Thanksgiving 2007

We'll be feasting today...all 160 of us: community, family members and guests. Here's a lovely poem by Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mary Oliver--to add to your Thanksgiving reflections.

Coming Home

When we're driving, in the dark,
on the long road
to Provincetown, which lies empty
for miles, when we're weary,
when the buildings
and the scrub pines lose
their familiar look,
I imagine us rising
from the speeding car,
I imagine us seeing
everything from another place--the top
of one of the pale dunes
or the deep and nameless
fields of the sea--
and what we see is the world
that cannot cherish us
but which we cherish,
and what we see is our life
moving like that,
along the dark edges
of everything--the headlights
like lanterns
sweeping the blackness--
believing in a thousand
fragile and unprovable things,
looking out for sorrow,
slowing down for happiness,
making all the right turns
right down to the thumping
barriers to the sea,
the swirling waves,
the narrow streets, the houses,
the past, the future,
the doorway that belongs
to you and me.

Similarities and Differences

I have just spent three days in each of two very different Benedictine communities in southeast England, Worth Abbey and Tyburn Convent. Worth Abbey is about 30 miles south of London right in the middle of the English countryside-- picturesque, contemporary and energetic. The 22 monks there sponsor a large school(400 boys, 300 of whom are borders) and busy 20-room retreat center. They are still very much in the public eye even three years after the popular BBC TV documentary that featured their life. worthabbey.org

In contrast, the Benedictine Sisters of Tyburn Convent live a quiet life in central London, right on a bordering street of Hyde Park. They have a small home for the 15 sisters there, little grounds, and live a life of total enclosure centered around 24/7 adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. They have eight other similar convents in eight countries around the world. tyburnconvent.org.uk

In both places the Benedictine charism of hospitality and the primacy of the Opus Dei dominate. Both community groups were very gracious and welcoming to us.

All Benedictines know that there is great diversity in Benedictine houses even though they are all living the same Rule. And it is so...and seems to work...and that's what counts. I hope if you only know one or two Benedictine places, you'll take the opportunity to visit others when you can. Go to the Geographic Data section of www.osb.org and search for those nearby.

Gregory's Angels

This is a kind of book review. The book is Gregory's Angels by Gordon Beattie, OSB, of Ampleforth Abbey in northeast England. The book is subtitled: "A history of the abbeys, priories, parishes and schools of the monks and nuns following the Rule of Saint Benedict in Great Britain, Ireland and their overseas foundations." It was published in 1997 to commemorate the 1400 year anniversary of the arrival of Saint Augustine in Kent in 597 AD.

It's over 300 pages long--with one or two pages devoted to each present monastery/abbey. Full color pictures accompany each place as do basic statistics and facts, including mailing address, telephone, directions on how to get there and a half page of their history and uniqueness. It is a coffee-table type book, but so beautifully laid out that the facts and figures don't dominate it....the photos, descriptions and essays do.

Since I am at Worth Abbey in West Sussex, England this week I thought a sharing of Gregory's Angels (Pope Gregory the Great, author of The Life and Miracles of Benedict, Book 2 of the Dialogues) would be appropriate.

Amazon does seem to carry used copies, a little pricey but if you're into all-things-Benedictine-Cistercian and/or enjoy the countries of the United Kingdom or the history of western civilization, you'd like it.

PS. There are pages of great trivia, too: Benedictine saints of Great Britain, Benedictine popes, and pre and post-reformation monasteries in Great Britain.

Volunteer Fire Fighters

This week we host one of the most enjoyable and unique events for our year--our annual dinner for the local (all-volunteer) fire fighters: the Fairfield Fire Department. For many years one of our sisters was a member of this volunteer corps, serving as an EMT on many of their runs.

As we are located outside of the city limits, in Harborcreek Township, we are serviced for fires, emergencies, ambulances, etc. by one of the many volunteer fire departments that exist in the townships, boroughs and small towns that completely surround Erie. Ours is the Fairfield Fire Dept. located just 2 miles down Rte. 5 and the one that services the lake shore area from the city limits outward through Harborcreek. Their area includes our Benetwood Apartments, the large Brevillier Village complex, and Twinbrook Nursing Home, so their most common call is for assistance and/or transport for the elderly.

Each year we invite the dozen or so fire fighters and their families for dinner--often spaghetti. Inevitably they receive a call during the meal, but since they always bring one fire truck and one ambulance with them, the ones on call just excuse themselves, go to answer it and their family packs up their meal and takes it home.

A door prize is one of the highlights of the dinner...it is always somehow connected to their duties. Last year a large framed cross stitch was given...it featured an old-fashioned firetruck, complete with accompanying dalmatian in the front seat.

Lake Effect Snow

If you were watching The Weather Channel Tuesday night you saw us--here in little Erie, front and center. Along with many other cities on the southern shores of the Great Lakes, we experienced our first snow of the season: Lake Effect Snow, as it's called. The Weather Channel said we had 3.5" and we did, sort of...depending on where you live. The official total is calculated at the airport.

Yes, we talk about snow a lot during the winter months of November through March. The conversations today went something like this: Wow, that was quite the first snow, Waterford got 14". Did you hear that I-90 had a dozen accidents by noon? The lake shore only got 2-3" and it was really just slush, not real solid snow. Did you see those downed tree limbs all over town? There were too many leaves on the trees and the limbs cracked right off. Power lines came down, too, from the heaviness. They say I-90 was closed from the Ohio line to Girard most of the day and I-79 was down to one lane south of McKean!

And so the morning conversations, coffee break discussions go for the next five months.

The Mount is right along the lake shore, but just 4 miles south is a glacial ridge on which interstate I-90 was built. The climates north of I-90 (along the lake) and south of I-90 (inland for 40 miles or so) are two different worlds. One gets snow and other nearly nothing, and then in the next storm, visa versa.

Today it's all gone! And so goes our first little snowstorm, on our way to our average of 90". I know that sounds wild to many, but remember, it doesn't come all at once and usually melts considerably before the next 2-3" arrive. We just keep on going along right through it. As my Dad, an Erie native used to say, "When I watch the natural disasters that many people have to live with: fires, droughts, hurricanes, I don't think our snow is so bad. All we have to do is shovel it a little and then it melts away." Way to go, Dad--a true Great Lakes acclimated veteran!

Diocesan Event

About 15 years ago the Bishop of the Erie diocese began an annual Mass for Deceased Religious. Over the years it has grown to become a Eucharist in remembrance of the religious women, priests, permanent deacons, and members of the diocesan Serra Club who have died in the past year. Tonight is this year's liturgy.

It is held at the Sisters of Mercy Motherhouse in south Erie and our community's musicians form the core of the music makers, including our full 12-member handbell choir.

This year we have only one sister on the list for remembrance, Sr. Nora Curran, who died in July. The Sisters of St. Joseph (130 members), the Sisters of Mercy (55), the Sisters of the Divine Spirit (40), a community of eight enclosed Carmelites, and the Benedictine Sisters of Saint Marys, PA (25), are the other major religious communities of women in the diocese. There is a smattering of other sisters working in the diocese and maybe 200 priests, and numerous Serrans---an organization that promotes vocations to priesthood and religious life. There are no longer many religious communities of men here, though there are a few Benedictines from Latrobe at parishes in Saint Marys. At one time there were Redemptorists, Brothers of Mary, Society of the Divine Word, and probably others that are unknown to me.

Early November here can bring 50 degrees or 3" of new snow. Unless there's a freak snowstorm---that first wet, heavy, perfect for snowballs and snowmen kind---it will have a nice attendance.

Click here for more about the Diocese of Erie.

The Sound of Cathedral Choirs

Last Friday night the choir from the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul here in Erie came to the Mount and sang Evensong for us. If you don't know what a cathedral choir sounds like here's one: at Westminster Cathedral in London no less. Our little town's choir sounded similar...really it did...just smaller! When you get there click on Listen to Music in the upper right and then pick a track and you'll hear the cathedral choir sound.

Some of our musicians who studied at St. Joseph College in Rensselaer, Indiana, were part of a cathedral choir during their summers of study. They reminisced that it was a lot of work, but a marvelous experience that they do miss, especially after last Friday night.

By the way, the acoustics in our new chapel did themselves proud. It was a great sound.