Update on the Fellowship
The Gospel this week is on the Greatest Commandment. In Benedictine life, there is special emphasis on loving God through the service of the Liturgy of the Hours. Continual prayer and devotion is what centers the Christian life, and recalls us to grace and charity.
Which brings me to the Fellowship of St Columbanus' news. We have a book of devotionals called Devotions of the Holy Rood, the substance of which is complete and so we have begun to seek a nihil obstat so that we can share it with anyone who is interested in the Fellowship or devotion to the Holy Cross. It takes the form of nine devotions, each containing two lessons and a psalm which describe a cross from the Bible or Christian history. The readings are followed by meditations, collects, and hymns to further guide users, either alone or in groups, in the Benedictine practice of Divine Reading, or Lectio Divina.
We are also moving forward making concrete plans for the future of the Fellowship. Carrie and I visited Downside Abbey last month to meet with members of another lay Benedictine organization called the Manquehue Movement. They gave us a great deal of advice and encouragement and we are looking forward to staying in touch and cooperating with them in the future.
We are making plans to move ahead with a gap year program for students preparing to enter college. Though the exact findings vary from poll to poll, what is clear is that college students are becoming estranged from their faith at a high rate. Our hope is that within the next three or four years we will be able to hold a summer institute that will prepare Catholic high school graduates for university, not through a traditional apologetics course, but by a broad acquaintance with the Christian intellectual and spiritual tradition.
We want to prepare students to engage on the highest intellectual level, to reason and dialogue with unfamiliar ideas, and not simply to react to them. But more importantly, we want to teach them to engage in prayer and meditation on Scripture, as well as acts of charity. We want to help form young Christians who do not need to ghettoize themselves to stand firm in the Faith once delivered.
To this end we are going to continue speaking to the bishops we know, particularly the bishop of Lexington and the Bishop of Dunkeld, seeking an opportunity to set up such a program in their dioceses. We will then expand this into a full year institute with its own grounds on which we and the students can grow food sustainably, serve the needy in the surrounding community, and maintain a full-time living community.
Your continued prayers and support are greatly appreciated. We are currently working on more interviews due to the overwhelmingly positive response we received from last month's article. The next one is already in the works and we are very excited about it.
In Christ,
Matthew, Carrie, Francois, and Evan.
Which brings me to the Fellowship of St Columbanus' news. We have a book of devotionals called Devotions of the Holy Rood, the substance of which is complete and so we have begun to seek a nihil obstat so that we can share it with anyone who is interested in the Fellowship or devotion to the Holy Cross. It takes the form of nine devotions, each containing two lessons and a psalm which describe a cross from the Bible or Christian history. The readings are followed by meditations, collects, and hymns to further guide users, either alone or in groups, in the Benedictine practice of Divine Reading, or Lectio Divina.
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| The Holy Rood Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas |
We are also moving forward making concrete plans for the future of the Fellowship. Carrie and I visited Downside Abbey last month to meet with members of another lay Benedictine organization called the Manquehue Movement. They gave us a great deal of advice and encouragement and we are looking forward to staying in touch and cooperating with them in the future.
We are making plans to move ahead with a gap year program for students preparing to enter college. Though the exact findings vary from poll to poll, what is clear is that college students are becoming estranged from their faith at a high rate. Our hope is that within the next three or four years we will be able to hold a summer institute that will prepare Catholic high school graduates for university, not through a traditional apologetics course, but by a broad acquaintance with the Christian intellectual and spiritual tradition.
We want to prepare students to engage on the highest intellectual level, to reason and dialogue with unfamiliar ideas, and not simply to react to them. But more importantly, we want to teach them to engage in prayer and meditation on Scripture, as well as acts of charity. We want to help form young Christians who do not need to ghettoize themselves to stand firm in the Faith once delivered.
To this end we are going to continue speaking to the bishops we know, particularly the bishop of Lexington and the Bishop of Dunkeld, seeking an opportunity to set up such a program in their dioceses. We will then expand this into a full year institute with its own grounds on which we and the students can grow food sustainably, serve the needy in the surrounding community, and maintain a full-time living community.
Your continued prayers and support are greatly appreciated. We are currently working on more interviews due to the overwhelmingly positive response we received from last month's article. The next one is already in the works and we are very excited about it.
In Christ,
Matthew, Carrie, Francois, and Evan.
May the Lord continue to bless you and Carrie in your endeavors. Hug Wendell for me. Love you, Granny Ann
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