Is It Time for the Benedict Option? (moral and social disintegration)

NC Register ^ | May 28, 2015 | Fr. Dwight Longenecker

[NYer]

The poet T.S. Eliot predicted that, after the disintegration of Western society, civilization would be conserved and restored by a new monastic movement. He was referring to the events at the end of the fifth century, when Benedict of Nursia abandoned the decaying Roman Empire and established small communities of men and women dedicated to prayer, work and study.

In Benedict’s day, the once-great Roman Empire had collapsed into chaos. Through economic disaster, famine, plague, moral decadence and political corruption, the society was enervated and vulnerable. Barbarians invaded from the north and east, sensing lucrative spoils to be had.

In the face of the moral and social disintegration, Benedict established core communities of intentional disciples, and the seed of his life and work eventually blossomed into the strength and glory of Christian Europe.

Eastern-Orthodox journalist Rod Dreher has been writing for some time about the collapse of Christianity in the West and has been predicting and calling for what he calls the “Benedict Option.” He envisions a grassroots movement that echoes the witness of St. Benedict. Dreher writes:

“In our time, the Benedict Option does not offer a formula (at least not yet), but it does call for a radical shift in perspective among Christians, one in which we see ourselves as living in the ruins (though very comfortable ones!) of Christian civilization and tasked with preserving the living faith through the coming Dark Ages.”

[NYer]

St. Benedict is depicted with a cross and a scroll stating 'Vade Retro Satana' ('Get thee behind me, Satan!'), which is abbreviated on the St. Benedict Medal.

[NYer]

This radical shift in Catholicism has been spoken of by others. Most famously, Pope Benedict XVI predicted:

“From today’s crisis will emerge a Church that has lost a great deal. … It will become small and will have to start pretty much all over again. It will no longer have use of the structures it built in its years of prosperity. The reduction in the number of faithful will lead to it losing an important part of its social privileges. It will start off with small groups and movements and a minority that will make faith central to experience again. It will be a more spiritual Church and will not claim a political mandate flirting with the right one minute and the left the next. It will be poor and will become the Church of the destitute.”

Ping!

[Old Sarge]

Interesting take...

[headsonpikes]

See “A Canticle For Liebowitz” for another perspective.

[OK Sun]

What people like to forget is that the “Barbarian Hordes” that sacked Rome were Christians who suffered generations of persecution by the Roman Church.

[Biggirl]

Or rather folks before being baptized as Christians.

[Louis Foxwell]

Yep. The way of Jesus has not been practiced for nearly 1000 years. A reunion of Catholic and reformation protestantism is in the offing. Neither will resemble current churches.
The prepper, Galt, and Tea Party are all expressions of the need for deep entrenchment. This will, once again, put the church at war with the world.

[JusPasenThru]

It is always dangerous to draw too precise parallels between one historical period and another; and among the most misleading of such parallels are those which have been drawn between our own age in Europe and North America and the epoch in which the Roman Empire declined into the Dark Ages. None the less certain parallels there are. A crucial turning point in that earlier history occurred when men and women of good will turned aside from the task of shoring up the Roman imperium and ceased to identify the continuation of civility and moral community with the maintenance of that imperium. What they set themselves to achieve instead—often not recognising fully what they were doing—was the construction of new forms of community within which the moral life could be sustained so that both morality and civility might survive the coming ages of barbarism and darkness. If my account of our moral condition is correct [one characterized by moral incoherence and unsettlable moral disputes in the modern world], we ought to conclude that for some time now we too have reached that turning point. What matters at this stage is the construction of local forms of community within which civility and the intellectual and moral life can be sustained through the new dark ages which are already upon us. And if the tradition of the virtues was able to survive the horrors of the last dark ages, we are not entirely without grounds for hope. This time however the barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for quite some time. And it is our lack of consciousness of this that constitutes part of our predicament. We are waiting not for a Godot, but for another—doubtless very different—St. Benedict.

(Alasdair MacIntrye, After Virtue 244-5)

The barbarians are not at the gates, but sitting in the White House. The time has come, although th government will insist that neo-Benedictine communities are illegal.

[Biggirl]

Rather, bring in the “Paul Option”, meaning it is time to evangelize for the Lord Jesus!

[OK Sun]

No, they were (so-called Arians) Christians who couldn’t find support for the Trinity in the scriptures.

[Biggirl]

I checked online and you were right. They practiced what was called Arian Christianity. In time they did accept the Roman brand of Christian faith.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Cloistering yourself from society isn’t the solution.

[Steve_Seattle]

"See “A Canticle For Liebowitz” for another perspective."

As I recall, that's about a post-nuclear-war world in which society has reverted to something resembling the Middle Ages, but in a much more bleak condition than the actual Middle Ages.

[Biggirl]

Got to also remember that by the time Benedict came around, the Roman empire had broken up. It was the western side that fall to the barbarian raids. The eastern side by that time became its own empire, better known as the Byzantine Empire.

[Steve_Seattle]

Who are you saying were Arian Christians?

[Biggirl]

That is why it is better to do what is called the “Paul option”, which means getting the good news of the Gospel out.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Oh, right! That's why they tore down the crosses and altars, burned icons and scriptures, monasteries and churches!

[OK Sun]

Not really. Many of them were martyred and most of the rest enslaved to work themselves to death in Roman mines and quarries. As with most groups, a lot of people will choose (or at least pretend) to change rather than die.

[Mrs. Don-o]

The burned the Scriptures. That was probably a part of their problem.

[Mrs. Don-o]

It could be the ground floor of the solution. Protecting and cultivating islands of faith. That's why the Benedictine monks, with their farms and schools, were the rescuers of civilization.

(I taught the section on Benedict or Nursia for my parish saint's class. Fascinating man. Highly practical, totally at the service of Christ.)