ARTICLES

New Age Nuns

PLANNING A RETREAT IN ALPINE?

Among the retreat centers listed in the San Diego diocesan directory is La Providencia, located in a semi-rural setting in East San Diego County. The center is staffed by two Catholic nuns, Sisters Patricia Hanson, CSJO (Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange) and Millicent Peaslee, OLVM (Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters). Following the custom of many contemporary American nuns, neither wears a habit. La Providencia's inclusion in a diocesan directory and its administration by Catholic nuns is where its similarity to conventional Catholic retreat houses ends. In an introductory brochure La Providencia is described as a "spiritual renewal center, located on sacred land in the hills of Alpine [641 North Glen Oaks Drive]" and as "a gathering place offering opportunities for prayer, ceremony and ritual." The reader is invited to "come into union with Earth-Wisdom, with inner-wisdom ... in order to live in a sacred manner."

Also featured in the brochure is a tree diagram titled "Spirituality for the 21st Century." The tree's root is labeled as inner quieting. Coming off the main trunk, labeled as La Providencia, are five large branches denoting cosmic awareness, ritual, healing, mindfulness and life food. The 22 smaller branches are labeled as in touch with earth; Christian mysticism; yoga; art/dance; meditation; prayer; visualization; peace, justice, expression; earth-cycle seasons; transitions in life; celebrations; Eucharist; masculine/feminine balance; ecology; consciousness raising; simple life style; chanting; energy balancing; body therapy; relaxation techniques; breathing; and eating simply, nutritiously.

In an August 11 phone interview Sister Millie described La Providencia's approach to spirituality: "We have it open for people of all faiths and what we usually ask is, where they are and what they are looking for on their faith journey, no matter what belief system they have, and we just try to help them attain that."

According to a flyer advertising a weekend retreat at La Providencia, the two sisters have long years of experience in various parish, diocesan and other ministries. Both women have MAs in religious education and work as co-directresses of La Providencia. Sister Pat describes herself as a liturgist and body therapist and, says the flyer, "her focus is on eco-spirituality that integrates the body, mind and spirit." The center's winter 1996­1997 newsletter advertised a presentation on eco-spirituality at La Providencia, aimed at "integrating the new cosmology with our lives. Learning to treat our world as companion rather than as servant."

Curiosity first led me to La Providencia in the spring of 1997. I attended an evening "spring equinox celebration" there on March 19, a date traditionally observed by Roman Catholics as the Feast of St. Joseph. The event was announced in the bulletin for Queen of Angels parish in Alpine. On display in the house was a placard with a brief meditation honoring the saint. The sisters said they had used the meditation for their morning prayer; the focus of the evening, however, was on the spring equinox. The nine attendees, all women, sat in the living room around a coffee table adorned with an abalone shell and a bowl of earth. The living room was dominated by a photo of the earth taken from space. Numerous art objects and images, many with a New Age or Native American motif, were on display in the living room. On one shelf were numerous images of Mary.

The celebration, led by Sister Pat, started with each of the participants, all women, sharing what the word "spring" connoted to her. After the sharing "A Spring Equinox Ritual" was read aloud from Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual (1989) by Edward Hays, a Catholic priest: " The Ancient Ones danced like children to the mystery of new life and sprouting vegetation.... With reverence, let yourself be touched by this hidden memory as you respond to the tidal-gravitational tug of the planet Earth on this feast." This meditation does not mention any traditional Judeo-Christian themes. This was followed by the nature-centered "Lenten Psalm of Longing," from the same book, which does mention God, Jesus and "the Spirit." I did not observe either sister or any guest making the sign of the cross.

In his "Autumn Equinox Prayer" Hays prays, "I greet you, sons of darkness, envy and the need to be noticed; I fear you not, for you can teach me how I must love myself fully if I am to love others and my God with all my heart." A daily prayer reads, "May this prayer and all I do this day be in holy harmony with Tibetan prayer wheels that spin in sacred praise of you, with oblations in Hindu temples ... and the sacred offerings of all peoples.... May my heart pulse in rhythm with the drum beats of Hopi Indians, with Hindu flutes that delight in Krishna and the chimes of Buddhist temple bells." From Hays' advice for creating a prayer shrine: "If you view all the world as both good and sacred, as God's temple, it would be natural to select an earthen icon for your shrine. This could be a curved branch, a rock, a feather or a flower.... Another awesome icon is the NASA photograph of the earth viewed from space. This sacred image ... unfortunately is often considered today as just a picture of our planet."

Later in the evening Sister Pat explained that she and Sister Millie were using this book as their daily prayer manual. Moira Noonan, a local Catholic convert from New Age spirituality and speaker on the subject, describes Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim as "basically a revival of pagan spirituality. Noonan further observed, "Much of this writing appears to be very similar to that of the excommunicated priest, Father Matthew Fox, the exponent of creation spirituality."

In the August interview I asked Sister Millie if they were teaching according to Father Fox's work. "Not necessarily.... it's not part of our particular program. He has a lot of good things, but we don't especially teach what he teaches." On Noonan's observation of similarities between Fathers Fox and Hays: "I think there's some common threads. What they're saying is ... there are many scientific discoveries. We know that the universe is much broader, much greater than anybody could imagine. And yet some of our prayers have limited God. At least that's what Father Hays has suggested. We need to expand our whole idea of who and what God is. That God is way beyond anything we could ever imagine before.... Yet many people are still kind of bogged down with a very primitive ... idea of the world.... And that's what Ed Hays is trying to teach.... He's trying to just expand our consciousness."

After the ceremony Sister Pat showed me the retreat center's collection of books for sale. Many of their titles and covers evoked New Age or other non-Judeo-Christian spirituality. She strongly recommended all of Hays' various books, particularly The Lenten Labyrinth: Daily Reflections for the Journey of Lent (1994). "Nearly all labyrinths were intended to be maze-maps reflecting each person's journey to God," Hays explains. La Providencia offered a labyrinth-based spiritual exercise which, she said, like the Hays book, was based on the centuries-old labyrinth in the floor of the cathedral in Chartres, France.

Hays' approach to Lenten disciplines is somewhat unique: "Friday is a day to abstain from meat and perhaps to fast. This Lenten Friday, however, may be just the day not to abstain. One of the reasons for fasting and abstaining in Lent is to curb voracious appetites.... Yet Lent is also a time to stop and create space to be truly nourished.... The paradox is that fine music, fine art and fine food can nourish us deeply.... While Lent is a time traditionally to give up something we enjoy, it can also be the time to take up-- with purity-- that which we enjoy most and which nourishes us most deeply." Another of Hays' observations: "Being spiritually blind is a form of defective sight that makes other people's religions appear to you as inherently false, inferior and even diabolical." In a discussion of Luke 11:24­26 (part of Jesus' discourse on casting out evil spirits) Hays seems to equate evil spirits with bad memories. "He's making very light of Gospel teaching," Noonan commented. "And the word of Our Lord. He's using Gospel passages as metaphysical and symbolic, like New Agers do when they teach out of the Bible. This interpretation is a complete denial of evil spirits."

On Spy Wednesday of Holy Week, March 26, 1997, Sisters Pat and Millie hosted a ritual meal for eight guests at La Providencia, called "Retelling the Rainbow: A Meal for Earth and Water, Air and Fire." It was advertised in the Queen of Angels bulletin as "a celebration of the unity and diversity of all creation." The ceremony was published as an article in the March/April 1992 issue of Creation Spirituality and, according to the sisters, was specially composed for the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The room was darkened and the table was set with lit candles and a crystal. Guests were wearing name tags, and I noticed two nuns, neither in habits. I had the impression that most of the other guests, all women, were Queen of Angels parishioners. The ceremony began with a "song on the Earth and caring for it" and consisted of meditations read aloud, which focus primarily on nature's gifts, caring for the earth and impending ecological disaster, using metaphors from the Biblical story of Noah and the flood. The term "God" or any reference to the Persons of the Holy Trinity is never used, but the "Breath of Life" is used twice.

La Providencia offers seasonal celebrations, labyrinth walking, observances of astronomical events, Reiki massage and training, spiritual direction, retreats, many of which have an environmentalist flavor. The sisters were hosting weekly prayer groups until the fall of 1998. A local Catholic who attended a retreat at La Providencia in February of this year, along with her church group, worries about what non-Catholics might think of the Catholic Church after going to La Providencia. "I was horrified at the blessing before our meal led by Sister Millicent that was chanted toward the earth, the chimes inscribed with the words, 'we are all mothers of God,' the labyrinth, and a picture of a mother and child with the words, 'this is my body, this is my blood.' I could not believe I was in a retreat house run by Catholic sisters."

La Providencia's newsletters promote nature-centered spirituality, "the new cosmology," environmental activism and changing one's lifestyle to benefit the environment. An article in their spring 1997 issue, reprinted from another source, asserts that "We are the midwives who must help give birth to a new global order...."

Sister Millie told me that La Providencia is "typically Catholic, but maybe not in the old-fashioned sense," and that she and Sister Pat are Catholic sisters in good standing. She takes a dim view of News Notes : "They are very closed-minded and that's not the way God wants us to be. He wants us to keep the faith, for sure, but advance to new and more expansive ideas." On August 12 I called Bernadeane Carr, the diocesan communications director. She declined to comment, on the basis of the diocese's prohibition against chancery personnel speaking to News Notes .