Monks, OSB a quarterly newsletter New Camaldoli Hermitage Summer 2014 • Vol. 20, Issue 3 62475 Highway 1, , CA 93920 • 831-667-2456 • www.contemplation.com

Brother Gabriel and Father Thomas Celebrate 50 Years Brother Gabriel Kirby was born in the Sacraments of Christian initiation in 1930 into a distinguished Catholic family 1961. Shortly thereafter Thomas visited of Los Angeles. One of his late sisters was the newly-founded Camaldolese Hermit- a Good Shepherd sister, and another is a age, which he entered the following year. Carmelite nun. He received a BA in Ge- From then on Fr. Thomas has had a storied ography, and completed everything for an career as a Camaldolese monk. He lived MA except for writing his thesis. He then for many years at the Monastery of Ca- traveled extensively, at one point he trav- maldoli, but has also resided in India and eling through Kenya, Africa, hitch-hiking Brazil as well as . From 1967 wherever he could with a 40 lb. pack on to 1972 he studied ecumenical theology his back. Gabriel then came to the Hermit- at Sant’Anselmo in Rome; from 1972 age in 1962 when the community was just to1976 he was at Fordham University, beginning, and made his first profession in where he wrote his Ph.D dissertation, the 1964. Through the years he has served the well-known and beloved Yoga and the Je- community in so many generous minis- sus Prayer Tradition. He was then back tries, including sacristan and secretary to at Camaldoli where he began composing the Chapter, doing the town trip for many music for the Italian Camaldolese Psalter, years, washing and ironing altar linens and and taught Hindu and Buddhist monasti- audio recording. Brother Gabriel is an art- cism in Rome. During this era he also ist who has delighted many with his gifted Father Thomas Matus and Brother Gabriel made his first of many trips to India. He paintings in oil and water color, his deeply Kirby outside the chapel at New Camaldoli. was back at New Camaldoli in the early religious poetry and other spiritual writ- 1980s where he began work on the Eng- ing, music, and photography. Gabriel was maldoli. Brother Gabriel said of himself lish version of the Camaldolese Psalter. one of the first monks of New Camaldoli that becoming a monk was the last thing He served on the General Council of the to participate in the Catholic Charismatic in the world he ever wanted to do, but congregation from 1999 to 2005, and also Renewal, and still participates annually in God changed all that in an instant. Now, served two terms as a consultant for the the major Charismatic meetings in Cali- he says, it is the last thing he will ever do Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dia- fornia. He likes to point out that he sees – “unless God is still full of surprises.” logue. After that he made several trips to no conflict between that and his contem- our community in Brazil, shoring up that plative monastic life. In honor of his 50th Father Thomas Matus was born in small presence, and since 2006 he has anniversary he just returned from a pil- Hollywood, California in 1942, and his been full time back in the US, residing at grimage to Italy where he participated in parents raised him to be, to use the mod- Incarnation Monastery, Berkeley, teach- the International Charismatic Convention ern parlance, “spiritual-not-religious.” ing courses on history, spirituality and in- in Rome with his Carmelite sister, where But in 1951 he saw the movie “Quo Va- terreligious dialogue at the Jesuit School they both met with Pope Francis. He then dis,” and afterwards felt a strong need to of Theology. Fr. Thomas is also often back visited our Camaldolese communities be baptized, and was so on Easter Sun- with us in Big Sur, of which he himself of San Gregorio in Rome, the Sacro Er- day in 1952 at a Baptist Sunday School. says, “Every grace and gift that came to emo and Monastero of Camaldoli and the Thomas discovered monasticism and me since I entered then have been thanks tomb of Saint Romuald in Fabriano. We contemplative life by reading the “Au- to my vows at New Camaldoli Hermit- know Gabriel to be a humble and faith- tobiography of a Yogi” in 1954 and was age.” ful man devoted to the Lord in prayer and initiated into Kriya Yoga in 1958 while at- scripture, and it is a joy to worship and tending college as a Music major. But in minister with him daily here at New Ca- 1960 he realized that the Catholic Church was to be his guru and so he received dd 2 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage Norbert: If You Love Me You Will Feed My Sheep Prior Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam. I have a special affection for Saint Norbert, partially because and spent several years alternating between hermit and preacher I was ordained on his feast day (June 6th), but also because he is a (a form of life that might look very tempting to a Camaldolese fascinating figure born in a fascinating era in Church and monas- monk!). It’s like two out of our three-fold good—solitude and tic history. In my favorite book on monastic history (Medieval evangelization—but­­ he was missing one thing––community. It’s Monasticism by C. H. Lawrence), Norbert is written about in the one thing to be a charismatic wandering preacher or a visiting same chapter as our Saint Romuald, entitled “The Quest for the celebrity; it’s a whole other thing to live a life of charity next Primitive.” This was an era in the Church, the first centuries of door to someone for 20, 30, 50 years, and sit next to them in the 2nd millennium, when a great many reforms and experiments choir each day when the act has worn thin. Norbert was given were happening in monasticism. The Church’s liturgy only rec- the chapel at a place called Prémontré in France and soon enough ognizes Norbert as a bishop, but he was a hermit, a preacher, a disciples gathered around him, both lay men and women as well wanderer as well as a canon, to prove yet again that there are all as clergy. Norbert formed them into a group of hermits and kinds of monks! preachers, very much in his own mold. And so the order of Pré- For many years now I’ve been par- monstratensians grew up, named, like us, ticularly fascinated with the dynamic be- When we make ourselves available after the place. The life he designed for tween the active and the contemplative to the Spirit, there is a chance them was a combination of community life, the opposition and even the false that we will be taken where we do life organized around the ideal of asceti- dilemma that we often place between not want to go and asked to do cal poverty with a ministry of evangeli- the two in Christianity. I’ve been read- cal missionary preaching. This is before ing a series of articles from the 1950s by something that we did not have on the days of the mendicant orders, and in our Fr. Benedetto Calati entitled simply our five-year plan. a way Norbert was prescient of the Fran- “Vita attiva e vita contemplativa”—“The ciscans and the Dominicans in his long- Active Life and the Contemplative Life,” in which he is trying to ing for both evangelical poverty and evangelization. Eventually show that from the beginning of our own Camaldolese tradition Norbert was called on to be the bishop of Magdeburg back in it was assumed that there was really no opposition between the Germany, and became more and more absorbed in missionary two, as long as we always return to the source, to the contem- activity. It is his successor Hugh de Fosses who is credited with plative. And he traces the lineage of Blessed Rudolf, the first being the real architect of the order. But whereas Norbert based prior of Camaldoli who wrote the early Constitutions, and Saint his original concept for himself and his disciples on the Rule of Peter Damian of Fonte Avellana back to their sources in Saint Augustine, Hugh leaned a little more heavily on the Cistercians, Augustine and Saint Gregory the Great. This is not to say that especially the customs of the great abbey of Cluny, meaning less there is no place for the purely contemplative life, but to say that on the pastoral aspect and more on the monastic. even we contemplative hermit monks still need to be reminded It’s sometimes said about Mother Teresa that she had a voca- from time to time, as do all Christians, that no follower of Jesus tion within a vocation. Well, Norbert himself seemed to have a vo- is exempt from following both of the two great commandments, cation within a vocation within a vocation: from canon to hermit- to love God and to love neighbor. And we hear it again in the preacher to monk to bishop. We, corporately and individually, are Gospel reading that we had on the feast of Norbert (Jn 21:15-19), always looking th which this year fell on Friday of the 7 Week of Easter: If you for convenient The quarterly newsletter is published by the love me, feed my sheep. If we love God, then we must manifest categories for Camaldolese Hermits of America for our that in charity. We had been hearing for days and days from the our vocations: friends, oblates, and sponsors. final discourse of Jesus in the Gospel of John; then suddenly we contemplative/ switched and were listening in on Jesus’ conversation with Peter active, Rule of Editors: Father Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam., on the shore of the Sea of Galilee after his resurrection. It’s as if Benedict/Rule Brother Bede Healey, OSB Cam., two days before the end of the Easter season we get our march- of Augustine–– Deborah Smith Douglas, Oblate OSB Cam. ing orders. No follower of Jesus is exempt from this: If you love but it doesn’t Public Relations & Design: Susan Garrison me, feed my sheep! Tend my flock! For someone like Thomas always work out If you have questions or comments about this Aquinas the highest form of life isn’t the contemplative life or that neatly. As publication, please address them to: the active life, but action that flows from contemplation; con- Walt Whitman New Camaldoli Hermitage templation should always resolve itself in some kind of apostolic said, we contain 62475 Highway 1, Big Sur, CA 93920 zeal. multitudes. In (831) 667-2456 • Fax: (831) 667-0209 In some way Saint Norbert is emblematic of the dynamic some way our E-mail: [email protected] tension between the active and the contemplative lives. He start- own charism of or visit us on the web at: ed out as a secular canon in the cathedral in Xanten in Germany, the three-fold www.contemplation.com but fled from the comfort and benefices of that life into solitude, good—commu- www.contemplation.com 3

Norbert – Continued from page 2 from the pages of… ity, solitude and evangelization—is­­ a kind of universal archetype, and that is what makes it so attractive. You see it at work in the Vita Monastica Norbertines too in their first hour. Practically speaking, though, it is always very hard to hold it all together, as Prémonstratensians This is excerpted from an article had a hard time, as we Camaldolese have historically had a hard that appeared in 1947 in our time holding even just the tension of the solitary and the com- Italian journal on the monastic munal life together. Perhaps that’s because it’s so easy to see any life. In it don Anselmo Giabbani of these three elements as ends in and of themselves––solitude, is quoting and commenting on community, or evangelization. But the end isn’t any of those: the chapter 44 of “The Book of the end is absolute availability to God; the end is to be filled with the Eremitical Rule” attributed to Holy Spirit; the end is not my will but yours be done. And that Blessed Rudolf, Prior General of too is pointed out in the same Gospel passage at the Sea of Gali- the Camaldolese Congregation lee: ‘When you were younger,’ Jesus says to Peter, ‘you used to from 1152 to 1158. dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you Silence is the and lead you where you do not want to go.’ John tells us that this purification of the soul, the signified the kind of death that Peter would die; yes, but not nec- shining of the mind, purity Art by Michela Petoletti essarily physical death. When we make ourselves available to of heart. Then the evil forces the Spirit, there is a chance that we will be taken where we do not are quiet in us, then sin stops want to go and asked to do something that we did not have on our prevailing, then lack of moderation no longer rages in five-year plan. That’s a very real kind of death too. I remember the spirit, when grace is affirmed in us in the continual Richard Rohr’s teaching about Jonah in this regard. We can try exercise of virtue and in the daily fidelity to the strong and to go where we think we should go or where we want to go, but constant action of the Spirit in our soul. At first, no: it is be careful! We might just get tossed in the sea and swallowed by the raging of human activity dominated by sin that agitates a whale, and that whale will spit us up where God really wants us and prevails, and then there is no silence of the flesh us. And that “sign of Jonah,” too is of course a sign of dying­­— and the mind even if there is some exterior silence. “But and rising. Sometimes we have to die to our plans in order to what good is it to keep quiet with the tongue, if one’s life do God’s will. Look at our Saint Peter Damian, who exuberates or conscience is in tempest? What good is there in keeping about the glories of the eremitical and monastic life in honor of silence with the mouth and having a tumult of vices in Saint Romuald, and then ends up as a cardinal and a reformer. actions or in the mind?” When he is challenged as to why a monk, who is supposed to be The contemplative life is fullness of life: fullness dead to the world, should be telling secular clergy what to do, of divine life in which the soul participates, fullness of he says that’s exactly why: because we’re dead to the world! virtue, fullness of holy works, an exercise of supernatural And there is this wonderful quote of Abbot John Chapman that works with the thought, with the will, with the heart. The I ran into, of all places, in Aldous Huxley’s Perennial Philoso- hermit who does not possess this fullness of spiritual life phy, that I find very humorous: “I wish I could join the solitar- might be able to live in the hermitage and call oneself a ies of Caldey instead of being the superior and having to write “hermit” but will not really be a hermit. Silence that does books. But I don’t wish to have what I wish, of course.” That’s not have this positive content is insignificant silence, dead a death too, a martyrdom of sorts, the community belonging that and deadly! Deadly, that is, because capable of leading to sometimes calls for sacrificing one’s own plans and will if it’s death, of killing a soul by isolating it from those actions what the Spirit wills for which could occupy it in a holy manner, isolating it from the greater good. Not my society that could instruct it, from the contact that could Prayer Schedule will but yours be done. enrich it spiritually… Weekdays: With Saint Norbert, Monastic and eremitic silence is not a privation 5:30 am Vigils we pray for the grace to of words or a negation of works; it is rather the prevailing 7:00 am Lauds love Jesus so much as to in the soul of supernatural action by the mysterious work 11:30 am Eucharist be willing to be carried of the Holy Spirit. Contemplation supposes and requires 6:00 pm Vespers off even to where we do “silence of work, silence of the tongue, silence of the Sundays and Solemnities: not want to go, to what heart” or, rather, a training in the virtues. Otherwise 5:30 am Vigils we do not want to do, solitude turns into an occasion of sin and flattens itself into 7:00 am Lauds that our life with Christ a shapeless and insignificant life. 11:00 am Eucharist would bear fruit in char- 5:00 pm Vespers ity and evangelical zeal. 4 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage Universal Longing Reminds Us of Truth Editors’ note: we will be feet. publishing extracts from So much of our time— this and other essays by my time at least—is spent Pico Iyer and other friends running from ourselves (or of the Hermitage in com- hiding from the world); a ing issues of the newsletter. chapel brings us back to the source, in ourselves and in In this first extract, Pico the larger sense of self (as describes a universal long- if there were a difference). ing we all share, perhaps, Look around you. Occa- regardless of our tradition sional figures are exploring and location, for places their separate silences; the that remind us of what is rich and the poor are hard true beyond our limited vi- to tell apart, with heads sion and experience. bowed. Light is diffused and general; when you hear voices, they are joined in “Chapels” a chorus or reading from a When I look back holy book. The space at the on my life, the parts that heart of the Rothko Chapel matter and sustain me, all is empty, and that empti- I see is a series of cha- ness is prayer and surren- pels. They may be old or der. young, cracked brown or In 1929 the BBC decided open space; they may be to start broadcasting “live lectures or afterthoughts, silence” in memory of the hidden corners of a city or dead instead of just halt- deserted spaces in the for- ing their transmission for est. They are as variable two minutes every day; it as people. But like people was important, it was felt, they have a stillness at the to hear the rustle of papers, core of them which makes the singing of birds out- all discussion of high and side, an occasional cough. low, East and West, you As a BBC spokesman put and me dissolve. Bells toll it, with rare wisdom, si- and toll and I lose all sense lence is “a solvent which of whether they are chim- destroys personality and ing within me or without. gives us leave to be great The first time I was – Photo by Debi Lorenc unless we live in a desert or in the and universal.” Permits us, asked to enter a New York office build- in short, to be who we are and could be ing—for a job interview twenty-eight vicinity of the Grand Canyon. A chapel is the deepest silence we can absorb, unless if only we had the openness and trust. A years ago—I gathered myself, in all sens- chapel is where we hear something and es, in St. Patrick’s, and knew that it would we stay in a cloister. A chapel is where we allow ourselves to be broken open as if we nothing, ourselves and everyone else, a put everything I was about to face (a com- silence that is not the absence of noise but pany, a new life, my youthful ambitions) were children again, trembling at home before our parents. the presence of something much deeper: into place. It was the frame that gave ev- the depth beneath our thoughts. erything else definition. Ever since, I’ve Whenever I fly, I step into an airport chapel. The people there may be sleeping, A chapel is where you can hear some- made it my practice to step into the great thing beating below your heart. thronged space whenever I return to the reading, praying, but all of them are there because they want to be collected. When city, to remind myself of what is real, Adapted, with permission, from an essay what is lasting, before giving myself to I go to San Francisco, I stay across from Grace Cathedral, and visit it several times by Pico Iyer originally published in Port- everything that isn’t. A chapel is the big- land Magazine, in its Winter 2010 issue. gest immensity we face in our daily lives, a day, to put solid ground underneath my contemplation.com ~ 5

Lectio Divina: A Sapiential Approach to Scripture We are not looking for academic knowledge in our practice of Lectio Divina, but a whole new way of knowing, of encounter. Our Fr. Bruno is famous for naming it a “sapiential” ap- proach to scripture. Note how in this section from his book The Future of Wisdom Bruno nurses out a new meaning from this well-known Pauline text. (CC) Sapiential theology has not avoided the flight from Incarnation into super-structures, as- cending ladders, conceptual containers, and mediatory dualism. The antidote for this hereditary malady has been ever near at hand in the New Testament: in the life and teaching of Jesus and of Paul. For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ not be emptied of its power. For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. (1 Cor 1:17-25) Christian wisdom reduces itself to Jesus Christ – this bodily human being who is divine – and his cross: the physical death of this human being at the center of humanity, history, and cosmos. The mystery of Christ in its actuality is known as one finds oneself at the central point of the cross—and Paul vividly describes his life in this place of the cross. Wisdom is loving faith, and Christian faith is the dark knowing of embodied light, of incarnation. Wisdom, as faith, is union, identity with Christ. (from The Future of Wisdom, 51-52)

Al-Mujib*

There was a time I asked For specific things, lithe As we all are in the long Prime of inexperience

Then I asked for what You thought might be good As if good and thinking even Enter your vast, unknowable knowing

Now I ask for silence Stillness, space, submission To hear the unsayable simmer To sense, since that is all we can do Its quiet sinewing into being – Aaron Maniam

*In Islam, al-mujib is one of the 99 attributes of “beautiful names” of God found in the Qur’an, meaning “Fulfiller of Promises.”

– Photo by Debi Lorenc 6 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage

Our Camaldolese presence in California now stretches from Berkeley through Big Sur all the way down to San Luis Obispo News from with the beginning of this new phase with the Monastery of the Risen Christ. Please remember our brothers of these two com- Monastery of the Risen Christ munities which are affiliated with New Camaldoli. At Incarnation Fr. Ray Roh, OSB Monastery, Fr. Andrew Colnaghi is the prior administrator with Fr. Thomas, Fr. Arthur, and Bro. Ivan Nicoletto who is on an extended It has been six stay with us from Italy. In San Luis Obispo, Fr. Daniel Manger is months since Fr. Daniel the prior’s representative, along with Fr. Ray, Fr. Stephen, and Bro. joined us to assist in the Michael. transition of our monas- tery to the Camaldolese Congregation. Under Ordinary Time at Incarnation his leadership, we are Fr. Andrew Colnaghi, OSB Cam. making good progress. All of us have spent Our days at Incarnation Monastery have been character- some time at the Her- ized by an abundance of hospitality. The liturgical celebra- mitage, starting with tions for Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost were all my two weeks in Janu- extremely well attended by guests and oblates. ary. Br. Michael spent a With the cycle of Pentecost, we now enter into the time month and a half there after that to do ongoing formation. of the Spirit and the slower pace of Ordinary Time with its Fr. Steve spent the month of May doing two days a week of beautiful, eternally green color. Berkeley itself is very quiet teaching for those in formation. Over the Easter Triduum, all with the absence of students. We are using this period to renew of us were blessed to spend those days with the Monks at the ourselves and to create a more low-keyed rhythm of life. Hermitage. Our oblates recently organized a picnic after Sunday Eu- Here at the Monastery of the Risen Christ we have started charist to honor Leonard and Rosanna Capozzi, who were to have several events for the public, including a workshop by married on June 26th. On June 14, we also enjoyed a Silent Fr. Jim Nisbet on the Song of Songs and a packed house for a Day of prayer led by oblates Marty Badgett and Billy McLen- workshop on non-violent communication. nan. This was our largest group to date with 21 people in atten- Plans are in the offing for a July 5th All Oblate Day for dance. We now look forward to our pilgrimage to Camaldolese the oblates from our monastery as well as the Camaldolese Italy in September. oblates. Fr. Steve is working to bring our oblates back to- gether, hoping for an eventual merger with the Camaldolese Oblates. More events are coming up and will be announced on our website. Thanks to the generosity of several donors, and the work of volunteers, our three hospitality suites are ready to go. Some needed plumbing work has to be completed before we are finally up and running. Information on booking hospitality These are the two houses that make up Incarnation Mon- rooms for personal retreats and other information on the Mon- astery: on the left is the spirituality and retreat center, on astery of the Risen Christ can be found on our new website the right the monks’ residence. monasteryrisenchrist.com. Our Bookstore and Gift Shop is now open with a new look with lots of books and other items, though the times are still restricted. One can gain access, how- Please consider remembering us ever, by stopping at the main house. when making or revising your will. We now have a nice hiking trail up the mountain and some seating there to enjoy the view. We appreciate people stopping by and letting us know they will be hiking. The monks here, along with the oblates and volunteers, have been working very hard to beautify the grounds. We all are striving to make our monastery viable again. We are grateful to Fr. Our official name is: Daniel for his leadership and hard work, and to Fr. Cyprian Camaldolese Hermits of America and all the monks at New Camaldoli for their love and sup- Our federal ID # is: 94-6050278 port. We welcome you to our daily Mass at 11 AM and, if you as so inclined, to our other prayers services. Our Chapel is – Photo by Debi Lorenc open from 6 AM until 6:30 PM each day. Come and join us! contemplation.com ~ 7

We’ve started a new initiative at New Camaldoli called Ora et fraternal love in action. The unmistakable bond of brotherhood Labora: Contemplative Immersion Program. It is geared toward among the monks and the human realness of their efforts to build the several young men who come our way and want to stay with a common life are a sign post for the Kingdom. New Camaldoli us and make some sense out of God’s call for them. Our idea offers a concrete and sincere example of a way to respond to is that immersing oneself in the rhythm of the monastic life is Christ’s love. itself a formative experience. The men who have been through I am deeply, deeply indebted to the hospitality and openness the program so far have found it extremely enriching, and have of the monks, as well as to the generosity of the benefactors who also been an exceptional gift to us. If you are or know of a young made the program possible. Now, my challenge is to “pay it for- man who might be interested please contact Brother Ignatius, ward,” to bring Camaldolese Benedictine spirituality to my life [email protected]. The following article was written by in the world, to apply the lessons I’ve learned. My time on this one of the recent participants. mountain has been sheer gift: pray that I can pass it along!

Ora et Labora Reflections A Celebration of Camaldolese Spirituality Hunter Link In Light of Evangelii Gaudiam The breeze was cool and the sun shone brightly, high in the Benedictine spirituality has a beautiful way of synthesiz- Los Gatos redwoods, as 50 oblates and friends rekindled old ing the outer and the inner life, summed up in the motto: “ora friendships and made new ones during the annual New Camal- et labora,” Latin for “pray and work.” My desire to understand doli Oblate retreat from May 9-11, 2014, at Presentation Retreat this synthesis drew me to apply for the newly created Ora et and Conference Center. Labora program at New Camaldoli. Over the last few months, I The retreat included a keynote address by our prior, Fr. have had the incredible privilege of participating in the lives of Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam, on the New Evangelization as the monks, and experiencing firsthand the day-to-day realities seen through the lens of Camaldolese Benedictine spirituality. of the Camaldolese Benedictine monastic vocation. One monk Fr. Cyprian engaged the Oblates with reflections on the need for aptly termed the program an opportunity for “temporary monas- a spirituality based upon the Resurrection. He recounted the ne- ticism.” I came to learn about the monastic vocation and was cessity of beginning to live as if we inhabited a new heaven and a humbled by what I found. new earth and to live as “Resurrection people in between Easter True to the Benedictine motto, I prayed with the monks, and that final day when God will be all in all.” Fr. Cyprian called chanting the psalms with them every day. And of course, I us to be a people of “hope in action” while we wait for Lord’s worked, doing everything from housekeeping to cleaning the Second Coming as we are now Jesus’ hands and his feet and chapel to preparing meals. A highlight was Holy Week, when I are called to be his light for the world! In specifically monastic was asked to assist in the rich liturgical celebration of the Tridu- terms, he spoke of the inner face and outer face of our distinctive um. This was the culmination of my time here, a concrete real- spirituality and how we are called to live out both ideals in the ization of work and prayer flowing together in one stream. The primacy of love as either professed monks or as Oblates. monastic ideal of constant prayer is achieved if you approach The main focus of the retreat was continuing the work that polishing the chapel floor, rehearsing for Easter Sunday Mass, was begun in 2013 at the Asilomar Retreat and Conference or reciting the psalms at 5:30 in the morning with the same inner Grounds. Working groups met on Saturday afternoon to identify attitude of love. Easier said than done! 3-4 new initiatives that coincided with the needs that had been The program also included a light course of study, with read- identified last year: Youth and Vocations, Outreach, Manage- ings ranging from The Rule of St. Benedict to modern psycho- ment, and Oblates. Continued on page 8 logical texts on the spiritual life. Importantly, the Ora et Labora program is not a vocation discernment program: I entered with the understanding that I wasn’t formally discerning monastic life. I found this extremely helpful. Since I wasn’t constantly evaluating the community for long-term compatibility, I was free to simply be and let the depth of the monastic rhythms wash over me. Of course, the opportunity for more intentional discernment is always available, as the novice master was sure to remind me as we washed dishes together. I could fill several spiral-bound notebooks about the lessons I’ve learned (right now, I’m at three-and-a-half): a deeper ap- preciation for liturgy, a new understanding of healthy monastic solitude, the necessity of a daily prayer practice... The most im- Members of the Steering Committee with some of the monks include portant take away for me, however, was simply the joy of seeing Bro. Bede, Phil McManus, Wendy Walsh, Valerie Sinkus, Fr. Michael, Ziggy Rendler-Bregman, Fr. Cyprian, Fr. Raniero, and Mike Mullard. 8 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage

Activities, Events and Visitors

• April 10-20 had a visit from one of our Indian confreres, Fr. • August 15-17, Fr. Cyprian, Bro. Bede, Fr. Raniero and Bro. George Abraham who was recently appointed novice master of Cassian will be leading a discernment retreat for young people Shantivanam, the Ashram of the Holy Trinity, our Camaldolese between the ages of 18 and 30. (Scholarships are available!) community in South India. • September 3-11 we will be have our community retreat led • April 30 New Camaldoli hosted the Four Winds Council, a this year by Fr. Luke Dysinger, OSB, of St. Andrew’s Abbey, quarterly gathering of our community with our friends from the Vallyermo. , Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and Pachepas • September 29-October 5 Frs. Cyprian and Raniero will be Native American Center, to share spiritual practice and advocate at Camaldoli for the Intercommunity Assembly, attended by our for the wilderness. priors and formators from all over the world. • May 9-11 was the 2nd Annual Camaldolese Gathering and Retreat at Presentation Center in Los Altos, CA. (See article for Please visit our website for information on our more details.) weekend retreats at www.contemplation.com. • May 30 to June 14, in honor of his 50th anniversary Bro. Ga- briel flew to Italy where he attended the International Charis- matic Convention at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, and then visited our Mother house at Camaldoli with a side visit to the grave of Saint Romuald in Fabbriano. • June 3-8 Fr. Raniero gave the opening talk for the Chapter for the monks of the Episcopal Order of the Holy Cross in West Park, NY, and stayed on as a “listener,” giving feedback through- out the Chapter as well. • From June 14 until July 26, Bro. Ignatius will be away at “summer school”! He will attend the Benedictine Juniors’ Work- – Photo by Debi Lorenc shop at St. Vincent’s Archabbey in La Trobe, PA, and follow that with two classes as part of the Monastic Institute at St. John’s A Celebration of Camaldolese Spirituality - Continued from page 7 University, Collegeville, MN. The Outreach Working Group developed new opportunities • June 19, the Feast of St. Romuald, we had a grand celebra- to share the charism of New Camaldoli in the wider world and tion for the 50th anniversary of vows for Bro. Gabriel and Fr. at the same time strengthen the Hermitage support network. The Thomas! Our brothers from Berkeley and San Luis Obispo came group explored ways of making the Hermitage more accessible as well as several guests. to those not able to make the journey through the use of technol- • June 23 we took our Recreation Day up at Mount Madonna ogy such as social media, online classes, talks, blog posts. The Center for a tour, a good vegetarian lunch and a presentation on Oblate Working Group creating ideas to strengthen the oblate their solar power installation. formation program and increase the number of retreats, while • June 27-29 Fr. Michael Fish led a preached retreat, “Camino the Youth and Vocations Working Group investigated ideas to III: The Inner Journey.” increase the outreach to youth and young adults. In a sign of • July 4-6 Fr. Cyprian with Gitanjali Lori Rivera is leading “A underlying unity, the working groups found that there was much Retreat for Musicians.” overlap with the ideas brought forth from each group. • July 5 there will be an Oblate meeting at the Monastery of the Overall, the weekend was filled with typical Benedictine Risen Christ. Fr. Stephen and Fr. Robert will be co-leading the hospitality, from the Friday evening “Happiness Hour” and day, and oblates from both Risen Christ and New Camaldoli are meals shared with laughter and conviviality, to the liturgies pre- encouraged to attend. Please call 805-544-1810 for more infor- sided over by Fr. Michael Fish and Fr. Raniero Hoffman. Fr. Fish mation and so they have an idea of the number of attendees. also delighted us with a warm and welcoming talk on Friday • July 14-18 Fr. Columba Stewart, OSB, the well-known mo- night to set the mood for the entire weekend. Fr. Robert Hale nastic scholar from St. John’s, Collegeville, will be with us as demonstrated his gifts of hospitality by acting as monk-liaison he is most every summer and give a series of conferences to the for the Oblate Working Group. Brother Bede Healey acted as brothers. monk-liaison for the Management Working Group and preached • July 21-25, Fr. Robert will be offering a retreat for the Epis- the homily at the Sunday liturgy. Special thanks go to Bede for copal Community of Solitude at St. John’s in Collegeville, MN. having the vision and drive to act as overall coordinator of the • July 21-26, the Collegeville Composers Group, responsible Steering Committee for our Oblate retreats and Working Groups. for the Psallite series of liturgical music published by Liturgical Next year, our Annual Oblate Retreat will be hosted at La Press, will be meeting for a working week here at New Camal- Casa de Maria, a retreat center in the Santa Barbara/Montecito doli. area. The dates are tentatively set for May 29-31, 2015. We look • August 1-3, Fr. Thomas Matus is leading a retreat here called forward to meeting you there! “Realizing God.”