, will relativize the enjoyment or deprivation of material things and remind others that t.hey are to be shared: "Warn those who are rich in this world's goods, that they are not to look down on other people and not to set their hopes on money which is untrustworthy but on God, who out of his riches, gives us all that we need for our happiness. Tell them that they are to do good and be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share"(l Tm 6:17,18). We can do this "telling" by our lifestyle, before we do it in words, the opportunity for which may never come our way. We also speak to the poor enabling them to relativize their desire for justice and to recall that while they struggle for their rights, there isan opportunity for growth in their poverty too. "Listen, my dear brothers, it was those who are poor accord, ing to the world that God chose to be rich in faith and to be heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him" (Jm 2:5). Modernization has created so many who are enduring forced celibacy through broken marriages or infidelity and who are still avalanched by the media's sexual imperative. We can support these people even without speaking, because our lives experience the same yearnings and our minds are exposed to the same urgings and yet we struggle successfully on, with-out the assurance of genital involvement. But all this depends on our Vowed ~'fe in a Secularized World / 169 manifesting balanced and happy personalities, as people who have inte-grated their relationships and their sexuality in a healthy way. For secular-ized persons--many of whom suffer from confused psychosexuality--we can be supportive signs of survival and of fulfilled happiness through our lived celibacy. Individualism is a mark of the secularized person, coming very often as it does from hurt, insecurity and alienation. This can be so in our own communities too. The insecure person lives ambivalently between a desire to be accepted through cooperation and a fear of being dominated by submission. This is part of the disintegrating experience of modern life. If alienation is the pathology of our age, individualism is one of its clearest manifestations. By our vow of obedience lived out and seen not as "doing what one is told" but as discernment of what is best leadership in and through a caring community, we have much to say to the modern person about finding his or her own best expression of self in a confused world. It is even humanly true that "none of us is as wise as all of us." The secularized person, tempted to extreme individualism needs to rediscover this; for the good of ¯ families, local groups and for national and international survival, o Process.and Pilgrimage , It is clear that we vowed people will not be on the edge of the human experience of secularization and its consequential feeling of disintegration much longer. We share with men and women everywhere their search for stability and for lost certainties as the river of secularization tries to move all of us up, down and forward. To an extent, we found ourselves insulated from the human condition until recently, but no longer. Even if it were. not through necessity, we know that if we are to hold conversation with and to evangelize the world, we must pitch our tents within it; as God did. We must be prepared to pilgrimage our way once again and enter into the human process which we'should never have deserted. The fact that we accept this, will help so many others who find it difficult and who drop out into drugs or other forms of anomie and despair. Again, our vows lived authentically prepare us for the pilgrimage, ready us to keep moving, because we have publicly professed not to hold on, not to settle and not to be held. By our lived poverty, we refuse to be possessed by any material consideration and by our vows of chastity we also refuse to be possessed by ahy relationship. Obedience enables us to keep listening and looking at the map of moving events with eyes of faith and lbve. To quote Karl Rahner again from the same article: "The concrete future of Christianity, the Church and religious life remains largely hidden 17{I / Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 from us . what historical and social form the Church and ecclesial Christianity will take in the future, remains largely hidden from us., we have to fight for victory without.a prognosis of victory" (p. 136). He was not° referring tothe effects of secularization at that time, but what he wrote is truer than ever now, and it puts us side by side and hopefully hand in hand with the modern man or woman as they endure the sec-ularization- experience. Interdependence and Involvement Our communities are not islands of isolated peace in a troubled uni-verse. No, they are sources from which we. emerge to makea more human and so a more godly world. Our vows enable us to do this; having freed us from, they also free usforLin a liberating way. ~',~ Our vow of poverty truly lived, makes us free for involvement. Because we have nothing to lose, we can carry the struggle for justice .further and when our lives are skilled in dispossession, we are not open to criticism from the rich~whose lives we question for the sake of the poor. Our good news for the poor has to be in some way perceived as bad news for the rich and they will readily point to any beam or bank account in our own lives if these are obvious. Only 'by relinquishing the power of possessions .can we demonstrate our competence to communicate freedom. Our vow of chastity makes us free to keep moving and to freely ask even our close friends: "Do you want to go away too?" (Jn 6:67). Again, we can take risks which married people with concern for their,families and for each other cannot be asked to take. Obedience, as we saw, offers us a freedom to live out a ,radar-like listening to God's word in the world around us. Truth comes only with listening :and discernment and these take. place best among a group of sharing people~ Obedience is .a public statement, that we bind ourselves to listen within and are missioned by a community through its leaders. This offers a model~for others to do the same in the Church. The quality of relationships and of concern for anyone at a distance suffers greatly in this time of disintegrative secularization, as each one looks to his or her own very personal success or survival. Nations do the same. This di-ama is, played out on a smaller scale every day in the average city too. Surely our communities have something important to say to people in this bleak situation. In our public interaction with one another° and for those who visit our communities,.the prayer ot~Jesus for his whole Church must tend towards .fulfillment: "_May they all be one, Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me" (.In 17:21). The Vowed Life in a Secularized Worm / 1.71 In' conclusion, I submit that we are approaching the ideal today, as we find the vowed life standing less at a point of comfortable distance from the world and more at a point of painful dialectic with it. At this point it must be ready to say a confirming yes or a challenging no--and do this by its life and activity--to all the results of secularization. To quote .the Anglican writer, Macquarie again: Here it must be said with regret that the trouble with some of our less responsible contemporary Christian secularizers is that they have taken up the ideal of holy worldliness, but seem to have promptly forgotten the adjective and reduced the ideal to a worldly concern tout court. They tell us that Christianity is a purely secular movement, their ideal of the good life seems scarcely distinguishable from the one that is so assiduously propagated by Madison Avenue, and the more extreme among them, in their horror at any supposed 'withdrawal' from the world, come near to advocating that the time has arrived to replace "poverty, chastity, and obedience with affluence, promiscuity, and autonomy as the highest goals for human life, or even as (he new evangelical counsels! The s!ogan for all this'is that w'e sho.uld 'say yes' to the world. But I do not think thata simple world affirmatioa will either help us to find God in the world or help the world to know his presence.6 - ~ Indeed, if we are to follow the words of Lumen Gentium, Chapter VI, par 44, the vowed life must say yes and no even to the Church itself. NOTES ~Facing Up to Moflernity, New York: Basic Books, 1977, 2John Macquarie, New Directions in Theology Today, Vol. III, p. 67, Philadelphia: 1981. 3"The Future of Religious Life" in Supplement to Doctrine and Life, Dublin: Domini-can l%_blications, May, 1972. 4The Greek' word anakephalasiosastai~is used in secular literature to express the con-ceptof many different ideas being subsumed under one theme. 5John Macquarie, Paths in Spirituality, Chapter 3, SCM Press, 1980, 6Op tit 2, p. 66. Vocation Ministry: Continuing the Invitation of Jesus Thomas E. Clark, ES.C. Brother Clark, Associate Vocation Director for the Chicago Province of the Christian Brothers, sees his work to be very much a ministry. This article is based on a presenta-tion he gave to the faculties of his congregation's schools in the Chicago area. He may be addressed at his .office: 200 De La Salle Drive; Romeoville, lllinois 60441. y ~vork 'as a full'time vocation minister for my community has often given me the opportunity to speak with young people, both individually and in groups, about the experience of being called by the Lord. My message to them is nearly identical to that of hundreds of other vocation ministers: each of us is called by God, each of us has a vocation, and it is up to each of us to discover what that vocation is. Onthe surface, the message seems clear, theologically sound, and understandable. However, what I have become aware of recently is th~at, in the two years I have been deliver-ing the message that each of us is called, the feeling with which I have been delivering that message has sometimes left something to be desired. Rather than offering a challenge to the young people with whbm I speak--a ch~allenge to discover a meaningful and significant way of living the Gospel ¯ in today's world--I've often felt that I am offering instead an apology for the choices I have made. It is as though the challenge of the Gospel might be just a little too naive for today's world, and to invite anyone to take it seriously may seem foolish and unrealistic. And even more foolish might be the invitation of young people to consider religious life and Church ministry as real options for themselves, ways of living out the Gospel challenge. I would certainly be out of touch with reality, I sometimes feel,-if I were to think that these people sitting in front of me--healthy, normal, 172 Vocation Ministry American young adults might consider religious life and Church ministry as serious-options for themselves. Thus when I speak with them, my invitation is sometimes clouded over with justifications ("I'm here today simply to make you aware of some choices I've made"), or sprinkled with "escape clauses" ("Any career you choose can be ministry"). The'underlying message, of course, is "I don't really expect you to consider any of these things for yourself." (In citing the above examples, of justification and "escape clauses," I do not mean to imply that there is no place in vocation ministry for "awareness education" or for a broad understanding of minis-try and community. On the contrary, these two approaches are essential to vocation ministry. They do not, however, constitute the whole of vocation ministry, and are sometimes used to avoid its more challenging aspect: that of invitation.) In speaking with a number of religious who are involved in vocation ministry, I have discovered that they, too, have much the same experience at times. Put simply, there are times when I do not believe there are any people who would be open to considering religious life as an option for themselves. Such an attitude is easily communicated to others, though it may not be directly stated,'and has the effect of turning away anyone who may consider religious life as a personal option. Further, a religious who holds such an attitude could never extend a confident and joyful invitation to an individual to consider religious life. It is my belief that such an attitude will keep religious not just from extending invitations to people to consider religious life, but on a deeper and more fundamental level, will keep us from fulfilling the responsibility we have to call people to build the kingdom of God. It is this invitation to the kingdom which is at the heart of vocation ministry, and which I wish to explore in more detail. In doing so, I shall consider several related topics: the model of invitation which Jesus gives us in the Gospels; vocation ministry as a means of living out that model; the philosophy of vocation ministry which has emerged in recent years; and finally, the challenge which we religious have been given in regard to vocation ministry. Jesus: Model of Invitation A simple perusal of the Gospels will show that Jesus had no hesitation about inviting peopl~ to follow him. His invitations are clear and concise. There is no misunderstanding what he means; the challenge is laid out on the table and nothing is hidden: Come after me and I will make you fishers of men (Mr 5:19). Follow me (Mr 9:9). Come and see (Jn 1:39). 1"/4/ Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 While such invitations may have been disarming or even~ unne ,rying to his listeners, it is difficult to imagine their being misunderstood. Jesus .has asked someone'to be his follower; it is as simple as that. ~ Neither does Jesus fail to make known to his followers his expe~ctations of them. In fact, his~requirements are so clear that~ sometimes they sound almost harsh. Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, thke Up his° '~ cross each day, and follow in my steps. Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it (Lk 9:23-24). ~.Let the dead bury their dead; come away and proclaim the kingdom of God (Lk 9:60). The requirements of following Jesus are great. He knows this, and does not hide this frown those whom he invites. At the same time, the invitation is issued with a certain excitement stemming from urgency of the call as well as its promise: Tliis is the tim~ of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand! Refo~-m ~our lives and believe in the Gospel! (Mk 1":5). Go a~d sell what you have and give to the poor; you will then have treasure in heaven. After that, come and follow me (Mk 10:21). This last invitation of Jesus was issued in response to the question of the rich young man, "What must I do to share in everlasting life?" (Mk 10".17). An.d it is here that we find out why Jesus issues the invitation t[iat he does: He knows everlasting life, and wants to share that with us. Again and again, Jesus promises us the kingdom and all that goes with it: fullness of life (Jn 10:10); complete joy (Jn 17:13); knowledge of th~ true God (Jn 17:3); the freedom of the truth (Jn 8:32); his own peace (Jn 14:27); the hundredfold and ~verlasting life (Mk 10:30). Jesus knows the k.ingdom and the gifts of the kingdom, and wants that experience for those to whom he has been sent. Herein we find the motivation behind his in~vitation, his c~all to take up the cross, [o sell all our possessions, to follow him. It is becaus~ he knows it will lead to the kingdom and everlasting lye,, arid he wants nothing less for us. It is love which has produced the clear, concise and even harsh invitation we find in the Gospel. With what kind of response .did Jesus' invitation meet? The Gospels sl~ow us pictures of every kind of response imaginable: Peter and Andrew "abandoned their nets and became his followers," as did James and John (Mt 4:20-22); Matthew left his post as tax collec~tor (Mt 9:9). The rich young man went away sad because of his many possessions (Mk 10:22). In a particularl~ poignant episode ~ecorded in John's gospel, Jesus' teaching leads many of his disciples to protest and ultimately to break away from his company. On seeing this, Jesus asks the Twelve if they, too, will leave him. Vocation Ministry / 175 Peter responds, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words :of eternal life" (Jn 6:60 ff.). Thus, the responses to Jesus' invitations are many and varied, for Jesus always allowed the individual to respond freely. What is evident, however, is that Jesus never stopped inviting, no matter what kind of response he met with. For Jesus, the important thing is that everyone be invited to follow him and to proclaim the kingdom. Negative responses, while disheartening, must not keep one from continuing to:issue the call, for all people deserve the opportunity to respond to the call. It is a matter of no :smalLsignificance, I believe, that the final words of Jesus in John's gospel are: "Follow me" (Jn 21:22). Continuing the Invitation: Vocation Ministry What does this never-ending invitation mean for us religio.us? What does it tell us, not only about our own response to Jesus' call, but about the mess-age we takb to the ~vorld? We have noted that Jesus' invitation flows from his expe~rience. He knows the Father, and the life that the Father gives~ Be.cause he knows, he Can ~nvite clearly, concisely and with authority. As men and women who have made life choices for the kingdom, and who have shared, at least in part, in the life of the kingdom, we too can invite others to embrace th~ kingdom. As men and women who have clearly chosen community and. ministry in the Church, we can invite others to conside~ community and ministry in the Chhrch as optionsfor.themselves. As men and women who have experieficed joy and. peace and life in these choices, as well as hardship and even pain, we can invite with the same confidence of Jesus, for we, too, know the burden and the gifts of the kingdom. In fact, Oot only can we continue to issue the invitation of Jesus, but in a certain sense, we have a responsibility to issue that invitation. !n a world where nuclear holocaust seems imminent, where starvation is the daily experience of millions, where poverty, unemployment and illiteracy a.re the lifestyle of whole ~egments of the world population.---in such a world, we who have been given the knowledge of the kingdom have a responsibility to call others to build that kingdom. In a world where people, especially young people, are searching for meaning and significance in their lives, where many live in confusion caused by crises of every kind, where whole societies are caught in the race for economic and political superiority--in such a world, we who have been promised the everlasting life of the kingdom have a responsibility to share that gift with this world. It is not that we .are holier o.r wiser than the rest of the world. Rather, we have been given the gift ~of a vision of how things can be. It is not our vision; it is God's vision that we have been given. And because we have 176/ Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 been given the vision, we must also bear theresponsibility--sometimes the burdgnsome responsibility--of calling others to God's vision. As religious, we have publicly proclaimed with joy and faith our desire to be a part of the kingdom, and that desire has been accepted joyfully by God. Now we must set ourselves to the task of inviting others, with our lives, to the ultimate meaning and significance which God's vision, the vision of the Kingdom, holds for the world. In the course of this lived invitation, we, like Jesus, must invite others clearly, concisely and directly to join us in bringing about God's vision for the world. We have the responsibility to say to people: "Sell all you have, give to the poor, and come away to proclaim the kingdom of God!" We must invite those with whom we work and pray and live to "Come and see" what we have seen. Like Jesus, our invitation will have authority if its motivation is love and its roots are found in our lived experien.ce. Thus, if we have found the meaning and significance of the kingdom in our religious commitment, in our community life, and in our ministry, then we must invlte others to that same experience. If religious life has been the context of God's kingdom for us, then we must invite others to consider that same context for themselves. We cannot deny others the opportunity that is ours, the gift we have been given in religious life. I believe that not to make others aware of this gift, not to speak of God's vision for us, and most importantly, not to invite others to consider this gift for themselves would constitute such a denial. I believe that vocation ministry if you will, the ministry of invitation and discovery--can be a powerful means of carrying on the invitation of Jesus. A Philosophy of ¥ootion Ministry Vocation ministry has emerged in recent years as a valid and accepted ministry in the ~Church. This emergence is due in large part to a new u~nderstanding of vocation ministry, an understanding which has its foun-dation in the model of 'invitation which Jesus provides in the Gospel. Unfortunateiy, this approach to vocation ministry is not' understood by many religious, and consequently keeps them from supporting the voca-tion efforts of their communities, and even more importantly, from involv-ing themselves in these efforts. As we have seen, vocation ministry, when considered as a ministry of invitation, is modeled by Jesus. But such an understanding of vocation ministry is relatively new. There was ~ time in the not too distant past (and which still e~xists today in some circles) when vocation ministry was consi-dered to be "recruitment," and the person who did this work was known as the "recruiter." This designation was appropriate at the time, for the person Vocation Ministry / 177 who served as a recruiter for a religious community attempted to find and enlist people, especially young peol~le, who seemed suitable for her or his particular community. The religious recruiter was searching for people to carry onthe work--the good work---of her or. his congregation. The job of the religious recruiter was similar to that of recruiters for the military, for schools or for corporations: namely, to ensure the continuance of the group's interests. The beneficiary of this process was the group and in 'the case of the religious recruiter, the beneficiary was her or his community and the people the community served. The term "recruitment" and the philosophy ~vhich it designates does not fit what Jesus does in the Gospels when he invites people to follow him. I believe that as the work of "recruitment" becomes more and more pat-terned after the model of invitation which Jesus provides, we need to call it by another name. It is at this point that we can begin to speak of "vocation ministry." The difference in language is reflective of the difference in philos-ophy and practice. It is, in fact, the difference between "recruitment and ministry," and it is shown in a new role for the person who does this work. This role is no longer one of serving primarily the needs of the congrega-tion, but is one of serving the needs of the people with whom the vocation minister works directly, the people whom she or he assists in discovering how and where and with whom the Lord calls them to build the kingdom. The priorities of the vocation minister have changed, from a focus on ensuring that the life of her or his congregation continues by enlisting people into the order, to a focus on ensuring that people discover who it is that God calls them to be. The agenda from which the vocation minister works has changed, from being primarily the order's agenda, to being primarily God's agenda. To some, such differentiation rhay seem too subtle to be of any impor-tance; .it may even seem like hairsplitting or word games. I believe, how-ever, that it is not too subtle, nor is =it hairsplitting, nor is it word games. For when looked at from the perspective of the person attempting to discern God's call, and especially the young person faced with fife-choices to make, there is a world of difference between the recruiter who wants that person to be a sister or brother or priest, and the minister who wants to help that person discover where God calls him or her to build the kingdom, where life will hold the most meaning for him or her, with no preconceived notion of where that might be. I contend further that, when considered from God's perspective, there is an ~ven more profound difference between "recruitment" and "ministry." It is the difference between the recruiter who believes that the continuance of her or his congregation is in the recruiter's hands, and that it is up to the recruiter to supply the needs of the order; and 1711 / Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 the minister.who trusts that God callg people to build his kingdom as sisters,, brothers, priests, married people and single people, and belieVes that her or his role is to act as Jesus did in inviting people to listen for God's .call and to act on it. Such a stand places the responsibility for supplying the needs of the order in God's hands, and~ recognizes the responsibility of the vocation minister and° the members of the congrega-tion to act as instruments-of his call by issuing the invitation to the kingdom. ~ Vocation ministry, and not recruitment, is the responsibility of every religious. It is a responsibility which stems not from fear for the future of religious life, but rather from the fact that each of us has been given a great and wonderful gift in religious life, a gift which must be shared with others. Our invitation to religious life is given in the context of the kingdom: because we have known the kingdom in our life and ministry with one another, we'invite others to that same experience. It is not recruitment for a particular order that vocation ministry is about; it is an invitation to nothing less than the kingdom of God that we,. as religious, must be about. The Challenge to Re!igious When vocation ministry is seen not as recruitment but as a ministry whose foundation is the model of invitation, which Jesus himself offers, an entirely new challenge is given to .religious. It is a challenge which brings about a n.ew set of questions: --Have I ~experien~ed the kingdom of"God? Where and with. whom was that experience~of the kingdom ? --Is the experience of living in religious community and doing Church ministry an experience of the kingdom for me? --Do I sense both the responsibility and the desire to share the king-dom with others by inviting them to build the kingdom? -~Am I willing to invite others to consider religious community and Church ministry as a way of building the kingdom, a way which has been life-giving and Satisfying for me? I believe that we religious can continue to invite others to join us i~n community and m~nistry. Some Of those whom we invite will join us; others will find another flay of building the. kingdom; still others~will go away sad. But vhatever the response, we can continue to invite, secure in the knowl-keidngged otmha~t,, tion wouhric rhe lwigei oinuvs i~teo mthmosiet mwehnotm, w we eh maveee tb. eOenu rg iinvveinta"ati osnh ai'sr.em iont it-he vated not by fear of the fu(ure, but rather by a sincere desire to share the gift we have been given, With joy ~and confidence we can coniinue to spe~k the invitation of Jesus: "Come away and proclaim the kingdom of God!" Gentle Exile: Reflections on Formation Mary Ellen Dougherty~ S.S.N.D. After a long stint in formation work for her community, Sister Dougherty has returned to the teaching of English. Sh.e may be addressed at The College of Notre Dame of Maryland; 4701 N. Charles Street; Baltimore, Maryland 21210. Shortly.before I finished a long term in formation work, I told myself that eventually I would write an article that might be of use to others in that ministry. I waited. I needed distance. After a year or so, subjectivity settled into uncertainty. I did not know what I wanted to say. Now, more than four years later, I think 1 do. ~ Initially, I would have commented on the characteristics of candidates currently interested in religious life, the inevitable challenges in dealing with them, and the necessity of both structure and latitude in a formation program. I would have talked about the generosity of young people in ministry, their ambivalence about vows. Now, however, I would like to focus on formation, personnel. 1 address my remarks especially to those who are in the work, and to those who .are considering it as ministry. In more than.eight ye~ars in this ministry, I worked, directly, in various team arrangements, with eight different directors. As director of novices, I participated, with the novices, in intercommunity programs in which directors shared on a regular basis. I speak, then, out of my own experience, and out of some ongoing reflections with at least two dozen directors, men and women. And I speak, still, tentatively. These are my insights now. In many ways I was nbt an effective director. In some ways I was. I have learned from both. I do not think there is a standard profile for a successful director~ There are countless variations on virtues that could be 179 1110/ Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 considered. Certainly a consistent attitude and practice of prayer, along with a keen mind and a clean heart, are essential. Inner freedom issuing from a clear depth of uncluttered spirituality is central. It is not my intention, however, to explore these here. That, perhaps, is another article. I would like, instead, to address three fundamental areas which, in practice, prove t.o be crucial: experience, affectivity, and integrity. Experience Age, I think, is only a factor for the director insofar as it permits experience. What one has done is not necessarily what one has experienced. To receive experiences of poverty, failure, darkness, in the light of grace, balanced with experiences of fulfillment and productivity, requires time; one must have lived long enough and well enough to know the inevitability of the rhythm, to expect the seasons to change. In that sense, age is important. It is not just what one has experienced, but what one has not experienced that should be consid~reff. One who has been given the time to live as well as the time to die, and has learned to receive both with equanimity, has lived long enough. And one who has not, should not be expected to deal with her own discoveries easily in the context of formation work. Events may always surprise us; the curr~nt of life should not. Affectivity I am not professionally equipped in terms of academic background t6 talk about the psychology of affectivity, or stages of affective development. My observations are purely practical: when the affective or relational life of a director is undeveloped or undernourished, there are generall~ relational problems with those she is directing; these are Often lodged in some variation of dependency, usually mutual. The director, from my observa-tions, usually takes the relationship more seriously, in the long run, than the candidate; the director seems to have some expectations of permanence, whereas the candidate, especially if she is young, is more than likely to tr~insfer her emotions rather quickly. There often is, however, some degree of mutual destruction. It is essential, 'then, that formation directors have the capacity for, and the activity of, peer relationships, that over the years they demonstrate an ability to interact in friendship with inutuality and absence of unwarranted dependency. The demands of formation work are constant and draining, especially if the director is living ~vith her directees. Candidates, especially younger ones, often exhibit a love-hate response toward authority. Unless the director has a belief in her own lovableness, created by a deep personal sense of God, and the experience of significant peer relationships over the years, she can be quickly undone. So can those Gentle Exile / 1111 she directs. Oia the other hand, a director who has a variety of relationships, and who is secure in at least a few of them, is not likely to need her directees. She may, over the months or the years, develop some friendships among them, but these will be a matter of choice, not of necessity. Integrity, Given a person who has lived long enough and loved hard enough, we come to the point of integrity, which I use in a limited sense here. I speak only of that dimension of integrity which enables one to experience some independent clarity about the truth, and to be faithful to it in spite of opposition. It is not my intention to suggest moral judgments. Like many people in positions of authority, formation directors must be able, if necessary, to stand alone. They must be capable of making and living out graced decisions which may create great conflict. And they must be as capable of independent thinking as, they are of consultation. A director who is not comfortable thinking for herself, who relies too heavily on approval and too little, on her own graced instincts, is usually transparent to her directees; wittingly or unwittingly, they may use her. While the need for dialogue, for collaboration, for consensus cannot be overstated, neither can the need for slow, clear, independent decisions that begin in the deepest level of self, where, in the face of opposition, integrity, a matter of grace, becomes a manifestation of courage. When all is said and done, it is fidelity (or infidelity) to the graced self with whom one must live. There is nothing new under the sun. The ability to receive experience and to let it become wisdom; the calbacity to love and to be loved without ownership; the self-possession and the faith to risk a gentle (or not so gentle) exile--these are characteristic of any authority who claims Jesus as her source. If formation work is anything, it is daily. If anyone needs Jesus as her source, a formation director does. Working with the Young Adult with Temporary Vows Vito Aresto, EM. S._ Brother Aresto is Vice Provincial and .Director of Formation for,the Poughkeepsie (NY) Province of the Marist Brothers. Heohas been ,working with brothers under temporary profession for more than six years. He may be addressed at his Vice-Pro-vincial Office: 4200 W. l i5th Street; Chicago, Illinois 60655. Much has been written over the last several years about_the conditions and problems of the yoeng adult within formation programs of, religious life. Since many of the young people who come seeking this new lifestyle come after years 9f college or work experience, formation directors are finding that the traditionally tried and true methods, of formation~seem to contain significant gaps when dealing with this new kind of person. The problem becomes even more complicated when the young person is in t~emporary vows. In this paper I would like to delve into some of the significant areas that have emerged in my working with our temporary professed. For the most part they are young men who have achieved rather comfortable recogni-tion professionally. They have taken their first vows in their middle twen-ties and look forward to years of growth and service within religious life. Final profession comes somewhere around age thirty. Developmental psychology has examined this period of growth young adulthood with great earnestness. Clearly, it is being recggnized that as life develops it confronts, struggles, and tackles successive issues in life's fabric and resolves them only to move forward to confront still newer issues towards growth. Such progress is noted as maturation, growing in one's potential, developing into a full human person. ~Vorking with the Young Adult . When the issues of spirituality are overlayed upon this rich process, we begin to see something of the concept of conversion. Obviously, when one begins to probe conversion, there is a point where even the best of the social sciences"pales before the mystery of faith: But nonetheless, we can learn much about growth and developmenL particularly in the struggles of a young adult who is attempting to find his or her place within a religious .family. This unfolding of life's grandeur and mystery is not at all easy. It can never be pain free if it is authentic. For the formation personnel working with young religious a good grasp of this process is obviously needed. Crisis needs to be viewed as part of the human drama, and neither .overstated nor underplayed. Rather the formation director can be a calming influence for~ individuals as they probe the' issues and unravel a course of action. In this light it is also very important to note that the director ~should be very comfortable with assisting the young adult to tap into such helping services as therapy or spiritual direction. It is important to realize that the varying issues which emerge are not all vocational conflicts. Rather some very necessary growing-pain situations may be interpreted as "vocational,' which in actual fact are merely struggles with growth issues. At other times personal,life issues may be confused as stress issues needing therapy, but are deeply vocational. Finally, there may be.a blend of both. It is the task of the formatioh director .as calming influence to help the young person wade through the issues, and recognize where they lie. In naming the dil~.~a, the course.to resolution becomes less threatening. For most young religious the transition from novitiate life to active ministry carries with it some straining adjustments. There is a great differ, ence between accepting the need to integrate the essential elements of reli-gious life and actually attempting to do so. This strain to interpret and realize the ideal can either bring about growth in young persons, or have them develop a selective sense which, ma~y in the long run distort growth. Each person must face honestly that the balance of the essential elements of the religious life structure cannot be merely put aside for some personal notion of the greater good. In the long run true growth for the young religious only takes place in confronting each aspect of vowed life as important, and then developing a proper rhythm for themselves. Fidelity to their vowed commitment must be presented as their primary work, By doing this they will be realistic in discerning this lifestyle within their congregation and how it truly fits into their own needs ~ind response to the Lord and his people. This approach, one that asks young persons not to compromise any aspect of their vowed commitment, even when faced with the tremendous 11t4 / Review for Religi~ous, March.April, 1986 pressures of the varying adjustments of prayer, community and apostolate, is utterly honest in recognizing and treating religious as adults. The fact remains that as they unravel their dreams and expectationsi they must also be totally immersed in what actually is the life they now share in their new religious family. This task can become even more burdensome as the young religious begin to recognize and feel the depth of confusion, and even sinfulness within their chosen religious family. Yet, within this sobering reality one fundamental task for.the temporary professed religious is to come to real-ize whether their dreams can be honestly integrated within this particular congregation. If this cannot be done then an honest and courageous act would be to depart. The Lord is not asking anyone to surrender his or her dreams, nor is he asking the impossible in great and massive adjustments to what a person holds sacred to the purpose and direction in life. It becomes the task of the formation director to help and accompany the young religious in this discerning process. But the director should never water down or compromise in the name of charity what he or she knows are realities incompatible to the values and goals of the congregation. Furthermore, the director must a.lways make the distinction between fidel-ity to a lifestyle and fidelity to the Lord. The young must come to realize that commitment to Jesus as their Lord can be lived in all the genuine forms and calls to holiness within the Church. Hopefully, the novitiate process has solidly grounded these young persons in their commitment to Jesus. Temporary vows must focus on the parameters of this particular religious family and charism as one valid and true means towards holiness for this young religious. Therefore, a truly respectful and, honest relationship must exist between the formation direc-tor and the young religious so that.real growth and integrity can develop. It is of paramount importance then, that the young,~religious' dreams must be found to be possible in the congregation they have chosen to enter. This is not only vitally important for the growth and development of the young religious, it is also vital for the growth and development of the congregation. The life given to this young religious by God is also a gift of life for all the members of the congregation. When such interaction is in process a certain sense of peace and purpose prevail. When it is. not present one readily begins to sense and hear bitterness, sarcasm, and resentment., Understanding the vital need of a dream in a young religious' life must therefore be one of the important areas into which a director must examine and explore. The novitiate will set up ideals that are solidly grounded in spiritual and scriptural foundations, but these ideals will not be realized except in the attempt at the actual riving out of community within, a local Working with the Young Adult / 1115 setting. It must be realized that each local community is itself struggling to unravel the full meaning and purpose of its shared life direction. Although young religious may leave the novitiate in full recognition that life is a process of growth and integration, it will only be in the experience of community that they will begin to understand the journey with their broth-ers or sisters that they have begun. Therefore, understanding the dreams and also knowing deeply the real struggles of this religious family is a task that each formation director must grasp when dealing with temporary professed. Ultimately, the focus must be turned completely on the Lord. He must remain the very purpose and intention of the young religious. Service will only .spring from the well of deep commitment to the Lord who loved all people even, unto death. More times than not, the young religious' grasp of the importance of intimacy is also wrapped up in their understanding of their dream. They do not enter religious life accepting the fact that there will be little or no intimate relationships in their lives. Obviously, religious life does afford the opportunities for a rich relational life; but that can only come through the struggle of integrating the vows in the light of each one's intimate relational needs. For young religious who must deal with this issue through the maze of the various transitional periods of growth, the very issue of intimacy can become pivotal to successful integration, and thus to peace within this chosen lifestyle. The movement towards dealing with one's~relational life also has impli-cations for community and ministerial life. In community this can expand one's depth of compassion, and in ministry it can help focus one's work beyond the notion of career to an expression of the Lord's service con-tinued through his Church. Each step of this awareness will heighten the young religious' recognition that he or she has truly been called by Another. Gradually imprinted upon the life and work of each young reli-gious is the paschal ,mystery, each one's transformation into Christ. The weathering of growth issues can therefore be the seed for a deepening of vocational understanding that is not only personal but intimate with the Lord. As young religious move closer to their thirtieth year there is to be noted a very subtle but careful evaluation taking place. Some significant issues have emerged and been confronted. The young religious also begin to recognize.that all the aspects of their dreams and aspirations may not be completely realized. They begin to feel, and not merely know, the implica-tions of being chaste and obedient. The cultural values of their society, with its push towards success, ambition, and recognition weigh on their poverty. Ultimately, as final commitment approaches, so does the trauma of the 186 / Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 "second calling." It is at this moment that the formation director must gently accompany~the young religious. The time for mentofing has ended. It becomes important that unconditional acceptance pervade the whole relationship, If the journey through those years of temporary vows has been honest and rich in successful and mature handling of life issues, then the response to this second calling--a permanent commitment to the Lord within this congregation--will~ be made with the totality possible to this young adult. Fundamentally, as one accompanies young adults~through their initial years of religious commitment, one quickly realizes that formation is.lrela-tional growth. The young religious come eager to respond to the Lord~. Their response has been wrapped and colored within their dreams of Ltheir future life and ministry. Novitiate naturally assists in a solid grounding and underpinning, but it°is not until there is full immersion in the daily routine of life in common and in ministry that they begin to confront and grow within their religious commitment. For the formation director the journey of this pilgrimage is one of trust and love. Ultimately, the individual must come to a sense of'personal peace. This peace is only born in the honest relational growth between each individual and the Lord, between the individual and his or her brothers or sisters, and the individual and the people they are sent to work with and serve. This peace should become the full flowering of a love that rests solidly on the motivation and direction of a life-decision made to the Lord and his people, within this special band of disciples that he or she chose for a religious family. '~ Reflectively, we can turn to Jesus as the model for the formation director who works' with young adults. Particularly is this so if we. focus upon his dealings with Peter. Here we note the care and compassion that must be evidenced by the director. For three years Jesus guided, taught and challenged Peter. These lessons werenot ~beyond the scope of correction and prodding, but they were also done in sincere and tender cbncern. And yet when the supreme :momefit for Jesus arrived, his hour of glory, Peter was still unaware of the magnitude of Jesus' mission. Much like the novice who enters first profession, Peter needed to continue to grow and ~be challenged, even in the darkness of near despair. It was not until the depth of his relationship with the Lord was securely grounded that Peter was ready to shepherd. Only then did he fully comprehend the-initial call that was repeated in the marvelous second calling at the end of John's gospel, "Do you love me? . Come, follow me!" Strangely enough in that rich relational bond between Peter and the Lord did his fondest dreams become rei~l. He no longer needed~io hold Working with the Young Adult / 187 tightly to privilege or rank. Now he no longer saw himself as solely the "rock," but rather could he challenge all that he shepherded to be "living stones," part of the "edifice" of the Lord and his Church. He understood clearly all that was needed to continue the process of growth, a journey into wholeness and holiness. For the young religious the journey is similar. The director must guide and accompany them so that the echo of the initial call of the Lord can be profoundly realized and incorporated into the very identity and dreams of these young persons. Permanent commitment becomes a full expression of a relationship that is central to their meaning and purpose. Christ the Center of Our Vowed Life by" ~Boniface Ramsey, O.P. Father Ramsey's three articles on .,the vows of religion are available as a single reprint: i - The Center of Religious Poverty ii - Christocentric Celibacy iii - Cru~ciform Obedience Price: $1.75 per copy, plus postage. Address: Review ~or Religious Rm 428 ~3601 Lindell Blvd. St: Louis, Missouri 63108 Commitment in a Religious Order: A Sociological View Joseph C. Doyle Dr. Doyle teaches at Seton Hall University (South Orange Ave; South Orange, Neff Jersey 07079), where he may be addressed. There is a special quality about people who are committed to something, whether it be to another person, a group, an organization, a career, or an idea. That quality can be captured by such words as "loyalty," "allegiance," or "steadfastness." For to be committed is to be involved in a relationship which has priority in one's life over alternative relationships or only one-self. This does not mean that a person's other involvements are ignored bu.t only that when push comes to shove this relationship has singular importance. Obviously, this is a key feature of religious life, for the purpose of religious orders is to foster growth in each member's commitment to Christ. In fact, it has often been assumed, both by people within and without such institutions, that this is the sole ~ocus of the members' ~om-mitments-- that they "have the faith." In the past fifteen years or so, how-ever, the large scale exodus of members from the various forms of religious life has raised serious questions in many quarters concerning this one dimensional view of religious commitment. In particular, such authors as ~Marie Augusta Neal,~ Helen Ebaugh,2 Lucinda San Giovanni,3 Richard Schoenhern and Andrew Greeley,4 and Patricia Wittberg5 have all attemp-ted to shed a social scientific light on some of these questions. This paper is meant to be a reflection on some themes developed out of this tradition. It will attempt to present the results of some findings gleaned 188 Commitment in a Religious Order / 1119 from interviews with twenty women involved in a religious order in the eastern United States. Its major interest will be the way commitment in religious life passes through different forms, forms which seem to be affected by the kinds oof structures established by religious orders and by the way their members respond to these structures. It is, of course, danger-ous to generalize from a group 6f this size. Thus, the following remarks should be read as an'effort to explore some pertinent issues in the quality of commitment rhther than to offer a definitive statement on these issues. I. Sociology and Commitment Because this paper relies upon insights developed in sociology, perhaps it would be helpful to first briefly explain some key sociological ideas concerning commitment before delving into the material from the in/er-views. Over the past thirty years or so, sociology has developed a number of concepts for dealing with the experience of commitment. By and large, these ideas are rooted in the perspective that c6mrnitment is the result of certain ,mechanisms operating in groups or organizations that mold indi-viduals into loyal members. Thus; the primary attention is on how these social factors operate to produce a committed person. One of the more prominent efforts in this field can be found in the work of Rosabeth Kanter, particularly in her book Commitment and Community.6 While the analysis that follows utilizes these insights, it also attempts to show how individual members of a religious order responded to these forces and tried to grow beyond them. Kanter views commitment in terms of three interrelated dimensions: instrumental, affe.ctive.and moral. In addition, each of these dimensions is the result of a set of factors bY which a community leads its novices into full membership. By instrumental commitment Kanter means a felt attachment to a social role that is more rewarding or less costly than the roles outside of the community. In this kind of commitment the person wants to live up to the behavioral expectations that others in the community have of him or her. This attachm~ent is achieved, according to Kanter, by having the novice undergo experiences ,whereby the individual has to invest her time and energy in doing the work of the community and to sacrifice her own possessions on behalf of the community. In this way the person finds himself or herself wanting to remain because of all that has been expended ¯ in the effort to achieve full membership. As Kanter puts it: When profits and costs are considered, participants find the cost of leaving the system would be greater than the cost of remaining; "profit," in a net psychic sense, compels continual part;_cipation.7 190/ Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 By affective commitment Kanter means an attachment to a set of relationships whose ties are more gratifying than the ties with .alternative relationships. To find a particular,~set of relatio, nships more gratifying than others means recognizing that set as the,primary source of. affection and support in one's life. This dimension is realized by having novice members renounc6 all previous ties of affection as being primary for them and by involving them in communal activities with members of th~eir group. In these ways the new participant comes to develop emotional ties with these others and a cohesive bond develops amongst them. Finally, by moral or normative commitment'Kanter means an alle-giance to the values and norms of the community and a willingness to obey the authority structure of the community as the ultimate interpreter of those norms and .values. However, this allegiance doesonot necessarily develop after a careful evaluation of these norms and structures. Instead, Kanter sees this dimension arising from a set of beliefs and values that have been internalized in an often irrational or unc_ritical way. In Some respects, commitment to norms and values resembles the concept of superego, which binds the evaluative components bf the self t6 norms of a system through an internalized authority.8 The moral commitment of members is achieved, Kanter notes, by techniques that encourage novices to'deny significance to their own ideas and desires and to place their trust more in the community than 'in them-selves. Thus, new members come to see the way of life of the coinmunity as more meaningful than that of competing alternatives. This sociological view of commitment may, at first sight, be rather upsetting to people who form a community in order "to ddepen their rela-~ tionship with God. '-I Would suggest that this reaction is a rather well-founded one. For what sociology has uncovered, and what many of the" religious women 1 interviewed realized after being in their order for a few years, is that there can be a very real difference between commitment to God and commitment to a religious organization. For this latter institution attempts to offer its members a way to God, but lhis "way" is embodied in historically realized rules, procedures;practices and customs that can often become ends in themselves in the minds and hearts of these members. The sociological point, of course, is that a religiouscommunity hasto empha-size these aspects if it is going to survive and so it has to foster commitment to them. Naturally, a religious institution hopes that its" members will develop spiritually by such practices, and many have done so. Nevertheless, as the' following analysis will show, the danger can also be that the corn= mitment does not get beyond these dimensions. How that can'happen and what can be done about it are the concerns of the rest of this paper. Commitment in a Religious Order / "191 II. A Sociology of Commitment in Religious Life A. Internalizing a Theme ~ The model of commitment presented by Kanter can be a useful tool for interpreting the experiences of the twenty women I interviewed. While these women all came from the same order, they varied as far as age (32-63), length of time in the order (9 years to over 40 years), and the kind of positions they held at the time of the interview (teaching, pastoral and the central administration of the order). Nevertheless, they all described their early years in religious life in ways that can b~e captured by Kanter's categories. 1: Internalizing the Instrumental Dimension One of the interesting findings of these interviews was that many of the nuns felt that the years taken up by their training were preoccupied with the proper performance of their duties, with what they called "the externals." In Kanter's terminology they were committed to the role of a religious person. She claims that it is possible for a person just to behave in a committed way, i:e., remain in the group but not necessarily care about the ideals or values of that group.9 While she'herself did not think that this was a full commitment, she did seeit as a possibility. When the nrns were asked about significant changes in their lives, one of the events frequently brought up was when they recognized that they had been caught up in the mere activity of being a nun. For example: when I came to religious hfe I switched to the externals because that is what I thought I was supposed to do and that was what was always talked about., how you dressed, how you performed this and how you did your chores, but I wasn't co~mfortable with that. When we first entered, the activities were important as you grow into being a member of the community. I think at some point you get caught up in the reception of the habit., that is a big day in your life., and you try to act like the pdrfect nun and" that sort of thing. ~ In addition to acting out the role of a reli~gious woman, many of the respondents reported recognizing, a period in their lives when their minis-try, or more pr.ecisel3~, their work, was mrre important to them than any other dimension. Years ago, I guess I was work-oriented and it was the thing that people saw. And the thing I could let go of was my prayer life because no one ever saw that and I wasn't accountable for it. I cou.ld go to confession and say I didn't haeditate that week and that wruld t~ike care of the guilt part. But I never made ~ny cofinectionJwith the rest of iny life. 192 / Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 As these quotes indicate, the focus on minist.ry and on the proper fulfillment of the "externals" of the religious role were the dimensions to which most of these women became initially committed. ,And, for some of these sisters, the ministry remained central for them well beyond the period of their training. However, while this was a key feature of religious life for many of these women, they eventually began to question the validity of this preoccupa-tion, and for some this orientation is no longer dominant in their lives. 2. Internalizing the Affective Dimension Kanter's second type of commitment was also evident at an early stage of the nun's training. For some of these women, this. involvement in community life coincided with their involvement in ministry. What did you think you were committing yourself to at that~time? I thought I was committing myself to ministry and to community life but not to a deep personal prayer life. I was still struggling with thaIt t.r.i.e. d to take time for it but more often than not, that got pushed aside. What was there about ministry and community life that made you want to commit yourself?. I just" saw goo~d in it. I saw myself functioning very well in it, being comfortable in it, not having any kind of desire not to be there. Some of the other nuns, however, found that a focus on community followed, in time, a commitment to ministry, and sometimes the tension between ministry and community would be resolved in favor of community¯ , ¯. I consider myselfa community-minded person; for whatever reason, ~ prefer working within the community., like coming to the infirmary and working right here with our sisters. I was more than happy todo that. I didn't find myself looking to go really outside of the community. (I. Why was that~ Well, I guess in that it's doing for my own sisters, primarily, rather than people on the outside¯ You are doing the same kind of thing but for whatever reason my preference would be my sisters first. Thus, while ministry may be seen as rewarding, by itself it does not suffice. For this woman and for others, it was and still is a matter of the emotional bond one has with the group with whom she rhinisters that is crucial. Where ministry can be judged in terms of rewards and costs, more non-rational considerations have to be used to judge the relationships one has with others. However, ~s was seen in the discussion of instrumental commitment, this affective dimension did not r6main as dominant for all the nuns. As the following quote suggests, this orientation is no longer as crucial as it once was. Commitment in a Religious Order / 1~ ¯ I really don't know how we remained faithful then. I'm sure if it was another type of community, I don't know, maybe it's because we're more of a family, you know, we feel for one another, um, and that was always our sister, and if you didn't hang in there because your superiors were no good, you'd hang in there because your friends were there. Your commitment to them kind of seemed important to you. 3. Internalizing the Normative Dimension Finally, the third of Kanter's types of commitment was also a focus of allegiance for most of the women during their training. This is particularly obvious in the way many of them had accepted the authority of their superiors during that period. ¯. 1 never felt pressured or stepped on or however people fed. I never felt that. I guess as I entered community it was something I wanted to do. or the Lord called me to do, so I did what I was supposed to do . However, while there were nuns who were very compliant, some found themselves questioning the purpose behind some of the orders. For them, willing obedience was built on an obedience motivated by a fear of being dismissed. Were there people in your class who questioned a lot? Yes, they are no longer here. In novitiate I was very docile. I was probably stupid. If they told me tO do it, I did it because if you didn't do it, they were going to send you home. ~. So you did it out of fear more than anything else. Yes. Yet I liked the days of formation and everything else, but if they said do it, I did it; and when we did it and thought it was crazy, we Used to laugh about it, but we still did it.°, there was no heart in it or anything like that, but we did it to shut them up and get them off our backs. Whether this emphasis on atithority and obedience was complied with willingly or out of fear, it had a dual effect in the training period: it seemed to focus attention on role conformity or the "externals," as was seen before, and it created a sense of dependency on the leadership of the community in many of these women. But in the minds of some Of the nuns, this would often translate into valuing obedience to the rules 'over the needs encountered in one's ministry. Let's say the mother of one of the children was pregnant and her husband had just kicked her in the stomach and kicked her downstairs, and she came to me after ~chool, as did happen once, and when I tried to share with her and show her a little sympathy, I got in trouble because I stayed over in school even though it was that type of thing. I didn't mind getting into trouble, but ! just couldn't understand that whole thing. And in those 1~ / Review for Religious, March-ApriL 1986 days, if she came again, I would probably say "I can't see you," thinking that obedience was the greater thing at that time~ While some of the evidence suggests that many of the nuns interpreted this dependency on authority as something they have left'behind, this is not so for all of them. Even with the much publicized changes in convent life, with the "loosening up of the structures," the importance of the normative dimension of commitment still comes through for many of them. As this following quote demonstrates, however, it is internalized dependency: The change that has been significant has been in the individual being responsible for he~'self. We still have in our community superiors in our local convents. However~ the emphasis has been on individuals being responsible for themselves, for the cbmmitment that they have made, for' living according to the rules and the constitution, for keeping the vows . B. l/ariations on a Theme . ~ Hopefully, the preceding exploration has shown that the women I interviewed responded to the demands made upon them in their formation years in the convent .in ways that the order wanted them to respond. In effect, they internalized the theme of religious life espoused by their order. This, of course, is not to pass judgment on the sincerity of intention of any of these women or on the integrity of those tesponsible~for their training. It is instead to recognize what most of these sisters have realized and what Kanter's model of commitment can help us to see: religious commitment is more than simply doing religious things. When attention is concentrated on the activity of being religious without an ~ffort at helpi~ng the novice to discern the place of these activities in an overall lifestyle, then the only result will be religious conformity and a commitment to the means established to realize a life in Christ rather than to that life itself. However, as many of the above quotes intimated, the story of the commitments of these women does not end in mere conformity. Most of the nuns found that by the time of their final vows or in the five years or so after final profession, t.hey had begun the process of perso~nalizing many of the practices they had learned. This effort at personalization took one of two forms: varying the order's style of religious life to meet o~ne's own personality and characteristics, or creating a style of religious life that was in keeping with the core values of that lii~ but no longer was solely modeled on their order's particular historical interpretation of those values. I would now like to explore the first of the~e responses which I will call "variant commitments." In the third pai't of this paper, I will examine the second form.- The term "variant commitment", refers to a more reflective response to 'Commitment in a Religious Order the demands of convent life than the conformist response did. The idea for it comes from another sociologist named Robert Merton.~0 Writing in a different context (but, nevertheless, in one that is still applicable to our purposes), Merton referred to people who were sensitive to the demands of their institutions but were willing to test some of the limits of those demands. He had in mind men of science like Pasteur or Einstein who were committed to the goals of science but who engaged in the kind of research that resulted in new ways of conceiving the world around us. In a similar way, many of the nuns I interviewed were very much committed t9 the goals of their order, but they were also involved in efforts to alter its style of religious living. Where their training had taught them to exhibit routine adaptations to the expectations of the order, they later became more willing to modify these demands while still remaining within the normative character of the community. By briefly looking at some examples of these variant responses in the light of Kanter's model, it will. be possible to show concretely the kind of changes that took place in these women, 1. Variations on the Instrumental Theme It will be recalled that in this dimension of commitment members involved themselves in the performance of those activities that hdped maintain the community as an ongoing entity. In religious life, one of the more important of these role expectations was a faithful participation in the liturgy. For sisters in training the ordinary round of prayer activities became part of the behavior of the "ideal" nun. By the time of final vows, these activities had become second nature to them. Following the Second Vatican Council, however, the order began to loosen its rather rigid structure, and local convents wer9 allowed to establish their own format for commu.nal prayers. This usually involved a group decision concerning the times to be set aside, as well as the particular style the prayer activities would take. In addition, there was also the expectation that individual sisters would develop their own schedul~ and forms for their personal prayer life. Thus, new regulations were made which allowed for more decentralized variation and individual freedom in fulfillment of the order's goal to develop prayerful sisters. The result of these reforms appears to be a more conscious involvement on the part of most of the nuns in this dimension of their lives: The .emphasis, I think, in the younger days was not on my personal religious or spiritual development, as much as it is now., the job is important but the prayer part of it is more important. Ifa decision was to be made that I would have to give up my prayer life to be an 1~ / Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 administrator, I think I would give up the administrator part. I'm sure years ago I couldn't have said that. I'm going into my fifth year here, and I was very nervous coming here because I had heard about their prayer life~ But it's really been good. It's more spontaneous than at other places. Like we do the reading of the day, and then we share with each other what they are saying to us or one of us will give a homily. As these quotes indicate, within the overall values of communal and personal prayer, the nuns have sought to fashion attitudes and practices that reflect a more conscious appreciation for these features than was true in their earlier days. This consciousness in some cases was an attitudinal shift, such as the rededication of oneself to a life of prayer;'or in other instances, it was a greater willingness to participate in a variation of public prayer that had not been tried before. In'both examples though, a shift to a more reflective response is evident, and this allows for personal and local variations of a communal expectation. 2. Variations on the Affective Theme The second area of religious life to which most of the nuns can be said to have been reflectively responding is the communal dimension. On both a formal and an informal basis, it is expected that the members will participate in the affairs and functions of the community and that this group will be primary in each person's life. In the period before the Vatican Council, these expectations usually meant a high degree of uniformity among the order's members. In the years following the Council, they frequently have involved rather innovative attempts to develop a greater sense of camaraderie among local community members. This can be seen in the following instances which suggest a changing vision of the meaning of community and a willingness to put into actual practice what some have only been able to dream about. What is your vision of community? I would like it more personal, um, with small groups where there is sharing not only of your work but of your basic spirituality, your vision, and maybe with people that you could work it out with so that your vision could: become a reality. I think the great disillusionment with religious life is that your vision remains a vision and there's not too many to share that vision. We were pioneers. My first year in grad school and after that we lived in a convent and commuted to school. We used to pray together and just try to share our lives. We could do creative things like alternative prayer styles and a lot of sharing about community and about the Lord. Commitment in a Religious Order Of course, not all the women in the group were as originally so enthusiastic about this new style, as the above excerpts may suggest. Nevertheless, those who have tried it have overcome their initial restraint and now see it'as a more beneficial way of living than the older style. Once again, a relaxation of rather rigid structures has allowed for a greater amount of reflective expression and thus for the introduction of alternative approaches to a goal of the order. 3. l/'ariations on the Normative Theme The final dimension that exhibits the effects of a more reflective response to religious life concerns the commitment to the norms and values of the community. According to Kanter this commitment is demonstrated in the supportive attitudes members have toward those in authority and toward the ideology of the group. One of the areas in convent life where an important shift in this dimension has occurred is in the vow of obedience. In the days when the nuns I interviewed first entered and until quite recently, obedience to the "Will of God" meant, in fact, concrete submis-sion to what the s,uperiors interpreted what that "Will" was. Today, this submissiveness, while still expected on a daily practical level, is somewhat tempered by the recognition, in their order's rule, that all the sisters share a genuine responsibility for th6 goals of the community. This basically seems to mean that the individu~il sisters are left alone to freely do what is expected of them rather than have a local superior enforcing each of the rules. Naturally, such a situ~ttion leaves room for individual variation, both attitudinally ahd behaviorally. I guess my attitude is that this is not somebody or something imposing on me, or the constitution saying I have to do it, or I feel that my superior is going to say that you are not doing this or that. There are days, for exahaple, when I don't spend much time in prayer at all for one reason ~or another, because it's ministry, or I'm getting in at midnight and I can't function the next day. But ifI don't do it for a couple of days, I know it and I really.have to say, I have todo it tonight regardless of what else turns up, so that it becomes a priority. I think it puts more responsibility on the individuals for their own lives. Ten years ago the superior was saying no, you may not go. I think it places more responsibility on the individual not to maybe abuse missing prayers or Mass or house meetings or meals . . . there is a little more freedom and people are more relaxed . , . to be more responsible for themselves. As these quotes indicate, members are freer to interpret when a particu-lar rule should be obeyed and when it should not. Of course, this does not i911 ] Review for Religious, March.April, 1986 mean that they can or would do whatever they please with no sense of normative .obligation, Thus, the conscious choice on the part ~of~the member is to decide when there are legitimate exceptions to a given rule and toact on those exceptions. In the long run, however, the orientation of the nuns is to the normative expectations of the order. - ~ C. Creating a Theme Hopefully, the previous section has shown that the story of the com-mitments of the twenty women I interviewed took a new turn in the years after their final vows. Because of the changes in the formal structures of the order, these nuns were able to move from a rather conformist-oriented appioach to religio.us life to an approach that reflected more of each individual's perso~nality and needs. However, while this newer style was more personalistic than before, it still was within the definition of religious life as formulated by the order. Thus, it is still possible for members to be committed to the instrumental, affective, and moral dimensions of their community (albeit, in their contemporary forms) rather than to the com-munity's underlying purpose, i.e., to one's life in Christ. Of course, as I indicated earlier, this is not necessarily in all instances what has happened. Instead, it is to point out a continual danger in community life, a d[inger that some of the nuns themselves have recognized: structured behavior and attitudes, even when they are loosened up, can become a substitute for personal responsibility for the purpose of those structures. This danger and a potential way to avoid it can be captured more clearly by examining the second type of reflective response that the women I interviewed exhibited. Nine of the twenty nuns responded to the ques-tions I raised in a way that was somewhat different from the others. I have called this type of response "creative commitment." By this I mean a commitment to a notion of religious life that reflected the women's struggle with an appropriation of a set of ideals and interpretations that trans-cended the institutionalized approach in which they found themselves. This did not mean an outright rejection of their community. Rather, it was an attempt to combine themes learned from sources outside the order with the basic values learned from the community into a more personal style of sisterhood than the one in which they had been trained. Their involvement in the community, is now no longer predicated on the constraints the institution can bring to bear on them. Instead, since their commitment is to a vision~of what religious life can be, they have relativized the role that the community has in their lives. This rather abstract definition can be made more.concre[e by compar-ing some of the "variant responses" some of the nuns made to the questions Commitment in a Religious Order / 199 I asked with the "creative responses" nine of the women mad~ to the same questions. As before, these responses can be presented in terms of the model developed by Kanter. I. Relativizing Instrumental Commitment The first dimension of concern will be the attitudes of the nuns toward the role of a sister. In order to ascertain the overall quality of a member's role involvement in the order, I asked what perception each one had of herself as a sister. As the following quote exemplifies, many of the~s.e women have adopted the role of a nun as traditionally defined, ~that is, as one who is supposed to represent in a special way the presence of the sacred in human life. To be sure, they do not appear to be caught up with the prestige symbols of the role--the habit, the title, the little signs of respect. But they dowish to see themselves perceived as religious women, as part of a religio, us organization, and in this sense, the institutional role is important to them. How do you see yourself as a sister? That's hard to answer. I guess. I am living out what I think I am called to be, but I am not just living it for me. but for other people~ Do you mean what effect you have on people? ¯. Yes, like when people ask me to pray for them or for members of their families. I'm not just some fixture or some teacher. Do I convey the o message of Christ to people? Do I carry the name of (order's name) well, and what that community is about, or do I downgrade the community? In comparison with this perception, the following nun appears to dis-tinguish herself and her role as. a sister. While being a nun is important to her, it is not her whole self. This type of perception cropped up °quite often in discussions with these nine women. In effect, the role has been redefined from being a place in an overall organization to being a vehicle for allowing a more personal style of religious life to be expressed. What that,style is depends upon the individual and how she understands herself; but in general, it seems to encompass an effort to live out the central values of Christianity as these are being interpreted by contemporary thinkers. This woman's notion that "sisterhood" includes her relationships with whom-ever she meets is an indication of this redefining process. when I first came to the community, I saw a sister as functional, whereas now I see sister as a relationship that is not only to the people that I work with but it is. much more universal in a sense. It is me as I relate to whoever it may be . It's much more a sense of I am who I am and a good part of who I am happens to be a sister and what lproject is all of me, the totality of life. 200/ Review for Religious, March,April, 1986 2. Relativizing Affective Commitment The second area of discussion deals with the emotional ties members develop toward the relationships they have in the order and toward the order as a whole. The quality of these ties can be captured by the reaction of members to questions concerning the possibility of the order disbanding. While this is an admittedly hypothetical situation, the reactions of the sisters revealed their attitudes towards the community as a whole. For example, as the following citation suggests, many of the sisters see their well-being as tied up with the well-being of the order.~ Because they tend to seetheir lives as coextensive With the life of the community, these women can be said to~ have Committed themselves to the institution. What would happen if your community died? I would be very sad. As a person I think it would be devastating. I guess the charisma of the (order's name) community is important to me. I chose to belong to a group, and this group meant something to me. for whatever reason they became important. I chose to make final vows, and I chose to make it something permanent in my life. When this response is compared with the following one, however, a different understanding of this relationship is revealed. According to this woman, the institution exists to serve a need; and if it no longer can do this, then the nuns should disband and find other communities. This willingness to let go of what must be a home for this woman suggests a degree of autonomy that was also present in the other more innovative nuns. But this autonomy should not be interpreted as a cold independence from the order for-it seems to rest, for each of these women, on a distinction they have made between tbeir particular order and their understanding of religious life in general. In their interpretation of the order, it exists as a means to realize their religious ideals. Thus, religious life is always broader than the order's way of approaching it and for them it is their approach to that life that counts. I don't know exactly. I don't know if I would; then I would look and see if another group would like to get together to form something else, or if I would join another group. I don't think I would be upset. I wouldn't feel that my whole life has gone because I think what this community has done UP to this point has been very good and very worthwhile, and if it is not necessary, it's not necessary. I don't feel any urge to prolong somethin~g that is no longer necessary, so that would not bother me. Another indicator of the relativization of the order in the lives of these women is their willingness to look beyond it for sources of emotional support. While they.were in training, the community encouraged them to develop their personal relationships with their fellow members by severely Commitment in a Religious Order limiting outside contacts, even with members of their own families. Although these nine women still have deep personal ties within their order, they have also consciously developed friendships with others outside of that community, including laypeople. A couple of them have also become part ofqocal communities that are made up of nuns from bther orders instead of the more traditional, homogeneous units. Most of my really close friends have left the community., but it's not quite as dramatic as it sounds because I do have a couple of very good friends who have been very supporting, one who is married who has always supported me. Then. one who I'm even closer to who was in the community who has left. She continues to be one of the most supportive people in my life. It's fine with her that I am here; ~nd it's fine with me that she is there. How many friends do you have outside the community? I'd say that it's probably about fifty-fifty between people within the com-munity and people outside that I really consider myself close to. Four of us broke off from that larger grou.p because we are for'a simpler lifestyle, and we are now living in a house., the three of us from our order, one happens to. be the school person, and two of us who are in .other ministries and then the fourth sister who is from (another order) who is also in another ministry. That's working out pretty well now. 3.' Relativizing Normative Commitment ~ The third area deals with the willingness on the part of members to allow the community to control their lives. Over the past fifteen years or so, the order has loosened up its authority structure somewhat so that now the nuns are encouraged to speak their minds more so than they were in ~he past. Nevertheless, the ultimate expectations for many of the women is .that it is their duty to obey the wish of the superior. As this example demon-. strates, the notion that "the voice of the superior is the voice of God" dies hard. My attitude towards religious life, I don't think, has basically changed in the sense that I still fed that my superiors, those who are in charge, whatever they would ask I would accept it in the same wa~y I did years ago. I would question now, not saying that I wouldn't.do what they asked, but I would question it now. While the above quote demonstrates an attitude toward obedience that can be characterized as superior-oriented, the next citation reveals another approach to this subject. Instead of first looking to what the superior wants, this nun believes that one should first be obedient to oneself. The distinction is crucial for it places the sister on a par with her superior.and 902/ Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 enables her to exercise genuine responsibility for her own life. This is probably the most important characteristic of the innovative nuns because it seems to be that which distinguishes them most clearly from the others. Although these others often spoke about the necessity of being self-respon-sible, their 6rientation very frequently was to the community and their superiors. On the other hand~ the innovative nuns more frequently were willing to look beyond the institution for grappling with the issues of religious life and to examine any ideas in terms of where they might fit into their own lives, I believe in obedience to the Lord in tune with what is going on with my own inner' feelings, as contrasted to what I may believe in terms of the' voice 6f the superior although I don't deny that. I think you have to listen ¯. but I would say I would be more in tune with obedience to God; I would say that it's a little more,obedience to myself than I would say obedience to the vow or to the superior. Interestingly enough, one of the ways in which these women have sought to take responsibility for themselves is precisely in the area of the vows. One of the features that comes across very clearly is their desire to distinguish their understanding of the vows from the institutionalized ver-sion. This does not seem to mean an idiosyncratic interpretation of them that is divorced from what other approaches, even institutionalized ones, may offer. Instead, it seems to involve an effort to formulate a conception of the vows that takes into consideration what others,may say; but at the same time, ~it-attempts to create out of ,them an understanding that responds to the personal needs and goals of the individual herself. It should be pointed out that by the term "other interpretations" is meant sources of meaning outside the order, including the general culture, contemporary sourcbs' within the order, as well as the more traditional interpretations, whether they come from formal or informal sources. What seems to be crucial, .in any event, is the consciousness of these sisters of the difference between saying what others have understood what the vows mean and saying ,what they personally think they mean. I took these vows, but I thought. I'm doing my job, I'm praying, so don't b~ther me about the vows . !~ow looking back, I probably detached the vows from the life, or I said I have to take these vows in order to live this religious community life that I want to live. Now what's it like? ~ Now it's thinking about it and reflecting on it and saying there is some-thing more to this and I don't know what it is yet . I could tell you what ~ so and so says and what the books say, but personally., what do I think, Commitment in a R~ligious Order that's what I'm coming to. When you started to reexamine the vows, did you find yourself coming to a personal interpretation of them, or did you sifnply accept the given interpretation? Oh no! I made my own interpretation, and whether that's right or wrong, it's something l'm going to have to live with. No, I think it's my own personal thing . I have been attempting to distinguish creative responses to institutional demands from variant responses to these same demands. Hopefully, this has clarified the difference between the two. If 1 have been interpreting this material accurately, then a commitment can be said to be creative when the individual personally recognizes the primacy of her relationship with God in her life. That happens, it seems, as the individual assumes greater and greater responsibility for that relationship and the role of the order becomes more secondary as far as that relationship is concerned. In other words, the institution becomes a vehicle whereby a person can live out a way of life that she has created. As the following sistei~ asserted in ~ rather straightforward fashion, the order has become a means to an end hot arl end in itself. I say I commit myself to the Lord through this institution and I never expect that I will break that commitment to t~he Lord. I am not .always saying that 1 make a commitment to an institution: (I. Why no~t~ R. It's just the medium for me. Conclusions I ~began this paper by remarking that religious 9ommitment is often understood in a one dimensional way, as simply a commitment to Christ. Utilizing the insights of sociology, however, it is now possible.to see that religious commitment is a multi-dimensional affair which can often inter-fere with the fuller realization of a Christocentric lifestyle. For instead of a single focus on the proper spiritual characteristics of being a religious woman, this analysis found that members of an order can become more concerned about the instrumental, communal and normative dimensions of sisterhood. The result of this is a preoccupation with the means of religious life rather than its ends. Because this was a sociological analysis, it highlighted the fact that this preoccupation was, in part at least, the result of the order's necessary concern with its self-preservation. This does not mean, however, that such a preoccupation is inevitable. As the information concerning the more creative women has shown, it is also possible to relativize the impact of the " 2011 ] Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 social requirements of communal living and to begin to achieve the under-lying purpose of religious life. But to do this requires an effort on the part of the order to become sensitive to the effects its structures have on the spiritual journey of each of its members and an effort on the part of each member to be radically honest with himself or herself about the real con-cerns which occupy one's life in a religious setting. NOTES ~Marie Augusta Neal, "The Relation Between Religious Belief and Structural Change in Religiiaus Orders: Developing an Effective Measurement," Review of Religious Research 12, 1 (Fall, 1970), pp. 2-16. 2Helen Ebaugh, Out of the Cloister (University of Texas Press, Austin, 1977.). 3Lucinda San Giovanni, Ex-Nuns (Ables, Norwood, New Jersey, 1978). 4Rich~ard Schoenherno and Andrew Greeley, "Role Commitment Processes and the American Catholic Priesthood," American Sociological Review 39 (1974) pp. 417-426. ~Patricia Wittberg, "Transformations in Religious Commitment" REVIEW FOR RELI- ~31OtJS, Vol. 42 No. 2 (1985), pp. 161-170. 6Rosabeth Kanter, Commitment and Community (Harvard University Press, Cam-bridge, 1972). 7Ibid, p. 69: 8lbid, p. 69. 91bid, p. 67. ~ORobert Merton, ~Social Conformity, Deviation, and Opportunity Structures: A Comment on the Contributions of Dubin and Cloward," American Sociological Review 24 (1959), pp. 177-188. Two Forms of Consecrated Life: Religious and Secular Institutes David E O'Connor, S. T. Father O'Connor holds the chair of the Department of Church Law at Washington Theological Union and resides at Holy Trinity Mission Seminary (9001 New Hampshire Avenue; Silver Spring, Maryland 20910). His previous article in these pages was "Lay Associate Programs: Some Canonical and Practical Considerations," which appeared in last year's March/April issue. Th~ 1983 Revised Code of Canon Law in, canons 573-730 designates both religious and secular institutes as Institutes of the Consecrated Life. This is a new classification in church law, In its simplicity, it is open to some misunderstanding as a juridical oversimplification because, in fact, both types of institutes are very different. This may just be another exam-ple of the limitations of all canonical categories which are not capable of fully expressing the charisms and gifts of the Spirit to the Church. While the members of both forms of~the consecrated life do profess the evangeli-cal counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience, their lifestyles manifest two rather divergent forms of ecclesial dedication. The intention of this brief article is to explore some of the similarities and real differences between these two types of consecrated lives and to promote a better appreciation of the distinctiveness,~ the identity and the place each one has in the Church. Let it be stated at the outset that neither form of ecclesial dedication is presented as better or superior tO the other. While canonical religious life has been a recognized and important part of Church life for centuries, it has taken a variety of shapes and forms. Secular institutes, canonically and historically, have received ecclesial recognition only within the last fifty years and are still in the process of trying to have their uniqueness under- 205 906 / Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 .stood and appreciated. The new Code of Canon Law is a welcome and innovative move in this direction. It is a positive step forward in giving secular institutes the canon-ical identity and ecclesial status which they deserve. In canon 710, the new code describes a secular institute as one in which the Christian faithful living in the world strive for perfection in charity and work for the sanctifi-cation of the world, especially from within. Canon 607, §2 describes a religious institute as one in which the members, according to proper law, pronounce public vows, either.perpetual or temporary, which are to be renewed when they have lapsed, and live in common as brothers or sisters. A quick perusal of these canonical descriptions makes apparent some of the. differences between these two types of institutes. The members of secular institutes are to "live in the world" and work for its sanctification "especially from within." On the other hand, religious are to live "in com-mon as brothers or sisters" and profess "public" vows. These and other distinctive features of both forms of ecclesial dedication need to be more closely examined and elaborated upon in order to manifest the special style of consecration lived by the members of the different institutes. In order to facilitate this examination, a comparison of these two types of consecrated life has been organized under the following five headings: Secularity, Community Life, Apostolic Activity, Evangelical Counsels and Canonical Status. There will be, necessarily, some repetition involved because it is impossible to treat the distinctiveness of each institute without there being some overlapping of ideas. For example, it is not possible to consider the evangelical counsels as lived in religious institutes without considering them in the context of common life. Nor is it possible, to con-sider adequately the evangelical counsels as lived by members of secular institutes without examining them in the context of the secularity which is essential to the life of the members. I ask the reader to be patient in this matter as efforts are made to emphasize the genuine distinctiveness and special characteristics of each form of the consecrated life. Se~.ulariff. The primarY and foremost characteristic of secular institutes is that they are secular. This has been repeatedly emphasized in all the ecclesiasti-cal documents which address the nature and role of these institutes, from Provida Mater Ecclesia (February 2, 1947) and the Motu Proprio, Primo Feliciter (March 12, 1947), through the documents of Vatican II (1962-1965), especially ,Perfectae Caritatis,, 11, to the 1983 Code of Canon Law. It is "secularity" which totally colors the way oof life of the members and is the most significant characteristic of their consecrated way of life. Two Forms of Consecrated Ltfe/ 207 The members remain lay people or secular priests. They are not reli-gious ~nor are they expected to live in any manner which approximates or imitates the religious life.~ In every, sense of the term, they are to cultivate their consecrated secularity as ordinary people; living "in-the world and, as it were, from the world. "~ They should be involved in the social milieu and professional life proper to each member in the concrete circumstances of that member's place, time and culture. Indeed, members are to have a secular outlook and acknowledge themselves as "part" of the world and committed to sanctifying it from within) Hehce, the style of life of the lay members of a secular.,institu~te is that~ of a consecrated person living a rather inconspicuous and ordinary life, holding down a job or involved in a profession, while living alone or wi[h family or friends. Externally they will not appear to be different from any other lay person in a similar situation. Indeed, Pope John Paul II has encouraged them to develop their professional life and to be, at the level of Knowledge and experience, really competent in their specific field of endeavor.4 Religious, on the other hand, are required and expected by/heir own consecrated way of life to have a certain "separation from the world prpper to the character and purpose of each institute.'~ Obviously, this is expressed very differently by monastic communities and by apostolic reli-gious. Members of apostolic religious institutes frequent~ly find themselves immers~ed in the world with similar demands made upon them to have the professional competence required in their particular formJ of apostolate or ministry. Yet, at the same time, they may be more likely to think of themselves, while at the service of people and the Church,.as "being in the world, but not of it." Indeed, they are often readily identifiable as "Church-people" even if they are not wearing a habit or clerical garb. Furthermore, they often live in houses or convents associated with their ir~titutional apostolate which helps identify them as Church-workers. Thus their com-munity lifestyle and their corporate apostolate or form of ministry, in one sense, sets them apart and "separates" them from" the ordinary lifestyle of lay people. There are incarnational and eschatological dimensions" to the life of every Christian. However, it appears that the Church considers thai the incarnational should be especially clear in the Christian life of the dedicated laity and that the eschatological or transcendental should be-particularly manifested through the dedicated life of members of religious institutes. One form of the consecrated life the secular institute emphasizes the goodness of the world and of all God's creation (Gn l:3,1); the Other the religious institute emphasizes the radical discipleship of Jesus which involves some separation from or renunciation of the world (Jn 15:19). 901t / Review for Religious, March-April, 1986 Community Life Some form of life in common or community life has been a part of religious life from timeqmmemorial. It is a clear requirement of the new Code of Canon Law.6 Members of a religious community are to live in a house-of their own institute with their brothers or sisters and under the autl~ority of a religious superior.7 This is the place where they conduct their day-to-day life and offer their companionship and support to one another. It is the place where they gather about the eucharistic table and pray together. It is from there that apostolic religious reach out to others in a variety of ministries and dedicated ecclesial service. Therefore, some form of commu~nity life has been a perennial dimension of religious~ life and presented as an ecclesial witness of Christian love. The common life of religious does differ somewhat fro~a community to community, and is radically different for: monastic and apostolic religious. However, it is a necessary dimension of religious life and one of its special characteristics. Common life is not a part °of the consecrated life of members of secular institutes. While some institutes may have, as part of their particular tradi-tion, residences which belong to the institute, community life is not an expectation, requirement or characteristic of secular institutes in general. In fact, it has often been positively discouraged as contrary to a truly secular style of life and an unfortunate move toward the imitation of a life approp-riate to a religious institute. ~ The secular quality does not permit of community life on the part of mem-o ~rs, even as an option. It is too easy to slip from the notion of a "group" life to that of a "com.mon" life inconsistent with the personl liberty and the vari-ety of commitments which the ideal of presence in the world entails.8 The new 9od,e does not require the administrators or leaders of a secular institute to have their own residence, nor is it necessary to have a house where formation programs can be conducted.9 Members of secular i~stitutes are expected to live as ordinary lay people, either alone or with their families, or in a group as brothers and sisters.~0 Diocesan priests, who are members of a secular institute, likewise, are expected to live as the other priests in the diocese. That is, they are to live in the rectory to which they haye been assigned by their bishop. There is to be nothing unusual or exter-nally distinctive in their style of life in the world. However, as canon 716 of the code states, the members of a secular institute are urged to share actively in the institute according to their own proper law. They are to maintain a certain "communion" among them-selves arid carefully foster a unity of ~pirit and genuine relationships as brothers and sisters. The constitutions and statutes of each institute should specify how this is to be done, but should not imply that cohabitation or Two Forms of Consecrated Life / 209 any form of common life similar to that of religious is expected. It is the obligation of leaders and moderators in the institute to promo.te this spirit of unity and an active participation of the members)~ Apostolic Activity The new Code of Canon Law succinctly expresses the manner in which apostoli~ activity is to be exercised by the members o

Issue 40.4 of the Review for Religious, July/August 1981. ; REVIEW ~:o~ RELIGIOUS (ISSN 0034-639X), published every two months, is edited in collaboration with the faculty members of the Department of Theological Studies of St. Louis University. The editorial offices are located at Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108. REvmw ~-oR REt.~_;tous is owned by the Missouri Province Educational Institute of the Society of Jesus, St. Louis, MO. © 1981 by REVIEW ~:o1~ REtAC;~OUS. Composed, printed and manufactured in U.S.A. Second class postage paid at St. Louis, MO. Single copies: $2.50. Subscription U.S.A.: $9.00 a year; $17.00 for two years. Other countries: $10.00 a year; $19.00 for two years. For subscription orders nr change of address, write: Rt:v~t.:w toR Rt:t.~(aous; P.O. Box 6070; Duluth, MN 55802. Daniel F. X. Meenan, S.J. Dolores Greeley, R.S.M. Jeremiah L. Alberg, S.J. Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. Jean Read Editor Associate Editor Book Editor Questions and Answers Editor Assistant Editor July/August, 1981 Volume 40 Number 4 Manuscripts, bonks for review and correspundence with the editor should be sent to REVIEW FOR Rt:t.l(aOUS; Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108. Questinns for answering should be sent to Joseph F. Gallen, S.J.; Jesuit Communily; St. Joseph's University; City Avenue at 54th St.; Philadelphia, PA 19131. Back issues and reprints should be ordered from REVIEW I-'OR RELIGIOUS; Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108. "Out of print" issues and articles not published as reprints are available from University Microfilms Internalional; 300 N. Zeeb Rd.; Ann Arbor. MI 48106. Spiritual Freedom John R. Sheets, S.J. Father Sheets. a frequent contributor to these pages, is a member of the Department of Theology at Creighton University. His last article to appear was "Let My People Go--The Passion for Jus-tice" (May. 1977). Father resides with the Jesuit community at Creighton University: 2500 Cali-fornia Street; Omaha, NE 68178. There are words which are "mystery words," words which somehow attempt to capture the mystery of existence, words like spirit, heart, love, freedom, person. Such a mystery word is "spiritual freedom." Often we tend to reduce the content of such words to what can be categor-ized in the same way as are objects. In this way, we tend to evacuate them of their depth meaning. With such words, more is left out than the little that is said. They are words which suggest and allude, rather than explain. I preface this article with these remarks, because ! would not want to give the impression that I am going to unravel the meaning of spiritual freedom. If it is explained in such a way that it is completely exposed to the gaze of reason, then it has been reduced to an object, and we will have missed ihe real meaning of spiritual freedom. If I were to do justice to the.topic, 1 would have to approach it at length from three different points of view: first of all, from a philosophical perspec-tive, seeing how it is rooted in human nature; then, how spiritual freedom is realized in Christ; finally, how the spiritual freedom of the Christian is the actualization, in some limited fashion, of the very spiritual freedom of Christ, since we are found incorporate in Christ Jesus through our baptism, lived out in faith. It is not possible, obviously, to deal with the subject adequately on any one of these levels, let alone all three. 1 shall move back and forth, therefore, among these three levels, the philo-sophical, the Christological, "and what can be called the Christian anthro- 481 4112 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 pological, realizing the sketchy nature of this approach. Again, if 1 wanted to do justice to the topic, it would be necessary to. explain at length what is meant by spiritual bondage. Spiritual freedom is always an overcoming of spiritual bondage. Except in Christ and Mary, spiri-tual freedom coexists with the enigma of evil. In us spiritual freedom is always a victory over evil. It exists in us in a way which is ongoing, fragile, subject to temptation, preliminary. Philosophy can get to some appreciation of the enigmatic character of human freedom. However, it is only through Revela-tion that we know the roots of this enigma in man's turning away from God, bringing about the unholy alliance of good and evil in his heart. The Polarities of Human Existence I shall use as a framework for developing the meaning of spiritual freedom the polarities Dr. Macquarrie uses to describe human nature (Principles of Christian Theology, Scribners, New York, 1977, #11 "Human Existence and its Polarities"). But before sketching out these polarities, I should attempt to give some broad description of what is meant by spiritual freedom. Spiritual freedom is that capacity we have to actualize authenticity, the potential of self-realization, the power to become genuinely, fully, integrally human. The path of spiritual freedom is not arbitrary. It is the response to our vocation in its most radical sense, the call to be human. There is within us the instinctive capacity for that call. It is a call from ahead, from the future, lead-ing, beckoning us, drawing us out of ourselves. Every act of spiritual freedom brings not merely more things into the world. In a mysterious way, it brings more humanness, and in this way even brings more of the divine into the world. It is our most creative act. To the degree that spiritual freedom releases spirit, as it were, into the world, to that degree does spirit stamp the world of matter, leaving its imprint. For this reason, spiritual freedom is always found in what is most the expression of man's spirit, as in culture, art, literature, language. Spiritual freedom, then, is always a reaching out to a new mode of being present in the world. It is always a growth in personal existence over the impersonal, of the spontaneity of spirit over the inertia of matter, of liberation from bondage. It is always costly, never cheap, until it acquires the wings of ¯ the spirit itself, to the extent (and this takes place only completely in the resur-rected body) that matter itself becomes spiritualized. However, since it is always only partially realized in us in this life, spiritual freedom will always meet with the resistance of spiritual bondage. I come now to the way that Dr. Macquarrie speaks of human existence in terms of different polarities. He in turn has borrowed the framework from the philosopher, Martin Heidegger. It is important to realize that when he speaks of polarities, Dr. Macquarrie is not speaking of polarizations, or opposites, existing in some kind of stand-off. Rather, the term polarity means a vital tension which is constructive in Spiritual Freedom itself. However, when the polarity is out of balance, then it can indeed become a polarization, or a destructive tension. Facticity- Possibility The first polarity is that offacticity-possibility. By facticity, Macquarrie means the "givens" in our life, those aspects of our life which constitute our limitations. Each of us has an innumerable number of limitations. We exist at a certain point of time and place, rather than at some other, with limitations of talent, intelligence, physical strength, with other limitations coming from our senses. We are ultimately limited by our life-span, which is terminated by that which puts a limit to all aspects of one's existence (if I am speaking merely from the viewpoint of appearances), namely, death. These aspects of the givens of my life come mainly because of the fact that 1 am not simply spirit, but embodied spirit. Through my body, I am related to the world of facticity, of space and time, having the same dependence on the "ecosystem" for life that any material thing has with its limitations. However, there is the other aspect of this polarity, the element of possi-bility. This is the capacity not simply for more things, but for more being, not only to become bigger physically, but to become more human. This possibility is rooted in our spirits. The very nature of spirit is.to expand what is con-tracted, to release from limits. There is a kind of imperative written within the human spirit that is like the words of Christ to the crowd after the resurrection of Lazarus, "Unbind him and let him go." The spirit in man is an enabling, freeing spirit, where the possibilities of the future reach into our limitations to draw us to new levels of humanity. The interaction of these two aspects of our existence, namely, facticity and possibility, make us realize that genuine creativity only exists in interaction with limitations. We often have the illusion that freedom is found ultimately in being free of all limitations. On the contrary, genuine freedom is always in process. It is the process of interacting in a creative way with limitations. "Creativity itself requires limits, for which the creative act arises out of the struggle of human beings with and against that which limits them" (The Courage to Create, Rollo May [Bantam Books, New York, p. 134]). Even in the growth of the natural sciences, as well as the arts, all progress comes only through the interaction of possibility with limitations. The present struggle to find new sources of energy, for example, is stimulated by the ex-perience of our limited supply of energy sources in conventional forms. Every artist knows that creativity is the result of dealing with the limitations of wood, words, paint, sound. The seeming unlimited gracefulness of the ballet dancer takes place within the most stringent of all laws, that of gravity. In the abstract, it is fairly easy to speak of dealing creatively with our limi-tations. In the concrete, however, the polarities of facticity and possibility are often out of balance. This can take place in many ways. One can refuse to acknowledge the limitations of his concrete existence, those which are part ~11t~1 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 and parcel of the life of any creature, or those which belong to him in a unique way because of his circumstances. In Greek mythology this is the primary sin, that ofhybris, pride, the refusal to acknowledge that we are not God. It is the demonic instinct in man, like that found in the many different versions of the same demonic mystery, the story of Dr. Faustus Who rebelled against his limi-tations seeking even from the devil possibilities beyond the human. On the other hand, there is also the resistance to genuine possibilities, those which call forth from the individual a creative response to his limita-tions. The norm of judging every genuine possibility is the degree to which response brings forth the enhancement of life. Where I r~sist this invitation to growth, there is a diminishment, not only in my own life, but in the world around me. Faced with a new level of possibility, 1 am also faced with costly freedom. There is the tendency, then, to retreat from risk, the risk of responsi-bility, there is the instinct to remain safe, where response to the call to greater being is a challenge to come alive on a new level. Whenever genuine possibility is resisted, the slavery to spiritual bondage becomes greater. Parenthetically, no one ever described this anxiety before creative growth more profoundly than did Soren Kierkegaard. His reflections did not proceed from some abstract philosophizing, but from his own experience of "dizziness" when confronted with the abyss of freedom, when confronted with creative possibility. The polarity of facticity and possibility can be out of balance, then, in dif-ferent ways: either through the denial of limitations (which is at the same time the unrealistic expansion of one's possibilities), or through the resistance to genuine possibilities, because of the fear of the cost of the commitment to a new, unexperienced form of life. It is the risk of faith. Applying this more explicitly to our topic of spiritual freedom, we can say that spiritual freedom is that power to deal creatively with our limitations, neither going beyond them through pride, nor resisting genuine possibilities through diffidence. There are, then, two fundamental dispositions keeping these two polarities in a creative balance: humility, acknowledging our limitations, and generosity, opening ourselves to new levels of the manifestation of spirit. It is the spirit in man which mediates the creative tension between these two polarities, respecting limitations, but not in a static way, and opening us to new possibilities. But with the gift of the Holy Spirit, there is the raising of this creative tension to a totally new dimension, both in terms of the realization of our creatureliness (our limitations), and also to as yet unheard-of possibilities, "things beyond our seeing, things beyond our hearing, things beyond our imagining, all prepared by God for those who love him: these it is that God has revealed to us through the Spirit" (I Co 2:9-10). Concretely the creative tension between limitations and possibilities means finding the will of God in our lives. The "will of God" is that creative bridge Spiritual Freedom / 485 between where we are and where we should be. The Holy Spirit is the source of this instinct for the more in our lives. The human spirit by its nature moves us toward the more in a human way by imprinting its stamp.on the world of matter. The Holy Spirit, particularly within the ecclesial community, reaches to the more of the kingdom of God. Another way of expressing this movement to the more is openness in our hearts to a master-vision and a master-commitment. The essence of spiritual bondage is fragmentation, wherein the different aspects of our human nature each seeks its own goals. We are not one self, then, but many selves contend-ing with one another. We are driven by forces from beneath rather than drawn by our call from above. The power to make a gift of our whole self to a center, a master-vision and a master-commitment, is the highest expression of spiritual freedom. In Christ we find the fullness of the master-vision and the master-com-mitment, the absolute gift of himself to the Father and his will. In the tempta-tions in the desert we find the demonic, in its uncanny shrewdness, tempting Christ to an imbalance between the recognition of his limitations and the falsi-fication of his possibilities. He is tempted to overcome the limitations of his hunger by a miracle. His imagination is tempted with the possibility of a way of saving the world better than that of the Father--a sensational rescue mission by the Father. Finally, all the kingdoms of the world are offered him if he but change the master-vision and the master-commitment, to serve Satan rather than the Father. All of Christ's teaching is the invitation to take upon ourselves his own master-vision and master-commitment, and in this way open ourselves to unheard-of possibilities. The Sermon on the Mount offers new possibilities of love. He speaks of new possibilities of lifelong commitment in marriage, and new possibilities of a celibate life for the kingdom of heaven. "Let those accept it who can"(Mt 19:12). New possibilities of single-mindedness: "lf you wish to go the whole way, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and then you will have riches in heaven; and come, follow me" (Mt 19:21). However, the supreme realization of the creative tension between limita-tions and possibility is the overcoming of the limitation of death. This is not done through some kind "of change in our way of looking at death, as in eastern spiritualities. Because we become incorporate in Christ Jesus, the crucified-risen Lord, the Lamb standing with the marks of execution upon him, our limitations are taken up into his possibility, now realized in his resur-rection. This takes place in us in a real way even now, though it is still only in its dawning stages waiting for its full realization, as St. Paul mentions so often. There are limitations which are imposed by our existence, our creature-liness. There are others which are self-imposed, where we enter a structure of limitations, freely assumed, in order to draw forth a more creative response. This is obviously true in marriage, wh6re a man and a woman limit themselves 41~6 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 and their whole lives to one another in a bond of love. Depending on the way they respond to these self-imposed limits, their lives can become a progressive manifestation of spiritual freedom, or degenerate into a deeper form of bondage. Similarly in the self-imposed limits of religious life through the vow of obedience, life can become, through obedience to law, rule, authority, either a progressive manifestation of spiritual freedom, or degenerate into legalism, self-love, self-will. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are ultimately a way to attain higher and higher levels of spiritual freedom. The First Week is aimed at putting our lives in order, recapturing the master-vision and the master-commitment. The meditation which serves as the "Principle and Foundation" for the rest of the Exercises is the meditation on the Call of Christ the King. This meditation is aimed at fostering within those who have the gift of God's grace a response to new possibilities, to share in the possibilities offered by the Father to Christ himself, a life of service as the Suffering Servant. Then Ignatius describes the response those will make who "want to show greater affection and to signalize themselves in every kind of service of their eternal king and universal Lord." In summary, then, we can say that every act of love, faith, hope, forgive-ness, every movement to the more of Christ's own possibilities is an act of spiritual freedom. Such responses leave not only the stamp of the human spirit on the world of matter, but the stamp of Christ on the world. Rationality-Affectivity The second polarity is rationality-affectivity. As human beings we have the capacity to get beneath appearances, beyond the way that things seem to us, to what is real, true, good. This is a power in which our Godlikeness is consti-tuted. God is the God of the real, the particular, the genuine. We are created to respond to the call of the real, to things which are God's words in a natural sense, and, in the sense of Revelation, to God's special words and even more to the Word-made-flesh. We have the power, then, to reach the real. Otherwise, we are doomed to the world of phenomena, appearances and feel-ings. And the call of the real could not reach us if this were the case. There would be no greater monstrosity than man, with yearnings for the real, bur-dened with a radical inability to fill his heart with what alone can satisfy it. The element of rationality is our avenue to the real. But the real is not some kind of"lump" of reality like a chemical deposit. The real itself is bathed in love, God's creative love: "And he saw that it was good." One cannot know, then, only with the mind, but also with the heart. For it is the heart that picks up the signals of love within the real, whereas the mind picks up what is true. The polarities of mind and heart are to be kept in a creative tension. If they are not in balance, if mind excludes heart, then we become rationalists, cold, calculating, manipulative. On the other hand, heart without mind degenerates into sentimentality, mood, temperament. When this is so, mind follows the shape of the heart, and turns into rationalization and self-deception. Spiritual Freedom / 4117 St. Paul expressed the requisite creative tension very well when he said, "Follow the truth in charity" (Ep 4:15). Truth without charity is a kind of spiritual bondage that limits our response to the real only to the level of the rational. Charity without truth is not really charity, but a simulation of it. It becomes mere sentiment, without roots in what is real°, without any focus for the master-vision and the master-commitment. It would be instructive, if we had time to go through the gospels, to see how these polarities are lived in a creative tension in Christ. No one judged sin more really than he did; yet no one loved the sinner more. This love was not merely some cold act of the will, of choice as a kind of cold deliberative act. The love was in his heart, feelings, emotions, not only in whom he loved, but in what he liked. That is why all of the outcast felt at home with him, because he felt at home with them. His judgments were formed only on what he had seen the Fath6r doing (Jn 5:!9), what the Father had entrusted to him (Lk 10:210. He did not rely on the concatenated statements of human authorities, as did the lawyers, nor on poli-tical or party or ethnic lines, as did the Various factions among the Jews. There is the simplicity, clarity, transparency in his words which comes from direct and immediate contact with reality, somewhat (but in a much deeper sense) in the same way that reality shines forth through the words of a great author. On the contrary we find judgment without heart in so many of the inci-dents in the gospels where the notion of law degenerated into pharisaic legal-ism. Reason was isolated from heart. Too, we find the isolation of feeling from reason, from judging according to the truth. John's summation of the reasons for Jesus' failure with the Jews was, "They valued the reputation with men rather than the honor which comes from God" (Jn 5:44). In other words, they did not open themselves to the truth because they were too concerned about what others thought. They lived on the level of feeling. The description that John gives of the reasons for Jesus' condemnation to death shows how the imbalance in this polarity of reason and feeling can be so destructive. Caiphas gave as the legitimating reason for Jesus' execution: "You kn.ow nothing whatever; you do not use your judgement; it is more to your interest that one man should die for the people, than that the whole nation should be destroyed" (Jn 11:50). The supreme irony is that the "judgment" was merely the legitimation of feeling, the feeling that thi~ man was a threat to their own well-being. It was not a judgment in truth. In the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius wants us to be penetrated wholly by the whole truth: our feelings, our minds, our hearts. This 'basic orientation is stressed from the very beginning in the guidelines he sets: "For it is not to know much, but it is to understand and savor the matter interiorly, that fills .~ and satisfies the soul" (Annotation 2). In the meditation Lnvolwng the applica-tion of the senses he wants the whole of us to be taken into the mystery, and this includes our senses. In the Third Week, he wants us to "feel sorrow, afflic-tion, and confusion because for my sins our Lord is going to his Passion." But 41111 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 if Ignatius stresses feelings, he does not mean. mere mood. He means feelings that in some way are in touch with the reality, and carry an affective response to the reality. In us, then, spiritual freedom is that grace-given capacity to reach the truth in love. It is the overcoming of the bondage to the cold isolation of reason, or to the feeling divorced from reality. Hope-Anxiety The third polarity is that of hope-anxiety. Hope is the way that we pick up within the present the signals of the future. It picks up the element of promise in everything that attracts us. Perhaps this is the basis of the attraction we feel for the things that we perceive as still young, whether these be the seasons, like spring, or the youthfulness of children, or events which are filled with the future, which itself is like a gigantic canvas to be filled in during the rest of our lives. We witness this in those commitments which look to the whole of one's future: marriage, priesthood, religious life. Hope, then, is that disposition to live for the future as it offers genuine promise in the present. Hope implies effort. It is not automatic like the seasons. It is concerned with what has preferential value on a comparative scale. We really do not hope for things that are trivial. Hope implies persever-ance in the steps necessary to realize it. In other words, it involves fidelity, constancy to the means implicit in the commitment. Anxiety, as the other aspect of this polarity, does not mean a nervous kind of fear before something that threatens my well-being. It means a kind of keyed-up-ness that comes from the realization of the value of what I am seek-ing, of the need to be vigilant lest anything be omitted which might let my hope slip away. It is the same disposition stressed in the gospel as vigilance, being awake, not sleeping but watching. The elements in this polarity can be out of balance in various ways. Hope can turn into presumption when it fails to appreciate the unreachable aspects of certain goals 1 set for myself. Concretely, 1 presume that extrinsic help will somehow or other bridge some particular gap, or that I can achieve the goal by my own powers, whereas in reality the gap is unbridgeable in itself or by me alone. However, there is also the timidity which looks only at my own powers, instead of seeing that the fulfillment of my hope need not come from some kind of Pelagian self-achievement. It it always a collaborative effort, involving the help of others, those in the human community (society, Church, religious congregation), and the help of God. There is also the feeling of hopelessness or despair. This is one of the most radical aspects of spiritual bondage. It is the No Exit mentality of .lean Paul Sartre. Anxiety, ~hen, instead of being a kind of spiritual intensity which alerts to the signals of hope, can turn into a kind of spiritual bondage which paralyzes creative response to the promise in the present. It is the attitude of the man, described in the parable of the talents, who buried his talent because fear para- Spiritual Freedom lyzed him. He thought it would be enough to return simply what the master gave, not taking into account that a gift always contains a hope which has to be unfolded. In Christ we see the realization of both aspects of this polarity. "For the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it" (Heb 12:2). "1 have a baptism wherewith 1 am to be baptized, and how 1 am straitened until it be accomplished"(Lk 12:50). "With desire have 1 desired to eat this passover with you before 1 suffer" (Lk 22:15). What leads Jesus is the hope which is not merely future, coming at the end of what he does. It is a hope embodied in the present, in what he does. What he does holds the promise of the future. It involves constancy, perseverance, faithfulness to the end. "Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end" (Jn 13:1). He is alert, vigilant, never sleeping, not letting anything, any oppor-tunity slip from his hands to bring about the reign of his Father. Even where that alertness leads to the anxiety which shakes his whole being in the agony in Gethsemane, it is not the anxiety that paralyzes, removes from hope, but is lived in the realization that the Father will bring about the redemptive issue through the humiliation of the cross. In us, then, every act which is hope-full, responding to the genuine future which is in the present, to the promise which is like a seed at the heart of reality, is an act of spiritual freedom. In particular, every act which realizes the eschatological hope, the definitive hope brought to the world by Christ, is an act of spiritual freedom. Every act which overcomes meaninglessness, the sense of purposeless drift, is an act of spiritual freedom. Every act which is hope-raising, raising the level of hope of the human community, or the Church, provided it avoids presumption, is an act of spiritual freedom. It liberates not only oneself, but the human community. Similarly every act which has caught the urgency of the gospel calls for vigilance. This vigilance imposes by its own weight a sense of priorities, a per-spective from the perspective of Christ's own view at the right hand of the Father. Every such act is an act of spiritual freedom. On the contrary the reduction of human effort to the law of entropy which holds the world of matter in its grip, the "death-wish" in all things, the devalu-ation through natural processes of what is useful into what is useless, is suc-cumbing to spiritual bondage. Individual- Community The fourth polarity is that of individual-community. There are two insep-arable aspects to our personality as embodied spirit. Through our bodies we belong to a cosmos of things and a community of persons. It is through our bodies that we relate to a whole world of culture, language, ethnic identity, family, sexual differentiation. Because we are embodied spirit, we laugh, cry, feel good, feel bad, feel pain: and, because of our bodies, we suffer and die. The aspect of spirit in us belongs to the level of interiority, the power of 490 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 appropriating truth, goodness, beauty. It" is the capacity to grow through relationships. It is the power to reflect back on ourselves, that capacity to be what Heidegger terms the "clearing in the forest," where the light of Being enters into the world of things. In short, it is the gift of selfhood, one of those words which we cannot exhaust because the mystery of the self trails back into the realm of God's own spirit. The aspects of this polarity exist in a constructive tension where the indi-vidually liberated acts, acts manifesting spiritual freedom, become liberating for the community. We can see this in the history of a community where cer-tain individuals brought men to a new threshold of human consciousness, people like Socrates, for example, or the religious seers of the east, like Gotauma Siddhartha, or Mohammed, who brought a whole world from poly-theism to the worship of the one God, or Gandhi whose moral consciousness changed that of society. In turn the community mediates to the individuals that particular level of spiritual freedom it has reached. There is no doubt that the notions of liberty espoused in the foundational documents of the United States are both the culmination of a long history of individual effort, and have also mediated to the world at large a whole new level of awareness of the principles of freedom, never before realized in a civil community. On the contrary, the creative tension in this polarity can be broken when spiritual freedom degenerates into bondage. On the level of the individual, there can be closedness to the community dimension, through subjectivism, individualism, egocentricity, bringing about the fragmention of community. As cancerous cells in the body are in pathological condition in relationship to the whole of the body, the same is true of the individual who attempts to live a life in independence of the community. On the other hand, there can be the domination by the community which itself has become dispirited, where it has lost its roots in the creative aspects of the spirit. Perhaps there is no greater tyranny than that of the crowd. It is mindless, senseless, open to the demonic under the guise of the spirit. Instead of beckoning, drawing us into new vistas of hope and supporting basic human values, it becomes stifling. Bernard Lonergan speaks of the kind of darkness generated by a community which has lost its life: skotosis (borrowed from the Greek word). It means progressive darkening, dimming, cutting out the light. Finally the point is reached where one can no longer distinguish truth from mood, objective reality from what he feels and what he likes. It is the experience of this type of group-tyranny which drove someone like Kierkegaard into what perhaps was an extreme on the other side, namely, to a kind of stress on the individual which was antagonistic to group. But his basic insight was correct. There is nothing more overpowering and dehumanizing than the domination of the group which has lost the light, salt and leaven of the gospel. It is the danger inherent in the absolutizing of any particular truth, fol- Spiritual Freedom lowed by the diffusion of it through a group, where it turns into a movement. Then it gains its own dynamic, independent of the insight of the ones who generated it. It begins to live a life of its own, more ruthless in its tyranny, more intimidating in its coercion than any dictatorship which can be singled out and named. One thinks of the crusade that turned into a mob, sacking the city of Constantinople, and humiliating the Greek Church. The diffusion of a particular perspective to the point where it becomes identified with what has been called "group-think" takes place through a system of arteries which is already there: loyalties or resentments based on common ethnic roots, political affiliations, sexual roles, cultural affinities, economic interests. Soon convictions become slogans, slogans become labels, labels separate those who belong from the "outsiders." As we have seen in the other polarities which describe the complexity of human nature, in Christ there is found in a unique way the creative tension between the polarity of individual and community. In no other being do we find the situation where one could practically interchange person and com-munity. In fact he identifies himself with the community: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" (Ac 9:4). He is both a self, but also an extended self-in-his- members. In his treatment of the Trinity, Ratzinger describes how a whole new con-cept of person emerged through the struggles of the early Church councils to put into human language the trinitarian mystery (see Introduction to Chris-tianity [Seabury, New York, 1979, p. 130 f]). The concept of relation came to assume the same importance as substance. What is true in the trinitarian life is manifested in the human life of the Word-made-flesh. His whole existence is to be relative, from-the-Father, and for-us. This means that he is the only person who has ever verified in himself both the completeness of personhood and the completeness of community. For this reason, Paul describes the Church as the fullness of Christ, who has received all fullness from the Father (Ep 1:22-23). He speaks of the mission of Christ as community-creating: "Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for it, to consecrate it, cleaning it by water and word, so that he might present the Church to himself all glorious, with no stain or wrinkle or anything of the sort, but holy and without blemish" (Ep 5:27-28). Ignatius Loyola lived at a time when the Church appeared as anything but holy and without blemish. Yet, like Christ, he loved the Church, not in its invisible holiness which is an abstraction, but in its concreteness, as the bride of Christ. In particular, even beneath the blemishes of the Renaissance popes, he saw in faith the Vicar of Christ. Against the dictatorship of the milieu, he took the path of spiritual .freedom. In his "Rules for Thinking with the Church," included in the book of The Spiritual Exercises, he takes, point for point, the practices ridiculed by the Reformers, and asks that we praise them. At a time when private judgment was being extolled, he asked that we "lay aside all private judgment, keeping our minds prepared and ready to obey in t192 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 all things the true spouse of Christ our Lord, our holy mother, the hierarchical Church." In short, we can say that spiritual freedom is shown in every act that creates community, healing it where it is wounded, restoring it where it is floundering, raising consciousness to correct abuses which are hostile to genuine community. On the other hand, every act which divides and reduces community to factions, parties, group-interests, is an act of spiritual bondage. Am-Ought Finally, there is the polarity of the am-ought in our lives. It is the polarity of conscience, the sense of the ought, which lives in a tension with where ! actually am. Conscience is itself a mystery of the human spirit, which carries within itself the sense of its goal-orientation towards authenticity, and at the same time the awareness of where the person is in relationship to that goal. Conscience is not some "tiny voice." It is the imperative of the spirit to become what we should be. The ought is present in everyone. The content of the ought, the specifics, how we become what we ought to be, varies according to a person's forma-tion. This means that there is another "ought," namely, the need to bring the content of one's conscience into line with what genuinely fits authenticity. While there is the obligation to follow one's conscience, there is the corre-sponding obligation to check one's conscience, to see if it leads to spiritual freedom or to spiritual bondage. In Christ, his conscience is informed with a content which provides the sense of mission providing the master-vision and the master-commitment of his whole life. "Ought not the Messiah to suffer and thus to enter upon his glory?" (Lk 24:26). In the language of John's Gospel: "Look, there is the Lamb of God. It is he who takes away the sin of the world" (,In 1:29). Even when he trembles before the dreadful realization of the content of that ought in his agony in the garden, there is no attempt to substitute some other content. From start to finish, his life is marked by the ought of the Suffering Servant. This is again illustrated in the symbolic act of washing the disciples' feet at the last supper. The ought and the am, like the other polarities, can exist in a creative or destructive tension. In the first place, there is the deliberate going against one's conscience. Secondly, there is the refusal to examine the content of one's conscience, which can be aided and abetted unto error by rationalization. There is the tendency in all of us to reduce the content of conscience from what is genuinely human to what we like or feel or to what conforms to the milieu around us. There is the automatic need to legitimate what we choose to do which is the process of rationalization, to the point where one may be living a life that is a lie. On the other hand, there is spit:itual freedom where, in obedience to what is genuinely normative for human nature, we bring the disparate elements in Spiritual Freedom / 493 our life under obedience to what is true, real, good, beautiful. Conversely, every failure to obey conscience, particularly the conscience that has a sense of what is really, authentically human, is not only an act of spiritual bondage, but a progressive enslavement. "In very truth 1 tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave" (Jn 8:34). However, we should not equate the Christian ought with that which comes from ethics or moral philosophy. The Christian ought does not come from the reflection on what fits authentic humanity. Rather it comes from the implica-tions of what it means to be incorporate in Christ. The content of the Chris-tian conscience comes, therefore, from the implications of a whole new series of relationships, that our existence finds its norm now by being-with, being-in, being-for. All of the applications that Paul, for example, makes for Christian living come from the new existence that we have as related to the Father in a special way through Christ. It would be an act of spiritual bondage to live only according to the "natural law" when we have a new content to our conscience which is described in so many ways in the New Testament. Basically, it is putting on "that mind which is in Christ Jesus" (Ph 2:5). On the contrary, every act which shows forth what Paul calls a special kind of harvest is an act of spiritual freedom: "The harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and self-control" (Ga 5:22). Conclusion I have attempted to locate the mystery of spiritual freedom in the context of the polarities which describe some of the many-faceted sides of human exis-tence: facticity-possibility, rationality-affectivity, hope-anxiety, individual-community, am-ought. 1 tried to show how spiritual freedom is realized in Christ (admittedly only touching the surface), and how, as incorporate in Christ, we to some degree share in his spiritual freedom. However, we have also seen that the "shadow" side of freedom, namely, spiritual bondage, is an ever present threat to our freedom, 1 would like to conclude by suggesting that it is in the Eucharist that we find both the meaning of spiritual freedom and the way that we once again, conscious of and confessing our spiritual bondage, re-incorporate ourselves into the act by which we were made spiritually free. In the obedience of Christ to the ought of his life we are saved. All gift is a manifestation of spiritual freedom. In Christ, in the supreme gift of himself to the Father for us, we find the supreme act of spiritual freedom: "This is my Body given for you. This is my Blood, the Blood of the new covenant poured out for you." We also pray, "May he make us an everlasting gift to you" (Third Eucha-ristic Prayer). Our spiritual freedom is measured by the degree to which we can enter into that gift of Christ to the Father and to others. By being taken up into that "procession" of Christ to the Father, our limitations and possibilities 494 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 undergo a change into those of Christ; we are in touch with the reality behind all appearances through faith and love; we live proclaiming that the hope to come is now present; we take upon ourselves Christ's own relativity to the Church and to the world; there is a new ought to our lives, to love as Christ has loved us. In conclusion, then, every act of spiritual freedom is in some way bringing back the world to the Father through Christ: "Such was his will and pleasure determined beforehand in Christ, to be put into effect when the time was ripe: namely, that the universe, all in heaven and on earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ" (Ep 1:9-10). The "Active-Contemplative' Problem in Religious Life by David M. Knight Price: $.75 per copy, plus postage. Address: Review for Religious Rm 426 3601 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63108 On Spiritual Direction Jan Bots, S.J., and Piet Penning de Vries, S.J. Father Bots and de Vries are Dutch Jesuits. This article originally appeared in Geist und Leben in February, 1980, and represents a revision of a chapter from their book: Geestelijke leiding vandaag, Fen werkboek [Spiritual Direction Today: A Workbook], (Amsterdam: Patmos, 1978). As with other articles by the authors, this was translated by Sister Mary Theresilde, Assistant General of the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration; Holy Trinity Convent; Helmtrudisstr. 23; 3490 Bad Driburg; West Germany. In all spiritual direction, the real spiritual director is the Holy Spirit. Hence the "spiritual" element in his direction is not opposed to what is material or bodily, but to what St. Paul calls "the flesh" (see Rm 8:7-17), to the sinful, self-encapsulating element in a human being. The word "spiritual" is derived from the New Testament word pneumatikos, meaning "determined by God's Spirit." Anyone who lives a spiritual life bases his whole existence on God's Spirit. The spiritual father, or pater pneumatikos of the Eastern Church, exercises an important but modest role: he himself does not lead but rather sees to it that his spiritual child lets himself be led by the Holy Spirit and grows in sensitivity to that Spirit's guidance. The Church Another reason why the spiritual director's role is a modest one is that it is totally subordinate to the mission of the Church itself as director and guide. The Church is the Spirit-bearer in this world; it is, then, the spiritual director, "Mother and Teacher" (Mater et Magistra, John XXIII). Its means are the liturgy, its Holy Scripture together with the traditions built thereon, and the teachings of the magisterium which assure that the truths handed on harmon-ize with its experience. Through these channels--often unnoticed--the faith-ful are given continual spiritual direction. Every session involving personal spiritual direction takes place within this 495 4~16 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 sphere of ecclesial activity. Accordingly, even the first encounter between a spiritual director and the person seeking direction does not take place between two total strangers. Actual practice proves this: the freedom with which peo-ple entrust their most private realms to a priest shows that these two persons were already related in the Church, even before they met personally. Faith creates a bond of trust between people, independent of feelings of personal confidentiality. Friendship and Spiritual Direction Therefore friendship is not a prerequisite for spiritual direction, though love is. Even where two people are not immediately related by friendship, there can be mutual esteem, trust, and union in prayer and love. Friendship on the other hand, rests on reciprocity, on mutuality. Friends like to be together, cultivate lengthy contacts, meet regularly, share conversation, do things together and have favorite times and places for exchanging experiences and views. One who makes friendship a condition for spiritual direction limits the effectiveness of the spiritual director to his circle of friends and excludes other Christians, and this without necessity. Friendship can surely help to overcome threshold anxiety and facilitate the first step into spiritual direction. This more comfortable beginning demands less self-conquest, but it can also become a hindrance. The ease itself of this friendly contact with the spiritual director can result in a loss of depth in the conversation, which in turn can tend to aimlessness instead of concentration on the essential. Too, personal friendship often increases the difficulty of speaking about things that the one seeking direction finds embarassing. On the part of the spiritual director, too, friendship can become proble-matic. As we have already said, it is essential for spiritual direction that, not the person, but the Holy Spirit be the actual center of the direction. This means that the relationship of friend to friend is subordinate to the relation-ship of both to Christ. Too close a union of friendship can be a hindrance in this regard. Hence, for example, pastoral work and spiritual direction attempt~ ed among one's relatives is often difficult. Spiritual direction given to friends and relatives demands a strong affective independence. All intimacy must open one to God and transcend the bond that unites the persons. The directee must feel so free regarding any tie of friendship that he can at any time reveal his interior to a priest-director in confession. As a matter of principle, then, friendship can be a help in spiritual direction, but it can also be a hindrance. Therefore we do well not to place any emphasis on it. A holy indifference should maintain one above the friendship. Objectivity and Spiritual Direction We may ask: even ifa relationship of personal friendship is not necessary, should not at least a common llfe-experience serve as the foundation.of spiri- On Spiritual Direction / 497 tual direction? Should not the spiritual director be married, if he intends to guide the married? Should he himself not have children, if he plans to direct parents? Even this is not necessary, for spiritual direction takes place on another level, it consists above all in the help a person is able to render because he himself is able to cope with his own experiences, whatever they may be. A good spiritual director, then, will not say: "This or that is the path for you. It's the same one I myself have trod. Just get behind and follow me.". Such a demand may be the right one for an organizer who is initiating people into a certain task or for a community leader who desires to lead his community in a certain direction. Or it may also be proper for a teacher who has to be a kind of model for his pupils. And, of course, on occasion a spiritual director's dealings with his directees may savor somewhat of this kind of action. In what concerns vital questions requiring decision and freedom, however, it is not the path and the experience of the director which is normative, but that of the directee. The spiritual director normally should not even advise toward anything of which he himself has experience, such as the priesthood or religious life. His own experience colors his outlook too much, and this could be prejudicial to the other's freedom. The spiritual diredtor has to seek his orientation elsewhere. His role does not consist in pointing out his own experiences and opinions. In fact, he should refrain from bringing personal experiences into the conversation and discussing them. It is the task of the director to bring the other into contact with his own experiences, to lead him to openness to the Spirit's impulses, to help the person form his own judgment and make his own decisions. It would, then, not be conducive to good spiritual direction to give counsel such as: "If I were you, I would do this or that." This could make the other dependent on the spiritual director, and hinder the true experiencing and finding of himself. A person should rather be led to self-motivation (intrin-sece) and to independence from motivation from without (extrinsece). Dependence and Spiritual Direction Spiritual direction can be falsified not only by giving definite counsel ("Do this or that"), but also by making a person dependent. This can be done, for example, by assuming a reassuring, generou.s, noble and optimistic manner of acting in a way that relieves the directee of doubt and uncertainty. Or one can let the other cry on one's shoulder responding to his tears with comfort and consolation. This is hardly fitting in spiritual direction, for the task of spiritual direction preventive measures. The privacy of confession and/or the secluded-hess of the confessional could be helpful here, for they contribute to a situ-ation in which the person has God and the Church more in mind than the can easily tend to nestle in his misery in order to continue receiving warm-heartedness and comfort. The spiritual director ought to see to it that no harmful counter- 498 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 transference takes place, for example, by his actually assuming the role of a father, a mother, or any other analogous role transferred to him by the direc-tee (usually unconsciously.) He should beware of playing father to, or mother-ing the directee. Therefore it is necessary to build into the situation of spiritual direction preventive measures. The privacy of confession and/or the se-cludedness of the confessional could be helpful here, for they contribute to a situation in which the person has God and the Church more in mind than the person of the priest. It is the penitent's perfect right to experience in the priest less the human being than the objective spiritual guidance he offers. Outward manifestations of love and affective attraction can, then, be inim-ical to spiritual direction. The spiritual director helps the directee, not by the witness of his own love, but much more by giving witness to God's love, out of love for the person, and b~. leading the person primarily to openness to God, not merely to openness to himself. Besides, by being over.y nice, one can give the impression that life is exceptionally sweet and ple~.sant. In this case the spiritual encounter would be unrealistic, and therefore ineffectual. It may be easy to show one's cordiality, but this can block the directee's way to the depths, to the heart of God. It can be painful for the spiritual director to silence his own heart in order to let the other discover the heart of God. But he can do it if he remains aware that he has something greater to give to the other than himself, namely, God; that he is supposed to give the other a stability that can be found only in God and not in a human being, a stability that is independent of momentary mood and relationships, including those of friendship with another person.~ ~This reserved, seemingly clinical manner is opposed by those who want to cling to a director in one way or another. Their disappointment with the conduct of the director is expressed in many and various veiled rationalizations. He is called unfeeling, hard, intolerant, inhuman, unrealistic, uncharitable and unsocial, lacking in pastoral intuition, too supernatural, too stiff, reflecting Christ too little, etc. The spiritual director with inadequate inner stability will let himself be easily upset by such accusations. The following advice of Freud could have a strengthening effect on him: I cannot advise my colleagues urgently enough to imitate during their psychoanalytical sessions the surgeon, who puts all his affections and even his human compassion aside and sets one single aim before his spiritual powers: to perform the operation as skillfully as possible. .This coldness of feeling required of the analyst is justified by its creating the most advantageous conditions for both parties--for the physician, the desirable protection of his own affective life; for the patient, the greatest measure of assistance possible today. An elderly surgeon had taken for his motto the words: Je le pansai. Dieu le guerit (I dress his wounds; God heals him). The analyst should be content with a similar attitude (Sigmund Freud. Collected Works. London, 1955, VIII, pp. 380 f.). In his faith, the spiritual director has at his disposal helps to psychic integration that a psychotherapist could envy. In addition, he has on his side the fact that an exclusive fixation on psychic recovery less often hinders the healing process in direction. Unlike the case of the psy-chotherapist, psychic recovery is not a "must," and that is an advantage. On Spiritual Direction / 499 Following Jesus By not placing himself and his stability in the foreground, the spiritual director gives the directee the opportunity to experience what is going on within himself. The director does this from the very beginning by having him confront Jesus Christ revealed in the gospels, in whom he will find the true orientation-point of his spiritual'journey. Here is his confidant, the one who, in the power of the Spirit, is discovered in his own inner self. Without this confrontation with Christ, conversation will remain on the intellectual, psychological or emotional level. What ultimately counts in a spiritual conversation is not ideas and ideals, nor mere feelings, but the expe-rience of following Jesus--what the person experiences in Jesus' presence, from Jesus and with Jesus. This is the decisive point. Many persons shrink back and break off the conversation when they sense that it is moving toward becoming deeply involved in following Christ. Yet the fundamental concern of the spiritual director must be never to let the conversation wander from this very decisive point. Questions can sometimes be helpful in this regard. For example, when someone brings up a certain problem, the director can ask, "Have you prayed over it?" or "How have you been able to master or integrate this question in prayer?" If it appears that the difficulty in question has not been prayed through, the spiritual director can recommend a Scripture passage to help introduce the directee into praying over the problem. Then the conversation can be interrupted for the present, and resumed later, after the person has prayed and, in that prayer, has found a spiritual experience. The Process of Spiritual Direction What we have just described can also be spread over a period of time. Here, too, one should beware of prescribing a path (extrinsece) instead of fostering an experience (intrinsece). A first conversation. The spiritual director simply listens sympathetically, so that the directee feels understood in his problem. The purely psychic emo-tions of the person, which on the surface can often be very vehement, ought to aid the director to see deeper and to understand the movements of good and evil in the other. Ignatius called this the "movement of spirits" and spoke of "consolation and desolation." The spiritual director has the task of endeavor-ing to sense how the directee, with all his positive and negative impulses, is taken up into the dynamic movement towards or away from God. Thus spiritual direction requires the ability to be both emotionally and psychologi-cally sensitive to the attitude of the other person as he or she stands before God. The directee's understanding "according to the flesh" has to be expanded and deepene.d into an understanding "according to the spirit" (2 Cot 5:16). When the spiritual director has--beneath the psychic utterances, as it were--made contact with the spiritual implications at work, and when he considers the human aspect of the person's life over against its Christian 500 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 possibilities, then he guides the conversation expressly out of the "fleshly" phase into the "spiritual" one. This happens: for example, by the director's recommending what Ignatius describes as those "spiritual exercises most in conformity with his needs" (Sp.Ex.17). The reflection after prayer. Only after the directee has considered his situation in prayer and meditated his way through it, using the pointers given by the spiritual director, is the conversation resumed. It corresponds to what Ignatius prescribes "after finishing the exercise" (Sp.Ex.77), and is a kind of stock-taking of what has gone on in prayer. It can be carried out by using questions designed to place all one's attention on one's attitude towards the Lord, such as Where was 1 when I was not with him? When was 1 with him? How do I feel towards him now after prayer?2 The expertise of the spiritual director consists in so placing his knowledge and experience of Jesus Christ at the service of his searching directee that the directee finds his way to Jesus, pours out his heart before him and works out any still unresolved experiences together with him. A second conversation has the purpose of talking over the difficulties that might have come up during reflection on the person's prayer. The first question mentioned above should have revealed what hindered the person in coming to a "spiritual" understanding and experience of his situation. The other two questions ought to show where the Spirit wants to break through to a new, liberating and redeeming view. A period of meditative prayer can now be repeated. The subject for pray-ers, for example, the gospel passage assigned, has already assumed a different aspect from that of the first meditation. One's own spiritual experience has deepened and cast new light on the text. The spiritual vision of the meditating person has been widened by this experience and by the conversation which has made him aware of it and clarified it. It is this alternation of prayer and conversation that leads the directee deeper and deeper into the question at hand. It ought to be continued until the person feels completely united to Christ. The spiritual director's conduct is similar to that required in the non-directive method of psychological therapy, but it is older and, above all, has a different motivation and purpose. Ignatius describes it as follows: ".in these spiritual exercises it is more fitting and much better in seeking the Divine will, that our Creator and Lord communicate himself to the devout soul, inflaming it with his love and praise, and disposing it to the way in which it can best serve him in the future. Thus, the one who gives the exercises should not 2See Father Bots' forthcoming ar!icl~. "Praying in Two Directions." in this review. On Spiritual Direction / 501 incline either to one side or the other, but standing in the middle like the balance of a scale, he should allow the Creator to work directly with the creature, and the creature with its Creator and Lord" (Sp.Ex. 15). Conclusion In conclusion, we present the following rules of thumb for the spiritual director. --Keep the relationship to the directee subordinate to your own relationship to Christ. --Let your conduct towards the other be such that he feels free with regard to you in every respect. A test of this is whether he could feel free to go to confession to you at any moment, if you are a priest. --Remain indifferent to any affection shown you. Neither sympathy nor antip-athy, but the other's orientation to God is decisive. --Pay at least as much attention to the manner in which the directee presents the problem, that is, to consolation and desolation, as to its content. --Pay attention not only to feelings and experiences in general, but to feelings for Him. --Keep every conversation as brief as possible. --On beginning, do not ask "sympathetic" questions, but rather let the other take full initiative to show in What areas he wants to share with you. --Maintain a maximum of distance, so that the other can remain as free as possible. --Do not proceed faster than the experience of the directee allows. --Constantly point out what the directee himself has already discovered by his own experience. --Avoid giving any advice from your own private experience on vital ques-tions which require the free decision of the directeeo --Give advice only on the way in which the other himself can discover God's will, and not on what God's will for him could possibly be. --Notice whether the directee--either consciously or unconsciously--ma-neuvers you into a certain role; take note of any gestures, words or attitudes that could indicate a harmful transference. --Notice what the other does not want to face, what he represses. --Normally keep silence; speak by exception and after mature reflection. --In repeating the experiences and feelings of the other, use the person's own words as much as possible, even though they be awkward. --Do not discuss, but do deal with the feelings that lie behind the thoughts expressed. --When the inner, spiritual experience has reached its deepest point, endeavor as soon as possible to channel it to prayer. --Hide your expertise and do not give reasons for your reactions; for you ought to direct the other's attention, not to yourself or to your reasons, but to Jesus and to his own experience. 502 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 --Do not try to keep peace and good relations at all costs. Even aggression can be beneficial, though one need not deliberately arouse it. --Do not attempt to give excuses for a situation which the directee describes as wrong. Rather remain with him in his darkness until he himself comes to light. --Emotions may be expressed during the conversation, but they should be worked through in prayer. Of course, pithy norms such as these are more beneficial if considered as suggestions, and not as rules to be followed slavishly. Novitiate, July 4 Recent pretender to Carmel's heights; eyes yet city-dazed, 1 watch the pyrotechnics in the plain below and wonder why the Beloved does not so oblige those who left such things as these for Him. When last have 1 a flash of color known, or sounds that take possession, strange islands or flocks of lambs that gambol through the rocky fastness? When will His fire work? In His own hour, my independence day. Terrence Moran, C.SS.R. Mt. St. Alphonsus Esopus, NY 12429 Psychology and Spirituality: Distinction Without Separation Stephen Rossetti Mr. Rossetti has a Master's degree in political science. After a period of teaching and research, he had studied spiritual theology for several years and is presently a graduate student of theology at the Catholic University (Washington) with a view to ordination. His present mailing address is 26 Reed Parkway; Marcellus. NY 13108. "1 think I'll go and meet her, "said Alice, for though the flowers were interesting enough, she felt that it would be far grander to have a talk with a real Queen. "You can't possibly do that, "' said the Rose, "'1 should advise you to walk the other way. '" This sounded like nonsense to Alice, so she said nothing, but set off at once towards the Red Queen. To her surprise, she lost sight of her in a moment, and found herself walking in at the front door again. A little provoked, she drew back, and, after looking everywhere for the Queen (whom she spied out at last, a long way off), she thought she wouid try the plan, this time, of walking in the opposite direction. It succeeded beautifully. She had not been walking a minute before she found herself face to face with the Red Queen, and full in sight of the hill she had so long been aiming at (Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking Glass). The Confusion of Psychology With Spirituality Recently a young religious on a retreat weekend was in a group session when one of the superiors (also the spiritual adviser) noticed the religious had his arms crossed. Perhaps recalling a popular psychology book about body language, the adviser said, "You've got your arms crossed. You must have a closed personality." In that hous'e, this was the ultimate criticism since the guest-lecturer's theme for the weekend was that the core of the Christian message could be boiled down to one thing: openness. While the comment was a spontaneous one without malicious intent, it 503 504 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 reflects a trend in modern spirituality--a trend which, if not recognized and checked, could condemn many spiritual lives to a great mediocrity, or eventu-ally lead to their total destruction (bearing in mind the spiritual axiom: the soul that is not advancing is retreating). This trend is a subtle confusion between what is proper to spirituality and what is proper to psychology, and the relationship between the two. In its worst case, spirituality has been totally reduced to psychology. More often, though, the proper balance and harmony between the two has been disrupted. This is a development the French philosopher, Jacques Maritain, feared. In his controversial work, The Peasant of the Garonne, he says: In spite of everything, it is very funny to imagine countless Christian families poring devoutly over copies, not of the Spiritual Combat. but of treatises on sexology: or to think of that Mexican monastery whose sturdy pioneering zeal prompted it to have the whole community psychoanalyzed, with the not unforseeable result of a number of happy marriages. It is also pretty amusing to picture to yourself superiors of seminaries or of religious houses, masters and mistresses of novices studiously and eagerly attending courses in dynamic psychology which initiate them in projection tests, Rorschach, and the pyschodrama of Moreno. In this way, they will acquire the science of human behav-ior, and will be able to tell souls who are or will be confided to their care "what to do," or, in embarrassing cases, send them to the psychiatrist, the man who really "knows". My only regret is that I am too old to look forward to being comforted by the young generations who are being prepared in this way to dedicate themselves to the Lord--fully flowering in their nature, poised, decomplexed, socially conditioned, spontaneously adapted to group reflexes, and, at last, happy to be alive3 Part of a Larger Trend: Theology Reduced to Anthropology There are many reasons for the tendency to confuse psychology with spirituality, the enumeration of which goes beyond the goals of this paper. But it should be recognized that this is part of a larger trend affecting the entire field of theology. Sociologist Peter Berger, in his book, Facing Up to Mod-ernity, points out the existence of this trend. He says the rise of a "secular theology" is a symptom of this trend and describes it as a denial, in various degrees and on different grounds, of the objective validity of the supernatural affirmation of the Christian tradition. Put differently, the movement gen-erally shows a shift from a transcendental to an immanent perspective, and from an objective to a subjective understanding of religion. Generally, traditional affirmations referring to otherworldly entities or events are "'translated" to refer to concerns of this world, and traditional affirmations about the nature of something "out there".are "translated" to become statements about the nature of man or his temporal situation.: Berger is thus noting the loss of the "transcendent" in our theology, with ~Jacques Maritain. The Peasant of the Garonne: An Old Layman Questions Himself About the Present Time. trans. Michael Cuddihy and Elizabeth Hughes (Toronto: Macmillan Co. 1968). pp. 179-180. ~Peter L. Berger. Facing Up to Modernity (New York: Basic Books Inc. 1977). p. 164. Psychology and Spirituality / 505 such results as the reduction of divine inspirations to subconscious drives, the kingdom of God being identified with material creation, and the confusion between a psychological peak experience and a true experience of the divine. Prayer then becomes a secondary occupation designed to prepare us for our worldly ministry or, as the guest lecturer of the religious' retreat weekend pronounced, "all liturgy, prayer and worship" must be oriented to our aposto-late of serving the poor. While serving the poor is an important vocation, one that is solidly based on scripture, the Catholic charism of an appreciation of the efficacy of prayer in its own right can be lost, and the subordination of the spiritual to the material can result. We then become not only people "in the world" but, unfortunately, people "of the world." Professor of psychology, Paul Vitz, recognizes the same trend that sociol-ogist Peter Berger does. Vitz claims that this trend today results in a substitu-tion of psychology for religion and has given rise to a form of psychology which he calls "selfism." In his work, Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self- Worship, Vitz says: .it will be argued that psychology has become a religion, in particular, a form of secular humanism based on worship of the self. It is no doubt becoming clear that self-theory is a widely popular, secular, and humanistic ideology or "religion." not a branch of science . Self-psychology commonly functions as a religion. It is appropriate to use Fromm's definition of religion: "Any system of thought and action shared by a group which gives the individual a frame of orientation and an object of devotion."3 Summing up the whole movement in this area of theology, Berger says that "our movement thus replicates to an amazing degree, in form if not in content, Feuerbach's famous program of reducing theology to anthropology.TM The Goal of Modern Psychology vs. The Goal of Christianity When theology is reduced to anthropology, spirituality likewise is reduced to the secular sciences, notably psychology, and perhaps sociology. We might first point out the differences between the goals that the two disciplines hold out for humankind. In Christianity, the goal is communion with God. The Second Vatican Council affirmed this traditional teaching and cited it as the cause of the dignity of each person. Thus, any attempt to exalt the dignity of mankind without basing itself on this call to communion with God would be incomplete at best, if not counterproductive. In Gaudium et Spes we read the words of the Council Fathers: An outstanding cause of human dignity lies in man's call to communion with God. From the very circumstance of his origin, man is already invited to converse with God. For 3Paul C. Vitz, Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self- Worship (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1977), pp. 9,37. '~Berger. Modernity, p. 168. 51~ [ Revi'ew for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 man would not exist were he not created by God's love and constantly preserved by it. And he cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and devotes himself to his Creator.~ In the language of the Christian tradition, this dignity has been expressed several ways: by St. Augustine's "God became man so that men might become God," or, "what God is by nature we become by grace," or "the deification of man." This traditional language is being replaced by a new description of the beatific vision: the state of being "fully human." The widespread appeal of this new phrase is mostly a reaction against the implication that in communion with God we no longer are human or perhaps become some sort of angelic being. That implication is certainly not true and it is a distortion of the proper understanding of our destiny. Nevertheless, there are limitations to the use of this new phrase: "fully human," and the phrase must be properly understood. Ontologically speak-ing, it is the best phrase to use if one defines the human as having an innate capacity for the divine, as St. Thomas did, or, if one defines human as having an obediential potency for the infinite God, as Karl Rahner does. Thus, ontologically speaking, when the person is in communion with God, she has realized her full potential and thus is "fully human." However, it is not an acceptable term when one speaks of the conscious-ness, the experiential dimension, of the person in the beatific state. Judging by the texts of the great mystics, in the beatific state one has a real perception of union with God when there is a oneness with the infinite. From St. John of the Cross' Living Flame of Love: Accordingly, the intellect of this soul is God's intellect; its will is God's will: its memory is the memory of God: and its delight is God's delight: and although the substance of this soul is not the substance of God, since it cannot undergo a substantial conversion into him, it has become God through participation in God. being united to and absorbed in him, as it is in this state.n And, in his Spiritual Canticle, John says even more boldly that besides teaching her to love purely, freely, and disinterestedly as he loves her, God makes her love him with the very strength with which he loves her.7 The ability of the human to love the divine with the same infinite love has been explained as the action of the Holy Spirit which, in the order of love, accomplishes what is not possible on the ontologic or essential order. To ~Walter M. Abbott, gen. ed., The Documents of Vatican If(Chicago: Follett Pub. Co., 1966), pp. 215-216. ~'Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez, trans., The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross (Wash. D.C.: ICS Publications, 1979), p. 608. 71bid., p. 554. Psychology and Spirituality / 507 describe this state of complete communion with God as the state of being "fully human" thus lacks the descriptive power necessary to do justice to the state. In addition, the phrase, "fully human," carries with it an implication, a connotation, of autonomy that is not proper to the idea of love or commu-nion. Love or communion means relatedness--a total giving of self. The recognition of this subtle tendency in the use of the term "fully human" is important and brings to mind a similar difficulty in philosophy. Descartes' "1 think, therefore I am" likewise carries a connotation of autonomy of existence in the phrase, "I am." It is proper, rather, to say "I am caused to be." While the distinction may seem insignificant, just as the tendency in the" phrase "fully human" seems to be minor, it is not. It is proper only to God to say, "1 am," since he alone is non-contingent being. We are the ones who are contingent. Just as religion starts with the distinction between God and his creation, so too does it end with the distinction between human and divine which become, at the same time, fully one. Any term which seeks to describe the beatific state must clearly, and in proper balance, represent both the distinction and the union. However, if this lack of descriptive power in the term "fully human" were the only problem, there would not be a major difficulty in distinguishing between the goal of psychology and the goal of Christianity. But it is the next step after this where the heart of the problem lies. Once such phrases leave the hands of the professional theologians, they are subject to the mentality of the times. Unfortunately, the nuance that "being fully human" means precisely a capacity for the divine, for full union with God, is not always evident. With the massive popularity of psychology in our culture--and thus in the Church --the phrase "fully human" has often been equated, subconsciously or con-sciously, with the state merely of total self-realization or self-fulfillment, how-ever this be couched in such psychological phrases. This psychological conception of the goal-of-the-person, especially in "selfism" (Vitz' term), tends to be a state of complete emotional balance, a state of total se/f-possession, or a contentment with self. If modern religious were to try to define what the state of perfection is, many would come up with some similar image. This image, though, can't carry the full sense of the personal goal by Christianity: communion with God. What is lacking is pre-cisely what Berger says our modern theology is lacking: a full sense of the transcendent. Biblical and Mystical Images of the Christian Goal One of the best images we have of the personal goal offered in Christianity is found in the New Testament: "While he was praying, his face changed in appearance and his clothes became dazzlingly white" (Lk 9:29; see Mk 9:2-3). It is no coincidence, then, that the final state of union with God possible on earth, that of relative perfection, has traditionally been called "transforming 51~1~ / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 union," the union in which the person is utterly transformed by the Holy Spirit. The radiance of such holiness is not just a literary device, but expresses the reality of the heights of holiness to which all persons are called. It is a oneness with the infinite Holy which, of its very nature, radiates light, love and truth. Such an idea of holiness was not unknown to the Old Testament authors: As Moses came down from Mouht Sinai with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while he conversed with the Lord. When Aaron, then, and the other Israelites saw M~ses and noticed how radiant the skin of his face had become, they were afraid to come near him. (Ex 34:29-30). Whenever Moses entered the presence of the Lord to converse with him, he removed the veil until he came out again. On coming out, he would tell the Israelites all that had been commanded. Then the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses' face was radiant; so he would again put the veil over his face until he went in to converse with the Lord (Ex 34:34-35). A "radiance" of holiness is not uncommonly mentioned in mystical theol-ogy. In this science, it is called an "aureole." Thus Poulain speaks of it as fact: In the case of ecstatics we meet occasionally with the following phenomena which concern the body: I'. The body rises up into the air. This is what is termed levitation. 2. Or it is enveloped in a luminous aureole. 3. Or it emits a fragrance. These phenomena are not a necessary effect of the mystic union itself, like those that we have just described above. They are superadded to it. When God produces these excep-tional phenomena, it is usually with the object of giving credit to one of his servants whom he has charged with some important mission.8 While theologians might debate the historicity of such biblical citations or the authenticity of an aureole, the central importance of these images is that they dramatically point out the difference between a psychological content-ment and a radical transformation by the Holy Spirit. These are two distinct goals. It is of the greatest importance to seek the proper goal because, in scriptural terms: The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the handiwork of men. They have mouths but speak not: they have eyes but see not; They have ears but hear not, nor is there breath in their mouths. Their makers shall be like them, everyone that trusts in them (Ps 135:15-18). In a very real way, we become what we seek to become. We are trans-gA. Poulain, The Graces of Interior Prayer: .4 Treatise on Mystical Theology. trans. Leonora L. Yorke Smith (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1950), p. 170. Psychology and Spirituality / 509 formed into what we love, since this is the very nature of love itself: love unites and transforms us into what we love. Thus, if we seek, as our final end, a goal of se/f-contentment, we might just end up with only that. In fact, to achieve a true, deep psychological peace, one that is not transi-tory or superficial, actually requires a full communion with God. Being fully human is a result of this transformation by grace. As St. Teresa of Avila put it so well in a poem that she wrote and kept in her breviary, "Who God posses-seth, in nothing is wanting; alone God sufficeth." But, in the same breath, we must also add that if one seeks just apsycho-logical peace, one might find that it is always one step out of reach. "Take heed, therefore, how you hear: to the man who has, more will be given; and he who has not, will lose even the little he thinks he has" (Lk 8:i8). The Means to Achieve These Goals Are Different As has been shown, the goal of a psychologist is usually different from the goal of a spiritual director. Likewise, the means to achieve their goals also tend to be different. The modern person often speaks of his emotional and spiritual needs, and calculates ways to fulfill those needs. Commenting on Carl Rogers' encounter group psychology, Vitz refers to a work by Thomas Oden: Oden's conclusion that the encounter group is a demythologized, secularized Judeo- Christian theology is consistent with the case we have presented here. He goes on to develop a theological interpretation of encounter group ideology which is important and generally convincing. He argues that the underlying basic questions of encounter theol-ogy (for our purposes, read "selfist" theology) are: I What are the limits of my being that frustrate my self-actualization? III How can ! actualize these possibilities in order to become more fulfilled.~ II What possibilities are open for deliverance from my predicament? As a result of this secular approach, one's concern turns toward one's self-growth and development, often under the guise of seeking God's will, and with the best of intentions. While it is certainly important to take into account one's needs when discerning God's will, when this consideration becomes too much at the center of our thoughts, there will exist an imbalance in our discernment process. Some have even argued that all the person has to do in discerning God's will is recognize his own needs! This statement itself reflects a growing lack of the transcendent in our lives. Such imbalance is decidedly 9Vitz. Psychology as Religion, p. 75. 510 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 un-Christian. Yet it can and does have a serious effect on our spirituality. Perhaps this seems like a small error, but it is not. Augustine said, I/irtus est ordo amoris (virtue is love ordered). When our love becomes disordered, it is, by definition, sin. Vitz outlines the values resulting from such an imbalance: .it is clear that the concepts and values of selfism are not conducive to the formation and maintenance of permanent personal relationships or to values like duty, patience, and self-sacrifice, which maintain commitment. There is every reason to believe that the spread of the selfist philosophy in society has contributed greatly to destruction of families. All this is done in the name of growth, autonomy, and "continuing the flux.''~0 A case in point: a young married couple was having marital difficulties. The wife started to see a psychologist on a regular basis. She uncovered the fact that, due to her childhood, she felt a strong need for affection and emo-tional affirmation which she did not feel she was getting from her husband. The result is predictable: divorce. She, with a small child, is now trying to make a meager living while looking for a man in his 30's who is very affection-ate and loving, and will give her what she needs. While there need be no doubt that the analysis of her childhood problems was correct, this young lady is now in a worse situation than before. It is also very unlikely that a tende~', affectionate man in his 30"s will want to nurse an "emotionally starved" woman. At any rate, such a marriage would begin with an unbalanced relationship. A woman who goes into a marriage with the idea of fulfilling her own needs as her primary motive is unlikely to be able to develop a deep, loving relationship. Love, by its very nature, gives. This woman was following the means that are designed to achieve the selfist goal of emotional contentment. She had a need; she did not believe her husband was capable of meeting that need; therefore, she divorced him to find someone else who could meet her need--a scenario that is becoming a very common one in this country. But the means offered by the Gospel are very different. In fact, the Gospel offers exactly the opposite approach. Its means are summed up: "Whoever would preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will preserve it" (Mk 8;35). This only makes sense since, as was stated above, the true nature of love is to give totally of oneself. The Second Vatican Council brought out this theme in Gaudium et Spes: Indeed, the Lord Jesus, when he prayed to the Father, "that all may be one.as we are one" (Jn 17:21-22), opened up vistas closed to human reason. For he implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons and the union of God's sons in truth and charity. This likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God wills for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.~ ~Olbid., p. 83. ~Abbott. Vatican II, p. 223. Psychology and Spirituality / 511 Pelagianism and Self-Actualization There is a certain likeness between our modern situation and the anti- Pelagian campaign in the Church from 412 to 420 A.D. Pelagius, influenced by stoicism and the Roman concept of virtue, agrued (according to Augustine) that man was able to live a good life without the. grace of God, at least after an initial remission of sins and the infusion of grace so that one would be able to recognize the good. Augustine strongly disagreed and argued steadfastly for the need of grace throughout our lives to turn our wills to the good and empower us to attain that good. Pelagius, on the other hand, believed that our nature is grace. And, since nature is grace, there is no need for a continuing assistance from God. Taken to its extreme, this position would state that God has therefore contributed his part by creation and redemption, and now, in modern times, it is up to us to transform ourselves and the world by our labor. While this idea is attractive, and has a good bit of truth to it, it has a serious flaw: it lacks a full appreciation of the transcendent, of the relationship between God and his creation, which he continues to hold in existence at every moment. There must be a distinction between nature and grace, while, at the same time, we must recognize their profound interrelatedness--just as there must be a distinction between the human psyche and the human spirit, while we recog-nize their unity in the person. Without some distinction between grace and nature, there is no room for any true spirituality. And it is precisely the theological concept of grace that is usually the means of expressing one's dynamic relationship with God, and thus with his creation. Maritain insists on such a clarity of conceptualization: Between faith and reason, as between grace and nature, there is an essential distinction; and one sometimes tends to lose sight of it . But between faith and reason, as between grace and nature, there is no separation. One tends sometimes to overlook that, too. Whatever the dullness of our ancestors [failing to integrate the concepts] and of a good many of us [failing to distinguish the concepts], things are that way, and so is life: there is distinction without separation.~2 Augustine had added the fear that if our idea of grace collapsed into that of nature, this misconception would eventually lead to a feeling of self-sufficiency, just as it did for the Roman stoics: one achieves one's salvation on the basis of self-merit. The "Doctor of Grace" says: There is the added danger that when a man, miserable as he is, is leading a good life and doing good, or rather, when he imagines he is doing so, he will dare to glory in himself and not in the Lord, and put his hope for a good life in himself.~3 ~2Maritain. Peasant of the Garonne, pp. 166-167. 512 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 The Council Fathers recognized a similar danger in today's culture with respect to the secular sciences (thus including psychology). Gaudium et Spes points out: No doubt today's progress in science and technology can foster a certain exclusive emphasis on observable data, and an agnosticism about everything else. For the methods of investigation which these sciences use can be wrongly considered as the supreme rule for discovering the whole truth. By virtue of their methods, however, these sciences cannot penetrate to the intimate meaning of things. Yet the danger exists that man, confiding too much in modern discoveries, may even think that he is sufficient unto himself and no longer seek any higher realities,t4 To lose these "higher realities" is to lose the transcendent. To think oneself self-sufficient is the opposite of having faith. Faith implies a complete depen-dence upon God, which is nonetheless liberating. To glory in oneself, to be self-sufficient in this sense, is to set mankind in the place of God. In Old Testament terms, this is idolatry. On the other hand, Virtus est ordo amoris. Like Pelagianism, if men implicitly or explicitly replace spirituality with psychology, they will, as Augustine says, "imagine that they are doing good" but may lose even the little they think they have. Professor Vitz also sees parallels between Pelagianism and the use of modern psychology: The present form of selfism also contains strong Pelagian strands. But a strong element in his theology might, under the traditional and rather extreme interpretation of it, be viewed as akin Io humanist selfism. So it has been accepted by Fromm, who cites Pelagius as an ally and representative of what he calls "humanistic" religion, in contrast to the "'authoritarian" religion typified by Augustine . Like all popular heresy, selfism has some positive and appealing properties. That you should look out for yourself is nice (and useful) to hear; that you should love and care for others is a familiar and great moral position. What is excluded is the spiritual life of prayer, meditation, and worship--the essential vertical dimension of Christianity, the relation to God. Selfism is an example of a horizontal heresy, with its emphasis only on the present, and on self-centered ethics. At its very best (which is not often), it is Christianity without the first commandment.~S 1 would add to Vitz' statement that some of the better "secular theologies" do see a benefit of prayer, meditation and worship, but only ifwefeela need; only if it does something for us. This phenomenon, praying only if we feel a need for ourselves, is not new--just perhaps more widespread today, and now believed to be a good spirituality. The Mystical Doctor, St. John of the Cross, denounced such attitudes in his own day: Ah, my Lord and my God! How many go to you looking for their own consolation and ~3Augustine, Grace and Free Will in The Fathers of the Church. trans. Robert P. Russell (Wash. D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1968), vol. 59, p. 257. ~4Abbott, Vatican IL p. 263 [emphasis added]. ~sVitz, Psychology as Religion. pp. 94-95. Psychology and Spirituality / 513 gratification and desiring that you grant them favors and gifts, but those wanting to give you pleasure and something at a cost to themselves, setting aside their own interests, are few.~ While it is true that God desires only what is good for us, to pray primarily to satisfy one's owns needs is a self-centered approach. It is questionable whether such could be considered true prayer at all. One's own internal dispo-sitions and desires, in this case, are everything. Christianity and Its "Marvelous Reflux" As Professor Vitz pointed out, there is a lack of full understanding of the new Gospel message, especially of the first commandment. In the words of the New Testament, Jesus said to him: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments the whole law is based, and the prophets as well (Mt 22:37-40). It has always been difficult to reconcile these two commandments in one's own life--to love God with everything one possesses and yet to love one's neighbor as oneself. There seems to be an even greater confusion today in the wake of Vatican II. Many have charged forward with great enthusiasm into the world (including psychology). Our traditional spirituality has been charged by such persons with "verticalism," a rejection of the world that in its turn leads to a denigration of the individual person. However, it is time that we turn again to that other citation from the same council: "an outstanding cause of human dignity lies in man's call to communion with God." This final vocation of humankind must lie at the center of our dignity. It is, of course, true that "if anyone says, 'My love is fixed on God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar" (I .In 4:20). It is also true that mankind must labor to achieve its salvation in the world. Thus, in the commentary accom-panying the text of Abbott's edition of Gaudium et Spes, the author notes: For the Christian, this constitution probably contains no bolder invitation to theological reflection than this brief allusion to the light divine revelation sheds on the meaning of man's vocation to find human and personal fulfillment in and through society.~7 ~'John Sullivan, ed., Spiritual Direction: Carmelite Studies #1 (Wash. D.C.: ICS Publications, 1980). p. 30. ~TAbbott, Vatican IL p. 223. 514 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 But it is also true that the Christian must keep his eyes on "a better, heavenly home" (Heb 11:16) and "run so as to win" (1 Co 9:24). Perhaps a more central reason for the confusion over the interpretation and execution of the two great commandments to love God and to love neighbor is that, like the failure to distinguish between nature and grace, there is often a failure to make the distinction between our neighbor and God in terms of the actions of our Christian lives. Without this distinction one easily falls into a secular humanism and such ideas as prayer and liturgy quickly become relegated to a secondary position. It is then that we lose sight of our goal, and our "Christian" actions toward our brothers and sisters become no longer Christian. Just as important, however, as it is to distinguish between God and our neighbor, it is also important to integrate these two great commandments in our lives. Vitz implies, as do many modern writers on spirituality, that there is a de facto separati.on between our "vertical" spirituality and our "horizontal" spirituality, that is, in our relationship with God and with our neighbor. They imply that the idea is a balance between the two dimensions. At first sight, this seems proper--to balance the two. But, on deeper examination, we find that this is not the way to integrate these two commandments. The reason precisely is that God is the infinite holy, the creator, the one on whom we depend for everything. Humankind is a creature, a subordinate being. To put humans on a par with God is an idolatry of man. And to "balance" our love is to put humans on a par with God. How then do we properly integrate the first commandment, love God, with the second commandment, love neighbor? Let us look at the works of three great people: a mystic, a philosopher, and a poet. The mystic is St. Catherine of Siena, named a Doctor of the Church yet a woman without any formal schooling. In a recent colloquium, Sr. Giuliana Cavallini, Director of the National Center of Catherinian Studies in Rome, spoke of how St. Cathe-rine integrated her relationship with God and neighbor: The fundamental revelation of that truth was one of the first teachings that our Lord gave to Catherine. He spoke to her one day and said, "Do you know who I am and who you are? You are the one who is not, and I am the one who is." So Catherine was instructed in that fundamental truth that God is the One who is, and that she. that we, are those who are not. Not that we do not exist, but that we cannot account for our existence, we do not find an explanation for our life, for our existence, in ourselves. The explanation must be sought elsewhere. It must be sought in God who is the One who is and who gives being to all created creatures. This is the foundation of all the spirituality of St. Catherine.~ This very basic perception is, interestingly enough, the very rock upon ~sSr. Giuliana Cavallini, O.P., "The Spirituality of Catherine," St. Catherine of Siena Collo-quium (Wash. D.C.: Dominican House of Studies, 1981), cassette tape side I. Psychology and Spirituality / 515 which the mystic's spiritual life was built. It seems rather negative, perhaps, appearing to lead to a denigration of the person. However, we find that this rock is absolutely necessary for the next truth that God revealed to this remarkable woman: Another aspect [of Catherine's spirituality] which is very beautiful is the great respect she has for God's work--for the human creature which is so beautiful and which is so worthy of being respected because it bears the image of God.~9 The second truth, the beauty of the human creature, is not possible with-out the first truth, God is the one who is, and we are the ones who are not. This certainly takes us back to the statement of Vatican I1, that the outstand-ing reason for our dignity is our call to communion with God. As Catherine points out, we are made in the image of God and are therefore beautiful. It is because we are God's image that this ultimate communion with God is possible. Sister Cavallini points out the necessity for us to realize this "double knowledge" of St. Catherine: If man only knew his nothingness, he would be led to despair. If he only had beautiful thoughts about God. perhaps he would take pride in his beautiful thoughts and go away on the other side. So the two have to go together?° But Catherine doesn't seem to explicitly offer us a way to integrate this "double knowledge." How do we love God and his creatures at the same time? Are we left with a balancing act between the two commandments? Catherine only offers us the image of a well: "the well where you have to go deep to find, at the very bottom, this double knowledge . ,,2~ As this great mystic implies, this knowledge is at the very core of the truth and, like most mystics, does not offer us a way to understand this truth with our intellects. She rather suggests that we too should go "very deep" to find this same knowledge. But the philosopher-theologian takes up where the mystic leaves off, trying to explain the penetrating insights of the deepest mysteries of our faith. Mari-tain, a man well-versed in mystical theology, often attempts such a task. Explaining St. Paul's statement, "For his sake 1 have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as a dung hill, in order that l may gain Christ" (Ph 3:8-10), Maritain says: And by a marvelous reflux, the more he despises creatures as rivals of God. as objects of a possible option against God, the more he cherishes them in and for him whom he loves, as loved by him and made truly good and worthy of being loved by the love which creates and infuses goodness in all things. For to love a being in God and for God is not to treat it simply as a means or mere occasion to love God, which would amount to ~91bid., side 2. 2Olbid., side I. ~ Ibid. 516 ] Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 dispensing oneself from loving it.: it is to love this being and consider it as an end, to desire its good because it deserves to be loved in itself and for itself, this very merit and dignity flowing from the sovereign Love and sovereign Lovableness of God. They are thus founded in God and, at the same time, placed beyond all quarrels and vicissitudes.22 This is the "marvelous reflux" of Christianity. To give oneself totally to God, to love him above all other things, is to recognize and thus serve other men in love. This love does not treat others as means, but rather as ends-- because God has made them worthy of such--though it is a love well-ordered. It is he who is the one who is; and we, as St. Catherine says, "are the ones who are not"; we must, like St. Paul, "suffer the loss of all things, and count them as a dung hill," so that we can truly know the beauty of man. Virtus est ordo amoris. This attitude is especially important for those in religious life, as was pointed out by the Council Fathers in their decree Perfectae Caritatis: Those who profess the evangelical counsels love and seek before all else that God who took the initiative in loving us (see I Jn 4:10); in every circumstance they aim to develop a life hidden with Christ in God (see Col 3:3). Such dedication gives rise and urgency to the love of one's neighbor for the world's salvation and the upbuilding of the Church. From this love the very practice of the evangelical counsels takes life and direction.23 This same intuition, it seems to me, was grasped by T.S. Eliot. In "Burnt Norton," one of the Four Quartets, we read: The inner freedom from the practical desire, The release from action and suffering, release from the inner And the outer compulsion, yet surrounded By a grace of sense, a white light still and moving, Erhebung without motion, concentration Without elimination, both a new world And the old made explicit, understood In the completion of its partial ecstasy. The resolution of its partial horror?4 This is the "double knowledge" of St. Catherine, the "marvelous reflux" of Jacques Maritain, Eliot's "concentration without elimination." It is such a concentration on what he earlier calls the "still point," the center of all that is, i.e., the Infinite Ground of Being that does not eliminate. Rather, things are "made explicit," "understood," and there is a "resolution" of the "new world and the old." It might be objected that this approach, to love God totally and thus love all creation in him, is fine on a theoretical level, but on a practical level one must devote a certain amount of time to prayer with God and the rest of the 22Maritain, Peasant of the Garonne. p. 58. ~3Abbott, Vatican IL pp. 470-471. ~4T.S. Eliot. The Four Quartets (USA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc., 1971), p. 16. Psychology and Spirituality / 51"/ time to "building up the Body of Christ in the world." While it is true that one must set apart dedicated times of prayer in quiet, the perception that there are times of work and times of prayer is to perpetuate the old error of splitting contemplation and action, or splitting prayer and work. Concerning this rela-tionship in Catherine's life we read: The balance of contemplation and action in the last twelve years of Catherine's life was not merely a relationship of complementarity. It was precisely what she experienced in contemplation that impelled her into action. And all that she touched or was touched by in her activity was present in her prayer. Indeed. in her later years she was.seldom physically alone when she prayed, except in her room at night. And her contemplation. on the other hand. was so present in her active life that she prayed and even burst into ecstasy within the text of many of her letters.2~ Like Catherine, a person living a full spiritual life will move at all times in concert with the divine love and will: the rhythm of quiet prayer, liturgical prayer and one's apostolate are all, and at the same time, both prayer and work. One's prayer, by the efficacy of God and the union of all in the Mystical Body, works to build up the Body of Christ. And one's work, done in har-mony with divine love, itself is a prayer. Certainly, Catherine was an unusual woman and the heights of love she reached must be a goal for us. It is also true that in the beginnings of a real spiritual life, we perhaps know scarcely little of a direct'love for God. This total self-giving to God is the goal. Yet we must be ever mindful of the Vatican Council's challenge to all people: Thus it is evident to everyone that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity. By this holiness a more human way of life is promoted even in this earthly society?~' And we must not substitute other goals for this end. If instead we seek for a psychological contentment, it can lead to "selfism" and perhaps the loss of everything. In a like manner, if we seek to balance the "vertical" and the "horizontal," that is, to balance a love for God and a love for neighbor, it might lead to an incomplete grasping of the Gospel message. This necessary goal of a total love for God, and, on a marvelous reflux, his creation, is especially important for those who have consecrated their lives explicitly to God. This explicit seeking after perfect charity and holiness, which the Council Fathers state all are called to, is nothing other than a total second conversion. The importance of this second conversion is a common theme in spiritual texts and a consistent theme in the lives of the saints. For those dedicated to God, it is of the utmost importance since it is an implicit part of their vocation. :~Catherine of Siena. Catherine of Siena: The Dialogues. trans. Suzanne Noffke. (New York: Paulist Press. 1980). p. 8. ~"Abbott. Vatican IL p. 67. 5111 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 Two conversions ordinarily occur in the majority of the saints and religious who become perfect; one, by which they devote themselves to the service of God; the other, by which they give themselves entirely to perfection . The reason why some reach perfection only very late or not at all is because they follow only nature and human sense in practically everything. They pay little or no heed to the Holy Ghost, whose appropriate work is to enlighten, to direct, to warm . The Holy Ghost waits some time for them to enter into their interior and, seeing there the operations of grace and those of nature, to be disposed to follow his direction: but if they misuse the time and favor which he offers them, he finally abandons them to themselves and leaves them to their interior darkness and ignorance, which they pre-ferred and in which they live thereafter amid great dangers for their salvation . The salvation oi" a religious is inseparably linked to his perfection, so that if he abandons care for his spiritual advancement, he gradually approaches ruin and loss. If he does not come to this pass, it is because God, wishing to save him, mercifully comes to his assistance before his fall. All the masters of the spiritual life agree on this maxim: He who does not advance, falls back.27 St. Paul likewise points out the importance of both recognizng the proper goal and running towards it, especially for those whom he calls the "spiritually mature": ! do not think of myself as having reached the finish line. I give no thought to what lies behind but push on to what is ahead. My entire attention is on the finish line as I run toward the prize to which God calls me--life on high in Christ Jesus. All of us who are spiritually mature must have this attitude. If you see it another way, God will clarify the difficulty for you (Ph 3:13-15). It is only with such an attitude that we are able to be "in the world" but not "of the world." If we perhaps had lost the first part of this idea in pre-Vatican 11 days (i.e., forgot we were in the world), we may tending to lose the second part in present times (i.e., forget we are not of the world but seek a better home). However, both poles in the tension must be maintained: "in the world" but not "of the world." It is only in this tension that we are able to bear witness to the light! Spirituality and Psychology Should Exist in Harmony Admitting that the goals of modern psychology and spirituality are often different, and that the means to achieve those goals are likewise different, it should also be recognized that this difference need not be antagonistic. Com-menting on the ideal role of the secular sciences in this service of God, the Council Fathers write: Therefore, if methodical investigation within every branch of learning is carried out in a genuinely scientific manner and in accord with moral norms, it never truly conflicts with faith. For earthly matters and the concerns of faith derive from the same God. Indeed, 27R. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life. trans. M. Timothea Doyle (St. Louis: Herder Book Co., 1955). Vol. II, pp. 23, 25-26. Psychology and Spirituality whoever labors to penetrate the secrets of reality with a humble and steady mind, is, even unawares, being led by the hand of God, who holds all things in existence, and gives them their identity.28 However, Charles Tart, transpersonal psychologist, points out that West-ern Psychology implicitly rejects the notion of a god or of a universe that was created for a reason. In his article "Some Assumptions of Orthodox, Western Psychology," he says: Members of Western scientific culture in general, as well as psychologists specifically, basically assume that the universe in which they live has no reason for its existence. Because this is a somewhat depressing idea, we seldom give any thought to it. This assumption and other assumptions about the nature of the universe as a whole are incredibly audacious assumptions.?9 This "detachment" from spiritual matters when conducting the secular sciences is a widespread phenomenon in the world today, as Tart points out, and it is usually adopted in the name of objectivity or for the sake of not imposing one's own values on another. But the absence of true values does not result in objectivity nor freedom. Rather, the world and each person them-selves become unintelligible. And, in the field of psychology, it is especially dangerous since psychic health is impossible unless one is able to answer such basic, universal questions as, "Who am ,1? . Why do 1 exist? . What will happen after death?" Once again, the words of the Council Fathers ring true: But if the expression, the independence of temporal affairs, is taken to mean that created things do not depend on God, and that man can use them without any reference to their Creator, anyone who acknowledges God will see how false such a meaning is. For without the Creator the creature would disappear. For their part. however, all believers of whatever religion have always heard his revealing voice in the discourse of creatures. But when God is forgotten the creature itself grows unintelligible.30 Thus, psychology in one of its worst forms, "selfism," is not only insuffi-cient when it does not recognize the Beginning and End of all creation, it is also, in the words of Paul Vitz, "bad psychology": From the perspective of "depth" psychologists and others who work with the seriously disturbed, selfism is a superficial theory causing occasional short-term positive effects in people who are already healthy or in those with only trivial neurotic difficulties. In short, selfism is not only bad Christianity, it is bad psychology and any seeming benefits are merely short-term, superficial results that will quickly passP~ Unfortunately, it has happened that these sorts of popular "psychologies" receive the most public notice and are the easiest to understand. They have an :~Abbott, Vatican IL p. 234. ~gCharles T. Tart, ed., Transpersonai Psychologies (New York: Harper and Row Pub. Inc., 1975), p. 66. a0Abbott, Vatican IL p. 234. 3~Vitz, Psychology as Religion. pp. 38-39 5~0 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 immediate appeal and can produce, as Vitz says, positive effects that are merely superficial and pass quickly. Naturally, the passing psychological fads have affected the Church, too; as Maritain points out in a rather sarcastic tone: What tickles my funny bone is the rush of consecrated persons who, in spite of an incurable incompetence, can't wait to have themselves indoctrinated with the most pious (and least scientific) enthusiasm.3-' However, even some of the more professional psychologies cannot be used without careful scrutiny. Perhaps one of those leading the list of psychologists in vogue by more serious-minded studer~ts of spirituality is Carl Jung. How-ever, William McNamara, author of The Art of Being Human, The Human Adventure, Mount of Passion, founder of Spiritual Life magazine and of two contemplative communities, has this to say: .the prodigious talent and work of C.G.lung in the field of psychology is unassailable, but his attempts to engage the interest and sympathy of religious people by his references to God are bound to confuse more than enlighten. According to Augustine Leonard (1956), a man deeply and extensively versed in philosophy and contemporary psychol-ogy, the Divine Quaternity postulated by .lung is a result of confused deductions, and consequently: "Those who christen the psychology of .lung as a mystic psyehology are certainly not entirely wrong. That which .lung calls religion, that which he honestly believes to be religion, is not religion at all. even from the empiricalpoint of view. It appears to be only a very incidental manifestation."33 Toward an Integration of Psychology and Spirituality Nevertheless, even during the infancy of the new science of psychology, spirituality can gain much from it. One area receiving much atiention is that of dreams. Jungian psychologists have been a great help toward an under-standing of dreams, and a spiritual director might want to make occasional use of their analyses. However, it should be noted that whatever comes from the subconscious does not necessarily find its origin in God. In fact, it often can be in direct opposition to the Christian message. In addition, the subconscious is not the human spirit, or our "deep center" as William McNamara calls it: Lastly, man's deep center cannot be equated with what is popularly as well as psycholog-ically termed "the subconscious.'" There is a definite subliminal aspect to the deep center, however.34 To give an example,'there was a person who was very gifted, who certainly had an infused gift of wisdom. She had a dream that an owl flew and came to ~2Maritain, Peasant of the Garonne, p. 180. ~aTart, Transpersonal Psrchologies p. 399. ~41bid. p. 413. Psychology and Spirituality / 521 rest on her arm. The claws hurt quite a bit but were bearable. But other people rejected the owl and began to abuse and hurt the owl. Rather than see such an esteemed creature suffer so, she voluntarily released the owl and had it fly away, although she knew she would sorely miss it. This dream had its origin in the subconscious. The owl symbolized wisdom and the pain of the claws referred to the great pain she suffered in acquiring this wisdom. But the public often rejected such wisdom and she was beginning to think of hiding this precious gift. However, consciously reflecting upon the dream, she rejected hiding the gift since she knew that it was a gift from God which must be shared with the ones that would hear. She had to accept the abuse her gift would suffer in the same way that Christ accepts our continual abuse but does not withdraw from us. The dream, she saw, did not come from God. Nonetheless, in the course of spiritual direction, it was important for her to understand this impulse deep within herself and face it squarely. The area of dreams is but one needed addition that the field of psychology has made to spirituality. Other concepts such as sublimation, self-image, repression, projection, and neurosis are all psychological concepts, and the insights born of these have made their way into spirituality, often with great benefit. But we should keep the warnings of Jacques Maritain in mind, and not rush off to the latest enthusiasm without the proper understanding. Psychol-ogy is an instrument to be used by the student of spirituality, as by the spiritual director, carefully. Like a sharp knife in the hands of a surgeon, it can be used for saving lives. But all too often, it has been used by the unskilled, though with the best of intentions, and it has maimed and sometimes destroyed. It is therefore imperative that some of those in the field of Christian spirituality should be trained in the field of psychology. These people will then be able to guide and direct others in its proper use for spirituality. However, it would be unwise to send someone to study psychology unless he has a firm intellectual and experiential knowledge of Christian spirituality. Otherwise, a subtle warping of true spirituality could take place, and then instead of aiding his spirituality, psychology would damage it. Toward a Christian Psychology It should be apparent by now that what is needed is a Christian psychol-ogy. It would be a study of the human psyche using the insights and under-standings of professional psychologists yet permeated with the thought of the greatest depth psychologist--Jesus Christ. And this will be no minor task, no mere rearranging of ideas or just a substitution of Christian terms for psycho-logical ones (which all too 6ften is the case). Rather, the task will be akin to the integration of the secular science of philosophy with theology. Maritain comments on the Angelic Doctor's use of Aristotelian philosophy: 522 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 Because St. Thomas was a theologian, he was careful in choosing, and choosing well, his philosopher.and he was not content with choosing his philosopher; he made him over from head to toe . To say, as so many professors are fond of doing~ that the philosophy of St. Thomas is the philosophy of Aristotle is a gross error.35 We cannot just pour holy water over a particular psychologist's ideas and call it Christian psychology. °Like philosophy, it, too, must be "made over from head to toe." This paper cannot elucidate the form Christian psychology should take. But it is within our purpose to point out one pitfall that must be avoided. McNamara alluded to this pitfall when saying that the subconscious is not one's deepest center. More directly, any adequate Christian psychology must be aware that the human psyche is not identical with the human spirit. Just as psychology is not identical with spirituality, a full understanding of the psyche will not yield a complete understanding of the spiritual dimension of the person. Yet, like psychology and spirituality, though we distinguish between the psyche and the spirit, we must then unite them to understand the oneness of the person. Let me illustrate the difference between the psyche and the spirit. I know of a woman who was experiencing frequent short periods of rather intense agony which seemed to come from the brain. The periods lasted a short while (lesg than 30 minutes) and could occur any time although it usually happened at night. From all other aspects, she tested out normally, yet she continued to suffer these agonies which could not be explained. The woman feared for her sanity and was in a state of anxiety over these occurrences. After a rather lengthy period of discernment, it became evident that the problem was neither psychological nor physiological, though the anxiety was caused by her failing to understand the reason for her pain. It eventually became clear that the pain was the result of an intense "night." Through the infusion of grace, the senses of this persbn, the intellect especially, were being purified in a more intense way than is normal. Hence, instead of feeling the dryness and aridity that normally accompanies the night of the senses, she actually experienced the grace as pain because of its strength. Such a situation is clearly beyond the expertise of a psychologist, and illustrates well the difference between the psyche and the spirit. Spiritual realities, especially in higher contemplative and mystical states, can and often do conflict with "good'' psy6hology. It would have been easy for a psycholo-gist to misread such symptoms and even cause damage--just as could a direc-tor unskilled in the spiritual tradition. Fortunately this was not the case. Of the proper response to this night of the s~nses, Poulain says: "The only thing, then, is to resign ourselves to this terrible situation: frankly to accept a prayer the foundation of which is repose in suffering."36. J~Maritain. Peasant of the Garonne, p. 157. Psychology and Spirituality / $23 This the woman did, and the night of the senses eventually gave way to the peace of contemplation, as indeed it usually does. The pitfall of confusing the psyche with the spirit can be devastating for all Christians, not just for those living a contemplative life. There is a tendency to believe that a completely balanced psyche is identical with a healthy and holy spirit. This is true in the final states of union with God: perhaps the transform-ing union in this life, and certainly the beatific vision in the next. However, it is not necessarily true, and perhaps is not usually the case for those of us who are plodding along our way to our final goal. In fact, psychological impair-ment and spiritual imperfection are often the instruments by which sanctity is wrought by God! This spiritual reality is stated in the second letter to the Corinthians where Paul writes about himself: Three times I begged the Lord that this might leave me. He said to me. "My grace is enough for you, for in weakness power reaches perfection." And so I willingly boast of my weakness instead, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I am content with weakness, with mistreatment, with distress, with persecu-tion and difficulties for the sake of Christ; for when I am powerless, it is then that I am strong (2 Co 12:9-10). This is certainly in harmori~, with Catherine's double knowledge: "You are the one who is not; 1 am the one who is." This understanding of the salutary role of spiritual and psychological imperfection in our pilgrimage to God was one of the foundations of the spirituality of the sometimes neurotic Carmelite, St. Therese of Lisieux: Therese accepted her imperfections and wretchedness with a good heart. When she felt stirrings of her nature or yielded involuntarily to imperfections, far from being aston-ished, she took delight in it and drew benefit from it: "1 know the means for being always happy and drawing profit from my miseries~ Jesus seems to encourage me on this road . He teaches me to profit from everything, both from the good and the evil that I find in myself." This is the way saints react. They are no more exempt from weaknesses than we are. Far from grieving on their account, they accept themselves as they are and make use of their imperfections to raise themselves nearer to God.37 Thus it is not always true that psychological wholeness is of necessity what God seeks for us in this life, although like physical health, we should try our best to develop otir fullness as complete human beings, including our psycho-logical well-being. Nevertheless, this fullness will be unattainable for most, and it is the wise director who does not allow those he directs to dwell too much on their own ~'Poulain, The Graces of Interior Prayer, p. 157. 37Francois Jamart. Complete Spiritual Doctrine of St. Therese of Lisieux. trans. Walter Van DePutte (New York: Alba House. 1961). pp. 38-39. 524 / Review for Religious, July-Aug., 1981 deficiencies, lest dejection and finally despair result. There are certainly times when psychological problems must be faced, and it is rare that any spiritual problem will not have psychological overtones, and vice versa. However, one should beware of seeking psychological wholeness as the primary goal in spiritual direction, assuming that spiritual development will naturally be a result. This is not always the case. Nor should the disciplines of psychology and spirituality be taken as equals~° In spiritual direction, the individual must follow the promptings of the Spirit even if they might, though not necessarily, disagree with the individual's immediate emotional desires. For example, someone might feel the prompt-ings of the Spirit to work with the poor but have an initial feeling of revulsion. Certainly, if he overrides these passing emotional .feelings, and follows his deeper call, the feelings of revulsion will disappear. A vocation followed will eventually lead to a deep inner peace. However, we can only know this through faith and through our knowledge of the spiritual tradition of the Church. Many times the promptings of the Spirit will also be e.motionally pleasing, and thus it will be a spo