MONASTIC RENEWAL

by Columba Cary-Elwes ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 5, 1967

At no level of Catholic life is the trauma of renewal more agonizing than in the monasteries and convents of the more ancient religious orders. Those institutions were founded specifically as places of withdrawal from the world, and have survived as apparent anachronisms in an era when ""withdrawal"" means cowardice and ""commitment"" is everything. The monk or nun, then, is torn between a deep loyalty to the traditions of the ancient Rule and a realization that change is not a matter of preference but of survival. In the present work, Dom Columba Cary-Elwes urges a reexamination of the aims and methods of classic monasticism in keeping with the spirit of renewal in the Church. Examining with particular care, and against their historic background, the crucial problems of poverty, obedience, and prayer, the author's purpose is not ""to provide all the answers, ""but to describe the situation and present its themes as he sees them. In distinguishing between the essential and the accidental within those self-imposed limits, Monastic Renewal is a work of special importance which will commend itself to the limited (i.e., Benedictine) audience for which it was written.

Pub Date: April 5, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Herder & Herder

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION