The ‘Esoteric’ Benedict XVI
by Rod Dreher, The American Conservative:
I got a Google News alert about The Benedict Option, tipping me off to this column by an Australian Jesuit criticizing the concept. He wrote, in part:
A few years ago in the United States, marked by greater polarisation and consequently sharper judgment of particular social trends, such disgust led media commentator Rod Dreher to propose the Benedict option. At that time a recent convert to Catholicism, he was appalled by the collapse of support for traditional marriage, the tolerance of abortion and the pressure for gay marriage. Untypically, he associated these trends with the excesses of economic liberalism, militarism and corporate greed. The Benedict option, named after the fifth century Catholic saint who founded monasteries and whose Rule has been adapted by monastic movements throughout Western Europe, invited Catholics in particular to withdraw as far as possible from society. They were to form intentional communities held together by such practices as common prayer and home education for children.
Where to begin with this? The priest couldn’t possibly have read The Benedict Option, because in it, I make clear that I am an Orthodox Christian. I have not been Catholic since 2006, as most people who read me know. Second, I do not “invite Catholics in particular to withdraw as far as possible from society” — a concept the priest later mischaracterizes as my proposing a “carefree” escape.
The book was published over four years ago, and I still have to deal with these bad faith takes. As is perfectly clear from the text of the book itself, and from many things I’ve written about it, I propose Benedict Option communities for Christians (Catholics and otherwise) who live within society, so they can hold on more firmly to their faith even as they live and move within post-Christian, and increasingly anti-Christian, society. Of course the concept is open to criticism, and I welcome criticism. But criticize what I actually propose, not the straw man you think I propose!
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