|
Deciding jointly
Deciding Jointly
- An executive board consisting of about seven members
(including a priest and at least two women) is to be to put in
place, who jointly decides which path to follow. (Gd
5)
Elections
- During their community Chapter meetings, the Carthusians
customarily use beans for secret voting. A
white bean is used to cast a yes vote, and a black
bean for no.
- To choose the 7 officers of the SBPCLC Admin, and to
assist this executive board and the SBPCLC community(ies) in
further deciding jointly the path(s) to follow,
election procedures need to be reflected upon.
- Proposed candidates for an executive board office
election, and all eventually elected officers, must always
fulfill in an exemplary way the requirements of SBPCLC
membership, otherwise they should decline to be
proposed as candidates, or eventually if they had been
elected, humbly offer their resignation from the executive
board.
- Electionbuddy
- Electionrunner
Officers of the executive board
- An executive board consisting of about seven members
(including a priest and at least two women) is to be to
put in place
- There are no elected SBPCLC executive board members
currently.
May
they be brought to complete unity
- Jesus
Prays for All Believers John 17
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for
those who will believe in me through their message, 21
that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me
and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world
may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them
the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are
one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be
brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that
you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with
me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have
given me because you loved me before the creation of the
world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know
you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I
have made you[e] known to them, and will continue to make
you known in order that the love you have for me may be in
them and that I myself may be in them.”
- The Patristic Tradition Source
- It could be said that Tradition, as an historical event,
begins with the Apostolic preaching and is found in
Scriptures, but it is kept, treasured, interpreted, and
explained to the Church by the Holy Fathers, the
successors of the Apostles. Using the Greek term Pateres
tes Ecclesias, the Fathers of the Church, this
"interpretive" part of the Apostolic preaching is called
"Patristic Tradition." The Fathers, men of extraordinary
holiness and trusted orthodoxy in doctrine, enjoyed the
acceptance and respect of the universal Church by
witnessing the message of the Gospel, living and
explaining it to posterity. Thus, Apostolic Preaching or
Tradition is organically associated with the Patristic
Tradition and vice versa. This point must be stressed
since many theologians in the Western churches either
distinguish between Apostolic Tradition and Patristic
Tradition, or completely reject Patristic Tradition.
- St. Irenaues wrote: "For the Orthodox Christian,
there is one Tradition, the Tradition of the Church,
incorporating the Scriptures and the teaching of the
Fathers. This is the preaching of the truth handed down
by the Church in the whole world to Her children"
- St. Athanasius the Apostolic, the Great "Pillar of
Orthodoxy," gave the most appropriate definition of the
Church's Tradition: "Let us look at the very tradition,
teaching, and faith of the catholic Church from the very
beginning, which the Logos gave, the Apostles preached,
and the Fathers preserved. Upon this the Church is
founded In retrospect, Tradition is founded upon the
Holy Trinity, it constantly proclaims the Gospel of
Christ, it is found within the boundaries of the
Christian Church, and it is expounded by the Fathers."
- Saint Bruno's providential two foundations in France at
the Grande Chartreuse and then in Calabria's Byzantine
Greek southern Italy, has uniquely preserved within the
Carthusian life, and unites spiritually, the common root
traditions of pre great schism desert fathers spirituality.
- Tradition
and Living Magisterium (wikipedia)
Resources in
group dynamics - Basic Assumption Groups (BAG)
| Collegial Work Groups (CWG)
Collegial Work Group (CWG)
- Identifying communially Basic Assumption Group
(BAG) tendencies, as opposed to
an ideal 11 guideline Collegial Work Group (CWG),
could be addressed a priori by "openness and
dialog", where it would be found that: any members either
would practically adhere to, or reject their own
religion, or reject others religious or philosophical views,
in a more or less "sixth-grade formulation source
", with a questionable syncretist or
relativism potential, based or not on the fullness of
the Patristic Traditio. This temptation can and
might happen often because we are all in progress,
but through "openness and dialog" prudence and consultation,
following "the spiritual path in accordance with
Saint Bruno, is appropriate great sobriety and modesty,
remote from any controversy" (Gd. 9c),
we would be protected by "deciding jointly" in a Collegial
Work Group fostering Koinonia,
and truth.
- Another brother asked Abba Sisoes, 'I have fallen,
Abba; what shall I do?' The old main said to him, 'Get
up again.' The brother said, 'I have gotten up again,
but again have I fallen.' The old man said, 'Get up
again and again.' So the brother asked, 'How many
times?' The old man replied, 'Until you are taken up
either in virtue or in sin. For a man presents himself
to judgment in that state in which he is found.'
Desert Fathers
- The old men used to say, "there is nothing worse than
passing judgement." Desert Fathers
- For us, self-scrutiny involves a genuinely pastoral
concern for all: "Notice how you can, in the hope of
what is to come, love the harvest in the young shoot,
and the twisted tree-trunk. In the same way you must
love those who are not yet good" Guigo,
Meditations 167 Source
- "Not much is gained if you take away from a person
something that he holds onto wrongly; but it is if, by
our words of encouragement and by your example, you get
him to let it go of his own accord"... Guigo,
Meditations 297 Source
- The 11 guidelines executive board's job, of deciding
jointly, is for each to do something about this on
ourselves: by studying, praying, questioning ourselves
fraternally and authentically, sincerely; consulting and
listening between us, so we might deepen our reflections on
religion, truth and the fullness of Faith, in view of
adhering to the 11 guideline proposition from the Reverend
Father, which has for goal to define us an arena that is
founded definitely on dogma in the fullness of the
Patristic Traditio.
- Our challenge is not of a subjective clean canvas in
defining a foundation, but of a joint inspired collegial
adhesion through objective knowledge, knowledge through
experience, experience through our personal individual
conversion praxis-obedience-adhesion of our communial
perfectly vetted and informed personal freedom. Adhesion
is through Faith, trust; but trust is possible through
reason, objectivity. A Basic Assumption Group (BAG)
in contrast would spend its time defining its limited
subjective boundaries, focusing on who is in alignment and
who is not, devoting energy to stifling growth in debate
without outcome, protecting its subjective canvases.
- Deciding jointly - collegially requires a process of
factual continuous objectivity, questioning, listening,
researching, self-scrutiny, group reflection, consultation
and prayer, with the objective of the authentic
development of the 11 guidelines.
- Whoever, therefore, seeks to work for his own good,
not only does not find it, but also incurs great harm to
his soul. For while he seeks his own good, which cannot
be sought at all, he is rejected by the common good,
that is, by God. For just as there is one nature for
everyone, so also there is one common good (ira et
utilitas). Guigo, Meditations 106 Source
- An old man
said, "Every time a thought of superiority or vanity
moves you, examine your conscience to see if you
have kept all the commandments, whether you love
your enemies, whether you consider yourself to be an
unprofitable servant and the greatest sinner of all.
Even so, do not pretend to great ideas as though you
were perfectly right, for that thought destroys
everything. " Desert Fathers
- Are global religious disagreements more about matters of
wisdom or matters of fact, or both?
- Can varieties of context help us appreciate the
differences in belief and practice ?
- If we personally have not come to fully adhere to a
dogmatic theologically trusted center core, based on fact,
objectivity and reason, then a dose of relativism and
syncretism imposes itself to the mind so as to fill the
informational void, out of a logical necessity.
- Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical
Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, warned that
poorly-catechized Christians should not take part in
inter-religious dialogue. “Christians,
often ignorant of the content of their own faith and
incapable because of this of living of and for it, are
not capable of inter-religious
dialogue that always begins with the assertion of one’s
own convictions,” he cautioned. “There is no
room for
syncretism or relativism!
Faced with adepts from other religions with a strong
religious identity, it is necessary to present motivated
and doctrinally equipped Christians.” Source
- So "sixth-grade formulation source
" relativism reflex, or on the other hand
stasis-silence stifling growth in debate without outcome,
to protect a subjective possibly syncretic canvas, on the
surface seems to avoid the difficulties of dogmatism by
accepting fully or partly, some or all religious and
philosophical views as equally true or valid, none having
any more claim to authority than any other. This is the
logical equivalent though of saying that in religious or
philosophical matters there is no truth, hardly satisfying
to those who identify, objectively or subjectively with
the religious traditions that form their identities as
persons and members of communities. Religions have been so
central to the cultural and personal identities of members
of societies, especially of traditional societies, that
attachments to religious values, practices, and beliefs
can be and often are very strong of course. Encounters
with other religions can provoke questions of one’s own
religion, driven by the realization that one might have
been born elsewhere, in a foreign religious context, and
so one might embrace another religious tradition as
fervently as one embraces one’s own source
. But the deep significance of religion is
humanly about some wisdom, good judgment, and for some
also it is also not about objective facts or dogmatic
knowledge but religion is for them about who we are trying
to be and not about absolute truth.
- Catholic Faith though is based on Divine Revelation,
so it is about facts and knowledge. Saint Bruno's charism
for the world and the Church is based on Divine Revelation
and thus on its consequential dogmas. So "The
ecumenical openness must be conducted according to the
norms of the Church and you will exclude any tendency to
religious syncretism." (Gd 9 b); and
"jointly deciding which path to follow" (Gd
5) is proposed "in the respect of the
Magisterium of the Church" (Gd 9d).
- Collusion is an agreement, usually secretive, which
occurs between two or more persons to deceive, mislead, or
defraud others of legal rights. By extension here any
agreement that is not decided communially should be
considered to be collusionary, and a priori invalid.
- Consensus decision-making is a group
decision-making process that seeks the consent of all
participants. Consensus may be defined professionally as an
acceptable resolution, one that can be supported, even if
not the "favourite" of each individual.
- Collegiality is the relationship between
colleagues. Colleagues are those explicitly united in a
common purpose and respecting each other's abilities to work
toward that purpose.
- Communiality is carried out "in the Church." Such
an ecclesial, communional, hierarchical and doctrinal
dimension is absolutely indispensable for a genuine
canonical Lay Faithful Association, and, on its own,
guarantees its spiritual efficacy. The mission is
"communial" because it takes place in a unity and communion
that only in a secondary way also has relevant aspects of
social visibility. This unity and communion derive
essentially from that divine ecclesial intimacy of which the
SBPCLC's are called to be consecrated to.
- Joint decision making
- As SBPCLC, living in the fullness of the 11
guidelines, in a projected Canonical Lay Association of
the Faithful, we believe and propose: can be communially
developed only through each individual member's Quies
SBPCLC 5 steps commitment to the 11 guidelines.
- The 11 guidelines frame a contemplative spirituality
for followers of Saint Bruno living in the open world;
but there have been (and will be) amongst aspirants more
or less subtle insistences on dialog per se, so
then even outside of the 11 guidelines, this
eventuality is addressed in the very purpose of the 11
guidelines which are that: to live in the specific
Spirituality of Saint Bruno, joint dialog to live this
Lay Contemplative Spirituality within and without our
activities of the IFSB, SBLC etc. must be framed within
the 11 guidelines limits and indications. Voluntary
individual and collegial personal exclusion of dialog
outside the 11 guidelines in all and any
interventions of our lives is thus a necessary basic
assumption and condition here for membership or vocation
RE: (Serious discernment, if not
severe, must be put in place for the admission of
members into the second degree. They must clearly know
what they undertake and what are their obligations
(see 1.2.3.) Gd. 7). This is
essential to live the carthusian charism, which is the
desert Fathers and Mothers charism of Saint Bruno of
searching for God only. There is here a
proposition for an authentic monastic conversion process
where eventually by the
grace of God and Faithfulness to the 11
guidelines, the intellect ("Nesciat sinistra tua quid faciat
dextera tua" Matthew 6:15) cannot judge
the spiritual work in the soul: Nada; and
the interior and exterior discourse becomes solely
Love, Trust, living in the Will of the Most Holy
Trinity, in the present moment, in our duty of
state, however contradictory the events, as Mary,
as Joseph, as Christ.
- The Carthusian Statutes describe that: "Since
our Order is totally dedicated to contemplation, it
is our duty to maintain strictly our separation from
the world; hence, we are excepted from all pastoral
ministry no matter how urgent the need for active
apostolate is so that we may fulfill our special
role in the Mystical Body of Christ. Let Martha have
her active ministry, very praiseworthy indeed, yet
not without solicitude and agitation: nevertheless,
let her bear with her sister, as she follows in the
steps of Christ, in stillness knows that he is God,
purifies her spirit, prays in the depths of her
soul, seeks to hear what God may speak within her;
and thus, tastes and sees in the slender measure
possible, though but faintly in a dark mirror how
good the Lord is; and also pours forth prayer both
for Martha herself and for all who, like her, labor
actively in the service of the Lord. In this Mary
has not only a most just judge but also a very
faithful advocate the Lord himself who deigned not
alone to defend but even to praise her way of life,
saying, "Mary has chosen the best part, which shall
not be taken from her;" with these words he excused
her from involving herself in the solicitude and
agitation of Martha, however pious and excellent
they might be." Carthusian Statutes
Chapter 3
- In a 11 guideline government : "An executive board
consisting of about seven members (including a priest
and at least two women) is to be to put in place, who
jointly decides which path to follow. (Gd
5)".
- In joint decisions the opinions and experiences of
each are shared and discussed communially.
- As in many endeavors and the IFSB, SBLC or SBPCLC are
no exception, occasionally groupuscules spontaneously,
instinctively develop to discuss shared beliefs or
values.
- A deep admiration of the richness of individual
complementary differences, a profound and humble
respect for individual liberty, and a conscientious
prayerful exercise of our fraternal duty of dialog, is
very desirable in a collegial work group
environment, as in all humility and realism, by the
inspiration and schooling
of God under the eyes of Whom we grow "until we
all attain to the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to
the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ" Ephesians 4:13, we continuously
and perpetually will have special and edifying
new things to learn and share with
others in our spiritual and human journey as children
of God.
- In an 11 guideline community, the exchanges and
discussions need be nurtured and encouraged to become
perfectly candid for each, through a community spirit
made of frankness and genuine fraternal "sacred
listening".
- An executive board consisting of about seven members
- Jointly decides which path to follow.
- The SBPCLC's executive board, decides collegially in
communial prayer with Mary as in the Cenacle.
- It can be concluded that collusionary agreements are
incompatible with communiality, collegiality and
executive board joint decisions.
Prayers
- Some suggested meeting introductory/conclusion
prayers
- Sign of the cross
- To ask with Mary for the gifts of the Spirit :
"O God, thou hast filled with the Holy Spirit the
Blessed Virgin Mary when she prayed with the Apostles
in the solitude of the Cenacle, let us love, we pray
you, silence of the heart, so that by praying better,
thus recollected, we deserve to be filled of the gifts
of the Holy Spirit". (Marthe Robin)
- Our Father
- Hail Mary
- Glory be
- Our Lady of Good Counsel R. Pray for us
- Saint Bruno R. Pray for us
- Sign of the Cross
- At conclusion the sign of the cross is
preceded by the following
L. May the Lord bless us, and preserve us from all
evil. May he keep us faithful in his service.
R. To Him be honor and glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
- Prayer for the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
- O Holy Spirit, powerful Consoler, sacred Bond of the
Father and the Son, Hope of the afflicted, Life of the
Church, Sanctifier and Uniter, descend into our hearts
and come establish in them your loving dominion and
communion. Enkindle in our tepid souls the fire of your
Love; convert us, transform us through the intercession
of Mary
Mother of God, so that we may be wholly subject
to you in perfect Charity. We believe that when you
dwell in us, you also prepare a dwelling for the Father
and the Son. Deign, therefore, to come to us, Consoler
of abandoned souls, and Protector of the needy. Help the
afflicted, strengthen the weak, and support the
wavering. In our blessed tribulations, come and purify
us, sanctify us, so that we may find all together in
patient pursued dialog, listening to your inspiration
and unceasingly in communion to one another, what path
you Will us to follow, until reaching a singlehearted
unity between us and communially experiencing Your peace
in our souls. Let no evil desire ever take possession of
us. You love the humble and resist the proud. Come to
us, glory of the living, and hope of the dying. Lead us
by your grace that we may always be pleasing to you,
one of heart and mind, in God's Will. Amen.
Inspired from a prayer by Saint Augustine of Hippo
| |
|
