They’ve always been European-minded” “

“Europe was born from the cross, the book and the plough”: Paul VI’s graphic image alludes to the great contribution made by Benedictine monastic life to the formation of the old continent. What can monasticism say today when faced by the challenges that await Europe, torn between the process of reunification and the distintegration of man’s cultural, ethical and spiritual references? We put this question to a monk of the community of Bose, Adalberto Mainardi, and to the Benedictine Michel Van Parys, of the monastery of Chevetogne (Belgium), who both intervened at the international congress on “Texts and themes of the tradition of Christian monasticism”, held in Rome in recent days. Unity in diversity. “In the re-drawn coordinates of globalization – explained Adalberto Mainardi to SirEurope – the West tends to be perceived as the only model for the humanity of the new millennium and this represents a risk and a serious limitation for a genuine reunification of the continent”. “Monasticism, by its nature, is the point of intersection of various civilizations: St. Benedict was formed through reading the Fathers of the Eastern Church, in particular Basil and Pacomius, and was able to fuse together the oriental tradition with that of Rome in the light of the Gospel, to which was added, right from the start, the contribution of Egyptian monasticism”. “Precisely due to his capacity for reconciliation and communion – continued Mainardi – monasticism may suggest to Europe a model of unity different from that of the standardized unity of the West: that of ‘a plural unity’, of a reconciled diversity which must not be a desire for uniformity, still less a desire for a spiritual and cultural hegemony over others. Rather, it must be a larger breath, an expansion of horizons, a widening of perspectives”. “Testimonies of multi-ethnic and ecumenical communities such as Taizé in France, St. Macarius in Egypt, and Bose itself where Catholics, members of the reformed churches and a metropolitan of the ecumenical patriarchate live peaceably together are, in his view, a prophetic act that may help all the Churches to courageous gestures on the road to unity. But – and this is the firm conviction of Mainardi – they are also a reawakening of conscience against certain forms of extreme nationalism and xenophobia which, like an insidious temptation, are infiltrating the foundations of the new Europe”. A new sensibility. “In civil society, as in monastic life, it’s easier to build the house than get people to live in it in harmony”. So says Michel Van Parys, according to whom “the contribution that the monks and the Churches can make to Europe is constantly to remind us that there cannot be peace and prosperity without rediscovering and promoting the spiritual dimension of man. That’s why it’s essential that the various religious traditions and the Churches have a space for themselves at the institutional level in the construction of the new ‘common house'”. The Benedictine motto ‘Ora et labora’, “with its priority of the spiritual over the material, wishes to indicate even today the contemplative dimension of life, in contrast to the reigning model of consumerism and technocracy. ‘Spending’ one’s own time for the Other in prayer is also a way of underlining the importance of ‘being there’ for others, disinterestedly, with no thought of a return”. Van Parys was abbot of the monastery of Chevetogne for 26 years. In its community live 32 monks of 11 different nationalities. Orthodox monks are also accepted as guests for short periods. In his view, it is above all the cultural attitude of the West that must change: “The knowledge that the West has of the culture, spirituality and traditions of eastern Europe is still very slender”. The West – he says – is “not making any great effort in this sense and often tends to assume a ‘self-referential’ attitude to promote unilateral initiatives which arouse mistrust in the eyes of eastern Europe, fearful of losing her own identity”. What’s needed for an harmonious reunification that is not only economic and political is “a greater sensibility on the part of the West, a more respectful approach that may help to alleviate the fear in the East of falling victim to a kind of spiritual, cultural and economic ‘imperialism'”, concludes Father Van Parys. Giovanna Pasqualin Traversa