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ANSWERING GOD' S CALL On February 10, two men received the habit and began their novitiate at Blue Cloud. The novitiate is a one year trial period. During this time, the novices learn about monastic life and see if God is really calling them to it. Meanwhile, the monastic community learns more about them and judges whether they are suited to this kind of life. At any point during the year, the novice may decide not to continue in monastic life. If so, he is free to leave the abbey. If he decides to stay however, the novice would take temporary vows after finishing the novitiate. Temporary vows usually last three years. Our two new novices are Brother Donald Miller and Father Doug Johnson. Don Miller comes from the state of Washington where he has worked in the logging industry. Fr. Doug comes from Sioux Falls, where he served as a priest in the Sioux Falls Diocese. His calling to the priesthood came after joining the Catholic Church as an adult. These two new members give us a total of three novices, along with Br. Novice Michael Peterson, who started his novitiate last fall. We are quite pleased to have three novices! I hope all of our friends will join with us in praying for their success and perseverance in monastic life. Interestingly, two of the three novices were born after the close of the Second Vatican Council. Perhaps this is a good time to reflect on the state of Religious vocations in today's Church, as a number of books and articles have come to the Abbey recently on this topic. Most of our readers know that the number of religious vocations has declined considerably in America during the three decades since Vatican II. A less well known fact: outside of the United States and Western Europe, vocation numbers are increasing steadily around the world. Recently, certain religious communities in America have noticed a healthy increase in new members. We hope our present novices are part of this encouraging trend! Some in the Church are wondering why only certain communities are attracting most of the new vocations. Do these Religious orders have qualities that perhaps make them more attractive? In order to understand more about these successful communities, it helps to avoid using labels that may not be accurate. Some have said that "conservative" orders are getting more new vocations, but that label can be misleading. I have dealt with one Church organization, sometimes described as conservative, which is in fact quite radical! (Radical in the sense that Jesus and the Good News he preached were radical). Even calling these communities "traditional" can confuse the issue, because the Church's Tradition is such a rich and multifaceted thing. A community may be traditional in a certain area such as liturgy, while keeping itself up to date on its works and mission. The only accurate generalization seems to be that religious communities draw more new members when they keep a clear, distinct identity in the Church, and consistently direct their actions toward their special mission. Religious groups might have certain traditional practices or rules that help them do this, and these rules might stand out as unique in the modern world. The important thing is how effectively the group is able to serve the present-day Church, not the age of its traditions. The decades since Vatican II have seen much change and experimentation by Religious orders. Unfortunately, some communities did not understand that an experiment involves much trial and error. In science or technology, a single experiment can involve many failures before success. Some communities simply assumed that their first attempts at updating or renewal would be successful, and didn't properly evaluate them. This has resulted in some practices or ideas that after twenty years seem more dated than Church traditions hundreds of years old! This is similar to how a popular song from the 1950's can seem more dated today than a classical symphony written hundreds of years earlier: the quality of the structure makes a difference. Some religious orders aggressively pursued renewal after Vatican II, but at some point decided that their renewal process was complete. As society and its concerns continue to change, communities that consider themselves "already renewed" may have the most difficulty in adapting. St. Benedict himself realized this fifteen centuries ago! The Rule of St. Benedict requires each monk to take a vow of continual conversion: a constant, never-ending process of growing in the Spirit. This means the task of renewal never stops! Perhaps all religious orders can learn from those groups that have been successful in attracting vocations. A TRAGEDY IN GUATEMALA Fr. Bernardine visited the Abbey this April, from our mission priory in Coban, Guatemala. He brought news that Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera had just been killed in Guatemala City. Bishop Gerardi was 75 years old, and had been well known for speaking out against human rights violations. He was a good friend of Fr. Bernardine's, and well known by all at the priory. The murder was committed in a particularly brutal manner. Pope John Paul II immediately denounced it as an "act of violence which undermines peaceful coexistence and offends the sentiments of that beloved nation". We ask the prayers of all our readers for the Church in Guatemala, and our monastic foundation there. They hope for an end to the violence that has afflicted their nation for so long. In 1996, a peace agreement was signed there intending to end decades of civil war. A REQUEST FROM FR. STAN If you have old books relating to American Indian culture that you'd like to dispose of, our Indian Research Center can use them. Ours is a selective library, and students are in need of the books that we have gathered. We find that research documents and private papers are the most valuable. Old journals and travel logs are also prime resources. We would be very grateful. |
A DIFFERENT CALLING This article is a bit different from any we have printed in the newsletter
before. We have occasionally featured guest authors before, (some of you remember Kathleen
Norris here just before her best-seller DAKOTA), but this is our first contribution by a
major music recording artist. For over thirty years, Roger McGuinn has been a well-known,
respected performer in both popular music and folk music. Some of his achievements: hit
songs and television appearances in the 1960's with The Byrds, the theme song from the
movie "Easy Rider", performing with many of music's biggest stars (including Bob
Dylan), and membership in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 1965, his recording
"Turn, Turn, Turn" reached #1 on the national charts. Although the song took its
lyrics from the Bible, life in show business does not often encourage a spiritual life.
Today Roger is a committed Christian, but this came after a conversion some twenty years
ago. It was my recent privilege to correspond with Mr. McGuinn and have him contribute
this autobiographical piece. It tells us how all Christians, regardless of our state in
life, are called to faith and holiness. It also shows powerfully how a call from God is
not the least bit affected by celebrity status or barbed-wire fences. - Fr. Matthew When I
lived in Malibu California, I arrived home and found a young man sitting on a bench under
the large oak tree, in my front yard. He was all smiles and said that Jesus had directed
him there, and wanted him to give me some songs that he'd written. He made me a little
nervous because I thought he was crazy, and I didn't want to have anything to do with him
or his songs. He was persistent though, and couldn't understand why, if Jesus had told him
to bring me these songs, that I didn't want to hear them. I went into the house and locked
all the doors behind me. Finally the man went away. The next day I noticed that the house
across the street had a barbed wire fence, an electric gate and a closed circuit
television camera to monitor visitors in the driveway. There was a sign that read, "H
& H Securities," with a phone number which I immediately called. They sent
someone to give me an estimate, and within two weeks, I had my protection installed. I
thought I was safe. But iron gates couldn't keep Jesus out! Something strange had begun to
happen to me. Another Christian appeared while I was playing a show in Oklahoma City. This
fellow was grinning at me from the bottom of a flight of stairs. Normally, I would have
ignored him, but I was high on cocaine, and I found his grin rather irritating. The drugs
had destroyed my sense of humor and I couldn't have smiled if I'd wanted to. I asked him
what he was grinning about and he said, "The Lord just told me that you're going to
come to Him." I thought he was crazy and said "Yeah, that'll be great when it
happens." He kept grinning and said, "It sure will!" Right after that, I
ran into Jennifer Warnes at my manager's house. I was on my way to Magic Mountain to ride
the Revolution roller coaster, so I asked her if she wanted to join me for a wild ride.
She did, and we had a wonderful time, flying upside down, with the wind blowing through
our hair. We stayed for a performance by Three Dog Night, and I took her back stage to
meet the band. I really enjoyed being with her and called her the next day. She invited me
to her house, where we ended up talking about religion. What had sparked the conversation,
was a picture of Jesus that she kept on her dresser. I told her I believed that Jesus was
just one of the prophets, and that all spiritual roads spiraled to the same peak at the
top of the mountain. She disagreed and told me that Jesus was the only way to get through
to God. I'd never heard anyone, whom I respected, tell me that before. Her words made a
strong impression on me. Elvis Presley had just died, and that really shook me up. It was
a complete shock to read that he was a victim of prescription drugs. I had been getting
prescription drugs from a series of doctors for years; speed and quaaludes, both of which
apparently Elvis had depended upon heavily. I was doing illegal drugs as well, and Elvis
was only seven years older than I was when he died. I thought, "Man, I've only got
seven years left." and I panicked. The functioning lobes of my brain began demanding
that I investigate what was going on spiritually in the world. Some self preservation
instincts were kicking in. Suddenly a horrible new feeling began to plague me. It felt as
though an elephant was standing on my chest and my arms were as heavy as lead. Right after
I began to experience this sensation, I met a jazz piano player, named Billy. He was also
a Christian, and when I told him about the "heavy" feeling that I had been
having, he thought it was spiritual oppression of some kind. He asked me if I believed in
the power of prayer. I did, after having read "The Power of Positive Thinking,"
by Norman Vincent Peale. Billy prayed with me, "Lord, I pray that you come into this
man's heart, in your own time, slowly and surely and take away this bad feeling, in Jesus
name, amen." Nothing happened. The crushing feeling came and went for no apparent
reason. One day while I was sitting on the couch in my girlfriend's living room, I began
to get that "heavy" feeling again. Suddenly I found myself in prayer, "Oh
Lord how can I keep from feeling like this?" An answer came to my spirit, "Well,
you could accept Jesus." I said silently, "all right, I accept Jesus." The
"heavy" feeling left me and I could feel the Holy Spirit moving in me physically
and it felt good to have Jesus in my heart. That was over twenty years ago. The Lord has
richly blessed me with a wonderful wife and a fulfilling life. I don't perform gospel
music. I prayed about it, and received that I was to stay where I was when I was called.
So I put a positive spin on all my songs and hopefully, with the Lord's help, will
continue to light up the darkness in a different way. |