Suchergebnisse

"Liberal states are different. They are indeed peaceful". (1)Michael Doyle. IntroducciónComo es materia sabida, la disciplina de las Relaciones Internacionales se ha desarrollado a lo largo del siglo XX a través de una serie de grandes escuelas de pensamiento. Realismo, Liberalismo, Marxismo y más recientemente Constructivismo, entraron en competencia para explicar la complejidad de la política mundial, en un proceso por el cual han puesto a prueba sus fortalezas y debilidades y apuntalado su respectivo refinamiento (Walt, 1998). La influencia de buena parte de estas concepciones intelectuales, asimismo, ha ido mucho más allá del mero ámbito de las aulas universitarias para impregnar también la cosmovisión y el proceso decisorio de los responsables políticos de los principales Estados en el sistema internacional (Snyder, 2005).Un caso muy particular donde se advierte un importante debate por parte de la academia, así como una materialización marcada en el discurso y enfoque de ciertos gobiernos, es el de la Paz Democrática. Considerada como "lo más cercano a una ley empírica en las Relaciones Internacionales", la Paz Democrática resulta aún en el nuevo siglo materia controvertida y de amplio interés precisamente por esta doble dimensión científico-política. En este sentido, el presente trabajo aborda el tópico con el objetivo de repasar y reflexionar sobre su sentido y su contenido, sobre la evolución de su estudio y sobre su manifestación concreta en la política exterior de Estados Unidos y los dilemas que esto entraña.La Paz DemocráticaEn su noción más general la idea de la Paz Democrática es bien simple y consiste en la sencilla afirmación de que "las democracias no hacen la guerra entre sí". Esta presunción se complementa a su vez con otros dos postulados: el primero que las democracias liberales no son más propensas a la guerra que los Estados no democráticos, pero tampoco lo son menos y, el segundo, que aunque las democracias liberales no se hacen la guerra entre ellas, sí han tenido conflictos armados con los Estados no liberales (Peñas, 1997: 120). Puesta de otra forma, la Paz Democrática implica una variable independiente, el carácter democrático de un régimen estatal, y una variable dependiente, la ausencia de guerras entre las democracias (Ibíd.: 126). En las formulaciones más contemporáneas, pueden identificarse dos grandes variantes fundamentales de la Paz Democrática. Como señala Mónica Salomón (2001), se encuentran: la "tesis monádica", que sostiene que siempre las democracias son más pacíficas en sus relaciones con los demás Estados que los Estados no democráticos, yla "tesis diádica", menos ambiciosa en términos predictivos, que entiende expresamente que las democracias nunca (o rara vez) hacen la guerra a otra democracia.Aceptando esta postulación de que el tipo de régimen democrático determina la no propensión a la guerra contra otras democracias, la explicación de sus causas ha discurrido también en dos direcciones: por un lado, la dimensión institucional y por el otro, la dimensión normativa. En la primera se entiende que son los controles democráticos que penden sobre los gobernantes, como la opinión pública o las contiendas electorales, los que determinan este pacifismo. Precisamente, su punto débil es su incapacidad para explicar la frecuencia observada de las guerras entre democracias y países no democráticos. En la segunda, se sostiene en cambio que la política exterior de una democracia está regida por los mismos principios de conciliación y moderación que rigen la política interna, o bien, en la versión constructivista, que son las percepciones de los estadistas y decisores de política exterior (amistosas hacia otras democracias) lo que determina el comportamiento internacional singular de las democracias (Risse-Kappen, 1995; Peceny, 1997).En general se ha reconocido como el origen de la tesis de la Paz Democrática a las obras de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Paine y especialmente la de Immanuel Kant (Schwartz y Skinner, 2002: 159). Fue el filósofo prusiano quien escribió en 1795 el clásico La Paz Perpetua, en tiempos en que la Revolución Francesa se debatía entre jacobinos y girondinos, y sólo Francia, Suiza y Estados Unidos podían ser considerados como democracias. Su punto de partida es la convicción en que el hombre es irrevocablemente empujado hacia la paz a causa de la razón práctico-moral. La paz mundial requiere de un Estado mundial y cosmopolita regido por un derecho mundial, desarrollo que Kant percibe sin embargo como irrealizable. Ello no lo desanima de todas formas para sugerir el camino hacia la paz consistente en un proyecto (cuya estructura es la de un tratado de paz) que contiene seis condiciones preliminares y tres definitivas para alcanzar (o tender a alcanzar) la paz perpetua (Salomón, 2001: 257), a saber:Bases previas:No debe considerarse válido un tratado de paz al que se haya arribado con reservas mentales sobre algunos objetivos capaces de causar una guerra en el futuro.Ningún Estado independiente, sea cual fuere su tamaño, puede pasar a formar parte de otro Estado por medio de trueque, compra, donación o herencia. (El Edo. es una sociedad de hombres que dispone sobre sí misma.)Los ejércitos permanentes deben desaparecer permanentemente.El Estado no debe contraer deudas que tiendan a mantener su política exterior.Ningún Estado debe inmiscuirse por la fuerza en la constitución y el gobierno de otro Estado.Un Estado que esté en guerra con otro no debe admitir el uso de hostilidades que impidan la confianza mutua en una futura paz. (Proscripción de la guerra de exterminio.)Bases definitivas:En todo Estado, la constitución política debe ser republicana (entendida como separación de poderes y en oposición al gobierno despótico).Principio de la libertad de los componentes de una sociedad, como hombres.Principio de la dependencia de todos, de una legislación común, como súbditos.Principio de la igualdad de todos, como ciudadanos.El derecho de gentes se debe basar en una Federación de Estados Independientes. (Referencia a una Sociedad de Naciones o Federación de Paz.)El derecho de la ciudadanía mundial debe limitarse a las condiciones de una hospitalidad universal.De esta forma, republicanismo (entiéndase aquí democracia), federación internacional (foedus pacificum) y derecho de gentes universal se articulan en La Paz Perpetua con el respeto por la soberanía ajena, la proscripción de ejércitos permanentes y la guerra limitada. Ciertamente Kant cifra sus esperanzas en una nación que sea puntal de estos valores y que a través de la irradiación de su ejemplo, no así de la promoción violenta de los mismos, vaya generando una creciente zona de paz mundial. Debe señalarse al respecto que, como afirma Peñas (1997: 121), "la herencia de Kant, de su concepción del individuo, de la historia y del tipo de régimen que permita al individuo llevar una vida racional y moral impregna" la tesis de la Paz Democrática.En gran parte, este vínculo se debe al rescate de su obra por Michael Doyle en 1983, a partir de cuándo se volvió moda referenciar a la Paz Perpetua como el basamento de partida para el análisis de la Paz Democrática. Asimismo, ha sido este trasfondo kantiano lo que ha facilitado la conexión estrecha entre la discusión filosófico-normativa y la teoría.El debate académicoPlanteada su esencia y sus orígenes, repasemos ahora el discurrir contemporáneo de esta tesis por el ámbito académico occidental. El primer estudio directo sobre la correlación positiva entre regímenes políticos democráticos y ausencia de conflictos armados interestatales es el de Dean Babst, publicado en 1964, que utilizaba la base de datos sobre guerras modernas elaborada en 1942 por Quincy Wright. Esta primera aproximación fue retomada luego por Melvin Small y David Singer (1976) quienes sometieron a verificación sus postulados y hallaron que, por un lado, si las democracias casi no habían combatido entre sí en el período 1816-1965 ello se debía a la distancia física entre ellas —y a las escasas fronteras compartidas—, y por el otro, que las guerras en que habían participado las democracias tenían en promedio la misma duración y causaban el mismo número de víctimas que las guerras internacionales en general. De esta forma, fueron los primeros en presentar argumentos causales distintos al tipo de régimen y en llamar la atención, en el marco del posterior debate,a la belicosidad normal de las democracias.El trabajo de Small y Singer le sirvió de insumo a Michael Doyle para su artículo Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs (1983), el cual dio el puntapié definitivo al debate más reciente sobre la Paz Democrática. Allí, este autor pretendía demostrar que las instituciones y los principios liberales llevan a los Estados liberales a tener políticas exteriores bien distintas a las observadas en Estados no liberales. Estos Estados liberales se definían a partir de cuatro condiciones: i) Economías de mercado, ii) autonomía en política exterior, iii) derechos jurídicos para los ciudadanos y iv) gobierno representativo y separación de poderes. Para Doyle, el liberalismo alcanzó "un éxito extraordinario" en las relaciones entre Estados liberales en la medida en que éstos nunca entraron en guerra entre sí, pero condujo simultáneamente a "una confusión excepcional" en las relaciones entre Estados liberales y no liberales. Lo interesante de su aporte fue, como ya se anticipó, la (re)introducción de los postulados de Kant sobre la Paz Perpetua, al considerar que las relaciones internacionales liberales conformaban una "unión pacífica" semejante a la "federación de paz" de Kant. Ese mismo año, Rudolph Rummel publicó también su investigación en la que defendía la tesis monádica de la Paz Democrática. En este contexto, otros investigadores (Chan, 1984; Weede, 1984; Maoz y Abdoladi, 1989; Bremer, 1992) se lanzaron a comprobar estadísticamente los postulados y se llegó a la conclusión general a favor de que las democracias no tienden a combatir entre sí. Fue entonces que Jack Levy (1988) afirmó: "la ausencia de guerra entre democracias es lo más cercano que tenemos a una ley empírica en Relaciones Internacionales".Ahora bien, la formulación teóricamente más refinada de la Paz Democrática vino unos años después con Bruce Russett y su libro Grasping the Democratic Peace (1993). Allí sostenía que:1. Los sistemas políticos organizados democráticamente actúan, en general, bajo restricciones que los hacen más pacíficos en sus relaciones con otras democracias. Sin embargo, las democracias no son necesariamente pacíficas en sus relaciones con otras democracias.2. En el sistema internacional moderno, las democracias tenderán menos a usar violencia letal contra otras democracias que hacia Estados gobernados autocráticamente o que los Estados gobernados autocráticamente entre sí. Además, no hay casos claros de guerras entre democracias soberanas estatales en el moderno sistema internacional.3. La paz relativa entre democracias es, fundamentalmente, consecuencia de determinados rasgos de la democracia, y no se debe exclusivamente a las características económicas o geopolíticas correlacionadas con la democracia (Peñas, 1997: 128; Salomón, 2001: 243).La formulación de Russett coincide con el "optimismo liberal" despertado por el colapso soviético y el fin de la guerra fría. Fue entonces que la tesis de la paz democrática suscitó gran entusiasmo, sobre todo entre aquellos estudiosos de las Relaciones Internacionales que ansiaban acabar con la hegemonía teórica del realismo-neorrealismo en la disciplina (Salomón, 2001: 242).La importancia de la obra de este autor yace en que la corroboración afirmativa de la tesis entraña la responsabilidad política de adoptar las medidas oportunas para conseguir el fortalecimiento tanto de las condiciones que hacen posible la democracia en otros estados, como promover su expansión —preferentemente desde una óptica multilateral y pacífica. Asimismo, se deben fortalecer las normas que hacen posible una comunidad de paz, haciendo frente a amenazas como el nacionalismo o el fundamentalismo. Como se puede ver, es una idea que en principio aparece como pacífica, inocente e incluso en ciertos aspectos algo cándida. Sin embargo, a la luz de las críticas realizadas por autores como Waltz, puede convertirse en el instrumento de una política mesiánica e incluso de una cruzada para expandir la democracia (Tovar Ruíz, 2009: 13). Tal evolución se distancia abiertamente de la formulación kantiana original que es más bien pro-soberanía,como se ha mencionado.Ya en el nuevo siglo, la Paz Democrática ha recibido el aporte de los nuevos desarrollos teóricos en la disciplina de las Relaciones Internacionales, en particular del Constructivismo. En un número de International Politics dedicado exclusivamente al tópico, Ewan Harrison (2004) por ejemplo explora el vínculo entre la paz democrática, las estructuras domésticas de política exterior y los procesos de socialización de los Estados en la política internacional desde lentes constructivistas, mientras que Matthew Rendall (2004) testea la tesis en un caso concreto: la crisis franco-británica de 1840 sobre Siria, en la que demuestra la importancia de las percepciones en las relaciones internacionales, antes que la fuerza causal de la Paz Democrática.Pero esto representa sólo una de las líneas evolutivas del debate académico. En todo caso, lo que parece imperar en la actualidad es el reconocimiento de que no existe una única versión, científicamente autenticada, de la Paz Democrática, sino varias lecturas de la relación entre liberalismo-democracia y paz-guerra (MacMillan, 2004), entre las cuales la versión más difundida es aquella articulada por Doyle y Russett, perteneciente al ala más conservadora del Liberalismo, avocada a las cruzadas.•* Candidato doctoral, Universidad Nacional de General San Martín (UNSAM, Argentina). Investigador del Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios en Problemáticas Internacionales y Locales (CEIPIL-UNCPBA).(1) "Liberalism and World Politics", The American Political Science Review, Vol. 80, No. 4., Dec. 1986.Referencias BibliográficasBabst, Dean: "Elective Governments - A Force for Peace", The Wisconsin Sociologist, No. 3 (1964), pp. 9-14.Barceló Sasía, Alejandra: Anti-americanismo: ¿Problema de percepción o de formulación de política exterior? (Puebla: Universidad de las Américas Puebla, 2006). Bremer, Stuart A.: "Dangerous Dyads: Conditions Affecting the Likelihood of Interstate War, 1816-1965", Journal of Conflict Resolution, No. 36 (1992), pp. 309-341.Chan, Steve: "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall. Are the Freer Countries More Pacific?" Journal of Conjlict Resolution,No. 28 (1984), pp. 617-648. Cohen, Raymond: "Pacific unions: a reappraisal of the theory that 'democracies do not go to war with each other'", Review of International Studies, No. 20 (1994), pp. 202-232.Deutsch, Karl: Political Community and the North Atlantic Area (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957).Doyle, Michael: "Kant, Liberal Legacies and Foreign Affairs, Part I & Part II", Philosophy & Public Affairs, No.12 (1983), pp. 205-235 y 323-353.Doyle, Michael: "Liberalism and World Politics", The American Political Science Review, Vol. 80, No. 4 (Dec. 1986).Elman, Miriam Fendius (ed.): Paths to Peace. Is Democracy the Answer? (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1997).Farber, Henry & Joan Gowa: "Polities and Peace", International Security, No. 20 (1995), pp. 123-146.Harrison, Ewan: "State Socialization, International Norm Dynamics and the Liberal Peace",International Politics, No. 41 (2004), pp. 521-542.Hewitt, J. Joseph, Jonathan Wilkenfeld & Ted Robert Gurr: Peace and Conflict 2008. Executive Summary (College Park, MD: CIDCM, University of Maryland, 2008).Ikenberry, John: "Why Export Democracy?: The 'Hidden Grand Strategy' of American Foreign Policy", The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 23, no. 2 (Spring 1999).Kant, Immanuel: La Paz Perpetua (Buenos Aires: Longseller, 2001).Kegley, Charles & Margaret Hermann: "How Democracies Use Intervention: A Neglected Dimension in Studies of the Democratic Peace", Journal of Peace Research, No. 33 (1996), pp. 309-322.Kissinger, Henry: La Diplomacia (México: Fondo de cultura económica, 1995).Levy, Jack: "Domestic Politics and War", Journal of Interdisciplinary History, No. 18 (1988), pp. 653-673.MacMillan, John: "Whose Democracy; Which Peace? Contextualizing the Democratic Peace",International Politics, No. 41 (2004), pp. 472-493.Maoz, Zeev & Nasrin Abdolali: "Regime Types and International Conflict, 1817-1976", Journal of Conflict Resolution, No. 33 (1989), pp. 3-35.Maoz, Zeev: "The Controversy over the Democratic Peace", International Security, No. 22 (1997), pp. 162-198.Peceny, Mark: "A Constructivist Interpretation of the Liberal Peace: The Ambiguous Case of the Spanish-American War", Journal of Peace Research, No. 34 (1997), pp. 415-430.Peñas, Francisco Javier: "Liberalismo y relaciones internacionales: la tesis de la paz democrática y sus críticos", Isegoría, Núm. 16 (1997), pp.119-140.Rendall, Matthew: "'The Sparta and the Athens of our Age at Daggers Drawn': Polities, Perceptions, and Peace", International Politics, No. 41 (2004), pp. 582-604.Risse-Kappen, Thomas: "Democratic Peace - Warlike Democracies? A Social Constructivist Interpretation of the Liberal Argument", European Journal of International Relations, No. 1 (1995), pp. 491-517.Rummel, Rudolph: "Libertarianism and Interstate Violence", Journal of Conflict Resolution, No. 27 (1983), pp. 27-71.Russett, Bruce: "A neo-Kantian perspective: democracy, interdependence, and international organizations in building security communities", en Emanuel Adler & Michael Barnett (eds.):Security Communities (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).Russett, Bruce: Grasping the Democratic Peace (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993).Salomón, Mónica: "El debate sobre la «paz democrática». Una aproximación crítica", Revista de Estudios Políticos (Nueva Época), Núm. 113 (Julio-Septiembre 2001), pp. 237-265.Schwartz, Thomas & Kiron K. Skinner: "The Myth of the Democratic Peace", Orbis (Winter 2002), pp. 159-172.Small, Melvin & David Singer: "The War-Proneness of Democratic Regimes", Jerusalem Journal of International Relations, No. 1 (1976), pp. 50-69.Snyder, Jack: "Un mundo, teorías rivales", Foreign Policy edición española (dic.-enero 2005).Tovar Ruíz, Juan: "De Königsberg a Kosovo. La Paz Democrática: del planteamiento filosófico al discurso político y su aplicación en el régimen de los protectorados internacionales", Revista Académica de Relaciones Internacionales, núm. 10 (febrero de 2009). Van Tijen, Tjebbe: "NATO's collateral tyrannicide", Open Democracy (7 May, 2011). Walt, Stephen M.: "International Relations: One World, Many Theories", Foreign Policy(Spring 1998), pp. 29-46.Weede, Eric: "Democracy and War Involvement", Journal of Peace Research, No. 28 (1984), pp. 649-664.Wright, Quincy: A Study of War (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1942).

This essay discusses the relation between urban spaces and street festival as an example of a creative industry. To begin with, several terms are presented as part of a theoretical approach to fully understand the concept of street festivals, then two cases studies of street festivals will be presented and analysed: The Iberoamerican Theatre Festival of Bogotá and Rock al Parque Festival both from Bogotá, Colombia. The essay has a chapter dedicated to the relationship between festivals and economic development. ; Cultura y desarrollo; Esfera pública; Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro; Festivales callejeros; Habermas; Rock al Parque ; 1 An Act of Faith: Two Cases Studies Of Street Festivals As Examples Of Development. ANDRÉS GUILLERMO CHAUR1 Course Title: Theories of the Culture Industry: work, creativity and precariousness Course Code: CU71015A Date: 13 January 2014 1 Beneficiario COLFUTURO 2013 2 3 «Culture is the be all and end all of development» L.S. Senghor, poet (Senegal, 1906-2001) Introduction This essay discusses the relation between urban spaces and street festival as an example of a creative industry. To begin with, several terms are presented as part of a theoretical approach to fully understand the concept of street festivals, then two cases studies of street festivals will be presented and analysed: The Iberoamerican Theatre Festival of Bogotá and Rock al Parque Festival both from Bogotá, Colombia. The essay has a chapter dedicated to the relationship between festivals and economic development. It is important to mention that the starter point of this essay was precisely to give an introductory background of the importance that has have those two case studies in the development of the city. It is not a secret that Colombia has suffered a period of violence and instability since the second part of the XX century so at first glance it is curious to study and research about an almost contradictory topic such as Culture in a "war country". But at the same time, the "beauty" of this study relies precisely in its contradictory nature: How a country with those characteristics can hold two of the most important and respected free theatre festivals and music festivals in all Latin America? This essay will try to explain that culture when it's conceived with some specific characteristics will bring democracy and peace. A series of deep and abstract concepts will be discussed. This essay was thought just as an introduction and approximation to the topic of public and private, public sphere, culture and development just to mention some examples. Same with authors and thinkers used to elaborate the structure of this study. Once again it should be taken as an approximation rather than a full and elaborated research. The aim is to structure a series of ideas and concepts around one thesis: Those festivals have helped to make Bogotá a better city thus that is the main point of the relation between urban spaces and creativity: It fosters a better understanding of a society overall. At the end of the essay, in the appendix section, some photos are presented to visually recreate the two festivals, its dimensions and its importance. Although, like every 4 transcendental event, in order to understand the magnitude of The Iberoamerican Theatre Festival and the Rock al Parque Festival one have to experience in person. Cities as spaces for the public To fully understand the concept of "Public Realm" and "Public Sphere", one has to address the theory of the city and its relation with the concept of public and private. The concept of "city" has had many meanings through time. There are different ways to approach the concept; however, for the nature of this essay an urban sociological perspective will be approached. Mumford (1937) states the city as a space undoubtedly bonded with the development of human potential: "a city is an expression of the human spirits, and they exist to nurture human personality"2. Weber (1921), one of the founders of modern sociology sees a city in terms of connectivity and settlement between commuters, in that way, the concept of a city, according to Weber, is about the networking, the political and economic participation and the organization among communities. Landry (2013) defines the city as "a complex organism and in constant movement with perspectives, opinions and priorities about what is right often clashing"3. Simmel (1950) explained the correlation of man and the scenarios created by the capitalism and modern society called "The Metropolis". There is always a struggle between the man (individual) and his society (public): "The deepest problem of modern life arises out of the attempt by the individual to preserve his autonomy and individuality in the face of the overwhelming social forces of a historical heritage, external culture and technique of life"4. Simmel's concept of a city as a place where modern man struggle to find his individuality within "overwhelming social forces" is key to understand the theory of the city, specifically one attached with the words: Public -Private. Sennett (1996) in his book "The Fall of the 2 Mumford, L., 1937. What is a city?. In: Scoutt, S and Stoutt, F. ed. 2011. The city reader. Taylor and Francis. pp.91-96. 3 Landry,C. 2013. Civic Urbanity: Looking at the city afresh (PDF). Hangzhou International Congress, "Culture: Key to Sustainable Development", 15-17 May 2013, Hangzhou, China. Available at: http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CLT/images/Charles_Landry_Hangzhou_Congress.pdf (Accessed 12 January 2013). 4 Simmel,G. 1950. The Metropolis and Mental Life. In Miles, M; Hall, T and Borden, I. The City Cultures Reader. Ed. 2000. pp. 12-19. 5 public man" gives an account of the city as the scenario where those 2 concepts are correlated. He starts explaining the meaning of public and private. Although its historical background, coming from the Greeks and the idea of Oikos and Polis as the Private and Public respectively, Sennett comments that "the public" in modern times, started to develop in the eighteen century that is as a direct consequence of the industrial revolution and the liberalism ideas coming from The Enlightenment. "Public came to mean a life passed outside the life of family and close friends. In the public region diverse, complex social groups were to be brought into ineluctable contact the focus of this public life was the city"5 The public life is also the ground to understand modern democracy and public political institution. Sennett, citing Hanna Arendt's book The Human Condition shows how the public life in cities can be a scenario where ideas and opinions are discussed and debated. "Private circumstances have no place in the public realm". 6 Arendt even manifests that cities are "democracy's homes"7 This notion of public started to be more evident when places to meet strangers (people from outside the private sphere) within the city started to grow up. Examples of those "places" are the coffee houses and salons (Habermas will mention those examples to explain his theory of public sphere). Those spaces are called "Public Realm" by Sennett. Public Realm, in other words, are spaces where strangers meet. This encounter is characterized by "anonymity". In "The Conscience of The Eye" Sennett (1992) also says that anonymity is the power of modern cities: "The power of the city lies in its diversity; in the presence of difference people have at least the possibility to step outside themselves (.) The city can give them experiences of otherness"8 The concept of Teatro Mundi is an interesting way to look at the public sphere. According to Sennett, "Teatro Mundi" are spaces full of vitality, differences and disorder. Places where the differences connect and all citizens participate: "Society is a theatre and people are actors". This essay will discuss Teatro Mundi in detail in the chapter related to street festivals. . 5 Sennett, R. 2003. The Fall of Public Man. Penguin, New Edition. 6 Sennett, R. 2008. Reflections on the Public Realm in Bridge, G and Watson, S. A companion of the City. Blackwell Publishers. pp. 380-387. 7 Sennett, R. 2008. The Public Realm. (online) Richard Sennet Website. Available at: http://www.richardsennett.com/site/SENN/Templates/General2.aspx?pageid=16 (Accessed 13 January 2014) 8 Sennett, R. 1992. The Conscience of the Eye: The Design and Social Life of Cities. W.W Norton & Company. 6 In the next chapter, this essay will discuss in-depth different theories about the public realm specially the ideas of Habermas about the public sphere and his theory of action communicative. Habermas and the Public Sphere Even though the previous chapter gave an account of the concepts of private-public, it is important to highlight them according to the theory of Habermas. Recognized as one of the most influential sociologist and philosopher of our times, Habermas theories of the public sphere (phrase from the German Öffentlichkeit), and modern democracy as well as his theory of action communicative have been enormously influential for modern sociology9. Firstly Habermas' thought is marked in the tradition of the Frankfurt School. His first mayor publication "The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere" argues that instrumental rationality is implicit in the Public Sphere. However, Habermas took distance from the classical notion of the critical theory when argues that participation in the public sphere (he exemplified the coffee shops and the salons in Paris and London in the XVIII century) is free and autonomous in order to shape a common good: "The public sphere consisted in voluntary associations of private citizens united in a common aim, to make use of their own reason in unconstrained discussion between equals"10(Later on, Habermas is going to present how mass media eroded individuality and declined the public sphere). It is important to mention the dichotomy of the words public-private for Habermas. Although different, both are dependents to each other. In that way the private sphere and the public sphere instead of being exclusive are inclusive. Susen (2011) defines the public sphere, taking into account Habermas' theory, as: "The socialized expression of individuals' reciprocally constituted autonomy: individuals are autonomous not in isolation from but in relation to one another, that is, in relation to a public of autonomous beings".11 9Finlayson, J .2005. "Habermas, a very short introduction". Oxford University Press. 10 Habermas,J. 1991. The Structural Transformation Of The Public Sphere. MIT Press. 11 Susen, S. 2001. Critical Notes on Habermas's theory of the public sphere. (online). City University of London. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/lhy4j4z. (Accessed 13 January 2014). 7 Several questions came to mind: How this socialization is constructed? What does an autonomous individual mean? And how can individual reach autonomy? For Habermas, the answer relies on a rational communicative action. The aim of the public sphere is to create a consensus through the active participation of all individuals involved. This consensus is created by a rational approach of the language: "The public sphere is a collective realm in which individuals' cognitive ability to take on the role of critical and responsible actors is indicative of society's coordinative capacity to transform itself into an emancipatory project shaped by the normative force of communicative rationality"12. Rationality in terms of Habermas does not consist in knowledge per se but "how speaking and acting subjects acquire and use knowledge"13. This type of rationality is different from the instrumental rationality from the Enlightenment, widely criticized by the Frankfurt School, since it is "practical, epistemological and more important, intersubjective"14. The public sphere, considering the above, not only describes the space where the encounter occurs but moreover, the public sphere has within itself an emancipator and a transformative component. Some critics find Habermas ideas "too utopian and idealistic"15. The next chapter the link between Habermas and Sennett notion of Public Realm in the city will be tracked. The Open City Sennett takes Habermas as a mayor inspiration for constructing his idea of the Public Realm in the city. According to Sennett (2008), Habermas does not tie the public sphere to any particular place, such as a town centre for instance. Even new technological media as the 12 Ibid. 13 Hahn, L. 2000. Perspective On Habermas. Open Court Publishing. 14 Susen, S. 2001. Critical Notes on Habermas's theory of the public sphere. (online). City University of London. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/lhy4j4z. (Accessed 13 January 2014). 15 Ibid. 8 Internet could be seen as an example of public sphere: "In today's cities, an internet cafe would be more likely to excite him than Trafalgar Square" 16 The place where strangers meet, as Sennett defines Public Realm, could be anywhere: An event, a medium, etc. that encourages communication between strangers. Eventually, Sennett argues, cities that promote those types of encounters are called cities with open systems and on the contrary, cities that lack a real public realm or just promote the privatization of spaces are called cities with closed systems. Based on sociologist Jane Jacobs(1961) and her book "The death and life of great American cities"17, Sennett(2006) imagines a city with a closed system with two attributes: Equilibrium and Integration18. Equilibrium is related with balance, with harmony and with a static idea of conceiving a city. Public Spaces as spaces full of differences, dissents and disorders are not part or are reduced in a closed system. By integration, Sennett means that everything is connected and is part of a greater and unique vision. Thus, everything that is not part of that unique vision is expelled and rejected: "The logic of integration is to diminish in value things that don't fit in (.) Closed system cities refuse to evolve and has paralysed urbanism", concludes Sennett. Opposing a closed system, the open system is all about diversity and finding a place for differences, dissents and disorders. It is about complexity, about how a place adapts itself to the always changing community and its processes. Sennett lists three elements of an open city: Passage territories, incomplete form and development narratives. Passages territories means to diffuse boundaries and different territories within the cities; incomplete form is regarding "empty spaces" so the public can interact in it. Development narratives means to allow dissident voices to express and to fully participate. Wirth (1938) summarize the above by saying: "The juxtaposition of divergent personalities and modes of life tends to produce a relativistic perspective and a sense of toleration of differences"19 Taking into consideration the above characteristics of an open city, one can say that an open city is a place for democracy, "not in the legal sense but in the physical experience" says 16 Sennett, R. 2008. Reflections on the Public Realm in Bridge, G and Watson, S. A companion of the City. Blackwell Publishers. pp. 380-387. 17 Jacobs, J .1961. The death and life of great American cities. Random House, New York. 18 Sennett, R 2006. The Open City. (online). Urban Age- LSE. Available at: http://esteticartografias07.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/berlin_richard_sennett_2006-the_open_city1.pdf. (Accessed 13 January 2014) 19 Wirth, L .1938. Urbanism as a Way of Life. (online) Chicago Journals. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2768119 (Accessed 13 January 2014). 9 Sennett 20. This thesis is important to understand the importance of public spaces in construction of a fully democratic society and thus is connected to the idea of development and equality. ¿What are examples of an open system? Can one give an account of a public sphere? The next chapter will give an account of the relationship between the street festivals and the public sphere, understanding them as a significance example of public realm. Street Festivals and the Public Sphere To begin with, Street Festivals or Urban Festivals as any other cultural event placed in the public sphere are related of what Durkheim called "collective effervescence". As Durkheim pointed out when a group gathers to perform a "religious ritual" experiences a sense of encounter and unity, "leading participants to a high degree of collective emotional excitement or delirium"21. However as Sassatelli(2011) adds, although Festivals are also part of a collective delirium, taking all participant apart from the everyday life, they are also places where the social encounter is made of "polyvalent performances, rather than unified signifiers of a consensual collective conscience"22 Sassatelli complements that street festivals contrasted with museums: By its living dimension as well as its unrestrained sensory experience. Sennett (1992) also talks about spaces "full of live" as narrative spaces where every dweller constructs a disorder and kaleidoscope meaning of the public. This could lead to the erosion of the boundaries of high and low culture in the sense of the Frankfurt School understood the "cultural industries". namely they turn into instances of communication and instances of production of collective meanings and desires. 20 Sennett, R 2006. The Open City. (online). Urban Age- LSE. Available at: http://esteticartografias07.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/berlin_richard_sennett_2006-the_open_city1.pdf. (Accessed 13 January 2014) 21 Durkheim, E .2008. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Oxford Paperbacks. 22 Sassatelli, M. 2011. Urban Festivals and the Cultural Public Sphere: Cosmopolitanism between Ethics and Aesthetics in Delanty, G; Giorgi L and Sassatelli, M. Festivals and the Cultural Public Sphere. Routledge. Pp 12-19 10 If Habermas, the notion of the "Public Sphere" is related as the area where rational individuals communicate to each other to discuss their social problems; nowadays as McGuian(2011) argues, there are different ways to look at the public sphere, not only inside a rational communicative system as Habermas states, but from other types of communication that also create a sense of public sphere. One of those "public spheres" is the cultural public sphere, namely a sphere within the public where different modes of communications, for instance "affective-aesthetics and emotional are articulated with the public and the private"23 "The public sphere nowadays operates though various channels and circuits of mass popular culture and entertainment facilitated the routinely mediated aesthetic and emotional reflections on how we live and imagine the good life (.) festivals are the aestheticization of politics as the ground for festivals is the democratization of an independent thought by the spectators transformed into active actors". . Although McGuian theorized the cultural public sphere for the mass media and populism culture, undoubtedly street festivals share that conception in an emotional and aesthetic way of "come together as a public" and to transcend the private sphere into a societal integration as Habermas explained. Fabiani (2011) explained as well: 24 Street Festivals are also part of the Sennett's idea of "Teatro Mundi". Spaces operated in an open system, where strangers meet through a "rhetorical way, acting in order to be 23Mc Guian, J. 2011. The Cultural Public Sphere- a critical measure of public culture? in Delanty, G; Giorgi L and Sassatelli, M. Festivals and the Cultural Public Sphere. Routledge. Pp 79-92. 24 Fabiani, J. 2011. Festivals, local and global: Critical interventions and the cultural public sphere. in Delanty, G; Giorgi L and Sassatelli, M. Festivals and the Cultural Public Sphere. Routledge. Pp 92-108 Involvement rather than contemplation Instances of communication and community building Erosion of the boundaries between high and low culture Construction of Identity Produce meanings and desires Box 1. Characteristics of Street Festivals according to Sassatelli(2011). 11 credible" 25 In the next chapter, this essay will discuss the implications of street festivals in the sustainable development of a city. Different approaches coming from the research of the UNESCO on the relationship between culture and development as well as the studies of the creative class by Michael Florida and the Creative cities by Michael Landry. . People act as in they were in a "role playing" to create a sense of "equality", even if they do not share their same social class, race, sexual orientation, etc. Street Festivals have this "communicative power" of involve everyone together. Street Festivals as mechanism for sustainable development How could we connect street festivals as examples of the cultural public sphere with the idea of development? In other words, is there any connection between street festivals, understood as a cultural manifestation, and sustainable development? This chapter will introduce the concept of "Culture for Development"26 In the last few decades, UNESCO programs have been focused in how culture should be at the centre of economic development in developed and especially in developing countries. One of the last attempts to foster that was the Hangzou Congress in 2013 in China. The final conclusion was: "Placing Culture at the Heart of Sustainable Development Policies"; a term coined by UNESCO in a variety of its programs wide world specially for developing nations and will give an account of the link between that term and street festivals as examples of a cultural industry. 27 25 Sennett, R. 2008. Reflections on the Public Realm in Bridge, G and Watson, S. A companion of the City. Blackwell Publishers. pp. 380-387. and described 9 main ideas to do so: Integrate culture within all development policies and Programmes; Mobilize culture and mutual understanding to foster peace and reconciliation; Ensure cultural rights for all to promote inclusive social development; Leverage culture for poverty reduction and inclusive economic development; Build on culture to promote environmental sustainability; Strengthen resilience to disasters and combat climate change through culture value; safeguard and transmit culture to future generations; Harness culture 26 Culture and Development. 2013. UNESCO- Culture. (Online) Available at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/culture-and-development (Accessed 13 January 2014) 27 UNESCO. 2013. The Hangzhou Declaration. UNESCO- Culture. (Online). Available at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/culture-and-development/hangzhou-congress/ (Accessed 13 January 2014). 12 as a resource for achieving sustainable urban development and management; Capitalize on culture to foster innovative and sustainable models of cooperation. 28 Landry (2008) also talks about the benefits of cultural industries in a city and how the creativity of those industries will foster economic development and social cohesion: "Culture can also strengthen social cohesion, increase personal confidence and improve life skills, improve people's mental and physical well-being, strengthen people's ability to act as democratic citizens and develop new training and employment routes".29 Florida (2003) shows the relationship between creativeness and development. His theory of human capital, called creative capital theory, shows how by fostering tolerance, high education levels and social adaptation to changes, a social class can help to develop their communities. This creative class and its idea of create "new forms of meanings"30 The bond between the cultural public sphere with democracy and the idea of an Open City, explained before, is also a seminal part of how through cultural manifestations, a society can develop and tackle social problems. are attached to the idea of UNESCO's Culture for development program. Case Studies: The Iberoamerican Theatre Festival of Bogotá and the "Rock al Parque" Festival This essay will present two cases studies of street festivals and its relation with the city and its sustainable development: The Iberoamerican Theatre Festival of Bogota (Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogotá) and The Rock al Parque Festival. Both represent two major fields in the cultural industries in Bogotá such as the performative arts and the music. 28 Ibid 29 Landry, C. 2008. The Creative City: A toolkit for Urban Innovators. Earthscan Editions. 30 Florida, M (2003). Cities and the creative class. (Online). Available at: http://uv.vuchorsens.dk/r/KAZ/Undervisning%202012-2013/GEOLOGI/B%C3%A6redygtighed/Befolkning%20og%20b%C3%A6redygtighed/GetFile.pdf (Accessed 13 January 2014). 13 Firstly the chapter will introduce a context of each festival and then discuss around 5 main axes how the two festivals help to development in specific ways. Iberoamerican Theatre Festival of Bogotá Declared in December 2013 as "cultural heritage of Colombia"31, The Ibero-American Theatre Festival of Bogotá is a biannual cultural event held in Bogotá and organized by the Fundación Teatro Nacional (National Theatre Foundation) an NGO dedicated to theatre with private and public funding. It is considered as one of the most important theatre festival in Latin America and the most significant cultural event in Colombia32 The history of the festival is in every sense "quixotic": Launched in 1988 when the country was immersed in drug-related violence and when the public institutions and the general idea of democracy were at crisis, Ramiro Osorio, a renowned cultural entrepreneur and Fanny Mikey, considered one of the icons of theatre and culture in Colombia, created the theatre Festival as a "Act of Faith" in order to promote culture as an answer to defeat the prevailing violence of those years. . It is important to mention somehow the significant role of the National Theatre Foundation in the conformation and development of the theatre in Colombia. Founded in 1981 by Fanny Mikey, an Argentinean émigré, with the play "El Rehén" nowadays has three major venues with a wide programme throughout the year as well as an art college a social programme for deprived communities and an international tours of their plays33 The first Ibero-American theatre festival, held from 25th march to 3th of April 1988, gathered 59 theatres companies from 21 countries with an estimated of no more than 100.000 spectators. In 2012, 26 years later, the festival had more than 3 million spectators and 200 theatres companies from 32 countries and 5 continents. 34 31El Espectador. 2013. Festival de Teatro de Bogotá, declarado patrimonio cultural de la Nación. El Espectador, (Online) (Last updated 11December 2013). Available at: . http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/bogota/festival-de-teatro-de-bogota-declarado-patrimonio-cultu-articulo-463508. (Accessed: 13 January 2014). 32 Cepeda, A .2010. FESTIVAL IBEROAMERICANO DE TEATRO DE BOGOTÁ- IMPACTO Y SUPERVIVENCIA. Instituto Complutense de CC Musicales. 33 Ibid 34 Ibid 14 The conception of the festival as a "carnival of the city" relies on the stress in the use of the public space: There are plays presented in the streets, plazas and parks from all over the city: From slums to rich areas covering all significance area of the city. In 2012, the festival presents 218 street plays in 4 major parks (Simón Bolívar, Tunal, Nacional y Plaza de Bolívar) 7 public spaces for street plays, 4 community centres, 2 big parades starting from the north of Bogota (Calle 80) until the Bolivar's Square, the biggest plaza in Bogotá. The Festival was in 11 out of the 21 districts of Bogota. In average, around 2, 5 millions of spectators participate in the festival. 35 "Rock al Parque" Festival In March 2012, Bogotá was chosen by the UNESCO as Creative City of Music along with European cities such as Bologna (Italy), Ghent (Belgium), Sevilla (Spain) and Glasgow (Scotland).36 This recognition is part of the strategy of the secretary of culture of Bogotá of positioning the city as a major culture hub in Latin-American especially in the music field. In recent years and after the creation of the central roadmaps namely the "Políticas Culturales Distritales 2004-2016"37 The link between urban public spaces and public festivals as cultural policies is more visible in the "Festivales al Parque" (Park Festivals) which consists in five annual free music festivals held in different times of the year and performed in important free venues and public parks. They are managed and executed by the Institute for arts in Bogotá (A sub division of the Secretary of Culture of Bogotá) "IDARTES". and the "Plan Decenal de Cultura 2011-2021" the music field and their relation with public spaces have being an important core of the cultural policies in Bogotá. There are 5 "festivales al parque" dedicated to the 5 most popular rhythms that conformed the music scene in the city: Hip Hop, Jazz, Colombia (traditional music) and Rock. Created in different years, the "Festivales al Parque" conforms a local identity and a cultural highlight of the city. 35 Ibid 36 Cultura y Entretenimiento. 2012. Bogotá fue declarada capital mundial de la música. EL TIEMPO. (Online). Available at: http://www.eltiempo.com/entretenimiento/musica/ARTICULO-WEB-NEW_NOTA_INTERIOR-11842506.html (Accessed 13 January 2014) 37 IDARTES. 2004. Políticas Culturales Distritales (Online) Available at: http://www.culturarecreacionydeporte.gov.co/sites/default/files/politicas_culturales_distritales_2004-2016.pdf (Accessed 13 January 2014). 15 The pioneer and the biggest in terms of audience of the "Festivales al Parque" is "Rock al Parque" a 3 days rock festival created in 1995 and hosted in the biggest public park of the city, Parque Simón Bolivar; it was organized by musicians Mario Duarte and Julio Correal as a strategy to create a bond between citizens of different socio economic background with the public space during the Antanas Mockus' mayor. The XVIII edition of the festival in 2012 congregated more than 70.000 people per day, making the Festival, the biggest public rock festival in Latin America in terms of audience38. Places for sustainable development: conclusions studies. Although each festival has its own characteristics a study conducted by Obgregón (2007) shows 5 main conclusions that "Rock al Parque" festival has brought to the city. In a similar study done for the Iberoamerican Theatre Festival, Cepeda (2010) also concluded that the festival helped the city in similar ways of the five elements of Obregon. Those five elements also share the same roots of the elements of Culture for Development by the UNESCO. This is an interesting discovery that shows how festivals if they are organized inside the language of Open City -Teatro Mundi (Sennett) and in the Cultural Public Sphere all share similar benefits: 38 Obregon, J. 2007. Desconfianza, civilidad y estética. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Improve the image of the city Create a sense of identity Help to build an audience Visibilization of a minority group Tolerance and social cohesion. Box 2. Five mains benefit of the Iberoamerican Theatre Festival and Rock al Parque Festival to Bogotá. 16 1. Improve the image of the city Both festivals improve the image of the city, for both its inhabitants and foreigners audiences. Leguizamón, Moreno and Tibazisco(2013) have argued the relation between the festivals and the local economy especially in the touristic field: "Bogotá is a touristic destiny who takes advantage of its public festivals as an important opportunity to retain tourists interested in performing arts because they visit the city only one time. This advantage depends on quality improvements which tourist perceived around touristic products and services offered like: security, hospitality, environmental practices, mobility and connectivity."39 UNESCO (2001) has also states how cultural tourism has increased in recent years: In 2010, international tourism generated 919 billion dollars in export earnings. Emerging and developing countries accounted for 47 per cent of world international tourism arrivals and 36.9 per cent of world international tourism receipts in 2010. Cultural tourism presently accounts for 40 per cent of world tourism revenues. Taking into account the statistics of the monitoring centre for culture of IDARTES conducted in 2011 the percentage of tourist that visited the city exclusively to assist to "Rock al Parque" Festival were 16,16% compared to 6,03% in 199740. 2. Create a sense of identity Wyss (2012) states that for 17 days, "the Iberoamerican Theatre Festival transformed a chaotic metropolis like Bogotá (more than 8 million inhabitants) into a cultural Mecca", The general director of the Festival, Ana Marta de Pizarro also argues than the festival is "the carnival of the city, crime rates are significantly reduced and the general atmosphere of the dwellers is of great joy and party"41 39 Leguizamon, M; Moreno, E and Tobavizco N. 2013. Impacto turístico del Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogotá. (online) Available: . http://www.pasosonline.org/Publicados/11113/PS0113_06.pdf (Accessed 13 January 2014) 40 IDARTES. 2011. Observatorio de Culturas. (online) Available at: http://www.culturarecreacionydeporte.gov.co/observatorio/medAlparque.html. (Accessed 13 January 2014). 41 Wyss, J. 2010. Bogota theater festival: a bright mask for a once grim city. (Online) Available at: http://carpetbagbrigade.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/miami-herald-dios-callings-english1.pdf. (Accessed 13 January 2014) 17 Similar to Wyss, Obregon citing Cante(2007), says that the idea of Rock al Parque has brought a sense of "social cohesion through the construction of an identity of tolerance and coexistence. It creates a civil culture in the city"42. 3. Help to build an audience Obregon (2007) and Cepeda (2010) states that one of the most important benefits of Rock al Parque and the Iberoamerican Theatre Festival is that those events have helped to build an audience in music and performative arts respectively. In the case of Rock al Parque, the event helped to massify a genre that wasn't part of the mainstream in Colombia as Rock. According to IDARTES (2011), almost 60% of the audience that assisted to the Festival in 2011 has been to a different free rock concert. Almost 80% has already assisted to more than two versions of Rock Al Parque. Cepeda (2010) concludes that the Iberoamerican Theatre Festival has collaborate to "enrich the theatre market in the city and to put it in one of the top in Latin America". 65% of the public, who assisted to the Festival in 2010, has seen a play regularly outside the Festival, according to the study. 4. Visibilization of a minority group This point is connected to the last conclusion. By building an audience, the festivals helped to make visible an audience. In Rock al Parque an "underground culture" as the rock scene, stigmatized before as "antisocial, started to have a better image in the community. IDARTES (2011) indicates that 60% of the audience of Rock al Parque has been to a Rock Concert without any kind of stigmatization43. 5. Tolerance and social cohesion Another important point about the two festivals is regarding the social cohesion and zero violence culture that promotes. Cepeda (2010) is very emphatic describing the impact of the Iberoamerican Theatre Festival with the violence and crime rates in the city: 42 Obregon, J.2007. Desconfianza, civilidad y estética. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. 43 IDARTES. 2011. Observatorio de Culturas. (online) Available at: http://www.culturarecreacionydeporte.gov.co/observatorio/medAlparque.html. (Accessed 13 January 2014). 18 "The festival has contributed since its beginning to the peace process in Colombia. This festival dared to make public performatives acts in the streets when the crimes rates were really high. Those events had an amazing and significative success. One could say that in the 17 days of the festival, crimes and violence stops. Police informs that the crime rates during those two weeks are the lowest of the year."44 93,48% of the spectators of the 2011 "Rock al Parque" felt that the event help to promote a non-violence culture. Still, both festivals shares the unique values of the "Teatro Mundi": Every spectator is equal, no matter his race, gender, social class, etc. The rates of zero violent deaths in the history of both festivals are also an example of how those events are truly places for democracy and peace. Conclusion As it has been seen through the different chapters that conform this essay, the benefits of creating public cultural events in urban spaces bring, undoubtedly a notion of democracy and development. Although Habermas did not specifically discuss street festivals and public festivals in urban spaces as examples of his theory of both public sphere and the theory of communicative action, the essay helped to shape a theoretical background to such events according to Habermas's notions. In the end, the link between Cultural Public Spaces and the UNESCO definition of Culture for Development was an interesting discovery that is worthwhile to keep researching. As mentioned in the introduction, the aim of the essay was to create a structure to understand the Iberoamerican Theatre Festival and the Rock al Parque Festival as examples of cultural public sphere and based on that give an account of the relationship between those spaces and the idea of development. Culture and Cultural manifestations are always moving and changing as society itself. Street Festivals are manifestations that definitely have to be fully addressed. All the rich variety of characteristics that those kinds of events possesses as the essay presented, make them a unique type of cultural products. Could culture transform a society? Definitely. Not only culture transformed society but improves it. Bogota is a better city, with more possibilities with events like the ones studied. In the future, and as part of a cultural policies plan, More events such those, should be created. This is the only recommendation of this essay toward the future, taking into account 44 Cepeda, A .2010. FESTIVAL IBEROAMERICANO DE TEATRO DE BOGOTÁ- IMPACTO Y SUPERVIVENCIA. Instituto Complutense de CC Musicales. 19 that the existing legislation "protect" the two festivals, that in the end, are part of the cultural heritage of the city and the nation. 20 Appendix Photos a. Iberoamerican Theatre Festival45 45 All photos: Humar, Z., 2012. En fotos, Bogotá y su fiesta de las mil caras. [electronic print] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/video_fotos/2012/04/120405_fotos_galeria_festival_teatro_bogota_aw.shtml [Accessed 12 January 2013]. 21 22 b. Rock al Parque Festival46 46 All photos: Lopez, J., 2013. Bogotá Rock al Parque. [electronic print] Available at: http://tinyurl.com/oabvlmt [Accessed 12 January 2013]. 23 24 Bibliography • Cepeda, A. 2010. 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Building upon research done by Carl J Richard, and Ricardo Herrera, this research paper will discuss how the Ancient Greek and Roman ideals that Alden Partridge was exposed to through his life growing up in close proximity to the time of the American Revolution and resulted in his development of a values based educational system that would produce citizen soldiers who would be able to serve their country both in the military and civilian sectors. ; Winner of the 2021 Friends of the Kreitzberg Library Award for Outstanding Research in the University Archives category. ; There is Nothing More Inherently American: How the rebellion of Alden Partridge and Greek and Roman influences lead to the rejuvenation of the American education system Alex Rollins Professor McCann HI 243 Historical Methods 4 December 2020 1 Alden Partridge believed that the future of the new American Republic would be secured or lost as a result of the education of its youth. Living in a time of great reform and turmoil in the first 50 years after the founding of the American Republic, Alden Partridge was subject to the same influences of the Founding Fathers: The Ancient Greeks and Romans. The ideals of the Ancient Greeks and Romans penetrated the core of the educational curriculum that most European men received in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and served as the catalyst for the fight against British tyranny in the American Revolution. Partridge was a product of Dartmouth College and the United States Military Academy at West Point and was a man that was so radical that he was removed from his position of Superintendent at West Point by a Summary Court Martial in 1818. Despite his humiliation at the United States Military Academy, Partridge still retained his passion of educating the American youth. Partridge made the decision to create his own institution, the American Scientific and Literary Academy in Norwich Vermont in 1819 which is now known as Norwich University. Building upon research done by Carl J Richard, and Ricardo Herrera, this research paper will discuss how the Ancient Greek and Roman ideals that Alden Partridge was exposed to through his life growing up in close proximity to the time of the American Revolution and resulted in his development of a values based educational system that would produce citizen soldiers who would be able to serve their country both in the military and civilian sectors. Partridge embedded the Ancient Greek and Roman principles of individual freedom, duty to state, civic virtue, and ardent patriotism in order to create an educational system that prepares 2 ndividual citizens and aimed to ultimately "qualify them for all of those high responsibilities resting upon a citizen of this free republic." 1 Alden Partridge was a product of the time in which he lived: The age of the early American Republic. Hailing from Norwich Vermont, Partridge was educated in the "neighborhood schools" surrounding the town.2 Partridge eventually gained admittance to Dartmouth College, where he was introduced into "the mainstream of intellectual thought of the eighteenth century."3 While attending Dartmouth, Partridge developed expert level proficiency in Latin and Greek classics, arithmetic, grammar, and reading in a colonial era grammar school.4 These schools were known for having a "uniformed and standardized" education that was centered around knowledge in Greek and Latin as those languages were seen as the keys to college admission at the time.5 Like most children at the time who attended these school, Partridge most likely received instruction in arithmetic, Euclid's books, became familiar with the works of Virgil, Horace, Homer, and Xenophon, and Cicero's orations. Partridge would have been bombarded with classical influences and would have most likely developed an appreciation for living a moral and virtuous life like most Greek and Roman works compel their audience to do. Partridge Despite being a gifted academic blessed with the ability to teach, Partridge was drawn towards service to his community in the militia. Desiring to follow in his father and uncle's footsteps, Partridge joined the Regiment of Artillerists and was ordered to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point in the years immediately following its founding in 1802.6 While at West Point Partridge received training in military engineering and gained such a 1 Norwich University Cadet Handbook, iii. 2 Baker, "The Partridge Connection", 1. 3 Baker, "The Partridge Connection", 1. 4 Baker, "The Partridge Connection", 2. 5 Gummere, The American Colonial Mind and the Classical Tradition, 55. 6 Baker, "The Partridge Connection", 3. 3 profound proficiency that he was later asked to instruct military engineering following his commissioning as an officer. He became proficiency in all aspects of military engineering, the employment of field artillery and infantry operations. While attending West Point, Partridge noticed several problems with the education system. Partridge wanted to ensure that a commission would only be given when one's studies are complete and thought that there needed to be tougher academic regulations to obtain a degree from the institution. Partridge contributed a great deal to West Point including introducing moral education and instruction in the application of living a life based off of the values of duty, obedience, and "morality, virtue and honor." 7 Alden Partridge excelled during his time instructing at West Point and took great strides to improve West Point in order to further the developments of the cadets and in his mind, ultimately secure the safety of the early American Republic. At the end of 1814, Partridge traveled to Washington DC to meet with Secretary of War Monroe about pushing more funding towards West Point and providing more support to the changes that he desired to make. When he returned to West Point however, Partridge found that "reports injurious to his reputation had been industriously circulated" and the faculty had begun to enact a plan to change the philosophy and overall purpose of West Point.8 These men included Andrew Ellicott, Jared Mansfield, and CPT David B. Douglass and their goals included to convert West Point into a civilian run school where the instructors would not be military officers.9 Their overall redesign of the institution included removing the Corps of Engineers as the primary operators of the school, introduce an entirely civilian staff, and to redesign the training process to prioritize developing engineers to serve the nation rather than military 7 Webb, Captain Alden Partridge and the United States Military Academy, 1806-1833, 203. 8 Webb, Captain Alden Partridge and the United States Military Academy, 1806-1833, 33. 9 Webb, Captain Alden Partridge and the United States Military Academy, 1806-1833, 51. 4 officers. 10 These three men pushed for Partridge to be court martialed under these 4 charges: 1.) Neglect and unofficer like conduct, 2.) Four accounts of unofficer like conduct that were to the "prejudice of good order and military discipline" for showing favoritism to cadets, 3.) Disobedience to orders for contradicting an order from a general officer and the President, and 4.) Mutiny, and the beginning and exciting mutiny.11 The Court martial which charged Alden Partridge of these crimes forced his departure from the United States Military Academy at West Point and serves as the mark of his new beginning as a civilian. After settling into civilian life, Partridge wrote President Monroe in November of 1820, "My employment since I left military service, I believe has been both honorable to myself and useful to my country and I now find myself placed at the head of a Seminary, founded by my own Exertions, and the first of the kind established in the United States-the Superintendency of which I hold, not at the option of any Human Being."12 This seminary is referring to the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy, which became known as Norwich University. Partridge's Academy mirrored the educational background of the Ancient Greeks and Romans and was subjected to the influence of classical ideals of civic virtue, and duty to state that perpetrated educated men during the time of the Early American Republic. Partridge claimed that "In organizing the plan for this institution, I have taken for my guide, in part, the Constitution of the United States", a document filled with Roman Republican values.13 Partridge hoped to instill those values of duty to state and enthusiastically supported how the Constitution supported how all citizens should be used as a force to protect not only their own interests, but 10 Webb, Captain Alden Partridge and the United States Military Academy, 1806-1833, 52. 11 Baker, "The Partridge Connection", 89. 12 Baker, "The Partridge Connection", 109. 13 Baker, "The Partridge Connection", 138. 5 also serve as a vanguard against tyranny and control by elites. When the Constitution was written, it was the "time when the influences of the classics was at its height." 14 Drawing from their Classical education, the Founding Fathers relied heavily on the structure of the Roman Republic when designing the structure of the American experiment in liberty. The forefront of the Republican ideology that was present during this time was a counterculture movement against monarchical governments. The Founding Fathers were inspired by the stories of Sparta portrayed by Aristotle to "create a republic [established] on the natural rights of the citizen, even while urging the sacrifice for the common good."15 The Spartan state connected the concept of citizenship to the republican concept of duty to the state. Partridge, much like the Founding Fathers, admired "the Spartan's intense military training" which was the medium through which a Spartan citizen, much like an American one, carried out his duty to the state.16The Spartan State required all military aged males to undergo intense military training throughout the course of their youth because "individual Spartans could be conscripted by the state at any moment and could only be freed [from their duties] by the state" to return to society as normal citizens. Partridge followed a similar ideology within his citizen-solider concept that he wished to instill at his institution. Partridge believed that the American people should be "an informed people [who could] protect their liberties" which would be enabled through his scientific military instruction.17 Partridge also intended for his students to maintain a "Spartan life" which would force those students to focus on their studies both academically and militarily.18 14 Gummere, The American Colonial Mind and the Classical Tradition, 174. 15 Richard, Greeks & Romans Bearing Gifts, 23. 16 Richard, Greeks & Romans Bearing Gifts, 31. 17 Baker, "The Partridge Connection", 139. 18 Baker, "The Partridge Connection", 139 6 The Roman concept of citizenship lay in being an individual who held themselves to high moral standards, opposed corruption, defended liberty, and believed in their service to the state. Partridge held similar thoughts. In the 1820 prospectus for the A.S.L.M., Partridge outlined the classes that would meet his desired end state of creating model citizen-soldiers. Those classes included instruction in Latin and Greek, the sciences, History, logic, artillery gunnery, military tactics, and the ancient tactics of the phalanx and the legion to provide historical context as to how the US military has evolved while still retaining its classical influences. Partridge's citizen soldier concept was no doubt influenced by Cincinnatus, the Roman epitome of civic virtue and citizen-soldiery and the impact that he had on the Founding Fathers and the founding of the United States. Cincinattus was a Roman statesman who seized the reins of power to fight an invading army in a time of crisis and then voluntarily gave the up to return to his farm. Just as Patrick Henry believed that the fighters of the revolution were "sons of Cincinnatus…that served their country without ruining it", Partridge's institution would develop the same caliber of individual, who upon graduation would be postured to serve as a leader in the militia and his community.19 American soldiers in the years of the Early Republic embraced the ideas of liberty, citizenship, republicanism, and democracy. These ideals were utilized in the curriculum at Partridge's Institution which he linked to the aspect of serving in the military and helped develop as the corner stone of the military and overall American ethos. Partridge believed strongly in military service acting as the platform from which moral education is built on which aligns with the Roman principles of civic virtue and the Greek ideals of protecting individual liberty. Partridge sought to develop the American spirit which collectively resides in fighting 19 Richard, Greeks & Romans Bearing Gifts, 125. 7 tyranny as a soldier, and then having the ability to return to society after service to better the nation in a different capacity. Partridge was a devout believer in the fact that military service is "basic to the very definition of American Nationalism" and helped American citizens define their relationship to the American Republic.20 Partridge stated in his Lecture on National Defense that "The liberties of Romer were safe, while every Roman citizen considered and felt himself a soldier."21 Using the same logic, Partridge sought secure the liberties of the American citizen at his institution by placing the Citizen-Soldier concept as the cornerstone of his curriculum. While this idea of having a militia composed of individual citizens was the key to America's success in its revolt against Britain, it was not a popular idea at the time. In a correspondence on the subject of Partridge's Lecture on Defense between William Sumner the Adjutant General of the Commonwealth and John Adams, the former President of the United States, Sumner presents his distaste of having a organized militia. Sumner stated that a "Militia, however large, never can be; for it is composed of citizens only, armed [and trained] for the preservation of their own privileges."22 Partridge did not agree with that belief at all. In fact Partridge made it where citizen-soldiers trained at his institution would identify with the concepts of self-sacrifice and catering towards the needs of the community and ultimately the state "became the touchstones of republican virtue and self-worth."23 In his Lecture on Education, Partridge highlighted that he would develop citizen-soldiers and fix the issues that he saw at West Point and in the American Education System as a whole. 20 Herrera, For Liberty and the Republic, 87. 21 Partridge, "Lecture on Defense", 2. 22 Adams, Partridge, and Sumner, Observations on National Defence, Drawn from Capt. Patridge's Lecture on That Subject, and from Gen. Sumner's Letter to the Venerable John Adams, on the Importance of the Militia System, 20. 23 Herrera, For Liberty and the Republic, 87. 8 Partridge's lecture on education presents the argument that investment in the elementary education of the American Youth is paramount because it is "the rising generation that we are to look for the future guardians and protectors of the inestimable rights and privileges."24 Partridge states that he does not believe that education should be tailored to any specific job but instead believes that education should be tailored to prepare "a youth in the best possible manner for the correct discharge of the duties of any situation that he may be placed."25 Partridge cites 6 major deficiencies in the education system. The first deficiency that Partridge highlights is that the education system is "not sufficiently practical, nor properly adapted to the various duties an American citizen may be called upon to discharge."26 Partridge observed that the American youth who were "destined for a liberal education"27 would be required to study Greek and Latin more than they were required to study their native language of English which he believed to be extremely impractical. Partridge states that while the youth are required to gain proficiency in dead languages, they are not taught relative subjects such as government, international relations, and physical fitness. These are all subjects that the American youth must be proficient in to be productive citizens in the civilian sector of society or to be the "defender of their countries rights and the avengers of her wrongs" as leaders in the military."28 Partridge asserts that if the education system does not set up American citizens to perform their duty and contribute to society, then it is nothing short of defective and sets America up for failure. Partridge notes that there is additionally a neglect of physical fitness and physical education within the American education system. Identifying physical fitness as an "absolute 24 Partridge, Lecture on Education, 1. 25 Partridge, Lecture on Education, 2. 26 Partridge, Lecture on Education, 2. 27 Partridge, Lecture on Education, 2. 28 Partridge, Lecture on Education, 2. 9 necessity," Partridge believes that a citizen's ability to endure fatigue and their ability to take care of themselves is critical to the creation and maintenance of the American workforce. 29 In order to have a strong, productive workforce, Partridge believes that it is up to the individual citizen to maintain a high level of physical fitness so that they do not "prematurely die or linger out a comparatively useless and miserable existence."30 Partridge additionally believes that it is important for citizens to be able of "enduring exposure, hunger, and fatigue."31 Partridge links one's ability to exert themselves physically to their ability exert themselves mentally and asserts that a strong body houses a strong mind. Partridge additionally identified that the current system of education fails to manage time adequately and creates an environment that fosters a sense of idleness and lackadaisicalness. Partridge believed that with proper time management, that the American youth could occupy their time with productive activities that reinforce what they are learning in the classroom. Fourthly, Partridge claims that students should live frugally while obtaining their education. He believes that access to more wealth allows students to live extravagant lifestyles that are "highly injurious" to the individual and are not conducive to a productive academic environment.32 Partridge states that giving youths money "and allowing them a portion of idle time and it may be viewed as a miracle if a large portion of them do not become corrupt in morals.[and] they are prepared to become nuisances" to society and not benefit the greater good.33 Fifthly, Partridge highlights that all students should not be required to pursue the same courses of study as everyone has their own strengths and weakness. Partridge believes that when 29 Partridge, Lecture on Education, 2. 30 Partridge, Lecture on Education, 3. 31 Partridge, Lecture on Education, 3. 32 Partridge, Lecture on Education, 4. 33 Partridge, Lecture on Education, 4. 10 one is forced to pursue a course of study that does not interest them that they will never excel in that field, achieve a state of proficiency in the subject, and will develop a general disdain to engage in academic activities. Finally, Partridge states that he does not believe there should be a set time limit to complete one's education and advocates for one to be able to work at their own pace. According to Partridge it is pertinent that a student is able to progress as quickly or as slowly as he or she wants so that they develop a "thorough understanding of the subject" that they choose to pursue. 34 Partridge sought to fix the deficiencies he presented in his lecture in his own institution where he would integrate military discipline and organization, the instruction of military science, history, and general sciences within the academic environment. It is through military organization and discipline that Partridge hopes to instill the Roman traits of honor, manliness, and obedience in the individual citizen to aid in his/her success in the academic environment. The instruction of military science reinforces the fostering of the traits of a soldier and strengthens the skill of the militia to eliminate the need of a large standing army that has the potential to infringe on the freedoms of the American citizen. Partridge believed heavily in incorporating the study of history to supplement the instruction of military science by providing case studies and context as to why military operations are conducted in the manner that they are and highlight the principles on which victory is created. Through this integration of military science, history, and general science instruction, Partridge hoped to increase the financial stability of the early American Republic by lowering defense spending and thereby decreasing 34 Partridge, Lecture on Education, 4. 11 national debt. Partridge's educational model would achieve this as a result of military training/defense spending would be tied to the general education of the American population. In examining whether the ideals of the Ancient Greeks and Romans influenced Alden Partridge, it is difficult to say given the time and access needed to peruse hundreds upon hundreds of documents. Partridge's life was devoted to the education of America's youth because he believed that the success of the American Republic pivoted on the education of the youth. It can safely be asserted that Alden Partridge's educational ideology correlates with the Greek and Roman values of civic virtue, and duty to state; however, correlation does not equal causation. In examining three archival sources from the Partridge Papers and other secondary sources pertaining to the subject of the early American Education system and Classical Education as a whole it can only be asserted that if Partridge was subject to Ancient Greek and Roman ideals, then they implicitly impacted his plan to rejuvenate the American system of education along with his experiences both good and bad instructing at the United States Military Academy at West Point. 12 Annotated Bibliography Archival Sources from Norwich Partridge, Alden. The Partridge Papers. 5th Floor Special Collections. Norwich University Archives, Kreitzberg Library, Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, United States. • Partridge, Alden. Lecture on Education, 1828. 5th Floor Special Collections. Norwich University Archives, Kreitzberg Library, Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, United States. • Partridge, Alden. Lecture on National Defense, 1824. 5th Floor Special Collections. Norwich University Archives, Kreitzberg Library, Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, United States. • Observations on National Defense, Drawn from CPT Partridge's Lecture, 1824. 5th Floor Special Collections. Norwich University Archives, Kreitzberg Library, Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, United States. These sources from the Partridge Collection at the Norwich University Archives provide Partridge's opinion on education, national defense, and the opinion of other key players in American history such as John Adams and John C. Calhoun regarding Partridge's idea of national defense. These sources are very cut and dry in addition to being easy to read and are critical to my research as they present the revolutionary ideas of the citizen-soldier concept and Partridge's educational reform straight from the man himself. Primary Sources Painter, Jacqueline S., Dean Paul. Baker, and United States. Army. Court-martial (Partridge : 1817). The Trial of Captain Alden Partridge, Corps of Engineers: Proceedings of a General Court-Martial Convened at West Point in the State of New York, on Monday, 20th October 1817, Major General Winfield Scott, President. Norwich University Library Occasional Paper; No. 3. Northfield, Vt.: Friends of the Norwich University Library, 1987. This source is the transcript from the court-martial of CPT Alden Partridge that led to his dismissal as superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. This transcript is critical to my research as it gives historical context to a key event in CPT Partridge's life that pushed him to go out and create his own educational institution. This source reveals the immense controversy that surrounded the case and highlights a key time in the development of American Military education. 13 Secondary Sources Baker, Dean Paul. "The Partridge Connection: Alden Partridge and Southern Military Education," (PhD diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), 1986. This is a dissertation that was submitted to UNC Chapel Hill to satisfy the requirements for a History PhD for Dean Paul Baker. The fifth chapter titled "The Captain's Academy" provides a unique presentation of how Partridge's Academy fits in the larger picture of American Education at the time of the early 19th century. Baker additionally covers how Partridge spearheaded educational reform and inspired others to do so. Baker highlights while Partridge's academy specialized in training military leaders, its greatest contribution to society was training men for civilian careers. Harmon, Ernest N. Norwich University: Its Founder and His Ideals. Newcomen Address, New York: Newcomen Society in North America, 1951. MAJ. GEN. Ernest Harmon was the Professor of Military Science and Commandant of Cadets at Norwich University from 1927-1931. This is a small 31 paged primary source document that explains the founding of Norwich University and how it has contributed to American success both on the battlefield and on domestic soil. This document provides a look as to how the leader of Norwich University as an institution views the ideals of Alden Partridge and additionally provides an overview on Norwich's establishment following Partridge's removal from West Point. Hanson, Victor Davis., and John Heath. Who Killed Homer?: The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom. 1st paperback ed. San Francisco [Calif.]: Encounter Books, 2001. Victor David Hanson is a Professor of Greek at California State University at Fresno and is a renowned author, military historian. He additionally holds a PhD in the classics from Stanford University. Who Killed Homer? describes the importance of understanding Greek culture and its contribution to the development of the United States and Western Civilization as a whole. The second section of the work is entitled "Thinking Like a Greek" and provides a clear and concise overview of what ideas and ideology is considered to be "Greek" and gives a broad context as to the Greek influences on one's life. This is critical to this paper as it presents Greek ideas and ideology simply as interpreted by a leading expert in the Ancient Greeks. Herrera, Ricardo A. For Liberty and the Republic: The American Citizen as Soldier, 1775-1861. 1 online resource. vols. Warfare and Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2015. Ricardo Herrera is an associate Professor at the US Army Command General Staff College. This source relies primarily on unpublished manuscript sources to convey the ethos of the citizen soldier concept from America's birth to the breaking of the Civil War. Herrera goes into great detail as to how in the mind of an American, the idea of citizenship is closely linked 14 with being a soldier. This source is pertinent in my research because it displays how in early American History, the ideals of liberty, citizenship, republicanism, and democracy are linked to serving in the military. The identification of these ideals in the citizen-soldier ethos can be utilized to highlight similarities to the ethos that existed in Ancient Greek/Roman society and that has transcended the Hellenic age to the time of America's birth and the early 19th century when Alden Partridge founded his academy. Howe, Daniel. "Classical Education in America." The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 35, no. 2 (2011): 31–36. The focus of this source is how classical education has developed and been implemented throughout America History starting just after the Revolution. The article gives a fantastic overview of how classical ideas influenced the creation of America and remained a cornerstone from which the republic was developed. I plan to implement this source in my research by using it to provide an overview of how classical ideas remain present during the time of Alden Partridge, and how they influenced his upbringing and his personal education in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Gummere, Richard M. The American Colonial Mind and the Classical Tradition : Essays in Comparative Culture. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674284531. This source is a compilation of essays that discuss how the classical tradition influenced Colonial Americans. One essay is entitled "Colonial Reactions to a Classical Education" and discusses the classically based curriculum of the colonial grammar schools. Highlighting the emphasis placed on reading Greek authors such as Homer, Xenophon, Euclid, and developing an appreciation for learning Greek and Latin, this chapter aids me in my research paper by providing a detailed look as to what the curriculum of the early classical schools were and helps me develop a better picture of what Partridge's education was as an American youth. Norwich University Cadet Handbook. The Office of the Commandant, 2020. This is the handbook with all of the knowledge that is required to learn as a first-year cadet at Norwich University. The Office of the Commandant releases a new one each year. In this book you will find the Norwich Cadet's Creed, a brief history of Norwich University, a list and brief bio of the medal of honor winners and other things such as that. 15 Richard, Carl J. Greeks & Romans Bearing Gifts: How the Ancients Inspired the Founding Fathers. 1st Edition. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009. Carl J. Richard is a professor of history at the university of Louisiana. This source explains how the Founding Fathers of the United States were influenced by their education in the Greek and Roman Works. Richard explains that the ideals of civic virtue, individual liberty, checks and balances on government, were derived from the classics and aided the Founding Father's in their incitement of revolting against tyranny. This source critical to my research because it specifically outlines what about the Greeks and Romans influenced the creation of America and will provide ample amounts of evidence that I can tie to the ideology that Partridge shares with the Founding Fathers. Thelin, John R. A History of American Higher Education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. This source covers the overview of higher education in America from the founding of colleges in the colonial era to the 21st century. This source goes into detail as to the curriculum and teaching methods utilized at early American universities such as Dartmouth, Alden Partridge's Alma Mater prior to attending the United States Military Academy at West Point. I plan to utilize this source in my research paper to provide insight as to what Partridge's educational experience was like at Dartmouth and sheds light as to what the potential influences are on his educational philosophy that was considered so radical at the time. Urban, Wayne J., and Wagoner, Jennings L., Jr. American Education: A History. London: Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. Accessed November 5, 2020. This source covers the history of American education from the precolonial era to the twenty-first century. The source develops a whole chapter to the development of the education system from 1776-1830 entitled "Education and the Building of a New Nation" that covers the influences of classical education on the development of civic virtue and duty to state that Partridge sought to instill in his students at his institution. The author covers the classical influences on the enlightenment that perpetrated the thoughts of the founders of America and explains how those classical ideas remained tied to the development of citizens within the educational system. I plan to use this work in my research paper by using it to explain the type of school that Alden Partridge attended and to show how common the proliferation of classical ideals were in 18th-19th century society . 16 Webb, Lester A. Captain Alden Partridge and the United States Military Academy, 1806-1833,. Northport, Ala.: American Southern, 1965. This source is a biographic overview of Partridge's upbringing in the Vermont frontier all the way to when he was fired at West Point. Lester Webb presents a thoroughly researched work that compiles information from varying primary sources regarding Alden Partridge and his career as a teacher of mathematics and military science. I plan to incorporate this source in my research paper by using it to help me provide context as to how Alden Partridge was brought up and to help me describe what educational influences he was subject to since not much is known about his childhood. Wood, Gordon S. The Idea of America: Reflections on the Birth of the United States. Penguin, 2011. Gordon S. Wood is a Pulitzer Prize winning historian that has written several books on the American Revolution. This work focuses on the emphasis that Ancient Greece/Rome played in the development of the American Republic and how education is a cornerstone of creating citizens and instilling a sense of pride and involvement in the activities of one's nation. I plan to implement this work in my research by using it to draw parallels between the ideals of the Greeks and Romans that the ideal of America was based on and the educational ideals and citizen soldier concept developed and implemented by CPT Alden Partridge.

The WSU Stewart Library Annual UC-UI Symposium took place from 2001-2007. The collection consists of memorabilia from the symposium including a yearly keepsake, posters, and presentations through panel discussions or individual lectures. ; Audio Recording ; The Wattis Brothers: Spanning Distances, Spanning Eras a commemorative lecture presented at the 2007 Utah Construction/ Utah International Symposium The Beginning of an Era by Dr. Stan Layton Thursday, October 18, 2007 2 Well thank you Gene for that very gracious introduction and thanks to all of you for being here today. I'm particularly gratified to see so many of my students in the audience. I am teaching a class in Utah history this very hour. I gave my students an exam two days ago and I told them if they didn't come here to listen to the old man they'd never get their exams back. Here they are. Not long ago as I was walking towards parking lot A1 a nicely dressed middle aged couple hailed me asked me for directions to the Waters Building. I was pleased to correct their pronunciation and point them toward the Wattis Building. Once again I found myself asking why the Wattis name is not better know in our larger community. Why is it not as immediately recognized as a Huntsman, Matheson, Bamberger, Eccles or Sadler? I've got to tell you my research assistance Stephanie as she read this paper last week and we talked about it over the weekend, she read that sentence and she said, " Wouldn't say, Dee be a better name for this purpose?" I said, " Stephanie, that's a joke." Edmund O. and William H. Wattis are men of towering importance in twentieth century Utah history. They put together a construction company that in true Horatio Alger fashion expanded in size and stature to become one of the largest in the nation and left an indelible mark on the Utah, Western American, Mexican and Australian landscapes. They served as model citizens, family men, community servants and philanthropists. Their business acumen still serves as a model for today's entrepreneurs and their eventful lives continue to fascinate historians. 3 I am sure that most of us in this room have had our lives impacted in some small way by the Wattis family. They influenced the place of my birth for example. For three generation on both sides of my family, as Gene intimated, all my forbearers had been born in Layton. All of the sudden there I was as a newborn in a hospital in Puyallup Washington. Condemn throughout my childhood to try to conceal my embarrassment at having entered the world at such an awful sounding place. That angst was not eased in the least by my mothers constant telling of a joke about two boys with the unlikely name of Atle and Allup who surprised a skunk as they were walking one day. " See Atle," yelled the one. " Pew Allup," replied the other. I even thought of having my dear old mom come and tell that joke for you, but unfortunately she passed away about three weeks ago. My parents had been gone to Washington a few years earlier. Having a small child but no money or prospects they gathered up their meager belongings and headed for the construction site of the Grand Cooley Dam, where Utah Construction Company was a major subcontractor. My mother gave me this magazine just a few days before she died. I didn't know that she had it, but she and my dad always, always treasured their time in Washington. Several other Davis County families in similar circumstances were already there and had gained work, maybe Stan and Viola Layton would be so lucky. They were. Ultimately the wielding skills my dad acquired on this job and others opened up greater opportunities, including employment at the Tacoma Ship Yard which was yet another Wattis related enterprise. It was then while he and my mother lived in 4 the neighboring community of Puyallup that I was born. I like to think that my dad was the man behind the wielding hood in this photo. How might your lives have been touched by the Wattis brothers, William H. and Edmund O? Perhaps simply by taking a class over here in our Wattis Building, or maybe flipping on a light switch in a Las Vegas hotel room, or enjoying fresh apple grown in irrigated orchards of central Washington, or maybe boating on our Pineview Reservoir. Certainly as President Milliner said tens of millions of lives have been impacted, and will continued to be impacted everyday by the dams built, transportation systems constructed and mines developed by the Wattis brothers, and their Utah Construction Company, later named Utah International. How delighted I am as a Utah historian to see William and Edmund Wattis begin to receive the recognition due them and what a special treat to have been selected for a research fund, fellowship funded by the heirs of their company and administered by the Stewart Library. Very, very much appreciated. Then to have these library administrators suggest that I focus specifically on the Wattis brothers was the perfect scenario for me. I had first run across W. H. in researching my master's thesis forty years ago. These same people, Joan Hubbard and others were also generous in funding two research assistants to help me with this work. Janice LeFevre who is in class now and didn't feel that she could be here, but her husband Steven is here and Steven we appreciate the sacrifices you and the rest of the family made in support of this fellowship this 5 summer. And Stephanie Combe who is here in right in front as is helping me with the visuals today. And they were just of immeasurable assistance all summer. For purposes of this research project the term the Wattis brothers means the two older brothers only. Edmund O. and William H. this is not to minimize the importance of younger brother Warren L. who also played a significant role in the company's success. Rather it is simply a necessity of establishing realistic limits on the scope of this work. Let us begin with a short survey of Utah Construction/ Utah International. Just to get a feel for the scope, diversification and significance of its enterprises. And this will be short. You've all seen the photos, you've heard Tom Alexander's excellent presentation, you have probably I see a number of you have some of the booklets published by the library and so you don't need a long survey here of the scope of their work. Utah Construction Company evolved from a twenty year affiliation with the four Corey Brothers. They were brothers to the Wattis mother. In a number of railroad and canal construction projects in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Oregon the Wattis brothers bought half the stock in the newly reorganized Corey Brothers incorporated in 1886. The company thrived for several years before collapsing in the financial crash of the mid 1890' s. From its ruins Utah Construction emerged without the Coreys as you heard last hour. Incorporated in the year 1900 Utah Construction Company first undertook small scale railroading projects in Idaho, then several larger ones in Nevada and California, which included that daunting 942 mile Feather River route and then in Utah which included a portion of the Denver and Rio Grande track between 6 Soldier Summit and Helper. Then in 1915 Utah Construction made its entry into dam building. Beginning with our own East Canyon Dam which is another way in which many of us have been impacted. Without East Canyon Dam and the irrigation water impounded there Davis County would never have enjoyed the prosperity it has. Gene mentioned our farm our 100 acre family farm. Every six days this summer I was there irrigating that farm and I took pride in the prosperity of the farm and green alpha and the corn that we produced and I couldn't have done it without that East Canyon Dam. Railroad construction and dam building projects much too numerous to be detailed here were the companies bread and butter throughout the 1920' s. Then came the granddaddy of all construction projects in 1931, Hoover Dam, began in 1931. Where in Utah Construction Company joined Morrison Knudson, Bechtel, Kaiser and others to form six companies, to form Six Companies the name of that conglomerate to span the mighty Colorado River. It is a measure of the reputation enjoyed by the Wattis brothers that William, and he according to the style of the day took to his initials W. H. and so I'm going to refer to him by that term throughout the remainder of the paper, he was named president of this huge conglomerate. And Edmund O., similarly went by his initials E. O., was named second vice president and they referred to each other by their respective initials and sign their names and other documents with those initials. As fate would have it both brothers died before the dam was completed in 1935. However the reputation gained by Utah Construction during this time allowed the company to continue to shine for another generation. Gene Sessions 7 and Sterling Sessions in their outstanding business biography list eighteen major dam building projects completed during the period 1936 and 1959 after their deaths by Utah Construction, including Pineview and Wanship in our own backyard. The warriors brought contracts in ship building including at that aforementioned Tacoma Ship Yard and road construction including the famous Alcan Highway. They had an important contract for a portion of that highway. After World War II the company entered into an entirely new phase, emphasizing mining which dominated its operations into the modern era, revived its financial strength and turned it into a multinational corporation. This paper advances the thesis that although E. O. and W. H. Wattis were not particularly well positioned by birth or education to achieve the remarkable success that they did, nevertheless we can identify certain character traits, experiences and opportunities that they took full advantage of in their quest for success. Pouring through hundreds of documents this summer my research assistance and I have identified six such factors of success we've called them, which I summarize in the following pages. First, these brothers had a remarkable knack for recognizing opportunity when they saw it and making the most of it. A good example of this aptitude is visible in their very first construction experience. Grading portions of the Union Pacific track as the initial transcontinental line approached Utah in 1868 and headed right for the Wattis farm in Uintah. The younger brother William was only ten years old and too young to hire on, but he undoubtedly observed the activity with wide eyed interest knowing that his older brother was one of the workers. 8 Edmund was only thirteen and had to have help in yoking his oxen, but his diligence paid off. And at the end of several months he brought home $ 225. This seemed like a small fortune to that cash strapped family. Of the 5,000 local men, Leonard Arrington tells us 5,000 worked on that project, only a handful used the experience as a career path in heavy construction. But E. O. Wattis was one. Opportunity came right down the tracks for these brothers and they jumped aboard. I'm indebted to my research assistant Janice LeFevre for putting it that way, but I love the way she said it. Opportunities came right down the tracks for these brothers and they jumped aboard. Second, both of these men reflected traditional agrarian values of hard work and perseverance. Farm youngsters learned the importance of looking after details and of staying with a task to its completion regardless of weather conditions. They learned safety consciousness and patience with animals. And it was of no small benefit to these boys that they were skilled in working with oxen, mules and draft horses. Both grew into large men who were strong and full of grit. Oh that's an excellent photo. I could not find a single job that they ever quit on. And I was interested in that Tom Alexander pointed out that that was a trait of David Eccles as well. Particularly revealing was E. O.' s involvement with the Coreys that is two uncles and three other men in the transportation of a wagon load of whiskey from Kelton, Utah to Boise, Idaho in the year 1868. Young Wattis was only thirteen years old but proved to be one of the steadiest of the group when bad weather 9 overtook them. All except him began nipping at that whiskey and all except him suffered frost bite. Third, was the development of the self confidence to stride forward on their own. Quite likely the single most fortuitous business decision they ever made was to end their partnership with the Coreys. Even though the implosion of Corey Brothers was cause by the panic of 1893, the break up of that company must have been difficult for the Wattis's on a personal level. The Coreys after all were family, uncles and cousins and the Wattis's had worked with them or for them since childhood and incorporated with them since 1886. Nevertheless the Coreys did not have the acumen or stability to thrive as a modern company. I'm convinced that they didn't, but that was only an intuitive and deductive conclusion and I was gratified as I listened to Tom's paper last hour that he apparently moved toward that same conclusion and he had the benefit of some primary source documentations to draw his conclusions from. But I know that numerous Corey cousins plugged in and out of the company. The elder Coreys insisted on dominating the decision making even though the Wattis brothers owned fifty- one percent of the stock and were better decision makers. And the elder uncle, Warren Corey, could be petty and vindictive and I was a little worried about advancing that point of view in those words, but I'm much reassured by Tom's paper. On of the truly remarkable document in twentieth century Utah political history is Warren Corey's open letter to his nephew W. H. Wattis published in the Salt Lake Tribune in August of 1928 reeking of spite this letter chides W. H. for being an unsuccessful candidate on 10 several previous occasions. Labels him a lame duck, obviously not understanding the meaning of that term and accuses him of being a disloyal party member and I know that that was not true based on a lot of years of research and so I wondered what was the cause of that animosity. There was something else there that I was not able to see from my research and again much indebted to Tom Alexander for having enlightened me and all of the audience this morning on that. The bitter animosity of this letter speaks volumes as to the Wattis' good fortune in being rid of the irascible man. By the same token the Wattis alignment with the Ogden financiers Thomas D. Dee, David Eccles and others following the breakup of the Coreys was undoubtedly the single most fortunate occurrence in their business lives. Fourth, was a commitment to a hands- on management style. No wonder they fit so well with David Eccles. Don't you agree? These were men who maximized their time on the construction site and minimized their time in the board room, especially during their early and middling years. They were comfortable with dust in their nose, blisters on their feet, calluses on their hands and dirt under their fingernails. In 1893 on one of his last jobs with Corey Brothers W. H. Wattis then 34 and a full partner was operating a slip plow on the Portland- Astoria job site when he received a surprise visit from his new financiers David Eccles, Thomas Dee and others and on that occasion one of them gave him a cigar. " I wish it had been a twenty- five cent piece," he later recalled, " Since I hadn't eaten food for a day and a half." This was a full partner. 11 The older brother held the same commitment to tenacity and detail the Wattis brothers were managers yes, and they grasped the big picture yes, but they were also detail men who understood the need to worry about on site activity. Incidentally this was no doubt the safety record of the company was so good even though their work involved blasting, working at great heights, spanning raging rivers, operating heavy equipment and sometimes supervising hundreds of men at a time. And while Tom could tell us of some dozen or so fatalities on that Feather River job that was nothing as compared to the hundreds, maybe as many as a thousand Chinese workers who were killed on the Central Pacific construction job in those two years of building the transcontinental railroad. Fifth, both men had the good fortune to marry talented, devoted and stable wives who liked each other and got on well together. The fact that both these women were well poised and possessed of good lucks would also be counted an advantage, especially in the 1920' s as the newspaper society pages found a growing audience of readers with and insatiable curiosity for news of the upper crust. Additionally such a spouse was essential to someone like W. H. who had developed political aspirations and began a series of campaigns for election to public office. W. H. married the striking Anna Maria Dorothea Sophie Standard and she went by Marie Dee, in 1889. He was nearly thirty she was twenty- three, her senior year report card from the Sacred Heart Academy reveals that she was as talented and sophisticated as she was beautiful. And isn't she something? 12 When I first met Stephanie as a student in my 1700 class three or four years ago, I was able to learn before the semester was over that her maiden name was Standard because her brother was also in the class and his name was Standard. When I got to know Marie Dee, I asked Stephanie about the relationship and she said yes, she's my great- great- grandmother and I was able to assure Stephanie that there is enough good looks represented in that woman to serve the Standard family for a hundred generations. She received a perfect score, 100, in all categories of citizenship that Sacred Heart Academy report card. Her academic achievement was equally impressive with scores ranging from ninety to ninety- eight in the nine subjects graded. She and W. H. had four children, two of whom died in childhood with in six months of each other. But I was pleased to learn that we have a great granddaughter of his. Say again? Okay Granddaughter and a great- great, oh how about? That's wonderful. E. O. on the other hand married the petite Martha Ann Bybee from nearby Riverdale in June 1879. When he was twenty- four and she was just sixteen, sixteen and a half. Martha was described by a grandson as a little on the plump side in her later years, though Stephanie and I wonder about that. The photos we have seen of her in her later years do not suggest that at all, including this one. But the grandson described her as full of energy and quote, " Very interested in civic activities." She was active in a local charity, the Martha Society that assisted the needy. And incidentally I have concluded that the Martha Society did not bear relationship to her name, but if somebody knows differently about that I would appreciate hearing the details. She also served as president of the Utah 13 Federation of Women's Clubs and she participated in countless other civic activities and municipal clubs. Having recovered from a serious illness through the healing hand of Christen Science she became an ardent convert to that faith. She and E. O. raised eight children, although one, a son Earl preceded him in death, the victim of an automobile accident. So is this the family? Oh the Child Culture Society that she was active in. Say it out loud Stephanie, she is where? The third one from the left? From my left as I'm looking at it? This one? Over here? Okay alright. Oh, that beautiful house, oh wow. 1915 Stephanie says. In looking at the personalities and lives of these men as individuals we can not improve on Linda Sillito's insightful taxonomy of W. H. as Mr. Outside and E. O. as Mr. Inside. William was gregarious, smiling, athletics and always at ease in the glare of the public spotlight. Edmund was comfortable with people, but somewhat more reserved more paperwork and detail oriented and a bit more inclined to worry. W. H. first came to my attention when I began researching my master's thesis as I mentioned. And I peaked in on that state republican convention of 1920. There he was front runner for the gubernatorial nomination moving easily among the delegates shaking hands smiling and asking for support. By the second vote he had begun to slip and by the third he had lost by a decisive margin to the nominee Charles Mabey. Newspaper accounts of the day pointed to W. H.' s recent indictment under the Lever Act as the likely reason for his fade. The Lever Act was a war time 14 measure that sought to prevent price gouging in the marketing of food and fuel. And W. H. as an executive of the U& I Sugar Company had been targeted by federal prosecutors. The act its self was poorly drawn and ill advised and was in fact declared unconstitutional in 1921 at which time all indictments were dismissed, but the damage had been done. The fact that W. H. was a Weber County man would not have worked in his favor. The Utah Republican Party was firmly controlled by a nepotistic Salt Lake City clique during that era and they played political hardball. By decades end W. H.' s sterling reputation as a business man hammered down all such barriers and won him the gubernatorial nomination. By then he was a man of such status that LDS Church President Heber Grant could write him saying, " I tried to get you on the phone all night last night until ten p. m." and then apologizing to him that he had to leave town for a week quote, " Before we had arrived on a decision on what do to in the affairs of the Utah- Idaho Sugar Company." W. H. was so popular with the local press that the press even reported on his fishing and hunting trips. He was a person so esteemed by his peers around the nation that he was named director of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce and entrepreneur so successful that he stood as president of one of the half dozen largest construction companies in the nation, a businessman so esteemed that the president of the United States sought his feed back on speeches. The nomination simply could not be denied him. But facing a very popular incumbent George Dern in the general election of 1928 W. H. was to garner only forty- one percent of the vote. 15 After that W. H. turned back to business and did not again seek public office. After all he had been defeated twice at the polls first in the congressional race on 1918 and now in the gubernatorial race 1928 and he had been frustrated three times in the nominating convention seeking the gubernatorial nomination in 1920, as previously mentioned, and in 1924 in seeking the U. S. senatorial nomination in 1922. By 1929 he had started to develop health problems nevertheless his natural charm and good humor continued on and served him well until death in 1931. Oft quoted, I'm sure many of you have heard this before but I can't resist repeating it here, it's a capsule that comes from the hospital room upon hearing of Six Companies successful bid on the Hoover Dam project. He's quoted by Linda Sillito in one of the Stewart Library booklets, comes from Joseph Lee Stevenson and goes as follows, " At St. Frances Hospital the press core found William H. sitting up wrapped in a silk bathrobe puffing on a long black stogy. His bushy white hair had been carefully brushed in to place by his wife and he was eager to talk. News of the winning bid had lifted his spirits. He grinned broadly for the photographers then said " Now this dam is just a dam, but it's a damn big dam," and his eyes twinkling. " Otherwise it was no different that others we've thrown up in a dozen place," end of that quote. Unlike his younger brother E. O. on the other hand had no political aspirations. Out side of business his constituency was his family. The only babies he kissed were his own and when he shook hands it was often for the purpose of slipping a dollar to his grandchildren. They call it the silver dollar handshake. 16 Unlike W. H. who loved golf, played it often and was photographed in golfing attire along with such celebrities as Heber J. Grant and Reed Smoot and Tom isn't Charles Nibley in there? Does that look like Nibley? Ya second from the right, ya. But unlike W. H. in this kind of environment and W. H. is second from the left E. O. played golf mostly as a social necessity. Simply taking off a suit coat he turned his suspenders the other way around and played in his business attire. E. O.' s idea of leisure time fun was being at home with his family riding scooters with the children, romping with the family dog, picking fruit and vegetables from his orchard and garden and joining in the many socials hosted at his beautiful home on Eccles Street or in the immediate neighborhood. Due to the press of business however E. O. was denied the time at home that he coveted. Christmas time was the exception. He always made it a point to be home for the holidays. Incidentally I should tell you that the E. O. Wattis family put together a wonderful twenty minute DVD featuring a number of clips from home videos shot by E. O.' s family when he was still alive and in that beautiful home on Eccles Avenue and I have watched that DVD its available here, its just wonderfully revealing and you can just feel how important it was to him to be home when ever he could be, which wasn't often. In fact that point is made in that DVD by one of his granddaughters that there was a time, almost a year when he was gone the entire time. 17 E. O. was quite tall for that day, standing a full six feet. Unlike his younger brother W. H. he never took on that middle age spread but remained slender. His curly hair, rosy cheeks, spectacles and pipe all fit the image of a dignified business man. E. O. was a bulldog, albeit a gentle one. His hallmark was tenacity and his genius was energy. One of his grandsons noted quote " My grandfather's education consisted of two or three years of formal schooling," unquote. He said that E. O. could write, but made a lot of grammatical mistakes and that he quote, " came up through the process with a long construction history of being on the site and doing the work," end of this quote. In today's vernacular he would probably be described as a workaholic. In a letter to his sister Mary Jane written from Oroville California in 1909 he mentioned that he had lost weight was down to 155 pounds, remember that's on a six foot frame. He said. " I am getting very tired of railroad work and I don't know whether I will ever take another job or not. It is very monotonous for me to always be away from home and I think that I am needed at home about as bad as anybody. Besides that I am fifty- four years old and have always worked very hard and have never had but very little pleasure in life. I don't think I have hardly had my share. My young life was spent in poverty and hard work and I am not in the best of health. W. H. left here a few days go and should reach Ogden tonight. I want to make a trip home very bad but am so badly crowded with the part of business that it is my duty to look after that I can not get away now," end of his quote. E. O. Worries in this letter that he will become even less happy as he 18 grows older, that he did or didn't, cannot be discerned from the historical record, but his health problems continued. In a letter written as early as 1914 he commented on his rheumatism. In 1927 he described his bladder infection and pending surgery which promised a ninety- five percent success probability. Two years later in 1929 he mentioned his cough, eczema, insomnia and urinary infection, puss in the urine. So he obviously did not enjoy that ninety- five percent probability success rate, but he was rather in the five percent. And in 1932 he complained of swollen feet, swollen feet and inner ear problems. What the historical record also reveals is that E. O. never did relax his work schedule to any significant degree. At the time of his death in 1934 he was president of six companies and Hoover Dam was in the final phase of construction and as always he was busy with on site visits production schedules, costs, press relations and dozens of other executive level tasks. The heart attack that took his like was sudden and massive. In approaching the conclusion of this paper I return to the thesis and advance the sixth factor of success, you thought I'd forgotten it. It's not a factor that can be offered for general applicability in a business management class for its unique to the Wattis brothers. Simply stated they had each other. E. O. and W. H. were a perfect match as business partners. Their individual personalities, aptitudes, likes and dislikes complemented the others to a consummate degree. Equally important they like and trusted each, a family trait. " There are very few families that have as strong as long a love for each other as ours have and none have any stronger," wrote E. O. in a 1909 letter noting that quote, " there have 19 never been any quarrels between any of us nor any hard feelings," unquote. Those are truly remarkable statements aren't they? As close as these two brothers were however they usually did not work in pairs. They were not joined at the hip to use that contemporary phrase. Indeed their trust was so implicit that they were frequently apart and engaged in different types of tasks. A revealing snap shot in time comes from the summer of 1922. I had hoped in pouring through those hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents I could I find them writing letters on the same day. And I could then share with you what different kinds of tasks and different approaches they were taking. I never was able quite to do that, but I see them close together here in the summer of 1922. W. H. who was then preparing his run for the U. S. Senate was participating in number of activities at Lagoon. They included umpiring a softball game between a Salt Lake and Ogden young men's republican clubs and attending several wrestling and boxing matches. In the distinctive newspaper style of the day that were topped off by a battle royal between five members of the Ethiopian race all in the ring at the same time. Contrast this with E. O. who's hectic travel schedule had made him almost invisible even to his wife, " I was surprise your father was in Kansas City," she wrote to a daughter June 15th after spending that anniversary alone. This is not to imply that E. O. worked while W. H. played. W. H. was just a little more extroverted, more readily given to conduction business on the golf course or in other recreational settings. And who can doubt that how important that is in the modern corporate world. E. O. took a quieter but more direct approach to 20 business. Again we see Mr. Outside and Mr. Inside in perfect compliment. The brothers used that friendship and bond to span distances over four thousand miles of track alone, plus many more of road, tunnels, canals, etc. and to span eras from the pre- railroad era, from the pre- railroad frontier to the industrial era when they died. Again going back to the comment President Millner made the monuments to industry they created would span many more eras and serve the purposes of society long into the indefinite future and you can take that from a historian who's maternity bill was paid by a father whose pay check was back in part by Wattis money long ago and far away in Puyallup Washington. Thank you. © 2007 WSU Stewart Library, All rights reserved.

Technical Report 2018-08-ECE-138 Technical Report 2002-09-ECE-007 Enterprise Engineering - A Transdisciplinary Activity: Mapping IT to Core Competency Rajani S. Sadasivam Urcun J. Tanik Murat M. Tanik This technical report is a reissue of a technical report issued December 2002 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Alabama at Birmingham August 2018 Technical Report 2002-09-ECE-007 Enterprise Engineering- A Transdisciplinary Activity: Mapping IT to Core Competency Rajani S. Sadasivam Urcun J. Tanik Murat M. Tanik TECHNICAL REPORT Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Alabama at Bi1mingham December 2002 ENGINEERING OF ENTERPRISES: A TRANSDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITY Mapping Information Technology to Core Competency Contributors: Murat M. Tanik, Rajani S. Sadasivam, lJrcun J. Tanik 1. ELEMENTS Qli' INTERNET ENTERPRISE ENGINEERING 1.1) Uusiness Language Structure Before any e n gin~ring takes place, the requirements of the project must be identified in as much detail as possible to satisfy the customer. Hence a customer-driven system is created, with the goal of ensuring that the end product is profitable. Business analysts should be able to accurately assess customer needs and break them down into manageable pieces for the technology analysts and engineering team, and that analysis can be effectively done on common ground with an object-oriented design language called Unified Modeling Language (UML). Introduced in November 1997, UML has quickly become the standard modeling language for software development, later adapted by business analysts to systematically design business processes [15]. UML has a business model approach that provides a pJan for engineering an orchestrated set of business functions. It provides a framework by which business is to be perf01med, allowing for changes and various improvements in the process. The model is designed to anticipate changes in business function and adapt software implementation accordingly in order for a business to maintain a competitive edge. One of the advantages of modeling in UML is that it can visually depict functions, relationships, and paradigms. UML is reconunended for business analysts to breakdown a large-scale business operation into its constituent parts for restructming and design. 1.2 Strategic Guidance One innovative approach to safely guiding an lEE venture through unce11ain waters is the Cosmos model, proposed by Yeh [10]. It is a model designed to assist a business manage change through holistic, three-dimensional modeling. One of the important aspects of this model is that it should be noted that three dimensions exist interdependently, as each dimension behaves as an enabler and an inhibitor to the other dimensions. The Cosmos model provides a conceptual tool for managers to guide their company along the best possible path by providing a structure for effective decision-making, while navigating from one point of an organizational situation to another over . time. The managerial decision made at each point in the path detetmines the future course of the company and the most optimum tradeoff's along the way. 1.3 General Business Types and Characterizations The Enterprise Maturity Model is introduced in the beginning of Chapter 2 to serve as a general reference for business and technology analysts working together to build an Intemet enterprise riO]. This model helps to accurately define the objectives for the specific type of organization they wish to build with respect to the maturity level of the organizational structure. In order to characterize a business in terms of its level of maturity, focus, activity, coordination, and infrastructure, these various faclors are covered explicitly. It is very helpful to understand the maturity level of a given organization in order to apply the most appropriate management techniques according to enterprise type. 1.4 Online Business Model Selection and Analysis An enterprise business model is one of the most important aspects in the construction of a viable business initiative. The combination of a company's policy, operations, technology, and ideology defines its business model [16]. Entrepreneurs who wish to launch e-businesses need to be aware of these models and how to implement them effectively. An array of business model types are provided that have proven profitable for actual enterprises in operation today, including the storefront model, auction model, portal model, and dynamic pricing model [11]. The case study is used as an example for online business model selection and analysis. 1.5 Online Financial Transactions In financial transactions, it is critical to have a reliable method to collect payment. Since the scope of this thesis covers lEE systems, this thesis describes those that would be relevant to Cyberspace operations. There are various methods and mechanisms that merchants online use to collect income through electronic transactions. The types of transactions covered include credit card, e­wallet, debit card, digital currency, peer-lo-peer, smartcard, micropayment and e­billing mechanisms [11]. 1.6 Online Legal Contracts In order for proper oversight of monetary operations, legal issues must be addressed for lEE projects, so the concept of the online contract is introduced. An online contract can be accomp.lished through the use of Digital Signatures [1 1]. These electronic signatures are the electronic equivalent of written signatures. The ";Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act of 2000" (E-sign Bill) was recently passed into law [ 1 I, 4]. This technology was developed for use in public-key cryptography to solve the problems of authentication and integrity. The purpose of a digital signature is for electronic authentication. The U.S. govemment's digital­authentication standard is called the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) [1 1]. The U.S. government also recently passed digital-signature legislation that makes digital signatures as legally binding as hand-written signatures. This legislation is designed to promote more activity in e-business by legitimizing online contractual agreements. 1.7 OnUne Security For centuries in human society whenever something of value was transferred, a method to protect that shipment or trade had to be established. Naturally, this subject is discussed to illustrate the measures taken by current security agencies to protect value on the Internet. For example, Netscape Communications developed the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, developed as a non-proprietary protocol commonly used to secure communication on the Internet and the Web. SSL is designed to use public key technology and digital certificates to authenticate the server in a transaction and to protect private information as it passes f1·om one party to another over the Internet. Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) protocol was developed by Visa International and Mastercard and was designed specifically to protect e-commerce payment transactions [11, 12]. SET uses digital certificates to authenticate each party in an e-commerce transaction, induding the customer, the merchant, and the merchant's bank. 1 . 8 Online Business Prototyping Technologies and Development In order for technologists to satisfy the requirements set forth by the business analysts expressed in a language such as UML, various high-level tools are needed to develop an accepta~le solution. One such tool, Macromedia . Drumbeat 2000, recently released by Elemental Software, is capable of accepting and delivering complex information and functionality through a Web-interface [20). This technology is introduced as a recommended tool for building a professional enterprise through rapid prototyping. The tool aids a visually skilled Web designer to competitively build a website without necessarily having to do any coding. It is a sophisticated tool that interacts with the back-end database by building user-friendly client-side applications with Active Server Page (ASP) Web technology. 1.9 Government Initiatives in Cyberspace An enterprise planning for the future should consider the overall development of the global Internet infrastructure. It is important to understand the territory in which an Internet enterprise is to be launched. In addition to the current Intemet environment, a new government initiative is in the works, entitled The Next Generation Internet (NGI). This multi-agency, national U.S. research and development program began on October 1, 1997 with the partidpation of the following agencies: DARPA, DOE, NASA, NJH, NIST, and NSF. These agencies are charged with the responsibility of developing advanced networking technologies, developing revolutionary applications that require advanced networking, and demonstrating these capabilities on test beds that are 100 to 1,000 times faster th

Yukarı Dicle bölgesi, Güneydoğu Anadolu dağ sistemi içerisinde önemli bir alanı temsil etmekte olup, söz konusu özellik Mezopotamya çukur bölgesini hem kuzey hem de doğu Anadolu alanlarına bağlayan bir rol oynamasına imkan sağlayan coğrafi konumu ile ilişkilidir. Dicle nehrinin yukarı çığırında son otuz yılda gerçekleştirilen arkeolojik araştırmalar sayesinde, yerel bir kültürel sistemin tanımlanmasını sağlayacak yeni önemli göstergelere ek olarak, gerek bölge içerisinde gerekse ötesinde zamandizinsel ayrımlar ve eşzamanlılıklara açıklık getirmekte kullanılabilecek kapsamlı bir veri bütüncesi de elde edilmiştir. Bu kitap, Erken ve Orta Tunç Çağı'nın son kısmına ilişkin yakın dönemde yürütülen arkeolojik etkinliklerin sonuçlarını araştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Yayımlanan verilerin ayrıntılı bir çözümlemesinden başlayarak yerleşkeler, stratigrafi, mimari, çanak çömlekler, bölgesel bağlantılar ve zamandizine ilişkin temel konular ele alınmıştır. Ṭūr ʿAbdīn tepelerinin kuzeyinde, yüksek Güneydoğu Torosların eteklerinde yer alan Yukarı Dicle bölgesi, arkeolojik bulgular açısından tutarlı ve uyumlu bir görüntü çizmektedir. Yürütülen araştırma ve kazılar, vadideki kayda değer bir yerleşim döneminin, ufak boyutlu yerleşimlerin Dicle taşkın ovası kenarındaki akarsu taraçalarında ve ana akarsu kolları boyunca kurulma eğilimi içerisinde oldukları M.Ö. III. binyılın sonu ile M.Ö. II. binyılın ilk yarısı arasında tarihlendirilmesi gerektiğini belgelemektedir. Bunların çoğu, iri yapılar ya da yapı bütünleri ile komşu bölgelerdeki eşzamanlı seramik geleneklerinden farklı nitelikteki yerel bir seramik topluluğu tarafından karakterize edilmektedir. Ağırlıklı olarak kırmızı-kahverengi astarlı ve boyalı çömleklerden oluşan seramik topluluğu, yerel sistemin tanımlanması ve Yukarı Dicle bölgesindeki sahalararası kültürel bağlantıların belirlenmesi açısından önem taşımaktadır. Alanda ele geçirdiğimiz buluntuların büyük kısmını teşkil eden çanak çömlek parçalarının yaygın olarak yer alışı, halihazırda araştırmaların temelini oluşturmalarını sağlamaktadır. Özellikle son dönemdeki araştırmaların üzerinde yoğunlaştığı Yukarı Dicle bölgesinde ele geçirilen çanak çömlekler, diğer buluntu kategorileri ve alandaki varlıklarına kıyasla, yalnızca farklı katman bağlamları dahilinde değil aynı zamanda henüz kazılmamış alanların yüzeylerinde de dikkat çekici nitelikte olup; bu belirgin coğrafi alandaki maddi üretimin belirleyici özelliklerini saptamak ve Yukarı Dicle bölgesindeki kültürel gelişimi daha geniş bir yelpazede yorumlayabilmek adına en güvenilir araçlardan biri olma özelliğine sahiptir. Coğrafi ve tarihi nitelikli kısa önsöz hariç (Bölüm 1), kitabın esas içeriğini bölgede yürütülan arkeolojik araştırmalar ve çözümlemeleri olusturmaktadır (Bölüm 2 & 4). İkinci bölümün konusu, araştırılan alanlar ve kazılan verleşimler olup (Bölüm 2); söz konusu alanlar, bugün itibarıyla sahip olduğumuz arkeolojik bilgilerin en üst seviyesine ışık tutmaktadır. Bu konuda bir diğer önemli katkı sunan Hirbermerdon Tepe'deki kazılar kitabın üçüncü bölümünün ana konusunu teşkil etmekte ve yerleşim evreleri ve ilgili çömlek buluntularını (3.4) da içeren arkeolojik bağlam (3.2) üzerine çoğunluğu yayımlanmamış akla yatkın önermelerde de bulunulmaktadır. Çanak çömlek parçalarının gerek teknolojik gerekse biçimsel açıdan sınıflandırılması (3.3) ile, alandaki varlıklarının mekansal ve zamansal devamlılık özellikleri ve çanak çömlek çeşitlerinin analizine geniş yer ayrılmıştır. Ayrıca temel küçük buluntular da gerek bölgesel gerekse zamandizinsel çerçeve açısından yorumlanmış ve ilgili ögelerle birlikte değerlendirilmiştir (3.5). Seramik buluntularının ayrıntılı bir analizini gerçekleştirebilmek adına yararlandığımız temel bilgi kaynağı Hirbemerdon Tepe höyüğünde gün ışığına çıkarılan yapılar bütünü olmakla birlikte, yerleşimde açılan sondajlardan elde edilen bulgulardan da yararlanılmıştır. Dicle nehrinin sağ kıyısında yer alan Hirbermerdon Tepe'de gerçekleştirilen ilk kazı dönemi (2005-2007), yararlı arkeolojik verileri göz önüne sermenin ötesinde, çoğunluğu M.Ö II. binyılın ilk kısmına tarihlendirilen bol miktarda çanak çömlek buluntusu ve buluntu elde edilmesini de sağlamıştır. Farklı katmanlara ait yeni veriler sunan Hirbermerdon Tepe, böylece Yukarı Dicle vadisinin kültürel profilini belirlemek adına önemli bir katkıda bulunmaktadır. Kazılar, her biri form ve teknolojik özellikleri sayesinde belirlenen üç ana seramik evresi sıralamasını gün ışığına çıkarmıştır (3.6). Yaklaşık olarak Erken Tunç Çağı'nın sonlarına, yani Erken Tunç Çağı III-IV'e (Erken Cezire III-V'in sonu) tarihlendirilen erken evre (1. Evre), kırmızı-kahverengi boya astarlı çanak çömlekler (RBWW) ve koyu turuncu ağızlı çanaklar (DROB) tarafından; Orta Tunç Çağı'na tarihlendirilen orta evre (2. Evre), çoğunlukla kırmızı-kahverengi boya astarlı çanak çömlekler ve şerit boyama çömlekler (band painted ware) tarafından karakterize edilmektedir. Son evre ise (3. Evre) Orta Tunç Çağı ile kırmızı-kahverengi boya astarlı çömleklerden oluşan karmaşık bir repertuvarı gözler önüne sermekte ve Geç Tunç Çağı'na tarihlendirilen Habur ile Nuzi çömlek parçalarını da içermektedir. Hirbemerdon'da Geç Tunç Çağı'na ait kırmızı-kahverengi boya astarlı çömlek bulunup bulunmadığı henüz kesinlik kazanmamıştır. Seramik repertuvarının teknolojik ve biçimsel özellikleri kapsamında tartışılması ve bölgesel bir bağlama yerleştirilmesine ayrıca bir bölüm ayrılmış (3.7) olup; yerel seramik sistemi ile komşu bölgelerdekiler arasındaki ilişkinin altını çizebilmek adına, eldeki veriler diğer sit alanları ve bölgelerden elde edilenlerle karşılaştırılmıştır. Bölümün sonunda ise, bölgesel dönemlendirmeye ilişkin yorumlar yer almakta ve repertuvar için bir tarihlendirme önerisi sunulmaktadır. Bölüm 4, Yukarı Dicle bölgesindeki yerleşim düzeninin gelişimi, yapılar ile elde edilen çanak çömlekler ve önemli küçük buluntulara ilişkin bazı genel yorumlar sunmaktadır. Halihazırda yayımlanmış ve mevcut veriler ile Hirbemerdon Tepe'den elde edilen bulgulara dayanan bu araştırmanın sonuçlarına göre, yerel Orta Tunç Çağı kültürünün yükselişinin M.Ö. III. ile II. binyıl arasındaki geçiş dönemine tarihlendirilmesi gerekmektedir. Yukarı Dicle topluluklarının en etkin oldukları dönemin ise M.Ö. 19. ile 17. yüzyıllar arasına tarihlendirilmesi gerekmekte olup, söz konusu dönem kırmızı kahverengi astarlı/ boyalı çömleklerin ana üretim dönemiyle örtüşmektedir. Yukarı Dicle bölgesine özgü ortak bir seramik repertuvarı tespit edilebilmekte ve özellikle kırmızı-kahverengi boya astarlı çömlekler (RBWW), kırmızı-kahverengi perdahlı çömlekler (RBBW), koyu turuncu ağızlı çanaklar (DROB/DROW) ve çömleğin yüzünü tamamen ya da kısmen örtmek ve dekore etmek amacıyla kullanılan kırmızı-kahverengi astarların karakterize ettiği şerit boyama çömleklerin (BD) varlığı dikkat çekmektedir. Çömlek şekillerinin münferit parçalarını ile paralellik gösteren unsurlara Anadolu ve Suriye'deki Yukarı Fırat bölgesi, Belih Vadisi, Yukarı Habur ve Kuzey Irak düzlük arazileri ve bazen yüksek Anadolu arazilerini de içine alan yaygın bir coğrafyada rastlanmak olsa da, çanak çömleklerin maruz kaldığı yüzey işlemlerinin kendine özgü yerel bir özellik taşıması nedeniyle Dicle vadisi kültürünün belirgin bir ifadesi olarak kabul edilmesi gerekmektedir. Kırmızı-kahverengi astarlı ve boyalı çömleklerin hayli yüksek bir yüzdeye sahip oluşu, Güneydoğu Toros sıradağları ile Van dağ sırasının güneybatısında yer alan Ṭūr ʿAbdīn yüksek arazileri arasında yerel geleneğe yakından bağlı kalmış kendine özgü bir seramik bölgesinin varlığını ileri sürer niteliktedir. Kırmızı-kahverengi çömlekler (DROB/DROW, RBWW, BD), Dicle nehri bölgesindeki aynı imalat geleneğinin ürünleridir. Büyük olasılıkla koyu turuncu ağızlı çanaklar (DROB) M.Ö. II. binyılın başlarında bazı sınırlı istisnalar hariç kullanımdan kalkmış olduğu halde, kırmızı-kahverengi boya astarlı çömlekler (RBWW) ise Orta Tunç Çağı'nın tamamı boyunca ve muhtemelen Geç Tunç Çağı'nın başlarına kadar var olmaya devam etmiştir. Dicle çanak çömlek seçkisi, Fırat bölgesinden Cezire'ye kadar uzanan farklı akımlardan etkilenmiş olup; etkileşimin bazı dönemlerle oldukça yoğun, bazen ise daha seyrek nitelikte olduğu belirlenmiştir. Sonuç kısmını teşkil eden Bölüm 5'te ise, türdeşliğin Dicle Bölgesi'ndeki maddi kültür bağlamında toplumsal ve kültürel değeri araştırılmakta ve belki de siyasi oluşumlarla ilintili bir genel örgütlenmenin varlığına ilişkin görüşler ileri sürülmektedir. Kırmızı-kahverengi seramik tarafından karakterize edilen sit alanları, Erken ve Orta Tunç Çağı arasındaki kültürel devamlılığa dair kanıtlar sunmaktadır. Verilerden hareketle, yerel toplumsal ve siyasi düzenin bir noktada değişime uğradığı ve çok işlevli yapılar barındıran küçük yerleşkeler etrafında odaklanan yeni bir yerleşim düzenine geçildiği ve bu değişimin başta kırmızı-kahverengi boya astarlı çömlekler (RBWW) ve koyu turuncu ağızlı çanaklar (DROB) olmak üzere, kırmızı-kahverengi çömlek gruplarının üretildiği yerleşim alanlarının gelişimiyle özdeşleştirilebileceği varsayımında bulunmak mümkündür. Erken Tunç Çağı dönemine dair fazla bir yorumda bulunmak mümkün değildir. M.Ö III. binyılın ikinci yarısına ait ya da son yüzyıllarına tarihlendirilen buluntular ve katmanlar, birkaç sit alanında gün ışığına çıkartılmasına rağmen, hiçbiri açık bir stratigrafik sıralama ya da nispeten bütünlüklü bir bağlamlar topluluğu sunmamaktadır. Kalıntılar, bir sonraki dönem olan Orta Tunç Çağı'ndakilere kıyasla cılız kalmakta ve sit alanının kenar noktalarında yer almaktadır. Vadi bu dönemde önemli yerleşimlerden neredeyse tamamen yoksun olup, bunun nedeni muhtemelen yerleşim düzeninin Orta Tunç Çağı'ndakinden hayli farklı ve/veya arkeolojik açıdan kolayca tespit edilemez nitelikte oluşudur. Bazı sit alanlarından oldukça seyrek bulgular elde edilmiş (gömütler, duvar ve zeminlerin bazı bölümleri, çanak çömlek parçaları), fakat bugün itibarıyla kayda değer herhangi bir katmana rastlanmamıştır. Gel gelelim ince katmanların kısa ve aralıklı yerleşim dönemlerine işaret etmesi mümkündür. Elbette bazı ana höyüklerin altında henüz gün ışığına çıkartılmamış kayde değer M. Ö III. binyıl yerleşimlerinin yer alma olasılığı bulunmakla birlikte, henüz bu yönde somut herhangi bir kanıt ele geçirilmemiş, Pornak ve Pir Hüseyin'deki olası geniş yerleşke buluntuları da nehir boyunca ilerleyen vadi bağlamında neredeyse fark edilmeyecek kadar ufak yerleşkelerden ibaret kırsal bir arazi şeklinde beliren genel görüntüyü değiştirecek nitelikte değildir. Muhtemelen M.Ö III. ile II. binyıl arasında geçiş döneminde vadideki yerleşke ve topluluklar, yerleşim alanlarının artması suretiyle bir yeniden yapılanma süreci yaşamış; söz konusu süreç, Yukarı Dicle bölgesinde yaşayan gerek yerleşik gerekse yerel toplumun parçası olan hareketli grupların toplumsal karmaşıklığının gelişmesini tetikleyen ve bu sayede topluluklar arasında yeni etkileşim, kontrol ve idare yöntemleri meydana getiren, niteliği henüz belirsiz fakat önemli bazı değişiklikleri takiben hayata geçmiştir. Bu dönemde, muhtemelen M.Ö III. binyıl sosyopolitik düzeninin belirgin özelliği olan gevşek köy örgütlenmelerine kıyasla daha karmaşık bir toplumsal yapı geliştirilmiştir. Örneğin Giricano, Salat Tepe, Hirbemerdon Tepe'de bulunan ve Orta Tunç Çağı'na tarihlendirilen yapılara ve birleşik mimari komplekslere ait bölümler ile benzer mimari özellikler taşıyan Kavuşan ve Üçtepe kalıntıları, muhtemelen üretim kaynakları üzerinde belirli denetim yöntemlerinin uygulandığı bir toplum planlaması düzenine ya da yerel ekonomik yaşantı yapılanmasına işaret etmekle birlikte, merkezi bir güce biat edildiğini ima etmek için yeterli bir karmaşıklık seviyesinde olmadığı görülmektedir. Yapı ve buluntular elit bir sınıfın varlığını doğrulamamakta olup, yerel ekonomi yönetimini mütevazı ölçekte organize eden ufak toplulukların varlığını ortaya koymaktadır. Söz konusu sitler arasında bir hiyerarşi olduğunu iddia etmeye yetecek bulguya sahip olmamamıza rağmen, eşgüdüm bağlamında önemli bir rol üstlendiklerini ve toplulukları kendilerine çeken, üretilen ürünlerin işlendiği, hayvancılık, tarım, avcılık ve dağlar arası ticaretten elde edilen malların depolandığı ve aynı zamanda toplumsal ve dini nitelikli eylemlerin gerçekleştirildiği önemli birer merkez teşkil ettikleri görülmektedir. Yerleşim yoğunluğundaki artış, yöreye özgü grupların sosyoekonomik anlamdaki yeniden yapılanmasının göstergesi olarak kabul edilebilir. Bu yenilenme süreci, ticari bir ağın kurulmasına ve/veya temel geçim etkinlikleri arasındaki dengede meydana gelen bir değişime ya da bölgeye yeni toplulukların gelişi gibi diğer dış etkenlere de bağlantılandırılabilir. Aynı şekilde önemli olabilecek bir başka faktör ise, aynı grup veya kabile içerisindeki iki farklı kesim, diğer bir deyişle yerleşikler (çoğunlukla çiftçi) ve seyyar (yaylacı çobanlar ve göçebeler) arasındaki ilişkinin değişmesi ve bu sayede bütünleşik bir ekonomi ile genişlemiş bir sosyo-politik düzenin gelişmesine neden olmasıdır. Şimdilik yerli toplumun gelişiminin olası nedenleri üzerine tahmin yürütmekle yetinmek zorundayız. Söz konusu iki kesim, yani aynı grup ya da kabile içerisindeki yerleşikler ve seyyarlar arasındaki ilişki ve bu ilişkinin yol açtığı bütünleşik bir ekonomi ile genişlemiş bir sosyopolitik düzenin gelişmesi olguları, Yukarı Dicle bölgesinde M.Ö III. binyılda hayat bulan yeni bir toplum yapısının temellerini teşkil etmekteydi. Daha karmaşık bir süreci basite indirgemek suretiyle zihnimizde bir senaryo canlandırmak gerekirse, bu bölgede yaşadıkları antik metinler ve modern araştırmalarca doğrulanan göçebe ya da yarı göçebe çoban gruplarının farklı gerekçelerle tarımsal etkinlikler ve köy yaşantısına geçmeye karar verdiklerini ve bu amaçla dağlar, vadiler ve stepler arasında önceleri yüzyıllar boyunca mevsimlik göç ve yaylacılık çerçevesinde yararlandıkları alanlardan birine yerleşmeyi seçtiklerini; grubun diğer kısmının ise sürülerle geleneksel rotaları izleyerek ilerledikleri ve yerleşik topluluklarla etkileşime devam ettiklerini düşünmek mümkündür. Eldeki mevcut yazılı belgeler yetersiz olup, güney şehir devletleriyle etkileşim ve ticaret ağlarına katılım yöntemlerinin belirlenmesine henüz imkan sağlamamaktadır. Yerel toplulukların sosyal ve ekonomik yapılarının yeniden düzenlenmesi olgusu Orta Tunç Çağı toplumlarının belirgin bir özelliği olarak öne çıkmakta; nitekim söz konusu toplumların önce M.Ö II. binyıl ve takiben M.Ö I. binyıl boyunca yerel niteliklerine sıkıca bağlı kaldıkları ya da güney imparatorluklarının sabit sömürgeleştirme girişimleri ve baskılarına rağmen, zaman zaman Anadolu'nun doğusuna yöneldikleri görülmektedir. Bu durumun toplumsal ve tarihsel değerinin önemli çıkarımlarından birine, yerel toplumun farklı unsurları ve üyelerinin bu arkeolojik arazi kapsamında üstlendikleri roller üzerinden ulaşmak mümkündür. Oluşturduğumuz taslak doğru ise, M.Ö III. binyıla tarihlendirilen sitlerin azlığı ya da başka bir ifadeyle bu yerleşim alanlarının sınırlı görünürlükte oluşlarının, dengesiz bir yerleşme düzenine işaret ediyor olabilir. Zira nüfusun büyük bir kısmı, bölge şartlarına en iyi uyum gösterme yöntemi olarak seyyar, yarı göçmen ya da göçmen bir yaşam tarzını tercih etmiştir. Yukarı Dicle vadisi örneğinde ise, sistemin karmaşıklaşması ve yerel toplumdaki dönüşümün tetiklenmesinde ticaret ağlarının mı yoksa yerel gruplar arasındaki belki de Akkadların bölgedeki etkilerini artırmaları sonucu doğan dinamiklerin mi etkili olduğunu sorgulamamız mümkündür. Vadi, maddi kültürü ve özellikle de çanak çömlek geleneği açısından kendisini çevreleyen diğer bölgelerden ayrılan bir niteliğe sahiptir. Aslında Dicle kültürünün kendine has ve özel konumu, birçok yüzyıl boyunca metinsel herhangi bir ize rastlanmaması, Mezopotamyalıların bölgeyi kontrol altına almakta yaşadıkları zorluklar ve maddi kalıntıların özellikleri, bu alanın iyi tanımlanmış ve belirgin bir kültürel ve belki de siyasi oluşuma ev sahipliği yaptığını düşündürmekte ve bunun bağlantılı olarak, kırmızı-kahverengi seramiklerin varlığı ile karakterize edilen yerleşkelerin gelişiminden de anlaşıldığı üzere, M.Ö III. binyılda gerçekleşen değişimlere de yön verdiği ihtimalini güçlendirmektedir. Yukarı Dicle'deki kazılarda gün ışığına çıkartılan kalıntıların Hurri medeniyetinin doğrudan bir ifadesi olarak kabul edilip edilemeyeceği ise, şimdilik ilginç fakat metinsel kanıtların yokluğunda ispat edilemeyecek bir varsayımın ötesine geçememektedir. Ancak Yukarı Dicle bölgesinde yakın dönemde yürütülen araştırmalar, M.Ö. III. binyılın sonu ile M.Ö. II. binyılın başı arasında Anadolu'nun güneydoğusunda yaşayan ve Antik Yakın Doğu'nun tarihsel arka planı kapsamında henüz tam anlamıyla belirlenememiş de olsa önemli bir rol oynayan toplulukların daha iyi tanımlanabilmeleri adına yeni ve önemli bazı kanıtlar elde edilmesini sağlamıştır. ; La regione attraversata dal corso superiore del fiume Tigri, in Turchia sud-orientale, è stata per molto tempo un'area poco conosciuta dal punto di vista archeologico. L'intensificarsi delle ricerche sul campo, a partire dagli anni novanta del secolo scorso, ha prodotto le evidenze su cui basare una prima ricostruzione della storia dell'insediamento e della cultura materiale di questi territori, tra le alte terre anatolico-orientali e le pianure mesopotamiche. I risultati degli scavi e le ricognizioni indicano che tra la fine del Bronzo Antico e l'inizio del Bronzo Medio giunge a maturazione un processo di trasformazione e riorganizzazione delle comunità locali. La comparsa di ampi complessi architettonici ed edifici in siti di medio-piccole dimensioni, caratterizzati da un particolare repertorio di oggetti e da ceramiche rosso-brune, potrebbe nascondere la formazione di realtà socio-politiche più strutturate rispetto a quelle del periodo precedente ed essere espressione di quel mondo khurrita che avrebbe avuto proprio nella regione del Tigri, secondo le ricostruzioni storiche, una delle zone di insediamento principale. ; The Upper Tigris region represents an important area within the mountainous system of south-eastern Anatolia and its relevance is related to its geographical position that plays a role in connecting the Mesopotamian lowlands to both northern and eastern Anatolian areas. Archaeological researches carried out during the last thirty years along the upper course of the Tigris river have provided new important evidence for the definition of a local cultural horizon and a large corpus of data that may be used to clarify chronological divisions and synchronism within the region itself and beyond. The aim of this book is to investigate the results of the recent archaeological activities concerning the final part of the Early and the Middle Bronze Age. Starting from a detailed analysis of the published data, central issues concerning settlements, stratigraphy, architecture, pottery, regional links, and chronology have been treated. The region of the Upper Tigris river, north of the Ṭūr ʿAbdīn hills and at the foot of the high south-eastern Anatolian mountains, show a coherent picture in terms of archaeological evidence. Surveys and excavations have documented that an important occupational period of the valley should be dated back to the end of the 3rd and the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, when mainly small sized settlements tend to be established on the river terraces on the edge of the Tigris floodplain and along the main river tributaries. Many of them are characterized by large buildings or architectural complexes and the presence of a typical ceramic assemblage which appears to be distinct from the other contemporaneous ceramic traditions of the neighbouring regions. The assemblage of pottery, mainly red-brown slipped and painted wares, is important for the definition of a local horizon and for the identification of intersite cultural connections in the upper Tigris region. The ubiquity of pots sherds, essentially representing the bulk of what we found in the field, make them currently the basis of this investigation. In the particular case of the Upper Tigris, area of recent investigation, the pottery is remarkable when compared with other categories of finds and their presence, not only in stratified contexts but also on the surface of non-excavated sites, makes one of the most reliable tools for characterizing the material production of this specific geographical area and interpreting wider features of the cultural development in the Upper Tigris. A part a brief geographical and historical introduction (Chapter 1), the core of the book is represented by the results of the archaeological researches in the region and their analysis (Chapters 2 and 4). Surveyed areas and the excavated sites are the subjects of the second chapter (Chapter 2) that provides also the current state of the art for our archaeological knowledge. An important contribution is offered by the excavations at Hirbemerdon Tepe and to this site is dedicated the Chapter 3 where is reasoned argument of the archaeological context (3.2) with its phases of occupation and associated pottery (3.4), mainly unpublished. Much space is given to the classification of pottery sherds (3.3) both in technological and morphological terms and the analysis of spatial and diachronic occurrence of wares and types. Also main small findings are interpreted and contextualized in the regional and chronological frameworks (3.5). Our primary source of information for a detailed analysis of the pottery is the architectural complex, discovered on the mound of Hirbemerdon Tepe but also the evidence from other soundings opened on the site. The first excavations campaigns (2005-2007) carried out at Hirbermerdon Tepe, on the right bank of Tigris river, yielded good archaeological contexts and a conspicuous amount of pottery and artefacts mainly dating back to the first part of the 2nd millennium BC. Providing a new set of stratified data, Hirbemerdon Tepe offers an important contribution to defining the cultural profile of the Upper Tigris valley area. The excavations provided us with a sequence of three main ceramic phases, each individuated by morphological and technological attributes (3.6). The early phase (Fase 1), dating to the end of the Early Bronze Age, approximately to Early Bronze Age III-IV (end of Early Jazirah III-V), is characterized by the presence of an early version of RBWW and DROB; the middle phase (Fase 2), dated to the Middle Bronze Age, is characterized mainly by RBWW and band painted ware. The last phase (Fase 3) comprises a mixed assemblage with RBWW types of MBA date and others in common ware together with some Khabur and Nuzi sherds of Late Bronze Age date. It is not ascertained that at Hirbemerdon exists RBWW of LBA date. A section is dedicated to discuss the pottery repertoire, its technological and morphological characteristics, and in the regional context (3.7), comparing data with those from other sites and regions in order to underline the relationship between the local ceramic horizon and those of the neighbours. The end of the chapter concerns remarks on the regional periodization and propose a date for the repertoire. Chapter 4 offers general remarks about the settlement developments, architecture, pottery and significative small finds recovered in the Upper Tigris region. According to the results of this study, based on the published data currently available and the evidence from Hirbemerdon Tepe, the rise of the local Middle Bronze Age culture has to be dated to the passage between the 3rd and the 2nd millennium. The floruit of the Upper Tigris communities has to be dated to the period between the 19th and 17th centuries that coincides with the main phase of production of the red-brown slipped/painted pottery. A common pottery horizon is widely recognizable in the Upper Tigris region, marked specifically by the presence of categories known as Red Brown Wash Ware (RBWW), Red Brown Burnished Ware (RBBW), Dark Rimmed Orange Bowls/Ware (DROB/DROW) and Band Painted Ware (BD) which are characterized by a layer of red/brown slips used to cover, entirely or partially, the surface of the pot and to decorate it. Parallels of single components of the pottery shape are geographically widespread, encompassing the Upper Euphrates in Anatolia and Syria, the Balikh area, the Upper Khabur and the northern Iraqi lowlands, sometimes the Anatolian highlands, but the particular surface treatment is a specific local characteristic and has to be considered as a distinctive expression of the Tigris valley culture. The high percentage of red-brown slipped and painted wares suggests that a proper ceramic region existed between the South-Eastern Taurus fringes and the Ṭūr ʿAbdīn uplands, south-west of the Van mountain system, resting firmly within a local tradition. Red-brown wares (DROB/DROW, RBWW, BD) are products of the same manufacturing tradition, centred on the Tigris river area. It is likely that the DROB were out of use at the beginning of 2nd millennium, a part some marginal exceptions, whereas the RBWW continued for the entire span of the Middle Bronze Age and probably until the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. The Tigris pottery assemblage experienced the effects of different influxes, from the Euphrates area and to the Jazirah, with a period of major interaction and others of less intensive contacts. In conclusion, Chapter 5 explores the social and cultural value of the homogeneity in material culture within the Tigris region, suggesting the existence of a communal organization maybe connected with political entities. The sites characterised by red-brown wares represent evidence of cultural continuity between the Early and Middle Bronze Ages. It may be assumed that at a certain point a transformation of the local social and political system occurres, with the conversion to a new settlement pattern organized around little sites with multifunctional buildings and this change is also identified by the growth of settled sites producing red-brown pottery, like DROBs and principally RBWW. Not much can be said as regards the end of the Early Bronze Age period. Findings and strata of the second half of 3rd millennium or dating to the last centuries have been exposed at few sites but none provides a clear stratigraphic sequence or fairly well articulated contexts. In general, the remains are poor compared with those of the following Middle Bronze Age and cover marginal areas of the site. The valley was almost devoid of significant settlements during this period, probably because the settlement pattern was substantially different from the Middle Bronze Age pattern and/or not easily recognizable archeologically. Some sites produced very sparse evidence (tombs, portion of walls and floors, pot-sherds) but no substantial layers have been found up to now. In fact the thin layers could indicate brief and intermittent periods of occupation. Of course there might have been considerable 3rd millennium sites not yet excavated beneath some of the major and important mounds but as yet there is no evidence for them and the possible finding of large settlements in Pornak and Pir Hüseyin do not change the general picture of a rural landscape with evanescent presence of very small sites, as for the valley along the river. Probably during the passage between the 3rd and 2nd millennium there was a reorganization of settlements and populations in the valley with an increase of settled sites, after important but unclear changes in the whole region that stimulated the growth of the social complexity among the groups inhabiting the Upper Tigris, both sedentary and mobile segments of local society, producing new forms of interaction between the communities, control and management of the resources. In this period a social structure more complex than loose village organizations that probably characterized the sociopolitical landscape of the 3rd millennium was developed. The portions of buildings and composite architectural complexes, dating to the Middle Bronze Age, found for example at Giricano, Salat Tepe, Hirbemerdon Tepe, but also the remains of Kavuşan and Üçtepe showing similar architectural features, suggest a community planning with the possible existence of a form of control over productive resources or organization of the local economic life, but not a level of complexity implying the subordination to a centralizing power. Architecture and artifacts do not confirm the presence of elites but indicate small communities organizing the management of local economy on a modest scale. We do not have elements to recognize a hierarchy between these sites yet but it seems that these played a role of coordination and were centers of attraction for populations; for processing products and storing commodities coming from herds, agriculture, hunting and intermountain trade as well as for communal and ritual performances. The growing of settlement density can be considered as an indicator of a socio-economic reorganization of indigenous groups. This regenerative process can be linked to the establishment of a commercial network and/or to a change in the balance between main subsistence activities or to other external stimuli as the arrival of newcomers. Not less important could have been the changing relation between the two segments, settled (mainly farmers) and mobile (transhumant shepherds and nomads) of the same group or tribe, developing an integrated economy and an enlarged socio-political system, At present we can only speculate about what the development of the indigenous society holds. The relation between these two segments, settled and mobile of the same group or tribe, developing an integrated economy and an enlarged socio-political system, was at the base of a new society inaugurated at the end of the 3rd millennium in the Upper Tigris. It is possible to imagine a scenario, simplifying a more complex process, where groups of shepherds, nomadic or semi-nomadic, who have lived in this area as ancient texts and modern studies confirm, decided to convert to agricultural activities and village life, for different motives, settling in one of the areas that for centuries they had used during the seasonal migrations and transhumance between mountains, valleys and steppes; whereas the other part of the group continued to bring herds along traditional routes interacting with the sedentary communities. The available textual documentation is meager and does not permit to establish yet the modalities of interaction with the southern city states as well as the involvement within commercial circuits. This new organization of the social and economic structure of the local community is a trait of the Middle Bronze Age society that in the course of the 2nd millennium and then during the 1st millennium, will keep firmly a local character or will be occasionally oriented towards eastern Anatolia in spite of the pressure and attempts at stable colonization by southern empires. An important implication of social and historical significance is involved in the role assumed by the different components and members of the local society in this archaeological landscape. If this outline is correct, the scarcity of sites dated to the 3rd millennium or otherwise, the low visibility of these settlements, might point to unstable occupation: a mobile, semi-nomadic or nomadic style of life was for most of the population the best adaptation to the surrounding regional environment. We can question if in the case of the Upper Tigris river valley it has been the trade network to generate the rise of complexity or dynamics internal to local groups (maybe stimulated after the Akkadians established their influence over the region) have had been more effective to prompt the transformation of local society. The valley represents a distinct unit from the surrounding regions with regard to its material culture and particularly its pottery tradition. Actually, the particular setting of Tigris culture, the lack of textual records for several centuries, the difficulties met by Mesopotamians to control these territories, and the characteristics of the material remains could suggest that the area was a place of a well-defined cultural and maybe political entity and resulting in the changes at the end of 3rd millennium that we can recognize in the growth of the settlements characterized by the presence of red-brown ceramics. If the archaeological remains emerged through the excavation in the Upper Tigris have to be considered direct expression of the Khurrian world is at the moment an intriguing hypothesis that in absence of textual evidence cannot be demonstrated. However the results of the recent research in the Upper Tigris provide new fundamental evidence for a better definition of the communities inhabiting the south-eastern Anatolia between the end of 3rd and the beginning of 2nd mill. BC that played an important, yet poorly defined role within the historical scenario of the Ancient Near East.

The study of the military veterans' experience in higher education has coincided with the history of the GI Bill® and the various iterations of the benefits of this program, beginning with the original version following WWII. With the latest version, the Post 9/11 GI Bill®, institutions of higher education have experienced the highest enrollment numbers of veterans since the conclusion of the Vietnam Conflict. Institutions have historically been reactive in support of new waves of veterans entering higher education. This study sought to gain the perspective of veterans, as to how the institutions have been serving veterans by creating a veteran friendly campus through the admission, enrollment, and veterans services processes. The study also sought to gather the veterans' perspective related to how well faculty and staff understand the military experience, and how well veterans have been integrated into the classroom environment and into higher education in general. In addition, the study sought to measure the perspective of veterans with disabilities and their specific experience in higher education. A survey of the veteran experience was conducted in 2-year and 4-year institutions in a western state. Results indicated that although improvements have been made in relation to veterans in this study, there are still areas that need addressing in order to improve the veteran experience in overall. The veteran, the institution, and the community in general can benefit immensely as veterans use their GI Bill® benefit to pursue higher education, and then put that education to work upon graduation. It is incumbent on institutions of higher education to ensure that a veteran friendly process is in place, in order to attract and retain veterans through graduation. ; MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my parents, Robert E. and Janice D. Czech, for their sound example, for instilling proper values, and for exemplifying good character. Without them and who they were, I would not be where I am or who I am today. I would also like to express appreciation to my family and friends for their unwavering support to me during the process of completing my graduate degree. Without their support I do not believe I would have endured my many struggles to meet this goal. My appreciation to Dr. Peggy Saunders for her guidance throughout this process, and to my many professors for their patience and understanding throughout each semester. Their wisdom and intuition allowed me to flourish as a non-traditional student, in an environment that seemed foreign. I would like to acknowledge the foundation of hard work, leadership, and service that I learned during my 22 years in the United States Anny. It was not always easy, but the lessons learned have helped me to endure this graduate degree process. Finally, thanks to my graduate committee chair Dr. Natalie Williams. She was my guide, advisor, and champion during this final project. Without her outstanding patience, understanding and depth of knowledge I would have never made it to my goal. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 3 Table of Contents NATURE OF THE PROBLEM . 7 Literature Review . 9 Introduction . 9 Historical Foundations . 10 WWII Era GI Bill® (Original) . 10 Korean Era GI Bill® . 11 Vietnam Era GI Bill® . 12 Post-Vietnam Era Veterans Education Assistance Program (VEAP) . 12 Montgomery GI Bill® and Reserve Programs . 13 Post 9/11 GI Bill® (Current) . 13 GI Bill® Use (as of Fiscal Year 2013) . 14 Effects of the Post 9/11 GI Bill® on Higher Education . 15 Veterans with combat related disability issues . 19 Accommodating veterans with disabilities on campus . 20 Veterans' with disabilities . 25 Reintegration into Society . 28 Higher education: Weathering the perfect storm . 30 Summary . 32 PURPOSE . 34 METHOD . 36 Participants . 37 MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 4 Instruments . 38 Procedure . 3 8 Data Analysis . 41 RESULTS . 43 Demographic Data . 43 Overall Experience in Higher Education . 44 Website Navigation . 44 Admissions . 45 Enrollment Services . 46 Veterans Services Office . 47 Faculty Awareness, Classroom Environment, and Campus Life . 48 Service-connected Disability . 51 DISCUSSION . 53 Implications of Results . 55 Limitations . 61 Future Research . 62 Summary . 63 REFERENCES . 65 APPENDICES . 69 Appendix A: Veterans Survey . 70 Appendix B: IRB Approval . ; . 74 Appendix C: Survey Results Spreadsheet. . 76 MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 5 List of Tables Table I. Respondents by branch and years of service, and by branch and gender . 37 Table 2. Summary of Survey Responses by Section, with Totals by Section and Response Type . 52 MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 6 Abstract The study of the military veterans' experience in higher education has coincided with the history of the GI Bill® and the various iterations of the benefits of this program, beginning with the original version following WWII. With the latest version, the Post 9/11 GI Bill®, institutions of higher education have experienced the highest enrollment numbers of veterans since the conclusion of the Vietnam Conflict. Institutions have historically been reactive in support of new waves of veterans entering higher education. This study sought to gain the perspective of veterans, as to how the institutions have been serving veterans by creating a veteran friendly campus through the admission, enrollment, and veterans services processes. The study also sought to gather the veterans' perspective related to how well faculty and staff understand the military experience, and how well veterans have been integrated into the classroom environment and into higher education in general. In addition, the study sought to measure the perspective of veterans with disabilities and their specific experience in higher education. A survey of the veteran experience was conducted in 2-year and 4-year institutions in a western state. Results indicated that although improvements have been made in relation to veterans in this study, there are still areas that need addressing in order to improve the veteran experience in overall. The veteran, the institution, and the community in general can benefit immensely as veterans use their GI Bill® benefit to pursue higher education, and then put that education to work upon graduation. It is incumbent on institutions of higher education to ensure that a veteran friendly process is in place, in order to attract and retain veterans through graduation. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM With the passing of the Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act (2008), also known as the Post 9/11 GI Bill®, colleges and universities are seeing higher enrollment by military veterans than they have since the conclusion of the Vietnam Conflict (Cook & Kim, 2009; Rumann & Hamrick, 2009), and the intricacies and implementation of this new GI Bill® has caused confusion and frustration for both the veterans and university staff. After WWII, the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (or GI Bill®) granted unprecedented educational and economic benefits to veterans. Other GI Bill® programs and adjustments have been made over the years, but the Post 9/11 version was said to be the most generous since the WWII era GI Bill® (Radford, 2009). 7 With the most recent changes to the GI Bill®, veteran presence was expected to grow on campuses across the country and therefore schools have had to adjust to meet the new demand (Cook & Kim, 2009; Rumann & Hamrick, 2009). Many of the veterans, active military and active military reservists (92%) currently enrolled in university indicated that education should play a role in post-service transition (Zoli, Maury, & Fay, 2015). Many veterans currently enrolled in higher education were exposed to direct and indirect conflict and suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and other physical and psychological challenges. Church (2009) said that "returning veterans will have a wide range of medical diagnoses and related health problems that will have a temporary or chronic impact on their living, working, learning, MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE and relationship functions" (pg. 44). These issues make it difficult for veterans to adjust to a higher education setting, and cause tangible problems for their academic progress. 8 Although there are many positive qualities that veterans bring to an institution of higher education, many also bring with them these battle related issues. These issues make it difficult for veterans to adjust to this setting. The American Council on Education (ACE) found that veterans reported problems meeting academic expectations, while managing service connected injuries, including PTSD and TBI (Steele, Salcedo, and Coley, 2010). Not all veterans will openly disclose the visible and invisible injuries they have, so it is incumbent on colleges and universities to develop welcoming programs that meet these challenges (Church, 2009). This lack of self-disclosure could lead veterans to underutilize traditional campus disability services and therefore not receive the accommodations that may make their experience more manageable. Unfortunately, most post-secondary schools are ill prepared to meet the needs of these Veterans, creating lost opportunities for both the Veteran and the institution. Schools that are slow in meeting the challenges that the veterans present, find they are reacting rather than being proactive in meeting veteran needs. If institutions of higher education do not work to understand this veteran population, then it is likely to lead to an unsuccessful experience for the veteran and the institution (Brown & Gross, 2011). There are areas where higher education is generally meeting the needs of veterans, like including veteran issues in strategic planning, offering specific programs and services for veterans, recognizing prior military experience with college credit, assisting veterans with finding counseling services, providing financial accommodations, and providing counseling on veterans' educational benefits. But there are many areas that still show MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE room for improvement including assisting veterans' transition to college, developing faculty and staff awareness of veteran specific issues, meeting the needs of veterans with military related disabilities, assisting re-enrolling veterans, and providing peer to peer experiences for veterans (Cook & Kim, 2009). Literature Review Introduction This literature review will first establish some historical background relating to the GI Bill®, including changes that have taken place since its establishment following WWII. It will highlight the benefits of each version, especially the original version and the most recent version known as the Post 9/11 GI Bill®, and demonstrate the problems caused by the large influx of new veterans in higher education. Next, it will highlight some of the issues veterans have in a higher education setting related to their combat related disabilities and experiences, and the lack of preparation and forethought by colleges and universities related to these new veterans. Historical IFoundation~1office1] 9 The relationship of higher education and the military dates back to the 1862 Morrill Act, which established military training programs at land-grant institutions (Rumann & Hamrick, 2009, 2010). Subsequently, just prior to WWI, Congress passed the 1916 National Defense Act (NDA) which provided colleges a leading role in training soldiers. The NDA also established the three components of the military: the active duty military component, the military reserve component, and the state National Guard component. In addition, it created the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) that standardized what had been solely independent military training programs at colleges and MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 10 universities. These were the fotmdations of the relationship between the military and higher education. Even though the NDA was established prior to WWI, many veterans were unsatisfied with the benefits offered to them, which resulted in significant economic and social unrest. This dissatisfaction prompted the writing of Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (Rumann & Hamrick, 2009). WWII Era GI Bill(RJ (Original). With the large numbers of military veterans returning home after WWII the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (i.e., GI Bill®) granted unprecedented educational and economic benefits to these veterans. After much strnggle, this act was passed by congress and signed into law by President Roosevelt on June 22, 1944 (Rumann & Hamrick, 2009). When signing the GI Bill®, President Roosevelt said "It gives emphatic notice to the men and women in our armed forces that the American people do not intend to let them down" (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2013, para. 24). This trnly generous WWII era GI Bill® provided many financial and educational benefits to veterans and their families. Additionally benefits included living stipends, Veterans were given loan guarantees for homes, farms and businesses (e.g., nearly 2.4 million loans from 1944 to 1952), as well as unemployment pay and employment assistance (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2013). By the time the original GI Bill® had ended in 1956, 7.8 million of the nearly 16 million WWII veterans had used education benefits to some extent. In the peak year of 1947, veterans made up 49% of all college admissions. One interesting fact is that although there was an unemployment benefit available, less than 20% of the funds set aside for this benefit was used by the veterans. The total cost of this original version of MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE the GI Bill® was $14.5 Billion (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2013; Military.com, 2006). 11 Many names have been given to this generation of veterans that served in WWII, such as the Greatest Generation, the G .I. Generation, and the Civic Generation. Regardless of the label, the impact of this generation due in large part to the GI Bill® education benefits, is immeasurable and can be felt to the present. In her book, Mettler (2005) stated that ''.just as the G.I. Bill transformed the lives of veterans who used it, they in tum helped change America" (p. 11 ). This GI Bill® opened up educational opportunities to those other than the privileged in America. Higher education that had previously been reserved for mainly white, native-born, Protestant Americans prior to WWII, was now a possibility for those that were Jewish, Catholic, African American, immigrants, and the working class. This changed the landscape of America forever (Mettler, 2005). Korean Era GI Bill.® The Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952, or Korean Conflict GI Bill®, was instituted to carry on the tradition of taking care of those who served and fought for their country. It was approved by President Truman on July 16, 1952. It was available for use by veterans who served between June 27, 1950 and Febrnary 1, 1955. Although this GI Bill® still provided education benefits and living stipends, as well has loan guarantees, it left the employment assistance up to the individual states. By the time this program ended in 1955, some 43% of the over 5.5 million veterans of the Korean Conflict had used their education benefits to some extent. Total cost to the country was $4.5 Billion and over 1.5 million loans were guaranteed, meaning the MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE government guaranteed a portion of the loan to the lien holder in case of default (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2013; Military.com, 2006). Vietnam Era GI Bill.® 12 The Veterans Readjustment Act of 1966, or Vietnam Era GI Bill®, was signed by President Johnson on March 3, 1966. It retroactively covered post Korean Conflict veterans who served after February 1, 1955 and continued for veterans who served until May 7, 1975. It again provided education benefits, for the first time including active duty military members, and again loan guarantees. Between 1966 and 1989, 6 million Vietnam veterans, 1.4 million Post-Korean veterans, and 7 51,000 active duty military used this education benefit to some extent. More than $42 Billion was spent on this version of the GI Bill®, and 4.5 million loans were guaranteed (Military.com, 2006). Post-Vietnam Era Veterans Education Assistance Program (VEAP). VEAP was a transitional program that bridged the gap between the Vietnam Era GI Bill®, and the Montgomery GI Bill®. Veterans, who entered after December 31, 1976 were eligible for education benefits under this version, but unlike the previous versions this one required a contribution by the military member and they had to choose to participate upon enlistment. The participant contributed through payroll deductions up to $2700 and the government then matched two dollars for every dollar contributed for a maximum of $5400. If one chose not to participate, then they had no money for education available at the end of their service. In addition to this money for education, the loan guarantees continued (Military.com, 2006). MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 13 Montgomery GI Bill® and Reserve Programs. The Montgomery GI Bill®, named for its sponsor Representative G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery, was established in 1984. Representative Montgomery was the chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and worked to support veterans. For the first time a version of the GI Bill® also included education benefits for those serving in the reserve components, although at a reduced benefit to their active duty counterparts. A reserve member had to enlist for 6 years, and after serving 6 months they could begin using their education benefit. It again required the active military member to contribute toward their future education, with matching funds by the military. An active duty veteran was eligible if they served after 30 June, 1985 and had to enlist for a minimum of 2 years. This program continues to be used by veterans up to this day, and overlaps with the new Post 9/11 GI Bill® (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2013; Military.com, 2006). Post 9/11 GI Bill® (Current) The newest of the GI Bill® education and benefit programs is called the Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Program (Post 9/11 GI Bill®). It was signed into law in July of2008, and became effective August 1, 2009. The Post 9/11 GI Bill® is the most comprehensive bill since the original in 1944. It provides benefits to service members, both active and reserve, who served at least 90 aggregate days of active military service after September 10, 2001. This means that an active duty member and a reserve component member serving the same amount of active duty time will receive the same benefit. The benefit can be used while still in the active military or reserve component and after discharge (Post 9/11 GI Bill Overview, n.d., Department of Veterans Affairs, 2014). MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 14 The Veterans Administration (VA) pays up to 100% of the student's tuition and fees for their education, based on the amount of service after the date of eligibility. The tuition and fees provided under this version of the GI Bill® are sent directly to the educational institution. This GI Bill® also includes up to $1000 per year for textbooks, a living stipend while emolled in school, based on cost ofliving which averages $1368 per month nationally, a one-time relocation payment of $500 for those relocating from a rural area to attend school, and for those still on active duty in the military the opportunity to transfer some or all of the benefit to their children (Post 9/11 GI Bill Overview, n.d.; Department of Veterans Affairs, 2014). The benefit is tiered depending on how much active duty service was rendered after September 10, 2001. For instance if the member served at least 36 months of active duty service, then they receive 100% of the benefits. For 30-36 months it is 90%, 24-30 months is 80%, 18-24 months is 70%, 12-18 months is 60%, 6-12 months is 50%, and 90 days to 6 months is 40% (Post 9/11 GI Bill Overview, n.d.). GI Bill® Use (as of Fiscal Year 2013). With the increased benefit of the Post 9/11 GI Bill® came a new wave of college bound military veterans and reserve members, and in some cases their family members to whom they have transferred benefits. The higher educational institutions around the country will need to prepare for this new wave, just as they had to prepare and react to the wave of veterans entering school following WWII. The Institute for Veterans and Military Families, at Syracuse University, conducted a multi-pronged study to gain a better understanding of social, economic, and wellness concerns of the newest generation of veterans. There are over 3.9 million MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 15 veterans identified as disabled by the Veterans Administration (VA). Of those, 43% were from the Gulf War era and beyond. Additionally, of the more than 8,500 respondents in that study 58% reported a service related disability. Of those in the survey that reported service-connected disability, 79% said that the disability created obstacles for them when they transitioned to civilian life. In fact, 12% indicated the disability hindered starting higher education, and 28% said the disability created obstacles in completing their higher education. These same veterans indicated that of the many motivations to join the military, 53% said that educational benefits were a reason they joined, followed by a desire to serve their country at 52%. In the research 92% of respondents indicated that education should play a role in post-service transition. The response to this particular question indicated how overwhelmingly important education is to the most recent service members and veterans, and showed intent to further their education. A study of GI Bill® usage by veterans was published providing data through fiscal year 2013. The study indicated that in the Fiscal Year (FY) of2009 the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) reported just 34,393 students using the Post 9/11 GI Bill®, but in FY 2013 the total was up to 754,229 students. If all of the current GI Bill® benefit programs are included, there were 1,091,044 students (FY 2013) using benefits. Payments from the Post 9/11 GI Bill® in FY 2013, to students and colleges, was over $10 billion, with the total from all GI Bill® programs being over $12 billion (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2014). Effects of the Post 9/11 GI Bill® on Higher Education. Military veterans are likely to enroll or reenroll in higher education following military service. It is incumbent upon these institutions to be prepared, in order to make MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 16 the veterans' transition easier (Rumann and Hamrick, 2009). This is especially the case with the advent of the generous benefits of the Post-9/11 GI Bill®. The researchers further pointed out that because of generational and societal perspectives, many current administrators and faculty have most likely not experienced military service. This has caused issues with how faculty and staff at institutions relate to veterans. Rumann and Hamrick (2009) suggested that building relationships with outside veteran organizations could bridge the gap that may exist. In addition, they suggested that campus administrations could provide opportunities for students, staff, and faculty to better understand aspects of military service, complimenting a broader focus on diversity on campuses. In their more recent study, Rumann and Hamrick (2010) focused on a small group of National Guard and reserve veterans who had returned from wartime deployments to re-enroll in school. The veterans experienced things such as lingering high stress levels related to their deployments, a maturity gap that had developed between them and traditional undergraduate students, personal relationship issues, and identity related issues. Cook and Kim (2009) took a broader look at easing the transition of service members on campus. Their study involved surveys returned by 723 institutions across the country. The study found that there was a varied approach to serving veterans, with no obvious pattern as to which programs and services were provided, or what entity on campus was responsible, and reported that nearly two thirds of colleges and universities that did offer veteran services have increased those services since September 11, 2001. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 17 In the same study, researchers came to the conclusion that there were areas where higher education was generally meeting the needs of military students, and areas where institutions could improve. Some examples of areas where institutions met veteran needs were including veteran issues in strategic planning, offering specific programs and services for veterans, recognizing prior military experience with college credit, assisting veterans with finding counseling services, providing financial accommodations, and providing counseling on veterans' educational benefits (Cook & Kim, 2009). Areas that needed improvement included helping veterans transition to a college environment, providing professional development to faculty and staff on veteran transition issues, training of staff on meeting the needs veterans with brain injuries and other military related disabilities, streamlining of administrative procedures for veterans enrolling or re-enrolling, and providing opportunities for veterans to connect with peers on campus. With the expected influx of students using the Post-9/11 GI Bill®, institutions need to address these areas of weakness when it comes to veteran services and programs. In their report, Brown and Gross (2011) stated that successful management of military students brings benefits to all involved: the student; the academic institution; and the community. Part ofthis management includes understanding the characteristics of veteran and active military students. Radford (2009) detailed many characteristics of veterans and military undergraduates. The study states that: Slightly more than 3 percent of all undergraduates enrolled during the 2007-08 academic year were veterans, and slightly more than 1 percent were military service members. Among these military undergraduates, about 75 percent were MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE veterans, 16 percent were military service members on active duty, and almost 9 percent were military service members in the reserves. (p. 6) 18 The researcher also detailed issues faced by military undergraduates who wished to attend college: Difficulty transitioning to life after military service; experiencing psychological and/or physical post-war trauma; readjusting to personal relationships; and adapting to a new lifestyle. Radford also highlights that veterans can face bureaucratic red tape from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) relating to their education benefits as well as from the college or university staff who were often not well versed in the details of those benefits. Many veterans face obstacles and challenges in using the Post-9/11 GI Bill® and transitioning to college (Steele, Salcedo, & Coley, 2010). Challenges noted included expectations different from their military experience, balancing academics and other responsibilities, relating to non-veteran students, managing service-connected injuries and disabilities. They also noted institutional efforts to adapt to the new GI Bill® benefits. Schools reported increased staff workloads of 50% to 200% related to the new influx of veteran students. The researchers (Steel, Salcedo, & Coley, 2010) noted some of the reasons behind this influx were, increases in total GI Bill® enrollment over previous years, lack oflmowledge in details of the new law, coordination with student accounts offices with respect to receipt of payments, the need to submit enrollment verification of each veteran student, and the need to assist veteran students in understanding their benefits. Institutions could more effectively serve veteran students according to the results ofa focus group study (Steel, Salcedo, & Coley, 2010). Institutions that encourage MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 19 veterans to self-identify early, ensure veteran program administrators are adequately trained, and that other staff and administration are trained on the new GI Bill®, tend to have more effective programs for veterans. The institutions should employ disability and mental health staff who understand veterans' issues, have consistent policies for college credit for military training, have veteran specific orientations and informational sessions, and encourage veteran student organizations on campus (Steel, Salcedo, & Coley, 2010). Veterans with Combat Related Disability Issues One challenge America faces as the more recent conflicts wind down, is that there will be more veterans with disabilities returning from military service, and these veterans will be seeking higher education. It will be important for staff and faculty of associated schools to be prepared to assist these veterans with disabilities in their transition (DiRarnio & Spires, 2009). The veterans that find it especially difficult to adjust to higher education are those with combat related disability issues, including hidden issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Survivability from combat injury has increased and therefore an increase in veterans with disabilities on campus is inevitable. In the most recent conflicts, nearly 85% of those receiving combat injuries are surviving due to advances in protective body annor, use of coagulants, and advances in the military medical evacuation system (Madaus, Miller II, & Vance, 2009). The Veterans Administration (VA) reported that in 1986 there were 2,225,289 military veterans with service-connected disabilities. By 2013 the number of veterans with service-connected disabilities had climbed to 3,743,259, mainly due to exposure to the MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 20 most recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the increased survivability from combat injury (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2014b). Researchers from a study of veterans with three major conditions (e.g., PTSD, TBI, and major depression) reported that 18.5% of those returning from the most recent conflicts had PTSD or depression, and 19.5% reported experiencing TBI during their deployment. Of the veterans responding to the study, 11.2% reported PTSD or depression but no TBI, 7.3% reported PTSD/depression and TBI, and 12.2% reported just TBI (Tanielian & Jaycox, 2008). More recent casualty statistics reported to congress indicate that, approximately 118,829 military members/veterans deployed between 2000 and 2014 were diagnosed with PTSD. During the same period 307,283 were diagnosed with some form ofTBI (Fischer, 2014). Colleges and universities across the country need to find ways to accommodate these new military veterans that may be coming to their institutions, but especially those with these sometimes unseen disabilities. The Disability Services (DS) offices on campus will need to take a leading role in this accommodation. Accommodating Veterans with Disabilities on Campus. In a study of the role of the DS staff in accommodating veterans with disabilities, 237 members of the Association on Higher Education and Disabilities completed a survey, responses indicated that only 33% were comfortable or knowledgeable about campus efforts to serve these wounded warriors. Additionally, only 17.3% felt they had above average ability to serve these veterans (Vance, Miller II, 2009). There is a need to develop veteran friendly programs that reduce red tape, and have a designated point person or office. Other recommendations were to have an ongoing campus dialogue MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 21 which includes members of the DS staff, work on collaboration with other campus professionals, and work to collaborate in educating faculty and staff on the unique needs of these veterans (Vance & Miller II, 2009). There have been many discussions on how to accommodate veterans with disabilities on college and university campuses. The American Council on Education (ACE), with support from the Kresge Foundation and the Association on Higher Education and Disability and America's Heroes at Work conducted a "Veterans Success Jam" in May of2010. The "Veteran Success Jam'', was a three-day online collaboration that brought together thousands of veterans and their families, active service members, campus leaders, nonprofit organizations, and govermnent agencies from around the country. Recommendations were generated for colleges and universities accommodating veterans with PTSD and TBI (American Council on Education, 2010). During discussions at the Veterans Success Jam it was determined that overall veterans bring a lot of good qualities with them to campus, such as a higher degree of maturity, experience and leadership qualities, familiarity with diversity, and a level of focus not seen in their peers. Unfortunately, these qualities have been earned at great personal expense, and may well affect their educational goals. Campuses that are prepared to handle these challenges will rnake the transition of these veterans much easier, and the schools will benefit from being seen as veteran friendly (American Council on Education, 2010). Part of preparing to properly serve and accommodate these veterans is to understand what PTSD and TBI are, and what effect they may have on the academic MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 22 progress of these students. It is imperative that faculty and staff be educated and aware of these possible challenges (American Council on Education, 2010). Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in veterans usually involves a blow or concussion to the head which may include a penetrating head injury, which disrupts the function of the brain itself. These are most often associated with contact with an improvised explosive device (IED). Generally TBI can result in long and short-term issues, but most people get better over time. For those with mild cases of TB I, about 80% of the cases from the most recent conflicts, the recovery time can be as little as 3-6 months (American Council on Education, 2010). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychological injury that develops in response to exposure to an extreme traumatic event or events over time. PTSD trauma may include threatened death of oneself or others, serious injury, and even just the constant threat of personal injury. This creates a feeling of fear and helplessness that actually changes the brains chemical and hormonal balance. For some victims the symptoms will disappear when they are no longer exposed, yet for others they persist over a long period of time. Flashbacks or reliving events can happen in PTSD cases, which bring the stresses back to the forefront. These victims can sometimes avoid these feelings by avoiding events or situations that may trigger them. Usually PTSD symptoms manifest themselves within a few months, but they can take years to appear (American Council on Education, 2010). Staff and faculty may find it helpful to know what cognitive difficulties may be manifested in a veteran with PTSD or TBI. Each person manifests symptoms differently, so it hard to generalize. These symptoms can be things such as: difficulty in MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 23 concentration and attention; challenges processing infonnation; learning and memory deficits; sluggish abstract reasoning; and slowed executive functioning including problem solving, planning, insight, and sequencing. These veterans may also experience stressors outside the classroom involving home life, work, sleep disturbances, trouble managing time, and panic attacks (American Council on Education, 2010). When considering how to accommodate veterans with these types of disabilities it is best to understand that PTSD and TBI .symptoms are expressed in very unique ways. Standard procedures for accommodating a student with disabilities may not work with these veterans. In addition, in extreme cases, PTSD and TBI may also lead to depression and suicidal thoughts. These symptoms can be aggravated by academic pressure, health concerns, relationship issues, sleep problems, and substance abuse issues. Some factors that may have a positive effect on these veterans are social support by other veterans, professional medical treatment, good health and eating habits, and participation in recreational activities (American Coimcil on Education, 2010). Institutional faculty and staff should also be aware that not all veterans with PTSD or TBI will require disability accommodations to be successful in education, while others may. If they do require and qualify for special accommodations they will normally fall under either the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or Section 504 of the Vocational and Rehabilitation Act of 1973. So adjustments may be made for these veterans, as they are with others with disabilities, as long as the accommodations do not change the overall academic program in question (American Council on Education, 2010). MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 24 Another factor to consider is that these veterans are less likely than their peers on campus to access special accommodations for which they may qualify. There are many reasons this may occur such as pride, lack of understanding campus resources on their part, or the feeling that faculty and staff do not understand PTSD or TBI. It is necessary to realize that most staff and faculty have not experienced anything close to what these veterans have been exposed to in combat (Rumann & Hamrick, 2009). Faculty and staff must be informed in other ways because of the lack of exposure to military experiences and lifestyle. Increased awareness by faculty and staff can also meet the needs of broader commitment to diversity on campus (American Council on Education, 2010; Rtunann & Hamrick, 2009). Faculty and staff should know that the manifestation of symptoms, and even the diagnosis of these conditions, may not occur until well after they leave the military. Therefore, they may come to the campus undiagnosed. Becoming aware of the outward signs of PTSD and TBI could present opportunities to counsel veterans on possible accommodations, for those that have not already made arrangements with the DS office on campus. Of course, veterans must be willing participants and never be coerced (American Council on Education, 2010). Faculty and staff would also find it useful to become aware of other veteran resources on campus and in the community that may be helpful in the veterans' transition to the college or university setting. These could be resources such as the Veteran Student Services office, Veterans Upward Bound (VUB), the local Student Veterans of America chapter, or various community veteran resources like the Veteran Service Organizations (American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and Disabled American Veterans MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 25 (DAV)), the Veterans Administration (VA) hospital, and others. Partnering with outside organizations would help university staff in handling veteran specific issues (American Council on Education, 2010; Rumann & Hamrick, 2009). In general faculty and staff should understand that most veterans are new to their disabilities as well and may be unaware of their rights as disabled students to receive accommodations for an identified disability. The process of getting and accepting help can take time for these veterans. Sometimes their military background can hinder them, mainly due to the stigma of weakness that can be placed upon someone in the military with disabilities or shortcomings. Faculty and staff should also be aware that there are many other disabilities that veterans may bring to campus in addition to PTSD/TBI such as loss oflimb(s), severe burns, deafness, vision issues, and general learning disabilities (American Council on Education, 2010). Veterans with Disabilities. In a study published in 2012, focus groups were held involving 31 veterans who had self-reported PTSD symptoms. Transcripts of the sessions were analyzed to establish dominant themes in the responses of these veterans. Findings indicated that veterans with PTSD. needed services in a variety of different areas, and they also had some specific recommendations for easing their transition (Ellison, et al., 2012). The veterans in the study found it important for the schools to provide services for educational planning, including helping them to prepare for the rigors of higher education. The reality is that many of these veterans went into the military because they felt they were not ready for college. The veterans felt they needed help with counseling on the educational goals, and in choosing an appropriate major (Ellison, et al., 2012). MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 26 Another concern for these recent veterans is being able to reintegrate into society after their military service. Many of them left from their parents' homes right after high school without learning to live civilian life on their own. The veterans indicated the sudden change in social, psychological, and environmental norms from the military to civilian life created concerns. These concerns included homelessness, lack of family support, medical and/or addiction needs, physical disability needs, financial difficulties, and the how to balance their education and living needs (Ellison, et al., 2012). One theme that manifested itself across the veterans was the need for guidance and counseling regarding their GI Bill® and VA benefits. The veterans indicated that when calling veterans services they had difficulty reaching an actual person who could answer questions for them. When they did reach an individual, this person lacked proper knowledge of benefits, or could not properly cotmsel them on the pitfalls of choosing one educational benefit over the other. The staff at these offices need to be knowledgeable and infonnative (Ellison, et al., 2012). These veterans were concerned over the impact that their PTSD would have on their educational attainment. They indicated high anxiety dnring classes which could be triggered by things such as loud and sudden noises, hypervigilance while traveling to school, or anything that might remind them of their combat experience. Some indicated that they coped with these difficulties by using medication, positioning themselves at the back of the class, trying to choose classes with fewer students, or even evening or online classes. The veterans also expressed concern with perceived difficulties in memory and concentration in class, and the need for special accommodations (Ellison, et al., 2012). MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 27 The veterans provided some possible ways that institutions could mitigate some of the difficulties that they face. They indicated the need for on campus outreach services from VA facilities where the veterans normally gather. The younger veterans also expressed a need for more outreach by veterans their own age and not just by groups of what they perceived to be veterans old enough to be their fathers (Ellison, et al., 2012). Peer support was another area where they felt services could be utilized to their benefit. The veterans felt that being able to interact with veterans who have had similar experiences, would help them to navigate the difficulties of the environment. There is an unseen trnst bond that fellow veterans feel from each other, especially if they know they have each served in similar combat situations. The veterans thought that a program of veterans providing counseling to veterans would be ideal and that one-on-one service settings would be best (Ellison, et al., 2012). These veterans also suggested that there should be some coordination between services received with their VA education benefit and with the clinical services related to their PTSD treatment. Veterans were concerned with the logistics of managing their schooling and the case management involving their treatment. The veterans suggested that there be some coordination between the schools and the VA to have school representatives available at the VA facilities for question and answer sessions related to higher education, as well as maybe some workshops related to college preparation. The veterans also wondered if it were possible to have individual advocates that would walk them through the processes such as admissions, financial aid, and enrollment (Ellison, et al., 2012). MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 28 The veterans also suggested that there is a big change between the structured life of the military and the less structured civilian culture. Veterans felt in the military they had less autonomy and flexibility, and were concerned that their dependence on the military structure could hinder them in college persistence. Veterans felt that the process on campus needed to be streamlined and clear in order for them to better cope with the process. A one-stop-shop for veteran student services was suggested (Ellison, et al., 2012). Another concern was the perceived disconnect from the social networks the veterans relied upon prior to serving in the military. Having experienced many traumatic combat related experiences, and feeling a veteran no longer fit into groups or social settings that veterans may have been included in prior to their service. The veterans' social networks had become those that were fonned in the military and the transition back to civilian social networks was difficult. Veteran student groups on campus and national student veteran organizations could help ease these concerns (Ellison, et al., 2012). Reintegration into Society As veterans return from conflicts they have difficulties reintegrating into work environments, educational environments, social interactions and relationships, general physical functions, and sound emotional well-being. This is especially true for veterans that return with disabilities such as PTSD and TBI (Ostovary & Dapprich, 2011). As related specifically to (re)integration in education, veterans find both challenges and opportunities await them. The challenges come in many different forms and veterans need help navigating them upon entering the higher education environment. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE The opportunities depend on the approach to veterans established in each school (Ostovary & Dapprich, 2011). 29 One of the challenges faced in educational (re )integration is the loss of the direct benefits veterans were used to receiving in the military. Veterans are used to their day to day needs being taken care of for them with relative ease for the most part. Veterans' educational benefits can sometimes be delayed. The veterans are encouraged to apply for their GI Bill® benefits soon after discharge, yet the process of receiving these benefits is not immediate. This urgency in using the education benefit may cause the veteran to feel rushed into college enrollment and amplify things such as anger, irritability, and poor concentration in school. Classroom settings can also be a challenge and veterans may be affected by class size and noise, placement in the room, and attention and concentration issues. The veterans themselves report problems with the rigors of the curricuhun, social interaction with other students, and their perceived limits to services on campus (Ostovary & Dapprich, 2011). Educational satisfaction of veterans relates to how the respective institution of higher education works to become veteran friendly. Colleges and universities need adapt to the needs of new veterans as they transition. A veteran friendly campus is one that collaborates all services related to the (re)integration of veterans with disabilities. The services should include veteran centers on campus, veteran specific orientations, intramural programs for disabled students, and a campus-wide focus on veteran services. In addition, a student veteran organization should be established on campus. These organizations may improve interaction between veterans and traditional students, and between veterans and faculty and staff (Ostovary & Dapprich, 2011). MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 30 As has been the pattern of past generations, social and political change has occurred when veterans return from the fight, including those that return with disabilities. Following WWI the change came in the form of what was called the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education and Disabled Veterans Act. Following WWII the change was known as the Serviceman's Readjustment Act. Then after Vietnam the program was called Veteran's Readjustment Assistance Act. Our newest veterans with disabilities are covered under the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act (AD AAA) of 2008 (Ostovary & Dapprich, 2011 ). Higher Education: Weathering the Perfect Storm. It has been said that the return of veterans from recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the passage of the ADAAA, and the comprehensive benefits of the new Post 9/11 GI Bill® have created a so-called perfect storm that higher education has to overcome (Grossman, 2009). How higher education reacts will detennine how well they navigate the storm. Veterans with disabilities have historically been seen as assertive when it comes to their civil rights and educational benefits earned during their service. Many have been through traumas of the battlefield and will have been diagnosed with PTSB, TBI, and other issues (Grossman, 2009). Institutions of higher education will have to adapt to and learn to accommodate these veterans. Postsecondary institutions can become overwhelmed by this new influx of veterans with disabilities, or it could see this as an opportunity for positive changes. These new veterans could become the wakeup call that higher education needs, or a stumbling block. To weather the storm they will need to look at this challenge from a MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 31 new perspective and come up with new solutions that include a campus-wide response to accommodating veterans, and a Universal Design (UD) approach to their education (Burnett & Segoria, 2009; Grossman, 2009). The researcher (Grossman, 2009) lays out the challenges that come along with this perfect storm, and that higher education institutions will have to decide how they meet the challenges. First, they have to decide to prepare for this new population of veterans, of which they have had little if any experience dealing with. This will require training of faculty, staff, and DS staff on the characteristics and needs of these veterans. Although the AD AAA makes it clear that institutions are not required to fundamentally change their programs, but when it comes to veteran accommodations they may need to determine what really is fundamental. Veterans with PTSD and TBI require adjustments (accommodations) to the status quo, yet at the same time they do not want to be coddled (Grossman, 2009). The second challenge for colleges and universities is to develop veteran outreach activities that encourage them to enroll in college, take advantage of earned accommodations, and persist to graduation. They will need to address veterans with disabilities that hesitate to self-identify, that bristle at even being called or considered disabled, but that still need to be informed of campus benefits. Outreach activities should take place at locations where veterans may congregate (on and off campus), on social media cites, and at local military base education centers where possible. Veteran-specific student organizations, clubs, and fraternities may also be developed to inform veterans. For the most part these veterans are not used to the academic culture surrounding MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 32 disability accommodations and need help reviewing their documented disabilities or help obtaining proper documentation (Grossman, 2009). The next challenge noted is that veterans need someone on campus that can support them when the challenges and rigors of academic life arise. Ideally this would be someone with military experience generally similar to the individual veteran experience. Veterans with disabilities need to have someone they know can relate to their specific needs, and challenges, and be sympathetic to their cause (Grossman, 2009). Finally, colleges and universities need to be up to the challenge that this is an ongoing opportunity to help these current veterans and those that may come in the future. The higher education institutions should realize that America has made a commitment to these veterans and that part of that commitment is to their proper education. The commitment to this opportunity has to stay consistent, perpetual, and always focused on meeting the needs of these veterans with disabilities (Grossman, 2009). Summary There has been a long history established of federal assistance for veterans leaving military service, especially since WWII concluded. The GI Bill® has become a major part of those benefits. The original GI Bill® was a very generous benefit that provided an educational opportunity to millions of veterans following WWII, and literally changed society for generations. The newest version, the Post 9/11 GI Bill®, once again offers a tremendous benefit to veterans transitioning from the military and entering higher education environments around the country. This new GI Bill®, along with the large number of veterans leaving service following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have facilitated the need for change MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 33 and adaption of student services at these institutions of higher education. Some of these colleges and universities have done better at adapting than others, but the need for all to make the change is required. Reintegration of these veterans into society, and more specifically into education, is critical for their well-being. These veterans almost always need help navigating the challenges faced in a higher education environment. Colleges and universities must change and adapt as society does in relation to veterans. Many of these new veterans coming to higher education have been exposed to combat and may have disabilities, including PTSD and TBI, which will need to be accommodated. Adjustments will need to be made by faculty and staff in order to address the educational needs of these veterans with disabilities. How these adjustments are made, and how effective they are in helping the veterans transition, will impact the experience of both the institutes of higher education the veterans they serve. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 34 PURPOSE With the passing of the Post 9/11 GI Bill®, colleges and universities have seen the greatest influx of veterans in higher education since the end of the Vietnam conflict (Cook & Kim, 2009; Rumann & Hamrick, 2009). This new GI Bill® benefit is the most generous since the end of WWII (Radford, 2009) which has resulted in higher veteran enrollment, and has required colleges and universities to adjust policies and procedures to meet the needs of these veterans. In research by Zoli, Maury, and Fay (2015) of more than 8,500 military members and veterans, 92% said that education should play a role in post-service transition. Unfortunately most colleges and universities were inadequately prepared to meet the needs of this new influx of veterans and have been reactive in making the necessary adjustments to meet their needs (Brown & Gross, 2011). Many of these new veterans have returned with disabilities related to their wartime experiences, such as PTSD and TBI, which require additional considerations and accommodations. These veterans with disabilities have both temporary and chronic health issues that have affected their educational experience (Church, 2009). Faculty, staff, and related student services offices need to work together to meet the needs and special accommodations of these veterans with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to detennine veterans/veterans with disabilities perspectives on how well they have been integrated and accommodated at the community college and university level in a western state. The study sought to determine how veterans with disabilities perceive overall services for injured veterans on campus, accommodations and disability services for veterans, and supportive services that allow veterans to persist and graduate from a post-secondary school. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 35 The primary research questions were: 1. To what extent do veterans feel that their respective college or university has developed a veteran friendly campus by streamlining the admission, enrollment, and veteran services processes? 2. To what extent do veterans feel faculty and staff have an adequate understanding of the experiences of military veterans and are faculty and staff aware of helpful ways of integrating or reintegrating them into the classroom and into higher education in general? 3. To what extent do veterans perceive that colleges or universities adequately understand and accommodate veterans' with disabilities, specifically those disabilities related to combat related issues such as PTSD and TBI? MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 36 METHOD To address the purpose of this study, a needs analysis through survey research was conducted using the perspectives of veterans at both a university and community college in a western state. Veteran attitudes and perspectives were gathered related to their experiences during the admissions and emollment processes at their institutes of higher / education. Additionally the participants considered disabled, due to PTSD or TBI, were further queried relating to their specific experiences on campus. The study was conducted using a survey consisting of 4-point Likert scale questionnaire (Appendix A), with follow-up open-ended questions. The Likert scale questions were used to measure the overall perception of veterans' experiences in higher education. The open-ended questions were used to identify common themes and opinions from these same veterans. Additional survey questions were provided for veterans who self-identified as having PTSD and/or TBL The study was of particular interest to the researcher due to past experience in the military, work experience serving veterans on campus, and experience as a student having used GI Bill® benefits for graduate studies. The researcher served in the U.S. Army for over 22 years retiring in 2005, was grandfathered into the Post 9/11 GI Bill® benefits after retirement, and used those benefits in pursuit of a Master of Education degree at a university in a western state. Additionally the researcher is a service-connected veteran with disabilities. The researcher worked with veterans at a university as a staff member in a Department of Education program called Veterans Upward Bound (Department of Education, 2014), and was a member of a university committee of concerned faculty and staff, dedicated to creating a veteran friendly environment. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 37 Participants The study surveyed veterans attending a university and a community college in a western state, who were associated with the Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) program at each campus. The survey was distributed to 158 veterans who participated in VUB between 2013 and 2015. Total respondents to the survey were 33, a 23% response rate. As with the military in general, it was anticipated that the majority of the respondents would be male (see Table 1). Part of the survey allowed the veterans to identify whether they had a service­connected disability for PTSD and/or TBI. Those that identified themselves as disabled due to PTSD/TBI were further queried, to gather information related to their particular experiences regarding disability accommodations and services on campus. Table I. Respondents by branch and years of service, and by branch and gender. 0-5 years 6-10 years 11-19 years Retired 20+ Male Female Army 4 4 1 1 8 2 Navy 2 1 NIA 1 3 1 Air Force NIA 4 NIA 4 5 3 Marine Corp 5 2 NIA NIA 6 1 Nat. Guard NIA NIA NIA 1 NIA 1 Reserve 1 2 NIA NIA 3 Total 12 13 1 7 25 8 MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 38 Instruments This research was conducted using a survey of questions related to the veterans' experiences and satisfaction level with campus services, including questions specifically for those veterans who identified themselves as having a service-connected disability (Appendix A). The questionnaire measured levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with each topic. No neutral response was offered to the respondents. The researcher's rationale being that the veterans were either satisfied or not with each aspect of their experience on campus. The open-ended questions required a written response that allowed the respondents to express deeper feelings related to the topics. These were used to further identify common themes. Procedure The study identified veterans enrolled in VUB using program specific database software known as Blumen® (Compansol, 2012). The database is used to track the progress of veterans in VUB and was readily available to the researcher. Although the researcher had access to the veterans in the VUB program, Institutional Review Board (IRB) permissions were requested in accordance with institutional procedures. The IRB request included all survey instruments and informed consent forms required for the study. Once approval of the study was given (Appendix B), the researcher obtained a current number ofVUB participants served between 2013 and 2015, and began the survey process. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 39 An email was sent to 158 veterans emolled in VUB between 2013 and 2015. The initial email introduced the study and asked each veteran to participate in the survey. The email made clear that their participation in the survey was consent for their data to be used in the study. The veterans were instructed that these surveys would include descriptive information such as background, age, and sex, but that no identifiable information would be published in the results. Of the initial 158 emails sent, 15 were rejected due to invalid emails, and two veterans specifically requested not to be contacted further and were removed from the participant list. The final pool was 141 veterans. One week after the initial email, a second email was sent to each veteran with a link to the survey and they were asked to complete it as quickly as possible. After a two week response period the researcher sent the link again, to offer those veterans who have not yet responded the opportunity to participate. Due to minimal response, the survey link was then sent out two additional times before it was determined that the maximum voluntary response was likely reached. There were a total of 33 completed surveys received, or a 23% response rate approximately. Of those received, eight women veterans completed the survey, or 24%. Unfortunately researchers have found that response rates to online surveys are significantly lower than paper surveys, despite various practices used to lift total responses. It was reported that online surveys had response rates 23 % lower than that of paper surveys (Nulty 2008). Nulty suggests the following procedures as a way to boost response rates from online surveys such as: MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 1. "Pushing" the survey using an easy access URL sent directly to the participants. 2. Frequent reminders to the participants, at least 3, however some researchers in the study were concerned with irritating the survey population. 3. Involving academics with a vested interest, to remind possible participants. 40 4. Somehow persuading participants that the data from their responses will be used usefully and taken seriously. 5. Providing rewards of some sort, prizes, points, extra credit, etc. But some cautioned that students should do it because it is worth their time, versus extrinsic motivators that may skew the sample. 6. Help students to understand how to give constructive criticism, which can help their open-ended responses. 7. Create surveys that seek constructive criticism, which encourages participation and avoids the pitfalls of simple numerical rating surveys. During the data collection process, some of these tactics were employed to increase response rates. As indicated earlier in this research, multiple emails with an easy to access URL were used, providing frequent reminders, participants were informed that their data would be used to improve the situation of current and future veteran students, and the survey was constrncted in a way that would allow the veterans to provide constrnctive criticism using both a Likert scale survey and follow-up open-ended comments. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 41 Based on the researcher's work with veterans for over 10 years prior to this study, the response rate for the current research was not a surprising. Most veterans have been reluctant to participate in extracurricular activities and assignments given through VUB, due to their busy life and their focus on the requirements of their education which effect their grades. In addition, female veterans seem more likely to participate than male veterans. Female veterans made up only 16% of the initial pool of veterans to whom the survey was sent, but responded at a rate of 24%. Additionally, of those who responded 33% indicated they had been diagnosed with PTSD and/or TBI. Data Analysis The survey was administered and gathered over the course of a semester and the results were analyzed. Data were reviewed on a regular basis as the surveys were returned by the respondents. The researcher reviewed the responses for overall concepts, emerging patterns, and overarching categorization. The data were described and interpreted to answer questions posed by the research on the military veteran experience in higher education in a western state. An ecological psychology approach was talcen to analyze the participant's perspectives related to their environment (Boudah, 2011). Ecological psychology is the study of the relationship of humans and their environments, and how that enviromnent affects the inhabitants. In this case the higher education environment and military veterans. The researcher collected the data over time and then coded the data for analysis. During coding the researcher worked to identify patterns, developed categories, and MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE looked for common themes and trends. As new responses crune in, patterns categories and themes were changed and adjusted as necessary. 42 The researcher then moved beyond the patterns, categories and themes to develop a theory based on a review of the causes, consequences, and relationships of the veteran perspective. The researcher brought a theoretical sensitivity to the subject based on past experience in the military and current work with veterans on college and university crunpuses. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE RESULTS 43 The survey questions were broken down into demographic data, and seven survey sections: (a) overall experience in higher education, (b) website navigation, (c) admissions, (d) enrollment services, (e) veterans services office, (f) faculty awareness/classroom enviromnent/campus life, and (g) service-connected disability. Likert scale answers were gathered, and the respondents were also given the opportunity to comment on each section as well. See the Likert scale results (Appendix C). Demographic Data Based on the survey answers in this section, the researcher received a good mixture of military veterans. Of the respondents, seven indicated they were retired military (typically a minimum of20 years served), one had served 11-19 years, 13 had served 6-10 years, and 12 had served in the military 0-5 years. As to the question of how long each veteran had been out of the military before starting college, nine veterans had been out just 0-6 months, only three 7-12 months, seven had been out 1-2 years, three had been out 3-5 years, and 11 had been out of the military over five years. Of the veterans who responded, 25 were male and eight were female. Combat zone experience was high among respondents, which reflects the fact that the military has been involved in one conflict or another for over a decade. Of the 33 respondents 25 had been deployed to a combat zone, including six of the eight female veterans. There was a fairly even mixture of veteran students attending two or four year postsecondary institutions as well. Of the respondents, 10 were attending a 2-year institution and 13 were attending a 4-year institution. The rest were either imminently MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 44 graduating, starting school the following semester, or were just not enrolled in school at the time of the survey. The military branch breakdown of the respondents were 10 that had served in the Army, four from the Navy, eight from the Air Force, seven from the Marines, and four who had served in a reserve component. Overall Experience in Higher Education When asked iftheir overall experience in higher education had been positive, nearly 73% either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, and the remaining 27% disagreed or strongly disagreed. As to whether their school was working to accommodate veterans, 66% either agreed or strongly agreed and the remaining 33% disagreed or strongly disagreed. And finally as to whether veteran programs/benefits have improved since they have been at school, nearly 56% either agreed or strongly agreed, while 44% either disagreed or strongly disagreed. Open ended comments from this section included one from a veteran who said, "Seems to be more difficult once you've been identified as a veteran." Another veteran commented, "Some departments are set up in such a way that Veterans who use their G .I. Bill do not get the full benefits. ([e.g.] the Automotive Department) Some of the classes have 25 hours of seat time for 1 week with homework and is considered part time." Website Navigation The respondents overwhelmingly agreed that their respective college/university website was easy to find online, with 100% that either agreed or strongly agreed. Once they found the site 75% either agreed or strongly agreed that the site was easy to navigate, MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 45 while 25% reported a negative experience and either disagreed or strongly disagreed that the website was easy to locate. When it came to veteran-specific webpages, 60% either agreed or strongly agreed that it was easy to locate veteran-specific webpages and that they were either in one location or easily linked. Yet 40% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and found the webpages more difficult to locate. The respondents that either agreed or strongly agreed that veteran webpages were clear and understandable was about 73%, with about 27% that disagreed or strongly disagreed. Finally, over 93% of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that contact information for Veterans Services was easy to find on the website. When asked to comment about website navigation, one veteran said, "Veterans Services website need[s] a complete makeover. Veterans Upward [B]ound need[s] some life to it, graphics. Still have very old pictures. Out of date. Its 2015 folks." Admissions A clear 100% of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that online admissions application was easily fotmd, clear, and understandable. Over 68% either agreed or strongly agreed that the application clearly asked them to identify as a military member or veteran, with approximately 31 % that either disagreed or strongly disagreed that the application clearly asked them to identify as a military member or veteran. The vast majority of the veterans, over 96%, either agreed or strongly agreed that the admissions office was easy to locate on their campus if needed. Approximately 63% either agreed or strongly agreed that the admissions staff was helpful, were able to answer MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE veteran related questions, and understood veteran related procedures while over 36% disagreed or strongly disagreed. 46 Just over 53% of the veterans either agreed or strongly agreed that the procedure to transfer in credit for military experience was clear and understandable, while nearly 47% disagreed or strongly disagreed. As to whether their respective school offered veteran-specific orientations or information sessions, approximately 53% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Nearly 47% agreed or strongly agreed. When asked whether the overall admissions process was veteran friendly, nearly 70% either agreed or strongly agreed that it was, while about 30% disagreed or strongly disagreed that the process was veteran friendly. Comments on admissions included one veteran who said, [About the application] "the box that asks if you are a vet is a small box that most vets don't see." [As to whether the staff was helpful] "When you ask any questions on the phone, as soon as you say you're a vet, they transfer you to Veteran Services, even though your question is about admissions." [In reference to veteran orientation] "Some orientations include a portion for vets, but most don't." Another veteran commented, "I honestly can't remember if Veteran status was an option on the application. The local VA office had to add me as Veteran with school. There is a disconnect somewhere." Enrollment Services When asked about enrollment services, over 85% ofrespondents either agreed or strongly agreed that the online registration process was clear and understandable, with just over 14% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Nearly 94% of the veterans either agreed or strongly agreed that the registrar's office was easy to locate on their respective campus. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 47 The veterans were also asked if they had access to an advisor for help planning and choosing courses, as well as assistance in enrolling. Approximately 74% of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed, with just about 26% that disagreed or strongly disagreed. As to whether the registrar office staff were familiar with veteran­specific needs, only about 45% either agreed or strongly agreed, and 55% didn't feel their needs were met. Over 78% of the veterans surveyed either agreed or strongly agreed that enrollment deadlines, add/drop periods, and the semester schedules were made clear, while approximately 22 % disagreed or strongly disagreed. One veteran said concerning enrollment services, "I specifically had to ask for an adviser with a military background to assist me. It was difficult to process to figure out what classes I needed to finish my degree with the military. The other advisers gave a generic tutorial on general education classes which was helpful to a point. To be fair it was extremely difficult to get assistance from the military." Another veteran commented, "I could find no specific counselor to meet with to plan a course schedule. That was left up to the advisor for the degree you majored in. Getting a meeting with that person is absolutely ridiculous and time consuming. Not easy in the slightest." Veterans Services Office When it came to ease of locating Veterans Services on campus, almost 85% either agreed or strongly agreed that it was no problem, with the remaining 15% who either disagreed or strongly disagreed. Some 78% ofrespondents either agreed or strongly agreed that the staff was friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable on GI Bill® benefits, but the 22% remaining either disagreed or strongly disagreed. The majority of the veterans, just over 77%, either agreed or strongly agreed that procedures for certification of GI MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE Bill® benefits clear and understandable, or they were explained adequately. The remaining 23% either disagreed or strongly disagreed. Nearly 81 % of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that the Veterans Services staff helpful in giving guidance for registration each semester, with the remaining 19% either disagreed or strongly disagreed. 48 When asked if problems with GI Bill® benefits were resolved for them in a timely manner, over 84% indicated that they either agreed or strongly agreed, with 16% that either disagreed or strongly disagreed. Comments about Veterans Services Office included one veteran who said, "The Veterans Student Services were very helpful, lmowledgeable and professional." While another commented, "The Veterans Services Office was able to answer my questions and refer me to the appropriate services I required, however, I wondered why other school officials hadn't referred me to Veterans Services first. I could have avoided a lot of confusion and wasted time." Faculty Awareness, Classroom Environment, and Campus Life When asked about whether their school had offered a reintegration program to help with transition, about 57% indicated that their school did not offer this type of program, and either disagreed or strongly disagreed. Only 43% either agreed or strongly agreed that a reintegration program was offered. Over 63% of the respondents either disagreed or strongly disagreed that their professors were aware of veteran resources on campus, with the remaining 3 7% who agreed or strongly agreed that professors were aware. Some 70% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that their instructors/professors interacted well with them, and MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 49 honored the veterans' confidentiality requests. The remaining 30% disagreed or strongly disagreed. When asked if veterans were aware of instructors being trained about what the military experience is like, over 60% either disagreed or strongly disagreed that the instructors had been trained, and only 40% agreed or strongly agreed that they were. As to whether the respondents felt they were treated fairly and respectfully on campus, almost 82% agreed or strongly agreed. The remaining 18% either disagreed or strongly disagreed. About 87% agreed or strongly agreed that they were allowed to share their military experiences when appropriate, while the remaining 13% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Of the veterans that responded, 80% agreed or strongly agreed that allowances were made for specific veteran seating needs. Nearly 82% agreed or strongly agreed that classroom populations are manageable in size and encourage learning, while the remaining 18% veterans disagreed or strongly disagreed. Peer mentoring programs allow veterans to get assistance with coursework, directly from other veteran students. Just over 64% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their school had a peer mentoring program for support of veterans, while almost 36% disagreed or strongly disagreed. In addition, over 65% of the veterans agreed or strongly agreed that their school had a relationship with veteran service organizations, such as The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, and the Veterans ofForeign Wars, that can assist veterans in obtaining further benefits, with the remaining respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed. Also, about 87% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their school allowed the Veterans Administration (VA) to have a MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE presence on campus to assist with things such as mental health counseling, education benefits, veterans with disabilities' benefits. 50 In regards to Student Veteran Organizations (SVO), about 47% agreed or strongly agreed that they were aware their school had a SVO on campus, but about 53% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Many colleges offer a "one-stop-shop" for any resource on campus related to veterans, such as Veteran Services, VUB, Admissions, Registration, and Disability Services. This helps the veterans by providing a streamlined process for administrative offices and support resources needed while applying for and attending college. Just 58% of veterans agreed or strongly agreed that their school offered such a resource, while the remaining 42% disagreed or strongly disagreed. When asked to comment on faculty awareness, classroom environment, and campus life, a veteran commented "A one-stop shop for veterans/military issues would be very beneficial." Another veteran commented, "The VA office was moved from the student services building to a building on the outskirt of campus. It should be co-located with other student services. Their current facilities are inadequate for study or parking. I pushed hard to assist and establish a veteran student organization with no luck. Finally, it was hard transition from the "military life" and it would have been nice to have a fellow Vet as a mentor." Another veteran said, "Veterans services are on opposite ends of the campus and not located "on campus" per se. The Veterans Services Office used to be located in the administration building on campus and it was more convenient to walk between the registrars, cashier, and Vet services when problems or questions arose, but MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE last summer is was moved outside of the building and it now seems disconnected from the school." Service-connected Disability Of those that responded to this question of the survey, just over 35% (11) indicated that they had been diagnosed with PTSD, TBI, or a combination of the two illnesses. Nearly 83% of these veterans with disabilities agreed or strongly agreed that the staff of Disability Services, at their campus, were friendly, welcoming, and had an understanding of veteran-specific disabilities. 51 About 71 % of the veterans with disabilities agreed or strongly agreed that Disability Services staff had an understanding of the cognitive difficulties related to PTSD/TBI, and were trained to counsel veterans, while the remaining veterans with disabilities disagreed or strongly disagreed. As to whether Disability Services helped veterans deal with the stigma related to being "disabled", almost 74% agreed or strongly agreed, and the remaining 26% either disagreed or strongly disagreed. Over 82% of the veterans with disabilities agreed or strongly agreed that Disability Services coordinated with the VA to properly accommodate the veterans with disabilities on campus, while almost 18% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Just over 83% of veterans with disabilities agreed or strongly agreed that classroom accommodations are given to veterans with PTSD/TBI diagnoses, while nearlyl 7% disagreed or strongly disagreed. About 84% agreed or strongly agreed that test-taking and test location accommodations were given to veterans with these diagnoses, with the remaining that either disagreed or strongly disagreed. Finally, when asked whether Disability Services collaborates to educate other campus professionals MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 52 about veterans with disabilities' needs, 80% of the veterans with disabilities agreed or strongly agreed that they did, and 20% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Of those veterans that indicated they had either PTSD or TBI, one commented "If provisions are available at Weber State University for Disabled Veterans I am not aware of them." And finally, another commented "I experienced Sexual trauma in the military and received disability accommodations finally after three years at college. It would be helpful to have a female Psychologist for female veterans. I don't feel comfortable sharing my anxiety issues with a male." Table 2. Summary of responses by survey section, with the totals by section and response type. Section Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly Survey Sections Responses Agree Disagree a. Overall 93 27 34 14 18 Experience (3) b. Website 155 36 88 22 9 Navigation (7) c. College 224 48 111 43 22 Admissions (7) d. Enrollment 152 29 86 26 11 Services ( 5) e. Veteran Services 153 57 67 20 9 Office (5) f. Faculty 388 82 167 92 47 Awareness/ Classroom Environment (13) g. Service- 147 64 53 12 18 connected Disability (7) MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE DISCUSSION 53 As seen in the review of previous research on this subject, the study found that with the passing of the Post 9/11 GI Bill®, colleges and universities have seen the greatest influx of veterans in higher education since the end of the Vietnam conflict, some 40 years ago (Cook & Kim, 2009; Rumann & Hamrick, 2009). In research by Zoli, Maury, and Fay (2015) of the more than 8,500 military members and veterans who participated, 92% indicated that education should play a role in post-service transition. This new GI Bill® has resulted in higher veteran enrollment, and has required colleges and universities to adjust policies and procedures to meet the needs of these veterans. The previous research found that most colleges and universities across the country were inadequately prepared to meet the needs of this new influx of veterans and had been reactive in making the necessary adjustments to meet their needs (Brown & Gross, 2011). Research also showed a need for improvement in areas related to veterans such as assisting veterans' transition to college, developing faculty and staff awareness of veteran specific issues, meeting the needs of veterans with military related disabilities, assisting re-enrolling veterans, and providing peer to peer experiences for veterans (Cook & Kim, 2009). Previous research also suggested that institutions that encourage veterans to self­identify early, ensure veteran program administrators are adequately trained, and that other staff and administration are trained on the new GI Bill®, tend to have more effective programs for veterans. The university should employ disability and mental health staff who understand veterans' issues, have consistent policies for college credit for military MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE training, have veteran specific orientations and informational sessions, and encourage veteran student organizations on campus (Steel, Salcedo, & Coley, 2010). 54 The current study provided an opportunity to obtain the perspective of the veterans, in one western state, as to how their respective college or university was adapting to this change. The study sought to determine veteran/veterans with disabilities' perspectives as to what extent they have been integrated and accommodated at the community college and university level. In addition, the purpose of the study was to also determine how veterans with disabilities perceive overall services for injured veterans on campus, accommodations and disability services for veterans, and supportive services that allow veterans to persist and graduate from a post-secondary school. Specifically the study sought to determine to what extent the institutions of higher education have developed a veteran friendly campus, determine to what extent does the institutional faculty and staff have an adequate understanding of the military experience, are reintegrating veterans into the classroom and into higher education in general, and to determine to what extent do the institutions adequately understand and accommodate veterans with service-connected disabilities such at PTSD and TBI. What the current study demonstrated is that progress has been made in relation to this study group but there is still room for improvement, and that colleges and universities should continue to move in a positive direction. These institutions should focus on improving all aspects of interaction with military veterans to include improving the veteran experience through proper integration, user friendly web-based resources, veteran-specific admissions and registration procedures, proactive veteran services, faculty and staff awareness and training, developing a welcoming classroom MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE environment, improved veteran integration in campus life, and also improved disability services and accommodations for veterans witb disabilities. Implications of the Results 55 There are very meaningful reasons why institutions should do tbe best job possible when serving, managing, and educating veterans. As pointed out in the previous research reviewed, Brown and Gross (2011) showed that successful management of military students brings benefits to all involved: the student; the academic institution; and the community. The study sought to measure how the veterans felt that the institutions of higher education were doing in that respect. Overall, the results of tbe current research on the veteran perspective was quite positive. The survey results indicated that, in general, there were 949 (72 % ) positive responses to survey questions and 363 (28%) negative responses (Appendix C). This by no means indicates that there have been no negative impacts on veterans at the institutions involved, but it demonstrates tbat strides are being made in a positive direction when it comes to the veteran experience at the these schools. A portion of the survey addressed the research question related to how the veterans felt their respective college or university had developed a veteran friendly campus through streamlining the admission, enrollment, and veteran services processes. When it came to the admissions process, most of the survey participants felt that the admissions process was generally smooth and could be viewed as veteran-friendly, but over one-third of the veterans thought that the admissions staff was not helpful and lacked understanding of veteran-specific issues. Also a clear procedure for transferring credit for military experience is warranted, based on tbe nearly one-half of veterans MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 56 unsatisfied with that process. This would indicate that staff training related to veteran­specific issues and problems that arise could reduce that level of dissatisfaction. Another possible option would be to have a staff member with military experience available to assist veterans. The admissions process is likely the first stumbling block that these veterans have in starting their higher education journey, so it is incumbent on the institutions to ensure veterans are welcomed, treated fairly, and that veteran needs are being addressed. Once admitted to an institute of higher education, veterans must tackle the enrollment process and find coursework suited for their chosen academic major. This can be a daunting task for veterans, many of whom have never been in a higher education environment. Over one quarter of the veterans responding to the survey felt that they did not have access to an advisor that would work with them in choosing and enrolling in courses. It is critical that veterans are advised properly, given the fact that their GI Bill® benefits are finite. Veterans cannot afford to waste time or money on coursework unrelated to their major. In addition over one half of the respondents felt that the registrar staff was unfamiliar with veteran-specific needs. If a staff member is unaware of the VA policy (e.g. against paying for courses unrelated to the veteran's major) and improperly advises the veteran, then it may create financial for the veterans. Again, training on veteran related issues and/or the presence of a veteran staff member may mitigate these kinds of problems. Veterans Services is a critical part of the veteran experience on the community college and university campus, especially for those veterans using GI Bill® benefits. It can become financially difficult on veterans if they have issues with receiving their MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE educational benefits, so Veterans Services must be efficient when certifying veterans' benefits. 57 Most survey responses relating to Veteran Services were positive, but some found that veteran services was hard to locate, that the staff was unfriendly, and that the process for obtaining GI Bill® benefits was not clear or explained properly. Some also had trouble getting proper guidance from Veteran Services during registration each semester, or when veterans experienced problems with receiving GI Bill®benefits, the problems were not resolved in a timely manner. Not all veterans will be satisfied with how a particular process unfolds, but veterans utilizing Veteran Services on campus should feel that the staff there are on the veterans' side to the best extent possible. Veteran Services should viewed by the veterans as an ally on campus, and staff should do the utmost to accommodate veteran needs. This office should be a safe haven where veterans can come for support when they are frustrated by other campus services and procedures. Interaction with instructors and professors make up most of the personal contact veterans have in higher education. Ideally they should have some knowledge about veteran issues and resources available. The second research question attempted to determine if veterans felt faculty and staffhad an adequate understanding of the experiences of military veterans. Additionally, the study attempted to determine veterans' perception as to whether the faculty and staff were aware of helpful ways of integrating or reintegrating them into the classroom and into higher education in general. Some of the difficulties that veterans face in higher education involve under informed MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE faculty, their negative classroom experiences, and general non-involvement in campus life and activities. 58 The researcher believes that it is critical to the long-term viability of veteran students, for them to be understood, accommodated, and integrated into these institutions. Over one half of the veterans indicated that their respective school either did not have an integration program, or if it did they were unsatisfied with results. In addition, nearly two thirds of veteran respondents indicated that their instructors and professors were unaware of veteran resources on campus. All staff and faculty should be aware of resources that benefit veterans, which can serve to make things easier on the veteran, staff, and faculty. The study results indicate that over one half of the veterans in the survey perceived that the faculty were not adequately trained to understand the military experience. Some colleges across the country have establish a "basic training" type program for faculty to help them be more aware of different aspects of the military experience, to help them to understand and be sympathetic. For example Purdue University, and the Veterans Success Center there, offers "Green Zone Training" to discuss what it means to serve and what veterans bring to campus. With fewer and fewer staff and faculty having military experience themselves, a program like this would be beneficial and enlightening as more veterans pursue higher education. On a positive note, the veterans overwhelmingly felt that they were treated fairly and respectfully, and were given the opportunity to share their experiences when they felt comfortable doing so in class. Approximately 30 % of the veterans who responded did not feel that the faculty honored the veterans' confidentiality requests. Some veterans really want to blend into MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 59 the fabric of the campus and do not feel comfortable being singled out or identified as a military veteran. Faculty should be sensitive to this on an individual basis, and avoid calling attention to a veteran who may not want to be identified that way. Some veterans are uncomfortable speaking of their military experiences in class, or relating it to their education, especially if it involves combat experiences. Although if comfortable in sharing, veterans' experiences can contribute to classroom learning environment and to the learning experience of all students overall, so faculty need to be sensitive and aware. Peer mentoring and student veteran organizations are other programs that have been beneficial to veterans on campuses across the country. Veterans learning and being mentored by other veterans can be another way to increase retention of veterans at the respective college or university. Organized student groups can give similar kinds of support to veterans (e.g. Student Veterans of America). An experienced veteran in college can help newer student veterans get through the difficult times by showing these fellow veterans how they survived themselves. Over one third of the veterans in the survey did not feel that there was a sound peer mentoring program, or at least an effective one at their respective schools. In addition, over one half of the veterans in the study indicated that their school did not have an adequate student veteran's organization. This study also attempted to determine how veterans with disabilities perceived their college or university understood and accommodated veterans' disabilities, specifically those related to combat related issues such as PTSD and TBI. Recent casualty statistics reported to congress indicate that, approximately 118,829 military members/veterans deployed between 2000 and 2014 were diagnosed MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 60 with PTSD. During the same period 307,283 were diagnosed with some form ofTBI (Fischer, 2014). In the study by Zoli, Maury, and Fay (2015), the researchers reported over 3.9 million veterans had been identified as disabled by the Veterans Administration (VA). Of those, 43% were from the Gulf War era and beyond. Additionally, of the more than 8,500 respondents 58% reported a service related disability. Of the veterans that reported a service-connected disability, 79% indicated that the disability created obstacles for them as they transitioned to civilian life. In regards to pursuing higher education, 12% indicated the disability hindered beginning higher education, and 28% said the disability created obstacles in completing higher education (Zoli, Maury, and Fay, 2015). It is critical that colleges and universities across the country find ways to accommodate these military veterans who may be attending to their institutions, but especially those with these unseen disabilities. The Disability Services (DS) offices on campus will need to take a leading role in this accommodation. The DS staff should be at the forefront when it comes to service-connected veterans with disabilities. In this study, of the veterans who identified as being disabled due to PTSD and/or TB!, over 82% agreed that DS staff at their campus were friendly and welcoming, and had an understanding of veteran-specific disabilities. It was by no means unanimous, with about 18% disagreeing, so there is room for improvement. The DS staff also seemed to have at least some understanding of the cognitive difficulties of those veterans experiencing PTSD/TBI issues, and these veterans felt the staff had adequate training to counsel them in relation to these issues. The DS staff was also widely viewed as being helpful to veterans struggling with the stigma that is felt by being called "disabled". MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 61 The results indicate that most of the veterans with disabilities were receiving accommodations in the classroom, and for test-taking, as well as these veterans feeling positive about how the DS staff educated other campus professionals about veterans with disabilities' needs. There were some veterans that disagreed, but the majority seemed to have had a positive experience with Disability Services. There were 14 7 combined responses to survey questions related to veteran disability, with 117 (79%) being positive in nature. The DS office and staff seem to be serving veterans adequately, with room to improve. Limitations Although the surveys were conducted in only one western state, the researcher believes that the results can be viewed in the broader context in that improvements are being made in higher education for this new influx of veterans. Others may argue that the results of the research are not adequately generalizable based on the sample size. The researcher agrees that the response rate for the survey was not ideal, but given that overall response rates for online surveys are traditionally low, the researcher felt that there were enough data to proceed. Veterans tend to focus on what directly effects their education, and therefore if the veteran does not see a relation to coursework and grades they tend to be less interested in extracurricular inquiries (Quaye & Harper, 2014). In reviewing the demographic data, it appears that there was a well-represented sample of our military, in years served, branch of anned service, deployment to combat zones, and gender. There appeared to be few if any over-represented veterans in the specific categories, other than females (see Table 1). MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 62 Future Research The study can be expanded by conducting future research to include more colleges and universities in different regions of the country. Including more veterans in varied geographical and demographically diverse areas of the country would build a broader picture of how higher education is doing in serving, managing, and educating veterans. Future research could also include the use of varied survey tools including online surveys, mailed surveys, convenience surveys, one-on-one interviews, and group discussions. The study sought to measure only the perspective of the veterans from the beginning of the research project, using a convenience sample of Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) participants. Future research could also measure the perspectives of institutional staff and faculty as well as a broader spectrum of veterans, in order to identify any possible disconnects and common ground between veteran and institutional perspectives. An institution of higher education may believe that it is doing all it can to adequately serve veterans, whereas the veterans feel that there is room to improve. This needs analysis was undertalcen to inform the institutions of higher education regarding the perspectives of military veterans. It will infonn universities, and the entities that support those veterans, ways to improve the veteran experience. Additionally, the results will provide a veteran perspective in hopes of better meeting the needs of college and university veterans. It is recommended that future research will review these data and aslc additional questions of the veterans and university faculty and staff to better support those who have served on the country's behalf. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 63 Summary The study began with historical background and context on the GI Bill® from the beginning in 1944, to the present configuration. With the newest iteration of the GI Bill® and the generous benefits to veterans, colleges and universities are seeing higher enrollment by military veterans than they have since the conclusion of the Vietnam Conflict (Cook & Kim, 2009; Rumann & Hamrick, 2009). The literature review showed that institutions of higher education were ill prepared to meet the needs of this new influx of veterans, and had been reacting to the challenge rather than being proactive and anticipating changes that needed to be made. In addition, due to higher rates of survivability in combat, many of the veteran students entering higher education now have returned from conflict with injuries and illnesses such as PTSD and TBI. Previous research showed that nearly 85% of those receiving combat injuries are surviving due to advances in protective body armor, use of coagulants, and advances in the military medical evacuation system (Madaus, Miller II, & Vance, 2009). In the current study, the researcher sought to measure the veteran perspective as to how the institutions of higher education are doing in relation to serving veterans in general, as well as veterans with disabilities. The study findings were more positive than expected, based on prior research, with 949 (72%) positive responses to survey questions and 363 (28%) negative responses (see appendix A). This could plainly be an indicator that the institutions of higher education in the western state involved are doing better than elsewhere, or a broader indicator that the veteran experience is improving generally. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 64 The current research showed that improvements were being made, based on the perspective of the veterans involved. The responses to the research survey were generally positive, with some exceptions. This indicates that the institutions where these veterans have attended, are making strides in a positive direction. Responses from the survey participants did show that there are many areas relating to veterans that have room for improvement though. It is the intent of the researcher to make these results available to higher education institutions, in order to facilitate the needed improvements. The results also indicated that most of the veterans with disabilities were mostly positive about the institutions meeting veterans with disabilities' needs. There were some veterans that disagreed, but the majority seemed to have had a positive experience with Disability Services on campus. As reported earlier in the study, there were 14 7 combined responses to survey questions related to veteran disability, with 117 (79%) being positive in nature. The DS office and staff seem to be serving veterans adequately, with room to improve. The researcher has concluded that there are still challenges ahead for veterans in higher education, but that the process in moving in a positive direction. Veterans are seeing these improvements and are becoming more optimistic in their outlook. The more optimistic that veterans become, the better the retention and graduation rates will become. Colleges and universities must work hand-in-hand with the veterans to improve the experience for faculty, staff, and student veterans in the future. The individtial veteran student, the higher education institutions, and the community at large will benefit from these improvements. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE REFERENCES 65 American Council on Education (2010). Accommodating student veterans with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder: Tips for campus faculty and staff. Retrieved from http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Accommodating­Student- Veterans-with-Traumatic-Brain-Injury-and-Post-Traumatic-Stress­Disorder. pdf Boudah, D. J. (2011). Conducting educational research: Guide to completing a major project. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Brown, P.A., & Gross, C. (2011). Serving those who have served-Managing veteran and military best practices. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 59, 45- 49. doi:l0.1080/07377363.2011.544982 Burnett, S. E., Segoria, J. (2009). Collaboration for military transition students from combat to college: It takes a community. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 22(1), 53-58. Church, T. E. (2009). Returning veterans on campus with war related injuries and the long road back home. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 22(1 ), 43-52. Compansol, 2012. Bltunen® software. Retrieved from http://compansol.com/product.php Cook, B. J., & Kim, Y. (2009). From soldier to student: Easing the transition of service members on campus. Retrieved from http://www.acenet.edu/news­room/ Documents/From-Soldier-to-Student-Easing-the-Transition-of-Service­Members- on-Campus. pdf MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE Department of Education (2014). Veterans Upward Bound. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/programs/triovub/index.html Department of Veterans Affairs (2014a). Education: Benefits for veterans education. Retrieved from http://www.benefits.va.gov/REPORTS/abr/ABR-Education­FY13- 09262014.pdf Department of Veterans Affairs (2014b). Service-connected disabled veterans by disability rating group: FY 1986 to FY 2013. Retrieved from http://www.va.gov/vetdata/V eteran _Population.asp Department of Veterans Affairs (2013). Education and training: History and timeline. Retrieved from http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/history.asp DiRamio, D., & Spires, M. (2009). Partnering to assist disabled veterans in transition. New Directions for Student Services, 126, 25-34. doi:l0.1002/ss.319 66 Ellison, M. L., Mueller, L., Smelson, D., Corrigan, P. W., Torres Stone, R. A., Bokhour, B. G., Najavits, L. M., Vessela, J.M., & Drebing, C. (2012). Supporting the educational goals of post-9/11 veterans with self-reported PTSD symptoms: A needs assessment. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 35(3), 209-217. Fischer, H. (2014). A guide to U.S. Military casualty statistics: Operation new dawn, operation Iraqi freedom, and operation enduring freedom. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from http://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf Grossman, P. D. (2009). Forward with a challenge: Leading our campuses away from the perfect storm. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 22(1 ), 4-9. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE Madaus, J. W., Miller II, W. K., & Vance, M. L. (2009). Veterans with disabilities in postsecondary education. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 22(1), 10-17. Mettler, S. (2005). Soldiers to citizens: The G.I. Bill and the making of the greatest generation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc. Military.com (2006). GI Bill turns 62. Retrieved from http://www.military.com/N ewsContent/O, 13319,1023 83 ,00.html Nulty, D. D. (2008). The adequacy ofresponse rates to online and paper surveys: what can be done? Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(3), 301-314. 67 Ostovary, F., & Dapprich, J. (2011). Challenges and opportunities of operation enduring freedom/operation Iraqi freedom veterans with disabilities transitioning into learning and workplace enviromnents. New Directions for Adult Continuing Education, 132, 63-73. doi:I0.1002/ace.432 Post-9/11 GI Bill overview (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.military.com/education/gi­bill/ new-post-911-gi-bill-overview.html Quaye, S. J., & Harper, S. R. (2014). Student engagement in higher education: Theoretical perspectives and practical approaches for diverse populations. New York, NY: Routledge. Radford, A. W. (2009). Military service members and veterans in higher education: What the new GI Bill may mean for postsecondary institutions. Retrieved from http://www. acenet. edu/news-room/Documents/Military-Servi ce-Members-and- V eterans-in-Higher-Education. pdf MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE Rumann, C. B., & Hamrick, F.A. (2010). Student veterans in transition: Re-enrolling after war zone deployments. The Journal of Higher Education, 81 ( 4), 431-458. 68 Rumann, C. B., & Hamrick, F.A. (2009). Supporting student veterans in transition. New Directions for Student Services, 126, 25-34. doi:l0.1002/ss.313 Steele, J. L., Salcedo, N., & Coley, J. (2010). Service members in school: Military veterans' experiences using the Post 9/11 GI Bill and pursuing postsecondary education. Retrieved from http://www.acenet.edu/news­roorn/ Documents/Service-Mernbers-in-School-Executi ve-Surnmary-2010. pdf Tanielian, T., & Jaycox, L. H. (2008). Invisible wounds: Psychological and cognitive injuries, their consequences, and services to assist Recovery. Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/content/darn/rand/pubs/monographs/2008/RAND MG720.pd f Vance, M. L., & Miller II, W. K. (2009). Serving wounded warriors: Current practices in postsecondary education. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 22(1 ), 18-35. Zoli, C., Maury, R., & Fay, D. (2015). Missing perspectives: Servicemembers' transition from service to civilian life. Institute for Veterans & Military Family Members, Syracuse University. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE APPENDICES Appendix A: Veterans Survey Questions Appendix B: IRB Approval Letter Appendix C: Survey Results Spreadsheet 69 MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE APPENDIX A Veterans Survey Questions Veteran Experience Questions and Comments All survey questions (except open-ended comments) will have one of the following responses: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree, Not Applicable (N/A). a. Overall Experience in Higher Education 1. My overall experience on the campus has been positive. 2. My school seems to be working to accommodate military veterans. 3. Veteran programs/benefits have improved since I've been at my school. b. Website Navigation 4. The website for the college/university was easy to find online. 5. Once fmmd, the website was easy to navigate once found. 70 6. It was easy to find veteran specific web pages, they were one location and/or were easily linked. 7. Information on the veteran pages was clear and tmderstandable. 8. Contact information for Veteran Services was easy to find. c. Admissions 9. The online admissions application was easy to find, and was clear and understandable. 10. The application clearly asks individuals to identify as a military member or veteran. 11. When needed the admissions office was easy to locate. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 12. The admissions staff was helpful, able to answer veteran related questions, and understand veteran related procedures. 71 13. Procedures for military experience transfer credits were clear and understandable. 14. The college/university offered veteran specific orientations of information sessions. 15. Overall the admissions process was veteran friendly. d. Enrollment 16. The online course registration process was clear and understandable. 17. The registrar's office was easy to find on campus. 18. Veterans have access to an advisor to help plan, choose proper courses, and enroll in classes. 19. Staff from the registrar's office is familiar with veteran-specific needs. 20. Enrollment deadlines, add/drop periods, and semester schedule were made clear. e. Veteran Services Office 21. The Veterans Services Office was easy to find on campus. 22. The Veterans Services staff were friendly and welcoming, were knowledgeable with all aspects of the GI Bill®. 23. Campus procedures for GI Bill® certification were clear and understandable or were explained. 24. The Veteran Services staff were helpful in giving guidance for registration each semester. 25. Problems with my GI Bill® benefits were resolved in a timely manner. f. Faculty Awareness/Classroom Environment/Campus Life MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 72 26. The college/university offered a (re)integration program to help veterans transition into higher education. 27. Instructors/Professors are familiar with veteran resources on campus. 28. Instructors/Professors interact well with veteran students and honor veterans' confidentiality requests. 29. Instructors/Professors have been trained on what the military experience is like. 30. Military veteran students are treated fairly and respectfully on campus. 31. Instructors/Professors allow veterans to share military experiences when appropriate. 32. Allowances are made for specific veteran seating needs when necessary. 33. Class populations are manageable in size and encourage learning. 34. The college/university has a peer mentoring program providing veteran to veteran support. 35. The college/university has a relationship with Veteran Service Organizations (American Legion, DAV, VFW, etc.). 36. There is an established veteran student organization on campus. 37. The college/university allows the Veterans Administration (VA) to have a presence on campus. 38. The college/university has a "one stop shop" where veterans can go for services. Disabled Veteran Experience Questions and Comments g. Disability Services 1. The Disability Services staff was friendly and welcoming, and understands veteran specific disabilities. MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 2. Disability Services staff understands cognitive difficulties related to PTSD/TBI, and have been trained to counsel veterans with PTSD/TBI. 3. Disability Services helps veterans to deal with the stigma related to being "disabled". 4. Disability Services coordinate with the VA to properly acconnnodate disabled veterans. 5. Classroom acconnnodations are given to veterans with documented PTSD/TBI diagnoses. 6. Test taking and testing location accommodations are given to veterans with documented PTSD/TBI diagnoses. 7. Disability Services staff collaborates well with other campus professionals to educate them on disabled veteran needs. 73 MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE APPENDIXB WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY Institutional Review Board April 29, 2015 Daniel Czech MC 4401 Weber State University Ogden, UT 84408 Daniel, Your project entitled "The Military Veteran Experience in Higher Education" has been reviewed and is approved as written. The project was reviewed as "exempt" because it involves using curriculum and assessments which would normally be used. Subjects are considered adults and may choose not to participate. Informed consent is required for participation. Notification of the study and how data will be reported are appropriate. No individual subject data will be revealed. All subject information will be confidential. Dr. Williams is the chair of the committee who will oversee this study. Anonymity and confidentiality are addressed appropriately, and the type of information gathered could not "reasonably place the subjects at risk of criminal or civil liability or be damaging to the subjects' financial standing, employability, or reputation" (Code of Federal Regulations 45 CFR 46, Subpart D.) You may proceed with your study when district/site approval is given. Please remember that any anticipated changes to the project and approved procedures must be submitted to the !RB prior to implementation. Any unanticipated problems that arise during any stage of the project require a written report to the !RB and possible suspension of the project. A final copy of your application will remain on file with the !RB records. If you need further assistance or have any questions, call meat 626-7370 or e-mail me at lgowans@weber.edu. Sincerely, Linda Gowans, Ph.D. Chair, Institutional Review Board, Education Subcommittee 74 MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE Title of Project: Primary Investigator(s): Approval Number: Reviewer: Date: April 29, 2015 The Military Veteran Experience in Higher Education Daniel Czech 15-ED-088 Linda Gowans, Ph.D. Chair, Institutional Review Board Education Subcommittee COMMITTEE ACTION YOUR PROPOSAL (PROJECT) AND CONSENT DOCUMENTS HA VE BEEN RECEIVED AND CLASSIFIED BY THE HUMAN SUBJECTS IN RESEARCH COMMITTEE AS: _High Risk __ Moderate Risk _X _Low Risk BY THE FOLLOWING PROCESS: _Full board review_ Expedited review_X_Exemption THE PROJECT HAS BEEN: _x Approved __ Not Approved COMMENTS: See Attached Approval Letter Linda Gowans, Ph.D. --- IRB EDUCATION SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIR INVESTIGATOR'S RESPONSIBILITY AFTER COMMITTEE ACTION 75 The federal regulations provide that after the committee has approved your study, you may not make any changes without prior committee approval except where necessary to eliminate apparent immediate hazards to the subjects. Further, you must report to the committee any changes that you make and any unanticipated problems involving risks to subjects or others that arise. 4/29/2015 REVIEW DATE MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 76 APPENDIXC Su rvey R esul tsS > prea ds heet Survey Section Question Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly N/A Total (excluding Number Agree Disagree N/A) a. Overall . . ·· .·.I ••••• . ·:· ' -' . ·. .·· .· . . . Experience . · . . ' . . . . .·· . . • 1 12 12 5 4 0 33 2 11 11 4 7 0 33 3 4 11 5 7 6 27 b. Website . . . . ·. ·.· . . . · . . •. Navigation . ··. . . . . . 4 10 22 0 0 1 32 5 5 19 8 0 1 32 6 5 13 9 3 3 30 7 6 16 4 4 3 30 8 10 18 1 2 2 31 College . ·. . · . c. . . . ' • . Admissions ·.·. . . · . . I . .· . 9 7 22 0 0 4 29 10 6 16 8 2 1 32 11 10 22 1 0 0 33 12 4 17 8 4 0 33 13 6 11 10 5 0 32 14 7 8 10 7 1 32 15 8 15 6 4 0 33 d. Enrollment . I . . ' ': < ·. I . I ' I . Services . .• . · . . .· . . . ·.· . ' . 16 5 19 2 2 4 28 17 9 21 2 0 0 32 18 7 16 7 1 0 31 19 1 12 11 5 3 29 20 7 18 4 3 0 32 e. Veteran Services Office 21 11 17 4 1 0 33 22 12 13 5 2 1 32 23 12 12 5 2 2 31 24 13 12 4 2 2 31 25 9 13 2 2 7 26 MILITARY VETERAN EXPERIENCE 77 f. Faculty Awareness/ Classroom Environment 26 1 11 9 7 5 28 27 3 8 13 6 3 30 28 8 13 4 5 2 30 29 2 5 14 6 6 27 30 6 21 5 1 0 33 31 8 19 3 1 2 31 32 7 13 4 1 8 25 33 11 16 4 2 0 33 34 7 11 8 2 4 28 35 5 14 8 2 3 29 36 5 10 10 7 1 32 37 9 18 2 2 1 31 38 10 8 8 5 1 31 g. Service-connected Disability 1 10 9 1 3 9 23 2 9 6 3 3 11 21 3 9 8 3 3 9 23 4 10 9 1 3 9 23 5 8 7 1 2 14 18 6 10 6 1 2 13 19 7 8 8 2 2 12 20

Issue 65.2 of the Review for Religious, 2006. ; Franciscan Legacy Vocation Religious Implications The Spirit QUARTERLY 65.2 2006 evtew Religtous sters.dia e,.wztl~,, Go dialogue~ with ourselves; anddialogue accordingto cba~s:~of CatboUc reli~o~'l~(~ As Pope Paul I satd~ our way of bet!g church Review for Religious (ISSN 0034-639X) is published quarterly at Saint Louis University, by the Jesuits of the Missouri Province. Editorial Office: 3601 Lindell Boulevard ¯ St. Louis, Missouri 63108-3393 Telephone: 314-633-4610 ¯ Fax: 314-633-4611 E-Mail: review@slu.edu ¯ \~el) site: www.reviewforreligious.org 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 ° Pontifical College Josephinum 7625 North High Street ¯ Columbus, Ohio 43235 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. ©2006 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 hear notice of the source, date, and copyright owner on the first page. This permission is NOT extended to copying for comlnercial distribu-tion, advertising, institutional promotion, or for the creation of new collective works or anthologies. Such permission will only he considered on written application to the Editor, Review for Religious. 0 religious Editor Associate Editor Canonical Counsel Scripture Scope Editorial Staff. Webmaster Advisory Board David L. Fleming SJ Phili'o C. Fischer SJ Elizabeth McDonough OP Eugene Hensell OSB Mar~ Ann Foppe Tracy Gramm Judy Sharp Ciare Boehmer ASC Stephen Erspamer OSB Kathleen Hughes RSCJ Louis and Angela Menard Bishop Terry Steib SVD Miriam D. Ukeritis CSJ QUARTERLY 65.2 2006 contents prisms 116 Prisms 118 138 franciscan legacy Custodians of Franciscan Households Michael Blastic OFM enters us into the meaning of Franciscan fraternity through developing three elements: 1) a life lived in brotherhood, 2) experienced in a household, and 3) qualified with patience~ Questions for Reflection / Group Discussion Francis's Charism, Tree-Huggers, and the Eucharist Regis J. Armstrong OFMCap centers his reflections on the .spirituality of Francis of Assisi by focusing on five passages of Francis's writings that d, eal with Eucharist. vocation 153 159 Imitation of Mary and the Religious Vocation Julius D. Leloczky OCist invites those following the special call to religious life into a prayerful meditation on the role of Mary as model and mentor. Prayer Just Because I Said So Mary Joseph Schultz SCC considers the importance of commitment and what it means "to give one's word." Personal Reflection / Group Conversation l~eview for Retigious 166 177 r O ji us imp ic io s Are Religious Superiors Called to Be "Politically Correct"? Vimal Tirimanna CSSR reflects on his experience as major superior and as president of the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Sri Lanka to share his concern for the proper use of afithority. Identifying Identity among Nonclerical Religious Brendan Kneale FSC clarifies identity for men and women as embracing two dimensions, personal and social, which are mutually supportive. 186 spiri Led by the Spirit: Julian of Norwich Andrew Ryder SCJ notes the central role of the Spirit in the writings of Julian of Norwich. The Holy Spirit is the dynamic, active agent who brings us into communion with the life of Christ and the Persons of the Holy Trinity. epar rn n s 202 Scripture Scope: The Miracles of Jesus 206 Cdnonical Counsel: The Importance of Procedural Law 211 Book Reviews 65.2 2006 prisms do we think of when we hear the word service? We quickly rush to the n0tion of activity--what we do, how we act, how we spend our days and perhaps even our nights. But in our Catholic tradition service and to serve God have a far richer meaning than just activity. We find the first and foundational stage of service in a traditional saying, "They also serve who only stand and wait." By way of contemporary example, we notice that the esteemed waiter at table is the one who watches and is attentive to what is needed by the people dining. Such a waiter spends a lot :of his or' her time just "watching and waiting." In a similar way, the Christian who wants to serve God should spend a lot of time "watching and waiting." A good part of the watching and waiting is identifiable as praying. It is the prayer of one who listens to God--a God who is speaking in his revealing word, a God who speaks through his human messengers, a God who speaks through nature and through events. A person who listens is one who is obedient, for the roots of the word obedience lie in listening. The young Samuel in scripture describes his listening in the phrase, "Here I am, Lord." In the sacramental oi'dination of ministers, such listening is caught by the expression "ready and willing." It is the attitude of Jesus before the God he calls Abba. The second stage of service is made evident in the stance of surrender. It is the giving over of ourselves to. another in love. As Catholics we are being invited to enter Christ's eternal stance of surrender that is celebrated in every Eucharist. Jesus sacramentalized his total gift of self to God and to us in the giving of his body and his blood at the Last Supper. Historically, that gift was made especially in his passion and death. But the risen Jesus continues to invite us to enter into his eternal stance of surrender in every Eucharist we celebrate. For us, our surrender is measured by all the discrete moments of our life. We might say that, nourished by Jesus' body and blood, we are living "into" our surrender. Finally we come to thai stage of service whose mean-ing we think we have exhausted when we describe activ-ities. It is true that there are many ways of serving as a Christian, and these services are an essential element of living our faith. A faith that is not lived out in action is no faith at all. It is noteworthy that Protestants have often described their Sunday worship as services. Although we Catholics have ordinarily not used this designation, the Mass truly can be identified as a se~'vice, and it contains all the stages of service that we have described. The Liturgy of the Word certainly demands all of tls to be obedient, to be listeners, to be people ready and willing to be formed and directed by God's word. In the Liturgy of the Sacrament we are invited to enter into Jesus' eternal stance of surrender, and we come forward at communion time to ratify that gift and so experience our increasing identity with Christ by letting him be our daily bread. And every Eucharist sends us forth with the mission to share our faith and ~o serve God and his people. At the Last Supper Jesus asked all of us to claim our identity with him by following his example--he signified this by a particular activity as he washed the apostles' feet. Whatever our activities, following the risen Christ, we are identified as "ones who serve." . David L. Fleming SJ ,117 65.2 2006 franciscan MICHAEL BLASTIC Custodians of Franciscan Households legacy In a Newsweek web article posted on MSNBC, Melinda Henneberger wrote that "Katrina has reminded us that Christian morality should be about responding to the wretched and loving the unlovable--not about other people's sex lives" (14 September 2005). While the United States describes itself as a Christian nation, in the aftermath of Katrina we have seen that this label is deceptive. Citing Bill McKibben, "The Christian Paradox" (Harper's, August 2005), who pointed this out, she wrote that American practice really rewards dependency, and so it is better to hold on to your cash. McKibben himself reported on a poll concerning religious practice in the United States. He noted that only four in ten Americans can list more than four of the Ten Commandments, and only five in ten can name the four Gospels. He said that these Michael Blastic OFM presented this paper on Franciscan brotherhood at a province meeting in November 2005. His address is The Franciscan Institute; St. Bonaventure University; St. Bonaventure, New York 14778. Revie~ for Religious statistics really do not matter, but what does matter is that three out of four think the Bible teaches that "God helps those who help themselves" (actually a proverb of Ben Franklin's). Approximately 85 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christian, with about 75 percent claiming they pray to God daily and 33 percent going to church weekly. McKibben points out a number of paradoxes. We are second to last among developed countries in government foreign aid; nearly 18 percent of American children live in poverty--here we come in last among the rich nations-- and 26 percent of households lack sufficient food. We are the most violent rich nation on earth, with a murder rate of four or five times that of Europe. We have prison populations five or six times Europe's rate. We are the only Western democracy that executes its citizens; our marriage breakup rate is more than half, and higher than Europe's. tf one measures Christian identity by Jesus' teaching of helping the less fortunate, we come off poorly indeed. ~ Given these statistics, McKibben argues that Americans have replaced the Christianity of the Bible with another creed which ignores Jesus' radical and demanding focus on the other--"Love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus made it clear who the neighbor is--the poor person, the sick person, the naked person, the hungry person. "On and on and on--a call for nothing less than a radical, voluntary, and effective reordering of power relationships, based on the principle of love," to quote McKibben. I know I am not reporting something you do not already know. But I believe that this social context of North America as described by McKibben, visible in the unjust social reality revealed in Katrina's aftermath, is important for reflecting on our Franciscan life. In fact, 1119, 6~. 2 200~ Blastic ¯ Custodians of Frandscan Households such a social context was the occasion for Francis of Assisi's conversion. Here I want to be very clear. Francis of Assisi's conversion was not explicitly, and primarily religious. It was a movement from a social order base& on the creed "God helps them who help themselves" to a social order based on sharing and sacrifice and "Love your neighbor as yourself"--in other words the creed of Jesus. In his conversion Francis first and foremost experienced what it means to be human, and what it implies for social life. The Franciscan movement results from Francis and the brothers learning what is required for human beings to flourish as God intends. From the opposite perspective, it is the medium of fraternity that is the message. A Franciscan fraternity evangelizes to the extent that it embodies human flourishing on the personal, social, and ecclesial levels. First I will describe briefly the early Franciscan experience and vision of fraternal life, and then I will suggest how this may help all of us live our lives as brothers. :120 A Place for Human Flourishing I would describe Franciscan fraternity in this way. I~ is (1) a life lived in brotherhood, (2) experienced in a household, and (3) qualified with patience. I deduce these elements from the Rule of 1223, the Rule that we profess as our form of life. (1) It was the Italian scholar Raoul Manselli who identified Francis's encounter with lepers as the turning point in his conversion. As Francis records in his Testament, that encounter radically rearranged his values and led him to leave the commune of Assisi in order to live with those lepers. He was drawn out of himself so that he could see, perhaps for the first time in his life; the reality of human beings who according to the definitions Review for Religious of life in the commune of Assisi simply did not exist. There was no place in Assisi for the unclean, the unworthy, the unholy, the unbearable, the unlucky, the untouchable, and the unloved. Encountering these suffering human beings, the lepers, Francis showed them a merciful heart. He looked at ., , them and touched them, he stayed with them and shared life with them, he comforted them and served their needs. And Francis tells us he did not do this for himself. He did not go to the~lepers to make himself better. He did not use . them as objects in an ascetical exercise to overcome himself (though this is how hagiographers will understand it). Francis gives the credit for this experiential truth to God: "The Lord led me among them, and I showed them a merciful heart" (Test 2).1 With God's nudge, Francis recognized the lepers as brothers and sisters, as creatures of the same God, as having equal dignity in the eyes of God the Creator. While Assisi's values and practice denied this truth, Francis was led into it by God's grace (what was bitter became sweet), and 'he left Assisi to live among these newly discovered brothers and sisters. Leaving the world of Assisi, Francis ~hus stepped into God's world--creation--where everything was estab-lished by the Creator in relationship. This is the truth that he would later celebrate in the Canticle of the Creatures. Creation sings, creation flourishes, simply by being what it was created to be, by being in relationship with all that exists. In his Testament Francis says, "The Lord gave me some brothers" (Test 14). Experienced as the reality of relationship as established by the Creator, brotherhood is Francis did not go to the lepers to make himself better. 121 65.2 2006 Blastic ¯ Custodians of Franciscan Households embodied in the rule in terms of obedience. According to chapter 2 of the Earlier Rule, after those who come have given everything to the poor as they were able, and after the year of probation has ended for them, "they may be received into obedience" (LR II:l 1). Once received into obedience they may not wander "outside obedience" (ER II: 10). The rule speaks of obedience as a place, the space into which the brothers are received. While monks are received into a monastery after their novitiate probation, Francis's brothers are received into obedience. Obedience becomes a synonym for the space in which the brothers live. What characterizes obedience then is that it is the space of relationship, One could substitute the term relationship for the term obedience throughout the early Franciscan writings and not change the meaning of the texts. The relationships of brotherhood define the space in which the brothers live. This is especially significant given that the rule understands the brothers to be itinerant, even though by 1223 this was beginning to change somewhat. Brothers began living in convents in cities. Brotherhood, then, or better our relationships as brothers, is what defines the space in which to live our life according to the Rule. And, as Francis makes clear, brotherhood is only possible if one. turns toward the other, only if one gets out of oneself and willingly places oneself in relationship to the other. This turning toward others is the basis for contemplation in the tradition; it does not imply separation or solitude, but rather engagement and an ecstatic way of being in the world. A second defining element of Franciscan fraternity is Franciscan mission. After lepers, probably the most recognized symbol of Franciscan life is San Damiano and the speaking crucifix. While this story~appears rather late in the hagiographical tradition (1246), it expresses a fundamental purpose of Franciscan life. Francis received a Review for Religious mission to repair God's house, which was being destroyed: "Francis, don't you see that my house is being destroyed? Go, then, and rebuild it for me" (L3C 13). While in the past we translated those words from the Legend of the Three Companions too simplistically as "Rebuild my church," the hagiographical tradition consistently uses the term house in accounts of this event. And, while Francis initially understood that invitation from the cross to mean the broken-down building of San Damiano, he would come to understand that the mission was rather one of repairing a space in which Frariciscan ' holiness was experienced domestically, the. lives of men and women who have been~.broken and destroyed as human beings can be rebuilt and flourish. House and family are central to the brothers' experience of the Christian life. Their relationship to God is expressed in terms of the household. For instance, in the Second Version of the Letter to the Faithful, we read: And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon all those men and women who have done and persevered in these things, and it will make a home and dwelling place in them. And they will be the children of the heavenly Father, whose works they do. And they are spouses, brothers, and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are spouses when the faithful soul is united by the Holy Spirit to our Lord Jesus Christ. We are brothers, moreover, when we do the will of his Father who is in heaven; mothers when we carry him in our heart and body through love and a pure and sincere conscience; and give him birth through a holy activity, which must shine before others by example. (2LtF 48-53) Here we can see that for the early Franciscans holiness was experienced domestically. This suggests two things: 65.2 2006 Blastic ¯ Custodians of Franciscan Households 124 (1) we are family with the Trinitarian God we believe in, and (2) our relationship with this God is accessible and lived in the ordinary, everyday experience of domestic life. This is an important characteristic of Franciscan .practice, and suggests family life and not church life as the means for working out our way to God. How does Francis envision rebuilding God's house? Bonaventure's insight in his Major Legend of St. Francis is right on the mark here. He comments that, after receiving this mission in San Damiano, he eventually moved to St. MaiT~ of the Angels; he "lived there in order to repair it" (LMj II:8). The repair of God's house is not so much the action of preaching or teaching. The repair is accomplished by life in brotherhood itself, by living among and with brothers and sisters. The term conversatio is used to describe this "living among" in two places in the Early Rule. Francis encourages the brothers to rejoice when they "live among (quando conversantur inter viles . . .) people considered of little value and looked down upon" (ER IX:2); and "they can live spiritually (possunt duobus modis spiritualiter inter eos conversant) among the Saracens" (ER XVI:5). Using the Latin word conversatio, the root of the term conversation, the Rule envisages life as a conversation, and depends on the monastic sense of conversatio as manner of life. The brothers' manner of life is thus to be conversational--sharing life with brothers and ~isters in this conversational manner rebuilds the house of God. In another text of the Later Rule, this conversation is described more concretely: I counsel, admonish, and exhort my brothers in the Lord Jesus Christ not to quarrel or argue or judge others when they go about in the world; but let them be meek, peaceful, modest, gentle, and humble, speaking courteously to everyone, as is becoming . Review for Religious Into whatever house they enter, let them first say: "Peace to this house!" According to the holy gospel let them eat whatever food is set before them. (LR III:10- 12, 14) Here we see how for the brothers the mann(r of being with others is the primary means for accomplishing the mission, and is itself the message. The gospel is about life, a way of life, a way of being with and relating to others with the peace that is God's gift freely given in Jesus. The brothers simply speak the gospel honestly with everyone, beginning with one another. But, before the brothers can speak the word of the gospel, they must live the word of the gospel. Here recall the emphasis Celano gives to this fact in his Life of St. Francis, "[Francis] was no deaf hearer of the gospel" (1C 22). Coherence of life and message is the norm. The brothers' honest conversation and engagement with the world and people invites recognition of the presence of the kingdom already in their midst. Conversation, though, is a skill that must be learned, and many of the prescriptions of the rule that describe behavior in a negative way can be read as impediments to the quality of conversa'tion that the brothers engage in as part of their mission. This understanding of household and conversation can be seen in chapter 6 of the Later Rule. There poverty is described as "not making anything one's own" and living as "pilgrims and strangers in this world" and "never seeking anything else under heaven." After describing the brothers' poverty this way as modeled on Jesus Christ, "who made himself poor for us in this world" (LR VI:3), the Rule spells out the implication of this poverty for the life of brotherhood: Wherever the brothers may be and meet one another, let them show that they are members of.the same family. Let each one confidently m~ke known his need 125 65.2 2006 Blasac ¯ Custodians of Frandscan Households to the other, for if a mother loves and cares for her son according to the flesh, how much more diligently must someone love and care for his brother according to the Spirit! (LR VI:7-8) Literally the Rule suggests here that the brothers should demonstrate that they come from the same "household," the same family (ostendunt se domesticos invicem inter se). Thus, having nothing, living itinerantly, and desiring only this, the brothers can be at home in their relationships. The brothers should feel at home in the love and. care they have and express for one another. Poverty is the condition for brotherhood. This is an important consideration because poverty can dehumanize. Rebuilding God's house implies offering an alternative to the dehumanizing effects, of poverty. Today we can include everything from forms of work, to abuse, to social structures. The life of brotherhood should provide for humanizing relationships, expressed in turning toward others in their real needs, and their responding with real and mature care. This house is built by God's Spirit as a place where human beings can flourish. Our fraternal life is meant to help human beings prosper, grow, and thrive as "human persons fully alive" and thus to fulfill our mission to repair God's house. A third dimension of fraternal life has to do with what it means to be human. For me, this knowledge comes with the.stigmata of Francis. The stigmata involves unanswered questions. Thomas of Celano in his Life of St. Francis supplied the time, place, and context for the event of the stigmata, but while doing that he was much more interested in unraveling its meaning. Celano recounts that, while at La Verna two years before his death, Francis "saw in the vision of God a man having six wings like a seraph, standing above him, arms extended and feet joined, fixed to a cross" (2C 94). Celano's words suggest that Francis's vision was of a human person taken up into God, burning with desire (like a seraph), and crucified. They suggest the divinization of the human person. Celano is not describing history here. He is interpreting an event whose full meaning was beyond history. He understands the stigmata as demonstrating the fullest potential of being human embraced by God in the incarnation. In Jesus, God embraced the human condition with all of its limitation, fragility, weakness, and vulnerability and, in this embrace of the human condition, revealed God's own divine nature. I.n other words, the crucified flesh of Christ revealed the nature of God. The event of the stigmata reveals both the meaning of God and the meaning of Jesus Christ's human nature. The humanity embraced by Jesus is the same as Francis lived, to the point of knowing it in his own wounds. Marked with the wounds of Jesus, Francis becomes the leper, an icon of the crucified Jesus. Celano says: "While he was unable to perceive anything clearly understandable from the vision, its newness very much pressed upon his heart. Signs of the nails began to appear on his hands and feet, just as he had seen them a little while earlier on the crucified man hovering above him" (2C 94). Francis becomes what he sees, that is, what he has been seeing from the moment God turned him to the lepers to contemplate humanity there as a living icon of Jesus Christ, crucified and fixed to a cross. What does it mean to be human, then, for the early Franciscans? It means to embrace th~ full reality of the human condition as frail, weak, fragile, and vulnerable, and even scarred and wounded. The human person is an image of the Lamb who was slain, who carries even now in glory the scars of the passion. Being scarred and wounded like Jesus is not about imitating Jesus' suffering and pain on the cross. Rather, it is the consequence of t)27 6~.2 2006 Blastic ¯ Custodians of Franciscan Households self-sacrificing love, of being totally for others, without holding anything back: To be truly human means to bear patiently the human condition of weakness, fragility, and vulnerability. In the stigmata Francis demonstrates that it is possible for a human being to be Godlike, to love as God loved, to be totally and completely for the other, and in addition he demonstrates that human persons are capable of compassion, human persons are capable of bearing the pain of.the other. This, it seems to me, is what the Rule describes as the action of the Spirit of the Lord in one's life: I admonish and exhort the brothers in themLord Jesus Christ to beware of all pride, vainglory, envy and greed, of care and solicitude for the things of this world, of detraction and murmuring. Let those who are illiterate not be anxious to learn, but let them pay attention to what they must desire above all else: to have the Spirit of the Lord and its holy activity, to pray always to him with a pure heart, to have humility and patience in persecution and infirmity, and to love those who persecute, rebuke, and find fault with us. (LRX:7- 0) The eight vices that are listed at the beginning of this text are social vices; they have to do with how one relates to others and to the things of this-world. These vices describe one who is living "from the outside in," that is, one whose meaning and behavior are determined by things, by social position, by prestige, power, and clout, all of which lie outside a person. The Rule admonishes the brothers to a life of poverty, having nothing of one's own and desiring nothing more than the action of God's Spirit. They are not to live from the outside in, but from the inside out, by expressing the Spirit of the Lord in outward behavior. The Spirit transforms us flesh and blood into an image of Jesus, the suffering servant of God. Review for Religious Another way of expressing the action of the Spirit here is in our bearing with everyone and everything in patience and humility. The Saying on True and Pe,fect ffoy, recorded as a conversation between Francis and Leo, says that, as they arrive back at the Portiuncola one night, they are refused entrance because of the time of day and because they are stupid and not needed. They are told to go to the Crosiers for lodging. Francis says that, "if I had patience and did not become upset, true joy as well as true virtue and the salvation of my soul would consist in. this" (TPJ 15). The experience of the 'presence of God so transforms human existence that even persecution and sickness become ways to follow Christ. The experience of the Spirit of the Lord thus expresses itself in patience. The Latin term patiens indicates a willingness to endure or undergo something, to be capable of bearing hardship; it implies that one is vulnerable, able to be wounded. For Francis, patience is an attribute of God. In the--Praises of God, written shortly /. after he experienced-ffie sugrnata on Mount La Verna, he says to God: "You are love, charity; you are wisdom, you are humility, you are patience, you are beauty, you are meekness, you are security, you are rest" (PrG 4). Francis sees Jesus as the face of God, who made himself vulnerable in this world, who exercised patience through life and death. But it is the incarnation even more than the passion and death that Francis looks to, because in the incarnation Jesus put himself into the position of weakness, frailty, vulnerability, and limitation Francis sees Jesus as.the fa~e of God, who made himself vulnerable in this world, who exercised patience through life and death. 6~.2 2006 Blastic * Custodians of Franciscan HouseboMs and. in this revealed the full potential of being human, showing that the acceptance.of human vulnerability is salvific. Here the Rule gets to the heart of Franciscan fraternity because it challenges the brothers to be simply human, to live from the inside out, to be patient in suffering and sickness, to be vulnerable and open to the other, in short, to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Authentic human life can flourish in Franciscan households that are built by brothers who turn toward each other, who engage in honest conversation as a way of life, and who patiently embrace their humanness in weakness, fragility, and vulnerability. Guarding the Franciscan Household The term "guardian" does not appear in the text of the Rule of 1223. It will appear inAater writings such as the Letter to the Entire Order and the Testament. No job description can be found in the early Franciscan writings, but it is understood that as guardian a brother exercises a ministry among brothers on the local level. What the Rule says about the ministry of "those brothers who are the ministers and servants of the others." (LR X:I) certainly applies to guardians. They are to "receive [the brothers] charitably and kindly and have sufficient familiarity with them that these same brothers may speak and deal with them as masters with the servants, for so it must be that the ministers are servants of all the brothers" (LR X:5-6). The ministers must deal with the brothers as family. While this quality of service must characterize the ministers, those who are subjects must also live the sacrificial nature of obedience in their relationships with the ministers and others. This sacrificial quality of obedience. Francis learned from Jesus, especially in his agony in the garden as described in the Second Version of the Letter to the Faithf!~k Rt.view for Religious Then he prayed to his father saying, Father, if it can be done, let this cup pass from me. And his sweat became as drops of blood falling on the ground. Nevertheless, he placed his will in the will of his father saying: Father, let your will be done; not as I will, but as you will. His father's will was such that his blessed and glorious son, whom he gave to us and who was born for us, should offer himself through his own blood as a sacrifice and oblation on the altar of the cross: not for himself, through whom all things were made, but for our sins, leaving us an example that we might follow his footprints. (2LtF 8-13) Jesus' obedience to his father was a struggle to say yes to his father's will, and this is really the only thing Francis says about the passion. Francis never speaks of the pain or suffering of the crucified Jesus, as if the entire passion took place in Jesus' struggle to accept his Father's will. And the Father's will, as Francis describes here, is that Jesus be completely for, others, that Jesus be for us. The passion is about struggling to be for others, and thi~ brings us back to the very nature of what it means to be brother. The brother is one who turns toward others, who is totally for others without holding anything back for himself. This js true obedience, because it is the fulfillment of what it means to be in relationship with others. Given this general sense of service, caring for the Franciscan household might be practiced in the following ways, I. I began with the common American Christian belief and practice that "God helps those who help themselves," a creed that can affect us in various ways. This creed is not authentically Christian, and it is eminently un- Franciscan. It supports behavior and practice that become destructive of God's house. All the brothers are responsible for calling each other to lives of genuine other-centeredness, to lives of authentic obedience 131 65.2 2006 Blastic ¯ Custodians of Franciscan Households experienced as fraternal relationship, and to the poverty of having nothing as one's own. Interdepehdence rather than radical independence, mutuality rather than self-centeredness, arid healthy need rather than the fullness of isolation are true qualities of fraternal life. This kind of fraternity is not a given, nor achieved easily or quickly, but remains the goal toward which we live. The guardian's task of caring for fraternal life implies attention to the absence or presence of creeds that conflict with real fraternal life. II. One hard-to-retrieve aspect of fraternal life today, given our institutional structures, is itinerancy. Francis and his brothers lived as pilgrims and strangers in this An important itinerancy !sAhab., while moving abbut; W~ are .s.t.ill at home with each o her: ° world. They were itinerant brothers, literally. They were "houses" on the road--perhaps medieval versions of mobile homes! Itinerancy was a clear aspect of Franciscan identity in contrast to monks--monastic institutions were terrified of wandering monks, called gyrovagues in Benedict's Rule. The. monastic ideal was stability, and part of the difficulty of fitting mendicants into the structure of the church had to do with their itinerancy. The friars were often perceived mistakenly (?) as monks gone bad. How do we recover that dimension of our life? Perhaps by recovering the meaning of itinerancy as metaphor--by not remaining fixed in one place, by taking different perspectives on the same reality, by always being on the way without ever believing that we have arrived, by not claiming the center for ourselves, and so forth. It is easy to get bogged down in our ministry or work, and to Review for Religious disconnect ourselves from the fraternity for reasons of ministry or work, though there can be valid reasons for this. An important aspect of itinerancy is that while moving about we are still at home with each other; our friaries are parts of a much larger provincial fraternity. For fraternity to be healthy and life-giving, it has to be on the move, never settled into stubborn custom or settled convenience or old fears of anything new o'r different. The fraternity must be on the move in a metaphorical sense in order to stay healthy and focused on its purpose. The fraternity has to be kept on its toes, and the guardians' care for households is an appropriate way of keeping the brothers on the move. III. As we have seen, Francis's mission to repair God's house had to do with the quality of human life. It had to do with a style of life or conversation that was inclusive, respectful, honest, and engaging. Conversation does have guidelines. In his book Plurality and Ambiguity, David TracT says: "In conversation we find ourselves by losing ourselves in the questions provoked by the text. We find ourselves by allowing claims upon our attention, by exploring possibilities suggested by others" (p. 19). He suggests some guidelines for honest conversation: ' Conversation is a game with some hard rules: say only what you mean; say it as accurately as you can; listen to and respect what the other says, however different or other; be willing to correct or defend your opinions if challenged by the conversation partner; be willing to argue if necessary, tQ confront if demanded, to endure necessary conflict, to change your mind if the evidence suggests it." (pp. 18-19) To paraphrase Tracy in Franciscan language, we might say that, to have an honest conversation, one must act according to the real d~mands of being brothers in relationship, one must be for the other in honesty, in 65.2 2006 Blastic ¯ Custodians of Frandscan Households integrity of life, in respectful listening. But Tracy's words, too, have already described the dynamic of a healthy fraternity. Real fraternal life is possible only if the brothers can have honest conversations. This is a real challenge because I can be so convinced of my truth that I cannot hear anyone else's truth. Conversation brings into play the truth about being human that Francis witnessed to in the stigmata--being vulnerable, being able to be touched by another, It takes much effort and practice to engage in honest conversation of this kind. Well worth the effort, the honest and earnest conversation in my fraternity will affect the quality of my presence and ministry outside the fraternity. Honest conversation iwfraternal life will also improve another central aspect of our life together, our prayer. To move beyond communal vocal prayer to faith sharing or shared prayer, honest conversation is important. If I cannot engage my brothers in honest conversation, how will I share my faith deeply with others. Perhaps there is a correlation between the friary chapters that demand honest conversation about life and ministry and the friaries that have much, or at least some, quality faith sharing. While the guardians cannot force this to happen, they can'challenge the brothers to develop friary chapters as an exercise in honest conversation. Moving from honest conversation into shared prayer is a logical and easy step. IV. Perhaps the best description of the guardians, given this description of Franciscan life, is that they are mentors. They support, challenge, inspire, and foster discernment of what is true, worthy, and life-giving among the brothers. You can find. a fine description of the mentor in Big Questions, Worthy Dreams by Sharon Daloz Parks (Jossey-Bass, 2000). She describes a mentoring Review for Religious environment as one that "can and necessarily must assist in creating norms of discourse and inclusion that invite genuine dialogue, strengthen critical thought, encourage connective-holistic awareness, and develop the contemplative mind" (p. 142). Sounds like a tall order, but we have all experienced a mentoring environment. Franciscan fraternity is similar to what she describes: "Mentoring environments are communities of imagination and practice. Humanizing practices, as we use the term here, are ways of life, things that people do with and for each other to make and keep life human" (p. 154). Parks describes three practices of a mentoring community: (1) the practice of the hearth, that is, places that invite reflection and conversation and times for doing this (hopefully the chapter provides this); (2) the practice of the table, not something that Franciscans have problems with generally, but is table time really a priority, or do we do what most Americans and families do today, simply eat on the run and alone in order to get on to something else? (3) the practice of the commons, a place where people meet and share their interdependent lives, a practice of learning how to stand with each other over time. That is a description of the recreation room, "a place within which to confirm a common, connected life. ¯ . that conveys meanings and orients purpose and commitment" (p. 157). Practices .like these facilitate fraternal life and build up the Franciscan household. For me, the religious genius of Francis and the early brothers lies in their ability to appreciate and value the human as the religious. The brothers understood the Gospels as showing us what it means to be really and simply human as brothers and sisters in contrast to social structures that are often antihuman. To be a healthy human brother or sister is to be a holy human person. Our way of being human is the message Francis was 6~.2 2006 Blastic * Custodians of Franciscan Households called to share. God's house is repaired and renewed in brotherhood and sisterhood, where human .life in its weakness, fragility, and vulnerability is embraced and celebrated and endured and supported in patience and healthy relationships, and where honest conversation is practiced and promoted. This is the vision of fraternal life that the early Franciscan writings set out. By our common profession we are all responsible for seeking this goal. The challenge is, I believe, to live that common profession, not in an ideal place, but in the "space" of th~ brotherhood that God has given us. With his brothers, the guardian has to be an expert in being human in order to be an effective servant. The guardian is charged only with calling us to be faithful to what we say we are. The guardian thus invites and challenges us to be fully human and to flourish in fraternal life. The guardian cannot do this or be responsible for this by himself. It takes all of us just as we are in the: glory of our frail, weak, limited, and vulnerable humanity. Our life is not about rapid perfection. Our life is about truth, the truth of the gospel which we embody together as brothers following the example of Francis and his brothers, who simply tried to follow the footprints of Jesus. We are called to be brothers to our brothers, to turn toward each other, to engage each other in honest conversation, to embrace our own and our brothers' weakness, limitation, frailty, and vulnerability. Desiring nothing else but this, we are heirs of the .kingdom of heaven, the place God has created that we may flourish as human beings! (see LR VO. May God give us peace! Review for Religious Note 1 All citations of the early Franciscan writings and of the Franciscan hagiographical texts in this paper are taken from Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Vol. 1, The Saint, and Vol. 2, The Founder, edited by Regis Armstrong, J.A. Wayne Hellmann, and William Short (New York: New City Press, 1999 and 2000). Questions for Reflections / Group Discussion 1. Michael Blastic OFM was addressing guardianship in a particular Franciscan Province. What elements from his presentation do I find applicable to my own life? 2. What do I need to do to make practical in my way of living some of his reflectiOns on livihg together? 3. Have I ever been mentored by someone? If so, what are the effects of my being mentored? Have I ever considered my owr~ role of being a mentor? What would I need to do ? gently her fingers his head against her lap wherein he rested once before held now between her bloody l~ands her head bentover her task carefully removing the thorfis the skin pulling, resistant, bleeding a little even now gently her fingers so as if not to hurt him she winces as the thorns come out Sean Kinsella 65.2 2006 REGIS J. ARMSTRONG Francis's Charism, Tree-Huggers, and the Eucharist I~ was Pope Paul VI who first used the word harisms" officially in the context of consecrated life.1 He did so in his apostolic exhortation of 29 June 1971, Evangelica~ testificatio, ~11, where, in writing about "the charisn{s of founders," he echoed the teachings of chapter 5 of Lumen gentium and those of Perfectae caritatis and, in doing so, challenged consecrated women and men to focus on their unique gifts to the church. Even the most casual observer of the history of consecrated life notices that, since the Second Vatican Council, the vocabulary of consecrated religious is far more conscious and respectful of particular charisms and, among these, the followers of Francis of Assisi are noteworthy. Part of the reason for the Franciscan preoccupation with their unique charism or charisms is a curious difficulty in arriving at objective knowledge of the ever Regis J. Armstrong OFMCap, editor, translator, and author, first presented these reflections on 31 January 2005 to the faculty, staff, and students of the Theological College of The Catholic University of America, where he is a professor: 220 Curley Hall; Washington, D.C. 20064. Review for Religious popular Francis of Assisi. Until the late 1970s much of our knowledge of Francis's spirituality was mediated through the hagiographic literature that surrounds him. Significantly, the 14th-century Little Flowers of Saint Francis was-~-and perhaps remains--the most widely read source for popular knowledge of the 13th-century saint. Strangely, firsthand acquaintance with the saint was limited to three, possiblyfour,'of his writings and, was only broadened when in 1976 a critical edition of his thirty-eight known writings was published and quickly translated.2 "Deceptively simple" is one way of describing those texts. While some might dismiss them because of their transparency, or view them as irrelevant because of their historical context, Francis's gospel insights continue to challenge those who study them, and their timelessness seems to draw an increasing number of reader~. The task before me is to reflect on what the spirituality, let. us say the "charism," of Francis and his followers might offer to priests and others. At this time of Eucharistic emphasis, it seems appropriate to focus on five passages of Francis's writings. The first of these, a short, fundamentally liturgical prayer, appears in the last of the saint's writings, the Testament. In it he recalls the earliest days of the Franciscan fraternity. The second is taken from a set of documents that Francis wrote upon his return from the Islamic world in 1220. The third comes from a collection of writings' that elude dating but reflect a more mature Francis who has come to grips with what gospel spirituality consists of. The remaining .two seem to have been written during the last year of his life. Three prominent gifts emerge in these writings: the gift of faith, the gift of the Spirit, and the gift of the priesthood, three gifts that form a prism through which to gaze upon the Eucharist. I offer you this prism convinced that Francis's writings envision a Eucharist-centered life and, for a 65.2 2006 Armstrong ¯ Francis's Charism, Tree-Huggers, and the Eucharist priest, one that is defined by v~hat he does each day: celebrate what is at the very heart of his life. The Gift of Faith Francis's Testament, written in stages toward the end of,~his life, opens with a set of reminiscences that many see as defining his vision¯ After speaking of his embrace of a leper, the beginning ofhis life of penance, he describes ., o his life of faith. ,!'And the Lord gave me such faith in churches that I would simply pray and speak in this way: "We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all your churches throughout the world, and we bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.'" The early biographers Thomas of Celano and St. Bonaventure maintain that he later taught this prayer to his very first followers. The prayer is ecclesial and soteriological in nature, expressing as it does an understanding of the role of the church in the accomplishment of redemption. Those familiar with the liturgical texts will recognize it as appearing in the Liber Responsalis of Gregory the Great, where it is an antiphon for matins on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.3 In his Documenta Vitae Religiosae, the monk Arnulphe encouraged its recitation upon entering a church and approaching the (ross.4 What is distinctive, however, is Francis's addition: ". ¯ here and in all the churches throughout the world." His version of the antiphon brings us from the abstract church to a particular, here-and-now church and to those scattered throughout the world. True, Eucharist is not We are made aware,of Francis's understanding the church pla e of encounter or adoratiom Review for Religious present or even implied in the prayer. We are nonetheless made aware of Francis's understanding of the church as the place of encounter or adoration, that is, the sacred space in which the pray-er is reminded of the central place of the cross in our redemption. Curiously, Francis sees this practical, tangible gift of faith as something flowing immediately from the embrace of a life of penance. Should we follow his train of thought in this document, Francis suggests that his discoqery of God's presence began with his encounter with a leper and continued with his entrance into a church, where he discovered what was being asked of him. These Were indeed the first dramatic steps of his spiritual journey, from a chance meeting with the leper to ,his "stumble" into the church of San Damiano, where he discerned his ca|l, His biographers rightly suggest that the two are united, in the Franciscan approach to God, two essential elements on faith's journey,s ,~ Note the focused pragmatism of this passage. The Lord's gift of faith demands expression in the ordina~ day:to-day ebb and flow of life. Francis's faith expresses itself in reverence and respect for the sacred place, the sacred place of encounter. His companions later described him with a broom in his hand gathering the priests of an area and encouraging them to keep clean ,their churches, altars, and everything connected with ~the celebration of the divine mysteries.6 Afew years~ later, the Fourth Lateran Council (canon 20) and Pope Honorius III were to address this matterZ This theme of showing reverence for the place and the accoutrements of worship is easily seen in an exhortation he wrote to all the clergy.8 For years the only existing copy of this was one found in a 13th-century missal in the Benedictine monastery of Subiaco, which boasts of a visit Francis made there during a trip to Rome. This manuscript shows the influence of 65.2 2006 Armstrong ¯ Francis's Charism, Tree-Huggers, and the Eucharist the decrees of Pope Honorius encouraging implemen-tation of the Fourth Lateran decree. Recently, however, an earlier manuscript of the letter was discovered, one that may have been written before or immediately after the council and confirms Francis's insistence on reverence and respect fog churches and sacred vessels.9 In both exhortations a prominent theme emerges, the central place of the Eucharist. Although Francis never uses the word Eucharist, he does write of "the Body and Blood of the Lord," thereby suggesting the concrete way in which he regards the Eucharistic presence of Christ. "In this world," he writes, "we have and see nothing corporaliter [corporally] of the Most High except [his] Body and Blood, and the words through which we have been made and redeemed from death to life." In that light, it is difficult to ignore his repeated encouragement of respect and care for what we might consider the insignificant things of worship: reservation, cleanliness, decorum, even liturgical books.° Once again Francis's addition to that liturgical antiphon--"here and in all your churches throughout the world"--emerges, so'that we see a faith that is not cerebral or otherworldly, but practical and down-to-earth. Corporaliter! If the Most High chooses to come to us corporaliter, then we. must carefully respect the matters of our worship corporaliter, in simple specific ways. Francis repeatedly and simply calls his followers to be attentive to the details of worship. These are instruments with which God enables us to proceed, in Hugh of St. Victor's words, "from the visible to the invisible." The Gift of the Spirit This leads us to an undated set of Francis's writings: his Admonitions, a title that does not express well in English the nature of these twenty-eight teachings. Each "admonition" simply presents a few biblical passages or l~evie~ for Religious images and then some practical application to daily life. This form is a common catechetical tool used by medieval instructors in the faith.~° The first admonition begins with a series of biblical passages that initially seem unrelated unless they0are viewed as examples of "seeing and believing." Francis's starting point in this first admonition is the struggles of faith of the apostles Thomas~and Philip, given that God "dwells in unapproachable light,' and "no one has ever seen God." He proceeds to the role of the Holy Spirit, who enables them and us to see things differendy, to see with what Tl~omas F. Torrance calls the Spirit's "epistemological relevance." l~ In this .way Francis leads us into the very heart of trinitarian life--the Father looks upon the Son in the Spirit, and the Son looks upon the Father in the Spirit. Francis challenges us to understand what spirituality is, namely, a Spirit-filled life: All those who saw the Lord Jesus according to the humanity and did not see and believe according to the Spirit and the Divinity that he is the true Son of God were condemned. Now, inthe same way, all those who see in the form of bread and wine the sacrament that is consecrated [literally, sanctified] at' thd altar by the Lord's words through the agency of the priest, and who do not see and believe according to the Spirit and the Divinity that it is truly the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, are condemned. To be sure, the challenge of seeing and believing is prominent, but it is cast in the context of the Spirit and the Divinity. Many commentators on Francis's writings suggest that his vision of the spiritual life is besv defined by a simple statement found in his Rule: "Let [the brothers] pay attention to what they must desire above all else: the Spirit of the Lord and its holy activity." ~2 This being the case, the Spirit's activity in making Christ the center of our lives is primary and, in this instance, 143 65.2 2006 Armstrong ¯ Francis's Charism, Tree-Huggers, and the Eucharist 14'4 becomes the medium through which we gaze. upon Christ. The Spirit brings us to gaze upon Christ with "the eyes" of the Father and, by our conformity with Christ, to gaze upon the Father with "the eyes" of the Son. We are confronted with what Catherine Mowry LaCugna calls "the practical Trinity" and with Karl Rahner's words: "The economic Trinity is the immanent Trinity.''t3 Far mor~ simply, Francis understands the Spirit as calling us to look upon both the incarnation and the Eucharist in a trinitarian way, seeing the incarnate Lord Jesus and the Eucharistic Lord Jesus as the Father does, with.the eyes of the Holy Spirit. As Francis describes it in the first of his ~ldmonitiones, the Spirit's presence in our lives challenges us on three levels with each celebration of the Eucharist. It reminds us of the incarnation, with the Son's daily embrace of humility, self-emptying, and vulnerability: "Behold, he humbles himself each d~ay (Ph 2:8) as when he came from the royal throne into the Virgin's womb (Ws 18:15); each day he himself comes to us, appearing humbly; each day he comes down from the bosom of the Father (Jn 1,: 18) upon the altar in the hands of a priest." The Spirit's presence also prompts alertness to the revelation that comes from the Eucharist as well as from the incarnation itself: "As [the Son] revealed himself to the holy aposdes in true flesh, so he reveals himself to us in the same way in sacred bread." Finally, in light of this, the Spirit's presence fosters contemplation of the Eucharist with what Francis calls, in words reminiscent of Bernard of Clairvaux, ".spiritual eyes" 14: "And as they saw only his fleshwith their physical sight, yet believed that he was God as they conteInplated him with their spiritual eyes, let us, as we see bread and wine with our bodily eyes, see and firmly believe that they are his most holy Body and Blood living and true." , Revie~v for Religious These three sentences from Francis's Admonitiones provide insight into his understanding of a Spirit-filled life. We could concentrate on these thoughts about Jesus' humility, self-emptying, and vulnerability, or we could focus on his encouragement of "adoration," that primary Spirit-inspired activity which many commentators consider the heart of his theology of prayer. There is another, more noteworthy contribution, however, that Francis makes to Christian spirituality, one that gets overlooked: his concern that our lives be conformed to the Eucharist, that they somehow imitate the life of the Eucharistic Christ. Curiously, very little has been written about this, possibly because of that troublesome word imitation, a word Francis never uses and one that enters strongly into the vocabulary of Christian spirituality only in the 14th, not the 13th, century.15 The more common word for this was conformity. Bernard of Clairvaux says wonderfully that Christ is the form to which deformed man must conform in order to be reformed. One is called to bring one's form into line with the form that is Christ. In the spiritual literature of the time, this is brought about by the work of the Holy Spirit. Contemplation of Christ in the Eucharist, contemplation with "spiritual eyes," is primarily the Spirit's doing.16 In Francis's understanding of the call, the Eucharist demands the daily embrace of the virtues of humility, self-emptying, and vulnerability that the Incarnate Word lives and reveals each day. The Eucharist demands the daily embrace of the virtues of humility, self-emptying, and vulnerability that the Incarnate Word lives and reveals each day. 65.2 2006 Armstrong * Francis's Charism, Tree-Huggers, and the Eucharist 1461 The Gift of Priesthood This brings us to selections from Francis's last two writings, the first of which is actually a return to Francis's very last, his Testament, with which these reflections began. After reflecting upon the gift of faith, Francis continues: Afterwards the Lord gave me--and gives me still-- such faith in priests who live according to the rite of the holy Roman church because of their orders that, were they to persecute me, I would still have recourse to them. And if I had as much wisdom as Solomon and found .impoverished priests of this world, I would not preach in their parishes against their will. And I desire to respect, love, and honor them and all others as my lords. And I do not want to consider any sin in them because I discern the Son of God in them and they are my lords. And I act thus because in this world I see nothing corporally of the Most High Son of God except his most holy Body and Blood which they receive and they alone administer to others. It is a rather curious statement coming from a man facing death, one that contains bits and pieces that tantalize biographers of Francis and historians of the Franciscan movement. There are sufficient anecdotes in the early lives of Francis to suggest that he was indeed ridiculed, abused, and demeaned. More significant are the number of papal decrees insisting that Francis and his brothers be given permission to preach, suggesting that doors were indeed being slammed in their faces. The dying Francis transcends all this and leaves as his legacy an example of "respect, love, and honor" for priests as those who are his superiors, his "lords." Once again that refrain surfaces: "I see nothing corporaliter of the Most High Son of God." Here it does so in reference to priests, who "receive. and administer to others" the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord. All Review for Religious that he may have endured--persecution, being taken advantage of, imposed on--is put into context. Francis refuses even to take notice of a priest's sin--that judgment, he maintains, belongs only to God--because of the priest's sacerdotal intimacy with the Eucharist, with the Body and Blood of the Lord. Naive? Simplistic? Challenging? In our day especially, these attitudes seem unrealistic and, in light of recent scandals, disingenuous. To understand them, we must turn to passages from the last and perhaps most beautiful of Francis's writings, one that almost certainly was written at the same time as his Testament, that is, at the end of his life. Only a man comfortable with himself could have written The Letter to the Entire Order. While clearly written by the "inspirational" figure of the brotherhood, by Francis himself, the letter does not hesitate to admit to negligence or weakness, to being "ignorant or unlettered" and "useless and unworthy." Many of its themes resonate with Francis's earlier writings, especially those on the Liturgy of the Hours and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The maturity of Francis's Eucharistic spirituality, however, appears clearly in this passage: Kissing your feet, and with all the love of which I am capable, I implore all of you brothers to show all possible reverence and honor to the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom that which is in heaven and on earth is brought to peace and reconciled to theall-powerful God. This comes from the Francis who a year or so earlier had the mystical experience of Greccio, where the Christ Child appeared in his arms. This comes from the Francis who shortly afterwards had that other mystical experience of Christ Crucified, which left him with the stigmata. This comes from the Francis who then composed one of the most mystical of all writings, The Canticle of Brother i147 65.2 2006 Armstrong * Francis's Charism, Tree-Huggers, and the Eucharist 148 Sun, where his vision of the peace and reconciliation brought by Christ to all creation is expressed in remarkable poetry. In light of this, what follows is one of his most penetrating challenges: In the Lord I also beg all my brothers who are, or who will be, or who desire to be priests of the Most High that, whenever they want to celebrate Mass, pure themselves, they offer the true sacrifice of the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ with purity and reverence, with a holy and unblemished intention, not for any worldly reason or out of fear or love of someone, intending to please human beings. But, desiring by the sacrifice to please only the most high God himself, let every will be directed to God as far as grace makes possible because there he himself acts alone as he pleases. Here we see the call of the priest to live corporaliter in light of the life corporaliter of Christ now revealed in the Eucharist. The call to purity and to celebrate with purity, the call to be single-minded, and the call to have my every desire directed by God comes from an ongoing call to conversion. The example of the reverence of Mary, the Mother of God, and of the Baptist help bring that call to us. Francis's challenge is simple yet profound: "See your dignity, my brothers [who are] priests, and be holy because He is holy. As the Lord God has .honored you above all others by this ministry, for your part love, revere, and honor him above all others. It is a great misery and a miserable weakness when you have him present in this way and are concerned with anything else in the whole world!" Tree-Huggersmbut Much Much More What does Francis of Assisi, a medieval, Umbrian- Italian mystic offer to American priests in this vital endeavor? My good friend Luke Patrick O'Connell once Review for Religious teased me by characterizing Franciscans as "tree-huggers." Luke, however, was introducing a rather profound discussion on the theological concept of charism. He was attempting to draw me out on what the followers of Francis contribute today to the life and growth of the church. It is a good question, one with which I continue to struggle on many different levels. Pope John Paul once observed that what makes Francis of Assisi so appealing to people of all ages and cultures is his dominant image of God: the One who is all good. "It is what makes you optimists," he suggested, "and, therefore, prophets of hope." Francis's biographers Thomas of Celano and Saint Bonaventure wrote that "he savored in each and every creature, as in so many rivulets, the Fountain of Divine Goodness." In Francis's own writings, however, it is clear that he found God's goodness, the gifts of faith and of the Spirit, more and more overwhelming in the mystery of the Eucharist. In the light of that gift, the daily revelation of God's incredible goodness in his Son, the priesthood became for Francis a reflection of what Eucharist is all about: God's daily humility, self-emptying, and vulnerability. In a word, the Christ of the Eucharist defines the priest! One's sacerdotal character must be molded by the Eucharistic Jesus, who each day places himself in the hands of this priest. Clare of Assisi frequently comes to mind in pondering the mystery of a vocation. Clare begins her own Testament Francis found God's goodness, the gifts of faith and of the Spirit, more and more overwhelming in the mystery of the Eucharist. 1149 6Y. 2 2006 Ar~nstrong ¯ Francis~s Cbaris~n, Tree-Huggers, and the Eucharist reflecting on the role Francis played in that call. She writes: "Among the other gifts we have received and do receive each day, and for which we must express the deepest thanks to our glorious God, there is our vocation, which the more perfect and greater it is, the more are we indebted to him. Therefore the Apostle [writes]: 'Recognize your vocation.'" In her theology, the vocation is given anew each day and demands each day our most profound thanks. For a priest, Francis would add, each day that gift and that gratitude for the priesthood grow in intensity as the daily celebration of the Mystery of Faith ever so gently teaches the priest its meaning. Thus he writes: Let everyone be struck with fear, the whole world tremble, and the heavens exult when Christ, the Son of the living God, is present on the altar in the hands of a priest! O wonderful loftiness and stupendous condescension! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! The Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles himself that he hides himself under a little piece of bread! See the humility of God, brothers, and pour out your hearts before him! Humble yourselves that you may be exalted by him! Hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves, that he who gives himself totally to you may receive you totally! Notes ~ Information on charisms may be found in Elizabeth McDonough, "Charisms and Religious Life," Review for Religious 52 (1993): 646- 659. Review for Religious 2 Die Opuscula des H1. Franziskus yon Assisi: Neue Textkritische Edition, ed. Kajetan Esser (Grottaferrata, Rome: Collegio S. Bonaventura di Quaracchi, 1976). This text was the basis for Francis" and Clare: The Complete Works, trans, and intro, by Regis J. Armstrong and Ignatius C. Brady (New York: Paulist Press, 1982). All translations from the writings of Francis and Clare are taken from this volume, though sometimes modified. 3 Gregory the Great, LiberResponsalis (PL 78,804). 4 Arnulphe de Boeriis, Documenta Vitae Religiosae (PL 184, 1177): "Deinde, veniens ad ecclesiam, pone manum super ostium, et dic: Exspectate hic, cogitationes malae, intentiones et affectus cordis, et appetitus carnis. Tu autem, anima mea, intra in gaudium Domini Dei tui, ut videas voluntatem Domini, et visites templum ejus. Sicque veniens ante crucem dic: 'Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi.'" (Coming to a church, put your hand on the door and say: Wait here, evil thoughts, intentions, and inclinations of my heart and desires of my flesh. You, though, my soul, enter into the joy of the Lord your God, so that you may see the Lord's will and enter his temple. And so, coming before the cross, say: "We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.") s See Franqois de Beer, La Conversion de Saint Francois (Paris: ]~ditions Franciscaines, 1963). 6 "Assisi Compilation" 60, in The Founder, Vol. 2 of Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, ed. Regis J. Armstrong, J.A. Wayne Hellmann, and William J. Short (Hyde Park, New York: New City Press, 2000), pp. 162-163. 7 For the texts of both Canon 20 of the Fourth Lateran Council and Sane cure olim or Expectavimus bactenus of Innocent III, see The Saint, Vol. 1 of Francis of Assisi: Early Documents (Hyde Park: New City Press, 1999), pp. 53c. 55a. Hereafter The Saint. 8 See The Saint, pp. 54-55. 9 See The Saint, pp. 52-53. ~0 See Regis J. Armstrong, "The Prophetic Implications of the Admonitions," in Francescanesimo e Profezia (Roma: Laurentianum, 1986): pp. 386-464. ~ Thomas F. Torrance, "The Epistemological Relevance of the Holy Spirit," in God and Rationality (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 165-192. t2 For a full exposition of the theme, see Optatus van Asseldonk, "The Spirit of the Lord and Its Holy Activity," Greyfriars Review 5 (1991): 103-158. ,3 Karl Rahner, The Trinity, trans. Joseph Donceel (New York: Herder and Herder, 1970); "Remarks on the Dogmatic Treatise 'De 151 65.2 2006 Armstrong ¯ Frands's Charism, Tree-Huggers, and the Eucharist Trinitate,'" Theological Investigations, Vol. 4 (New York: Seabury Press, 1974), pp. 77-102. 14 Karl Rahner, "The Doctrine of the 'Spiritual Senses' in the Middle Ages," Experience of the Spirit: Source of Theology, Vol. 16 of Theological Investigations (New York: Crossroad, 1983), pp. 104-134. ~s Edouard Cothenet et al., Imitating Christ, vol. 5 of Religious Experience series (St. Meinrad, Indiana: Abbey Press, 1974); Andr4 Rayez, "The Golden Age of Medieval Devotion: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries," in Jesus in Christian Devotion and Contemplation, vol. 1 of Religious Experience series (St. Meinrad: Abbey Press, 1974), pp. 44-85. ~6 This sentiment finds an echo in John Paul II's Dominicae Coenae: "Eucharistic worship., is precisely the expression of that love which is the authentic and deepest characteristic of the Christian vocation . A living fruit of this worship is the perfecting of the image of God that we bear within us, an image that corresponds to the one that Christ has revealed to us." Quoted in L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 26 January 2005, p. 12. Palm Sunday Dear Lord, ride into my heart today on the stubborn mule of my own self-rule. These garments strewn along your way are the little things to which my will clings. 0 Christt. let your triumph be complete: let nothing remain proud, stubborn, or vain. I lie surrendered at your feet. Now, let my voice raise Hosannas of praiser. Agnes Cunningham SSCM Review for Religious ¯ JULIUS D. LELOCZKY Imitation of Mary and the Religious Vocation The great Carmelite martyr St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, better known as Edith Stein, wrote somewhere: "The imitation of Mary includes the imitation of Christ because Mary is the first Christian to follow Christ. Indeed, that is why the imitation of Mary is relevant not only to women but to all Christians." Let us meditate briefly on how religious life can be an "imita-tion of Mary." From all eternity Mary was chosen by God to be the mother of the Redeemer, and she was called at the annunciation. We, too, have been chosen and called: "God chose us in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him" (Ep 1:4). By this call and her response, Mary became a daughter of God in a special way; she became the new, obedient Eve. Just as Mary must have Julius D. Leloczky OCist joined the Cistercians in Hungary in 1953, later studied in Rome, and in 1964 was sent to the abbey where he continues to live: Cistercian Abbey; 3550 Cistercian Road; Irving, Texas 75039. 6Y.2 2006 Leloczky ¯ Imitation of Mary and the Religious Vocation wondered why was she chosen, we, too, can ask our-selves: "Why me? Out of the millions of people, why me?" The answer is that it is a mystery, the mystery of love. What happens to us is what happened to the rich young man: "Jesus looked at him, and he loved him" (Mk 10:21). The call of each of us is a call for a unique, spe-cial task, one that no one else can accomplish. Our response should mirror the love of the One who called us, but we are called not just to do a job; we are called to give a loving response. The call has, like a coin, two sides: we are called away from something and we are called to do something, called for something. From the moment the angel appeared to Mary, her whole life was changed. She was no longer her own person, she belonged to Someone else. We have been called away from the average or "normal" way of life, from starting a family, from having a civilian job, from having our own home, car, property. We have been called to a loving unconditional surrender, offering ourselves as Mary did: "I am the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word." We have been called for a life-long adventure of love, and we do not know where this love will take us. As religious, we have been called to conceive the Word of God in our heart and soul. This conception is "virginal" because it takes place entirely between God and ourselves, without the intervention of anybody else. We have been called to give the Word of God, the Son of God, to others. We can do it only if first we ourselves have conceived Him, carried him in the womb of our soul, nurtured him, let him grow inside us, from our-selves-- if not from our flesh and blood, certainly from our personality. Just as Jesus must have had much like-ness to his Mother, the Word growing within us will take on our likeness. This Word, however, is not just an intel- Review for Religious lectual idea. It does not reside only in our intellect; it must penetrate our entire being, our whole existence. Disciples are not tape recorders to replay the words exactly as we heard them. Sifted through our personali-ties, God's words have to take on the special shade or tint of what we are as persons, just as the gospel of Jesus Christ is different from the pen of Mark and John. Mary's virginity was fruitful; the unmarried state of a religious also must be fruitful. Members of religious orders, when answering God's call to an unmar-ried way of life, do not choose to live in lifeless sterility. They do not give up either love, pas-sion, or motherhood or fatherhood. They just practice them in a dif-ferent way, living, by God's grace, their ability to love on a higher level. Their fruitfulness realizes itself in two ways. Like Mary, they become mothers of the Word of God, and mothers or fathers of many spiritual children. The birth of a child is preceded by birth pangs. No one expressed more dramatically the pain of giving birth to God's word than Jeremiah: "O Lord, you have deceived me, and I let myself be :deceived. You are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day. Everyone mocks me . If I say, 'I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,' there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot bear it" (Jr 20:7,9). To give birth to God's Word is a painful but irresistible duty. It is painful to commu- Members of religious orders, when answering God's call to an unmarried way of life, do not choose to live in lifeless sterility. 65.2 2006 Leloczky ¯ Imitation of Mary and the Religious Vocation 1,56 nicate the Word to others; it is difficult to put Christ's message into human words, to pass on to others Jesus himself and not just our own ego. It can be painful to give Jesus to others, because some people will not accept him, will show a hostile attitude toward him and us, will resist and reject him and us. Yet we have to go on, to continue undeterred, remembering God's word to Jeremiah: "And I, behold, I make you this day a forti-fied city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land" (Jr 1 : 18). If we proclaim God's word, we become parents, and those who listen to us will become our children. This is so even in the case of contemplative religious. It is not by accident that St. Th~r~se of Lisieux has been chosen the patron saint of the missions. If we think back to our young years, we can recall some special persons in our lives whom we can consider our spiritual mothers or fathers. As we advance in age, the roles become reversed, and we should be spiritual parents for others. But it is a frightening realization that we proclaim the Word more by our deeds than by our words; our words and deeds should communicate the gospel message in perfect har-mony. St. Paul dared to set himself as a model for the early Christians. "Imitate me," he wrote. We may shy away from saying the same, but we know that our words will be credible only if they are lived and made a reality in our daily lives. Just as Mary was with Jesus at the wedding at Cana, so she is with us in our apostolic prayer and activity. When we are in any special need, she will tell her Son: "They have no wine." Just as in Cana, with the refined sense of a woman, a housewife, a mother, she perceives if something is missing, if there is a problem, and she will intervene. And, even if Jesus showed some reluc-tance first, Mary knows that her Son will help, and she Review for Religious will tell us to "do whatever he tells you." The interven-tion of the saints is powerful, but the efficiency of Mary's intercessory prayer is unparalleled. Just recall the words of the famous Memorare prayer of the great Cistercian saint Bernard of Clairvaux: "Never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection was left unaided." A mother's life is an unstoppable process of gradual separation from her child. Only during pregnancy can she have the feeling that the child is completely hers. After the baby has been born, as the child is growing, it will spend more and more time away from home, away from its mother. During adolescence the child will claim an ever greater independence. After he or she finishes school and starts a family, the separation will be com-plete. Mary, too, had this painful experience. The twelve-year- old Jesus remained in the temple: "I must be in my Father's house." During his public ministry Jesus called his disciples mother and brothers and sisters, thus in a way pushing away from himself his biological family. On the cross, Jesus gave a mere disciple to his mother in place of himself. Look at Michelangelo's Pietb, this Magnificat prayer carved into marble, and see Mary's generous surrender. Even after all her trials and suffer-ings, she was still the humble handmaid of the Lord. There are two ways of experiencing this separation: (a) to live without the experience of Jesus' presence or close-ness and (b) to allow our spiritual children to grow up and go off and live their lives. Mary, by her suffering and agony, added something to the redeeming sufferings of her Son. Similarly, by car-rying our daily crosses (their heaviness may change from time to time), we complement "what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, the church" (Col 1:24). Our sufferings can be physical or spiritual or emotional. They may take the form of sickness, exhaus- 6Y.2 2006 Leloczky ¯ Imitation of Mary and the Religious Vocation tion, frustration, or burnout, They may be caused by the very people for whose sake we are spending our days and burning our energies, as when the crowd shouted at Jesus, "Crucify him!" We may be attacked or accused without reason, we may be slandered, or we may feel abandoned as Jesus did when he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" But we should not forget that the sadness lasted only three days. Imagine Mary's joy at Jesus' resurrection, at her encounter with her risen Son. The same joy is waiting for us. We just have to persevere, to continue imitating Christ by imi-tating Mary faithfully, day after day. 158 Prayer Slowly and meditatively pray the Memorare prayer. Remember, 0 most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercesson was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, 0 Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to you do I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. 0 Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy hear and answer me. Amen Review for Religious MARY JOSEPH SCHULTZ Just Because I Said So Sohifting numbers, median ages, and the geography f religious life over the past several decades and today as well do not cause me to pause and reflect on whether we have a future, as many religious have recently been wondering. I believe that religious life most defi-nitely does have a future. For each individual commu-nity, where that future goes must be carefully discerned in the Spirit. But there are other questions with less clear answers. What impels us to go on? What can we offer new members to quench their thirsty hearts once they join us? I would like to reflect on one word as the answer to both these questions--commitment. It is not a popular word today in a mobile and disposable society such as ours. The word commitment is at one and the same time a sign of contradiction to some and a challenge and cause for hope to many others. In some circles a lifelong com-mitment to religious life has fallen under examination in recent years. For my part, I cannot buy into the notion Mary Joseph Schultz SCC, president of Assumption College for Sisters, wrote for us in 2003. Her address is 350 Bernardsville Road; Mendham, New Jersey 07945. 65.2 2006 Schultz ¯ ~tst Because I Said So of a limited commitment to religious life just as I can-not buy into the idea of a temporary marriage commit-ment. As religious we vow ourselves to a God unseen but not unknown. We embrace centuries-old charisms of peo-ple whose lives and lifestyles were shaped by grace amid definite historical settings and cultural needs. We set aside wealth, sexual activity, and the disposition of our own will in freely choosing poverty, chastity, and obedi-ence for life. It is imperative that we study our own com-mitments in gratitude--and that we find ways to convey its challenge, meaning, and joy to Generations X and Y-- if we truly have hope in our communities' future. Our brothers and sisters in community who celebrate fifty, sixty, and even seventy-five years of religious life overflow with peace and joy in their long, faithful, and fruitful commitments, just as their married counterparts do who celebrate their golden anniversaries. What is their secret? Why and how have they survived and thrived in a world of instant gratification, noise, infi-delity, moral weakness, and faltering leadership and through forty years of post-Vatican II experimentation, discussion, renewal, and change in their communities? They would probably answer the question very simply: "I am still here because I said I would be." Sefin Sammon, in his wise and prophetic book Religious Life in America, speaks of the impact of public commitment to the evangelical counsels: "In carrying out our ministry in a spirit of selfless service, we witness further to countercultural values. How? By avoiding the all too familiar and tragic betrayal of consecrated life that occurs when we give our heart away generously at the time of first commitment, and then take it back, bit by bit, with each passing year" (p. 92). Commitment is not widely modeled for today's youth, either in families or in society at large. Hedonism and Review for Religious materialism erode the very notion of a committed life. The rapidity and challenge of change surround every aspect of our culture today. Opting out of anything dis-agreeable or tiresome is only a mouse-click away. Young people are constantly in and out of hobbies, activities, and relationships without so much as a glance back-ward. Often parents try to be supportive by signing them up for lessons, buy-ing instruments and sports either in families or equipment and providing taxi service to and from in society at large. appointments and games. For the young, broad arrays of opportunity and experience soon become bor-ing- or become irritatingly impossible when parental money or patience runs short. Entering my community as an aspirant in my teens in the late 1960s, I truly aspired to living religious life. It was hard for me and for those my age to understand all the post-Vatican II talk about "returning to your foundress's charism." Certainly we should already be who we say we are! Why wouldn't we be, and how could we not be? Naive teenage questions. But, from the moment I left home to enter as a sophomore, my heart was com-mitted to my dream, and I was just a little puzzled by what I saw and heard going on around me. Wasn't every sister as committed as I thought she was or should be? Through the difficult weeks of homesickness, a cer-tain degree of stubbornness and a huge amount of grace sustained me. I knew my choice was right. From my early years my family realized that I was serious about being a sister. It was all I talked about and I only had to wait (impatiently) until I was old enough to be accepted. My Commitment is not widely modeled for today's youth, 65.2 2006 Scbultz ¯ s~ust Because I Said So ,° 1 21 older siblings at times "tested" me and offered their opin-ions about my leaving home at fourteen. But my parents were supportive in their quiet and undemonstrative way. They were proud of me, I knew, loved the sisters, and backed me up at each step. One day shortly before I was set to leave, my mother said, "You know, you really can change your mind. You don't have to go just because you said so." I believe she wanted to give me a last chance to back out with minimal embarrassment. My reply was simple: "I know, Morn, but I want to be a sister." From that day on no more was said. My father died a year later, and my mother was proud of my life choice. She later became a lay associate in my community. Mom's words often ring in my ears: "Just because you said so." Certainly I am not the same person I was at fourteen, but there are traces of that determined girl still inside. I am not the same person I was at final profession twenty-five years ago. But there is one thing I pray never changes, that I am a woman of my word. To me this is a very positive quality. While "just because I said so" can deteriorate into an authoritarian dictate held over the head of a student (and I confess to having resorted to it more than once in a classroom of questioning teens), these same words are to me a sign of fidelity and com-mitment. I gave my word and I intend to keep it, not grudgingly but joyfully. Whether from genetics or my serious temperament or both, when I tell someone I am going to do some-thing, I make it my business to follow through. This can lead to scrupulosity or unhealthy guilt if I am not care-ful. I can place unrealistic expectations on myself (or on others through transference) as I strive to pray for all the prayer requests, write all those notes, make those phone calls, or do those favors that I promised I would. As I have noticed, other temperaments seem to have no Review for Relig4ous problem breaking those promises, skipping those phone calls, or never getting back to me, but they also have fewer sleepless nights. I believe that giving my word to others is about the best I can give them. In this I share God's own view-- giving God's Word was the best of gifts. Giving my word to God on my profession day symbolized all of me with nothing held back. This perpetual commitment, lived out one day, one moment, at a time, is a beautiful gift that I hope to never take back or take for granted. Not knowing the trials, temptations, or dryness that lay ahead could not lessen the fullness of the gift. In fact it only served to increase the value. God took me at my word, and the journey of religious life has been remarkable. Unlike in a marriage vow, I am guaranteed the fidelity of my Partner, and if there is any cooling in the relationship it can only be on one side! "Just because I said so" is in itself hardly a solid enough motivation for perseverance. These words can easily reflect mere stubbornness or the desire to prove something to myself or others. I have seen some sisters leave the community, even after final profession, because this motivation to please self or a parent was the sole force behind their entering religious life. If love, humility, and grace do not underlie my words, then I am foolish and my life is a sham and an exercise in self-righteousness. Giving my word verbally and on the vow formula signed on the altar came after long years of trial and preparation. My commitment was not made as a naive religious wearing rose-colored glasses. I had seen many "heroes" leave the community, had watched the divi-siveness of Vatican II experimentation, and had been asked to step forward and take my place as a responsible member of the community. Publicly pronouncing the words "I vow to almighty God perpetual chastity, 6~ .2 2006 Schultz ¯ ~st Because I Said So poverty, and obedience" was the best I could do, then and now. I would do it all over again today, even know-ing what would lie ahead. I would once again give my word. At the time of my entrance, I believe I had it much easier because, while there were hundreds of communi-ties, my familiarity with them was very limited. Many girls entered a community whose members had taught them or with whom there was already a relative or a close association. This is not the case today, especially with so few religious left in the classrooms. A young person discerning religious life today has a greater challenge than I did forty years ago, partly because of the wide array, of choices open to her. Even after deciding to become a religious, someone could literally spend years of her life visiting monasteries and convents for "Come and see" weekends. With the easy availability of appeal-ing vocation literature and online access, a serious and thorough examination of multiple communities might even turn her into a delayed vocation! What is it that makes a young woman decide on a particular community? What makes a heart resonate and feel at home with one group rather than another? I feel that, when all is said and done, communities must sim-ply be who they say they are. Authenticity is the key that will unlock commitment. After forty years of communal soul-searching, it is time for communities simply to move on. It is time to claim who we are, corporately commit to the charism, and put all our energies into authentic liv-ing of our foundress's spirit here and now in the 21st century. There can be no going back. Now is the time for simply joining hands, holding tight, and boldly moving ahead according to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. This is the gift we have to offer new members, a gift that will enliven our future. Review for Religious Young people, seeking authentic community, will go where they find the real deal. And how can such a com-munity survive today except through common prayer, deep spirituality, shared vision and lifestyle, corporate witness, and joyful life in the Spirit of Jesus. This is what they seek, hoping against hope that such groups exist and will provide them with the challenge they desire so ardently. We have a responsibility to live up to our word. We are here because we said we would be. I am here because I said so. And is this not a Godlike quality--giving one's word? God's Word and our own are why we are all here in the first place. Personal Reflection / Group Conversation 1. What has been my experience of "growing into a com-mitment"? 2. What led me to joining this religious congregation of which I am a member? 65.2 2006 religious VIMAL TIRIMANNA Are Religious Superiors Called to Be "Politically Correct"? implications In January 2002, I was in a bus on my way from Colombo to Kandy, Sri Lanka. Next to me in the same seat was a Buddhist monk. He was very friendly and kept me engaged in a lively con-versation on various matters about our two reli-gions till we reached Kandy, a journey of some three hours. At one stage he wanted to know why the cardinal archbishop of Boston had to resign (an issue widely reported in our local newspapers). I said that it was due to allegations (especially by the media) of his not having made responsible decisions regarding several errant priests of his archdiocese who were involved in sexual abuse. The Buddhist monk was visibly surprised, for till then he was of the opinion that the archbishop had to resign because he him-self was involved in sexual abuse. This Buddhist monk may be excused for his inaccurate impres-sion, but one wonders how many of our own Vimal Tirimanna wrote for us in May-June 2001. His address until October 2006 is Redemptorists; Frangipani; No. 80 Ampitiya Road; Kandy, Sri Lanka. Review for Religious Catholics, including religious and priests, are unaware of why Cardinal Law had to resign. If the factors and reasons that led him to resign from the prestigious Archdiocese of Boston had been applied to various other bishops and religious superiors around the world today, one wonders how many would have had to follow Cardinal Law and resign their posts. It is no exaggeration to say that, in cases of sexual abuse and also in other crucial areas of priestly and religious life, a good number of church leaders are badly wanting in their pas-toral responsibility and accountability towards their sub-jects and institutes. This arises from not making responsible timely decisions, decisions that ought to have been made for the common good of the diocese or reli-gious congregation and for the good of the church. Note that in this article we are not dealing with an occasional failure to make a responsible decision, which is some-thing normal since bishops and superiors are human; we are dealing with habitual negligence to make decisions on the part of bishops and religious superiors. Consistent, habitual evasion of making decisions has contributed immensely to the contemporary difficulties in priestly and religious life and in church life in general. This is the main point of this article. I write this article from my fifteen years of experi-ence as a retreat preacher to the clergy (both diocesan and religious) in Sri Lanka and elsewhere, and also from the experience I gained from my close association with major superiors as president of the Conference of the Major Religious Superiors of Sri Lanka (for two terms, four years) and from being the major superior of the Redemptorists in Sri Lanka (for three terms, nine years). I limit myself here to consecrated life and then to show-ing how the irresponsibility and unaccountability of a good number of religious superiors have contributed to 6Y.2 2006 Tirimanna ¯ Are Religious Superiors Called to Be "Politically Correct"? 168, the present disturbed state of consecrated life. I will ana-lyze briefly what authority means in the Christian tradi-tion, and then I will try to show how secular democratic political trends have affected the role of superiors, how their craving for popularity among their subjects has often inhibited them from making many a vital consci-entious decision. I will show that in these situations it is impossible for prophetic and diplomatic roles to func-tion simultaneously. I will conclude by highlighting the need today for religious superiors to make conscientious, pastoral, and courageous decisions for the sake of the common good of their institutes, and thus give prophetic leadership to today's world. Authority in the Christian Tradition Jesus clearly condemns oppressive and despotic power wielded by the rulers of nations (Mk 10:42). He tells his disciples who were arguing about which of them was the greatest that he who wants to be great must make him-self the least of all and serve others (Mk 9:33-35). For him, true authority is for service in truth, as he so tellingly demonstrated throughout his earthly life, which reached a climax at the last supper when he washed the feet of his own apostles (Jn 13:115). Emulating Jesus' teaching, the Christian tradition has always held that authority is for service. Accordingly, all leaders, civil as well as ecclesiastical, are expected to be servants of the common good of the group that is entrusted to them. A New Testament image dear to the early Christian community was Jesus the good shepherd. This is shown especially in the frescoes in the early catacombs. A shep-herd carrying a sheep on his.shoulders is a common fig-ure in those early places of worship. In fact, the concept of shepherd or "p, astor" and the adjective "pastoral" are woven into our inherited tradition regarding authority. ¯ Review for Religious To be a pastor or shepherd is to take flocks to where there is food and water, looking out for their safety and well-being. In our Christian tradition, leadership, whether in consecrated life or in a diocese, requires the care, compassion, and concern of a shepherd towards his sheep. The well-being of the flock and of each individ-ual sheep ought to be the - - - shepherd or pastor's top priority. If shepherds or pastors are more concerned about themselves, they cease to be shepherds and become hirelings concerned first of all with fattening themselves (see Ezk 34, Jn - - 10:7-18). Superiors, then, are supposed to be shepherds, serving the flock entrusted to them, not seeking their own good, not even their own survival. It is, of course, true that consecrated life has changed drastically in our day and so has the style of community leadership. It is sufficient to compare and contrast the era before Vatican Council II and afterwards. No one would argue today for the type of leadership that was prevalent in consecrated life before the council. It is also true that the way "authority" and "leadership" are under-stood varies from culture to culture. Regardless of the differences in worldviews and the ways of exercising authority, one essential and undeniable element of authority is that superiors' decision making must be for the common good. In the church in general and in con-secrated life in particular, such decision making is vital. After the initial stages of involving as many members as possible in the decision-making process, religious supe-riors must not abdicate their own decision making under any pretext. If they do so, they cease to serve the good of The Christian tradition has' always held that authority is for service. 6L2 2006 Tirimanna ¯ Are Religious Superiors Called to Be "Politically Correa'? 170 the community. This was expressed well in the instru-mentum laboris of the ordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in 1994, on "The Consecrated Life and Its Role in the Church and in the World": The role of authority is that of a sure and authorita-tive guide, of inspiration and encouragement, so that an environment of fraternal communion can be cre-ated, one which can facilitate personal spiritual growth and the fulfillment of the apostolic mission, without, however, declining the responsibility to decide when-ever necessary. (§59) The postsynodal apostolic exhortation Vita consecrata (1996) of Pope John Paul II said: While authority must be above all fraternal and spir-itual, and while those entrusted with it must know how to involve their brothers and sisters in the deci-sion- making process, it should still be remembered that the final word belongs to authority and, consequendy, that authority has the right to see that decisions made are respected. (§43, emphasis in the original text) Superiors Seeking Popularity in Their Communities The latter decades of the 20th century are noted for the spread of democracy in different parts of the globe. Democracy has become a universally accepted human value. Even countries that are not yet democratic are striving, indeed yearning, for it. This is surely a wel-come change for the whole of humanity. Normally democracy not only guarantees human rights on the basis of individuals' inherent dignity, but also for the com-mon good assures the participation of every citizen in the political decision making. Since democracy assures citizens' right to change those in authority after an agreed term of office, those officials normally spend a lot of their energy and resources to be popular, for it is their popularity that ensures their success at elections. Rarely do they offend citizens in public or make unpop- Review for Religious ular decisions even when such decisions are necessary for the common good. If they do, their very survival is at stake. With the mass media often playing the role of watchdog, political leaders today are pressured to say and do the "politically correct" thing. The phrase is fast becoming common parlance. The more "politically cor-rect" you are, the more popular you become. Political leaders who dare to make unpopular decisions, even though such decisions are dictated by their consciences and demanded by the common good, are being thrown out of office. Parallel to happenings in the secular world are some of the ways that religious congregations do things. Thanks to Vatican II, gone are the rigid (and sometimes absurd) practices that marked consecrated life in the years before the council. Although religious congrega-tions cannot be considered democracies in a literal sense, wider participation in congregational and community decision making has brought a lot of relevance and good sense to consecrated life. Today sensible persons heave a sigh of relief and thank God that most of the irrational and dictatorial ways of being a religious superior are over. Today religious superiors are really meant to serve the common good of the flock entrusted to them. The secular concept of democracy surely has had a positive influence on these changes in religious life. Our own experience during the past couple of decades, however, shows that the same concept of democ-racy also seems to have had a negative effect on many religious superiors. Just as secular political leaders earnestly seek popularity, and survive and eventually move up the political ladder because of their popularity, today's religious superiors often seem to seek such pop-ularity within their own congregations for their mere survival and sometimes for their upward mobility either !171 65.2 2006 Tirimanna ¯ Are Religious Superiors Called to Be "Politically Correa'? 172 in the congregation or in the hierarchy. Many of our contemporary religious superiors are doubly careful not to make "politically incorrect" decisions that would make them unpopular among the members of their congrega-tions and thus bring about their own downfall. The wider consultations (and, in many congregations, elections) that since Vatican II are rightly carried out in electing or appointing religious superiors seem to put the supe-riors in a dilemma. On the one hand, to be elected or reelected, they have to be popular or well accepted. On the other hand, to be popular or well accepted, they have to play to the gallery by not making decisions that would upset the majority of the members. Note that by "pop-ularity" I do not mean the mere acceptability of superi-ors to the other members of the community, which is a must in consecrated life. I mean the kind of "popular-ity" that is gained by not offending numbers of influen-tial people. People accrue such "popularity" by not making decisions that are badly needed for the common good--even when their conscience prompts them to do so. They avoid certain good decisions simply because they would offend the majority of the members. It is a "popularity" that is gained and sustained by pandering to a lumpenproletariat. The more superiors do not make deci-sions that would make them unpopular with the major-ity, the more acceptable they become all around. The more they evade their bounden duty to make decisions that could make them unpopular, the greater their chances of getting reelected or reappointed. This is why today, in quite a number of congregations, we hear mem-bers saying: "We made sure to have so-and-so elected because we are sure he (or she) will not rock the boat." To illustrate the point here, let us look at the now popular sabbaticals. Is it always those who really deserve a real break after a tedious involvement in the congre- Review for Religious gational apostolate who get a sabbatical today? Are all those who go for sabbaticals the "burnt-out" persons? What about the way some superiors treat members who complain that they lack self-fulfillment? Are they not fre-quently permitted to find their "self-fulfillment" by get-ting into any and every personal apostolate or pet project, even when these cut them off from their communities? Today it is not uncommon to send abroad for higher stud-ies persons who are erratic or wanting in their basic reli-gious commitment. The persons concerned may not even have the capacity for studies, but to some superiors this seems a diplomatic way of handling the problem, at least temporarily. They do not realize or do not wish to real-ize that such evasions leave the problem for their suc-cessors in office. Such ways of acting are neither just nor charitable even from the point of view of the persons thus treated. Instead of addressing the real problem of the person with genuine charity and justice, they tem-porarily circumvent the issue, not out of sympathy, but instead out of concern for their own survival. Regrettably, avoiding good hard decisions has become an accepted way of being "politically correct" in consecrated life today. So has making decisions that are only temporarily satis-factory, and may be disastrous in the long run. In both these cases, the problematic root is "political correct" words and deeds or superiors' spui'ious "popularity." Prophecy and Diplomacy Do Not Sit Well Together But is conscious evading or circumventing of deci-sions morally correct? Is it the way to be prophetic? Time and again one hears it said: "Well, this is the way things have turned out in consecrated life today, and so what can we do?" "This is the way even most of the bish-ops act, and so what is wrong if our own religious supe-riors do the same?" Unfortunately, this way of looking at 65.2 2006 Tirimanna ¯ Are Religious Superiors Called to Be "Politically Correct"? 174 1 things seems to ignore the very nature and purpose of consecrated life. From its very origins, one of the char-acteristics of consecrated life has been its prophetic nature. Pope John Paul II in his ~ta consecrata enunciated this point well: There is a prophetic dimension which belongs to the consecrated life as such, resulting from the radical nature of the following of Christ and of the subse-quent dedication to the mission characteristic of the consecrated life. The sign value, which the Second Vatican Council acknowledges in the consecrated life, is expressed in prophetic witness to the primacy which God and the truths of the gospel have in Christian life. (§84) A careful scrutiny of history would show us how, at different moments of decadence in church life, it was consecrated life that raised the church out of decadence through its witnessing, thus giving the church prophetic leadership: In effect, the consecrated life is at the very heart of the church as a decisive element for her mission, since it "manifests the inner nature of the Christian calling" and the striving of the whole church as Bride toward the union with her one Spouse. At the Synod it was stated on several occasions that the consecrated life has not only proved a help and support for the church in the past, but is also a necessary gift for the present and future of the people of God, since it is an inti-mate part of her life, her holiness, and her mission. (~ta consecrata, §3; emphasis in the original) So, to argue that the superiors are only emulating the way things are done by the hierarchical church lead-ership is not correct, for consecrated life has to give the lead to the rest of the church, even regarding pastoral leadership. As the late moral theologian Father Bernard Hiiring often told his students, prophecy and diplomacy (in today's parlance, "politically correctness") do not and Review for Religious cannot sit together comfortably. One has to give way to the other. A good number of contemporary religious superiors fail to make proper decisions because they wish to be "politically correct." Thus they not only betray their own vocation to be prophetic, but they gravely damage the common good of the communities entrusted to them. Besides, if a religious superior is supposed to be a pastor, then he has the bounden duty towards the well being of the members. This duty includes fraternal cor-rection. If members go astray and deviate from the group's charism, it is the duty of the shepherd (the reli-gious superior) to begin fraternal correction in charity, even if it hurts. The supe-rior owes such correction to the individuals and the group. Their integral well-being as consecrated peo-ple is one of the superior's top priorities. If superiors shirk this difficult role of fraternal correction in order to be "politically cor-rect," they have no right to Consecrated life has to give the lead to the rest of the church, even regarding pastoral leadership. remain in office, because they have failed in their pri-mary duty of working towards the well-being of the con-gregation and the church. Superiors who do not have as their goal the common good of the congregation and the church contribute to their decadence. Instead of swimming against the popular secular currents, they clearly betray the consecrated prophetic life so well explained by Pope John Paul II: In our world, where it often seems that the signs of God's presence have been lost from sight, a convinc-ing prophetic witness on the part of consecrated per- 65.2 2006 Tirimanna ¯ Are Religious Superiors Called to Be "Politically Correct"? sons is increasingly necessary. Consecrated per-sons are being asked to bear wimess everywhere with the boldness of a prophet who is unafraid of risking even his life. (VC §85) Prophetic Leadership Will the majority of superiors in consecrated life con-tinue to allow the secular democratic political trends to be their model in the coming years? Or will they give prophetic leadership to their own communities by acting according to the moral norms of what is right and wrong? Will they act for their own "good" or for the common good of their institutes? The writer is con-vinced that it is high time that religious superiors become more responsible and accountable in their decision mak-ing as animators, and thus allow their consciences, their specific religious charisms, and the common good to be the norms in their decision making. The norm of being "politically correct" should be the last in their list of pri-orities, for they are certainly not to be "politicians" who eagerly seek popularity, as in the secular world. In this way, they not only will arrest the decline in the quality of contemporary consecrated life, but will also be giving prophetic leadership to the church and the world. 176 Review for Religious BRENDAN KNEALE Identifying Identity among Nonclerical Religious Before Vatican Council II most Catholic priests, eligious, and laypeople had no "identity crisis." We knew who we were, our place seemed well defined, and we had no impending threat of change. Our per-sonal identity and our .social identity were clear and unthreatened, It may, however, be a good thing that after the council we had to take a close look at our identity. Perhaps we ought to question the quality of our earlier identity. Did it show signs of the identity claims that Pharisees made in Christ's time? They and the scribes were quite self-assured groups. Some of us were, too, maybe to the point of blind confidence in our identity. Among religious there was a saying:?'Keep the Rule and the Rule will keep you." It was, we can see now, a dan-gerous motto, even though it assured our identity. St. Paul, who had been a strict Pharisee, came to realize the danger. Brendan Kneale FSC taught for many years at Saint Mary's College of California. Now retired, he lives at De La Salle Institute; 4405 Redwood Road; Napa, California 94558. 65.2 2006 Kneale ¯ Identifying Identity among, Nonclerical Religious What should have happened after Vatican II was a strengthening and sharpening of our identity. Unfortunately, that was not the popular perception of the changes that had been made. Even though changes initiated by the council were intended as clarifications and improvements, we tended to feel, instead, that things were no longer well defined. Shortly after the council, we heard of religious teachers here or there whose dress, teaching, and behavior led students to express surprise that they were religious or even Catholics. After Vatican II, people asked, "Is this the same church?" Some religious and priests asked, "Is mine the same apostolate?" "Is my school or hospital still Catholic?" "Is there any longer a place for the conse-crated life?" After Vatican II many teachers wondered, "Does the syllabus for my catechetical instruction in the classroom truly represent what I believe?" Or "Are all the liturgical innovations good?" And religious asked, "Have laypeople taken over our role?" "Who am I now?" A Definition of Identity It would be refreshing if all who talk about "iden-tity" were really sure what they are talking about. Few people have a clear definition of the term. In various contexts we confuse identity with "self-image" or "per-sonhood" or "character," or perhaps with "individual-ity," "uniqueness," or an adopted "persona." Fortunately, there are careful thinkers available to address the prob-lem of identifying identity. We are told that Erik Erikson, the psychologist who coined the term "identity crisis" (right after Vatican II, significantly), believed that an identity crisis is "the most important conflict human beings encounter." His defi-nition of psychological identity ran as follows: "a sub-jective sense as well as an observable quality of personal Review for Religious sameness and continuity, paired with some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image." Such a definition has the virtue of pointing squarely at both personal and social identity, that is, both private and public. Lexicographers agree that there are two chief emphases in the notion of identity. Etymologically "iden-tity" (from the Latin idem, the same) is, first of all, an enduring and distinctive individuality and, second, a social or relational "belonging." That is, peo-ple are identifiable by their unique and continu-ing sameness (generally indicated by a permanent - name and fixed array of recognizable psychological traits), and they are identifiable by what membership they have within a recognized group. Thus, in answer to "Who are you?" we will give our name to help the questioner to recall our uniqueness, or we will describe (if our uniform does not indicate it) what recognizable place we occupy in a clear social category. Thus we have a private identity and a public identity. Note that the two identities support each other. In fact, an African proverb has it that "I am because we are." A way to gain insight into identity is to contrast it with related ideas. We should try to keep the terminol-ogy clear about what identity is not. It is not "charac-ter," which is "a constellation of enduring motivational and other traits that are manifested in the typical ways that we react to various challenges." Character, then, may be taken as the moral side of one's identity. Nor is identity simply "self." "Self is a unified being which is the source of an idiosyncratic consciousness, the agent We have a.private identity and a public identity. 65.2 2006 Kneale ¯ Identifying Identity among Nonclerical Religious responsible for the thoughts and actions of an individual to which they are ascribed." Hence self is an abstract or generic term for "personal identity"; it is not the same as the important and complementary "social identity." None of the following words is a synonym for iden, tity. "Individual" is mostly a quantitative term; it is related to the words undivided and indivisible. "Person"~ is, according to Thomas Aquinas, "the individual substance of a rational soul" and does not disappear if one's identity is vague or shifting. "Personality" is something different; it includes the social as well as the more strictly personal. Dictionaries say that personality is the complex of char-acteristics that distinguishes an individual or a group or nation--but especially the totality of an individual's behavioral and emotional characteristics. Identity is at the core of this "complex of characteristics" (which makes the loss of identity a serious matter). "Persona" and "role" derive from drama, from play-acting, and are of co,urse the weakest versions of what we mean by identity. In an extended article in Consecrated Life 24, no. 2 (February 2003), Father Amadeo Cencini has developed the notion of social identity by emphasizing the id.entity which comes from "belonging." He uses that word because, in identifying ourselyes, we often specify the career, occupation, group, race, persuasion, and so forth to which we "belong." Those of us belonging to conse-crated life may identify ourselves as members of a named religious institute and belonging here or there within it. This answer makes our personal identity derivable, to some extent, from that of the larger group. Sometimes our identity is seen as tied to "our roots" within a social group. Suppose, however, that the group to which one iden-tifies oneself.as belonging (say, a religious institute) has itself no clear identity. If that group has an identity that Review for Religious is fuzzy or vague, then one of the two main sources of identity (namely, "belonging") is comproinised. A reli-gious institute could have evolved (perhaps calling the change "refounding the order") into something different from .what it was. Moreover, even the larger church, to which the institute belongs, could itself also change enough to confuse people about its own identity. For example, the church could seem to speak without a clear voice about itself, and an institute of consecrated life could becom~ canonically unsure about whether laypeo-pie are "members." Or it might interpret certain changes (like emphasis on adult education or on political involve-ment) as challenges to its identity as teachers of youth or caretakers of the sick. It could wonder if other forms of social service rather than classroom or hospital work should be what the church asks for. Official Ecclesial Positions Readers will know that since Vatican II the church has taken up the problem of identity officially and for-mally. The Vatican (following special synods of bishops) has published three clarifying documents, one each for the benefit of priests, laypeople, and religious. The doc-ument about religious is called ~ta consecrata (1996) and addresses the nature and identity of consecrated life. In particular, and depending heavily on the work of a pre-vious world synod of bishops, Vita konsecrata devoted its section 57 to the role of sisters and section 60 to broth-ers. These paragraphs include the following excerpts: By virtue of their dedication lived in fullness and in joy, consecrated women are called in a very special way to be signs of God's tender love toward the human race and to be special witnesses to the mystery of the church, virgin, bride, and mother . Certainly the validity of many assertions relating to the position of 181 65.2 2006 Kneale * Identifying Identity among Nonclerical Relig4ous .women in different sectors of society and of the church cannot be denied . Women's new self-awareness helps men to reconsider their way of looking at things, the way they understand themselves, where thE)) place themselves in history and how they interpret it, and the way they organize social, political, economic, reli-gious, and ecclesial life . The consecrated woman . . . can help eliminate certain one-sided perspectives which do not fully rec-ognize her dignity and her specific contribution to the church's life and pastoral and missionary activity. Consecrated women therefore rightly aspire to have their identity, ability, mission, and responsibility more clearly recognized, both in the awareness of the church and in everyday life. The consecrated life by its nature "is neither lay nor clerical" . The "lay consecration" of both men and women constitutes a state which in its profession of the evangelical counsels is complete in itself. for the individual and for the church . . . apart from the sacred ministry. The synod expressed great esteem for the kind. of consecrated life in which r.eligious brothers provide valuable services of various kinds, inside or outside the community, participating in this way in the mission of proclaiming the gospel and bearing witness to it with charity in everyday life. Although [lay institutes] perform many works in common with the lay faithful, [members] do so inso-far as. they are consecrated and thereby express the spirit of total self-giving to Christ and the church, in accordance with ~heir specific charism. The term "brother" suggests a rich spirituality. ¯ Brothers are an effective reminder to religious priests themselves of the fundamental dimension of brother-hood in Christ, to be lived among themselves and with every man and woman, and they proclaim to all the Lord's words: "And you are all brothers" (M(23:8). We might add that, when Father Amadeo Cencini wrote about the problem of identity, he called attention Review for Religious to the important role of an institute's charism--a point also emphasized in Vita consecrata. An obvious way to increase a sense of our belonging (and our identity) is by attachment to the institute's charism (provided that the corporate identity is itself clear). Cencini notes that some individual reli-gious are weakly con-nected to the charism of their institute, or hold divided loyalties, or, on the other hand, immerse themselves within it in a psycho-logically unhealthy way. We can recall in Some individual religious are weak!y connect, ed to the charism of their institute or hold divided loyalties. this connection the recommendations of the classic work The Future of Religious Orders in the U.S.: Transformation and Commitment by Father David Nygren and Sister Miriam Ukeritis. The proper connection to the charism and the best sense of belonging are to be found, says Cencini, by a deepening of one's attachment to the charism in three ways: by way of prayer and spiritual-connection, by ascetically conforming to the lifestyle of the institute's norms, and by real engagement in the common aposto-late. (Perhaps he could have added: study and grasp of the relevant literature.) This last point about "real engagement" raises an acute problem for some conse-crated religious: What identifies us as distinct from our secular associates and coworkers? If one uses a simply functional definition of our state, then the problem is indeed acute. Many of our secular associates, such as Gospel Catholics, practice in accordance with their voca-tions a chastity, obedience, and poverty that are often more difficult than ours. They sometimes show more 65.2 2006 Kneale ¯ Identifying Identity among Nonclerical Religious 184 talent, dedication, and leadership than their religious colleagues. If, however, we consider who we are and do not just look at our function, then we see a.radical dif-ference between us and them. If we are aware what we are in relation to the evangelical counsels and in rela-tion to auxiliary vows, what we are in terms of commu-nity life, what we are in relation to mobility, to the radicality, quality, and scope of our availability and ser-vice, then we should not have a problem. In addition tb ~vhat Cencini writes about an insti-tute's common and received charism, wecould emphasize the desirability of our contributing to the charism in some innovative way. If we could do that, it seems to me, we would increase our sense of belonging, and even of "ownership." Each of us should bring to the charism, by conscious effort, an enrichment that stems from our personal talents, from our studies, and from our auxiliary memberships in professional and religious associations (in relation to which we can see our own identity more clearly). Charism is not static. Individuals enrich the charisms of their communities. The differing charisms of various consecrated reli-gious groups illustrate a principle that helps clarify cor-porate identity, namely, the principle of an institutional subsidarity and "division of labor" within the church. Each institute has its own apostolic charism and thus its own responsibility. It is true that numerous apostolic needs are great and pressing, and occasionally they are overriding, but normally we keep our corporate identity by doing our own apostolic labor, not th

Issue 70.1 of the Review for Religious, 2011. ; Determining Change Making the: Spiritual Exercises ,Growing Spiritually Exploring Religious Life QUARTERLY 70.1 2 0 i 1 Review for Religious fosters dialogue with God, dialogue with ourselves, and dialogue with one another about the holiness we try to live according to charisms of Catholic religious life. As Pope Paul vI said, our way of being church is today the way of dialogue. Review for Religious (ISSN 0034-639X) is published quarterly at Saint Louis University by the Jesuits of the Missouri Province. Editorial Office: 3601 Lindell Boulevard ¯ St. Louis, Missouri 63108-3393 Telephone: 314-633-4610 ¯ Fax: 314-633-4611 E-Maih reviewrfr@gmail.com ¯\Veb site: ~-w.reviewforreligious.org Manuscripts, books for review, and correspondence with the editor: Review for Religious ¯ 3601 Lindell Boulevard ¯ St. Louis, MO 63108-3393 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. ©2011 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 1{)8 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 distribution, 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. ~ gournal of Ca~hohc ~piri~uah~ Celebrating 70 Years Editor Book Review Editor Scripture Scope Editorial Staff Advisory Board Michael G. Harter sJ Rosemary Jermann Eugene Hensell OSB Mary Ann Foppe Tracy Gramm Judy Sharp Paul Coutinho SJ Martir~ Erspamer OSB Margaret Guider OSF Kathleen Hughes RSCJ Louis and Angela Menard Bishop Terry Steib SVD QUARTERLY 70.1 2011 contents prisms 4 Prisms 6 17 determining change Agents of Change: Six Models Louis M. Savary shares and explains six models of being a change agent that were created by a long ago deceased Jesuit, Joseph Grau. Christ-like Empathy in Those Who Govern John H. Zupez SJ draws on Mark's gospel to encourage religious superiors and anyone exercising authority to learn from the empathy of Jesus shown towards others. 25 44 making the spiritual exercises The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: A Path to Virtue James Menkhaus explores the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, using the language of virtue ethics and emphasizing a new understanding of the virtues of friendship and presence. Reflecting on Readiness to Make the Spiritual Exercises Myree Harris RSJ offers some possible questions and reflections for a better assessment of retreatants' readiness to enter into the full 30oday Spiritual Exercises experience. Review for Religious 59 growing spiritually Looking at Death from a Christian Perspective Julius D. Leloczky OCist reflects on the contemporary obsession with death and recalls how our Christian faith gives us a life-perspective. Spiritual Direction 101 J. Thomas Hamel SJ reflects on the practice of spiritual direction understood as a dual ministry with the roles of giving and receiving by the director and the directee. 73 84 exploring religious life Looking for Nuns, Finding Women Deacons Phyllis Zagano suggests that in light of the Apostolic Visitation of U.S. women religious the monastic framework proposed applies to the minority of institutes and religious vocations, whereas the larger body of institutes and new vocations are moving to other ways of ministering, presaging the church's return to the ancient vocation of the diaconate for women. Revisiting Obedience William P. Clark OMI reviews the challenges that contemporary culture has presented to the understanding and practice of religious obedience. departments 95 Scripture Scope: Jeremiah: A Messenger of God Caught between a Rockand a Hard Place 100 Book Reviews 3 70.1 2011 prisms 4 I t seems strange to me to be writing my own farewell as editor. In the 68.4 issue of the 2009 journal, I had written in this space that I had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and knew only that I had as long to live here as God wanted. As I write this, my death is not imminent, but I did want to see an orderly transition of my editor's responsibilities. I have completed 22 years as editor, and it has been for me a privilege to publish so many authors, a call to a continuing learning experience, and an occa-sion of the deepening of my own religious life. I hope and pray that our readers can also identify a learning and deepening for their religious lives as their experience of this journal. As the title page indicates, Father Michael G. Harter SJ is the new editor, beginning with this current volume. Father Harter brings his own rich life experience to this job. He has been involved in religious formation both as assistant novice director and as novice director and director of Ministry Training Services in Denver, Colorado. He has been managing editor of the Jesuit maga-zine America. He has been called to religious leadership as a community superior and as the provincial executive assistant. He has served on the board of Praesidium, the accrediting agency in abuse risk management. He has traveled exten-sively and knows church and religious life from Europe to Africa to India to Australia. In fact, he served as associate editor of Review for Religious for two years before he became novice director Review for Religious for the Jesuit St. Paul novitiate and wrote the single Prisms not under my name. At the same time, I would also like to introduce Rosemary Jermann as our new book editor. Rosemary Jermann also brings a rich experience in editing; she has been a co-editor of Theology Digest up to its last publica-tion in June 2010. Because Theology Digest was sponsored by the Department of Theological Studies at Saint Louis Unversity, Jermann also had the opportunity to teach within the department. She will also contribute her edito-rial skills to the final product of each issue. Any editor is only as good as the staff and board that monitor and support him. I have been extremely fortunate in having a devoted staff identified in Mary Ann Foppe, Judy Sharp, Tracy Gramm, and Jean Read (t), and asso-ciate editors as Iris Ann Ledden SSND, Regina Siegfried ASC, Clare Boehmer ASC, Philip Fischer SJ (t), Michael Harter SJ, Canon Law editors Richard Hill SJ (~') and Elizabeth McDonough OP, and Scripture Scope editor Eugene Hensell OSB. We as editors and staff have received invaluable help from our past and present advisory board members since 1990: David J. Hassel SJ (~), Mary Margaret Johanning SSND (~'), Iris Ann Ledden SSND, Sean Sammon FMS, Wendy Wright, Suzanne Zuercher OSB, Edmundo Rodriguez SJ, Joanne Wolski Conn, David Werthmann CSSR, Joel Rippinger OSB, Patricia Wittberg SC, Jim and Joan Felling, Kathryn Richards FSp, Bishop Carlos Sevilla SJ, Adrian Gaudin SC (?), Raymond Marie Gerard FSP, Eugene Hensell OSB, Miriam Ukeritis csJ, Lou and Angela Menard, Martin Erspamer OSB, Kathleen Hughes RSCJ, Bishop Terry Steib SVD, Margaret Guider OSF, and Paul 5" Coutinho SJ. My thanks to everyone. Remember me in your prayers. David L. Fleming SJ 70.1 2011 LOUIS M. SAVARY Agents of Change: Six Models determining change We are all called to be agents of change. It is a human calling as well as a Christian call-ing. However, we are not all called to be the same kind of change agent. A dear friend of mine, long ago deceased, Joseph Grau, a Jesuit priest for many years, created a simplified way of identifying the different kinds of change agent styles available. His naming and defining of these six models is a genuine contribution to contemporary spiritual practice, and his insights deserve to be re-presented. I share this article as a tribute to him. The Three Players in Making a Change According to Dr. Grau, there are six mod-els of change agency, each of which has three major players: (I) the People, (2) the Structure, (3) the Change Agent. Louis M. Savary PhD, STD, may be addressed at 3404 Ellenwood Lane; Tampa, Florida 33618. Review for Religious The term "People" refers to the set of persons who want or need change. Included in "People" are the individu-als and groups experiencing treatment that is unfair, unjust, unsafe, abusive, prejudicial, or cruel but who cannot effectively defend or protect themselves from the harmful situation or who cannot change and correct the unwelcome situation by themselves. Certain groups may be enduring racial prejudice, unsafe working conditions, unfair employer demands, denial of human rights, political oppression, gender discrimination, rejection by a church, or unequal treat-ment by institutions such as insurance companies, credit card companies, banks, educational institutions, or law enforcement. Individuals who want or need change might include children who are physically or sexually abused by family members, students being bullied at school, employees being harassed at the workplace, or those in neighbor-hoods that are unsafe because of gang warfare. "People" may also be extended to include animals and other forms in nature, since animals (that is, endan-gered species) and nature (that is, forests, the ozone layer) are often helpless by themselves to change an unsafe or destructive environment caused by humans. The term "Structure" refers to the unjust societal or institutional structure that is in need of change. "Structure" is the generalized term used here .for any existing politi-cal, social, cultural, ecclesiastical, or familial situation or system that allows, promotes, or condones practices that are unjust, unfair, illegal, uncaring, biased, abu-sive, or cruel to individuals or groups who usually can-not defend or protect themselves from such situations. These harmful situations may have been caused or cre-ated by unfair or unjust laws, lack of awareness, corrupt 70.1 2011 Savary ¯ Agents of Change If you choose to be a Change Agent in an unfair situation, you can play at least six different roles-- in helping to effect the needed change. 8 political organizations, racially biased societal norms, prejudicial cultural prac6ces, religious bigotry, oppres-sive government, inadequate social services, or abusive family behavior. The "Change Agent" (CA) is one who chooses to try to change an unsafe, unjust, or unfair Structure in favor of the affected People. The "Change Agent" is usu-ally viewed as an individual but could be a small group of people. If you choose to be a Change Agent in an unfair situation, you can act in at least six different ways--or play at least six different roles--in helping to effect the needed change. 1. The Advocate Agent of Change ~ The most common model of change agent is'the advocate (CA) who personally confronts the Structure on behalf of the People. The Advocate Agent is often inde-pendent of and outside the group of people for whom he or she is advocating. For example, in a class action suit against, say, a pharmaceutical company (the Structure), a lawyer (CA) personally advocates in court on behalf of the consumers who have been treated unfairly or unjustly (the People). Thus, on behalf of the People, the Change Agent tries to affect or influence the Structure: People--> CA--> Structure Lawyers are not the only Advocates. A teacher (CA) can approach the school administration (Structure) to Review for Relig4ous advocate on behalf of students (People) who need spe-cialized care or tutoring. A parent (CA) can approach the local police (Structure) and advocate for protection of children (People) who are being bullied on neighborhood streets. A therapist (CA) can write letters to Medicaid (Structure), advocating for certain patients (People) to receive disability payments. A teacher (CA) can write let-ters of recommendation to colleges (Structure), advocat-ing for certain students (People) to receive scholarships or financial aid. A physician (CA) can contact hospice (Structure) to advocate on behalf of dying patients (People). Pastoral ministers (CA) can approach the prison system (Structure), requesting religious training and other forms of spirituality for inmates (People). 2. The Empowerment Agent of Change In this second model, the Change Agent organizes and empowers the People, who then directly confront the Structure. There is a big difference between the first two models. In the Advocacy model, the CA deals directly with the Structure; in this second model the CA deals directly with the People wanting change, and not with the Structure. In this model, the CA teaches the People how to approach the Structure directly and advocate for themselves. The most obvious example of Empowerment is the community organizer. Empowerment Agents may or may not belong to the community they are empowering, but they obviously have charisma and organizing skills that most others don't possess. The Empowerment CA teaches people how to get organized, how to formulate and present their request, how to approach the people who representthe Structure; what their legal rights are, what to do in the face of resistance, how to develop a Plan B. 9 70.1 2011 Savary ¯ Agents of Change The Empowerment Agent works directly on the People, organizing and training them, so that the People are prepared to approach the Structure directly. Thus, CA--> People --> Structure In one of the social ministries at our parish, a min-istering couple (CA) trains unemployed people (People) in how to get jobs in the business world (Structure) by teaching them how to write effective resumes, how to answer questions in a job interview, how to dress prop-erly, how to network with other job seekers, and other skills useful in landing a job. Some professionals (CA) teach groups of unfairly treated workers (People) how to form labor unions in their workplaces (Structure) or how to demand safer working conditions. The Empowerment Agent knows how to generate "people pressure" to change a situation on behalf of cer-tain groups. Some years ago in Washington, DC, when natural childbirth procedures were becoming popular among mothers but not among doctors and hospitals, workshop leaders (CA) told expectant mothers (People) that they had a legal right to demand natural childbirth in a hospital (Structure). Although obstetricians pre-ferred to deliver babies through chemically-induced childbirth, the mothers' repeated demands for natural childbirth practices in hospitals prevailed. 3. The Lifestyle Agent of Change Grau's third model of change agency is the Lifestyle Agent. Here, the CA is one of the People and acts as one of them. Thus, the CA belongs to the very group of those seeking their rights or some concession they believe to be rightfully theirs. A common example is a group of college students (People) protesting some policy of the college (Structure) that they wish to change. Each of the protesting students is a CA. Or, to put it another way, Review for Religious the group of students as an entity (the People) is the CA. Although you or I as specific students in that group seem to be merely one of the protesting students, nevertheless, you and I are legitimately called CAs. In this scenario, People (CA) People --> Structure The most common forms of Lifestyle Agents include the protest march, the worker strike, the sit-in, the let-ter- writing campaign, and the political campaign. In each case, groups of people (who are both People and Change Agents) coordinate, organize, and mobilize their time, money, and efforts to change an unjust situation (Structure). During the 1960s, there was much resistance to racial integration of African Americans into white public institutions such as schools, churches, restaurants, and clubs. Two white couples in a Southern state desired to live a non-racially-prejudiced lifestyle. To an exclu-sive private school their own children were attending (Structure), they (CA) gave scholarships for a number of academically qualified African American children (People), whose applications the school could not reject. The same two couples invited African American cou-ples (People) to dine with them (CA) at their favorite exclusive "white" restaurant (Structure). The restaurant owner could either welcome the African Americans or lose the business of two wealthy white families who were regular and generous customers. The owner chose to keep earning money. 4. The Direct Service Agent of Change In some cases, the Structure (that is, the local gov-ernment) is incapable of meeting the needs of a group of People, such as the poor, the hungry, the homeless, or immigrants, because of a lack of funds or personnel. So, someone must step up and directly meet those needs. 70.1 2011 Savary ¯ Agents of Cl~ange 12 The Saint Vincent de Paul Society in church parishes is a Direct Service Agent, as are people who work in soup kitchens, who deliver food to shut-ins, or who tutor children who wouldn't otherwise ever learn to read. What is interesting about this model is its inde-pendence of the Structure. The Structure may refuse to meet the needs of such People, may be ignorant of those needs, or may even enact laws that outlaw such help. In this case, the Direct Service Agent provides direct service to the People in need, whether or not the Structure approves. Thus, CA--> People Structure Although the schema shows no arrow going from the People to the Structure, there is inevitably an effect produced on the Structure. Sometimes, the Structure is relieved and very grateful for the Direct Service CA, as was India (Structure) in the case of Mother Teresa (CA) and her service of the poorest and lowest classes (People). In other cases, as when those in church min-istry (CA) care for the needs of illegal immigrants (People), the CA may be acting in opposition to a civil ordinance (Structure). 5. The Ideological Agent of Change Most parents, teachers, counselors, and health pro-fessionals exemplify the Ideological Agents of change. Ideological Agents are shaping the minds and souls of the People in their care. Such CAs are working at a much more fundamental level than the Empowerment Agents are. Empowerment Agents typically organize and train a group of people to encounter the Structure on a specific issue, such as better treatment of gays in the community or requesting representation or a voice at a university's Board of Directors meetings. By contrast, the Ideological Agent is shaping the minds of people at a more general level. For example, Review for Religious religious teachers train students to think rationally and ethically, no matter what issue may arise in the future. Parents may instruct their children in proper social behavior--how to show gratitude, how to ask for things, how to play cooperatively. An English teacher may instruct students in how to communicate effectively through the written word and how to appreciate good writing. A history - - teacher may show students how to learn and grow wise from the study of history and the successes and failures of great men and women. A math teacher equips students for dealing with the financial and scientific dimensions of life. The counselor and health profes-sional help people deal with their basic emotional and physical issues so that they can be productive members of society. Financial advisors teach people how to man-age their money. Workshop leaders can teach people how to create the lives they desire. The work of the Ideological CA is, above all, foun-dational in nature. The CA is preparing persons (People) not only to live in society or in the church (Structures), but also to become intelligent and contributing members of such groups. In effect, the work of the Ideological CA is to prepare people to become effective agents of change themselves. Symbolically, CA--> People --> Structure In one sense, the effects the Ideological Agent has on the Structures of society or the church are mostly The effects the Ideological Agent has on the Structures of society or the church are mostly indirect, ~b~ut yet very powerful. 13 70.1 2011 Savary ¯ Agents of Change 14 indirect, but yet very powerful. Persons who have not learned to think for themselves, or who have little or no control over their emotions or instincts are not likely to become the best agents of change in society. The role of the Ideological Agent is therefore crucial for the development of society and of the church. Also not to be forgotten among the Ideological Agents are editors of newspapers and newsletters and writers of books, professional articles, and how-to pam-phlets. Many people today have websites or blogs that provide inspiration, give helpful hints, or steer people in the right direction. 6. The Institutional Agent of Change The sixth and final model is called Institutional. In this approach, the Institutional Agent (CA) is part of the Structure. Thus, in the church (Structure), a priest or bishop who is a part of that Structure can be an Institutional Agent (CA) if he works to change the Structure so that it benefits the People by meeting their need(s). A truly Institutional CA is always con-sciously thinking of the People and how he or she can make things better for the them. Structure (CA) --> Structure --> People Institutional CAs would also include elected politi-cal representatives, school officials, academic adminis-trators, mayors, governors, civil officials, ranking law enforcement officers, members of boards of directors, business managers, hospital supervisors, and officers of professional organizations. More Than One Style Most people use more than one style of change agency in their life and work. Some get to use all six. In the life of Jesus, we can find examples of most styles. Review for Religious He was certainly an Advocate (1) for the People when he spoke to the scribes, Pharisees, and priests. He was an Ideological CA (5) in the ways he taught people to live their lives. He used Direct Service (4) in healing the sick. As an Empowerment Agent (2), he trained his apostles and disciples on how to go among the people to preach and heal. Since he was neither a scribe nor a priest, he could not use the Institutional model. Members of Alcoholics Anonymous combine Lifestyle Agency, Direct Service Agency, and Ideological Agency in their various ways of working. They are affecting many layers of social and religious Structures, since they (and others in related twelve-step groups) are turning individuals, who were burdens on society and their families, into productive, income-producing, tax-paying citizens, good parents, and upstanding church members. What Are Your Preferred Styles of Change Agency? Dr. Joseph Grau, a student of the writings of French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, wrote his doctoral dissertation (as yet unpublished) on the ethics of Teilhard. In much of traditional Christian spirituality, Grau wrote, we are seen as independent persons, each seeking our own individual salvation by avoiding serious sin. In contrast, for Teilhard, as for St. Paul, all humanity (and the rest of creation) is living in the Cosmic Christ, who is daily growing, changing, and evolving toward his ultimate completion. In this perspective, Christians are not primarily isolated individuals, each independently seeking to save their own souls, but we are all inextricably interconnected in this great God Project. In St. Paul's words, we are the hands and feet, the eyes and ears of Christ on earth today, helping bring this Cosmic Christ to 70.1 2011 Savary * Agents of Change his fulfillment as destined by the Creator. Thus, we see the need for all to become effective change agents. Therefore, our spirituality today cannot be focused simply on avoiding sin. Rather we must be focused on consciously choosing actions that are designed to make a positive difference in the world. For Teilhard, we are all called to be Agents of Change in helping the Structures of our world become more just, kind, and caring for all those in need (People). We consciously choose to become Agents of Change so that Christ may be all in all. To accomplish this will require a lot of change and improvement in our world. What part will you play in the great God Project? Personal Reflection / Group Discussion Savary raises the question for our reflections: What are my preferred styles of change agency? Why are these my preferred styles? How is it helpful to reflect on the different models of change agency? Review for Religious JOHN H. ZUPEZ Christ-like Empathy in Those Who Govern One might address this topic through a study of "Paternal/Maternal Governance as an Ideal in Religious Communities." But that could get us into arguments over whether it is overstating the type of governance called for by our constitutions, or whether such governance is realistically possible. So I choose to focus on Jesus' way of dealing with people as an ideal and as inspiration for all followers of Christ, whether they be in a religious congregation or not. In religious congregations new challenges have arisen to experiencing empathy from those who gov-ern. Such empathy has suffered on several fronts in our times: the sophistication of relationships with those out-side our immediate circle of friends; the administrative burden of major superiors which puts more burden on the local superior; the diminishing pool of prospects for appointment as superior. You can probably think John H. Zupez SJ wrote for us on prayer in 1992 and 2009. He is currently pastor of Corpus Christi Church; 1005 N.E. 15th Street; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73117. 17 70.1 2011 Zupez * Christ-like Empathy in those Who Govern of other reasons why relations between religious and their superiors become strained. Empathy in superiors is most important since their community has no choice but to relate to them. These reflections may also help in keeping relations among community members from becoming strained. Empathy Wikipedia on the Internet has a long article on empa-thy that begins with the following description, involv-ing various aspects. It seems suitable to our purposes. Empathy is a "feeling of concern for other people that creates a desire to help them, experiencing emotions that match another person's emotions, knowing what the other person is thinking or feeling." This is a good description of Jesus' approach to people. Even if his keen intelligence and sensitivity bordered on the mirac-ulous at times, his dealings show his desire to get inside the mind and heart of those he addressed, to experi-ence and know from their perspective before trying to help them, at times with reproof. It didn't rule out an ever-sharpening critique of some religious attitudes he wanted to correct. But one never gets the idea that he missed the point, that he judged too harshly or without sufficient empathy for what others thought and felt. His empathetic way of understanding how people thought and felt typically led to his sympathetic and caring way of ministering to them. Reflecting on ways Jesus exhib-ited empathy in the gospel accounts can help us follow him more closely in this regard. Not all instances are equally illustrative, but together they show Jesus' great sensitivity as a model for his followers. References will be to Mark's Gospel. Even if some of Jesus' sayings here originated in the early church, Review for Religious they reflect a consistent personality trait of Jesus that was well-remembered by his followers. In Mark's Gospel ¯ In Mark's Gospel only Jesus hears his vocation call at the Jordan, after which he immediately goes "on retreat" and doesn't begin his ministry until John's arrest (1:10- 14). If we attribute greater historicity to this account than to the other Gospels, it shows great sensi-tivity on the part of Jesus to the feelings of the Baptist and -- complete appreciation for John's ministry, even though this would contribute to the survival of the Baptist move-ment alongside Christianity. ¯ Jesus calls James and John to follow him, leaving their father Zebedee alone with the hired hands (1:20). Scholars point to this as one of many signs that Jesus saw the end-time as imminent, for otherwise he would have shown more sympathy for the father who was left without his sons' help. ¯ Many times in the Gospels Jesus attributes ill behavior not to the free choice of persons but to unclean spirits that have taken possession of the persons (1:25). Can we see this as a case of empathy, of Jesus' most merciful judgment? ¯ When his disciples disturb his morning prayer, he doesn't reproach them but agrees with them that they rightly understand his mission (1:35-38). Again and again Jesus attributes his cures to the patent faith he perceived in those to whom he ministered. 19 70.1 2011 Zupez ¯ Christ-like Empathy in those Who Govern ¯ Jesus healed the leper and fed crowds that were hungry and "without a shepherd," being "moved with pity" or compassion (1:41, 6:34, 8:2), knowing how they felt. He also began his ministry showing great sensitivity toward the temple priests, allowing them to profit from the effect of his cures (1:44). ¯ Again and again Jesus attributes his cures to the patent faith he perceived in those to whom he minis-tered (2:5), and he "perceived in his spirit" the lack of faith in those who "questioned in their hearts" (2:6, 8). ¯ Jesus' only mention of fasting in Mark's Gospel came in order to defend the Baptist who required his disciples to fast (2:18-20). ¯ Jesus gave an opportunity for Jewish leaders to defend their traditions, feeling "anger" when they "were silent" and refused to communicate with him (3:4, 5). ¯ When Mark says that Jesus appointed 12 apostles not just to proclaim his message but "to be with him," he shows the intimate community that would help them to see deeply into one another (3:14). ¯ Many of Jesus' parables were addressed to the Jewish leaders whom he so much wanted to bring on board his movement. He carefully fashions suasive argu-ments to move these intelligent adversaries, and only after rejection by them does he conclude that they have simply closed their hearts to God's Spirit (3:23-29). ¯ When his family thinks him "out of his mind," he gives an inclusive description of who his family is, knowing that they also "do the will of God" (3:21, 35). ¯ He shows himself a careful observer of nature and of human behavior, distinguishing between ways his word goes unheeded in people. The faith of some is rootless, in some it is destroyed by others, in some it is choked out by the cares of this world (4:15-19). Review for Religious ¯ He commends those who are translucent, who let the light within them shine out clearly for all to see: "nothing is hidden but will be disclosed" (4:21-22). ¯ He intuits the concern of his listeners over the smallness and hiddenness of the kingdom in his ministry and responds with the parables of hidden growth and of the mustard seed (4:26-32). ¯ Sympathy for Jairus leads Jesus to put up with the ridicule of the crowd, and when he had cured Jairus' daughter he mentions the hunger of the girl: "give her something to eat" (5:43). This last touch must have struck Mark as typical of Jesus' thoughtfulness of oth-ers, and so merited inclusion in his Gospel. ¯ When Jesus is rejected by the people of his own hometown, he makes up a good excuse for them, rather than blaming them; "Prophets are not without honor except in their hometown" (6:4). Then he anticipates how people would feel if his apostles went house-hop-ping, looking perhaps for a nicer place to stay. He advises them to stay with whoever first welcomes them (6:10). Jesus also perceives the fatigue of the work for his apostles and invites them to "come aside and rest awhile" (6:31). Then, respecting their close feeling for him, he "goes up the mountain to pray" only "after say-ing farewell to them" (6:46). ¯ When the Jewish leaders criticize his disciples for not washing their hands before eating, Jesus doesn't dis-miss their objection lightly but defends the disciples by quoting at length Jewish. traditions (7:5-15). He can also quickly correct his response to a person when he perceives a need for self-correction, as in his change from rejecting to commending the Syrophoenician woman (7:2 7-2 9). ¯ Jesus took the deaf man with a speech impediment "away from the crowd, in private," perhaps to compen- 70.1 2011 Zupez ¯ Christ-like Empathy in those Who Govern From all who wish to enter the kingdom, Jesus demands childlike curiosity and openness to new ideas sate for the crowd's ridicule of the man, becoming close and personal with him (7:33). ¯ Though his disciples fail to see, hear, or remem-ber in spite of the powers he had demonstrated, Jesus continues to work with them patiently, conclud-ing only with the gentle rebuke "Do you not yet understand?" (8:18,21). When admonished by Peter for predicting his suffering, Jesus' response focuses not on himself but on the good of Peter, who has set his mind "not on divine things but on human things" (8:33). Instead of further chiding Peter, he calls together "the crowd with his disciples" and explains the centrality of the cross in the Christian life (8:34-38). ¯ When Jesus sees that "a crowd came running together" he expedites his cure of the possessed young man, saving him further embarrassment (9:25). ¯ Jesus says that our dealings with others should not be from a sense of superiority ("whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all") but with the warmth that we show to a very loveable child (9:35-37). Jesus crowns this with a breadth of appreciation that extends to even our "giving a cup of water to drink" for which we will receive his reward (9:41). (Since Jesus did not refer to himself as Christ or Messiah, that seems here an addition of the early church.) Jesus' love for his dis-ciples doesn't stop short of "scaring the hell out of them" lest they stray from the right path (9:42-48). He goes on Review for Religious to encourage his disciples to vigorously pursue their own gifts while respecting others' differences (9:50). ¯ From all who wish to enter the kingdom, Jesus demands childlike curiosity and openness to new ideas, traits sorely lacking in the Jewish leaders who never gave him a fair hearing (10:15). ¯ Jesus' appreciation for all the goodness in others is revealed in his love for the young man who had kept the commandments from his y~)uth (10:20-21). He further points out that God can overlook our deficiencies and make up for them (10:27); God doesn't demand more than we can give. ¯ When James and John come forward with incred-ible hubris and pushiness, Jesus gently admonishes them that "you do not know what you are asking" (10:38). He then throws the focus away from James and John to advise the twelve together that Christian leadership is gauged enti!~qly in t.~rms of humble service (10:41-44). ¯ Jesus' empathy for people's differences, everyone believing in themselves, is reflected in what is arguably the most distinctive Christian virtue, ready forgiveness of others (11:25). ¯ In the question of giving tribute to Caesar, Jesus leaves off criticizing his adversaries for their flattery and feigned praise and keeps loving, keeps saying what could awaken them to their own hypocrisy and be their salva-tion, leaving them "amazed" (12:13-17). ¯ When a woman anoints Jesus with oil worth more than a year's wages, Jesus may have been taken aback by the extravagance but instead thinks of an even more extravagant way to compliment her: her deed will always be preached as a part of the Gospel (14:5, 9). ¯ When his closest disciples fall asleep during his agony in the garden, he doesn't blame them but thinks 70.1 2011 Zupez ¯ Christ-like Empathy in those grbo Govern of an excuse for them: "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (14:38). And so also throughout his Passion he shows forgiveness on all sides and attributes his fate rather to the fulfillment of Scripture (14:27, 49). Conclusion We see here an ideal to strive for even if we can never reach it. Superiors may have little wiggle room to change their decisions. But if they exercise author-ity in a spirit of open dialogue and sincere empathy, then those under them will respond more as if to Christ himself. February Snow Snow fresh fallen and still spilling subdues the trees out your windows and muffles the world. You watch it blow, all of winter in your eye. Suddenly a wingedflame pierces the scene and swoops to the feeder. Red as a tulip, it's Isaiah of the seasons prophesying the return of color to this bleached-out world. If not tomorrow, then soon. Soon. Patricia Schnapp RSM Review for Religious JAMES MENKHAUS The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: A Path To Virtue The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is a clas-sic work of Christian spirituality. Ignatius created the Exercises by reflecting on the expe-rience of God working in his life. In a memo-rable excerpt from his autobiography, Ignatius recalls, "God treated him [Ignatius] at this time just as aoschoolmaster treats a child he is teach-ing.''~ Ignatius's insight reflects his belief that God not only loves God's creatures, but slowly reveals God's will to them. Just as a child grows and slowly uncovers knowledge with the help of a teacher, so do human beings, with the help of God, slowly uncover God's call. Hoping to impart his insights, Ignatius created a series of meditations and reflections to help others discern their own call from God. In the final making the spiritual exercises James Menkhaus is currently involved in h~s doctoral work in Systematic Theology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and teaches part-time at John Carroll Universi~ in Cleveland, Ohio. His address is 2965 Hampshire Road; University Heights, Oh{o 44118. 70.1 2011 Menkbaus * The Spiritual Exercises of St. IKnatius years of his life, Ignatius crystallized his reflections by finalizing the Spiritual Exercises. While it is true that the Spiritual Exercises can help an individual discern God's call, another potential ben-efit from undergoing the retreat experience can be described by using the language of virtue ethics. Virtue ethics is an approach in normative ethics that emphasizes the moral significance of an agent's character. Instead of focusing on the question "what action should I take?" virtue ethics asks people to reflect on "what sort of per-son should I be?''2 This reflection, which then leads to action, is exemplified in the Ignatian retreat process. In this essay I will apply the language of virtue ethics to the experience of undergoing the Spiritual Exercises, examining the roles of narrative, friendship, presence, and renewed friendship. Using virtue ethics to describe the transformative effect of the Spiritual Exercises dem-onstrates that the experience is not only a tool for the discernment of God's will, but a method for the devel-opment of character. Narrative Foundation in Week One In the First Week of the Spiritual Exercises, using the exercitant's narrative as a starting point lays the founda-tion for the subsequent weeks. Ignatius instructs, "The First Point is the court-record of my sins. I will call to memory all the sins of my life, looking at them year by year or period by period.''3 Ignatius hopes the exerci-rant will take the time to reflect on how sinful a person can be and, in reflecting on one's past narrative, will acknowledge those times of turning away from God's offer of love. Exercitants are often offered the cl~ance for confession during this time as they uncover aspects of their narrative that they have either forgotten or tried to Review for Relig4ous deny to themselves. Ignadus' own experiences of sin and the way one can become ensnared by sinfulness, influ-enced his decision to give the chance to consider one's sins and bring them before God. The reflection on sin could be damaging if Ignatius did not ask the exercitant to concurrently recall God's forgiveness. Another meditation [23] is titled "The Principle and Foundation." The foun-dational principle for Ignatius is that God loves creation and never with-draws the offer of love. Ignatius hopes that during the First Week the exerci-tant will be able to balance these two concepts--the Creator's unlimited offer of love and one's own sinfulness. Both are important. Without God's love, the focus on one's sins could lead the exercitant to a sense of despair. Awareness of one's own sinfulness, however, is also key because God's love is a gift, not something earned. Because the Exercises rely so heavily on narrative, nar-rative is an important concept to unpack. Some virtue ethicists, such as Nancey Murphy and Stanley Hauerwas use narrative as a starting point for ethical reflection. "The acquired characteristics needed for participation in practices," writes Murphy, "are merely candidates for vir-tue until we see how they contribute to the whole human life from birth to death."4 To consider virtues divorced from the living experiences of human beings deprives them of life. The narrative, or human experience, gives an arena for virtue to be explored, developed, and fos- Without God's love, the focus on one's sins could lead the exercitant to a sense of despair. 70.1 2011 Menkbaus ¯ The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius tered. It is through human experience and development that virtues are acquired. Therefore, any discussion of virtue must begin by looking at narrative. In A Community of Character, Hauerwas relates a story from his own narrative about the time and effort his father put into making a gun for him as a gift. Instead of responding with love and thankfulness for the gift, Hauerwas replied that guns would one day be taken away from "you people." The love of the father in the formation of the gift was rejected by the son who thought it was more important to prove a point about social policy. The son sought to form his own narra-tive by rejecting his father's world, his father's narrative. Hauerwas reflects, "But in fact what I did was deeply dishonest, as it revealed a lack of self, the absence of a sustaining narrative sufficient to bind my past with my future.''5 Forming one's own narrative is about respect-ing the tradition that comes before, while taking the responsibility of creating the future. Hauerwas's personal example fits very well with the First Week of the Exercises. The relationship of children and parents often involves struggle, and the revelation that love was not returned from child to parent, or par-ent to child, is a common difficulty. Someone facing a narrative like Hauerwas's would likely be drawn to focus on the guilt of rejecting the offer of love from father to son. Such guilt, if carried through life without being faced and worked through, could have damaging effects on a person's identity. More often than one might think, these feelings are buried deep within, and only through taking time in prayer and reflection can one realize that they have played a formative role in one's development. Once one uncovers these feelings, the guide would likely suggest a meditation or prayer that focuses on Revie~v for Religious forgiveness--for example, the story of the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-32). In this parable Jesus tells of a son who squandered all that the father had given him. When the son was at his lowest point, he thought the father might take him on as hired hand. Indeed, as the son returned to the father, "While he was still a long way off, his father caught . sight of him, and was filled with compas-sion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him" (Lk 15:20). It is often pointed out that the father saw him from a long way off, indi-cating that he had been watching for his son, hoping that he would return. This parable encapsulates the duality of the First Week because it involves the sinful son, or human being, and the loving and forgiving father, or God. Again, it is nar-rative that communicates the key elements. In this case, narrative in the form of story symbolizes God's love for and willingness to forgive humanity. The First Week experience is impossible without one's reflection on one's own narrative and experience. Because of the individuality and uniqueness of each exercitant's experience, it is the personal narrative that sets the stage for the rest of the retreat. The subsequent Weeks are also heavily dependent upon narrative, but in a different context. The Weeks that follow advance through the narrative of Jesus' life as the exercitant is asked to enter into that life at different stages of Christ's mission. It is through entering into Christ's narrative The First Week experience is impossible without one ,s reflection on one's own narrative and experience. 29 70.1 2011 Menkhaus ¯ The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius that the virtues of friendship and presence can be devel-oped in the exercitant. Narrative is, in many ways, foun-dational to the Spiritual Exercises. Developing Friendship in Week Two Once exercitants come to terms with their own sin-fulness in the light of God's offer of love, at least to some extent, the retreat moves to Week Two. During the Second Week, the focus shifts to meditations on the life of Christ up to the passion. Exercitants read passages from the Bible and place themselves into the scenes. Ignatius hoped that the experience of allowing the Spirit to move the narrative forward would help communicate God's will to the individual. For example, an exercitant who continually feels drawn to healing others during these meditations might consider if God is calling to some sort of healing vocation or work in medicine. The exercitant who is constantly drawn to Christ the teacher might reflect more deeply if there is a call to a profes-sion in education. No matter what vocation one is called to, however, the experience of being with Christ during this time will likely lead to a cultivation of the virtue of friendship. Through the narrative reflection on Christ's life, friendship is both developed with Christ and learned as a virtue to cultivate in other relationships. Ignatius describes the grace to be prayed for in the Second Week: "Here it will be to ask for an interior knowledge of our Lord, who became human for me, that I may love him more intensely and follow him more closely.''6 In order to foster this interior knowledge and love, Ignatius begins the gospel contemplations with scenes from the nativity. The desire to follow Christ should begin at the start of his humanity. Ronald Modras elaborates the method: "Ignatius asks retreatants to con- Review for Religious template ("look at") the birth of Christ, using all their senses. One is to imagine the road, feel the wind, listen in on the conversation between Mary and Joseph, gaze at the newborn infant--all activities intended to arouse the affections.''7 The use of all the senses during the meditation can lead the exercitant to be truly moved by the experience. It is during the early stages of Week Two that the virtue of friendship begins to be explored in the narrative formed between the exercitant and Christ. Hauerwas and Charles Pinches in Christians among the Virtues provide key insights about friendship as a virtue. They write, "We learn virtue, which is necessary for happiness, not alone but in communities of friends.''8 No one would ever desire to live without friends, and these friendships help form communities. Later they explain, agreeing with Aristotle, "It is like watching ourselves, only bet-ter, for we see the activity that is ours--both the friends' and our own--all the more clearly.''9 Those people we surround ourselves with are those whose actions mirror our own. Likewise, when our friends do virtuous acts, it encourages us to behave similarly. Friendship is valuable for helping people learn virtue. Hauerwas and Pinches also state that true friendship is not simply an unachievable ideal. "Rather, friend-ship itself is an activity by which we acquire the kind of steadfastness necessary for our being true friends. True friendship is . . . a growing relation which, as it ¯ increases, makes possible our becoming virtuous in a manner that transforms ourselves and our friendship."1° A good friendship helps a. person learn what it means to be a good friend because, friendship grows through shared experience. Transformation and change are nec-essary because friendship never remains static. Friends 31 70.1 2011 Menkbaus ¯ The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius One does not become a follower of Christ without effort and prayer and an honest attempt to follow him. learn virtue together as both realize what it means to have a good friendship. It is certainly possible to have a bad or dishonest friendship, but the insights we are offering on growth of virtue in friendship assume that both friends are trying in good faith to respect and love each other. The insights of Hauerwas and Pinches on friendship help unpack how the Second Week can lead to a deepen-ing desire to follow Christ. Learning through these medi-ations to love and follow Christ and to become friends with the human Jesus should lead us to behave more like our new friend. As we see Christ do miracles of heal-ing, accepting the outcast, and giving life to the hope-less, we are inspired, as his friends, to do the same. As Hauerwas . and Pinches pointed out, the virtuous actions of our friends inspire us to behave accordingly. The insight that friendship is developed through a process of transformation is impor-tant as well. One does not become a follower of Christ without effort and prayer and an honest attempt to fol-low him. An exercitant might be asked to contemplate the story of the paralytic (Lk 5:17-26), which highlights the virtue of friendship from a variety of angles. The primary focus of this story is that Jesus tells a man to get up and walk and that his sins are forgiven. The Pharisees are enraged that Jesus thinks he can tell a man Review for Religio~ts his sins are forgiven because, for them, God alone could forgive sins. However, a subplot to the story involves the friendship of the men who brought the paralytic to Jesus: "But not finding a way to bring him. in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle in front of Jesus"(5:19). Because the group thought that Jesus might be able to help their friend, they did every-thing they could to get him to Jesus. When their first attempt failed, they turned to extraordinary means to accomplish their' goal--going so far as to lower their friend through the root~ The first example of friendship is the desire of the friends to get the paralytic to Jesus, even when their first attempt failed. The friends were willing to take extraor-dinary measures to help someone they loved. The second example is Jesus' willingness to heal the paralytic. Jesus' action invites the exercitant to imitate that healing by healing others. The exercitant could contemplate that as Jesus heals those he cares for, in what way can he/she heal others? As the exercitant becomes friends with Jesus, Jesus' actions should be mirrored in the exercitant. The virtuous actions of one's friends should encourage a rep-lication of those actions beyond the retreat experience. Another vital aspect of the Second Week, the elec-tion, occurs as the Week comes to a close, when the exercitant has come to be Christ's friend and must decide to follow him. It would be rar~ for a non-Christian to undergo the Exercises, so Ignatius did not see this as a matter of full conversion from one religion to another. Indeed, many people, during the time of the election, reaffirm what they held before they began the retreat. However, for some, the experience of coming to know Christ could lead to a different sort of election, perhaps 70.1 2011 Menkbaus ¯ The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius 34 the desire to enter religious life or to change one's life-style to include more time for prayer, works of mercy, or being with one's loved ones. It is important to consider the election in light of virtue because the friendship that has begun to grow reaches its first point of verification. If it is not a true friendship, the exercitant will not choose to follow Christ. A much greater challenge awaits in the Third Week, but for now the exercitant must decide if the meditations from infancy throughout the life of Christ have cultivated a sense of love and a knowledge of the human Jesus. Jesuit Howard Gray reflects, "The elec-tion that comes at the climax of the Second Week is then less a decision than a surrender to the specific and intimate ways the Spirit of Christ leads me through my humanity to union with his humanity.''11 This union that Gray describes is one aspect of a friendship. Friends come together to form a union of care and respect for each other, a union in which each challenges and sup-ports the other. This support is put to the test through the suffering of Christ during the Third Week. Suffering Presence in Week Three The meditations of the Third Week begin with Christ's sending of two disciples from Bethany to Jerusalem to prepare for the last supper; they conclude with the death of Jesus. While feelings of sadness are often associated with the exercitant's experience, the third week is not a recapitulation of the First Week's turmoil. The desolation experienced in reflecting on the sufferings of Christ is different from the desolation caused by reflecting on one's own sins. The Exercises are developmental; the experiences of the weeks build upon each other. Michael Ivens, a scholar of the Review for Religious Spiritual Exercises, explains, "Thus the exercitant comes to pray the Passion in the Third Week having in the First Week contemplated the cross as a sign of both sin and mercy.''~2 A consideration of the virtues in the Exercises reveals a similar pattern because the virtues are also developmental. The friendship developed in Week Two will now be put to the test and, if successful, strengthened through the exercitant's presence with the suffering Christ. Ignatius writes that the grace of the Third Week to pray for is "heartfelt sorrow and confusion, because the Lord is going to his Passion for my sins.''13 Ignatius instructs the exercitant to become aware of the betrayal, brutality, and abandonment that Christ undergoes and, during meditations on these, to pray for the grace to suffer with Christ during his ordeal--the betrayal when Judas handed Christ over to be arrested, the brutality Christ underwent through the beatings and the cruci-fixion, and the abandonment he felt when his disciples fled and even Peter denied that he knew Christ. These three related elements, betrayal, brutality, and abandon-ment, all exemplify the experiences of Christ during the passion and are a powerful reminder for the exercitant of all that Christ underwent for humanity. In Week Two the exercitant was instructed simply to enter the scene, but Week Three calls for prayer to experience Christ's suffering. This does not mean the exercitant should seek pain for trivial purposes, such as purposely making daily life harder and deceiving oneself into thinking it is for Christ. Rather, it means being willing to put Christ first. One should be willing to leave behind whatever keeps one from putting Christ first. Jesuit Peter Fennessy explains, "The reality of the situation is that compassion is a deep love of Christ that 70.1 2011 Menkhaus * The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius 36 unites us [to Christ] in his suffering and in doing so brings us to renounce our own selves.''14 It is certainly possible that God could call one to physical suffering, such as serving the poor in a dangerous location or put-ting one's life at risk. However, this is not the case for all exercitants. For most, the suffering that Ignatius chal-lenges them to undergo is to detach themselves from attachments that disorder their lives. On choosing which disorder to remove, Fennessy states, "We will not choose too much below our ability, since that would be insin-cere; nor too much beyond our ability since that would invite, even intend, failure.''s However, the exercitant must be willing to die to any inordinate desires that pre-vent union with Christ. This detachment, in many cases, will involve an aspect of suffering. Another way of understanding the grace of the Third Week is through the virtue of presence. Hauerwas's Suffering Presence offers insights about what it means to be present to another's suffering and how this presence can have an impact. He again uses narrative to describe a time when he was a suffering presence to his friend Bob. Hauerwas and Bob spent a lot of time together as they grew up and were very close friends. One morning he went to see Bob and found him weeping uncontrol-lably. Bob's mother had committed suicide earlier that morning. He embraced Bob, and they spent the rest of the day together. He describes that time: "We never talked about his mother or what had happened. We did what we always did. We talked girls, football, cars, mov-ies, and anything else that was inconsequential enough to distract our attention from this horrible event . All I could do was be present.''16 The transformation of character that occurs by undergoing the Third Week of the Exercises is the cre- Review for Religious ation of a person who understands what it means to be present to the suffering, dying, and abandoned people in society. Just as exercitants learn to be present with the befriended Christ, so should they be transformed into a greater capacity of being present with their friends. However, this presence should be extended to others, beyond their friends, just as Christ taught. The seeds planted in Week Two, when one meditates on how Christ ate with sinners and tax collectors and approached those in society that were considered out-casts, continue to grow in Week Three. Often those who suffer the most in society are not those who are friends with the exercitant, but those who have no friends at all. The poor and oppressed are the ones that Christ ministered to and who are often the examples of suffering in society. These are the people who need the presence that Hauerwas (and Christ) describe. Joy and New Friendship in Week Four If the Gospel ended with Christ's death, the Christian faith would be empty. Similarly, if the Exercises ended with Week Three, there would be no hope to move the exercitant beyond the suffering of Christ. However, the resurrection accounts in the Gospel and Week Four of the Exercises provide hope. Ignatius writes, "Consider how the divinity, which hid itself during the Passion, now appears and manifests itself so miraculously in this holy Resurrection, through its true and most holy effects.''17 The Fourth Week meditations revolve around how the divinity manifests itself during the appearance narratives in the Gospel, and these narratives lead to a glimpse of understanding what it means to act as the divine. Appearance stories that the exercitant can be asked to reflect upon are those of the disciples on the road to 70.1 2011 Menkhaus * The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35) and of Jesus on the shore (Jn 21:1-14). In each case, Jesus appears to the disciples who were lost and afraid and who feared that their hope in Jesus had been misplaced. When he appears to his friends on the road to Emmaus, even though they did not recognize him at first, he walked with them. He then broke bread with them and opened the scriptures. Reflecting after he disappeared from their sight, the dis-ciples asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us when he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?" (Lk 24:32). In John's account, Jesus also takes time to eat with the disciples as they share a meal on the shore. In both accounts, Jesus appears to console his suffering friends, offering his own example of being a suffering presence. These appearances lead to a new friendship between the disciples and the risen Lord, just as the Fourth Week meditations lead to a new friendship between the exercitant and Christ. The same kind of new friendship emerged after Hauerwas spent time with Bob. Once one has been there for the other in a time of extreme trial, the friendship is never the same. In some cases it may be awkward or dif-ficult, but it is never unchanged. For Christ and the disci-ples, however, the friendship was not awkward, but led the disciples to be willing to give their lives to spread Christ's message. Jesus instructs them to "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature" (Mk 16:16). It is because of their belief in Christ, developed by their friend-ship with him and tested through his passion, that the dis-ciples take up this task of proclamation. What is hoped for is that the exercitant, while medi-tating on the resurrection at the end of the retreat, will experience joy. Gray explain~ that joy for Ignatius is not simply being happy, but is a "participation in the joy Review for Religious of the risen Christ. Ignatian joy is the psycho-religious energy that desires to bring others happiness, harmony of heart, insight, peace, reconciliation . -18 This joy drives the exercitant to want to be joy in the lives of others after the retreat. It is the joy experienced by the disciples when they realized that Christ had risen and their hopes had not been misplaced. Servais Pinckaers describes joy from the perspec-tive of virtue ethics in Morality: The Catholic View. He writes, "Joy is lasting, like the excellence, the virtues, that engender it. Joy is communicable; it grows by being shared and repays sacrifices freely embraced . Joy belongs to the purity and generosity of love.''19 For Pinckaers, joy helps order pleasure so pleasure does not take control of one's life. Joy lies in the inner depths of our being and is experienced when we align ourselves with the love of God. Joy cannot be separated from truth and the struggle towards the good. Pinckaers believes that joy unites the virtues which are "like the arteries that carry strength and disperse joy through the entire organism of the moral life.''z° Pinckaers's view of joy as a culmination of the virtues connects well with Gray's assertion that the experience of Ignatian joy is the culmination of the Spiritual Exercises. Living the Virtues in the World The new friendship between Christ and the exerci-tant is formed by the transformation of being a suffer-ing presence. But the fruit from the retreat must keep growing after the retreat. The exercitant's friendship with the risen Christ should one move to action. Just as virtue ethics begins with the agent but leads to action, so should the Spiritual Exercises. The movement into the world, of the ideals enshrined in the virtues is one way 70.1 2011 Menkbaus ¯ The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius A virtue ethics pei'spective of the Exercises calls one to apply these virtues in the future. 4O to counteract claims that the Exercises are an individual experience. Without the drive to live out these newly acquired virtues and change the world, transformation is never complete. Just as Ignatius would have said the exercitant should apply what is learned about God's will for the individual, a virtue ethics perspective of the Exercises calls one to apply these virtues in the future. Another way to describe the experience of undergoing the Exercises is as moral formation or moral development that pushes one to action. Pinckaers describes this forma-tion as "the interior revolution that the grace of Christ works within us. It teaches us to employ institutions and exercise authority in a spirit of service . . . imitating the service of Christ.''2' Moral formation can develop or . -- refine the virtues of friendship or pres-ence, and once these begin to grow, they are seen to imply a call to action, an emulation of Christ. They make one sen- - -' sitive to those who have no friends and need friendship or those who have no comforter and need presence. Pinckaers describes this movement, writing, "Just as we appreciate health bet-ter when we are sick, so too we become sensitive to our inclinafon to the good when we are confronted with evil and suffering.''22 In this way, the Exercises help form a more moral individual who is called to action. The kinds of action that an exercitant should engage in are, simply put, virtuous actions. By emulating the actions that Christ carried out both before his death and during the appearance narratives, one can become Review for Religious a more virtuous person. Albert Nolan, in Jesus Before Christianity, challenges Christians to look to Christ to see how God wants human beings to act: We have seen what Jesus is like. If we now wish to treat him as our God, we would have to conclude that our God does not want to be served by us, but wants to serve us; God does not want to be given the highest possible rank in society, but wants to take the lowest place and to be without any rank and sta-tus; God does not want to be feared and obeyed, but wants to be recognized in the sufferings of the poor and the weak.23 Nolan challenges followers of Christ to reflect on who Jesus was during his lifetime. Those who have undergone the Spiritual Exercises have encountered Christ through meditation and contemplation. The encountered Christ has likely been one who fits Nolan's description. A Jesus who wants to serve, who takes the lowest place in society, and who wants to be recognized in the sufferings of the poor is the Jesus who has been encoun-tered in prayer. If Nolan is correct, Jesus has given humanity a glimpse into how God wants creatures to live, and the Spiritual Exercises help us come to this awareness as we move through the retreat. The Spiritual Exercises are a tool for the discern-ment of God's will, but the retreat is also an experience that can form a more virtuous person. By examining one's narrative during the First Week, areas of sinful-ness and growth can be discerned in light of God's love. The Second Week helps the exercitant know what it means to be a friend and to learn from Christ how to emulate his actions. The Third Week tests the virtue of presence, challenging people to be present to those in need, especially those who have no one else. Finally, 41 70.1 2011 Menkbaus * The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius the Fourth Week teaches the joy associated with the resurrection and a new friendship tested by suffering. The exercitant who takes to heart the experience of the Spiritual Exercises should leave the retreat a more virtu-ous person, seeking to emulate the actions of Christ in a world broken by sin and needing redemption. Notes ' Ignatius of Loyola, "The Autobiography," in Ignatius of Loyola: The Spiritual Exercises and Selected Works, ed. George E. Ganss SJ (New York: Paulist Press, 1991), p. 79. z Rosalind Hursthouse, On Virtue Ethics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 17. 3 Ignatius, Spiritual Exercises [56]. 4 Nancey Murphy, "Using MacIntyre's Method in Christian Ethics," in Virtue and Practices in the Christian Tradition, ed. Nancey Murphy, Brad J. Kallenberg, and Mark Thiessen Nation (Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International, 2003), p. 41. ~ Hauerwas, A Community of Character, p. 146. 6 Ignatius, Spiritual Exercises [104]. 7 Ronald Modras, Ignatian Humanism (Chicago: Loyola Press, 2004), p. 47. 8 Stanley Hauerwas and Charles Pinches, Christians among the Virtues (Notre Dame: University of Norte Dame Press, 1997), p. 33. 9 Hauerwas and Pinches, Christians among the Virtues, p. 33. 10 Hauerwas and Pinches, Christians among the Virtues, p. 38. 11 Howard Gray SJ, "Joy and Friendship in the Fourth Week," The Way Supplement: Resurrection and Beyon& The Fourth Week 99 (2000): p. 18. ~2 Michael Ivens SJ, Understanding the Spiritual Exercises (Trowbridge: Cromwell Press, 1998), p. 147. '3 Ignatius, Spiritual Exercises [I 93]. 14 Peter Fennessy SJ, "Praying the Passion: The Dynamics of Dying with Christ," A New Introduction to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, ed. John E. Dister SJ (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1993), p. 77. is Fennessy, "Praying the Passion," p. 83. 16 Stanley Hauerwas, Suffering Presence (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986), p. 64. Review for Religious 17 Ignatius, Spiritual Exercises [223]. is Gray, "Joy and Friendship," p. 20. ,9 Servais Pinckaers OP, Morality: The Catholic View (South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine's Press, 2001), p. 78. 20 Pinckaers, Morality: The Catholic View, p. 80. 2, Pinckaers, Morality: The Catholic View, p. 94. 22 Pinckaers, Morality: The Catholic View, 102. 23 Albert Nolan, Jesus Before Christianity (New York: Orbis Books, 1976), p. 167. Tremblement de Terre (Earthquake) Sun, wind blizzards, Raging waters, cyclones Have pommelled Me and my house, Struck sideways as if it were __ at eye-level. But on the day The Earth beneath my feet Failed me Nor I nor anyone could save me, Only God __ That day guaran teed When my time comes I shall recognize The approach of death When things fall apart. Mary Alban CSJ 43 70.1 2011 MYREE HARRIS Reflecting on Readiness To Make the Spiritual Exercises 44 The concept of readiness for developmental change is an idea that has interested me for many years. From 1981 to 1989 I worked in Staff and Executive Development at the Catholic Education Office, Sydney. Back then, the Sydney Archdiocese and the Catholic Education Office covered the whole of Sydney, with a population of around four million. Our team designed and ran a diverse range of adult education courses for school leaders, with an emphasis on management skills and small group participation. We were also called in to do long-term organizational development in schools. Each program began with a full day collaborative prob-lem identification process followed by facilitation of an elected staff group to work on the action plan. We met with these groups weekly for a period of years. Readiness for Developmental Change In the course of these activities, we encountered individuals and school groups who were not ready for Myree Harris RSJ may be addressed at Gethsemane Community; 3 Oxford Street; Petersham NSW, 2049; Australia. Revie~ for Religious such a process. We started to read literature on the topic1 and to draw up our own criteria for readiness or unreadiness for participation in the process. In the case of those who arrived late for sessions or who lacked motivation, interest, or willingness to participate, there was often one obvious reason. They did not want to be there. They had been sent by a school principal who thought it might do them good or "fix them up." We contacted principals and asked them not to send unwill-ing participants, as it spoiled the experience for those who were motivated. Anytime we identified disgrunded participants, we offered them the opportunity to have the day off, assuring them that we would not report them to the school authorities. Readiness for Organizational Change In the case of schools that asked us to come in and work with them, we asked a few questions. First, whose idea was it to call us in? If it were just the principal's bright idea, the process would go nowhere. Second, was the school going through a lot of growth or change at that time, or, conversely, was it dying? Neither state would foster developmental change. The first step in the problem identification process was an anonymous strengths/weaknesses survey. Any downright nastiness or personal attacks in the survey were an alarm signal. We would report back on the survey to the staff, stating we would not allow personal attacks made on leaders who had no chance to respond. We undertook to carry out the day's problem-identification process, but warned that, in some cases, it might be counterproductive to go further. In one school, as the survey results were being shown, I noticed the staff reading, crocheting, doing crossword puzzles, yawning, and generally looking unin- 70.1 2011 Harris ¯ Readiness for Spiritual Exercises terested. I alerted my colleague, who was also finding in the survey results an abdication of responsibility for discipline on the part of the staff and a blaming of the senior executive. We reflected back our perception of their lack of interest and closed the proceedings. Readiness for the Spiritual Exercises: Twentiethth Annotation In 2003, I was at a retreat center in Canada, participat-ing in Internship training to direct the Spiritual Exercises. One of our tasks was to do a major study or project. I decided to follow up on my long interest in readi-ness. 46 Methodology: A. Indicators of Readiness A set of twelve questions (see Appendix) was devel-oped and given to staff members with the request that they agree to a thirty- to sixty-minute audio taped inter-view. Interviews were carried out and the tapes tran-scribed under the question headings. The responses showed some consensus about indica-tors of readiness. These have been grouped under gen-eral headings: 1. Personal qualities: ¯ a moderately strong sense of self and ego strength ¯ a basic personal stability and mental/emotional health ¯ a lot of basic healing already done ¯ not too tired ¯ able to reflect on and to articulate inner experience ¯ a capacity to be in silence and solitude Review for Religious 2. Desire: ¯ openness and willingness and generosity ¯ a sense of quiet that can be developed and a contemplative attitude ¯ a habit of prayer with a desire to go deeper ¯ a degree of spiritual freedom ¯ a desire to experience the Exercises ¯ a ministerial goal 3. ~ln adequate theological base: ¯ grounding in the Faith ¯ belief in the divinity and humanity of Christ ¯ an image of a loving God ¯ the ability to ask for a grace 4. Experience and skills: ¯ experience of at least one eight-day, silent, individually directed retreat using Ignatian methodology ¯ experience of ongoing spiritual direction ¯ experience in using imagination in prayer, in reflecting on the experience of prayer, and the capacity to articulate that experience to a director ¯ capacity to pray for forty-five to sixty minutes at a time B. Indicators of Lack of Readiness 1. Personal qualities: ¯ major psychological issues ¯ insufficient ego strength to tolerate desolation ¯ major issues that need healing ¯ blockage by overwhelming effects from trauma ¯ wrong timing ¯ inability to tolerate silence and solitude 2. Lack of desire: ¯ lack of a desire to be open to God 70.1 2011 Harris ¯ Readiness for Spiritual Exercises 48 ¯ sent by a bishop or major superior ¯ coming as part of a group with no personal decision to make the Exercises ¯ coming as part of a sabbatical, but mainly wanting a rest or a nice prayer time ¯ no outward apostolic focus 3. Inappropriate or unhelpful theological base: ¯ an image of God as distant, disinterested, and punitive ¯ lack of a belief in the divinity of Christ ¯ problems with the church that cannot be dealt with 4. Lack of experience and skills: ¯ no capacity to pray for any length of time or to articulate experience ¯ no experience of an eight-day directed retreat ¯ no experience of using the Ignatian "tools" such as the use of imagination in prayer or repetition ¯ no awareness of interior movements, of how to do a review of prayer, or of how to articulate the experience of prayer Eliciting Our Better Practices 1. How effective are the disposition days in assisting readi-ness? (The Preparation days involve directed prayer on themes such as one's faith history. They also introduce Ignatian "tools" such as gospel contemplation, review of prayer, repetition, use of the examen.) (Each bullet point indicates an individual response.) ¯ In general, they provide enough time for a person to be ready to begin the Exercises. Segments on graced and unredeemed history lay the ground for the First Week. Seeds are sown. If a person "bites" in this early material, it is a good indicator that the individual will "bite" all the way Review for Religious through. It helps the director get a sense of who the per-son is, what is really drawing the retreatant. It helps people get in touch with their own history. They may come to see where the blockages are, the need for healing. Sometimes people get in touch with that material and find out there is a lot more stuff than they had realized. If the director does a lot of faithful listening, the desire surfaces. ¯ Coming to the end of the disposition days, the question is "Where is the focus? Is the person ready for the First Week?" ¯ What you are testing for in the disposition days is willingness versus willfulness. A skilled director can spot the generosity and can fan those flames, can keep the person in that gener-osity. ¯ You don't pre-pare people for the Exercises, God does. God gives the desire. ¯ A Very, very poor self image might indicate it could be harmful to go into the Exercises. Some directors will hold a person back for a few days. Some will go forward because they know it is not going to hurt the person. If it will be hurtful, you don't go forward. If I'm not quite sure, I would give the Exercises the benefit of the doubt. 2. What is the place of the Exercises in healing mode? (The healing mode refers to an adaptation to assist people who are dealing with the effects of trauma or deep hurt.) Ignatius does not have any healing texts in his selection of gospel contemplations. In fact, he does not seem interested in healing, but rather in evangelical What you are testing for in the disposition days is willingness versus willfulness. 70.1 2011 Harris ¯ Readiness for Spiritual Exercises witness. However, often people present or come to the Exercises for healing. ¯ If healing is an issue, no amount of time may be sufficient. There may be sexual abuse or some very painful experience. The initial focus needs to be on the love of God. ¯ Healing mode may start with the graced his-tory and move all the way through the Exercises. Even though it is not in the literature, I would maintain that this approach still gives an experience of the Exercises. The graces received are roughly the same. You are just coming to the experience in a very different way.I don't know how universal an acceptance this would have. ¯ In healing mode, the First Week has the emphasis on having been sinned against, rather than sinning. The Second Week becomes growing up with Jesus, or the Inner Child healing of memories with Jesus, as Jesus grows up. It doesn't take away from the content but just shifts it so that healing can take place. It is still a matter of getting to know Jesus. The Exercises are more directed towards the person than towards discipleship, because sometimes it is too soon to focus on disciple-ship. Sometimes the two things can go on together, and sometimes the biggest emphasis is on healing. The meditations of the Second Week are geared to deci-sion- making. They don't fit here, but as soon as I hear the content of decision-making being spoken, I move to that, giving the meditations or appropriate scripture. 3. What if the person were still "flooded" by recent or past trauma? (In such cases, the person may not be able to focus on any other issue.) ¯ One avenue is to take the person out of the Exercises and work around the traumas, moving into the healing mode. Perhaps go through all the Weeks in Review for Religious this mode. The trauma becomes the focus of the graces of the Weeks. Usually, those who are flooded by trauma are reacting to more than the recent trauma. The recent event has just dragged up all kinds of other traumas in the person's history. The First Week exercises for healing (in the healing mode) could be very helpful for such a person. Rather than a block to the Exercises, the trauma could be the source of a major grace. ¯ It may indicate they should not go on with the Exercises but deal with the issue, and the thirty-day process may not be the place for that. What I would listen for is whether the hurt is purely psychological or if it can be brought to prayer. Tremendous healing can take place through the Exercises. ¯ I directed a person over five consecutive years for eight-day retreats, and it was all healing. I wouldn't allow her to make the Exercises. When she did eventu-ally make them, from day one the orientation was apos-tolic. ¯ This kind of situation is coming up more and more. ¯ Hopefully you can make referrals for when they go home. The grace of the retreat may be to realize how deeply they need psychological assistance. ¯ The director has to make a judgment as to whether the person is stable enough to stay and if there is enough psychic strength to take the next step. Then the director has to ask, "Am I the best director for this person?" It's up to the director to get as much help as possible from the team in terms of the healing of memories prayer, Inner Child work, continuing to walk with the person, following God's lead, and doing what is necessary. Then, the question is whether the retreatant is willing and able to do this. The team has to find a 51 70.1 2011 Harris ¯ Readiness for Spiritual Exercises A person could pray for thirty days, without actually doing the Exercises: Y2 way to ensure that the person is with a director who can work with this issue. 4. What ira person were not yet ready for the Exercises? ¯ When one person came, we already felt she might not be ready and that she was not staying for the appropriate days. Disposition days were fine. After that, the material used was fairly typi-cal, but we didn't pretend it was the Exercises. I just fol-lowed where she was. I used some Exercises material, went into the life of Christ, and just went wherever I felt the Lord was calling her. ¯ A person could pray for thirty days, without actu-ally doing the Exercises. There would be enough healing and growth that it would be very helpful. ¯ Most people who get through the screening pro-cess would be candidates for praying through the prayer pattern of the Exercises, whether or not they are capable of making the full Exercises from the decision-making mode. Y. What if there is resistance to the process of the Exercises? (For example, there may be reluctance or refusal to try different forms of prayer or particular themes, to main-tain timed prayer periods, or to do a review.) ¯ With someone who hates process, I would tackle it head on: "Are you willing to go along with it, for now?" The same for someone who hates structured prayer periods: "The Exercises are structured. Face the resistance." "It's not forever; it's just for now. Take it to Review for Religious the Lord." The key is intentionality. Are they willing to make the Exercises as they are? ¯ For the retreatant it can raise the issue "How do I respond in the face of something that doesn't fit me perfectly or that I might not like?" Then it becomes retreat material. Once knowledge of the reluctance comes to awareness, God works in it. It can burrow away underneath until it comes to consciousness. Once it's out, God deals with it. ¯ If you have a resistance in which the person wants something to happen in the Exercises that isn't happening and the person resists the pattern of the Exercises, then you have to bring that out clearly and say "What do you suggest you do next?" You could also lay out your options, saying "I don't think, given the way this pattern is devel-oping, that I am the right person to be directing you, or that this is the right place." It's not just their choice, it is also your choice. ¯ Using the imagination can provoke resistance, or it may mean the person is praying in another mode. If there is resisting, I let it continue until the person says "This isn't working, and I have to do something differ-ent." So I say, "Well, what would you like to do?" ¯ There is a huge scope about how to pray that is permissible in the Exercises. The director needs to be flexible and to understand that, for Ignatius, it isn't the Exercises as such, but it is encountering God that is important. That's why the questions are "Where's the consolation? Where's the desolation?" If there is reluc-tance to talk about one's inner life at that level, that's one issue. If there is a whole different sign language, making it difficult to draw out what is happening in prayer, that's a problem of communication, not resis-tance. If you can enter into that sign language, then the 70.1 2011 Harris ¯ Readiness for Spiritual Exercises Sometimes the grace can be given, but not opened for years. process works. If you can't, it's fairly clear there isn't a path of communication and you can't direct. ¯ For me, a good way to handle resistance, if it is in the long retreat, is to let it develop to the point where retreatants have to deal with it, rather than trying to force them to do what they don't want to do. All you can do is just be with a person as the resis-tance develops. It is important for the director to be comfortable with this and not try to truncate the pro-cess, because God is using that situation in some way. That can be hard on the director. That's why you need a team and supervi-sion. You need to be enabled just to allow the resistance to develop. ¯ Someone says that she is uncomfortable with Ignatian spirituality, that her background is Franciscan. It's true that your background affects you, but it doesn't determine you. The Exercises are Ignatian. There are huge Franciscan elements in Ignatian spirituality: the sense of witness, the sense of joy, the sense of poverty. If generosity is there, the Exercises will work. ¯ Coming to an Ignatian retreat and then resisting the process because you prefer a different spirituality is like going to a Chinese restaurant and ordering steak. 6. Is it better for a person to experience the Exercises, even in a limited way, than not to experience them at all? ¯ Sometimes the grace can be given, but not opened for years. ¯ If a person has not been able to enter into the Review for Religious experience and is not able to absorb it, the whole thing could be destructive. ¯ It depends on the person. A person may have an opportunity now to do a thirty-day retreat but may not have that opportunity later, when she is really ready to do the Exercises. ¯ It can be better for a person to make a 30-day retreat, as contrasted to the Exercises, than not to. One person came to the retreat to make a decision but was unable to do so. At the end she realized she needed to have psychological counseling. ¯ To a person who experienced the Exercises in the healing mode, it could be suggested that at some later time in life it might be worth doing them again from a new perspective and that it could be a different experience. ¯ Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? 7. Are the current application and referee forms effective in screening out people who are not ready for the Exercises? ¯ People lie on the application forms or leave things out. Some people do better in writing their stories; oth-ers can be more open in answering the questions. The question may be whether or not the story is complete. It's what's not there that we can do nothing about. It may not be deliberate. It may be an oversight that becomes critical and makes a huge difference that may not be realized by the person. ¯ I have found that people use codes. One code is that if you think the applicant is a problem, at the end of the reference you put "And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me.' ¯ If we get any indication at all that the person is being sent, that's when the referees would be called to check it out. 70.1 2011 Harris ¯ Readiness for Spiritual Exercises ¯ The way they write the letter is important. What we are looking for is humility, not pride. Applicants may not talk about their lives at all. It may be more like a job application. In the letter, there may be no sense of where a person is, no sense of history. On the other hand, some people are very honest. 8. What could be done to improve the screening process? ¯ You could provide a description of the Spiritual Exercises, showing the challenges to a person's physical, emotional, and spiritual capacities. ¯ It may be helpful to provide referees with a profile of a "ready" person and ask them to comment on any aspect of concern. ¯ Check that the major superiors who write the ref-erences understand the Exercises. Require that at least one of the referees have made the Exercises. Ask the referee to indicate any knowledge and experience of the Exercises. ¯ Even if the referee did not know the Exercises, the description of the process should alert the person as to the qualities necessary. There should be an indication of the need for an ability to tolerate solitude, the ability to pray, and psychological and emotional stability. 9. What is the process of assessment of applicants at this center? Four individuals read each application and make comments. There is a draft approval form on which three people make assessments in terms of preparation, health, maturity, balance, motivation, timing, spon-sors (any reservations), expectations, helpfulness of the experience, and a proposal of the most suitable director available. The Director of the Center would make the final decision. Review for Religious Overall Reflection on This Process Since 2003, I have directed thirteen men and women in the Nineteenth Annotation Spiritual Exercises (often called the Retreat in Everyday Life). They come here to Gethsemane Community, a community house for a small group of men and women who have mental ill-ness. Entering this environment each week and getting to know the residents as individuals does a great deal to break down stigma and open directees to one aspect of social justice. In some instances this environment has enhanced their experience of the Exercises and led to some involvement in social justice. In reflecting with applicants wishing to make the Nineteenth Annotation, I have found it helpful to keep in mind some of the issues raised in the Readiness project. Appendix: Readiness for the Spiritual Exercises We offer for reflection some questions which may form the basis for an interview with retreat house team members. 1. In your experience as a director of the Spiritual Exercises, what would you look for as indicators that a directee was ready to move into an experience of the Exercises? 2. What would indicate that a directee may not be ready? 3. Given the limitations of time, specifically the time allocated for the disposition days, what would you do to help the directee come to a state of readiness? 4. What is the place of the Exercises in healing mode? 5. What would you do if you decided the directee may not be ready for the Exercises as such or for the full Exercises? 70.1 2011 Harris ¯ Readiness for Spiritual Exercises 6. If you encountered a resistance to the process of the Exercises or to Ignatian spirituality, how would you assist the directee? 7. What would you do if you found that the directee was still emotionally "flooded" by recent trauma which blocked openness to experiencing the Exercises? 8. What would you do if you found that, without real understanding of what would be involved, someone had come as part of a sabbatical and just wanted a nice prayer experience? 9. Do you consider that the current application and referee forms are effective in screening out people not yet ready for the experience of the Exercises? If you have any concerns or uncertainties, have you any sug-gestions as to how the forms could be improved? 10. If you judged from someone's application and referee forms that the person was not ready for the Exercises, what alternatives or further preparation would you suggest? 11. How could referees (e.g., major superiors, bish-ops) without any personal experience of the Exercises, be better informed so they could act more judiciously as referees? 12. Is it better to experience the Exercises, even in a limited way, if constrained by degrees of readiness, than not to experience them at all? 13. What other questions should I have asked? Have you any other comments? Note ~ Beckard, Richard, Organization Development: Strategy and Models, (Reading, Massachusetts. Addison-Wesley, 1969). J. William Pfeiffer and John E. Jones, The 1978 Annual Handbook for Group Facilitators (University Associates). Review for Religqous JULIUS D. LELOCZKY Looking at Death from a Christian Perspective The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Co 15:26) Our secularized age is obsessed with the idea of death. Some thirty to forty years ago it was fashionable to talk about the death of God, a shocking phrase borrowed from Friedrich Nietzsche. There was a "death of God" theol-ogy, and there were "death of God" theolo-gians who produced a whole library of books on the topic. Today, some thinkers seem to be ready to declare death itself as god. While the Christian churches and numerous other religious groups, in general, emphasize the preeminence of life on their scale of values, a large percentage of our contemporary society is obsessed with the idea of death. It is true that the thought of our unavoidable mortality is a main human concern in any time period, Julius D. Leloczky OCist writes from Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Dallas; 3550 Cistercian Road; Irving, Texas 75039. growing spiritually 70.1 2011 Leloczky ¯ Looking at Death from a Christian Perspective but today, it seems, for many people, death dominates their entire existence and is the ultimate governing principle of their lives. A few weeks ago I noticed in a recent issue of The New York Times Book Review that in the best seller list of paperback fiction, six of the twenty listed books had in their titles the word "dead." A shocking expression of this macabre existential mood is the image painted by John Dominic Crossan: There is no lighthouse keeper. There is no light-house. There is no dry land. There are only people living on rafts made from their own imaginations. And there is the sea.l In this image the guard in the lighthouse represents the traditional image of God, and the ocean that besieges non-stop and finally breaks to pieces these fictitious rafts holding up the people stands for death itself. What is suggested by the image is that, ultimately, death rules. Yet we can understand that, without faith in God, with-out revelation and redemption, surrounded by the expe-riences of the coundess horrors of our age, the human mind almost unavoidably ends up with such a chilling worldview. 6o] Absurdity Yes, indeed, no one can deny it; death is the greatest absurdity. A beloved person, with an entire treasury of knowledge and skills, of kindness and loveliness, vibrancy of intellect, sense of humor, familiar play of a smile, the whole spectrum of various talents and skills, an entire lifetime of memories--all the wealth of a unique per-sonality-- is just gone from one moment to the next, without any possibility of return. Such a senseless and shocking end to human life makes life itself look absurd and tragic, just as a divorce or a failed friendship may Review for Religious make bitter many years of beautiful memories. Why should we work, struggle, dream, suffer if one day we have to leave everyone and everything? Why should we see, hear, experience beauty and goodness and happiness if all of that is only a transitory moment like a pleasant passing breeze and we cannot enjoy it forever? If we cannot live and love forever, why live and love at all? Forever Forever. This is the key word of our life. Whatever we like and whomever we love, we wish to possess for-ever. It is written in our genes, in our blood, in our instincts that we want to live for-ever. We feel in our bones that we have been created for eternity. That is why the pharaohs built their pyra-mids, why the painter paints his pictures, why the poet writes his poems, and why parents want to have children and grandchildren--all these in order to leave some-thing, some part of themselves, behind in this world after they die. We know that we have been created for eternity because we know from the Bible that we have been created in the image of God. That is why we want to live forever, why we find death an absurdity. We ask God defiantly, "If you created us to share in your hap-piness, why did you not create us immortal?" If we cannot live and love forever, why live and love at all? Freedom and Obedience Well, man and woman had originally been created immortal, but also free, just as God is free. In giving 70.1 2011 Leloczky ¯ Looking at Deatb from a Christian Perspective human beings freedom, God gambled--took a tremen-dously great risk---and lost, because man and woman miserably misused their freedom. God lost, and when God lost, we all lost; we lost our immortality, and there-fore we all have to die. Absurdity entered our world. But God is a stubborn God who did not give up but continued to gamble and took an even greater risk by sending the Son on earth as a man. This Son, unlike Adam, was obedient, and he was sent to restore what Adam had squandered by disobedience. But God lost again. When this Son of God was made human in Jesus of Nazareth, his fellow human beings rejected him, condemned him to death, and killed him. The Son was obedient unto death, and being obedient he shared the plight of human life to its very depths: he suffered torture and died on the cross. The worst case scenario became a reality: evil, rebellion, and disobedience tri-umphed over God's goodness, and God's loving plan was seemingly frustrated for good. But enter God's wisdom and almighty power, which out of the worst can make the best. Jesus solemnly declared to Martha just before he raised Lazarus, her brother, from the dead: "I am the resurrection and the life" (Jn 11:25). This Son, the man Jesus Christ, was Life itself, with God's own eternal Life that death could never overpower or defeat dwell-ing within him. This Life proved to be stronger than death and thus ultimately defeated death: on the third day Jesus rose from the dead; he won over death, and his resurrection became the death of death itself. The result of this victory was that the death and resurrection of the one who is Life changed the character and mean-ing of death forever. What used to be the sign of final annihilation became for the friends of Jesus the sign of a new, eternal life: the sign of resurrection. Review for Religious One Life When a person receives Christ's risen life through faith and baptism, as far as that person is concerned, order returns in the world, absurdity is expelled, and death takes on a positive meaning. Formerly, death was a tragic end; now it is the source of new life. Jesus is the seed of this new life, and the seed of new life is planted into us by baptism. We carry the new, eternal life hidden in our fragile bodies. We still have to die. However death no longer means the end of life but the breaking out of eternal life (till now hidden in us by the limitations of our mortal bodies) into eternal dimensions. In an ancient prayer the church is expressing what happens when we die: "Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended." In death we just leave behind all weakness and sickness, all imperfection and decay, and we look forward to a glori-ous, jubilant, eternal life in which all tears will be wiped away. A glory is waiting for us that eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and no mind is able to imagine. Life is one and indivisible; it cannot be separated into a life here on earth and another life after death. Human life, as redeemed by Jesus Christ, is like a tree that keeps growing and growing, and when it cannot grow any further on earth, it breaks through the sky, grows into heaven, and continues growing there. Death is no longer a horrifying enemy or a stumbling block but our ally, a stepping stone toward God, or, as St. Francis of Assisi joyfully called it, "Sister Death." Life is one and indivisible; it cannot be separated into a life here on earth and another life after death. 70.1 2011 Leloczky ¯ Looking at Death from a Christian Perspective One Love Not only is life one and indivisible; so also is love. We read in the Song of Songs that "Love is strong as death" (8:6). Saint Paul writes to the Corinthians, "Love never ends . Faith, hope, and love remain, these three, but the greatest of these is love" (1 Co 13:8-13). Just as the soul is immortal, just as the body, at the end of time, will rise to eternal life, so also the love which a person had in earthly life will live on and continue to grow even after death. Our departed loved ones take their love, with all the other beauty and wealth of their personalities, with them into eternity. I think our risen bodies, with all their skills and talents, will look and act as they looked and acted at the peak of our lives--but without any brokenness--at the point when they reached the epitome of life, before they started the decline into old age. In addition, they will become more beautiful and more precious than they ever were in earthly life because they will be freed from all traces of selfishness. As we think of our friends and relatives who died, we should think of them with the awareness that this wealth of their personalities is with them even now, and if it is with them it is also with us. As long as we are alive on earth, our lives are "unfinished symphonies." When we die, our lives become completed masterpieces on which God puts the divine finishing touch. We should value greatly as our own treasure--hidden for eternity in heaven--the masterpieces of those we love who have gone before us. Preparing for Death We should look also at our own lives from the per-spective of death, and we should ask ourselves from time to time, Am I really working on the masterpiece I am Review for Religious supposed to become? Am I living my days in such a way that my words and deeds and thoughts keep building up in me that temple of the Holy Trinity that God meant me to become? Yes, we realize that most of the work is being done by God, but we should not forget that our cooperation is essential. With a simple metaphor we might say that God provides the building blocks for this temple but our free decisions are the mortar that holds the structure together. It is said that we will die in the way we live. Are my actions, my words, and my thoughts such that they are preparing for me a peace-ful death? In keeping with the above image of life as a tree, is my life growing toward heaven or in a different direction--or, maybe, not growing at all? A Question I frequently hold this question in mind: is there any reason why we could not communicate with our loved ones who have died? I don't think so; if we can ask any of the saints for their intercession, we should be able to be in touch also with our deceased friends and loved ones. I am sure that our loving ghoughts passing from here to there can reach them, more reliably than our call can reach someone through the telephone. Those in heaven and on earth are connected in a loving union by the grace of God, by the presence of God's trinitarian life in all of us. Our departed loved ones are not living light years away from us: they are near us, with us, right next to us. Only hell, the condition of total frozen isola-tion and loneliness, is separated from us. Outside of that state all people are united, in union with each other in God in love, just as the Abbess reflects in the last few words of Thornton Wilder's novel The Bridge of San Luis Re),: "There is a land of the living and a land of the dead 70.1 2011 Leloczky ¯ Looking at Death from a Christian Perspective and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only mean-ing." Or, as St. Paul puts it even more succinctly, "Love never ends" (1 Co 13:8). Note ' John Dominic Crossan, The Dark Interval: Towards a Theology of Sto~y (Polebridge Press, 1988), p. 28. Ask the Birds (Job 12:7) A flock of sparrows speckles the blue-gray sky swooping as one over the November park, slate silhouettes navigating the air with precision. Nuns used to look like this: dark habited, veils streaming in the wind, clustered freely within invisible enclosures. Some inner rule draws the birds to the barren branches of the tallest tree in the straight rank of elms waving to the lake. Despite their gentle bones, the birds' combined weight slows the sway. Stillness. They come each day for prayer or discernment, perched like transient blossoms crowning the tree's skyward arteries. This daily practice suggests permanence, yet I marvel that multiple revisions cast shadows on their family tree: life-sustaining changes in size, shape, speed, and song. I watch their aura of stability and belonging knowing from experience they'll soon be gone. For a few moments, though, their presence comforts me. Then, self-dismissed, the group leaves as it came, a compact community ascending gracefully into unknown and unfeared futures. Terri MacKenzie SHCJ Review for Religious j. THOMAS HAMEL Spiritual Direction 101 ~Ehxerecnis Iegs naantdi,u fso rw eaxsa mcopmlep, goasvine gin tshtreu Sctpioirnist utoal Consider the office of consoling which Christ Our Lord bears and to compare how friends are accus-tomed to console friends (224),~ is it possible that he was still experiencing that kind of consolation? Every now and then, if I should jot down a note in my diary, I can still feel the experience as I record it. The very same re-experiencing, I believe, takes place in speaking as it does in writing, and that fact has led to the ministry of spiritual direction. Thus the prayer experience of a directee is not necessarily wholly taken in until spoken to the sl~iritual director. At this point, the conversation 'takes. on. the complexion of praying. I should add, however, that in all my years of giving direction I have never begun a meeting with formal prayer. My principal reason for this is the fear of presenting myself as an authority figure. Instead, the Father J. Thomas Hamel sJ wrote for us in 2010 in our 69.1 issue. His address remains College of the Holy Cross; 1 College Street; Worcester, Massachusetts 01610. 70.1 2011 Hamel ¯ Spiritual Direction I01 68 simple courtesies of welcome and personal concern are not only appropriate but also serve to prepare the way for contemplative exchange. Ignatius speaks of the one who gives the Exercises and the one who receives the Exercises (Annotation 1). The same roles are present in the ministry of spiritual direction, except that the giving and receiving become a dual ministry. Over time, a directee actually begins to minister to the director by the Way she presents her narrative. Sharing the experience of God is a gift to the director, whose own ministry of giving invited the directee to explore her experience in the first place. In desiring to see what the directee sees, to hear what the directee hears, and to notice what the directee notices, a contemplative director is being a good teacher. By contrast, when not contemplating, a director is merely gathering information, which often results in the direc-tor's primary focus being on the directee rather than on what God is doing. The seed scattered on the ground and beginning to sprout, while no one knows exactly how (Mt 4:27), is an apt metaphor for spiritual direction as it gets underway. The image of the sprouting seed captures what God is doing in both the director and directee. In this spiritual climate, choices begin to blossom. Witnessing a directee coming to reflect in a new way is like being with God in slow motion. A director, not wanting to rush ahead, might nevertheless, if nudged by God, say something he has never said before--and say it with confidence. In a direction session, things do happen for the first time, both for the one giving and for the one receiving direc-tion. For example, the directee may say, Last week in prayer I said to God "I love you." The words just came out of me from my toes to the top Review for Religious of my head. I am fifty years old. This is the first time in all my fifty years I could say that to God. It just poured out of me. I can scarcely believe I said it, but I did, and I meant every word. A first-time experience is wrapped in wonder, creat-ing new inner space. In saying to God "I love you," the directee was newly finding himself lovable. That may account for wanting to share the experience with the spiritual director. When a directee finds a home in Scripture, the door of the imagination opens wide to the director. The sim-ple key to remaining in a gospel scene is to get involved as if we were present -- (114). That involvement is part of being contem-plative. Moreover, just imagine what a directee is feeling when taking time to think of what to say to the Blessed Trinity or to the Eternal Word Incarnate or to our - - Mother and Lady (109). Imagine what a director is feeling when the deepening relationship with Jesus more and more becomes the major narrative of the directee or when moments of silence become moments of prayer. It is normal for a director to refer to an experience of God brought to a previous meeting with the directee. The Prayer of Rememberance These silent interludes are capable of suggesting a particular form of prayer. For example, it is normal for a director to refer to an experience of God brought to a previous meeting with the directee. In addition, the memory of what happened six months ago may be brought into the present conversation. Looking back 70.1 2011 Hamel ¯ Spiritual Direction I01 on the retreat made last year could affect the outcome of moments of quiet during direction. Such memories turn into a prayer of remembrance, especially when the relationship with Christ, his personal attraction, and his challenge are the focal point of the dialogue. Gathering up the leftovers of the past which feed the present is one way we carry out Jesus' everlasting desire that we "do this in remembrance of me" (Lk 22:19). The prayer of remembrance is to have the mind and heart of Christ by taking up the cup and eating the bread of ongoing prayer, of daily life itself, and the cup and bread of spiritual direc-tion. Essential to this prayer is the flexibility to adapt, to be open to what comes up in a spiritual direction session, so that the seed of a new moment may not fall by the wayside without taking root but may be brought to good soil that touches the soul and sprouts afresh. The operative word, of course, is contemplation as in contemplatio--Contemplatio ad amorem--the Contemplation to Keep on Loving (230). This prayer of morning, noon, and evening in everyday life brings to memory the ben-efits received--of my creation, redemption, and partic-ular gifts (234). One might easily name as among the benefits the particular gifts that come in the process of spiritual direction itself: trust, supervision, discernment, spiritual insight, self-knowledge, and the sense of security generated by the clear boundaries between director and directee. Each gift is like a parable that reveals a par-ticular place where God dwells. "See how God dwells in creatures likewise making a temple of me, being created to the image and likeness of His Divine Majesty" (235). The temple is no longer a place, but a person to be con-templated. In the ministry of giving spiritual direction, the spiritual director may grow aware of imitating Jesus, who has truly been contemplating the directee. This Review for Religious might be a new experience for the director as well as for the one receiving direction¯ Being looked at is one thing; being contemplated is noticeably different and reassur-ing. How much the deed of love is shown in contemplat-ing the other! At one time that love expresses itself as an exuberance of joy and gladness, while on other occa-sions it shows itself -- as the urge to labor and work: "consider how God works and labors for me ¯ . ." (236). It is no wonder that spiri-tual direction takes on a life of its own outside of meetings and in the psalms of everyday life. - . That life outside of spiritual direction may be as modest as noticing people reading the Bible on a sub-way and feeling connected with them. It may be coming across God's beauty at the sight of children feeding the swans and their cygnets in a local pond. The crowded streets of the city may bring to mind the picture of Jesus, who was surrounded by crowds of people but never lost sight of the poor among them. Conversations at home and at work may take on a kind of fragrance associ-ated with the conversations in spiritual direction. To put a gloss on St. Paul's "our citizenship is in heaven" (Ph 3:20), our eternal citizenship begins with our feet planted on the earth. That is the test of good spiritual direction. With both feet planted on the earth, Jesus covered a lot of territory in the towns, villages, and synagogues In the ministry of giving spiritual direction, the spiritual director may grow aware of imitating Jesus, who has truly been contemplating the directee. 71 70.1 2011 Hamel * Spiritual Direction I01 of Palestine. Ordinary people would hang on his every word as he spoke in the Temple area. Theologians like Nicodemus would seek his counsel at night. Children would run to him. He loved to tell stories, host picnics, do some fishing in all kinds of weather. Throughout his travels he gave new hope to the poor and marginal-ized. In all his comings and goings, Jesus was a light to old and young, enabling them to contemplate their own goodness, mercy, and faithfulness, thereby elicit-ing from them a response radiant with gratitude to the "bright morning star arising in their hearts" (2 P 1:19). In the light that was Jesus, new sights and sounds came to birth. A spoken word of his echoes Isaiah: And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it" (Is 30:21). An interior word, voiceless, reaches the heart. Like the dawn from on high, luminous as the sun and the brightness of rushing waters, the ministry of spiritual direction is a journey into the light of contemplative giving and receiving. Note I David L. Fleming, Draw Me Into Your Friendship: The Spiritual Exercises. A Literal Translation and a Contentporary Reading (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996), p. 168, n. 224. Hereafter I will refer to the Exercises by giving the paragraph number in parentheses 72 Review for Religious PHYLLIS ZAGANO Looking for Nuns, Finding Women Deacons The twin events of the Apostolic Visitation of Women Religious in the United States and the doctrinal investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious present an opportunity to revisit and reconsider the tra-dition of women deacons. While the Apostolic Visitation appears to be primarily involved with lifestyle and ministry, and the doctrinal investigation of LCWR is more inquisitorial in style, each in its own way points toward a reflexive institutional recognition of the place of women in diaconal ministry. The Apostolic Visitation, which moved from initial and unscripted general inquiry, through a detailed three-part questionnaire, to on-site visitations of approximately 25% of U.S. institutes of women religious, is widely Phyllis Zagano is a well-known authority on women in ministry and senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University; 104 Heger Hall; 115 Hofstra University; Hempstead, New York 11549. exploring religious life 73 70.1 2011 Zagano ¯ Looking for Nuns, Finding Women Deacons viewed as a corporate insult to the 59,000 or so U.S. women religious under scrutiny and to the local bishops responsible for overseeing them. The doctrinal investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious ballooned from a request for position statements on the matter of women priests, homosexuality, and the primacy of Christ in interreligious dialogue to a full review of publications and positions, directed by American Cardinal William J. Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Read positively, the subtext of the combined events can provide information about the re-evolution of wom-en's ministry, now through apostolic religious life for women, to the restored permanent diaconate, which is both historically and contemporaneously properly understood as a ministry of prayer and service. Understanding the Diaconate Deacons are ordained to a ministry of service, spe-cifically to the word, the liturgy, and charity. They are not "mini-priests," but clerics with a specific vocation to diaconal ministry. Their distinction from priests is clear in The Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 875: From [Christ], bishops and priests receive the mis-sion and faculty ("the sacred power") to act in per-sona Christi Capitis; deacons receive the strength to serve the people of God in the diaconia of the liturgy, word and charity, in communion with the bishop and his presbyterate. On 26 October 2009, Pope Benedict XVI issued a Motu proprio entitled Omnium in mentem, which codifies the distinction between priesthood and the diaconate as the distinction is articulated in the Catechism. As stipu- Review for Religious lated in the Motu proprio and now entered into law, dea-cons serve the people of God through the diaconia of the liturgy, the word, and charity. The clear distinction between the priest (who acts in the person of Christ, head of the church) and the deacon (who serves the people of God) both reflects arguments against the ordina-tion of women to the priesthood and deflects arguments against the ordination of women to the diaconate. The essential points raised against women priests are (1) the argument from authority--Jesus chose male apostles and (2) the iconic argu-ment- one must phys-ically represent Jesus. Of course, neither of these applies to the diaconate for several reasons. First, the Apostles, not Christ, are gener-ally understood to have created the diaconate (Ac 6:1-6). Second, the only person in Scripture specifically called "deacon" is Phoebe (Rm 16:1). Third, the deacon is ordained "not to the priesthood, but to the ministry." It is important to recognize both that the diaconate is not the priesthood and that diaconal service is a legitimate vocation for women. Apostolic Religious Life and the Diaconate It is important to recognize both that the diacon-ate is not the priesthood and that diaconal service is a legitimate vocation for women. Without entering into a determinative debate about the immediate possibility of restoring the female diaconate in the Western Church, we can review the twin investigations of women reli- 70.1 2011 Zagano ¯ Looking for Nuns, Finding Women Deacons 76 gious in light of the possibility of an increasingly evident vocation of women to apostolic ministry as deacons. The evolution of what has come to be termed "min-isterial religious life''1 in the United States has moved sufficient numbers of women away from monastery and cloister practices toward ministerial life inserted into the lives of the people, a way of life supported by com-mon life and sometimes,.but not always, lived in com-mon ministry. This ministerial life has many similarities to the ministerial life of the ordained deacon. The Apostolic Visitation's questionnaire is divided into several sections: Identity, Governance, Membership, Spiritual Life, Common Life, Mission & Ministry, and Finances. If each section is considered in the light of apostolic women religious doing the diaconal work of the church--now as unordained lay ministers--we can easily intuit the divergent directions taken by the Visitation and a given institute guided by the Spirit to address the needs of the times. If there indeed is an emerging femi-nine vocation to the diaconate, then perhaps some apos-tolic women religious are demonstrating it. Vatican documents provided by the Visitation team present an investigation into what has come to be under-stood as traditional apostolic religious life, and the over-all attitude of the event itself seems to call for a return to common habit, horaria, mission, and ministry. Indeed, recent statistics gathered by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate demonstrate that the larger numbers of new vocations to religious life are to insti-tutes that demonstrate such commonality.2 The com-mon- if unstated--criticism of other institutes (those not living according to more traditional expectations) is that they would have more new vocations if they would return to a traditional religious life. But those new voca- Review for Religion, s tions would then be looking for a religious life that is more monastic or cloistered. They would not fit among the evolving charisms of the institutes without common horaria or habit, whose members have moved toward independent and/or less traditional ministries while retaining the public identity of their mem-bership in an institute of consecrated life. The choice appears to be between an institute adopting or retaining common habit, horaria, mission, and ministry, or dying out. Such presents a classic either-or fallacy. The criti-cism ignores the possibility of new life and rebirth into something new. That is, the choice is not between tradi-tional religious life and nothing but between traditional religious life and a new thing. There is no dearth of young women who wish to ded-icate their lives to ministry. Religious life is not identical to lay ecclesial ministry, and such criticism overlooks the fact of increasing numbers of lay ecclesial ministers (some statistics point to 35,000 in the United States today) and, especially, the large number of young women entering lay ecclesial ministry. Neither is religious life the diacon-ate, but such criticism also overlooks the large number of ordained deacons (approximately 36,000 worldwide, with more than 16,000 in the United States). Is it possible that the vocations to apostolic religious life are being overtaken by newer vocations, specifically, to lay ecclesial ministry (being lived out by those married, single, and in religious life) as well as by the vocation to the ordained There is no dearth of young women who wish to dedicate their lives to ministry. 77 70.1 2011 Zagano * Looking for Nuns, Finding Women Deacons diaconate (now being lived out by those married, and by both secular and religious celibates)? Is it possible that the young women who once might have entered many of the now fading institutes of religious life are choos-ing lives more akin to those of secular--or religious--lay ecclesial ministers or deacons? Apostolic Religious and the Diaconal Ministry To assess the possible findings of Rome's twin investigations, it is well to look at the severest critics of contemporary U.S. women's religious life, including journalist Ann Carey, whose 1997 Our Sunday Visitor book, Sisters in Crisis: The Tragic Unraveling of VVomen's Religious Communities, connects abandonment of the habit with what she terms "the deconstruction of min-istry." Carey presents at least one modern case study that pits a religious community of women against the local hierarchy. That case study, the story of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in California, is remi-niscent of medieval tugs-of-war between bishops and abbesses over control, not only of the conventual living arrangements of the women, but of their properties and very status as well. The eleventh century saw the initia-tion of the Gregorian Reform, which eventuated in the elevation of the clergy and concurrent diminution of women, including and especially women religious. That thousand-year split between what can be viewed, at least in retrospect, as the "men's church" and the "women's church" echoes throughout Carey's book, which at every turn criticizes the move of women religious away from common habit, horaria, mission, and ministry. Carey's book, however, speaks only to what she per-ceives as a movement away from, without any consider-ation of what the institutes of women religious moved Review for Religious toward as they modernized habits and horaria. Neither she, nor others of the deepest critics of contemporary apostolic religious life for women in the United States, note that the changes were and are specifically in the service of mission and ministry. Granted, missions may have been redefined and broadened, along with minis-tries, but

Las críticasEn el marco de este derrotero por el que ha pasado la tesis de la Paz Democrática, se han montado diversos ángulos de críticas hacia la misma. Una primera vertiente destaca la implausibilidad de las explicaciones que intentan dar cuenta de la supuesta "ley". Así por ejemplo se ha señalado que en momentos de crisis aún en las democracias se produce una reducción del tamaño en el círculo decisor final. O que los dirigentes de los estados no democráticos también enfrentan condicionamientos de índole institucional o por parte de grupos de poder a los que están vinculados. O, incluso, que la opinión pública no es necesariamente una fuerza pacificadora. Asimismo, una crítica de índole realista se refiere a la escasez histórica de democracias que se traduce en pocas oportunidades de conflicto (Peñas, 1997: 133).Otro ángulo ha sido la existencia de serios problemas en la recolección y clasificación de los datos que sustentan la tesis. Su génesis yace en buena medida en la definición de los dos conceptos centrales detrás de la idea de la Paz Democrática: la democracia y la guerra. Sobre el concepto de "democracia" se advierten importantes diferencias en los criterios constitutivos del mismo. ¿Qué es una democracia? ¿Qué rasgos la definen? ¿Cuál es su condición? ¿Son éstas frágiles? Además, existen discrepancias entre las bases de datos y/o bien calificaciones bastante arbitrarias como por ejemplo la consideración en la basePolity II de Francia entre los años 1981 y 1986 como una "anocracia", mientras que El Salvador de la misma época, enfrascado en una cruenta guerra civil sí figuraba como "democracia".En cuanto a las guerras, el criterio de selección de datos más aceptado fue el implementado por Small y Singer que consiste en catalogar como guerra internacional a un conflicto que involucra uno o más participantes estatales y que provoca un mínimo de mil víctimas. Esto excluye intervenciones violentas que causan menos víctimas, pero no por ello políticamente menos significativas o bien las operaciones encubiertas (Salomón, 2001: 247). Tampoco ésta conceptualización da cuenta de las tendencias más modernas en los conflictos internacionales, entre las que se destaca la caída relativa de las disputas interestatales frente a las intraestatales ). En definitiva, "[lo] que caracteriza a nuestros días no es la desaparición de la violencia del sistema internacional ni la ausencia del recurso a la fuerza por parte de los Estados, sino la disminución del número de guerras formalmente declaradas y el aumento de guerras de guerrillas, guerras a través de terceros, subversión interior de los Estados instigada por otros Estados, acciones encubiertas, etc., menos costosas y que no necesitan ser justificadas, por lo menos tanto como una declaración formal de guerra" (Peñas, 1997: 135). Asimismo, los estudios cuantitativos en general han olvidado distinguir entre agresores y agredidos, o también la medición de la intensidad de la guerra (determinar si las democracias causan más muertes que otros Estados). La tesis de la Paz Democrática a su vez no ha logrado dar respuesta a ciertas anomalías que denotan la existencia de variables perturbadoras. Una anomalía es la existencia de zonas de paz en regiones del mundo donde no todas las sociedades son democráticas, como es el caso de América del Sur. Otra es que la correlación entre paz y democracia es más fuerte en el período posterior a la Segunda Guerra Mundial (Farber y Gowa, 1995). Este tipo de anomalías ha llevado a que explicaciones alternativas cobren fuerza. Entre estas, la más destacada es la teoría de Comunidades de Seguridad Pluralistas de Karl Deutsch (1957) que refiere a zonas donde sus miembros tienen la certeza de que sus disputas no se resolverán por medio de la fuerza. También se advierten reajustes y matizaciones de la tesis que debilitan su poder. Un ejemplo es la afirmación de Raymond Cohen (1994) de que la única conclusión razonables es que "los Estados democráticos del área del Atlántico Norte/Europa occidental, compartiendo una serie de circunstancias históricas particulares y una herencia cultural común, han evitado enfrentarse en una guerra" (en Peñas, 1997: 134). Asimismo, es posible encontrar evidencia en contra. Es el caso de la investigación de Charles Kegley y Margaret Hermann (1996) que arroja el interesante resultado de quince casos de intervención militar con uso de la fuerza, entre 1975 y 1995, por parte de democracias estables contra otras democracias estables, de las cuales ocho de ellas correspondían a intervenciones estadounidenses. Más recientemente, Thomas Schwartz y Kiron Skinner (2002: 160-161) identificaron un listado de conflictos que contrarían la tesis o están muy próximos a hacerlo y que hacen a lo que ellos llaman el "problema histórico" de la Paz Democrática:American Revolutionary War, 1775 (Great Britain vs. U.S.)Wars of French Revolution (democratic period), esp. 1793, 1795 (France vs. Great Britain)Quasi War, 1798 (U.S. vs. France)War of 1812 (U.S. vs. Great Britain)Texas War of Independence, 1835 (Texas vs. Mexico)Mexican War, 1846 (U.S. vs. Mexico)Roman Republic vs. France, 1849American Civil War, 1861 (Northern Union vs. Southern Confederacy)Ecuador-Columbia War, 1863Franco-Prussian War, 1870War of the Pacific, 1879 (Chile vs. Peru and Bolivia)Indian Wars, much of nineteenth century (U.S. vs. various Indian nations)Spanish-American War, 1898Boer War, 1899 (Great Britain vs. Transvaal and Orange Free State)World War I, 1914 (Germany vs. Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, and U.S.)Chaco War, 1932 (Paraguay vs. Bolivia)Ecuador-Peru, 1941Palestine War, 1948 (Israel vs. Lebanon)Dominican Invasion, 1967 (U.S. vs. Dominican Republic)Cyprus Invasion, 1974 (Turkey vs. Cyprus)Ecuador-Peru, 1981Nagorno-Karabakh, 1989 (Armenia vs. Azerbaijan)Yugoslav Wars, 1991 (Serbia and Bosnian-Serb Republic vs. Croatiaand Bosnia; sometimes Croatia vs. Bosnia)Georgia-Ossetia, 1991 (Georgia vs. South Ossetia)Georgia-Abkhazia, 1992 (Georgia vs. Abkhazia and allegedly Russia)Moldova-Dnestr Republic, 1992 (Moldova vs. Dnestr Republic and allegedly Russia)Chechen War of Independence, 1994 (Russia vs. Chechnya)Ecuador-Peru, 1995NATO-Yugoslavia, 1999India-Pakistan, 1999 Como se advierte, la teoría de la Paz Democrática se enfrenta a problemas tanto de índole empírica como de índole explicativa. Frente a este tipo de críticas, las reacciones se han dividido entre las defensivas (Maoz, 1997), las que han ignorado los hallazgos, las que han empezado a considerar otros factores (Russett, 1998) y las que se han dedicado a verificar su validez mediante estudios de casos (Elman, 1997). En definitiva, el debate ha sido prolífico y entre una de sus evoluciones más interesantes es la que ha recomendado evitar "las dicotomías simplistas y estudiar el mayor número posible de interacciones entre factores de conflicto internos e internacionales" (Salomón, 2001: 253).La materialización política de la Paz DemocráticaEn el contexto del "optimismo liberal" despertado por el colapso soviético y el fin de la guerra fría, la tesis de la Paz Democrática suscitó gran entusiasmo, sobre todo entre aquellos estudiosos de las Relaciones Internacionales que ansiaban acabar con la hegemonía retórica del realismo-neorrealismo en la disciplina. Como señala Peñas (1997: 130), "la gran virtud de esta tesis (…) es que en su discurso disuelve o reconcilia la escisión entre principios e intereses: una política de extensión de las democracias de libre mercado es a la vez una política éticamente justa y políticamente adecuada". Por tanto, el corolario político de la tesis de la Paz Democrática no es otro que la presunción de que el imperio de la paz y la cooperación internacionales requieren de la democratización de los Estados en el Sistema Internacional. Esto ha dado lugar al plano prescriptivo de los teóricos de la Paz Democrática. El más destacado en este sentido ha sido Russett al recomendar al gobierno en Washington la activa promoción democrática en base a las "pruebas sólidas de que las democracias no se hacen la guerra entre sí". Su propuesta se cuida de no alentar intervenciones militares unilaterales, sino apoyadas y legitimadas por organizaciones como la ONU o la OEA; y sus preceptos, en efecto, se materializaron durante la administración Clinton en la estrategia de Engagement y Enlargement ("compromiso y expansión"), en la que primacía global estadounidense, democracia y libre mercado caminaron de la mano.Pero lejos está de ser la Paz Democrática algo reciente o coyuntural en el discurso de política exterior de Estados Unidos. John Ikenberry sostiene que "[the] American preoccupation with promoting democracy abroad fits into a larger view about the sources of a stable, legitimate, secure, and prosperous international order. This outlook may not always be the chief guiding principle of policy, and it may sometimes lead to error. Still, it is a relatively coherent orientation rooted in the American political experience and American understandings of history, economics, and the sources of political stability" (Ikenberry, 1999). Sus orígenes políticos se remontan, claro es, a Woodrow Wilson quien en 1917 señaló: "A steadfast concert of peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants". De acuerdo con el análisis de Henry Kissinger (1995), Wilson retomó postulados ya volcados en su momento por Thomas Jefferson, a saber: a) que la misión especial de Estados Unidos trasciende la diplomacia cotidiana, y los obliga a servir como faro de libertad para el resto de la humanidad, y b) que la política exterior de las democracias es moralmente superior porque el pueblo es, en esencia, amante de la paz. Esta misma línea de argumentación fue bien visible en la prédica de Harry Truman sobre las naciones libres, en la visión maníquea del "Imperio del Mal" de Ronald Reagan y, además del mencionado Clinton, más recientemente en las administraciones Bush (h) y Obama, como puede verse en los siguientes extractos obtenidos de distintos documentos estratégicos. Estamos en presencia por tanto de una constante de política exterior estadounidense.A National Security Strategy for a New Century, October 1998."…We seek international support in helping strengthen democratic and free market institutions and norms in countries making the transition from closed to open societies. This commitment to see freedom and respect for human rights take hold is not only just, but pragmatic, for strengthened democratic institutions benefit the United States and the world" (p. 33).The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, September 2002."…We will (…) use our foreign aid to promote freedom and support those who struggle non-violently for it, ensuring that nations moving toward democracy are rewarded for the steps they take (…) [and we will] make freedom and the development of democratic institutions key themes in our bilateral relations, seeking solidarity andcooperation from other democracies while we press governments that deny human rights to move toward a better future" (p. 4).National Security Strategy, May 2010."… The United States supports the expansion of democracy and human rights abroad because governments that respect these values are more just, peaceful, and legitimate. We also do so because their success abroad fosters an environment that supports America's national interests. Political systems that protect universal rights are ultimately more stable, successful, and secure. As our history shows, the United States can more effectively forge consensus to tackle shared challenges when working with governments that reflect the will and respect the rights of their people, rather than just the narrow interests of those in power" (p. 37).Esta prédica democrática, sin embargo, pareciera marchar a contramano de ciertas realidades. Señala Peñas, "la historia demuestra que las islas liberales no sólo han hecho la guerra por doquier, sino que además han sido responsables de un alto grado de militarización del mundo y han contribuido significativamente a la militarización y los conflictos entre los Estados no democráticos: esta militarización podría poner en peligro la paz democrática que el liberalismo propugna" (Peñas, 1997: 136). Estados Unidos, una de las democracias más importantes a nivel mundial (sino la más), posee en particular una historia reciente de retroalimentación entre militarización y conflictividad en el Tercer Mundo. Vale recordar, cómo a través de la CIA, Washington ayudó armar a la red al-Qaeda para combatir a la ocupación soviética de Afganistán en la década del '80, lo que a la postre generó una guerra civil en dicho país y el surgimiento de un importante enemigo en la figura de Osama Bin Laden, o bien el apoyo a Saddam Hussein durante la guerra irano-iraquí por aquellos mismos años en coexistencia casi paradojal con la venta encubierta de armamento a Irán —destinada a su vez a financiar la guerra sucia de los Contras nicaragüenses contra el gobierno revolucionario sandinista. La invasión a Iraq en marzo de 2003 y el posterior caos del país, también constituye un buen ejemplo del fracaso y los peligros que conlleva la aplicación de una retórica democrático-mesiánica a través de la manu militari.Ciertamente, el repaso de estos eventos despierta temores si se contempla el actual caso de Libia. Allí, la intervención bajo autorización del Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas para frenar la crisis humanitaria en curso en el país, por iniciativa de Francia, Estados Unidos, Italia, Gran Bretaña y España (todas democracias), se ha convertido en una operación liderada por la OTAN, donde se está financiando y proveyendo a las fuerzas insurgentes opositoras a Kadafy y en la que el objetivo del cambio de régimen parece cada vez más claro (van Tijen, 2011). A pesar del importante despliegue de poder aéreo y naval, la balanza del conflicto parece no sólo equilibrada sino estancada, contrariando las expectativas iniciales de los mandos políticos y militares occidentales, lo que a su vez augura una potencial inestabilidad en el corto y mediano plazo para todo el Magreb. ¿Es esta la clase de escenario regional que desea la comunidad internacional? ¿Es esto lo que pretenden las principales democracias occidentales? Difícilmente.Resulta por tanto un desafío tan grande como imperioso el lograr romper con la trampa entre democracia, militarización y conflictividad en aumento. Más aún si se advierten datos tan desalentadores como el tamaño del gasto militar de Estados Unidos, el cual eclipsa el gasto correspondiente al resto de las potencias y regiones del planeta.Tal contrariedad entre discurso pacífico-democrático y los hechos, en parte, se explica porque el objetivo estadounidense de la difusión de la democracia liberal a nivel mundial no es el único que compone su política exterior. Existen otros intereses (de seguridad, económicos, poder, etc.) y los medios para conseguirlos no siempre son pacíficos, ni justificables. Desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la política exterior estadounidense ha oscilado entre métodos como la negociación, disuasión, unilateralismo y multilateralismo (Barceló Sasía, 2006: 64). En este marco, por momentos el discurso político de la Paz Democrática ha generado la impresión de actuar más como una mera justificación retórica, como un auxilio para encubrir ideológicamente motivaciones de otro orden, antes que como el verdadero leit motif de las acciones emprendidas.Reflexión finalEn definitiva, la Paz Democrática, la idea de que las democracias no guerrean entre sí, cuyo corolario nos dice que la construcción de estados democráticos promueve la estabilidad en las relaciones internacionales, resulta una sugestiva noción desprendida del Liberalismo cuya corroboración científica, a pesar de las frases pomposas que puedan emitirse sobre su certeza y fiabilidad, se encuentra aún en juego. Siendo una tesis por demás atractiva, defendida y cuestionada en el mundo académico, resulta aún más trascendente su estudio dada su cristalización fáctica como supuesto criterio guía en el comportamiento exterior de los Estados democráticos más poderosos a nivel internacional. Los dilemas que ello entraña no son menores, como los intentos recientes y actuales de "democratizar" Medio Oriente y el Mundo Árabe nos recuerdan. Dobles discursos —morales de doble-standard de acuerdo con la célebre crítica de Stanley Hoffman— parecen conjugar anhelos democráticos con intereses geopolíticos y/o geoeconómicos, o más bien encubrir estos últimos bajo el manto de los primeros. En el medio, se resuelven y dirimen en el tablero mundial las corrientes de cambio pacífico o revolucionario, de progreso democrático o de restauración autocrática, las viejas lógicas de poder, de conquista y de influencia, la estabilidad internacional, el porvenir de la guerra y las sombras de la paz. *Candidato doctoral, Universidad Nacional de General San Martín (UNSAM, Argentina). Investigador del Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios en Problemáticas Internacionales y Locales (CEIPIL-UNCPBA).Referencias BibliográficasBabst, Dean: "Elective Governments - A Force for Peace", The Wisconsin Sociologist, No. 3 (1964), pp. 9-14.Barceló Sasía, Alejandra: Anti-americanismo: ¿Problema de percepción o de formulación de política exterior? (Puebla: Universidad de las Américas Puebla, 2006). Bremer, Stuart A.: "Dangerous Dyads: Conditions Affecting the Likelihood of Interstate War, 1816-1965", Journal of Conflict Resolution, No. 36 (1992), pp. 309-341.Chan, Steve: "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall. Are the Freer Countries More Pacific?" Journal of Conjlict Resolution,No. 28 (1984), pp. 617-648. Cohen, Raymond: "Pacific unions: a reappraisal of the theory that 'democracies do not go to war with each other'", Review of International Studies, No. 20 (1994), pp. 202-232.Deutsch, Karl: Political Community and the North Atlantic Area (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957).Doyle, Michael: "Kant, Liberal Legacies and Foreign Affairs, Part I & Part II", Philosophy & Public Affairs, No.12 (1983), pp. 205-235 y 323-353.Doyle, Michael: "Liberalism and World Politics", The American Political Science Review, Vol. 80, No. 4 (Dec. 1986).Elman, Miriam Fendius (ed.): Paths to Peace. Is Democracy the Answer? (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1997).Farber, Henry & Joan Gowa: "Polities and Peace", International Security, No. 20 (1995), pp. 123-146.Harrison, Ewan: "State Socialization, International Norm Dynamics and the Liberal Peace",International Politics, No. 41 (2004), pp. 521-542.Hewitt, J. Joseph, Jonathan Wilkenfeld & Ted Robert Gurr: Peace and Conflict 2008. Executive Summary (College Park, MD: CIDCM, University of Maryland, 2008).Ikenberry, John: "Why Export Democracy?: The 'Hidden Grand Strategy' of American Foreign Policy", The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 23, no. 2 (Spring 1999).Kant, Immanuel: La Paz Perpetua (Buenos Aires: Longseller, 2001).Kegley, Charles & Margaret Hermann: "How Democracies Use Intervention: A Neglected Dimension in Studies of the Democratic Peace", Journal of Peace Research, No. 33 (1996), pp. 309-322.Kissinger, Henry: La Diplomacia (México: Fondo de cultura económica, 1995).Levy, Jack: "Domestic Politics and War", Journal of Interdisciplinary History, No. 18 (1988), pp. 653-673.MacMillan, John: "Whose Democracy; Which Peace? Contextualizing the Democratic Peace",International Politics, No. 41 (2004), pp. 472-493.Maoz, Zeev & Nasrin Abdolali: "Regime Types and International Conflict, 1817-1976", Journal of Conflict Resolution, No. 33 (1989), pp. 3-35.Maoz, Zeev: "The Controversy over the Democratic Peace", International Security, No. 22 (1997), pp. 162-198.Peceny, Mark: "A Constructivist Interpretation of the Liberal Peace: The Ambiguous Case of the Spanish-American War", Journal of Peace Research, No. 34 (1997), pp. 415-430.Peñas, Francisco Javier: "Liberalismo y relaciones internacionales: la tesis de la paz democrática y sus críticos", Isegoría, Núm. 16 (1997), pp.119-140.Rendall, Matthew: "'The Sparta and the Athens of our Age at Daggers Drawn': Polities, Perceptions, and Peace", International Politics, No. 41 (2004), pp. 582-604.Risse-Kappen, Thomas: "Democratic Peace - Warlike Democracies? A Social Constructivist Interpretation of the Liberal Argument", European Journal of International Relations, No. 1 (1995), pp. 491-517.Rummel, Rudolph: "Libertarianism and Interstate Violence", Journal of Conflict Resolution, No. 27 (1983), pp. 27-71.Russett, Bruce: "A neo-Kantian perspective: democracy, interdependence, and international organizations in building security communities", en Emanuel Adler & Michael Barnett (eds.):Security Communities (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).Russett, Bruce: Grasping the Democratic Peace (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993).Salomón, Mónica: "El debate sobre la «paz democrática». Una aproximación crítica", Revista de Estudios Políticos (Nueva Época), Núm. 113 (Julio-Septiembre 2001), pp. 237-265.Schwartz, Thomas & Kiron K. Skinner: "The Myth of the Democratic Peace", Orbis (Winter 2002), pp. 159-172.Small, Melvin & David Singer: "The War-Proneness of Democratic Regimes", Jerusalem Journal of International Relations, No. 1 (1976), pp. 50-69.Snyder, Jack: "Un mundo, teorías rivales", Foreign Policy edición española (dic.-enero 2005).Tovar Ruíz, Juan: "De Königsberg a Kosovo. La Paz Democrática: del planteamiento filosófico al discurso político y su aplicación en el régimen de los protectorados internacionales", Revista Académica de Relaciones Internacionales, núm. 10 (febrero de 2009). Van Tijen, Tjebbe: "NATO's collateral tyrannicide", Open Democracy (7 May, 2011). Walt, Stephen M.: "International Relations: One World, Many Theories", Foreign Policy(Spring 1998), pp. 29-46.Weede, Eric: "Democracy and War Involvement", Journal of Peace Research, No. 28 (1984), pp. 649-664.Wright, Quincy: A Study of War (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1942).

Issue 45.6 of the Review for Religious, November/December 1986. ; Direction and Reconciliation The Prayer of Being Responses to Rape The Key to Spiritual Direction Volume 45 N umber 6 Nov.IDec. 1986 REVIEW FOR 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 63108-3393. REVIEW FOR REt.IGIOOS is owned by the Missouri Province Educational Institute of the Society of Jesus, St. Louis, MO. © 1986 by REVIEW FOR REL~OOUS. Composed, printed and manufactured in U.S.A. Second class postage paid at St. Louis. MO. Single copies: $2.50. Subscription U.S.A. $11.00 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 REVtEW YOn 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 Nov./Dec., 1986 Volume 45 Number 6 Manuscripts, books for review and correspondence with the editor should be sent to REviEw FOR REt.tGtOUS; 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 REVtEW FOU REHCmUS; Room 428; 3601 Lindeli Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108-3393. "Out of print~ issues and articles not published as reprints are available from University Microfilms International; 300 N. Zeeb Rd.; Ann Arbor, MI 48106. A major portion 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 10010. The World Synod of Bishops: The Extraordinary Session of 1985 The Ordinary Session of 1987 Jan Schotte, C.I.C.M. Archbishop Schotte is General Secretary of the World Synod of Bishops. This article is based on his address to the Catholic Press AssOciation Convention, June 7, 1986, the text of which was first published in its The Catholic Journalist, July, 1986, pp. 5-8. ~n this article I will deal with what I have learned, during the past~months since my transfer to the office of Permanent Secretary, about one of the youngest institutions of the Catholic Church, the World Synod of Bishops. When in the course of my remarks I intend also to say a few words about the relationship between the Synod and the media, please accept my contribu-tion as the expressio~n of a deeply held conviction that the media have a major role to play in the mission of the Chm:ch, and especially with regard to the Synod of Bishops. This conviction is based on my experience as a priest and missionary who has been privileged to serve the Gospel of the Lord and his Church in many different functions. I worked with the media as the briefing officer for French-speaking journalists in the 1980 and 1983 Synods of Bishops. In those days, I was somewhat biased in favor 0f media people. Today, as Secretary General of the Synod, I dare to hope that I still carry within me that same favorable bias. I will confine my remarks to.three areas. In the first place, I will share some insight into the preparation, the process and the final product of the Extraordinary General Session of the Synod of Bishops, held in 1985. 801 802 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 Secondly, I will brief the reader concerning the next Ordinary General Session of the Synod of Bishops on the theme "Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church and the World, Twenty Years After the Second Vatican Council," which is scheduled to take place from October 1 through 30, 1987. Finally, I will offer some very tentative comments on the relationship between Synod and media, telling what the Secretary General of the Synod expects from the media, and at the same time expecting to hear from the media professionals, what they expect from the Synod Secretariat. I. The Extraordinary Synod of 1985 The Extraordinary Synod, which received more media attention than any of the previous synods, was first and foremost a Synod of Bishops-- just that, but totally that! What Is the Synod of Bishops? It is not easy to give a brief reply to this question. It becomes especially difficult when the person asking the question expects an answer in terms of civil or political administration. Is it a parliament, a Church senate, a private council of the pope, a mini-ecumenical council? Each of these bodies has some analogy with the Synod, but none is apt to explain the true nature of the Synod. The Synod is explainable only in terms of the interior logic of the Church, from within her structure and her life. Dealing with an ecclesial entity, a juridical-institutional explanation is not sufficient, but it is necessary to have recourse to the notion of the Church as mystery and as communion. The Synod of Bishops has become part of the life of the Catholic Church; we accept its existence as normal, undisputed. From 1967 onwards we have witnessed the synodal assemblies treating topics and arguments of great importance and attracting the attention not only of Catholics but also of many others. The Synod of Bishops has become one of the propulsion centers of the pastoral activity of the Church, introducing into its life the more important reforms called for by Vatican I1. We recall the 1967 Synod which discussed several topics: the basic orienta-tion for the New Code of Canon Law; orientations for the reform of semi-naries; mixed marriages; and institution of the International Theological Commission. The first Extraordinary Synod of 1969 contributed to the clarification of the role of the bishops' conferences their relationship to the Holy See. The Synod of 1971 againdiscussed two fundamental topics: one on the identity of the Catholic priest and the meaning of priestly celibacy; the other on The World Synod of Bishops / 803 social justice. The 1974 Synod was dedicated to the theme of evangeliza-tion. It was followed in 1977 by the Synod on catechesis. The Synod of 198Odiscussed the Christian family. The Synod of 1983 addressed the issue of reconciliation and penance. The Second Extraordinary Synod of 1985 evaluated the implementation and impact of the Second Vatican Council. Truly an impressive list for only twenty years of activity. Such fundamental and vast themes together with their links to the Council and the post-conciliar period suffice to show the growing importance of the Synod of Bishops in the life of the Catholic Church. It is an institution with connotations of universality, agility and topicality, which seeks to fulfill its role as Syn-odos, the "walking together" of bishops for the benefit of the universal Church and all humankind. The Synod of 1985 It is necessary to understand that any .session of the Synod of Bishops is a fruit of the Second Vatican Council, and an expression of collegiality and communion in order to fully grasp the meaning of that special event that was the Second Extraordinary General Session of the Synod of Bishops, which took place from November 24 through December 8, 1985, on the theme: "The Second Vatican Council on the Twentieth Anniversary of Its Closing." In recent years, the Church has been subjected to surprises: the death of the smiling Pope John Paul I after only thirty-three days in office; the election of the first non'Italian Pope in four centuries; the vitality and charm of Pope John Paul II who travels to all continents and keeps drawing massive crowds of Catholics and non-Catholics alike. In some way, we have become used to such surprises. Despite all this, when John Paul II made his announcement of an extra-ordinary general session of the Synod of Bishops to evaluate the impact of the Second Vatican Council, the Church and the world were not prepared for this new surprise, so much so that immediately a full-blown debate started in the news media about the purpose Of the Synod, about the intentions of the Holy Father, to say nothing about the feasibility, of calling the bishops to Rome with only eleven months of advance notice. Yet this announcement was fully consistent with the personality and style of the Holy Father, and more especially in accord with his deepest faith convictions. It is no secret that John Paul II has a deep sense of his mission, and that he is constantly looking for ways and means to confirm in the faith his brother bishops and the whole people of God. We also know that he attaches great importance to significant gestures and symbols. We have learned that he is not afraid to face reality and tO assess situations with 804 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 utmost lucidity. All these factors taken together would have been sufficient to explain why he deemed it necessary to convene on short notice an Extra-ordinary General Session of the Synod of Bishops, But there is more. John Paul II is a firm believer in the collegiality of the bishops and he is a convinced defender and promoter of the Second,Vatican Council. The Holy Father has always believed and continues to believe in. the Council, not for strategic ~r.easons but for reasons of faith. Vatican II was for him, who participated in all its sessions as a young bishop, an experience which deeply marked .his entire episcopate and pontificate. A faithful analysis of the unwavering support of the Pope ~for the Council seems the only serious and objective method for interpret!~ng the reasons behind the convening of the Second Extraordinary Synod .without falling into the trap of putting the Pope's intentions on trial or of expressing purely subjective judgments. The Pope could not have stated the objectives~of the Synod more clearly: to celebrate,and re-live the extraordinary spirit of the Council; to verify what has been done to implement the Councilteachings; to promote a deeper awareness of the Council and the application of its principles to present and future problems. To look again at the Second Vatican Council and to assess its implemen-tation was, for the bishops at the Synod, a massive program. Yet it was unrealistic to think that the Pope intended to review every single Council document in a comprehensive way within the twelve ~working days that were available. It was equally unlikely that the Holy Father had a further agenda, a hidden one, to throw into reverse the process of renewal initiated by the Council, or to use expressions from certain journalists, "to bury the Council," "to put the brakes on renewal," "to set the clock back," "to roll back the tide," or "to let theprophets of doom back in after they have been banned from the Church by John XXIII." Preparation of the Extraordinary Synod After the surprise announcement by the Holy Father, the General Secretariat of the Synod began immediately the preparation of this unusual event. N,Iy predecessor, the then Archbishop, now Cardinal, Jozef Tomko initiated a series of consultations with a number of bishops and theologians who had participated in all sessions of the Second Vatican Council. Some of those had played a role of primary importance, either as officers of the Council or as participants or experts involved in the drafting of the Council documents. They were asked to react to the three objectives indicated by the Pope and to formulate guidelines for a consultation of all the bishops' conferences. The World Synod of Bishops / 805 The fifteen members of the Council of the General Secretariat were called to Rome for a two-day meeting, March 14-15, 1985, to examine the answers to the preliminary consultation. It was then decided to mail a questionnaire to the patriarchs and metropolitans of the Oriental Churches, to the presidents of bishops' conferences, to the Union of Supefiors General and to the heads of the various departments in the Roman Curia. This questionnaire Went out on April 1, 1985, with a covering letter in which strong emphasis was put on the necessity for a consultation that would reach as many persons and levels of the Local Church as was feasible in so shol~t a time. It was felt that the opinions should be sought not only of the bishops and the experts of the Conference, but also of the priests, religious and laity at large. It was further stressed that the inquiry should try to focus on the major documents of Vatican II, without excluding any of the others. Th6re was no doubt that the debate in the Synod should focus on the nature of the Church and its mission: what is the inner reality of the Church? How does she see herself and, in the light of that perception, how does she organize herself? How does she relate to the complex structures and needs of the world? Such had been the original and genial inspiration of Vatican II itself; any evaluation twenty years later had to concentrate on those same questions. The answers were expected at the General Secretariat by September 1, 1985. However many factors contributed to delays so that the deadline was not respected. The General Secretariat had received only eighteen answers by September I. In the end, however, the result was quite satisfactory: 73.75°70 of the answers'(out of a possible total of 141) were received in time to be incorpo-rated in a summary which reflected the different regional realities, cultures and problems and which~ represented in an objective way the situation of the Church twenty years after the closing of Vatican II. Not every single response to the questionnaire had the same value or authority; some were very detailed while others remained rather schematic; some reflected the thinking of the bishops while 0thersdrew on a large grass-roots response; some had been fully discussed and formulated by the bishops in conference, while others were the work of experts or the secretariat of a conference; some replies reflected rather local concerns while others definitely attempted to see the problems at the level of the Universal Church. All taken together, however, gave a true image of the situation in the Church. I want to share with you a particular observation with regard to this consultation: the formal answers which we received were not the final answers! After the national hierarchies mailed in their submissions, reflection and discussion continued at the level of the single bishop or layperson as well as in the circles of experts, theologians and ecclesial groups or communio 806 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 ties. Many bishops arrived thus at the Synod with different ideas than those expressed in the answers of their respective Conferences. The Final Product The 1985 Synod issued two documents which I am sure you are all familiar with. I feel therefore dispensed from recalling the content of the "Message to the People of God" or of the "Final Report." I only want to clarify a few points. In the media, the fact of the immediate publication of the Final Report was highlighted as an unusual event. Some saw it in terms of a victory of the bisl~ops who wrested this concession from the Pope. The truth of the fact is somewhat different. Every Synod transmits the result of its exchange for consideration to the Holy Father in the form of a report or a list of proposals, or even by entrusting all relevant working papers to the Holy Father, who then decides in what form the results of the Synod will be made public. After the Synods of 1974, 1977 and 1980, the Pope published an "Apostolic Exhortation" in which he presented the results of the Synod. After the 1983 Synod on "Reconciliation and.Penance" however, John Paul II enlisted the collaboration of the bishops elected to the Council of the General Secretariat in preparing a "Post-Synodal Exhortation." During the preparatory phase of the 1985 Extraordinary Synod, many different possibilities for coricluding the Synod had been examined, and the Holy Father did not exclude any, postponing his decision until the Synod had finished its task. When the reports of the small language group~ were presented to the assembly halfway through the proceedings, it became clear that they contained a very rich material, reflecting a large consensus among the participants in evaluating Vatican II's impact and in proposing ways to promote its further implementation. It was then decided to ask the Rappor-teur to .try drafting a final report that would reflect the consensus and the richness of the contributions. This report was debated and finally voted upon. Separate votes were taken on eighteen different sections of the report, and the approval of each one was almost unanimous. In his closing r.emar~s, which followed immediately after the proclamation of the results of the final balloting, the Holy Father stated: Right from the beginning of this Synod, it has appeared clearly how much all those who. were called to participate in it truly shared in its objectives. The results of your work--contained in the "Message" and in the "Final Report"--are witness to your clear-sightedness and your diligent care as well as to your fine ecclesial sense . Therefore, with joy and with sincere gratitude I accept from your hands the "Message" and the "Final Report" which demonstrate this sense of communion: with my consent these docu- The World Synod of Bishops / 807 ments will be rendered public. May the Lord see to it that they bear abundant fruit. It is now your task to ensure that the great force and the awareness of the importance of the Council penetrate deeply into the Universal Church, into your particular churches, and into the various communities. With these words, the Holy Father indicated his approval for the publica-tion of the "Final Report," and manifested at the same time his profound sense of mission and of collegiality. What the "Final Report" makes especially clear is that the Second Vatican Council is the most important event for the Church in the twen-tieth century. The Council offered orientations and answers not only for the questions of the last twenty years, but for the problems of the future as well. The total richness of the documents of the Council, taken together and not separated one from the other, consists in that it explains what the Church is and how she must be Church in the world. The Extraordinary Synod exploded as it were a number of myths which got hold of the minds of many Catholics in the years after Vatican II, and which conditioned the implementation of the Council teaching. Allow me to list just a few. 1. The myth of the primacy of the pastoral over the doctrinal. The "Final Report" affirms: "Special attention must be paid to the four major Consti-tutions of the council, which contain the key for the interpretation of the other Decrees and Declarations. It is not licit to separate the pastoral character from the doctrinal vigor of the documents." 2. The myth of presenting the Vatican Council as a mere historical event, to be left behind as soon as possible in order to work towards Vatican III. The teachings of Vatican II, although looking at the Church and her mission in the light of the prevailing situation, remain valid because they recall funda-mental tenets of the faith and of the Church. 3.The myth of the contradiction between the teachings of Vatican I and Vatican H. The 'Final Report' states: "The Church is one and the same throughout all the Councils." 4. The myth of the preeminence of the spirit over the letter of the Council. The "Final Report" affirms: "It is not legitimate to separate the spirit and the letter of the Council." 5. The myth that pluralism in doctrine o f faith is the way of the future. The "Final Report" states: "The pluralism of fundamentally opposed posi-tions., leads to dissolution, destruction and the loss of identity." 6. The myth that human development is to be promoted without reference to the mystery of the Chu, rch. The "Final Report" says: "It is. necessary to put aside the false and useless opposition between the Church's spiritual mission and diaconia for the world." 81)8 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 7. The myth that any meeting of the world episcopate dissolves auto-matically into opposing camps of North versus South, of East versus West, of liberals versus conservatives. The openness of the debates and the fraternal spirit that was evident from the very first days of the Synod made manifest that there was complete unity. 8. The myth of the intended "'restoration, "" The Bishops affirmed: "The Synod has been for us an occasion which has allowed us once again to experience communion in the one Spirit, in the one faith and hope, and in the one Catholic Church, as well as in the unanimous will to translate the Council into the practice and the life of the Church." We leave to history the final assessment of the Extraordinary Synod of 1985. However it is not presumptuous to state that it was, in many ways, a truly extraordinary event in the life of the Church. The Ordinary Synod on the Laity, 1987 The Synod of Bishops reconvenes in 1987, in ordinary general session, to discuss the "'Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church and in the World Twenty Years After the Second Vatican Council." Inevitably the bishops will return yet again to consider the nature of the Church and the responsibility of all baptized for her mission and ministry. The 1985 Extraordinary Synod has provided us with the right theological context in which to prepare for the Synod on the Laity. As you know, the Synod on the Laity was originally scheduled for 1986, The announcement by the Holy Father of an Extraordinary General Session of the Synod in 1985 made it advisable to postpone by one year the con-vening of the Synod on'the Laity. In so doing, the Holy Father acceded to a suggestion that was made by the many bishops' conferences who feared not to have sufficient time for a thorough preparation and consultation with the laity. The deadline for the submission to the Synod Secretariat of con-tributions by the bishops' conferences was therefore extended by six months to May 1, 1986. Not the First Synod on the Laity? The coming Ordinary General Session of the Synod of Bishops will not be the first that deals with the laity. A simple enumeration of the arguments discussed at the past Synods readily demonstrates the continuing and signi-ficant attention which the Synods have devoted to th& theme of the laity. Thus we had the 1971 Synod with its double theme of "Justice in the World" and the "Ministerial Priesthood." Both topics had a particular relevance for the laity: the first in that it touched upon the role of the Church in society--a privileged field of activity for the Christian laity, and the second The World Synod of Bishops / 809 which explored the ministerial priesthood in its connection also with the common priesthood of all the faithful. The 1974 Synod on "Evangelization" recognized and explicitly promoted the specific mission of the laity. It stated: "Lay people, whose particular vocation places them in the midst of the world and in charge of the most varied temporal tasks, must for this very reason exercise a very special form of evangelization." While the 1977 Synod on "Catechesis" stimulated further appreciation of the role of the laity, especially with regard to youth, even more so did the 1980 Synod in its presentation of the Christian family as the primary and basic form of secular vocation and mission in the Church. Finally, the Synod of 1983 recognized and promoted the task of lay people in the work of Christian reconciliation, which finds expression not only within the ecclesial community but also within human society. Reconciliation is not only a personal challenge for each Christian, but a corporate task for the laity. This summary listing of the topics of the Synods amply demo0strates how the Church, through one of her more important institutions, has taken to heart the deepening of her understanding of the vocation and mission of the laity. It could not have been different, since it was one of the major thrusts of the Second Vatican Council to enhance and promote the partici-pation of the laity in the mission of the Church for the salvation of the world. How Was the Theme for the 1987 Synod Chosen? After twenty years of existence, the Synod of Bishops has developed its own procedures and methods, which are all specifically "synodal." This applies also to the selection of a theme for the Synod. At every Ordinary Synod, towards the end of the proceedings, an open debate is organized on possible themes for the next Synod. The Synod Fathers then express their preferences, indicating at the same time why they propose one topic: rather than another. Already at this stage some themes emerge as being especially timely. Immediately after the closing of the Synod, the General Secretary con-tacts all the patriarchs and metropolitans of the Catholic Oriental Church, the heads of the departments of the Roman Curia, and the presidents of national and international conferences of bishops, inviting them to indicate a theme of their choice. This step is necessary since an Ordinary Synod con-sists only of a relatively small number of bishops, and it is imperative to hear from all bishops through their respective conferences. When all the replies have been tallied, the fifteen members of the Council of the Synod Secretariat are then convened to examine the material and 810 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 to formulate more adequately the themes that seem to emerge. Such a further step is necessary because many suggestions from the bishops' conferences will sometimes deal with the same general topic but under different aspects. The top three themes are then prepared for presentation to the Holy Father, who, as the President of the Synod, sets the agenda and determines the topics to be discussed. Up to now, the Holy Father has always been able to honor the results of the consultation, and has steadfastly chosen the theme that emerged as number one. "Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church and in the World, Twenty Years After the Second Vatican Council" was requested. The Holy Father, acceding tO this request, told the members of the Council of the General Secretariat on May 19, 1984, the following: It is not difficult to grasp the motives for such a convergence of opinion. In reality, the mission of the laity, as an integral part of the salvific mission of the entire People of God, is of fundamental importance for the life of the Church and for the service which the Church herself is called to render to the world. Among the different motives which have been presented in favor of the theme, the following can be singled out. Within the context of the specifically secular vocation and mission of the laity, there have been numerous posit.ive results and achievements, such as the commitment of many lay men and women in the area of human development, social justice, human rights, peace and international solidarity, politics, human labor and culture. There are also in this area a number of problems which require critical evaluation. Two tendencies which are prob-lematical and raise questions cannot be ignored. A first tendency concerns those among the laity who are so influenced by secularism and by the values, or non-values, of the world that they no longer see that their whole activity in the temporal order is necessarily linked with their faith. This is the case of those men or women who engage in social, political, economic or cultural activity and feel that the inspiration and motivation for their commitment must be found outside their faith. It is the case as well of Catholic public officials who in order to serve all their constituents assume that they must promote positions or norms of behavior which are in contradiction with their faith and their Catholic identity. Another tendency exists where Christians believe that they can carry out their mission by abstaining from any involvement in the problems of society. They withdraw into a purely spiritual or devotional world and close in upon themselves or upon the very private circle of any group or movement to The World Synod of Bishops / 811 which they belong. The Council has very clearly stated that "by reason of their special voca-tion it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in the temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will." The same Council also noted that "the laity can be called in different ways to more immediate cooperation in the apostolate of the hierarchy" and that "they have the capability of being appointed by the hierarchy to some ecclesial offices with a view to a spiritual end." In accordance with this conciliar doctrine, a more direct and wider participation of the laity in the pastoral activities of the Church came about. But together with this positive develop-ment, there exists also on the part of some of the laity a far more extensive and stronger demand fo~: access to various "ecclesial ministries." Not all lay participation in ecclesial ministries is without problems. In some local churches, one notices a tendency to restrict the mission of the laity to ecclesial ministries only. This can involve the danger of confusion with regard to the correct understanding of the respective missions of the clergy and of the laity in the Church. We thus see in some situations a real attempt at "clericalization of the laity," while at the same time we assist at the phenome-non of the "laicization of the clergy," when the latter take over the specific mission of the laity in temporal affairs by becoming merely social workers, or p61itical activists. These and other phenomena derive from a particular interpretation given to the vocation and mission of the laity in the Church and in the world presented by Vatican.II. If that interpretation is not correct, the vocation of the laity will not be ~ruly lived out, with the result that harm is done not only to individuals and groups but to the entire ecclesial community. The latter's credibility is impaired and its pastoral efficacy is restricted. It is therefore clear that the doctrine of the Council on the participation of the laity in the mission of the Church and on their own specific mission in the world must be studied in depth at this time. The Preparation of the Synod As soon as the theme of the 1987 Synod had been established, the Secretariat of the Synod invited the bishops' conferences, the Pontifical Council for the Laity and other representative bodies to submit their views on how to approach the theme. The answers were examined first by a task force of theologians, and afterwards by the members of the Council of ti;e General Secretariat. Following the indications contained in the answers from the bishops' conferences and the guidelines elaborated by the fifteen members of the Council, the General Secretariat then produces a preliminary paper called Linearnenta or "outline of the theme." 812 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 The Lineamenta has been sent to all the Hierarchies, not as a working paper for the Synod, but as a help for further study of the theme and for wider consultation in all Local Churches. The outline document is in no way--nor does it pretend to be--a complete and logically ordered treatment of the theme. Neither is it an outline or a draft of a possible future synodal document. It aims to offer a point of departure for analysis, discussion and reflection on the laity: on the doctrinal and pastoral aspects of the question, on values and needs, on achievements and diffict~lties. Its main aim is to stimulate discussion and help the Local Churches deepen their own thinking in. the matter. In the covering letter which accompanied the Lineamenta, the General Secretary insisted that the consultation not be limited to the bishops or to specialized commissions of the bishops' conferences. The letter strongly emphasized that the very nature of the theme, as well as the direct experience of those who fully live their vocation as lay Christians, demand a large scale consultation of the laypeople themselves. This consultation should not be limited to comments on the Lineamenta only, but should continue up to the opening of the Synod itself, so that the participating bishops can truly reflect the situations and expectations of the laity in their particular Churches. Past experience has proven that such a consultation can be a truly bene-ficial event for the Church. It can initiate a process of deeper awareness of all the faithful concerning their own baptismal vocation. In preparation of the 1980 Synod on the Family, the Bishops' Conference of France was able to collect fifty thousand answers from groups and families. Prior to the 1983 Synod on Penance and Reconciliation, the Bishops of Chile gathered twenty-five thousand answers from parishes and small ecclesial communities. The very process of the consultation cannot but have d profound impact on the life of the Local Church when it is carried out at all levels. In order to facilitate a consultation at the grass roots level, the Lineamenta was published in seven languages, and bishops' conferences have translated the document into many more local idioms. It has become one of the most widely distributed texts. At the end of the three chapters of the Lineamenta some questions have been formulated. The answers to the questions, duly synthesized at the level of the bishops' conference of each nation and supplemented by any con-sideration which the bishops themselves might add, will then serve as the basis for the "working paper" which we hope to forward to the future par-ticipants sometime before the opening of the Synod. As of May 1, the cutoff date for the submissions from the particular churches and bishops' conferences, the Secretariat had received answers to the questionnaire from a grand total of three conferences of bishops! The The Worm Synod of Bishops / 813 Extraordinary Synod has certainly interfered with the preparation of the Synod on the Laity. But I also feel that Synods which follow too closeiy must allow sufficient time for a thorough preparation in a way that the whole People of God can feel involved. When I left my office some days ago, the submissions had begun to arrive in larger numbers. Within the next month a Task Force of experts--priests and laity-~will study all the responses and prepare an outline for the working paper (Instrumentum laboris). The fifteen cardinals and bishops, members of the Council of the Synod's General Secretariat, will discuss and finalize ~the outline at the next Council meet-ing, October 8-11. It is clear that the preparation, of the Synod constitutes a unique chal. lenge but also a sterling opportunity for lay men and women to undertake an assessment of their own involvement as baptized Christians in the Church and the world. For the whole Church, it will be an occasion to deepen the understanding of the true nature of the Church on the eve of the Third Millennium of her history. It is an occasion that the Church cannot afford to miss. For Catholic professional media people, the coming Synod offers the possibility to look at their own involvement in the Church and in society, and to assess the role they are called to play as Catholics and as communi-cators. But at the same time the whole People of God, pastors together with the laity, must reflect on the sacredness of the communic~ator's vocation, charisma and ministry. I hope that the following remarks may somewhat contribute to this process of reflection on your part. The Synod and the Media The surprise announcement of the Extraordinary Synod and the relatively short time allotted for its preparation attracted right from the beginning an unusual amount of comment and speculation. Within the Catholic Church, some seemed to fear that the Synod would be used to point the Church in a new direction, signaling a kind of retreat from the principles and attitudes of the Second Vatican Council. Some, on the other hand, saw the Synod as providing an opportunity to identify and correct what they judged to be the mistakes and abuses of the past twenty years. Most however--and this contrary to the impression given by the mass media in the months preceding the Synod--accepted the Synod gratefully as an oppor-tunity to deepen their understanding of the Council, while others, of the younger generation, hailed it as a welcome occasion to discover for the first time in a deeply personal way the message of Vatican II. In spite of the clearly stated intentions of the Holy Father, a debate con-tinued to rage well up to and into the time of the Synod itself. Taking into 814 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 account that some media people have difficulty not to inject into their report-ing their own perceptions and biases, the future debate at the Synod was presented erroneously as a battle between liberals and conservatives. Some seeds of misunderstanding concerning the aims of the Synod may also have been found in the polarization which exists today within many sectors of the Catholic community concerning the nature of the Church and her role. Not a few h~ve retained a position which has not moved beyond the First Vatican Council, and see the Church almost exclusively in structural, institu-tional terms. They have not given enough weight to the work of the Second Vatican Council. They have failed to recognize the essential truth that the Second Vatican C6uncil does not contradict the First Vatican Council, but complements it. The primacy and infallibility of the pope, defined at the First, are not contradicted but developed further at the Second Vatican Council by a fuller consideration of the role and ministry of the bishops. The Second Vatican Council lays emphasis, then, on the collegiality of bishops, on their respon-sibility for their own dioceses and for the good of the Universal Church, on the true nature of the diocese as the Church of God in each locality, and on the dignity and calling of all the baptized. Part of the Church's task in the past twenty years has been to try to find ways of expressing these complementary truths of the First and Second Vatican Councils in struc-tures and attitudes that do justice to both. Inevitably we have failures as well as successes to look back on. But some people have never accepted that that effort had to be made. Others have failed to see how the Church relates to the modern world. In the past, some Christians saw nothing but threat and danger in the world. According to those, the Church stood apart from the world and tended to oppose, reject and condemn it. The Second Vatican Council taught that the Church must be open to the world, its aspirations and struggles, and seek to provide it with a soul and a conscience. Because of those and similar factors, some Catholics came to view the Extraordinary Synod as a moment simply of crisis or conflict. They failed to understand that there is a very real sense in which the life and work of the Church, of a Council as well as of a Synod, can only be seen through the eyes of faith. Many, however, and towards the beginning of the Synod they were a majority, acknowledged the true intentions of the Holy Father. This progres-sive acceptance of the objective and of the true nature of the Extraordinary Synod was the result of many converging factors. The Holy Father himself spoke repeatedly, on the occasion of the Angelus prayer on Sundays, of the teaching and orientations of Vatican II. Bishops, bishops' conferences, The World Synod of Bishops / 815 theologians and lay people engaged, everywhere in a process of further reflec-tion about the Council. Each in their own sphere and field, they began to take stock of where they stood and what ,they had done to implement the Council. And so it could be said that even before the Synod convened its objectives had already been partially achieved through a greater awareness of the total richness of Vatican II for the Church of today. The media interest during the Extraordinary Synod was exceptional. Over and beyond the two hundred fifty journalists with permanent accreditation to the Holy See, some four hundred ten correspondents from thirty-four countries came to Rome for the sole purpose of covering the Synod event. The media of the whole world followed the 1985 Synod with more interest than any of the preceding Synods. Never had the Church attracted so much attention since the days of Vatican II, not even during the Conclaves of 1978, nor even on the day the Pope was shot. The large majority of media professionals.~faithfully reported the true content of the proceedings and of the concluding documents. Wherever I went after the Synod, I was truly amazed at seeing how most of the people that I met had a correct knowledge and understanding of the Synod. And yet, some publications still keep hammering away at the so-called secrecy of the synodal process, at the insufficient briefings or press releases, at the reluctance of Synod officials to talk, at the exclusion of the journalists from the Synod Hall during the meetings, and so on. I will not endeavor to give a deta!led account of all that was done before and during the Synod in order to improve the flow of information. I can only pledge that Archbishop Foley and myself are determined not to put aside any legitimate suggestion that will contribute to better and more objec5 tive information. Today, I only want to share some general observations regarding the relationship between the media and Synod, hoping that those of you who will cover the next Synod may be helped in their task. 1. A Synod of Bishops is an event that must totally and specifically be seen in the context of the Church. Information on ihe Synod has to do with the image of the Church. When one speaks of the image of the Church, there is more at stake than "image" understood in a public relations sense. Something far more fundamental is at stake, namely the self-understanding on the part of the Church of her very nature and mission. Upon that self-understanding or "image" so much else depends, and, in the case that con-cerns us here, on it depends the understanding of the nature and functioning of a Synod of Bishops. 2. The Synod of Bishops is not an ecumenical council where all the bishops of the world, together with the pope, exercise directly and collegially the supreme authority in the Church. The Synod, as set out in the Code 816 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 of Canon Law, is a limited group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world, and who meet at stated times with the pope-- normally every third year. The scope of such meetings is threefold: to fos-ter closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and .the bishops; to assist the Roman Pontiff in safeguarding faith and morals and in strengthening ecclesiastical discipline; to consider questions concerning the Church's activity in the world (Can. 342). It is the role of the Synod of Bishops to discuss the questions on the agenda and to formulate suggestions, but not to decide the issues or to issue decrees, unless the Roman Pontiff in certain cases has endowed the Synod with deliberative power, and even in this event, it is the pope's prerogative to ratify the decision (Can. 343). It is most important to be clear on this point. 3. It is important to realize that the Synod of Bishops is directly under the authority of the pope, who convenes its assembly, ratifies the election of its members and appoints other members, determines the agenda, presides over the Synod and brings it to conclusion (Can. 344). The Synod, then, is not to be seen as a kind of constitutional "check and balance" to the authority of the pope; it is most certainly not an alternative or rival authority; it is one means by which the bishops of the world are given an opportunity to collaborate with the Holy Father for the good of the whole Church. The bishops gathered in Synod together with the pope are not called to promote their own priorities. In listening to and in exchanging with their brother bishops from all continents, they try to achieve a consensus regarding specific recommendations which they wish to propose to the pope. While aware of the needs of their own particular Churches, they must view all questions from the perspective of the universal good of the Church, and thus give equal consideration to the situations prevailing in their own dioceses or nations, as to those of the most distant regions and peoples. 4. The synodal process is unique and cannot be compared with any other process of group dynamics. In a Synod, bishops come together in function of the episcopal mission which they received through sacramental ordination. A Synod will therefore always be first and foremost an event with a spiritual dimension. All through the days of a Synod, bishops open their hearts and minds not only to their brother bishops but to the voice of the Holy Spirit. They allow their convictions to be shaped by human reasoning, by speak-ing out and by listening, by dialogue and discussion, but above all by their willingness to accept the message of Jesus Christ, while together they fathom its depth and relevance under the inspiration of the Spirit. It is therefore normal that at the end of a synodal process bishops approve proposals and express ideas which they did not hold at the beginning, or which differ from what had been stated by their own conference of bishops before the Synod. The World Synod of Bishops / 817 The process of discernment is so essential to the Synod that it should not be made dependent on the ebb and flow of public opinion. That process would be hampered or even distorted if bishops were concerned more with posturing for the media back home than with the collegial search for insight and consensus. 5. Religious editors and correspondents are by and large professionals in the true sense: they know their business and they have a thorough under-standing of the business of the Church. However, time and again some media send to the Synod correspondents who have earned their kudos on the polit-ical scene but are mere apprentices when it comes to Church activities and religious events. The editor of a serious national newspaper or wire service would not dream of sending one of the staff to cover the tennis open unless he or she had demonstrated a solid grip of the intricacies of the game. Nor would a network dispatch to the Pentagon a reporter who has never heard about military strategy, tactics and hardware. And yet, at every Synod we meet media people who see in the Church nothing more than just another political convention or parliamentary assembly where all results are produced through a majority vote. They do not know that the magic of the majority vote does not work when it comes to the formulation of theological principles or moral doctrine! It is not fair to the professional integrity of journalists when they are put in a position of having to relate or interpret events and statements that are totally outside the scope of their qualifications. Goodwill and hard work are not always substitutes for expertise, knowledge and com-petence. A lack of knowledge about religious matters or Church affairs may lead a correspondent to discard whatever news or issue cannot be reduced to "material" or "secular" or "political" categories. 6. A Synod is also a good place to observe trends that are developing in the Church. The last Synods have clearly shown how the presence of bishops from Third World countries is becoming stronger and more influ-ential. Their voices are listened to with greater interest, all the more so since the churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America often present a picture of dynamic growth and joyful celebration that we so sorely miss in many of the churches in the Western world. The Church is no longer Eurocentric or Occidental. Yet among the journalists and correspondents at the Synod, the overwhelming majority comes from Europe and North America, a situa-tion that accurately reflects the distribution of media power in today's interna-tional community. As a consequence, churches in the Third World are almost totally dependent on secondhand information from western sources, except in the case of the few diocesan bulletins that have the good fortune of receiv-ing reports from their own bishops, faithfully composed at the end of each week during a Synod. 818 / Review for Religious, November-Decetnber, 1986 The situation of the Third World churches merits our attention. It is important, therefore, to become more fully aware of the information needs of the younger churches. Media persons should ask themselves whether some-thing more could be done by their publication, by their diocese, at the level of the national Church, particularly of such entities as the Catholic Press Association. It should not be too difficult to come up with some truly imaginative projects, such as sponsoring a religious correspondent from a Third World Church to theupcoming Synod, or organizing internships for young'journalists from Africa or Asia or Latin America who could accom-pany a Western staff to the Synodl These have the means, and I am sure also the motivation, to find a solution to a problem that cannot be solved by them alone, but that will never be solved without their help. I conclude my remarks. Every Synod of Bishops deals with some aspect of the truth of the Church, and always with the entire truth of the Gospel message. The service which the communications media render is, to use an expression dear to John Paul II, "service of truth." In the realm of religious information, the medium cannot be separated from the message of the Lord. We live in an age of increased complexity, confusion and helplessness. In a time of great change and upheaval, there is always, in the Christian com-munity, the human urge to withdraw in a Church-under-siege mentality, to become obsessed with difficulties and dangers, or to suffer paralysis from too much analysis, In the Church we always have a fair share of prophets of doom, those that pull their hair and wring their hands in lament for the loss of faith in our society, while in their own lives they fail to witness to the truth of the Gospel message. Such prophets of doom deny the power of Pentecost and the working of the Spirit, and go forth to proclaim the Good News. In a very special way Catholic media people must be the bringers oftruth, the heralds of the Spirit and the witnesses of love of the Father as revealed in Christ Jesus. The streets and the squares of our cities and villages are teeming with people who wait to hear the truth of the Lord Jesus. We cannot fail them. Pilgrim and Penitent: Direction and Sacramental Reconciliation Shaun McCarty, S.T. Father McCarty writes in his covering letter: "It seems like ages since I've sent in any-thing . A stint on our general council broke the flow of writing." Actually his last article was in 1978, and was entitled: "Religious Roots: Knowing and Owning Our Own Story." He may be addressed at Holy Trinity Mission Seminary; 9001 New Hampshire Avenue; Silver Spring, Maryland 20903. The emergency call from my niece came early one Friday last winter. Her seven-year-old was balking at the prospect of first confession with her class several weeks hence. Reassurances seemed of little help. But Heather was willing to talk with her great-uncle. Faced with the formidable task of meeting with a seven-year-old (I'm used to dealing with grown-ups!), I agreed to come over after school that day for., what? Was it to be penitential catechesis? Spiritual direction? Pastoral counseling? Talk about intimidation! In my own mind I settled for just an avuncular chat! Some hours later, I found myself in peripatetic fashion sloshing through the melting snowbanks at a local park. In between kicking her patent leathers into every icy puddle along the way (and stopping to watch a freight train pass), Heather's predicament unfolded. (It's O.K. to write about this. She said I could tell.) Yes, she was clear about the meaning of the sacrament (she called it "reconciliation" !) and about the ritual involved. Yes, her God-image was in good shape (God was her "friend"). No, she didn't have trouble telling God she was sorry when she didn't behave properly (though she did have some trouble telling her brother!). No, she wasn't afraid of the priest (he was "real nice" with the kids). What her hesitation came down to was: (a) she didn't want to have to 819 820 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 tell all her sins to anyone (at least no one "outside the family!") and (b) she was afraid that, if she did, the priest would tell her parents (apparently they didn't count as part of "the family"!) After some reassurances that lots of grown-ups had difficulties with confession (she was surprised that grown-ups had to go too!), but many I knew found it very helpful. I asked if she thought she might give it a try. Her response: "I'11 have to think it over." By that time we were back to the house. It seemed right to end this avuncular chat at this point. There is a certain irony in what appears to be a simultaneous rise of interest in prayer in the United States~ and a sharp decline in the number of sacramental confessions by "grown-ups" in the last two decades.2 Nor is the latter decline limited to the United States. Church-wide concern was manifest at the Sixth General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which addressed "Reconciliation and Penance in the Mission of the Church.''3 At the close of the synod, Pope John Paul II called for a "contemporary penitential catechesis." With personal prayer "up" and sacramental confessions "down," there has been correspondingly an increased search for spiritual directors and a decreased demand for confessors. Perhaps it would be mutually advantageous for both the sacramental ministry of reconciliation and the non-sacramental ministry of spiritual direction to see them in relationship to one another. That might be one step toward a contemporary catechesis, hopefully leading to a deepened understanding and appreciation of both ministries. It is my purpose here neither to analyze the reasons for this simultaneous rise and decline, nor to trace the historical development of either ministry to any great extent. Rather, I shall explore some distinctions'and similarities between the two; weigh the comparative merits of keeping them together or separate; and, finally, suggest ways in which the two ministries might be kept correlative and complementary in the lives of Christians called to be both pilgrims and penitents. My two basic premises are: (1) it is generally helpful and sometimes necessary to talk about one's experiences of both grace and sinfulness; (2) spiritual direction and the sacrament of penance are two distinct, but not necessarily separate forms of pastoral care providing forums for such sharing. The choice is not to be pilgrim or penitent; it is how, when and where to assume the modality of each. I use the term pilgrim in a symbolic sense to indicate a person's graced movement towards God which often leads to spiritual direction; I use the term penitent in a symbolic sense to indicate a person's movement away from sin which often leads to confession. To expand the symbols somewhat, a pilgrim might be described as one Direction and Sacramental Reconciliation / 821 who chooses to embark on an intentional faith-journey. The journey becomes intentional to the extent that a person makes a commitment to give serious and consistent attention to the quest for holiness of life as a disciple. Life becomes a faith-journey to the extent that one believes in and acts as though there is a transcendent dimension to all reality and belief in a God who con-tinues to provide for and to guide creatures as they move through life. There is an outer dimension to this journey as the pilgrim interacts with people, places and events that occur in providential sequence and become part of one's sacred geography. There is an inner dimension to this journey as the pilgrim follows a path that leads to deeper union with the divine. Above all, the pilgrim style is prayerful in that, it provides for uncluttered space for reflection so that the people, places and events of the journey can become revelatory of God's beauty, design and call. For help with this discerning prayer, pilgrims often seek out spiritual directors who act as companions, counselors, guides for the journey. ,. As a symbol, a penitent might be described as one involved in an ongoing process of conversion as a sinner loved by God who shows a spirit of true penitence in seeking forgiveness of sin and reconciliation within the community of believers. Conversion is a lifelong process of allowing the grace of God to unify and to free our divided hearts for perfect love. It is a movement away from self-absorption and towards self-surrender to God's designs. True penitence involves knowing and owning the reality of one's sins, being sorry for them and seeking forgiveness. This inner disposition of penitence becomes outwardly manifest in acknowledging one's sins not just to God, but to another who, as an agent of reconciliation, can enable the process of for-giveness. This mediation can happen in both sacramental and non-sacra-mental ways. Sacramentally it can occur in baptism, anointing and Eucharist as well as in penance. Non-sacramentally, it can happen in a variety of ways including healing services, therapeutic counseling or just a talk with a trusted confidant. There is a splendid example of this latter means in the Fifth of Alcoholics Anonymous' Twelve Steps which states: "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and. to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.''4 Prescinding from any canoncial necessity, A.A. attests to the efficacy of confessing to another human being: This practice of admitting one's defects to another person is, of course, very ancient. It has been validated in every century, and it characterizes the lives of all spiritually centered and truly religious people. But today religionis by no means the sole advocate of this saving principle. Psychi-atrists and psychologists point out the deep need every human being has for practical insight and knowledge of his own personality flaws and for a discussion of them with an understanding and trustworthy person. So 822 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 far as alcoholics are concerned, A.A. would go even further. Most of us would declare that without a fearless admission of our defects to another human being we could not stay sober. It seems plain that the grace of God will not enter to expel our destructive obsessions until we are willing to try this.5 Finally, a penitent seeks reconciliation within the community of believers. Since one's sins break or fray the bonds of relationship and tend to alienate or isolate the sinner, there is need to seek at-oneness with others who have been affected by one's dark deeds, words or omissions. And this applies to societal as well as personal sin. For help in seeking forgiveness and recon-ciliation, penitents often seek confessors and confidants with whom they can share their failings and seek absolution. Distinctions Between Spiritual Direction and the Sacrament of Penance Before drawing distinctions between the two ministries, a brief historical sketch of the roles of confessor and spiritual director may prove illuminating. In the tradition of the Eastern Church, there has always .been a clear distinction between confessor (parish priest) and spiritual director (starets). According to P. de R6gis: One confesses to his parish priest, and does so by way of an ecclesiastical obligation. He thus accomplishes a duty of community life. However, he goes to the starers solely with the pure desire for personal perfection . A second trait sets the starets completely apart from the confessor. He is chosen not because of his priestly character, but solely because of his charis-matic gifts which people think they see in him. This situation, without doubt, has always existed everywhere, and it was St. Francis de Sales who recommended that we choose our director carefully from "among ten thousand . ,,6 In the tradition of the Western Church, spiritual direction came to be increasingly combined with sacramental confession, a development that paved the way for the later "confession of devotion.''7 A significant influence in the development of Western sacramental prac-tice has been that of St. Alphonsus Ligouri who, in explaining the duties of a confessor, declares that one of the most important of these duties is that of "directing devout souls.''8 B. Haring reflects this strong Alphon-sian tradition of uniting the role of spiritual director with that of confessor: The confessor must also form the conscience of his penitent to an awareness of the obligation to grow in the love of God . The confesso~:'s role is to guide the penitent through the various pathways to holiness, lighting the way to Christ by helping him to develop a fuller prayer life.9 Others who highlight the liturgical role of the confessor tend to separate Direction and Sacramental Reconciliation / 823 more the ministries of spiritual director and confessor as, for example, L. Hamelin: Nor is the priest I encounter in this sacrament primarily a director of con-science. All the better if he is this, since such direction is a felicitous pro-longation of confession. But it is not essential to the sacrament of reconciliation that the confessor be a good director. The important thing is that he is charged with a mission, namely, the proclamation of the world's salvation. ~o Notwithstanding a variation of stress on the confessor's role as spiritual director, certain distinctions between the ministries of spiritual direction and the sacrament of reconciliation can be made on the basis of purpose (why), minister (who), content (what), process (how), time (when), place (where) and recipient (for whom). These are not meant to be sharp distinctions. Often what happens more properly in one forum occurs also in the other, but in a more secondary way. For example, healing can happen in direction; prayer does occur in the sacrament. Purpose (Why?): Spiritual direction aims primarily at enabling growth in a person's relationship with God and with others in Christ. In addition to proclaiming the world's salvation, the sacrament of penance aims primarily at mediating God's forgiveness and a person's reconciliation with God, self and others. As A. Von Speyer says, "To put the matter simply, we may say that the main function of the confessor is to set free from sin, that of the director to foster growth in divine love.''~ A further distinction should be made within the sacrament itself -- that of penance as a sacrament of necessity, following mortal sin and that of devotion, useful for spiritual progress. This classical distinction is repeated in the revised Rite of Penance (1973) in numbers six and seven, yet, as L. Orsy points out: Strangely enough., it seems that these two distinct operations of penance are lost from sight; the very term "reconciliation" is used indiscriminately for both, although in its proper sense it should be used for those who "have left the house of their Father," not for ttiose who have remained there.~2 Minister (Who?): The present complex practice of the Church is that confessors be ordained priests with faculties granted by an Ordinary for the administration of the sacrament to specified individuals or classes of people. Spiritual directors, on the other hand, do not hold formal office in the Church. Ideally, they are those charismatically gifted and who have the requisite knowledge, experience and skills to enable spiritual growth, and who are sought out by the community. Content (What?): The focus of content in spiritual direction is on the God-consciousness in a person's life and how that person is responding to 824 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 what is heard/seen/felt. The ministry of direction embraces the entire range of a person's religious identity. Key are the questions: Where is God and his offers of grace in the experiences of my everyday life? What are God's desires for me? What am I doing about it? In the sacrament of penance, the focus of content is on a person's need for the forgiveness of sin by an all-loving and merciful God. Key are the questions: What is the shape of my sinfulness for which I am sorry and seek forgiveness? Can I experience God as merciful and myself as a loved sinner? Process (How?): Confession takes place in the internal sacramental forum according to a prescribed rite and is governed by specific laws. In the revised Rite of Penance, there are three modes of sacramental celebration: two com-munal, one individual. For individual, auricular confession, there are pro-visions for praying with and for the penitent, sharing of texts from Sacred Scripture, listening compassionately to the confession of sins on behalf of God and the community, helping to discern the spiritual situation of the penitent, conveying the forgiveness of God by absolution, expressing the exigence of God's call to conversion by the imposition of an appropriate penance and possibly offering counsel as it seems fitting?3 Spiritual direction takes place in the internal, non-sacramental forum, does not follow any set ritual, noris it generally governed by specific legis-lation beyond the basic norms of moral conduct. Direction involves an inter-personal exchange helpful in discerning God's action in the life of the directee. It proceeds according to a style congenial to a particular director and direc-tee, though there are dynamics foundational to all healthy spiritual direction. Time (When?): Spiritual directors meet with directees on a regular basis determined by a working alliance/contract/covenant mutually agreed upon. Penitents are obliged to receive the sacrament of penance as soon as feasible following mortal sin. For confessions of devotion, frequency rather than regularity seems to be the norm suggested for current Church practice. Place (Where?): The ordinary setting for sacramental confession is either a confessional with screen between priest and pentitent, or a reconciliation room specifically appointed for a more personal and informal exchange between the two. (Heather calls the first "the old way" and the second "the new way"! She likes "the old way"!) There is no designated place for sessions of spiritual direction, though consideration should be given to a discreet setting that provides the requisite comfort and confidentiality for a fruitful exchange. Recipient (For whom?): The sacrament of penance is for Christians assuming the modality of penitent.s. Sp.iritual direction is for those assum-ing the modality of pilgrims. Direction and Sacramental Reconciliation Similarities Between the Two Ministries Just as there are differences I~etween spiritual direction and the sacrament of reconciliation, so are there similarities on the bases of purpose, minister, content, process and recipient. Purpose: Both are concerned with the spiritual condition of the pilgrim/ penitent; one stresses the turning away from sin, and the other, the turning towards God -- two sides of the same coin, conversion. Minister: Both confessor and spiritual director see their roles as instrumental, with the Holy Spirit as the principal agent of both forgiveness and spiritual growth. Their instrumentality is enhanced by many of the same qualities and dispositions like prayerfulness, a listening heart, fraternal exchange, respect for the freedom of the other, observance of confidentiality, Christlike love. Content: On the one hand, matters of spiritual growth often receive attention, especially in confessions of devotion. On the other hand, matters concerning forgiveness frequently are dealt with in spiritual direction. A report to the 1983 Synod of Bishops indicates several ways in which this happens: ". certain forms of spiritual direction are of the nature to redeem sins, as, for instance, the revision de vie, the capitulum culpae, a talk with one's spiritual director, confession to a starets in connection with monastic practice." 14 Process: Many of the activities and dynamics that enable effective com-munication with each other and fruitful mutual listening to the Spirit are the same, These would include: prayer with and for the pilgrim/penitent; sharing of texts from Sacred Scripture; affirming grace; challenging growth; occasional instruction; co-discerning the spiritual condition of the recipient; observing periods of silence; gestures communicating God's prodigal love manifested in Christ. Recipient: Pilgrim and penitent are modalities of the same person. Both modalities build on a foundational awareness and acceptance of being a sinner unconditionally loved by a graciousand merciful God. The qualities that dispose one for a more fruitful use of both spiritual direction and the sacrament of reconciliation are much the same: honesty; openness; trust; humility; gratitude and not least of all, the ability to keep one's gaze up and out towards God, and not down and in on one's feet! Together or Separate? There are some notable advantages in combining spiritual direction with the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation: (1) This situates spiritual direction within a liturgical/sacramental context, thus lending it a more visible ecclesial dimension. To the extent that sacramental celebration brings a 826 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 deepened and broadened sense of Church, one can experience more solidarity, support and nourishment in the twin tasks of reconciliation and spiritual growth. J. Sudbrack goes so far as to say: As Catholicism sees it, the most initmate transactions between man and God become authentically visible in the sacrament of the Church. Now as a matter of fact spiritual guidance has often taken place, historically, in the sacrament of penance. The modern practice of consulting the priest in confession is a revival of an old tradition. Even when confession and spiritual guidance cannot be one and the same., it is desirable that such guidance culminate in sacramental confession.~5 (2) Combining both can lessen the tendency to dichotomize one's growth in prayer from the moral attitudes and behaviors of one's life; (3) The for-giving, healing, reconciling action of the Holy Spirit is particularly evident in the revised Rite of Penance. It would seem particularly appropriate that these issues so inimical to spiritual growth -- alienation, isolation, selfish-ness, woundedness -- be dealt with in the same context as one's growth in the Spirit; (4) With keener discernment in "naming one's demons," in being specific about the shape of one's sinfulness, a person is likely to see more clearly those factors as they dull one's sensitivity to the Spirit; (5) Com-bining spiritual direction and confession can become an occasion when one can catch a fuller glimpse of self, both the sin-side and the grace-side. With such fuller perspective it would seem less likely that a person would fall prey, on the one hand, to a self-absorbing remorsefulness over sins or, on the other hand, to hubris (spiritual pride) over spiritual progress; (6) The penitent/pilgrim might see more clearly that God saves and sanctifies right in the midst of one's sinfulness, using even sinful acts and attitudes to lead to deeper union. G. Croft has expressed this well: Like the father with his prodigal son, God permitted Israel's waywardness of old in order that his chosen people might experience what it meant to be separated from their Father, and thus recognize afresh their need of him. So, too, our Lord's consciousness that he had come to save the lost sheep is reflected in knowledge of him as savior, particularly in the moment when the sinner experiences separation from God and the need of his love and mercy. This moment of grace and of conversion each one of us has experienced . not once but many times; so that even when we cry "out of the depths," our seeking is fraught with thanksgiving as we remember his past mercies.~6 (7) The sacrament is a humbling reminder that no one can grow a whit spiritually on his or her own initiative; (8) As both guilt and giftedness are brought to the same session, it can be seen more clearly that both need con-version, lest one become' self-absorbed in either guilt or gift; (9) Coming Direction and Sacramental Reconciliation / 827 at once as pilgrim and penitent can bring a more genuine realization of St. Paul's observation, ". power is at full stretch in weakness" (2 Co 12:9); (10) Finally, having the same person for confessor and director seems more conducive to the integration of these two valuable outside helps to holiness in that one person hears the whole story in the same context. Difficulties in Combining Roles On the side of the confessor/director, the most obvious difficulty is that this limits the ministry of spiritual direction presently to celibate, male clerics. With increasing demands on time and ministerial skills along with decreasing numbers of priests, it seems hardly likely that they could even begin to satisfy the rising need for spiritual directors. Besides, not all priests have the charisms for this ministry, not to mention the knowledge, skills and experience that facilitate the use of the gifts. Confessors who feel called to and who are willing to give a priority to spiritual direction for their penitents need adequate preparation for it. The commission's report to the 1983 Synod expressed this strongly: It is true that today the authentic form of private confession needs to be profoundly renewed in its spiritual aspects, and this in connection with the revised Ordo paenitentiae. Without such a renewal the Church will not be able to cope with the crisis of the sacrament of penance. For this a better spiritual and theological formation of priests is required, in order that they be able to deal with what is now demanded from confession, viz., the latter should contain more elements of spiritual direction and of fraternal .exchange. Under this aspect the so-called confession of devotion retains its importance.~7 On the side of the pilgrim/penitent, unless care is taken, the integrity of the two distinct ministries can become clouded. There may be some danger, too, that by locating spiritual direction within the context of confession, the project of spiritual growth could become too sin-oriented. At times, a person's sense of sinfulness ~can become so humiliating and/or immobilizing that open and honest exchange is flawed. Or the preoccupation with sin can so capture a penitent's consciousness that there is little room or energy for dealing with matters of spiritual growth. When Distinct But Not Separate In practice, the two can be kept distinct, but not necessarily separate. This is more likely to happen when both confessor/director and pilgrim/ penitent are clear about the distinction and habitually differentiate between the two ministries. If a choice is made to combine them, certain considera-tions may prove helpful: (1) Every session of spiritual direction need not 828 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 occur in combination with the sacrament of penance; (2)Especially appropriate times for combining them might be the seasons of Advent and Lent as well as periods of retreat; (3) In preparing beforehand, the very nature of one's examen can be such as to lead to a reflection not only on sinfulness, but also on graced invitations for further growth. For example, the Beatitudes might provide such a growth-oriented examen for pilgrim/ penitents. D. Barry makes this recommendation: The Beatitudes immediately recommend themselves as a blueprint for an updated, life-affirming ethical spirituality especially suited to the Christian mission of healing and reconciliation. Since they summarize the essence of Christlike living in a form that makes for easy recall, the Beatitudes offer a particularly rich source of meditation or conscience examination matter for the maturing Christian . They readily lead us to questions about our attitudes and conduct that get right to the heart of what contemporary discipleship is all about.~8 (4) If the penitent chooses to combine both, there should be some indica-tion of this intent at the beginning of the session. The penitential ritual might then be celebrated by itself at the beginning or the end of the time together or the penitent might indicate a desire to use the entire time to open before God his whole spiritual condition, graced and sinful, with a view to abso-lution at the end. As alluded to previously, one can develop a sensitivity to God speaking in the midst of one's sinfulness showing a side of self not otherwise open to awareness and conversion; (5) It would seem appropri-ate, on the occasion of confession/direction, that a pilgrim/penitent, in addi-tion to expressing sorrow for sins, also express gratitude for the graced times that have occurred. This, too, is with a view to keeping the more complete self in perspective as one considers his or her relationships to God, self and others. When Distinct and Separate Though the 1983 Synod of Bishops was primarily concerned with the sacrament of penance and, consequently, the role of the priest-director, the theological commission's report to the Synod did give recognition to extra-sacramental direction: That form of confession of sins, which is tied to spiritual direction, is a' very ancient treasure of the Church. On the one hand, it belongs to the very structure of the Church. On the other hand, as can be seen in the mg.nastic and spiritual traditions, it also has a place outside the sacrament. Both these data are factors in the development which is guided by the spiritual experience of the Church.~9 In the increasing likelihood that more spiritual directors will not be priests, Direction and Sacramental Reconciliation / 829 it would seem appropriate that the ministries be kept correlative and comple-mentary to the sacrament of penance. Some provisions that might help this happen are: (1) Alert and resourceful confessors might recommend qualified spiritual directors to those whose confessions indicate they would benefit from such further help; (2) Both directors and confessors might alert those who come to them to issues that might be dealt with better in the other forum. For example, a director may uncover some significant area that needs sacramental healing. Even if the person feels more comfortable in dealing with the issue in direction, there is the further possibility of celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation later; (3) The relationship between director and directee should be such that the latter will feel free to confide his or her sinful as well as graceful side with a director, lest either side get compart-mentalized; (4) Confessors and directors would do well to cultivate a mutual understanding of and respect for each other's ministries so as to see them-selves not in competition, but in collaboration with each other in their care of souls. Summary In the preceding pages, using the symbols of pilgrim and penitent, I have attempted to further such an understanding and appreciation of the ministries of spiritual direction and sacramental reconciliation by indicating some dis-tinctions and similarities between the two; by weighing the comparative merits and deficits of keeping them together or separate; and, finally, by suggesting some ways in which they might be kept correlative and complementary in the lives of Christians who are called to be both pilgrims and penitents. I close with some verses from the heart of one such pilgrim/penitent who has been on the journey somewhat longer than Heather (by about ninety years)! They are entitled, "Confessor-Director": And then above the dark horizon of my night There beamed a star that bathed my soul with light And beckoned me upon my pilgrim way. My spirit soared to meet the guiding flame That traced a path illuminated by His name And led me on to greet the dawning day! The Day that dawns to span Eternity. P.S. By the way, Heather did join the class for the sacrament of reconcilia- 83!1 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 tion! It seems that Father offered them the option of sitting in his lap. I forgot to ask if she opted for the "new" way! NOTES ~K.A. Briggs, "America's Return to Prayer," New Yoi'k Times Magazine (November 18, 1984), pp. 107-18. 2T.P. Sweetser~ "What Ever Happened to Confession?" New Catholic World (January-February, 1964), pp. 31-2. 3j. Ratzinger, "The Necessity for Personal Confession," Origins 13 (October 20, 1983), pp. 331-2. 4Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1953), pp. 56ff. 51bid, pp. 57-8. 6p. de R6gis, "Confession and Spiritual Direction in the Oriental Church," The Sacrament of Penance, C. de Vaux St. Cyr et al. (Paramus, N.J.: Paulist, 1966), p. 94. 7H.B. Meyer, "Confession or Spiritual Direction?" Making Sense of Confession, 0. Betz, ed., (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1968), p. 128. 8St. Alphonsus Ligouri, Praxis confessarii, nn. 121-27. 9B. Haring, Shalom: Peace (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giraux, 1967), p. 140. ~°L. Hamelin, Reconciliation in the Church, M.J. O'Connell, trans. (Coliegeville: Liturgical Press, 1980). ~tA Von Speyer, Confession (New York: Herder and Herder), p. 214. ~2L. Orsy, The Evolving Church and the Sacrament of Penance (Denville, N.J.: Dimension, 1978). ~3See M. Hellwig, Sign of Reconciliation (Wilmington: M. Glazier, 1982), especially Chapter VIII which treats the role of the confessor. ~41nternational Theological Commission Report to 1983 Synod of Bishops, Penance and Reconciliation, Origins (January 12, 1984), p. 521. ~sj. Sudbrack, Spiritual Guidance (Paulist, 1983), pp. 24-5. ~6G. Croft, "The Sinner Finds God," The Way (January, 1968), pp. 34-40. ~TReport to 1983 Synod, supra, p. 522. ~SD. Barry, Ministry of Reconciliation (New York: Alba House, 1974), p. 111. ~9Report to 1983 Synod, supra, p. 520. Freed for Life in the Spirit -- Together Romans 12:1-8: A Meditation Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. This biblical meditation on Christian life and community was presented at the assembly of the Jesuit New England Province on June 12, 1986. Father Harrington is professor of New Testament at the Weston School of Theology; 3 Phillips Place; Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. In an extraordinary act of boldness, Paul addressed at great length the Chris-tians of a church that he had not founded. He was bas.ically asking for a room in which to stay before moving on in his mission to Spain. Even before that, he had to bring the proceeds of the collection to J~rusalem, and perhaps also explain his activities to the Christian leaders there. Meanwhile he was hearing reports about frictions within the Roman community, chiefly with regard to divisions between Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians. With all these situations in mind, Paul wrote what has come to be recog-nized as his theological masterpiece -- his letter to the Romans. I find an uncanny parallel between the dynamics, of Romans and of St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises. Paul first establishes the need of all persons -- Gentiles and. Jews alike -- for something or someone beyond themselves if they are to find right relationship with God. Then he roots the person of Jesus and his followers in the tradition of salvation history reaching back to Abraham. Next he reflects on the difference that Jesus has made by freeing us from sin, death and the Law, and by freeing us for life in the Holy Spirit. These first eight chapters laid the foundations for reflection on the mystery of Israel in chapters 9-11, and for addressing problems within the Roman com-munity in chapters 12-16. Romans 12:1-8 presents Paul's vision of life within the Christian com- 831 832 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 munity. That life is first and foremost a response to the difference that Jesus has made. That life is communal, the task of persons freed from sin, death and the Law as potential masters of their lives, and freed for life under the prompting of the Holy Spirit. That life takes a variety of forms with the clear recognition that all the tasks undertaken within the Christian com-munity are important. "Freed for life in the Spirit -- together" -- that was Paul's understanding of Christian life. Perhaps he can help us as we try to give shape to our life as religious together. A Response Paul begins his exhortation in this way: I appeal to you, brothers, through the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age but be transformed by renewal of mind so that you may discern what is God's will, what is good and pleasing and perfect (vv. 1-2). With these words, Paul provides us with a way of understanding our-selves and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Calling upon familiar terms associated with sacrifice and temple worship, Paul insists that genuine worship of God takes place not merely in a designated place at a set time but rather in all that we do and whenever we do it. Everyday life is the "place" in which the Father of Jesus Christ is worshipped. The sacrifice that we offer to God is ourselves, no more and no less. In this framework, when we Christians do come together in a designated place at a set time, we are simply making concrete what happens throughout our 'lives. All our life is an act of worship, a time for praise and thanksgiving, a sacrifice holy and pleasing to God. Our Christian lives can be a continuing act of worship precisely because of the difference that Jesus Christ has made. Even though the kingdom of God, or the age to come, is not yet here in its fullness, we believe that in some way it has been inaugurated in Christ. Therefore we need not be con-formed to what Paul calls "this age"; that is, we need not be dominated by sin, death and the Law. Christ has freed us to live in the age to come, which he has already begun. And because Christ has freed us and invited us to share in the inaugurated kingdom, we can discern God's will. In Paul's perspective, discernment is not simply clear thinking coming to closure. Rather discernment has been made possible by what God has done for us in Christ. Discernment is our way of living in the inaugurated kingdom, in the age to come. Discernment is the way in which we shape our response to the freedom won for us by Christ. Freed for Life in the Spirit / 833 Christian life as continued worship, as living in the kingdom, as dis-cernment in response to Christ's gift of freedom -- these are the chief ele-ments in Paul's understanding of Christian life. Paul's exhortation continues: For by the grace that has been given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly than he ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith God has assigned to him (v. 3). Paul speaks sternly here. He wants the Christians at Rome to be more modest and realistic. He wants them to put an end to factionalism and com-petitiveness. He wants to deflate their pretensions. Nevertheless, Paul's way of deflating the Romans' pretensions is amazingly creative and positive. He does not downgrade them or criticize their abilities. Instead, he reminds them about the real source of their powers and indeed about the real source of his own power. In appealing to his own apostolic authority, Paul describes it as "the grace that has been given to me." In urging a more sober estimation of their own intellectual power, Paul tells the Romans to recall that whatever spiritual gifts they have were portioned out to them by God. So in the process of calling to task the Roman Christians, Paul insists on the gift that gives shape to all of Christian life. The fundamental gift of God is Jesus Christ. The ways in which that fundamerital gift is made concrete are themselves gifts. Thus the Christian community is the gathering of gifted persons, who all bear witness to God's most basic gift in Jesus Christ. On the one hand, Paul's doctrine of grace encourages humility, does a~ay with factionalism and competitiveness, and deflates pretensions. On the other hand, Paul's doctrine of grace underlines the "gift" character of Christian life, allows us to look on one another as gifted persons, and helps us to see our lives together as reflections of God's fundamental gift of Christ. No one can boast, precisely because all is gift. Life Together Paul continues: For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, members each one of the others (vv. 4-5). What coach, what director of a play, what overseer of a trip has not used the body analogy in order to urge greater cooperation among individuals? People of Paul's time were surely familiar with this analogy from a famous fable about the city as a body recorded by Livy. Thus our 834 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 own term, the "body politic." Indeed, there is no need to search for prece-dents or ancient parallels since the analogy is so easy. We all have bodies. Our bodies have many parts. When all the parts work together, each per-forming its proper function, we can accomplish our goal. When one part hurts or fails to function, the whole body suffers. The body analogy is so obvious that we could pass over it quickly if it were not for the small qualifying phrase "in Christ." We are one body in Christ. That is an enormously important qualification. What makes us a body of Christians is not a desire to win a game; or put on a play, or go on a trip: Christ makes us into a body. We become the body of Christ. The life that runs through us all, the spirit that animates us, the force that enlivens us is Christ. Therefore, as we live out our Christian lives as religious, we do so as members of the body of Christ.We are conscious that God has called us to this form of Christian life with other members of Christ's body. We have been called together as a way of responding to God's gift to us. As we work side by side, what we should try to see first and foremost is the life of Christ expressing itself in one another. Service Having laid his foundations about the nature of Christian life and having insisted on Christ as the 'basis of our communal life, Paul now considers the proper response to God's gift of freedom. For what have we been freed? We have been freed for service. In one Of the most tightly packed and meaningful sentences in the entire Pauline co~'pus, Paul says: "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them . . ." (v, 6a). This dense sentence summarizes Paul's approach to the place of service iri Christian life. In addressing the Romans, he assumes that all Christians are gifted ("having gifts"). The word for "gifts" here is charismata, the singular of which is charisma. But Paul does not use the word charisma as we do in our own day when we talk about charismatic politicians or movie actors -- those who have that certain undefinable something, that magic that makes them attractive to us, whose power comes from some unknown source. Paul knows the source of the Christian gifts. It is the Holy Spirit. Paul knows why Christians can do what they do. It is through the Holy Spirit. Paul knows why Christians do what they do. It is to build up the body of Christ. These gifts (charismata) are according to the grace (charis) given to us, By making this qualification; Paul reminds us that charisms flow from the fundamental grace, which is Christ. Charisms make concrete the grace of Christ. They are the means by which the grace of Christ expresses itself Freed for Life in the SpMt / 835 in our place and in our ~ime. These gifts differ. What sounds like an obvious statement on the logical level is not so easy to recognize in practice. Just as in a body the different members have different functions, so in the body of Christ there is astonishing variety.But sometimes variety is intimidating or frightening, and we want to shape others according to our own conceptions of what is good for them. Paul says no to all such attempts at imposing uniformity on the body of Christ. Variety must be respected not because it is refreshing or interesting but .because it witnesses to the marvelous power of God that can work through so many different instruments. "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us . " All of us are gifted. Our gifts are rooted in God's fundamental gift to us. Our gifts differ. The next and, indeed, necessary step is to use our gifts in service. God's gifts are not our personal possessions to be polished and stored away. They are not occasions for pride or boasting. God's gifts are to be used in free response to Christ our Lord~ Unlike most people today who understand freedom as the absence of any restraint upon them, Paul looked upon freedom as service under the only master worth serving. Whereas for many of our contemporaries "free-dom's just another word for nothing left to lose," for Paul freedom meant putting aside false masters for the sake of serving God and his people. Paul gives us some examples of service: ¯ . . if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; if service, in service; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who shares, in simplicity; he who presides, in zeal; he who is merciful, cheerfulness (vv. 6-8). The list illustrates concrete ways in which God's gifts are made manifest. The'list includes prophecy, service (diakonia), teaching, exhortation, sharing, presiding or administration, and acts of mercy. I will not comrfient on each of these gifts.Nor do I suggest that we can bE satisfied with merely transferring them into the twentieth century. Nevertheless, the list is instructive fo? us on several counts. The emphasis is on activities rather than offices or the persons who hold the offices. Also, there is no discernible hierarchy in the list, unlike 1 Corinthians 12. All the activities are important. Moreover, there is a stress on the spirit in which the activities are carried out -- moving backward on the list, in cheerfulness, in zeal, in simplicity, and so forth. Paul reminds us that actions are more important than status or office, that all the charisms are significant and help toward the health of the body, and that much depends on the attitudes with which we carry out our activities. Prayer of Being: Intimacy at the Center David Hassel, S.J. ,, In this article Father Hassel continues his study of prayer and intimacy. The work he has done on this subject, much of which has appeared in our pages, is being gathered into a book entitled Dark Intimacy; Hope for Those in Difficult Prayer published in the near future by Paulist Press. Presbntly, Father Hassel, as Research Professor, is devoting him-self fully to writing, primarily in the area of philosophy. He may be addressed at Loyola University of Chicago; 6525 N. Sheridan Road; Chicago, Illinois, 60626. People lose heart when God is drawing them into prayer of being, prayer of simple presence. Here is where people feel most useless to God and to themselves, most empty and unworthy of God. For this prayer is quite silent, ord!narily dry, sometimes hollow, angry-fearsome, briefly joyful, and lacking many former certitudes. If ever a praying person feels far from intimacy with God, it is at this critical growth-point of developing union with God. Here, then, such a person needs reassurance against diffidence. Perhaps assurance will be gained if this prayer of being is recognizably described within one's prayer experience, if its nature is revealed in Scrip-ture, if the disciplining action of this prayer can be sketched accurately, and if the way of living in this prayer can be clearly depicted. All these "ifs" form the strategy of this article. How to Recognize Prayer of Being Prayer of being, lying hidden underneath, at least three layers of expe-rience, has paradoxical features. Probably this is because the depth at which prayer of being occurs makes it describable only in limit-statements. The latter plot out the extreme boundaries of any mysterious experience; 836 Prayer of Being / 837 they do not offer a clear X-ray picture of its inner structure. For example, the first feature of thisprayer of being is its silence. It is gestureless, wordless. When one prays, there seems tobe no response, no sense of God's even hearing one's attempts to reach him. The silver arrows of one's petitions seem to hit the tabernacle and to fall shattered at its base. Praying becomes like the mocking echo of one's own voice when. shouting across.a river to a great bluff on the other side. At the same time, paradoxi-cally, the prayer may be noisy with distractions. One's mind feels like a huge warehouse at which gigantic "semi's" are unloading fresh cargoes of distractions on the warehouse dock and forklift trucks are delivering the boxes of distractions to the center of one's attention. Naturally, such distractedness is accompanied by dryness, the second characteristic of prayer of being. One feels no ready satisfaction, no lifts of the heart with joy. One gains no splendid insights to light up one's path; not even the tired insights of past years arise to illuminate the desert darkness. There is little or no heartfelt attraction for Christ, for Gospel reading, or for generous actions; there is only a certain blankness of mind and a wrinkled leathery feeling in the heart. Yet at the same time, after one has weathered the time given to this prayer (e.g., early in the morning) and started towards breakfast, one experiences a quiet worthwhileness and even a restored strength for the day's duties. These qualities are palpably missing when one omits this prayer; instead, one knows an indefinable seine Of loss and a certain lethargic heaviness. Of course, such experience seems somewhat hollow, the third feature of the prayer of being. The absence of satisfaction felt inside oneself is matched in one's outer activities. Hobbies, entertainment, daily work, favorite diversions--all seem strictly routine, not attractive, and rather superficial as though the silence and dryness of prayer had seeped into one's more exterior doings. Yet in the prayer of being itself and in these activities, there is a remote sense of fullness, as though through the deepest caverns of one's praying/working self there runs a great underground river. This remote fullness expresses itself indirectly when the praying person finds himself or herself saying: "Where else would I want to be than here? Nowhere else. What else would I rather be doing? Nothing else." What is this peculiar sense of rightness amid silence, dryness, and hollowness? Because the person now doing the prayer of being has already lived faithfully with the Lord not a few years, there is the fear that he or she is backsliding, is caught in a web of self-delusion. And yet the person may also feel deep anger towards God at the "unfairness of it all." This is the fourth feature of theprayer of being. For the individual begins to question: "What am I doing wrong that the Lord should be so distant?" And then 838 / Review for Religio'us, November-December, 1986 begins some rummaging around in the past for a disastrously wrong deci-sion, a fatal flaw of character, a refused grace of strategic importance. For example, a retreatant was asking these questions of himself from the fifth to the nineteenth day of his. Ignatian thirty-day retreat and came upon this answer on the nineteenth day: "This retreat is a fraud; your life leading up to this retreat has been equally fraudulent; in fact, you've been embezzling yourself from adolescence till now." On recounting this dazzling insight to his director, the latter said to him: ''Be sure to keep up this type of question-ing. And don't for a moment trust yourself, others, me, or God." This response shocked the retreatant into recognizing both the superficial evi-dence that provoked the questioning and the serenity he experienced deep at the center of his being--paradox of paradoxes. Even as he felt whirled about in swirls of confusion, he also knew that in the depths of his being he was resting at home with the Lord in the center of the universe. He felt like the weather-pilot who had been fighting a bucking plane through the tornado and now has suddenly broken into its quiet eye. But where there is fear, there is often also an accompanying anger. Frustrated with my work, my family, my own self, and embarrassed by my anger at God for all this frustration, I am restless, eager to break out of this suffocating cocoon of self. 'Repulsed by, my negative mood, by the stark vision of my sins .and limitations, by my own littleness compared to God's greatness, I experience a profound, but false sense of guilt. For I have forgotten that one gets most deeply angry only with those one loves best and that to be angry with God is to take seriously his goodness and his providence. Anger with a friend (even with God) can be a secret compliment. ~ Thus the angry Jeremiah felt free to call God to his face "a treacherous brook" (Jr 15:18) and to accuse the Lord of duping him (Jr 20:12). For this reason guilt at my anger is a false guilt, which acts like a suit of armor so that I cannot feel God's touch. Even if I did feel his touch I would deny it, because "what god would want to deal with me." Yet eventually, as a fearful, angry person who is doing the prayer of being, I find myself repeating the words of the fiercely angry prophet in the Book of Lamenta-tions: "The favors of the Lord are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent. They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness" (3:22-23). Amid all this confusion, there are occasional leaps of the heart at God's dim presence. They are very brief and widely spaced, with only.a rare moment when he seems to take over completely. Prayer of being, then, is not one long, monotone bore, A person can, however, overlook these quick touches of the Lord. Once a directee confessed: "If I had not kept a daily diary of this dry prayer Prayer of Being / 839 of mine, I would have complained that God was completely absent these past fifty days. But when I read back, I found four or five spots where the Lord made his presence felt for a few moments." Of course, this informa-tion makes quite a difference not only to the directee but also to the director. Soprayer of being is not a state of prayerlessness; its fifth feature is the Lord's quiet signaling of his companionship in our fears and anger. There is, nevertheless, in this prayer of being a gradual loss of youthful certainties. This constitutes the sixth characteristic of the prayer of being. One feels quite uncertain about so many things: political issues, the nature of holiness, the future of the United States, theological schools of thought, personality theories, economic cure-alls, long-standing family arguments, the proper raising and education of one's children, and so on. This deep wondering issues not so much from tired cynicisms as from a new sens( of mystery. Too often the failure of simple solutions has proved the myste-rious complexity of a person or of a situation, or of some vast plan of social improvement. Sometimes the praying person mistakes the deep wondering at such failures fora faith-loss---especially when a glance at the vine of one's apostolate seemingly reveals only shrunken grapes. A compelling temptation can then arise to find new works to do, new people to consult, new plans to promote. There can be even tears at this point though one is not sure why they come frustration, hope, self-pity, consolation? The most acute sufferings occur when the praying person feels seating doubt about whether he or she can love anyone fully, or be lovable to anyone else. And yet as the praying person descends deep into the self without knowing what lies ahead, there is no desire to go back up, even though the darkness seems to be heavier, for one experiences a strange contentment with the, situation--because one feels loved intimately. Does Prayer of Being Deny Intimacy? These six characteristics of prayer of being: silence, dryness, hollow-ness, fearsome anger, rare inbursts of joy, and loss of certainties would seem almost to deny the presence of any intimacy in this prayer. But the opposite is true. First of all, only by going through the various stages of prayer which require deep intimacy (one-to-one prayer, forgiveness, sinful-ness, apostolic more, and powerlessness) can one enter into the prayer of being. To declare that these stages of intimacy lead only to non-intimacy is to join the absurdist philosophers in stating that the human person is a living contradiction for self-destruction. In fact, the state of dryness charac-teristic of prayer of being is normal to all prayer, just as it is the normal 840 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 condition of any human relationship. It is the state lying between the extremes of consolation and desolation, just as the dryness in marriage or in work is the normal feeling between the ecstacy of love or of high success and the despair of lost love or bankrupt business. Dryness in prayer is the balanced state for enduring well everyday living. It is a secret strengthening joy; it is that sustaining intimacy which arises out of suffering well the everyday routines of prayer and life. Indeed, dryness is very instructive for the praying person. It forces the one who prays to distinguish the various levels of human experience, to enter their depths, to learn, more accurately what passive prayer is, and finally to develop a faithfulness to God which is more independent of consolations or desolations, of elations or depressions, and of subjectively estimated successes and failures. Let us glance at the levels of human experience so as to better under-stand dryness in prayer. There is, first, a superficial level, which consists of pleasures and pains present to our awareness like the constant purr of an air conditioner, the heavy perfume of lilacs, the irritation of a skin rash or a raspy voice, the comforting warmth of a May.sun or the soft touch 9f an April breeze and shower. The first level, then, is a constant stream of sensual impressions, the context of life. Underneath this is a second level of deeper experiences, such as the constant ache of neuralgia, or the deep pleasure of loving interchange, or the delight of solving a perplexing business problem, or the lyric leap of an evening at the symphony, or the exuberant planning for the first baby, or the panic fear of a flashing knife. This second level is more meaningful, and it lends depth to the first one. But underlying both these levels is a still more profound set of expe-riences which make up the third level. It is on this level that one experiences the enervating worry at not having a job, the satisfaction of affectionate family living, the sorrow of watching the alcoholic spouse struggle for respectability, the fulfillment of a project successfully completed which demanded ten years of one's life, the sense of worthwhileness in the costly sacrifice for one's beloved. At this third level, a person's deepest hopes are raised or dashed, a person's finest joys are brought into full bloom, a person's crushing sorrows test the stamina of one's very being. Believe it or not, there is also a fourth level, which is the dynamic basis of the three higher levels of experience. Although the top three levels are directly knowable to the subject, this fourth level is discovered and known' only indirectly, that is, only in contrast with the other three. Thus, a woman can be in good health on the first level, can enjoy a full family life on the second level, can see her role in life as richly meaningful on the third Prayer of Being / 841 level, and yet be restless and pain-filled on the fourth level. If it were not for this dramatic contrast with the top three levels, .she could not possibly come to know the fourth level as part of her experience. This revealing contrast can also occur in the opposite manner. A man may be suffering from a fourteen-day cold on the first level, may feel misunderstood by the family on the second level, experience sharp doubt on the third level about his ability to handle his new and complicated position in the corporation--and yet be peaceful at the fourth level, under-neath the disturbing events of the top three. He could well find himself asking: "What's wrong with me? I should feel depressed and desolate, but I don't. Am I becoming schizoid? Or have I lost interest in my family and my career?" But this startling contrast lets him know, if he reflects on it, that there is a fourth level of his experience, one known only by contrast with the upper three levels. This long explanation is meant to lead to the conclusion that great dryness of prayer at the top three levels of experience can be accompanied by a serene peace and sense of personal worthwhileness lurking underneath at the fourth level. Such a discovery lights up prayer of being, since such prayer happens at this fourth level where one comes into contact with one's being, one's fullest identity. Here, too, is the best rendezvous-point for meeting God. As any prayer which leaves us feeling powerless indicates: God is the one doing the praying in us; and he starts it at the fourth level, then lets it percolate up through the other three levels. In prayer of being, however, God may shut off this percolation into the top three levels. When this happens, one can find God only indirectly, through the contrast of the upper three levels with the fourth-level. At this point the praying person finally recognizes that he or she is totally at the mercy of God's initiative. Again, he or she more sharply appreciates the need to be more pa~ssive under God's action. Most of us, nonetheless, fight hard to be the active senior partner in prayer, and so we struggle mightily On the top three levels to keep control. At the first level we may try new vocal prayers, new Zen techniques, new spiritual reading books; at the second level we may try to pump up old emotions we once felt and duly inscribe in our spiritual diaries, or we may review magnificent panoramic insights of our personal salvation history. On the third level, we may investigate our motivations for being good family people, for becoming career enthusiasts, for entering the life of religious vows, for being unmarried or married, for being lazy or aggres-sive, for being liberal or conservative, and so on. In other words, to avoid the passivity of prayer, we strain to climb the sheer glass mountain of mystery by our fingernails. Inevitably we end up at 842 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 the bottom of the mountain, looking at our bloody hands. Slowly it dawns on us that maybe only God can lift us to the top of the glass mountain, that we have to rest passive in his hands as he lifts us gently and gladly, that only after we admit our total dependence on him, will he lift us to the top of the mountain. We learn, then, what the passivity of prayer is: letting God do the praying in and through our four levels of experience, while we simply furnish ourselves--and some basic conditions for prayer, e.g., time carefully set aside, some reading of Scripture and other spiritual works, a reverent body-position, a readiness to go in prayer wherever the Lord leads, and so on. These conditions God can use or not use as he sees fit. There is a third result of recognizing thi.s fourth level: because of dry7 ness at the upper three levels, one develops a faithfulness to God which is more independent of consolations or. desolations, of elations or depres-sions; one becomes aware of the constant presence of God in this fourth level. There, likea great underground river, he quietly nourishes all one's activities on the top three levels, rendering the praying person serene in the sure direction of the fiver, and letting the person know that he or she is never alone, never far from the center of the universe. This quiet reas-surance can occur in the midst of the most joyful, or the most sorrowful happenings on the upper three levels, and thus it nurtures the wholesome independence of the praying person. So it is no surprise that the person finds the edge taken off deep fears, fierce angers dampened down, and pestering doubts stilled. Thusprayer of being is never a lonely experience, since it is a constant, indirect awareness of God at one's deepest level of experience, at the center of one's being. In this way, divine being speaks within the individual person's being. Paradoxically, such communion is wordless at this silent depth. It is a simple presence to each other like that between long-married partners who have great mutual devotion to each other. In this one-to-one awareness, God and the praying person have, by a kind of osmosis, an underlying, indirect appreciation of each other rather than a direct face-to-face meeting as in the beatific vision. Their co-pres.ence is more by being than by insightful action or by tangible feeling. It is as though the praying person reaches behind his or her back to touch God. For each affects the other by pure presence of being, as happens when people are aware of each other even though separated by oceans and mountain ranges. Because this presence is so deep and subtle, it takes long years and much experience for the average praying person to recognize its potential for intimacy. Such mutual awareness is a beingrfor-the-other. This has a rema~:kable effect on the human partner. He or she finds greater empathy for other human beings at a deep level of experience, namely, that of being, of Prayer of Being / 843 radical person-hood. It is this which enables the praying person to enter more profoundly into the routinized lives of God's marginal people, to feel more deeply the emptiness of their sometimes meaningless lives, and the gestureless silence of their listless suffering. As a result the person in prayer of being becomes more ready to sacrifice, more apostolic in intent, in order to fulfill the needs of the Lord's anawim. Perhaps this is the cosmic com-passion of which Christ speaks: "Love your enemies, pray for your persecu-tors. This will prove that you are sons of your heavenly Father, for his sun rises on the bad and the good, he rains on the just and the unjust. In a word, you must be made perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:44-48). Because this prayer of being issues in close union not only with God but also with his marginal people, it leads to a dynamic compenetration of the two great commandments: to love God is to love neighbor and vice vers~a. In this way, prayer of being becomes like the background music permeating my consciousness as I wait for a client or work over financial accounts or have my teeth cleaned or do housework and gardening. It is a quiet, strengthening, enlivening presence which I may even take for granted until its temporary shutoff leaves me cold and bereft. Perhaps better, it is like a long-term friendship highly prized yet often taken for granted because it has always been the~:e to guide, envigorate, and challenge me, and, finally, to assure me of a happy future in serving others. Thus prayer of being, if it is anything, is a new depth of intimacy not only with God and self but also with all other human beings. Prayer of Being in Scripture Prayer of being is profoundly embedded in Scripture. Among the multiple translations of 'the divine name Yahweh in the Old Testament is: "he-who-is-for-others." Since Yahweh is the continuing creator and perdur-ing animator of all things, he clearly lives up to his name. He literally brings all things into being out of nothingness and then remains in them to pulse their existence constantly lest they sink back into nothingness. He is being for all other beings. It is no wonder, then, that in theprayer of being, the praying person becomes so sensitive to nothingness or emptiness at the same time as he or she notes the fullness of being around and in him or her. Yahweh, nonetheless, is not satisfied with this degree of intimacy within all created beings. Out of all the nations, he selects the weakest, that motley throng of mixed breeds from Egypt called the Israelites, and begins to form them into his people. To do this, he makes a covenant with them; they are to be his people and he, their God. Actually, it later becomes a marriage covenant since he comes to consider the Hebrew nation his bride. To 844 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 demonstrate this, he even tells Hosea, who had unfortunately married a woman turned prostitute, to remarry his bride. In this way is symbolized Yahweh's remarriage with his adulterous Israelite people, and so drama-tized the intimate relationship which Yahweh wants with the Hebrew peo-ple-- a relationshipfar beyond, yet built out of, the intimate relationship of creator and creature in being. Thus any turning of the Hebrew people to another or false God is considered nothing less than adultery--to be pun-ished, for example, by the great exile of 587 B.C. Such being-for-others (Yahweh himself) makes understandable why the second person of the Trinity would be sent into the womb of Mary to become the Jesus of history. The Christ intimately immerses himself in the being and life of his Jewish family, his town of Nazareth, and his country of Palestine. Jesus becomes. Jewish from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Thus he literally is the wedding covenant of Yahweh with the Hebrew people; his very flesh and all his historical actions are divine and human, Godly and Jewish, inextricably. In this way, the God-man can enter into and share our gestureless, wordless silence in the hidden life of Nazareth, our dryness from routinized lives in his daily handyman tasks, our felt hollowness from self-emptying sacrifices for those dear to us (Ph 5:2-7), our fears ("My soul is troubled now, yet what should I say-- Father, save me from this hour?" [Jn 12:27]), and our angry frustrations ("What an unbelieving and perverse lot you are! How long must I remain with you? How long can I endure you?'[Lk 9:41]). He also shares our rare leaps of joy ("At that moment Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit"ILk 9:12]), and our hollowness felt at the center of our beings (Jesus sleeping the sleep of exhaustion in the storm-tossed boat). He knew all the ingredients of being human; he, too, did theprayer of being in relation,to the Father. In his bones and nervous system Jesus felt his being-for-others at the three upper levels of his experience. This being-for-others is best seen, however, in his joy at the fourth level underneath his passion at the upper-three levels. The seven last words of Christ express an exquisitely beautiful and expensive intimacy. When Jesus said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children" (Lk 23:28), could he have been other than a being-for- others amid terrible dryness and felt fear? When he cried out: "Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing" (Lk 23:34), was he not a being-for-others amid the deaf silence of his crucifiers? When he turned his head towards Dismas to say: "This day you .will be with me in paradise" (Lk 23:43), was he not a being-for-others in the brief joy of this moment? When he looked to Mary and John and said: "Woman, there is your son; [son,] there is your mother" (Jn 19:28), was he not a being-for- Prayer of Being / 845 others emptying himself of his last possession? When he screamed out: "I am thirsty" (.Jn 19:28), was he not revealing that his being-for-others felt hollow and dry in its helplessness? When he spoke to the Father appeal-ingly: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Lk 15:34), was he not a being-for-others feeling the loss of cherished certainties? When in a final burst of profound trust he shouted: "Father, into your hands I com-mend my spirit~' (Lk 23:46), was he not a being-for-others stripped down to nothing but trust, having given over to the Father all that was dear to him: Mary, the apostles, Mary Magdalen and the other loyal women, his work of the past thirty-five or so years, and the whole future of his Church? Underneath this crush of even~ts commemorated by Jesus' seven last words, underneath the excruciating agony of the physical, psychological and spiritual levels of Christ's ex.perience, is the fourth level of his joyous strength in the Father's love for him, and in the beautiful "background music" of the Father's tender, caring affection for him. For the death of Christ on the three top levels was simultaneous with the subdued resurrec-tion on the fourth level. This was Christ's continual prayer of being within the Paschal mystery. Has there ever been such intimacy in suffering and joy as that of Christ with the Father and with his people? Thus is revealed dimly the structure of the prayer of being beneath its previous paradoxical features. As Letter,to the Hebrews notes: "For the sake of the joy which lay before him he endured the cross, heedless of its shame" (12:2). The Terrible Liberating, ~iscipHne Of the Prayer of Belng Theprayer of being, therefore, carries within it a terrible, yet beautiful, discipline: the willingness to suffer for what is right and just, true and good. The author of Heb~rews put~ ihe meaning of discipline .bl.untly for us:~ "Endure your trials as the discipline of God who deals with you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you do not know the disciplineof sons, you are not sons but bastards" (12:7-8). Evi, dently God disciplines his people out of affection by allowing them to suffer. As a result, aware of powerlessnes.s, they can be endowed with his power without any fear that th, ey wohld claim this power to be their own. Chapters six to nine of Deuteronomy illustrate how a ,terrible discipline prepares for intimacy with God, for prayerof being. There God declares: "You shall not put the Lord to the test" (6:16), that is, demand that he act in your way at your time and place. Clearly, "It was not because you are the largest of all nations that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you are really the smallest of nations. It was because the Lord loved you" 846 / Review for Religious, November-December, 1986 (7:7-8); in your littleness you do not set the music of the dance with God. "For forty years now the Lord, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments" (8:2); ". the Lord, your God, disciplines you even as a man disciplines his son" (8:5); ". [lest] you become haughty of heart and unmindful of the Lord" (8:14). God's guid-ance through the desert (of prayer of being) may seem directionless to us and may seem to undermine our certainties. But our trustful following keeps us from the crazy deviations of pride and of secret contempt for God's providence. This discipline of the prayer of b'eing is necessary because "otherwise you might say to 3)ourselves, 'It is my own power and the strength of my own hand that has obtained for me this wealth'" (8:17). "No, it is not because of your merits or the integrity of your heart" (9:5). This last statement is strangely reassuring for the person doi.ng prayer of being and feeling virtueless, angry, fearful and empty. Such a person has reason to hope because Christ anticipated this: "Son, though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (Heb 5:8-9). There is, therefore, a scripti]ral basis for the discipline found in prayer of being. This discipline itself, though painful, is actually a liberation produced by the prayer of being. This liberation, however, is not a secret contempt for the bodily and the sensual; such would be a disincarnation, not an incarnation, of Christ. Nor is this liberation the ability to leave a beloved person or a f~ivorite place-possession-job-ambition without suffering regret; this would be more a cold self-centeredness that is ready to detach itself only in order to grab something or someone better. Rather this liberation is: 1) a willingness to be separated from what one loves for the sake of the beloved without ever ceasing to love this beloved' (seeing off the mis-sionary friend withoUt hope of ever meeting again); 2) a'willingness to let someone dear grow freely without trying to control, even though this means great suffering for both (the parent letting the stubborn twenty-year-old make a d(astic mistake in choosing a job--for the sake of his growth in wisdom); 3) a willingness to risk everything to put God or another person ahead of one's business, sporting succesg, work, comfort, or career, even as one continues tO pursue these ventures; 4) a willingness tO choose the good consistently, i

Issue 50.4 of the Review for Religious, July/August 1991. ; Review fOl~ Religious Volume 50 Number 4 July/August 1991 P()STMAS'I'I'.'ll: Send mhh'c.~.~ chang~'s Io Rl.:Vll.:W 1.~ nt ll,.:i.i~ ;i, ~i,s; P.(). Box 6071); l)llhli h, M N 55806. .~lll~scriplioll raics: .~illglc c.py $3.51) plus lll~lililig 1991 RI.:VIEW I)avid L. Fleming, ~.l. Philip C. Fischen S.I. Michad G. I-hzrter, ~.l. Elizabeth Mcl)omm~h, 0.1: Jean Read Mary Ann Foppe Edilor Asxocial~" Cammical Co.nsc/Edilor Assistant Editors David J. Hassel, S.J. Iris Ann Ledden, S.S.N.D. Wendy Wright, Ph.D. Advisory Board Mary Margaret Johanning, S.S.N.D. Sean Sammon, F.M.S. Suzanne Zuercher, O.S.B. July/August 1991 Volume 50 Number 4 Manuscripts, books for review, and correspondence with the editor should be sent to R~vl~w rot R~lous; 3601 Lindell Boulevard; St. Louis, MO 63108-3393. Correspondence about the department "Canonical Counsel" should be addressed to Elizabeth McDonougb, O.P.; 5001 Eastern Avenue; P.O. 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This order is for [] a new subscription [] a renewal [] a restart of a lapsed subscription MAIL TO: REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS ¯ 3601 LINDELL BOULEVARD ° ST.LOu1S, MO 63108 1-91" PRISMS. The word ordinary seems to imply the bland, the unexciting, the run-of-the- mill, the everyday. In fact, for many of us even the liturgical year of the Church suffers from being divided into two parts: the Seasons and Ordinary Time. Although liturgy properly speaks of our celebrations, we tend to find it hard to celebrate what is called ordinary. Perhaps the very distinction which the Church highlights in so dividing the liturgical year calls us to a deeper reflection upon our understanding of the ordinary. God creates the ordinary., and calls it good. It is true: the ordinary is the very substance of our world. While being itself God's cre-ation, the ordinary is also the substance with which God works. We, by being ordinary, can be touched and molded and transfigured by God. Often we try to escape from being ordinary, and in the process we shut ourselves off from being available to God's action in our lives. In the bibli-cal accounts of creation, we find the lure of an escape from the ordinary the root crisis of properly using our God-given freedom. The story of Lucifer and the fallen angels is a story of beings discontent with being ordinary. As they try to move beyond the ordinary by shutting out God, this becomes their hell. So, too, the story of Adam and Eve is a story of two people, in the freshness of human life, already desirous of escaping the ordinary--to be like gods. Sacramentally we are reminded that God continues to take the ordi-nary- water, bread and wine, oil--to make extraordinary contact with us. Even when our prayer or the spirituality we live is--try as we may---ordi-nary, we thus have the very quality which allows it to become the vehicle of God's action. The difficulty for us in accepting the ordinary is not just from an inherent human tendency to want to be noticed and praised, but also from the graced impetus to strive, to struggle, to desire to grow beyond where we are. How are we to distinguish these spirits within us, distinguish move-ments that would lead us to close ourselves off to God by our self-focus from movements whereby God is drawing us ever closer in our surrender? Our writers in this issue provide us with various approaches to a lived answer. John Wickham goes right to the heart of our reflections in the lead article by focusing on our choice of being "just ordinary." McMurray and Conroy and Kroeger turn our gaze to the whole complexus of activities 481 482 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 which make up our spirituality--how do we work at making a spirituality our "ordinary" life-source? A different question is posed by Samy and Fichtner when they ask whether the ordinary practices which we find in a spirituality which is not Christian can be an aid in our openness to God. Vest and Schwarz and Gottemoeller draw our attention to various aspects of the ordinary Christian lay life as influenced by a spirituality which is described as monastic, by a new kind of membership relation to a traditional religious congregation, or by a new responsibility within the institutions formerly identified with a particular religious order. In the midst of some of the liturgical renewal stimulated by Vatican II, the practice of a daily Eucharistic celebration has sometimes been a point of dispute, especially among those priests and religious whose congregational rule or custom clearly called for such observance. The confusion often turned on what was celebratory and what was ordinary or daily. John Huels weaves his way through various schools of thought in order to provide a group with a whole cloth of ordinary spiritual practice. Although contemplative life in its dedicated form is recognized as truly a special calling in the Church, Clifford Stevens would have us all draw some nourishment today from its age-old sources. And finally, four different writers--Navone, Monteleone, Seethaler, and Billy--lead us further along in the most common activity of human interaction with God, our attempt at praying. As portrayed in the gospels, Jesus had to spend a lot of his efforts both in his ordinary apostolic life and then again in his resurrected life to prove his ordinariness. He gets tired, he eats and drinks, he needs friends, and he takes time to pray--all ordinary activities for us humans. And yet it was in these very ordinary dealings that God is fully present to us in Jesus Christ. Perhaps the part of the Church year we call "ordinary time" is a necessary reminder to us of how God wants to work with us. David L. Fleming, S.J. Choosing to be "Just Ordinary" John Wickham, S.J Father John Wickham, S.J., is a member of the Upper Canada Province of the Society of Jesus. He is the author of The Common Faith and The Communal Exercises (Ignatian Centre in Montreal): His address is Ignatian Centre; 4567 West Broadway; Montreal, Quebec; Canada H4B 2A7. There is something new, I believe, about the feeling often experienced today of being "just an ordinary person." Many recurrently feel that way despite their natural gifts, highly developed skills, or honored positions. Nor do they need to deny those advantages. In contrast to what others may tend to think, or what the world expects of them, their subjective experience of themselves--what it feels like from within their own skins--is that of a worthwhile even if unfinished, rather unique and yet uncertainly striving, interesting enough but still "just ordinary" life. It is midway between what is heroic and what is base. It is not very glamorous, but neither is it paltry. Its special taste, which is quite different from these alternatives, makes it a rather new kind of experience. If at times we do recognize that experience in ourselves, then we may face a range of questions. Should I accept the feeling as a true and good one? Or would I be better off without it? Should I choose it so often and persis-tently that it becomes habitual for me? Or would that turn into an inauthentic pose? Should I try to find some part of my real identity there? And what exactly would that imply? For example, would it mean I am choosing to be mediocre? The fact that a feeling arises, St. Ignatius tells us, does not prove it to be from God. The latter point needs to be discerned. And kinds of feeling that become widespread in a given society need to be discerned just as much as do feelings that arise only in a particular individual. In fact, our faith com-munities must often set themselves against cultural trends in the world around them. 483 484 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 In order to get at underlying issues, I wish to consider this topic in two stages. The first will be restricted to the phenomenon itself of a "just ordi-nary" feeling as a secular event in our world. Only then will I turn to the sec-ond stage, namely, to take up the kinds of faith response which we might wish to give it today. The first part, then, attempts an analysis of the "feel-ing." The second considers when, or in what circumstances, we might "choose" in faith to make it our own. Our New Cultural Situation To rephrase my opening statement, I believe that a "just ordinary" feel-ing about oneself is somewhat new as a more widespread and recurrent experience in Western culture. In recent years nearly everyone I have spoken to about this has nodded at once and said, "Yes, that's exactly how I often feel." While I possess no statistical data on its prevalence, my impression is that quite a few people have come to recognize its presence in themselves. Let me try to locate this experience more precisely. I am referring to something secular in origin and not necessarily Christian or religious in itself. Like God's rain and sunshine, it may affect everyone, just :and unjust, believer and unbeliever alike. Perhaps it was triggered off by the countercultural movement of the nineteen-sixties, since during the seventies commentators often pointed out the exaggerated attention then being given to inner feel-ings- to the personal self of each one apart from their external involvements. At that time many were being thrown back upon their subjective states of awareness to a degree that had rarely happened before. The seventies were called the "Me Decade," one that belonged to the "Me Generation" whose subjective responses (often referred to then as "getting in touch with your feelings") were given unprecedented emphasis and publicity. What had previously been mostly private now became blatantly public. But perhaps during the eighties not only the novelty but some of the disturbing quality, too, of that rather messy explosion of "subjectivity" in our midst has worn off and subsided to a degree--enough to allow "just ordinary" feelings to rise to the surface and gain attention today. What had occurred, then, was an intensification of self-awareness, a heightening of subjective consciousness among much larger segments of our population than before, and even a thematization of this event in our culture. "Souls" had been transformed into "subjects." Individuals became persons. This had happened much earlier, of course, for some exceptional people and even for smallish groups here and there, but it had never before become such a widespread phenomenon. And it involves matters of considerable importance, not easily dis- Choosing to be "Just Ordinary" / 41~5 missed. Bernard Lonergan has written of "the shift to interiority" in the twentieth century as the emergence of a new "realm" of human reality, i At the opposite end of the scale, the usual wild and foolish misuse of a new gift by the more excitable members of society should not blind us to its underly-ing significance. That is the larger context. More in particular I wish to stress, first of all, the quieter reverberations which those noisy events have left with many per-sons today. The gift itself of interiority is multifaceted, of course, but a first approach would notice that in part it may belong with the newly "expressive self' which has emerged alongside, and often independently of, the older "utilitarian self.''2 While the latter continues to exert a dominant influence in our midst, it must now share the public table with a more mystical parmer. From a slightly different viewpoint the "just ordinary" feeling should be seen mainly as a response to the puritan "strong self' of modern culture. After the nineteenth century in the West we gained the capacity-- appropri-ate to a technocratic society---of developing our ego-strengths. That is, a cer-tain knack, at least for special purposes, of withholding or excluding deeper levels of feeling can free an individual to concentrate on impersonal obser-vations, accurate calculations, and carefully directed efforts of the will. Further development of this inner self-control is required for any kind of efficiency and productivity in the working world. It is clear that the requisite skills are not given by nature but must be culturally developed. Not only our workplaces but our schools and colleges, too, call insistently for the formation of habits (especially of technical reason and will) which enable entry into the competitive society with all the bureau-cratic ladders and graduated salary scales of a successful career---or not-so-successful, as the case may (more often) be. In contrast to this still urgent public arena of "strong selves," individual members also return to private worlds of rest, relaxation, and entertainment, to times of weakness when they may face their own ignorance about the questions posed to them in life and recogn!ze their lack of energy for the continual efforts required. Human beings, it should be stressed, when separated from their social roles and active commitments and thrown back upon their private resources, usually do not find a great deal of their own to sustain them. Modern urban ways have cut people off from the deeply penetrating and densely inter-twined supports of rural societies. As a result, the rootless city dweller becomes conscious of boredom, of empty times to be filled up, of personal neediness and spiritual hungers not easily satisfied. An individual person, after all, is usually endangered by too much isolation from others, and mod- 4~16 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 em technologies often weaken or destroy traditional communities (families, neighborhoods, parishes). Besides, whenever institutions let us down or defeat our aims, or when hurtful clashes disturb our feelings for others, we are left alone to deal with a diminishing present and a more uncertain future. That is when a loving spouse and intimate friends (if available)become essential to our very sur-vival; without them, depressed feelings all too easily turn to thoughts of nonexistence. It was the countercultural movement which reacted against the giant bureaucratic institutions of our world and forced into the broader stream of public life the previously underground resource of subjective feelings. It transformed leisure moments of the kind just mentioned into recurrent times of self-expression which are portrayed and celebrated in our electronic media. This revealed to large numbers of fairly well-off persons in Western societies that their interior selves need to be cultivated in ways that differ enormously from the older patterns of successful selfhood modeled for them in corporate institutions. The counterculture managed to give sustained pub-licity to a host of "alternative lifestyles"---that is, a diverse range of subjec-tive modes in self-identity and interpersonal relating. This vastly expanded "realm of interiority" provides a cultural context for, and is itself fostered by, many recent movements: affirmations of per-sonal rights, the reawakening of charismata, the turn to the East, the renewal of contemplative prayer traditions, and the broadly secular interest in spiritu-alities of all kinds. It is surpi'ising to notice how the word "spiritual" and its cognates have gained such widespread use not only in the arts but in sports, politics, business enterprises, salesmanship, the military--almost every-where today. In our faith tradition, on the other hand, the interior life had a much more restricted meaning. Medieval interiority was exclusively religious--the very opposite of anything secular or worldly. In order to develop one's union with God, according to the late-medieval Imitation of Christ, believers were expected to withdraw from external involvements--at least, from all the habits and attitudes belonging to them--and to cultivate an inner commu-nion with the Lord deep within their hearts. The Imitation, we should remember, is the most popular spiritual classic of all time.3 A crucial aspect of its teaching has to do with the personal self so poignantly revealed by means of a prolonged withdrawal of the kind rec-ommended. But when thrown back upon oneself in this way, what does one find? The oft-repeated answer to this question shows how bare the cup-boards of subjectivity can be: Choosing to be "Just Ordinary" / 487 This is the greatest and most useful lesson we can learn: to know our-selves for what we truly are, to admit freely our own weaknesses and failings.4 I am nothing, and I did not even know it. If left to myself, I am noth-ing; I am all weakness. But if you turn your face to me, [Lord,] I am at once made strong and am filled with new happiness.5 Oh, how humbly and lowly I ought to feel about myself, and even if I seem to have goodness, I ought to think nothing of it . I find myself to be nothing but nothing, absolutely nothing . I peer deep within myself and I find nothing but total nothingness.6 No doubt, older Christians today will recall teachings of this kind as familiar features of their early training. And some of its emphases tend to give us pause. What about the inherent goodness of each human self?. This was occasionally noticed in the Imitation, but should it not have received much more attention? On this question two historical points should perhaps be made. First, the Imitation itself arose from the Devotio Moderna's care for many ordinary members of society who desired to cultivate a devout life amid late-medieval disruptions of Christian Europe (the Black Death and subsequent plagues, persistent warfare, economic hardship, the Great Western Schism).7 Out of their prolonged experience of public calamities came this first popular expression of the personal subject in the West--at least, among the little seg-ments of the population influenced by the "new devotion." The point for us here is that a faith response to those troubled times made possible an interior life for many more persons than before (including lay members living in the world). An inner self could then be cultivated by means of the careful religious teachings extended to them by The Imitation of Christ and similar writings of the movement. Thus, interiority was initial-ly a sacred realm, not a secular one. In order to develop at all, it had to define itself against the secular world. This meant, of course, that the self had precisely "nothing" of its own to fall back upon--no widely accepted norms of individual worth had as yet been formulated. The themes of individualism which we take for granted today as "natural" were simply not available in the Middle Ages. The Devotio Moderna may, in fact, have contributed notably to the first social expression of our individual sense of self. It follows that to blame it for not supplying what it was in the very process of begetting seems misguided. That would be reading history backward--a frequent modern failing. Secondly, it seems that the difference between selfhood (a good sense of self) and selfishness (a bad sense) had not as yet been separately felt. In that 488 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 sacred milieu the differentiation of a secular goodness of creation apart from the fallen condition so frequently stressed in spiritual teachings remained for the future to bring about. In other words, the self-in-its-own-being could not possibly then have been "tasted" distinctly from the self-as-sinful or the self-as- saved-by-grace (or both together). True enough, humility was sometimes considered apart from habits of sinfulness--namely in Mary and in the saints--but even there what received emphasis was the divine grace of their redemption (in Mary's case extending to her prior preservation) from sin's more normal dominion. These excep-tions only proved the rule that humility--as we hear its accents in the Imitation--arises from the sharpened interior taste of one's sinful self that usually follows upon forgiveness. In view of this cultural moment of The Imitation of Christ in the early fifteenth century, its lack of any emphasis on natural goodness for the indi-vidual self is understandabl~. It is true that, by the later sixteenth century, Montaigne's Essays and Shakespeare's Hamlet and Richard II had begun to anticipate modem feelings of individual selfhood, but this was still an excep-tional happening within the sacred medieval precincts, it may be said. So many developments have taken place in the centuries since that time--the Cartesian ego, theKantian turn to the subject, the Romantic movement, nineteenth-century liberalism, as well as the already mentioned "shift to interiority" ~ind countercultural movement in our own century, that we cannot have recourse solely to a retrieval of medieval gifts. In short, the new interiority of our day differs a great deal from the "interior life" handed down to us in our spiritual tradition. The old interiority was (a) fully sacred in meaning, (b) defined in opposition to the "world," (c) low in self-esteem while high in reliance on God alone, and (d) rarely to be shared with others socially. By contrast, the new interiority is (a) mainly sec-ular in meaning, (b) defined against the mainline institutions of society (including those of the Church), (c) self-affirming and self-accepting, even if admitting one's need of friends and of the divine Other, and (d) eagerly shared with others in public lifestyles. Like many others, in my Jesuit formation I was often counseled to ignore, set aside, or "offer up" my individual feelings as distracting or, more likely, harmful to my fuller appropriation of the uniform spiritual teachings provided. These latter consisted in learning the general answers true for everyone alike and in keeping the rules set down for all without exception. That way of forming members, as we know, has been in great part aban-doned in recent decades. In any case, it had introduced painful distortions into our medieval heritage. Choosing to be 'Just Ordinary" / 489 The main "warp" in question was directly related, I believe, to the nine-teent~ h-century rise of the "strong self" already mentioned. Let me briefly review that development. As I have noted, humility had traditionally been ~'ocused on the sinful condition of those converted to the Lord. It did not dwell merely on mortal sins committed prior to their deeper conversion, but much more on the venial sins which they came to recognize in present self-awareness. This medieval tradition may be gathered in detail from Alphonsus Rodriguez's Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues.8 Against that backdrop the modem ideal of a "strong sell" to be fash-ioned in youth by anyone hoping to succeed in the secular world, or even to survive in it, presented a considerable contrast. Prior to 1965, our Catholic parishes and schools managed to combine this modem requirement (a strong selfhood formed in the conscious mind through repression of deeper feel-ings) With traditional teachings on humility (reliance on God alone because of personal sinfulness and the "nothingness" of self). This was made easier by means of the invisible wall erected around the distinctly Catholic world. By the later nineteenth century, of course, Christian faith had already become to a large extent privatized, separated from public life and domesticated in family and parish activities. For Catholics in North America, the immigrant Church had developed its own "garrison" mentality so effective!y that one could cultivate a traditionally humble self in the narrowly religious realm and at the same time a secularly aggressive self in the business, professional, political, or broadly social realm. That was the religious situation in which I was raised, and I did not then advert to its inconsistencies. Perhaps many others today can recall this com-bination of strivings. However opposite they were in character, we tried to attain them both and to some extent we succeeded--by the grace of God. In recent decades that whole effort has disappeared and as a result (among many other quandaries) a whole spectrum of possible selves has become available today. It is a somewhat unsettling set of choices. But amidst all our struggles to find or fashion personal identities (or perhaps to fortify older ways in the very teeth of these developments), the curious new event has made its presence felt--the "just ordinary" feeling. Contemporary Faith Responses At this point I wish to bring into our discussion a distinction rather dif-ferent from any mentioned so far. In a recent book, Hopkins, the Self and God, Walter Ong, S.J., has emphasized the "taste of self" which figured so prominently in Gerard Hopkins's poetry, letters, and notebooks.9 As a chap- 490 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 ter on the Victorian context makes clear, the theme was not unusual even then. But Hopkins, because of his unique attention to it and extraordinary gifts of language and feeling, managed to anticipate many of our present concerns. The distinction employed by Fr. Ong in his discussion is between the self as "I" or "me" in the densely concrete, subjective stance underlying all one's experiences and, on the other hand, the self as objectified in various characteristics, habitual attitudes, and acquired abilities. Ong names the first of these "the subject-self' and the second "the self-concept"--a terminology already in use. More is meant than merely a difference between subjective and objec-tive qualities of the self. The so-called "objective" side points to an individu-al's attempts to gain a sense of developing identity--at first through the reactions :of other people, and then through one's own continued striving. Often a variety of contrasting possibilities are "tried on for size" and lived out for a time, but later modified or rejected. But underneath every such effort lurks a richer source of seifhood that unifies the ongoing and often interrupted sequence. Moreover, the subject-self also feels--at least indirectly--the inadequa-cy of whatever aspects of self-conception are presently entertained. The lat-ter are never quite right. There is always a certain sense of"more to come": Why do I doubt my capacity to keep this up any longer? Maybe I should change my mind about the whole business? Or am I trapped in a "fate" of being the way I am?l° And as soon as some new aspect of the self gains initial clarity, there is often a tendency to react in a different direction. Even if I should rejoice in a rather flattering or at least affirmative symbol of myself, my subconscious feelings may tend to exert a counterinfluence. Or if snubbed by others or blamed in any way, I might resent it at several levels at once (despite a ten-dency to self-doubt), but I will also search for memories of my better qualities. A great variety of varying patterns of such "identity searches" may be noted in spiritual direction. But what I wish to stress here is the unifying "I" in every pattern or in every sequence of changing patterns over years of per-sonal growth. "I" am the enduring (somehow even unchanging?) recipient, resource, and agent of all such reflexive feelings, perceptions, visions, and (as Eliot has taught us) endless revisions. For I am always the one who is unfinished. I exist amid processes that are ever moving me into uncertain futures. This mysterious "I" may be used, of course, in a way that includes the self-concept of my current identity. Most often the two blend together in my Choosing to be "Just Ordinary" / 49'1 experience of them. Wider, more inclusive self-affirmations are normal and even important. For the self-concept can never really be independent of the subject-self--the two functions are inherently connected and interactive. My various self-conceptions (especially at their least vague, most fully articulat-ed stages) need to be tested repeatedly in the subject-self. Do I feel at home in them? In fact, their authenticity becomes known only insofar as they truly actualize my subjectively felt potentials. On the other side, the subject-self cannot long endure without some kind of self-concept. Even when denied previous realizations in the social world, the subject-self may have recourse to fantasy roles in the theatre of imagina-tion. For I cannot avoid notions of selfhood altogether--my neediness finds relief only in the movement to some form of self-realization, however indi-rect, implied, or even self-sacrificial it may become for a time. But what is new today for many persons is that 'T' may recurrently refer quite exclusively to the subject-self alone. In such cases the needful relation to identities is not denied but somehow "bracketed out" or "put on hold." This distinction appears to be called for by what I have named the "just ordi- ¯nary" feeling. More precisely, the "just ordinary" feeling belongs especially to the subject-self. Now, this distinction may unlock several, of the puzzling questions which arise .from our cultural situation today. It might resolve the problem for all who try to decide whether or not--even precisely as a Christian-- they should choose to be "just ordinary." Not Mediocrity, but Limitation A first question to be faced concerns mediocrity. If one settles into a "just ordinary" feeling of oneself, would this not bring an end to growth, to any serious striving for improvement? Would it not ring the death knell of idealism (in a good sense)? Would it banish from the competitive society believers who chose to accept it--as though our economic system as such is inherently alien? Even more traditional spiritualities sought to refute the accusation that Christian faith necessarily inclined believers to accept the established pow-ers and to resign themselves to exploitation by cle4er elites (Marx's "opium of the people" view about the role of religion in society). But that false use of Christian faith is not in question here. If a devout life means acceptance of manipulation and coercion by others, then it has simply lost its roots in the prophetic teachings of Christ. Instead, what is relevant here is the insight that only the subject-self can feel "just ordinary." Such a feeling cannot rightly belong to the self-concept. 499 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 My position is that only insofar as one becomes aware of one's "purely" sub-jective selfhood in contrast to current or possible fulfillments of one's poten-tials (the self-concept always means that) does the "just ordinary" feeling arise in the first place. It would follow, then, that for persons who do not experience this newish feeling (and no one is required to do so!) a decision to be "just ordinary" might mean choosing to be mediocre. That is not the case, however, for those who do recognize the new feel-ing in themselves; what they experience, I would say, is a new sense of per-sonal limits. No doubt, our knowledge of limitations is pluriform. Each person would tend to stress different aspects of the overall human "contin-gency" (its more technical name) as this comes home to individual lives. Limits are reached in our work, our relationships, our different life-stages, our suffering of reverses, rejections, sickness, injuries, or close encounters with death and dying: Our knowledge and abilities have a great variety of limitations, but so do our energies and our capacity for making creative responses. There are traditional ways of coming to know and accept our littleness, but what I have in mind here gives a different resonance to these more familiar events. In Western cultures it may seem natural to invest one's whole identity in a career role, with its achievements, or with honors already received (here the "strong self" makes its presence felt). But against this tendency I find it possible, like Hopkins, to identify mainly with my subject-self--even though my developed talents, skills, and other acquisitions (whatever their true worth) may be kept in view. I do not deny the crucial importance of these factors in my life as a whole. But I know I could lose all use of them if I suffered a grave stroke or a debilitating heart attack, for example. And throughout that illness, whose effects could be long-lasting, I would contin-ue to experience myself as "me"--a limited person, unique in my special taste of self, the same as I was as a child and teenager, and surely to remain so until death. If I am unable to make this sort of self-identification, but insist on claiming my developed self-concept as the only true "me," the danger is that a debilitating illness may tend to destroy me altogether. And those who live into old age, even if they never suffer a health crisis of the dramatic sort mentioned, may eventually experience their subject-self as "just ordinary"-- stripped of any actual use of their various gifts. In traditional Christian teaching our need for reliance on God will nor-mally be heightened and dramatized by major experiences of suffering (',limit" situations). This will surely continue to exert a central influence on personal realizations of Christ's paschal mystery. The unusual note to be Choosing to be "Just Ordinary '" / 493 sounded here, however, concerns the dimension of selfhood which our cul-tural moment may be bringing alive. The 'T' whom Jesus calls and unites to himself, the "I" who undergoes spiritual deaths and who may then receive new life in the risen Lord--this 'T' may now choose to identify with "just ordinary" feelings rather than either "nothing" or "something good denied." It is a form of limited selfhood available today to a much larger number of persons than ever before. Humility in a New Key As cultural events bring forward different ways of experiencing not only the humanized world but also the human subject in and by whom the world is humanized, individuals growing aware of their own gifts are always exposed to new dangers from pride. In his "Two Standards," we remember, St. Ignatius highlights the time-honored medieval teaching that pride is the source and origin of every other vice, and that humility, as St. Bernard puts it, is "the foundation and safeguard of all virtues." It follows that the emer-gence of a "just ordinary" feeling raises another question: precisely what effect might this have on our traditional sense of what the virtue of humility requires? No doubt, the rise of modern democracies brought a stronger emphasis on equality into social relations in the West (in contrast to earlier ideals of "subordination," of submission to those in higher orders). Every member, rich or poor, is supposed to stand on the same ground, in a civil sense as well as "before God," as every other member. But this opened the way to compe-tition in the public "free marketplace," where the many levels of social clas-sification become even more clearly marked than in the premodern world. Personal evaluations and interpersonal judgments are so much more intense than previously that the "neurotic" society of our day has become familiar to US.11 In this context modern teachings on humility tended to stress the differ-ence between the office and the office holder. And this traditional distinction was often combined with a focus on teamwork or group contributions. In sports, the heroes who score the highest number of points, even the winning goals, humbly acknowledge the help of their teammates and the glory of the whole team, rather than their individual merits. In short, modern humility consists mainly in putting oneself down. Self-abasement, especially after some signs of achievement appear in the struggle for success over others, is felt to be essential. This means that humility and humiliation are closely approximated in modern competitive societies. But in the postmodern world (if that is where we are today) many are 494 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 beginning to sense their subjective distance from the very structures of suc-cess and achievement themselves. Perhaps this is why human vulnerability and powerlessness have received so much attention in recent years. If I am right in this--to some extent and for some members only, of course--then the "just ordinary" feeling would denote an ability to experience self-worth independently of competition for successful contributions in the established institutions of the world. When the feeling does mean that, I would argue in favor of seeking to realize it in one's life. This would not necessarily signify nonparticipation in the large struc-tures of society--whether in business, politics, sports, communications, or whatever. But it could qualify the style of our participation because our main sense of self would no longer consist in whatever we might be able to achieve. To gain this rather sophisticated balance, of course, might not always be easy. It would mean learning how to give one's whole energies to highly skilled performances without pinning one's sense of self to success in performing well. Whatever the-degree of success or failure realized over time, those who contribute would continue to experience themselves to be "just ordinary" members of a community which regularly affirms their worth on a basis other than that of competition, success, or failure. This would bring a newish tone, a new chord, I think, to the age-old music of humility. Sacred and Secular Community The "just ordinary" feeling may also raise a question because of its very secularity. Normally the Church lives in a certa{n state of tension with the secular society in which its witness to Christ's message is to be given. But the quality of that "creative tension" can vary a great deal. In our day the tension may disappear whenever a new secular discovery affecting human growth is announced in a book or magazine, or its virtues are proclaimed in the media. It may then be taken up by skilled practitioners and made available in local programs. In recent decades we have received many such gifts. An example might be the interpretation of dreams by means of Jung's psychological theories. This can become quite an interesting activity, valu-able in itself. But there is a danger that believers who are attracted to it may then transfer most of their religious energies to essentially secular programs of this kind (think, too, of the many self-help groups claiming attehtion today) and thereafter give little attention to more central Christian practices. In particular, our own question concerns the "just ordinary" feeling. Is it another "brand-new discovery" of the type just mentioned? Does it not sug-gest a secular facet of human life which may all too easily replace more Choosing to be 'Just Ordinary" / 495 authentic 'teachings? Are we simply "shaking holy water" on secular objects and calling them Christian? I would reply that, while its potential misuses are undeniable, its right use may also be safeguarded if the underlying issue is kept clearly in sight-- the issue of the human call to transcendence. I will conclude this essay by exploring that deeper concem. At one level we remember that any new discovery may be claimed by Christian faith because all that is human belongs to God the Creator. Thus, we may recognize and welcome every fresh gift of human expertise, inte-grate it within the larger faith (making it subordinate, not dominant), and in this manner sanctify all things in Christ. No doubt this should be so. But at a deeper level of analysis the question arises in a new form because secularity (secular realities taken in a good sense, as differing from secularism) is always related to the sacred as its opposite. In this way Judaism and Christianity themselves initiated a radical process of secularization. For us the world is no longer "full of gods" since we believe in the one Creator who is beyond all created things (transcen-dent). Our faith has secularized the cosmos. Later on in history the civilized world, too, took further giant steps on the same journey. In great part today our political, economic, social, and cultural institutions are experienced not as immediately God-given but as humanly devised. In this more radical sense, then, whenever ongoing secularization enables a new gift of human life to be realized, the sacred powers of tradi-tional faith need to be adapted to the new situation. What had formerly been handled indirectly by religious beliefs has now come directly (even if incom-pletely) under human management. In faith we may welcome such events as fulfillments of God's intentions in creating humans "in his own image and likeness" (that is, cocreative with him). But we also note an important clue: there should be no change in secularity without a corresponding change in sacrality. The frequent failure here is a simple transfer of energies from the sacred into the secular realm while reducing religious operations to empty words alone. More specifically, if the emergence of "just ordinary" feelings can bring new aspects of human existence within the range of human competency, then we may rejoice in this prospect on condition that a corresponding, positive change occurs in our sense of specifically sacred gifts. But if the change should be merely negative, a loss of religious energies, then something has gone wrong. For example, the work of Carl Rogers and others on self-actualization and self-realization has an obvious bearing on our topic, but even here the 496 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 "just ordinary" feeling takes the process a step further, I think. All of these factors, we should remember, are secularizations of human powers which previously had been contained or implied within sacred gifts. 12 In Gerard Hopkins's poetry the sacred envelope remained untorn: Each mortal thing does one thing and the same: Deals out that being indoors each one dwells; Selves--goes itself; myself it speaks and spells, Crying What I do is me: for that I came. I say more: the just man justices; Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces; Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is-- Christ--for Christ plays in ten thousand places, Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his . 13 Even more to the point are his famous closing lines in another poem: In a flash, at a trumpet clash, I am all at once what Christ is, since he was what I am, and This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, patch, matchwood, immortal diamond, Is immortal diamond. 14 The eternal worth to be realized at last in Christ is anticipated by a believer who knows his subject-self as "poor potsherd" and "matchwood." Surely this comes close to our "just ordinary" feeling even if its validation depends on faith in the resurrection. If we look back to Hopkins, we can per-ceive its secular potentials lurking within his very religious lines. In any case, now that it has emerged to stand on its own feet in our midst, we are challenged to respond afresh in faith to a new aspect of human self-realization. We may rejoice inthis event, but without a positive religious response of some kind the 16ss of transcendence becomes palpable. We may happily accept the growth of a human value, but its simultaneous excision from religious meanings calls for new initiatives, for real adaptations which do not downgrade the relevance of our transcendent faith but rather give it fresh impetus, redirecting its energies in new ways. Two principles may be l~ormulated in this regard. I have already been exploring the first of these, which might be put as follows: The Principle of Adaptation: Every new growth of secular competence should stimulate a corresponding renewal of sacred powers. The second may'be named: The Principle of Intensity: In our creative response to a given process of secularization, one important criterion would be a specific heighten-ing, rather than any lessening, in the experience of transcendence. Choosing to be "Just Ordinary" / 497 Whenever the Christian component is subtly reduced to a comfortable repetition of now irrelevant phrases, this second principle has been ignored. The urgency of transcendent faith for human affairs can easily be diminished without any advertence to its loss. Our "just ordinary" feeling, for example, simply cries out for creative faith responses. But what are these to be? That is the real issue. Will our sense of Christian humility be intensifie~l instead of being replaced? What fresh meaning can we now give to the crucial "poverty of spirit" which indicates membership in the Lord's kingdom? The heightened subjectivity that often seems to afflict us may also serve to awaken creative potentials previously unknown. Even though it makes us experience our human limits as never before, our acceptance of "just ordi-nary" feelings could, in fact, lead to new dimensions of liberation. But this will not be automatic. Our spiritual behavior will need to adjust itself cre-atively to the new gift. Possible responses are always at hand. Whenever in faith the members of our new communities reflect upon the significance of feeling "just ordinary" togetherl I believe the Real Presence of the risen Christ may receive a fresh emphasis. This heightened communal awareness may correspond in a unique way to our traditional poverty of spir-it. Precisely here a new intensity of faith may be gathering force. During the nineteen-twenties T.S. Eliot insistently employed the symbol of the Angelus bell, a traditional reminder of the moment of Incarnation. In that extraordinary instant, and whenever it is made present to us today, tran-scendent powers cut through the secular time dimension to disturb our mod-em preoccupations. In similar fashion a few decades earlier, wher~ striving to resist new inroads of modernity Pope Pius X led Catholic parishes to give renewed attention to the Real Presence in the Eucharist (mainly as reserved in the tabernacle or received during Holy Communion). Whatever judgments we may wish to pass upon those earlier modes of resis-tance, it seems clear that a creative response for today will need to focus on the Eucharist as an action performed by the whole community. We may be able to enter the eucharistic action as full participants because we surrender in faith to the Lord who makes his Real Presence felt in our ways of relating to one another. The "just ordinary" feeling may be chosen as a means to that effective recognition. When in a small faith community the members have learned how to act and speak out of their newfound sense of ordinary selfhood, all their gifts may be appreciated warmly and without exaggeration. They can be put into action zestfully since the members are set free from the anxieties of personal competition. Each one's acceptance by all the others may become intensified through the distinctly felt presence of the risen Lord in their community today--not merely by anticipat.ing the Second Coming. 498 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 In short, we are being graced, membered in a new life, invigorated, and turned in hope to the future by this much more active presence of Christ. That intensification of God's "reigning" in us may correspond accurately and be found to dovetail beautifully with the newly released "just ordinary" feelings of the members about themselves. NOTES l Method in Theology, New York: Herder & Herder, 1972, pp. 257-262. 2 On this distinction see Robert Bellah and others, Habits of the Heart, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: Univ. of California Press, 1985, pp. 32-35 and passim. 3 SeeThomas ~ Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, trans. Wm. Creasy, Notre Dame, Ind.: Ave Maria Press, 1989; "Introduction," pp. 11-13. Also Devotio Moderna: Basic Writings, trans. J. van Engen, New York: Paulist Press, 1988; "Introduction," p. 8: "The Imitation of Christ has undoubtedly proved the most influential devotional book in Western Christian history." It has also been translated into all the great lan-guages of the world. 4 Book I, chap. 28; trans. Creasy, p. 32. 5 Book III, chap. 8; trans. Creasy, p. 95. 6 Book III, chap. 14; trans. Creasy, p. 102. 7 Details are given in J. Leclercq, E Vandenbrouke, L. Bouyer, The Spirituality of the Middle Ages (vol. 11 of The History of Christian Spirituality), London: Bums & Oates, 1968, pp. 481-486 (text by F. Vandenbrouke). 8 Trans. Joseph Rickaby, S.J., Chicago: Loyola Univ. Press, 1929; vol. II, pp. 165- 352: "The Eleventh Treatise: On Humility." See chap. IIl: "Of Another Main Motive for a Man to. gain Humility, which is the Consideration of His Sins." (The first main motive, given in chap. II, is "To know oneself to be full of miseries and weak-nesses.") 9 Walter J. Ong, S.J., Hopkins, the Self, and God, Toronto, Buffalo, London: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1986; see especially pp. 22-28. For a recent philosophical discus-sion see Frederick Copleston, S.J., The Tablet, 11 Nov. 1989 (vol. 243, no. 7791), pp. 1302-1303. l0 Cited by Alphonsus Rodriguez, Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues, p. 168, see n. 8, above. Chap. II, "That Humility is the Foundation of All Virtues," pp. 168-170; chap. III, "In Which It Is Shown More in Detail How Humility Is the Foundation of All Virtues, by Going Through the Chief of Them." ~l On this, see Bellah and others, Habits of the Heart (n. 2, above), pp. 117-121, for its development in the U.S.A. But similar versions of "modem nervousness" and "therapeutic culture" could be gathered from the other Western traditions (Continental, English, Canadian.). ~2 Confer Paul C. Vitz, Psychology As Religion, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1977, pp. 20-27, for a discussion of Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, and Rollo May as moving from religious into secular concerns. Choosing to be "Just Ordinary" / 499 ~3 The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, ed. W.H. Gardiner and N.H. MacKenzie, 4th ed., London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1967; poem no. 57, p. 90. 14 Ibid, poem no. 72, p. 106. The Hunter Yahweh's manifest love has all the proud and fierce majesty of a turkey buzzard flying with outstretched wings upon hot afternoon breezes, which are thrust upward unconstrained from ocher grabens below. This carnivorous bird is the other side of the symbolic dove. It is the Master of the Universe when he is not content waiting for hesitant or indifferent souls who fail to seek him. Rather, he becomes the strident hunter pursuing those who choose hiding in dark shadows caused by lichen-covered trees, or along cow-trodden riverbanks, where brown mud oozes into slowly flowing, opaque waters. Yahweh spreads his wings, searches for the goats and lambs, such as you and me, when we forget how to look for him circling over us in the translucent sky. Brother Richard Heatley, F. S. C. De La Salle, "Oaklands" 131 Farnham Avenue Toronto, Ontario Canada M4A 1H7 At the Threshold of a Christian Spirituality: Ira Progoff's Intensive Journal Method John McMurry, S. S Father John McMurry, S.S., cun'ently serves at the St. Mary's Spiritual Center and as a spiritual director for St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland. He has taken part in thirty workshops led by Dr. Ira Progoff since 1976, and he has led some sixty Intensive Journal workshops since 1978. His address is All Saints Church; 4408 Liberty Heights Avenue; Baltimore, Maryland 21207. Since 1978 1 have been teaching Ira Progoff's Intensive Journal method occasionally at weekend workshops. Dialogue House, the umbrella organiza-tion covering all of Progoff's works, describes his method as a program of "professional and personal growth with a spiritual point of view." It is a non-analytic means for individuals to attain two goals. First, it enables individu-als to recognize and accept the wholeness of their life without denying the reality of any of its contents, no matter how unpleasant or embarrassing. Secondly, it enables individuals to get a feel for the consistency in the direc-tion that their life is taking as they discover potentials for the future hidden within their personal past. The goals of the program are attained by means of a variety of written exercises which are done in a group setting under the direction of an experi-enced leader who is committed to follow authorized guidelines. Individuals in the group work in private with the contents of their own life. The only prereq-uisites are an atmosphere of quiet and mutual respect, and an attitude of open-ness and acceptance on the part of each exercitant toward his or her own life. The program is not only nonanalytic; it is also nonjudgmental and is structured to help people experientially discover answers to questions such as the following: Where am I in the course of my life right now? How did I get to the place where I am in the course of life? Where is my life trying to go from here? What is the next step? 500 Progoffs Intensive Journal Method / 501 The Intensive Journal method itself has no content. The method is a dynamic structure to which each person supplies the content from one's own life. The structure aims at enabling individuals to establish deeper contact with the flow of creative energy in their own life. It is especially useful for people engaged in decision-making, for people who feel confused about the next step in life, for those who have lost contact with the direction their life wants to take, for those who feel alienated, isolated, or meaningless, and for those who simply want to expand their personal horizons of creativity. In creating the Intensive Journal program, Progoff had in mind people in a secular culture who are unfamiliar with or alienated by traditional religious language. However, the awarenesses stimulated by the exercises of his method serve to help Christians experience meaning in traditional doctrines which might otherwise remain merely propositional. In the case of people who approach it from the perspective of faith, the Intensive Journal program is a form of prayer. The Intensive Journal Method as Prayer In a chapter entitled "Prayer as Dialogue," Karl Rahner discusses prayer in terms apropos of the Intensive Journal method. He is addressing a com-mon problem of people who are earnest in their efforts to enter into dialogue with God. They often state the problem something like this: "When I pray, I cannot tell whether I am talking to myself or to God." Rahner challenges the presupposition that God says "something" to us in prayer. He raises some "what-ifs": What if we were to say that in prayer we experience ourselves as the utterance of God, ourselves as arising from and decreed by God's freedom in the concreteness of our existence? What if what God primarily says to us is ourselves in the facticity of our past and present and in the freedom of our future? Rahner concludes that when, by grace, we experience ourselves as the utterance of God to himself and understand this as our true essence, which includes the free grace of God's self-communication, and when in prayer we freely accept our existence as the word of God in which God promises him-self to us with his word, then our prayer is already dialogic, an exchange with God. Then we hear ourself as God's address. We do not hear "some-thing" in addition to ourself as the one already presupposed in our dead fac-ticity, but we hear ourself as the self-promised word in which God sets up a listener and to which God speaks himself as an answer. 1 Rahner is suggesting that God's word to me in prayer is not an idea; rather, God's word to me in prayer'is myself, that is, my personal, individual life story--past, present, and future. The implication is that my life story is 502 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 important in my relationship with God because it is the way God speaks to me and I to God. A further implication of Rahner's proposal is that I enter into dialogue with God ipsofacto under three conditions: 1) when I experience my life story as God's word addressed to himself; 2) when at the same time I understand that God is really present in my actual life story--past, present, and future-- as a free and undeserved gift of himself to me; 3) and when I freely accept my life story as the word of God in which God promises his Word to me. The Intensive Journal program is an instrument which lends itself to the discovery of the real presence of God in one's own personal life story. The content of the program is the content of the life of the Journal-writer; hence it is through the life of the Journal-writer that Christian faith may enter into the individual's use of the Intensive Journal exercises. Progoff has described the prayer dimension of his method as follows: The Intensive Journal work is indeed a species of prayer and meditation, but not in isolation from life and not in contrast to active life involve-ment. Rather, it is meditation in the midst of the actuality of our life experiences. It draws upon the actualities of life for new awarenesses, and it feeds these back into the movement of each life as a whole.2 The Intensive Journal Method and Spirituality In his "handbook of contemporary spirituality," Rahner raises the ques-tion whether the term "spirituality" is good, understandable, useful, or even has any meaning. Then he makes the observation that the crucial point for personal and pastoral life today is not so much a matter of getting the "spiri-tual" dimension of existence into our heads or other people's by means of abstract and conceptual indoctrination (which he says is ineffective anyway) as it is a matter of discovering the Spirit as that which we really experience in ourselves.3 Perhaps Rahner slightly understates the case. It may be that the crucial point for us personally and in our pastoral work today is simply to discover "the Spirit" as a fact of our own personal experience and to help others do the same. Furthermore, in order to be able to use the word "spirituality," we might let it refer simply to the individual's .relationship with God or, in other words, to what goes on in the creative process between God and each of us. This article presents Ira Progoff's Intensive Journal program as an aid to the process which is going on between an individual and God. The program adds no content to the life of the individual; it mirrors the movement which is already going on and stimulates that movement by feeding new aware- Progoffs Intensive Journal Method / 503 nesses back into the movement of life. ("Journal feedback" is one of the main features which distinguish this method from an ordinary diary.) This program, then, is a dynamic structure for evoking self-transcendence from the factual contents of a life story. For a person of faith it is a way of discov-ering the Spirit "as what we really experience in ourselves." Genesis of the Intensive Journal Method Following Progoff's discharge from the U.S. Army, he earned a doctor-ate in the area of'the history of ideas from the New School of Social Research in New York City. On the basis of his dissertation, Jung's Psychology and Its Social Meaning, published in 1953 and still in print, Progoff was awarded grants for postdoctoral studies with Carl Jung for two years. By virtue of those studies Progoff was licensed as a therapist by the state of New York, where he went into private practice after returning from Switzerland. In 1959 Progoff founded the Institute for Research in Depth Psychology at Drew University in New Jersey and served as its director until 1971. During those twelve years-he and his graduate students searched out the dynamics of creativity in published biographies of creative people whose life stories had ended. From his research Progoff concluded that creativity occurs through the interplay among various dimensions of life which may at first seem disparate. On the surface it may appear that the process in one dimension is unrelated to the process in another dimension, whereas in fact something new comes into being when the individual makes correlations among the dimensions of life. It is as though the individual is a complexus of certain processes which occur throughout life on different planes. Progoff has developed, the Intensive Journal method over more than a quarter-century of helping his clients apply the fruits of his research by dis-covering hidden sources of creativity within their own lives. He began teach-ing his method to groups in the late 1950s. In 1975 he published At a Journal Workshop, a thorough description of his haethod up to that time. In 1980 he published a companion volume, The Practice of Process Meditation, which added another dimension to the program. Dimensions of Human Existence In Progoff's view, the artist is paradigmatic. Each individual is both the artist and the ultimate artwork of life, and yet individuals execute the art-work which is themselves by engaging in outer activity which has inner meaning for the one doing it and beneficial consequences for society. In other words, in order for each of us to be fulfilled as an individual, we must 504 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 do some work (opus as distinguished from labor) which is both personally and socially meaningful. At the same time as we are creating our lifework, the doing of the work is creative of us. The basic dialogue of life is the dynamic actual (as distinguished from logical) dialogue between human cre-ators and their works. In Progoff's words, "Outward activity propelled from within is the essence of creative existence.''4 From his research on the lives of creative people Progoff learned to dis-tinguish certain dimensions of life as loci of the components of creativity. The Intensive Journal method recognizes those dimensions as sources of the raw material of creativity in anybody's life, They are the dimensions of time, ¯ of relationships, and of personal symbols. The Intensive Journal workbook uses color-coded dividers to mark off various sections in each of which the Journal-writer deals with the move-ment in one particular dimension of life. Within each of the main sections are tabbed subdividers of the same color as the main divider. Each tab bears the name of the specific exercise to be entered there. For example, the "Life/Time Dimension" is indicated by a red divider and contains four tabbed red subdividers; each of the four tabs bears the title of the written exercise to be entered there by the Journal writer. Similarly, the dimension of personal relationships in life, called the "Dialogue Dimension," is indicated by an orange divider and comprises five tabbed subdividers for each of the five "dialogue exercises." The part of the Intensive Journal workbook for making entries which deal with dreams and personal imagery is called the "Depth Dimension." It is indicated by a blue divider and five tabbed blue subdividers. In summary, the workbook comprises sections which reflect and stimu-late the movement of an individual life in each of its dimensions. Each of the main sections of the workbook represents a dimension of life and comprises several subsections for various written exercises which deal with the con- "tents of that life in styles appropriate to that particular dimension. The Dimension of Life/Time We do not get the chance to start life over, but the Intensive Journal pro-gram does offer us a tested means of restructuring our life from the perspec-tive of the present. At the same time it provides a means of discovering unactualized potentials which we may have overlooked the first time around, or which were not ripe then and may at some point in time be able to take a form they could not have taken originally. In studying the biography of a deceased person generally recognized as creative, the end or goal of that career may be clear and unmistakable, even Progof['s Intensive Journal Method / 505 though the lif'e story includes setbacks, stalls, reversals, and obstacles. It may be easy to see how everything in that life was leading up to some great scientific or philosophical work because we are viewing it from the perspec-tive of the end. But what if I am the life story I am working with? In that case the life process is still in progress. I am not looking at a still photograph but a mov-ing picture, and I am looking at it from the inside. In that case I start with the present epoch of my personal life and get a feel for this period of life from the inside. That is, I allow myself to feel the quality or tone of my life during this present period and record it objectively. The record I make of the pre-sent period will be an objective statement of my subjective experience of life at present. Then I am in a position to allow the course of my life to present itself to me from the perspective of the present in the form of about a dozen significant events. Each of those significant events serves to characterize a whole period of life. Of course, many other things also happened during that period. There are other exercises for dealing with them. The idea in this exercise is to get a feel for the wholeness and continuity of my life as I allow it to present itself to me in an articulated form so that I can use other Journal exercises to deal with it one period at a time. All the Intensive Journal exercises presuppose the attitude of openness and receptivity mentioned above, a nonjudgmental attitude toward life. It is not so much the objective contents of a life that affect its degree of creativi-ty, as the subjective attitude toward that life. In the creative restructuring of a life, a relaxed, friendly approach which allows surprises is important. Dimension of Relationships In the life/time dimension treated above, there is a principle of whole-ness, continuity, and direction,toward-a-goal at work. In the dimension of relationships, the dynamic is that of dialogue, that is, the give-and-take of equals listening and responding to each other in a spirit of mutual trust and acceptance. The principle of "dialogue relationship" applies first of all to significant people during various epochs of life. The. same dynamic applies analogously to meaningful work-projects (opera), which, like persons, seem to have a life of their own. In his research on creative lives, Progoff discovered that creativity occurs when people approach several kinds of meaningful contents of their life not as inert matter to be manipulated but as personal entities. That is, he discovered that creativity occurs when people acknowledge that each of sev-eral meaningful contents of their life has a life story of its own analogous to 506 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 that of a person. Each of these contents of life has a life story with blockages to growth toward a goal, with hopes, disappointments, successes, and so forth. He found that for the sake of movement toward acceptance of life and all it holds, it is of paramount importance to establish a "dialogue rel~ition-ship" not only with persons and works but witl~ the physical and societal dimensions of life, and with events, situations, and circumstances of life which "just happen." Progoff's research into de facto creative lives yielded two important corollaries. First, the movement which the dialogue relationship fosters is intrinsic to the "creative spirit. Secondly, in the dimension of relationships as well as in other dimensions of life, the factual contents of life are less impor-tant in the creative process than the way people relate to whatever the con-tents of their life are. The "Dialogue Dimension" of the Intensive Journal workbook offers a format for a variety of exercises which enable the Journal writer to engage in written dialogue with people who have played meaningful roles in their life, with work projects, their own body, sources of values in their life (v.g., fami-ly, ethnicity, religious commitment), and things over which they had no con-trol. The purpose of these dialogue scripts is to give a voice to the meaningful contents of life, that is, to provide them a forum in which mutu-ality can flourish in the form of a "dialogue relationship" rather than a mere-ly utilitarian relationship. This leaves the Journal writer open to the possibility of something new emerging from an old relationship from the past. That new something may contribute an insight or an awareness which is of benefit to another relationship or which creatively affects the movement in another dimension of life. The Dimension of Inner Symbols This dimension of life refers to dreams, "twilight imagery" and personal wisdom-figures as the vehicles which come forward spontaneously to carry the movement of life further. The aim of the exercises in this part of the Journal, called the "Depth Dimension," is to facilitate spontaneous correla-tions between inner imagery and outer life so that new insights, awarenesses, and possibilities for action and decision-making might come to the surface of consciousness. Then, by means of appropriate Journal exercises, they can be fed back into the ongoing movement of life and thus stimulate growth by creating new configurations in the way things fit together in life. Progoff tends to shy away from the use of dreams in his method because many people seem unable to deal with them except analytically. The Intensive Journal method of working with dreams is basically to allow the movement Progoffs Intensive Journal Method / 507 in a recurring dream or in a cluster of dreams to suggest some correlation with movement in one of the other dimensions of life. Then the exercitant may use appropriate Journal exercises to work in that dimension of life. The Fourth Dimension: The Spiritual As mentioned above, Progoff sees the Intensive Journal work in geoeral as "a species of prayer and meditation., in the midst of the actuality of our life experiences." However, he came to appreciate the role of the spiritual dimension in creativity only after he had developed Journal exercises in the three dimensions of life treated briefly above. The specifically spiritual dimension is reflected in his program as the dimension of meaning. The procedures for working in that dimension are called "Process Meditation." In the Intensive Journal program, formal work in this dimension is reserved for those who have already taken part in the "Life Context Workshop," which deals with the three dimensions of life treated above. As Rahner has said, "A basic and original transcendental experience is really rooted [in] a finite spirit's subjective and free experience of itself.''5 The "process" of "Process Meditation" refers to "the principle of conti-nuity in the universe" which is found on three levels: the cosmic, the s6ci-etal, and the personally interior.6 The Intensive Journal method helps the individual relate to "process" on the interior level. The movement of life in the three dimensions treated above is character-istically movement toward personal wholeness and the integration of the individual with oneself. Progoff calls that movement "core creativity." "In terms of individual lives," he writes, "the essence of process in human expe-rience lies in the continuity of its movement toward new integrations, the formation of new holistic units [of life/time].''7 In the spiritual dimension of life the movement is characterized by rela-tionships which transcend the core creativity of the individual. The roots of such relationships--even the personal relationship of the individual to God--are to be found in the stuff of everyday life, but at a deeper than ordi-nary level. Rahner speaks of the knowledge of God as "concrete, original, histori-cally constituted, and transcendental." He further says that such knowledge of God "is inevitably present in the depths of existence in the most ordinary human life.''8 Progoff interprets "meditation" broadly. In his usage it refers to whatev-er methods or practices one uses in the effort to reach out toward meaning. "The essence of meditation," he says, "lies in its intention, in its commit- 508 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 ment to work inwardly to reach into the depths beyond the doctrines of our beliefs.''9 Hence, "Process Meditation" refers to a set of exercises which draw on the individual exercitant's intimations or experiences of connected-ness to the principle of continuity in the universe. Progoff describes his method of Process Meditation as follows: Our basic procedure is to reenter the process by which our individual spiritual history has been moving toward meaning . We reenter that pro-cess so as to reconnect ourselves with the inner principle of its move-ment, and especially so that we can take a further step toward the artwork that is our personal sense of meaning,l° Conclusion In a review of The Practice of Process Meditation, William V. Dych, S.J., translator of Rahner into English, compares what Rahner calls "the uni-versal presence of grace and the Spirit" with Progoff's thesis that "there is in every human being an inner source of new light and life that expresses itself whenever the circumstances are right." Dych views Progoff's thesis as so supportive of Rahner's position that it would be hard to imagine a more pos-itive affirmation of it. ~ NOTES i Karl Rahner, The Practice of Faith: A Handbook of Contemporary Spirituality, ed. Karl Lehmann'and Albert Raffelt (New York: Crossroad, 1984), pp. 94-95. 1 Ira Progoff, The Practice of Process Meditation: The Intensive Journal Way to Spiritual Experience (New York: Dialogue House Library, 1980), p. 18. 3 Rahner, op cit, p. ! 86. 4 Ira Progoff, At a Journal Workshop: The Basic Text and Guide for Using the Intensive Journal (New York: Dialogue House Library, 1975), p. 35. 5 Karl Rahner, Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity, trans. William V. Dych (New York: The Seabury Press, 1978), p. 75. 6 Progoff, The Practice of Process Meditation, p. 40. 7 Ibid, p. 58. 8 Rahner, Foundations of Christian Faith, p. 57. 9 Progoff, The Practice of Process Meditation, p. 34. l0 Ibid, p. 82. II William V. Dych, "The Stream that Feeds the Well Within," Commonweal, 25 September 1981 Our Journey Inward: A Spirituality of Addiction and Recovery Maureen Conroy, R.S.M. Sister Maureen Conroy is co-director of the Upper Room Spiritual Center; EO. Box 1104; Neptune, New Jersey 07753. [~qany of us travel a great deal throughout our lives. With advanced means of transportation, traveling around the state, country, or world has become second nature to us. However, no matter how much or how far we travel, as we journey through life we discover that there is no journey more challeng-ing and scary than the journey inward, the journey to find true happiness and our most authentic self. We search for what is fulfilling and life-giving, but at times our searching takes us down the dark road of addictive behavior. We search for happiness in compulsive ways that deaden us rather than give us life--until we experience a desperate need for help. In this article I reflect on the darkness pervading the addictive process and some ways to journey through the darkness to our truer self. I discuss three aspects of our journey from addiction to recovery--woundedness and wholeness, powerlessness and surrender, and pain and compassion--and describe some dimensions of a spirituality of addiction and recovery related to these three aspects. A Spirituality of Woundedness and Wholeness As human beings God has given us the gifts of strength and freedom; we are called to live in the light. It is also true, however, that we are wounded, weak, vulnerable, broken people. We come from an environment of dark-ness. The brokenness in our ancestry and the dysfunction in our families has influenced our growth as free human beings. We are broken and we are in deep need of healing and redemption. We cannot save ourselves. In our addictive stance we want to avoid our woundedness, ignore our 509 510 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 weakness, and run from our vulnerability. We seek fulfillment through an object, a substance, or a process; that is, we form a pathological relationship with a mood-altering reality in order to find wholeness and happiness. We find it difficult to be honest about the dysfunction in our families and the brokenness in ourselves, so we look for something outside ourselves to keep us from facing our darkness. Spiritual growth and recovery, however, are just the opposite of this avoidance. To grow humanly and spiritually we must journey in and through our woundedness; we must face it head on. We need to feel the messiness of our brokenness and to discover God there. As Psalm 50 says, "a broken and humbled heart, O God, you will not spurn." We must discover that God's heart of love encompasses and holds as precious our wounded hearts, bodies, and spirits. It is through dwelling in our woundedness and vulnerability that we experience our authentic self and that we enable our addictive self to grow less powerful. We come to experience the child within and integrate our dark side with our light side. How do we make this journey in and through our woundedness? We do it by uncovering our addiction layer by layer. By this I mean we allow the walls of denial and layers of dishonesty to reveal themselves; we honestly appraise our unhealthy behaviorL Denial blocks our inner journey. It is a buffer against any reality thatis not acceptable to us, a way to protect our-selves from awareness of realities that are too difficult to face. Spiritual growth happens when we remove layer upon layer of denial that covers over our woundedness and our truer selves. Rather than avoiding our wounds, we need to expose them to the fresh air, to expose our broken hearts to the heal-ing .heart of God, to bring our darkness out into the light of day, to bring hid-den realities out to the light of God's love and the care of others. As Meister Eckhart says, "God is not found in the soul by adding anything, but by a pro-cess of subtraction." So it is through peeling off layer upon layer of denial and dishonesty that we discover God in our brokenness. We discover the original blessing that we are, our deeper and truer selves. We see and feel the aspects of ourselves--minds, hearts, and bodies--that mirror God's pres-ence. We experience the truth of the Genesis story where God says, "Let us make people in our image and likeness." We discover the authentic self that God desires to be fully human and fully alive. Growth in wholeness, therefore, takes place through integrating our dark side with our light side, through accepting our brokenness as we journey through it, by seeing the original blessing that we are. We discover that "darkness and light are the same" (Ps 139:12), that God is present in every dimension of our being. Thus, our woundedness becomes a gift, so rather Our Journey Inward / S'l'l than covering it over with layers of denial, we come to feel at home there because God is there. We discover our truer self underneath the layers of an addictive self. We integrate our wounded and blessed self, our darkness and our light, and we become more and more a whole person. We experience the truth proclaimed by St. Irenaeus: "God's greatest glory is a person fully alive." A Spirituality of Powerlessness and Surrender The journey through addiction to recovery is also one of powerlessness and surrender. God sent Jesus in the flesh to free us from our enslavement to sin and to show us the way t6 live in freedom. It was through Jesus' total surrender to his death on the cross that he experienced new life and showed us the way to true freedom, the freedom of letting go and surrender. In our addictive stance, we are trying to control everyone and everything around us. We grow hardheaded and hardhearted, and we attempt to control the sub-stance or process that we are abusing--alcohol, food, money, sex, work, or an obsessive relationship. We are out of control, and the more we try to con-trol everyone and everything around us, even the substance we are abusing, the more out of control we become. Our addiction is enslaving us to our own self-centered needs and desires. We are "number one" when we are addicted; our addictive needs come bei'ore everyone else. Our addiction enslaves us to an object or process that we think is going to bring us lasting happiness when it is really bringing us misery and isolation. It enslaves us emotionally, spiritually, physically, and socially. The more we try to control the use of our addictive reality, the more we lose con-trol. We deny the basic reality that Paul~ expresses: "The desire to do right is within me, but not the power. What happens is that I do, not the good I will, but the evil I do not intend. But if I do what is against my will, it is not I who do it but sin which dwells in me" (Rm 7~18-20). In our denial we keep think-ing we can choose to keep this substance in right order; however, the rbality is that our will is not working, it is diseased. We are powerless. So how does spiritual growth and recovery happen in relation to our being out of control? It begins when we admit our powerlessness, realize the insanity of thinking that we can control all aspects of our lives and our des-tiny. Spiritual growth happens through the journey of surrender, not control; it begins at the moment of surrender. We need to admit that our ability to choose has become greatly impaired through the disease of our addiction. Our trying to choose not to drink, not to overeat, not to overwork, not to engage in compulsive sexual activity, is just not working. Our willpower simply does not work. As we begin to admit our powerlessness and surrender to God, we find 512 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 new life. When we surrender rather than control, we are choosing life: "I have set before you life and death, a blessing and a curse. Choose life, then, that you may live, by loving the Lord your God, heeding God's voice and holding fast to God. For that will mean life for you" (Dt 30:19-20). As we admit our powerlessness and surrender to God, true power grows within us--the power to love others, the power to experience God's love, and the power to love ourselves. Through our surrender we come more deeply in touch with our authentic self--the self that is alive and not dead, free and not enslaved, joyful and not depressed. True freedom grows--a freedom that heals rather than hurts, that brings about growth rather than destruction, that results in life rather than death. In our surrender we begin to make positive choices for recovery, attend-ing twelve-step meetings and living the twelve-step program. We choose to take responsibility for our lives and our recovery, like the paralyzed man who had lain at the pool of Bethsaida for thirty-eight years until Jesus asked: "Do you want to be healed?" We need to respond to that same question in our addiction because recovery is hard work; it involves a gre.at deal of sacri-fice and responsibility. Also, through our daily admission of powerlessness and constant atti-tude of surrender, we discover God in a new way--a God who supports us in our weakness and strengthens us in time of need, a God who will not leave us even in our most out-of-control moments. We discover in Jesus a God " who has experienced weakness and powerlessness, a God who has stood totally stripped and poor, a God who invites us to have the attitude of a vul-nerable child rather than a controlling adult: "Unless you become like a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of God." We experience a God whose power takes over in our weakness, as St. Paul discovered through his strug-gle: "Three times [which means numerous times] I begged the Lord that this might leave me. God said to me, 'My grace is enough for you, for in weak-ness power reaches perfection.' " It was through constantly admitting his powerlessness that Paul's spiritual growth and recovery took place. So he says: "I willingly boast of my weaknesses instead, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I am content with weakness., for when I am powerless it is then that I am strong" (2 Co 12:8-10). Thus, through admit-ting our powerlessness over an object of addiction and surrend.ering to God our weakness, we experience the power of God, the love of God, new life, renewed freedom. We move forward on the journey ,of recovery. A Spirituality of Pain and Compassion Finally, the journey through addiction to recovery is one of pain and Our Journey Inward / ~313 compassion. One of the hard facts of life is that suffering is an integral part of it. Jesus himself had to suffer great pain in order to bring new life. Our God is not a distant God but a compassionate God who experienced great pain, the pain of loving us. In our addictive stance, we deal with pain in an unhealthy way. We want to run from it, cover it over, deny it. We are caught in a "Catch 22" situation because, in using a substance to avoid our pain, we are really in great pain-- the pain of loneliness, isolation, and alienation from our true self and from healthy relationships with others. As our addiction progresses, it becomes increasingly painful to maintain our denial. We are overcome by the pain of shame and self-disgust. Spiritual growth and recovery take place when we face that pain, feeling it, looking at it square in the face, rather than avoiding it by abusing a sub-stance. As our walls of denial break down, we begin to feel the pain we have been covering up--the pain of living, the pain of loss, the pain of being human, the pain of developing intimate relationships, the pain of childhood neglect and abuse. We find out that healing involves pain, as in the case of lepers. Leprosy causes numbness. When Jesus healed the leper, he invited him to feel pain in the areas of previous nrmbness. The same is true of the leprosy of our addiction: as we begin to let down the walls of denial, we begin to feel pain. We realize that recovery and healing are not easy. As we journey through deeper levels of pain in our recovery, we discover a God who knows what it is to suffer. As Meister Eckhart says: "Jesus becam~ a human being because God, the Compassionate One, lacked a back to be beaten. God needed a back like our backs on which to receive blows and therefore to perform compassion as well as to preach it." Our compassionate God became a suffering God. Our God feels with us, suffers with us. Again, Eckhart says, "However great one's suffering is, if it comes through God, God suffers from it first." What a gift we have in a God who suffers with us! As we experience this tremendous love of a compassionate God, we become people of compassion, persons who can feel with others in their bro-kenness. We become more vulnerable and grow toward greater wholeness because love is the greatest healer. As our walls of denial are penetrated with God's compassionate love and we become more vulnerable, we can be with people in their brokenness. That is one of the beautiful realities of the twelve-step program: it is a group of people who are in touch with their bro-kenness and therefore have great compassion for those who are struggling. They live out these words of McNeill, Morrison, and Nouwen: "Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in broken-ness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with 514 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human" (Compassion, p. 4). As we feel the pain that our addiction has tried to cover, we become wounded healers--people who minister out of our woundedness as well as our strength. "What you have received as a gift. give as a gift" (Mt 10:8). Our pain becomes a gift that we can give to other addicted people as we compas-sionately help them to face the devastation of their addictive behaviors. In sum, our inward journey involves walking down the dark paths of our brokenness into the light of God's presence and our authentic self. A spiritu-ality of addiction and recovery must include two sides of reality: awareness of our woundedness, powerlessness, and pain as well as growth in wholeness, surrender, and compassion. Without a vivid sense of the depths of our bro-kenness in our addicted self, we cannot move toward the wholeness of our authentic self. Without a keen awareness of our darkness, we are blind to the light of God's healing presence. Without an acute sense of our vulnerability, we cannot become compassionate healers who stand with others in their pain. Though scary and challenging, our journey through our own darkness will lead us to the light of true happiness, deeper fulfillment, and new life. Awareness Examen for Recovering People In God's presence, take ten to fifteen minutes to prayerfully reflect on your day. Contemplate your day together--you and God. Prayer of Thanksgiving I thank God for the gift of this day, the gift of my sobriety, the gift of my recovery. I thank God for specific git~s of life that come to mind, such as my health, my family, my community, my friends, my job, my twelve-step program. I thank God for gifts of my inner life, such as the ability to feel and think, energizing feelings I had during the day (name them), specific values and beliefs that guided my actions, ways I used my thinking and imagination for growth, positive choices for recovery which I made today, God's life within me. I thank God for two or three concrete life gifts and inner gifts that I am particularly aware of and grateful for today. Prayer for Light I humbly ask God to help me see myself and my life today as God sees Our Journey Inward them. I ask God to remove blindness and denial from my mind and heart. I ask God for the gift of honesty with myself and God. I ask God for a dis-ceming heart and a truthful mind. Prayer of Awareness God and I contemplate my life, my heart, and my thinking this day from the moment I woke up until now. What specific feelings did I feel today? When did I feel most alive today? most my true self?, most joyful? most peaceful? most in tune with my deeper self?. How did I feel God's presence today? What was that feeling like? What was God like? At what moment did I feel God's presence the strongest? When did I feel powerless today? out of control? enslaved? unfree? What was I powerless over? Did I surrender that reality to God? When did I feel vulnerable today? When did I feel pain today? What was the pain about? Did I share that painful feeling with God or another? With whom have I been most honest today? myself?, another? God? What was I honest about? How did I struggle with honesty today? With what issue or feeling? ' What were my feelings underneath the struggle? fear? anger? guilt? Which of the twelve steps was my strength today? How did I live it, carry it out, in a practical way? In what concrete ways did I strive to improve my conscious contact with God? What choices did I make for my recovery today? How do I feel about those choices? When did I feel compassion for another person today? How did I reach out to others today? show concem and care? make amends? Prayer of Amends I ask God to forgive any specific wrongdoings of today. I ask God to have mercy on any negative attitudes or feelings that I got stuck in today. Prayer of Surrender I surrender all to God: my life, my will, my brokenness, my addictions, my imagination, my thoughts, my feelings. I surrender to God specific attitudes, feelings, thoughts, actions over which I felt powerless today. I ask God's strength to take over in my specific weaknesses. I ask God's power to be present in the specific areas in which I feel helpless and powerless. 516 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 O God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Take, O Lord, and receive my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my entire will, all that I have and possess. You have given all to me. To you, O God, I return it. All is yours, dispose of it wholly according to your will. Give me your love and your grace, for this is sufficient for me. (Prayer from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius) RECOMMENDED READING Larsen, Eamie. Stage H Recovery: Life Beyond Addiction. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985. May, Gerald. Addiction and Grace. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988. McNeill, Donald; Morrison, Douglas; and Nouwen, Henri. Compassion. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1966. Nakken, Craig. The Addictive Personality: Roots, Rituals, Recovery. Center City, Minn.: Hazelden, 1988. Whitfield, Charles L. Healing the Child Within. Pompano Beach, Florida: Health Communications, 1987. A Gift to Share The Jesuit Heritage Today "Ignatian prayer puts the history of salvation into the present tense." --Walter Burghardt, S.J. A Spirituality for Contemporary Life ¯ presents six stimulating reflections on the Jesuit heritage today. Theologians Walter IBurghardt, David Fleming, Monika Hellwig, Jon Sobrino, ElizabethJohnson, andJohn Padberg speak about living with God in ordinary life. ISBN 0-924768-02-9 112 pages List Price $5.95 A Resource to Keep See Order Form Inside Back Cover for Special Offer for Readers of Review for Religious Apostolic Spirituality: Aware We Are Sent James H. Kroeger, M.M. Father James Kroeger last appeared in our pages in May/June 1988. He has a doctor-ate in missiology from the Gregorian University and has published five books. His address: Maryknoll Fathers; EO. Box 285; Greenhills Post Office; 1502 Metro Manila; Philippines. Adequately capturing realities in the spiritual life always demands the use of dynamic, expansive language. For this reason, spirituality is frequently described in relational categories--between a Christian and a personal God, between the servant-herald and the crucified and risen Lord. Such a relation-ship of intimacy is at the heart of biblical spirituality: "I will be your God and you shall be my people"; Christians are Jesus' friends and call their heavenly Father "Abba." Spirituality may also variously be described as growth, an evolution toward maturity, a pilgrimage. Each category presents an authentic, albeit partial, grasp of the human-divine dynamic operative in our lives. In this article, "consciousness" or "awareness" is the category for our insight into spirituality, and it naturally overflows with an apostolic or missionary dynamism. Consciousness: A Window into Spirituality Consciousness may seem to be an elusive concept, yet no one would deny the reality. An individual is in a conscious state when perceptual and cognitive faculties function normally. One continuously synthesizes various stimuli from within and from without; ideally, the result is a healthy personal integration. Notice that many constitutive elements are included in consciousness: seeing, hearing, feeling, thinking, desiring, experiencing. Consciousness incorporates perceptions, emotions, observations, thoughts, aspirations, 517 5"11~ / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 choices. It also includes an introspective awareness of the personal impact of all events and experience. In light of this brief and rudimentary description of the phenomenon of human consciousness, one may begin to elaborate the relationship between consciousness and a spirituality of the apostolate. Our service--all focused on raising our God-consciousness and expanding the horizons of our spiritu-al awareness. We want to use our eyes to see perceptively and our ears to hear attentively; we hope to gain deepened insight into our lives through faith's mirror (Jm 1:22-25). In another vein, a look at the venerable Eastern traditions of many Asian nations reveals that the man of God or the God-conscious, God-focused per-son is essentially a seer, sage, or mystic. Such a person "sees" and experi-ences God; God is not an object of knowledge, but a subject of experience. To grow in holistic spirituality is concomitant with an experiential awareness and consciousness of God's presence and activity in all dimensions of one's life (Arguelles, 50-51). The beautiful prayer in the Upanishads, one of the Hindu sacred books, expresses the aspiration and spiritual desire to come to this deeper conscious union with the divine. In Sanskrit and English it is: Asato ma satgamaya Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya Mrutyu ma amrutam gamaya. God, lead me from untruth to truth Lead me from darkness to light Lead me from death to immortality. Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and spiritual writer (1915-1968), has enabled countless people to gain insights into their spirituality. Merton inti-mately links spirituality and prayer with the transformation of conscious-ness. He sees that a renewed conscious awareness underlies all spiritual growth; Christians must cease to assert themselves as the center of con-sciousness and discover God's presence as the deepest center of conscious-ness within them. Thus, as their self-consciousness changes, they are transformed; their self is no longer its own center, it is now centered on God. It is important to note that for Merton no one will ever be capable of communion with God and others without ttiis deep awakening, this transfor-mation of consciousness. Such transformative growth "consists in a double movement, man's entering into the deepest center of himself, and then, after passing through that center, going out of himself to God" (Higgins, 49). Merton asserts that, unless our spirituality or prayer "does something to awaken in us a consciousness of our union with God, of our complete depen- Apostolic Spirituality / 5'19 dence upon him for all our vital acts in the spiritual life, and of his constant loving presence in the depths of our soul, it has not achieved the full effect for which it is intended" (Merton-A, 67). In today's world, "What is required of Christians is that they develop a completely modern and contemporary consciousness in which their experience as men of our century is integrated with their experiences as children of God redeemed by Christ" (Merton-B, 279). The renowned Indian theologian D.S. Amalorpavadass has written elo-quently on the role of consciousness or awareness in attaining spiritual inte-gration and interiorization: "If wholeness is a state of being at which one should finally arrive in stages, awareness is the running thread and unifying force. Awareness needs to flow like a river, like a blood-stream . Awareness is also the core of spirituality and God-experience." He repeats: "Awareness or consciousness should flow through the various actions of our life. One should maintain awareness in all that one does. It should serve as a running thread and connecting bond., through the various activities of our day, and the different periods and stages of our life, in an uninterrupted and continuous flow. This flow will make our whole life a continuous prayer and a state of contemplation" (Amalorpavadass, 4, 24). Brief glimpses of Scripture, Eastern traditions, a Trappist monk, and a contemporary theologian have shown that "consciousness" helps one grasp the human-divine dynamic operative in the Christian life. Within this catego-ry- which is foundational--a vibrant spirituality and a concomitant mis-sionary dynamism can flourish. And, in a Marian spirit, Christians who are missionary will grow ever more conscious of the marvelous deeds that God is accomplishing in us, our neighbors, our society, our Church, and the entire world. The Consciousness of Paul the Missionary The New Testament describes Paul's radical awareness of God's active presence in his life. Though not naturally prone to humility, Paul admits that he was knocked to the/~round; in Damascus "something like scales fell from his eyes," By grace h~ perceived that he was the chosen instrument to bring Good News to the Gentiles and that he would accomplish his mission only with hardship and suffering (Ac 9). Paul's consciousness of his apostolic calling was certainly at the basis of his extraordinary missionary journeys. Without a vivid perception and faith commitment, no one would willingly endure the challenges Paul faced. Such endurance would be foolishness. Yet Paul is never willing, even momentari-ly, to minimize his authority and commitment as an apostle; the introductory 520 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 verses of many of his letters are clear evidence of this. Paul's conversion was no superficial or passing phenomenon. It penetrated the core of his person and totally transformed his way of thinking and acting--his consciousness. Further investigation into Pauline theology and spirituality reveals the depth of his convictions. Paul is absolutely certain that God has a wonderful, marvelous, loving plan of salvation for the entire world (note his frequent use of the words mysterion and oikonomia). His letter to the Ephesians con-vincingly, almost mystically, explains how "God has given us the wisdom to understand fully the mystery,'~ "the mysterious design which for ages was hidden in God." Pauline reflection on God's loving plan of salvation (mysterion) synthe-sizes his belief that this design has been fully revealed in Christ and will be recapitulated in Christ at the end of time. This manifestation is focused on salvation, not condemnation or judgment, and is open to all peoples. It unfolds in stages: God, Jesus, Spirit, Church, world. Humanity's response is faith or personal appropriation of the mysterion (Fitzmyer, 807-808). A recent scholarly investigation (Plevnik, 477-478) has concluded that "Any center of Pauline theology must therefore include all these components of the apostle's gospel, his understanding of Christ, involving the Easter event and its implications, the present lordship, the future coming of Christ, and the appropriation of salvation. The center is thus not any single aspect of Christ, or of God's action through Christ, but rather the whole and undivided richness and mystery of Christ and of the Father's saving purpose through his Son" (mysterion). Mystery, in one word, captures the Christian message. Paul is the missionary par excellence because he believed, lived, prayed, served, reflected, witnessed, preached, and suffered so that God's mysterion would be known, extended, loved, and freely received. Obviously, Paul's missionary consciousness had the "mysterion encounter" as its central focus and driving force. Paul's self-awareness as an apostle was rooted in being chosen as a ser-vant and minister of God's loving plan of salvation. It might be asserted that the mysterion engulfed and consumed Paul; his consciousness was so trans-formed that he could assert that Christ lived in him, that fellow Christians could imitate him, that life or death no longer mattered, and that he gloried in giving his life for Christ. In a word, the mysterion is foundational to Paul's missionary identity and consciousness. Mission and Mysterion Consciousness The Second Vatican Council in its decree on the missionary activity of the Church places mission and evangelization at the center of the Church-- Apostolic Spirituality / 52'1 not allowing this task to float somewhere on the periphery: "The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature" (AG, 2). Pope Paul VI continues in the same vein: "We wish to confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all peoples constitutes the essential mission of the Church . Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize." (EN, 14). To evangelize--what meaning does this imperative have for the Church? It is to be no less than the living proclamation of the mysterion, God's loving design of universal salvation. As the community of Jesus' disciples, the Church realizes her "deepest identity" and "her very nature" when she ful-fills her mission of evangelization. She is to be always and everywhere "the universal sacrament of salvation" (LG, 48; AG, 1). For her, to live is to evangelize. In contemporary terms, the Church accomplishes her "self-realization" or "self-actualization" through mission and evangelization. She is only authentic and true to herself when she is announcing and witnessing the mys-terion. A nonmissionary Church is impossible; it is self-contradictory. The great missionary pope Paul VI writes that the Church "is linked to evange-lization in her most intimate being" (EN, 15); mission is not "an optional contribution for the Church" (EN, 5). In addition, the Church's missionary identity is not a late afterthought of the risen Jesus--though this outlook may seem true today of some Christians and local churches. Animation and rededication are necessary because Christians "are faithful to the nature of the Church to the degree that we love and sincerely promote her missionary activity" (EE, 2). These few paragraphs may invite the comment "I have heard it all before." True, yet all of us often hear without hearing, see without seeing, and listen without comprehending. It is precisely at this juncture that conscious-ness is poignantly relevant. Many Christians do not deny the missionary nature of the Church, but their level of conscious awareness is weak or mini-mal. This fact is unfortunately true even of many full-time Church personnel. The intention here is not to berate or castigate individuals. Rather, it is a stark statement of the need for "consciousness-raising"; it is a call for Christians to expand and deepen their awareness; all urgently need "conscientization-into-mission." In short, the entire Church herself must experience a profound reevangelization in order to become a truly evangelizing community. Recall the themes presented earlier on the centrality of consciousness in Christian life and spirituality. They seem particularly relevant as the Church struggles with her fundamental missionary identity. Is not this a central burn-ing question in the Church today: What has happened to her mission con- 522 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 sciousness--where is its urgency and dynamism--where are the contempo-rary St. Pauls? A rephrasing in mission terms of earlier quotes on consciousness from Amalorpavadass may prove enlightening. Church-as-mission is "the running thread and unifying force"; it "needs to flow like a river, like a blood-stream"; it is at "the core of spirituality and God-experience"; ira"will make our whole life a continuous prayer and state of contemplation." Trinitarian Basis of Mission Consciousness and Spirituality In the same breath that the Vatican Council spoke of the Church's mis-sionary identity, it presented the foundational rationale of mission. In a word, the why of Church-as-mission is Trinitarian, "for it is from the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit that she takes her origin, in accordance with the decree of God the Father" (AG, 2). This mission vision, expressed in Trinitarian language, must not frighten or intimidate readers. Do not say, "I do not understand Trinitarian theology, so I cannot grasp this." While a bit difficult and challenging, this insight is also beautiful and rewarding. It transports us to the heart of mission; it flows from the core of our faith in the Trinity; it greatly enhances our mission con-sciousness and spirituality. The most inviting manner to appreciate mission--via the Trinity--is to remember that it is an eminently personal approach. The Father is a person, his son Jesus is a person, their girl of the Spirit is also a person. This is only a statement of a basic dogma of the faith. Grasping the immanence and closeness of the three Persons appears far more fruitful than grappling with the incomprehensibility of the transcendent Trinity (Billy, 602-611). Growth in conscious awareness, experience, and encounter with each of the three Persons richly broadens our vision of mission. It also manifests that mission theology and spirituality draw from the same wellspring. An appre-ciation of the roles of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in mission produces an integrated missiology, incorporating "Abba" theology, Christology, and pneumatology. The result will certainly be a more holistic theology and spir-ituality of mission. Finally, it is the conviction of this author that such an approach relieves some current tensions and answers some questions in mission. For example, debates centered on interreligious dialogue with the living faith traditions of the world can probably be better resolved more from a pneumatological approach than from only a Christological one. Therefore, if mission theology and spirituality are an integrated endeavor, the deepened consciousness will provide insights for both theoretical and practical questions. Apostolic Spirituality / 523 Our attention now tums to the roles of Father, Son, and Spirit in mis-sion. How does each person of the Trinity send and accompany us into mis-sion? Recall the title of this presentation, which links mission and spirituality with a consciousness of being sent. The Role of the Father The Father is presented in Scripture as the harvest master and vineyard owner. Mission, therefore, originates with the Father; mission is God's pro-ject. The Father determines its parameters. Already this awareness places the Church and her evangelizers in an auxiliary, servant role. Vatican II clearly set aside triumphalistic ecclesiology as well as any simplistic identification of the Church and the Kingdom of God. As servant of the kingdom or laborer in the vineyard, the Church is to be "the kingdom of Christ now present in mystery" and the "the initial budding forth of that kingdom" (LG, 3, 5). In addition, the Council, situating the Church within the larger framework of God's design of salvation (mysterion), entitled its first chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church "The Mystery of the Church." The Church and all missioners must radically see themselves serving the mysterion "according to the will of God the Father" (AG, 2). The Father desires generous cooperators and humble workers for the harvest. He freely chooses them and they are to belong to him (Lk 6:13; Mk 3:13-16; Jn 15:15-16). These passages remind evangelizers that all mission is a sending (missio/mittere), originating in the Father; their vocation is God's gratuitous gift. Missioners do not send themselves; mission cannot be defined in legal terms; all must be according to the Father's gracious design. Affirming mission, therefore, as a gratuitous gift in the Father's gracious vision, emphasizes the centrality of grace. Thus, missioners understand, as the country priest in Bernanos' novel says on his deathbed, in all vocations "Grace is everywhere" (Bernanos, 233). Trinitarian mission is always soteriological; its purpose is liberation and salvation. The Father has no other goal, as Paul clearly reminded Timothy: He "wants all to be saved and come to know the truth." Condemnation or rejection are inconsistent with the Father's design (Jn 3:16-17; Mt 18:14). The Father, overwhelmingly "rich in mercy" (Ep 2:4), extends his great love to everyone, as the universalism of both Luke and Paul make clear. All evangelizers have experienced "the kindness and love of God" (Tt 3:4); it is out of their deep consciousness of the Father's personal graciousness that they journey to all places, peoples, and cultures. They are aware that they have received all as girl, and they desire to give all with the same generosity (Mt 10:8). Any missioner would relish being described as "rich in mercy." 594 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 The Father cannot be surpassed in his kindness and generosity (Jm 1:5, 17); his mercy is made concrete and visible when he sends Jesus, his Son. This is definitely a new mode of God's presence with his people; it is love in personal form. This unfolding of the mysterion far surpasses previous mani-festations of Yahweh's presence to his people Israel (Heb 1:1-2). Missioners strive to be continuations of the love of God manifested personally in Jesus, and this approach brings transformation and deepened consciousness. Our discussion of the Father's role in mission carries us back to the heart of the Trinity: God is love (1 Jn 4:8), and all manifestations flow from this identity. No less than the inner life of the Trinity is founded on the dynamism of divine love. Thus, the mysterion necessarily is a loving design since it arises "from that 'fountain of love' or charity (fontalis amor) within God the Father" (AG, 2). It is imperative that missioners and evangelizers become mystics like John the Evangelist (see 1 Jn 4:7-21); nothing less can explain the love of God for a fallen world and rebellious humanity. No other motivation is ade-quate to the missionary calling--of the entire Church. Mother Teresa of Calcutta has named her congregation the Missionaries of Charity, and she never tires, of reminding her audiences that this is the fundamental vocation of all Christians. It sounds fantastic, but it is true: The love of the Trinity is personally poured into our hearts and it transforms all evangelizers into mis-sionary messengers of God's limitless love. Knowing our personal God as the font of love is the highest level of consciousness possible. Mission spiri-tuality becomes a conscious centering on Trinitarian love. This is the solid missiology-become-spirituality promoted by Vatican II. The Mission of the Son Jesus declares openly that he has been sent by his loving Father; the phrase "the Father who sent me" occurs forty-six times in the Gospel of John. And a salvific thrust is evident in the missioning of Jesus by his Father. Vatican II expresses Jesus' missioning as a reconciling presence "to establish peace or communion between sinful human beings and himself . Jesus Christ was sent into the world as a real mediator between God and men" (AG, 3). In Paul's theology, mediation and reconciliation are vital ele-ments of the mysterion (2 Co 5:19; Col 1:13; Rm 5:1)~ Jesus' continuing "Abba experience" (Kavunkal, 9-15), enabling him to faithfully accomplish his mission, has several dimensions: his coming or proceeding from the Father (noted above), his remaining with the Father (Jn 10:38; 16:32), and his eventual return to the Father (Jn 16:5; 7:33; 13:36). This means that Jesus fulfills his mission in light of a particular conscious- Apostolic Spirituality / 525 ness: continual intimacy with his Father. Luke tells us that, before making such a decisive move in his ministry as the choice of the Twelve, Jesus "went out to the mountains to pray, spending the night in communion with God" (Lk 6:12). Mission in the Jesus mode has its source, continuation, and fulfill-ment in the Abba experience. This dimension of Jesus' living of his mission provides evangelizers an inviting model for their own mission consciousness. In its holistic vision of God's design for salvation, the Council sees the Church as continuing, developing, and unfolding "the mission of Christ him-self" (AG, 5). The apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (13-16, 59-60) and the pastoral statement on world mission of the United States Bishops To the Ends of the Earth (25-27) also confirm mission as an ecclesial act in fidelity to Jesus. Contemporary evangelizers, cognizant of the Jesus-Church continuity, seek to live and witness as the community of Jesus' followers. They recall his promises (Mt 16:18; 28:20), but readily admit they are fragile "earthen vessels." They faithfully accept that "Christ in his mission from the Father is the fountain and source of the whole apostolate of the Church" (AA, 4). A missioner's model is "sentire cum ecclesia'" (feel and think with the Church), frankly admitting that one is "simuljustus et peccator" (concomi-tantly both upright and sinful). Who among Jesus' followers does not need a deeper consciousness of these realities? Central to the mission of Jesus is the mystery of the Incarnation: "The Son of God walked the ways of a true incarnation that he might make men sharers in the divine nature" (AG, 3). This radical identification of our broth-er Jesus with us mortals (Heb 4:15) makes us rich out of his poverty (2 Co 8:9). He became a servant (Mk 10:45) and gave his life "as a ransom for the many--that is, for all" (AG, 3). Consistently, Church Fathers .of both East and West have held that "what was not taken up [assumed] by Christ was not healed" (Abbott, 587, note 9). Thus, when Jesus took to himself our entire humanity, he healed, renewed, and saved us. In brief, incarnation is the fundamental pattern of all mission. Today evangelizers are deeply conscious of the ramifications of mission as incarnation. No missioner worthy of the name underestimates the impor-tance of indigenization and inculturation; they develop a spirituality of "depth identification," becoming as vulnerable as Jesus was in his humanity. This same pattern is the model of growth and development of all local churches (AG, 22). While it is certain that the mission of Jesus is initiated at the Incarnation, his baptism by John in the Jordan is an act of public commitment and conse-cration to mission. Jesus pursues his ministry; though it will encounter grow- 526 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 ing opposition and lead to the human disaster of Calvary, he will not betray his commitment. Note that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all juxtapose Jesus' baptism and the triple temptation in the wilderness. The tactic of Satan is to subvert Jesus with possessions, pride, and power; at the core, all Satan's promises tempt Jesus to renege on his dedication to mission. The more conscious an evange-lizer becomes of the struggle involved in mission faithfulness, the closer he will be drawn to Jesus. "who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." The missioner will constantly and with confidence "approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and favor and to find help in time of need" (Heb 4:15-16). Instructive for the Church and her evangelizers is an appreciation of the continual action of the Spirit in the life of Jesus. The creed affirms that he was conceived "by the power of the Holy Spirit." The same Spirit descends on Jesus at the moment of his baptism (Mt 3:17); he is led by the Spirit to the desert (Mt 4:1); he returns to Galilee in the power of the Spirit (Lk 4:14); he begins his preaching mission at Nazareth asserting that "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me" (Lk 4:18). As Jesus was empowered by the Spirit, he sends forth his own disciples saying: "Receive the Holy Spirit" (Jn 20:22). Peter (Ac 4:8), Paul (Ac 9:17), Stephen (Ac 6:5; 7:55), and those who listened to their preaching (Ac 10:44) were all filled with the Spirit. In fact, the entire nascent Church brims with the Spirit's presence (Ac 2:4), and thus the community increases while it enjoys the consolation of the befriending Spirit (Ac 9:31). Jesus, his disci-ples, and likew.ise today's evangelizers all are in mission through the mar-velous action of the Spirit (Kroeger-A, 3- 12). Concretely in the practical order, Jesus carries out his mission through evangelization--proclaimiog the GoodNews of the Kingdom. The first words that Mark places on Jesus' lips are centered on this very theme (Mk 1"15). Luke also portrays Jesus' mission as focused on glad tidings to the "little ones of this world" (Lk 4:18-19). As Paul VI has noted, this theme "sums up the whole mission of Jesus" (EN, 6). Jesus could not be impeded in his ministry: "I must announce the good news of the reign of God, because that is why I was sent" (Lk 4:43). Contemporary evangelizers, reflecting on the urgency and scope of Jesus' kingdom proclamation, will find themselves imitating Jesus' ministry as he lived it in silence, in action, in dialogue, in teaching, and in prayer. Yes, the Good News of the Kingdom for Jesus means an integral, holistic approach to evangelization--because all dimensions of the total gospel are expressions of his enduring love (Jn 13:1). Apostolic Spirituality / 527 Jesus' entire life, from the Incarnation to the Ascension, was a procla-mation. All he said and did were a testimony to the Father's loving design (Jn 3:31-35; 7:16; 8:38; 14:24). Jesus existed on nothing else; his "suste-nance/ food/meat" was to do the will and work of the one who sent him (Jn 4:34). In everything Jesus was faithful to the Father. Reflective, insightful evangelizers interiorize the fidelity mind-set of Jesus (Ph 2:5); they also imitate St. Paul in his concern for faithful transmis-sion of the message of Jesus preserved by the Church (1 Co 15:3, 11). In prayer and meditation missioners refocus themselves on Jesus and his king-dom, and often this demands setting aside personal opinions and ambitions. Mother Teresa of Calcutta notes that Jesus does not always call us to be suc-cessful, but he always invites us to be faithful. This fidelity to Jesus and his message should not be interpreted in too narrow a sense. As announcers of Good News, we consciously interiorize Jesus' gospel values; however, we seek to transmit them to humanity in all its cultural, social, religious, and politico-economic diversity. Certainly, this is a fantastic challenge; it is central to contemporary evangelization. Paul VI expressed it wisely and poignantly: "This fidelity both to a message whose servants we are and to the people to whom we must transmit it living and intact is central axis of evangelization" (EN, 4). Lifestyle is key in any vision of evangelization. For our contemporaries, who willingly listen only to witnesses (not theoreticians), the missioner's authenticity and transparency are generally the first elements in evangeliza-tion; wordless witness is already a silent, powerful, and effective proclama-tion. It is an initial act of evangelization (EN, 21, 41). Jesus himself adopted a particular, concrete lifestyle. His mind-set was fidelity and obedience to his Father; his outward manner manifested the lived values of poverty, total dedication, persecution, apparent failure. The Church and her evangelizers "must walk the same road which Christ walked, a road of poverty and obedience, of service and self-sacrifice to the death" (AG, 5). Bluntly, there is no authentic Christian mission without the cross and all its surprises, foolishness, and scandal (1 Co 1:18-25). True mission is always signed by the cross, and without it we cannot be Jesus' disciples. The evan-gelizer is always generous in bearing a personal share of the hardships which the gospel entails (2 Tm 1:8). Constantly the Christian disciple is measuring his life and apostolate against the lifestyle of Jesus and the patterns of the gospel. Sustained prayerful reflection and an ever deepening consciousness of one's personal relationship with the Trinity are the unique way of interior-izing the paradox of the cross and the power of the resurrection. 528 / Review for Religious, July-August 1991 An anonymous poet, speaking of the centrality of the Incarnation and Redemption in Christianity, noted that there are no definitions in God's dic-tionary for these terms. One must search for the meaning of Bethlehem and Calvary under another category. Their significance is to be found only when one reads how God defines love. Indeed, God's loving plan of salvation is a message of hope for all peo-ples. It is universal and should be preached and witnessed "to the ends of the earth." To spread this universal message demands great dedication and faith, as seen in the practical advice that Paul gave to Timothy (2 Tm 4:1-5). The evangelizer, conscious of his role in the actualization of the mysteri-on, will surrender enthusiastically to the invitation of Jesus: Come and fol-low me in my mission. This conscious surrender will open his eyes to perceive, not so much what his efforts are accomplishing, but how Father, Son, and Spirit are working fruitfully in and through his life. With this vision, contemplation and actibn harmoniously blend and sustain one anoth-er; the evangelizer experiences living the mysterion. Eventually, all will be recapitulated in Christ and God will be

Part one of an interview with Amelia Gallucci-Cirio. Topics include: Recognition of the September 11th tragedy underway. Amelia's involvement in the Center for Italian Culture and the Alba Program. Pride in the Italian heritage and the importance of preserving it. The history of where Amelia lived in Connecticut and Massachusetts, while she was growing up. Memories of her relatives. What Amelia's childhood was like. Where in Italy her parents were from. Amelia's experience attending Fitchburg Teachers College from 1934-1938. Attending band concerts in Caldwell Park. Dressing up for Sundays, holidays, and to go downtown. How Fitchburg has changed. How people's values have changed. The role of church in a community. Social clubs. How Amelia met her husband. Where Amelia and her husband have traveled together. What inspired Amelia to donate money towards the education of others and the preservation of Italian culture. ; 1 LINDA: This is Linda [unintelligible – 00:00:02] for the Center of Italian Culture. We are interviewing Amelia Gallucci-Cirio. And I'm sure I didn't say that in the Italian way. I'm sorry. AMELIA: Yes, you did. That was right. LINDA: Okay. It's Wednesday, September 11, and we are in the home of both Anna [unintelligible – 00:00:23] and Amelia's cousin, Rachel Montorri, and the address is 479 Lindell Avenue in Leominster. It's a beautiful morning. It's 10:20 a.m., and we're starting a little bit late today because there was a national tragedy today, and there are unconfirmed reports that there was a terrorist attack against the United States, and there have been two planes, at least two planes, that have flown and struck the World Trade Center. There was a plane that struck the Pentagon about a half an hour after that. There are unconfirmed reports of a fire at the State House, and The White House has been evacuated and the Blair House, many buildings in Washington. People are very, very nervous today. So we will talk a little bit about that, I'm sure, but Anna and Amelia and Rachel are here with us today, of course to talk about the Italian-American experience, particularly in Fitchburg and Leominster. And Amelia, thank you very much. I suppose that we have to thank you for a lot of different things. Not just for appearing today to… AMELIA: Well, I'm happy to do it. May I preface this by quoting something from Cicero? Cicero, the great Roman orator and statesman, said, "Not to know what happened before we were born is to remain perpetually a child, for what is the worth of human life unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history." I think that's so important. LINDA: Now, did that sort of formulate your reason for creating the center? AMELIA: Yes. Yes, and one of the reasons was I wanted to -- I'm very much interested in Western civilization and the Italian language and its culture, and I thought I think I'm capable of making donations, and my Fitchburg 2 State College would be the first to accept it, although I've also made donations to other organizations. In Waterbury, Connecticut, we have a program that I hope is going to carry on here in Leominster also. It's the Alba Program, in which children ages 6 to about 13, 14, study Italian through playing games and celebrating holidays and birthdays and so on. And we've been doing that in Waterbury, Connecticut for about five years, and I hope the Center for Italian Culture will also take that on as another project. And I've already talked to Anna, and they're very much interested in it. LINDA: Now, this is in Italian language? AMELIA: Yes, studying the Italian language and its culture, and there will be four or five teachers teaching the youngsters. LINDA: Now, has it been successful in Waterbury? AMELIA: Oh, yes. They've been working for about five years, and it's down to Teikyo Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut, and they meet there at the center every Saturday morning for about an hour and a half, two hours. And the children play games and they learn Italian expressions, and when it's a birthday they celebrate and say buon compleanno and so on. And the grandmothers just love it because the children go up and talk to Nonna and Nonno and so on. Yeah. And I hope that that is one of the projects they're going to take on, and talking to Anna they seem to be very interested in doing that. LINDA: Certainly anything that perpetuates the culture. AMELIA: Yeah, that's right. LINDA: Now, what's that, the Fitchburg State College website—and I'm not sure, you probably know this, but your profile has an alumni. AMELIA: Yes. LINDA: And I read -- and the very first item is that there is, "Know thyself." AMELIA: Yes. Socrates said, "Know thyself." And so we've translated that into Italian. [Foreign language – 00:04:58], meaning "Know thyself." And I 3 think I'd like to use that as our motto for the Center for Italian Culture, and not always is it included, but that's what it means. LINDA: What does it mean specifically to you? And how does it help you live your life and give donations? AMELIA: It means that… well, I know when I was a child it was difficult. We didn't have everything. My father died when we were quite young, and there were seven in the family. My older brother, Joseph, who Rachel knows, took on the responsibilities of father. It was an old Roman custom that the oldest son in the family would take over when the father died. So I thought since I am capable of doing it, I want to help children who weren't capable of learning their language or taking part in going to school, and that's what I'm doing now. LINDA: And why do you think that's important to learn about your heritage? AMELIA: It's so very important because today with so many different ethnic groups, oftentimes Italians of the TV and radio programs always talking about the mafia, and I feel that we are somehow -- Italian people don't defend themselves. But I think during the Clinton Administration they did pass a ruling wherein the Italians during World War II -- I know my mother, she wasn't a citizen, and during that time she couldn't travel. She had to go to the post office to get permission to attend a wedding in Waterbury, in Rhode Island, rather. And we are often made the scapegoat, and I think that we have to educate our people and teach them something about our background, something about our culture. We have a great culture, and the school systems at one time didn't talk about that, but I think it is being included in the curriculum today. LINDA: How do you feel about The Sopranos then? AMELIA: Oh, I'm very much not in favor of that at all. And I think that the Sons and Daughters of Italy and the NIF, and now that we have several, much more than we did in the past, congressmen of Italian origin, I think they are working to try to get them to remove that stereotype and talk more 4 about what Italian Americans have contributed to society. Going back to the time of the Romans and so on. LINDA: How did you feel when Geraldine Ferraro was running for vice president? Not necessarily her as a person or what she stood for, but was there a particular pride, ethnic pride? AMELIA: I don't know, but I know when she was running for vice president, we attended the NIAF dinner in Washington, D.C., my brother Joe, Christine, my two sisters and I, we all went down to Washington. We all went there, and she was a speaker, and we were very much in favor, naturally, being Italian American. But unfortunately there was some negative advertising about Geraldine, and that didn't help at all. LINDA: I remember specifically that there were some questions about her husband's dealings, possibly in the mafia. AMELIA: Oh, yes, yes. LINDA: There was a real backlash with that just because they have an Italian last name, and just because they're successful, it doesn't automatically make you… ANNA: What is she doing now? LINDA: I think she's quite sick, or she was. AMELIA: Yes, I think she is. LINDA: I'm not sure the form of cancer. ANNA: Oh, that's too bad. LINDA: One thing has confused me, because I read that you were born in Fitchburg… AMELIA: Yes, I was born in Fitchburg. LINDA: We'll have to change that on the website. It says that you were born in Connecticut. AMELIA: No, we were born in Fitchburg. We were born on my grandpa, my grandpa Luigi Scarano came from Italy with my mother. Mama was 17 years of age, and with Rachel's mother, Filomena, who was 13. Grandpa came with his two daughters to America, and then my grandmother came 5 with the rest of the family, and they settled down first in Boston, I think. [Foreign language – 00:10:10] Did you hear your mother talk about it? They went there and then they all came to Fitchburg, and Grandpa built that tenement house on Second Street? Did you see it? RACHEL: Middle Street Lane. AMELIA: Right. When my mother married my father, they lived in Clinton. My brother Joe was about 5 years old. Then we moved to Fitchburg, and my sister Christina was born in the block where Grandpa, Grandma, your mother was there. We all lived in the block. And then I was born the following year, May 12, 1915. And we were there for a couple of years. RACHEL: Yeah, not very long. AMELIA: And then we moved back to Connecticut. My father followed a young sister—he was always protecting her—and we lived there for a while and then back again to Fitchburg, and my brother Tommy was born here. LINDA: No wonder you like to travel. AMELIA: And then we moved back again to Waterbury, Connecticut. My father was a baker. He came from a family of bakers, and he set up a grocery store and a bakery shop, and we were there about three years, and then we moved to Naugatuck, Connecticut because his sister moved closer to another brother, and we have been there ever since 1925. But I came back to Fitchburg where I was born to attend -- it was called Fitchburg Teacher's College, and I lived with my grandmother and my uncle Joe, who was a violinist. And Anne studied violin with my uncle, and I remember when she was downstairs practicing and I was upstairs studying. So I was going to Fitchburg, we lived in Connecticut, and then I came back to Fitchburg for my bachelor's degree, and then I taught in Naugatuck in Connecticut for about eight years, and then I married in '52 and went to Phoenix. LINDA: Could you spell Naugatuck?6 AMELIA: Yes. N-A-U-G-A-T-U-C-K. It's a small community. Well, I wouldn't say small. It's about 35, in between Waterbury and New Haven, Connecticut. ANNA: That's what it is now? The population? AMELIA: Yeah, I would say. But my mother was never happy there because her mother was in Fitchburg and her sisters and brother and so on. LINDA: So do you have any memories of Fitchburg? Let's say your earliest memory. AMELIA: Yes. I remember when we all lived on 2nd Street in the block. [Unintelligible – 00:13:07] Oh, I thought it was 2nd Street. ANNA: I think you're right. AMELIA: I always remembered 2nd Street. And I remember when Anna's mother also lived there. Her uncle, who was Rachel's father -- was he responsible for bringing your mother to Fitchburg? RACHEL: Yeah. AMELIA: I remember her father must have been courting her mother, and he was such a wonderful man. Oreste. We used to go there and we'd sit on his knee, and he would give us all – that, I remember very distinctly. Those were happy days. LINDA: So what were their names? We should get that on tape. ANNA: Oreste. O-R-E-S-T-E. Guglielmi. G-U-G-L-I-E-L-M-I. And my mother, Carmela. C-A-R-M-E-L-A. Giammarino. G-I-A-M-M-A-R-I-N-O. And my mother came to America when Rachel's father, who was Michael Giammarino, called for her to come, and my father at that time was living in that neighborhood. He was boarding in a house there. Yeah, he was boarding on 3rd Street, at the Lily House. And he courted my mother, and they were married in 1920. LINDA: So your father -- tell us the relations. ANNA: Yeah, okay. My mother, Carmela, and Rachel's father, Michael, were brother and sister. Now, Rachel's mother, who was Filomena, F-I-L-O-M-E-N-A, and Amelia's mother…7 AMELIA: Anna Maria. ANNA. Her first name was Anna, Anna Maria, were sisters. So we're first cousins. AMELIA: What would the relationship between you and me be? RACHEL: Distant cousins. AMELIA: Yeah, I guess. LINDA: So getting back to your earliest experiences, so you remember her father? AMELIA: Oh, yes, yes. ANNA: He would bounce them on his knee. AMELIA: In fact, my sisters always say that -- yeah, we remember when Oreste used to sit us on his knee and… ANNA: He loved children. AMELIA: Yeah, he did. He was a wonderful man. And then of course I remember when I lived on Blossom Street with my uncle after they moved, Uncle Joe with Grandma and Grandpa moved to Blossom Street, 82 Blossom Street, and that's where he taught violin. And he used to come there summers, and they had a beautiful home, and Tommy would get on the banister and slide all the way down to the first floor. RACHEL: We've gone by that house. AMELIA: Oh, it's terrible. RACHEL: There was one house that we went by and you were disgusted. Maybe that was your first home? ANNA: No, I remember just saying what a shame to see it like that. RACHEL: But it wasn't Blossom Street. LINDA: So now is Blossom Street considered part of the Patch also? ANNA: No. Blossom Street is towards Fitchburg State College. LINDA: Okay. Who owned that house? ANNA: Her uncle? AMELIA: Oh, Uncle Joe. And Grandmother and Joseph Scarano. ANNA: Who was the son of her grandfather, her grandparents? LINDA: Okay. So tell me more about the Patch.8 ANNA: The Patch started at First Street right near where St. Bernadette's Church. RACHEL: It used to be the school. ANNA: St. Bernadette's Elementary School at that time. And it went down to Fifth Street where they have the Fifth Street Bridge, which is now being repaired and remodeled. And it started from Water Street going back to Railroad Street. That whole small section, they called it the Patch. RACHEL: And it was predominantly Italian. ANNA: Yes. LINDA: But Amelia, do you have any vivid memories of maybe what you did for fun? AMELIA: As a child? LINDA: As a child. AMELIA: I really don't know, because when I left Fitchburg, I was about 3 or 4 years old, and then we did come back there during the summer months in our teen age. Prior to that, we didn't. Uncle Joe used to come down with Grandma during the summer months when we lived in Naugatuck, but not until my late teens, probably. LINDA: How did you travel back and forth? AMELIA: Uncle Joe used to come down and pick us up. Uncle Joe would come down and pick us up in Naugatuck. LINDA: What kind of car? What kind of automobile was he using? AMELIA: Uncle Joe always had a Chrysler. ANNA: We were young, and we thought that was special. AMELIA: And he always got a Chrysler because I think he had stock in the Chrysler. RACHEL: Could be. LINDA: When he came down to Connecticut to pick you up, how many of you were there? AMELIA: Well, my brother Joe was always working to support us. There was Christine, Connie and I, Tommy and Donald, and Mama. ANNA: Anne.9 AMELIA: Oh, and Anne too. Yeah, we used to come summers for a couple of weeks or so and then go see an aunt. The youngest of the Scaranos was Aunt Rosella. Do you remember her, Anna? ANNA: I do. AMELIA: She played the piano. RACHEL: She was the most Americanized than the rest of them. She played the piano… AMELIA: Well, she was the youngest and had more schooling than the older ones. LINDA: And where are you in relation to your siblings? Are you -- you're in the middle, perhaps? AMELIA: There's Joseph, Christine, and then I. I'm about the middle, the third. There were seven in the family. Two boys are gone, and there are four sisters, three are in Phoenix. No, two are in Phoenix, and I'm with them, too. So there will be three in Phoenix and one sister is still in Naugatuck, Connecticut. And Donald, the youngest -- actually, his name was Dante. Papa called him Dante. But when they went to school they Americanized it to Donald. Donald is in Phoenix also. LINDA: How was it growing up in Connecticut? Did you see… maybe you didn't get to Fitchburg enough to notice any differences, but do you recall any differences? AMELIA: In what? LINDA: On just growing up in your area in Connecticut and then coming up to Fitchburg, which is probably booming at that time. AMELIA: In Fitchburg? LINDA: A lot of different people. AMELIA: No, we lived in this tenement house that we bought, and my father ran a grocery store and a bakery shop on the first floor. You know, I have a lot of pictures that -- did you say that you wanted them? I could send them to you. I don't have them with me. And there's a picture of the family is standing in front of the grocery store and going to school in a two-room schoolhouse on Groveside School and going to the Naugatuck High 10 School. Christine and I were very much interested in books and studying, and we spent a lot of time in the library. So the years in Naugatuck when we didn't come to Fitchburg were not very interesting. It was mostly studying and being with my brothers and sisters and my mother, because my father left -- well, he went back to Italy when Donald was a baby, and my brother, Joe, being the oldest went to work. So Papa left when I was in the 7th or 8th grade, and when I was a sophomore in high school we found out that he passed away. So he's buried in Italy, and I've gone to visit him many times when I went to Italy with my husband. LINDA: Did you live in a predominately Italian section? AMELIA: Yes. We lived on what they call Little Italy. And speaking about Italian section, for the past couple of years when I go back to Connecticut, to Naugatuck, we have a little reunion. We had it last year, and all the Italian Americans from that Little Italy section, we get together and I entertain them to dinner. We had a trio come and play for us. We've done that for several years, but because my two sisters didn't come with me this year I'm not going to do it. I'm spending more time in Fitchburg. LINDA: So tell me a little bit about growing up in your family with seven children, your father's a baker, then he leaves to go back to Italy… AMELIA: Well, the reason for going back to Italy was that he wanted to claim his share of the inheritance, but unfortunately it didn't work out that way because his brother, his oldest brother, Pasquale… Oh, hi Kathy. This is Rachel's daughter. LINDA: Hi, I'm Linda. KATHY: Hi, Linda. [Crosstalk - 00:24:04] RACHEL: So, what have you heard from the last half hour?11 KATHY: Well, you know about the Pentagon? And now they just said there was another plane crash outside of Pittsburgh about 30 miles. They don't know if it's related. Pittsburgh, a big aircraft went down. ANNA: Another building? KATHY: No. It crashed. RACHEL: That's too bad. KATHY: Are you crying? AMELIA: No. I have tear duct blockage, so I've got -- no, no. I'm fine. KATHY: Well, don't let me interfere. [Crosstalk – 00:24:38] LINDA: Are there any reports of who's responsible? KATHY: What's his name, Arafat there, he said he thought it was a horrible thing, and he would never ever have caused such a turmoil – but who knows if you can believe him? But that's what he said. A lot of people. I called [unintelligible – 00:25:19] because she had worked there at the Trade Center, but she and her husband are okay. They weren't there at the time. [Crosstalk – 00:25:27] KATHY: Hopefully all the planes are now secure. All right, ladies. RACHEL: Where are you going? KATHY: I'm going to the dentist now. I'm getting my teeth cleaned. I'll see you. Take care. Goodbye. Nice meeting you. AMELIA: So you asked me about what was it like growing up in a family of seven? LINDA: Yes. AMELIA: So where was I now? So my father went to Italy to claim his share of the inheritance. The family came from a business family, and they were well to do, and Papa was one of four. So he went back, and his brother, who was the oldest in the family, and he evidently didn't get along, so he didn't get anything. He just passed away in '31 when I was a sophomore and Christine was a senior in high school. We were a very close-knit family. We worked together and studied together, and as I said Christine and I 12 were very much interested in the library. We worked at the Naugatuck Public Library, and we got a scholarship that summer, both Chris and I. RACHEL: And she lived in Spain. AMELIA: Well, Christine studied Spanish. This is after I got married. LINDA: Which town was your family from in Italy? AMELIA: My mother was from Lacedonia. Her mother was born there, and of course Rachel's mother. Lacedonia [unintelligible – 00:27:45] Cavallino, Italy. And I've been to there. When I went with my husband after we married and lived there for two years, we were coming back to America and he said, "You've got to see where your mother was born." So we went to Lacedonia, and we met some relatives. I have pictures; that was back in Connecticut. And then we also went to visit my father's home place. My father came from [unintelligible – 00:28:13] in Italy, and we went to visit the family home. And at that time we met this aunt who I asked if I could visit my father's grave, and she had a niece of hers take me to the cemetery, and he was not buried in the family mausoleum. He was buried just as a commoner. She didn't want him there. So we visited… LINDA: What region is that in? AMELIA: Pardon? LINDA: The region. AMELIA: Well, it's all Campagna, it's all that region, it's Campagna, but it's [unintelligible – 00:28:55]. Mama's was Campagna also, but it was [unintelligible – 00:29:00]. It's a little inland from Naples, right. And you know, right at the foothills, going up to [unintelligible – 00:29:10], it's in the mountains, it's a little town by the name of Galluccio. It ends in an "o." Our name was Galluccio. When Papa came to Ellis Island in about 1902, the immigration authorities couldn't spell it, so they left the "o" out. So "Gallucci" means roosters, it's the plural. And "Galluccio" is the singular rooster.13 LINDA: That's interesting. AMELIA: And we have roosters all over the house. LINDA: Did your parents ever share with you their trip to Ellis Island? AMELIA: No. I don't remember, but I know my mother said that when they came to America with Grandpa and her sister Filomena, it was a rough crossing on the French ship Nuestri, N-U-E-S-T-R-I. Mama did tell me that. And she said it was a very rough crossing. LINDA: The courage… AMELIA: Oh yeah. I don't know what ship my father came on, but he must have come about the same time. LINDA: It's really simple now. There's a website, although it's impossible to log on. AMELIA: Oh, I know. My brother Donald had a hard time getting that information. Grandpa came on May 27, 1902. He did get that information. LINDA: So it sounds like you're a very educated family, or at least you and your sister. And musical, too. Who instilled those qualities? AMELIA: Pardon? LINDA: Who instilled those qualities? AMELIA: Well, when we came to visit Grandma in Fitchburg there was always music, you know. Uncle Joe played the violin, Bella played the piano, and the [Guiliamus] were all musicians in their family. The four girls all played an instrument. Did you know that? Yeah. Her sister Lena played the piano, Anna played the violin, Mary played the… LINDA: The saxophone. AMELIA: Saxophone. LINDA: And Helen, drums. AMELIA: Right. And Helen the drums. And then my father learned opera. We had an old mahogany victrola that you used to wind up, and we had all the records of Caruso and [Jean B.[ and [unintelligible - 00:31:45], so we grew up in a family that was always moving. [Crosstalk] So in fact, even now, they're still very much interested in music. The opera season starts 14 in Phoenix during the second week in October; that's one of the reasons I want to get back. LINDA: Yeah. Where do you go for opera? AMELIA: [Unintelligible - 00:32:19] LINDA: Yeah. They do have opera. I think the music season begins in mid-October. AMELIA: October, yes. Pavarotti is coming to Boston. Oh, I'd love to hear him. He came to Phoenix one season but we just couldn't get tickets. ANNA: [Unintelligible - 00:32:41]. It's a movie. AMELIA: Oh, that's right, yeah. LINDA: Well we'll have to make a copy of this if this is okay. ANNA: She's responsible. AMELIA: Oh yeah, I'm the family historian. I think that was my graduation. ANNA: I hardly recognize her. AMELIA: No, that was Peter's wedding. There's Aunt Rosella. My mother was the oldest. Aunt Clair was the next, then Aunt Fil was third, and Uncle Joe, and Aunt Rosella was the baby. Yes. Filomena, that's Rachel's mother. My mother and Aunt Fil came with Grandpa. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Grandpa. ANNA: That's Joe the violinist. AMELIA: Yeah, Uncle Joe. ANNA: I know. Clair and Rosella. LINDA: So how do you feel about Andrea Bocelli? Is he too much of a pop, more than opera? AMEILA: Well, I listened to him, and he hasn't come to Phoenix, but I still like Pavarotti, old days, more polished singing. Yes. LINDA: I went to see Andrea Bocelli when he was in Connecticut probably two years ago. AMELIA: He was in Connecticut? LINDA: It was at the Hartford Civic Center, and people were actually crying, waving Italian flags. It was quite an experience.15 AMELIA: I've seen him on television when they had that program, what was it? New York? LINDA: Radio City? AMELIA: Mm-hmm. LINDA: So mostly, I usually talk to interviewees about Fitchburg, but maybe what we should do -- actually, why don't we stay with Fitchburg a little bit since you attended school here, and you graduated in 1938? AMELIA: Yes. LINDA: So that means you began in '34? Was it a four-year program? AMELIA: It was a four-year program. I graduated from high school in '34. I got a scholarship for $150—that was money in those days—so I came to Fitchburg. LINDA: What was the tuition? Do you remember how much it was? AMELIA: Oh, I don't think tuition was -- well, being an out-of-stater was the reason why I had to pay more, and I think that the tuition was about $150 to $200. What I -- the scholarship I got in Naugatuck took care of that. But then the second year, being a resident of Fitchburg, I don't think there was much of a fee. LINDA: And was there any question of you attending college, or did you always assume that you would go on? AMELIA: Oh yeah, I always assumed that I would go on to college, and of course my sister, Christine, was very much interested going to school, but she and my brother had to work to support a family of seven and my mother, so because I had gotten a scholarship and Christine was working and Peter Paul at the time, right after high school, but she wanted to go to college so bad. So after I married, my husband said to me, "We've got to help your sister to go to school." So Christine after working for 26 years at Peter Paul went to college. She graduated from the University of Connecticut with a bachelor's, and she went on to study Spanish—she majored in Spanish—and she studied in Madrid and Mexico City. LINDA: What a nice story.16 AMELIA: And she's a retired teacher now. She doesn't teach now. Yeah. LINDA: So there were two of you from your family… AMELIA: Yeah, Christine and I, and my youngest sister Anna, she was interested in commercial, and she went into bookkeeping and that sort of thing. She went to a business school for a couple of years. And Donald too, the baby in the family -- oh dear, Rachel's going to take it out of me -- Christine, Connie, and I, we took that in Las Vegas. Yeah. ANNA: That's a nice picture. AMELIA: We're so close to Las Vegas; we go there a couple of times a year. Yeah. LINDA: So now getting back to Fitchburg, you came in 1934. AMELIA: Right. Four years. LINDA: Did you consider going to college anywhere else, or did you consider only Fitchburg? AMELIA: No, I considered -- maybe it's because we had relatives there. You know, my grandmother was still there and mama said, "It would be nice if we could come and visit you," and so on. ANNA: Was that a normal school then? AMELIA: Well no, it was the Fitchburg Teacher's College. It was known as a teacher's college. It trains teachers and industrial arts teachers. LINDA: That's right. AMELIA: But now they teach everything, don't they? Amazing. LINDA: And who did you live with? AMELIA: I lived with my Uncle Joe and grandmother at 82 Blossom Street. LINDA: Did you and Anna and Rachel go to visit? AMELIA: Oh yeah. Always together. LINDA: What kinds of things did you do together for fun activities? AMELIA: Oh, we used to go to Whalen. We used to go to Whalen Park, we went swimming. We used to go on picnics and family gatherings. Anna's mother was a great cook. LINDA: All of you were unmarried at this time?17 AMELIA: Yes. We were all single. I married late in life. I think it was 37 when I got married. ANNA: I still remember that time. AMELIA: Yeah, you were still in high school, Anna. And we attended concerts. Uncle played with the -- what was it? ANNA: The symphony. AMELIA: No, that was in Boston. He played with a band here in Fitchburg. What was it called? ANNA: It was a marching band, Fitchburg Community Band. They had Sunday afternoons at Caldwell Park. AMELIA: Yeah, Caldwell Park. Right. So we used to go to that. LINDA: Tell me more about that, about the concerts at the park. Was there a bandstand? ANNA: Gazebo, right? On Mirror Lake. LINDA: It's still there? I played there too. AMELIA: Do they still have concerts there now? ANNA: Mm-hmm. Sunday afternoon. AMELIA: Tell me what it was like going. For example, did you dress in your Sunday's finest to go? AMELIA: Oh yeah, we always did dress on Sunday. ANNA: We didn't wear jeans and sneakers unless you were in your own backyard. And if you had to go downtown, you had to change your clothes. AMELIA: Right. And girls always had to wear stockings. ANNA: And skirts or dresses. On Sunday you'd have your hat and gloves and bag. AMELIA: Oh yeah, and attend church first, right? LINDA: And when you would go downtown and it wasn't Sunday, would you wear a hat and gloves, or was that primarily… AMELIA: I think that was mostly for church on Sundays. ANNA: But you always dressed to go downtown. AMELIA: Oh yeah.18 ANNA: I think they had more pride in their appearance than they do today. I used to pick up my mother as well, and she always had the hat and the gloves, and they had to match. Every Easter you had to go out and buy a new hat. LINDA: Would you go downtown by yourselves, or would you travel with girls? ANNA: We would walk most of the time. A mile and a half was nothing, right? There were no cars. You'd walk downtown, and I think the main activity was going to a movie once a week. I liked going to the movies. And then you'd stop and have an ice cream on the way home. AMELIA: Uh-huh, and wasn't there a movie at Blossom Street theater where Uncle used to play? The Cummings Theater. That's right. And they always had music there, and it was live music. ANNA: Right. Because Uncle Joe played the violin there. AMELIA: Oh, but Blossom Street has changed so. ANNA: Oh, it's terrible. LINDA: What was it like then? Your memories? AMELIA: They were nice-looking buildings, there were some -- what was that building where your mother worked with Mr. [Burren]? That brick building. ANNA: [Chimmers]. AMELIA: And then there was an apartment there next to that, and Dr. Ames, who lived right next to Uncle Joe, that was a nice building. And across the street from Uncle Joe's building was the -- what was that funeral home? ANNA: No, that was the Knight of Columbus home. AMELIA: Oh, the Knights of Columbus home was next to that. So they were good-looking buildings, and they have taken me up there last year and this year, and I just don't… ANNA: Oh I know. It's sad. LINDA: What happened? AMELIA: I think a lot of Puerto Ricans have come in, haven't they? And a lot of blacks have moved in. And for some reason or another, the buildings are not kept up. You should see what they did to Uncle Joe's building. Now,19 Uncle Joe's—the house that he lived in—was a beautiful classical building. The man who built it was a contractor. I can't think of his name. He was a contractor and had beautiful columns on the porch, and whoever lives there now boarded it all up. It's not the same Blossom Street. ANNA: They were mansions, I think, on the street at that time. Beautiful mansions. Big homes and huge homes. And there are other things now. AMELIA: Right. Although, the upper part of Blossom Street is not as bad. It's still very -- it's still a nice neighborhood. And that's where Mike lived didn't he? Mike, your son? ANNA: Yeah. I think it's still nice. AMELIA: And I used to walk from Blossom Street along Pearl Street all the way to teacher's college every morning. ANNA: We did a lot more walking in those days than we do today. AMELIA: Ann, didn't you walk down from where you lived to go for your violin lesson with your violin in your hand? ANNA: Yeah. AMELIA: And your mother always walked to church, every morning. LINDA: I imagine that you're talking pretty much great distances? Like a mile and a half. AMELIA: Oh, I would say a good mile and a half, two miles, yes. ANNA: And I walked that to high school. A couple of miles. LINDA: You must have felt very safe. AMELIA: Yes. There are a lot more cars now than we had, too. ANNA: Especially in Coggshall Park. Nowadays they warn you not to walk alone. Walk as a pair. AMELIA: Right. And it was even safe at night walking. You can't do that today. LINDA: We can't have any movement on the table. I'm just afraid that we're not going to -- I feel bad telling you, but I don't want the tape to be… [Crosstalk - 00:44:50]20 ANNA: They would freeze it in the wintertime, and we used to walk up there for skating, ice skating. We'd come home at 9:00. There were no lights on, you know. But we had no fear. LINDA: When would you say things start to change? ANNA: After the '40s, I think. LINDA: After the '40s? ANNA: After the '50s? AMELIA: I know sometimes in Connecticut, when I used to go to meetings in Waterbury and I wasn't driving, I would take the bus home at night, even as late as 11:00, and walk up the hill to Culver Street where we lived then, and it was still safe. I would say, yeah, maybe I would say starting with the fifties, it wasn't safe, you know, to walk, to be alone. LINDA: So what happened though? Did people lose a sense of pride? ANNA: I think so. In the city we have the hippies and the campus unrest in the '60s. LINDA: But did anything like that happen specifically in Fitchburg? ANNA: Well, you read of accidents and crimes, and they would happen in the areas like Coggshall Park, for instance, and there were crimes up there. And then, you would, be wise not to go, and you wouldn't walk alone. And now, I don't think you'd even go up there in the daytime by yourself, never mind at night. LINDA: Well, I'm wondering is it a gradual feeling to see your city decay a little bit? I'm not from Worcester, but I've lived in Worcester since 1978, and that was certainly after the heyday and the booming industry, and things started, I suppose, or had already gone downhill. Now there's a real rebirth, but I was wondering, how do you feel living in a city you're so proud of and that your parents came to make a better life, and they worked so hard to make your life better, and they worked very hard to own their own home and they probably took very good care of it and had a garden in the back, whatever. And how do you feel, just being part of that generation that saw both ways of life: the working hard, striving hard, 21 having to work for every penny, to perhaps new ethnic groups coming in and being given money and not working? ANN: That's right. That's happening. AMELIA: I know when our parents came, a lot of them went to South America because they weren't allowed -- the immigration laws today are a lot more lax, I think. They allow everyone to come in, but at the time that our parents came to the United States, the laws were a lot stricter. A lot of them went to South America. Now, Grandpa's brother emigrated to South America, Argentina. He couldn't come here to the States, couldn't come to America. A lot of them went to Argentina and Australia, too. LINDA: Did your dad have to come -- so he must have tried to come later. AMELIA: Yeah, a little later. That's when the immigration laws, I think they were a little strict. But today they're allowing all types of people to come in. I don't know why, and… ANNA: There's a lot more crime. Either that or we're hearing about it. AMELIA: Well, I think when we were brought up we didn't have television. If we had radio, we were lucky to have a radio, and we were taught to knit, and to crochet, and to sew. Children are not taught that today. Our parents were at home. When we came home from school our parents were home, and they taught us all these crafts. Today, parents are working, they're not at home, they have television. I think we have a lot more outside influences that affect our way of living. And with the drug trade, too -- we didn't have that when we were growing up. I think that's why we had such change. LINDA: When you were growing up and you came home from school, your mother was there cleaning, cooking, washing. AMELIA: That's right. Washing clothes or getting ready for -- uh-huh. LINDA: And you were probably expected to help? AMELIA: Well, Mama would say to me, "You do your homework, and afterwards you can help me." And she taught me how to sew. I used to make all my clothes through high school. Of course I don't have time now, but yeah, 22 young people were taught crafts. They were taught to knit and sew and crochet. Kids don't know how to do that today. LINDA: What about values? ANNA: We were taught to say "Thank you," [unintelligible - 00:50:23]. AMELIA: Yeah, that, too, has changed, and I think it's all because of the fact that mothers are not at home to teach their children, and there are a lot more outside influences that affect children, and they don't have mannerisms. I don't know why but… ANNA: Well it all comes from the family background. AMELIA: Yeah, well that's true. ANNA: It's a changing world. LINDA: As I sit here and record, I'm interested in my own family history too, and that's really how I got involved in this project: because my great-grandmother and my great-grandfather came from Italy. AMELIA: Really? What part? LINDA: Calabria. AMELIA: Calabria, yes. LINDA: Sometimes I wish—and I know a lot of people from my generation—almost wish we could go back to a more simple time. And a lot o f times what I hear is that we have too many choices today, and that confuses people. Do you feel that you had choices growing up? AMELIA: Yes. I think they were restricted. There were certain things that we had to do, and after we completed those, then there were choices. ANNA: A handful. AMELIA: Well, I didn't have to be told to do my homework but if I hadn't done my homework and if I hadn't helped my mother with some of the cooking, then I was rewarded on Sunday. We were given five cents, and we could do whatever we want. And she would take us shopping and buy us a new pair of shoes or something that we don't usually have at home. But today I think the children have too much. At the age of 16 they're taught -- they're given a car. At the age of 16.23 LINDA: Now, if someone from your generation ever had a car at 16, would they have to work for it? ANNA: I don't think that would happen. If you had your license you may borrow. If you had to do an errand, borrow your parents'. For your own benefit? I don't think that would happen. AMELIA: I think that children are given too much today by their parents. Look at the parking lot, the high school parking lot. The cars that are there, I think that creates a lot of trouble. I think the parents are partly to blame for the shenanigans of the young people. They're not fit for them; they haven't taught them the value of… ANNA: Even bus transportation, you know, they were all bussed to school, then they join the gym for exercise. AMELIA: Right. LINDA: I never thought of that. ANNA: They could walk, save a lot of money. AMELIA: Of course, they use the excuse that there's a lot more traffic, which is true, and there is a lot more traffic and more dangers, that's true. ANNA: We have a lot of traffic here. Worse, isn't it? LINDA: But as I talk to second-generation Italian Americans and, again, just going back one generation, everyone had to work hard, and all of you seem very happy and stable and have good values. Are those being promoted in your own families? ANNA: In my family, I think I passed it on to my children. They're all good. And I think they are passing it on to their children. But they're still young, and you wonder, as they grow up are they going to get into other things. You don't know. There's a lot of outside influences now. AMELIA: That's right. Going to school and intermingling with other children, other children that haven't had the upbringing and are taught the values that you have taught yours, and they're influenced by them, you know. LINDA: How much of that is an Italian-American experience? ANNA: I think it is a Italian-American experience.24 AMELIA: Oh, definitely. I think there is that among the Italian-American families. ANNA: There's that spiritual and moral life. AMELIA: And helping within the family. ANNA: They're helping their family by helping other families too. AMELIA: As well, yeah. ANNA: You see that need and you try to alleviate the problem if you can, lessen the problem. AMELIA: And the fact that they're Catholic religion helps, you know, from the start, and you can bring it on to your children. ANNA: Loads of people don't go to church like they used to. AMELIA: That's true. ANNA: I think that should help a lot. Truthfully. LINDA: Speaking of church, did all of you -- perhaps not you, but you probably attended St. Anthony's? AMELIA: Oh yeah, my mother was married there. Rachel's mother, your mother. St. Anthony's of Padua, is that the St. Anthony's… ANNA: St. Anthony of Padua. I was there until I married, and then I moved to Leominster. LINDA: So you think that that was a great influence on people? ANNA: Definitely. AMELIA: Oh yeah. I think it's up to the parents to instill that in their children, and I think among the Italian Americans it's far greater than maybe in any other group. Don't you think, Anna? ANNA: I do, yes. It probably came from the old country too. And if you go to Catholic school, that all helps. LINDA: Now, did both of you go to Catholic school? AMELIA: No. There wasn't any. No. ANNA: The only reason I was able to go to St. Bernard's for eight years was because Uncle gave them lessons. AMELIA: Oh, at St. Bernard's school? ANNA: You don't remember that?25 AMELIA: No. ANNA: I think that helped them to get that in. AMELIA: Grammar school? ANNA: Grammar school. Eight years. LINDA: They didn't allow Italians, or there wasn't enough room for Italians? Which was it? ANNA: I think it was mostly their own parishioners, right? The children of their own parishioners that would attend the St. Bernard's school. And it wasn't until the mid '60s that the other parishes built their own schools. AMELIA: But did you have to pay anything to attend? Oh you did. There was a minimum. Uh-huh. I know that the Catholic school that we have in Naugatuck, they have a lot of the children from not necessarily the Irish or the Italian, but a lot of the Protestants are going there too. They feel that they're doing a better job teaching than they are in the public schools. ANNA: I think it is that way now. I think there are Protestants of other nationalities who go to, for instance, St. Anna's school, which is a mostly Italian parish. But I'd say half of the students at the school are of other nationalities. AMELIA: Yeah, and the tuition is very high too. ANNA: Yes. It's not affordable for many, many people. AMELIA: I know my sister Christine, she made a donation to the appropriate school in Naugatuck, and she gets thank-you notes from parents saying "Thank you, we appreciate the scholarship that you gave to our child so he could attend a Catholic school." LINDA: So tell me: what it was like going to St. Anthony's? ANNA: Church. AMELIA: I don't recall, because I was a little girl when we left Fitchburg, but we went to Naugatuck. And as Anna said before, we would dress up in our finest, you know, and attend mass. And then after that go home and have a nice big Italian dinner with the family. ANNA: The whole family would go to church together.26 AMELIA: Father and mother and children, yeah. LINDA: And when would you go to confession? AMELIA: The day before, Saturday. ANNA: About two in the afternoon, you'd be called in. "Clean up, get ready for confession. Dress. Go to church." Confession, I haven't gone in years. AMELIA: And we always dressed up. Isn't it a shame to see children in shorts going to church? ANNA: The parents sometimes are worse than the kids. LINDA: If you weren't going to a parochial school and you were Catholic, where did your Catholic education come from? AMELIA: They had classes. ANNA: They did? AMELIA: Yeah. ANNA: The parish had nuns, and Saturday would be catechism. Saturday morning. And in fact, a lot of -- we spoke of knitting and crocheting and embroidery. They would have classes taught by the nuns. AMELIA: The nuns would teach, yeah. ANNA: And your summer was not spent out on the street. You'd go to a school where you would learn to embroider and crochet and knit. Cutwork, beautiful cutwork. Nuns would teach. And this is how summers would go. LINDA: Every day? Every day of the summer? ANNA: Every day. You'd have either the morning session or the afternoon. Or both. If your parents -- especially if the mother was working, the nuns would take over. LINDA: When you were kids or even when you came to college here in Fitchburg, did you ever go to any of the social clubs with Anna or Rachel, or…? ANNA: Marconi Club. AMELIA: Oh, that's right. Was that in Fitchburg? ANNA: Yes. AMELIA: I don't remember.27 ANNA: They still have it, but you weren't [unintelligible - 01:02:36]. AMELIA: Your father was really [unintelligible - 01:01:44]. Oh yes. ANNA: He built that club. AMELIA: Oh really? ANNA: He built the building, and all the Italians that came from that region would meet with him. AMELIA: Do they still have…? ANNA: The still have it. AMELIA: They still have it. Isn't that nice? LINDA: Did you belong to any social clubs in Connecticut? ANNA: There weren't that many there. AMELIA: Yeah, they did have a social club. I remember going to high school with my sister Christine and some of the other Italian girls living down with [Litley], that's where we lived, we would get together every Saturday night, and we would knit or sew or crochet or do something. ANNA: Parishes had social clubs. We had the Children of Mary that all the young girls that were not married would belong to that, and they would meet maybe once a week, and they would have breakfasts, trips; they would organize trips. Then they had the Lady of Mount Carmel for the married women, and they would have the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the men, the young boys. And they would organize trips, and there would be a bus going up to Caldwell Park -- not a bus, they would walk there -- but there would be a bus maybe going to some other distant park where they would take a picnic lunch. I remember going up to Simon Park… AMELIA: Oh, the family. ANNA: Yes. We would cook the dinner at home and bring it up there and eat with all the friends at Simon Park, right? That was… AMELIA: Still around? ANNA: Yes. So I think that was the social life. It was all within the parish or the Italian-American community. LINDA: Amelia, when did you get your interest in art?28 AMELIA: Interest in art? Well, that started in high school. I was very much interested in art. Our high school, Naugatuck High School, had a lot of Roman statues throughout the corridors, and they took -- it was through the library that we took courses, my sister Christine and I. We would go there and they would have different people in the community talk about art during the time of the Romans, during the time of the Middle Ages and so on. LINDA: So when you came to Fitchburg was the art museum established? AMELIA: No. I wasn't down; I don't know if it was established at the time. I had become interested in the art museum just recently after Fitchburg State College, last year when I told Mr. Peter Chin, who is the Director of the Fitchburg Art Museum, that I was very much interested in Western civilization, and that's when we became involved In Fitchburg State College working with the museum. LINDA: Do you ever wonder how your life would have been different if you perhaps fell in love and married someone from Fitchburg? AMELIA: Not necessarily, no. I think that the man that I married was a businessman and very much interested in Italian culture. Even though my father and mother instilled in me the love of Italy and the love of Italian culture, I still feel that he got me more interested. We've traveled to Italy and saw a lot of art, architecture, and learned more about our background. LINDA: How did you meet him? AMELIA: Oh -- did you ask me that question the other day? Someone asked me, "How did you meet your husband?" LINDA: Maybe I did. AMELIA: Well, I was studying here at -- it was during the time I got my master's at BU, and Uncle Joe played with the Boston Symphony in Boston. And they were having a concert, and -- oh no, I was teaching in Naugatuck -- and they were having a concert in Boston, so I took a train from New Haven to Boston. I was supposed to meet my uncle. And on the train, I went into the dining car, and there was a gentleman sitting across, and he 29 looked over and he said to me, "May I join you?" I said yes, so we had dinner together, and it was my husband whom I had met. ANNA: She was getting the idea. AMELIA: Yeah, so we started correspondence, and that went 'til he came to see to visit my mother and the family and so on. And the summer of '52 we got married. 1952. That's a long time ago, isn't it? LINDA: Did he live in Boston? AMELIA: No, he had a -- his place of business was in Brooklyn. He was originally from New York, and he had a vending repair shop and did very well. And he was going to Italy in '92, and he said to me, "Why don't we go together?" LINDA: In '52? AMELIA: Yeah, in 1952. So that's when I got married. And we married and then we went to Italy on honeymoon on the Conta Bianca Ma, on the ship that my father sailed on, never returned. And we stopped in North Africa, in Casablanca and all those beautiful places, Algiers, and -- with the ship, you know, Conta Bianca Ma, it took about 12 days and many of the passengers aboard that ship were World War II veterans. So we had a lot to talk about because my kid brother, Tommy was… ANNA: In the service. AMELIA: In the service, right. And then we got into Sicily and then went to Naples and disembarked and traveled all over Italy. We lived in the Busi area for two years, and in '54 we returned to America, and then that's when I went to see, visit my mother's home place. My husband said, "You can't leave Italy without seeing your mother and father's birthplace!" and that's… LINDA: So had he sold his business in Brooklyn and went to… AMELIA: Yeah, he sold his place in Brooklyn and wanted to get married, and he always wanted an Italian-American girl, so that was it. LINDA: Was he older than you? AMELIA: Yes. He was about nine years older than I. He died in 19 -- very bright man. He had a lot of money. He went to Phoenix and invested in 30 property, but we came back every summer because it was hot in Phoenix, temperature of 107, 108, 110, and we used to come back to Connecticut and then we went to Italy. I've been on all the liners: the Sistulia, the Independent, the Lucania, the Julius Caesar. LINDA: So did you enjoy taking a liner instead of -- do you still do that? AMELIA: No, we fly. The only liner, really, is the Queen Elizabeth, and then you go to London. I took that in '92. My sister, Connie, on the Queen Elizabeth about five days, and then we flew back on the Concorde. Nice experience. LINDA: What was that like? AMELIA: Oh, in 3 hours, 19 minutes, we were at Kennedy from London. LINDA: Do you feel differently when you're on that plane? AMELIA: It was wonderful. There was absolutely no turbulence, and my sister Connie is definitely afraid of flying. And even on the Concorde she said, "Are we all right? Are we all right?" Lovely, smooth flight. LINDA: What was it like taking off? AMELIA: You hardly know you take off, and we did not aboard the Concorde from the outside. They have a beautiful reception room where you go in from the airport. Let's see, what was it? What was the airport? ANNA: Kennedy? AMELIA: No, in London. Heathrow. Right. And you approach it from the inside, a beautiful dining room where they had all kinds of food, breakfast and all kinds of drinks, champagne in "orange," as it's called, boxes, which is mimosa, it's a mimosa. And all kinds of things. So actually, we boarded the Concorde from the inside. I wanted to get on from the outside so you could see her, you know. A wonderful experience. LINDA: But do you feel yourself really reaching great heights? AMELIA: No, you don't. You don't feel a thing. In about five minutes, we had climbed 26,000 miles. LINDA: Incredible.31 AMELIA: I have all those pictures in an album with all the notations. Yep, it's such a voluminous thing that I didn't want to take with me. But that was lovely. I'd like to do it again. LINDA: Well on July 17th, I was leaving London and there were cameras everywhere and I thought "Oh no," and we pulled into the airport and I thought there was a plane crash but it was the first Concorde taking off after that crash, I think from Paris. AMELIA: Yeah, Paris. Right. LINDA: They're rebuilding. AMELIA: Oh, they're rebuilding it? Have you been on a Concorde? LINDA: No. AMELIA: Oh, I see. Quite an experience. I think we reached the height of 58,000 feet. LINDA: Incredible. AMELIA: Wonderful. You don't feel yourself descending at all. And the food they serve, everyone has an individual table, there's all kind of linens and sterling silver. There are only 96 passengers. We tried -- Christine was supposed to come with us. She said, "No, I don't want to come." But she said she'd like to go on the Concorde. ANNA: Sounds like Connie. AMELIA: Yeah, I think British Airways -- what is it? About nine hours to cross? I think it's a long flight. LINDA: Well, it's longer coming back because of the wind. Actually, I think it's a little bit less now, maybe seven. So did you ever feel different being Italian? AMELIA: No, I don't. I'm very proud to be an Italian. LINDA: Yeah, I know. But ever growing up, did you ever feel discriminated? AMELIA: No, because at home my father always talked about Italians and what they've contributed, you know. And he was an educated man. In fact, did you know that my father was supposed to be a priest? LINDA: No, I didn't know that.32 AMELIA: Yeah. He attended -- what do they call it? Gymnasio was their high school. Was that right? LINDA: Gym -- AMELIA: Gymnasio. Is that the word for gymnasio? Papa attended the… yes, Papa attended the gymnasio, which was the high school, and then he attended Luceo, which is the junior college. ANNA: This is where? AMELIA: In Italy, in [Salunca]. Most families that had visited, they were bakers and they had a nice -- most families sent one child to study to be a priest, and my father was chosen. He was there two years and he didn't like it. What he saw, he didn't like. So he got on his horse and ran away, and the horse was riding along, went galloping up along a body of water. And he was so afraid that the horse was going to go into the water, so my father threw himself off and he had a great big gash here. Yeah. I remember him telling me that. Now there was always -- my father always told us about things of Italy, you know. Things Italy had done and the records that we played so that there was always culture at home. I was always proud to be an Italian. LINDA: So you're hoping that Alba Program, is that what you… AMELIA: Yes. LINDA: What does Alba mean? AMELIA: Alba means dawn, and since these young people are young, they're just beginning, the beginning of the day, Alba. And I gave it that name, and we've been doing that for five years in Waterbury. And I have an appointment at the University of Connecticut, where my sister graduated, and I have three nieces, all graduated from the University of Connecticut, majored in Italian. They have their doctorate in Italian. So I want to set up a center for the study of Italian culture there. I'm meeting with them on Monday of next week. LINDA: At the University of Connecticut? AMELIA: Yes. UConn, we call it. 33 LINDA: They have the Oral History Project. Like, at the Dodd Center I think they call it. AMELIA: I don't know. I'm meeting one of my nieces who teaches at UConn. She teaches Renaissance art, and she's going to take me there. Do you know any of the professors there? John Davis, I have an appointment with him. LINDA: So what was the turning point for you to start donating? AMELIA: To what? LINDA: Start donating money and trying to establish… AMELIA: My husband was always interested in doing something for -- in the school system, and it was he that said I should contact the Italian-American community in Waterbury when they advertised they wanted money for the Italian classes. Remember I told you? So shortly after he died, I decided to do that, and he was a very smart man at buying property, and I have sold property that has run into the millions, and I want to donate it to the school. So that's why I'm donating to the Center for Italian Culture, to Fitchburg State, to Post College in Waterbury, and to UConn. And also, the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies in London, I am a lifetime member there, and my husband was always interested in that. LINDA: How did that come about? AMELIA: I just love Western civilization. Done a lot of reading, and then there are -- the Romans occupied London for almost -- let's see, about 500 years, and they are very proud of what the Romans had given to London. In fact, Queen Elizabeth, when she visited Italy and she attended one of the sessions of Parliament, she got up and said, "I want to thank you people for bringing civilization to London." So we are members for the Society of Promotion of Roman Studies, and they will be a contributor upon my death. I mention them in my will. It was he, really, my husband that started all this interest in Western civilization. LINDA: Truly admirable. /AT/pa/rjh/es

Interview with Irene Beaudoin of Leominster, Massachusetts. Her husband Bill was also present. Topics include: Irene's father came to Leominster, MA from New Brunswick, Canada in 1894, when he was sixteen years old. Her mother's family was from Canada, but her mother was born in West Boylston, MA. Her father's work history, how he eventually ended up in the insurance business. Her parents met and were married in Leominster, MA. Her parents' involvement with Saint Cecelia's parish in Leominster, MA. Where Irene and Bill went to school as children. Rumors surrounding a fire that burnt the original parish school. Irene went on to Leominster High school, Becker College, beauty school in Worcester, and then worked as a hairdresser until she was married. Her father's work in real estate and as the director of the Leominster Home Federal Bank. Her father's work on the Selective Service Board. Organizations her father belonged to and his work to help Franco-Americans become citizens. Bill and ; 1 SPEAKER 1: Where, where were you born, Irene? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right here in Leominster. SPEAKER 1: Right here in Leominster? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. SPEAKER 1: And your maiden name? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Uh, Lejier. SPEAKER 1: Lejier. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. SPEAKER 1: Um, your parents, where did they come from? IRENE BEAUDOIN: My father came from New Brunswick, and my mother was born right here in the United States in West Boylston. SPEAKER 1: Uh, about when did your father come to the United States? IRENE BEAUDOIN: In 1894. SPEAKER 1: How old was he then? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Sixteen. SPEAKER 1: Why did he come here? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, I guess he just heard so much about the U.S. he decided he, you know, wanted to come out here and he had 50 cents in his pocket when he came out. SPEAKER 1: And when you say 'when he came out' where is that? Uh, did he arrive here Worcester or Leominster or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, he came to Leominster and from what I can remember he was waiting for a train to take him to Rhode Island, [unintelligible - 0:00:55] Rhode Island, but evidently he didn't like and came back to Leominster and found work. And then a short while after he was here, he found work at the woodshop in – back on [unintelligible - 0:01:12]. I can't remember. BILL BEAUDOIN: Bartlett. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Bartlett. And he finally became superintendent of the manufacturing company but had to leave because he was getting 2 wood sawdust in the lung and the doctor told him either he had to leave or he would die within a year, which he did leave. SPEAKER 1: So, what did he do after that? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well he had to take a year's absence [unintelligible - 0:01:46] and went back to his home in New Brunswick and stayed there for six months until he felt better and came back here. And then he started a grocery business, and then from that, he went into the insurance company. SPEAKER 1: Where was his grocery business? IRENE BEAUDOIN: On 6th Street going down the hill. SPEAKER 1: On 6th Street? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mechanic. BILL BEAUDOIN: [Unintelligible - 0:02:13]. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, [unintelligible - 0:02:16]. SPEAKER 1: Oh is that right? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Oh, they had a store there. How long was he in business there? IRENE BEAUDOIN: That I don't know. I couldn't tell you how long he was in the grocery. I really have no idea. He was in a few years, but how long, I don't know. SPEAKER 1: Right. About when was that, what year approximately? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Perhaps '96,'97. SPEAKER 1: I see. So, your father was a very [unintelligible - 0:02:50] businessman in the French community. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. You see for a while he worked for a Mr. [Wingman] who owned a grocery store, and from there, this is how he got started in the grocery business. SPEAKER 1: So, did he cater mostly to the Franco-Americans? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh yes. He – I remember him telling me. So, he used to deliver, you know, the [unintelligible - 0:03:17] and he used to do this at 3 night many times and he used to carry these heavy bags of flour and sugar. SPEAKER 1: The location is right on the edge of what's called French Hill and then when you get down below there are many Italians. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes. SPEAKER 1: Do you know if… IRENE BEAUDOIN: There were Italians at the time, yes. SPEAKER 1: There were Italians there at the time. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes. SPEAKER 1: And do you know if they bought from the store also? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, yes. There were, you know, neighbors around that area that would come to the store to buy that were Italian. SPEAKER 1: In that case, did he have a language difficulty or did he have enough knowledge of English to carry him through or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: I think my mother helped him a lot in that area because I do believe he spoke French. I don't believe he knew too much English at the time but… SPEAKER 1: Well, you mentioned that your mother spoke English then. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. SPEAKER 1: Where did she learn the English? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, she had to go to public school. There were no parochial schools where she came from. SPEAKER 1: Was your mother born in the United States? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, she was born in West Boylston. SPEAKER 1: She was born in West Boylston, and what was her name? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Gonville. SPEAKER 1: Gonville. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: Was that related to the Gonvilles that lived on 7th Street when they were here? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Sure.4 SPEAKER 1: Oh, it was. IRENE BEAUDOIN: The father was my mother's brother. SPEAKER 2: [Unintelligible - 0:04:55]. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Of course. They lived right near you. SPEAKER 1: Yes, now I remember. I remember my folks mentioning it, yeah. Well, you mentioned they were born here? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Now who are you talking about, my mother? SPEAKER 1: Your mother, I'm sorry, your mother. IRENE BEAUDOIN: In West Boylston. SPEAKER 1: In West Boylston, I see. So, what brought her here? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Because they took the town over to make a reservoir and that's the reason why she came up here. SPEAKER 1: I see. Well, have your grandparents on your mother's side lived in the United States for a while? Did they come from Canada? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, they've been here for a long time, yes. SPEAKER 1: They had been here for a while? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: I see. You don't recall anyone mentioning when… IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no. Evidently they've been here for a long time because my grandfather owned the grocery store and the fish market in West Boylston. SPEAKER 1: In the area as a reservoir? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes, yeah. SPEAKER 1: I see. IRENE BEAUDOIN: In fact, it was their home, and the store evidently was very close to the church that still remains there but just collapsed. SPEAKER 1: Oh, is that right? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: Oh, I see. So, your mother went to the public schools of West Boylston, picked up her English, and somewhere she met your father. Was that Leominster or in West Boylston?5 IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, when she came out here to look for work after the –you know, preparing to make the reservoir. SPEAKER 1: Oh I see. She came here to look for work. And where did she go for work? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Clewett's. SPEAKER 1: At Clewett. IRENE BEAUDOIN: And then she did work in a dry goods store downtown. SPEAKER 1: Do you recall the dry goods store? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, but it would be in the vicinity of the Metropolitan Theater, in that area. SPEAKER 1: Do you ever recall your mother talking about wages and working conditions at Clewett's at the time? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, I remember them saying how, you know, the wages were like perhaps $7 a week is what they earned. SPEAKER 1: Did they consider that good or was she satisfied or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, evidently that was about what everyone earned in shops at that time. SPEAKER 1: Do you remember if your mother ever mentioned the people that worked at Clewett's, whether or not they were Franco-Americans largely or a great number of them or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, there were several French people working there, but I think the majority were American and Irish, I think, more than French. SPEAKER 1: I see. And that would be approximately what year or what time? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Probably around, you know, 18… SPEAKER 1: '96? IRENE BEAUDOIN: '96, '97, '98, around. SPEAKER 1: Right around there. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, around that, yeah. SPEAKER 1: All right. So then your parents met in Leominster. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm, and were married here in Leominster.6 SPEAKER 1: And were married here in Leominster. Where were they married? IRENE BEAUDOIN: At Saint Cecilia's. SPEAKER 1: At Saint Cecilia's. So by the time they met, the Saint Cecilia's had been established as a parish? IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. It was a very small church but it was already established, but they helped the parish grow. I believe they were married by Father Balthasard. SPEAKER 1: -Which was the first pastor. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. Yeah, they were married by Farther Balthasard. SPEAKER 1: Your parents were married, your mother worked at Clewett's, and your father had his grocery store. Now, you say he remained in business three or four years, what did you say? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, possibly longer because he started in the insurance business in 1919. SPEAKER 1: Oh I see, so from just prior to 1900 until 1919, he was in the grocery business. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right. SPEAKER 1: Where did he start his insurance business and how? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He started from this own home. SPEAKER 1: Up on 6th Street? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, on Mechanic Street. SPEAKER 1: On Mechanic at this point. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm, and from there he had his office across the street from the church. I believe there's a hairdressing parlor there. [Unintelligible - 0:09:50] was on one side and my father's office was on the opposite side. I don't know who's in there now, but then he moved from there to the present location, which is at the corner of Walker and Mechanic. SPEAKER 1: I see. What kind of businesses? You mentioned insurance business. What did he do, sell insurance or…?7 IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. He started with life insurance and then into all types of insurance: general insurance, car, fire insurance and automobile insurance. SPEAKER 1: So, he became an agent for various insurances. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right. SPEAKER 1: How long was he in that insurance business? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, when he left, it was 50 years. He retired two years after they saw the 50th anniversary. SPEAKER 1: He left the business. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: He sold that business. IRENE BEAUDOIN: He sold it, right. SPEAKER 1: When he first started, did he make it a habit or did he try to cater specifically to Franco-Americans or did he…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes, he did. SPEAKER 1: He did. IRENE BEAUDOIN: He did but he had all types, all nationalities that came to the office for insurance. He was liked, very well-liked by all, yeah, and he helped a lot of people. Grandma said that he did help a lot of people, but no one else knew about it. SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Was he associated in any way with a Mr. Gordon who was also in the insurance business? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No. He was always alone in business. No one that I – I know he worked in the insurance [unintelligible - 0:11:52]. SPEAKER 1: So, he was a very early parishioner at Saint Cecilia's, one of the founders of the parish. I presume that he became an active member of the parish? IRENE BEAUDOIN: They both were very active, raising funds to someday build the church that we now have. SPEAKER 1: Were they involved in preparing for the original school? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, yes, they worked very hard for that.8 SPEAKER 1: Did you go to that school? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes, I sure did. I graduated from there. BILL BEAUDOIN: We were going to school there when the fire… IRENE BEAUDOIN: The fire broke out. BILL BEAUDOIN: When the school burned down and we went to class in various houses around. IRENE BEAUDOIN: I went in [Lamont's]. BILL BEAUDOIN: I went to [Holme's] house which was where the school yard is now. SPEAKER 1: Oh yeah. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. BILL BEAUDOIN: There was an old house there. That's where I went to school. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, and I went in Lamont's Hall which is… SPEAKER 1: It's across the street. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. BILL BEAUDOIN: It was in the old town square. That's where I went to school. She went to… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, something's now. SPEAKER 1: There was approximately a thousand students in the school at the time. Where did they all go? IRENE BEAUDOIN: In homes. BILL BEAUDOIN: All over third… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Third and fourth. Different people offered their homes and converted a room or two into classrooms. And then there were several classes in Lamont's Hall. They divided that up into, you know, several classes. I don't remember how many. BILL BEAUDOIN: Then we got the old church, the old church, the old white church which is where the [back lot], where the present school is – or the present church. SPEAKER 1: When they built the school, the first brick school, did they have the church in there?9 IRENE BEAUDOIN: No. They still had the… SPEAKER 1: They still had the white… IRENE BEAUDOIN: White church across the street. And they had a school house there, next to the church. BILL BEAUDOIN: They had the eighth and ninth grades there. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right, right. SPEAKER 1: Yes, I think I remember the same pictures – IRENE BEAUDOIN: I remember it, but we didn't go to school there ourselves; in fact, my cousin, Sister [Elinya] who was a convent girl taught there. And I remember, you know, having to go there with my mother to visit her, but I never attended school in that building. SPEAKER 1: Where is your cousin now, the nun? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, she passed away quite a few years ago. SPEAKER 1: Quite a few years ago. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: All right. Now, the first time I asked this question, I've heard stories told about the fire at the school. Does anyone know to this day what actually happened, how the fire got started? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, I've always heard it had been set, but whether that was so or not, I don't know. SPEAKER 1: Wasn't there rumors that the Ku Klux Klan was involved or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: I heard that, I don't know. BILL BEAUDOIN: The Ku Klux Klan was very active in those days, because I remember, you know, we would see from where I lived, we always see the crosses burning on Prospect Hill. SPEAKER 1: And where was that where you lived? BILL BEAUDOIN: On 6th Street, right where the fire was. We could see right across Whitney Field and up into Prospect Hill, and one of the police officers saw it. He was an officer in the police department, Mr. [Karl] lived next door to us. We would always see him go into 10 the room, and if the crosses were burning they would be out chasing these guys around. I'll never forget that. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, it must have been around town, you know, around the hill, because I remember my folks talking. I wasn't supposed to be hearing this, I guess, but I would overhear different things. And I'm sure they used to go up Mechanic Street. BILL BEAUDOIN: They attacked his home one time on Sixth Street, Mr. Karl. They tried to burn that. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Of course, I remember them talking about the white sheets that they put over their clothing and, you know, crosses. SPEAKER 1: So they actually did this in Leominster? BILL BEAUDOIN: Oh, yes, we testified – IRENE BEAUDOIN: I was petrified of them that whenever they spoke of them, I was very petrified. SPEAKER 1: But it was never – the fire was never actually shown to… IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, it was never proven that it was set by anyone. That was a rumor, I suppose. SPEAKER 1: I always heard another rumor that one of the local parishioners had done it, someone's family had trouble with. I don't remember. IRENE BEAUDOIN: I never heard that one. SPEAKER 1: I heard that one a few times. BILL BEAUDOIN: I don't remember how it happened. I just remember very vividly the day it happened and [unintelligible - 0:16:58] was running over, wanting to see the fire. SPEAKER 1: Oh, it was a terrible night. It was all ice. And, of course, living not too far away from the convent, we really could see it well because my father went, but my mother and I naturally didn't go because it was such a bad night out. But, it really hit, you know, the parishioners because they really had worked to have the 11 school and then to have somebody let that happen, it meant starting all over again. SPEAKER 1: Who was the pastor at the time? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh Father [Shiquin]. SPEAKER 1: Father Shiquin. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes. SPEAKER 1: How many years was Father Shiquin in Leominster? Was it forty? SPEAKER 1: I don't know. I know he celebrated his 50th anniversary as a priest here but… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, he came from Worcester here, which would have been – what, Bill? BILL BEAUDOIN: Oh, when Father came here, he'd been … IRENE BEAUDOIN: It was 1919? BILL BEAUDOIN: Yeah. He's been here, I think, five or six years then. SPEAKER 1: And so then the parishioners had to begin all over again? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. They used to have fairs and minstrels. SPEAKER 1: Minstrels? IRENE BEAUDOIN: They had one or two a year. And then recitals from the different students that took piano. In the music department, they used to have recitals and I guess they sold tickets for that because we used to hold it at the Realtor. I know I used to perform as a piano student, and then, of course, the minstrels was a variety affair. I remember as a little kid, I perhaps was seven or eight years old, dancing on the stage for different little skits they had. SPEAKER 1: Do you recall if the parish received any outside help to rebuild the school or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, I don't know about that, but I'm – perhaps from the Diocese of Worcester or… BILL BEAUDOIN: No. The only thing I ever heard about it as I recall is a gift from Mr. [Doyle].12 IRENE BEAUDOIN: Because we were in the Boston diocese at the time, weren't we? BILL BEAUDOIN: Springfield. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Springfield, that's right. Whether they got help from the bishop at the time, I don't know. SPEAKER 1: All right. So, you, Irene, graduated from Saint Cecilia's, and from there, where did you go? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Leominster High. SPEAKER 1: You went to Leominster High. And did you graduate from Leominster High also? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: What did you do after graduation? IRENE BEAUDOIN: I went to Becker College and then I went into hairdressing. SPEAKER 1: You went to Becker's and then you went to hairdressing. What did you take up in Becker's, what course? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Business course. SPEAKER 1: Business – one or two years? IRENE BEAUDOIN: One year. SPEAKER 1: One year, and then off to hairdressing. That's a switch, isn't it? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. BILL BEAUDOIN: She went to hairdressing school in Worcester. IRENE BEAUDOIN: I went to hairdressing school in Worcester also, yeah. SPEAKER 1: Was that at girls' trade? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no, no. It was beauty school. SPEAKER 1: And did you go into business for yourself or did you work for someone? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No. I worked as a beautician in two different beauty shops, and then I got married and that was the end of my working days. SPEAKER 1: [Laughs] These beauty shops were they located on French Hill or were they in town? IRENE BEAUDOIN: I worked for Olivia who was on Washington Street. SPEAKER 1: On Washington.13 IRENE BEAUDOIN: She has passed away, and I also worked in Fitchburg and she has passed away also. SPEAKER 1: So that… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, I worked at [Selligs] also. I must say that. I worked at [Selligs] as a biller. SPEAKER 1: Is this right after Becker's then? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, after hairdressing. I went back to the business world. SPEAKER 1: [Laughs] So Sellig's must have been new at the time. IRENE BEAUDOIN: They had just come in. BILL BEAUDOIN: Her father was instrumental at bringing Sellig's] here. In fact, he did bring Sellig's here. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. SPEAKER 1: Oh, is that right? BILL BEAUDOIN: Her father had that building. SPEAKER 1: Which building is that, the one on Green Street? IRENE BEAUDOIN: On Green Street, right. SPEAKER 1: And when you say your father had that… BILL BEAUDOIN: Well, he was a realtor. SPEAKER 1: Oh. As time went by with his insurance business, he had realty as part of the business. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, he had realty, right. He went into realty and… SPEAKER 1: And he had the place on Green Street. Do you recall how he managed to get Sellig's in here, where they came from or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: There's a lot of concessions [unintelligible - 0:22:38]. SPEAKER 1: Well, it was through – he was also, you see, director of the bank. SPEAKER 1: Which bank was that? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, it's Monument Federal now. It was Leominster Home Federal at the time. SPEAKER 1: Oh, I see. BILL BEAUDOIN: Leominster Home loan. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Home loan.14 SPEAKER 1: Home Loan, which is now Monument, I see, and he was a…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Director. He was a director since, I believe, 1919 or 1920. Right after he got into the insurance business, I think he became a director. He was for many, many years. SPEAKER 1: I see. And it's through that, his position as director and in the real estate business that he was able to bring Sellig's into Leominster. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, that's right. SPEAKER 1: Where were they from? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Gardner. SPEAKER 1: Oh they were in Gardner. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: That was their home base then? IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. And he formed a committee with different businessmen in Leominster, and Mr. Buckley was one of the other gentlemen that [unintelligible - 0:23:55]. SPEAKER 1: Which Mr. Buckley? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Cornelius. SPEAKER 1: Cornelius? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: The father of the present Cornelius Buckley? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right, right. SPEAKER 1: I see. IRENE BEAUDOIN: And the two of them, I remember, worked very hard to get this like concern into Leominster. SPEAKER 1: Now who owned the building at the time, do you recall? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, I don't know… BILL BEAUDOIN: There was a trust [unintelligible - 0:24:21] formed and it was purchased by the group. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, right. BILL BEAUDOIN: Anybody could be a shareholder if they wanted to.15 SPEAKER 1: This was in what years, in what year did this occur, the Depression years? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no. It was 1937. I would say '38, '37, '38. SPEAKER 1: So, we're still a little in the Depression. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, just about at the end of it, yeah. SPEAKER 1: This was a rather brave attempt then… IRENE BEAUDOIN: And it helped; it did help, yeah. SPEAKER 1: I gather then they must have had to deal with the city officials at the time? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, yes. That's right. SPEAKER 1: The city officials were receptive of bringing them in, I take it? BILL BEAUDOIN: Yes. IRENE BEAUDOIN: It was – Pete Lapierre, I think, was mayor at the time, wasn't he? I think he was. SPEAKER 1: Mayor Lapierre. How did the Depression affect your father's business, or did it affect it at all? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, it did affect it, as far as people being able to pay for the insurance. It was quite head-on at the time, but he managed to hold on to all his customers by paying a lot of premiums himself. And he also was appointed to appraise property at that time, which was a big help. SPEAKER 1: Did he ever hold any position in city government? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. During World War II, he was appointed to be on the Selective Board and was chairman… SPEAKER 1: Selective Service Board? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Service Board, yeah. He was chairman of that board for a number of years. SPEAKER 1: Do you recall any other people that were on the board at the time? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes. Mr. Harris was one of them. BILL BEAUDOIN: Paul Holman.16 IRENE BEAUDOIN: Paul Holman. BILL BEAUDOIN: Are we talking about the carriage company that Paul Holman owned – was one of the owners of… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Of the Whitney Carriage. BILL BEAUDOIN: Mr. [Hart]. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh Mr. Hart, right. BILL BEAUDOIN: Who was the president of [unintelligible - 0:27:04]. Those were the Selective Service Board. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Now another thing, I don't know if I mentioned this, though, where my father was on the board of directors for a bank. SPEAKER 1: Yes, you did. IRENE BEAUDOIN: I mentioned this before, didn't I? He did a lot of appraisals for the bank also on property. SPEAKER 1: Apparently your father was the only Franco-American on the Selective Service Board for quite some time. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, that's right. Then later on in years, of course, Mr. [Golden] was on the board also. SPEAKER 1: Henry Golden later on joined the… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes, Henry Golden was on. SPEAKER 1: Did your father ever work for the state of Massachusetts? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, just – no, I don't really think he ever had been. No, no, he didn't. SPEAKER 1: When he was an appraiser, was he an appraiser for the banks or was he an appraiser for the city of… IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, that was for the state. That was for the state. SPEAKER 1: For the state, I see. IRENE BEAUDOIN: He was appointed by the governor. SPEAKER 1: He was appointed. Who was the governor then? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Dever, Governor Dever. SPEAKER 1: I see. Now, as far as the city is concerned, besides the Selective Service, did he ever serve on any other, any commissions? Or 17 did he ever run for – was he ever elected to office or anything of that kind? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no. SPEAKER 1: Was he interested in politics or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, he enjoyed politics but he never really cared to run for an office. SPEAKER 1: Did he ever work to help Franco-Americans become citizens? Was he ever involved in that? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He certainly was. In fact, he sponsored many people that came from Canada here. SPEAKER 1: In that sense, did he belong to – was it Club [Nordier]? It seems to me that they were active, politically active in the city. BILL BEAUDOIN: [Unintelligible - 0:29:33]. SPEAKER 1: He belonged to [unintelligible - 0:29:36]? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, yeah, he belonged to that. SPEAKER 1: And was he ever a member of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, yeah, yes. SPEAKER 1: Any other organizations that you remember that he might have been in? BILL BEAUDOIN: [Unintelligible - 0:29:47]. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, [Jasons], the Elks. BILL BEAUDOIN: [Unintelligible - 0:29:53]. SPEAKER 1: In that case, Irene, your father must have become acquainted with Bill's father? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Oh, he knew Bill's dad and mother for – well ever since his father and mother came here from Worcester. SPEAKER 1: Was that through your… IRENE BEAUDOIN: They were friends for many, many years. SPEAKER 1: I see. Do you think that – how many children did you and Bill have? IRENE BEAUDOIN: We have three boys.18 SPEAKER 1: You have three boys. And were they all educated locally or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, they all went to high school here. BILL BEAUDOIN: Saint Cecilia's. IRENE BEAUDOIN: They went to Saint Cecilia's first naturally, and then two of them went to Notre Dame and one went to Leominster High. SPEAKER 1: And what are they doing now? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, the oldest boy is in Connecticut and he's a doctor. The second boy is in Connecticut and is working with addicts. He… SPEAKER 1: Drug addicts? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He took up psychology. BILL BEAUDOIN: He's an assistant to a psychologist there, a doctor. IRENE BEAUDOIN: And works with drug addicts. SPEAKER 1: Is he working out of the university or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, right in a hospital. SPEAKER 1: In a hospital, I see. IRENE BEAUDOIN: And the youngest is in business with his father. SPEAKER 1: Oh I see. That's the solder business? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Right. SPEAKER 1: You said, when I asked you where they went to school, you said Saint Cecilia's naturally. Why did you say 'naturally'? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Because that's the school we went to as youngsters and it seems to be the school that you sent your children to. SPEAKER 1: So, they teach as much French when your children went through as when you went through. IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no. SPEAKER 1: How much French did they teach when your children went through? IRENE BEAUDOIN: I believe they only had like 15 minutes or a half hour and, it's all they have; very, very little French. SPEAKER 1: And those were lessons in the language then?19 IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, that's right. And you could – they could choose catechism, either having a French catechism or an English catechism. SPEAKER 1: I see. And what year did they go through? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Let's see. It would be 1954. BILL BEAUDOIN: What – at Saint Cecilia's? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He went in '54. BILL BEAUDOIN: I don't remember the date that well. SPEAKER 1: They were in school at Saint Cecilia's in the 50s then, the three of them. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yes. SPEAKER 1: So that by the 1950s… IRENE BEAUDOIN: Not the three of them. SPEAKER 1: So, that by the mid-50s and into the 60s, the French had just about disappeared from the school except for… IRENE BEAUDOIN: I would say so, yes. SPEAKER 1: Except for that 20 minutes a day of lessons in language. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Exactly. SPEAKER 1: Quite a change from the time that you were there. IRENE BEAUDOIN: We were there, right, because our afternoon was complete French from catechism to Bible to your French language and so on, which took all your afternoon in French. SPEAKER 1: So, coming back to your father now, it seemed to me from having asked you a number of questions that from relatively early in his insurance and real estate business, he was run outside of the French community quite early. Would that be correct? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Mm-hmm. SPEAKER 1: In other words, he did a lot of business with many other people in the community, other than French Canadians from almost the beginning?20 IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, that's right, but the majority of his business was done with the French Canadian but he had many other people, you know, different nationalities: Italian, American, Irish… SPEAKER 1: Yeah. What kind of an education did your father receive? He went to… IRENE BEAUDOIN: He had no education whatsoever. He was a self-made man really. SPEAKER 1: He didn't get through the eighth grade or anything like that? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No, no. He had to go work on the farm. I… SPEAKER 1: While in Canada, he worked on the farm? IRENE BEAUDOIN: While in Canada, they lived on a farm and he worked on the farm, and if I remember correctly now… BILL BEAUDOIN: He worked in a coal mine. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, he worked in a coal mine also. SPEAKER 1: In New Brunswick? IRENE BEAUDOIN: New Brunswick. Springhill, was it? BILL BEAUDOIN: Springhill, the one they had all the very serious collapses there [unintelligible - 0:35:13]. SPEAKER 1: Yeah, yeah, Springhill mine, in New Brunswick. BILL BEAUDOIN: Yeah. And this happened – oh, God, I remember there was that shack and, you know, he can remember the track to the shack. He remembered that shack because he worked there. SPEAKER 1: And he came to the United States at 16; then he was rather young when he was working in the mine. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, because in those days you went to work at any age. BILL BEAUDOIN: If you could do any kind of work in the pit. IRENE BEAUDOIN: If you could carry a shovel and a pick. But I think he went as far as the fourth grade and I don't believe he went any further than that. BILL BEAUDOIN: And that was in New Brunswick.21 IRENE BEAUDOIN: In New Brunswick. And, of course, they lived so many miles away from a school or a church. It was very… SPEAKER 1: Then when he came to the United States, his intention was to go to Rhode Island, was that it? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: And this was for work. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. SPEAKER 1: Where did they plan on working when he went to Rhode Island and do you recall…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: They had nothing in mind. They were just looking for work. SPEAKER 1: Do you recall where they went in Rhode Island? Was it Woonsocket or…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Woonsocket. SPEAKER 1: It was Woonsocket. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, Woonsocket, Rhode Island. SPEAKER 1: And he came back here to Leominster. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right. SPEAKER 1: Why did he stop in Leominster? This puzzles me. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, evidently they had to change trains or something. I don't know just what it was, but he was downtown. I remember him saying he was down town, waiting for another train, and all he had was 50 cents in his pockets. SPEAKER 1: Did he meet relatives when he went to Rhode Island? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He had no relatives out here whatsoever. He came on Canada with another friend of his, and they were both 16. SPEAKER 1: And both of them had intentions of going to work in Rhode Island? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: Did his friend stay in Rhode Island? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah. The friend stayed in Rhode Island; he came back here alone.22 SPEAKER 1: And now your great grandparents on your – well, your grandparents on your father's side remained in Canada? IRENE BEAUDOIN: His mother came. His father died, then he went back to get his mother and his sister and they lived in Fitchburg in Cleghorn. He found them an apartment in Cleghorn. Why Cleghorn, I don't know now. I couldn't tell you why they lived there. Why not Leominster, I don't know. SPEAKER 1: There were many French Canadians in Cleghorn probably. IRENE BEAUDOIN: And my grandmother died in Cleghorn, and my aunt died in Worcester, and his sister, his only sister who was in a home there in Worcester… I'm trying to think of the name of that place. SPEAKER 1: You mentioned that your father delivered groceries by horse and buggy. When did he eventually get a car? IRENE BEAUDOIN: I believe it was around – in the 20s, early 20s. It was a turn car; he called it a turn car, which he just loved. And I can remember so many times, well, I guess, I was five or six years old when there was a rainstorm or thunderstorm that came up in the summertime, how he would stop the car and put up the side pieces and then the windshield wipers were on the inside. They had to this by hand. SPEAKER 1: They had to work the manual windshield. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, or the windshield wipers were on the outside but I guess you had to work it from the inside. SPEAKER 1: Exactly, a little handle. IRENE BEAUDOIN: That's right, yeah. SPEAKER 1: And so he got his first car after he went into the insurance business? IRENE BEAUDOIN: Well, I'm sure it must have been at that time, yes. SPEAKER 1: And how long did he drive? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He was almost 91 when he retired from driving. We mentioned several times, you know, "How I wish – why don't you give 23 up?" I didn't ask him to give up. I would say, "If you want to give up, I can take you wherever you want to go." And he'd just reply, "What's the matter with you? I can drive as well as you can." So, that was that. SPEAKER 1: Though your father was not active in politics, holding office or anything like that, was he involved in politics in any other way or no? IRENE BEAUDOIN: No. SPEAKER 1: I found that many of the Franco-Americans voted or tended to vote Republican until about the 1930s. Was your father a Republican or was he a Democrat? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He was a Republican and changed when Bill's father ran. BILL BEAUDOIN: And always went back to Republican. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Went back to Republican but to give his father that vote, he had to change – BILL BEAUDOIN: Her father did run for the city council once. IRENE BEAUDOIN: Yeah, that's right. BILL BEAUDOIN: But he was defeated and only because he was a Republican, no other reason. SPEAKER 1: Oh your father did run for…? IRENE BEAUDOIN: He did run. That's correct. BILL BEAUDOIN: Republicans were non-existent at the time – or close to it. /AT/cw/ee

In this dissertation I explore the co-emergence of multinational corporations and the consolidation of the discourse on human rights at the level of the United Nations throughout the second half of the twentieth century and analyse the resulting conceptual gap that created tensions in the international legal order. Despite attempts by developing countries to alleviate this imbalance through the New International Economic Order (NIEO), a multitude of soft law initiatives and the reluctance to address human rights issues in MNCs at the level of the United Nations failed to make MNCs incorporate human rights standards in their operations. The merging of the two concepts became increasingly more challenging throughout the 70s and 80s when the world was faced with the oil crisis and the rise of neoliberalism. This shift in the global legal architecture forced the Third World to take a new approach to tackle the conceptual gap, this resulted in the emergence of the Third generation of human rights and ultimately, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR is a concept of international private business self-regulation that aims at merging human, socio-economic, and political rights into the world of the corporation. As a response to the concerns for human rights violations by corporate actors, CSR slowly came to the forefront of the global business scene to enable the continuation of the operation of multinational enterprises. CSR presented a platform for global soft law initiatives to minimise the conceptual gap they had created over throughout the preceding decades. This allowed people such as John Ruggie to develop the Guiding Principles, the most successful initiative to date. This dissertation will provide its readers with a fruitful understanding of the crucial role that international law played in this development and further, what implications this had on the political and economic level. - Introduction In the words of Sundhya Pahuja and Anna Saunders, the second half of the twentieth century staged a 'series of encounters between rival practices of world making, each of which travelled with rival accounts of international law'.[1] Anti-colonial disputes, the Cold War, the rise of developmental issues and the increasing popularity of neoliberalism are only some of the events that generated these competing views of the international legal order. These events brought different coalitions across the Global North and Global South, and different 'alliances of interest between 'public' and 'private' actors'.[2] At the heart of the system that emerged lie two fundamental elements: the modern multinational corporation and human rights. How to conceptualize multinational corporations (MNCs) and how to define their relation to the law and the State was part of these rival stories. In this paper I explore the co-emergence of multinational corporations and the consolidation of the discourse on human rights at the level of the United Nations throughout the second half of the twentieth century and analyze the resulting conceptual gap that created tensions in the international legal order. In particular, I examine how this encounter, which became evident as calls for a New International Economic Order (NIEO) were being advanced within the UN, came to produce the idea of 'Corporate Social Responsibility' (CSR). I show that CSR emerged from the failure of the NIEO, particularly in relation to the roles and responsibilities of private actors in the global economy and how this can be traced to the limits of initiatives addressing the tensions between human rights claims and the interests of multinational corporations. In so doing I provide an understanding of the crucial role that international law played in this development and the implications this had at the political and economic level. The first section of this essay examines the lack of direct use of human rights language in the UN literature focusing on MNCs and their role in world development from the 1960s to the 1970s. This includes an analysis of the report entitled 'Multinational Corporations in World Development'.[3] I demonstrate the emphasis and enthusiasm for multinational corporations displayed at the level of the United Nations and how the concepts of the corporation and human rights were kept separate due to their respective supporters during the Cold War. I then focus on the attempts by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the 'Group of 77' (G77) to bridge this conceptual gap through the imposition of policies and initiatives, though without major success. The second section analyzes the influence of the oil crisis and the rise of neoliberalism on the shift of the global legal architecture, ultimately promoting the birth of the new developmental state. Here concern is with the new legal structures' attempt to merge the concepts of multinational corporations and human rights through a third generation of human rights, [4] and I engage in theoretical approaches by legal scholars such as Samuel Moyn and Antonia Darder. In the third section investigates the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and analyzes its application and limitations. CSR is a concept of international private business self-regulation that aims at merging human, socio-economic, and political rights into the world of the corporation. As a response to the concerns for human rights violations by corporate actors, CSR slowly came to the forefront of the global business scene to enable the continuation of the operation of multinational enterprises. I demonstrate how CSR aspired to close a gap between human rights and corporate action in a way that would harmonize them through a multitude of soft law initiatives. This leads to the question of whether direct regulations can apply to MNCs under international law and a discussion of the UN Global Compact, at the time the world's largest and most far-reaching CSR initiative.[5] Finally, this paper closes with the most recent developments in the global legal order designed to tackle the conceptual gap between MNCs and human rights, namely through the United Nations Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises[6] and the development of the Guiding Principles. Dawn of co-existence The United Nations lies at the heart of the international regime with its normative, institutional and procedural human rights activities.[7] By adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the UN created a milestone document in the history of human rights. The Declaration has had an enormous influence on the world both in terms of 'spreading the philosophy of human rights, and in terms of inspiring legal texts and decisions'.[8] New states have used the Declaration as a basis for their constitutions, while domestic and international courts have invoked the Declaration in their judgments.[9] As human rights law developed, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, followed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, were both drafted under the auspices of the United Nations, adopted in 1966 and entered into force in 1976. Together, these three instruments make up the 'International Bill of Human Rights'.[10] Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the world became a stage for global changes that altered the legal order. The end of colonialism dawned in the Global South, and during the height of the Cold War the West faced the Soviet Bloc and its mission of 'exporting revolution'.[11] Leaders of nationalist resistance movements received military as well as financial aid from the Soviet Bloc which intensified anti-colonial mobilization for self-determination.[12] Simultaneously, globalization was increasing rapidly, with multinational corporations emerging onto the global scene with heightened awareness of their existence as an entity with legal personality. As outlined by Sornarajah, their distinct bases of power allowed them to assert their interests through the law. With economic resources often exceeding those of their host state, MNCs had the ability to sculpt and manipulate legal outcomes through arbitration processes concerning foreign investment protection. This was done by exerting lobbying pressure on a host state which might be reluctant or even unable to object to the activities of MNCs.[13] The 'Multinational Corporations in World Development', report drafted by the UN Secretariat's Department on Economic and Social Affairs in 1973, considers 'the role of multinational corporations and their impact on the process of development, especially that of developing countries [.] [and] international relations'.[14] From the outset, the Report identifies the emerging phenomenon of the MNC in international economic affairs, how its size and spread has increased, and identifies the wide array of its activities and its use of natural resources which 'rival traditional economic exchanges between nations'.[15] It is surprising therefore, that a Report from the Department on Economic and Social Affairs, does not contain the term 'human rights' throughout the entire document. In the Report's introduction the UN makes a clear distinction between the differing views of impacts MNCs have on host countries. While 'depicted in some quarters as key instruments to maximizing world welfare, [they] are seen in others as dangerous agents of imperialism'.[16] The fact the United Nations recognized the potential neo-colonial nature of multinational corporations further highlights the need for guidance on human rights violations by MNCs. Yet the Report's reluctance to engage in the area of human rights provides a first glimpse into the divergence of the concepts of multinational corporations and human rights. An explanation for this can be identified by analyzing the Conventions, on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, with the UN's reluctance to avoid tensions between the supporters of both Conventions, respectively the United States and the Soviet Union. The US pushed for the development of civil and political rights, reflecting the protection of the freedom and liberties of individuals. Stemming from a Western philosophy, John Locke identified that in a 'state of nature' humans had 'natural rights' including the right to life, liberty and property. Similarly, French legal philosophers such as Rosseau, Montesquieu and Voltaire argued that such rights emerge from the inherent nature and virtue of man.[17] As Joseph and Castan argue, 'natural rights theories were highly influential [.] particularly in the revolutionary fervor of the United States'.[18] The advancement of civil and political rights reflects the capitalist ideology of the United States, conforming to the libertarian nature of Western capitalist societies.[19] In contrast, the Soviet Union pushed for the advancement of economic, social and cultural rights. These included the right to work, the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to physical health. Contrary to the civil and political rights, these rights were based on the idea of equality, one deeply rooted in the political ideology of socialism. As the US would not commit to a proposition that there is a right to social goods, the US has never ratified this Convention.[20] The Soviet Bloc promoted the right of self-determination by providing military and financial aid to indigenous political activists in their fight for independence; an idea enshrined in Article 1 of the Covenant which states that: 'All peoples have the right to self-determination'.[21] For the Soviets 'national self-determination was an adjunct to revolutionary communism'.[22] They envisioned self-determination as the tool for the transition from dismantling a colonial empire to establishing a socialist state.[23] However, while the United Nations was reluctant to adhere to human rights in the framework of multinational corporations, other international institutions were motivated to develop this area. The OECD attempted to impose human rights on MNCs by adopting the Guidelines for MNCs (hereinafter 'OECD Guidelines') in 1976.[24] These were 'voluntary recommendations for business practices relating to human rights, disclosure of information, anti-corruption, labour relations, taxation, the environment and consumer protection'.[25] The Guidelines were intended to strengthen the international investment climate by improving the relationship and confidence between MNCs and host countries. National Contact Points (NCPs) were created that bore the responsibilities of enforcing and promoting the Guidelines, and any natural person could make a claim related to the violation of the Guidelines.[26] This aspect of the Guidelines provided an enforcing mechanism accessible to the public. But although the Guidelines were formally adopted by member states as a corporate responsibility instrument, they were subject to widespread criticism in the international legal order. As explained by Cernic, the Guidelines are ambiguous while the NCPs are limited in their influence on host states. Even though they outlined the need to respect human rights, the obligations were not framed in mandatory terms.[27]. Since the Guidelines lacked legal basis, the OECD was unable to assert sanctions on non-compliant corporations, and critics labeled them weak and ineffective. However, it was the intention of the OECD to guide rather than to legislate, because they saw voluntary versus legally binding standards as less of a dichotomy and more a continuum.[28] Although voluntary, corporations would be under scrutiny and potentially harm their reputation if they violated the Guidelines.[29] Yet, the Guidelines were hardly successful in the international legal order. A year later, in 1977, the ILO attempted to bridge this gap by adopting the Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning MNCs and Social Policy. These also attempted to 'encourage the positive contribution the MNEs can make to economic and social progress'.[30]. Article 8 emphasizes the respect for the Universal Declaration and the International Covenants. However, its voluntary and non-binding nature, as well as its weak monitoring process made this instrument as frail as the OECD Guidelines.[31] The lack of responsibility and perseverance stemming from international organizations and their disappointing attempt at bridging the gap between multinational corporations and human rights forced national and regional change. On the one hand, developing nations began taking matters into their own hands. To portray unity and solidarity throughout the 'Third World' the G77 coalition, formed in 1964 by developing member countries with the primary intention of promoting its members' economic and humanitarian interests through cooperation at the level of the United Nations, took a strong initiative. In the late 1970s the Group expressed its concern at the 'imbalance of negotiating power between TNCs [transnational corporations] and their host countries and inability on the part of the latter to control the activities of the TNCs within their territories'.[32] Simultaneously, home countries wanted to ensure their investments abroad would be protected, 'specifically from expropriation without a commitment to compensation based on international law'.[33] In accordance with the principles and concerns of the freshly adopted NIEO, developing countries raised the issue of the dominance of MNCs over natural resources and strongly urged the UN for a reaffirmation of their sovereignty over their resources. The NIEO was an attempt by Third World developing states, in the wake of decolonization, to deploy international law to achieve economic justice and improvements in the areas of development and socio-economic rights.[34] Pushed by the G77, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) member states devised a set of NIEO proposals in 1974 including (1) that developing states are entitled to control and regulate all activities of MNCs within their territory; and (2) that international trade must be based on equitable, stable and remunerative prices for raw materials.[35] Despite its impressive aims and careful compilation, the NIEO was unsuccessful. It failed 'to displace the power and advantage held by influential states', it failed to alter international law which favoured the economic interests of capital-exporting states and, most importantly, it demonstrated the Third World's acceptance of the economic ideology of the capitalist mindset, inflating the value of foreign capital including the exploitation of local labour in developing countries.[36] Consequently, the UN set up the United Nations Commission on Transnational Corporations which drafted a code of conduct for TNCs, one of the first formalized instruments drafted by the UN that set an obligation upon MNCs to respect human rights in host countries.[37] However while developing countries insisted on the idea of adopting an international instrument that was binding on MNCs, developed countries were not prepared to go beyond the voluntary sets of guidelines already in place.[38] On the other hand, due to the ineffectiveness of the international institutions, some MNCs that sought to abide by human rights law attempted to create some provisions themselves. An example is the Sullivan principles designed by Leon Sullivan, former member of the General Motors' Board of Directors. These principles included the elimination of discrimination based on race, and the concept of equality in the workplace. The objective was that by engaging in human rights concepts like dignity and respect, MNCs could be a lever for the elimination of apartheid in South Africa. However, like the previously established soft law on obligations on multinational corporations, these principles were voluntary and unlike the OECD Guidelines which had the NCPs, there was no enforcement mechanism. The great majority of MNCs that adopted his principles did so with the sole motive of being able to continue to prosper in South Africa.[39] In summary, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, there were attempts at a variety of levels to bring together the concepts of human rights and multinational corporations. Though it was largely absent on the level of the United Nations until the late 1970s there were many first steps by international institutions to bridge this gap. The NIEO was the first set of concrete economic principles that were prescribed in international law 'articulating a form of justice based not on domination of one people over another'.[40] It was an 'effort to assert the sovereign autonomy of the non-western world',[41] exemplifying the importance of linking human rights and development, and the fundamental values of duties of international cooperation. However, there was still much to be done as the new decade of the 1980s saw a drastic restructuring of the global trade and investment system - ultimately ending in massive international debt and a dramatic increase in foreign direct investment. A Change in the Global Legal Architecture An accumulation of capital obtained by the main oil producing states in the Middle East led to the establishment of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Cartel in 1972. With the intention of creating a monopoly and obtaining major profits, OPEC raised the price of oil by approximately 400%, with its members keeping revenue in US or European banks, from which developing countries regularly borrowed in the form of aid and loans.[42] However, banks were now lending at higher interest rates to these countries as they were deemed less creditworthy. As a result of sovereign debt and the surplus problem in the international banking system, developing states were forced to rely on foreign direct investment (FDI), as opposed to private borrowing. The very principle that developing states wanted to control with the establishment of the NIEO was now negated by Western states selling MNCs to the developing world as necessary for their survival.[43] Simultaneously to the effects of the oil crisis, the political ideology of neoliberalism emerged on the global scene. Conservative governments gained power in western countries, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe with a move towards market economics, and Latin America implemented stabilization policies to boost their economies.[44] This process saw neoliberalism became an enemy for structural equality, political inclusion, economic access and human rights.[45] Prior to the implementation of neoliberal policies, the relationship between multinational corporations and their host state was formed through the conflict between the host country's national developmental interests as opposed to the corporation's global investment interests. The state being the more powerful actor, attempted 'to channel its private investments to serve its own developmental objectives'.[46] However, as Michael Peters argues, neoliberalism provides 'a universalist foundation for an extreme form of economic rationalism'[47], which according to Paul Haslam, was a re-forming of the modern state rather than the perceived notion of the state 'unambiguously withering away'.[48] As a result, power shifted from host countries towards multinational corporations as the era was characterized by liberalization of foreign investment rules.[49] As the United Nations World Investment Report of 2000 showed, out of the 1035 changes made in national legislation regarding Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from 1991 to 1999, only 5.9% were directed at restricting FDI.[50] Now more than ever before, the existence and nature of human rights were jeopardized in the sphere of multinational corporations led by neoliberal politics. Yet when analyzing human rights and neoliberalism, the two concepts have a plethora of similarities that run counter to this assertion. Samuel Moyn states that human rights and neoliberalism share (1) a predecessor and (2) a target, namely the welfarist West and the post-colonial nation state seeking economic autarky respectively.[51] Both concepts emerged and were formalized in the West. As a target, developing countries need both economic (neoliberalism) and social (human rights) elements to establish economic control. Furthermore, the two concepts share key foundational building blocks. Firstly, the principle of prioritizing the individual 'whose freedoms matter more than the collectivist endeavours' and secondly, their shared antipathy toward the state due to their rejection of its moral credentials.[52] As described by Darder, neoliberalism is characterized by a rampant greed that subsumes any notions of equality and public responsibility.[53] At the heart of this lies the ultimate subversion of human rights. When faced with the powers of global capitalism, human rights struggle to maintain themselves in the Third World. A prime example countering this thesis is the idea that human rights are a handmaiden to neoliberal policies. The argument follows that human rights are so tightly related to the role of a freely functioning market that there could be no socio-economic rights without extreme capitalism.[54] Unfortunately under this notion, human rights fall victim to being seen as dependent upon the capitalist order, creating the illusion that multinational corporations enhanced and promoted human rights in the developing World. What Wolfgang Streeck termed as 'non-market notions of social justice' became impossible to secure. Any attempt to place social commitments over economic ones were expelled, leaving market pressures to form human obligations and be governed by the dictatorship of neoliberalism.[55] The World Bank and the IMF, backed by the United States and other western states, became key in the project for liberalization, privatization, and market-friendly policies, known as the Washington Consensus. MNCs were given the protection they needed to flourish, be it proprietary or intellectual property rights. The interests of human rights on the other hand were not regarded. Though excelling and growing more than ever before, human rights had done so 'on a discrete track spearheaded internationally through the UN'.[56] Directed by developing states, human rights were intentionally dealt with by the United Nations while international economic law was being dealt with by the international institutions where they hold the balance of power.[57] Simultaneously, the developing world saw the third generation of human rights emerge as a result of anti-colonialist movements in the post-Second World War era. Newly born independent nations voiced their concerns over repeating their colonial past and demanded a new set of rights. These included the right to self-determination, the right to a healthy environment and the right to participation in cultural heritage. These are reflected in Declarations and Conventions such as the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples of 1960, the Proclamation of Teheran of 1968 and the Stockholm Declaration of 1972.[58] What makes this generation of human rights exceptional however is that while they reflect neither the traditional individualistic approach of the first generation, nor the socialist tradition of the second generation, they simultaneously demand certain recognitions from the state while being able to be invoked against the state. Most importantly though, as articulated by Vasak, the third generation of human rights 'can be realized only through the concerted efforts of all the actors in the social scene: the individual, the State, public and private bodies and the international community'.[59] In other words, these rights belong to the community as a collective, rather than to an individual.[60] Drafted in 1986 by the UNGA, the Declaration on the Right to Development [61] (DRD) calls for effective international cooperation towards development objectives through the enhancement of human rights and the distribution of benefits.[62] The DRD gained inspiration from the NIEO as it relied on providing equal national opportunity through measures of fair distribution of natural resources and income. Alongside neoliberal policies, the two contradicting concepts were forced to work in tandem. Foreign investment in the developing world could proceed under the neoliberal ideology as long as it did not infringe the DRD. Interestingly, the right to development was coined by the former UN Independent Expert on the Right to Development, Arjun Sengupta, as 'growth with equity'. Growth should not only focus on the economic aspect, but also emphasize human rights and the principles of justice. This focus on equity, would require a 'a change in the structure of production and distribution in the economy to ensure growth was equitable', including the required international cooperation and not having to rely on the market.[63] Though the United Nations are promoting and enhancing the development of human rights, they are disregarding the fact that their work should be focused more on the human rights aspects entailed in the market, rather than solving human rights issues outside of the market framework. The development of human rights and the regulatory frameworks supporting multinational corporations attended very different interests. The new global legal architecture born of the oil crisis and rise of neoliberalism reorganized the relations between the Global South and Global North. At this point human rights and the regulation of corporations, with their distinctive genealogies, were forced to come together, but the failure of this exercise could not be challenged until the late 1980s when the third generation of human rights provided another opportunity for the merging of the two concepts. The outcomes of these new sets of discussions produced a more clearly defined relationship between human rights and multinational corporations which, although more sophisticated, was still unable to produce a satisfactory result. Nevertheless, the right to development began to take root in the corporate world. For the sake of their reputations, corporations were forced to appreciate the power held by vulnerable individuals that could act together as a strong collective.[64] As Claire Dickerson argues, multinationals became more aware of their relationship with human rights not only in regards to the individual, but rather to the society as a collective.[65] These were the first formalized steps to the recognition of what came to be known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The Heterodox Approach What became apparent in the sphere of business and human rights were two situations, (1) that states were either unable or unwilling to implement human rights; and (2) that multinational corporations acting in such states were unprepared to deal with the risks of harming human rights through their activities. This was seen especially in the private extracting sector, such as oil, gas and coal, using aggressive means to exploit remote areas and leaving large physical and social 'footprints'. Local communities began resisting the activities by the multinationals and the language of human rights became increasingly popular in challenging corporate norms.[66] Some of the world's largest MNCs had become culprits of violating human rights standards, including Nike, Shell or Yahoo. Nike was guilty of using child labour, while Shell misused public funds to practice corruption and theft at all levels.[67] The effects were reflected in local communities that resorted to violence and criminal behaviour, significantly affecting the living conditions of these areas. In the early 1990s, some corporations began adopting measures to comply with responsible business conduct. CSR was a voluntary form of business self-regulation that attended the current societal goals. It involved the creation of monitoring schemes that regulated the workplace standards and policies of the global supply chains. However, what caused CSR to emerge, was not only pressure exerted by nations that felt their human rights had been impinged, but also a wider global political ethos. With its emphasis on privatization and deregulation, neoliberalism promoted CSR initiatives in order for corporations to gain self-control and rely less on direct government initiatives. Due to its voluntary nature, CSR was not conceived as a regulatory instrument but as a learning forum to promote strategies that enhanced socially responsible policies. This included the enhancement of human rights, environmental protection and anti-corruption efforts. [68] CSR had now progressed to the forefront of the global business scene by morphing out of corporate philanthropy.[69] Corporations began adopting voluntary schemes that not only adhered to social policy, but at times even went beyond the standard set by local requirements, which occasionally created conflict between the two.[70] Unilateral corporations produced company codes, with companies such as Gap and Nike adopting theirs in 1992. This involved internal audit teams and ethics officers to be established, verifying that contractors were complying with their company's codes of conduct. Gradually, social audit teams emerged onto the global scene. As one of the most prominent, the Fair Labour Association (FLA) monitored the working conditions for some of the top athletic brands such as Nike, Puma and Patagonia. In the food industry, the label of Fair Trade emerged, ensuring for local farmers the social, economic and environmental standards they deserved. Corporations adopted CSR measures mainly to improve their reputation. However, perhaps a greater incentive for corporations to adopt CSR measures lies in the financial risks posed by community pushback as a result of human rights violations. These pushbacks cause delays in design, operation, construction, siting, granting of permits etc. Further, they can create problems and relations with local labour markets, higher costs for financing, insurance and reduced output.[71] In a study of a large multinational company that wished to remain anonymous, Goldman Sachs found that it had accrued $6.5 billion in such costs over a two year period.[72] A great percentage of these costs could be related back to the staff time in managing conflicts that arise in communities as a result of human rights violations. In some instances between 50% and 80% of an assets manager's time can be devoted to these issues. Thus, it is clear that in this lose-lose situation, where MNCs violate human rights and thus incur losses, it makes sound corporate sense to adopt some sort of CSR measures.[73] Despite the improvements and the clear step forward the business world took in addressing human rights, CSR involved limitations and fragmentations that challenged its success. It was built on the assumption that it is an effective mechanism for a corporation to positively reconnecting with the community it is based in. Thus, in practice, CSR operates under the presumption that society has granted authority to corporations with naturally applying legal responsibilities.[74] In 2000 John Ruggie conducted research in the Fortune Global 500 and a wider range of corporations to assess the extent and success of voluntary initiatives promoting human rights. Staff monitoring schemes had evolved, demands by socially responsible investors had grown, and large public sector funds all aided in this development. However, the research also found 'company-based initiatives fell short as a stand-alone approach'.[75] Most companies still did not have the capabilities of managing human rights risks and instead were acting on a reactive based notion. Moreover, it was within the company's discretion to decide which human rights the company would address and furthermore how to define its measures. Thus, their voluntary nature could often be used as a camouflage to delay real reform.[76] A logical response to such a broad limitation would be to impose direct obligations under international law upon MNCs. Though only states and international organizations have legal standing in international law, the general view on this contention is that it would be possible to impose obligations upon MNCs due to their major economic and political influence as explained earlier, and their capabilities of influencing the enjoyment of human rights.[77] However, as explained by Zerk, the challenge lies in 'developing jurisprudence which refines and makes precise the vague aspirational statements [.] in the CSR debate'.[78] However, as the law stands, the most promising and efficient method for applying obligations on multinational corporations remains to be the national courts. Yet the fact that claims must be raised as a tort-based litigation proving a violation of domestic tort principles rather than claiming a violation under international human rights casts doubt over this method. An interesting exception to this is the US Alien Tort Statute of 1789. The tort states that district courts 'have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violations of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States'.[79] The original intention of the statute was to establish a civil remedy for violation of international law norms such as piracy, mistreatment of ambassadors and the violation of safe conducts.[80] This piece of legislation lay dormant until the 1980s when human rights lawyers discovered its potential for foreign plaintiffs to raise a claim for certain human rights abuses against an individual of any nationality, or a corporation as long as they had a presence in the United States. The question whether the Act could be enforced against a corporation was considered in 2012 in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Kiobel.[81] The court held that there was a presumption against extraterritoriality applying to claims under the Statute. There is therefore no application of the statute abroad unless it is explicitly stated in the international law which is the subject of the claim.[82] As stated by John Ruggie in his advice to the Human Rights Council in 2007 'no single silver bullet can resolve the business and human rights challenge. A broad array of measures is required, by all relevant actors.'[83] Ultimately, as a measure to seek guidance on the matter, this led to the UN Global Compact in 2000, the largest global CSR initiative.[84] The UN Global Compact was a strategic policy initiative posed by the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that aimed at improving corporate conditions in areas such as human rights, environmental protection and labour rights.[85] It was a prospective and hopeful initiative that was designed as a learning forum to develop, implement and disclose sustainability principles among corporate actors.[86] At its time, the Global Compact was the most far-reaching, non-governmental set of policies aimed at catalyzing the voluntary nature in the corporate citizenship movement.[87] Legal scholars such as Meyer and Stefanova felt the Global Compact could shape the relationship between MNCs and human rights through 'rewarding responsible TNCs [MNCs], while shaming at least some of the irresponsible TNCs [MNCs] into better promoting human rights'.[88] Their only concern about the extent of the success of the Global Compact lay, in the Global Compact's voluntary nature. Comparing it to the OECD Guidelines implemented 25 years earlier, an initiative like the Global Compact will only be successful if there is commitment to the initiative at all levels of the international system. Thus, the main task is to put a human face on globalization through the values and principles shared by the people, the corporation and the state.[89] However, Aravalo and Fallon dispute this. Published in 2008, their Report uses the Compact Quarterly and UNGC Annual Review to critique the Global Compact's activities and practices throughout its eight years of existence. Published by local networks and the UN respectively, they evaluate new businesses adhering to the Global Compact, as well as Global Compact practices and responses. Aravalo and Fallon found that after evaluating the various progress reports, the Global Compact falls short of being a successful initiative. According to the UNGC Annual Review, there are a multitude of gaps existing in the Global Compact framework. Research instruments for instance, under the principles of human rights and labour protection, have been deemed as inadequate as participants have failed to voice their concern over the protection of such rights within their corporation. The Global Compact has solely used online surveys to administer data, which smaller businesses are often unwilling or unable to provide. The methodology applied by the Global Compact was ambiguous and did not show the extent of the success of CSR initiatives.[90] Alavaro and Fallon argue that it would be highly beneficial for the Global Compact to re-think its methodology process of evaluating its success by introducing a chronological component into its future research models. [91] It would allow for a clearer comparison not only for participants of the Global Compact, but also for the comparison with non-Compact companies in the area of corporate responsibility.[92] As a result of this poor research methodology, the Global Compact has difficulty assessing its direct influence on the broad and voluntary concept of CSR. There are key principles of CSR that fail to receive the attention they deserve in the scope of the Global Compact. However, this is not to say that the Global Compact has been an outright failure. The Annual Review, though lacking quantifiable data, has provided a wide array of case studies providing evidence for the practical influence of the Global Compact on participants. These include programs in education and working relationships the Global Compact has encouraged and facilitated. It can be said therefore, that the Global Compact is making a difference, even if only in these cases. Until shortly after the turn of the millennium, neither company codes nor multilateral initiatives such as Global Compact, successfully achieved the necessary, concrete obligations in regard to human rights and environmental protection demands. This was set to change with the arrival of the United Nations Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises (Norms). Drafted in 2003, the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights attempted to merge the concepts of MNCs and human rights and transform these newly developed principles into hard law. The intention was to impose human rights obligations upon companies through the domestic legal systems of their host countries. The Norms clearly express that 'states retain primary, overarching responsibility for human rights protection' and that corporations are identified as 'Duty-bearers' based on that expectation of following human rights principles.[93] The expectations expressed by the Norms are supported by enforcement mechanisms for their implementation which address the requirements that MNCs must adopt in terms of their internal practice. Furthermore, there are a multitude of rights that go beyond what is traditionally accepted as international human rights law. Examples include rights associated with consumer protection, the environment or corruption which are covered by different areas of the law.[94] However, the Norms failed to achieve promising results. Described as a 'train wreck' by John Ruggie, the Norms fell under heavy criticisms for a plethora of reasons. Firstly, the Norms fall under heavy scrutiny for attempting to impose obligations upon corporations, while simultaneously imposing parallel obligations on the state. The intention was to address the fact that MNCs operate in a legal vacuum due to their status of acting as a multinational. To alleviate this issue, it was thought that binding MNCs to hard international law would be the best option. On the one hand, minimalists argue that binding multinational corporations to international law is not an appropriate method as this would go beyond the concept of soft law initiatives such as Global Compact. This argument is developed by stating that binding corporations to international law would 'privatise human rights'. The Norms would be placing obligations on an entity that was never democratically elected, nor eligible to make reasonable decisions in regard to human rights at the level of international law.[95] On the other hand, maximalists lobby for a judicial body solely focused on the practice of multinational corporations and argue that corporations should be bound by international law.[96] Secondly, there was severe backlash against the Norms from states, corporations and businesses who argued that there was a lack of consultation from the Sub-Commission when drafting the Norms. However, this argument has since been disputed by institutions such as the Corporate Europe Conservatory or the scholars Weissbrodt and Kruger.[97] In regard to the discontent presented by states, many argued that there was a lack of involvement on their behalf in the Norms' development. As stated by Kinely, Nolan and Zerial, it is of vital importance that in issues revolving around CSR and their wide variety of stakeholders, everyone's voice must be heard when protecting human rights.[98] Thirdly, issues were raised regarding the language used by the Norms. Terms like 'sphere of influence'[99] and 'complicity' were deemed as vague and unclear.[100] It is agreed upon, even by supporters of the Norms, that such terms must be defined more definitively and where possible, draw definitions from more grounded areas of the law like criminal law, tort or contract law. This attitude towards the Norms from corporations shows the extent of their distrust and the scare factor used to attempt to dismantle the Norms.[101] However, even though the Norms failed as a concept, as Kinley, Nolan and Zerial maintain, 'the Norms have been a beneficial and fruitful initiative, reinvigorating debate on business and human rights'.[102] Previous to the imposition of the Norms, CSR had found itself in a position that was stagnant, focusing solely on codes of conduct that should be implemented by corporations using a bottom-up approach. The Norms altered the position of CSR to now provide a top-down approach and provided human rights activists with hope that human rights protection in regard to multinational corporations was now in the hands of the United Nations. However, the reactions to the Norms from the CSR community varied. CSR had been a newly emerging concept which was still unclear when fitted into the international legal order. It was still in its early years of development with highly broad-reaching initiatives in the fields of both soft and hard law. The playing field for CSR was simply too big for such an underdeveloped concept to handle. Further, it was attempted to implement CSR through domestic laws and quasi-legal initiatives raised to the level of international law. It is therefore often perceived that the implementation of the Norms were an attempt to remedy CSR by uniting these various aspects into one document at the level of the United Nations. The Norms conjoined national and international levels of CSR while maintaining that states continued to hold the primary responsibility of ensuring that businesses protect human rights. The world was a 'deeply divided arena of discourse and contestation lacking shared knowledge, clear standards and boundaries; fragmentary and often weak governance systems concerning business and human rights in states and companies alike'.[103] A range of governments still expressed their demand for further attention to be given to the relationship between human rights and the practices of multinational corporations. Thus, the United Nations appointed a team led by John Ruggie to establish the Guiding Principles. Rather than establishing a new international framework as was previously attempted with the Norms, Ruggie was 'urged [.] to focus on identifying and promoting good practices and providing companies with tools to enable them to deal voluntarily with the complex cluster of business and human rights challenges'.[104] Ruggie moved away from the traditional 'mandatory approach' which involved the compliance of national laws in correspondence to a corporation's voluntary measures and practices, to a heterodox approach. This heterodox approach was devised to create an environment of mixed reinforcing policy measures that provided cumulative change and large-scale success. The Guiding Principles lay on three foundations: (1) the state duty to protect against human rights abuses; (2) the responsibility by corporations to respect human rights and the implied obligation of acting in due diligence; and (3) the need for greater access to remedies for victims. However, there are two things that the Guiding Principles fail to accomplish. Firstly, to create binding international law and instead rely on normative contributions which further elaborate the implications of existing standards. Secondly, the Guiding Principles 'fail to ensure the right to an effective remedy and the need for States' measures to prevent abuses committed by their companies overseas'.[105] Amnesty International goes further by reiterating that aside from lacking accountability measures, the Guiding Principles should mandate a due diligence approach rather than only recommending it, as this would solve internal as well as extraterritorial accountability issues. Alongside Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch criticized the Guiding Principles for not adopting a global standard in corporate responsibility, and instead resort to a 'sliding scale' based on a corporation's size and geographic location.[106] However, when compared to other governance regimes in the past and present, the Guiding Principles seem to be a robust framework. Although various human rights organizations and NGOs identify neglect of human rights in the framework of MNCs, the Guiding Principles reiterate business as an instrument to contribute to societal welfare.[107] Thus, it acts as a basis for the empowerment of society and a benchmark to judge practices and conduct of corporations and governments.[108] Conclusion The discourse of the co-emergence of multinational corporations and human rights took the world by storm. The ongoing globalization of multinational corporations and the evolution of the concept of human rights were born attending different aims in the global legal order. Their greatest challenge however was not necessarily their harmonization and co-existence, but more importantly co-existing under the intentional gap created through the world's largest and most influential actor, the United Nations. This was clearly visible in the 1960s and 1970s. Throughout the various Reports and Declarations that were passed through the international institution, the two concepts were kept separate. While the United Nations was enthusiastic for the growth of both MNCs and human rights, it intentionally avoided discussing the harmonization of both concepts. Due to the underlying pressures imposed on the United Nations by the tensions from the Cold War, the UN was left in a legal vacuum unable to merge the two distinctive genealogies. The global international legal order was unaware of the extent of the importance of such a gap being eradicated before adopting a resolution as complex as the NIEO. Thus, from this point onwards, the NIEO was therefore already bound to be unsuccessful. Not only had international law not developed enough to impose such obligations upon MNCs, the corporations themselves were not aware of the ramifications and necessity for abiding human rights obligations as I showed in the third section of this dissertation. Enthusiasm for further initiatives such as the push by the G77 or the United Nations Commission on Transnational Corporations was only short lived. The events of the 1980s greatly disrupted the already turbulent environment of the global international legal order creating a greater gap between the concepts of multinational corporations and human rights. The 1980s became a stage which saw a great change in the global legal structure. The NIEO was an already broken concept from the outset as the conceptual gap had already created a disparity in the relationship between MNCs and human rights. This meant that although they were not aware of it at the time, the Global South could not rely on the imposition of the NIEO. Fostering the Western neoliberal policies, the conceptual gap between MNCs and human rights was now well established. For human rights to become a globally instructed concept, MNCs are a useful tool to spread, promote and enhance human rights across the globe. This of course is under the condition that the MNC does not violate human rights. From the other perspective MNCs rely on human rights in terms of their societal and financial risks. It becomes clear that when this is not realized by the proponents of both concepts, it can lead to major discrepancies and disparities as was proven in the Global South during this period. If there had not been this conceptual gap, and instead there had been a clear and devised relationship between MNCs and human rights, the effects of the oil crisis and neoliberalism would not have left the detrimental mark in developing countries that they did, potentially allowing the NIEO to prevail. However, the ongoing persistence of developing countries and their call for the third generation of human rights to gain prominence forced MNCs to catch up with their relationship to human rights. What emerged, were essentially the first initiatives and practices of CSR. CSR was heavily affected by the fact that it relied on the voluntary nature of businesses to adhere to as well as practice CSR. Even though corporations had an incentive to adopt CSR measures, weak monitoring systems allowed violations to still occur on a grand scale. The issue was that the multinational corporation as a concept was still unclear and lacked definition and that tying MNCs down with hard international law was not possible due to the diversity of MNCs. CSR allowed for too large a divergence from the issue at hand and required to approach human rights at a different angle. This was the key reason for the partial success of the Guiding Principles. Ruggie's unconventional, heterodox approach provided clarity and distinct concepts that individuals, business and states could adhere to. Although the conceptual gap has still not vanished, the UN has after an array of various attempts, managed to narrow the gap that it had created almost sixty years ago by continuously forcing society to rethink and redefine the relationship. What exactly lies in the future is uncertain and impossible to foresee. It can be said with great certainty however, that if initiatives such as Global Compact or the Guiding Principles are enhanced and given more attention, the world will be faced with a much clearer and concise relationship between multinational corporations and human rights. Focusing on monitoring mechanisms, methodological research and greater transparency and accountability among all actors involved will undoubtedly seal the conceptual gap that has caused the international legal order to experience such unsettling times. [1] Pahuja, Sundhya. Saunders, Anna. Rival Worlds and the place of the Corporation in International Law in Dann and Von Bernstorff (eds). Decolonisation and the Battle for International Law (OUP, 2018) p.1 [2] Ibid. [3] UN, Multinational Corporations in World Development ST-ECA/190 [4] Linarelli, John. Salomon, Margot. Sornarajah M. The Misery of International Law. (OUP, 2018) p.245 [5] Ruggie, John. Just Business. (W.W. Norton & Company, 2013) p.70 [6] United Nations Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/12/Rev.2 [7] Alston, Philip. Mégret, Frédéric. (eds) The United Nations and Human Rights: A Critical Appraisal (Second Edition, OUP, 2020) p.1 [8] Clapham, Andrew. Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2007) p.42 [9] (n.8) p.108. [10] ibid . p.109 [11] Allina, Eric. Imperialism and the Colonial Experience in Paul A. Haslam, Jessica Schafer and Pierre Beaudet, Introduction to International Development (3rd Edition, OUP, 2017), pp. 24-42. p.39 [12] Ibid. p. 40 [13] Sornarajah M. International Law on Foreign Investment (CUP, 2010) p.5 [14] United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Multinational Corporations in World Development, 1973 ST-ECA/190 p.VI [15] ibid. p.1 [16] ibid. [17] Joseph, Sarah. Castan, Melissa. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Cases, Materials. (3rd Edition, OUP, 2013) p.4 [18] ibid. p.5 [19] ibid. [20] Alston, Philip. U.S. Ratification of the Covenant on Economic, Social And Cultural Rights: The Need for an Entirely New Strategy. The American Journal of International Law Vol.84, No.2 (CUP,1990) pp.365-393, p.4 [21] UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966, Article 1 [22] Simpson, Gerry. The Diffusion of Sovereignty: Self-Determination in the Post-Colonial Age (Ashgate Publishing, 2000) p.266 [23] Ibid. [24] Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, 1976 [25] Carasco, Emily. Singh, Jang. Towards Holding Transnational Corporations Responsible for Human Rights. European Business Review Vol.22, No.4, (Emerald Publishing Group, 2010). p.4 [26] Cernic, Jernei. Corporate Responsibility for Human Rights: A Critical Analysis of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises Hanse Law Review, Vol.4, No.1, (2008). p.16 [27] Ibid. p. 12 [28] Sanchez, Juan Carlos Ochoa. "The Roles and Powers of the OECD National Contact Points Regarding Complaints on an Alleged Breach of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises by a Transnational Corporation." Nordic Journal of International Law (2015) Vol.84, No.1, pp: 89-126 p. 18 [29] Bolt, Cassidy. "Leveraging Reputation in Implicit Regulation of MNEs: An Analysis of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises' Capacity to Influence Corporate Behavior." Corporations and International Law, 20 Jan. 2018, Available at: sites.duke.edu/corporations/2018/01/20/leveraging-reputation-in-implicit-regulation-of-mnes-an-analysis-of-the-oec