Mother Dolores Hart, Osb - Radio Interview

[Luigi]

Mother Dolores Hart, OSB of the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, CT was interviewed on the Tavis Smiley Show on NPR last night (Sunday, December 1, 2013). She has just published a book, The Ear of the Heart: An Actress' Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows. The interview runs about 10 minutes. Enjoy.

 

http://www.tavissmileyradio.com/mother-dolores-hart-the-ear-of-the-heart/

Edited December 2, 2013 by Luigi

[Pia Jesu]

Al Kresta ("Kresta in the Afternoon") interviewed Mother Dolores on Ave Maria Radio on 11/29/13.  Not sure if its archived yet.

She has an incredible vocation journey...past & present!  Even Kresta remarked that she was the first contemplative to ever

walk the red carpet at the Academy Awards.  The interview also revealed how open-minded the Benedictines of Regina Laudis

are...and accomodating.  The abbey even has a thriving playhouse (theatre!).

[miserere55]

Pia Jesu,

 

I am just a little curious to know which Bishop would give permission for a nun to leave the enclosure to attend the Academy Awards?  Nuns with a vow of enclosure, usually cannot attend a parents funeral, a wedding or other events.  But the Academy Awards???  Perhaps the Benedictines don't have/observe full Papal enclosure?  Or maybe the rule and constitutions permit this?  Does anyone know about Benedictines?  Sadly, I must be uninformed about this Order.  I am a bit shocked - Hollywood, really?  Is there anything more secular?  Please someone help me understand this.  I am not passing judgment, but am trying to reconcile this idea with the vow of enclosure I took and lived. Do they take a vow of enclosure?  Maybe they don't.

[Luigi]

I believe Dolores Hart walked the red carpet at the Academy Awards before she entered the monastery.

[PrayerSupporter]

Pia Jesu,

 

I am just a little curious to know which Bishop would give permission for a nun to leave the enclosure to attend the Academy Awards?  Nuns with a vow of enclosure, usually cannot attend a parents funeral, a wedding or other events.  But the Academy Awards???  Perhaps the Benedictines don't have/observe full Papal enclosure?  Or maybe the rule and constitutions permit this?  Does anyone know about Benedictines?  Sadly, I must be uninformed about this Order.  I am a bit shocked - Hollywood, really?  Is there anything more secular?  Please someone help me understand this.  I am not passing judgment, but am trying to reconcile this idea with the vow of enclosure I took and lived. Do they take a vow of enclosure?  Maybe they don't.

 

I encourage you to read Mother Dolores Hart's autobiography, The Ear of the Heart.  Like you, I, too, could not understand how a contemplative nun could continue to participate in Hollywoodish activities.  Besides reading Mother Dolores's autobiography, I visited the Regina Laudis web site (http://abbeyofreginalaudis.org) and read the book Mother Benedict: Foundress of the Abbey of Regina Laudis by Antoinette Bosco.  After reading these books and the web site I came to understand a little better what Regina Laudis is like and why they allow (and actually encourage) the activities of the nuns that they do.  If you have ever seen The Cheese Nun, she, too, is from Regina Laudis.  I think it is a unique community and although it is not a way of life that would suit me, I can better understand and appreciate their way of Benedictine life.  I believe they are very true to the Church and simply have a different approach to their community's way of life.  I sincerely hope you will read the autobiography because it explains a lot about the abbey's development to the way it is today.

[EmilyAnn]

Pia Jesu,

 

I am just a little curious to know which Bishop would give permission for a nun to leave the enclosure to attend the Academy Awards?  Nuns with a vow of enclosure, usually cannot attend a parents funeral, a wedding or other events.  But the Academy Awards???  Perhaps the Benedictines don't have/observe full Papal enclosure?  Or maybe the rule and constitutions permit this?  Does anyone know about Benedictines?  Sadly, I must be uninformed about this Order.  I am a bit shocked - Hollywood, really?  Is there anything more secular?  Please someone help me understand this.  I am not passing judgment, but am trying to reconcile this idea with the vow of enclosure I took and lived. Do they take a vow of enclosure?  Maybe they don't.

 

Whether or not a Benedictine community observes Papal enclosure or not depends on the community. Benedictine houses are each autonomous so make such decisions independently. I believe Regina Laudis observe constitutional enclosure. In this thread (go to posts 17/18) there are some particulars about Regina Laudis and the way they observe their life. 

 

Also, when Mother Dolores attended the Academy Awards a documentary about her was being nominated, so it's not like it's something she attends regularly. 

[Antigonos]

I am old enough to remember when she "suddenly disappeared" from Hollywood, and the surprise, if not shock, when it was publicized where she had gone. That is nearly two generations ago now. I think her example probably encouraged some vocations, and while I expect that she had to get permission to attend the Academy Awards, she probably thought of the positive effect it might have--why, even a starlet might be called to the religious life!

This is part of the fine line communities have to tread, if they do not have an active, visible presence in the world. It may be fine to live a "hidden life" but if you are too well hidden, no one will ever find you, and you aren't going to get vocations.

[graciandelamadrededios]

The Benedictine Nuns follows the Constitutional Enclosure and not Papal.

 

Please see the following information from the Benedictine Nuns of Walburga Abbey:

 

The Roman Catholic Church maintains two types of cloister for contemplative religious: papal enclosure and constitutional enclosure.  We observe constitutional enclosure, which allows us a certain latitude for mixing with the public, while still preserving our contemplative way of life.  We delegate certain members of the community to receive guests and retreatants; we go to town to shop and do whatever other business life requires; we answer the telephone, read newspapers and news magazines, make judicious use of the Internet, and try to stay aware of the needs of the world for which we pray daily.  However, we ordinarily do not accept work outside the confines of our monastery and valley; we do not watch television or listen to the radio; we limit our conversations with family and friends by letter, telephone and e-mail; we do not go out for social or entertainment purposes; and we visit our families only under very limited circumstances, though we welcome them to visit us once a year.

The reason for the discipline of enclosure is not that we dislike other people or the world around us.  On the contrary, we enjoy people, and we are often fascinated by what we see and read and learn about the world that is God's gift.  THAT is the reason we choose enclosure!

 

The Church stipulated the type of enclosure the Nuns should adapt and according to Verbi Sponsa:

 

THE ENCLOSURE OF NUNS

9. From the beginning and in a unique way, monasteries devoted to the contemplative life have found the enclosure a proven help in the fulfilment of their vocation. (53) The particular demands of separation from the world have thus been received by the Church and canonically ordered for the benefit of the contemplative life itself. The discipline of enclosure is therefore a gift, for it protects the foundational charism of monasteries.

 

Every contemplative Institute must faithfully maintain its form of separation from the world. Such fidelity is fundamental for the life of an Institute, which really endures only as long as it remains rooted in its original charism. (54) For this reason the vital renewal of monasteries is essentially linked to the authenticity of the search for God in contemplation and the authenticity of the means which foster that search, and it must be considered genuine when it restores its original splendour.

It is the duty, the responsibility and the joy of nuns to understand, maintain and defend, firmly and intelligently, their special vocation, safeguarding the identity of their specific charism from any attempt to alter it, whether coming from within or from without.

 

Papal enclosure

 

10. “Monasteries of nuns who are wholly devoted to the contemplative life must observe papal enclosure, that is, in accordance with the norms given by the Apostolic See”. (55)

Since a stable and binding self-offering to God more fully expresses Christ's union with the Church his Bride, papal enclosure, with its particularly rigorous form of separation, better manifests and brings about the total dedication of nuns to Jesus Christ. The enclosure is the sign, the safeguard and the form (56) of the wholly contemplative life, lived as a total gift of self, embracing the entirety of the individual's intentions and actions, so that Jesus may be truly the Lord, the sole desire and sole happiness of the nun, joyful in her expectation and radiant in the anticipated contemplation of Christ's face.

 

Papal enclosure, for nuns, is a recognition of the specific character of the wholly contemplative life in its feminine form. By fostering in a unique way within the monastic tradition the spirituality of marriage with Christ, it becomes a sign and realization of the exclusive union of the Church as Bride with her Lord. (57)

Real separation from the world, silence and solitude, express and protect the integrity and identity of the wholly contemplative life, ensuring that it remains faithful to its specific charism and to the sound traditions of the Institute.

 

The Church's Magisterium has often restated the need for this manner of life, which is a source of grace and holiness for the Church, to be faithfully maintained. (58)

11. The wholly contemplative life, in order to be considered as coming under papal enclosure, must be solely and completely ordered to the attainment of union with God in contemplation.

An Institute is considered to be of wholly contemplative life if:

a) its members direct all their activity, interior and exterior, to the fervent and constant quest for union with God;

b) it excludes external works directed, even in a limited way, to the apostolate, and physical participation in events and ministries of the ecclesial community; (59) such participation therefore should not be requested of nuns, since it would become a counter witness to their true participation in the life of the Church and to their authentic mission;

c) it involves a separation from the world that is practical and effective, (60) and not merely symbolic. Every adaptation of the forms of separation from the outside world must be carried out in such a way “that physical separation is preserved”, (61) and it must be submitted to the approval of the Holy See.

 

Enclosure according to the Constitutions

 

12. Monasteries of nuns who profess the contemplative life but associate some work of the apostolate or charity to the primary purpose of divine worship do not follow papal enclosure.

Such monasteries carefully preserve their principal or predominant character of contemplation by engaging chiefly in prayer, asceticism and fervent spiritual progress, in the careful celebration of the liturgy, in the observance of their rule and in the discipline of separation from the world. They define in their Constitutions an enclosure befitting their specific character and in accordance with sound traditions. (62)

The Superior can give permission to enter or leave the enclosure in accordance with the Institute's particular law.

 

Monasteries of nuns belonging to the ancient monastic tradition

 

13. Monasteries of nuns belonging to the venerable monastic tradition, (63) expressed in the various forms of the contemplative life, when they are entirely devoted to divine worship and live a hidden life within the walls of the monastery, observe papal enclosure; if other activities of service to the People of God are associated with the contemplative life, or if they practice more extensive forms of hospitality in fidelity to the tradition of their Order, their enclosure is defined in their Constitutions. (64)

Every monastery or monastic Congregation either follows papal enclosure or defines its own enclosure in its Constitutions, with respect for its specific character.

 

Global Britinica describes the Benedictine Order as:

 

Benedictine, member of the Order of Saint Benedict (O.S.B.),  the confederated congregations of monks and lay brothers who follow the rule of life of St. Benedict (c. 480–c. 547) and who are descendants of the traditional monasticism of the early medieval centuries in Italy and Gaul. The Benedictines, strictly speaking, do not constitute a single religious order because each monastery is autonomous.

 

This means that Benictine Order is not a unified Order of Religious Monks and Nuns but independent houses grouped into congregations.  Such as Solesme, English Benedictine, Subiaco, Casinnese, Camaldolese, Sylvesterine, Vallombrosa, Olivetan, Ottilien, and many more.  Please see: http://www.osb.org/intl/confed/confed.html

 

The Benedictines are not like the Franciscan, Dominican or the Carmelite Order where they have a Minister General / Master General / Superior General.  The Benedictines has Abbot Primate.  As per wikipedia:

 

Most Benedictine houses are loosely affiliated in 20 national or supra-national congregations. Each of these congregations elects its own Abbot President. These presidents meet annually in the Synod of Presidents. Additionally, there is a meeting every four years of the Congress of Abbots, which is made up of all abbots and conventual priors, both of monasteries that are members of congregations, as well as of those unaffiliated with any particular congregation. The Congress of Abbots elects the Abbot Primate, who serves a four-year term as the Confederation's representative and administrative head, although without direct jurisdiction over the individual Congregations.

 

I hope above information helps.

 

To answer, why Mother Dolores was able to attend the Oscars, her superiors gave her permission – her Abbess and the Bishop of the Diocese where the Abbey belongs.

 

Gracian.

Edited December 3, 2013 by graciandelamadrededios