Page 2 - Priorities #10 1999-July

Benedictine Letter
Iam always impressed by the number of alumni who remember the campus atmosphere as the unique feature they loved best at Woodside Priory. They mention incidents of cooperative attitude, times when someone listened to them and responded thoughtfully, the feeling that people around them really knew them, liked them, and were gladtohavethemaround. Relationshipswithfaculty usually get high marks.
To me, these reflections are evidence that the Benedictine spirit is thriving at Woodside Priory. St. Benedict’s Rule is a short and simple one. It is among the first known written guidelines for living with civility in a community.
Benedict wrote his Rule for small, monastic communities of adults who would be together throughout their lives. They could not easily escape the consequences of their behavior toward each other. They had different roles to play - sometimes leader, sometimes follower, as they accomplished the different tasks of their individual and community lives. Benedict believed (probably from his own experience) that points of conflict could be anticipated. Responses could be based on mutual respect, salted with the personal humility and generosity God would expect.
Schools and monasteries have much in common; perhaps that is why Benedictine schools have thrived for about 1,500 years trying to live by his Rule.
At Woodside Priory’s strategic planning retreat last fall, faculty and trustees said we should have a plan to preserve Benedict’s values here. As the campus looks towards its 50th anniversary, and as the number of teaching monks dwindles, they are concerned that we not forget our origins.
Part of the task is simply asking everyone to be aware that our “campus culture,” so to speak, comes from Benedict. Obviously, similar values are espoused in many places but for us Benedict is the source. We can save a lot of energy by simply staying in touch with this wellspring.
A strategic planning committee, headed by the Campus Ministry and Theology Department faculty members, has been at work since September drawing up a plan and implementing it.
In at least a dozen ways, parents, students, staff and even visitors to our web site are now reminded of Woodside Priory’s campus values and their source. New class retreat and chapel activities especially involve students in the process of reflective thinking — that link between what we say and what we do. Somewhere in Benedict’s rule is the comment that God often speaks first through the young.
The committee identified possible ways to attract more Benedictine monks, nuns or monastic scholars. We contacted several monasteries and offered residence on our campus to Benedictines pursuing studies at local universities. We expanded our pool of candidates to include Benedictines whenever we have a job opening of any kind. We will continue to try. However, the decline in those religious vocations is a fact. It would be unrealistic to imagine that our Benedictine future will come from young people suddenly drawn to monastic life.
Thus, I envision the Priory of 2050 alive with Benedictine spirit transmitted from class to class, from faculty member to faculty member, from each group of parents to each new group. Alumni can have a crucial part in this sharing of culture. Andy Kuchins, Class of ‘77, demonstrated how it can be done. He came to lunch with several students recently and simply compared notes on the Priory experience then and now. It’s an old Benedictine tradition to listen, respect each other’s views, and share ideas. John Lanzone shared a letter in the last Priorities (it is now on our web site in the alumni section). Dora Arredondo and Joe Montero both returned to teach. (See Dora’s story on page 16; Joe is now both soccer coach and math teacher here.)
As Director of Alumni Affairs, I look forward to helping this old/new kind of Benedictine education begin.
Maritn Mager, OSB
A strategic planning committee has been at work since last September on a plan to preserve St. Benedict’s values on our campus.
On the cover: Ambassador Shirley Temple-Black addresses the last graduating class of the millennium.
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