The Benedict Option

Before launching into this post a little background...
This is my original blog which I launched during my first year in seminary on April 26, 2007...eight years ago.  It's been dormant for quite some time. But I have thoughts I'd like to share and  don't want to clutter up the Red Door Diary, which is meant to be just that.  So this is where I have, and will resume; posting articles, sermons, prayers, book reviews, thoughts on culture, the Faith, coffee, beer, Wisconsin, whatever.

The oldest blogposts have lots of sweet stories about the Mancub when he was little. It's fun to read them and reminisce.

The title Gathering Life For Eternity comes from Fr. Alexander Schmemann's words here.

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I've been increasingly fascinated by "the Benedict Option" lately. Author Rod Dreher suggests that American culture is in a similar condition as the Roman Empire was in the 6th century:   crumbling from enculturaed narcissism and which had also crept into the Church. Benedict of Nursia created a way of being Church that withstood the cultural narcissism and preserved not only Christian Faith but things like farming and the arts as well. Scholars say that The Rule of St. Benedict is the greatest piece of Western literature after the Bible and that the 37,000 Benedictine monasteries throughout Europe are what saved and recovered European culture from the Dark Ages...so Benedict's kind of a big deal. Dreher suggests that we need a "new Benedict." I could go on explaining but you should hear it from the horse's mouth. Here's two talks by Dreher I've recently watched that I recommend if you're interested...

19 Minute Talk

1 Hour & 15 Minute Talk