SAVE THE DATE: MARCH 20, 2022

The last time the Portsmouth Oblates were able to gather in person on campus for a Day of Recollection was on Sunday, August 29, 2021. The day’s format followed the usual familiar schedule and featured an engaging presentation by Dr. Peter Simpson of New York City titled “Apologia Pro Vita Sua” (or, “Defense of One’s Life”). It was particularly meaningful and relevant to everyone present to have one of our own oblates address such a personal topic, especially as Peter is a recently-retired professor of philosophy and classics at CUNY Manhattan. The good news is that we are planning to hold our next gathering on Sunday, March 20, the 3rd Sunday in Lent and also the first day of spring. More details will be forthcoming, but for the time being we hope that you will “save the date” in anticipation of a fruitfully spiritual and enriching time together. The students of the school will still be on their annual March break between semesters, thus giving us fairly unlimited and safe access to the spaces which we will require. The school staff and administration have given us the green light, and our newly-elected abbot has given us his blessing to be finally together again.

Washing of Feet: a reminder of Holy Week

As we did last August, everyone in attendance will renew a personal Promise of Oblation to Abbot Michael Brunner. A topic has yet to be chosen. But recalling that the last time we had planned for a Lenten Day of Recollection on March 20, 2020, was the week that life as we thought we knew it went into a tailspin, you can rest assured that our day together will reflect a properly introspective and reflective consideration of the Lenten season. Several suggestions have come across my desk since the holidays and it should be possible to combine these ideas into a cogent topic. The day will begin with the 9:30 a.m. Conventual Mass celebrated by Abbot Matthew Stark. Watch this space for more news as it develops.

As a side note, Abbot Michael has just returned from an abbot’s workshop held at St. Joseph’s Abbey located, appropriately enough, in Saint Benedict, Louisiana. The main speaker was Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, well-known for his Daily Gospel Reflections and for his ‘Word on Fire’ ministry. Among the 23 abbots in attendance were the superiors of the other two English Benedictine houses in the U.S., Abbot James Wiseman of St. Anselm’s Abbey in Washington, D.C., and Abbot Gregory Mohrman of St. Louis Abbey, also a member of the PAS Board of Regents. Arriving from Sant’ Anselmo in Rome where he resides was the Benedictine Abbot Primate, Gregory Polan, formerly the abbot of Conception Abbey in northwestern Missouri and a longtime member of ICEL, the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. We have asked Abbot Michael to write a few words and share some reflections on his time among such an august group and you’ll be able read about that in an upcoming issue of The Current.