By J. Michael Parker
For Today’s Catholic
SAN ANTONIO -- For the past two years, Cecilia Von Bertrab has spent the first Saturday morning each month between September and May learning about Christian mysticism.
These classes have so enriched her life that she can’t wait to start the third and last year of the curriculum, “Christian Mysticism: History, Wisdom and Insights.” The three-year series is sponsored jointly by Contemplative Outreach of San Antonio, The Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health and Oblate School of Theology. Beginning Sept. 12, classes meet the first Saturday each month from 9 a.m. to noon at Colonial Hills United Methodist Church, 5247 Vance Jackson Road.
Registration is through Oblate School of Theology. Tuition is $200 for the year. Call Sharon Mungo at (210) 465-9591 or visit the Web site www.ChristianMysticismSA.org for more information. This year’s course is open to those who have not taken the previous ones.
Speakers on various topics will include Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI, president of Oblate School of Theology; Father Thomas Hopko of St. Vladimir’s Seminary in New York; Howard Macy of George Fox University in Oregon, Dr. Carla Cooper of Houston; and Father Cyprian Consiglio, OSB, of California.
Von Bertrab isn’t alone in her anticipation. Course director Ed Alcott said that when the first yearly segment of the course was announced, he expected no more than 30 people to register. Instead, he got nearly 200. And like Von Bertrab, they didn’t simply come a few times and then lose interest. Last year’s registration was 170. They’ve come faithfully to every class and enthusiastically embraced and applied all they’ve learned. Now, they’re anxious to taste the “icing on the cake,” so to speak – modern mysticism.
“I especially liked St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, Meister Eckhert, St. Augustine and the anonymous author of ‘The Cloud of Unknowing,’” Von Bertrab said. “I enjoyed the course even more than I expected to, because it’s ecumenical. We’ve had retreats together, so we’ve created real bonds; I never expected that. Nobody cares whether we’re Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist of whatever. We’re all on the same journey, seeking.”
Von Bertrab said she anxiously anticipates studying the mystical experiences of this year’s subjects and how those experiences impacted their lives. “They help me live out my own life – even the ones who lived 500 or 1,000 years ago,” she said.
The course will begin with Russian Orthodox spirituality, then will cover units on Protestant mystics, St. Therese of Lisieux (the “Little Flower”), psychology and spirituality, Simone Weil, Thomas Merton, John Main, Bede Griffiths and Christian Mysticism today.
“This year’s classes should be even better attended, because the major names in mysticism are more contemporary. These are people who lived in our lifetimes or recent times. People today can relate more easily to them than to mystics of ancient or medieval times,” Alcott said.
The course will look at Russian Orthodox spirituality, which is monastic. Of the three great Christian traditions – Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism – the Orthodox tradition has put the most emphasis on mysticism.