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As the Woodstock meeting attests, contemplatives themselves had already taken the lead in renewal long before the Vatican issued its decree. Both in the U.S., where there are 4,000 contemplative nuns, and in Europe, especially in The Netherlands, changes have been under way in many communities ever since Vatican II. Though Rome has only now approved the installation of television sets within the cloisters (it had hitherto authorized limited use of radios and newspapers), most of the 51 cloistered communities in The Netherlands already have TV. Most have also removed the bars that used to separate them from visitors; some even welcome Calvinist ministers and their congregations for debates. Though the Vatican has urged communities to become self-supporting through handicrafts or other works, it doubtlessly did not have in mind the job that one Dutch convent does for a nearby pharmaceutical factory—packaging birth-control pills.
One striking example of the contemplative in a modern situation is provided by the "Convent of Atonement," founded four years ago at Dachau. The building itself is prisonlike, but only to preserve the grim atmosphere of the demolished concentration camp that once stood near by. Inside, twelve Carmelite nuns pray almost continuously for the souls of all who were martyred at Dachau. They are, in fact, a part of the Dachau tour—"a permanent witness to the crimes there," says Mother Gemma, the convent's superior.
The Carmelites help support themselves by producing religious art, dutifully vote in each election and, in what they call "the apostolate by letter," spend much time answering letters from people seeking advice and consolation. Thus the changes suggested by the Vatican had been anticipated by the Dachau Carmelites. Such changes, says Mother Gemma, "are based on the need to intensify the impact, yet to leave the basic idea untouched." Foremost is the contemplative's devotion to a life of prayer—and at Dachau especially, that goal does not seem inappropriate for the 20th century.