An enormous controversy currently surrounds US Catholic women religious. A recent doctrinal investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) concluded with the appointing of an archbishop to review, guide and approve the work of LCWR. LCWR is an association of the leaders of communities and congregations of Catholic women religious in the US, representing more than 80 percent of the 57,000 women religious in the US today. The actions of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) have stirred deep emotions throughout the US and beyond and made LCWR a familiar acronym to those who …
Keeping your house light and easy to carry
What could a children’s book, the writings of Richard Rohr, and Benedictine simplicity have in common? Barb Abbott, oblate of Holy Wisdom Monastery, helped us weave these connections today at our final Women’s Lenten Lunch. We gathered for midday prayer and a delicious meal created in part from local produce (including apples grown here at the monastery). In true Benedictine style, a meditative reading was offered during the meal, including excerpts like these from Radical Grace, by Richard Rohr: “Soul knowledge sends you in the opposite direction from consumerism. It’s not addition that makes one holy but subtraction: gripping the illusions, …
An invitation to Benedict’s “little rule for beginners”
On March 21 we celebrate the Feast of Benedict and honor this holy man who became the founder of the Benedictine tradition. The beginning of his story is captured in this excerpt from St. Benedict and St. Scholastica, by Sr. Margaret Clarke, OSB: Benedict, whose name in Latin means “Blessed,” was born to a Christian family in the mountains to the northeast of Rome (A.D.480?). The Roman Empire was crumbling and the Goths and Vandals controlled Italy. As a youth, he was sent to Rome for schooling and there experienced a religious awakening which caused him to renounce corrupt secular …
Listening to my life
Another wonderful experience today in our third Women’s Lenten Lunch. Thank you to Carol Kretschman who served as reader during lunch, to Chef Barbara Wright who served us a simple and delicious noon meal, to Claudia Greco who offered us the opportunity to listen to our life through the shared experience of lectio divina, and to all the women present who took time to listen and share from the heart. Claudia framed our conversations in the opening lines of the Rule of Benedict: “Listen carefully, my child, to these words. Listen with the ear of your heart.” She shared a …
Stilling the wandering heart
Our Women’s Lenten Lunch speaker today, Carole Kretschman, focused on stability, balance and silence – opening the door to “stilling the wandering heart” (Joan Chittister) enough to make space for God. Carole helped us explore monastic stability in light of these thoughts from Jan Richardson, In the Sanctuary of Women: The monastic vow of stability recognizes that in committing ourselves to a particular place and staying rooted despite changes around and within us, we grow in a way that is different than if we are constantly on the move. Carole invited us to develop a sense of stability that might be …
Bearing with one another
Thanks to Trisha Day, member of Sunday Assembly at Holy Wisdom Monastery, for leading off our series of Women’s Lenten Lunches today. We were joined by 48 guests as Trisha offered a new perspective on Lenten disciplines. She suggests we give up some of our own self-interest and unhelpful patterns of relating to others in order to “bear with one another,” to show true compassion, to reverence what is sacred in others. Trisha references this spirit of compassion in a variety of writings: Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as sisters and brothers …
Celebrating the gift of ecumenical Benedictine community
Today, February 17, 2012, marks the 6th anniversary of our official re-founding as an ecumenical Benedictine community for Benedictine Women of Madison. “A New World Order” is how the media sees it. “Welcoming women of all Christian traditions” is how we talk about it. “It is a gift to be welcomed into a community” is how a recent Volunteer in Community experiences it. The history that brings us to this day is rich and deep, as Sister Mary David Walgenbach recalls: The first steps were inspired by the decrees of the Second Vatican Council and the Community of Taize, France. …
Celebrating the Feast of Scholastica
Today we celebrate the Feast of Scholastica, said to have lived from 480 to 543, the twin sister of Benedict. She is a patron of Benedictines throughout the world. Scholastica led a form of consecrated life with a group of Christian women, following the spirit of the Rule of Benedict. We know of her life only from legend and from a brief story in the Dialogues of Gregory the Great. Gregory tells us that she traveled each year to meet her brother at a small house midway between their residences. On one occasion, after a day filled with deep and …
Lenten Devotional
The following entry is reprinted from the 2012 John Knox Presbytery Lenten Devotional, a booklet containing real life stories from people across the Presbytery in addition to Scripture and prayer. The entry was submitted by Sister Lynne Smith, OSB from Holy Wisdom Monastery and we have permission to reprint it here. Week of March 5, 2012 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in …
Gain or loss?
“Didn’t you have to give up a lot to become a sister?” This question, which was posed to me recently, seems to be a common perception of religious life. The question might come from the image of monks “leaving the world” to live in the desert or from the image of religious life as made up of strict ascetical practices. However, something in me resists thinking about religious life in terms of giving something up. To be sure, one does give up some things to enter a community and there is asceticism involved in religious life. The practice of asceticism …