Category: Blog Entry

Busy day today.  Alison and I were lined up on the steps with the staff to greet the second wave of retired clergy – about 35 of them.  A good time was had by all – we’d opened up the little-used west wing at Blogstead so there was space for some whist in the conservatory – and a little light community hymn singing as the afternoon wore on.  However, the Blogstead cellars stand in urgent need of replenishment.

There is much about the Benedictine mindset which is very attractive – particularly their sense of what it takes to create a balanced life.  I tripped over a definition of a person under stress – excitable, anxious, overbearing, obstinate, jealous, over-suspicious, quite unable to stop.  I think I ticked most of those boxes.  I liked the way in which the Rule describes the role of the Abbot – focused very much on the life of the community and dealing with disfunction.  His guidance and teaching should be ‘almost imperceptible .. like leaven .. so that they think they have taught it themselves.’

And, by coincidence, as I drifted through Anglican-Episcopal World, I found a report of the signing of an agreement on a new ecumenical partnership between Canterbury Cathedral and the Abbey of Bec.  The root of the link is that Lanfranc, Anselm and Theobald were all either Abbots or Priors of Bec and all later became Archbishop of Canterbury.

What was also remarkable about the Benedictines in Rostrevor was that, of the six members of the community, five are French and the sixth – the Abbot – is from Northern Ireland.  They came from the Abbey of Bec in Normandy – so they sang, read and prayed in the most delightful mixture of French/English and what they call over there Norn Irn.

In my time there, I found myself waiting for two things.  One was the very beginning of Lauds – still dark at 6.45 each morning – when Bro Thierry would sing quietly three times into the silence, ‘O Lord open our lips’.  And I found myself waiting to see Bro Eric reverence the altar.  Something about the way he did it which summed up a life consecrated .. couldn’t tell you what.

And I also spent some time with the Rule of St Benedict – pondering its applicability to diocesan management.  Of which more tomorrow.

Amazing really – but just the sort of extraordinary thing that Ireland produces – a brand new Benedictine monastery in the Irish countryside near Rostrevor.  If you want to find out a bit more of the story, it’s here

I went on retreat there last week – more tomorrow

So a good time was had by all – 36 hours – long enough to get a flavour of it but not a huge commitment. This Scotland/Ireland link has been around for a number of years but it’s sort of gone neither forward nor back. So we decided to do a visit in each direction to see if we could get it into focus.

I don’t know whether the fact that I belong on both sides of the relationship helps or hinders. But there’s plenty to learn from being in a church which is quite like the SEC but not the same. Just for starters: minority church .. issues of identity and [over] identification with one community .. rural area close to city .. age profile issues .. mission/ministry patterns .. finance.

This relationship belongs firmly in the Ryanair category – meaning that a Ryanair link means that it is possible to bring a considerable number of people back and forth at various times. We’ll look forward to the return visit in January.

Just had what must be my longest blog-break ever. I’ll gradually work back through four days of Benedictine Retreat followed by a diocesan visit to Meath and Kildare in the Church of Ireland – where we are attempting to re-establish a faltering link.

Here is the group imbibing a little cultural diversity at Dublin Airport.

So I’m off on retreat for a few days.  And everything will get on just fine without me – probably better.  I’m surfacing again in Dublin on Friday with ten people from our diocese as we do some re-kindling of our relationship with the Diocese of Meath and Kildare in the Church of Ireland.  We’ve a lot in common so it should be interesting.