Lenten tabernacle

The month of March holds much in store for us this year. Easter itself lands in this month for 2024, with the month concluding with Holy Week. Sunday, March 31 is Easter Sunday. The Current is starting its monthly publication pace a few months earlier than usual this year. Our summer monthlies will be previewed by monthlies for March, April, and May. We are pacing ourselves this way as much of our editorial staff is away, for sabbatical travel or for studies. We shall return to our usual weekly publications in September.

In addition to our anticipation of Holy Week at the end of the month, the month itself is already filled with activities, despite the School’s absence for spring break, beginning on March 2. March 5 will then bring the Portsmouth Institute’s Providence Symposium. For March 7-8, the monastic community will undertake a silent retreat, as we await our scheduled visitation for the English Benedictine Congregation. March 9 is the Day of Recollection for the Diocesan Religious in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Sunday, March 17 will be our Oblate Day of Recollection. We also look forward to hosting Fr. Riley Williams of Fall River, Massachusetts, who will bring his class and their parents on March 21 for a church tour, Vespers, and dinner in the Stillman Dining Hall. The School will have returned to classes on Wednesday, March 20, just in time to celebrate Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion on March 24.

The Portsmouth Institute holds its annual Providence Symposium the evening of Tuesday, March 5 at the University Club on College Hill in Providence. This event, known as the “Catholicism and Culture Symposium,” has become one of the staples in the Institute’s ever-expanding events calendar. This year’s symposium chose the theme “Pax Romana: Vatican Diplomacy in an Age of War.” Expert panelists
include Fr. Roger Landry, former Attaché to the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York, as well as Lucas Koach, Director of the Office of International Justice and Peace at the USCCB, together with Fr. Benedict Kiely, founder of nasarean.org. It is Chris Fisher’s last Providence symposium as Executive Director of the Portsmouth Institute, as he will remain in his position until the culmination of the June Humanitas Symposium.

Our winter Manquehue visitors returned to Chile at the end of February
(l to r: Matías Grand Vildósola, Martín Rosselot Saavedra,
Vicente Garnham Cifuentes, and Nicolás Matamala Letelier)

Our visitors from the Manquehue Apostolic Movement of Santiago in Chile have returned, after serving in the School for most of the winter term. The group has been a regular presence for the Divine Office and for Mass and has been active in helping cultivate the spiritual life of the students, particularly in their devotion to Lectio divina and in their “tutoria,” a kind of mentoring and friendship that has kept them engaged in the life of the school community. They also have been very present to the monastic community, not only through liturgical life, but also in joining for meals, for recreation, and in many other ways. They have braved our Rhode Island winter, missing their own summer in the southern hemisphere. They return in time for the beginning of a new academic year in Chile and their ongoing study and work.

The Day of Recollection for Diocesan Religious, offered this year in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, continues the development of diocesan outreach to religious, which has helped foster an ever-deepening connection Portsmouth has with the Diocese of Providence. The monastic community has been grateful for the work and the friendship of Sister Elizabeth Castro, H.M.S.P., who heads this office. The diocesan website states that, “The Office for Religious in the Diocese of Providence provides support and services to the hundreds of religious men and women who reside within the Diocese of Providence. A number of religious orders perform critical ministry throughout the Diocese in service of Christ and the faithful.” Portsmouth Abbey is pleased to be part of this extended fellowship and join in the growing number of events shared across the communities of religious.

The Holy Family (St. Joseph chapel, by John Hegnauer)
The Feast of St. Joseph Tuesday, March 19

The Lenten Oblate Day of Recollection is scheduled for Sunday, March 17. While we have not received any Lenten special dispensations for St. Patrick’s Day, those who attend may wear the green if they wish. The day will be structured similarly to our past days of recollection, beginning with the conventual Mass and culminating with midday prayer with the monks. Confessions and time for personal prayer will be an important part of the day. Brother Sixtus is currently in the process of planning the content for the day, which will allow for reflection on our Lenten journey. As usual, the day includes ample opportunity to visit, including a brunch and a midday meal in the Stillman Dining Hall.

The liturgical year brings us an early Holy Week, with the high holy days complete by the end of the month. The School will be in session and in attendance for Holy Week, which will include our 9:30am Mass on Palm Sunday (March 24), a 5:00pm Mass for Maundy Thursday, a 3:00pm service for Good Friday, and the celebration of the Easter Vigil at 8:00pm on Saturday, March 30. We will also have a conventual Mass for Easter Sunday at 9:30am.

Crucifix, chapel of St. Augustine of Canterbury