Phrase Benedict Option absent from article about actual Benedictines renewing culture

This is a really good article about the incredible restoration going on in Norcia, the birthplace of St. Benedict. Very timely also, and it also contains a plethora of phrases relevant to Christianity and Catholicism in particular. Among these are New Evangelization, restoration of monastic culture, scholastic education, Gregorian chant, ressourcment, traditional monastic horarium and dynamic renewal. Real positive ideas which all have meanings.

Note that there are no mentions of the so-called Benedict Option in this article anymore than there are mentions of unicorns, global warming, Santa's elves or queer theory. Also conspicuously absent is the cute abbreviation BenOp which is preferred by most of the BOppers out there.

RTWT; here are a few interesting paragraphs:

In addition, the monks have engaged in many cultural endeavors. Looking back to the mandate of Vatican II, this may be the best way to understand the call for “adaption.” As I have written elsewhere, Cardinal Pell described their brewery, Birra Nursia, as a genuine expression of the New Evangelization. The monks see the brewery as an apostolate for engaging non-believers and though their brewery has only been around for a few years (since 2012) it has had a large impact, even being served at the last papal conclave!

...

The monastery’s new CD, Benedicta: Marian Chants from Norcia, was produced in partnership with de Montfort Music, a highly successful label, producing 3 of the top five classical albums for 2014. The CD presents many traditional Marian hymns and antiphons, some of which will be readily recognizable, but what stands out to me is that the CD also includes an original composition. This, once again, reflects the creative and dynamic renewal of the Norcia monks. The text and music of the original piece, Nos Qui Christi Iugum (“We Who Have Received Christ’s Yoke”), were composed by Fr. Basil Nixen, the monastery’s choirmaster.

I would encourage everyone to purchase the CD, not only for its beauty and inducement to contemplation, but also to support the great work of renewal undertaken by the Monastery of St. Benedict of Norcia. We all have a great work ahead of us to rebuild the foundations of our civilization. In this work, we will all be carried by the prayers and labors of contemplatives. Their renewal, the renewal of the monastic foundation, may just leaven the whole project of rebuilding. And where better to start, but in the very home of the great builder of the foundations of Western civilization, St Benedict?

That sounds like a good CD to buy if you want to support these good monks. I'm sure the beer kicks, too, but I'm stocked for a few more weeks, thanks.

Real monks doing real stuff making good music, good beer and praying their asses off. I have no doubt that these men are having a real effect on the world by their prayers and actions, their ora et labora. My guess is they don't have a lot of time to discuss imaginary places, persons or things like the Benedict Option. That exercise wouldn't really fit under either category, although maybe a Latin scholar could devise a quick phrase which translates roughly to "talking about praying tomorrow most likely, thinking about working later on and definitely planning to write a book someday."

The Dante Trail trail: E Beeros, Christos

Eh...I might have fudged the Latin a bit. Whatever.

This post wraps up Rod's Italian vacation and our studious following of it as well. A quick synopsis:

Rod likes the Benedictine monastery in Norcia, a lot, for a whole host of reasons, but beer seems to be the one shoving itself into the camera frame. Three of the five pics in his last overseas post were either of or about the beer they brew, and his general takeaway was that the beer helped them bring people to the Church, hence the subtitle of our post.

This could also be a revealing element of Rod's teologia dei suini which we've been unpacking here, namely that, for some souls like Rod, everything that goes in their goozlepipe comes to be regarded as a divine sacrament.

Rod would also like us to know, PAULI, PIK, and DIANE

I told the monks a bit of my story, about how I became Orthodox. There was no sense of judgment or hardness toward me for having left the Catholic Church.

So there.

I graded the beer pics as food pics, bringing our final tote to:

Total pics: 43 - 100%

Selfies: 7 - 16% of total

Things Rod Ate: 12 - 24% of total

Hope someone out there had the winning square. I didn't. I had bet on more selfies, but food took the lead in the final straightaway

Our final Dante Trail trail takeaway: given the preview we've seen on the Dante Trail trail, boy, howdy, will Rod be batting out of his league trying to fuse a figure like Dante into his personal spiritual maelstrom.

There's been no hint so far that his engagement with Dante in Italy has been anything beyond travel guide name- and place-dropping, while the overwhelming focus of the content has been Rod's comestible-obsessed feeling tour of the small part of Italy he could afford to visit.

An honest book about Rod for those for whom he's their spiritual guru? That would sell, to those people. A serious, scholastically researched book about Dante? Well, maybe there's still room for another one, even by an amateur.

But a book where Rod in effect only rubs Dante's head for luck while leading us on a pseudo-Dantean journey through his own personal Hell? This is bait for the publishing Erinyes, fer sure. May they be merciful and not take his eyes.

And with this I'll hand it over to our readers. What sort of Dante-based book about saving Rod's life would you or anyone you know be likely to buy?

Bud horses honor victims of 9/11

What? No beer summit?

LOL.

Here's the full story. I guess the translator acted stupidly on this occasion. I heard another report on the radio this morning that Clinton made an apology for the shrill tone of her remarks. I was thinking: if I was the student, I'd be a little disappointed that I didn't get a "beer summit" out of the deal, you know, kicking back with that powerful American babe at a local bar during happy hour to have a big laugh about the whole thing.

You can't blame an African translator, though, for confusing former President Clinton and President Obama. It's got to be somewhat mystifying since Clinton is the "First Black President" and Obama is the first African-American President.