Giovanni came to the monastery several years ago with the notion that living the meditative life would bring some solace to his life. Little did he know just the opposite would happen. The turmoil that racked the monastery the last several months had created a crisis in faith for him and his fellow monks.
Now that the acquisition of the monastery by the pizza conglomerate had been finalized, the monks would have to deal with the tensions created by the inherent conflict between a for profit corporation and the spiritual direction of the order. The separation of faith and pizza issues seemed to infiltrate every part of their everyday life.
The new, resident pizza exec, Giorgio, was pleasant enough, but he seemed alien to the monks and his demeanor was not monk like in any way. Part of Giovanni’s frustration came from the knowledge that the pizza giant now had inordinate power over the day to day affairs of the monastery. They were all locked in the emotional trap of convention since no monastery had ever been owned by an international conglomerate.
To this point, Giovanni was proud of their simple bakery and kitchen and found his solace in the mindless, but meditative, chores that he completed by rote each day. It was here he befriended Franco, and even though they had many philosophical differences between them, their mutual respect for each other was evident.
However, that mutual respect was now taxed to the breaking point since the health care crisis brought the monastery to the brink of bankruptcy. Giovanni believed in accommodation. He saw no way out of the crisis and the “miracle pizzas” created by Brother Veronica seemed like an act of providence that could save the monastery.
Franco was the purest. He adamantly opposed the health care plan offered by Pizza Digogo and refused to accept the faith healing provision for catastrophic illness. The fact that the plan was now legal and binding did not temper Franco’s opposition or anger.
The pleasant surprise was Brother Veronica. Her (his) surprising rise from kitchen staff to headmaster was unprecedented. Suddenly having a woman that they now had to accept as a fellow monk, as well as headmaster, was mind boggling to say the least. To everyone’s surprise she overcame many of the monk’s original objections with her (his) charm, discipline and obvious commitment to the survival of the monastery.
The pending meeting with Brother Veronica, Giorgio, Franco and himself would be interesting. Just maybe some of these issues might be resolved.