The Vow of Stability
February 04, 2006
There are some interesting comments on the latest article from Comment by Chris Klein, “The vocation of leaving or staying.” Mr. Klein is the Assistant Director of the CALL Grant for the Theological Exploration of Vocation at Geneva College.
Comment commenter “Fred K.” refers to a fine paper presented by a very interesting man, Gerald W. Schlabach (then a history professor at Blufton College and now a professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas), at Blufton’s 1998 conference on “Anabaptism and Postmodernity.” From Prof. Schlabach’s home-page:
During much of the 1980s I worked in Central America with Mennonite Central Committee, a organization dedicated to peace, justice, Christ-like service and global education. A Roman Catholic as of Pentecost 2004, I am a Benedictine oblate, am deeply involved in the Bridgefolk movement for grassroots dialogue and unity between Mennonites and Catholics, and continue to call myself a “Mennonite Catholic.”
Fred K. and Prof. Schlabach refer to the Vow of Stability in The Benedictine Rule:
…the vow of Stability … becomes the guarantee of success and permanence. It is only another example of the family idea that pervaded the entire Rule, by means of which the members of the community are bound together by a family tie, and each takes upon himself the obligation of persevering in his monastery until death, unless sent elsewhere by his superiors. It secures to the community as a whole, and to every member of it individually, a share in all the fruits that may arise from the labours of each monk, and it gives to each of them that strength and vitality which necessarily result from being one of a united family, all bound in a similar way and all pursuing the same end. Thus, whatever the monk does, he does it not as an independent individual but as part of a larger organization, and the community itself thus becomes one united whole rather than a mere agglomeration of independent members.
Prof. Schlabach explains that the Vow of Stability was St. Benedict’s response to the problem posed by the sarabaites, who may resemble contemporary neo-evangelical folks pursuing new forms of “intentional community” or simply desiring community but finding it ruined, as Mr. Klein does, by our economies of hyper-mobility:
We might say that the sarabaites were trying to form “intentional communities” on the strength of intention alone, without accepting the need for some structure based on time-tested experience to even out the peaks and troughs of whim, passion, and mere enthusiasm for the idea of community. If the gyrovagues were worse, it was precisely because they were even more hyper. Think monks on MTV!
This is The Vow of Stability in The Japery, a part of The New Pantagruel. Previously: Married to the Company in the 21st Century | Next: On the Media | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)
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