General Chapter, 1998
Internet site by Scott Steinkerchner OP
email: steinkerchner@op.org
| G e n e r a l C h a p t e r | B o l o g n a '9 8 |
| Order of Preachers |
part of the Dominican Family report
by Sr.Maria Thomas Schniederberend, O.P.
Commission of Nuns
Monastery of Oslo/Norway
July 14th, 1998
What are for me, as representative of the nuns, the main challenges for the nuns regarding the Mission of the Order as we face the Millennium
Dear brothers and sisters!
I am a member of the Commission of Nuns appointed in 1994 for a five-year period. This presentation is influenced by impressions which I have received during my personal visits to almost all of the monasteries in the region which I was named for. I have in mind my visit to the monasteries in Portugal, of the monasteries in Czech Republic, the monasteries in Poland and Austria, in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, of Belgium and Switzerland, in Ireland - and just a few weeks ago I had the great joy of visiting the nuns in Lithuania.
My presentation will also be influenced by the contact I have established with the other 10 members of the Commission of Nuns, when we met in Prouilhe in 1996 and for a second time in Rome, in February this year.
Last but not least, my presentation will be influenced by the answers from several monasteries throughout the world, which I received during the last few weeks. When sister Margaret asked for this presentation, I contacted at once as many monasteries as possible by fax - asking them for their opinion about our challenges as we face the millennium. I was really surprised by the amount of answers I immediately received. It shows the greatest interest in what is going on in the Order, and in the participation of nuns in General chapters. One sister writes: "your fax removed a cork which has been closing up the contents of a bottle which contains my dream..."
The main challenges for the nuns:
When we look at the Fundamental Constitutions of the Nuns - we see that nuns participate in the preaching of the Good News in a different way from that of the other members of the Order. The Fundamental Constitutions say:
The friars, sisters and laity of the Order are "to preach the name of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout the world;" the nuns are to seek, ponder and call upon him in solitude so that the word proceeding from the mouth of God may not return to him empty, but may accomplish those things for which it was sent ..
(Fund.Const.of the Nuns 1.II )
The tenor in most of the faxes I received is, that it is very import for us to understand our special task as Nuns of the Order of Preachers within the Order. Only when we understand our task as nuns, we can really participate in the mission of the Order.
We also have to understand that each Order has its own charisma and we have to deepen our own charisma as Dominican nuns more and more. We have to understand that to be a nun of the Dominican Order cannot be the same as being a Carmelite, a Poor Clare or a Cistercian nun. We need to get rid of the "not-as-holy-as-thou" syndrome.
How will the nuns put into practice the challenges they face?
I will share with you the statements of several monasteries or individual sisters, adding my personal comments:
We want to see that we really preach through our communities. We want like people to share our prayers with us, want them to pray the Divine office with us, and last not least, participate with us in the celebration of the Eucharist. The nuns want to do this, but for some monasteries there is a problem, because of the size of the chapel, or where the chapel is placed in the monastery building.
In some monasteries the nuns are still sitting in the choir while people are down in the chapel. In other monasteries the choir is placed around the corner and the feeling of celebrating liturgy together is not the same. I know that several monasteries would like very much to change this, but they do not know how to do. Often it is done not only by moving the stalls or putting down the grill.
We must live our life openly, not in a ghetto. We must be a source of prayer so that all members of the Order may come to us and be enriched. We must be open for mission by living at the borders, the frontiers to let Christ be known.
We cannot enclose ourselves in our own needs, therefore we must always return to the beginning of the Order and search for sources to be able to live as a centre for the apostolic life of the Order.
Through our being we would like to be a sign for all branches of the Order that salvation does not only depend on "doing", on "work", but that prayer and contemplation - so essential for St.Dominic - are necessary for the fruitfulness of the Order. We must continue our life as people of prayer. The Divine Office is and has always been important for the Dominican life.
Our prayer life needs silence. This must be a necessity for us. In a world where so many people are walking in the streets with their walkmans and their mobilphone, we want to live in an atmosphere of silence. We are convinced that the world needs silence too.
The nuns would like their monasteries to be an oasis of peace, resting-points in the rushing life of the town. This requires that we live an authentic life, where conversion can take place. Conversion will lead us to the source where we will find the life-giving water in abundance.
Preaching through community also means being open for the needs of others: People ask for intercessions, and the nuns are informed on what is going on in the world through the use of media. People get in contact with us by letter, phone or by visits.
Several monasteries have smaller or bigger guest houses where people can stay for same days celebrating the liturgy with the nuns. We, the Nuns, have to be very well educated and informed to meet the needs of the people today so that we really can be a help for them facing their problems giving right advice.
St.Dominic founded the Order to counteract the heresy of his times. The present day heresies are the main challenge for us, as there are the heresy of secularism and the instability of marriage. The role of the nuns is to pray specifically for whatever points arise as main challenge.
We have to be preachers of hope in a world where pessimism is spread. We can be preachers of hope in our communities. We can be preachers of hope using the media - the nuns should not hesitate to write and publish articles, books and translate. Some do this already, they also do photography or they paint or print. We can use the internet to be preachers of hope without being "ladyfriars".
We must especially fight against two tendencies in our time, which we will meet both outside and inside of our monastery: secularisation and syncretism. We live in a more and more secularised environment. This fact may easily effect our way of thinking and living as nuns, and our way of solving our challenges and problems. We must be aware of this tendency in ourselves so that we never forget the spiritual base and the spiritual aspects of our life. We must never forget to seek spiritual remedies to help us. We must in all our thinking set God first, and never think that our monastery could be run as a secular business firm.
The other danger is to face the secularism or materialism of our time with a a spirituality which says that all is of same value; "It is the same what you believe, as long as you believe in something." As Dominicans we must proclaim Christ and never renounce the Truth and the Faith of the Church.
Towards the Millennium it is of great importance to give a Christocentric life priority. We must act against the tendency to forget that there is one Truth. As Dominicans we are called to proclaim this Truth. Today there is a tendency, even among Catholics, to forget the importance of Christ incarnate.
Our theology is the Gospel. We must proclaim the Good News - God has saved us - by our way of living. We do not give witness to this Truth always. This eliminates moralising. Our Christianity must therefore be positive and creative. It is of great importance when we are confronted with people who are marked by a negative image of God.
Many disruptions have their roots in a doctrine which mix up means and goal. It is very, very important that formation of the Nuns is based on a good theology and not on a superficial piety. Our structures should not be based on an outer shell, but on a healthy liturgy and on a profound prayer life. The story goes that during a thunderstorm the prioress of a monastery was overheard saying: "Sisters, let us stop the Divine Office and start praying." But the story doesn't tell if it was a Dominican monastery.
Since the General Chapter in Oakland in 1989 the Nuns have had a promoter general appointed by the order: br.Viktor Hofstetter. I would like to take the possibility to thank br.Viktor for all what he is doing for the nuns. We feel, that he really loves us. He has improved contacts through personal visits, and since 1989 the nuns have come to know each other much better. It will be a challenge for the brothers and the nuns that br.Viktor's mandate will be ended next year.
We hope that one of the provinces will be so generous as to give one of their brothers the mandate to be the new promoter general for the nuns. The nuns will be very grateful for that. We are also very grateful that several provincials have named promoter for the nuns in their provinces.
Since the Chapter in Oakland the Commission of Nuns has been named too. The mandate of the 11 commission members will be ended in May next year.
Due to br. Damian's, br. Timothy's and br. Viktor's care for the nuns, several regions have overcome the fear of isolation and not to loose the Dominican identity.
Let me finish this presentation with Christ's own words:
COME AND SEE!
What are for me, as representative of the nuns, the main challenges for the Dominican Family regarding the Mission of the Order as we face the Millennium
The main challenges for the Dominican Family
The main challenges for the Dominican Family is in my opinion that each member of the Dominican Family lives faithfully the vocation which is particular to it. I cannot see that a mixture of all can help the mission of the Order or lead to unity.
The Bologna document on the Dominican Family from 1983 (see IDI May 1993 Bologna Document 3.2) says it very clearly, which we can bring to mind.
We have to make sure, that all the members of the Dominican Family receive a right doctrinal formation, spiritual and apostolic.
We should all work for this goal: that those people who come in contact with our Family may receive complete fullness of their lives - that they may live their Christian vocation as wife and husband, parents, children, professionals, workers, politicians, etc.
We would like to see each branch of the Dominican Family represented in the same area. They should have meetings together - pray and celebrate together.
The Nuns should be involved in these meetings
- why not a meeting in the monastery?
- why not have a retreat in our monasteries as group or individual where the possibility is given?
Some have experienced that much discussion means little action, and that the practical result of a discussion often is the opposite of what was intended and decided. We must learn by doing.
This is what I wanted to share with you concerning the Dominican Family.
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