Lives as Revelatory Texts: Constructing a Spiritual Biography of Arleen McCarty Hynes, OSB

294 Pages·2014·1.68 MB·English

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

Lives as Revelatory Texts:
Constructing a Spiritual Biography of Arleen McCarty Hynes, O.S.B.

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to the Faculty of the

School of Theology and Religious Studies

Of The Catholic University of America

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

©

Copyright

All Rights Reserved

By

Elizabeth Leibold McCloskey

Washington, DC

2014
Lives as Revelatory Texts:
Constructing a Spiritual Biography of Arleen McCarty Hynes, O.S.B.

Elizabeth L. McCloskey
Doctor of Philosophy

Director: Raymond Studzinski, Ph.D.

Throughout Christian history, hagiographical works were written as instruments for the
adulation and emulation of spiritual exemplars, or saints. At their most effective, these literary
pieces had transformative value for their readers. Modern methods of scholarship led
understandably to a more critical stance toward these hagiographic materials, casting doubt on
their historical accuracy and spiritual value. However, Edith Wyschogrod in her 1990 work,
Saints and Postmodernism: Revisioning Moral Philosophy, cautions against letting the pendulum
swing too far in the direction of historicizing a saint’s life while neglecting the divine-human
transformation that may have occurred there.
Kees Waaijman in his 2002 work Spirituality: Forms, Foundations, Methods provides a
scientific framework which takes seriously the dialogic nature of spiritual experience. Spiritual
biography utilizes what Waaijman calls form-descriptive research tools from the fields of history,
the social sciences, literary criticism and theology and employs them in mystagogic research to
study the transformative divine-human relational process in an individual life. This study
introduces and exemplifies the genre of spiritual biography as an update to pre-scientific
hagiography that nonetheless treats individual lives as revelatory texts.
Arleen McCarty Hynes (1916-2006) is an apt subject for a spiritual biography. Her life’s
work as a wife, mother, lay Catholic leader, political activist, bibliotherapist and Benedictine
sister was rooted in an underlying belief in the transformative power of the texts of Scripture,
poetry and story. Arleen and her husband, Emerson Hynes, were Benedictine oblates of St. John’s
Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, where Emerson taught ethics and they raised their ten children
according to The Rule of St. Benedict. They moved to Washington to work with Senator Eugene
McCarthy of Minnesota. After the early death of her husband, Arleen Hynes helped launch the
field of bibliotherapy as a librarian at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC, and then
returned to Minnesota to become a Benedictine sister. Her letters, journals, interviews and
published pieces suggest the revelatory role of text in her personal and professional life, especially
during times of change. Her life narrative serves here as a case study of the genre of spiritual
biography as revelatory text.
This dissertation by Elizabeth Leibold McCloskey fulfills the dissertation requirement for the
doctoral degree in Spirituality approved by Raymond Studzinski, Ph.D., as Director and by
Joseph Komonchak, Ph.D., and William Dinges, Ph.D. as Readers.

Raymond Studzinski, Ph.D., Director

Joseph Komonchak, Ph.D., Reader

William Dinges, Ph.D., Reader

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Dedication

This study is dedicated to all the unknown saints of Alcoholics Anonymous who have persistently
pursued holiness in daily life, whose delight in God’s presence and faith in God’s power has made
them, in the words of Alcoholics Anonymous adherents, “grateful and free.”

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Table of Contents

Dedication iii
Acknowledgements vi
Introduction: Chosing Arlen McCarty Hynes 1
Chapter 1: Spiritual Biography as Revelatory Text 7
I. Spiritual Biography: Critical Descendent of Hagiography 7
I. The Hermeneutics of Spiritual Biography 15
A. Hermeneutical Cues and Clues from Theology and Religious Studies 16
i. Clues and Cues from Theology 16
i. Cues and Clues from Religious Studies 21
B. Further Development of a Hermeneutical Approach to Spiritual
Biography 26
i. Spiritual Biography as Narative 27
i. Spiritual Biography as Sacrament 27
i. A Closer Lok at Sacrament 29
C. Hermeneutical Clues and Cues from the Academic Discipline of
Spirituality 32
i. Kes Waijman 35
i. Sandra Schneider 38
D. Spiritual Biography: A Methodology 40
III. A Case Study of Three Spiritual Biographies: John XXIII, Thomas Merton,
and Henri Nouwen 42
A. A Spiritual Biography of Pope John XI 4
B. A Spiritual Biography of Thomas Merton 46
C. Spiritual Biography of Henri Nouwen 51
D. Comparative Analysis: Hagiography, Biography or Spiritual
Biography? 56
IV. A Revelatory Life: Returning to Arlen McCarty Hynes 62
Chapter 2: The Revelatory Life of Arlen McCarty Hynes 68
I. Arlen McCarty Hynes, a Revelatory Life? 69
A. Birth and Early Childhod: In Love with Boks and Life 70
B. Education: In Love with Boks and Emerson Hynes 76
C. Early Mariage: In Love with Boks and Benedictine Living 80
D. The Move to Washington, DC: In Love with Books and
Bibliotherapy 87
E. Joining the Benedictine Order: In Love with Books and Benedictine
Life 97

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I. A Revelatory Life of Continual Conversion 98
A. Threshold Clusters of Arleen’s Life: Marriage, Widowhood,
Terminal Ilnes 10
B. Arleen’s Threshold Clusters as Erik Erikson’s Stages of Development 103
C. Research Methods and Methodology for Arleen Hynes Spiritual
Biography 107
Chapter 3: Crosing the Threshold to Love: Becoming a Wife and Mother 12
I. The Rule of Saint Benedict as a Transformative Text 132
A. The Rule: A Design for Living 132
B. The Rule: Rhythm of Work and Prayer 13
C. The Rule: Comunal Living 134
D. The Rule: An Apreciation of Beauty 135
E. The Rule: Benedictine Hospitality 137
F. The Rule: Unceasing Prayer 139
I. The Breviary and the St. John’s Misal as Transformative Texts 142
A. Theoretical Interlude: American Liturgical Movement 142
B. The Breviary and the St. John’s Misal 146
C. St. John’s Misal 149
I. Transformative Power of the Poetry of Jesica Powers 153
A. A “Christ My Utmost Ned” 156
B. Theoretical Interlude: Poetry as Prayer 158
IV. Chapter Summary: Crossing the Threshold to Love in Young Adulthood:
Intimacy Over Isolation 164
Chapter 4: Crossing the Threshold to Care: Becoming a Widow, a Bibliotherapist and a
Benedictine Sister 16
I. Transformative Power of the Psalms 168
A. Death of Michael 168
B. Theoretical Interlude: Praying the Psalms 17
I. Transformative Power of Therapeutic Literature 181
A. St. Elizabeths 181
B. Theoretical Interlude: Bibliotherapy and Lectio Divina 194
I. The Guided Retreat as Transformative Text 20
A. Guided Retreat with Sister Henrita—1976 20
B. Guided Retreat with Sister Henrita-1978 205
C. Theoretical Interlude: Transformative Texts and Spiritual Direction 207
IV. Chapter Summary: Crossing the Threshold to Care in Middle Adulthood:
Arlen Chose Generativity Over Stagnation 209

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Chapter 5: Crosing the Threshold to Wisdom: Becoming Reconciled to Death 21
I. Transformative Power of the Daily Scripture Readings 217
A. Conversations with God 217
B. Theoretical Interlude: Ignatian Spirituality 20
I. Transformative Power of Al-Anon Literature 24
A. Praying for her Adult Children 24
B. Theoretical Interlude: Spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous 28
I. Transformative Power of Autobiography 23
A. Arlen’s Memoirs 23
B. Theoretical Interlude: Spirituality of Aging 238
IV. Chapter Summary: Crossing the Threshold to Wisdom in Older Adulthood:
Arlen Choses Integrity over Despair 241
Chapter 6: Spiritual Biography Revisited 243
I. Spiritual Biography and the Notion of Perfection 24
I. Spiritual Biography and the Universal Cal to Holines 249
I. Spiritual Biography and the Comunion of Saints 251
IV. Spiritual Biography and Subjectivity 257
V. Arlen McCarthy Hynes: A Revelatory Text? 265
Apendix A: Obituary for Arlen McCarty Hynes 268
Apendix B: Inspirational Quotes Etched on Kilfenora’s Wals 270
Bibliography 273

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Acknowledgements

Variation on A Theme By Rilke
(The Book of Hours, Book I, Poem 1, Stanza 1)
A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me – a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task. The day's blow
rang out, metallic – or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.

1
~ Denise Levertov ~

This poem, one that Arleen Hynes used in her bibliotherapy work, captures my
experience of writing this dissertation. So many days I was rewarded in my search for the perfect
sun-splashed window at the libraries at Catholic University and Marymount University and at the
kitchen tables at Bryce and in Falls Church. I was generously given original sources and
consistent encouragement by the Hynes family, and so many opportunities by my family and by
CUA to retreat into the research and writing that I felt it my honor and my task to do.
Everyone has been unbelievably patient with me and supportive as I have done this work,
and that patience was borne most gallantly by Peter, Brian, Collin and Nora who I am sure
noticed that the more I wrote, the more forgetful and prone to distraction I became in daily
living. Arleen’s spiritual friendships in Arlington were with a group of women who have been

1
Denise Levertov, Breathing the Water (New York: New Directions, 1987), 3.

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among my own spiritual mothers, most especially Dolores Leckey, and each of them has
supported my work through prayer and genuine interest. The Hynes family has not only made
themselves available to me for conversations in person, over the phone and in emails and letters,
but they have also honored me by including me in family gatherings at Patrick and Mary’s house
in Arlington, and by putting me in the category of extended family by dubbing me a “Hynes-
Chooser.” Mary Hynes-Berry has welcomed me several times to her Chicago home, giving me
access to every bit of material she has and allowing me to take a whole suitcase of original letters
home with me. My adviser at The Catholic University of America Raymond Studzinski, O.S.B.,
encouraged me when I forgot my own resolve, saying to me what deep down my whole self
knew: you can. My father, Peter McCloskey, has always believed in me, even when I have not.
Special thanks to my mother Louise McCloskey for aiding in the sorting and identifying of the
hundreds of letters and for helpful comments on early drafts, to my niece Kate Connelly for
carefully proofreading a later draft, to my daughter Nora for standing at the copier for hours one
summer duplicating a large portion of Arleen’s letters and who has “extraordinary verbal skills”
(as her namesake and grandmother Nora Leibold pointed out before Nora was a year old), to my
sons Brian and Collin who have both grown to be impressive men with a passion for writing and
living meaningfully, and for my husband Peter for his constant encouragement and love
throughout our thirty-two years together, about half of which I have been a student in some
capacity.
Each of these loved ones has been patient, patient with me as I have done work which I
believe that the Holy Spirit, with a little help from Arleen, drew me to. There have been so many
moments of sudden inspiration, leading me to a certain person, a certain letter or journal entry, a
certain insight. I feel certain these were aided by Arleen, eager to see the work she began in her

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