New Camaldoli Hermitage
FALL 2016
LISTEN!
If we’re to “listen” as Saint Benedict urges,
we must seek silence. And we must distinguish
silence that leads to wholeness from silence
that does not. In this issue, poetry, images, and
articles—by Prior Cyprian, Pico Iyer, and Matt
Fisher—encourage us to hear God’s voice and
share God’s silence. page 2-7
IN THIS ISSUE
2 The Art of Stillness
4 But What Kind of Silence Are We Keeping?
6 Beautiful Noise
8 Towards The Rebirth of Wisdom: A Christian Conversation
9 Development
10 Further Thoughts on Silence and Stillness
11 Oblate Peer Mentor Program
1 2 Vita Monastica
13 Monastery of the Risen Christ
14 Incarnation Monastery
15 Late Arrival: A Retreat at New Camaldoli
16 Activities and Visitors
62475 Highway 1, Big Sur, CA 93920 • 831 667 2456 • www.contemplation.com
MESSAGE FROM THE PRIOR
Three Monasteries, One Community
“Though we are many, we are one body”
(Romans 12:5)
Though we live in different locations, we
more and more think of ourselves as
one community stretched up and down
the coast of California. Up north, our Frs.
Andrew and Arthur along with our Italian
brother Ivan have a thriving ministry with
our oblates at Incarnation in Berkeley. Br.
Bede has moved up to be with them this
fall as well.
Down south in San Luis Obispo, Frs. Ray and
Stephen are about to make their solemn
transfer from the Olivetan Benedictine
Congregation to ours this coming January;
so the Monastery of the Risen Christ, with
our Fr. Daniel at the helm, will be an official
Camaldolese monastery very soon.
And of course Fr. Michael Fish continues
in hermit-preacher-wanderer mode based
in the hills above Santa Cruz. New Camaldoli
feels more and more like a mother house
or, as one of our friends likes to say, “the
Mothership.”
THE ART OF STILLNESS
Pico Iyer
Longtime essayist, novelist and travel writer Pico Iyer writes about his
introduction to New Camaldoli and its gift of “thrumming, crystal
silence” in his book The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere
(New York: TEDBooks, Simon & Schuster, 2014).
At some point all the horizontal trips in the world cannot compensate for the need to go deep, into somewhere challenging and unexpected. Movement makes richest sense when set within a frame of
stillness.
So I got into my car and followed a road along the California coast
from my mother’s house, and then drove up an even narrower
path to a Benedictine retreat house a friend had told me about.
When I got out of my worn and dust-streaked white Plymouth
Horizon, it was to step into a thrumming, crystal silence. And when
I walked into the little room where I was to spend three nights, I
couldn’t begin to remember any of the arguments I’d been thrashing out in my head on the way up, the phone calls that had seemed
so urgent when I left home. Instead I was nowhere but in this room,
with long windows looking out upon the sea.
A fox alighted on the splintered fence outside, and I couldn’t stop
watching, transfixed. A deer began grazing just outside my window,
and it felt like a small miracle stepping into my life. Bells tolled far
above, and I thought I was listening to the “Hallelujah Chorus.”
“Very soon, stepping into stillness
became my sustaining luxury.”
~ Pico Iyer
I’d have laughed at such sentiments even a day before…But what I
discovered, almost instantly, was that as soon as I was in one place,
undistracted, the world lit up and I was as happy as when I forgot
about myself. Heaven is the place where you think of nowhere else.
2 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage
to change my life a little more. The year after I discovered what a transformation it would be to sit still, I
moved to Japan for good—to a doll’s house apartment
in which my wife and I have no car, no bicycle, no bedroom or TV I can understand. I still have to support
my family and keep up with the world as a travel writer
and journalist, but the freedom from distraction and
complication means that every day, when I wake up,
looks like a clear meadow with nothing ahead of me,
stretching toward the mountains.
It was a little like being called back to somewhere I
knew, though I’d never seen the place before. As the
monks would have told me—though I never asked
them—finding what feels like real life, that changeless and inarguable something behind all our shifting
thoughts, is less a discovery than a recollection.
I was so moved that, before I left, I made a reservation to come back, and then again, for two whole
weeks. Very soon, stepping into stillness became my
sustaining luxury. I couldn’t stay in the hermitage
forever—I wasn’t good at settling down, and I’m not
part of any spiritual order—but I did feel that spending time in silence gave everything else in my days
fresh value and excitement. It felt as if I was slipping
out of my life and ascending a small hill from which I
could make out a wider landscape.
This isn’t everyone’s notion of delight; maybe you
have to taste quite a few alternatives to see the point
in stillness. But when friends ask me for suggestions
about where to go on vacation, I’ll sometimes ask if
they want to try Nowhere, especially if they don’t want
to have to deal with visas and injections and long lines
at the airport. One of the beauties of Nowhere is that
you never know where you’ll end up when you head
in its direction, and though the horizon is unlimited,
you may have very little sense of what you’ll see along
the way. The deeper blessing—as Leonard Cohen had
so movingly shown me, in his life as a monk—is that it
can get you as wide-awake, exhilarated, and pumpinghearted as when you are in love.
It was also pure joy, often, in part because I was so
fully in the room in which I sat, reading the words of
every book as though I’d written them. The people I
met in the retreat house—bankers and teachers and
real estate salespeople—were all there for much the
same reason I was, and so seemed to be my kin, as
fellow travelers elsewhere did not. When I drove back
into my day-to-day existence, I felt the liberation of
not needing to take my thoughts, my ambitions—my
self—so seriously.
This small taste of silence was so radical and so unlike most of what I normally felt that I decided to try
contemplation.com ~ 3
BUT WHAT KIND OF SILENCE ARE WE
KEEPING?
Matt Fisher, Oblate OSB Cam
Matt, a member of the chemistry faculty at Saint Vincent
College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, has been a Camaldolese
oblate since 1998. He and his wife Bettie (also a chemistry
professor at Saint Vincent) live in Greensburg, Pennsylvania,
where they read and garden and cook when not grading
papers. For over 30 years Matt has studied and taught
the Japanese art of aikido, in which he holds the rank of
5th degree black belt.
“If you love truth, be a lover of silence. Silence,
like the sunlight, will illuminate you in God.”
~ St Isaac of Syria
“Silence has long been confused with neutrality,
and has been presented as a necessary condition
for humanitarian action…We are not sure that
words can always save lives, but we know that
silence can certainly kill.”
~ Dr. James Orbinski, president of Medecins Sans
Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders, on accepting the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the
organization.
The above quotations offer two opposing perspectives
on silence. What relationship do they have to the
Camaldolese charism—the “triple good”—of community, solitude, and mission?
To all of us reading this newsletter, the quote from St.
Isaac of Syria mirrors our experience of time spent at
the Hermitage. The silence we encounter there is
welcoming, nurturing, and illuminating. That rich
silence allows us to take a step back from the busyness of our lives, see things in a new way, and regain
that sense of “God with and within us” (to use some
of Fr. Raniero’s favorite words).
But that experience of silence in the midst of “golden
solitude” (as The Life of the Five Brothers puts it) is not
the only form of silence that many people encounter.
There is another kind
of silence that James
Orbinski describes:
one that kills. It is a
life-denying silence
that comes in many
forms. Elsewhere in
this newsletter, Fr.
Cyprian describes
other types of silence:
passive-aggressive,
fearful, lonely and
despairing, not
speaking in the face
of evil.
Given the work of
Doctors Without
Borders, I am pretty
sure that Orbinski
was primarily thinking
of silence in the face
of evil, the silence
about (for instance)
poverty, war, national security, neglected diseases
among the global poor, refugees, acts of genocide. As
I started working on this essay, I found myself thinking
about the mass shooting in Orlando and acts of
terrorism in Istanbul and Nice. The death of Elie Wiesel
in July reminded me of how challenging it can be to
speak in opposition to this deadly kind of silence.
Over time, I’ve grown to appreciate that Orbinski’s
words are applicable beyond what he probably had in
mind when he spoke them. Many of the forms of
silence described by Fr. Cyprian or Paul Goodman
4 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage
have the same outcome: something dies.
It is not necessarily a human life that ends: silence
can also kill relationships and community. Fr. Robert
wrote in one of his contributions to The Privilege
of Love that “it all begins with love, and thus with
koinonia, that is, with Christian community and
communion (the wonderful New Testament Greek
term koinonia indicates all that). And it is this same
love/communion that, when fulfilled, will be the
heart of the kingdom. So koinonia and love are not
two values alongside others. Understood in their
depth, they converge, and are the ‘one thing necessary’ that enables all the rest for our Camaldolese,
Benedictine, Christian, and human existence.”
“...There is the great and quiet water
Reaching to Asia, and in an hour or so
The still stars will show over it but I am quieter Inside than even the ocean the stars.”
~ Robinson Jeffers, from “Tamar”
When silence is toxic and life denying, it undermines
and destroys that love.
I remember words spoken by Fr. Cyprian as part
of his keynote talk at the 2014 Assembly where the
focus was “the new evangelization” proposed by
Pope John Paul II in 1990 as a way of “building a
civilization of love.” In the course of his address, Fr.
Cyprian explored the question of what monastics,
particularly Camaldolese, bring to Christian mission.
He pointed out that historically Camaldolese often
chose to go to the harshest lands. He suggested
that we all—monks, oblates and friends—might be
called to “the places where nobody else wants to
go and to those to whom no one else knows how
to speak.”
He also suggested that our contribution to mission might be something that is rooted much more
in silent presence than in words. “Sometimes it is
more important for us to be Christ—in dialogue or
in silence—than for us to preach Christ. Then like a
contemplative community on a mountain or in the
heart of the city, we become an evangelizing word,
like yeast in the dough, like salt in the earth, like
a seed that falls into the ground and dies and yet
yields a rich harvest.”
I am left with a growing conviction that the more
we can root ourselves in the life-giving silence of
the Hermitage and the quiet places and times of
our daily lives, the more we will be able to stand in
the presence of toxic or life-denying silence and
respond in a way—be it word or action—that is
consonant with the primacy of love. contemplation.com ~ 5
I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
where I left them, asleep like cattle.
~ Wendell Berry, from “I Go Among Trees”
Silence is that Emptiness from which sound
emerges as sound…
The place of the pneuma, the spirit, is silence,
not as a repressed or suffocated logos…
Silence is empty, it has nothing to say—
and when there is something to say out of silence
the word is born.
~ Raimon Panikkar, The Rhythm of Being
BEAUTIFUL NOISE
Fr. Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam
People often say to us monks about our life here at
the Hermitage, “It must be nice to live with so much
silence!” I usually respond by saying, “It takes about
six months to get used to the silence, and then the
real noise starts up—in your head.”
Actually I’ve discovered that many people simply
cannot bear the outward silence for more than a
few hours; they find it intimidating, deafening. They
are (we all are) accustomed—we can even become
addicted—to a constant barrage of aural stimulation. There is the ever-present din of every day life,
the constant prattle of conversation and trivia, the
radio and TV, talk news shows, music, cell phones,
podcasts…
So a very healthy but difficult first step is to stop all
the aural stimulation, to clear ourselves out and
allow us to think, to focus.
But then what is the quality of our silence? There is
a silence which is passive-aggressive, isn’t there? The
silence of ignoring someone we are angry with, the
silence of not wanting to face an uncomfortable
situation or relationship. That is not a holy silence;
that is a silence full of bitterness or envy and even a
kind of violence. That’s the absence of some noise,
but it is not true silence.
There is a silence of fear, of not wanting to interact
with the world.
There is a silence of ache, of loneliness, of grief,
despair, abjection. The silence when there is nothing
more to be said, when there are no more tears. As
Khaled Hosseini describes the character Sohrab in the
marvelous novel The Kite Runner, there is “the silence
of one who has taken cover in a dark place, curled up
all the edges and tucked them under.” This is a kind of
silence but not a silence that is full of God.
Thomas Merton wrote about another silence too,
how silence, even especially monastic silence, can be
complicit: a silence that does not speak in the face of
evil. That is not a godly silence, but full of what John
Cassian calls a pernicious peace. So it is not enough
just to refrain from speaking.
On the other hand, there is a kind of “noise” that is
not offensive to silence. One of my mentors, the
composer and liturgist Lucien Deiss, used to say that
“the quality of the music we make must be better
than the quality of the silence we break.” One of my
favorite album titles years ago was Neil Diamond’s
Beautiful Noise. There is “beautiful noise,” sounds that
are manifestations of the silence, sounds that are
natural outgrowths of Divine Love having some incarnational effect in our lives and in our world.
This of course is what the best music is—as when our
friend Br. David Steindl-Rast calls Gregorian chant
“the music of silence,” for example.
What I’ve learned from Indian music is to listen first,
6 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage
heard there as “noise.” To me that was the sound
of the people of God, and the sound of a community that had offered me hospitality, friendship and
a comfortable place to come home to. That kind of
loving sound fed my interior silence, like the crackling of a fire in the fireplace. In our Camaldolese
congregation in Rome there was a recluse nun, Sister
Nazarena of Jesus (1907-1990) whom I thought of
often when I was in my room at the church. She
lived on the second floor of the monastery right off
a bustling Roman street, and never, they say, never
once complained about the noise.
Silence is not simply the absence of noise. True
silence is stillness of a soul filled with the fullness of
God.
before one plays or sings, to what is called the anahata nada, the “unstruck sound,” the sound of the Om,
the sound of the Word manifesting as the Universe,
and let that be the shruti, the drone note that underlies the music we make.
Robert Jonas, the shakuhachi flute player, told me
once about a certain type of Zen music which has
notes but no real melody. The notes merely point to
the silence between the notes; it’s music that leads to
and grows from the silence. And even the sounds
in the room during those quiet periods in the middle
of the performance are considered to be part of the
piece. It’s like the sounds of nature: crickets and birds
and frogs are not breaking the silence any more than
jasmine is offending the air by filling it with sweetness.
(Would that our speech were like that!)
Sometimes when I am in the right space spiritually
and emotionally even the beautiful noise of the city
can become like a shruti underlying my prayer and
meditation.
When I lived at the rectory of Holy Cross Parish
my first months in Santa Cruz, my bedroom at the
church looked right out over the area next to the
church. There was almost always at least a little bit
of people-traffic there during the day, maintenance
people, musicians sometimes, school kids going by,
homeless folks using the public restrooms. Someone
once said to me sympathetically, “It must be so noisy
in your room!” But I couldn’t consider the sounds I
Contemplative wisdom tells us that the way to rid
ourselves of unhealthy desires, sinful tendencies,
disordered passions and compulsions, sins and
sicknesses, is to fill ourselves with God. A mantra or
a simple prayer word in meditation is like that, a
token of our loving longing for God and of God’s
loving longing for us. We don’t simply empty ourselves; we are filled as well.
When we empty ourselves of all that is not godly, we
let ourselves be filled with God, like pouring clean
rainwater into a stagnant barrel. Eventually our
prayer word, our mantra, or the holy nama japa that
we use to lead us to pure prayer is like that rain
water, rinsing out all that is not God—but at the
same time filling us with the living water of the Spirit.
Two of my favorite descriptions of Jesus are from
St Paul. The kenosis hymn in the letter to the Philippians (2:5-7) describes Jesus’ self-emptying—but
then, Paul tells us in the letter to the Colossians
(1:19), because of that emptiness the fullness of the
Godhead dwelt bodily in Jesus. And, by the way, we
have come to fullness in him. And John says too in his
gospel (1: 14-16) that Jesus was filled with grace and
truth, and from that fullness we have all received, grace
upon grace. This is our hope too: that in our silence
we would be filled by the Godhead.
Ruth Burrows wrote that “our nature is to be all
aspiration, a leaping upwards toward a fullness of
life in God; it is to be a purity able to reflect the
beauty of God, an emptiness to receive plenitude.”
I believe this describes our silence too—it is an
aspiration, a leap toward the fullness of life in God,
a purity able to resound with the beautiful noise of
God’s Word, an emptiness to receive plenitude.
Contemplation.com ~ 7
TOWARDS THE REBIRTH OF WISDOM: A CHRISTIAN CONVERSATION
After the final no there comes a yes,
And on that yes the future of the world depends.
~ Wallace Stevens, “The Well Dressed Man with a Beard”
Theologians, philosophers, and contemplatives
gathered at the Hermitage last July 4th weekend to
explore and develop dimensions of a new wisdom
Christianity in the light of the work of Fr. Bruno
Barnhart. The conference was originally scheduled
for Union Theological Seminary in New York City
additional information about the open house will
appear in the winter issue anticipating Bruno’s active
participation, and it was inspired primarily by Bruno’s
last publication, The Future of Wisdom: Toward a
Rebirth of Sapiential Christianity (which is soon to be
back in print). However, as Bruno’s health declined,
New Camaldoli generously brought the conference
back to the Hermitage itself, and then when Bruno
passed last November, the conference proceeded at
the Hermitage in Bruno’s honor.
Oblates Chris Morris and Nanette Walsh, both of
whom knew Bruno very well and worked with him
closely, organized the symposium. Their love and
appreciation for Bruno and for the ongoing importance of Bruno’s work shone throughout the weekend. Chris and Nanette invited six main presenters:
Dr. Christopher Pramuk, Dr. Joseph Prabhu, Dr. Julia
Prinz, Bishop Marc Andrus, Dr. Richard Tarnas, and
Dr. Roger Haight. Together with other invited
participants, the conference comprised a gathering
of twenty-five individuals dynamically engaged in this
question of “the rebirth of wisdom.”
Chris and Nanette prefaced each session with a
personal reflection on Bruno’s thought about that
particular movement and with their own riveting
video-interview with Bruno on the subject. And then
what followed were two different forms of response
to Bruno’s thought at each “turn.” On one hand, one
(or sometimes two) of the presenters delivered a
formal academic paper drawing out further possibilities, raising questions, taking stock, challenging, affirming, and always looking forward, too. But
in addition there were “wisdom sharings” in which
presenters responded personally and artistically to
themes implicit in each “turn.” This was particularly
appropriate because as Nanette and Chris point out,
“For Bruno, wisdom is more than academic.”
The symposium was filmed, and plans are afoot to
make both the filmed conference and the presented
papers available on the Hermitage website in the
future. The weekend was rich with “next step” considerations. It marked both an end and a beginning. On
one hand, Bruno’s passing felt like the end of an era
to participants, and yet, as Bruno appreciated more
keenly than most, “as seeds fall into the ground” new
life springs forth. Bruno so often emphasized that the
Christ event is “the birth of newness into the world.”
His genius was to stay close to this “Big Bang” and to
reveal it to us as a profound gift. And so the symposium felt like yet another beginning of wisdom—with
much more to follow.
The conference was organized around the four
movements that Bruno suggests himself in The Future
of Wisdom…
1. “The Sapiential Awakening” (the recovery of the basic perspective that Christian wisdom is participative).
2. “The Eastern Turn” (a re-centering of spirituality and
theology in terms of unity or non-duality).
3. “The Western (Modern) Turn” (an integration of the
dynamic and creative elements of Christianity).
4. “The Global (Postmodern) Turn” (our active participation
in the movement towards one world: a united humanity
aware of its communion with earth and cosmos).
8 ~ contemplation.com
FROM THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE
Jill Gisselere
Much has happened here since our summer
newsletter.
The Annual Assembly and Retreat in San Juan
Bautista July 18-21, attended by more than 40
oblates and friends of the Hermitage, was well
received. The keynote speaker. Sr. Donald Corcoran,
OSB presented on “Sacred Humanitas.” The next
annual Assembly and Retreat will again be at St.
Francis Retreat in San Juan Bautista August 18-20,
2017 so mark your calendars and stay tuned for
additional details.
Just a few days after the Assembly, our community
was devastated by the news of the Soberanes Fire
which was started on July 21 in the Soberanes watershed near Palo Colorado Canyon (approximately 30
miles north of the Hermitage) by an unattended
campfire. Within 24 hours, residents of the canyon
and surrounding areas were evacuated as the fire
spread at a rapid pace, destroying nearly 60 homes
and currently 132,000 acres of beautiful forest.
The Hermitage opened its doors to evacuees, including
myself, anddisplaced tourists who were not able to access the highway or their original destintion due to the
many road closures.
We are saddened to learn of the loss of our friends’
homes due to the fire and have included them in our
daily prayers.
Thank you to everyone who reached out to the monks
and the Hermitage to inquire about the fires and lend
support during this difficult time.
The “Monks Inside Out” October 19 at the Henry Miller
Memorial Library was a wonderful success. A portion
of the proceeds to this event have been donated to
the fire relief efforts in Big Sur.
The community hosted their 2nd Annual Fall Open
House at the Hermitage on Sunday, November 6, 2016
which featured a wine and cheese reception with the
monks and a musical performance by Fr. Cyprian. Over
80 people attended. Additional information about the
open house will appear in the winter issue.
Over 5000 firefighters from other counties and states
as well as the National Guard moved into the local
state parks to set up camp and fight the fire which
continues to burn (although at the time I write this
the fire has now reached 96% containment). The
Governor of California declared the area a state of
emergency soon after the fire started, providing
much needed support to residents and evacuees.
Although the fire has stayed a safe distance from
the Hermitage, it has had a powerful effect on our
community.
Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who has
supported the annual summer Wish List. To date we
have raised over $30,000 which will directly fund the
following three very important areas of need: staff
housing, Fr. Bruno’s Memorial Fund, and the
Hermitage Scholarship Fund.
The community greatly appreciates your continued
support and generosity. If you would like information
about any of our upcoming events or about how you
can support the Hermitage, please contact me at
[email protected], or 831-667-2456 x114.
Contemplation.com ~ 9
FOR OBLATES AND FRIENDS: THOUGHTS
ON SILENCE AND STILLNESS
Fr. Robert Hale, OSB Cam
One of the things that unites
our oblates, friends, and
monks is a love of silence
and stillness, which offer a
precious “clmate” and “place”
into which one can withdraw
at times throughout the
day. Finding such islands of
silence can be difficult for
people “out there” juggling
the demands of family and work, etc. (On the other
hand, someone “in the world” who lives alone might
enjoy more quiet, silence and solitude than we
monks sometimes seem to have available!)
There is a rich section on “Silence and Solitude” in our
basic resource for oblates and friends, The Privilege
of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. There are
also references throughout the book to the significance and practice of silence, for instance in the
chapters on the Camaldolese oblate program, on
liturgy, on the threefold good, on koinonia (see the
index in the back under “silence”). And our oblate Rule has a fine section on “Silence
and Solitude” (p. 10). It notes that “silence and
solitude have a privileged place in the Camaldolese
Benedictine tradition. The encounter with God in
silence and solitude is distinctive of our tradition…
While this might remain hard to duplicate precisely,
oblates should nevertheless cherish such silence
and solitude, seeking creative ways of finding them in
their daily lives.” Silence of course is not an end in itself or even
intrinsically good. At times helpful and kind conversation may be called for: if one remains mute in such
moments, silence can be cruel. The Camaldolese key
principle of “the primacy of love” wants to guide us
as we negotiate the daily opportunities of loving talk
with others and loving silence with God. And in our living the first great commandmen that is
of love of God, we want to remember that God speaks
to us in many ways: through Scripture, through others,
through events, through nature. But a particularly
profound way that God communes with us is in deep
stillness. There is the wonderful invitation in the
Psalms, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). Scripture tells us of Elijah at the mouth of the cave,
awaiting God’s voice. “There was a great wind, splitting mountains and breaking rocks…but the Lord
was not in the wind…” And then a fierce earthquake,
then a fire, but the Lord was not in these. Where
was God speaking? “And after the fire, a sound of
sheer silence” (1 Kings 19:12f). After all the turbulence, God was in that silence, that stillness. Biblical
scholars note that this passage indicates a significant
deepening of Israel’s awareness of how God speaks
with us—not just in dramatic natural or historical
events or emphatic texts or speeches or feelings, but
also in deep stillness. And thus the contemplative dimension of Camaldolese monastic and oblate life. We want to seek in
our lives space for living Christian love with others,
in worship and conversation and ministry. We can
and do meet God in all these, but also in quiet times
apart, in the stillness of our hearts.
This dynamic was mirrored in July at our annual
assembly for oblates and friends at the St. Francis
Retreat Center in San Juan Bautista. Everyone
enjoyed the lovely setting and warm Franciscan
hospitality (the Hermitage hasn’t guest space for such
a number). There was morning and evening prayer,
Eucharist, much conversation—and also free time
was offered for silence and stillness in God: a model
for the prayerful rhythm of our daily lives.
“Not speaking and speaking are both human
ways of being in the world, and there are
kinds and grades of each. There is the dumb
silence of slumber or apathy; the sober silence
that goes with a solemn animal face; the fertile silence of awareness, pasturing the soul,
whence emerge new thoughts; the alive silence of alert perception, ready to say, “This…
this…”; the musical silence that accompanies
absorbed activity; the silence of listening to
another speak, catching the drift and helping
him be clear; the noisy silence of resentment
and self-recrimination, loud and subvocal
speech but sullen to say it; baffled silence; the
silence of peaceful accord with other persons
or communion with the cosmos.”
~ Paul Goodman (1911-1972), American poet,
scholar, psychiatrist, from Speaking and Language: Defense of Poetry (Random House 1972)
10 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage
OBLATE PEER MENTOR PROGRAM
Paula Huston, Oblate OSB Cam
Paula Huston is an oblate and a writer. Her most recent
book is One Ordinary Sunday: a Meditation on the
Mystery of the Mass.
It’s official: our long-anticipated oblate peer mentor
program is now up and running. Conceived as a way
to help the oblate chaplains of our three California
monasteries minister to would-be oblates during
their postulant year, the program offers experienced
oblate mentors for both postulants and those who
have already made their oblature but would like
more formation with the help of a peer guide. The
thirteen mentors selected by Fr. Cyprian, Fr. Robert,
and Br. Bede were chosen from different parts of the
country in the hope that even those who live far from
any of the monasteries might have a resource closer
to home. The mentor group will be meeting every
six months at the Hermitage for ongoing formation
regarding the Rule of St. Benedict, the Brief Rule of
St. Romuald of Ravenna, and Camaldolese history
and spirituality.
Mentors from the Southern California area are Mike
Mullard, Helena Chan, and Valerie Sinkus. Representing the Bay area are Marty Badgett, Bill McLennon,
Julian Washio-Collette, Lisa Washio-Collette, Jackie
Chew, and Andrea Seitz. I’m based in the Central
Coast region, while Lisa Benner from Arizona will help
out with postulants from the Southwest. Matt Fisher,
who lives near Pittsburgh, is available to people in the
Midwest, and Hunter Lillis from Virginia will represent
the East Coast. Co-directors of the program are Mike
Mullard and Paula Huston, and oblate chaplains are
Fr. Robert Hale (New Camaldoli), Fr. Andrew Conalghi
(Incarnation Monastery), and Fr. Steve Coffey (Monastery
of the Risen Christ). Fr. Daniel Manger will continue
to serve as long-distance chaplain for oblates from
New Zealand and Australia.
What do we hope to accomplish with this new program? We would like to provide resources above and
beyond the already rich online offerings and reading
lists in place for those who are new to Camaldolese
spirituality and the long tradition it represents. We
plan to do this in several different ways: (1) through
creating theme-based study guides that can give
both postulant and mentor a structure on which to
build a formation year (for example, one guide might
be devoted to lectio divina, another could help explain
liturgy, and a third might be focused on meditation
and prayer); (2) through creating the conditions for a
trusting relationship with a peer who has been living
the oblate life for some time; and (3) through at times
offering sessions specifically designed for those in
oblate formation.
We want to emphasize that participation in this
program is completely voluntary. In the spirit of
Camaldoli, our remarkably diverse oblate community
honors the individuality of each its members. We are
aware that many postulants will prefer to work on
their own or to direct their questions to one of the
oblate chaplains rather than a peer mentor. The good
news is that those who feel the need for a guide who
has personally lived the oblate life can now find one.
How do you initiate your request? Simply email one
of the program co-directors (Mike Mullard at [email protected] or myself, Paula Huston, at [email protected]) or Fr. Robert at CHermitage@
contemplation.com, and we will contact a mentor for
you, who will then get in touch. Once you have made
the connection, the two of you are free to set up your
own plan for the coming year. If you are already a
professed oblate but feel that a mentor could help
you go deeper into Camaldolese spirituality and
practice, don’t hesitate to ask. We will do our best to
find you a peer guide.
In addition, we are currently compiling a list of oblates
who are professed spiritual directors. Since all oblates
are urged to get direction, and it is often difficult to
find someone who can help, we are hoping this list will
aid in the search. That resource should be available
soon. Please let one of the co-directors or Fr. Robert
know if you are interested.
Finally, we will keep you informed of any postulant
formation sessions beings offered at any of the three
monasteries. Plans are already underway for a series
that Fr. Steve Coffey and I will teach at the Monastery
of the Risen Christ in San Luis Obispo on the second
Saturday of each month between January and April
2017. Details are forthcoming.
Questions? Please contact Fr. Robert, Mike Mullard,
or myself, Paula Huston, at the addresses above.
contemplation.com ~ 11
FROM THE PAGES OF VITA MONASTICA
Fr. Cipriano Vagaggini, OSB Cam
Translation and introduction by Fr. Thomas Matus, OSB Cam
Fr. Cipriano Vagaggini, OSB Cam was one of the great
theologians of the twentieth century. He served as
peritus (theological advisor) at all four sessions of the
Second Vatican Council. In the U.S. he was known for
his writings on liturgy, which fed into the council
documents and into the Mass itself. He is the author
of the third Eucharistic Prayer. Yet he did not write only
about “liturgical theology” (which he preferred to call
“theological liturgy”): his ultimate focus was on the
mystical life of believers.
Here and in future issues of our newsletter, you will be
able to get a taste of his thoughts on this theme.
Connaturality and Christian Mystical Experience Everyone knows that the concept of mysticism, seen
as a special kind of religious experience, has raised
questions. Maybe it would be worth the effort to take
a new look at these questions by clarifying what we
mean by ‘experience’ in general and what we mean
by our religious experience as Christians.
What is experience? It is a specific way of knowing
something. This way of knowing is a function of
our body and mind. We can frame the question by
analyzing human life on different levels: our bodily
functions, our appetites of senses and will, and our
ways of knowing. Knowing is a function of senses and
imagination on the one hand and of the intellect on
the other. Our intellect knows in various ways. First,
we grasp reality intuitively as a whole. Second, we
have simple concepts, like that of a triangle, of a living
creature, or of our own existence. Third, we reason
about things and develop abstract concepts of them.
How can we describe these different ways of knowing
without mixing them up or totally separating them?
They are part of our vital functions, but we need to
understand how they work together and influence
each other. Here is where we need to look in order
to analyze our concept of experience or experimental
knowing.…
concretely present, and I am present to it. This
experimental knowing can come through the external senses; it can also come through the mind, by
way of intellectual intuition. Both ways of knowing—
sense experience and intuitive understanding—
converge as a vital function of our psyche, which
perceives both with a feeling of global, vital perception.
“Remember that, in reality, this knowing by experience also takes place on a spiritual level through the
intuitive function of the intellect. An intuition is not
the same as an abstract concept, whether this comes
by simple apprehension or by a line of reasoning.
Imagine that you are trying to think abstractly about
something or you are listening to someone who is
speaking in abstract terms. While this is happening,
in the back of your mind, in a more or less hidden
part of your psyche, you are aware of your own spirit.
You see it obliquely, like something seen out of the
corner of the eye. This is an experience of your own
self.”
[to be continued next issue]
“Both ways of knowing—sense experience
and intuitive understanding—converge as
a vital function of our psyche, which perceives both with a feeling of global, vital
perception.”
~ Cipriano Vagaggini
“We know something by experience when it is
present to our senses or to our mind, or to both
at the same time. This is different from imagining a
thing or reasoning about it. The thing is present to
me, here and now, a single, concrete reality that is
12 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage
MONASTERY OF THE RISEN CHRIST
Fr. Daniel Manger, OSB Cam
Our small but active community has had an eventful
summer. We welcomed guests and hosted several
small groups, including Prior General Alessandro
Barban and Father Mario Zonate from Italy, who
affirmed our work in establishing the Camaldolese
charism here in San Luis Obispo.
One Sunday in August, the Boy Scouts from
Bakersfield who were participating in the Ad Alta Dei
religious program,joined us for Eucharist. Father
Stephen gave them a presentation afterwards, and
they enjoyed a picnic on the property with their
families and sponsors. We also hosted a book-signing with our oblate Paula
Huston who spoke about her new book One Ordinary
Sunday: a Meditation on the Mystery of the Mass and
Prior Cyprian who spoke about his book Spirit, Soul,
Body: Toward an Integral Christian Spirituality. The
event was very well attended.
Prior Cyprian also gave two presentations to our
oblates which were also well-received. Such
sessions continue to inform and strengthen our
oblate community. Complementing these sessions,
we have completed the development of our oblate
resource library and media area for oblates’ use.
Some great book donations by Marc Dauphine and
Valerie Sinkus will greatly enrich our oblates in their
ongoing formation.
Father Ray continues to host his charismatic renewal
prayer group on Wednesday evenings.
Father Daniel gave presentations to the Catholic
Daughters of America in San Luis Obispo and gave
lectures at the Abbot David School of Spiritual
Direction at the Mary & Joseph Retreat Center in
Palos Verdes.
A statue of St. Kateri now graces the lower meadow
of the monastic property near the Resurrection Walk
Labyrinth, Way of the Cross, and Celtic high cross.
The statue of this first indigenous saint will honor the
many indigenous ancestors who once camped and
lived in the beautiful Irish Valley where the monastery now stands. This completes the meditation area
project that the community began a year ago. We
now look forward to a new project : landscaping this
meditation area, hopefully by planting olive trees next
Spring. We thank Mike Houston and other friends for
this work!
We also thank Tyler Dersom who took the photo of
from the new trail on our property. While pursuing
contemplative meditation here with the community
and helping out on the property, Tyler is also continuing his ministry to the homeless and to orphans. He
was also able to open up yet a third walking path on
the upper part of our property which has another
wonderful view for guests to enjoy.
Father Stephen has been busy these past months
leading retreats. He presented…
- at Mt. Angel in Oregon at Mt. Angel to the Benedictine
sisters there on the theme of “Personified Wisdom in
the Rule of St. Benedict” - at Three Rivers Retreat on “Teresa of Avila’s Way
of Perfection”
- at Mary and Joseph Retreat Center in Palos Verdes
on “Woman Singing Mercy” based on reflections on
the Year Of Mercy declared by Pope Francis; and…
- at St. Andrew’s Abbey on the theme of Incarnational
Spirituality. View of the monastery from our new trail.
contemplation.com ~ 13
INCARNATION MONASTERY
Br. Ivan Nicoletto, OSB Cam
As usual, the quiet stream of summer life in Berkeley
gradually intensifies and becomes an effervescent
torrent as students pour into the city and the
campus for the new academic year.
No surprise that life at Incarnation is also affected
by this atmospheric change!
Since September 4 we have been enriched by the
presence of Br. Bede Healey, who will strengthen
our community and presence here at Berkeley: we
wish him a healthy, fecund, and blessed journey.
A silent contemplative retreat on August 27
inaugurated what will be a full calendar for upcoming
months. Please see our Incarnation website for our
schedule of retreats and events.
http://incarnationmonastery.com
Each of us are offering ministry in different parts
of the Bay Area: Santa Sabina, School for Applied
Theology, and others.
We are excited for the preparation of a meeting with
oblates on November 5 to be held at the Dominican
School of Philosophy and Theology from 9:00 am to
3:00 pm. It will be an opportunity to reflect together
on the Camaldolese charism and on our mutual
bond and commitment to one another.
In these months we will be hosting five long-term
guests in our guest-house, each in different ways
engaged with studies. Our other three rooms remain
available for short-term guests.
Throughout the fall we will continue our prayer and
solidarity with people who are suffering: for instance
with the numerous homeless in the Bay Area and
with those affected by impending drought and other
difficulties. All of which are challenges that call us to
change our own lifestyles. And we will continue
praying for wisdom, for the coming political election,
and for unity and inclusion.
The quarterly newsletter is published by the
Camaldolese Hermits of America for our friends,
oblates and sponsors.
Director: Father Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam
Editor: Deborah Smith Douglas, Oblate, OSB Cam
Associate Editor: Chris Lorenc, Oblate, OSB Cam
Assistant Editors: Karen Cangialosi, Aaron Maniam,
and Christopher Chok
Design: Debi Lorenc
Development: Jill Gisselere
Photo credits:
Debi Lorenc (cover, p. 2-7, 10, 12, 16)
Tyler Dersom (p. 13)
Kayleigh Meyers (p. 9)
If you have questions or comments, please contact
Jill Gisselere.
[email protected]
New Camaldoli Hermitage
62475 Highway 1, Big Sur, CA 93920
Visit us at www.contemplation.com and
“New Camaldoli Hermitage” on FaceBook.
DID YOU KNOW?
New Camaldoli Hermitage also has a Facebook page
where a variety of things are posted on a regular
basis: links to Fr. Cyprian’s homilies, recent news
from the community, short passages from a variety of
spiritual works, reflections on the Sunday Gospel and
major feasts observed at the Hermitage. We invite
you to explore what can be found there. You can find
the page in one of two ways: clicking on the Facebook
icon found at the top of the New Camaldoli website
or searching for “New Camaldoli Hermitage” on Facebook and clicking on the page with the photo of the
Hermitage sign.
14 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage
LATE ARRIVAL: A RETREAT AT NEW
CAMALDOLI
Monica Choi
As first-time retreatant Monica Choi discovered, sometimes
even our first taste of a monastic retreat can be a gift that
endures—a “gentle healing,” an abiding quietness of heart
that will see us all the way home.
I realized I was hungry but didn’t know where or if any
food would be available. No one was in sight. I located
my room at Scholastica and noticed that the notebook
on the desk contained helpful information including
the location of a container to transport food from the
kitchen. But I had no idea where to find the kitchen. I
picked up a flashlight and started walking, passing the
bookstore and chapel. Soon I found
myself in front of the guesthouse kitchen door where
deliciously prepared food was waiting for me.
I had the sense that I was being guided and everything
was happening as it should. Throughout my stay, every
need I had was somehow gently addressed without
any words spoken or requests made. I felt calm and
cared for without any agenda or plans. Everything was
quiet and peaceful. Occasionally I would pass someone along the road or trail and exchange a smile. I had
a peaceful sense of being watched over, feeling someone was looking out for me.
For my 77th birthday this year, my daughter
surprised and delighted me by informing me while
I was visiting her in California that she had arranged
a gift for me of a three-day retreat at New Camaldoli
Hermitage. For many years I had wanted to stay in
Big Sur. Over the years—reading the work of Joseph
Campbell, hearing about Esalen, remembering a
brief long ago day-trip to Nepenthe with a friend, and
reading an essay about New Camaldoli by Pico Iyer—
I had hoped someday to make a visit. But how this
was to happen I couldn’t foresee since I live in
Philadelphia and am responsible for my husband’s
health care.
Many things converged to ready me for this experience: my Catholic roots, beginning with infant
Baptism and Confirmation in the Ukranian Church,
and a lifelong attraction to spiritual endeavors
ncluding Eastern spirituality, the practice of yoga,
meditation, vision quest, Al Anon meetings and most
recently, centering prayer.
My daughter arranged for a car and driver to take
me to New Camaldoli. It was a rainy day. Just as we
approached Big Sur, we passed through a wondrous
full rainbow which was touching the ground. As we
climbed the road leading to the Hermitage, the sun
was setting over the ocean; the evening sky was
luminous. It was heavenly.
I arrived late at the Hermitage; dusk was approaching.
I walked, I rested, I meditated, I read. I learned about
the monks and their Camaldolese founder, Saint
Romuald. I participated in the Eucharist and other
services.
While talking with Father Zach in the bookstore, I
timidly arranged for Reconciliation. He encouraged me
by remarking it was good sometimes to go beyond our
comfort level. He was right. It was a gentle and healing
experience.
Father Zach helped me select a copy of one of Father
Arthur Poulin’s paintings, “A Morning Prayer,” which
now hangs in my entryway at home. One day in the
bookstore I looked at the man waiting in line behind
me and recognized from pictures I had seen that it
was Pico Iyer. I have long been a fan of his writing and
felt honored to be in his presence and spend a few
moments talking with him. Another totally unexpected
and memorable gift of my time there.
I now believe that anyone who visits the Hermitage will
do so in their own right time and in their own unique
way and will have their own memorable experiences.
When I left I took with me the sense of being watched
over and knowing that all is well as I go about my life.
I am immensely grateful that I had time in such a
glorious place among the prayerful Camaldolese
monks who have made it their life work to provide
a heavenly setting and the opportunity for personal
retreats and spiritual refreshment.
contemplation.com ~ 15
OCTOBER
ACTIVITIES AND VISITORS
AUGUST
The main event in August was the outbreak of the
Soberanes Fire, which started July 22 and continued
to burn through September, eventually consuming
over 132,000 acres of Big Sur and the Los Padres
Forest. It forced the evacuation of some of our friends
on the coast and destroyed the homes of 53 families,
including the home of our oblates Chris and Debi
Lorenc (who also serve on the editorial team of this
newsletter). Full containment didn’t happen until
October 12.
Frs. Robert and Isaiah attended the diocesan
jubilarians’ celebration. Brs. Benedict and Michael
both made family visits to Philadelphia and New
Jersey, respectively. Cyprian returned from his roundthe-world trip on the October 10 and Isaac went to
spend time with his family. Br. Emmanuel turned 89
on the October 14. On that same day we were visited
by students of the World Religions class of Mount
Madonna School. Isaac’s niece Kayleigh Meyers
had an exhibition of her university graduation
photography project, “Monks Inside Out,” at the
Henry Miller Library in Big Sur with several monks
attending. We held our second training weekend for
our Oblate Peer Mentors October 21-3. And
Br. Joshua had time with his family at the end of the
month as well.
THE READING LIST
What are the monks reading now?
Fr. Robert Hale: Gregory Collins, OSB, Meeting Christ in
His Mysteries: A Benedictine Vision of the Spiritual Life.
Br. Timothy Jolley: Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing.
Sarah Bakewell, How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in
One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer.
Soberanes Fire
Also Fr. Raniero made a trip back to Baltimore for
soft shell crabs… and to visit his family. Br. James
returned to Southern California for a family wedding
and then began theological studies at the Franciscan
School of Theology in Oceanside. We welcomed Br.
Bernard Marra, formerly of St. Anselm’s Abbey in
Washington DC, to begin a probationary period as a
claustral oblate.
Fr. Cyprian Consiglio: Amitav Ghosh, River of Smoke.
Raimon Panikkar, The Rhythm of Being.
Fr. Isaiah Teichert: Francisco Palou, The Life and Apostolic Labors of the Venerable Junipero Serra. W. Somerset
Maugham, The Painted Veil. Paula Huston, One Ordinary
Sunday: a Meditation on the Mystery of the Mass.
Br. Bede Healey: W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s
Edge.
SEPTEMBER
Fr. Cyprian began a mini-sabbatical/working vacation, first to Rome for the Congress of Abbots, then
on to New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia offering
retreats for our oblates and the World Community
for Christian Meditation. Br. Bede transferred semipermanently to Incarnation Monastery in Berkeley,
and Br. Isaac went to spend some weeks living with
our brothers at the Monastery of the Risen Christ in
San Luis Obispo. Brs. Gabriel and Michael attended
the Southern California Renewal Communities (SCRC)
Conference in Anaheim. Fr. Zacchaeus joined a
pilgrimage to Ireland led by our oblate Amber Sumerall. Br. Ignatius headed back overseas to visit with
his sister in England and then on to Rome to begin
his second year of theology. The monks spent their
recreation day at the Bargetto Winery in Capitola.
16 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage