The Fatal Flaw in the Benedict Option

Clear Creek Monastery? It is not a well meaning pastor trying to make up an alternative Christian community. It is a group of men who are doing it by the book. Literally. And the book is the Rule of St Benedict.

Religious communities are notoriously difficult to manage because, to be honest, they attract weirdos. I say this with respect as a fellow weirdo. We’re different. We march to a different drum. If we have a passion for religion we’re out of the mainstream. As such we tend to be strong minded individuals. We have the backbone to stand up for something and be different. This is the strength of the religious personality, but it is also our weakness. Too often we want to do things our way and expect everyone else to ask “How high?” when we say “Jump!”

Self made religious communities like the ones Simms discusses and in which I grew up attract this sort of person both as leader and follower, and without any oversight the whole thing soon collapses into all the problems I have outlined.

The Catholic Church, on the other hand, has sufficient experience, wisdom, structure and hierarchy to control these radical religious impulses. As a diocesan priest it is a good thing that I have the diocesan money men looking over my shoulder expecting a monthly financial report from my parish. Its a good thing that the bishop is my boss and that he is a pragmatic and yet spiritual man who can see the big picture. I could go on.

When it comes to religious communities, it is a good thing that the Abbot is in charge, and that he should be a man of experience, wisdom and shrewd understanding of human nature. It is a good thing that the religious communities are strict, that they expect obedience and that all conform like soldiers in the Lord’s army. Is there still room for abuse? Of course, but the Catholic Church contains and restrains this impulsive Christianity.

Dreher’s Benedict Option is a good idea, and I wish Protestants adopting it every luck and blessing, but they should not be surprised when their experiment crumbles. Their various experiments have been crumbling in one way or another for the last 500 years.

What I’m taking from the Benedict option is one of the suggestions in Dreher’s book: that our parish will become more intentional, that our school will develop a deeper sense of mission, that our worship will be more deeply beautiful, our lives more grounded in the reality of the gospel and our mission in the community more exemplary and vital.