Religious Communities Can Be "Radical," Superiors Assert
Episcopal News Service. April 7, 1995 [95062]
Mike Barwell, Director of communications for the Diocese of Southern Ohio.
(ENS) Basking in the warm sunlight of an early spring afternoon, shuffling into position for a group photograph, the 20 men and women, eager to go to lunch, smiled shyly as they were coaxed to move closer together.
In clothing ranging from Levi Dockers, sports shirts, wool skirts and sweaters to coarse-spun monks habits, wimples and gowns, the superiors of the Anglican monasteries and convents in North America finished a week-long conference at the Community of the Transfiguration near Cincinnati in mid-March, convinced they are "radical" and have a defined mission in the Anglican Communion.
"In many ways we are counter-cultural people," said Brother William Sibley, superior of the Order of the Holy Cross, based in Santa Barbara, California. "There is a freedom in this communal life that not everybody has to do the same thing. There is a sense of prophecy by living this lifestyle, that hopefully has something to say to the church -- but more importantly for the sake of the world."
The annual gathering of the Conference on the Religious Life in the Anglican Communion in North America (CORL) also was a rare sighting. With only about 450 life-professed members in more than 20 monasteries and convents in the United States and Canada, monks and nuns are not often considered part of the mainstream of the Episcopal Church. They rarely meet in a large group.
If they are considered at all, they are usually dismissed as anomalies: costumed, traditionalist, conservative, inflexible, isolated, and out of touch with modern life and unwilling to deal with the issues of society.
That is not how they see themselves.
They believe their vows of chastity, poverty and obedience are appropriately radical and counter-cultural, and that their life together, "in worship, prayer, and ministry to others," is a prophetic witness to how the church can operate in the world.
In the publication Religious Life, Brother Martin Smith of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston wrote last year: "Religious communities will either play a significant role as signs of the newness of God's kingdom shaping our lives, or they could fade as marginal survivors of an ecclesiastical era that is over."
Despite dwindling numbers and aging populations, the superiors see their orders adapting to the needs of people in late-20th century culture. Many of their ministries have changed, from primarily running institutions, such as schools, to offering havens of retreat and spiritual direction in a fast-paced, stressful society. "Most Anglican or Episcopal orders have a growth industry in retreat work," said Mother Madeleine Mary of the Community of the Holy Spirit in New York.
"Twenty years ago we used to fill weekend retreats with groups, and the rest of the week it was like a tomb," Sibley added. "Now we are booked every weekend, in some cases through 1997, and we do groups of 16-18 people throughout the week. A lot of people come because they hear this is a safe place."
While they would not be entirely in agreement, they also are willing to squarely face the challenges of modern society and the potentially divisive issues in the church.
"Different communities would have different positions on the issues facing the church," Sibley admitted, adding that Holy Cross has "been there in civil rights movement, for women's ordination, for gay and lesbian people. We haven't always been in total agreement, but there seems to be a convergence of thinking that we need all these issues to affirm our call to stand with the oppressed."
"Prayer and the issues of justice and peace cannot be separated," Sibley added. "I hate it when people say that because you are in the monastery you are not in this world. We are all incamational. All the things that ordinary people face we face."
Sister Adele Marie, superior of the Society of St. Margaret in Boston, was more circumspect. "We have a variety of opinions on the issues facing the church. But one of our significant contributions to the life of the church is that over a major issue -- and certainly the issue of women's ordination was such an issue and we took some number of years to work through it -- the community did not split or divide. We stayed together. We can agree to continue to live together and to live in love and respect one another in spite of major differences. And that in itself is a witness."
"Religious communities have always been, since their inception -- certainly in Anglicanism -- cities of refuge, a place where people could come and be safe for all kinds of reasons," said Brother Richard Johns of Salt Springs Island, British Columbia, who serves as general secretary of CORL. "Certainly, in men's communities, for a very long time -- or perhaps always -- there aren't many places where males of homosexual orientation have been welcome. Historically, the religious communities have provided that, no questions asked, no expectations."
What grieves the religious community, they agreed, is the polarization of the church into liberal and conservative camps over various issues. Many of the religious communities believe they are living into the Anglican via media in which they can say, "Yes, we disagree theologically, but we can still live together in community in prayer." And they believe that is a gift the religious communities offer to the church today.
Sister Constance Joanna, superior of the Community of St. John the Divine in Toronto, concluded that the health of religious communities "provides a way for people in the church to see a different way of looking at Christian life, where not everything has to be decided, where you don't have to take a stand on every issue before you can live peaceably in community and creatively."