The Passionist Research Center (continued)
In 1981 I went to Rome to participate in a Passionist Heritage Workshop. A part of the experience was going to places where St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists, had lived in and worked . I took many slides on this journey and later put them into a video. As a background I used our Sierra Madre Monastery and House in Sierra Madre, California. This artistic effort has proved to be valuable because the Sierra Madre Monastery had to be torn down in 1993 because of earthquake damage. The video is an important record of our life and work.
After leaving Rome in 1981 I went to live two weeks with the Passionist Nuns in Coventry, England. One of them, a history teacher before joining the Congregation, served as wonderful guide to the great English Cathedrals as we visited them. I went on to London and stayed one week at the Passionist monastery on Highgate Hill where I had the opportunity to do further visiting and study.
The time in California (1986-1989) was the final step of the providential preparation for the beginnings of the Passionist Research Center. During that time, I met with Dr. David Ramsey, Director of the Archives for Modern Christian Art which will soon be moved to Berkeley (it has been located at the College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA). He showed me how to organize a research center by giving me practical information as to what kind of metal cases to buy, etc. He also made me a member of the National Advisory Board for his Archives.
In 1988 Passionist Provincial Sebastian MacDonald asked me to come to Immaculate Conception, the Passionist Retreat in Chicago and bring the collection of slides, books, and art objects so as to start a research center. He provided me with a beautifully furnished room which had been used as chapel.
Presently, The Passionist Research Center houses ten thousand slides, six hundred books, one hundred videos and sixty religious art objects. Ecumenical in nature, it is used by artists, architects, historians, theologians, Directors of Religious Education, pastors and students. Two video production companies have come and copied over five hundred slides to use as background for programs.
Personally, collecting and contemplating the images of Jesus Christ has had a profound effect on my own life and ministry. Being an extrovert, I need something outside me to help me get in touch with the spiritual. To be able to spend six to eight hours a day in touch with the Pascal mystery all around me has been a special grace in my life. Each image is an authentic but not a comprehensive image of Christ. It is especially in the inculturation of Christ's image in diverse cultures that the most fruitful art is produced today.
The "memory of Christ's Passion" is equally present as I begin any experience of ministerial outreach. Typically, I show a ten minute meditation on the subject I want to speak about. This is different for the observers because frequently they get their news and knowledge from contemporary images of today which tend not to accentuate the reflective dimension of life. Through the video which I present, I desire them to see and listen anew in the context of their present life experience.
It is my belief that today, the image of Jesus Christ affects people's lives deeply. For example, my sister's husband was operated on in 1976 and during surgery his spinal cord was accidentally cut. He has lived in a wheel chair or in a bed since then. She cares for him, their house, and teaches college. I asked her how she does it. She answered: "I used to pray for patience. Now when I look at Bill all I see is the face of Christ on the Cross."
Simply put, the purpose of the Passionist Research Center is to encourage greater understanding and devotion to Jesus Christ suffering. The vision of the Center combines ideas and art with daily experience in order to create a more compassionate world. I have come to see, and I invite others to see, that such compassionate wisdom emerges by participation in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In that we are all teachers and students.
Fr. John Render is most approachable and willing to arrange retreats or educational seminars. He can be reached at the Passionist Research Center 5700 North Harlem Avenue Chicago, IL 60631-2342 Phone: 312 792 9434; Fax: 312 792-9434.
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