Exchange between monastery and world

Center for Monastic Culture. The first meeting took place at the House of Religious Orders in Bonn.

Centre for Monastic Culture

The meetings under the title ‘Centre for Monastic Culture’ provide an opportunity to get to know each other and were organised to unearth ideas for a dialogue between monastery and world, for questions about what the traditional and present-day monastic culture have to offer to our modern society in terms of answers and future prospects, and about how members of religious orders and lay people can work together on various projects.

The idea of a ‘Centre for Monastic Culture’ was the starting point for the association to focus on working as an expert network and a knowledge platform.

From idea to foundation

‘Centre for Monastic Culture’, (ZfKK), 2014 in Bonn

On Wednesday, 22 October 2014, the first workshop on establishing a ‘Centre for Monastic Culture’ took place at the Haus der Orden in Bonn (House of Orders – office of the DOK Deutsche Ordensobernkonferenz e.V.). Twelve participants from ‘monastery’ and ‘world’ came together on the initiative of Martin Erdmann and Lara Buschmann (KLOSTERLAND e.V.) to spend a day discussing possibilities for dialogue and transfer between these two ways of life, and to develop content, potential participation and potential use, as well as structures for such a centre. The composition of the group, which included members of various religious orders, representatives of public relations and of project and cultural management, allowed a comprehensive examination of the topic and led to initial results.

Decentralised examination of specific topics relating to monastic culture

At the end of the day, it was clear that the group had succeeded in initiating an exchange on both a discursive and personal level, the intensity of which was evident in the fact that there was not enough time to discuss all the topics proposed. The participants agreed for the time being to regard the ‘Centre for Monastic Culture’ as a group and to continue working on the subject area together, though in a decentralised way. On the other hand, there is a long-term desire for a specific location where questions can be answered and elements of monastic life can be transferred and experienced in a ‘secular’ everyday context. This location should be open to all interest groups and geared towards dialogue, in line with the objective of joint work on the topic by monastic and secular people. Especially former monasteries, such as the members of the KLOSTERLAND association, could become places of transfer between monastery and world.

Aspects of monastic culture

Treffen ZfKK im Kloster Wettenhausen, Br. Felix Weckenmann, OSB Beuron – 13

‘Centre for Monastic Culture’ (ZfKK), 2015 in Wettenhausen

From 25 to 27 April 2015, the second meeting of the ‘Centre for Monastic Culture’ took place at Wettenhausen Abbey. A small group of experts from all over Germany addressed the question of which aspects of monastic culture are particularly topical and relevant and should therefore be the focus of future meetings. The KLOSTERLAND association was once again involved in the organisation and conception of the event and was represented by three delegates from Berlin and Brandenburg. It was an exciting meeting with a productive exchange in a simply magical location!

Monastery gardens and Lectio Divina

Zentrum Für Klosterkultur 10.11.15 Lehnin Foto F. Weckenmann 3

Zentrum für Klosterkultur (ZfKK), 2015 in Lehnin

The third meeting of the ‘Centre for Monastic Culture’ took place on the day after the symposium KLOSTER.LAND.WIRTSCHAFT (monastic agriculture) on 10 November 2015 at Lehnin Abbey (Brandenburg) and continued to discuss the symposium’s topic in a smaller group.