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  • New effort to engage Spain’s nuns and monks through the “Contemplative Life in Synodality”

Contemplative Life in Synodality

<p>Monastery Cisterciense Orden Cardeña</p>

Monastery Cisterciense Orden Cardeña

Photo caption: Monastery Cisterciense Orden Cardeña

 

This year sees the roll-out of a new initiative called the “Contemplative Life in Synodality” project, which aims to connect nuns and monks from a range of orders and congregations across Spain, so they can share ideas about the contemplative life and grow in unity.

“Contemplative life” refers to the choice made by people, such as nuns and monks, to live a life dedicated to prayer, silence and contemplation. Because of their choice, contemplatives learn and share great compassion and can exemplify what it means to find joy in spirituality rather than materiality.

The new project is led by Monastery Cisterciense Orden Cardeña with support from Porticus Iberia and will last for the next three years, following the approval of key funding in October 2022 by the Porticus Faith sector, as part of the Building a Vital Church (BVC) programme on Synodality.

Both the programme and this project are a response to Pope Francis’ call for greater communication and co-operation across the Catholic Church as part of his “Synod on Synodality”, the ambitious plan to foster a more inclusive and participatory Church, which started in October 2021.

Spain is home to one third of the world´s Catholic contemplative life and hosts the largest number of monasteries. The “Contemplative Life in Synodality” project aims to engage as many of the 8,328 nuns and monks residing in Spain’s 725 monasteries as possible.

The primary aims of the project are to encourage meaningful participation, develop new thinking and structural changes that align with Pope Francis’ call for “more evangelical forms in keeping with what must be lived in order to be a light in our world.”

Christine Bodewes, BVC challenge lead at Porticus, said: “This grant is part of the global programme on the Synod and makes an important contribution to developing curriculum and practices that are steeped in a more Synodal church. That means one which is inclusive, participatory, professional, co-responsible and engaged with the large monastic community in Spain. Monastics have been prioritized by Pope Francis and efforts have been made to better support them and better guide their formation, finances and governance. They make a key contribution to the church because of their full commitment to prayer and spirituality, undertaken for the benefit of both church and the wider global community.”

The project responds to the specific needs of contemplative life, as identified by an initial working group, which has been gathering feedback over the last year. This group is made up of 10-15 nuns and monks who represent various contemplative charisms in Spain.

The participants of the working group started from scratch - meeting for the first time, then discerning and designing their own course trajectory together as a result of the analysis of the current needs of contemplative life. They did so through a co-creation process in conjunction with Porticus Iberia and Comillas Pontifical University’s Leadership of Discernment training team. These two groups worked closely with María José Tuñón, the Director of the Secretariat of the Commission for Consecrated Life at the Spanish Episcopal Conference.

Areas of interest identified as relevant so far include: Synodal and discerning leadership training; strengthening economic management capacities; and building internal and external communication channels in order to share experiences, resources and good practices.

In broader terms, one of the key aims of this outreach is to ensure that those living the contemplative life embrace and are ready to engage with the new Synodality process.

By the very nature of the monastic cloistered lifestyle, it is important to ensure that their far-reaching contribution is taken into account in the consultation, following Pope Francis’ vision of contemplatives: “The world needs you as lighthouses that light up the path of men and women of our time.” It’s worth mentioning also that the majority of contemplatives in Spain are women (around 94%), so it’s paramount that nuns in particular have a voice and a seat at the table during this critical time of listening, learning and engagement.

The leaders of the Church are also aware that the spiritual side of the contemplative life has a unique set of attributes that will provide an essential plank in the building of a more inclusive Church. As María José Tuñón explains: “We live in a world that focuses on the spectacular, and I believe that the contemplative life is a bet – a commitment to a hidden fruitfulness to which God calls us – to the value of the small, of what is invisible to our eyes – but which in the end is what is essential and what brings us true joy.”

More information about this project is available in this video (link)