second week of visitation so far

 Wednesday, 27 september 23

 I have had a hard time remembering what day it is… One sweet thing is that Vigils has been suspended for the entire week of the Visitation so I have these luscious extra couple of hours to myself in the early morning.

 

So we started out the Visitation in an interesting way that sort of happened on the fly. Giuseppe, who is the novice master here and is also serving as vice-prior pro temp, suggested that we have an incontro with the men in formation. They usually get referred to as i giovani, the young guys, but I have a tendency to avoid that term. Some of the are indeed young (the youngest being 21, one of two Tanzanians) but the others are well into their 30s, 40s and 50s. Even if they are in the first stages of formation, several of them have a good deal of life experience behind them as well as some experience of religious life in two cases. We were ten in all, with Mario and I, a group that included a Brazilian (Edmario) and the two young Tanzanians, Erasto and Stefano (Ste-FAN-o, he pointed out to me) who have only been here a few months and who, besides being shy, are still just beginning to learn Italian.

That’s the first noticeable thing, and toward the end I remarked to the whole group, how fortunate they are to have this international and intercultural experience, and how that makes Camaldoli such a unique place. There are two guys from India here in Italy right now as well, Adaikalam, who is now down in Rome beginning his study in Latin and Greek, and another older one, Rippon, just visiting for a few weeks; and there had been the two guys from China until recently here as well. For a small congregation to have representatives from India, China, Africa, South America and little ol’ USA is pretty impressive.

Mario and I each introduced ourselves and then went around the table and asked each of them to tell us a little about themselves too. That’s when we got to see the full array of life experiences. We then asked about the formation program in general, and honed on in a few points that had been raised: the personalized approach to formation (I taught them the term “cookie cutter” and they taught me stampino, which is what we Camaldolese are definitely not), we talked about holistic spirituality (which means a little something different to them than it does to the guy who wrote Spirit Soul Body), the sapiential approach (Bruno Barnhart’s name was brought up with reverence), and the experience of living at the hermitage instead of the monastery (they each get some periods there during formation, and one, Giuseppe, lives there now during simple vows). I was afraid it would be stilted and tedious but it was anything but. They gave us a lot of confirmation to put in our final report.

We also began with our personal encounters on Saturday and Sunday mornings. My old friend Fede took me for a nice run on Sunday afternoon and told me all about his academic adventure. He is doing his degree at the Istituto Ponteficio di Musica Sacra in Rome, and his first year has been full of piano lessons and semiology studies, participation in choirs as well as conducting lessons. From the latter I got a great maxim: Il tuo gesto è già musica, il tuo respiro già suono–“Your gesture is already music, your breath is already sound.” On the way out he told me all about the history he is learning about the origins of the notation of Gregorian chant. Pretty impressive, and of he is very passionate about it. I asked him what he might do with all this (he has a background in rock n’ roll and is a very talented guitarist and singer) and he wasn’t quite sure. 

The Italians are pretty brilliant at preserving the past, as evidenced also by the amazing new library/archive here at the monastery which has won a few architectural prizes. But of course none of us monks want to live in a museum, as Robert used to say. Well, perhaps I shouldn’t say none of us, but certainly the Prior General, Mario, Fede, and I don’t. I find myself reflecting on that a lot when I am here in Italy, so deeply rooted in history but perhaps at times so entrenched in it that it’s difficult to move forward. I think that is what is so attractive and perhaps can be so annoying about us Americans: we have this great forward movement to us, openness and a “can do” spirit, and yet we can be a little shallow when it comes to a sense of the long arc of history––languages, literature, philosophy, culture, tradition. 

I must admit that I get a little apocalyptic at times and ask myself, “Why bother? The planet might be uninhabitable in a few years or Russia might unleash an atomic war and blot us all off the planet (or Donald Trump might get re-elected and take away NPR and put all of us liberals in concentration camps).” And yet the more I read about the upcoming Synod and the Holy Father’s push to be in conversation with the modern world so as to keep the Church relevant and engaged, the more I get energized. The underlying question I have rolling on my mind like a drone is “What does the church and the world need of us monks right now, and what is the best way to live on the planet and prepare for tomorrow?” I guess that is the questions that has been rolling around in me for over twenty years and part of the underlying motivation for my ten years in Santa Cruz. The answers that come through the fog are slightly different at 65 years old in 2023 than they were at 44 in 2002, and even more subtle.

 

Thursday, 28 september 23

 

The week has been quite full. Monday Giuseppe, the acting vice-prior of the community (the vice-prior for the last six years was named bishop of a diocese in Sardinia and ordained the same weekend I arrived in Italy), gave a very comprehensive report on the community, and of course a discussion opened up. We ended with an image from Mario that we didn’t have enough time to explore: the sap that runs through the branches of Camaldoli. What is it? We hope to return to that. 

Tuesday morning we had a two hour meeting with the financial manager of Camaldoli in the administrative office. Thanks to ten years of looking at financial reports and FAB meetings and the patient tutoring of Jeri, once I got some of the vocabulary down (utile, doesn’t mean “useful,” it means “profit”; mutuo doesn’t mean “mutual”; it means “loan”) I knew how to run the columns and do the numbers. The FAB would have been proud of me.

It’s no secret that these have been hard years for Italy in general and for Camaldoli specifically. Besides Covid (you may remember that Italy was hit early and hard), the war in Ukraine has affects here that we do not feel in the US, particularly fuel but also grain and other food stuffs. Besides that, the Antica Farmacia lost a huge customer from Korea for its creams that brought in up to $700,000 a year. So big decisions have to be made and, like us, they are looking at ways to bring in more income as well as looking at all the expenses. One thing that the motherhouse has that we do not is that it is supporting dependent houses, the foundations in Brazil and Tanzania, besides some significant financial help it has offered to a few of our other communities. Kind of like a parent waiting for his or her children to grow up, stand on their own two feet and maybe pay back a little.

After the meeting with the financial manager we had another two hours with all those responsible for income producing activities––the liquorificio that makes the famous laurus and all the other liqueurs, the small but hardy bookstore, the laboratorio that makes the creams, the foresteria (guest house) which has seen a real surprising decline in profit over the last five years, and also the farmacia in general, which the Prior General himself is overseeing and for which he has been actively pursuing a new line of perfume. 

Later Alessandro asked me if I followed everything or if I was tired. I admitted that at a certain point it was like hypnosis; all the words just sort of blurred into a drone, which made him laugh. But four hours discussing finances was a real onslaught, I must admit. Mario is pretty good with numbers and ideas, so I let him carry the ball. 

Giuseppe has graciously suspended Vigils this whole week of the Visitation, for which I have never been so relieved! So I’m gonna post this and get in a little stretching and breathing.

Bless you all!

the first week of visitation

22 september 23

 

It’s hard to believe I have only been here in Italy a week, but such is the case. I arrived at a hot and humid Rome last Friday early afternoon, an uneventful direct overnight flight from San Francisco. Our old friend Mario Zanotti, now stationed at San Gregorio in Rome and my fellow visitator, met me at the airport and whisked me to the monastery. I was feeling pretty grimy after the long flight, and I did not want to sleep, so I put on my walking shoes and took a good walk, my favorite itinerary, up to Roma Termini, around Santa Maria Maggiore, Via Cavour, etc. Also a chance to practice my Italian with some merchants, buying a panino and a spremuta at the station. Then back to San Gregorio, shower, evening prayer with the brothers. Only a small group there now for the summer season but the students are starting to return already. Our oblates, friends (and employees) Louise and Gabe Quiroz were in Rome for the Congress of Benedictine Oblates at Sant’Anselmo, and Friday night they treated George and I to a wonderful meal in Trastevere. I spent Saturday walking again, reading and writing, letting my soul catch up with my body. Then Sunday, after a nice morning run around the Colosseum, we had Mass and pranzo and it was time for Mario and me to drive to Camaldoli where we arrived just before cena.

 

I am here in an official role as the Visitator of our mother house, the dual community of the monastery and hermitage of Camaldoli. Normally members of the Consiglio Generalizio, the Prior General’s three assistants, do the visitations to all the houses around the world, but two special visitators are elected for the mother house, since it is the Prior General’s own abode. That honor-duty fell to Mario and me this time. 

 

The Italians observe a little more ceremony around the visitations than we do. Monday morning we met with the Prior General and he offered us a schema of the days ahead, how we might proceed. Then, as of pranzo that day, he, in a sense, steps down as prior of the community and the 1^st Visitator (me, this time) steps in for all ceremonial roles. I pray the opening prayer at lunch and decide when lunch is going to end. They wait for me to signal when to enter the church in procession and when to leave at the end of prayers. It all felt very strange at first, unseating the Prior General, but I got used to it quickly. It’s not very much different from what I do at home, and Alessandro is as always very gracious.

 

Monday afternoon we had our first riunione with all the monks, including those from the Sacro Eremo who came down for that purpose. Again I had to open the meeting with a few shorts remarks, then the word fell to Alessandro to give his presentation of the community over the last six years. As always, his remarks were very global in their perspective, the state of the world and the state of the Church as well as the state of the community and congregation. The floor was open for discussion of what he had brought up. Not too many spoke but enough so that it was not uncomfortable. We then presented the schema for the week ahead, and that’s when I got to see the Italians at their most characteristic. I could barely follow the discussion, arguing about how many meetings there would be, when and if the two communities should meet together (you could see the polemics arise between the hermits and the cenobites!), what ought to be discussed, etc. etc. In the end it was decided that we would re-write the schema. This was all new to me since I have never done a vistation before. Mario has had some experience, so I let him carry the load.

Then we had Mass with Vespers with me preaching. I find that to be one of the most nerve-wracking challenges––to preside and preach at Mass not only in a different place but in a different language, being so at ease doing so in my own. Of course I had everything written out and had gone over the missals countless times to make sure I know where the prayers were. It went fine. A big festive meal followed with all the monks from both communities again, and then the next day, Tuesday, we headed up to the Sacro Eremo.

 

The Visitation at the Sacro Eremo, I must say, went very well. It was nice to get started on such a good note. The vice-prior, Alberto, gave his opening remarks. As always, he was brief and to the point, every word weighed and poignant. We then opened the floor for discussion. It took a few minutes, but pretty soon a pretty lively discussion took place. We were to deal with certain topics along the way––liturgy, Lectio Divina, hospitality, the economy––one at a time. Having never done a visitation before may have been to my benefit since I had no preconceived notions of how they should flow. But every community meeting we held went pretty much the same way: a topic was introduced by someone, and then the guys just talked. At the end several of them said how different this was from other visitations and that they liked it a lot. 

 

After that first meeting we had a bit of a scare. Several of us noticed that Alberto’s voice was a little odd, almost as if he was half asleep, kind of slurring his words a bit. After the meeting while walking to his cell––thankfully someone was with him––suddenly he started dragging one foot and was not able to move half of his face. An ambulance was called, and he was carted down to the monastery where a helicopter whisked him off to a hospital near Florence. He had indeed suffered a minor stroke, which they think was due to a blood clot resulting from a surgery he had last summer. Fortunately, he recovered rather quickly but they kept him two nights to make sure.

 

Alberto is often described as a living saint, so there was great concern. I think he’s an amazing guy; he loves life at the Eremo and works hard to protect it, and yet he is very open to other expressions of the life as well. He is soft-spoken but I find him also to be fearless in saying what he thinks. He has very intense eyes and a very long beard. One of my favorite moments of the week was when he was talking about another monk who died some years ago who used to give the young guys a good piece of advice when they complained about not enough silence and solitude. Se vuoi silenzio, stai zito––“If you want silence, shut up.”

 

We had individual meetings with the monks each afternoon, and again I am thankful to say that many signed up for them and they were wonderful encounters. Thursday afternoon I began to write up our relazione, our report to the community, as is our due as visitators, which we were then to read to the community at the end. My aim was to keep it short (even as the Prior General had encouraged me to do) and just reflect back what we had heard. I did my draft and sent it to Mario and then Friday morning we worked together on the final version, adding some things and trying to get every word right. I was a little nervous about a few things and had him change one sentence just before we printed copies for everyone. The other tense part of this, of course, is that the Prior General is present for all of this since he is technically the prior of both houses, though the vice priors ideally run things. So if there is any hint of criticism it could be seen as criticizing the Prior General. And if you know our Prior General, Alessandro, you will know that he is a force to be reckoned with. 

 

We were both very pleased with the report and a really fine discussion opened up again, and I think it ended well. The last thing we told them was that it been a joy to find a community so at peace with one another, and such a welcoming environment. These are the three words that we heard from then that we fed back to them as a mirror of their communitarian identity: discretion, peace, and brotherhood.

 

We packed up and headed down to the monastery in the early evening and then Alessandro took Mario and I out for a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant last night. I didn’t even realize how much I needed a little break after a pretty intense week, and we had a great time together, not talking “business” at all. It was nice to see Alessandro relaxed, laughing and enjoying himself. He is carrying quite a load. 

 

Today begins the visitation here at the monastery, a very different environment and climate. We have a meeting with the men in formation this morning and then the beginning of our personal interviews this afternoon. I’m also in the meantime doing laundry…