Monasticism in Modern Times

Isabelle Jonveaux, Stefania Palmisano, Isabelle Jonveaux, Stefania Palmisano

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781472463548
• eBook ISBN: 9781317094388
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

This book presents a broad sociological perspective on the contemporary issues facing Christian monasticism. Since the founding work of Max Weber, the sociology of monasticism has received little attention. However, the field is now being revitalized by some new research. Focusing on Christian monks and nuns, the contributors explore continuity and discontinuity with the past in what superficially might appear a monolithic tradition. Contributors speak not only about monasticism in Europe and the United States but also in Africa and Latin America, a different landscape where the question of recruitment does not figure among issues considered as problematic.

Part I
Monasticism in transition

New challenges and globalization

1
The Benedictine tradition since Vatican II

Catholic monasticism in the modern world

Andrew P. Lynch

1.1 Introduction

How have Catholic Benedictine monasteries responded to the need for religious renewal in times of increased secularism? Vatican II (1962–1965) is of great importance to any assessment of how Benedictine monks are attempting to retain their relevance in the framework of secularization and a secular social order. Vatican II championed a closer engagement between the Church and the modern world, and the bishops who gathered for the council sought to update Catholic practices and customs in response to modern challenges. In this chapter, I discuss three monasteries that present very different styles of monastic culture and liturgical life in the post-conciliar period. The monasteries are the Abbey of St. Madeleine at Le Barroux in southern France, where the Extraordinary Rite (or Latin Mass) is the principal form of liturgical practice; the Abbey of St. Pierre at Solesmes, where the post-conciliar Novus Ordo Missae (or New Right) is used, while the emphasis on monastic traditions; and St. Benedict’s Monastery at Arcadia in New South Wales, Australia, where the New Rite is used, along with a reformist view of religious life that stresses change as interpreted in the council documents.¹ Each of these and a number of other monasteries were visited by the author between 2002 and 2008, which included extended stays at these monasteries as a participant observer as well as follow-up visits where possible.² This chapter argues that Catholic monasticism since Vatican II reveals a number of different responses to the reform of religious life set out by the conciliar decree Perfectae caritatis (On the Up-to-Date Renewal of Religious Life), which called for a renewal of religious life. While some of these responses are reactionary, others seek to integrate the reforms more harmoniously. Furthermore, each of the monasteries discussed reveals significant differences in how they are maintaining and promoting their Benedictine traditions under modern conditions.

Christian monasticism has throughout its history been affected by broader social changes in the societies and cultures where it is located, ever since its initial founding by Pachomius in the early fourth century (see Knowles 1969; Leclercq 1982; Lawrence 2001; Luxford 2008; Lehner 2011). Scholarship on monasticism has now turned towards sociological and ethnographic studies, with a focus on contemporary forms of monastic life and the impact of modernity on existing abbeys (see Hillery 1992; Jonveaux, Pace and Palmisano 2014). This shift in focus towards contemporary monasticism means that the influence of social change on monastic life can be examined in greater detail. With the passing of the feudal age and the rise of the modern world, Benedictine monasticism has experienced a number of challenges. In Europe, the Reformation was particularly unsettling for the Benedictines. In England, monasteries were broken up and monks exiled. As Eamon Duffy (2005) has argued, the Reformation in England disrupted an entrenched and robust Catholicism which was replaced by Protestantism through state power and a campaign for religious change that took place over many years. The Enlightenment instigated significant changes to monasticism across Europe, as Ulrich Lehner outlines in his study of German monasticism. New ideas from Enlightenment philosophers, including Kant, created an intellectual subculture in some monasteries that challenged monastic traditions and Catholic theology (Lehner 2011). The French Revolution was another event with a lasting legacy for European monasticism. Great abbeys such as Cluny and St. Pierre’s at Solesmes, which will be discussed later in this chapter, were adversely affected by the Constituent Assembly’s 1790 decree that religious orders be suppressed – a move which sought to strip the French Catholic Church of its land and other assets, until the Church was able to rebuild itself in the wake of Napoleon’s Concordat of 1801. In recent years, increasing levels of secularism have challenged churches and religions in many parts of the world. Notwithstanding, these external influences, transformations within the Catholic Church, be they in response to social change or for purposes of church reform, can also disrupt routines for Catholic monasteries, or provide the circumstances for renewal. The Second Vatican Council, and the post-conciliar period which followed, is one such period of reform. In the next section, we will briefly outline the impact of secularism on religious life and monasticism. This will lead to an examination of the conciliar decree Perfectae caritatis, which provided the template for the reforms undertaken by the three monasteries to be discussed later.

1.2 Secularism, Vatican II and Perfectae caritatis

Secularism and secularization are major social forces affecting monasticism. Although the secularization thesis has received much criticism over many decades (Bruce 1996, 2011; Asad 2003) the impact of modernisation, and secularism as a political ideology, continues to challenge churches and religious organizations in many developed nations, and as Charles Taylor argues, there is a marked difference in levels and kinds of belief when 1500 CE is compared with 2000 CE (Taylor 2007). Although scholarly debate has in recent years shifted to the study of post-secularism and a resurgence of religion (Casanova 1994; Kepel 1994; Habermas 2006), the changing nature of religion in much of what was formerly called ‘Christendom’ is highly evident, including heightened levels of religious pluralism (Pace 2013) and the maintenance of religious belief outside of the traditional churches, or what Grave Davie calls ‘believing without belonging’ (Davie 1994). It is not the intention of this chapter to examine these sociological events in detail, but what they reveal is that Benedictine monasticism is often buffeted by unexpected social change from secular society. Monasteries have not been idle in responding to modern secularism, and their ability to adapt to cultural and technological change means that many are continuing to thrive today. The use of the Internet, the marketing of consumer goods and even catering to ‘New Age’ religious markets and tourism are ways in which abbeys today are assuring their relevance (see Jonveaux, Pace and Palmisano 2014).

Vatican II also provided the impetus for the renewal of monastic culture in response to social change under modern conditions. Pope John XXIII was elected to the papacy in 1958, and he was not expected to enact any major reforms (Alberigo 2006a: 1–2). It was, therefore, a surprise to many when he announced his intention to hold a Second Vatican Council (O’Malley 2008: 15). His stated purpose in holding Vatican II was to open the Church to the modern world and in doing so, update the Church, which was an idea encapsulated in his vision of aggiornamento (Alberigo 2006a: 2; Sullivan 2007: 40). The council, therefore, laid stress on the laity, ecumenism, a vision of the Church as the People of God and the anxieties being experienced by those living in modernity.

The decree Perfectae caritatis provides a framework through which religious orders of priests, monks, nuns, brothers and laypeople could reform their orders in line with the more general updating of religious practices which the council wished to initiate. During the conciliar debates, the contents of the decree attracted some measure of criticism and calls for revision (see Acta 1975). Francis Cardinal Spellman requested that the contemplative life should be protected from an overemphasis on worldly activity (Acta 1975: 159–160) – a tension between these two spheres of religious life which persisted throughout discussions of the decree. Joseph Cardinal Suenens flatly rejected an early draft, saying that it lacked a focus on the poverty and the obedience of Christ, values which he argued should underpin religious life. Suenens was also critical of the draft’s paucity in relation to the female religious and their apostolic activity (Tanner 2003: 367). Yves Congar, in his Vatican II journals, noted the applause from the council fathers that followed Julius Cardinal Döpfner’s intercession, in which he said that the draft did not adequately emphasize adapting religious life to ‘the conditions of our age’ (Congar 2012: 668). After collecting numerous criticisms of the early drafts, a commission of experts worked on the document during the break between the third and fourth sessions of the council, and by March 1965, a new draft was ready (Burigana and Turbanti 2003: 588). The decree, now named Perfectae caritatis was approved in November 1965 in the final sitting weeks of the council (Alberigo 2006b: 549).

The final document provides a manual for reforming religious orders and organisations, although only in general terms. In the decree’s early sections, the council fathers set out a number of parameters to serve as guideposts for reform. These include a continued commitment to a Christ-centred and gospel-focussed understanding of religious life. The decree also emphasizes religious orders and their members sharing ‘in the life of the Church’ and its work of teaching and evangelization (Perfectae caritatis 1981: 612, hereafter PC). The text highlights the importance of maintaining the traditions of orders in the spirit of their founders by safekeeping the special charism of the order in keeping with its identity and mission. Furthermore, Perfectae caritatis highlights the need for adequate education for the religious so that they are able to better serve their communities. This last point dovetails with the council’s anthropological theology set out in Gaudium et spes and with the council’s commitment to engage with the signs of the times. After exhorting the religious to foster a love of God as the basis for their vocation and reinforcing the importance of prayer and the reading of scripture, the decree turns to the different forms of religious life, from contemplatives through to the lay religious. On the subject of monastic orders, the decree calls for them to be ‘carefully preserved’, but that at the same time ‘they should renovate their ancient beneficent traditions and should so adapt them to the present day needs of souls’ (PC 616). As will be examined in this chapter, these rather ambiguous instructions have allowed for some novel interpretations of how monastic life can be lived. The decree makes a number of other suggestions about the renewal of religious life for monasteries, which have since publication had practical implications for them. These include assessing whether or not a monastery has a secure future, or what the decree calls a ‘reasonable hope for further development’ (PC 622). Although details are lacking, the inference is that abbeys that are no longer financially viable, or which have failed to attract new members, are to be amalgamated with institutions that can support them. Monasteries that find themselves in this situation can be ‘forbidden to receive any more novices’ (PC 622). The decree also calls for federations or unions to be formed of independent monasteries that share a provenance in the same religious family, or have a similar apostolate (PC 622).

Perfectae caritatis makes a number of practical suggestions for how religious orders can update their customs, ceremonies and daily routines to help bring them closer to the spirit of modern times. Some religious orders in the 1960s were maintaining habits of dress and customs that reached back to the nineteenth century and beyond. The decree outlines ways in which religious orders can update these, including stylistic changes to religious habits. For Catholics who had a close relationship with priests and nuns, the change in religious dress for many symbolized the fact that religious orders were going through a period of transformation in the wake of Vatican II (Greeley 2004: 57). Perfectae caritatis made special note of the importance of the habit as a sign of religious identity when recommending its updating:

The religious habit, as a symbol of consecration, must be simple and modest, at once poor and becoming. In addition, it must be in keeping with the requirements of health and it must be suited to the times and place and to the needs of the apostolate. The habits, both of men and of women, which are not in conformity with these norms ought to be changed.

(PC 621)

In monasteries, a reappraisal of the habit led to a variety of interpretations regarding its wearing. We will comment on this issue in the next section, but suffice it to say here that changes to the habit became a source of some debate after the council. This was also the case for a range of other issues that were transformed after the council. In the liturgy, the post-conciliar Novus Ordo Missae was very different in presentation to the Tridentine, or Latin, Rite that preceded it. The liturgy is now no longer in Latin but in vernacular languages, the priest now faces the people and there is greater scope for involvement by the laity, as lectors, Eucharistic ministers and in other roles. Furthermore, as the ‘spirit of the council’ has filtered down from Rome into local parish communities, closer ecumenical ties with other Christian denominations, and with other religions, is encouraged, and the relationship between the religious and the laity has become closer as the idea that priests or others in consecrated life are members of a special hierarchy has been challenged.

1.3 Monasticism after Vatican II: case studies of three monasteries

Next we will examine how three Benedictine monasteries have responded to the council and to Perfectae caritatis. A descriptive examination of monas...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures and tables
• Introduction: monasticism: crucial questions
• PART I Monasticism in transition: new challenges and globalization
• PART II Monasticism as open door to society?
• PART III From monasticism to monasticisms and new forms of spirituality
• Notes on contributors
• Index