Annual Meeting of the MID Board: 2004
The highway to the Immaculate Heart Hermitage at Big Sur, California, parallels the winding coastline and gives spectacular views of the surf breaking against black rocks, a locale extensively photographed by Ansel Adams. The Camaldolese Hermitage nestled into the Lucia Mountains 1300 feet above the Pacific [http://www.contemplation.com] was the destination for twenty-two MID board members and advisors October 15–17, 2004. The wonderful hospitality of the monks and their joyful, reverent liturgies provided a setting that greatly facilitated our discussions and decision-making.
The major business of this meeting was the election of new officers and preparation for a Muslim-Christian Conference on September 11, 2005. In addition, we voted to move the MID archives from St. Benedict’s Monastery, Minnesota, to Notre Dame University (with many thanks to archivist Sr. Ruth Bodigheimer, OSB, for her services). The group also heard a presentation on the history of the Camaldolese outreach to the Eastern Orthodox and to Asian religions by Fr. Robert Hale, OSB Cam, former prior and current professor at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.
After many years of promoting dialogue with the religions of the Far East, MID is now giving more attention to dialogue with Islam, because of current world tensions. Dialogue with Buddhism is continuing through gatherings of the Nuns in the West and the Monks in the West, planned for 2005 and 2006 respectively.
Several board members and advisors were re-elected to another term, and Fr. James Wiseman, OSB, editor of the MID Bulletin, was elected to the board. Board members present were the following, in alphabetical order: Fr. David Bock, OCSO, Sr. Catherine Cleary, OSB, Fr. James Conner, OCSO, Fr. Charles Cummings, OCSO, Sr. Mary Margaret (Meg) Funk, OSB, Fr. Donald Grabner, OSB, Sr. Barbara McCracken, OSB, Sr. Margaret Michaud, OSB, Br. Gregory Perron, OSB, Sr. Jeanne Ranek, OSB, Fr. Joel Rippinger, OSB, Abbot Leo Ryska, OSB, Sr. Sarah Schwartzberg, OSB, Abbot Mark Serna, OSB, Fr. Philip Simo, OSB, Fr. William Skudlarek, OSB, Fr. Daniel Ward, OSB, and Fr. Joseph Wong, OSB Cam. Also present were Fr. James Wiseman, OSB, and two lay observers associated with the Fetzer Institute of Kalamazoo, Michigan: Ms. Catherine Olson and Mr. Paul Gailey. There follows a day-by-day account of highlights of the meeting.
Friday, October 15
After Prior Raniero Hoffman’s warm welcome, Chairperson Fr. William Skudlarek opened the meeting with a brief report on his journey to Israel in January. He also called for someone to help edit and translate the international bulletin. Then came a report from the seven monks who had just come from a meeting with Buddhists at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah, California. Issues of monastic celibacy and intimacy emerged as a theme of interest to both Buddhists and Catholics. The proposed next meeting, to be held after Easter, 2006, will focus on the topic “Authentic Practices of Celibacy and Intimacy in Monastic Communities of Men.”
Next was a report from Executive Director Sr. Meg Funk on plans for a conference with Muslims at New Harmony, Indiana from September 10–12, 2005. The topic will be “Hospitality in Theory and Practice.” The board accepted the proposal that this conference be sponsored by MID and hosted by Mrs. Jane Owen. A special speaker will be invited—Lee Hamilton, co-chair of the 9/11 Commission. The MID planning committee (Abbot Mark Serna, Sr. Meg Funk, and two Muslims of their choosing) will work out the details and recommend how to combine our annual board meeting with this conference. The plan to hold our next board meeting at Clyde and Conception Abbeys is accordingly deferred until 2006.
Saturday, October 16
We heard a presentation about the MID Bulletin and website. Our website [www.monasticdialog.com] has been redesigned by Martin Rowe of Booklight, located in Manhattan. It contains all back issues of the bulletin since 1979. The biannual MID Bulletin, with around four hundred paid subscriptions, has not been supporting itself. Also, the fulfillment aspect of the process (that is, maintaining subscription lists, etc.) needs attention. Monastery Greetings has offered do this task for us. The board recognizes the need for an endowment in order to support MID publications and the website. An ad hoc committee on publications, consisting of Fr. James Wiseman, Fr. Dan Ward, and Fr. Philip Simo will propose a strategy.
A transition committee, selected at the last meeting, gave a recommendation concerning new officers. Abbot Mark Serna of Portsmouth Abbey, Rhode Island, was proposed as the next chairperson for a term three years, replacing Fr. William Skudlarek. Fr. William in turn was proposed for the office of Executive Director, replacing Sr. Meg Funk, who is retiring after ten years as director. The board voted in favor of both proposals, and the transition of officers will be effective January 1, 2005. The MID executive committee (Abbot Mark Serna, Sr. Sarah Schwartzberg, and Fr. Dan Ward) will negotiate a contract with Fr. William.
The final item of the day was a report on an agreement made by Sr. Meg with Religions for Peace. This organization has a block grant from the UN for the sake of holding discussions on one of three topics related to America’s role in the world. If each board member organizes a discussion in his or her own community, MID will collect $10,000, a much needed supplement to the MID bank account.
Sunday, October 17
The first business of this final day was to consider MID’s financial situation. Funding from OSB/OCSO monasteries, our major source of support, has diminished, and grants have been disappointing. Is it time for MID to hire a professional director of development? Do we need promotional material that highlights what MID can contribute to world harmony at this moment of history? The board agreed to set aside a certain amount of money in a restricted fund in order to begin building up the endowment that we need. The executive director was also instructed to provide a unified financial statement by the end of November. With that statement in hand, the executive committee was authorized to approve a budget for 2005.
On another matter, the board gave its moral support to a second meeting of Nuns in the West at Hacienda Heights, California, in May 2005, with a focus on “Contemplative Practice in the Search for Balance among Nuns of the West.” Sr. Jeanne Ranek will help coordinate the event.
The board favored Sr. Meg’s suggestion about having an institute at her monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana, after the New Harmony Conference, on the topic of “The Monastic Practice of Dialogue.” Before the New Harmony Conference, Sr. Meg plans to circulate a short paper on the same subject along with questions for further homework.
Throughout our meeting, attempts were made to articulate the special quality of dialogue that is our monastic contribution to the cause of world peace and justice. Many of today’s international conflicts have religious roots. Dialogue among religions may be an alternative to peacekeeping by means of war. Monastic dialogue is a form of monastic hospitality based on the contemplative appreciation of the other as someone in whom we potentially encounter Christ. Monastic interreligious dialogue springs from our monastic ascesis of renunciation, repentance, purity of heart, and attention to the divine presence. With purified hearts we listen to and respond to the other on the level of spiritual experience. At this deep dialogical level we sense our oneness with the other in the divine mystery. Thus, monastic dialogue is a means of mutual understanding and a countermovement to violence and terrorism.
The social highpoint of our meeting was a dinner at Lucia Lodge at the base of the mountain below New Camaldoli. Board members had a chance to tell anecdotes and reminisce about Sr. Meg. In recognition of her fifteen years of association with MID, Sr. Meg was told of a gift that would soon be delivered to her monastery. It is a fine art print of the two-page front piece of the Book of Psalms from the Saint John’s Bible. As Fr. William described it, “sound prints of the Psalms being sung go across the page horizontally and are intersected by vertical sound prints of Buddhist, Muslim, and American Indian chants.” This interreligious theme makes the illumination an appropriate gift for one so devoted to that cause. The owner and staff of Lucia Lodge decided to honor Sr. Meg in their own way by declining to charge anything for the splendid dinner. It was an unexpected and almost unheard of gesture that climaxed a fruitful MID meeting. Doubtless, this gesture also reflects the high esteem of the local residents for Prior Raniero and the Camaldolese monks. The MID board likewise acknowledges them and thanks them most sincerely for their memorable hospitality.
The major business of this meeting was the election of new officers and preparation for a Muslim-Christian Conference on September 11, 2005. In addition, we voted to move the MID archives from St. Benedict’s Monastery, Minnesota, to Notre Dame University (with many thanks to archivist Sr. Ruth Bodigheimer, OSB, for her services). The group also heard a presentation on the history of the Camaldolese outreach to the Eastern Orthodox and to Asian religions by Fr. Robert Hale, OSB Cam, former prior and current professor at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.
After many years of promoting dialogue with the religions of the Far East, MID is now giving more attention to dialogue with Islam, because of current world tensions. Dialogue with Buddhism is continuing through gatherings of the Nuns in the West and the Monks in the West, planned for 2005 and 2006 respectively.
Several board members and advisors were re-elected to another term, and Fr. James Wiseman, OSB, editor of the MID Bulletin, was elected to the board. Board members present were the following, in alphabetical order: Fr. David Bock, OCSO, Sr. Catherine Cleary, OSB, Fr. James Conner, OCSO, Fr. Charles Cummings, OCSO, Sr. Mary Margaret (Meg) Funk, OSB, Fr. Donald Grabner, OSB, Sr. Barbara McCracken, OSB, Sr. Margaret Michaud, OSB, Br. Gregory Perron, OSB, Sr. Jeanne Ranek, OSB, Fr. Joel Rippinger, OSB, Abbot Leo Ryska, OSB, Sr. Sarah Schwartzberg, OSB, Abbot Mark Serna, OSB, Fr. Philip Simo, OSB, Fr. William Skudlarek, OSB, Fr. Daniel Ward, OSB, and Fr. Joseph Wong, OSB Cam. Also present were Fr. James Wiseman, OSB, and two lay observers associated with the Fetzer Institute of Kalamazoo, Michigan: Ms. Catherine Olson and Mr. Paul Gailey. There follows a day-by-day account of highlights of the meeting.
Friday, October 15
After Prior Raniero Hoffman’s warm welcome, Chairperson Fr. William Skudlarek opened the meeting with a brief report on his journey to Israel in January. He also called for someone to help edit and translate the international bulletin. Then came a report from the seven monks who had just come from a meeting with Buddhists at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah, California. Issues of monastic celibacy and intimacy emerged as a theme of interest to both Buddhists and Catholics. The proposed next meeting, to be held after Easter, 2006, will focus on the topic “Authentic Practices of Celibacy and Intimacy in Monastic Communities of Men.”
Next was a report from Executive Director Sr. Meg Funk on plans for a conference with Muslims at New Harmony, Indiana from September 10–12, 2005. The topic will be “Hospitality in Theory and Practice.” The board accepted the proposal that this conference be sponsored by MID and hosted by Mrs. Jane Owen. A special speaker will be invited—Lee Hamilton, co-chair of the 9/11 Commission. The MID planning committee (Abbot Mark Serna, Sr. Meg Funk, and two Muslims of their choosing) will work out the details and recommend how to combine our annual board meeting with this conference. The plan to hold our next board meeting at Clyde and Conception Abbeys is accordingly deferred until 2006.
Saturday, October 16
We heard a presentation about the MID Bulletin and website. Our website [www.monasticdialog.com] has been redesigned by Martin Rowe of Booklight, located in Manhattan. It contains all back issues of the bulletin since 1979. The biannual MID Bulletin, with around four hundred paid subscriptions, has not been supporting itself. Also, the fulfillment aspect of the process (that is, maintaining subscription lists, etc.) needs attention. Monastery Greetings has offered do this task for us. The board recognizes the need for an endowment in order to support MID publications and the website. An ad hoc committee on publications, consisting of Fr. James Wiseman, Fr. Dan Ward, and Fr. Philip Simo will propose a strategy.
A transition committee, selected at the last meeting, gave a recommendation concerning new officers. Abbot Mark Serna of Portsmouth Abbey, Rhode Island, was proposed as the next chairperson for a term three years, replacing Fr. William Skudlarek. Fr. William in turn was proposed for the office of Executive Director, replacing Sr. Meg Funk, who is retiring after ten years as director. The board voted in favor of both proposals, and the transition of officers will be effective January 1, 2005. The MID executive committee (Abbot Mark Serna, Sr. Sarah Schwartzberg, and Fr. Dan Ward) will negotiate a contract with Fr. William.
The final item of the day was a report on an agreement made by Sr. Meg with Religions for Peace. This organization has a block grant from the UN for the sake of holding discussions on one of three topics related to America’s role in the world. If each board member organizes a discussion in his or her own community, MID will collect $10,000, a much needed supplement to the MID bank account.
Sunday, October 17
The first business of this final day was to consider MID’s financial situation. Funding from OSB/OCSO monasteries, our major source of support, has diminished, and grants have been disappointing. Is it time for MID to hire a professional director of development? Do we need promotional material that highlights what MID can contribute to world harmony at this moment of history? The board agreed to set aside a certain amount of money in a restricted fund in order to begin building up the endowment that we need. The executive director was also instructed to provide a unified financial statement by the end of November. With that statement in hand, the executive committee was authorized to approve a budget for 2005.
On another matter, the board gave its moral support to a second meeting of Nuns in the West at Hacienda Heights, California, in May 2005, with a focus on “Contemplative Practice in the Search for Balance among Nuns of the West.” Sr. Jeanne Ranek will help coordinate the event.
The board favored Sr. Meg’s suggestion about having an institute at her monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana, after the New Harmony Conference, on the topic of “The Monastic Practice of Dialogue.” Before the New Harmony Conference, Sr. Meg plans to circulate a short paper on the same subject along with questions for further homework.
Throughout our meeting, attempts were made to articulate the special quality of dialogue that is our monastic contribution to the cause of world peace and justice. Many of today’s international conflicts have religious roots. Dialogue among religions may be an alternative to peacekeeping by means of war. Monastic dialogue is a form of monastic hospitality based on the contemplative appreciation of the other as someone in whom we potentially encounter Christ. Monastic interreligious dialogue springs from our monastic ascesis of renunciation, repentance, purity of heart, and attention to the divine presence. With purified hearts we listen to and respond to the other on the level of spiritual experience. At this deep dialogical level we sense our oneness with the other in the divine mystery. Thus, monastic dialogue is a means of mutual understanding and a countermovement to violence and terrorism.
The social highpoint of our meeting was a dinner at Lucia Lodge at the base of the mountain below New Camaldoli. Board members had a chance to tell anecdotes and reminisce about Sr. Meg. In recognition of her fifteen years of association with MID, Sr. Meg was told of a gift that would soon be delivered to her monastery. It is a fine art print of the two-page front piece of the Book of Psalms from the Saint John’s Bible. As Fr. William described it, “sound prints of the Psalms being sung go across the page horizontally and are intersected by vertical sound prints of Buddhist, Muslim, and American Indian chants.” This interreligious theme makes the illumination an appropriate gift for one so devoted to that cause. The owner and staff of Lucia Lodge decided to honor Sr. Meg in their own way by declining to charge anything for the splendid dinner. It was an unexpected and almost unheard of gesture that climaxed a fruitful MID meeting. Doubtless, this gesture also reflects the high esteem of the local residents for Prior Raniero and the Camaldolese monks. The MID board likewise acknowledges them and thanks them most sincerely for their memorable hospitality.
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Fr. Charles Cummings, OCSO, is a member of Holy Trinity Abbey in Huntsville, Utah. He holds a degree in formative spirituality from Duquesne University and has written several books, among them Monastic Practices. He is a member of the Board of Directors of MID.