Dear Friends,
During the month of June I paid my first visit to the New World. This September will see the General
Chapter of our Congregation in the Abbey of Praglia in the north of Italy. By way of preparation, the
superiors of our English Province met at Saint Mary’s Monastery, Petersham, Massachussets, in the United
States.
Our English Province, strangely enough, has monasteries in England, Scotland, the United States, Mexico and
Ghana. The current Abbot Visitor is the superior at Petersham, and so he welcomed us to his community for
our meeting.
Petersham is, in fact, two communities, one of monks and one of nuns. They share a beautiful new church,
which is located between the two monasteries, and they sing the Mass and Offices together. After the
meetings there I flew to Albuquerque in New Mexico. New England was very green. New Mexico is desert
country. From the aeroplane window, I wondered what I was letting myself in for as I scanned the red earth
below. Our monastery of Christ in the Desert is a large community of about thirty resident monks in a very
remote canyon in the region of Santa Fe. It is Indian country and the vicinity of the monastery is
frequently a location for the shooting of cowboy films! Bears and rattle snakes also are to be seen and
heard near the monastery, a privilege which I was, happily, spared.
After a week with the brethren there, I flew to Mexico and spent some time touring with a number of young
priest friends, some of them former students of the Mater Ecclesiae Seminary in Rome.
After visiting the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, I spent a week with Fr Cristian Camacho.
He and his brother were ordained together last year. To see life in rural Mexico, far from the tourist
trail, was a great joy and an enriching experience for me.
After a five-hour drive, I visited our monastery of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad. The little community here
gave me a royal welcome and proudly showed off their new church which was to be consecrated three days
after my visit.
My lasting memory of Mexico is the omni-presence of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Every petrol station, house, and
roadside has its shrine to her. It is good for us in northern Europe to be reminded that there are places
on our planet where vocations and the Catholic faith are flourishing.
Yours sincerely in the Lord,
rchived 
ews
