Saturday, October 26 | Location TBD | 1:30 PM
Speaker: Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, Norway
The Benedictine monastery is a society in miniature. Anyone who has ever visited one will know that diversity is a fact within it; one strives for equity; inclusion is expressed in this injunction, “Let every guest be received as Christ.”
Each of these values, though, is construed and applied in terms of defined boundaries. Inclusion is a good insofar as it fosters communion, but risks turning noxious if it causes division. Equity must be a function of justice, else who is to guard against the tendency that some, in an Orwellian way, claim to be more equal than others? Diversity is beautiful when it displays the range of human characters and charisms, but presupposes the harmony of the whole in order not to rupture the integrity of the body politic.
Bishop Varden will flesh out these perspectives on the basis of St. Benedict’s Rule and other sources.
*Please note that this event is registration only and space is limited.
