green monasticism
There's quite a lot of chit chat in the blogosphere about Urban Monasticism (which is, in fact, something of an oxymoron, but more of that another time) but today I read this article about eco-friendly monasticism at the newly built Stanbrook Abbey.
I like the clean design.
12 Responses to “green monasticism”
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Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
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Hi Maggi – nice spin on the ‘one cup’ option. Personally, I’m uneasy about the guidelines as it feels like a backwards step on many levels, so sharing the cup over a period of weeks sounds like the kind of creative compromise that we should be aiming for.
Brilliant take, Maggi – and very educational: The idea of one of us recieving the cup for all made perfect sense to me. Technically, of course, it would have been the same thing, if you had been the one person, but I wouldn’t have got it so easily, because bad experience with people who, unlike you, do feel ontologically superior, would have got in the way.
I find your view interesting maggie, but find the churches take on this a little OTT. Swine flu is ony a technical pandemic and is still way below seasonal inflluenza in it’s virulency and mortality rate. Granted, seasonal influenza affects the older population more. I think we should be trusting in God and maintain the Eucharist. We don’t cease each year for seasonal influenza so am unsure of the direct benefit of doing so because of swine flu!?! If you have a church/room full of people sharing the same air, the problem I’d unlikely to be compounded through a shared communion chalice…
Interesting take on representative ministry – but I think a more creative disobedience is called for – namely ignoring the advice and carrying on as normal. This is our policy in Norwich diocese, with the proviso that people who don’t want to receive the wine need not do so.
Personally I wonder why I have not heard much about using small individual glasses as a way around this.
While normally I support the move towards a common cup. I wonder if at this time it would be a good idea to consider this.
Particularly if a common cup were decanted immediately before distribution it would seem to me to be a reasonable compromise. The contents of common cup that have been blessed would still be what was shared.
On the other hand if only one person is going to receive then I like your method.
I think, Maggie,with that size gathering, a person would know if he or she is ill and should abstain from communing. I have always finished what remained in the cup and in 20 years have never become ill.
What about intinction?
Dana
Bingo…the almost perfect solution, though I am very glad that FabBishop has absolved us from the need to withhold the cup here for the moment. Wish I’d thought of your answer when we did, though…I hated being the only one receiving in both kinds. V alienating
The Diocese of Toronto, which has done the most work on the topic of flu and the Eucharist, has this report. http://toronto.anglican.ca/images/1Transmission_of_Disease_via_the_Common_Cup.pdf Note that it does not advocate discontinuing the common cup, but it does advise against intinction.
I celebrated communion twice a Sunday in my previous parish and I always drank from the cup last – as someone living with an auto-immune disease I’m not sure whether this was an act of faith or of stupidity – but it was my way of saying this meal is not about the one who is saying the words. I liked your creative solution to the issue outlined here, even if I take teh point abotu the croissants!
When you do get around to a further discussion of urban monasticism, please review “Ascetics, Society, and the Desert,” by James E. Goehring first and you will discover that urban monasticism in not merely a recent phenomenon, but rather a return to the roots of early monasticism itself.
Enjoy!
Hi Mark, thanks for the comment. I have read Goehring – when I said “oxymoronic” I was thinking of the distinction between monastic communities, which are separated even when they are in close proximity with secular societies, and friaries which deliberately aim(ed) to live out a monastic ideal while rubbing shoulders with the rest of the world. It seems to me that the modern day “Urban Monastics” are more like friars than monastics. (Not that it really matters that much!! – the point is whether it’s good and useful…) Are you involved in an urban monastic community?