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Drawing on the current debates, both political and academic, this doctoral research deals with the political legitimacy of European integration. Although political legitimacy is not a new concept in political science, it has attracted increased attention over the last two decades in the context of reflections on democracy, governance and the "crisis" of legitimacy at the European level, the sphere on which this research is founded. This thesis takes a sociopolitical approach to legitimacy, beyond any normative considerations. More specifically, it focuses on legitimacy understood as the acceptance of a changing political order by ordinary citizens, this acceptance being more or less conscious and active. The specificity of this approach lies in addressing this problem in all its complexity, analyzing both its latent and its manifest aspects. As a result, it contributes to the study of the processes of acceptance and/or resistance to the current process of European integration and its possible or desirable politicization. More precisely it is focused on the indifference of ordinary citizens to this process. Indeed the politicization of the European political order is at the heart of many academic debates and as a result a better understanding of this indifference is essential. Ameliorating our understanding of the lack of salience of European issues for a growing part of the public is the fundamental task tackled in this thesis. Beginning with a critical review of the literature on European legitimacy that underlines some of its weak points, the first chapter of this thesis provides a synthesis of the different theoretical models of legitimation that have been used in the course of European construction. The presentation of these different models provides the backdrop against which we are able to understand how citizens' attitudes towards European integration have been analyzed in the existing literature. This first chapter demonstrates how the citizen, from being a simple spectator, has been constructed as a key actor in the processes legitimizing European integration. Mobilizing a new longitudinal analysis of Eurobarometer data, the results of the second chapter lead us to conclude that the principal limitation of the way the notion of support is used in the literature is its over-reliance on a one-dimensional understanding of citizens' attitudes towards European integration. Contrary to this, we defend the idea that these attitudes are much more complex. The evolution of the post-Maastricht period cannot simply be reduced to an increase in "euroscepticism", particularly amongst lower socio-economic groups. This chapter concludes that it is necessary to take into account indifferent or undecided citizens to fully comprehend the question of the legitimacy of European integration, in all its components. The non-polarization of a significant number of citizens is indeed an overwhelming phenomenon. However, the study of this non-polarized category of citizens is not without posing substantial methodological problems. The third chapter thus deals with the issues surrounding the choice of methodology for the analysis of ordinary citizens' lack of polarization. With the goal of contributing to the renewal of research on citizens' attitudes towards European integration, we chose to put into place a methodology that is both qualitative and exploratory, whilst continuing with efforts to quantify the different processes observed, along the lines of existing European studies. This research therefore adopts a triangulation strategy that commonly comes under the term of mixed-methods. In this chapter we outline the reasons for our choice of focus groups as a research tool and set out our comparative research design in detail. 24 focus groups were conducted in the context of the research project Citizens Talking About Europe in (francophone) Belgium, in France, and in Great Britain. The additional perspective gained by the use of focus groups in three countries leads us in the fourth chapter to refute the underlying premise of the "constraining dissensus", already visible in the model of the "permissive consensus": the premise of the uniformity of national attitudes towards European integration. Building on the work of Juan Diez Medrano, in his book Framing Europe, the systematic coding analysis of our collective interviews leads us to confirm that different groups have different structures of perception and therefore of evaluation of European integration. Having radically questioned the uniformity of national attitudes towards the European Union, the fifth chapter demonstrates that the plurality of perceptions not only differs from one country to another but also within a given national context. In each of the three countries we studied, we observed the same increase in the number of citizens who expressed neither explicit support nor rejection of integration. In this chapter we focus our analysis on these undecided or indifferent citizens, distinguishing three forms of non-polarization: ambivalence, distance and exteriority, and fatalism. These three forms correspond to different framings in three different national categories however. In conclusion, our overall results lead us to interrogate the relevance of the affirmation according to which the permissiveness as understood in the thesis of the "permissive consensus" ended with the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. We propose an alternative interpretation, which argues that the acceptance of a European political order stems from at least two rationales. On one hand, amongst the elites (understood in a broad sense as political or economic or even simply citizens interested in the political sphere) we observe a polarization of opinion characterized by a decline in support and a reinforcement of opposition to the processes of European integration. This tendency is emphasized and explained by the model of "constraining dissensus". On the other hand, we observe the reinforcement of indifference and/or indecision amongst ordinary citizens not expert in political matters, faced with this same process. The first rational of appropriation is linked to an active form of contentment or rejection, whereas the second demonstrates a mode of tacit acceptance, illustrating that the "permissive consensus" has not disappeared in the post-Maastricht era, although it has been transformed over the course of the integration process. In this respect, European legitimacy must be understood as both direct and indirect: as a double process. It must be seen as the extension and/or transformation of the acceptance of the national political order. Our results therefore suggest that we reconsider two commonly accepted premises, firstly that the European Union has become a salient issue for citizens and secondly that European public opinion has become polarized on the question of Europe. More generally, the conclusion of this thesis invites us to question the acceptance of change in the political order by investigating not only the degree of support citizens have for the European political system and the type of support they express, but also at the intensity of this support. Although the contrast between the pre- and post- Maastricht periods in terms of the parallel growth of the competences of the European Union and the publicity around European issues is not called into question, an interpretation based on the binary permissive consensus/euroscepticism appears incomplete if not erroneous. In emphasizing the complexity of the dynamics of politicization, this thesis suggests that the alleged break in the "permissive consensus" amongst citizens needs to be put into perspective. Thus, it is not clear that the "popular mood" towards Europe is the mirror image of the level of dissensus amongst elites . The politicization of European issues does not necessarily lead to the polarization of citizens opinions; we argue here that it is necessary to incorporate the notion and the role of indifference into any reflection on the legitimacy of the European integration process. ; Partant des débats actuels, à la fois scientifiques et politiques, cette recherche doctorale aborde la question de la légitimité politique dans le cas de l'intégration européenne. Si la légitimité politique n'est pas un concept nouveau de la science politique, cette notion a connu un regain d'intérêt au cours des deux dernières décennies dans le cadre de réflexions sur la démocratie, la gouvernance ou encore la 'crise' de légitimité au niveau européen, échelon sur lequel se concentre notre travail. Notre thèse repose sur une approche sociopolitique de la légitimité, étudiée en dehors de considérations normatives. Nous nous intéressons plus exactement à la légitimité comprise comme l'acceptation par les citoyens ordinaires d'un ordre politique en changement, cette acceptation pouvant être plus ou moins consciente et active. La particularité de notre approche réside dans le fait que nous nous sommes efforcées de cerner cette problématique dans toute sa complexité analysant autant ses aspects actifs que latents. Par conséquent, elle contribue à l'étude actuelle des processus d'acceptation et/ou de résistance à l'égard du processus en cours et à sa possible ou souhaitable politisation. Elle se concentre plus précisément sur l'indifférence des citoyens ordinaires. En effet, la politisation de l'ordre politique européen est au centre de nombre de questionnements académiques. Dès lors, comprendre l'absence de saillance des enjeux européens au sein d'une part grandissante de l'opinion publique revêt un caractère essentiel, tâche à laquelle cette thèse s'est attelée. Partant d'une revue de la littérature sur la légitimité européenne destinée à souligner certains de ses points faibles, la thèse propose dans un premier chapitre une synthèse des différents modèles théoriques et de légitimation qui ont été utilisés au fil de la construction européenne. La présentation de ces différents modèles sert de « toile de fond » pour comprendre comment les attitudes des citoyens à l'égard de l'intégration européenne ont été analysées. Ce premier chapitre montre comment, de simple spectateur, le citoyen a été construit comme un acteur clé du processus de légitimation de l'intégration européenne. Grâce à une nouvelle analyse longitudinale des données Eurobaromètres, les résultats du deuxième chapitre amènent à conclure que la principale limite des utilisations faites de la notion de soutien est de reposer sur une acception unidimensionnelle des attitudes des citoyens à l'égard de l'intégration européenne. Nous défendons au contraire l'idée que ces attitudes recèlent une plus grande complexité. L'évolution dans la période post-Maastricht ne peut être résumée par une augmentation de l' « euroscepticisme », en particulier parmi les catégories sociales les plus populaires. Ce chapitre conclut à la nécessité de prendre en compte la catégorie des citoyens indifférents ou indécis pour saisir la question de la légitimité de l'intégration européenne dans toutes ses composantes. La non-polarisation d'une part importante des citoyens est en effet un phénomène massif. Cependant, étudier cette catégorie non-polarisée de citoyens n'est pas sans poser des problèmes méthodologiques importants. Le troisième chapitre aborde la question des méthodes retenues en vue d'analyser la non-polarisation des citoyens ordinaires. Désirant contribuer au renouvellement des études des attitudes des citoyens à l'égard de l'intégration européenne, nous avons choisi de mettre en œuvre une méthodologie qualitative et exploratoire, tout en prolongeant l'effort de quantification des processus observés, dans le droit fil des études européennes. Notre travail adopte donc une stratégie de triangulation, qu'on désigne couramment sous le terme de mixed-methods. Nous justifions dans ce chapitre du choix de recourir au focus group comme outil d'enquête et détaillons notre design de recherche comparatif. 24 focus groups ont été réalisés dans le cadre du projet de recherche Citizens Talking About Europe en Belgique (francophone), en France et en Grande-Bretagne. Ils permettent d'appréhender dans toutes leurs composantes les rapports des citoyens ordinaires à l'intégration européenne. Le regard complémentaire porté grâce à l'utilisation de focus groups réalisés dans ces trois pays nous amène dans le quatrième chapitre à réfuter le postulat, sous-jacent à la thèse du « dissensus contraignant », déjà présent dans le modèle du « consensus permissif », d'une uniformité des attitudes nationales à l'égard de l'intégration européenne. Inspirée des avancées réalisées par Juan Diez Medrano dans son ouvrage Framing Europe, l'analyse systématique par codage de nos entretiens collectifs amène à confirmer que des publics différents ont des structures de perception, et donc d'évaluation, différentes à l'égard de l'intégration européenne. Après avoir remis en cause l'uniformité des attitudes nationales à l'égard de l'Union européenne, le cinquième chapitre démontre que la pluralité de perceptions diffère non seulement d'un pays à l'autre, mais qu'elles peuvent également par ailleurs coexister au sein d'un même contexte national. Dans chacun des pays enquêtés, on observe la même croissance de la catégorie de citoyens n'exprimant ni soutien explicite, ni rejet du processus d'intégration. Dans le cadre de ce dernier chapitre, nous concentrons nos analyses sur les citoyens indécis ou indifférents en différenciant trois visages de non-polarisation : l'ambivalence, la distance et l'extériorité et le fatalisme, lesquels correspondent cependant, dans chacun des trois pays, à des framing différents. En conclusion, l'ensemble de nos résultats nous conduit à interroger la pertinence de l'affirmation selon laquelle la permissivité telle que comprise dans le cadre de la thèse du « consensus permissif » a pris fin avec la ratification du Traité de Maastricht. Nous proposons une interprétation complémentaire, qui souligne que l'acceptation de l'ordre politique européen relève de deux logiques au moins. D'un côté, on assiste parmi les élites, entendues au sens large, tant politiques, qu'économiques, voire tout simplement les citoyens qui portent un intérêt à ce qui se joue dans le champs politique, à une polarisation des opinions marquées par un déclin des opinions favorables et un renforcement des oppositions au processus d'intégration européenne, tendance soulignée et expliquée par le modèle du « dissensus contraignant ». D'un autre côté, on constate un renforcement de l'indifférence et/ou de l'indécision des citoyens profanes en matière politique face à ce même processus. Là où la première logique d'appropriation renvoie à un mode actif de consentement ou de rejet, la seconde relève d'un mode d'acceptation tacite actualisant le modèle du « consensus permissif » dont nous montrons qu'il n'a pas disparu dans l'ère post-Maastricht, même s'il s'est transformé au fil de l'intégration. A cet égard, la légitimité européenne doit être comprise comme étant, à la fois, directe et indirecte, dans un double processus. Elle doit être perçue comme l'extension et/ou la transformation de l'acceptation de l'ordre politique national. L'ensemble de nos résultats invite par conséquent à reconsidérer deux postulats communément perçus comme acquis, à savoir non seulement que l'Union européenne serait devenu un enjeu saillant pour les citoyens, mais aussi que les opinions publiques européennes se seraient polarisées. Plus généralement, la conclusion de cette thèse invite à aborder la question de l'acceptation d'un changement dans l'ordre politique en s'intéressant non seulement au degré de soutien des citoyens au système politique européen et au type de soutien exprimé, mais également à son intensité. Si le contraste entre les périodes pré et post-Maastricht en termes de croissance concomitante des compétences de l'Union européenne et de publicisation des enjeux européens n'est pas remis en cause, la lecture basée sur le diptyque consensus permissif / euroscepticisme semble incomplète sinon erronée. En soulignant la complexité des dynamiques de politisation, cette thèse amène à relativiser la rupture du « consensus permissif » des citoyens. Ainsi, il n'est pas évident que l' « humeur populaire » à l'égard de l'Europe et le niveau de dissensus des élites se répondent en miroir . La politisation des enjeux européens ne menant pas nécessairement à une polarisation des opinions des citoyens, nous soutenons qu'il convient d'intégrer l'indifférence dans toute réflexion portant sur la légitimité du processus d'intégration européenne. ; (POL 3) -- UCL, 2010

Issue 41.3 of the Review for Religious, May/June 1982. ; REVIEW FOR REI.IGIOUS (ISSN 0034-639X), published every two months, is edited in collaboration with the faculty members of the Department of Theological Studies of St. Louis University. The editorial offices are located at Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.: St. Louis, MO 63108. REVIEW FOR REI.IGIOUS is owned by the Missouri Province Educational Institute of the Society of Jesus, St. Louis, MO. © 1982 by REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. Composed, printed and manufactured in U.S.A. Second class postage paid at St. Louis, MO. Single copies: $2.50. Subscription U.S.A.: $9.00 a year; $17.00 ~'or two years. Other countries: $10.00 a year; $19.00 for two years. For subscription orders or change of address, write: REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS; P.O. Box 6070; Duluth, MN 55806. Daniel F. X. Meenan, S.J. Dolores Greeley, R.S.M. Daniel T. Costello, S.J. Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. Jean Read Editor Associate Editor Book Editor Questions and Answers Editor Assistant Editor May/June, 1982 Volume 41 Number 3 Manuscripts, books for review and correspondence with the editor should be sent to REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS; Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108. Questions for answering should be sent to Joseph ~. Gallen, S.J.; Jesuit Community; St. Joseph's University; City Avenue at 54th St.; Philadelphia, PA 19131. Back issues and reprints should be ordered from RE~:IEW FOR RELIGIOUS; Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108. "Out of print" issues and articles not published as reprints are available from University Microfilms International; 300 N. Zeeb Rd.; Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Laborem Exercens: Themes and Theses Robert F. Morneau Bishop Morneau has commented in this s~me format on two earlier encyclicals: Redemptor Hominis (March, 1980) and Dives in Misericordia (September, 1981). Together with his service as Auxiliary Bishop of Green Bay, Bishop Morneau also serves through the Ministry to Priests Program where he may be addressed: 1016 N. Broadway: De Pere, Wl 54115. Several years ago Studs Terkel published a series of masterfully conducted interviews under the title of Working. People from various fields of life reflected candidly on the meaning or lack of meaning that work had in their lives. What fascinates the reader is the blatant honesty of'those interviewed; they told it the way they experienced it. With deep feeling and perceptive observation, the work-ing people revealed the movement~ of their mind and heart. On September 14, 1981, Pope John Paul II shared his third encyclical letter, Laborem Exercens, with the world. This papal document focuses on the topic of work, that human activity at once so universally experienced and yet so frequently devoid of meaning. What Terkel did on the experiential level, the Holy Father does on the reflective level. We do not find personal interviews with the rank and file but, from a scriptural and faith point of view, a description of the theological underpinning of our obligation to work. Within this perspective he discusses many questions: the nature and meaning of work; the relationship of work to the person, family and society; how work is influenced by various ideologies; the duty and rights of the worker; a spirituality of work. Rather than delineate detailed and specific policies, the encyclical is concerned with articulating certain principles and guidelines to govern the formation of policy for specific situations. When these principles are adequately and properly applied, work helps to build up the world community and becomes a means of safeguarding the humanity of all. These reflections of the Holy Father are extremely relevant. In an age when technology can so easily control the course of history we must hear over and over 322/ Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 again the principle that people have primacy ox)er things. In a period of history that takes for granted exploitation and manipulation as acceptable life-styles, we must have confirmation that persons are ends and not means. In our rapidly moving century that gives low priority to quiet and reflective times, it is healthy to have our attention drawn to an awareness of the importance of rest within the spirituality of work. Written on the ninetieth anniversary of Leo XlIl's Rerum Novarum, this present encyclical continues to remind us of the importance of these social questions and the function that the Church plays in their solution in public life. Theme 1: The Meaning and Dignity of Work Thesis: Work is an active process by which creative and productive persons gain dominion over the earth and achieve fullness as human beings. Understood as a process whereby man and the human race subdue the earth, work corres-ponds to this basic biblical concept only when throughout the process man manifests himself and confirms himself as the one who "dominates" (6). Work is a good thing for man--a good thing for his humanity--because throughout work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfillment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes ~more a human being" (9). Man must work, both because th~ Creator has commanded it and because of his humanity. which requires work in order to be maintained and developed. Man must work out of regard for others, especially his own family, but also for the society he belongs to. the country of which he is a member, since he is the heir to the work of generations and at the same time a sharer in building the future of those who will come after him in the succession of history (16). The farmer gazes out on newly acquired property and perceives the rocks, tree stumps and weeds; a year later that same farmer, after much labor, rejoices in an autumn harvest of grain. The artist sits before a small mound of clay: many hours later a finely crafted vessel receives the accolades of admiring friends. The steel worker feeds the furnace kno.wing that when the final product is completed, beams of steel will be available for buildings and bridges. The human person, taking the many resources of the world, fashions them into useful and beautiful objects in the meeting of human needs. This process, both creative and productive, brings order out of chaos. The newly won unity fills the human spirit with a sense of meaning, peace and joy. A radical call to all of us is the call to become human persons. Within that universal vocation work plays a necessary and significant part. Only when we thoughtfully expend the energy given to us do we develop our potential and actualize our gifts. Work and growth demand that we participate in this venture of becoming human. Gifts unemployed atrophy. Needs unmet cause suffering. Lack of human development means boredom and despair. Emerson knew the value of work and its effect on human growth: I hear, therefore, with joy whatever'is beginning to be said of dignity and necessity of labor to every citizen. There is virtue yet in the hoe and the spade; for learned as well as for the Laborem Exercens: Themes and Theses / 323 unlearned hands.* This labor must be balanced and rational, respecting individuals and allowing for personal fulfillment. History provides evidence that when certain forms of work do not have these qualities human beings are dehumanized and even destroyed. In his perceptive' and challenging philosophical treatise, Leisure, the Basis of Culture, the neo-Thomist Josef Pieper describes "workism" as an attitude and ideology that disregards the essential natureof work. Pieper's argument is that work is meaningful only when the human person's dignity is fully appreciated and when the activity of work is complemented by a certain receptivity towards life which is called contemplation. The present encyclical also protects this balance and perspective. Theme 2: The Subjective and Objective Dimensions of Work Thesis: The subjective dimension of work (the dignity of the human person)always has priority over the objective dimension (productivity). The very process of "subduing the earth," that is to say work. is marked in the course of history, and especially in recent centuries; by an immense development of technological means. This is an advantageous and positive phenomenon, on condition that the objective dimension of work does not gain the upper hand over the subjective dimension, depriving man of his dignity and inalienable rights or reducing them (10). ¯. man's dominion over the earth is achieved in and by means of work. There thus emerges the meaning of work in an objective sense, which finds expression in the various epochs of culture and civilization. Man dominates the earth by the very fact of domesticating animals, rearing them and obtaining from them food and clothing he needs, arid by the fact of being able to extract various natural resources from the earth and the seas (5). As a person, man is therefore the subject of work. As a person he works, he performs various actions belonging to the work process: independently of their objective content, these actions must all serve to realize his humanity, to fulfill the calling to be a person that ig'his by reason of his very humanity (6). Work always involves a person, a process and a product. The language of the encyclical refers to the person as the subject of Work (the subjective dimension) while the product is the object of work (the objective dimension). This distinction is important: a product does not have interiority, nor is it a center of thought and love. On the other hand, the human person is spiritual, immortal and called to fullness of life in God. The process of work can take such a direction so as to make a person play the role of a mere tool (cog in the machine). The focus is on productivity. Such a procedure, used in the work world dehumanizes the person and negates the Christian meaning of work. Unfortunately, hi~tory records too many years of such abuse. The Holy Father's analysis of work contains an implicit anthropology, one ~'The American Scholar," in The Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. ed. Brooks Atkinson (New York: The Modern Library, 1940), p. 55. ~124 / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 that has the highest regard for the fullness of human life. Every person has both an inner and outer agenda. Meister Eckhart describes it this way: There are people who squander the strength of their souls in the ouiward man. These are the people, all of whose desires and thoughts turn on transient goods, since they are unaware of the inner person. Sometimes a good man robs his outward person of all the soul's agents, in o'rder to dispatch them on some higher enterprise; so. conversely animal people rob the inner person of the soul's agents and assign them to the outward man. A man may be ever so active outwardly and still leave the inner man unmoved and passive.-~ Both the outer and inner dimensions of work need protection and a sensitive balance. Each has its own unique value. If they are not integrated, a person either "sells his soul to the company store" or falls into a type of narcissism which destroys communal responsibility. Persons have dignity which must not be denied; the work process must be respected as part of God's plan; human life is impossible without those products which meet essential needs. Proper priority and balance in reference to the subjective and objective dimen-sions of work are maintained when reverence is present amongpeople. Only when we stand in awe of every person, only when we hold sacred the gifts of air, water and land, only when we carefully consider the inner dynamism and value of the creative process will we truly appreciate work. Goethe reminds us: "The shudder of ,awe is humanity's highest faculty." This papal docume.nt contains that "shudder of awe.'" Whenever we encounter the handiwork of God, human or otherwise, we bow before the Creator's reflection. The person, the imago Dei, the creative pro-cess and end product of our work demand appropriate respect. Theme 3: The Value Scale of Work Thesis: Work involves three spheres of values: 1)a personal value bringing dignity to the individual; 2) a family value forming the foundation of communal life; and 3) a societal value enriching the common good. It (workJ is not only good in the sense that it is useful or something to enjoy; it is also good as being someth!ng worthy, that is to say, something that corresponds to man's dignity, that expresses this dignity and increases it. If one wishes to define more clearly the ethical meaning of work. it is this truth that one must particularly keep in mind Work constitutes a foundation for the formation of family life. which is a natural right and something that man is called to . In a way, work is a condition for making it possible to found a family, since the family requires the means of subsistence which man normally gains through work. Work and industriousness also influence the whole process of education in the family, for the very reason that everyone "becomes a human being" through, among other things, work. and becoming a human being is precisely the main purpose of the whole process of education (10). ¯. it (society) is also a great historical and social incarnation of the work of all generations. All of this brings it about that man combines his deepest human identity with membership of a nation, and intends his work also to increase the common good developed together with his '-Meister Eckhart, trans. Raymond B. Blakncy (Ne~' York: Harper Torchbooks). p. 87. Laborem Exercens: Themes and Theses compatriots, thus realizing that in this way work serves to add to the heritage of the whole human family, of all the people living in the world (10). The valuing process determines life. Values lead to an internal judgment which in turn dictates actions. The degree of worth we assign to individuals and things has far-reaching consequences. Within the complex va.luing system, work plays a major role since it touches personal lives, family life, and even national and international communities. The value assigned to work in these three areas will affect, for good or ill, the course of history. Family life remains a pivotal force in society, That life is threatened by an increasing number of divorces, the current mobility and the impact of the mass media. Unemployment is another threat which can lead to "social disaster" (18). Further, inadequate wages deprive the family of essential goods; lack of proper benefits increase anxiety; dissatisfaction with one's job has an impact on spouse and children. Work has a wider circle than just family life--it influences all of society. When people are given proper.job opportunities the common good is served and society is healthy. When work fosters a sense of cooperation among employees and employers, a new spirit of solidarity is felt in the wide? society. When work is done so that future generations will be served and helped by conserving our resources and protecting our, environment, society ,is being given responsible models. We have reached a point where this type of social consciousness can no longer remain merely a hope; if it does not become a fact, our society may well be doomed. Few people can grow interiorly without a sense of achievement. When work is done well, confidence and a sense of self-worth increase. Further, in fulfilling the commandment of God that we do work, we contribute to God's plan. The brick we add has eternal significance; no one else can do the work assigned to us. A prayer attributed to Cardinal Newman conveys the importance and the enigma of each person's work: ~ God has created me to do him some definite service: he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission--I may never know it in this life. but I shall be told it in the next. 1 am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it--if I do but keep his commandments. Therefore 1 will trust him. Whatever. wherever I am. I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve him: in perplexity, my perplexity may serve him: if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may hide my future from me--still he knows what he is about. Theme 4: Work and the Mystery of Creation Thesis: Work is inextricably bound up with the mystery of God's creative activity: each person shares in the wonder of creation through work. The knowledge that by means of work man shares in the work of creation constitutes the 326 / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 most profound motive for undertaking it in various sectors 125). In every phase of the development of his work man comes up against the leading role of the gift made by '*nature." that is. in the final analysis, by the Creator. At the beginning of man's work is the mystery of creation. This affirmation, already indicated as my starling point, is the guiding thread of this document (12). The word of God's revelation is profoundly marked by the fundamen~'al truth that man, created in the image of God, shares by his work in the activity of the Creator and that, within the limits of his own human capabilities, man in a sense continues to develop that activity, and perfects it as he advances further and further in the discovery of the resources and values contained in the whole of creation (25). Two qualities identify our humanness: depende~nce and creativity. All is gift and we have an absolut~ dependence on our Creator. Humble acceptance of these faith facts sets us free. Through the creative process order is extracted from chaos, unity is chiseled out of diversity, beauty is captured in stone, word or canvass. As Ge,rald Vann remarks: The so-called industrial revolution ran its course: and ende.d by depriving the mass of men of a fundamental right, of that without which the personality is doomed to sterility and despair: the, creativity which is the counterpart of creatureliness.3 Within these two qualities of our humanness are the duty and right of work. Cooperation can be a most thrilling human experience. God longs for us to work with him in the fulfillment of the plan of salvation. Our very activity is an essential ingredient in the building of the earth and of the kingdom! The dignity of such a mission is immeasurabli~. Yet that is precisely what our scriptural and theological understanding of work indicates: the people of God continue to share in the work of creation.i The Vatican I1 document Gaudium et Spes drives home the reality that we are a Church in the modern world, an "in" that means involve-ment. Any mentality that either despises history or refuses to invest time and energy in improvement of the world goes contrary to the Scriptures and the teaching of the Church. Participation in the mystery of creation is threatened in our time. The buildup of armaments, sufficient now to many times over destroy our planet, leads many to an attitude of pessimism if not despair. Such a consciousness causes paralysis and the mission of work goes unaccomplished. The land is not tilled, book,,are not written, songs are not sung, families are not raised, conflicts are not resolved, resources are exploited. Why not? Annihilation is not only possible but likely! Suspicion is abroad: our times are less creative because of an annihilation attitude. Perhaps we can learn a lesson from Anne Frank. With bombs dropping near her hideout and with death a constant threat, she continued to study her history lesson. Life goes on! Christian faith calls us to our creative work regardless of the dark clouds that surround us. And, of course, one of the most urgent creative 3Gerald Vann, St. Thomas Aquinas (New York: Benziger Bros., 1947), p. 27. Laborem Exercens: Themes and Theses works is peace. Our work must bring about a world in which war becomes impossible. Theme 5: A Spirituality of Work Thesis." Work is a means by which persons grow in union with God and participate in the paschal m.vster.v. She (the Church) sees it as her particular duty to form a spirit.uality of work which will help all people to come closer, through work. to God. the Creator and Redeemer, to participate in his salvific plan for man and the world and to deepen their friendship with Christ in their lives by accepting, through faith, a living participation in his threefold mission as Priest. Prophet and King. as the Second Vatican Council so eloquently teaches (24). This Christian spirituality should be a heritage shared by all. Especially in the modern age. the spirituality of work should show the maturity called for by the tensions and restlessness of mind and heart (25). Since work in its subjective aspect is always a personal action, an actus personae, it follows that the whole person, body and spirit, participates in it, whether it is manual or intellectual work. It is also to the whole person that the word of the living God is directed, the evangelical message of salvation, in which we find many points which concern human work and which throw particular light on it. These points need to be properly assimilated: an inner effort on the part of the human spirit, guided by faith, hope and charity, is needed in order that through these points, the work of the individual human tSeing may be given the meaning which it has in the eyes of God and by means of which work enters into the salvation process on a par with the other ordinary yet particularly important components of its texture (24). The farmer brings the seeds of the field to Eucharist for a special blessing on rural life day, thereby exercising an act of faith in God as creator of the seed and provider for its growth. The newspaper editor cries out against the injustices toward the elderly, thereby fulfilling his prophetic role of denouncing all that infringes upon human dignity and freedom. The president of a country, through policies that properly distribute funds, insures that the poor and needy have their due. The people of God are scattered throughout every profession and work situation and it is precisely in that context that they exercise their spirituality. Union with God is achieved not only through liturgical worship and the celebra-tion of the sacrament. Holiness is gained as well by finding Christ in our brothers and sisters, in the working of the land, in the artistic and intellectual achievements. All of life, permeated by God's presence and love, becomes a grace opportunity and can further the process of salvation. A spirituality of work demands three things: vision, grace and commitment. An abiding vision of the divine presence is a gift of faith. Work is not restricted to the narrow sensate culture (limiting work to the confines of time/space) nor to a humanistic betterment of the world, important as that is. Rather, faith vision situates our work as an integral part of God's salvific will. Grace, the free gift of God's self-giving which transforms our minds and hearts, is the heartbeat of a spirituality for work. Empowered by the Spirit, our work has a certain quality and tonality that makes everything different. There is a freshness, newness and sense of possibility in what is done. Eventually the work will incarnate that grace as 321~ / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 another sign of God's favor. Further, commitment to the person of Christ by sharing in his life, death and resurrection undergirds all Christian spirituality. The paschal mystery draws us into the dying/rising process of Christian existence. Work constantly involves dying and rising; done in union wiih Christ it allows us to become the person God calls us to be. In Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis has one of the characters describe his experience, "I at last realized that eating was a spiritual function and that meat, bread and wine were the raw materials from which the mind is made.TM No longer is there a harsh dichotomy between the secular and the sacred, the flesh and the spirit, heaven and earth. A false dualism is rejected and the unity of existence maintained. Work and worship are not mutually exclusive; they are meant to complement and enrich one another. For some workers their highest moments of prayerful praise and thanksgiving are in the midst of their work experience. A mother caring for her child, the artist sharing the masterpiece, the nurse weeping with the terminally ill, the scientist discovering a new atomic particle, the scholar articulating an insight: nurturing, creating, caring, wondering, discovering, sharing --moments of work, grounded in sacrifice, discipline and great effort, and moments of grace. All of this contributes.to a spirituality of work because to live in God's presence with sensitivity, awareness and love is to live a spiritual life. Theme 6: Work and Questions of Justice Thesis: Work plays a significant function in the justice question: there can be no justice unless work~ is available to people in such a way that basic rights and duties are protected and promoted. In order to achieve social justice in the various parts of the world, in the various countries, and in the relationships betwyen them, there is need for ever new movements of solidarity of the workers and with the workers. This solidarity must be present whenever it is called for by the social degrading of the subject of work, by exploitation of the workers, and by the growing areas of poverty and hunger (8). It must be stressed that the constitutive element in this progress and also the most adequate way to verify it in a spirit of justice and peace, which the Church proclaims and for which she does not cease to pray to the Father of all individuals' and of all peoples, is the continual reappraisal of man's work, both in the aspect of its objective finality and in the aspect of the dignity of the subject of all work, that is to say, man. The progress in question must be made through man and for man and it must produce its fruit in man. A test of this progress will be the increasingly mature recognition of the purpose of wbrk and increasingly universal respect for the rights inherent in work in conformity with the dignity of man, the subject of work (18). While work, in all its ~any senses, is an obligation, that is to say a duty, it is also a source of rights on the part of the worker. These rights must be examined in the broad context of human rights as a whole, which are connatural with man, and many of which are proclaimed by various international organizations and increasingly guaranteed by the individual States for their citizens. Respect for this broad range of human rights constitutes the fundamental condition for peace in the modern world (16). 4Nikos Ka~,antzakis, Zorba the Greek (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1952), p. 79. Laborem Exercens: Themes and Theses Whenever relationships are established, certain issues of justice automatically arise. By its very definition the work relationship between employer and employee presents a mutuality of duties and rights. The encyclical addresses itself primarily to threatened rights of the employee, giving little attention to the dutie.s of the employee toward the employer. Employees' rights are numerous: the right to a just wage, the right to social benefits that ensure life and health, the right to rest, the right to pension and insurance, the right to suitable working environments, the right to strike under certain circumstances, the right to form voluntary associa-tions, the right of the disabled to productive activity suited to them, the right to emigrate in search of work. The correlative list would include the duties that come to the employer or society because of these rights. This area of justice is specific and measurable; much honesty, dialogue and planning are necessary if the ideals is to be achieved. The linkage between justice and peace is dearly articulated: Commitment to justice must be closely linked with commitment to peace in the modern world (2). Respect for this broad range of human rights constitutes the fundamental condition for peace in the modern world (16). Whenever rights are denied or duties neglected,,a profound disturbance shakes the life of individuals and society at large. Theologically we call this sin, ethically we call it injustice, sociologically we call it alienation. Regardless of the language system, the experience and its consequences are clear: the order of God's plan is broken and until reconciliation comes about, until justice is done, the fragmenta-tion continues and peace is not found in the land. Mere absence of war or conflict is not peace; rather, it is an ontological state of being, experienced when relation-ships~ are properly ordered. If charity begins at home, all the more so justice. Thus the Church as an institution must constantly strive for justice and peace within her own immediate membership. The fact that the above rights reside in her own personnel imposes an obligation on the Church as employer. This "beginning at home" is significant since authenticity of teaching and preaching constantly seeks verification in prac-tice. When the Church both teaches justice and lives it, the world has a model which affirms that the realities of justice and peace are truly possible. Theme 7: Work and Various ideologies Thesis: Work demands a meaning and various interpretations are offered by Liberalism, Marxism and Christian theology. The Marxist program, based on the philosophy of Marx and Engels, sees in class struggle the only way to eliminate class injustices in society and to eliminate the classes themselves. Putting this program into practice presupposes the collectivization of the means of production so that, through the transfer of these means from private hands to the collectivity, human labor will be preserved from exploitation (11). This consistent image, in which the principle of the primacy of person over things is strictly preserved, was broken up in human thought, sometimes after a long period of incubation in practical living. The break occurred in such a way that labor was separated from capital and 33{~ Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 set m opposition to it, and capital was set in oppositioh to labor, as though they were two impersonal forces, two production factors juxtaposed in the same "economistic" perspective. This way of stating the issue contained a fundamental error, what we call the error of economism, that of considering human labor solely according to its economic purpose. This fundamental error of thought must be called an error Of materialism, in that economism directly or indirectly ~ncludes a conviction of the primary and superiority of the material, and directly or indirectly places the spiritual and the personal (man's activity, moral values and such matters) in a position of subordination to material reality (13). The only chance there seems to be for radically overcoming this error (primitive capitalism and liberalism) is through adequate changes both in theory and in practice, changes in line with the definite conviction of the primacy of the person over things, and of human labor over capital as a whole collection of means of production (13). Absolutizing is that radical instinct in thought and behavior that makes one idea or value the only idea or value. The label we attach to such a tendency is "isms": e.g., secularism holds that all reality is limited to this world--there is no transcendence; humanism measures all of life in the light of the human person-- God finds no home here; rationalism restricts valid knowledge to that gained by reason--faith vision is excluded; workism so prizes achievement and productivity that leisure (receptivity-contemplation) is meaningless if not downright evil. The encyclical deals with this proclivity to absolutize and firmly rejects certain specific "isms" that surround work. Anathema sit: Marxism that seeks a collectivism of means of production so as to infringe upon the right to private property; liberalism that fails to take into account the common good in its worship of primitive capitalism; economism that views human labor solely in terms of its economic purposes; materialism that subordinates the spiritual/personal aspects of life to material reality. Christian theology consistently seeks a balanced position that protects moral and personal and spiritual values. Thus private property is a basic' right, though the common good will severely limit this right or even exclude it under very restricted circumstances. Economic profit is necessary and justifiable but never at the expense of human dignity. Matter is part of God's creation but is subordinated to the value of the human person. The insights of Scripture and tradition are brought to bear upon the complex reality of the work world. Basic principles are articulated through careful theological reflection which provides a theory that will hopefully inform our action. The Church is not reluctant to speak out with a strong prophetic voice whenever there is encroachment upon the rights of people, be that encroachment by employer or employee. Jacob Bronowski states that "without astronomy it is really not possible to find your way over great distances, or even to have a theory about the shape of the earth and the land and sea oh it."~ Part of the Church's mission is to provide a theologicalastronomy by which the complex components of life can be assessed and prudently judged. The present papal document serves a timely purpose: it ~Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973), p. 190. Laborem Exercens: Themes and Theses articulates a theology and a spirituality from which to observe and practice the command of God that we work, thereby building up a more human community and furthering the growth of the kingdom. Such an astronomy is no luxury, it is an absolute necessity. Theme 8: Work and its Abuse Thesis: Work, which is meant to humanize and develop persons, can become destructive when means become ends. ¯. it {the anlinomy between labor and capital) originated in the whole of the economic and social practice of that time, the time of the birth and rapid development of industrialiTation, in which what was mainly seen was the possibility of vastly increasing material wealth, means while the end, that is to say, man, who should be served by the means, was ignored (13). The primary basis of the value of work is man himself, who is its subject. This leads imme-diately to a very important conclusion of an ethical nature: however true it may be that man is destined for work and called to it, in the first place work is "for man"and not man "for work" (6}. The very process of "subduing the earth." that is to say work. is marked in the course of history and especially in recent centuries, by an immense development of technological means. This is an advantageous and positive phenomenon, on condition that the objective dimension of work does not gain the upper hand over the subjective dimension, depriving man of his dignity and inalienable rights or reducing them (i0). A gospel question focuses our attention: is man made for the Sabbath or the Sabbath for man? Jesus had to deal with the means/end question and there is nothing unclear about his answer: the Sabbath is .made for man. Ambiguity characterizes some contemporary questions arising from the world of work: What is the relationship between technology and the human person? What status does the individual have in large multinational corporations? When transfers are made, what "considerations are given to the worker's family? If profits will be less but the work situation is more humanizing, what kinds of decisions are made? Is man made for work or work for man? Historically the document states that certain means have usurped the prerogatives of the end; technology (means) has become the master and the human person (end), the slave. At this juncture, justice and peace are no more. The whole order is overturned, human freedom is lost. Simone Weil, a strong prophetic voice for the ~,alue of work in the first half of this century, worked in factories so as to experientially learn the workers' situation. Her experience was not a happy one: workers were dehumanized because they were treated simply as cogs in a large, productive m~chine. Upon reading Homer's Iliad, she extracts a universal truth about evil that applies to our present discussion: Thus in this ancient and wonderful poem there already appeared the essential evil besetting humanity, the substitution of means for ends.6 ~The Simone Weil Reader. ed, George A. Panichas (New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1977), p. 138. 3~12 / Review for Religious, Ma.v-June, 1982 What is so horrendous is that often this process of evil is unconscious and unin-tended. The means we use for produiztivity are happily introduced. Suddenly we wake up one morning and come to realize, that we are controlled by the very process we devised. The underlying question is one of freedom, a freedom that protects our humanity and a freedom to use tools of production wisely. Such a freedom comes only from hard-won knowledge: we cannot make prudent choices when ignorant of facts and circumstances. Education is of greatest importance here. All people involved in the working community must maintain a high level of attentiveness to attitudes, means of production, societal tendencies, subtle shifts in values. The means/end dilemma must not be blurred. Melville, in his classic Moby Dick, comments that "ignorance is the parent of fear."7 Societal fears often arise because we are ignorant of the proper relationship between means and end. With increased knowledge we are hopeful that fear will be dissipated and our freedom regained. Theme 9: Work and the Common Good Thesis: Work, through the use of natural and personal resources, is an essential force to achieve the common good. ¯. society--even when it has not yet taken on the mature form of a nation--is not only the great ~educator" of every man, even though an indirect one (because each individual absorbs within the family the contents and values that go to make up the culture of a given nation): it is also a great historical and social incarnation of the work of all generations. All of this brings it about that man combines his deepest human identity with membership of a nation, and intends his work also to increase the cor~mon good developed together with his compatriots, thus realizing that in this way work serves to add to the heritage of the whole human family, of all the people living in the world (16). Rational planning and the proper organization of human labor in keeping with individual societies and States should also facilitate the discovery of the right proportions between the different kinds of employment: work on the land. in industry, in the various services, white-collar work and scientific or artistic work, in accordance with the capacities of individuals: and for the common good of each society and of the whole of mankind (18). Here we must return once more to the first principle of the whole ethical and social order. namely, the principle of the common use of goods. In every system, regardless of the funda-mental relationships within it between capital and labor, wages, that is to say remuneration for work, are still a practical means whereby the vast majority of people have access to those goods which are intended for common use: both the good of nature and manufactured goods (19). In the document Gaudium et Spes, the fathers of the Second Vatican Council described the common good in these terms: Now. the common good embraces the sum of those conditions of social life by which individuals, families and groups can achieve their own fulfillment in a relatively thorough and ready way (74). 7Herman Melville, Moby Dick (New York: The Literary Guild of America, Inc., 1949), p. 17. Laborem Exercens: Themes and Theses / 333 Although somewhat nebulous in the abstract, the common good is extremely concrete and pragmatic in experience. Yet certain cultural attitudes towards pri-vate goods and vested self-interest make it difficult for the relationship between work and the common good to be properly understood. One such attitude regards comm~on good items (parks, public buildings, and so forth) as areas of exploita-tion, with no sense of personal responsibility for their upkeep or cleanliness. A mentality of privatized ownership threatens the realization of the common good. Through work 1 will take as much as 1 can without any thought of.making my contribution to the commonweal. Various writers8 are beginning to articulate a public theology and notions of a church which help to provide a vision for the protection of the common good through responsible work and concern. Several years ago there was a global experience that had the potentiality to develop social consciousness for the common good. For the first time in history, through the technology of cameras, we saw ourselves, the planet earth, from the moon. Hurling through space, like people on a small raft, brought us a realization that we are all in this together. The activity of one affects the activity of all. Responsible Work and sharing enriches the human family; failure to do so dimin-ishes and deprives people of quality life. Perhaps the moon photograph has been blurred already and the strong sense of interdependence to which we are called has been obscured by innate avariciousness. Is work done primarily for profit and personal gain? Have we forgotten the common good or disregarded it as some utopian dream? Two types of people have been known throughout history as truly human and noble: people of compassion and people of hospitality. The former have a heart that is moved deeply by the joys and sufferings of others. A'basic affinity with human experience resides deep within the being of compassionate people. Hospi-tality, that gracious welcoming of the stranger-into personal space and time, creates an environment in which the common good is realized. Regardless of.one's employment, the work~ of compassion and hospitality are universal vocations and only when they are exercised, thus producing the common good, do individual goods have any value whatever. The paradox of the gospel grain of wheat is lived again. Theme I0: Work and Communily Thesis: Work builds community by uniting people into a powerful solidarity. In fact. the family is simultaneously a community made possible by work and the first school of work, within the home, for every person (10). The call to solidarity and common action addressed to the worker--especially to those engaged in narrowly specialized, monotonous and depersonalized work in industrial plants, when the machine tends to dominate man--was important and eloquent from the point of sSee Martin E. Marty's The Public Church (New York: Crossroad, 1981)and Parker J. Palmer's The Company o.f Strangers (New York: Crossroad. 198 I). 334 / Review for Religious, Ma.v-June, 1982 view of social ethics. It was the reaction against the degradation of man as the subject of work, and against the unheard-of accompanying exploitation in the fields of wages, working condi-tions and social security for the worker. This reaction united the working world in a commu-nity marked by great solidarity (8). It is characteristic of work that it first and foremost unites people. In this consists its social power: the power to build a community. In the final analysis, both those who work and those who manage the means of production or who own them must in some way be united in this community 120). Communities are formed when there is a common sense of identity, when there is a commitment to a specific value system, when lives are shared by mutual experience. Many work situations have these three qualities. A good schobl faculty know who they are, are committed to truth and its various expressions, and share lives professionally and, to some degree, socially. A professional sports team working together for several years establishes a strong communal bond. Work has the potential to unite people and form community, i.e., a style of work that is balanced and. person centered. What is intriguing is that often the bond of com-munity happens without conscious planning; it is a side effect of deep c6operation. Human life is complex. Like a spider's web, there are many intersecting lines in our relationships and in our multiple communities, e.g., The community to which I belong is, of course, not a static one. Sometimes it is the commu-nity of my wife and myself and my family: at other times that of my relations, of my friends, of my work colleagues, of my city or nation or international grouping. My task in each different community varies according to the particular community I am being consciously part of at any time. In some communities, I am a key figure: in others, of lesser or minimal importance. But in all of them I have a function, a duty and a responsibility and I believe I will be judged on my performance of these at the end of my time. Often I do not know exactly what that function is--but I know that basically it is to be a harmonizing influence, a peacemaker, a go-between, a catalyst, a bringer-out of good qualities in others for the sake of a group.'~ This vision of community and work depicts the range of groupings in one's life and the specific functions that we are to play. The notion of facilitator may accurately describe "the work" (the process of life itself) that will build any community. We facilitate relationships by bringing love and concern which, in turn, bring about peace and oneness. The Gospel of John states that God is always working. Jesus presents himself as the waiter, serving at table those who come for life-giving food. The thrust behind this work is community, to build and complete the Fi~ther's kingdom. Thus the dignity of the vocation of work becomes clear: as co-worker with the Lord we participate in the process of reconciliation, bringing all creation back to the Father. Whatever our task in life, however sublime or humble, we lovingly accept the charge given us and contribute to the realization of the Father's plan. Adveniat regnum ! ~On the Run: Spirituality for the Seventies, ed. by Michael F. McCauley (Chicago: The Thomas More Association. 1974). p. 138. Reflections on Leadership in the Spirit of Jesus Cecilia Murphy, R.S.M. Sister Cecilia Murphy is the President of the Sisters of Mercy of Pittsburgh. In the issue of January, 1976, Sister shared her reflections on the chapter experience of her community. In the present article, a talk given at their congregational meeting of March, 1982, she reflects on her experience of leadership in her community. Sister Cecilia resides at 3333 Fifth AveA Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Living leadership in the spirit of Jesus is a challenge to every Christian. Each follower of Jesus is called to "come after Jesus" and to show others the way. Those called to leadership in a religious congregation of Mercy bear a special responsibil-ity in this matter. How can anyone fulfill this task? My reflections on this topic are a result of trying to "bone it'--trying to dig into the essential and offer some thoughts on what is necessary for leadership in Jesus' spirit. We know Jesus through faith--faith in God's word and sacraments; faith in our personal experiences of Jesus. We know from Scripture that Jesus poured himself out for our sakes and that he taught us how to live. The commitment of our lives and our personal prayer have helped us know experientially who Jesus is, how he loves, what he asks of us: Faith, then, is the first essential for leadership. Things are not always clear and efisy, and the felt presence of the Lord is a special and temporary gift. So, the leader needs to pray for a strong faith-life, to make acts of faith, and to live in faith, believing in God's love and fidelity. Sorting out and probing the purpose of life, religious life, and its values are essential to leaders. These exercises focus leaders on "the one thing necessary." They help to keep clear the purpose of religious community and enable leaders to be conscious of the motives, fears, and choices that are operative in life. Jesus probed the meaning of life by withdrawing from others and praying to his Father in secret. Exposure to solitude and openness to God's ways are integral parts of searching. These opportunities enable leaders to be like the violinist who carefully 335 ~136 / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 tunes the instrument before a symphony. Reflection enables the leader to "be in tune" with the divine pitch. Without confidence in God, religious leadership is impossible. The counsel that Catherine McAuley took to heart, to pray as if everything depended on God and act as if everything depended on us, was not only common sense, it was an inspired statement. As Jesus was ever conscious of his Father's power, so must a leader be! All works concerned with the human spirit are beyond human control. Leaders cannot change another pers6n; God reserves that to himself. Yet a leader is called to use all her human potential to create the best environment, and also to pray in confidence, knowing that God's work is ultimately carried out by God-- sometimes through her. Belief in the value of suffering is an essential for a religious leader. Jesus suffered and died. Our congregation was founded on Calvary; there are no easy roads to Mount Tabor. In each human life suffering is present, but Christians are challenged to "take up the cross." Leaders must attempt to follow the Master to Calvary. The particular kinds of suffering which best make an individual an image of Jesus are known only to the Lord. For the leader, however, many of these have something to do with various kinds of poverty. One form 6f poverty is that of spirit, "Why me, Lord?" the leader asks. "There are others holier, more insightful, more loving, more intelligent, more capable, Why me?" And'the Lord replies, "It was not because you are great but because I am great and want to use your nothingness. Don't question my choice--just cooperate." There is the poverty of unfulfilled expectations--those of the leader and those of other members. Unconsciously, leaders sometimes set expectations for them-selves which could not be fulfilled by five people, let alone one. Consider, then, the 335 members of our congregation, multiply by five, and you will have a sense of the number of expectations placed on a leader. The sense of poverty in facing all these unfulfilled expectations is a cause of great suffering. Dealing in realms beyond one's experience and capabilities creates a sense of poverty. Learning about finances, management, interacting with corporate leaders can cause a sense of being entirely out of one's element. Like Ruth, the leader must try to adapt to alien lands, to grow in new knowledge and allow the pinch of human limitations to be felt. There is the poverty of being in an "iceberg ministry." When 1 ask myself what 1 do, it is very hard to define. So much of a leader's ministry is confidential or invisible to others and sometimes to herself. Members of the congregation may wonder why all the paper communications keep filtering into a small community and exclaim, "Another paper from the Mount!" However, some leader may have worked hours trying to simplify and clarify ideas so that they could be shared with (he membership. Dialogue and interaction with members are an important part of leadership but they, too, are invisible parts of the iceberg. Leaders need. to laugh. Although the gospels do not record Jesus as laughing, we can be sure, since we are made in his image, that Jesus did enjoy life. He had Reflections on Leadership special friends, the disciples. He went off with them, shared special meals with them. Without doubt he must have often suppressed a laugh as he experienced their human condition. Leaders, too, need to relax, to have friends, to take time to unwind and be "at home" with family. Rest is a requirement for all human persons and so must leaders be renewed and refreshed. Refreshment help~ one maintain balance--an essential for leadership. Our "Government Synthesis Statement" makes explicit a tension that is inherent in leadership, the tension between internal and external concerns. How does one balance the call to broader church and civic leadership with the need to provide for the growth and development of the membership? There is no answer to that question, only the ongoing struggle to live authentically in that tension. As Jesus lived the tension of the Agony in the Garden, he prayed for the accomplishment of the Father's will. He prayed for courage to fulfill his mission. Leaders need courage, a courage which is strengthened by conviction; made more difficult by uncertainty. In relating to individuals and the total congregation, the leader needs courage to risk--risk to be wrong even when acting in good faith. Leaders can make mistakes and they need courage to face mistakes honestly. Tomorrow's leaders will also need courage to fulfill our "Government Synthe-sis Statement" which calls them to use our corporate power on behalf of the poor. This challenge will take courage and wisdom on the part of the leaders and generosity and willingness for conversion on the part of the membership. As Jesus listened to Nicodemus, so a leader must listen to God, the members, the Church, the world. Jesus was a sensitive listener when he attempted to deal with the needs of others. In Jesus the leader has the perfect model of attentive listening and response to others. Leadership in religious congregations requires a deep realization of the divine help that comes from the prayers of the sisters. Likewise it calls forth a daily prayer: "Glory to him whose power working in me can do infinitely more than 1 can ask or imagine!" Tedium and Burnout in Religious Life Mary Elizabeth Kenel Dr. K(nel, as well as maintaining a private practice in Washington, is a field supervisor in the pastoral counseling program of Loyola College in Baltimore. She may be addressed at 901 Perry Place, N.E.: Washington; DC 20017. In recent years mu~ch of the research in the area of social psychology has focused on the phenomena of tedium and burnout, primarily as these apply to the workers in the human services fields. These phenomena are by no means limited to members of these groups, however, and researchers are investigating burnout at various phases of the life cycle: the tedium experienced by college students, burn-out in marriage and parenting, and that demonstrated in the mid-life and mid-career crises. Everyone at some time or another is vulnerable to the stresses of tedium and burnout and religious are no exception. Indeed, the very qualities that are com-mon to those aspiring to religious life and a ministry of service tend to render religious as a group vulnerable to the burnout syndrome. The term "burnout" was first introduced by Herbert J. Freudenberger~ in his articles on staff burnout in the help-giving inst.itutions. Since that time a number of other authors have made use of the term and have given it various definitions. Edelwich2 defines burnout as a progressive loss of idealism, energy, and purpose experienced by people in the helping professions as a result of the conditions of their work. Pines and Aronson3 define tedium as the experience of physical, ~ Freudenberger, H. J. "Staff Burn-out," Journal of Social Issues, 1974, 30(I) pp. 159-165. 2Edelwich, J., Burn-Out, Stages of Disillusionment in the Helping Professions. Human Sciences Press, New York, 1980. p. 14. ~Pines, A. M. and Aronson, E., Burnout, From Tedium to Personal Growth, The Free Press, New York. 1981. p. 15. 338 Tedium and Burnout in Religious Life emotional and mental exhaustion characterized by emotional and physical deple-tion and by the negation of one's self, one's environment, one's work, and even one's life. They consider burnout to be identical to tedium in definition and symptoms but apply the term particularly to those who work with people in situations that are emotionally demanding. While both tedium and burnout are accompanied by a constellation of symp-toms that include fatigue, lack of enthusiasm, and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, burnout may be thought of as a state of mind that afflicts those individuals whose work requires that they pour in much more than they get in return, be that return from clients, patients, students, superiors or peers. The dedicatory nature of the vows can set the stage for burnout. Take, for example, a motto instilled during a novitiate instruction: "Chastity loves without seeking a return." A literal interpretation and acceptance of such an ideal can readily lead to burnout as the religious' energies are depleted over time. One of the biggest difficulties with the concept of burnout, however, is that it has become fashionable, a new item in the evergrowing dictionary of psychobab-ble. Burnout as such has no formal psychiatric status and, indeed, many would see it as depression. The literature, however, tends more and more to distinguish between the two concepts and relates burnout to the environmental stresses under which a person works rather than to intrapsychic forces. The onset of tedium/burnout is rarely the result of a single traumatic or disillusioning event. More typically it is the result of a gradual erosion of strength and spirit. Edelwich,4 for example, recognizes a series.of stages that range from idealistic enthusiasm to apathy. The victims of burnout tend to be those who had once been amoiag the most idealistic and ardent, those who at one time were most enthusiastic and joyful. This is hardly surprising, for nearly every author in the field has noted that in order to burn out one must have been on fire at some point. It is the intent of the remainder of this article to examine the antecedents to burnout and tedium as well as to examine the stages of development that lead fr9m enthusiasm to apathy. To the extent that individual religious and communi-ties can recognize and anticipate burnout they will be better able to avoid the ineffectual, wishful remedies that are often practiced and seek more realistic coping mechanisms. A positive ~pproach to the problems of tedium and burnout, then, will not be based on the hope of total prevention which is almost impossible to achieve, but on the realization that it will happen, even repeatedly, and must be dealt with on an ongbing basis. As with any other life crisis, burnout can be turned to advantage in that it can energize a person to break out of a rut. Creative use of frustration can become a stimulus to the kind of enthusiasm it generally erodes. Antecedents to Burnout Research5 on the phenomenon of burnout as it applies to human service 4Edelwich, J. op. cir. pp. 28-29. 5Pines, A. M., and Aronson, E. op cir., pp. 48-54. 3tll~ / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 workers has identified three common antecedents that would apply equally well to religious. 1. Work That Is Emotionally Demanding In the human serVice professions people work with others in situations that are emotionally draining over long periods of time, during which they are exposed to their clients' physical, social, and psychological problems and are expected to be both skillful and concerned. A similar expectation is placed on priests, brothers and sisters in virtue of their religious profession, in addition, members of religious groups are frequently actively engaged in human service occupations such as teaching, nursing, and counseling. Think, for example then, of the emotional toll of working with the terminally ill, with the mentally ill, with those who have lost loved ones--especially when one's religious profession means one is also expected to explain "God's Will" in these situations. 2. Characteristics of the Professionals Themselves Pines and Aronson6 note that in the human services the occupational task acts as a screening device that attracts people with particular types of personal attrib-utes. The same is true of religious life. Think of the adjectives used to describe priests and religious in terms of the concept of mirfistry. Words such as dedicated, service, and other-oriented are frequently mentioned. 3. Client-Centered Orientation As is the case for members of human services teams, religious focus on people receiving their service. The role of provider of help, understanding, and support is defined by the client's needs with relatively little attention paid to the needs of the professional or the religious. A strictly client-centered orientation does not permit a symmetrical relationship of mutual give and take. Instead a complementary relationship is set up in which the religious or human service worker is expected to give while the client receives. Common to both situations is a dedicatory ethic that elevates service motives and presents work not merely as a "job" but as a "voca-tion" or "calling" in which the reward is supposed to be inherent in the giving. The Prayer of Saint Francis captures this thought: "It is in giving that we receive . 4. Other Antecedents to Burnout In addition to those areas delineated by Pines and Aronson there are a number of other antecedents to burnout that need to be considered. One is that of a lack of criteria for measuring one's accomplishment. There is sufficient difficulty in attempting to define accomplishments in the therapeutic field. How much more so in th6 religious life. How does one define one's success as nPines, A. M. and Aronson. E. ibid., pp. 51-52. Tedium and Burnout in Religious Ltfe 311"1 a "religious"? Does one play the "numbers game"---how many converts, baptisms, hours of donated service? And if there are no hard-and-fast criteria for success, how then does one set standards for reviewing one's life and work? Another source of difficulty lies in the area of career advancement. Far too often the religious who has entered upon a particular form of active ministry because of a desire to work with people is "promoted" to an administrative posi-tion that. while enlarging his or her sphere of influence, many times results in loss of client contact and ultimately in loss of job satisfaction. Antecedents to Tedium While religious life itself is a form of other-oriented profession in which many members actually do work in the human services area, it also has a bureaucratic and hierarchical structure and as such shares many of the antecedents of tedium found in business or government organizations. The literature describes organizational structure as a major determinant of job performance, satisfaction, and tedium.7 Pines and Aronson8 identified three major antecedents of tedium. 1. Overload Overload is a key concept in studies of job stress and its effect on health and can be viewed as having objective/,su.bjective and quantitative/quali!ative dimen-sions. Objective overload refers to the actual volume of work to be processed per unit of time while subjective overload refers to the person's feeling that there is too much work to be done or that it is too hard. Quantitative overload implies that one actually has more real work than can be handled per unit time. Qualitative overload, on the other hand, indicates that the work load demands skills, knowl-edge or training exceeding that of the person assigned a given task. That objective, quantitative overlo.ad is part and parcel of the daily life of most religious hardly needs mentioning. Schedules tend to be full to overflowing and many a prayer has been offered for a few extra hours in the day as well as another pair of hands. Qualitative overload, however, may be even more stressful in the long run and more likely to induce tedium. In a situation of qualitative overload unrealistic ex, pectations are placed on an individual or group who must then deal not merely with the realities of the workload but with a sense of inadequacy and personal failure when it becomes impossible to live up to those "great expecta-. tions." Fortunately, in more recent years superiors and formation personnel have attempted to see to it that people are trained prior to placement in a specific position. With personnel shortages, however, it is tempting to appeal to the per- 7Armstrong. K. 1. "'How Can We Avoid Burnout. Child Abuse and Neglect: Issues in Innovation and Implementation." DHEW Publication #(OHDS) 78-30148. 2(1978). pp. 230-238. ~Pines. A. M. and Aronson. E. op cir. pp. 67-72. 3t12 / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 son's "generosity and sense of mission" and propel him or her into a position for which he or she is unprepared and in which he or she expends tremendous energy simply to "stay afloat." 2: I~ek of Autonomy In any area of life, lack of control over one's environment is a highly stressful experience and frequently enough leads to the learned helplessness phenomenon observed by Seligman.9 In this depressed state the person tends !o attribute success to "luck" or "chance" or other forces outside his or her control while accepting full responsibility for failures. A perceived lack of autonomy and the frustration resulting from such a lack is a common cause of tedium in organizations of all types, .for job satisfaction declines as the individual is more burdened by unnecessary rules and red tape and lacks voice in decisions that affect the job and his or her life. Lack of autonomy can also be aggravated by a communication gap between superiors and those further down the organizational hierarchy. This gap may be due to the inherent inefficiencies of communication in large organizations or to differing perspectives among superiors and those actively engaged in a given work. It is necessary then to attempt to build organizational structures that will avoid, to some extent, these pitfalls. The problem of autonomy is a thorny one for religious. Balance must be achieved between a legitimate need for autonomy that is part and parcel of healthy adult functioning and the demand of religious obedience that is, perhaps, the very heart of the religious commitment. To some extent community structures have always made some provision for autonomy, for example, those having perpetual vows might vo~e for the superior, serve as councilors, or in other ways voice an ~pinion on community matters. The proverbial "planting cabbages upside down" type of blind obedience is also a.thing of the past. More recent changes in community life have attempted to address this need for autonomy. For example, the matter of annual assignments is now often handled on ~ consultative basis with the individual religiot~s I~a~'ing more input into the decision than was previously the case. Community meetings 6n the local, regional, and national/international levels also serve to keep the lines of communi-cation open and flowing upward, not merely downward. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the religious, by virtue of the vow of obedience, does surrender much personal autonomy. This surrender is often felt most keenly n.ot'in the early years but later as one must deal with one's own growth and developmeht as a ]'esponsi-ble adult. Much of the "mid-life crisis" seen in religious life centers around the issue of autonomy, the need for personal space and the integration of such concepts as 9Seligman. M. E. Helplessness: On De.pression Development and Death, San Francisco: Freeman Press. 1979. Tedium and Burnout in Religious Ltfe / 343 ob¢dience, choice, power, accountability, and responsibility. Perhaps one of the ways to resolve this conflict is to keep some progressive vision of what the com-munity (small group or larger organization) might accomplish and nurture the scope and consciousness of discretionary behavior. In most life situations things usually are more flexible than they might initially appear. Evaluating the possibili-ties for positive change and focusing one's energies in the realm of the possible enhance one's sense of legitimate power and control. The religious who can be attentive to authority, who can blend personal goals with community goals, and who recognizes both the extent and limit of his or her discretionary power is not as likely to suffer the lack of autonomy that leads to tedium. 3. Lack of Rewards It is indeed unfortunate that most organizations are inefficient in the distribution of rewards, appreciation and recognition, as this contributes to dis-couragement and demoralization among the members and can eventually lead to tedium. It is surprising that better use is not made of the power of positive reinforcement, for common sense would suggest, and research has confirmed, that people are far more able to tolerate considerable stress in situations in which they feel appreciated and their efforts recognized than in those in which they feel the rewards are not commensurate with their efforts. Religious are definitely not exempt from the need for rewards and recognition. Indeed, the absence of high levels of financial remuneration make it imperative that social rewards be given. It is all well and good to appeal to altruistic and spiritual motives, but positive feedback has tremendous reinforcement value that is far too often ignored. As a result, the religious who is.often enough already unpaid or underpaid is deprived of the satisfaction derived from well-earned recognition. Another aspect that frequently causes pain is the fact that the religious may be appreciated by those with whom he or she serves yet get little or no recognition from within the community. It remains true today "there is no respect for a ¯ prophet in his own country" Jn 4:44. While it is true that one should not rely solely on one's superiors for praise there is a need for ~ecognition by one's peers that is often lacking. It is frequently the presence or lack of support at the local level that can make the difference between a vital, contributing team member and a "burnt-out case." Stages of Disillusionment Edelwicht0 defines five stages in the process of disillusionment. Stage one, that of initial enthusiasm, is that period of high hopes, high energy and unrealistic expectaiions when one does not know what the job is all about. In religious life this would typically correspond to the novitiate and formation period as well as the early years of active ministry. 1 recall hearing a novice describe with great anima- I°Edelwich. J., op. cit. pp. 28-29. 344 / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 tion the ceremony of initial profession of another sister. The formula of vows, written by the sister, concluded with the words "Surprise me, Jesus!" An older priest seated next to me turned to me, smiled ruefully, and said sotto voce "He will." The second stage is that of stagnation. It is at this point that one's ministry is no longer so satisfying as to substitute for everything else in life. "Is that all there is?" seems to sum up the feelings of this stage. There is a shift in emphasis at this point from meeting the needs of others to meeting one's own needs. For the religious formed in an other-oriented tradition this shift in emphasis can often be accompanied by feelings of guilt and loss of self-esteem as he or she senses that the fervor which marked the early days of religious life has diminished, Edelwich~ calls his third stage that of frustration. It is at this point that one tends to question not merely one's own effectiveness in the ministry but the value of religious life and ministry itself. Frequently emotional, physical and behavioral problems emerge at this stage. The fourth stage, that of apathy, sets in when a person is chronically frustrated. Apathy as such is a typical defense mechanism that occurs after repeated frustra-tion and is analogous to the learned-helplessness phenomenon mentioned earlier. At this point no new challenges are undertaken and one seems to "go through the motions," doing the minimum required to avoid censure. The stage of intervention is defined as whatever is done in response to or in anticipation of the four preceding stages. Intervention attempts to break the cyc!e. It may involve a restructuring of relationships to clients, family, friends and com-munity. It may mean seeking advanced training and new areas of apostolic work. It may, in some instances, mean leaving the ministry and religious life altogether. The Special Problems of Women Religious The antecedents of burnout and tedium mentioned here apply equally well to both male and female religious. The literature has noted, however, that profes-sional women bear a special burden not shared by men. For example, the conflict between career and home demands is more sharply delineated for a woman who, in the effort to balance both, may seek to become a "Superwoman." This sort of role conflict would also appear to be more keenly felt by women religious than by men. Communities of women seem to place more stress on creating a homelike atmosphere in which there is a fairly high level of mutual interaction and group activity. While such a structure has the potential for providing a great deal of warmth and support, the time needed to foster and maintain these community relationships may cause tension if community activities are seen as competing with the demands of one's ministry. Another major contribution to the burnout of women is sexism. As Edelwich~-' ~qbid. p. 29. Tedium and Burnout in Religious 13fe / ~4~3 notes, in the business and professional world large numbers of women are employed in positions of structured inferiority. Sexual stereotyping influences job assignments, allocation of responsibilities and standards of conduct. Sexual polar-ization commonly reinforces polarization by rank and status. This same pattern of sexual discrimination is found within the Church. The hierarchical structure is male dominated and its influence pervades the entire area of religious life and ministry. There is no need even to enter upon a discussion of ordination of women. Think at a more everyday level of the small put-downs, the questions regarding competence, the paternalism that is found all too frequently. How often does "the pastor" win his point by sheer weight of authority rather than by the merits of the case? How many male religious are comfortable dealing with attractive, educated women as peers? How often has a sister's name been reduced to a diminutive form ¯. in jest, of course? How does the treatment afforded male and female faculty members compare--or differ? Needless to say, the additional burden of dealing with one's femaleness takes its toll, for if a woman is sensitive, the professional struggles can be more frustrating. If she is empathic, the suffering she encounters is felt more sharply. If she knew herself as a caring person and a dedicated religious, recognition that she is no longer moved by the needs of others is more crushing. Coping Strategies Once aware of the potential for the development 6f tedium and burnout, what coping strategies can be introduced? This selection will attempt to present coping mechanisms at three levels:, the organizational, the interpersonal, and the intrapersonal. At the organizational level one can seek to reduce tedium and burnout by reducing the overload, making alternative forms of service available to the reli-gious, and by limiting the hours of stressful work. Community-based pre-retirement programs have already begun to make use of these concepts. By extending them to a broader range of personnel, severe forms of burnout may be prevented or at least reduced. Training, of course, is essential, not merely the initial formal education that would prepare the religious for his or her chosen field but continuing education where the !~eligious is given an opportunity to examine the pressures of the ministry, clarify goals and priorities, consider coping mechanisms and develop new skills. In the initial phases of formation training, the interventions appropriate to the stage of idealistic enthusiasm~3 should be taught. Novices or professed in temporary vows should be made aware of the discrepancy between expectations and reality and learn to moderate their enthusiasms before they become bogged down in the stage of stagnation. During this phase of formation the young religious should be taught to examine their motives for entering on ~21bid. p. 18. ~-~lbid. pp. 212-220. 3116/ Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 certain modes of ministry. The need to be needed is a powerful one as is the need to exert control, a motive that one tends to find if one scratches the surface of altruism. With awareness of their own motives religious can use their emotional investment in the ministry as the basis for insight rather than an acting out of their own needs at the expense of those they set out to serve. In an effort to avoid or at least reduce tedium and burnout, thought should also be given to providing positive work conditions that are suited to the needs of the individual and to assisting the religious to gain a sense of work significance. To achieve this end, as far as possible set clear organizationa| objectives, provide feedback and give the individual appreciation for his or her efforts and accomplishments. On the interpersonal level the development of social support systems is essen-tial. Although the conflicting or ambiguous demands of various systems can lead to burnout, on the whole the efficient and creative use of a social support system is one of ttie most effective ways of coping with the burnout syndrome. Social support systems may be defined as lasting interpersonal ties to groups of people who can be counted on to provide emotional sustenance, assistance, and resources in periods of need and stress, who provide feedback, both positive and negative, and who share standards and values. Ideally, one would belong to several supportive groups: community, family, work, recreational, and avocational. William Glasser~4 in his book, Reality Ther-apy, speaks of the dangers of the "small world." In such a situation, one group, for example, the community or work group, becomes the center of one's entire life and the source of all one's emotional and psychological support. Pines and Aronson~5 list six functions of a social support system, namely: listening, technical support, technical challenge, emotional support, emotional challenge, and the providing of social reality. Rather than expect that'one person or one set of people meet each of these needs, it is helpful to the religious to differentiate the support functions one can get from a given source and seek fulfillment of other needs from other groups. Not to do so places a tremendous burdbn on the sole source of support and leads to disappointment and anger when one's needs are not met. A number of coping strategies that would serve to reduce the likelihood of burnout are open to the individual religious. Among the variables that reduce the severity of burnout are learning, meaning and significance, success and achieve-ment, and variety.~6 Learning and understanding and a healthy curiosity are basic motivators. In the stage of stagnation new learning can open the door to new aspects of one's work and prevent the sort of burnout that accompanies one's perception of being at a dead end. Learning need not involve formal instruction; an attitude of open- V~Glasser, W., Reality Therapy. New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1975, p. 30. ~SPines. A. M., and Aronson, E., op. cir., p. 124." ~Pines, A. M., and Aronson. E., ibid., pp. 143-144. Tedium and Burnout in l~eligious Ltfe/ 347 n~ss to new experience can serve to keep one interested and alert. ~, Finding or creating meaning and significance in one's work and life is essential. Without these ingredients one becomes apathetic, alienated from oneself and others. Viktor Franklt7 recognized this and incorporated the struggle of the mature person to find, meaning in life into his work Man's Search For Meaning. "Nothing succeeds like success" goes the old maxim and nothing can eliminate burnout more effectively than the acknowledgment of one's achievements. Reli-gious, perhaps more than others, need to learn to acknowledge and enjoy their own successes before pushing on to new challenges. Certainly the drive for success can be self-destructive if one becomes obsessed with competing and pushes for "success" in the absence of other rewards. Nevertheless the religious needs to learn to define areas of accomplishment in which he/she can take justifiable pride. Monotonous activities lead to tedium whether they be found in a work or a non-work situation. A sense of variety and interest, on the other hand, originating largely with the person can susiain one in the ministerial field. Variety need not be a matter of outside stimulation, although that is certainly useful, but can be achieved by an openness to the uniqueness of the people with whom one works or whom one serves. Other ways of seeking variety include job changes within one's field or more total changes that involve seeking a new path. The career changes taking place more and more often at mid-life reflect this desire for variety. One coping mechanism mentioned by Pines and Aronson~8 was the develop-ment of an attitude of detached concern, which they defined as a stance in which the empathic professional (or religious) is sufficiently detached or objective in his attitudes toward the client to exercise sound judgment and keep his/her equanim-ity, yet also have enough concern for the client to give sensitive, understanding service. To attempt such a stance requires a delicate sense of balance. It is a process phenomenon, not a static entity that once achieved is dever lost. The religious needs to discern the level of emotional involvement proper for each person/situa-tion he or she encounters, avoiding a draining, ineffectual overinvolvement on the one hand and a clinical coldness that dehumanizes on the other. Compartmentalization~ is another way suggested by Pines and Aronson~9 to keep a balance between energy invested in the work sphere and the energy invested in life outside of work. This is one area that may prove problematic as there are still many community situations in 'which the religious both work and live together. Situations such as these tend to foster the creation of the "small world" mentioned earlier, and negative feelings generated in one sphere tend to carry over into the other. Newer community structures have attempted to alleviate these difficulties by establishing residences that are not identified with one particular ~TFrankl, V. Man's Search.for Meaning. Boston: Beacon Press. 1963. ~Pines. A. M. and Aronson, E., op. cir., pp. 54-55. ¯ ~91bid., p. 164. ~1411 / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 form of ministry. The residents work at a variety of jobs and in'several differe~at locations and "come home" when their workday is ended. While no single living arrangement is perfect, one such as this does provide the individual religious with an opportunity to separate work demands from other aspects of his/her life. Perhaps the most important of the coping mechanisms open to the individual religious is that of "being good to oneself" or "doing to oneself as you have done to your client." Committed religious tend to burn out because they take on too much for too long and with too much intensity. To reduce the likelihood of burnout one needs an awareness of work stresses and a recognition of the danger signs. One also needs to acknowledge areas of vulnerability and put reasonable limits on one's work for there will always be more that could be done. in addition, one needs to set realistic goals, both long-term and short-term, and be willing to provide for one's own needs, treating oneself as a person with legitimate needs, taking time for prayer and pleasure and nourishing oneself so that there will be strength available to continue the service to which one is called, that with St. Paul one can state: ". my life is already being poured away as a libation . 1 have fought the good fight, 1 have run the race to the finish, I have kept the faith" (2 Tm 4:6-7). Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Ps 30:5. Morning Cometh A Quotella Weeping that weeps me far away May bring the night and end the day. Endure: For the human heart is a finite flask, A bottle whose meager store of tears Night and pain may cause to flow. But even as the last tear falls Joy, as the light, lifts my heart and so, Cometh the dawn. In balance must all things lie. The source of nighttime tears allow Morning to come at last somehow. C. Dell Turney 4108 Little Fairfield Eureka, CA 95501 Prayer As an Act of Justice Mary Lou Theisen, 1. H. M. Since September, Sister Mary Lou has been involved in the Active Spirituality program, located in Seton Hall of Mount St. Joseph College, Mount St. Joseph, OH 45051. This is what Yahweh asks of you: only this, to act justly. to love tenderly. to walk humbly with your God (Mi 6:8). In this simple statement uttered through the mouth of the prophet Micah, God reveals to us for all times the essence of religion. Religion, in the purity of its meaning, is not an ethic nor a multiplication of actions, but a way of life--an integral act lived out in the intggrity of one's being. In this single act there is no dichotomy between acting justly, loving tenderly or walking humbly before God: one element flows from and feeds into the others, finding its true mehning only in conjunction with them. The purpose of this article is to show how true prayer (walking humbly with God), entered into in the integrity of our being, not only leads to actions of justice, but is in itself an act of justice. In his Dictionary of the Bible,~ John McKenzie points out that the Hebrew word sedek, which we translate as justice, is a very complex term embracing the concepts of judgment and righteousness. It is sometimes translated as integrity and implies a right balance born of fidelity to the truth of what something or someone is supposed to be. To be just or to act justly in the biblical sense, therefore, is first of all to be judged righteous or to be justified by God. To seek justice is to seek salvation or justification in truth. To seek justice is to seek God. To act justly is to tMcKenzie, John L., Dictionary of the Btble (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing CO. 1965). 349 351~ / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 act out of the truth of who we and others are in the authenticity of our being. This truth is discovered ~nd entered into in times of solitude, in times of walking humbly with God, when we are unable to hide behind our actions, our words, or any of the multiple walls we so often build around our true self. It is in solitude that we are forced to come face to face with our sinfulness and inability to save ourself. In solitude we also experience God's willingness to forgive, his power and desire to save (justify) us and all people. Let us reflect for a while on Jesus, to see this reality present in his prayer/life. In Hebrews 5:7-9 we read: During his life on earth, he offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears to the one who alone had the power to save him from death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard. Although he ~vas son. he learned obedience through suffering: but having been made perfect, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation and was acclaimed by God with the title of high priest of the order of Melchizedek. St. Paul is here indicating that it was du.ring his time spent in intimate com-munion with his Father, in the solitude of the desert or on the hilltop, that Jesus came to realize and to accept who he was, to realize and to accept his call as the Messiah, the "Beloved Son," with all that this call meant for himself and for others. During these times of reflecting on what was happening in his own life in the light of the words of the prophets and psalms, Jesus came to the truth of his human condition as one destined for misunderstanding, betrayal, suffering, and a death from which he was unable to save himself: This is what I meant when I said, while 1 was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses. in the prophets and in the Psalms has to be fulfilled. He then opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and he said to them: So you see hoffit was written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead (Lk 24:44-47). More importantly, however, through his own reflections on Scripture, Jesus came to know and to trust in the truth of God's faithfulness which alone could and would justify him, and through him, all people: But now. thus says Yahweh: Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you: 1 have called you by your name. you are mine. Should you pass through the sea. 1 will be with you, or through rivers, they will not swallow you up. Should you walk through fire, you will not be scorched and the flames will not burn you. For 1 am Yahweh. your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior (Is 43: I-3). He said to me, You are my servant in whom I shall be glorified: while I was thinking, I have toiled in vain, I have exhausted myself for nothing: and all the while my cause was with Yahweh. my God was my strength. And now Yahweh has spoken, he who formed me to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him. to gather Israel to him (Is 49:3-5). This inner realization of who he was in truth and of the power of God's faithfulness working in and through him formed Jesus as an authentic person of justice, both in the biblical sense of one who receives his justification from God, and in practice. Being convinced in the core of his being that it was his Father's love and faithfulness which saved and justified him, Jesus could only act justly Prayer as an Act of Justice / 35"1 toward others for he knew that this gift of God's saving love was not meant for him alone: It is not enough for you to be my servant. 1 will make you the light of nations so my salvation may reach the ends of the earth (Is 50:6). I. Yahweh. have called you to serve the cause of right: I have taken you by the hand and formed you: I have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from prison and those who walk in darkness from the dungeon (Is 42:6-7). As Donald Senior states so well in his insightful book Jesus--a Gospel Por-trait2 (p. 138): "From his intimate life of prayer with his Father and from a powerful searching of Scriptures, Jesus had forged the basic convictions that animated his life and ministry. Basic convictions about God as loving Father and about love as fundamental bond of human relationships were joined to an unshakable integrity that translated principle into action.~ The gospels tell us that this action at times took the form of speaking out against the social injustices of his day. He especially denounced the so-called religious leaders, not as much for their smugness and legalistic interpretation of religion as for their inability to recognize God as a God of love and their own lack of love and compassion: "But alas for you pharisees! You who pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and overlook justice and the love of God" (Lk i 1:42). Jesus' conviction, born of his own reflection on Scripture and his own expe-rience, that God was a God of love whose love and salvation was gratuitously given to all--the just and the unjust, the clean and the unclean, the poor and the rich, the sinners and the outcasts as well as the good and self-righteous--led him not only to denounce the systemic injustices of his time, but more especially to live out of his conviction in his own daily encounters with others. He associated with the sinners, the outcasts, the sick, the poor, as well as with the rich and the righteous, showing by his very presence to them his acceptance and respect of them as individuals. By his gentleness, love and compassion for each one he offered them the experience of God's liberating and compassionate love for them, while always respecting their own integrity as persons and never forcing his vision on them (e.g., the rich you'ng man). It was precisely this attitude of Jesus toward others, his acceptance of sinner and righteous alike, which was the greatest affront to the religious leaders of his day for it contradicted their notion of religion: that one was saved by his own actions, by his minute observance of the law. Consequently, opposition toward Jesus and his teachings grew among the leaders. Jesus, well aware of this increas-ing hostility, was compelled to rely more and more on his Father's faithfulness to save him: Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say: Father. save me from this hour? But it was for this :Senior. Donald, C.P. Jesus, a Gospel Portrait (Dayton: Pflaum. 1975). 359 / Review for Religious, May-June 1982 very reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name (Jn 12:27-28)! Jesus' human struggle to accept his salvation from God and not from his own actions reached its peak in the garden when he pi'ayed in agony, "Father, if it is possible let this chalice pass. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine." This total surrender of his person to God's saving plan for him brought Jesus then to his ultimate moment of prayer--his death on the cross. At the moment of death, when, we are told, one's entire life passes before one's eyes and the dying person often speaks a.word which expresses not only what is being experienced at that moment, but which somehow summarizes an entire lifetime, it was not surprising that Jesus spoke from his heart the opening words of Psalm 22. This psalm, which must have been one on which Jesus meditated often during his life and especially at the end when he knew his death was imminent, truly summarizes his life and death experiences. Although spoken in a moment of extreme agony and intense feeling of being abandoned by God, the psalm is not one of despair, but one of ultimate trust in God's power and willingness to save him as his ancestors who had trusted in God had been saved: Yet. Holy One. you who make your home in the praises of Israel. in you our fathers put their trust. they trusted and you rescued them: they called to you for help and they were saved. they never trusted you in vaifi (3-5). It is a psalm of praise to the God who is already saving him in spite of all the evidence to the contrary: Do not stand aside, Yahweh. O my strength, come quickly to my help . Then I will proclaim your name to my brothers, praise you in the full assembly: you who fear Yahweh. praise him! Entire race of Jacob, glorify him! Entire race of Israel, revere him! For he has not despised or disdained the poor man in his poverty, has not hidden his face from him, but has answered him when he called ( 19, 22-24). In this moment of abandonment to the mercy of God who is already saving him in his faithfulness, Jesus is very aware that the meaning of his life and death is not only for his own justification but for that of all peoples: You are the theme of my praise in the Great Assembly. I perform my vows in the presence of those Who ~ar him. The poor will receive as much as they want to eat. Those who seek Yahweh will praise him. Long life to their hearts. The whole earth from end to end. will remember Prayer as an Act of Justice / 353 and come back to Yahweh: All the families of the nations will bow down before him. For Yahweh reigns, the ruler of nations! Before him all the prosperous of the earth will bow down, And my soul will live for him. my children will serve him: Men will proclaim the Lord to generations still to come, His righteousness (justice, salvation) to a people yet unborn. All this he has done (25-31)! Thus Jesus' greatest act of justice in the biblical, as well as the practical, sense occurred at the moment of his death. In that very act of surrender of all that he was to God's saving plan for him, he became justified himself and by that same act won justification for all peoples: Altho.ugh he was son, he learnt to obey through suffering, but having been made perfect, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation (Heb 5:8-9). ¯. in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins (Ep 1:7). What does this reflection on the prayer/life of Jesus have to say to us today as we strive to live an integrated life of prayer and justice? It means, first of all, that like Jesus we must learn to seek our own justification and that of others from God and not from our own actions, and to trust in his faithfulness to save us. Like Jesus, we must take time apart to reflect on our !ife in the light of Scripture and learn who we truly are and to what we have been called. In these times of quiet aloneness with God we will come to know ourselves in all of our weakness, sinfulness, and inability to save ourselves or anyone else. But, more importantly, we will also come to know who God is and in this light to know our true self as one already loved, forgiven, called and empowered by God through the blood of Jesus. As with Jesus, this inner conviction of who we are in truth and of the power of God's faithfulness working in and through us will form us as authentic persons of justici~ in the core of our being. Convinced of God's love and faithfulness which has already justified us by gratuitously forgiving our sinfulness in the blood of Jesus, we will be moved to act justly toward others. As with Jesus, this conviction will at times take the form of speaking out against the injustices of our day, of working to bring about a more just social order, and of supporting others who do this. In our daily life, it will affect ourattitude toward others, moving us to accept and affirm the integrity of each individual we encounter, for each has already been loved, forgiven and called to salvation by God. What greater act. of justice can we extend to another than to allow that person the space to discover and act out of his/her own authenticity as Jesus did with those he encountered', instead of forcing our vision on that person? Animated with the Spirit of Jesus we will, then, become."doers" of justice, of liberation in our world, each according to the call experienced in his/her honest encounter with God in prayer. However, like Jesus, in this very act of prayer itself, we will have .already entered into an act of justice. In coming before God in prayer we are acknowledg-ing our own inability~to save burselves and our need to be justified by God. In the 354 / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 act of surrendering ourselves in openness to God's power to save us, we enter into the death of Jesus, crying out as he did from our own emptiness for God's saving opresence in our life, while at the same time gratefully accepting the justification we have already received through God's faithftilness to Jesus on the cross. Since through our baptism, as St. Paul tells us, we have been baptized into this death of Jesus, our prayers of surrender, of praise, of trust and gratitude, our prayers for mercy--entered into in the integrity of who we are and of who God is--are an integral part of the prayer of Jesus on the cross. Our prayers are the prayers of the Just One who came to bring justice and truth to all people, and who continues to do so in and through each person who accepts salvation from God. The greatest articulation of this prayer is, of course, the Eucharist. Here we actually participate, with gratitude (Eucharist--thanksgiving), in the eternal act of justification won by Jesus on the cross and reenacted each day "for the glory of God's name, for our own good and for the good of all the world." Moreover, because this death of Jesus into which we have been baptized was for the justification of all people for all time, every prayer of a baptized person affects the whole world for it can never be said in isolation. "A final thing that needs to be said about prayer is that it is always corporate. We often distinguish between private and public prayer, and to an extent this distinction is valid. But whether private or public, Christian prayer is always common, communal, corpo-rate. All Christian prayer is to our Father. in prayer we are united with our brothers and sisters, whether we are alone in our closet or together in our com-munity: we are united to the whole church. The prayer of the community is not a collection of individual prayers: it is common prayer out of our common plight to our common Lord in our common hope. We pray as part of the communion of saints, joining the whole people of God in all history and around the globe."3 Thus, as a person baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus, and who has experienced in one's own life the love and saving power of God, the Christian is able to come before God in Jesus' name to offer to God in his/her own person all of the love and gratitude, the care, concern and work toward the establishment ¯ of the kingdom which is being experienced and lived out, knowingly or unknow-ingly, by every person in the world. As a person who experiences in one's own being sinfulness, selfishness, anger, frustration, fear and oppression of others, the baptized person can come before God as Jesus did on the cross, in behalf of the sinfulness of the world and cry out for mercy and forgiveness of sin for all people. As a person who experiences, even in times of prayer itself, emptiness, a search for meaning, boredom, ignorance, a feeling of rejection, a lack of faith and trust, the Christian can unite his/her own emptiness and need with the sufferings, the hunger and search for love and meaning, which exist among all people and, with them, accept his/her human condition and beg for salvation from God as Jesus did on 3Jen"nings. Theodore W., Jr., "Prayer, The Call for God." The Christian CentuG'. April 15, 1981, pp. 410-414. Prayer as an Act of Justice / 355 the cross. A baptized person can pray in this way, for in Jesus' Spirit we are all one before God. A call to pray in this posture is a call to be truly present in solidarity with all of humanity and all of creation which "still retains the hope of being freed, like us, from its slavery to decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God" (Rm 8:21). It is a call to become one with the joys, sorrows, struggles and sufferings of all people and to accept in faith the saving love of God, "our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins" (Ep 1:7), so as to constantly offer to God the thanksgiv-ing and praise due him in justice. A call to stand before God in this manner of prayer in the authenticity of one's being is then, in a very real sense, an act of justice on behalf of the whole world, for it is a sharing in the surrendering love of Jesus. who throughout his life and especially in his death accepted his justification and that of all people from God who alone can save us from death and bring us into the kingdom of truth and justice. An Apostolic Spirituality for the Ministry of Social Justice by Max Oliva, S.J. Price: $.50 per copy, plu~ postage. Address: Review for Religious Rm 428 3601 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63108 St. Ambrose's Theology of the Consecrated Virgin George E. Saint-Laurent Doctor Saint-Laurent, of the Department ~f Religious Studies at California State University (Fuller-ton). presented the content of this article as a paper to the American Academy of Religion. He may be addressed at the university. Fullerton. CA 92634. Occasionally we may observe that an individual was ahead of his or her time. More often we are scandalized that an earlier generation could have been so deaf to its prophets and so blind to its evils. The history of Christian thought discloses at least two persistent phenomena which have accompanied its dialectical development. First, when we human beings confront a dipolar aspect of the Christian mys-tery, we are almost irresistibly tempted to assume an either/or stance and opt for one extreme to the neglect of the other. We find it difficult to bear a truth which cannot be pressed into our neat categories but finds itself in a creative tension between two poles. And yet it is invariably in that delicate both/and position that Christian "catholicism" or "orthodoxy" has discovered its authentic home: both the divine and the human in both Christ and the Church, with full attention both to grace and to nature, both to faith and to reason, both to spirit and to matter. Second, since our very existence is historical, contextual, and societal, we human beings are predictably limited and conditioned by the foreshortened hori-zons of our own cultural world. As we attempt to interpret our experience in terms of Christ and make it intelligible, we find our perceptions to be prejudicial in their foci and linguistically determined in their expression. And yet the Christian believes that Christ, the subject of his or her faith, is uniquely and eternally one. We who come later can only sympathize with the giants of Christian antiquity, who, being human~ were incapable.of seeing every facet of the total Christian commitment in undistorted vision. Every Cho~stian (hinke,r risks the occupational St. Ambrose's Theology of the Virgin / 357 hazards of his enterprise: the unconscious bias, the unintentional obscurantism, the unnoticed dislocation of values, the quite innocent use of outrageously sexist, racist, or bigoted language, the accidental imbalance which is far more indebted to his or her concrete situation in this place at this time in the face of this crisis than it is to the actual data of Revelation. The purpose of this essay, is to investigate St. Ambrose's~ theglogy of the consecrated virgin, insofar as it emerges from his liturgical hymns and sermons. It is a view remarkably balanced and far less a victim of negative historical condition-ing than the portraits of his contemporaries 'in the Western Church. His was an era when Platonism, with its flight of the soul from the body, and Manichaeism, with its rejection of the human body and its sexuality as evil, were still significant intellectual currents, predisposing Christians to opt for spirit over (rather than with) matter. No less than a Jerome2 could exceed all bounds of good taste and propriety in his zealous promotion of virginity at the expense of female sexuality, marriage, and motherhood: No less than an Augustine3 could be so haunted by his own sexual confusion that he could grudgingly accept sex within marriage only if procreation were both physically possible and explicitly intended. Yet Ambrose, bishop of Mila'n, was able to nurture the highest esteem for consecrated virginity without denigrating the human body, disparaging females, or detracting from the goodness of Christian marriage.4 Unlike the vitriolic Jerome, torn as he was between a melancholic misogynism and an irrepressible delight in feminine companionship, Ambrose was able to insert into the Christian tradition a more humanistic appreciation of woman and her role. Unlike the self-alienated Augustine, torn as he was between an admira-tion for his mother Monica and a theological pessimism compounded by personal tragedy in his own sexual history, Ambrose was able to pass on a more integral and positive perspective. G. Tavard 'writes: "Ambrose was not only an enthusiastic promoter of the virginal life; he had also put forward what may well constitute the only profound theology of womanhood in the Latin world.~ ~For a life of St. Ambrose, see F. H. Dudden, The Ltfe and Times of St. Ambrose. 2 Vols. (Oxford: 1935): and A. Paredi, St. Ambrose: His L~fe and 7~mes. Tr. M. Costelloe (Notre Dame: 1964). 2On St. Jerome, see F: Murphy, Ed., A Monument to Saint Jerome (New York: 1952); and D. Wiesen, St. Jerome as a Satyrist (Ithaca: 1964). 3The literature on St. Augustine is vast. See, for instance, P. Brown, Augustine of Hippo (Berkeley: 1967); and G. Bonner, St. Augustine of Hippo: L~fe and Controversies (New York: 1963). 4This subject has been much studied in recent years. See, for example, R. Ruether, "Mothers of the Church: Ascetic Women in the Late Patristic Age," Women of Spirit: Female Leadership in the Jewish and Christian Traditions. Ed. R. Ruether and E. McLaughlin (New York: 1979) 72-98: and eadem, "Virginal Feminism in the Fathers of the Church." Religion and Sexism, Ed. R. Ruether (New York: 1974) pp. 150-183: M, Maxey, "Beyond Eve and Mary," Religion for a New Generation. 2d Ed., Ed. J. Needleman, et al. (New York: 1977) 264-277: D. Carmody, Women and Worm Religions (Nashville: 1979) 113-123: E. Clark and H. Richardson, Ed., Women and Religion: A Feminist Sourcebook of Christian Thought (New York: 1977), pp. 53-77. 5Tavard, Women in the Christian Tradition (Notre Dame: 1973), p. I00. 358 / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 It is important to realize just how critical the fourth century was in Church history. It was a period of transition from the. status of a despised and proscribed minority to that of a state religion professed and promoted by the Emperor himself and by most of his s.ubjects. During the era of persecution, only persons of heroic courage, high moral aspirations, and deep faith had been willing to embrace Christianity with its concomitant risk to life and property. Now, however, it had become a distinct advantage socially, economically, and politically to convert, and masses of "average" human beings sought admission. The inevitable consequence was a cooling of fervor, with a compromised commitment to the full implications of the Gospel. ~ in order to forestall unworthy "conversions," the Church instituted a lengthy catechumenate for testing and training candidates before their baptism at the Easter Vigil. In order to preserve her credibility as "The Holy Church," the author-ities created an even more exhaustive and lengthy system of "canonical penance" for the rehabilitation of public sinners who repented. But there was also a more private and individual response in the extraordinary development of asceticism. Previously it had been the martyrs who had constituted the ideal of Christian perfection. Because of their bloody sacrifice, they had been idealized as the perfect disciples who had mystically died in the Lord and could therd'ore anticipate a glorious resurrection in the same Lord. Now it had become the ascetics who achieved a "white" or spiritual martyrdom by their lives of seclusion, self-discipline, and consecrated celibacy. Women as well as men pursued the new ideal. One could retreat into the wilderness (either literally or figu.ratively), and, far from the scandalous vanity and corruption of urban life, die to oneself daily through prayer, fasts, vigils, and the consecration of one's personhood in celibacy. There were the eremitical and semi-eremiticai structures of Anthony as well as the fully cenobitical communities of Pachomius, Eustathios, and Basil the Great.6 There was the growing pressure upon priests to live celibately.7 And there were the convents for women associated with the names of Paula, Eustochium, the Melanias, and Macrina.8 On the other hand, some cohsecrated virgins simply lived privately with their parents or in their own homes or even in the homes of clergymen, although the latter practice was continuously deplored and condemned by ecclesiastical authori-ties. 9 The celebrated sister of Ambrose, Marcellina, for instance, lived with her 6See D. Chitty, The Desert a Ot)' (Oxford: 1960): C. Frazee, "Anatolian Asceticism in the Fourth Century: Eustathios of Sebastea and Basil of Caesarea," The Catholic Historical Review66(1980), pp. 16-33; G. Saint-Laurent, "St. Basil of Caesarea and the Rule of St. Benedict," Diakonia 16 (1981), pp. 71-79. 7See C. Frazee, "The Origins of Clerical Celibacy in the Western Church. Church Histor.v 41 (1972). pp. 149-167. 8See, for example, Gregory of Nyssa, Life of St. Macrina, Ed. V. Callahan. Vol, 8 in W. Jaeger (Ed.), Works (Leiden: 1952). 9See D. Bailey, The Man-Woman Relation in Christian Thought (London: 1959), p. 33. St. Ambrose's Theology of the Virgin / 359 mother and a companion in Rome. Since no convents appear to have been available at Milan, the virgins in Ambrose's care must have resided with their parents. Ambrose himself implies that the native Milanese virgins were relatively few in number, whereas young women came to Milan from Piacenza, Bologna, i~nd Mauritania to celebrate the-rite of consecration. A maiden would solemnly vow her chastity as a bride of Christ in the church before a bishop, with a ritual closely paralleling that of earthly marriage. Accord-ing to Roman custom, a bride was to wear the stola (a long outer garment), receive a fiery-coloredflammeum (her bridal veil) from the priest, and vow her fidelity to h~r bridegroom in the presence of witnesses. A virgin enteri.ng into mystical espousal with Christ also wore a stola and received the flammeum Christi to betoken her new state of life, but both were of somber color. She also pronounced her vow before witnesses, who in her case were the whole community publicly assembled to voice their approving "Amen." We do not know the actual formula of consecration invoked within the Mila-nese liturgy, but we may suppose that it would closely resemble the long preface of consecration to be found in the Gelasian Sacramentary, whose provenance is from Rome about a century later.~° Drawing upon several incidental references in the writings of Ambrose and others, F. H. Dudden reconstructs the general shape of the ceremony thus:' The congregation, at which the bishop himself was the officiating minister, was solemnized with much pomp on one of the great festivals--in the case of Marcellina on the Feast of Epiphany: more usually, however, at Easter, when it was attended by the newly baptized wearing their white robes and carrying lighted tapers. The bishop delivered an address to the' virgin, and offered a solemn prayer. The girl then publicly pledged herself to a life of chastity. Next the bishop took the veil, which had been lying on the altar, and placed it over her head, with the words, q wish to present you as a chastg virgin to Christ.' A benediction was then recited, to which the congregation responded 'Amen." At some point in the service Psalm xlv was chan!ed, and possibly some hymns in praise of virginity were sung." By virtue of her consecration, the "bride of Christ" became a special responsi-bility of her bishop, who was required to visit her regularly, open the Scriptures to her, and impart instructions to her about her duties of state. Although she was separated from the other women in the asseinbly by a screen, she was still believed to,possess a place of honor. Women would sometimes draw near to the enclosure in order to request the kiss of peace from consecrated virgins. As bishop of Milan, Ambrose fulfilled many roles which proved decisive for the later history of the Western Church. Defender of Nicene orthodoxy, champion of the Church's freedom from imperial control, channel of eastern theology to the ~0See I. Mohlberg. Ed. Liber Sacramentorum Romanae Aeclesiae Ordinis Anni Circufi (Sacramenta-rium Gelasianum). Rerum Ecclesiasticarum Documenta Series Major. Fontes IV (Rome: 1960). pp. 124-128. On the consecration of virgins, see P. Camelot. "Virginity." New Catholic Encyclopedia 14 (1967). pp. 702-703. ~tDudden. op. cir. p. 151. ~0 / Review for Religious, May-June, 1982 Latin world,!2 creator and reformer of public worship,Is spiritual father of the great Augustine: Ambrose was all of these and much more as one of the Four Great Latin Fathers.14 But the special object of Ambrose's pastoral concern throughout his years of episcopal service was the consecrated life. Ambrose has been called "The Father of Latin Hymnody.''1S Of the nineteen liturgical hymns which may be ascribed to him with greater or less certitude, five are directly pertinent to our subject, while a sixth holds.indirect interest. Since it is primarily through the sacred liturgy that Catholic and Orthodox Christians have always appropriated their beliefs and values, we may very well be confronting here effectual channels of Ambrosian thought far more significant on the popular level than any discourse could ever have been. Our first three hymns extol Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as the perpetually virginal woman who was nonetheless made marvelously fruitful by the interven-tion of God. A fourth hymn glorifies a popular virgin martyr. A fifth hymn praises Christ, the Spouse of virgins. Finally, our sixth hymn expresses the fundamental spirituality of the consecrated women. Ambrose is remembered as an enthusiastic admirer of the Blessed' Virgin, and he holds a preeminent place in the development of Mariolggy. In lain surgit hora tertia,16 a hymn composed for the liturgical hour of Terce, our poet recalls how Christ entrusted his mother to the Apostle John. The strophes pertinent to our investigation, together with this writer's English translation, are as follows: celso triumphi uertice matri Ioquebatur suae: en f!lius, mater, tuus, apostole, en mater tua. praetenta nuptae foedera alto docens mysterio, ne uirginis partus sacer matris pudorem laederet. From lofty pillar of triumph ¯ He was speaking to his mother: Mother, behold thy son, Apostle. behold thy. mother. Covenants of marriage pretended Taught he with deep mystery, Lest the sacred bearing of a virgin Cast hurt upon a mother's honor. The hymn Intende, qui regis Israel17 was intended "for the Christmas liturgy, and it was an ideal opportunity for Ambrose to blend two of his favorite themes: the glories of the Word Incarnate and the wonders of Christ's virginal conception and birth through Mary. Jesus and Mary are praised together from the second stanza through the fifth. The text, together with this writer's translation, follows: ~2See Saint-Laurent, "St. Ambrose and the Eastern Fathers," Diakonia 15 (1980), pp. 23-31. t3See idem. "St. Ambrose as Channel of Eastern Liturgical Customs to the West," Diakonia 13 (1978), pp. 101-110. t4Together with Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great. tSFor example, see M. McGuire, "Ambrose. St.," New Catholic Encyclopedia I (1967). p. 375; R. Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry (London: 1874), pp. 87-88: F. Raby, A Histoo, of Christian Latin Poetry 2d. Ed. (Oxford: 1953). pp. 32-36. ~rFor a critical text, see W. Bulst, Ed., Hymni latiniantiquissimi." LXXV Psalmi II (Heidelberg: 1956), p. 41. ~TFor a ~ritical text, see ibid., p. 43. St. Ambrose's Theology of the Virgin / 361 uenL redemptor gentium. ostende partum uirginis, miretur omne saeculum, tails decet partus deo. non ex uirili semine, sed mystico spiramine uerbum dei faetum est earo fructusque uentris floruit. aluus tumescit uirginis, claustrum pudoris permanet, uexilla uirtutum micam, uersatur in templo deus, proeedat e thalamo suoo pudoris aula regia, geminae gigans substantiae, ¯ alacris oecurrat uiam. Come, redeemer of the nations, Demonstrate a virgin's bearing, Let all the world be moved with wonder, So great a bearing befits our God. Not from human instigation, But from mystic inspiration Word of God did flesh become And fruit of womb did flower. Swollen grows a virgin's womb, Door of chastity remains, Virtues' beacons glitter forth, Engaged is God within his temple. ¯ Springs forth he from nuptial chamber, Royal palace of chaste modesty Giant of twofold nature he, Speedily runs he his course. The claustrum pudoris permanet of the fourth strophe is strikingly similar to phrases in Ambrose's De institutione virginis,~8 and expresses a doctrinal concern important to him: the virginity of Mary before, during, and after the birth of Jesus. Ambrose refers to the womb of Mary as aula regali uteri virginalis in that same work,!9 and g~es on to state: "Aula regialis is the virgin, who is subject not to man but to God alone." The hymn Inluminans altissimus2° is a hymn written for the observance of Epiphany, with its threefold orientation towards Jesus' baptism in the Jordan, his manifestation to the Magi, and his first miracle at Cana. Our immediate interest is focused upon the third stanza, the text of which follows, together with the present writer's translation: seu stella partum uirginis caelo micans signauerit et hoc adoratum die praesepe magos duxerit, A star shining from heaven Will have shown a virgin's giving birth And on this day will have led The Magi to adore the crib. Christ, "the most high Enlightener," has beenborn of a virgin, and so a radiant star in turn becomes a sign, bathing the crib in its light for the Magi to see. From the preceding three passages it is evident that Ambrose d~lights in dwelling upon Mary's perpetual, yet fruitful, virginity. Mary is the womanly model of the consecrated virgin par excellence, and her miraculous conception of Jesus by the power of. the Holy Spirit constitutes a quasi-paradigmatic event. The consecrated virgin, may approach the regal dignity of Mary through her own state of life, and so become spiritually in her own body a royal palace for God. The divine maternity is a privilege unique to Mary, of course, yet her self-donation to ~Ambrose. De institutione virginis 8.52 (PL 16.320). ~91bid. 12.79 (PL 16.324). 20For a critical text. see Bulst. op. cit. p. 45. 362 / Review for Religious, May-June 1982 God is imitable. Ambrose suggests that the Word can mystically enter into union with the consecrated Virgin for spiritual fruitfulness in the service of others. Our fourth hymn, Agnes beatae uirginis,2t was composed especially for a litur-gical celebration of the Feast of St. Agnes (January 21). It is effectively a poetic paraphrase of a sermon of Ambrose wherein he recounts the martyrdom, of this famous young maiden, a homily which he actually preached for that feast and which is found in his De virginibus.2~ The bishop's basic theme is praise for the valor of a maiden who willingly died as a witness to her faith in Christ. In the first stanza, Ambrose announces that it is the feastday of Agnes, who consecrated her virginity through martyrdom. In the second stanza, our author marvels'that such a child, too young for marriage, should nonetheless be suffi-ciently mature to give her life in testimony--and that at a time when even adults were wavering in the" face of persecution. In succeeding stanzas, Ambrose narrates the story which his audience knew so well. Agnes deliberately sought out martyr-dom, and presented herself as a bride about to meet her Heavenly Bridegroom, her mystic dowry being her very blood. When commanded to offer idolatrous wor-ship, she condemned the altar-fire and promise, d to exiinguish it with her blood. In concluding stanzas, our poet dwells upon Agnes' dignity upon the deathblow, as she drew her garments about herself in chaste modesty. The entire hymn is significant for our purpose, and so all eight'strophes, together with this writer's translation, are here reproduced: Agnes beatae uirginis natalis est, quo spiritum caelo refudit deb#um pio sacrata sanguine. matura maro,rio fuit matura nondum nuptiis, nutabat in uiris fides, cedebat e.ffessus senes. metu parentes territi claustrum pudoris auxeram soluit fores custodiae .tides teneri nescia. prodire quis nuptum putet, sic laeta uultu ducitur, nouas uiro.ferens opes dotata censu sanguinis. aras ~fandi numinis adolere taedis cogitur, respond#: baud tales faces sumpsere Christi uirgines. hic ignis extinguit fidem, Of the blessed virgin Agnes It is the bi~'thday, on which she Poured back her spirit owed to heaven ' Consecrated b~ her faithful blood. Mature was she for martyrdom ' Though for marriage not yet mature, Faith was faltering among men, Conceding old men to be weak. Terrified by fear her parents Had provided a prison of shame Faith dissolved the gates of custody Not knowing how to be,restrained. One might think her advancing to wed So~,joyful in countenance is she led Bringing new wealth to her bridegroom With dowry of her blood endowed. Altars of a devilish god by Tortures she is pressed to worship, Answers she: Not such fires Have Christ's virgins chosen. This flame blots out the faith, For a critical text, see ibid., p. 46. -'~Ambrose, De virginibus 1.25-29 (PI. 16.-189-190). ~ St. Ambrose's Theology of the Virgin / 363 haec flamma lumen eripit. hic hic ferite, ut profluo eruore restinguam focos. percussa quam pompam tulit ham ueste se Iolam lege?ls curare pudoris praestitit, ne quis retectam cerneret. in morte uiuebat pudor uultumque texerat manu, terram genu flexo petit lapsu uerecundo cadens. This fire extinguishes the light. Here destroy me, here, that with Spilt blood I may quench the flames. Struck down what splendor she showed For covering her total person She displayed her care for modesty Lest anyone should see her unclothed. In her death, chastity was living As with hand she veiled her face, With bent knee she besought the earth Falling forward with modest movement. Ambrose was resolutely incarnational, not only in his doctrinal convictions, but also in his pastoral instincts. For him, the cult of the martyrs--like the cult of the virgin--was but an obvious implicate of any sound and balanced Christology. Grace could transfigure the material, the earthy, and the human into a sacramental epiphany of the spiritual, the. heavenly, and the divine. It was inevitable that Ambrose shot~ld exploit the

Issue 52.6 of the Review for Religious, November/December 1993. ; Review for Religious (ISSN 0034-639X) is published bi-monthly at Saint Louis University by the Jesuits of the Missouri Province. Editorial Office: 3601 Lindell Boulevard ¯ St. Louis, Missouri 63108-3393. Telephone:314-535-3048 ° FAX: 314-535-0601 Manuscripts, books for review, and correspondence with the editor: Review for Religious ¯ 3601 Lindell Boulevard ° St. Louis, Missouri 63108-3393. Correspondence about the Canonical Counsel department: Elizabeth McDonough OP ° 5001 Eastern Avenue ¯ P.O. Box 29260 Washington, D.C. 20017. POSTMASTER Send address changes to Review for Religious ° P.O. Box 6070 ° Duluth, MN 55806. Second-class postage paid at St. Louis, Missouri, and additional mailing offices. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Single copy $5 includes surface mailing costs. One-year subscription $15 plus mailing costs. Two-year subscription $28 plus ~nailing costs. See inside back cover for more subscription information and mailing costs. ©1993 Review for Religious review for religious Editor Associate Editors Canonical Counsel Editor Ass#tant Editors Advisory Board David L. Fleming SJ Philip C. Fischer SJ Michael G. Harter SJ Elizabeth McDonough OP Jean Read Mary Ann Foppe Joann Wolski Conn PhD Mary Margaret Johanning SSND Iris Ann Ledden SSND Edmundo Rodriguez SJ Sefin Sammon FMS Suzanne Zuercher OSB Christian Heritages and Contemporary Living NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1993 ¯ VOLUME 52 ¯ NUMBER 6 contents 806 feature Religious Life and Conversion Language Dennis J. Billy CSSR provides a language of conversion so that religious might more readily integrate their individual lives with their corporate existences. 817 828 835 842 spirituality Are We Relating to God in a New Way? Gerald M. Fagin SJ proposes five polarities which are always present in our spiritual lives. Desire, Asking, and Answers A. Paul Dominic SJ emphasizes the importance of praying from our desires by exampleg from the Bible. Companionship Spirituality in Ruth Judette A. Gallares RC explores covenantal faith through the symbol of companionship portrayed between Ruth and Naomi. The Spirituality of Surrender John P. Mossi SJ proposes three models of a spiritual surrender-ing as a means of coming home to God. 849 865 ecumenism The Ecumenical Vocation of Religious Jeffrey Gros FSC highlights the importance of ecumenical for-mation and collaboration for women and men religious. The Religious Call of Ecumenism Jude D. Weisenbeck SDS suggests ways in which the needs of the ecumenical movement can well be met by the resources of religious communities. 802 Reviezv for Religious 870 875 ministry Frustrations--Jesus' Ministry and Ours James Martin SJ seeks a fresh perspective on dealing with frustra-tions arising from ministry to the poor. Jesuit Spirituality and Catholic Higher Education Claude N. Pavur SJ stresses the importance of an Ignatian spiritu-ality, invigorating the efforts of educators in the Jesuit tradition. poverty 886 Option for the Poor: God's Pedagogy Marcello Azevedo SJ analyzes the meaning and life-applications of the phrase "option for the poor" in terms of our faith. 893 Who Evangelizes Whom? The Poor Evangelizers John F. Talbot SJ explores the evangelizing potential of the poor. 898 a life of promise Two Cheers for Celibacy William McDonough clarifies the meaning of prie, stly celibacy by combining Robert Bellah's use of institution and Thomas Aquinas's moral vision. 911 Charismatic Renewal and Consecrated Life 920 Susan Rakoczy IHM reflects from a r~ligious-life experience of twenty-five years on the blessings of the charismatic renewal in regard to consecrated life. Death as a Community Event Annette Frey SC shares the stqry of a friend's illness and death as an integrating factor in community life. departments 804 Prisms 927 Canonical Counsel: Lumen Gentium's Chapter 6: Religious 933 Book Reviews 951 Indexes to Volume 52 November-December 1993 803 prisms ~oho are the people by whom you have been most influenced? Many of us must at one time or another have tried to answer this question for ourselves or at the inquiry of others: Precisely which people have strongly influenced my life? Some may quickly name their fathers and mothers; others go on to name favorite teachers or special friends. Still others may name people in world affairs or in the worlds of sports, the arts, or medicine. Probably not very many of us spontaneously turn to the men and women whom the church has declared holy and named as outstanding members of the communion of saints. Yet the reason why the church calls our attention to these people is to allow us to see in other followers of Christ what we hope to become. Just as the church of the Eastern rites emphasizes icons that give us a glimpse of the world of the holy, so the Latin-rite church proposes the study of the lives of ~aints so that we may be inspired by them and formed and then moved along a path of holiness as Jesus' apostles. Perhaps at one time many of us did not appreciate how the more medieval theology of mediators needed updating like so many timebound ways of expressing our faith and its practices--the process mandated by Vatican II. Now it seems that we stand more ready for and in need of the kind of influence which our fellow Christians, can-onized and otherwise esteemed, can exercise in ore: lives. No longer do we, almost superstitiously, look to Mary or other chosen saints for special favors. Instead we take our direction from the Vatican II understanding and descrip-tion of Mary's place in the communion of saints under the 804 Review for Religious specially privileged titles of mother and first disciple. And so we look to our favorite men and women saints particularly in their relationship to us as brothers and sisters and as our fellow disci-ples. If Christians in general are exhibiting a greater need for this kind of influence in their devotional lives, even more might men and women religious look to the holy ones special to their con-gregations for living the kind of discipleship charismatically appro-priate to their following of Christ. ~;Vhether it be the contemporary retelling of saints' lives or recapturing their spirit in new artistic portrayals or recovering prayers of theirs that are appropriate to our times--there still are ways for holy men and women to touch us in our daily living. We may more readily find light coming to us in dark moments of our experience from the uncovered lamp of these human lives than from any theoretical studies or documents. We may also find ourselves more energized for entering into the evangelizing mission of Jesus through the radiance of their inspiration and example. Probably even more surprising than our slowness in naming saints as major influences in our lives is the not infrequent omis-sion of even the name Jesus. As we enter into the Advent and Christmas seasons, maybe more fully than Jesus being "the reason for the season," we might say that the reason for the season is for us to remind ourselves that Jesus is the unique influence upon our lives all year long. Jesus is the one who has influenced how we live, how we pray, how we interact, how we die. Jesus is the one who calls us to a way of following; Jesus is the Teacher, and we all remain the lifelong learners, the ones in continuing formation. Perhaps we need to ask ourselves another question. Is it true that for us not to name Jesus as the great influence of our lives is more than just a memory slip? Does our answer uncover for us that our everyday, busy lives are being spent on behalf of lesser gods than the God Incarnate? The question is worth more than a Christmastime reflection. That the peace and grace of God, Emmanuel, be richly yours is the wish of all the staff of Review for Religious. David L. Fleming SJ November-December 1993 805 DENNIS J. BILLY Religious Life and Conversion Language The crisis faced by many of today's religious goes beyond the breakdown of their founding myths and the resulting lack of purpose in their corporate existences. While many (I daresay most) are at least peripherally aware of having lost in recent years something of great importance for their lives as professed religious, they usually have no idea whatsoever of how to retrieve it or what to put in its place. Nor are they very articulate about just what it is they have lost and why precisely they want it back. Confronted by their own aging, a steady flow of ygunger members from their ranks, and fewer and fewer vocational prospects, many have become disillusioned and desire some sort of immediate respite from their mount-ing misfortunes. They pursue it in any number of ways. Some display a nostalgic desire for the not too distant past--"the good old days," as.they are called, which were probably never quite so good as they now seem. Others resign themselves passively to their "inevitable corporate extinction," an increasingly attractive choice for many. Still others sink deeper and deeper into the quagmire of confusion and doubt about the relevance of religious life in the postmodern world--which does nothing but com-pound an already complex and. difficult situation. Regardless of the motivations behind them or their point Dennis J. Billy CSSR is author of the recently published Evangelical Kernels: A Theological Spirituality of Religious Life (Mba House, 1993). His address is Accademia Alfonsiana; Via Merulana, 31; C.P. 2458; 00100 Rome; Italy. 806 Review for Religious of origin, none of these responses are adequate to the crisis at hand. In order to move forward, today's religious must choose a path other than that of denial and escape. At this critical point of their history, what they need is a language of conversion that will enable them to give an honest account of themselves, will help them to integrate their private lives with their corporate existences, and will show them how they, as a group, can con-front the cynical doubts that writhe beneath the surface of their professional respectability. Conversion Language A language of conversion must speak to both the mind and the heart. It must make sense to.people in a way that will satisfy their intellectual longings. It must also motivate them to exanaine their situation in life with renewed strength and vigor--as if with dif-ferent eyes. More importantly, it must reshape their interpretation of experience so that, through the action of divine grace, they see their denial for what it is and then find it possible to realign their personal powers of commitment with those of the religious insti-tute to which they belong. Only from such a realignment will dusty and creaky institu-tional structures and the people who stubbornly inhabit and main-tain them have any hope of being refurbished for a brighter future. Failure to achieve this renewal of human heart and human social structure will result only in more of the same problem: individ-ualism amid corrosive social ills; continuing loss of confidence in and commitment to one's religious community; the persistence of the "double life" syndrome that has plagued so many first-world congregations since the Second Vatican Council. By most assessments, the very future of religiou~ life is at stake. The thesis is clear: the circular relationship between individ-ual and corporate change must come to the fore in any further dis-cussions about authentic conversion, particularly with respect to those who have dedicated their lives to following the evangelical counsels. "The whole cannot be understood without its parts; nor the parts without the whole." This fundamental problem of inter-pretation-- the so-called hermeneutical problem--lies at the root of the present crisis in religious life. To deal with it effectively, a language of conversion must address both the individual and the November-December 1993 807 Billy ¯ Religious Life and Conversion Language group, as well as their ongoing mutual relationship. It can do so, however, only if it encompasses (1) a sound Christian anthropol-ogy that stresses the dignity of human persons on every level of their existence, (2) a persuasive philosophical link between the personal and the corporate wholes, and (3) a recognition of its own inherent limitations with a corresponding openness to the re-creative presence of God. Without these important ingredi-ents of change, no language of conversion, regardless of how elo-quent or comprehensive it may appear, will be adequate to the enormous task at hand. A Sound Christian Anthropology The connotations of the phrase "a sound Christian anthro-pology" need some explaining. An "anthropology" may be described as a specific and coordinated assessment of human exis-tence. It is "Christian" insofar as it receives its inspiration from the insights of Christian traditions. To the extent that there are numerous interpretations of the meaning of Christianity, there are also varying Christian anthropologies. In this essay, a "sound" Christian anthropology is understood as one which integrates four fundamental dimensions of human existence: the physical, the rational (or mental), the spiritual, and the social. All of these are found ih the teaching of St. Paul and are made explicit in the juxtaposition of his doctrine of the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12- 31) and the tripartite understanding of the person found in such verses as this: "May the God of peace make you perfect in holi-ness. May he preserve you whole and entire, spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body (soma), irreproachable at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Th 5:23). Together these verses express the Pauline understanding of the complexity of human existence and qualify as a solid basis for further theological reflection. Of what do these basic dimensions consist? People's spirit (pneuma) is the deepest part of their being. It yearns for God with unutterabl.e groanings (Rm 8:23) and has the potential to be lifted up into intimate communion with the very Spirit of God. Ever elusive and difficult to describe, it is that aspect of human exis-tence which affirms each human person as capax Dei, that is, capa-ble of God. People's soul (psyche), by contrast, is their animating principle of life. It encompasses, not only the rational, but also the emotive, nutritive, and reproductive sides of human existence. 808 Review for Religious Rational activity, the soul's highest and noblest function, enables people to wonder about the meaning of life and to think criti-cally about its problems. People's bodies (somata) are the material extension of their existence. Unlike the Pauline term for "flesh" (sarx), which has close associations with a life of sin leading to death, soma can be used for good or for ill and is hence a morally neutral concept. Finally, people's social dimension is a constituent part of their anthropological makeup. A human per-son. arises out of and exists in a social context and cannot be understood apart from it. For Christians, the primary social arena in which they live out their lives is that of the Body of Christ as it exists in its various expressions such as the family, the parish, the diocese, and the church universal. The interrelated nature of these various dimensions of human existence cannot be stressed highly enough. Spirit does not exist apart from a person's body, soul, and social relationships-- nor vice versa. Not one of them can be separated and treated in isolation from the others, as if a person were an arti-ficial composite of four disparate parts. A continuous and unbroken anthropo- For Christians, the primary social arena in which they live out their lives is that of the Body of Christ as it exists in its various expressions such as the family, the parish, the diocese, and the church universal. logical relationship exists among all of them. So strong are these bonds that not even death can sever them completely and pre-vent their ongoing functioning. To do so would mean the ulti-mate dissolution of the human person and the corresponding passage from being to nonbeing which the Christian faith so strongly rejects as a possibility of human destiny. That is not to say that a certain priority of relationships does not exist among these various anthropological factors: spirit relates to soul as soul to body. Balanced and healthy relationships among these affect the way in which a person interacts with others. A sound social environment, in turn, produces profound healing effects on a per-son's bodily, spiritual, and mental well-being. This circular rela-tionship is important for understanding the present crisis of religious life, which now can be understood as involving not only November-Deconber 1993 809 Billy ¯ Reli~ous Life and Conversion Language the vast array of dysfunctional social structures, but also a deeper relational imbalance operative on the most basic levels of human existence. Linking the Personal and the Corporate Social structures are both products of the mind and a means through which human intelligence and human spirit are shaped. ' When functioning according to justice, they give all people their due and educate them in virtue. At other times they work to the benefit of a privileged elite at the expense of an oppressed under-class. The interests of justice are not adequately served when existing social structures help to perpetuate a mentality of control that legitimizes the unjust treatment of other human beings. Such structures are sinful and need to be changed. When they are not (as can be the case in religious life), it may very well be simply because those involved feel overwhelmed by the immensity of the task before them. Such feelings can easily lead people to a sense of helplessness or even indifference about their ability to influence their surrounding social structures. An implicit dualism then arises in the private and social spheres of religious life: individuals grad-ually lose ownership of their ruling structures; the latter go on unchallenged more out of a paralyzing lack of interest than any-one's stubborn resistance to change. One way to overcome this implicit dualism is to introduce the related concepts of microcosm and macrocosm into the cur-rent vocabulary of religious life. Rooted in the primitive Greek idea of the human person as a small-scale model of the cosmos, this distinction was eventually adapted by Plato as a way of describing the relationship of individuals to the society (see Republic, 441c). According to this adjusted version, the underlying structure of human society is nearly the same as that of the human soul. The rational element corresponds to the republic's govern-ing class; the irascible (or spirited), to its martial orders; the con-cupiscible, to its productive masses. As "the human soul writ large," society offers individuals not only a particular place in the " social hierarchy, but also the opportunity of seeing themselves projected onto the collective whole. Individuals find their reflec-tion in the whole; the whole, in the individual. Plato's application of the microcosm/macrocosm distinction is not relevant in all its details to religious life in its contemporary 810 Review for Religious ¯ Western setting. His assertion, however, of an underlying struc-tural continuity between individuals and the society to which they belong has much to its credit: (1) it preserves the circular rela-tionship between individual and social functions; (2) it allows for certain structural similarities between human beings and their primary social environment; and (3) it maintains the distinctive-ness of individuals in the face of the larger community. When combined with the Christian anthropology outlined in the pre-vious section (as opposed to the Platonic one with which it is nor-mally associated), this seminal idea can help individuals in today's religious communities to regain their sense of identity with the larger whole. The analogy would go something like this: both the human person and the religious community possess spiritual, mental, physical, and social dimensions. The relationships among the various dimensions within the human person are proportion-ate to those in the religious community (for example, human spirit / human soul = community spirit / community soul, and so forth). Cross references also remain proportionate, but only with regard to corresponding terms (that is, human spirit /communal spirit = human soul / community soul, and so forth). In all cases the rule of proper proportionality applies (a/b = a'/b'). The strength of this approach is that it maintains a fundamental continuity between the underlying anthropological structure of individuals and that of their religious community. And it is able to do so even when taking into account the limitations of the language it uses to describe the quiet, abiding presence of God in the life of the . community. The Silent Presence of Grace One of the underlying dangers in the current discussion about the future of religious life is the tendency to substitute lengthy theories for the simplicity of God's intervening grace. Uneasiness about their present situation in life has led many religious into a quest for the perfect plan that will explain in fine detail (1) why they find themselves in their present situation, (2) how they can get themselves out of it, and (3) where they should be going. Search as they may, they will inevitably end up frustrated. No magic elixir of man-made theories can satisfy expectations of such exalted heights. To achieve its ends, a theory of refounding or revitalization must place God, not itself, atthe center of attention. November-Deconber 1993 811 Billy ¯ Religious Life and Conversion Language To do so, it must first recognize that conversion on any level--the personal, the communal, the societal--comes directly from God's own initiative. And since God is not limited to the narrow confines of human theorizing, the theory in question can propose nothing but one of many possibilities of how God's transforming action may occur. By placing itself on the periphery (not at the center) of divine action, such a theory acknowledges its inherent limita-tions and places itself more readily at the disposal of God's re-creative activity. "The wind blows where it wills" (Jn 3:8). The movement of God's grace is capable of transforming both individuals and the social structures they inhabit. What God does or how is not always discernible to the human eye. What is important in any of life's sit-uations-- and, in this case, in the present crisis facing many reli-gious communities--is that people (both as individuals and as a group) expand their awareness of God working quietly in the cir-cumstances of their daily lives. Where is God in the present cri-sis facing religious life? What is God saying in the graying of once thriving religious communities, in their steady loss of younger members, in their failure to attract vocations, and in their overall decline in numbers? Why does God permit the cur-rent lack of identity and firmness of purpose which characterizes so many of today's religious communities? Where is God lead-ing them--if at all? And to serve what purpose? When sincerely reflected upon, such questions lead people either to affirm or deny God's active involvement in their own life and in the life of " their religious community. The answer, however, may not end up in the shape of a simple yes or no. In a matter of faith, a believer's response must involve more than a facile determination of whether God is with this particular community or has abandoned it. Such a reply may evade the issue altogether. An authentic outpouring of God's grace will foster a deep sense of listening in the life of a religious community. Most peo-ple, religious included, are more ready to give their own opinion than to hear that of another. They are usually so heavily interested in what they themselves have to say that they talk past those around them or, at best, tolerate what is said until the next oppor-tunity arises for them to speak. What passes for conversation is often nothing more than a continuous chain of vaguely connected monologues. Such is not the case with God, the preeminent lis-tener, nor should it be the case of those stirr.ed by the free gift of 812 Review for Religious grace. Those who listen carefully--to their own hearts, to those around them, to the needs of the community, and to those outside the community--are able to discern more clearly the voice of God in their own lives. When they nurture this quiet witness of faith, religious create a space in their community where others know that their presence will be gratefully recognized and their stories listened to with interest. To empty oneself so that others may be heard is an important quality in authentic Christian living. The language of conversion cannot be spoken, let alone heard, apart from the re-creative silence of God's transforming grace. R.eligious and the Language of Conversion The rudiments of an authentic language of conversion are now in place: a sound Christian anthropology, a way of bringing together individuals and corporate wholes, and a recognition of God's creative initiative in the process of conversion. The inte-gration of these elements and their use as an active, functioning language will enable religious to find greater insight into their present difficulties and will lead them to a deeper awareness of the proper course of action to be taken. To further advance this claim, a number of observations are in order: 1. A language of conversion such as the one suggested above will challenge religious to remove the "problem solving" glasses that regularly color their current outlook. Rather than poring over "what must we change in order to secure our institutional viability," they will focus on questions about the authenticity of their reli-gious lives. A religious community, in other words, turns its life more completely over to God, not out of any ulterior motives (for example, to get more vocations, to stem the exodus of disenchanted members), but simply because that is what God asks of them. 2. Religious need to examine, in their common spiritual out-look, the relationship they maintain between "being" and "action." Informed by an anthropology that draws strong bonds between the bodily, mental, spiritual, and social dimensions of human exis-tence, they will be more apt to be sensitive to how their actions-- both private and corporate--are expressions of who they are and sensitive as well to how their actions affect their being as human persons. 3. Religious must articulate in their daily lives a deeper appre-ciation of the basic human elements of community living. November-December 1993 813 Billy ¯ Religious Life and Conversion Language Membership in a religious congregation involves more than mere physical presence. It also entails a shared commitment to common goals and values, a general sense of how these ends are to be achieved, the fostering of community spirit, and a network of sound spiritual and social ties. Since these elements are them-selves all intimately related, care must be taken that members manage to relate well on all of them. Structures must be set in place to facilitate this process. 4. Particular emphasis should be given to the community's spiritual well-being. Just as the spirit is the deepest part of the human person--that part which yearns for God and which affirms oneself as capax Dei--so too is it the truest, most authentic part of the religious community. When the spirit of a religious commu-nity suffers, the other dimensions cannot help being affected. Efforts must be made to heal the wounded spirit of religious com-munity life. Among other things, this will mean working through such difficult issues as human intimacy, vocational crises, mourn-ing the loss of members, and dealing constructively with members who display dysfunctional and addictive behaviors. Only through healing of the spirit of religious community life is there any hope of recovery. 5. One way of healing a community's wounded spirit is for its members to reserve time and community space for genuine listening. By being attentive to the words of others--the stories they tell, the experiences they wish to share--people enter into the thick of life and allow for the possibility of God's presence to break into ordinary daily events. When a religious community fosters this attitude of respect for the need of people to share themselves openly without feeling threatened, it begins to go beneath the superficial ways of relating by which its members all too often relate hardly at all. One of the great sins of religious life is that people can live together for years and barely know each other. 6. It is also sad that a person can live the religious life for yea~rs without ever developing a close relationship with God. Addressing this problem, the language of conversion places God at the center of attention. The whole purpose of life, and of reli-gious life especially, is for a person to enter into a deep and last-ing friendship with God. This purpose must not be lost sight of in discussions about the future of religious life. Religious vow to live the evangelical counsels in order to walk more closely along 814 Revie~ for Religious the way of the Lord Jesus. They do so, if for no other reason, in order to enter more closely into union with him and the One who sent him. 7. People cannot know God, however, if their spirit (or the spirit of the community, for that matter) does not commune with the Spirit of God in the quiet groves of contemplation. Many religious, unfortunately, have forgotten all about what it means to seek the Lord in prayer. Having lost the incentive to pray, they merely go through the motions of living out their evangelical commitments; their lives, as a result, can easily become devoid of all meaning. Religious need to see through the self-deceptions that have gradually led them to compromise their vows. To retrieve the meaning of their religious life, they must return to a balanced regimen of prayer whereby they can gather in God's name and continually invoke the divine presence. 8. Finally, no one undergoes conversion outside a specific community environment. Religious must develop a keen sense of boundary definition that will enable them to distribute their time appropriately between their own religious community and the people they serve in the apostolate. While benefiting from the authentic sharing that goes on within their communities (an essential priority of a well functioning community), they must take care not to become inordinately introspective and so lose all desire to reach beyond their immediate circle. The apostolic orientation of all religious communities (even those with a strictly contem-plative lifestyle) must always remain a primary concern. With this orientation religious supported and energized by their communi-ties will be able--both individually and together--to do great work for both the church and for society at large. Just as the spirit is the deepest part of the human person-- that part which yearns for God and which affirms oneself as capax Dei--so too is it the truest, most authentic part of the religious community. Conclusion The present crisis in religious life is largely a lack of balance between the individual and the community. In many respects the November-December 1993 815 Billy ¯ ReIigious Life and Conversion Language crisis is a scaled-down version of the age-old philosophical prob-lem of the one and the many, an issue which has always lurked behind the scenes of Western philosophical thought and which remains, even today, largely unresolved. In recent years the pen-dulum has swung from one extreme to the other, with the indi-vidual being either submerged in the collective (as was often the case before Vatican II) or much removed from it (as has often occurred since the council). While nearly everyone agrees that a healthy balance needs to be struck, there is little consensus con-cerning just what must be done to achieve it. These pages have used certain categories from the Western religious and philosophical traditions in an effort to nudge reli-gious communities gently toward a prudent--even though pre-carious- balance. The categories include (1) a Pauline anthropology that emphasizes the four basic dimensions of human existence (spiritual, mental, bodily, and social), (2) a philosophi-cal link between individual and corporate wholes (the micro-cosm/ macrocosm distinction of the ancient Greek philosophers), and (3) a deepened awareness of the inherent limitations of lan-guage (and by extension all theories) with a corresponding focus on the creative initiative of divine grace. While none of these cat-egories are entirely disregarded in current discourse about reli-gious life, rarely have they been used in conjunction with one another and certainly not in what has been termed "a language of conversion." By assimilating these categories of conversion, religious can begin to change some of their dysfunctional ways of relating and nurse some of the open wounds that their communities now endure. First of all, they must get beyond claiming that the call to conversion extends only to individuals and not to the social struc-tures they inhabit. An awareness of the circular relationship between the human heart and the human social structure is ~un-damental to any serious discussion of religious life's future. Without it the dissatisfaction of many of today's religious with their institutional structures will continue to grow. 816 Review for Religious GERALD M. FAGIN Are We Relating to God in a New Way? When I entered a Jesuit novitiate thirty-five years ago, I was introduced to a way of relating to God deeply rooted in the tradition of the church and in the Society of Jesus. It was a way of experiencing God and of responding to God that was shaped by a clearly defined theological understanding of God, the church, and the human per-son. What characterized that spirituality was what char-acterized the spirituality of most Catholics, both lay and religious, in the years before Vatican Council II. What has emerged in the last twenty-five years is a new way of relating to God, a spirituality rooted in a plurality of the-ological understandings of God, the church, and the human person. We might describe it as a shift in model or simply as a shift from one pole of the necessary tension in our spiritual lives to the other. What is important is that we describe and understand what has happened, for too often a lack of understanding has led to confusion, guilt, and quarreling among Christians. I offer five tensions or polarities that are always pres-ent in our spiritual lives. What has happened in lived Christian spirituality can be described in terms of these tensions. spirituality From Objective to Subject-Centered The spirituality of thirty-five years ago was an objec- Gerald M. Fagin sJ, professor of theology, can be addressed at Loyola University; 6363 St. Charles Avenue; New Orleans, Louisiana 70118. Noven~ber-Decen~ber 1993 817 Fagin ¯ Are We Relating to God in a New Way? tive spirituality measured in terms of laws kept, mortifications and virtues and devotions practiced, prayers said, and Masses attended. A typical day in a novitiate was structured around an early morning Latin Mass, an hour of meditation, the rosary, the stations of the cross, examination of conscience, spiritual read-ing, and an instruction on religious life. The spiritual life of the Catholic laity was measured and identified by similar norms and practices. This way of life was supported by a clearly defined Catholic culture that gave Catholics a sense of identity rooted in unambiguous doctrinal and moral teaching and distinct rituals and practices. It was the world of the Baltimore catechism, Friday abstinence, fasting in Lent, First Friday and First Saturday devo-tions, benediction, indulgences, and St. Jude devotions. It demanded discipline and obedience and self-sacrifice, but it offered clear expectations and a structured and measurable way of living out a committed Christian life that led to sanctity. Such objectivity is an essential element in any relationship .to God. Rituals, practices, and devotions are at the heart of a gen-uine experience of God and a faithful response to God. We need clear guidelines and traditional structures if we are to be account-able and if we are to guard against the kind of subjectivity that is open to deception and divisiveness. What has emerged, then, is not a total rejection of this way of relating to God, but a new emphasis on the human person as a free and developing subject in the spiritual life. This subject-centered spirituality is a spirituality measured in terms of people's inner growth and actualization, the quality of their prayer and personal affective development. The spiritual life is described in terms'of a growth in trust and love and openness and freedom and sensi-tivity to the Spirit. Religious experience rather than religious practice is central to this approach. The focus is growth in peo-ple's personal relationship with God and on God's call addressed ¯ uniquely to individuals in their specific life circumstances. In con-sidering fidelity to God, the language of conformity and obedience to rules gives way to discernment and dialogue. Prayer becomes less a meditation on the truths of Christianity and more a lan-guage of the heart, an affective prayer that centers on God's ini-tiative more than our initiative. The role of the spiritual director puts less emphasis on teaching and guidance and more emphasis on facilitating the directee's relationship with God. The didactic gifts of the director become less important than a listening and 818 Review for Religious discerning heart that can clarify the movement of God in the directee's heart. Thirty-five years ago my spiritual director asked me about my fidelity to my spiritual exercises, the subject matter of my meditation, and the resolutions from my latest retreat. Today my spiritual director asks me about the movement of God in my heart and the consolation and desolation that are the signposts of my discernment. The presupposition is that God is at work in the individual soul and that this movement of God can be observed and discerned. The shift to a subject-centered spirituality is clearly seen in the rediscovery of the directed retreat. Conference-style or preached retreats focus on a common teaching or subject matter for reflec-tion. Everyone responds to and prays over the same material, often more doctrinal than scriptural, and not selected as a specific response to the needs and grace directions of the individuals. The subject matter of the directed retreat is each individual's experience of God, the movement of the Spirit within that person. Scripture is chosen to focus and highlight the graces of the retreatant. There is not one set program for everyone. It is pre-sumed that each person will experience and respond to God's grace in an individual way. Underlying this shift to the subject is a different under-standing of revelation. Revelation is imaged not primarily as propositions to be affirmed but as God's self-communication. Revelation is not first a series of statements about God and the human condition, but a series of experiences of God that reveal who God is and how God deals with us. Jesus is the fullness of God's revelation so that our faith life is a response to someone rather than an assent to propositions. God's self-revelation in Christ calls us to a new relationship with.God. Experience, both individual and communal, precedes articulation; and our rela- This subject-centered spirituality is a spirituality measured in terms of people's inner growth and actualization, the quality of their prayer and personal affective development. November-December 1993 819 Fagqn ¯ Are We Relating to God in a New Way? tionship with God begins in an experience of God that then finds words in doctrines and expression in rituals. From Perfection to Process The novice of thirty-five years ago set out on the road to per-fection. Every imperfection was to be weeded out, every virtue practiced. The ideals were clear, even if unattainable. The goal was set: "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." The perfec-tion model envisioned our spiritual lives as a striving for an ideal, a state of perfection that was never attained. Too often our spir-itual lives were evaluated in terms of our failures to reach the ideal or the degree to which we had failed to attain perfection. As in the objective model, the focus was on an observance of laws and duties. Novices were told, "Keep the rule and the rule will keep you." This approach tended to be legalistic and Pelagian and to generate undue fear in our relationship with God. We were always aware that we were not measuring up to the ideal. No matter how fervent our spiritual lives and how detailed our obser-vance, we remained unworthy servants who had yet to reach per-fection. We placed much more emphasis on what we had failed to do or achieve than on the level of our desire and hope and love and our moments of fidelity. This perfection model focused on the goal, not the process to the goal. God's love and affirmation were often thought of as the reward for our completing the process, for our faithful observance. A corollary of the shift from objective to subject-centered is the shift from this perfection model to a process model in our relationship with God. The process model envisions our spiri-tual lives as a journey that can be measured not only in terms of how far we have to go, but especially in terms of how far we have come. Besides sorrow for our failure to attain perfection, there is gratitude for all that God has accomplished in us, the work of God's grace in our lives. Our spiritual lives are viewed as a rela-tionship with God that grows, not as a project that needs to be accomplished. Such a model is sensitive to the adult stages of growth in the human process. Conversion is emphasized as an ongoing process of discovering and purification and commitment. Creative fidelity in the midst of new challenges and opportunities replaces perseverance in a static commitment. The love of God is experienced in the midst of the process as an abiding source of 820 Review for Religious support and inspiration. God loves us where we are and invites us to a fuller life. We find God, then, where we are and not where we would like to be. We pray out of our present experience, not out of as-yet-unrealized goals. At the root of this shift from perfection to process is a renewed understanding of grace. Grace is defined not primarily in ontological terms and categories, certainly not as a quantity to be gained and lost by observance or lack of observance. Rather it is understood as a growth in a relationship of love with some-one, a growth into a richer and fuller life. Our relationship with God is an invitation to friendship and intimacy with God, a gift of new life. God's grace is the giving of Godself that transforms us and empowers us to live God's life. From Private to Communal The novitiate of thirty-five years ago was highly structured and programmed. With rare exceptions, everyone followed the same order of the day, listened to the same conferences and instructions, and even read many of the same books. The reality of large numbers of novices made personal attention less available, even though the novice master was concerned for the well-being of each novice. At the same time, the spirituality proposed was very individualistic. People's relation with God was private and expressed in personal devotions and practices. They found God in the solitude of their'own heart and gave little emphasis to a com-munity of shared faith and communal discernment. There was a strong sense of corporate identity, but one's own spiritual life was private and to be shared only with a spiritual director or supe-rior. The support came from the awareness that everyone was praying at the same time in private, not from any ~hared sense of what was happening in the prayer of individuals. This personal piety that privatized one's relationship with God followed upon an understanding of the church as an insti-tution from which grace flows from the top through a hierarchi-cal structure to the individual. God spoke through superiors and religious leaders, not through the members of the community. Sacraments too were privatized. They were channels of individ-ual grace and a personal relationship with God. Confession was an experience of forgiveness of my sins with little sense of reconcil-iation with the community. Eucharist focused on the offering of November-December 1993 821 Fagin ¯ Are We Relating to God in a New Way? Christ's sacrifice and my reception of Communion, followed by my private thanksgiving with .Jesus. Often Eucharist was a pri-vate Mass with a single server symbolizing a broader community that was not evidently there. All of this, of course, reflected a the-ology of church and sacrament that shaped and reinforced a sense of a private relationship with God. A communal model, on the other hand, emphasizes that we encounter God in community. It respects the personal and unique aspect of one's relationship with God and the areas of religious experience that are shared only with a spiritual guide or a close friend, but it images our relationship with God in the context of a community of faith. The Spirit speaks through all, and we grow in our faith life with, in, and through others. We are one body. We are branches on the same vine. Shared prayer and communal dis-cernment are important means of developing our relationship with God. This derives from an understanding of church as pri-marily a community of believers called together in faith. The church is an institution with visible structures and offices, but it is first the gathering of disciples that find and celebrate God's presence in their midst. Liturgy is experienced as ecclesial, as the coming together of God's people to hear the word in common and share the meal of the Reign of God. Jesus is present, not only in the consecrated bread and wine, but also in the assembly. We find Jesus in the community. Sacraments, then, are experienced as communal moments Of celebration that bind us together and deepen our corporate identity as the people of God. Christians share a common story of salvation and live out that story as mem-bers of the one body of Christ. That sense of a common story deepens our awareness of God's self-revelation to us in commu-nity and our need to listen and respond as God's people bound together by a covenant relationship. From Dualism to Wholeness From its earliest days Christianity has struggled with a dual-ism that put a wedge between the spiritual and the physical, the body and the soul. Gnosticism, Manicheanism, and Jansenism are only historical surfacings of a constant and strong undercurrent of thought that considers the physical to be evil and the source of temptation. Not surprisingly, the novitiate of thirty-five years ago put little emphasis on emotional growth and psychosexual devel- 822 Review for Religious opment. The prominent role of physical penances and the pro-hibition about novices touching one another dramatized not only a needed asceticism, but also a distrust of anything relating to the human body. Holiness was often identified with a flight from the body and from the emotions. The body was seen as a hin-drance to the spirit, and the emotions were dismissed or sup-pressed as irrelevant and debilitating. Reason and volition were the only reliable means of directing our spiritual lives. Discernment was reduced to a rational process or replaced by. logical analysis. Faith was seen primarily as an act of the intellect and holiness as an act of the will. In the end, the spiritual life was often per-ceived as set apart in a higher realm divorced from the growth of the whole person. Contemporary spirituality is more clearly holistic. It respects and encourages the growth of the whole person. The process of human-ization is an integral part of spiritual develop-ment. Spiritual maturity presupposes a certain psychological health as a foundation. The role of affectivity and an appreciation of our phys-icality become important elements of our growth to spiritual wholeness. Discernment is appreciated as noticing and evaluating the affective as well as the rational movements of God within the soul, sifting through experiences of consolation and desolation. Faith is the response of the whole person to God's self-revela-tion. A renewed value is given to human desire as a place where God touches and inspires the soul and calls a person to fuller life. Contemporary spiritua~ty knows well that something of this holis-tic approach can be found in a fresh reading of many of the mys-tics and spiritual classics, but modern awareness and appreciation of the complexities of the human person have insisted even more that holiness is a developmental process of integrating all aspects of the human person. The shift from dualism to wholeness is rooted in an under-standing of the human person as a unity rather than a duality of spirit and body. Psychology and religion can work together to transform and sanctify every dimension of the person. The Enneagram, Jungian personality types, dream analysis, Intensive Journaling--all these and more can enrich our appreciation and Christians share a common story of salvation and live out that story as members of the one body of Christ. November-December 1993 823 Fagin ¯ Are We Relating to God in a New Way? understanding of the human psyche and be positive helps to our spiritual growth. There is, of course, an element of truth in the dualistic approach. Physical and even psychological wholeness are not indispensable to Christian holiness. God can and does work through our brokenness. The ideal of self-actualization and human growth must always be relativized by the gospel call to self-emp-tying surrender. On the other hand, the dualistic approach, when taken to an extreme, can produce an impoverished human per-son insensitive to the riches of imagination and affect in relating to God and other people. In such a case, little or no value is given to the affective movements of the heart in the search for God. The ordering of affectivity is reduced to the suppression of affec-tivity, and an ascetic ideal is proposed that allows little room for human emotion. From Other-Worldly to This-Worldly "Just a little while and then eternity." These words attributed to St. John Berchmans set the tone for my novitiate experience thirty-five years ago. At the heart of the relationship with God was a call to renunciation of the material world. The world was a place of temptation and trial. We were pilgrims on a journey to salvation in the next life. Sanctity demanded detachment from the world. Matter was evil, the source of sin. Penance was a way to punish the flesh and control its appetites. The novitiate was in an isolated place far from the allurements of the world. There were no newspapers or magazines or movies or TV. The harshest judgment passed on any novice was that he was "worldly." At the root of this approach was a negative vision of the world as cor-rupted by sin. Flight from the world was the road to sanctity. Even apostolic religious orders tended to propose monastic ide-als that emphasized separation from the world. A special impor-tance was given to the words of Seneca (Letters, no. 7) quoted in the Imitation of Christ (I, 20): "As often as I have been among men, I have returned less a man." No one can deny the truth in this approach to the world. Growth in a relationship with God demands a radical detachment and renunciation. We live in a world of obscured values and dis-torted perceptions, a world infected with sin that stands in oppo-sition to the values of the reign of God. The world is groaning for 824 Review for Religious redemption, and Christianity must stand as a countercultural force in a broken and wounded world. Contemporary spirituality, however, takes a more positive view of the world, seeing it as the product of God's love and the locus of God's redemptive presence. The Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes (The Church in the Modern World) proposed a world-affirming vision that recognized the value and autonomy of human society and culture and that took responsibility for the world. A renewed theology of creation takes seriously Genesis's declaration of the goodness of creation and the dignity of humans as images of God. Such a creation-centered spirituality rejoices in the world as a gift.from the hands of a loving God. Our relationship with God is expressed in a concern for the earth and a sense of stew-ardship for the resources entrusted to us. The reign of God is already a reality "bud-ding forth," and our human efforts are an essential element in building the final reign of God. God, then, is found in human experience and human achievement, and this world becomes a sacred place for encountering God. A genuine apostolic spirituality recognizes that we work out our salvation by involvement in the human struggle for justice. The desert invades the marketplace and the monk speaks a prophetic word in the city. The reason for the shift to a this-worldly spiritua'lity is, then, a more positive view of the world and a renewed understanding of salvation. An important corollary of this new understanding and appre-ciation of the world is a reevaluation of the relation between reli-gious life and the lay vocation. In the other-worldly view of the Christian life, monastic spirituality was considered normative, and so the life of a single or a married person in the world was necessarily a less radical commitment to a relationship with God. Lay spirituality was at best a watered-down adaptation of the higher calling of religious life. Vatican II, by contrast, speaks of a universal call to holiness. All Christians are called to the per-fection of charity and commitment to Christ. Religious life and the A genuine apostolic spirituality recognizes that we work out our salvation by involvement in the human struggle for justice. November-December 1993 825 Fagin ¯ Are V~e Relating to God in a New tVay? lay vocation are two different ways of responding to the radical gospel call to discipleship. At best one can speak of religious life as a more explicit and unambiguous lifestyle that witnesses to the common vocation of all Christians. Conclusion The tensions just described are an enduring part of our rela-tionship with God. Our spirituality will always be a balance between objective and subjective, perfection and process, private and communal, dualism and wholeness, other-worldly and this-worldly. As Richard McBrien has pointed out frequently, Catholicism is not a matter of either/or but of both/and. There is no question of rejecting one way and replacing it completely with another, but rather of claiming a new richness that respects the older way and opens new ways of living our Christian lives. My novitiate experience of thirty-five ye~ars ago focused almost exclu-sively on the objective, perfection, private, dualistic, and other-worldly dimensions of our relationship with God. Contemporary spirituality has swung the pendulum dramatically to the other pole. The challenge is to move beyond a reactionary position and to integrate the truth of the previous way of relating to God with a new and rich experience of God and the human person. The swing of the pendulum, as we have seen, comes from a new under-standing of revelation, grace, and the church and of the human person, the world, and salvation. Developments in theology and new dimensions of religious experience continue to enrich one another and open new possibilities in our relationship with God. Each age in the life of the church struggles to define Christians' relationship with God. Christian spirituality is a lived experience shaped by life, culture, and theology, but above all by the graced invitation of God. I conclude by suggesting four char-acteristics of a Christian spirituality that is responsive to the invi-tation and challenge of the contemporary world. We need an incarnational spirituality that finds mystery and the sacred in the midst of a radical affirmation of the giftedness of the world, that finds God not only above us but also with us. We need a holistic spirituality that integrates more fully into our spiritual growth the nonrational dimensions of our person, fostering a healthy sense of sin and forgiveness and respecting the human psyche's limitations and possibilities for growth in God's life. We need a 826 Review for Religious prophet# spirituality that integrates the mystical and the political and sees a passion for justice and solidarity with the poor as inte-gral to contemplative union with God. We need an ecdesial spir-ituality that lives out our relationship with God in the community of disciples, harmonizes discernment and religious authority, and responds to the call to ministry that baptismal grace enables us to hear. In the end, Christian spirituality will always remain a response to the gospel call to conversion and discipleship. In every age it promises a growth in a personal relationship with God and demands a commitment in the context of a community of faith, but in the midst 6f these constant elements Christians will con-tinue to be attentive to the movements of the Spirit in their lives and to explore new ways of relating to God. Holofrosts The offerings to God this winter's morning Are holofrosts, not burnt but frozen;fruit Of the vine hangs shriveled as nuggets of ice, The works of human hands .are noughted out By whiteness of snow. Offering God of his own From the elements given us, we lift up As gifts at his altar: his earth, air, Water, hard-touched by December, challenging Us to be devout in our changing seasons Of spring-weather faith, frost-withered doubt. Nancy G. Westerfield November-December 1993 827 A. PAUL DOMINIC Desire, Asking, and Answers porayer, as St. Thomas Aquinas said, is the articulation of ur desire before God.~ That is the way we teach our chil-dren their first practical lesson in religion: we teach them to ask God for what they want. As people grow in spiritual life, they can never outgrow the spirit of their beginnings, if for no other reason than that the highest reaches cannot exist without the low-est attainments. There is reason, then, not to abandon altogether the early, petitionary stage of spiritual life, but to continue to experience its varying moods and movements. Here biblical personages at once spiritual and earthy can be illustrative and illuminative. The recorded experiences of Hannah, David, and Job are relevant. They are all apparently of marked spirituality, notably above the ordinary. Yet in their dealings with God they do not remain always ethereal. Possessed of human desires, too, as down-to-earth people, they approach God openly with the desires of their heart. That is to say, they are simple enough not to be shatmning but to move with the tide of their life. Spiritually oriented people will neglect this basic lesson only to their cost. Not much is known of Hannah, surely; but the little that is known of her reveals her womanly spiritual fiber. Her husband, Elkanah, less known than herself, is religious too, but in the usual way, performing the regular practices like yearly pilgrimage. Perhaps part of his routine spirituality is his seeming resignation A. Paul Dominic SJ, author of God of Justice (Bombay: St. Paul Publications), is well known to our readers. His address is Satyodayam; S. Lallaguda; Secunderabad 500 017; India. 828 Review for Religious to God's disposition regarding Hannah's barrenness. But Hannah herself would not be resigned to her situation. She burns with desire for a son as much as, or even more than, she is resentful and in distress because of the taunts of the other wife, who is not bar-ren. All this compounded desire of her heart she pours out to her God, completely oblivious of her surroundings, and she keeps on beseeching him for a son till--that is the important point here-- she is assured that she will get what she has painfully longed for. She has not supplicated in vain. No wonder she knows peace in her heart. David is great in every way, in particular in his spiritual gifts. He attains spiritual heights on certain occasions when God sur-prises him with choice favors. But he also knows low spirits and even falls. Then he prays, staying where he is. One such occa-sion is when he realizes that he has to pay for his adultery by the death of the child of adultery. Though he owns his sin, still he wants the son his sin produced. How he prays for the life of the child, struck by God with a grave illness! He pleads with God for his child, fasting and lying on the ground for days together. He prays with all his energies, hoping against hope till he realizes that the child has died. He has supplicated in vain and still, sur-prisingly enough, seems to find unusual peace in his heart. Job is an exceptional figure who manages a happy blend of his wealth in the world with his godly life. If he has enjoyed all the prosperity in the world, still he seeks and humbly keeps his integrity before his God. Such a man, however, meets with one disaster after another. Even then he allows no curse to cross his mind or lips; on the contrary, he walks humbly with God, bless-ing him still. However, in the prolonged anguish of his final dis-aster, made worse by his three friends preachifying to the effect that every sufferer must be necessarily a sinner, he is stung to the quick and so driven to defend his honor. He argues with them point by point, personally convinced that there is no sin that would explain his suffering. In between he puts the matter before God, too, quite unafraid, now lamenting his plight, now com-plaining to him, now appealing to him, now reasoning with him, now challenging him, then yearning to reach him, all the while wanting to vindicate his stand that he is innocent, whatever the traditional doctrine of retribution may be. He has supplicated alone and in company, aloud and in silence, passing through the struggle of it all, only to be surprised at the end by the mysteri- Nove~nber-Decen;ber 1993 829 Dontinic ¯ Desire, Asking, and Answers ous and yet overwhelmingly peaceful vision of God clearing up all the aggnizing questions and difficulties. The three biblical episodes ~nay be compared to one another as regards three elements common to them. First, the three pro-tagonists experience an urgent desire. Second, they take it up in their prayer, making it indeed their whole prayer, however long drawn out it may be. Third, they attain something positive. First, then, they are alike in experiencing desires, however various the desires may be. Hannah desires a son. Her desire is natural, normal, proper, appropriate, and worthy inasmuch as she wants only the full enjoyment of her marriage as willed by God right from the beginning. David desires that the son of his passion, born of another man's wife, should live and not die. His desire, too, is natural and normal and yet perhaps not especially worthy, if only because the circumstantial will of God is for the child of adultery to die. Job desires an answer to the puzzle of his unde-served suffering. His desire, too, is nor~nal and natural and yet only dubiously proper against the background of the common traditional belief that every suffering implies some sin in the suf-ferer. While Hannah's desire is in every way agreeable, David's and Job's are not particularly so. David resists the apparent mind of God regarding the fruit of his sin, and Job's honest and frank desire is naively bold because it seems to put God in the wrong. Second, however one evaluates the three desires, they are nevertheless real and candid; the persons know and feel their desire as only they can. They find it so urgent that they do not fight shy of voicing it before other "people and even before God. They do not simply pray about it, but make it their sole and con-stant prayer. Without any distracting self-consciousness, they sim-ply present themselves before God as they experience their desire consuming them, not minding or caring whether they might come across to casual observers as strange or surprising or suspect. Possessed by their sole burning desire, they beseech God persis-tently without any thought of circumspection or shame or seem-ing propriety till something good happens to them--which leads to my third point. In Hannah's case, what happens is just what she has desired and prayed for. She gets a son and calls him Samuel since, as she says, "I asked Yahweh iCor him" (i S 1:20). In David's case, what happens is just the opposite:of his lingering desire and prayer. His ill-gotten child whom he wants to see saved dies of illness. But 830 Re'view for Religious David--note well--comes alive after the whole ordeal of pray-ing, pining, and fasting. He bathes, anoints himself, dresses up, goes to the sanctuary, then sits down to a meal, and finally even consoles his forlorn Bathsheba. In Job's case, what happens is not just what he agonizingly wanted to find, for he finds far more than he has dared ask. He has asked only for a vindicating proof of his undeserved suffering, but he is given to see God himself, the answer of all possible problems and puzzles. It may appear at first sight that the prayer arising from and suffused with unquenchable desire turns out to be a success for Hannah, a fail-ure for David, and a mere struggle for Job. But further reflection would show that the reality or radicality of their experience is not that simple. The feverish desires of David and Job may not have ended in natural, ordinary, and expected satisfaction as in the case of Hannah. But they too have their definite, unmistakable denouement, with their desires set at rest. Indeed, they attain what may be called the res-olution of their desires, a positive ending to their experience of desire in and through and by means of prayer. Here is a lesson for life. Despite the obvious differences in their desires, Hannah, David, and Job all end up with positive experiences through prayer. Their prayer experience has some-thing in common: making their desire transparent to God or, bet-ter, living their desire before God in all its urgency. The experience of any urgent desire is itself a sort of struggle till its ful-fillment. This is only accentuated when the fulfillment of desire depends, not on oneself, but on the good pleasure of another--in the present context, God. So Hannah prays in an unusual manner, speaking under her breath, giving room for suspicion that she is drunk. So too does David, to the surprise of his officials, covering himself with sack-ing, lying on the bare ground and keeping a strict fast. So too does Job, confounding and shocking his onlookers by his unortho-dox stand that, though he has been afflicted with the worst of Despite the obvious differences in their desires, Hannah, David, and Job all end up with positive experiences through prayer. November-December 1993 831 Dominic ¯ Desire, Asking, and Answers sufferings, he cannot be accused of having really sinned. Even if he occasionally concedes, for the sake of argument, that he has sinned, he challenges God outright: "Suppose I have sinned, what have I done to you?" (Jb 7:20). But the burden of his prayer runs now and again in such words as these: "I shall say to God, 'Do not condemn me, but tell me the reason for your assault. Is it right for you to injure me, cheapening the work of your own hands and abetting the schemes of the wicked?'" (Jb 10:2-3). He ends his apologia daringly with no apology whatever: "I have had my say, from A to Z; now let Shaddai answer me" (Jb 31:35). How acute must be the struggle of the man who, in his dire straits, makes bold to speak to God without mincing words about what he wants. If Hannah and David, too, definitely pass through quite a struggle in their prayer seeking what they want, theirs would seem to be nothing compared with the struggle of Job for God's own vindication of his innocence. Generally speaking, the struggle experienced in prayer as peo-ple keep on imploring God for what they want is proportionate to the intensity of their desire. The surpassing struggle Job goes through in his prayer reveals how hard he desires. There is, if one may put it this way, truth in his desire. That is to say, his desire is so true and so truly possessing and consuming him that he needs must seek its fulfillment by every means possible, even if it should entail a gigantic struggle. Here may be raised a very important question concerning prayer. If people pray and complain that they do not get an answer to their prayer, it may be asked whether their prayer arises out of truth, the truth of their desire in the sense suggested above. People may be accustomed to and satisfied with bland preferences, with mere velleities, and thus ,nay not have true desire even if they know, or seem to know, what they desire. Certainly velleities are palt~ desires. It is worth noting in this context that Job with his ruling desire and passionate prayer is a fictitious figure, unlike Hannah and David. From this may one not infer that people like Job are seldom found in real life, that rarely are real people moved by strong, ardent, fervent, and in a word true desire? But without desire there can be no prayer, for desire is part and parcel of prayer. St. Thomas said so (as I have indicated above), and St. Augustine had said something similar much ear-lier. Writing to Proba on prayer, he pointed out that, if the Lord wants us to pray even though he certainly knows independently 832 Review for Religious our wants and needs, it is because "he wants our desire to be exer-cised in prayer, thus enabling us to grasp what he is preparing to give.''2 He added: "We pray always in faith, hope, and love, with uninterrupted desire. Btit at certain hours and seasons we also pray with words. We use these signs of realities to rouse our-selves, to become aware of the growth of our desire, and to strongly move ourselves to increase it . What do the Apostle's words, 'Pray constantly,' mean, if not that we must constantly desire. ?-3 Of course, one may remark quite correctly that in the context Augustine had in his mind a constant desire for the blessedness of eternal life. One may observe just as correctly, however, that what we do in prayer--namely, exercise our desire--may reach out not only to eternal life, but to present life as well, with aH that we want here and now. Anyhow, the very prayer that Jesus taught explicitly is not confined to holy desires connected with God and his kingdom, but, in the phrase "daily bread," makes mention of ordinary human desires and material needs. The Lord's Prayer certainly includes the gamut of human desires, from the lofty to the lowly. Other teachings of Jesus on prayer also focus on desire expe-rienced and expressed before God. The parables of the importu-nate friend and the widow (Lk 11:5-8; 18:1-8), for instance, emphasize the keenness of desire without which prayer would flag and falter. Apart from desire there can be no meaning in prayer of peti.tion; and it is this sort of simple, straightforward prayer that Jesus mostly speaks of. His injunction regarding effec-tive, infallible prayer is to "ask. search., knock" (Mr 7:7); and this really means that one should go on asking and searching and knocking with the growing impulse of intense desire. This real-ity of glowing desire may throw light even on the basic require-ment-- namely, belief or faith--in all such prayer. For instance, in the saying of Jesus that "everything you ask and pray for, believe that );ou have it already, and it will be yours" (Mk 11:24), the action of belief is as much an activity of desire as it is anything else.4 When belief comes into play in prayer, it invariably brings desire into the foreground, the desire which was already there in the prayer right from the start. All this is not a matter of theory but of practice, as may be seen in dealings of Jesus wifla people to whom he grants favors. In the case of the Syrophoenician woman, Jesus senses right from November-Decentber 1993 833 Dominic ¯ Desire, Asking, and Answers the beginning how badly she desires the healing of her daughter. His apparent reluctance to accede to her request only brings out all the more her desire, at once insistent and persistent, regard-ing her daughter's welfare. He takes note of it and refers to it with pleasant surprise when he finally' gives his word of favor to her request (see Mk 7:24-30).s Just the opposite is the story of the sick man at the Pool of Bethzatha (Jn 5:1-6). When Jesus sees him and knows how long he has been ill, he asks him, "Do you want to be well again?" It is a surprising question at first, but on reflection very revealing. Jesus cannot heal the sick man unless he first desires it. As the man had been ill for so long, perhaps he no longer has any desire for healing. It is precisely to awaken this desire that Jesus puts the question to him. Today, too, neither Jesus nor his Father can hear any prayer unless it arises in real desire and is poured out in ardent desire and sustained in unabated desire. It matters how much and how far we desire whatever we desire. As I conclude, I find myself won-derii~ g if social activists have an idea how much they can effect by prayer that is sharpened by the "violence" of desire. When I say violence here, I am thinking of that intriguing logion: "The king-dom of God has been subjected to violence and the violent are tak-ing it by storm" (Mt 11:12). Notes ~ See Simon Tugwell, Prayer in Practice (Springfield, Illinois, 1974), p. 75. 2 See The Divine Office, vol. 3 (London, Glasgow, Sydney, Dublin, 1974), p. 662. 3 Letters of Saint Augustine, ed. and trans. John Leinenweber (Liguori, Missouri: Triumph Books, 1992), p. 172. 4 The Markan version lends itself to such an interpretation, unlike the Matthean parallel 21:22 with its connotation of faith as a matter of not doubting about what is prayed for. s Here again Mark is different from Matthew. Mark tells the plain story of the woman with her heart's desire whereas Matthew stylizes it in terms of faith (Mt 15:21-28). 834 Review for Religious JUDETTE A. GALLARES Companionship Spirituality in Ruth Te Book of Ruth is one of the immortal love stories in the ble. It takes as its characters and events ordinary people and mundane life situations to which we can easily find parallels in our world today. The book's primary purpose, however, is not to entertain and delight its audience with plot complications, sus-pense, and a satisfying denouement, but to hold up to its readers and listeners authentic models of covenantal faith? What is this covenantal faith, and how does companionship enter into its perspective? What does the spirituality of compan-ionship teach us in our experiences of change, life transitions, and emptiness? To glean some answers to these questions, it is beneficial to allow to sink into our consciousness Ruth's words to Naomi, her mother-in-law, which have become an immortal prayer of companionship. Let us look at her words within their context as summarized here. During the time of the judges, Elimelech of Bethlehem, together with his wife Naomi and his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, migrated to Moab to escape a famine in Judah. Elimelech died in Moab. His sons married two Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. The two sons also died, however, leaving two childless wid-ows with their widowed mother-in-law. Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, and her daughters-in-law, set off with her. While they were on the road, she urged her daughters-in-law each to return to her mother's house, for she was unsure of what future Judette A. Gallares RC is involved in spiritual direction and retreat work in the Philippines and conducts courses on biblical spirituality and spiritual direction for lay and religious formators. Her address is Cenacle Sisters; 217-G.D. Jakosalem Street; Cebu City 6000; Philippines. Novetnber-Deconber 1993 835 Gallares ¯ Companionship Spirituality in Ruth they would have with her. Orpah sorrowfully returned to her fam-ily, but Ruth clung to her mother-in-law in spite of Naomi's prod-ding that she follow Orpah's decision. Instead, she responded in these words: Do not press me to leave you and to stop going with you, for wherever you go, I shall go, wherever you live, I shall live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I shall die and there I shall be buried. Let Yahweh bring unnameable ills on me and worse ills, too, if anything but death should part me from you! (Rt 1:16-17). Realizing that Ruth was determined to go with her, Naomi stopped urging her. Both went on their journey until they reached Bethlehem. Migration was rather typical of ancient Palestine. Families often migrated because of the frequent occurrence of famine in the area. The country of Moab, with a narrow strip of well-watered and fertile land running north and south in its center, was an attractive refuge, and so Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons migrated there. This scenario is familiar even today. To escape economic dif-ficulties caused by drought or increased militarization in third-world rural areas, people flock to the cities and towns seeking either the pot of gold or refuge from military oppression. Professionals continually migrate from third-world to first-world countries in search of better opportunities even though, regret-tably, this slows down socioeconomic development in their own countries. Migration for the sake of survival and a better life is an undei'- standable occurrence in any generation and culture. Biblical lit-erature records a number of such departures. We recall Joseph and his famil)) moving to Goshen (Gn 47:27) and a widow fol-lowing Elisha's advice and moving to the land of the Philistines (2 K 8). So Elimelech's decision to leave Bethlehem of Judah together with his family is understandable. To alert us immediately to the development and historical probability of the story, the author also gives the characters names which in Hebrew have symbolic meanings. Elimelech means "my God is king"; Naomi means "pleasant"; the two sons' names, Mahlon and Chilion, .mean "sickness" and "wasting," respectively.2 After they have settled in Moab, death strikes the male members 836 Review for Religious of Naomi's family. Elimelech dies first. Naomi is left with her two sons, who later marry native women. But after ten years the sons also die without leaving any sons. Naomi, a widow of advanced age with no sons but only non-Jewish and childless daughters-in-law, is therefore destined for a life of destitution and social oppression. In her emptiness and poverty, Naomi decides to return to the land of her birth because the famine there is over. Perhaps she thinks her own townspeople will be kinder to her in her poverty than if she were to remain in Moab as a widowed foreigner. Her two widowed daughters-in-law initially go with her, but she urges them to return to their own families. She just cannot impose her desire and longing for her own land and people on her already suffering daughters-in-law, nor can she deprive them of the small consolation that their own homeland would provide them. Besides, she knows that it would be much more dif-ficult for them, being foreigners, to remarry in her homeland than in theirs because Hebrew laws discourage marriage with foreigners.3 Here Naomi is projected as a practical person. She uses the time, not for grieving, but for doing something in a situation that needs a practical solution. Naomi's use of the unusual phrase "mother's house" is to be noted, for a house is usually designated as one's father's.4 Some com-mentators believe it is used to symbolize or to emphasize the absence of men in the women's lives.5 From another perspective it can also be seen as words of consolation to the suffering women, for the word "mother" evokes images of the love, care, and nur-turance one would long for in a time of brokenness. Orpah heeds Naomi's advice and returns to her people: Ruth refuses. Mthough the motif of ~mptiness is strongly accentuated here, by Naomi's saying that her womb will have no more sons, we see that she is not totally bereft, for Ruth would cling to her and not allow her to return to her homeland alone. Responding to her mother-in-law's pleading send-off with words of loyalty and devotion, Ruth vows to accompany Naomi through a per-ilous journey into an uncertain future. Migration for the sake of survival and a better life is an understandable occurrence in any generation and culture. Novevnber-Dece~nber 1993 837 Gallares ¯ Companionship Spirituality in Ruth Ruth pledges covenant fidelity and claims as her own Naomi's place, people, and God.6 In her beautiful and moving response, Ruth clings not to a past but to a present--not to a male through whom she may achieve power and access, but to a female, one who needs her, one for whom she will provide protection, care, and access.7 Ruth thus gives to her mother-in-law the only thing she possesses, her very self. Even if society destines both of them to a life of extreme poverty as widows, they still have each other. We can still see this kind of attitude among simple poor families. They are extremely loyal to their own members and sacrifice for and protect one another in good times and in bad. Together the two widows now turn their faces resolutely toward Palestine and the city of Bethlehem. The distance between Moab and Bethlehem is only about 120 miles, but this stretch represents a long, fatiguing, and dangerous trek in this period, especially for two women who have neither money beyond their barest needs nor protector.8 It is this journey through barren places that will perhaps bring them closer to each other and cause them to cling more closely together for protection, comfort, and support. Covenantal Faith amid Emptiness in Life Transitions The contrast between emptiness and fullness runs through the entire book. This is seen, not only in the setting itself, but also in the lives of the women characters. The famine or the emptiness of the land that sets the story in motion drives Naomi's family to seek greener fields. Leaving one's country and culture as Naomi did is an experience of emptying, an experience of loss: food, rela-tionships, property, land. It is a recurring motif in the life of Israel and throughout salvation history, beginning with God inviting Abraham to leave his clan and his ancestral home for a promised land. In Abraham we see that God's promise and blessing are indissolubly bound up with a departure, an emptying of anything that prevents one from setting out on an adventure with God. For Naomi, however, Moab turned out to be a place of empti-ness, not a land of promise. There she lost not only her husband but her two sons as well. Her emptiness seemed irreparable, her life hollow deep within. These words of the psalmist could have echoed in her heai't: "How could we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?" (Ps 137:4 NAB).)It would be difficult indeed for 838 Review for Religious anyone in Naomi's predicament to sing a song to God amid feel-ings of alienation from God, life, others, and even self. Grief has a way of devouring our spiritual life, leaving us in the desert to feel parched, empty, depleted, lonely, and alienated. Naomi could attribute the cause of her incurable emptiness only to God: "Yahweh's hand has been raised against me." Thus, only God also could fill it. Beyond her empty feeling and sense of God's absence is perhaps a fragile hope that God will also cause her misery to cease. Perhaps this was in her mind and heart when, "having heard that Yahweh had come to help his people by giving them food, Naomi prepared to return home." Her poverty and her emptiness are so basic that they can be intimated by an unadorned reference to food. Beyond a need to fill her physical hunger, she perhaps has a keen desire to reconcile herself with the past, to catch a glimpse of home and of who she is meant to be. John Dunne once wrote9: At every turn in the road a new illuminating is needed to find the way and a new kindling is needed to follow the way. Dunne seems to speak here of moments of transition in one's life when one needs to search within to find illumination or guid-ance to continue going forward on the road to life. This search involves returning to the past, to one's home and roots and being reconciled with them. Naomi, in her poverty and emptiness, thinks of home not only as a place where she could experience God's blessing again' (having heard that Yahweh had come to help his people), but also as a place where she can find peace and acceptance of her painful situation ("Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for God has made life bitter for me"). Her words reflect a deep longing that is present in every human heart. A part in us is always yearning and quietly crying out for the true homeland where life is no longer painful and unfair,l° Undoubtedly Naomi's two Moabite daughters-in-law are also experiencing emptiness and grief at losing their husbands. In their loss their initial response is to cling to what is familiar (to continue living with Naomi and to remain in her clan) even if it does not seem to give them any kind of future. Orpah is practical minded in dealing with her emptiness. In spite of the pain of saying good-bye to Naomi and Ruth and to matters that have become famil-iar to her, she heeds Naomi's advice and returns to her mother's November-December 199~ 839 Gallares ¯ Companionship Spirituality in Ruth house. Perhaps she feels hopeful that life can still offer her a future in her own homeland, and perhaps she, like Naomi, has a renewed glimpse of home and the possibility of who she can still become. Companionship in Time of Transition On the other hand, Ruth clings to her mother-in-law and takes the risk of embracing, her, her land, and her God even if the future is uncertain and seemingly bleak. Although she too is going through ~ransition, she offers Naomi her presence and com-panionship. She feels for her mother-in-law because she too knows the pain of loss and the difficulty of adjusting to a new reality. But, unlike Naomi, she is not allowing this life transition to dis-courage her or to embitter her. For her a return to her mother's house has seemed to be a movement away from what and who she is meant to be. Instead, she follows the movement of Israel's first patriarch by leaving her homeland and venturing into the unknown. Like Abraham she departs from her homeland and empties herself of anything that prevents her from setting out on an adventure with Abraham's and Naomi's God. But, unlike Abraham, she does not perceive the God of Israel as giving her a promise and a blessing. She has none of these assurances. She leaves relying only on Naomi's God and the strength of her love for her mother-in-law. She deals with her emptiness by further emptying herself s~ she can embrace totally the God of Abraham, of Naomi, and of Israel. She lets go of the past in order to embrace the future with great faithfulness. And in these b~autiful words which have become an immortal prayer of fidelity, ~he accompa-nies Naomi through her life transition: Wherever you go, I shill go, wherever you live, I shall live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I shall die and there I shall be buried. Let Yahweh bring unnameable ills on me and worse ills, too, if anything but death should part me from you! (1:16-17 NJB). As we have seen, biblical fidelity recalls the faith of Israel that began with the departure of Abraham and led to the Mosaic covenant with God. It remembers the unique friendship estab-lished between God and Israel that is echoed in the entire Book of.Ruth and is exemplified by Ruth and other people in the story. 840 Review for Religiot~s At the heart of this covenant fidelity is the people's faith that Yahweh is the God of life who calls them to greater life. In the language and setting of today, faith calls us to face the light and to choose life. It enables us to look upon each letting go with optimism and prepares us to face other more painful relin-quishments that commit us more fully to God's service. It enables us to catch a glimpse of who we are meant to be. As with Ruth and Naomi, faith urges us to move forward and embrace the God of life. Notes L Alice L. Laffey, "Ruth," in the New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1990), p. 553. 2 Ibid. 3 Intermarriage was prohibited, not on ethnic grounds, but to avoid religious syncretism and to foster the worship of Yahweh (see Ex 34:15ff). See Madeleine S. Miller and J. Lane Miller, Harper's Bible Dictiona,7 (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1973), p. 422. 4 Ibid. s Ibid. 6 See Laffey, p. 555. 7 Ibid. 8 Edith Deen, All of the Women of the Bible (San Francisco: Harper and Row Publishers, 1983), p. 84. 9 Quoted byJoyce Rupp OSM in Praying Our Goodbyes (Notre Dame, Ind.: Ave Maria Press, 1988), p. 77. ~0 Ibid, p. 24. Novonber-Decentber 1993 841 JOHN P. MOSSI The Spirituality of Surrender Losing, whether it is losing a friendly bet, an important argument, or a business contract, is a difficult pill to swal-low. We detest losing. The same is true for tiny diehard sports fan who endures a hometown rout. We walk away replaying the game, blaming the unfair referees, or creating strategies that "would have" favorably altered the score. When the defeat entails greater stakes, there is higher resis-tance to a surrender. To address a serious problem like addiction is personally painful. Implicit in such reality is a pervasive sense of failure. One has lost control over life's direction. The only way to regain control is to surrender what has not worked and seek a new way. This process is replete with difficulty. This article will examine the spirituality of surrender as a means of comin.g home to God? Surrendering to God will be looked at in three ways. The first involves an understanding of how surrender is operative in twelve-step recovery programs like Alcoholics Anonymous. The second involves a look at the life of Ignatius of Loyola and the surrender components of the final prayer of the Spiritual Exercises, the "Suscipe," or "Take and Receive." The third considers Jesus' act of surrender on the cross in Luke 23:46. Each of these three different "ways" of surren-dering involves putting our ultimate identity and confidence in God. John P. Mossi SJ, a member of the Religious Studies Department at Gonzaga University, facilitates courses in pastoral counseling, spiritual mentoring, addiction and pastoral approaches to recovery, and Catholicism. His address is Gonzaga University; Jesuit Residence; Spokane, Washington 99258. 842 Review for Religious Let Go, Let God At Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or twelve-step recovery retreats, the expression "Let go, let God" is often used. These four important words constitute the core spirituality of A.A. and similar recovery programs that have adapted the twelve steps to their particular addiction. "Let go, let God" is an invitation to surrender one's umnanageable life to God. "Let go, let God" is a gentle conversion reminder, a kind of mantra, which assists us both to admit the addiction and to hand it over along with its various forms of com-pulsions to God. The long form of the prayer would be something like "Let go of alcohol (or whatever the specific substance or non-substance addiction might be) and let the hand and grace of God guide my life." The prayer is not magic. Saying "Let go, let God" does not instantaneously bring about recovery. Its first purpose is to assist the recov-ering addict to keep to the daily partnership task of surrendering the addiction to God. The second purpose of "Let go, let God" is. to be a prayer of liberation, to call on the greater power of God to help one escape from destructive lifestyle patterns. In this way the creative resources of the individual and the action of God are focused on together. The prayer also serves to silence those addic-tion- related inner-committee tapes and voices of doubt, loneli-ness, fear, and caustic shame that can interfere with a person's slow recovery. These, too, need to be handed over to God. I have the greatest admiration for all who enter the surrender process of a twelve-step program. For many, it is the difference between death and life, the difference between barely existing as a human and participating in community, between dysfunction-alism and experiencing the serenity that only God gives with amazing grace. The first three steps of Anonymous programs set up this "Let go, let God" dynamic. The language of the twelve steps is straight-forward and simple. This is part of their wisdom and wide appeal. The steps make sense to a lot of people. Since A.A. began in 1935 at Akron, Ohio, Anonymous recovery programs have multiplied to treat various forms of addiction.2 These include Narcotics "Let go, let God" is an invitation to surrender one's unmanageable life to God. November-December 1993 843 Mossi ¯ The Spirituality of Surrender Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Emotions Anonymous, Workaholics Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous, M-Anon, and Adult Children of Mcoholics. Let us examine these first three steps. 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol [or the other specific addiction], that our lives had become unmanageable) The first step is crucial. You admit you have a serious prob-lem. There is no denial of the fact. The blunt reality is your life is out of control, in fact, unmanageable. Furthermore, you are powerless to do anything about it. At Anonymous meetings, this first step is handled in an up-front manner. When members speak, they state their first name and their addictiveness: "I'm John. I'm an alcoholic." "I'm Susan. I'm a recovering overeater." In formal religion we might refer to this acknowledgment as group confession. In recovery programs it is simply admitting what can no longer be denied. Step one is an honest, vulnerable beginning place. Owning and naming the unmanageable addiction is essential to the surrendering process. When one is aware o£ a specific uncontrollable disease, one can effectively pray "Let go." But to whom does one surrender? Steps two and three look at the second part of the mantra: "Let God." God is the significant associate in restoring harmony. To appreciate the spirituality of the twelve steps, it is important to reflect that the existence and action of God are mentioned seven times in the twelve steps. The par-ticular addiction is only mentioned once, and that is in the first step. The activity of surrendering one's addiction and life to God becomes the spirituality cornerstone of the remaining steps. 2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.4 Step two admits the need of an outside corrective authority, a Higher Power, to bring about a stability in one's life. This is the first glimpse of light that invites God in as the restorer of sanity. There are two other important spirituality elements opera-tire in the second step: (i) the belief that a Higher Wisdom exists and (2) a disposition of humility on the part of the believer. These two qualities counterculturally work against the arrogance of the ego that craves to cling to the addiction. Step two indicates that the recovery process entails an attentive listening to a new Teacher, which means that the addict has to take on the attitude 844 Review for Religious of learner. There is a major shift in trust: from addiction to God. 3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.s Step three is where the capitulation actually occurs. First, a concrete decision to surrender has to be made. Second, this deci-sion is total. It includes the will making conscious choices, and it affects one's entire being and journey. Third, the whole person is placed in the care of God according to the individual's faith back-ground. The spirituality of "Let go, let God" is a conversion process. Conversion of its nature has two basic movements: the surren-dering of the compulsion, shame, and destructive addictive pat-terns which reduce freedom; the turning to the care of God and the Holy Spirit to be one's permanent resource of wisdom and identity. Matthew 11:28-30 speaks of a "letting go, letting God" pro-cess: "Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.''6 These three verses contain the confirmation signs that accompany a true surrender. A learning will occur, the process will be gentle and humble. Rest will be experienced. A new relationship arises, a companionship with the Master, which will be nonaddictive, easy, and light. The Surrender of Ignatius of Loyola Another way of surrendering one's life to God comes from the spirituality of Ignatius's surrender as expressed in his prayer the "Suscipe," or "Take and Receive." On his pilgrim journey Ignatius was called to surrender on several notable occasions. The first was during the defense of the city of Pamplona, Spain. In 1521 Ignatius, wounded by cannon shrapnel, reviewed the illusions of his life as sober death approached. But he did not die. His long convalescence became a conversion process. He gradually yielded up his stubborn self-preoccupation, bravado, and ambition and began to discover a new self in God.7 The spirituality record of Ignatius's surrender to God is found in his classic work, the Spiritual Exercises. Today, 450 years after its first published edition, it is still considered a significant theo-logical work noted for its integration of Scripture, guidelines for Nove~nber-Dece'mber 1993 845 Mossi ¯ The Spirituality of Surrender discernment, sense of mission, and themes of justice. The Exercises' developmental stages of growth in discipleship and intimacy enable a person to come home to God. The last prayer of the Exercises is called the "Suscipe" or "Take and Receive." I invite you to spend some time contemplating the components of this prayer. What is Ignatius, the once vain soldier-at- arms, now a mystic, asking us to do? Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will-- all that I have and call my own. You have given it all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.8 The "Suscipe" is a deceptively profound prayer. It invites us to acknowledge the primacy of God in our totality; it answers the humbling question "What aspect of our being is not a gift of God?" In the light of this answer, Ignatius invites us to surrender all to God. The last part of the prayer is a seeking of the purer gifts: "Give me only your love and grace. That is enough for me." Ignatius does not compromise in the process of "letting go of self and letting God in." I recall a forceful experience in praying the "Suscipe." It hap-pened fifteen years ago during a retreat. I attempted to pray and could not. I realized I had not surrendered anything, certainly not my liberty, memory, understanding, and will to anyone, much less to God. I told my director that I could not pray this prayer at all. As a consequence, I seriously questioned remaining a Jesuit. The director gave sage advice. He invited me to return to the chapel and pray the "Suscipe" with my own words in my own way. I prayed, "Lord, I give you my sins which I know so well, those many areas of my life where I am not obedient, poor, and chaste. I give you my pride, my negativity, my hatred and vin-dictiveness, my compulsive rebellion and addictiveness to self. I am overly familiar with these dark recesses. And I truly need to sur-render these to you. Send forth your Holy Spirit to guide, anoint, ¯ and heal with a love that I am most in need of, your grace." 846 Review for Religious Like an ambush, the opportunity to surrender can appear at unlikely moments. Do not let the occasion pass by. The benefit of letting God in always outweighs whatever is surrendered. Jesus on the Cross We turn to the spirituality of Jesus and the particular way he has taught us to surrender. He, too, had to face a special moment of surrender. His prayer in Luke 23:46 is a powerful expression of letting go: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.''9 Here on the cross Jesus is still the master teacher. He models for us how to pray and hand over our daily experiences and our life to God. Notice the key elements: (1) The prayer is addressed to the Father; (2)Jesus urges us to surrender, to commend, to let go; (3) Jesus specifies what is to be handed over. He gives what little is left, his spirit and last breath. In the daily minor or major surrenders of our own pilgrimage, we can pray in the spirituality of either the twelve steps, Ignatius, or Jesus. Specify in the "Let go, let God" mantra and the "Suscipe" whatever needs to be named and yielded: "Let go of addiction and manipulation. Let God in." "Take, Lord, my dis-honesty, my hurts, my doubts and sinfulness." God can handle and work with these blighted areas quite well. Adapt the prayer of Jesus to your immediate concerns: "Father, into your hands I commit my grief, my sense of failure, my disappointment, my pettiness and vulnerability." Commend these regions of brokenness to the higher compassion and under-standing of God. It is clear that not only our joys but also our sorrows must be offered to God. Our ability to be powerless allows God to meet us and tenderly heal us on our journey, embracing us as we truly are. Moreover, the art 6f surrendering involves a lifelong process. Some days we succeed better than others. If we post-pone learning the spirituality of surrender, we will face it unpre-pared at death, when .the surrender is sudden. Perhaps we can learn to surrender to the care, to the heart, of God in advance. Notes ~ For more information on this topic, see Gerald G. May, Addiction and Grace (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1991), pp. 162-181. Nove'mber-December 1993 847 Mossi * The Spirituality of Surrender 2 Ernest Kurtz, Not-God: A Histo~7 of Alcoholics Anonymous (Center City, Minn.: Hazeldon, 1991), pp. 37-57. 3 Anonymous, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1952), p. 21. 4 Ibid, p. 25. ~ Ibid, p. 34. 6 The New Jerusalem Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1985). 7 St. Ignatius' Own Story, trans. William J. Young sJ (Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1956), pp. 7-27. 8 David L. Fleming SJ, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: A Literal Translation and a Contemporary Reading (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1980), p. 141. 9 The New Jerusalem Bible. Retreat: A Flight The gulls are going wild over the waters; dipping, zooming, swirling over the wild waters. Far away, at horizon's edge, two ships imperceptibly inch against a purpling sky. I look up and see clouds playing charades before my eyes; straight out, the waves, wind-tossed, chase the dunes relentlessly. It is December at Mantoloking, and my Advent prayer has taken off with the clouds and the winds and the waves. I surrender, like a Maid of long ago to a time of begetting: in Mary, a Word made Flesh. in me, a sign become Faith. each a way of holding Beauty as a born-for-us Savior in a free-for-all world where the gulls (and my heart) go dipping, zooming, swirling with the wild of wonder. Anna Marie Mack SSJ 848 Review for Religious JEFFREY GROS The Ecumenical Vocation of Religious When Pope John emphasized the unity of the church and its openness to the world in inaugurating Vatican Council II, few realized the cost that such conversion would exact. Some felt euphoria, expecting the whole Roman Catholic Church to be zealous for reunion among Christians and hoping for a quick resolution of the theological, sacra-mental, and historical problems dividing the churches. Others, even some receptive to conciliar reform, had the superficial expectation that ecumenical openness would settle for a warm but noncommittal outreach, diminishing hostilities but not calling for the radical conversion and institutional reform outlined in the conciliar decree on ecumenism. The last twenty-five years have been a reward-ing and challenging pilgrimage for the Roman Catholic Church and for its Christian partners on the road toward full visible unity. Those who would consider the ecu-menical movement dead have not been following the lit-erature nor have they felt spiritual bonds of communion becoming stronger as many ofhers have. The Holy Spirit has been very much at work, but not all have yet been vis-ited with the gift of conversion. It is small wonder that, as the Roman Catholic Church assesses its ecumenical involvement and charts its course for the future, its Directory for the Application of Principles Jeffrey Gros FSC works in the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. His address is 3211 4th Street N.E.; Washington, D.C. 20017-1194. ecurnenJsrn November-December 1993 849 Coos * The Ecumenical Vocation of Reli#ous and Norms on Ecumenism (June 1993) gives special emphasis to ecumenical formation.~ Indeed, the ecumenical movement has been so successful that a whole genre of literature has emerged, resulting from the ecumenical dialogue, that calls for both spe-cialized study and incorporation into the spiritual life of all Catholics, including religious. Twenty-five years ago it was pos-sible to be ecumenical merely by being open to and supportive of the general conciliar position and by praying for the unity of the church. Today ecumenical commitments have become a richer and more complex spectrum. Most religious-formation programs gave emphasis to ecumenism a decade or two ago. They need evaluation today to see if they continue faithful to the develop-ments of this part of Catholic identity. In the new Directory there is for the first time a specific section devoted to institutes of con-secrated life and societies of apostolic life, not only laying out principles, but also proposing delegates and commissions for ecu-menism at the highest levels in religious institutes.2 This Directory is a help towards renewal. It covers such top-ics as the basis in Catholic theology for ecumenical commitment; the structures in the Catholic Church--including religious com-munities- to support the ecumenical commitment; ecumenical formation of the laity and the clergy, and within specialized min-istries and institutions; spirituality as it pertains to common bap-tism, marriage, and sacramental sharing; and cooperation and common witness. After a short introduction this essay will be lim-ited to some rather general comments on two issues: ecumenical formation and collaboration. Religious have been instrumental in Roman Catholic ecu-menism- such pioneers as Congar, Tavard, Rahner, and Dulles. Some religious communities have prayer and work for the unity of the church as their charism, like the Graymoor friars and sis-ters and the Paulist fathers? Others have set up special supports for the ecumenical movement, like the Jesuit Society of Ecumenists and the Benedictine centers at Collegeville, Chevetogne, Turvey, and Niederaltaich. Outreach programs to incorporate lay people in, for example, Jesuit, Mercy, or Lasallian spirituality and apostolates have been thoroughly ecumenical in their membership and formation. Schools, hospitals, and other institutions animated by religious in leadership positions have pioneered the ecumenical program of the Catholic Church. Among diocesan ecumenical officers are many religious. Where 850 Review for Religious shared mission is a priority, the baptismal basis and commitment to full ecclesial communion are central to the common forma-tion of the fellow Christians who are brought into collaboration with Roman Catholic religious according to their particular charisms. These developments, like the other elements of renewal, have been adapted according to cultural context and the quality of vision provided by ecclesiastical and religious leadership. The Context Certainly many bishops and religious superiors will use the occasion of the publication of the Directory as an opportunity to train specialists in ecumenical leadership, much as retraining in canon law developed after the publication of the 1983 Code.4 As in biblical, social, and liturgical renewal, expertise is necessary in ecumenism. It is essential, however, that all religious, lay, and clerical members of the church be formed ecumenically as part of their spiritual and apostolic life. The Second Vatican Council clearly asked Catholics to reach out in love to all other Christians with a charity that desires and works actively to overcome in truth whatever divides them from one another. For the council, Catholics are to act in hope and in prayer to promote Christian unity. They will be prompted and instructed by their faith in the mystery of the church, and their ecumenical activity will be inspired and guided by a true understanding of the church as "sacrament or iristrumental sign of intimate union with God, and of unity of the whole human race.''s In this sho~'t essay attention will be called to the ecumenical dimension of Roman Catholic spirituality and identity in its pres-ent challenges. Among the institutional supports to religious involved in the ecumenical movement is the National Ecumenical Consultation of Men and Women Religious. This .group's publication of Religious for Christian Unity as an ecumenical resource and direc-tory and its sponsorship of a national ecumenical conference under the theme "Toward a Communion in Faith Life and Witness" are indications of a certain maturity.6 Although there has been an international ecumenical consultation for twenty years, the United States consultation is only nine years old. It is sponsored in part by the Conference of Major Superiors of Men and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. With the publication and the November-December 1993 851 Gros ¯ The Ecumenical Vocation of Reh~ous May 1993 conference, the specific ecumenical contribution of religious begins to have a higher profile. For the first time, the Directory proposes a structure within religious congregations to assist in the ecumenical activity of com-munities at all levels: It is very opportune that the various institutes of conse-crated life and societies of apostolic life establish, on the level of their central authorities, a delegate or a commis-sion charged with promoting and assisting their ecumenical engagement. The function of these delegates or commis-sions will be to encourage the ecumenical formation of all the members, aid the specific ecumenical formation of those who have particular offices, and act as advisors for ecu-menical affairs to the various general and local authorities of the institutes and societies, especially for initiating or carrying forward the activities described [in the Directory].7 This initiative will elicit considerable work on the part of major superiors, general councils, and chapters. The implications of this proposal will need to be developed in writing for the var-ious institutes. For this project the Directory will be useful. Elements of the Ecumenical Spirituality At the root of loyalty to Christ's will for the church and for church unity is the process of conversion, personal and institu-tional, s There are cultural dispositions that make the formation for such a conversion more or less easy. Of course, a prayerful open-ness to the Holy Spirit's action in the church, in other churches, and in fellow Christians is foundational. Because ecumenism with all its human and moral require-ments is rooted so profoundly in the mysterious working out of the providence of the Father, through the Son and the Spirit, it reaches into the depths of Christian spirituality. It calls for [a] "change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians. ¯ ." Those who identify deeply with Christ must identify with his prayer, and especially with his prayer for unity; . . ¯ those whose lives are marked by repentance will be espe-cially sensitive to the sinfulness of divisions and will pray for forgiveness and con, version. Those who seek holiness will be able to recognize its fruits also outside the visible boundaries of their own church.9 However, studies of seminary formation that were made by 852 Review for Religious diocesan ecumenical officers demonstrate that the most effective ecumenical formative experience is growing up in an interchurch family. Other elements that contributed most to the ecumenical dimension of priestly formation in the United States are (I) internship with an ecumenically effective priest, (2) ecumenically effective spiritual directors, (3) internships with an ecumenically informed non-Catholic minister, and (4) experiences in ecu-menically mixed clinical pastoral education programs. All of the seminaries report that the ecumenical dimension is fully inte-grated into the curriculum. The Directory will be helpful for eval-uating these claims. As sketched out by the council, the elements of Roman Catholic participation in the ecumenical movement include (1) the ecumenical dimension of spirituality, (2) theological dialogues leading to deeper understanding and toward full church unity, (3) collaboration in common witness and service, and (4) internal renewal of the members and structures of the church in response to ecumenical commitments. Attention needs to be given to each of these dimensions in initial and continuing formation and in the ongoing life of a religious community or parish. Ecumenical Spirituality for the Church An ecumenical spirituality is at the center of every aspect of the renewal of religious and lay life in the church. Without con-version to Christ's will for the church--in this case its visible unity and Roman Catholic contributions thereto--any theologi-cal, institutional, or educational progress towards full commu-nion will be superficial. If, on the other hand, Catholics are fully committed to all to whom they are bound by real, if imperfect, communion in baptism and to Christ's will for the visible unity of the church, then no setbacks on the road toward that unity will discourage them or make them complacent about divisions: The ecumenical movement is a grace of God, given by the Father in answer to the prayer of Jesus and the supplica-tion of the church inspired by the Holy Spirit. While it is carried out within the general mission of the church to unite humanity in Christ, its own specific field is the restoration of unity among Christians. Those who are baptized in the name of Christ are, by that very fact, called to commit themselves to the search for unity?° Noventber-Decevnber 1993 853 Coos ¯ The Ecumenical Vocation of Religious While individual religious and some communities have given considerable leadership to church reform in general and ecu-menism in particular, identity problems also affect the relationship of religious and the church. The Nygren/Ukeritis studies show that United States religious have "a stronger ecclesiology than Christology." ii This is not surprising, given the Roman Catholic The vast amount of ecumenical literature that has emerged in the last thi'rty years can help people renew their understandings of sacramental faith together. understanding of spirituality. I would understand this conclusion to mean that Christ is experienced more sacramentally, communally, and in mission than in indi-vidualistic or contemplative encounters. Such a focus on community can mean two things, as a resource for Catholic ecu-menical commitment. In one instance it can mean a more closed and sectarian approach, where primary religious identity and meaning come from the proximate religious community, its institution~ and ministry, rather than from Christ's wider will for the church and the world. Needless to say, this provides a weaker basis for ecu-menical conversion and formation. On the other hand,this ecclesiocen-tric spirituality could indicate that the experience of Christ is primarily in the call to community in the church, in the wider Christian society, and in the whole human family. At this stage in the reporting of the data, "ecclesiology" is yet to be defined. Be that as it may, the fully Catholic religious sees his or her sacramental life as yet defi-cient, short of the full communion of all Christians around the eucharistic table. The data from the same study shows religious to be "clear in their lowered respect for the magisterial authority of the church and the U.S. hierarchy in. general.''12 These words, negative as they sound, may however be interpreted as a critical fidelity to the Holy Spirit's call to the church for its renewal. A higher ideal for the church, its renewal, its leadership, and its eventual unity may not be so much "lowered respect" as elevated expectation and longer-range vision. The movement toward Christ's will for a united church is a critical fidelity for all of the churches involved in the ecumenical movement. 854 Review for Religious The vast amount of ecumenical literature that has emerged in 'the last thirty years can help people renew their understandings of sacramental faith together. The agreements on "justification by grace through faith" with the Lutherans, for example, provide an important contribution to faith development, self-under-standing, and spiritual direction?3 These documents will not reach their full fruitfulness unless they transform the prayer life, litur-gical celebration, and community understanding of the churches that produced them: Catholics should also give value to certain elements and goods, sources of spiritual life, which are found in other churches and ecclesial communities, and which belong to the one church of Christ: Holy Scripture, the sacraments and other sacred actibns, faith, hope, charity and other gifts of the Spirit. These goods have borne fruit for example in the mystical tradition of the Christian East and the spiritual treasures of the monastic life, in the worship and piety of Anglicans, in the Evangelical prayer and the diverse forms of Protestant spirituality. This appreciation should not remain merely theoreti-cal; in suitable particular conditions, it should be completed by the practical knowledge of other traditions of spiritual-ity. Therefore, sharing prayer and participating in some form of public worship or in devotional acts of other Christians can have a formative value when in accord with existing directives.14 Religious have a unique role in translating these intellectual con-tributions into popular piety. Indeed, several ecumenical books on the Blessed Virgin have already provided an invaluable resource, as can be noted by the many languages into which they have been translated,is The lives of ecumenical figures from Luther to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from John WeslEy to C.S. Lewis, have enr.iched the spiritual reading of a generation and made the divisions both more clear and more subject to the healing power of the Holy Spirit. The modern availability of the spiritual classics from the full range of ecumenical sources, Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican has enabled all to be enriched. The living presence of fellow Christians with whom we share Christ--in a variety of traditions, but with a common will to be obedient to Christ's call to visible unity--is a rich complement to the liturgical, bio-graphical, and literary gifts we receive from one another. Like the charisms of the various religious communities and their November-December 1993 855 Gros ¯ The Ecumenical Vocation of Religlous founders, each church brings to a united church gifts we dare not lose as we reconcile our divisions. More particularly, giveR the legitimate variety of charisms and of the work of monasteries, institutes of consecrated life, and societies of apostolic life, it is very important that "all communities should participate in the life of the church. According to its individual character, each should make its own and foster in every possible way the enterprises and objectives of the church," including the "ecumenical field.''~6 In addition to personal and communal ecumenical spirituality, an "ecumenical hermeneutics of piety" will need to be developed as we move forward towards full communion?7 Indeed, as the "lineamenta" document for the 1994 synod notes, the baptismal consecration, beyond the narrow borders of the Roman Catholic Church, is the criterion for our communi-tarian outreach: As a reflection of church communion, the community is not a unit closed in.upon itself. Rather, it is open to the multiplicity of relationships with others which are provided by prayer, apostolic service, and collaboration with other members of the church, all of whom share in the same bap-tismal consecration and are called to holiness and mission in the variety and complementarity of each vocation. In its communitarian aspect, the role of the consecrated life is to offer to all members of the people of God the supreme value of the charity of Christ's disciples, lived in perseverance in fraternal communion.~8 Likewise, the agenda of the synod is very explicit about the spe.cificity of the spiritual calling: Those in the consecrated life have a special role in this ecu-menical task, in dialogue with the spiritual experiences akin to those of other churches and Christian confessions, in a spiritual ecumenism of conversion, prayer, dialogue and mutual edification, always in kedping with their proper iden-tity in the faith and their charism?9 Formation for an Ecumenical Spirituality While prayer and ecumenical openness are central to the ecu-menical vocation of Catholics, including the religious communi-ties, this spirituality also has specific intellectual content. It is a truism that one cannot be an effective ecumenist from any tradi- 856 Review for Religious tion without being firmly grounded in one's own faith and iden-tity. 2° However, 'the intellectual content of the ecumenical move-ment, including Roman Catholic principles and history within that movement, is an essential component for the formation of any ministry in the church, lay, clerical, or religious. In addition to the foundational principles enunciated in the conciliar and postconciliar docu-ments, 21 there has been a rich harvest of dialogue agreements.~ All of these texts are resources for spiritual and intellectual " renewal, requiring the same level of delib-erate systematic effort as did the early days of the biblical and liturgical renewal. Until leaders in our institutions, dioceses, and religious communities become well formed in these matters, their spirit will not be able to come alive in our Catholic life. Indeed, these dialogues and the researches and methodologies that stand behind them transform not only our appreciation of our own Catholic faith, but also of the changes necessary if our insti-tutions and practices are to be converted to reach the ideal we outline with our ecumenical partners. As was noted above, the curricula of seminaries have been transformed by the ecumenical movement. Those who receive their training in ecumenical con-sortia are probably the most sensitive to the ecumenical dimen-sion, but no one taking a Catholic scripture course can be ignorant of the full integration of Catholic and Protestant biblical schol-arship since the council. Similarly, any competent liturgy or sacramental-theology course will be informed by the vast literature that has come from the World Council's "Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry" processz3 over the last decade and from the bilateral agreements of a wide variety of churches. Soteriology, spiritual development, and eccle-siology are all informed by the Lutheran/Catholic work on grace cited above. Ecclesiology will include not only the principles of Catholic ecumenism, but also the work done in the World Council and in various dialogues on such topics as the local and the uni-versal church, religious liberty and proselytism, and papal pri- One cannot be an effective ecumenist from any tradition without being firmly grounded in one's own faith and identity. November-December 1993 857 Coos * The Ecumenical Vocation of Relig4ous macy and infallibility. The Directory gives helpful detail for plan-ning both clerical and nonclerical religious formation.24 For the first time a section in this Directory sets the stage for the work of ecumenical formation among religious: While the concern for restoring Christian unity involves the whole church, clergy and laity alike, relig

In my postgraduate formation during the last years of the 80's, we had close to thirty hospital beds in a pavilion called "sépticas" (1). In Colombia, where abortion was completely penalized, the pavilion was mostly filled with women with insecure, complicated abortions. The focus we received was technical: management of intensive care; performance of hysterectomies, colostomies, bowel resection, etc. In those times, some nurses were nuns and limited themselves to interrogating the patients to get them to "confess" what they had done to themselves in order to abort. It always disturbed me that the women who left alive, left without any advice or contraceptive method. Having asked a professor of mine, he responded with disdain: "This is a third level hospital, those things are done by nurses of the first level". Seeing so much pain and death, I decided to talk to patients, and I began to understand their decision. I still remember so many deaths with sadness, but one case in particular pains me: it was a woman close to being fifty who arrived with a uterine perforation in a state of advanced sepsis. Despite the surgery and the intensive care, she passed away. I had talked to her, and she told me she was a widow, had two adult kids and had aborted because of "embarrassment towards them" because they were going to find out that she had an active sexual life. A few days after her passing, the pathology professor called me, surprised, to tell me that the uterus we had sent for pathological examination showed no pregnancy. She was a woman in a perimenopausal state with a pregnancy exam that gave a false positive due to the high levels of FSH/LH typical of her age. SHE WAS NOT PREGNANT!!! She didn't have menstruation because she was premenopausal and a false positive led her to an unsafe abortion. Of course, the injuries caused in the attempted abortion caused the fatal conclusion, but the real underlying cause was the social taboo in respect to sexuality. I had to watch many adolescents and young women leave the hospital alive, but without a uterus, sometime without ovaries and with colostomies, to be looked down on by a society that blamed them for deciding to not be mothers. I had to see situation of women that arrived with their intestines protruding from their vaginas because of unsafe abortions. I saw women, who in their despair, self-inflicted injuries attempting to abort with elements such as stick, branches, onion wedges, alum bars and clothing hooks among others. Among so many deaths, it was hard not having at least one woman per day in the morgue due to an unsafe abortion. During those time, healthcare was not handled from the biopsychosocial, but only from the technical (2); nonetheless, in the academic evaluations that were performed, when asked about the definition of health, we had to recite the text from the International Organization of Health that included these three aspects. How contradictory! To give response to the health need of women and guarantee their right when I was already a professor, I began an obstetric contraceptive service in that third level hospital. There was resistance from the directors, but fortunately I was able to acquire international donations for the institution, which facilitated its acceptance. I decided to undertake a teaching career with the hope of being able to sensitize health professionals towards an integral focus of health and illness. When the International Conference of Population and Development (ICPD) was held in Cairo in 1994, I had already spent various years in teaching, and when I read their Action Program, I found a name for what I was working on: Sexual and Reproductive Rights. I began to incorporate the tools given by this document into my professional and teaching life. I was able to sensitize people at my countries Health Ministry, and we worked together moving it to an approach of human rights in areas of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This new viewpoint, in addition to being integral, sought to give answers to old problems like maternal mortality, adolescent pregnancy, low contraceptive prevalence, unplanned or unwanted pregnancy or violence against women. With other sensitized people, we began with these SRH issues to permeate the Colombian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, some universities, and university hospitals. We are still fighting in a country that despite many difficulties has improved its indicators of SRH. With the experience of having labored in all sphere of these topics, we manage to create, with a handful of colleagues and friend at the Universidad El Bosque, a Master's Program in Sexual and Reproductive Health, open to all professions, in which we broke several paradigms. A program was initiated in which the qualitative and quantitative investigation had the same weight, and some alumni of the program are now in positions of leadership in governmental and international institutions, replicating integral models. In the Latin American Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FLASOG, English acronym) and in the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO), I was able to apply my experience for many years in the SRH committees of these association to benefit women and girls in the regional and global environments. When I think of who has inspired me in these fights, I should highlight the great feminist who have taught me and been with me in so many fights. I cannot mention them all, but I have admired the story of the life of Margaret Sanger with her persistence and visionary outlook. She fought throughout her whole life to help the women of the 20th century to be able to obtain the right to decide when and whether or not they wanted to have children (3). Of current feminist, I have had the privilege of sharing experiences with Carmen Barroso, Giselle Carino, Debora Diniz and Alejandra Meglioli, leaders of the International Planned Parenthood Federation – Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF-RHO). From my country, I want to mention my countrywoman Florence Thomas, psychologist, columnist, writer and Colombo-French feminist. She is one of the most influential and important voices in the movement for women rights in Colombia and the region. She arrived from France in the 1960's, in the years of counterculture, the Beatles, hippies, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre, a time in which capitalism and consumer culture began to be criticized (4). It was then when they began to talk about the female body, female sexuality and when the contraceptive pill arrived like a total revolution for women. Upon its arrival in 1967, she experimented a shock because she had just assisted in a revolution and only found a country of mothers, not women (5). That was the only destiny for a woman, to be quiet and submissive. Then she realized that this could not continue, speaking of "revolutionary vanguards" in such a patriarchal environment. In 1986 with the North American and European feminism waves and with her academic team, they created the group "Mujer y Sociedad de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia", incubator of great initiatives and achievements for the country (6). She has led great changes with her courage, the strength of her arguments, and a simultaneously passionate and agreeable discourse. Among her multiple books, I highlight "Conversaciones con Violeta" (7), motivated by the disdain towards feminism of some young women. She writes it as a dialogue with an imaginary daughter in which, in an intimate manner, she reconstructs the history of women throughout the centuries and gives new light of the fundamental role of feminism in the life of modern women. Another book that shows her bravery is "Había que decirlo" (8), in which she narrates the experience of her own abortion at age twenty-two in sixty's France. My work experience in the IPPF-RHO has allowed me to meet leaders of all ages in diverse countries of the region, who with great mysticism and dedication, voluntarily, work to achieve a more equal and just society. I have been particularly impressed by the appropriation of the concept of sexual and reproductive rights by young people, and this has given me great hope for the future of the planet. We continue to have an incomplete agenda of the action plan of the ICPD of Cairo but seeing how the youth bravely confront the challenges motivates me to continue ahead and give my years of experience in an intergenerational work. In their policies and programs, the IPPF-RHO evidences great commitment for the rights and the SRH of adolescent, that are consistent with what the organization promotes, for example, 20% of the places for decision making are in hands of the young. Member organizations, that base their labor on volunteers, are true incubators of youth that will make that unassailable and necessary change of generations. In contrast to what many of us experienced, working in this complicated agenda of sexual and reproductive health without theoretical bases, today we see committed people with a solid formation to replace us. In the college of medicine at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the College of Nursing at the Universidad El Bosque, the new generations are more motivated and empowered, with great desire to change the strict underlying structures. Our great worry is the onslaught of the ultra-right, a lot of times better organized than us who do support rights, that supports anti-rights group and are truly pro-life (9). Faced with this scenario, we should organize ourselves better, giving battle to guarantee the rights of women in the local, regional, and global level, aggregating the efforts of all pro-right organizations. We are now committed to the Objectives of Sustainable Development (10), understood as those that satisfy the necessities of the current generation without jeopardizing the capacity of future generations to satisfy their own necessities. This new agenda is based on: - The unfinished work of the Millennium Development Goals - Pending commitments (international environmental conventions) - The emergent topics of the three dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic, and environmental. We now have 17 objectives of sustainable development and 169 goals (11). These goals mention "universal access to reproductive health" many times. In objective 3 of this list is included guaranteeing, before the year 2030, "universal access to sexual and reproductive health services, including those of family planning, information, and education." Likewise, objective 5, "obtain gender equality and empower all women and girls", establishes the goal of "assuring the universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in conformity with the action program of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Action Platform of Beijing". It cannot be forgotten that the term universal access to sexual and reproductive health includes universal access to abortion and contraception. Currently, 830 women die every day through preventable maternal causes; of these deaths, 99% occur in developing countries, more than half in fragile environments and in humanitarian contexts (12). 216 million women cannot access modern contraception methods and the majority live in the nine poorest countries in the world and in a cultural environment proper to the decades of the seventies (13). This number only includes women from 15 to 49 years in any marital state, that is to say, the number that takes all women into account is much greater. Achieving the proposed objectives would entail preventing 67 million unwanted pregnancies and reducing maternal deaths by two thirds. We currently have a high, unsatisfied demand for modern contraceptives, with extremely low use of reversible, long term methods (intrauterine devices and subdermal implants) which are the most effect ones with best adherence (14). There is not a single objective among the 17 Objectives of Sustainable Development where contraception does not have a prominent role: from the first one that refers to ending poverty, going through the fifth one about gender equality, the tenth of inequality reduction among countries and within the same country, until the sixteenth related with peace and justice. If we want to change the world, we should procure universal access to contraception without myths or barriers. We have the moral obligation of achieving the irradiation of extreme poverty and advancing the construction of more equal, just, and happy societies. In emergency contraception (EC), we are very far from reaching expectations. If in reversible, long-term methods we have low prevalence, in EC the situation gets worse. Not all faculties in the region look at this topic, and where it is looked at, there is no homogeneity in content, not even within the same country. There are still myths about their real action mechanisms. There are countries, like Honduras, where it is prohibited and there is no specific medicine, the same case as in Haiti. Where it is available, access is dismal, particularly among girls, adolescents, youth, migrants, afro-descendent, and indigenous. The multiple barriers for the effective use of emergency contraceptives must be knocked down, and to work toward that we have to destroy myths and erroneous perceptions, taboos and cultural norms; achieve changes in laws and restrictive rules within countries, achieve access without barriers to the EC; work in union with other sectors; train health personnel and the community. It is necessary to transform the attitude of health personal to a service above personal opinion. Reflecting on what has occurred after the ICPD in Cairo, their Action Program changed how we look at the dynamics of population from an emphasis on demographics to a focus on the people and human rights. The governments agreed that, in this new focus, success was the empowerment of women and the possibility of choice through expanded access to education, health, services, and employment among others. Nonetheless, there have been unequal advances and inequality persists in our region, all the goals were not met, the sexual and reproductive goals continue beyond the reach of many women (15). There is a long road ahead until women and girls of the world can claim their rights and liberty of deciding. Globally, maternal deaths have been reduced, there is more qualified assistance of births, more contraception prevalence, integral sexuality education, and access to SRH services for adolescents are now recognized rights with great advances, and additionally there have been concrete gains in terms of more favorable legal frameworks, particularly in our region; nonetheless, although it's true that the access condition have improved, the restrictive laws of the region expose the most vulnerable women to insecure abortions. There are great challenges for governments to recognize SRH and the DSR as integral parts of health systems, there is an ample agenda against women. In that sense, access to SRH is threatened and oppressed, it requires multi-sector mobilization and litigation strategies, investigation and support for the support of women's rights as a multi-sector agenda. Looking forward, we must make an effort to work more with youth to advance not only the Action Program of the ICPD, but also all social movements. They are one of the most vulnerable groups, and the biggest catalyzers for change. The young population still faces many challenges, especially women and girls; young girls are in particularly high risk due to lack of friendly and confidential services related with sexual and reproductive health, gender violence, and lack of access to services. In addition, access to abortion must be improved; it is the responsibility of states to guarantee the quality and security of this access. In our region there still exist countries with completely restrictive frameworks. New technologies facilitate self-care (16), which will allow expansion of universal access, but governments cannot detach themselves from their responsibility. Self-care is expanding in the world and can be strategic for reaching the most vulnerable populations. There are new challenges for the same problems, that require a re-interpretation of the measures necessary to guaranty the DSR of all people, in particular women, girls, and in general, marginalized and vulnerable populations. It is necessary to take into account migrations, climate change, the impact of digital media, the resurgence of hate discourse, oppression, violence, xenophobia, homo/transphobia, and other emergent problems, as SRH should be seen within a framework of justice, not isolated. We should demand accountability of the 179 governments that participate in the ICPD 25 years ago and the 193 countries that signed the Sustainable Development Objectives. They should reaffirm their commitments and expand their agenda to topics not considered at that time. Our region has given the world an example with the Agreement of Montevideo, that becomes a blueprint for achieving the action plan of the CIPD and we should not allow retreat. This agreement puts people at the center, especially women, and includes the topic of abortion, inviting the state to consider the possibility of legalizing it, which opens the doors for all governments of the world to recognize that women have the right to choose on maternity. This agreement is much more inclusive: Considering that the gaps in health continue to abound in the region and the average statistics hide the high levels of maternal mortality, of sexually transmitted diseases, of infection by HIV/AIDS, and the unsatisfied demand for contraception in the population that lives in poverty and rural areas, among indigenous communities, and afro-descendants and groups in conditions of vulnerability like women, adolescents and incapacitated people, it is agreed: 33- To promote, protect, and guarantee the health and the sexual and reproductive rights that contribute to the complete fulfillment of people and social justice in a society free of any form of discrimination and violence. 37- Guarantee universal access to quality sexual and reproductive health services, taking into consideration the specific needs of men and women, adolescents and young, LGBT people, older people and people with incapacity, paying particular attention to people in a condition of vulnerability and people who live in rural and remote zone, promoting citizen participation in the completing of these commitments. 42- To guarantee, in cases in which abortion is legal or decriminalized in the national legislation, the existence of safe and quality abortion for non-desired or non-accepted pregnancies and instigate the other States to consider the possibility of modifying public laws, norms, strategies, and public policy on the voluntary interruption of pregnancy to save the life and health of pregnant adolescent women, improving their quality of life and decreasing the number of abortions (17).

In Madagaskar ist ein Großteil der ländlichen Bevölkerung von Armut betroffen und ist damit auf kleinbäuerliche Landwirtschaft und die Nutzung natürlicher Ressourcen zur Grundversorgung angewiesen. Folglich sind die natürlichen und artenreichen Ökosysteme des Landes einem hohen Landnutzungsdruck ausgesetzt. Vor allem die Regenwälder im Nordosten des Landes weisen eine bemerkenswerte Vielfalt an Baumarten und eine hohe Endemismusrate auf, sind jedoch von einer raschen Umwandlung in eine von Menschen veränderte Mosaiklandschaft bedroht. In dieser Mosaiklandschaft im Nordosten Madagaskars findet sich noch ein kleiner Anteil geschützter alter Wälder, ansonsten setzt sich die Landschaft aus einem Mosaik landwirtschaftlicher Flächen, Waldfragmente und Agroforste zusammen. Diese Agroforste dienen dem kleinbäuerlichen Anbau von Gewürzvanille, die Madagaskars wichtigstes Exportprodukt darstellt. In diesen Agroforsten spielen Bäume eine entscheidende Rolle. Sie werden entweder als Schattenbäume oder als Stützbäume für die kletternde Vanille-Orchidee (Vanilla planifolia) dauerhaft in das Anbausystem integriert. Vanille-Agroforste decken bezüglich ihrer Struktur und ihrer Artenzusammensetzung ein breites Spektrum ab. Somit weisen sie vielversprechende Landnutzungsoptionen auf, um die Erhaltung der biologischen Vielfalt mit den Produktionszielen im Nordosten Madagaskars in Einklang zu bringen. Da es bisher nur wenige Belege gibt, die eine soziale und ökologische Bewertung der Vanille-Agroforstwirtschaft erlauben, befasst sich das Forschungsprojekt "Diversity Turn in Land Use Science" mit dieser Forschungslücke. Im Rahmen des Diversity Turn-Projekts befasst sich die vorliegende Doktorarbeit mit dem Naturschutzwert von Agroforsten, indem sie die Vielfalt, Bestandsstruktur und Zusammensetzung von Baumgemeinschaften in Vanille-Agroforsten untersucht und sie mit anderen baumbasierten Landnutzungstypen in der Mosaiklandschaft im Nordosten Madagaskars vergleicht. Um dies zu erreichen, entwickelt die vorliegende Doktorarbeit zunächst einen konzeptionellen Rahmen, der eine Naturschutzbewertung von Agroforstsystemen erleichtert. Anschließend werden einzelne Aspekte dieses konzeptionellen Rahmens anhand von Fallstudien untersucht. Die Fallstudien setzen unterschiedliche Schwerpunkte und decken damit ein umfassendes Spektrum ab, das von der Baumartenvielfalt und Bestandsstruktur, über die Baumartenzusammensetzung, die Vielfalt der Agroforst-Stützbäume bis zur Erfassung des oberirdischen Kohlenstoffbestands reicht. Die Fallstudien stützen sich auf Bauminventurdaten, die in Vanille-Agroforsten mit unterschiedlicher Landnutzungsgeschichte erhoben wurden, sowie in weitgehend ungestörten Wäldern, Waldfragmenten und holzigen Brachflächen, die alle Teil der kleinbäuerlichen Mosaiklandschaft im Nordosten Madagaskars sind. In der konzeptionellen Studie (Kapitel 1) wird zunächst dargelegt, dass sich tropische Agroforste in ihrer Landnutzungsgeschichte unterscheiden: sie können entweder im Wald oder auf Brachland angelegt werden. Jedoch wird dieser Unterschied in der Agroforstforschung und -politik bisher kaum beachtet. Auf der Grundlage von Literaturdaten und einem Beispiel aus eigenen Bauminventurdaten zeigt die Studie, dass sich Agroforste mit unterschiedlicher Landnutzungsgeschichte in Bezug auf biologische Vielfalt, Ökosystemfunktionen und Ökosystemdienstleistungen unterscheiden. Die Studie legt nahe, dass die Unterscheidung basierend auf der Landnutzungsgeschichte in verschiedenen Regionen und Agroforstsystemen anwendbar sein könnte, um lokale Naturschutzziele und Landschaftsmanagement besser aufeinander abzustimmen. Kapitel 2 analysiert die Bestandsstruktur und die Artenvielfalt von Bäumen in den verschiedenen Landnutzungstypen der kleinbäuerlichen Mosaiklandschaft. Dabei steht insbesondere im Fokus, wie sich die Landnutzungsgeschichte in Vanille-Agroforsten auf deren Bestandsstruktur und die Baumartenvielfalt auswirkt: die Studie zeigt, dass Agroforste, die im Wald etabliert wurden, wichtig für die Erhaltung der Lebensraumstruktur und der Baumvielfalt sind, während Agroforste, die auf Brachland etabliert wurden, eine Möglichkeit zur Wiederherstellung der Baumbestände auf diesen ehemals bewaldeten Brachflächen bieten. Kapitel 3 quantifiziert die Vielfältigkeit und Zusammensetzung der Baumartengemeinschaften innerhalb und zwischen verschiedenen Landnutzungstypen in der Mosaiklandschaft. Die Studie verwendet Beta-Diversitätsmaße, die Veränderungen in der Baumartenzusammensetzung und -häufigkeit in diesen verschiedenen Landnutzungstypen widerspiegeln, und zeigt, dass (bis jetzt) viele Baumarten in dieser Mosaiklandschaft überleben können. Allerdings sind die Fluktuationsraten innerhalb und zwischen den Baumgemeinschaften in den verschiedenen Landnutzungstypen hoch, was darauf hindeutet, dass sich die Baumgemeinschaften sowohl in ihrer Identität als auch in ihrem Abundanz verändern. Die Studie befürwortet die Durchführung von Maßnahmen zur Aufforstung und Renaturierung ehemals bewaldeten Brachlands, um die einzigartigen Baumartengemeinschaften in der vom Menschen veränderten Mosaiklandschaft zu erhalten, und schlägt als Einstieg die Etablierung von Agroforsten auf ehemals bewaldeten Brachflächen vor. Die Studie betont jedoch, dass die hohe Fluktuationsrate von Baumartengemeinschaften bei der Planung solcher Aktivitäten zu berücksichtigen ist. Kapitel 4 befasst sich mit der Vielfalt und Zusammensetzung von Agroforst-Stützbäumen, denen bisher wenig wissenschaftliche Aufmerksam zukam. Die Studie stützt sich auf Daten aus der Bestandsaufnahme von Agroforst-Stützbäumen in Vanille-Agroforsten mit unterschiedlicher Landnutzungsgeschichte, sowie auf Befragungen der Besitzer:innen der jeweiligen Vanille-Agroforste. Die Studie analysiert die Artenvielfalt, die Zusammensetzung und die geographische Herkunft der Stützbäume in diesen Vanille-Agroforsten und zeigt, dass Stützbäume wesentlich zur Baumvielfalt dieser Agroforste beitragen, aber abhängig von der Landnutzungsgeschichte werden deutliche Unterschiede zwischen Stützbaum-Beständen sichtbar: Stützbäume in Agroforsten, die im Wald etabliert wurden, umfassen viele einheimische und endemische Stützbaumarten und weisen einen viermal höheren Artenreichtum auf als Agroforste, die auf Brachland etabliert wurden und einen hohen Anteil an eingeführten Stützbaumarten beherbergen. Da auf Brachland etablierte Vanille-Agroforste eine wichtige Rolle bei der Aufforstung und Renaturierung ehemals bewaldeten Brachlands spielen können, empfiehlt die Studie bei deren Etablierung verstärkt auf einheimische oder endemische Baumarten als Stützbäume zurück zu greifen. Kapitel 5 quantifiziert die oberirdischen Kohlenstoffvorräte in den verschiedenen Landnutzungstypen der kleinbäuerlichen Mosaiklandschaft. Dabei wird insbesondere analysiert, wie die Landnutzungsgeschichte die oberirdischen Kohlenstoffvorräte in Agroforstsystemen beeinflusst. Die Studie zeigt, dass Agroforste als Kohlenstoffspeicher in einer multifunktionalen Landschaft fungieren können, dass es aber wichtig ist, ihre Landnutzungsgeschichte und ihre Bewirtschaftung zu berücksichtigen, um ihren Naturschutzwert zu maximieren: Agroforste, die im Wald etabliert wurden, weisen größere oberirdischen Kohlenstoffvorräten auf und haben das Potenzial, eine waldähnliche Struktur mit einheimischen und endemischen Bäumen in der Landschaft zu erhalten, während Agroforste, die auf Brachland etabliert wurden, dieses ehemalig bewaldete Brachland in dauerhaft baumdominierte Landnutzungssysteme zurückführen. Zusammenfassend tragen die Studien im Rahmen dieser Doktorarbeit dazu bei, die ökologische Bewertung tropischer Agroforste zu verbessern. Die Studien liefern datengestützte Erkenntnisse aus Fallstudien in der Mosaiklandschaft im Nordosten Madagaskars, welche die ökologische Bewertung der Vanille-Agroforstwirtschaft in dieser Region ermöglichen. Die vorliegende Doktorarbeit beleuchtet die Vielfalt, die Zusammensetzung und die Bestandsstruktur von Baumgemeinschaften in der Mosaiklandschaft im Nordosten Madagaskars und liefert damit wichtige Informationen, um die Folgen von Landnutzungsänderungen in dieser tropischen Landschaft zu quantifizieren und zu verstehen. Ein solches Verständnis ist unerlässlich für die Entwicklung von regional angepassten Landnutzungsplänen und Schutzmaßnahmen, die darauf abzielen, die Artenvielfalt, Ökosystemfunktionen und Ökosystemdienstleistungen zu erhalten, und ist somit sowohl für die Forschung als auch für den angewandten Naturschutz von hohem Wert. ; In Madagascar, a large percentage of the rural human population faces multifaceted poverty and depends on agriculture and natural resources as main livelihood sources. Consequently, the country's biodiverse natural ecosystems experience high land-use pressure. Especially the north-eastern rainforests comprise a remarkable diversity of trees species with high endemism rates but face rapid transformation into a human-modified mosaic landscape. This human-modified mosaic landscape in north-eastern Madagascar still contains a small share of protected old-growth forest and is otherwise composed of smallholder agricultural land, forest fragments, and smallholder agroforests to cultivate Madagascar's major export product vanilla. In these agroforests, trees are permanently integrated into the crop cultivation system either as shade trees or as support trees for the climbing vanilla orchid (Vanilla planifolia). Vanilla agroforests cover a wide range of structural and compositional characteristics and might offer promising land use options to reconcile biodiversity conservation with production goals in north-eastern Madagascar. Since evidence on the social and environmental benefits and tradeoffs of vanilla agroforestry has been scarce so far, the research project "Diversity Turn in Land Use Science" addresses this research gap. Within the frame of the Diversity Turn project, this thesis addresses the conservation value of agroforests by examining the diversity, stand structure, and composition of tree communities in vanilla agroforests and contrasting them to other tree-based land-use types in the mosaic landscape of north-eastern Madagascar. To do so, this thesis first establishes a conceptual framework on agroforestry systems and then works through the individual aspects of this framework, using case studies on species diversity and stand structure, species composition, support tree diversity, and aboveground carbon stocks. The case studies build on tree inventory data from vanilla agroforests of contrasting land-use history, old-growth forests, forest fragments, and woody fallows after slash-and-burn shifting cultivation, which all contribute to the smallholder mosaic landscape of north-eastern Madagascar. The conceptual study (chapter 1) elaborates that tropical agroforests differ in land-use history and may be either established inside a forest or on open land but this difference is often neglected in agroforestry research and policy. Based on literature data and an example from own tree inventories, the study shows that agroforests of contrasting land-use history differ in biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services. The study suggests that the differentiation based on land-use history might be applicable in various regions and agroforestry systems, to better align landscape management with conservation goals. Chapter 2 analyses the stand structure and species diversity of trees in the different land-use types of the smallholder mosaic landscape. Therein, the study puts a special focus on how land-use history affects stand structure and species diversity in vanilla agroforests and demonstrates that forest-derived agroforests are important for maintaining habitat structure and tree diversity, whereas fallow-derived agroforests offer tree cover rehabilitation opportunities on open but formerly forested land. Chapter 3 quantifies the variation of tree species communities within and among different land-use types in the mosaic landscape. The study uses beta-diversity metrics that reflect changes in both species composition and abundance in these different land-use types and demonstrates that (thus far) many tree species can persist in this mosaic landscape. However, turnover rates are high within and between tree communities in the land-use types, indicating that tree communities are transforming both in identity and abundance. The study endorses the implementation of conservation and restoration activities to maintain the unique tree species assemblages in the human-modified mosaic landscape and suggests the establishment of agroforests on formerly forested degraded land as an entry point. However, the study emphasizes considering the high turnover rates of tree species communities in the planning of such activities. Chapter 4 focuses on the diversity and composition of agroforest-support trees, which have received little scientific attention so far. The study builds on support tree inventory data and farmer interviews from vanilla agroforests of contrasting land-use history. The study analyses the species diversity, composition, and geographic origin of support trees in these vanilla agroforests and shows that support trees substantially contribute to the tree diversity in these agroforests, but show clear differences based on land-use history: support trees in forest-derived agroforests encompass many native and endemic species richness and have four times higher species richness compared to fallow-derived agroforests, which harbor a high share of introduced species. Since fallow-derived vanilla agroforests can play an important role in restoration and rehabilitation, the study suggests a stronger consideration of native or endemic tree species in new to establish vanilla agroforests. Chapter 5 estimates aboveground carbon stocks across stem diameters and geographic origin of tree species in the different land-use types of the smallholder mosaic landscape. Therein, the study particularly analyses how land-use history influences aboveground carbon stocks in agroforestry systems. The study demonstrates that agroforests can act as carbon reservoirs in a multifunctional landscape, but considering their land-use history and management is important to maximize their benefits: forest-derived agroforests support higher aboveground carbon stocks than fallow-derived agroforests and have the potential to maintain a forest-like structure with native and endemic trees in the landscape, whereas fallow-derived agroforests take land out of the slash-and-burn cycle by converting it into permanent tree-dominated land-use systems. In conclusion, the studies within this thesis contribute to refining the conservation evaluation of tropical agroforests and provide data-based evidence to assess the conservation value of vanilla agroforests in the mosaic landscape of north-eastern Madagascar. The thesis sheds light on the diversity, composition, and stand structure of tree communities in the mosaic landscape of north-eastern Madagascar and thereby provides vital information to quantify and understand the consequences of land-use change in this tropical landscape. Such understanding is essential to develop land-use management schemes and conservation measures that aim to maintain species diversity, ecosystem functions, and services and is thus important for research and applied conservation alike. ; 2022-01-21

The behavioural location theory emphasises high importance of the limited rationality and the subjective perception of space in selecting of the location for a business activity. The article discusses key competencies from the scope of behavioural location theory. Ac-cording to the Authors, the behavioural location theory is rather complementary than competitive in relation to the neoclassical or modern approach, as it allows to explain the deviations of the decision-makers from the optimisation behaviour.

Business location theory has already been discussed in this journal in various contexts, for example in articles by H. Godlewska-Majkowska, K. Kuciński, A. Rutkowska-Górak, A. Kałowski. However, to our knowledge, the behavioural approach has not yet been presented here and we would like to fill the gap and offer a review of selected authors' works and concepts from this field and hopefully inspire other scholars to develop this promising research direction. In addition, a quantitative analysis of publications on behavioural location theory will be presented.

For the purposes of this article we will define the behavioural location theory as the inclusion of psychological and subjective circumstances of the decision makers into location theory, such as bounded rationality, heuristics usage and subjective spatial perception.

The behavioural approach seems underutilised in location theory despite its potential to explain many of business location decisions which are inconsistent with the profit maximisation principle. According to R. Domański [1995]: so far it has not been satisfactorily examined how the perception of space influences spatial behaviour of people. Nobody objects that many decisions, at least in part, depend on how people perceive the space surrounding them, how they differentiate it and what value they place on different elements of this space.According to W. Dziemianowicz [1997]: the assessment of location factors by decision makers most often depends on specific qualities of the business and qualities of the decision maker. Surprisingly, decades have passed since last important contributions in the field of behavioural location theory.

Location theory has its roots in XIX century, when J.H. von Thuenen offered the agricultural activity location theory in 1826. The interest in location theory revived more than 50 years later, mainly thanks to the works of W. Launhardt [1882] and A. Marshall [1886]. Important dates are also 1909, when A. Weber developed his industrial location theory and proposed the notion of a location factor and 1933, when the first theory of services location emerged, authored by W. Christaller.

Then the development of location theory accelerated, with contributions of such authors as A. Loesch [1939], F. Perroux [1964] or P. Krugman [1991]. It can be argued that thanks to P. Krugman location theory entered the mainstream economics, which neglected spatial issues for a long time.

Different location theory traditions put the emphasis on different aspects. For example, classical approach theorists indicate minimising production cost as the goal of the location decision maker while behavioural approach suggests satisfactory choice as a goal. According to H. Godlewska-Majkowska, there are five approaches to location theory: classical, neo-classical, structural, behavioural and contemporary. Their focus points are briefly explained in Table 1.

There are three similar but distinct terms related to the business location choice: • location factors – specific qualities of particular places which have direct impact on investment volume during building of the company's plant (plants) and the net profitability of business activity run in those places [Godlewska-Majkowska, 2001],
• location virtues – specific qualities of places which contribute to it that identical investments will differ depending on location in terms of investment volume, total production cost, sales revenue and taxes [Godlewska-Majkowska, 2015],

ocation circumstances – internal and external phenomena which transform a location virtue into a location factor. Internal phenomena can be for example: industry, size and ownership structure of the business. External phenomena include among others economic, environmental and cultural issues [Godlewska-Majkowska, 2013]. Clearly, location requirements are different for various sectors. Therefore, location factors are divided into general (those applying to all or many sectors) and sector-specific (those applying to one or few sectors).

There are also other classifications of location factors. The importance of subjective factors in the location choice is reflexed in the classification by Grabow et al. [1995] into soft and hard location factors, on the basis of H. GodlewskaMajkowska [2015]. Hard factors are more traditional, have direct influence on business activity and are easily measurable, while soft factors have indirect influence on business activity and are difficult to quantify.

It is worth to note that authors of this classification consider both kinds of factors as equally important and find even the soft factors as ones, which can be parametrised, measured and compared. Figure 1 presents the classification in a more detailed way.

In our view, Grabow et al. [1995] showed an excessive scepticism when it comes to measurability of some factors. For example, the local government attitude towards investor may be measured by places in investment attractiveness rankings, such as 'Gmina na 5!' conducted every year by Institute of Enterprise at Collegium of Business Administration at Warsaw School of Economics. Apart from it, the classification should be considered to be validated as more than 20 years had passed since its publication and made more precise, because as H. GodlewskaMajkowska [2015] points out, some factors seem to overlap – social climate is presented as separate factor than local government attitude towards investor, but in fact the former includes the latter.

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Each business has to choose its location and the effect of business location selection is called location decision. Location decision may be the result of a more or less formal procedure. There is a consensus among scholars that business location decision is important for entity's economic performance. At the same time, it is acknowledged in the literature that subjective factors (such as bounded rationality) play a non-negligible role in location choice. As R. Domański [2004] outlines, location decision makers usually have limited knowledge and incomplete information and in many cases the decision maker does not behave like the homo oeconomicus. Sometimes he has limited or biased information about his decision situation and at the same time he assessed the incomplete information in a subjective way.If the situation is complicated, he has to simplify it by using intuitional rules in decision making. He does not try to achieve the optimal result but rather a satisfactory one. Such statements suggest R. Domański finds bounded rationality model convincing.

According to classical, neoclassical and contemporary business location theory the decision maker undertakes the optimal choice, while heterodox approaches such as behavioural location theory claim making an optimal choice is impossible. The classical, neoclassical and contemporary theorists assume decision makers are homo oeconomicus, a person with perfect information about the present and the future, able and willing to make complicated calculations and not prone to psychological biases.

Behavioural economics accepts different set of assumptions about the human nature: limited (imperfect) knowledge of the decision maker, limited ability to process the knowledge and searching for satisfactory result rather than optimal. Decision maker who behaves in line with those assumptions is purposefully called homo satisfaciendus.

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Homo satisfaciendus is the concept of decision maker used in the bounded rationality model created by H. Simon [1955], which is fundamental for behavioural economics, including behavioural location theory. In the model it is assumed that the decision makers do not aim to maximise utility from choice made (making an optimal decision) but rather search for a good enough (satisfactory) option and once they find such an option they also stop search. In practice, it means that typically a decision maker will accept the first location that meets his minimum criteria, the so called aspiration level and will not even check alternative locations. Simon points out that people may use so called heuristics, which are decision making patterns simplifying their decision problems but he did not elaborate on it.

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The gap has been filled by D. Kahneman and A. Tversky [1975] who singled out three famous heuristics: availability, representativeness and anchoring. H. Godlewska-Majkowska [2016] argues that such heuristics are used to assess location virtues of places which a location decision maker had visited within business location decision making process.

The bounded rationality model has served as the basis for the A. Pred [1967] behavioural matrix, which linked information availability, investor's information processing ability and profitability of chosen business location. The general rule is that the more information (or information processing ability) one has, the more profitable location one chooses, caeteris paribus. An adapted version of Pred matrix is presented in Figure 2. Point A represents homo oeconomicus, who has perfect information and perfect ability to use it, so he or she will choose the optimal location. All other decision makers make suboptimal decisions and the extreme is reached in point B, where the decision maker has little information and low ability to process it, so he or she will choose a poor location that may result in a loss.

This paper re-examines Hyperides' speech In Defence of Euxenippus as evidence for the role of divination in fourth-century BCE Athens. The oration recounts an occasion of oracular divination through incubation at Amphiaraos' sanctuary in Oropos, whereby the Athenian Assembly ordered individuals to undergo incubation to resolve an issue concerning land ownership. This paper argues that Hyperides' speech not only furnishes crucial evidence which broadens our understanding of divination beyond the famous oracle at Delphi, it also provides us with a valuable case study for the process of oracular consultation. The paper analyses the different stages of this process, including the selection of incubants, the nature of the dream received and the aftermath of incubation, demonstrating how the dream could be contested. It thereby sheds new light on the complexities of oracular transmission and interpretation, both of which are open to contestation as a result of the multiplicity of religious authority. Some time in the late 330s or early 320s BCE, a dispute arose over ownership of a hill near Oropos, a territory near the border of Boeotia and Attica.1 Oropos had recently been restored to Athenian control, most likely by Alexander in 335, and the Athenian Assembly had subsequently divided the five hills surrounding Oropos into lots and allocated them to the ten Athenian tribes in groups of two, as a speech by the orator Hyperides recounts (Hyp. 4.16).2 A dispute arose, however, about one particular hill, appointed to the tribes Hippothoönthis and Acamantis: it was claimed this land actually belonged to the god Amphiaraos, whose sanctuary stood in Oropos, and that the hill was thus unlawfully allocated to the two tribes. In order to resolve this conflict the Assembly of Athens decided to send a group of men to Amphiaraos' sanctuary to undergo incubation and ask the god himself for his opinion on the matter. A question of land ownership therefore became, as this article will show, one of competing oracular interpretations. The orator Hyperides recounts these events in his speech In Defence of Euxenippus (Hyp. 4) written for Euxenippus Ethelokratous of Lamptrai, who was one of the incubants in the affair. The speech is unusual and exceptional: it is the only oration preserved from classical Athens which discusses an instance of oracular divination by way of a dream.3 Moreover, this oracular enquiry does not present the god with a therapeutic request, as is customary at Amphiaraos' Oropian sanctuary in the fourth century, but rather submits to the god a question of public decision-making. Divination in the ancient Greek world constituted an assemblage of techniques and methods used to seek the counsel of the gods. The most prestigious form of divination in the classical period was oracular, which itself existed in various forms, whether functioning through dreams—as in the case of Oropos—or prophets.4 The affair of Euxenippus raises a number of intriguing questions regarding the role of oracles in public decision-making, which forces us to rethink the usual picture of oracular divination, built up as it is largely from sources concerning the more famous oracle of Apollo at Delphi. Why did the Athenians decide to consult the oracle here with a question of land allocation? How did oracular consultation through incubation, usually employed for individual, therapeutic consultations, work with regards to a collective, public issue which involved two of the city's tribes? And, most significantly, what does this rare source for the process of oracular consultation tell us about how authority was negotiated in this public decision-making process, in which a divine dream undergoes human transmission and multiple interpretations, in order to become a decision-making tool in a matter of land allocation? This paper offers a re-examination of Hyperides' speech In Defence of Euxenippus, which intends to both deconstruct the oracular case at its heart and contextualise the speech as a source for the role of divination in the public life of classical Athens. Of course, the exceptionality of the case means we cannot automatically or unquestioningly regard it as representative of general oracular practice. Furthermore, the use of the speech as a source is made complex by the rhetorical nature of Hyperides' oration: his narrative evidently shapes and constructs events in such a way as to best substantiate his argument of defence in Euxenippus' impeachment trial. Nonetheless, if we proceed with caution and awareness of both the case's singularity and of the rhetorical nature of the depiction found in Hyperides' speech, the affair of Euxenippus can illuminate certain aspects of the divinatory process which remain largely hidden in other sources. Hyperides' speech affords us a valuable rare glimpse into the process of how divine signs were employed by presenting the different stages involved: from the type of issue which requires oracular advice to the decision to consult the oracle, from the functioning of the divinatory consultation itself to the subsequent interpretation of the sign and the final resolution of the problem. Yet this process and its results have not received the attention they deserve: general studies of divination largely ignore Euxenippus' case.5 The few scholars who have examined it, meanwhile, limit themselves primarily to the question of purpose: they merely weigh up the political, economic or religious considerations which affected why the Athenians here decided to consult the oracle, but they do not go far beyond this reason for the consultation.6 In contrast, this paper sets out to explore the important ignored issues of the functioning of the oracle and its consequences, investigating how divination is here actually used for conflict resolution. As divination provided the ancient Greeks with the most direct means of accessing indications of the will of their gods, the role of oracles in Athenian life has long been an object of study and has functioned as a cornerstone of the wider debate on the role of religion in Athenian democracy. Scholarship on 'official' oracular divination, the consultation of oracles by officials or city states, in matters concerning public, political or military affairs, has focused largely on Apollo's oracle at Delphi, for which we have the most evidence, both literary and epigraphic.7 Recently, the publication of the lead inscriptions from the oracle at Dodona has opened up the debate somewhat beyond Delphi.8 Yet the nature of the Dodonian oracular questions, sustaining and sustained by a growing scholarly interest in the role of the individual in religion, has been very much geared towards recognising the importance of divination in private everyday life.9 With regards to divination in public discourse, in the political and legal decision-making of Athens, Delphi still rules the roost. Scholars have concentrated on the question of the function of official consultations: from early-twentieth-century attitudes which derided oracular divination as charlatanism or mere formalities, theories have evidently moved on to focus on the role of divination in its social setting, or as a lens through which to view the mentalities of cultures which make use of such practices.10 Public divination has come to be seen as a regulatory device, used to gain consensus in situations where this is lacking, or—taking it more seriously—as a way of dealing with contingency and risk.11 This paper aims to throw new light on the subject of Greek public divination by examining a source—and oracle—neglected in this regard, proposing an alternative way of interpreting the function of oracular consultations. Who eventually makes the decision regarding the disputed land in Oropos, and how do they do so? This study sets out to answer this question by paying attention to the different actors involved in the decision-making process, their assigned roles, and their authority. After a short introduction to the speech itself, the analysis will deconstruct the different stages of the oracular consultation. It will commence, first, with the Assembly's decision to consult the oracle, paying particular attention to the selection and identity of the incubants. Second, it will move on to Oropos and the incubation rite itself, scrutinising the way in which the nature of the dream is experienced and articulated by the dreamer. As Hyperides' account of the events leading up to the court case are rather confused, it will be necessary here to attempt to reconstruct the details of the speech's narrative, in particular to clarify the content of the dream and its relationship to the subsequent trial. The third section of this paper will put Euxenippus' dream in a wider context by surveying comparable evidence for oneiromancy in the Greek world. The final section will examine the aftermath of the consultation, which constitutes the stage of the oracle's interpretation. It will demonstrate how contested this interpretation of the dream was, as expressed through the discussion of the Assembly upon Euxenippus' return, the decree proposal which a man called Polyeuctus made regarding the dream, and Polyeuctus' subsequent prosecution of the dreamer Euxenippus. This analysis will therefore provide an investigation into the different agents invested with authority in this decision-making process—the god, the demos, and various individuals—as well as the challenges made to different holders of authority throughout the whole process.

Розглянуто питання управління бюджетними коштами в умовах децентралізації у контексті нових підходів до методики його здійснення. На основі ґрунтовного та всебічного аналізу управління бюджетними коштами визначено низку удосконалень, які можуть бути застосовані з огляду на сучасний стан розвитку міжбюджетних відносин та законодавче забезпечення функціонування об'єднаних територіальних громад місцевого самоврядування загалом. Означено характерні особливості кожного з удосконалень та окреслено порядок їх застосування для управління бюджетними коштами. ; Problem setting. The process of decentralization, which was initiated in order to strengthen the material and financial basis of local self-government, requires the latest approaches to its implementation, given the complexity of the process, the large number of issues of the functioning of the territorial communities, which it covers and the ambiguity of the consequences it leads to. Since it, on the one hand, can contribute to the development of separate territorial communities at the expense of additional financial resources and, on the other hand, create barriers for the development of other communities with less economic potential and can not compete with more developed regions, provided that the transition to a self-financing model of local self-government is preferable .This is particularly evident in the management of budgetary funds that are available to territorial communities and should be used most rationally and efficiently on the one hand and have enough to finance their aspirated needs from another. And in view of this, there is a need for an analysis of the methods of managing budget funds in a decentralized environment that would correspond to the current trends in the development of territorial communities and were of a new character.Recent research and publications analysis. A number of scholars in their writings touched upon issues of budget activity in the conditions of decentralization, including in its fiscal aspect, among them: V. Bodrov, T. Buturlakin, A. Vasiliev, G. Voznyak, O. Kyrylenko, A. Lelechenko, Z. Lobodina, G. Lopushniak, M. Vlivdar, V. Kuybida, I. Lunin, S. Romaniuk, A. Tkachuk, G. Shakhov and others. Among foreign scholars should mention Sh. Blankarta, G. Bivaleets, M. J. Byukenen, R. A. Masgraveva, Y. Kulyavika and others.The scholars and the questions of the concept of fiscal decentralization were considered, which were reflected in the works of O. Borislavskaya, I. Volokhova, V. Hamana, M. Goncharenko, Y. Grinchenko, O. Kyrilenko, N. Kryshtof, O. Lisenko, O. Onishchenko, S. Romanyuk, M. Ruban, A. Yakymchuk, V. Yaroshchuk and others like that.However, the question of the methodology of managing budget funds in conditions of decentralization and its improvement was not the subject of a separate scientific analysis.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. In general, the issue of budget activities in the context of decentralization was considered mainly from the point of view of the functioning of individual budgets and the needs of their adaptation to this process. That is, the scholars considered separate issues of budget activity in a decentralized environment without analyzing the methodology of managing budget funds in the course of decentralization processes.At the same time, it is the methods of management of budget funds that would correspond to the current state of decentralization processes taking place in local self-government were not the subject of separate scientific research, and therefore there is a need for scientific research in this direction.Paper main body. From the point of view of public administration of budgetary funds in the conditions of decentralization, it is necessary to determine the method of management of budget funds in the conditions of decentralization as a set of consistent actions aimed at achieving the result in the form of improved management of such budgetary funds. In view of the complex nature of budget relations and the issues of legal and practical regulation of fiscal decentralization, it is advisable to choose an approach based on development, with subsequent practical application, not one and a number of new methods that should improve the management of budgetary funds in conditions of decentralization. Having grasped the most important issues of managing budget funds in the territorial communities.At the state level, the relevant financial, property and budgetary rights of local self-government are guaranteed, with the allocation of local budgets as independent components in the budget system of Ukraine, and the opportunities for transferring resources to the bodies of self-organization of the population are guaranteed, which must be taken into account during the management of budget funds in conditions of decentralization.Until the start of a new budget period, territorial communities are not able to take advantage of all the financial opportunities provided to united territorial communities. Including receive corresponding revenues to the budget of the united territorial community, as provided for in Article 64 of the Budget Code of Ukraine. And this reduces the budget opportunities of the united territorial community, especially when the union took place at the beginning of the fiscal year. Therefore, it is expedient to allow such associations to be held and in the future, without limiting them only in the framework of 2018, by making appropriate amendments to the current legislation and adding in this part of the Methodology for the formation of capable territorial communities.The territorial community is estimated by the population criterion and the area without taking into account the particulars of the area (the mountainous location, the severity of the availability of particular settlements or parts of the territories), the existing infrastructure on the ground (its degree of development, wear, suitability for use), natural and climatic conditions, etc. Therefore, it is advisable to supplement the Methodology, as well as the Law of Ukraine "On Voluntary Association of Territorial Communities", with norms that would take into account a greater number of factors for the financing needs of territorial communities.The resources available to the territorial communities should be the basis of their activities and the effectiveness of their use will be directly dependent on the possibility of functioning of such communities, on the principle – the lack of resources dictates the need for joining another territorial community. Also, not all territorial communities are fully capable of self-financing, and therefore need support from the State Budget.An important issue is the transfer of powers without their proper funding, which leads to the creation of a significant amount of deficit within the local budgets to cover the use of funds that could be used to develop the territorial communities. Therefore, it is important in the Methodology for the formation of capable territorial communities to consider the mechanism of management of budget funds, which should be based on the appropriate level of financing of delegated powers, without which the execution of such powers or other functions of local self-government may be endangered. Also, during the management of budget funds, it should be possible to borrow all the budgets of local self-government bodies, especially the budgets of the joint territorial communities, which at the expense of the received funds will be able to implement projects that are important for the communities and develop the economies of such communities. At the same time, the restrictions contained in the Budget Code of Ukraine, regarding the financial possibilities of borrowing funds of territorial communities and their use within the budgets of development should be kept.There is a legal framework for involving civil society organizations in the consideration of budget issues of local self-government and their control by the budget process at the level of territorial communities. However, the Methodology for the formation of capable territorial communities does not provide for the possibility of conducting public financial control over the formation of the budget, primarily through its public discussion, and further control over its implementation by the public and public organizations of such a community. This shortcoming must be corrected by making appropriate additions to this Methodology.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. The main new approaches to improving the methodology for managing budget funds in the territorial communities are as follows:– transition to the budget of the united territorial community from the budgets of the territorial communities that united without setting the time frame for such a transition;– management of budget funds in terms of allocating financial support between the budgets of the joint territorial communities, which needs to be improved and taking into account additional factors influencing the need for features of location (in particular landscape), natural and climatic conditions;– management of the budget funds of a territorial community is based on the following key provisions: 1) territorial communities should receive at least 50% (according to the model of European states) from taxes, fees, payments paid on the territory of the community; 2) territorial communities should be self-financing, which, on the one hand, will put them in an effective use of resources, and on the other, create additional incentives for the formation of united territorial communities that will be financially self-sufficient; 3) support from the state budget should be provided on the basis of functions, including social, carried out by the territorial communities, with full financing of these functions;– management of local budgets, which consists of borrowing opportunities for all budgets of local self-government bodies, especially budgets of united territorial communities;– introduction of public control in the field of local budgets, the formation and implementation of the budget of territorial communities.The prospect of further research is the detailed elaboration of the identified ways of improving the methodology of budget funds management and the formation of legislative acts for its implementation.

Розглянуто питання управління бюджетними коштами в умовах децентралізації у контексті нових підходів до методики його здійснення. На основі ґрунтовного та всебічного аналізу управління бюджетними коштами визначено низку удосконалень, які можуть бути застосовані з огляду на сучасний стан розвитку міжбюджетних відносин та законодавче забезпечення функціонування об'єднаних територіальних громад місцевого самоврядування загалом. Означено характерні особливості кожного з удосконалень та окреслено порядок їх застосування для управління бюджетними коштами. ; Problem setting. The process of decentralization, which was initiated in order to strengthen the material and financial basis of local self-government, requires the latest approaches to its implementation, given the complexity of the process, the large number of issues of the functioning of the territorial communities, which it covers and the ambiguity of the consequences it leads to. Since it, on the one hand, can contribute to the development of separate territorial communities at the expense of additional financial resources and, on the other hand, create barriers for the development of other communities with less economic potential and can not compete with more developed regions, provided that the transition to a self-financing model of local self-government is preferable .This is particularly evident in the management of budgetary funds that are available to territorial communities and should be used most rationally and efficiently on the one hand and have enough to finance their aspirated needs from another. And in view of this, there is a need for an analysis of the methods of managing budget funds in a decentralized environment that would correspond to the current trends in the development of territorial communities and were of a new character.Recent research and publications analysis. A number of scholars in their writings touched upon issues of budget activity in the conditions of decentralization, including in its fiscal aspect, among them: V. Bodrov, T. Buturlakin, A. Vasiliev, G. Voznyak, O. Kyrylenko, A. Lelechenko, Z. Lobodina, G. Lopushniak, M. Vlivdar, V. Kuybida, I. Lunin, S. Romaniuk, A. Tkachuk, G. Shakhov and others. Among foreign scholars should mention Sh. Blankarta, G. Bivaleets, M. J. Byukenen, R. A. Masgraveva, Y. Kulyavika and others.The scholars and the questions of the concept of fiscal decentralization were considered, which were reflected in the works of O. Borislavskaya, I. Volokhova, V. Hamana, M. Goncharenko, Y. Grinchenko, O. Kyrilenko, N. Kryshtof, O. Lisenko, O. Onishchenko, S. Romanyuk, M. Ruban, A. Yakymchuk, V. Yaroshchuk and others like that.However, the question of the methodology of managing budget funds in conditions of decentralization and its improvement was not the subject of a separate scientific analysis.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. In general, the issue of budget activities in the context of decentralization was considered mainly from the point of view of the functioning of individual budgets and the needs of their adaptation to this process. That is, the scholars considered separate issues of budget activity in a decentralized environment without analyzing the methodology of managing budget funds in the course of decentralization processes.At the same time, it is the methods of management of budget funds that would correspond to the current state of decentralization processes taking place in local self-government were not the subject of separate scientific research, and therefore there is a need for scientific research in this direction.Paper main body. From the point of view of public administration of budgetary funds in the conditions of decentralization, it is necessary to determine the method of management of budget funds in the conditions of decentralization as a set of consistent actions aimed at achieving the result in the form of improved management of such budgetary funds. In view of the complex nature of budget relations and the issues of legal and practical regulation of fiscal decentralization, it is advisable to choose an approach based on development, with subsequent practical application, not one and a number of new methods that should improve the management of budgetary funds in conditions of decentralization. Having grasped the most important issues of managing budget funds in the territorial communities.At the state level, the relevant financial, property and budgetary rights of local self-government are guaranteed, with the allocation of local budgets as independent components in the budget system of Ukraine, and the opportunities for transferring resources to the bodies of self-organization of the population are guaranteed, which must be taken into account during the management of budget funds in conditions of decentralization.Until the start of a new budget period, territorial communities are not able to take advantage of all the financial opportunities provided to united territorial communities. Including receive corresponding revenues to the budget of the united territorial community, as provided for in Article 64 of the Budget Code of Ukraine. And this reduces the budget opportunities of the united territorial community, especially when the union took place at the beginning of the fiscal year. Therefore, it is expedient to allow such associations to be held and in the future, without limiting them only in the framework of 2018, by making appropriate amendments to the current legislation and adding in this part of the Methodology for the formation of capable territorial communities.The territorial community is estimated by the population criterion and the area without taking into account the particulars of the area (the mountainous location, the severity of the availability of particular settlements or parts of the territories), the existing infrastructure on the ground (its degree of development, wear, suitability for use), natural and climatic conditions, etc. Therefore, it is advisable to supplement the Methodology, as well as the Law of Ukraine "On Voluntary Association of Territorial Communities", with norms that would take into account a greater number of factors for the financing needs of territorial communities.The resources available to the territorial communities should be the basis of their activities and the effectiveness of their use will be directly dependent on the possibility of functioning of such communities, on the principle – the lack of resources dictates the need for joining another territorial community. Also, not all territorial communities are fully capable of self-financing, and therefore need support from the State Budget.An important issue is the transfer of powers without their proper funding, which leads to the creation of a significant amount of deficit within the local budgets to cover the use of funds that could be used to develop the territorial communities. Therefore, it is important in the Methodology for the formation of capable territorial communities to consider the mechanism of management of budget funds, which should be based on the appropriate level of financing of delegated powers, without which the execution of such powers or other functions of local self-government may be endangered. Also, during the management of budget funds, it should be possible to borrow all the budgets of local self-government bodies, especially the budgets of the joint territorial communities, which at the expense of the received funds will be able to implement projects that are important for the communities and develop the economies of such communities. At the same time, the restrictions contained in the Budget Code of Ukraine, regarding the financial possibilities of borrowing funds of territorial communities and their use within the budgets of development should be kept.There is a legal framework for involving civil society organizations in the consideration of budget issues of local self-government and their control by the budget process at the level of territorial communities. However, the Methodology for the formation of capable territorial communities does not provide for the possibility of conducting public financial control over the formation of the budget, primarily through its public discussion, and further control over its implementation by the public and public organizations of such a community. This shortcoming must be corrected by making appropriate additions to this Methodology.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. The main new approaches to improving the methodology for managing budget funds in the territorial communities are as follows:– transition to the budget of the united territorial community from the budgets of the territorial communities that united without setting the time frame for such a transition;– management of budget funds in terms of allocating financial support between the budgets of the joint territorial communities, which needs to be improved and taking into account additional factors influencing the need for features of location (in particular landscape), natural and climatic conditions;– management of the budget funds of a territorial community is based on the following key provisions: 1) territorial communities should receive at least 50% (according to the model of European states) from taxes, fees, payments paid on the territory of the community; 2) territorial communities should be self-financing, which, on the one hand, will put them in an effective use of resources, and on the other, create additional incentives for the formation of united territorial communities that will be financially self-sufficient; 3) support from the state budget should be provided on the basis of functions, including social, carried out by the territorial communities, with full financing of these functions;– management of local budgets, which consists of borrowing opportunities for all budgets of local self-government bodies, especially budgets of united territorial communities;– introduction of public control in the field of local budgets, the formation and implementation of the budget of territorial communities.The prospect of further research is the detailed elaboration of the identified ways of improving the methodology of budget funds management and the formation of legislative acts for its implementation.

Розглянуто передумови становлення та історичні аспекти розвитку кафедри обліку та оподаткування НУБіП України, проаналізовано основні напрями її діяльності, що стали визначальними у формуванні наукового світогляду студентів. Розкрито зміст базових досліджень науковців, їх вклад у професійне становлення конкурентоспроможних сучасних фахівців з бухгалтерського обліку в умовах навчального процесу. Систематизовано результати науково-дослідної роботи студентів як невід'ємної складової навчального процесу і одного із найважливіших засобів підвищення якості підготовки і виховання фахівців з вищою освітою, професійної компетентності і конкурентоспроможності майбутніх випускників на ринку праці, здатних творчо застосовувати в практичній діяльності наукові досягнення. Окреслено стратегію розвитку кафедри обліку та оподаткування, що спрямована на всебічне оновлення всіх сфер її діяльності, інтенсифікацію навчально-виховного процесу, поглиблення науково-дослідницької роботи зі студентами, зростання кваліфікації майбутніх бухгалтерів і престижу професії.Ключові слова: кафедра обліку та оподаткування, підготовка кадрів, професорсько-викладацький склад, навчально-методична робота, науково-дослідна робота ; The preconditions of formation and historical aspects of development of the accounting and taxation Department of NULES of Ukraine are considered. In particular, it is substantiated that the Department of Accounting and Taxation is leading in the training of specialists in the field of specialty (training direction) "Accounting and Taxation" ("Accounting and Audit"). Periodization of the history at the Department with refinement names (Accounting and Auditing, Accounting, Analysis and Audit) appears as a consistent change at the chronological stages. Its founder-organizer and first head in 1959 became Associate Professor S.M. Rogachenko. With his participation, calculation type of the estimated accounting Plan in the collective farms, which was officially recognized in Ukraine, and subsequently became the all-union, which contributed to the creation of integrated system of Accounting in agriculture instead of an autonomous. Historically, a powerful scholarly school has been formed, aimed at further development of fundamental search and applied research on Accounting, and over time - Audit and Taxation. The emergence, development and enrichment of the academic accounting school coincides with the leadership at the Department of the Doctor of Economics, Professor I.V. Malyshev, who carried out a fundamental scientific research with an impact on the theory of Accounting by substantiating the method of double recording.The content of the basic researches of scientists, their contribution to the professional formation of competitive modern accountants in the conditions of the educational process is revealed. In particular, Professor Kireytsev G. G. prepared 32 Candidates and two Doctors of Economic Sciences (L.V. Gutsalenko, P.L. Suk); carried out scientific research at the most important theoretical socio-economic and scientific and technical problems of Accounting development in Ukraine. The scientist carried out his scientific research in two main areas: theoretical and methodological principles of Accounting development and training of accounting personnel in the system of higher agroeconomic education. The results of scientific research were published in more than 200 scientific and methodological works, among them were monographs, textbooks, manuals. Among the scientific works in the nomination "Monograph in the field of economic knowledge in the direction of: Accounting, Audit and Statistics", in particular the monograph "Globalization of the Economy and the unification of the Accounting methodology" (2008), was recognized as the best one by NAAS of Ukraine. The scientific achievements of the Professor at the Department L.K. Suk are outlined: he has developed the Recommendations of the check form of control of the internal economic calculation, Recommendations of the application of the journal-order form of Accounting, Typical standards for the planning, accounting and calculation of the production (works, services) cost of agricultural enterprises; the imitative accounting and analytical model of reproduction management of long-term biological plant production assets has been formed; in practice, proposals have been approved to reflect and group the costs of their cultivation. 14 candidate dissertations have been defended under scientific guidance of the scientist.The directions of modern researches of leading scientists, which became the decisive factors in forming the scientific outlook of students, were determined. In particular, head of the Department Professor E.V. Kaliuga within the Strategy for the Modernization of the Accounting System in the Public Sector for 2007-2015 (Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 34 of 16.01.2007) took a direct part in the elaboration and final editing of national accounting standards drafts (public accounting standards) (forward - NP(S)APS: 122 "Intangible assets", 124 "Revenue", 126 "Rent", 127 "Impairment of assets", 136 "Biological assets", built on the basis of the IPSAS, taking into account the IMF GFSM 2001). E. V. Kalyuga was awarded with gratitude of the Methodological Accounting Board under the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine (2010), with the Honorary Diploma of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine (2011), with other awards for a significant contribution to the development of Ukraine's Accounting and high professionalism. Effective scientific and methodological work on updating and improving the normative-methodical providing of Accounting and financial reporting was carried out by E.V. Kaliuga in the composition of the Methodological Accounting Council of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine (from 2007 for the next eight years). In scientific researches of Professor E.V. Kaluga theoretical and methodological principles of Accounting in the state sector of Economy, the estate of economic control in Ukraine and directions of its reform are prioritized. Various problematic issues of Accounting, Auditing and Taxation in the conditions of harmonization of domestic Accounting and Control to the requirements of international standards are consistently developed in secured dissertations under the direction of Professor E.V. Kaluga (five Candidates of Economic Sciences have been prepared and defended).The article systematizes the results of research work of students as an integral part of the educational process and one of the most important means to improve the quality of training and education of specialists with higher education, professional competence and competitiveness of future graduates in the labor market, able to creatively apply in practical activities scientific achievements.Significant attention is dedicated to the international activity at the Department, which became an integral part of its evolutionary development. Professors carry out joint research on the problems of the theory and methodology of Accounting with scientists from foreign educational institutions through the preparation of scientific articles, reports for international conferences, postgraduate students for the implementation of dissertation papers; lecturers undergo a scientific-pedagogical internship at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences under a program of scientific exchanges organized by UNESCO (Ph.D., Associate Professor Litvinenko V.S., 2016). The activization of international activity at the Department with the direct participation of students is emphasized. In particular, the American Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), which has more than 80,000 members from 120 countries, has provided six scholarship grants to the most talented Master students: A. Dudnichenko, R. Gorbunenko, V. Chekarev, V. Vovchenko, O. Gnesy and N. Pinchuk. The program provides free training and passing exams to one of the most popular among practitioners international qualifications in managerial Accounting, "Certified Management Accountant (CMA)", and as a result - the acquisition of complex competencies which are necessary for the work of specialists in the field of Accounting, Audit and Taxation or related financial sector at domestic and international companies. Within international cooperation the University Bachelors, Masters and Postgraduate Students of the Department of Accounting and Taxation successfully study abroad at leading universities and study internships at enterprises in Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Japan, USA, gaining experience in European education and innovative knowledge in specialty.The necessity of cooperation not only with foreign ones, but also with domestic scientific and educational institutions is substantiated because the issue of graduate`s employment has special importance for the Department of Accounting and Taxation. The Department's own experience in shaping the bases of passing students' practice and ensuring the employment of graduates is revealed. Range of business and scientific partners are used in full measure, among them are the Research Financial Institute DNNU «Academy of Financial Management», State Audit Office of Ukraine, leading consulting company EBS and others. The need and high value of cooperation with experts-practitioners, representatives of government bodies is confirmed by the cycle of recent meetings.The strategy of Accounting and Taxation Department aimed at the comprehensive updating of all spheres of its activity, the intensification of the educational process, deepening of research work with students, the growth of qualifications of future accountants and the prestige of the profession is outlined. The presented scientific achievements, the developed partnership relations testify that the Department is not just a certain contingent of scientific and pedagogical workers, the place of transfer of their knowledge to the next generation. This, above all, is traditions based on the years and style of study, the motivational atmosphere of scientific knowledge with the involvement of students in this process. At the same time, the new challenges of society development, the current world crisis of education and, finally, the scientific achievements of the Department of Accounting and Taxation require its modern faculty members to formulate and implement new tasks and goals. Among the priorities are identified the search for alternative and rational ways to strengthen positions at the educational field, multiplying and disseminating at the domestic and international levels scientific achievements that would meet modern European challenges, including life-long learning, reorientation of the educational process from traditional ways of transferring existing knowledge to students to development their abilities and innovations, their ability to learn. At the same time, it is important to integrate the directions of educational, research and educational work of students, which must be realized both during studying and outside the educational process. The driving principles of the Department of Accounting and Taxation are defined: combination of the best existing educational traditions of the Department and the experience of domestic and international higher educational institutions; flexibility in responding to existing social changes, creativity and innovation of faculty members.

Historiografía y Teoría de la Historia del Pensamiento, la Literatura y el Arte is the latest publication by the Research Group "Humanism-Europe", led by Prof. Aullón de Haro from the University of Alicante, Spain. A radically comparative work, prepared with a team spirit, that presents in a single volume the result of a body of research that has been maturing for two decades.Since 1994, when the Research Group was first founded -with the aim to highlight the relevance of Juan Andrés as the creator of the History of universal and comparative literature through the Group's publication of his work Origen, progresos y estado actual de toda la literatura (1997)-, a reflection on the Historiography and the Theory of History has been an on-going work, having been partially published in the now defunct university magazine Teoría/ Crítica (1994). During the maturation of this work other very remarkable works by the Group have been brought to light, such as Metodologías Comparatistas y Literatura Comparada (2012), and the seven volumes that make up the Teoría del Humanismo (2010). Now, with the approaching of the bicentennial of Juan Andrés' death (1740-1817), Historiografía y Teoría de la Historia del Pensamiento, la Literatura y el Arte has been published as the first contribution to the marking of this anniversary.The need for this reflection on Historiography lies, as the director of the Group explains in the Preface, in the need to overcome the progressive reductionism established in modern times, which has led to the current-day situation. Synthesizing its argument, while it is true, in the opinion of Prof. Aullón de Haro, that during modernity Historiography reached its highest relevance and depth, it is also true that due to the progressive internal and external fragmentation of its object into various specialized and disconnected branches, besides the divisions of country and language, it has lost sight of what its specific objective and its fields of study are. This is especially a result of a timeless definition of the object of study, which ended in both the generation of contempt for Historiography, and for the humanistic object in general. The reorganization of disciplines conducted by Enlightenment had some mixed effects on the historiographical discipline, deeply undermining its relationship with human time, a relationship that the imposition of structural-formalism finished off, eliminating the concepts of time and history from the field of Human Sciences, leading these to an impoverishing assimilation into disciplines of a sociological nature. Human Sciences, and the emphasis placed here, are not sociology.Currently, this humanistic impoverishment inherited from modernity reaches its culmination by the widespread educational reorientation in favour of simple work practices that ignore traditional humanistic arts, from the art of reading to the art of memory, and humanistic literary, artistic or philosophical subjects, properly understood in their complete and related entity, as their world of existence requires. This volume aims to contribute to a historiographical recreation of the History of Thought, Literature and Art, epistemologically founded in the Human Sciences framework. All this with the hope of a universal, comparative and humanistic historiography, as a response and contribution to our Globalization era, governed by the inertia of its economic-financial and cybernetic nature, on the margins of both the interpretation of culture and history, and of a moral concept that goes beyond simplistic political correctness.The work, composed of twenty-nine chapters, approaches the problem of the dissolution of the literary historiography that took place during the past century, analysing its three main aspects: ontological isolation, which requires clarification of exactly what it is to be understood as historiography and its object, literature; the isolation of the discipline, which leads to the discipline issue, the issue of discourse, the terms of relationship and the literary genres; and the problem of national isolation, which demands making explicit the false identification between literature and language, as the trend to establish divisions of the literary object using nations as basis has resulted in the cancellation of its original possibility of universal scope. Here come into play, then, the shortcomings of a history of translation and of the non assumed comparative relations. Therefore, the work has been divided into three parts depending on the problem addressed. The result will be the redefinition of the concept of literature, liberating it from its assimilation to a unilateral artistic discourse, i.e., a poetic, narrative or dramatic discourse, and to consider literature every highly developed discourse, along with the liberation of the concept of literature from identification with the national language. And finally, the establishment of literature as a universal mode of experience and humanistic expression, and the subsequent need for its universal and comparative historiographical treatment, that founds a culture of a global nature.After the initial chapter by the editor, "Introducción a una Epistemología historiográfica como Historia universal de las Ideas y las Formas literarias y artísticas" come three chapters dedicated to clarifying concepts and terms in order to overcome misunderstandings and inherited problems. The chapters "Historia de los términos 'Historia'/ 'Historiografía'" by Juan Francisco Mesa-Sanz, "Historiografía griega y método comparatista" by Alfonso Silván, and "El concepto de 'Historia' y su campo terminológico en las fuentes enciclopédicas modernas" by Mª Teresa del Olmo, serve this purpose. The main range of concretions are exposed next, as well as the recent theory of the history of concepts, with "Historiografía e Historia de la filosofía" by Fernando Perez Herranz; "Verdad y tiempo en la historiografía de la Historia de la Filosofía: Kant y las derivas del método kantiano" by Ángel Poncela González; and "La Historia de los conceptos y su relación con la historia de la filosofía y la historia social" by Antonio de Murcia Conesa.The second part proceeds with the reconstruction of literary historiography as a discipline, using a large series of paradigms, which are either fundamental to the great fields inherited or characterize the extremes and singularities. It begins with "La evolución de la historiografía literaria clásica" by José Joaquín Caerols; "Una síntesis de la historiografía patrística" by Fernando Rivas; "Historiografía de la traducción", a chapter shared by Francisco Lafarga and Luis Pegenaute; "La historiografía estética: pasado y presente", completely realised for the first time by Vicente Carreres; " Introducción a la 'Historia de la Ciencia' como género " by Javier Hernandez Ariza; "Musicología histórica e historiografía" by Teresa Cascudo; "La historiografía artística: las artes plásticas" by Javier Portús; and "Historiografía y cine" by José Carlos Rueda. The third part addresses the opening up to the Middle East, Asia, Africa and America, trying to interpretively characterize and to reconstruct, selectively, the horizon of literary historiographies as large fields, without losing sight of the comparative sense, intended to set up a sense of universality as a way of overcoming the national divisions and restrictions. All this is addresssed in chapters by Ana Agud, "Una historiografía difícil: India"; "El estudio comparatista de la historia literaria de Asia del Este según Cho Dong-Il", prepared by Lee Hye-Kyung; by Alfonso Falero, "Hacia una historiografía literaria en Japón"; by Isaac Donoso, "Historiografía de las letras filipinas". Meanwhile, the two large blocks of American historiography are solved by Ricardo Miguel Alfonso with "Evolución de la historiografía literaria angloamericana"; and by Efrain Kristal with "En torno a la historia del concepto de historia literaria hispanoamericana"; plus the study on Brazil, by Margarida Maia Gouveia: "Análisis de la historiografía literaria en Brasil". Thirdly, Rosario Martí Marco reconstructs "La historiografía literaria alemana"; Jesús García Gabaldón "La evolución de la historiografía literaria eslava" and Natalia Timoshenko completes the historiographical reconstruction with an "Introducción a la historiografía literaria rusa". There is not any monography reconstructing a Roman historiography (Spanish, French, Italian) as this is the most comprehensive and less problematic field in regard to availability and is the best known to Western readers.And finally, the African world, including chapters by Antonio Constán Nava, with "Historiografía árabe islámica (Siglos XVIII-XX) Perspectiva española y europea"; by José Manuel Mora Fandos with "La historiografía de la literatura Africana"; and by M'bare M'gom, whose article "Sobre la historiografía literaria hispanoafricana" serves both to complement and as conclusion to this volume.According to the editor, Aullón de Haro, the idea of action and human sense depends on the concept and knowledge of history. The possibility to overcome the decline of the discipline -and even civilizational- divisions depends on an alive historical self-consciousness. After the fall of structural-formalism, a form of self-consciousness has ended, being now necessary to re-establish a historiographical methodology of ethical, critical and humanistic value, and with this, a philosophical, literary and artistic History: a project capable of assuming a conception of the object as synthesis of idea and form, and where it is universal, not the mere sum of parts. With this contribution, the Research Group Humanism-Europe provides a tool for examining a great humanistic problem that now, for a necessarily common future, demands a proper interpretation, in accordance to this current era of Globalization.

From Point to Pixel:A Genealogy of Digital AestheticsbyMeredith Anne HoyDoctor of Philosophy in RhetoricUniversity of California, BerkeleyProfessor Whitney Davis, Co-chairProfessor Jeffrey Skoller, Co-chairWhen we say, in response to a still or moving picture, that it has a digital "look" about it, what exactly do we mean? How can the slick, color-saturated photographs of Jeff Wall and Andreas Gursky signal digitality, while the flattened, pixelated lanscapes of video games such as Super Mario Brothers convey ostensibly the same characteristic of "being digital," but in a completely different manner? In my dissertation, From Point to Pixel: A Genealogy of Digital Aesthetics, I argue for a definition of a "digital method" that can be articulated without reference to the technicalities of contemporary hardware and software. I allow, however, the possibility that this digital method can acquire new characteristics when it is performed by computational technology. I therefore treat the artworks covered in my dissertation as sensuous artifacts that are subject to change based on the constraints and affordances of the tools used in their making. But insofar as it describes a series of technological operations, the word digital often references the tool used to make the art but does not help a viewer/user relate to the art as a sensorially apprehensible artifact. Consequently, I gather together artworks that disclose visible evidence of their digital construction in order to identify the perceptible characteristics of digitally processed artifacts. I foreground not the hidden operations of computers--the intricacies of binary code and programming languages--but rather the surface qualities of digital graphics. While acknowledging that internal processes govern the aesthetic properties of these surfaces, I investigate the extent to which it is possible to encounter digitality at the level of the interface. Taking into account that the sensuous object will be informed by an underlying conceptual and technological framework or genotype, I set out to discover whether certain phenotypic aspects of digitality will be inherently accessible at a phenomenological level. Much of the best scholarship in media studies has offered cogent analyses of the political, social, and economic formations that emerge alongside digital technologies. These readings of "networked culture" focus on the systems of power/knowledge that arise from the Web 2.0 and a globalized world economy. Although this research proves invaluable to the understanding of a culture shaped by ubiquitous computing, a well-developed methodology for interpreting the role of digital technology in art practice must also situate digital artifacts in a specifically art historical and theoretical context. When do digital artifacts overcome their dubious status as mere demonstrations of technical novelty, and become artworks worthy of serious consideration? What is the importance of digital technology as an artistic medium, and how do affordances and constraints and technical parameters of digital processing influence the sensible configurations of computationally generated artifacts?Despite its foundation in immaterial electronic pulses, digital technology produces material effects on culture and communication. The assessment of digital images is often based on their "reality quotient"--the degree to which they accurately reproduce the optical and haptic conditions of external world. The fascination in digital cultural studies with virtual reality, second life, and other such practices supports this view, and also leans dangerously towards the notion that progress in art is achieved by producing ever more sophisticated techniques for rendering illusions of spatial depth. This concentration on the immersive capacities of digital graphics runs the risk of assuming a teleological progression in art towards "accurate" spatialization and virtualization. But this is not a tenable model for art historical investigation, given that the evaluation of art objects based on culturally determined signifiers of naturalism is exclusionary of alternate visual models and historical traditions. It is therefore imperative to consider depictions that exhibit visible evidence of digital construction--digital aesthetic characteristics--independently of the virtualizing capability of computational technology. My dissertation examines a subset of digital image-making practices that suppress virtualization in order to examine the structural principles undergirding digital graphics. In parsing these often abstract, highly formalized pictorial strategies, I conclude that they convey a different aesthetic and architectonic sensibility than analog depictions. Over the course of five chapters, my argument moves between theoretical analysis and case studies of artworks produced both with and without the aid of computers. Chapter One outlines the theoretical models used to differentiate digital and analog properties, and illustrates how and why art historical discourse has accorded value to artworks based on analog principles, such as fineness of color, texture, and line. It argues that discrete, particulate digital artifacts are constructed according to different principles than analog artifacts, which are relatively smooth and continuous with no absolute division between parts. My review of the formal characteristics of digital systems sets the stage for my argument that an observable model of digital facture--a digital method--preexists electronic, binary computers and that this digital process results in a digital aesthetic. Understanding this aesthetic is useful for theorizing the genealogy of contemporary computational graphics. Additionally, it provides for alternate theorizations of artifacts that have not traditionally found a secure place in the artistic canon, and it affords a new interpretive schema with which to examine artists and artworks whose position in the art historical demands renegotiation. In my second chapter, I support the claims of the preceding chapter by evaluating the extent to which the work of several modernist painters, including Paul Cezanne, Georges Seurat, and Paul Klee, exhibits constitutive features of a digital system. I use my findings to argue that understanding these artists' roles as experimenters with a digital method adds a new dimension to the theoretical, aesthetic, and historical significance of their work. The following two chapters provide comparisons between artists who apply a digital method without electronic computation and artists whose digital aesthetic is computationally driven. Chapter 3 attempts to recuperate the value and relevance of Op-Artist Victor Vasarely. Through an inspection of his writings and his algorithmic painting practices, I trace Vasarely's lifelong goal to develop a programmable visual language, and demonstrate how, without ever touching a computer, he was attempting in his practice to adopt a visual model of a digital system. In the second half of the chapter, I introduce the example of Marius Watz's computationally-generated homage to Vasarely's work in order to ascertain whether the use of a computer alters the visible qualities of Vasarely's plastic language. In Chapter 4, I examine Casey Reas's fraught and often contradictory response to the legacy of conceptual art in programming-based practices. Through a comparison between Reas and Sol LeWitt, I maintain that Reas occupies an oscillatory position with respect to the values traditionally attached to analog aesthetics, such as immediacy and uniqueness/irreproducibility. By mobilizing algorithmically encoded instructions to automate artistic production, Reas reinforces the turn away from the cult of the artist achieved in conceptual art. But at the same time, Reas's fascination with handmadeness and organicism preserves a link to analog aesthetic principles. Finally, my conclusion shifts away from direct comparison between computationally and non-computationally digital art, and instead assays the discursive resonances between Jason Salavon's software-based computational "paintings" and the increasingly widespread use of information visualization as primary mode of mapping the vast amounts of data produced by the mechanisms of the "culture industry".The works under consideration in my dissertation cohere around questions and problems related to painting. Part of the difficulty in defining "digital art" as a singular medium or genre is that the range of artifacts potentially contained under the rubric of digital art is massive and therefore resistant to canonization. A concentration on painting initially allowed me to refine my analytic method. However, the broader rationale behind this constraint grows out of the fact that the screen-based computational pictorialization analogizes painting. I contend that painting, despite, or perhaps due to its status as a two-dimensional mode of depiction, is deeply concerned with spatial and material architectonics. Painting is invested not only in the problem of how to graphically render volume and depth, but also the dynamic spatial relationship between bodies and concrete objects. Similarly, digital rendering must cope with the question of how to present the relationship between objects and spaces in two, three, or multiple dimensions. My goal is to discover whether the technical parameters of computation affect the way pictures are constructed, the kinds of subjects for which computers have the greatest representational facility, and by extension, the way digital pictures--the graphical index of digital technesis--will ultimately look. Overall, my dissertation offers a methodology for speaking about and contextualizing digital practices within the history of art and visual culture. While programming literacy is important for many scholars, producers, and users of digital hardware and software, if artifacts made using computational technology remain inaccessible to all viewers except those with a background in programming or engineering, we are faced with an art practice that is technically dexterous but phenomenologically bankrupt. Unless the possibility of translation between two languages is realized, a communicative gap will continue to yawn between art history and "media studies," which makes more urgent than ever the need to grant digital artifacts and processes the possibility of making a significant intervention into and contribution to the artistic canon.

Le Sénégal se situe à l'extrême ouest du continent africain entre 12 ° 20' et 16 ° 40'de latitude Nord et 11° 20' et 17° 30' de longitude Ouest. Il est à cheval sur le domaine sahélien au nord, soudanien au centre, et sub-guinéen au sud avec à l'ouest une côte maritime longue de plus de 700 km. Cette situation détermine des conditions favorables à une diversification des écosystèmes et des espèces. Au plan écologique, le pays est subdivisé en six zones éco géographiques et présente quatre grands types d'écosystèmes : des écosystèmes terrestres, des écosystèmes fluviaux et lacustres, des écosystèmes marins et côtiers et des écosystèmes dits particuliers. En plus de cette diversité écosystémique, le Sénégal présente une richesse spécifique importante avec plus de 3500 espèces végétales et 4330 espèces animales. Parmi ces espèces végétales, 33 seraient endémiques du Sénégal. Les espèces animales considérées comme endémiques appartiennent à la classe des poissons et sont présentes dans les eaux douces ou saumâtres. La plupart des écosystèmes connaissent une dégradation importante et plusieurs espèces sont menacées. En effet, la superficie des forêts a connu une diminution sensible en passant de 9 203 153 ha en 1990 à 8 558 153 ha en 2005, soit environ une baisse de 7 %. Cette dynamique régressive s'accompagne également d'une diminution des espèces. Dans le Parc National du Niokolo Koba, on note une baisse d'environ 25% des espèces végétales. De même, certaines espèces animales comme le Damalisque et la Girafe ont disparu de cette zone depuis le début du vingtième siècle. L'Eléphant et l'Eland de Derby y sont devenus rares. Les superficies des savanes boisées sont passées de 5 300 876 ha à 5 100 876 ha soit environ une baisse de 6 %. Dans les écosystèmes fluviaux et lacustres, les milieux saumâtres sont en régression au profit des zones salées. Les écosystèmes côtiers, estuariens et marins sont aussi affectés par la dégradation. Dans le Delta du Saloum, les mangroves et la végétation des îles sableuses ont connu une régression estimée à plus de 25% entre Foundiougne et Kaolack. Dans la zone des Niayes, la réserve botanique de Noflaye a perdu 212 espèces entre 1957 et 1992. La diversité biologique joue un rôle très important. Elle est utilisée dans divers domaines tels que l'alimentation, la médecine, l'industrie et l'énergie. Ces diverses formes d'utilisation interagissent avec d'autres facteurs anthropiques de dégradation que sont les feux de brousse,le surpâturage, la pression agricole, la fragmentation et la destruction des habitats, la pauvreté, les pollutions…). Les feux de brousse affectent presque tous les sites de haute densité de biodiversité. A ces facteurs s'ajoutent le déficit pluviométrique, l'érosion et la salinisation. Cette péjoration climatique s'est traduite par une translation des isohyètes vers le sud d'environ 100 Km. Actuellement, quatre des six zones éco géographiques sont touchées par la salinisation qui affecte environ 1 231 100 ha. Les conséquences liées à la perte de biodiversité sont nombreuses et affectent l'environnement biophysique et les conditions de vie des populations. Cette perte a engendré une modification de la composition floristique, de la structure de la végétation et une diminution de la disponibilité en ressources biologiques. En effet, les feux et l'exploitation ont entrainé la destruction d'espèces de valeur telles que Pterocarpus erinaceus, Cordyla pinnata, Prosopis africana au profit d'autres espèces (Combretum glutinosum, Terminalia macroptera). La dégradation des ressources biologiques a entraîné des difficultés d'approvisionnement en combustibles domestiques surtout dans les zones qui n'ont pas accès à des sources d'énergie alternatives. L'érosion de la biodiversité entraîne également la baisse des revenus tirés de l'exploitation des ressources forestières et accroît en même temps la pauvreté des populations rurales. L'érosion de la biodiversité a entraîné des modifications dans les systèmes de production. En effet, la pratique de pêche quotidienne est de plus en plus abandonnée au profit de la pêche à long séjour. Dans le secteur de l'élevage, la raréfaction des ressources fourragères des régions Nord a engendré des déplacements saisonniers du cheptel vers le Sud. Dans les Niayes, la perte de biodiversité a fortement affecté les activités maraichères. La perte de biodiversité constitue ainsi un obstacle sérieux à la lutte contre la pauvreté qui explique d'ailleurs dans une large mesure la surexploitation des ressources naturelles. Dans le chapitre II, le rapport fait le point sur l'état d'avancement de la mise en œuvre de la Stratégie et le Plan National d'Actions pour la conservation de la biodiversité. Le Sénégal a élaboré une SPNAB autour de quatre objectifs stratégiques majeurs que sont la conservation de la biodiversité dans les sites de haute densité, l'intégration de la conservation de la biodiversité dans les programmes et activités de production, le partage équitable des rôles, responsabilités et bénéfices dans la conservation de la biodiversité, l'information et la sensibilisation sur l'importance de la biodiversité et la nécessité de sa conservation.Pour atteindre ces objectifs, des options stratégiques ont été définies par rapport aux problèmes globaux des différents écosystèmes et aux problèmes spécifiques pour chaque site de haute densité de biodiversité. Ces options se sont traduites par des actions prioritaires dont certaines ont été exécutées dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre de la Stratégie. Malgré le faible niveau d'exécution des actions prioritaires définies dans la SPNAB, le Sénégal a atteint des résultats non négligeables en matière de conservation des écosystèmes. L'objectif national qui était de 12% a été largement dépassé. Les résultats portent essentiellement sur la création d'une nouvelle génération de réserves (Aire Marine Protégée, Réserve Naturelle Communautaire, Réserve Communautaire de Biodiversité, Unité Pastorale…), le renforcement des capacités de gestion des aires protégées, l'élaboration et la mise en œuvre de plans d'aménagement et de gestion participatifs. Ces résultats sont l'œuvre de divers acteurs (Etat, populations, société civile, ONG, associations diverses…). Cependant, beaucoup reste à faire en termes de vulgarisation de la SPNAB, d'évaluation de l'impact des résultats obtenus sur la conservation, d'élaboration d'indicateurs au niveau national, de renforcement des capacités, d'intégration des connaissances, innovations et pratiques locales. Malgré les efforts consentis dans la mise en œuvre de la SPNAB, de nombreuses difficultés ont été notées. Elles concernent essentiellement l'insuffisance dans la coordination de la mise en œuvre de la Stratégie, sa faible vulgarisation, l'absence de mécanismes de financement, l'insuffisance des capacités des acteurs, la faible participation des populations dans la mise en œuvre et l'absence de suivi-évaluation de la Stratégie. Ces difficultés ont amené les différents acteurs de la conservation a tiré un certain nombre de leçons notamment la nécessité d'avoir un cadre institutionnel fort, un mécanisme de financement durable, un Centre d'échange d'Informations (CHM) fonctionnel. L'amélioration de la gestion de la biodiversité passe par l'intégration des différents secteurs de développement économique et social. Ainsi, dans le souci d'une prise en compte des préoccupations environnementales dans toutes les politiques sectorielles, le Sénégal a mis sur pied une Commission Nationale pour le Développement Durable. Ainsi, les aspects de conservation et de gestion durable de la diversité biologique sont progressivement intégrés dans les différents secteurs. Dans les secteurs de l'agriculture et de l'élevage, l'un des objectifs majeurs vise la préservation des ressources naturelles et de la biodiversité. Dans le domaine de l'énergie, de l'industrie et des mines, les grands axes de la nouvelle politique prennent en compte la nécessité d'une gestion durable des ressources naturelles et de l'environnement. Quant au secteur de la pêche, les objectifs globaux portent sur la protection et l'exploitation rationnelle des ressources halieutiques, la protection des habitats et la lutte contre la pollution marine. Dans le secteur du tourisme, la protection de la biodiversité constitue un des objectifs fondamentaux du Plan Stratégique de Développement Touristique et de la Charte Sénégalaise du Tourisme. Malgré les efforts d'intégration notés dans les différents secteurs, des faiblesses persistent dans la prise en compte de la biodiversité. Dans les politiques et stratégies sectorielles, les questions liées à la diversité biologique sont abordées dans le cadre global du secteur de l'environnement. Au niveau juridique, on note un déficit d'harmonisation entre les différents textes notamment les codes (environnement, forestier, minier, chasse, pêche…). Au niveau institutionnel, les problèmes sont liés aux difficultés rencontrées par les différentes structures à prendre en compte le caractère transversal de la biodiversité. Par ailleurs, l'insuffisance de l'information et de la sensibilisation sur l'importance de la biodiversité et la nécessité de sa conservation a été un facteur qui a limité l'intégration de la diversité biologique dans certains secteurs. En conclusion, le rapport souligne que le Sénégal avec l'appui de ses partenaires a consenti de nombreux efforts dans la conservation de la diversité biologique. Cependant, compte tenu des nombreuses difficultés rencontrées et des efforts supplémentaires à fournir, il se dégage un certain nombre de besoins et priorités qui concernent : - La mise en place d'un CHM fonctionnel ; - La mise en place d'un mécanisme de financement durable pour la conservation de la biodiversité ; - Un suivi-évaluation de la SPNAB ; - La mise sur pied d'un comité national fonctionnel sur la biodiversité ; - La réactualisation de la monographie et de la SPNAB ; - Le renforcement des capacités pour une meilleure conservation de la biodiversité ; - L'approfondissement des connaissances sur la biodiversité ; Published ; écosystéme ; biodiversité ; érosion ; aire marine protégée ; convention ; diversité biologique ; surexploitation ; salinité ; pollution ; gestion durable ; changement climatique

Le aree protette sono quei territori sottoposti ad uno speciale regime di tutela e di gestione, nei quali si presenta un patrimonio naturale e culturale di valore rilevante. Nel presente lavoro si è presa in esame la pianificazione della Riserva Naturale di Tuscania (provincia di Viterbo, alto Lazio), con gli obiettivi di: conservazione dei valori ambientali e di sviluppo economico sostenibile, come disposto della legge istitutiva L.R. 29 del 1997. La sfida è quindi quella di riuscire a promuovere nelle aree protette uno sviluppo economico e sociale rispettoso della conservazione dei ritmi e dei valori della natura, ma allo stesso tempo capace di favorire il rilancio degli antichi saperi artigianali e la creazione di nuove professionalità nel campo dei beni ambientali e culturali e delle attività turistiche compatibili. Si è esaminato lo stato ambientale della Riserva Naturale di Tuscania, rilevando lo stato della flora e della fauna presente, l'ambiente fisico e l'archeologia, lo stato del centro storico (che è all'interno della Riserva), e gli impatti dell'attività agricola delle attività antropiche presenti, cercando di arrivare ad una zonazione della Riserva che rispetti le vocazionalità del territorio. Il coinvolgimento degli Enti per la realizzazione del piano d'assetto della Riserva Naturale di Tuscania, è stato continuo e costruttivo ed ha visto nell'ufficio del parco (istituito verso la fine del 2004), un punto di riferimento per tutti i cittadini di Tuscania e non solo. Quindi compito della gestione sostenibile è quello di regolare l'uso degli ecosistemi e delle risorse su livelli che siano tollerabili dal sistema e che quindi non depauperino le risorse a nostra disposizione. Per la Riserva Naturale di Tuscania è stato predisposto un SIT-GIS per gestire e rielaborare, tutte le informazioni che sono state raccolte nella fase di indagine dello studio scientifico, per definire le vocazioni analizzando tutti gli aspetti caratterizzanti il territorio dell'area naturale,percependola non come una parte geografica a se, ma inserendola nel più vasto concetto di pianificazione intercomunale, provinciale, regionale e nazionale. Il ruolo fondamentale della zonazione è quindi, quello di garantire la conservazione dei valori del territorio assegnando vincoli di tutela diversi alle diverse zone. Lo studio effettuato ha evidenziato la vocazione della Riserva Naturale di Tuscanica (RNT), che è di "parco rurale", che vede nel paesaggio culturale, ovvero storicamente influenzato dall'uomo, la peculiarità principale. A questa si aggiunge la propensione a "parco archeologico", date le antichissime vicende di questo territorio, importante centro etrusco. Dallo studio è emerso che al centro della problematica ambientale c'è il fiume Marta, che scorre nel cuore della Riserva da nord a sud. Il Marta è profondamente perturbato dalla regolazione del lago di Bolsena (paratoie all'incile), dalle centrali idroelettriche ENEL, che interrompono per lunghi e numerosi tratti il corso medio-alto del fiume Marta e dalla presenza di prese irrigue lungo il suo corso. La qualità delle acque è modesta, con ripercussioni sulla microfauna (indice IBE) che sui pesci. Ad appesantire il carico sul fiume c'è anche una cartiera ed il depuratore comunale che oltre gli scarichi civili sopporta anche le acque nere del mattatoio. Per quanto riguarda le fonti diffuse agricole di inquinamento, il problema non appare di estrema urgenza, se non altro paragonato a quanto esaminato sino ad ora, sulle altre fonti di inquinamento; se ne può dedurre quindi, che le attività agricole presenti ad oggi nella RNT possono essere ascritte alla categoria delle pratiche compatibili, nel senso che attribuisce a tale termine la legge 394/1991 e la L.R. 29/1997 (art. 26). Ma la normativa, troppo indirizzata verso una zonazione riferita quasi esclusivamente sul tasso di antropizzazione del territorio, ha reso abbastanza difficoltoso il compito di assegnazione delle zone e sottozone alla RNT. Le disposizioni da rispettare derivano: della legge regionale istitutiva n. 29/97, delle Linne Guida della Regione Lazio e dello schema standard della Regione. Il problema fondamentale della zonazione è quello di cadere facilmente in una separazione netta tra gli habitat, causando quindi una disomogeneità interna all'area protetta. Allo stesso modo, si creano disomogeneità esterne nel momento in cui il parco diventa un'area avulsa a tutto quello che è esterno ai propri confini. A tale scopo, il Piano di Assetto redatto propone un Agenda 21 per permettere agli enti locali di poter gestire in modo compatibile ed unitario la questione ambientale attraverso una polita locale che abbia come obiettivo comune una condivisione di responsabilità per uno sviluppo sostenibile. Ad oggi le restrizioni dettate delle norme di salvaguardia limitano in maniera seria lo sviluppo di Tuscania. Ciò fa avvertire la Riserva come un ente burocratico, un soggetto vincolate lo sviluppo del territorio. Per tali ragioni si auspica una celere approvazione del PdA da parte della Provincia di Viterbo e della Regione Lazio, in modo da poter permettere alla RNT di sviluppare tutte le azioni finalizzate alla tutela e conservazione dell'ambiente ed allo stesso tempo, la concretizzazione di uno sviluppo sostenibile per il territorio. ; The protected areas are those territories subordinates to a special program of protection and management, in which is present a natural and cultural patrimony of important value. In the present job the planning of the Natural Reserve of Tuscania, (country of Viterbo, north Lazio), has been considered with objects of conservation of the environmental values and sustainable economic development, like disposed of law L.R. 29 of 1997. The challenge is to promote in the protected areas an economic development and in the same time conservation of the rhythms and the values of the nature. We examined the state of the flora and the fauna present in the Reserve, the physical atmosphere and archaeology, the state of the historical center (that is inside of the Reserve), and the impacts of the agricultural activity and the anthropic activities present, trying to arrive to a zonation of the Reserve who respect the vocation of the territory. The involvement of the Pubblic Agencies for the realization of the plan in order of the Natural Reserve of Tuscania, has been continuous and constructive and has seen in the office of the park (instituted towards the end of 2004), a point of reference for all the citizens of Tuscania and not only. Therefore, task of the sustainable management is to regulation the use of the ecosystems and the resources on levels that are tolerable from the system and that respect the resources to our disposition. For the Natural Reserve of Tuscania it has been predisposed a SIT-GIS in order to manage all the informations that have been collections in the phase of surveying of the scientific study, in order to define the vocations, analyzing all the characterizing aspects of the territory of the natural area, perceiving it not like a geographic part but inserting in the immensest concept than intercomunale, provincial, regional and national planning. The fundamental role of the zonation is therefore to guarantee the conservation of the values of the territory being assigned various ties of protection to the various zones. The study has evidenced the vocation of the Natural Reserve of Tuscania (RNT), that it is of "rural park", that sees in the cultural landscape, that is historically influenced from the man, the main peculiarity. To this joins the vocation "to archaeological park", like an important Etruscan center. From the study it is emerged that to the center of the problematic is the Marta river, that slides in the heart of the Reserve from north to south. The Marta is disturbed from the regulation of the lago of Bolsena (floodgates to the incile), from hydroelectric centers of ENEL, that they interrupt for long and numerous features the uppermiddle course of the Marta river. The quality of waters is modest, with repercussions on the microfauna (index IBE) that on the fish. To weight down the cargo on the river there is also one paper factory and the communal water conditioner for the civil drainages and also black waters of the slaughterhouse. As far as the diffused sources of agricultural pollution, the problem does not appear of extreme urgency, if not other compared with the other pollution sources; can some deduce therefore, that the agricultural activities presents today to the category of the compatible ones, in the sense that attributes to such term the law 394/1991 and L.R. 29/1997 (art. 26). But the norm, too much addressed towards a zonation reported nearly exclusively on the rate urbanization of the territory, has rendered enough difficult the task of allocation of the zones and subzones to the RNT. The dispositions to respect derive: of the institutive regional law n. 29/97, of the guide line of the Lazio Region and the outline standard of the Region. The fundamental problem of the zonation is that easy falling in one clean separation between the habitats. To such scope, the Plan in Order proposes an Agenda 21 in order to allow to the local agencies of being able to manage in compatible way the environmental system through one local politicy that has like common objective a sustainable development. Today the restrictions dictated of the safeguard norms, limit seriously the development of Tuscania. That makes to perceive the Reserve like a bureaucratic agency, a subject bound the development of the territory. For such reasons hope a quick approval of the PdA from part of the Country of Viterbo and the Lazio Region, so as to be able to allow the RNT to develop a sustainable development for the territory.

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on vallankäytön luonteen ja sen ilmenemisen tulkinta ja ymmärtäminen ammattikorkeakoulujen vakinaistamis- ja laajentumisprosessissa vuosina 1995-2000. Tutkimus jakautuu kahteen pääosaan: teoreettiseen ja tapausesimerkkinä toteutettavaan empiiriseen osaan. Työn lähtökohtana on teoreettisen viitekehyksen kautta jäsentää, tulkita ja ymmärtää tutkimuskohteena olevaa ilmiötä eli vakinaistamis- ja laajentumisprosessiin liittynyttä vallankäyttöä. Työn metodinen painopiste lähenee teoriaperusteista analyysia ja arviointia. Tiivistäen ilmaistuna teoria saa työssä tulkintavälineen aseman. Tavoitteena on teorian ja sen pohjalta luodun viitekehyksen ja aineiston välinen dialogimainen vuoropuhelu, jota täydennetään eri tutkijoiden esittämillä näkemyksillä. Työn dokumenttiaineisto painottuu kirjoitetussa muodossa olevaan, aitoon ja alkuperäiseen sekä selkeästi rajattuun tekstikorpukseen, jolle annettiin ja jolle muodostui keskeinen asema korkeakoulupoliittisia ratkaisuja tehtäessä. Työn tulkintaprosessin myötä voidaan päätyä mm. toteamaan, että valta ei paikantunut tai sijoittunut ammattikorkeakoululaitoksen luomisen prosessin osalta ainoastaan valtakunnan tason toimijoille ja päätöksentekijöille eli suunta ei ole yksinomaan ylhäältä alhaalle. Kokonaisuuden onnistuminen ja toimivuuden turvaaminen jäivät ja jäävät pitkälti anojien eli paikallistason vastuulle. Vaihtoon liittyvää ulottuvuutta ja vuorovaikutusta tarvitaan prosessin jatkokehittämisen onnistumiseksi. Tarkasteltavassa prosessitodellisuudessa ilman paikallistason työpanosta ja muutoksen syvällisyyttä ja hallintaa - nimenomaan ammatillisen korkeakoulutuksen näkökulmasta - todellinen muutos jää puutteelliseksi. Viitekehyksen keskeisimmät ulottuvuudet nousevat selkeästi esille empiirisen aineiston tulkinnan myötä; vallankäyttö prosessitodellisuuden eri toimijatasojen menettelyjen osalta liikkui nollasummapeli - positiv-summekonflikt -ulottuvuudella, kuten myös mahdollistamisen ja antienergisoinnin ja toimintaa hankaloittavien ratkaisujen puitteissa. Vallankäyttö seurauksineen liikkui ylivallan ja yhteistoiminnallisen vallan kentissä. Valta kapasiteettina ja kykynä tulkita sekä omaa että toisten todellisuutta sekä kokonaisuuden hallintana - jopa edellä mainittujen ulottuvuuksien puutteenakin - saa keskeisen sisällön tarkasteltavan tapausesimerkin puitteissa. Vallan suhdeperusteinen ja muuttuva luonne tulee selvästi esille. Vallankäyttö näkyy selkeästi konkreettisessa toiminnassa paikallisella, alueellisella ja valtakunnallisella toimijatasolla. Kun tilannetta tarkastellaan työn viitekehyksestä käsin, paljastuu valtakäsitteen hyödyntämisen ja tulkinnan jääneen prosessin kuluessa osittain rajautuneeksi. Työn pohjalta voi tulkita vallankäytön heijastusvaikutusten ja mahdollistamisulottuvuuden pohdinnan jääneen osittain keskeneräiseksi. Tehtyjen ratkaisujen ja valittujen periaatteiden seurauksena vallankäyttöön olennaisesti liittyvä kokonaisuuden hallinta ja kyky taata muutoksen syvällisyys eivät olleet ongelmattomia. Kaiken kaikkiaan kyse on työn otsikon mukaisesti vallankäytön oppimisesta. Samalla paljastuu vallankäytön haasteellisuus korkeakoulupolitiikkaa laajemminkin hallinnon kannalta. Valtaan liittyvän todellisuuden tulkinta laajentaa prosessin ymmärtämistä. Samalla paljastuu viitekehyksen laajempi sovellettavuus ja tutkimuksen käyttökelpoisuus sekä vallan suhdeperusteinen ja muuttuva luonne. Perehtyminen työ viitekehykseen ja sen pohjalta tehtyyn empiiriseen tarkasteluun voi edistää muutosta ja sen hallittavuutta. Työ viitekehyksenä oleva mallikombinaatio, synteesi mahdollistaa suoraa vallan harjoittamista laajemman prosessinäkökulman ja auttaa ymmärtämään laaja-alaisemmin organisationaaliseen vallankäyttöön liittyvän toiminnan seurauksia. Siten käytetty malli monipuolistaa vallan tulkintaa. ; The purpose of this study is to interpret and understand the nature and presence of the use of power in polytechnics during the years 1995 - 2000 when they were both being made permanent and undergoing expansion. The study is divided into two main parts: the theoretical and the empirical case study. The use of power within the process examined is interpreted through the theoretical part. Put concisely the theory becomes an interpretative tool in this study. The study concerns itself with two principle levels, the national and the provincial / local: the relationship between and within these two is analysed and interpreted from the viewpoint of the use of power. The basic arrangement of the study is to consider the use of power through and with the help of the two earlier mentioned levels. The workings of the evaluation board of the polytechnics and its licensing section (initially a separate working group), government, parliament, the commission of education and culture, and the ministry of education form the national level of the empirical part of the study. These bodies can be broadly divided into two working groups: the political decision makers, and the specialists. The second level is made up of local and provincial questions of power, resources and dependency. North Savo Polytechnic and Pirkanmaa Polytechnic, both of which could not get permanent official status immediately on first application, have been chosen as examples of the local level. During the period studied North Savo Polytechnic applied for permanent status three times and made one application to broaden the mandate sought. Thus the process reality and entirety and its power dimensions and its changes can be seen. After these submissions the process continued in North Savo provisionally or as education based on agreement making certain units permanent. Pirkanmaa Polytechnic was assessed at the start of the process and again at the end of it when it got provisional approval for making the school permanent. Thus in the time period studied we can examine two different cases as examples within the local process. The study covers issues on both micro and macro levels. The central theme is to look at the process and its content dimension in its entirety. The views of both local and national influencers have been included to make the research more substantive. The use of power as part of process reality is modelled with the aid of two intersecting lines. At the ends of the horizontal line there are the power dimensions of authoritarian (power over) and co-operative (power with). The vertical line describes energy and anti-energy power dimensions; empowerment and action that hinders or even blocks it. Thus we have a four-field model that describes power dimensions in the building process and serves as a technical tool for the study and its theoretical framework. The starting point of the study is that "power moves" as a result of actions in the aforementioned four-field model even during the same process reality, and then the use of power takes different forms and has different consequences. The positions of the power wielders and power targets vary during social interaction and action. Power as a phenomenon manifests itself in varying non-static process relationships and a conclusion as a nil sum game or open conflict is not enough to keep the process developing positively. They are counterbalanced by reciprocal exchange relationships and the positive sum conflict dimension. The interpretation of process reality, securing a change, and management of the entirety become central. The starting point of the study is, through the above-mentioned theoretical framework, to analyse, interpret and understand the phenomenon studied, i.e. the use of power in the process of awarding permanent status and broadening a mandate already received. The methodological emphasis comes close to theory based analyses and evaluation. The aim is a dialogue between on one hand the theory and the framework it's based on and on the other hand the data. This dialogue is then completed with views from various researchers. The documentary data consists mainly of written original, genuine and clearly defined bodies of text which were submitted and which formed a central part in the making of political decisions in the polytechnic field. Through the interpretation process of the study it can be stated that as regards the creation of the polytechnics that power was not only located at the level of national decision makers i.e. the direction is not only from the top to the bottom. Successful implementation and feasibility were and still are the contributory responsibility of the local level applicants. Interaction and reciprocity exchange are needed to make further development successful. Real change in the process reality will be incomplete if local level work input, management and depth of the change - especially from the viewpoint of the polytechnics - are not taken into consideration. The most central dimensions of the framework are brought out with the interpretation of the empirical data; the use of power in the differing action levels of the process reality was moving in the nil sum game - positive sum conflict dimension, as also in the facilitating / empowering and anti-energising / solution retardation dimension. The use of power with its results was moving in the fields of authoritarian (power over) and co-operative (power with). Power as capacity and as ability to interpret one's own and others´ reality and also as management of the entirety - even lacking of all the before mentioned dimensions - receives a central role in the case study examined. The changing and relationship based nature of power is brought out. The use of power can be seen clearly in the tangible actions at the local, provincial and national levels. When the situation is looked at from the framework of the study it can be seen that the utilisation and interpretation of the concept of power has remained partly limited in the course of the process or that the decision makers have not thought about it from the viewpoint of the framework. On the basis of the study it can be interpreted that the study of the reflex effects and facilitating / empowering dimension of the use of power has remained somewhat incomplete or that at least the knock on effects have not been studied in all aspects. As a result of the decisions made and the principles chosen the management of the entirety and the ability to secure the depth of the change that essentially go together with the use of power were not problem free. All in all it is about, in accordance with the title of the study, learning to use power. At the same time the challenging nature of the use of power in administration other than in the polytechnics is revealed.