Dear Friends,
In the month of March the monastery was quieter than usual. This was due to absences rather than fervour
for discipline! Dom Magnus and I attended the Provincial Chapter of our English Province of the Subiaco
Congregation which was held in the far north of Scotland at Pluscarden Abbey, near Inverness. I used this
as an opportunity to visit my grandparents and parents in Durham for a few days, staying overnight also in
Edinburgh to visit a couple of doctor friends of mine.
The Provincial Chapter brought together monks and nuns from as far as Mexico and New Mexico. Since Abbot
Aldhelm CameronBrown, our Abbot Visitor had resigned his office, the Chapter elected Father Anselm Atkinson
of Petersham, Massachusetts in the United States as Visitor of the English Province.
At the end of the Chapter, I drove back to Farnborough and was in time to welcome the American contingent
of the chapter to stay with us for a few days. This included Abbot Philip of Christ in the Desert, Fr
Miguel of Mexico, Fr Thomas Benedict Baxter of Chicago, Fr Ezequiel of La Soledad in Mexico, and last but
by no means least, Sister Juliana of the new ladies’ monastery of Our Lady of the Desert. These monasteries
are all foundations of Christ in the Desert, New Mexico. We at Farnborough rejoice in their friendship and
support. Distance is no obstacle to mutual assistance in these days of email!
On the eve of the Chapter we heard news of the death of Brother Raphael’s mother in Canada. He flew out to
be with his family for the funeral.
Once the Americans had left us, I joined Dom Alcuin for a day in Hanover where the CeBIT information
technology exhibition was taking place. It is difficult to convey how vast this exhibition is. The space
occupied is that of more than twenty large aircraft hangers. All the facilities necessary were to hand,
including a dedicated chapel where the Blessed Sacrament was reserved. Our ‘booth’ - part of the Hewlett
Packard display - proved popular indeed. We demonstrated our printing and use of HP’s machines, and gave a
reassuring sense of antiquity in our habits, which, juxtaposed by the modernity and gimmicks of modern
advertising, proved striking.
No selling of goods is permitted at the exhibition, but HP was given a special permission to ask for a
minimum donation for the large -format maps they were printing. These donations were earmarked for a
particular project we are working on. We left CeBIT with a new computer, CD writer, scanner, memory pens,
not to mention our wrist watches with 32Mg memory USB ports. The cash donation to the abbey amounted to
£10,000. It is clear that we shall be working with them again.
With all our good wishes and blessings
Sincerely in the Lord,
rchived 
ews
