Monks
in the West II / 2006 - The electronic sign at the
Minneapolis-St Paul airport was flashing “Orange
Alert” as a dozen Buddhist monks arrived
in their burnt orange robes from around the country.
They were on their way to Saint John’s Abbey
in Collegeville Minnesota for three days of dialogue
on celibacy with a similar number of Catholic monastics.
The "Why" of
Catholic Monastic Celibacy - Why do Catholic
monks practice celibacy? This is an important question that
all too often monks have not
been very good at
answering. Why? In part, it is because the vast majority of us
are not only reluctant to talk about matters of sexuality in
general but of our experience of living celibacy in particular.
Reflections
on Death and Dying / Buddhist and Catholic Teachings
and Practices
- Rev. Heng Sure, Ph.D., / Fr. James Wiseman, OSB - These
two presentations
on death and dying constituted the "public event" of the Second Monks
in the West Conference held at Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota,
October 26-29, 2006.
Audio
in MP3 - Audio recordings from the Monks
in the West II gathering at St. John's Abbey.
Monks
in the West / 2004 - Our first day
of dialogue was devoted to listening to the spiritual
autobiography of each participant, and was characterized
by a frankness that was both striking and refreshing.
Each monk spoke of what drew him to – and
keeps him faithful to – the monastic way
of life. A list of possible topics for discussion,
drawn up by the planning committee, suggested
areas that might be explored.
An
Inter-religious Walking Pilgrimage - Father
William Skudlarek, a Benedictine monk from Saint John’s
Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota and Jotipalo Bhikkhu,
a Buddhist monk from Abhayagiri Monastery did
an interfaith
walking pilgrimage in July,
2007.
St.
John's Abbey / Collegeville, Minnesota -
St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota is
a Benedictine monastery affiliated with the American
Cassinese Congregation. The Abbey was established
following the arrival in the area of monks from
the Saint Vincent Abbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania
in 1856. Saint John's is the second-largest Benedictine
abbey in the Western Hemisphere, with 164 professed
monks. John Klassen, OSB, currently serves as
abbot.
Links
of Interest
Nuns
in the West / 2005 - "It was a dance." Thus
did one participant describe the dialogue experience
that occurred at Nuns in the West II. Christian,
Buddhist and Hindu, they came and listened and shared.
The hope that we could go deeper this time was not
disappointed.
Nuns
in the West / 2003 - The process was first the background
and practice of each participant shared liesurely,
then a gathering of issues, concerns, themes and
hot topics. We clustered them into three themes:
l) inner life of training, 2) balance of inner contemplative
work and outer social engagement and 3) community
and role of authority, authenticity and what's in
common about the monastic way of life.
Benedict's
Dharma II - Forty Episcopalian men and women from
around the country gathered for this very special "Benedictine
Experience" inspired
by the book, "Benedict's Dharma," in historic
New Harmony, Indiana.
MID
/ Monastic Interreligious Dialogue - Monastic
Interreligious Dialogue (MID) is an organization of
Benedictine and Trappist monks and nuns committed to
fostering interreligious
and intermonastic dialogue at the level of spiritual
practice and experience between North American Catholic
monastic women and men and contemplative practitioners
of diverse religious traditions.
Los
Angeles / Buddhist Catholic Dialogue - Buddhists
and Christians have lived among each other from the early
years
of Christianity. Small communities of Christians existed
in India, possibly as early as the first century C.E.,
and certainly by the 7th century, at which time there
was also a Christian community in China, but records
of dialogues between these communities have not come
to light.
Mitw 2006 - WIKI
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