2013 Pentecost Lectures

“REVELATION AND REASON”

THE THOUGHT OF JOSEPH RATZINGER/BENEDICT XVI

The 2013 Pluscarden Pentecost Lectures – given by Fr Vincent Twomey S.V.D.,

Professor of Moral Theology at the Pontifical University of St Patrick’s College, Ireland

21st – 23rd May 2013 at Pluscarden Abbey, near Elgin

1. Tuesday 21st May at 2.45 pm
“Man’s Search for the Face of God”
[Ratzinger on Philosophy, Prophecy and Religion]
2. Wednesday 22nd May at 10.15 am
“God’s unveiling of His face”
[Ratzinger on Revelation]
3. Wednesday 22nd May at 2.45 pm
“The Sensorium of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty”
[Ratzinger on Primordial Conscience]
4. Thursday 23rd May at 10.15 am
“Orthodoxy as Divine Worship”
[Ratzinger on Reasonable Worship (Rom 12:1)]

Each year the Abbot and Community of Pluscarden Abbey sponsor a series of four lectures by an invited Theologian on an aspect of Catholic Theology. Previous Lecturers have included Professor John Haldane, Fr Aidan Nichols OP, Fr Thomas Weinandy OFM Cap, Fr Anthony Meredith SJ, Fr Paul McPartlan and Fr Tom Herbst OFM. The Lectures are held on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after Pentecost in St Scholastica’s Retreat House at the Abbey. They are open to all who wish to attend and are free. Limited accommodation is available at the Abbey and those who wish to stay should book as soon as possible. There are also many places to stay in the Elgin area: contact the local tourist office: 01343 542666.

The Lecturer
Fr D. Vincent Twomey holds a PH.D. in Theology and is a Professor of Moral Theology at the Pontifical University at St Patrick's College in Ireland. He is the author of several books including Benedict XVI. The Conscience of Our Age: A theological Portrait (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007). A former doctoral student of Joseph Ratzinger and long time friend of the Pope, he felt the need to respond to the common question he read and heard often after Ratzinger’s papal election, “What kind of person is the new Pope?” So often Fr Twomey had read in the past false depictions of both the man, and his thought and writings, especially the image presented by the media as a grim, hard-line, enforcer, “panzer Cardinal”, etc. In this book Fr Twomey offers a unique double-presentation of the man, Pope Benedict XVI – a “theological portrait” that encompasses both an overview of the writings, teachings and thought of the brilliant theologian and spiritual writer, as well as the man himself, and his personality traits and how he communicates with others.

Fr Twomey is the author of several other books and articles, including his most recent acclaimed study on the state of Irish Catholicism, The End Of Irish Catholicism? Other publications include Apostolikos Thronos: The Primacy of Rome as reflected in the Church History of Eusebius and the historico-apologetic writings of Saint Athanasius the Great (Münster, Westphalia 1981); Christianity and Neoplatonism: Proceedings of the First Patristic Conference, Joint Editor with Thomas Finan (Dublin: 1992); Scriptural Interpretation in the Fathers: Letter and Spirit: Proceedings of the Second Patristic Conference, Joint Editor with Thomas Finan (Dublin 1995); Moral Theology after Humanae Vitae: Fundamental issues in moral theory and sexual ethics (Dublin: Four Courts Press, Spring 2010); The Mystery of the Holy Trinity in the Fathers of the Church, co-edited with Lewis Ayres (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007).


The Lectures: “Revelation and Reason” The Thought of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI

“The revelation of God’s name, which began in the burning bush, comes to completion in Jesus (cf. Jn 17:26)” (Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI, page 30).

“[Ratzinger] has written on almost every theological subject touching on the faith, morality, and Church and State. He is as open to beauty as he is to truth. He lives outside himself. He is not preoccupied with his own self. Put simply, he does not take himself too seriously.
Once he asked me gently about the progress of my thesis. I told him that I thought there was still some work to be done. He turned to me with those piercing but kindly eyes, saying with a smile: ‘Nur Mut zur Lücke’ (Have the courage to leave some gaps). In other words, be courageous enough to be imperfect.
On reflection, this is one of the keys to Ratzinger’s character (and also to his theology; in particular his theology of politics): his acceptance that everything we do is imperfect, that all knowledge is limited, no matter how brilliant or well read one may be. It never bothered him that in a course of lectures he rarely covered the actual content of the course. His most famous book, Introduction to Christianity, is incomplete. Ratzinger knows in his heart and soul that God alone is perfect and that all human attempts at perfection (such as political utopias) end in disaster.
The only perfection open to us is that advocated by Jesus in the Gospel: ‘You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect’ (Mt 5:48), he who ‘makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust’ (Mt 5:45). Love of God and love of neighbour: that is the secret of Pope Benedict XVI, and that will be the core of his universal teaching.” (Introduction, Benedict XVI. The Conscience of Our Age)

Lecture 1: Man’s Search for the Face of God

“Right faith orients reason to its openness to the divine, so that, guided by love for the truth, it can know God more closely. The initiative for this path is with God who has put in man’s heart the search for his Face. Hence, part of theology, on one hand, is humility that lets itself be ‘touched’ by God, and on the other hand, discipline that is linked to the order of reason, which preserves love from blindness and which helps to develop its strength for seeing.” (Benedict XVI: Address to Ratzinger Prize Winners, July 1, 2011).


Lecture 2: God’s Unveiling of His Face

“What did Jesus actually bring, if not world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought? The answer is very simple: God. He has brought God! He has brought the God who formerly unveiled his countenance gradually first to Abraham, then to Moses and the Prophets, and then in the Wisdom Literature—the God who revealed his face only in Israel, even though he was also honoured among the pagans in various shadowy guises. It is this God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the true God, whom he has brought to the peoples of the earth. “[Jesus] has brought God, and now we know his face, now we can call upon him. Now we know the path that we human beings have to take in this world. Jesus has brought God and with God the truth about where we are going and where we come from: faith, hope, and love.” (Benedict XVI: Jesus of Nazareth Vol. 1, Bloomsbury 2007, p. 44)


Lecture 3: The Sensorium of Goodness, Truth and Beauty

Primordial conscience is “the window that for human beings opens onto a view of the common truth, which establishes and sustains us all and so makes community of decision and responsibility possible thanks to the common ground of perception.” (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Wahrheit, Werte, Macht, Prüfsteine der pluralistischen Gesellschaft, Freiburg, 1993, p. 32, Twomey translation)


Lecture 4: Orthodoxy as Divine Worship

“‘I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship’ (Rom. 12:1). [St Paul speaks] “of the desire for true worship, in which man himself becomes the glory of God, living adoration with his whole being.” (Benedict XVI: Catechesis on ‘spiritual’ worship, Jan. 7, 2009)

Election of Abbot Anselm

We are pleased to announce the election of Abbot Anselm Atkinson

Owing to the recent appointment of Abbot Hugh Gilbert as bishop of Aberdeen, the monks of Pluscarden have had to elect a new superior. On Tuesday 9th August, Dom Anselm Atkinson was elected by the monks as third Abbot of Pluscarden. His election was confirmed by Abbot Bruno Marin, Abbot President of the Subiaco Congregation. Dom Anselm was duly installed as Abbot by the Right Reverend Francis Baird, Abbot of Prinknash Abbey, acting on Abbot Bruno's behalf. The date for Abbot Anselm's blessing will be announced in due course.

Abbot Anselm made his first monastic vows at Pluscarden in 1976 at the age of nineteen. He was ordained priest in 1982 by the Right Reverend Mario Conti, who was then Bishop of Aberdeen. He was sent to study at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where he gained a Licenciate in Sacred Scripture. Since the late 1980s he has been permanently resident at our daughter house in Petersham, Massachusetts, where he was Superior until his election as Abbot of Pluscarden. In 2003 he was elected Abbot Visitor, which entails monitoring the progress of all the monasteries in our province.

We warmly invite all our friends to join their prayers to ours in thanksgiving for Abbot Anselm's election and to support him in his future ministry.

Who is the writer of this poem?

Image copyright © 2015 Pawel Rokicki

Profound the peace of Pluscarden,
As if the pine-green closing hills
Shut in the grace
Of God and all His holy Saints.
The Lauds and Matins of the past,
In that calm place,
Still seem to linger on the air
Half-heard, half-dreamt, so wholly felt
There is no time,
The soul is raised above the now,
Beyond the then. Eternity
Of faith sublime
Outlasting all the moods of fate
And savage treacheries of man,
To rise again
Triumphant from defeated stone,
And draw within its sanctuary
All human pain.

This poem was published in 1950 in PAX, the quarterly review of Prinknash Abbey. The name "R. A. Dick" is underneath, but there is no more about the identity of this person. An internet search for "R. A. Dick" reveals a writer of the same era, who wrote the novel "The Ghost and Mrs Muir", which was published in 1945 and later made into a film with the same name. "R. A. Dick" is known to have been the pen name of Josephine Aimee Campbell Leslie, who was of Scottish and Irish extraction. The tenor of Josephine Leslie's work is remarkably similar to that of the above poem; so we wonder if perhaps she and the author of the poem are one and the same.

Meeting of Chant Forum May 2010

The Chant Forum was founded five years ago by Dom Erik Varden of Mount Saint Bernard Abbey and Dame Margaret Truran of Stanbrook Abbey. It aims to promote interest in Gregorian Chant in a monastic context, with the primary focus being on practical application of the repertoire and excellence of performance.

This year the meeting took place at Pluscarden, with representatives from Ramsgate Abbey, Ealing Abbey, Ampleforth Abbey, Douai Abbey, Oulton Abbey, Chorley Down Monastery, Worth Abbey, Holy Cross Monastery Rostrevor, Stanbrook Abbey, Saint Mary's Monastery Petersham and Kristo Buase Monastery, Ghana, as well as representatives of diocesan choirs and scholas.

The keynote speaker was Jaan-Eik Tulve, an Estonian chant scholar and schola director. Jaan-Eik has had many invitations to direct monastic chant scholas from all over the world and has made several influential recordings with his own schola in Estonia. Under his direction, the Chant Forum was able to analyse in depth several important liurgical pieces, and also to perform them in the liturgy here at the Abbey.

Jaan-Eik Tulve is pictured below with Br. Michael and Fr. Benedict.

Solemn Profession of Br Aelred

On 5th March each year we celebrate the feast of Saint Ælred of Rievaulx, the great 12th century Cistercian Abbot and spiritual writer. We always keep the day as a Solemnity, as it marks a very important anniversary of our community: the day when the Anglican monks of Caldey were received into the Catholic Church in 1913. Those monks moved from Caldey in 1928, leaving the monastery in the capable hands of the Cistercians, and made their home at Prinknash Park near Gloucester. It was from Prinknash that Pluscarden was refounded in 1948.

This year, the day was especially joyful in that it was also the occasion of the Solemn Profession of our brother Ælred McColm. The ceremony is a long and beautiful one, set within the monastic Conventual Mass. The brother making his profession is prayed over by all the other solemnly professed monks. He reads out loud the manuscript of his profession chart, in which his three monastic vows of Obedience, Stability and Conversion of Life (which includes the religious vows of Poverty and Chastity) are declared before the congregation. He then signs it and places it on the altar, and then sings three times the psalm verse: "Uphold me by your promise and I shall live: let my hope not be in vain." (Ps. 118:116), which the other monks repeat after him, in ascending pitch. After this, the brother is prayed over again, and then receives his monastic Cowl and the Psalter, which is to be the sustenance of his life of prayer.

Brother Ælred was supported by his family, who were able to come and stay with us for a few days, and a happy and memorable time was enjoyed by all. After the Mass, we celebrated with a festive lunch in the cloister, cooked and served (as usual) by the monks.

Scottish Sacred Music Symposium

REPORT ON THE SYMPOSIUM ON SCOTTISH SACRED MUSIC

1 - 3 SEPTEMBER 2009

“I’ve never known three such days, in which I’ve been so educated, so entertained and so spiritually uplifted.”
This remark of an eminent musicologist was made at the end of our Symposium on Scottish Sacred Music, held from the 1st to the 3rd of September. It captures something of the common mood that prevailed throughout this extraordinary event. So many positive comments were made on every side during the course of the Symposium: then after participants had returned home, the Abbey received a stream of letters and emails expressing appreciation. Many of these noted the openness and warmth of the atmosphere, which remained friendly and relaxed throughout. Frequently expressed was a sense of excitement at being in the presence of so much knowledge and talent, here made available and accessible to all. And the quality of input was indeed astonishingly high: not only in the talks but also in the concerts. One person commented after the performance of Gaelic sacred song: “That’s the most beautiful and moving thing I’ve heard in years and years.” The wonderful appropriateness of the setting was remarked upon by many. For it all took place within our restored mediaeval walls, in a living Benedictine monastery, and within the framework of our daily sung Latin liturgy. This provided a firm background of faith and worship to the business of the Symposium. Yet, as so many remarked, there was no hint of pressure being applied on anyone, and every Scottish Christian tradition was truly represented. A Catholic Priest who was present throughout commented on the tremendous upheaval and disruption the monastic community necessarily experienced in order to accommodate the Symposium. “I’m sure” he said, “in view of the importance of the event, St. Benedict would have approved.”
The initiative for it all had come from Fr. Abbot. His idea was that Pluscarden could make a positive contribution to our national life and culture, by setting forth, in a way that seems not to have been done anywhere before, the whole narrative of Scottish Sacred Music. For some fifteen centuries, after all, Scotland has been a Christian nation, and music has always been an essential element in the expression of Christian faith. When people are tempted nowadays to sideline or forget the Christian element of our national life and history, one way of bringing it again into focus is through the medium of beauty: the beauty especially of Sacred Music.
So a team of leading experts in the field was assembled. Many were established academics, teaching in Universities up and down the country. Others were doctoral students, at the cutting edge of contemporary research. Others again were well known practitioners, such as the composer James MacMillan, or the Clarsach player Bill Taylor. The event was then publicised as widely as possible. Attendance at the talks was to be free of charge. The only qualification for participation would be an interest in the subject: emphatically not any musical expertise or great historical knowledge. The talks would be rounded off each day with an Open Forum, at which questions could be put to any of the speakers, or any other relevant points of interest raised. Then each evening, after supper, a concert would be performed of the music that had been discussed during that day.
The three days of the Symposium fell quite naturally into three historical periods: the Mediaeval and Renaissance period up to Scottish Reformation in 1560; the period from 1560 to the early 20th century, and the modern period. It quickly became apparent that a full summary of the abundantly rich material available for discussion would be impossible in so brief a time. So it seemed good to cram as much as possible into the limited time available. A tight schedule was accordingly put in place. In the event it operated remarkably smoothly, with everything running more or less exactly to time. Not that there were no slight hiccups. Once or twice the computer running the visual display died without apparent reason and had to be re-started. One speaker had to drop out at the last minute because of a sudden bereavement, and one Choir had to cancel because of the flu. Nevertheless, the vacant slots were successfully filled, and the programme proceeded without apparent hitch.
The average attendance throughout was about 100 people. This assembly would move back and forth as the days unfolded: from the Transepts-become-lecture-hall to the refreshments tent on the site of the Nave, and then to the Chancel for services and concerts.
The content of the Three Days was as follows:

Day 1: Tuesday, 1 September 2009
“Mediaeval & Renaissance Scottish Sacred Music - up to 1560”

Welcome and Introduction by Fr. Abbot

First Talk: Dr. James Reid-Baxter, Research Fellow in Scottish History, University of Glasgow:
“The Sacred Music of Robert Carver (c. 1484 - 1568).”

Second Talk: Dr. Warwick Edwards, Reader in Music, Glasgow University:
“Mediaeval Chant Manuscripts from St. Andrews Cathedral and Inchcolm Priory.”

Third Talk: Professor John Harper, Director, International Centre for Sacred Music Studies, Bangor University:
“The Bridge between Chant and Polyphony.”

Fourth Talk: Dr. Greta-Mary Hair, Honorary Research Fellow, Celtic and Scottish Studies, Edinburgh University:
“Offices for St. Andrew and St. Kentigern (the Sprouston Breviary), and Chant Fragments from Trondheim and Darnaway.”
This talk was not delivered at the Symposium: its subject matter was covered, in part, by other speakers.

Fifth Talk: Alistair Warwick, Conductor, free-lance Musician:
“Scottish Renaissance Polyphony of the 16th century - other than Carver.”

First Evening Concert.
First: a special Pluscarden Schola sang Mediaeval Scottish Chant from surviving manuscript fragments: Inchcolm, Sprouston, St. Andrews, Trondheim and Darnaway.

Then after an interval: Musick Fyne directed by D. James Ross sang Carver’s 10-part Mass for St. Michael, Dum sacrum mysterium, (1506) with propers de angelis (1440) by Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400 - 1474). This was performed as a liturgical reconstruction. It made use of the Pluscarden organ, and of the Bray Harp, played by Bill Taylor.

Day 2: Wednesday 2 September 2009
“Scottish Sacred Music from 1560 to the early 20th century”

First talk: Tim Duguid, Doctoral Student, Edinburgh University:
“Early Scots Metrical Psalm Singing.”

Second Talk: Margaret Stewart, Gaelic Singer from the Isle of Lewis:
“The Gaelic tradition of Psalm Singing.”

Third Talk: Rev. Douglas Galbraith, Secretary to the Church of Scotland Music Panel:
“The Transition from Psalms to Hymns in Scottish Reformed Worship.”

Fourth Talk: Rev. Dr. Emsley Nimmo, Dean of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney, Scottish Episcopal Church; Historian and Tutor in Christian Studies, Aberdeen University: “The Tradition of Sacred Music in the Scottish Episcopal Church.”

Fifth Talk: Dr. Peter Davidson, Professor of Renaissance Studies, Aberdeen University:
“Scottish Catholic Music 1560-1800.”

Sixth Talk: Shelagh Noden, Visiting Tutor and Doctoral Student, Aberdeen University:
“Early 19th c. Catholic Church music.”

Seventh Talk: Dr. Frances Wilkins of the Elphinstone Institute, Aberdeen:
“The Impact of Ira D. Sankey on Hymnody and Instrumental Accompaniment in North-East Scottish Worship, from 1874.”

Second Evening Concert:
First: Bill Taylor on the Clarsach accompanied James Ross with voice and early wind instruments in arrangements of Mediaeval Scottish Chant.
Then: Musick Fyne directed by D. James Ross sang early Reformed polyphonic Psalmody.
Then: Margaret Stewart sang Gaelic Spiritual Songs.

Then after an interval: The Aberdeen Consort of Voices, directed by Roger Williams MBE, sang music that could have been heard at Mass in Dufftown Catholic Church in the early 19th century. This included a Flute sonata.

Day 3: Thursday 3 September 2009
“Scottish Sacred Music in the Modern Era”

First Talk: Rev. Dr. John Bell of the Iona Community:
“The Iona Community, and its contribution to Scottish Ecumenical Hymnody.”

Second Talk: Mr. David Meiklejohn, Director of Music at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen and Educational Consultant; recently appointed by the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, to direct a post-Graduate course in Sacred MusicStudies:
“Liturgical Music in the Scottish Catholic Church of the 20th century, Before and After the Second Vatican Council (1962-65): a Personal Perspective.”

Third Talk: Professor Graham Hair, Composer, Professor Emeritus, University of Glasgow: “The Sacred Music of Thomas Wilson (1927-2001).”

Fourth Talk: Professor John Harper, Director, International Centre for Sacred Music Studies, Bangor University:
“Sacred Music in Scotland Now and in the Future: a View from the Outside.”

Fifth Talk: Dr. James MacMillan CBE, composer:
“The Spirit of the Liturgy: the Reform of the Reform.”

Third Evening Concert
The Choir of professional women singers Scottish Voices, directed by Professor Graham Hair, unfortunately had at the last minute to cancel its appearance because of illness.
The evening began then with the Pluscarden Schola singing the Gregorian Introit: “Gaudeamus omnes in Domino”. This served as an introduction to the Organ piece, “Gaudeamus in pace loci”, composed by James MacMillan for the Pluscarden Organ, and based on the Gregorian melody. The piece was played by Dr. Roger Williams MBE.
Then: Professor Graham Hair described the concert his Choir would have performed, illustrated with recordings. The title of the Concert was to be Sacred Songbook 2010: A Project for the 21st century. The project was to bring together composers of all the main world religions, including Graham Hair writing as a “Post-Modern Christian Composer”. The Choir would also have performed Robert Carver’s 3-part Mass. They hope to come here some time next year to sing the programme they would have sung for the Symposium.
Then after an interval:
The composer James MacMillan spoke about his own Sacred Music, illustrated by recorded excerpts.
To end the evening and the Symposium, all stood to sing together the Salve Regina.

Composer James MacMillan answering questions from the audience.