An Intercultural Life: Robert Vachon: a Spiritual Journey Engaging Religions and Cultures

By Joseph J. Baxer

Robert Vachons journey expresses an inclusive approach to life, never succumbing to absolutes regarding God, truth, civilization and technology. Nourished within the Roman Catholic philosophical and theological milieu of the Americas and Europe, immersed in the ashrams of India, he articulated a vision of God as non-discriminatory. Roberts life is characterized by an unconditional acceptance of all cultures and religions. He initiated interreligious and intercultural dialogue as co-founder of the Intercultural Institute of Montreal. Vigorously engaged with Aboriginal peoples, he helped the Mohawks cultivate their ancestral culture. His conviction: harmony and understanding are possible not despite differences, but in and because of them. A paradigm for the survival of humankind!


REVIEW

"One cannot remain complacent, since the author, Joseph Baxer, immediately draws the reader into a completely engrossing, provocative model for global understanding, especially amongst those whom we regard as different from us! Rarely does one encounter a scholarly work that at once challenges the intellect yet also presents a pragmatic approach for realizing global peace. Through the enticing and compelling story of Robert Vachon, one may understand the historical perspective by examining its roots and wondering: How did we get here? how clarify contemporary issues? And how honestly face into the questions salient for all of us: Where are we going?

Joseph Baxer has diligently and creatively presented the life of Robert who has dared repeatedly to ask himself this question: Where am I going? Through joyful synchronicity, agonizing indecision, and moments tormented by aloneness, this man has used his extraordinary intellect to reach deeply into his heart to search for a way to unite, honor, respect, embrace all of humanity [i.e., people from diverse cultures, ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, faith traditions including, yes, atheists and agnostics!] It is an immense tribute to the author to have woven a tale of intrigue and also simplified complex, philosophical teachings gleaned from the work of scholars most significant for Roberts evolution.

After reading this biography, potentially, the reader is now able to identify and understand concepts that keep him/her from engaging with the foreigner, the immigrant, the terrorist who lives in an unknown country, far away. The challenge of consistent personal reflection and the responsibility to persevere in developing an all-encompassing conscience belongs to each of us. Transformation is a daily pursuit! The paradox intrinsic to Roberts journey: Entering deeply into confusion and despair becomes a catalyst for remaining engaged, surely leading to enlightenment, paths devoted to peace. If one applies the learning and sustains a centered life, this process is effective and possible. Or we perish.

As Robert is a dear friend and colleague, Joseph may have refrained from exploring the shadow in Roberts personality that could have compromised his research and the work of the Intercultural Institute of Montreal. The reader will not suffer from this lack of analysis, yet must be aware of it."

-Barbara A. Bacewicz-
July 20, 2007

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 12, 2007
• ISBN: 9781462816590

Joseph J. Baxer

Joseph Baxer is engaged in sustaining cultural diversity and mediating cross-cultural conflicts. Director of the Intercultural Institute of Connecticut, he lived, studied and worked in the United States, North and South America, Europe and Asia, promoting a spirit of tolerance, acceptance and collaboration in local, national and international Church and academic institutions through pastoral ministry, lectures, published articles and leadership of multicultural seminars. He resides with his wife Barbara in Connecticut.

Book preview

Copyright © 2007 by Joseph J. Baxer.

Foreword: Ewert Cousins: Teilhard de Chardin Professor of Theology Postscript: Robert Vachon: Intercultural Institute of Montreal Cover: Dalai Lama and Robert Vachon greeting one another Photo: Susan Mintzberg

This edition is made possible through a generous grant from the Peccini Family in honor of Noreen Peccini and the support of the Intercultural Institute of Connecticut.

Published in French as: Vivre à l’interculturel: Robert Vachon: un itinéraire spirituel à la croisée des cultures et des religions

Médiaspaul, Québec, Canada, 2007

Translation of texts from French, Italian and Latin are by the author.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

37052

Contents

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FOREWORD

PREFACE

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

POSTSCRIPT

BIBLIOGRAPHY

RESEARCH BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX

End Notes

DEDICATION

To

Barbara

A challenging woman, faithful spouse. One who suggested the theme of this book, read the text with an attentive eye, and offered countless perceptive comments.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Robert Vachon

Who permitted access to his library, unpublished texts and diary and made himself unstintingly available for hours of extended conversations, generously revealing his heart

Ewert Cousins

An example and inspiration of a lifelong learner who continuously encouraged and supported the writing of this book

The La Salette Missionaries

Proclaiming the charism of reconciliation, an ongoing inspiration in my life

Readers of this Text

Charles La Munière, Louise Hoffman, Harmon Smith, Pierre Wolff

FOREWORD

Joseph Baxer has written an excellent book. His choice of topic is strategic since Robert Vachon is a major figure in the development of the inter-religious dialogue movement. In the 1960s, he cofounded an institute in Montreal that through the years developed central aspects of inter-religious dialogue and still continues to be a major resource. The story of Robert Vachon and the Intercultural Institute of Montreal has been waiting to be written. It is to the credit of Joseph and the Graduate Theological Foundation that this story has now been told and can be made available to the ever-increasing number of those who follow the path of inter-religious—intercultural dialogue.

I would like to concentrate on three aspects of this work; first, the choice of topic; second, the broad scope of research; and third, highlighting the key aspects of Vachon’s very original work that is now being made available to the larger community. I think it should be made a required reading for all those working in inter-religious—intercultural dialogue around the world. Through the years in my own work in this field, I had heard of the Intercultural Institute of Montreal but unfortunately had never fully profited by its work. Baxer’s choice of topic was not only strategic but also was pursued with impressive academic skills; extensive research, frequenting the institute, and consulting with Vachon in great depth added immensely to the value of this book.

I would like to highlight what I consider a major dimension of Robert Vachon’s work that is presented with great clarity, namely, the significance of the contribution of Raimon Panikkar to the ongoing development of inter-religious dialogue around the world. Panikkar has been the major influence on Vachon in terms of the theology and spirituality of inter-religious dialogue.

Within the framework of inter-religious dialogue, Joseph highlights an awareness of the total matrix of cultures that was a major emphasis of Vachon’s opus. He did not limit his perspective to the religious realm alone. I can testify from my own experience that the intercultural dimension is often omitted in inter-religious dialogue.

I would like to highlight two aspects of Vachon’s life and work that resonated in a personal way for me: the influence of Raimon Panikkar in the realm of theology

and spirituality and his interactions with the American Indians in Canada. As in the case of Vachon, Panikkar has been my guide into intercultural and inter-religious work. I have had the privilege of learning from him and personally working with him. In a similar way, I, too, have been deeply enriched by contact with American Indians or First Nations, as they are called in Canada.

In this book, Joseph Baxer has touched a personal chord for me that rang true to my experience. He writes in an eloquent, highly personal way. With cultivated skills of research and lucid writing, Joseph has brought to the reader the length and depth of Vachon’s work of a lifetime at a moment when Vachon’s achievement needs to be made more available to the ever-increasing community of those working in intercultural and inter-religious dialogue around the world.

Ewert Cousins

Fordham University

Graduate Theological Foundation

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Professor of Theology

PREFACE

To follow the path that fate opens to a human being is at once exhilarating and challenging, draining and demanding. The path that life has opened before me has been one of incredibly privileged human encounters, memorable life experiences, and a profound resonance with the divine in the depths of my being. I am grateful for these gracious gifts of life. Invited to work with colleagues on four continents, I have immensely cherished the years of experience encountering individuals and communities of different ethnic backgrounds, cultural traditions, religious beliefs, socioeconomic levels, and political contexts. In the midst of a wide diversity of perspectives and occasional conflicting world viewpoints shared in stimulating interactions, I have been amazed and pleased to discover again and again that profoundly complex issues and dissonance are neither unbridgeable nor incompatible. Simultaneously, again and again, I have anguished over the prejudice I’ve witnessed in the walls of hatred, erected and institutionalized, and the superiority of many toward the other who is different.

I met Robert Vachon fifteen years ago. I soon discovered an extraordinary colleague, a scholar, a humanist, and a humble man. Here I found a man committed to universal reconciliation and harmony on our planet exemplified by his life and work. The reconciliation he articulates, amazingly, results not in spite of differences but in and because of them. I have come to know him as someone in awe of human diversity, open and incredibly accepting of others. Unhesitatingly, he is courageous, allowing the threads of integrity and honesty to weave the tapestry of his life. Through his prodigious writing, enduring organizational achievements, and continued gracious personal manner, he exemplifies an intercultural way for twenty-first century humankind. In this biography, I seek to trace his personal journey; one that occurs within the depths of his soul, consonant with the events and circumstances unfolding in his life. Robert’s words: Everything is grace!

Joseph J. Baxer

Kent, Connecticut

September 19, 2006

II

Intercultural Formation

1

Introduction: Witness to a Life

The Way is not far off but it is hard to reach its limit. It rests together with human beings, but is hard to grasp.

The Guanzi, Taoist text, seventh century BCE

I wish to let Robert Vachon speak of his own life; his personal journey; his individual struggles; his challenges, joys, and philosophy: what emerges is an unwavering flow of personal reflections nourished from this discourse that expresses a profound encounter with humankind. Both in personal interactions and in his writing, Robert is clear that he does not wish the unfolding story of his life to be theoretical, ideological, doctrinal, and political or a technical tour de force. Rather, «what I wish to say emerges more from the lived witness of my life than from any doctrinal conviction. Indeed, the personal testimony does not derive so much from the intellectual realm but from a more profound center of my being, that of beliefs, faith, and life itself.»[1] Moreover, he never intended his own life or his philosophical perspectives to be interpreted as of absolute value. I do not present my life and my views as normative. I have neither the answer nor the question. In fact, I believe that the normative answer and question does not exist nor will it ever exist . . . . The reason is simple: any question, whatever it may be, cannot receive an adequate answer because every question is about the infinite.[2]

How has he tenaciously retained such an expansive, inclusive approach, not succumbing to absolutes regarding God, truth, civilization, technology, and humanity? In an article in the Holistic Education Review, he described himself as guided by an open horizon. This way of being seeks unity and universality but without closing it up in any single perspective, vision, or system . . . . [It is a way] to see and to understand . . . aware that other peoples have other horizons; we aspire to embrace them, but we are aware of the ever-elusive character of any horizon and its constitutive openness.[3] Robert endeavored to escape the Scylla of agnosticism and avoid the Charybdis of dogmatism.[4] Key to his thinking has been the ability to distinguish between relativism and relativity, between an agnostic attitude which is intellectually paralyzed due to a fear of error and a relational awareness which understands that because all knowledge and even all being is inter [and] intra related, nothing has meaning independent of a delimited context.5

In this biography, my intention is to both capture highlights of a remarkable life and explore some of the insights of this extraordinary man who is Robert Vachon, one whose very being is self-described as standing under the dynamic spell of Life and Reality, in all its sacred, human, cosmic dimensions. It is a cosmotheandric experience—an ever open horizon, which calls for many interpretations.6

2

Upheaval: Early Insights and Determination

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Proverbs 29:18

On April 2, 1930, Robert was a first and only child born to a French Canadian mother, Regina, from Sherbrooke, Quebec, and a recently immigrated Franco-American father in Berlin, New Hampshire. Robert’s father died when he was nine, having had limited presence in Robert’s life. Early childhood was marked by hard work and perseverance in the midst of economic hardship. Nevertheless, his mother’s inspiration would be profound and lasting. At the age of six, Robert remembered[5] sitting on his mother’s lap and asking her, who is it that makes more money, a lawyer, a doctor, or a priest? And she replied without hesitation, A priest. He then said, I want to be a priest. That intuition never changed. He has said that once he settles something in his heart, he never changes. His desire to become a priest—and a good one—would be a force impelling him to orthodoxy and, in time, to stretch the very boundaries of orthodoxy. After his father’s untimely death, Robert, encouraged by his maternal grandparents, moved to Sherbrooke, Canada, while his mother worked in the textile mills of Manchester, New Hampshire, to eke out a living.

At age twelve, Robert was ready to enter the preparatory high school seminary. His aunts opined, «Oh, he wants to be a priest! Wait until he is eighteen and meets girls!» Revealing a character with a determined spirit, he was adamant to honor his decision. «No one would change my mind. I was angry and single-minded!»

Discouraged by his mother from going to a local diocesan seminary, he joined the Montfort Seminary in Papineauville, Quebec, in 1942. Two years later, his mother suggested that since he was born in the United States, it would be better to study there; and he returned to New Hampshire. Robert remembered his early years at school as a time when he wanted to be first academically and in sports. I wanted to be the best hockey player who went through the seminary. At times, I played with such intensity that I would overshoot the goal. Around that time, the local plumber, Mr. Petrin, mentioned to his mother that the La Salette Missionaries[6] had a great school in Enfield, New Hampshire. Upon visiting that summer, Robert’s eyes and heart embraced with delight football fields, basketball courts, and a hockey rink near Lake Mascoma. In the autumn, Robert entered the seminary of the Franco-American La Salette Province of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Enfield, New Hampshire, as a junior.

The next four years in seminary were both gratifying and painful. Father Conrad Blanchette, the director and future superior general of the order, told Robert’s mother, Your son will be a genius at nineteen. A scholar in Latin, Greek, and French, able to easily memorize texts, Robert mastered his studies in the humanities, while simultaneously becoming a show-off and alienating several of his peers. I never learned to deal with my peers, never having dealt with brothers or sisters. I constantly got into fights. I carried stones in my pockets for protection. I didn’t think of eating, didn’t eat properly, and often fainted. In this, I was innocent and didn’t know why people didn’t like me. At graduation, Conrad Blanchette informed him, Everyone voted against you; if you don’t change your conduct, you will never be a priest. As director, Father Blanchette overruled the faculty veto and thereby supported Robert’s continuation in the seminary and

confirmed his appointment to the novitiate. For his part, Robert remembered deciding to change, repeating to himself, I think I can do it.

A highlight of Robert’s early life and novitiate year on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was an introduction to the work of the French Dominican priest, Père Sertillanges, OP.[7] In his book Recueillement (Contemplation), the young Robert found the impetus to explore his own inner journey and life commitment with new enthusiasm. One day, sitting alone near the shore with that book on his lap, opened to the first page, he saw a seagull flying above and within his «being suddenly arose a powerful mystical experience and question» that would stretch, challenge, and indeed plague him all of his life, Why are we living? Where is life leading me? He said, «It just took hold of me, like scales that came off my eyes. It was sudden, powerful, and metaphysical!» Sitting for some time with that profound metaphysical question, he was moved to quickly approach his fellow novices, shouting, «Tell me my defects. I want to be a saint.»

Robert’s spiritual director during the novitiate year was Father Gonthier. He emphasized humility and encouraged reading, reflection, and patience. Robert, the sports’ enthusiast, was impetuous. For example, while reading a novel, after the introductory pages, he would go immediately to the end. Reading one of Père Sertillanges’ books touched a profound hunger within Robert. He then proceeded to read every one of them, began quoting him everywhere; and finally, his peers started calling him «Sertillanges.» Nevertheless, the themes from Sertillanges would help Robert to probe his question, where is life taking me? In fact, these books, especially La Vie Intellectuelle (The Intellectual Life), would initiate a dramatic shift in Robert’s life. Sports became secondary to his enthusiasm for the intellectual life, study, and especially reading. Soon, with Un Prêtre dans la Cité (The Priest in the City) by Cardinal Suhard[8] and Jacques Maritain’s Humanisme Intégral (Integral Humanism), Robert found his life’s goal to be a good priest reaffirmed and strengthened. His reading of a mystical text by Saint John of the Cross , at age nineteen, supported that aspiration by encouraging a deep spiritual trust in God. John’s apophatic orientation would serve to effectively guide Robert and sustain him as he came face to face with himself, with people of diverse ethnicity, with foreign cultures, and especially with unexpected obstacles and detours in his life. One of Saint John of the Cross’s

poems has remained deeply embedded within his heart for more than fifty years. He easily recited it from memory.

To reach satisfaction in all,

Desire its possession in nothing.

To come to the knowledge of all,

Desire the knowledge of nothing.

To come to possess all,

Desire the possession of nothing.

To arrive at being all

Desire to be nothing.

To come to the pleasure you have not

You must go by a way in which you enjoy not.

To come to the knowledge you have not

You must go by a way in which you know not.

To come to the possession you have not

You must go by a way in which you possess not.

To come to be what you are not

You must go a way in which you are not.

When you turn towards something

You cease to cast yourself upon the all.

For to go from all to all

You must possess it without wanting anything.

In this nakedness the spirit finds its rest,

For when it covets nothing.

Nothing raises it up and nothing weighs it down,

Because it stands in the center of its humility.[9]

These years of youth—at home in the United States and Canada, at seminaries in Quebec, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, speaking French and English, adapting to one cultural ambiance then another—are significant in identifying the first stage of Robert’s intercultural formation and development. He described the experience this way: I was a Franco-American in a world caught between Quebec and the United States, between the French—and English-speaking worlds.[10]Again, I was suffering from the petty power struggles between Quebec’s and America’s Franco-Americans on the one hand as well as from those who speak French or English only.[11] At this point, in Robert’s developing intercultural consciousness, there was a limited distinction between cultures. I did not yet have, however, an awareness of American culture (whether from Canada or from the United States) as distinct from European culture although both were so rooted in the latter that the two constituted together one Western culture.[12] Indeed, a progressive awakening of distinctions between Western cultures themselves, along with an appreciation of the Native American and great oriental traditions, would later take root in Robert’s consciousness.

3

Rome: Maturing within an Occidental Culture

I discovered not only the European culture as distinct and challenging to my own American culture as a whole (both Canadian and United States), but also became aware of tensions between tradition and modernity, faith and reason, the heavenly city and the earthly one and faith and culture.

Robert Vachon15

Robert’s life took an unexpected but critical turn in 1950. After a post-World War II hiatus, the Missionaries of La Salette had reopened their international scholasticate on Via Cavour in the heart of Rome. Along with students from Poland, France, Brazil, Italy, and Switzerland, Robert, at the age of twenty, was invited to join this new community of students and to study at the Pontifical Gregorian University, a four-hundred-year-old university staffed by the Jesuit order. The projected course of study would include two years of traditional medieval scholastic philosophy and four years of theological studies. I was not too excited about studying philosophy as I had encountered it in my first two years of study . . . it just didn’t interest me and did not seem to answer my question, where is life leading me? Nevertheless, he decided to study diligently because he wanted to succeed. To complement this effort, Robert began a diary in 1951 that he continues to this day. Once during his childhood, he remembered kneeling at the side of the bed and saying his evening prayers when his mother said, Do your prayers in bed. It was an

15 Je découvre la culture européenne comme distincte et contestataire de ma culture américaine dans son ensemble (canayenne et étasunienne, francophone et anglophone), mais aussi les tensions entre tradition et modernité, foi et raison, cité céleste et cité terrestre, foi et culture. L’Interculturel comme style de vie, 4.

invitation to develop an interior spirituality, distinct from any proposed within his temporal environment. The diary, written in solitude, was inspired by his reading and reflection. He expressed the dialogue as an overflow of inner talk with myself and with God.

At last, beginning his third year in Rome, Robert began the study of theology. I loved it; I received all 10s.[13] More significantly, however, he began to nourish a parallel spiritual quest. He was attentive to the traditional academic regime, studying the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, the writings of the Fathers of the Church, the dogmas that had become part of the Roman Catholic heritage and its legal ecclesiastical code. Similarly, he began with great intensity to pursue his personal question, where is life leading me? in the context of a mystical spirituality. "Under the influence of the Dominicans from the Saulchoir,[14] especially Père Henry, OP; Yves Congar, OP; and M. D. Chenu, OP, I read voraciously, devouring books with the same enthusiasm that I played sports.» At this stage, this compartmentalized intellectual journey apparently did not create conflicts for Robert: «I did the dogmatic thing because it was important academically to reach the priesthood, but I was really interested in a spiritual life. This personal quest I explored in my diary and in discussions with fellow students, especially Joe Ross who would become a colleague in ministry and a dear debating partner for over a half century.»

Another area of study during this period that had enduring impact on Robert was his research into the history, spirituality, and mysticism evolved from discerning the meaning of an event, namely, an apparition near the village of La Salette in the French Alps.[15] During his six-year sojourn in Rome, Robert continued to