Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si, did not come out of a vacuum. As I’d noted in the first post, clear references to our relationship to and responsibility for the condition of the natural world first appear in the Papal teaching of Pope Paul VI; Pope John Paul II certainly referred explicitly to our environmental responsibilities and the […]

It has not been unknown in regard to the Church’s social teaching, that people can salute or even admire the ideals involved and yet have the reservation that, it’s all well and good but, really, isn’t it a bit ingenuous? That is to say, it doesn’t seem practical to  most people, though we could applaud […]

Ah the beauty of modern technology.   It lets us update you on the activity of the abbey… it lets us communicate with you via email rather than snail mail… it even lets us show you beautiful pictures of the monastery! When it’s working that is… We are experiencing some serious connection issues with the internet so […]

It was probably in 2007 when Dr. Andy Hoffmann of the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment first visited our community at Holy Cross Abbey. Andy Hoffmann happens to be a practicing Roman Catholic as well as an environmentalist. Addressing the community, he spoke in a conversational manner giving us a […]

I’m tempted to quote, clown that I am, Monty Python’s “Now for something totally different”. But this isn’t the time or topic for clowning! I simply want to note that posts about the vocation crisis are not concluded but need to defer to a series on the Encyclical “Laudato Si”. Cultural Context of the Intended […]

I haven’t been trying to build up tension before posting this fourth part of this consideration on the current vocation crisis in consecrated life. The delay could have been a pedagogical tool to let the data sink in and to let readers, monastic and non-monastic alike, assess their situations and realize that there are similar […]

The big question that Br. Paul Bednarczyk, CSC, asked the Vocation Directors and Superiors of our U.S. monasteries was “Where will you be twenty-five years from now?” That is a question that no one can answer for sure but what may be very significant is that question had not been asked before. Decades ago, when I lived in […]

As we’ve been know to say in the past forty years, do you want to hear the bad news or the good news first? Actually, I’m not sure whether that’s the appropriate question in this case since we can’t forecast where things are going. We can only refer to what we know from the past […]

James A. McLean was born to Catherine Grady McLean and Alexander W. McLean on 8 April, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. James had two brothers and a younger sister; Francis McLean would become a Christian Brother. James had already graduated from St. Joseph’s College (Philadelphia) with a Bachelor’s Degree when he entered the novitiate of Our Lady […]

MEETING OF THE SUPERIORS AND VOCATION DIRECTORS, PART ONE Last week the Vocation Directors and the Superiors of our monasteries of the United States Region met to consider the current vocation crisis and what response our communities might make. Our nuns and monks convened at Holy Spirit Abbey, Conyers, Georgia, bringing together sixteen vocation directors and thirteen superiors. […]