A family death and a campaign kick-off

This past Saturday, Lucy Magliula, 91, the mother of our Superior, Br. Robert James Magliula, died unexpectedly. The news came to us a few instants after her passing just before we sang Vespers. The beauty of belonging to a monastic community is that we immediately took Lucy and Rob into our prayers. Please pray for the repose of the soul of Lucy and for comfort for her five grieving sons, in-laws and grandchildren.

This week, Br. Bob Pierson is away on retreat in St Joseph, Minnesota with the Sisters of St Benedict's Monastery. Br. Bob made his retreat coincide with the two-week postulant's leave of Peter Pearson. The postulant leave is designed to enable the postulant to once again have a taste of the life he has left behind to enter the monastery. This helps the postulant in discerning for himself just how strong the pull is to continue the monastic vocation. Peter spent his first week with friends in Scranton, PA and Kingston, NY. In his second week of leave he will be enjoying big city life in NYC.

This week, we received two new Associates; Steve Turtell and (Ena) Pearl, both of NYC. We are always delighted to see our Associates come and visit us. This week, long-time Associate David Ambrose was visiting from Williamsport, PA.

From left to right, David Ambrose, AHC, myself and Steve Turtell, new AHC

Br. Aidan was putting Garden Volunteers to good use this week. The weather was perfect for fall clean-up and bulbs planting. I understand they planted over 3000 spring bulbs in just two days! Thank you to all our volunteers in the Guest House, in the Library, in the Gardens and in General Administration.

From top, clockwise, Steve Turtell, Pat Cappello, Beth Gutwin, Hannah Poole, Emilie Trautmann
and Br. Aidan, sporting our latest style of monastery t-shirt, featuring a calligraphy by Br. Roy,
Par Cappello and Len Roberts planting bulbs, Hannah Poole cleaning up in the Little Cloister.

The Guild of Scholars of the Episcopal Church was meeting at the monastery for presentations of members' papers and organizational decision-making. During one of their breaks, Br. Robert James conducted a (scholarly?) tour of the monastery for them.

Br. Robert James and various Scholars of the Episcopal Church on a tour of our monastery

This Sunday, in the company of twenty Hudson Valley guests, we officially launched the public asking phase of our "Open Hearts, Open Doors" Capital Campaign. We were joined by fellow Hudson Valley resident and Associate Bonnie St John as our keynote speaker. Bonnie told us about courage and resilience and the importance of prayer and the monastery in her life. How has the monastery affected your life?

From top, clockwise, Bros. Aidan and Robert James with The Rev. Matthew Wright,
guests enjoying  refreshments and each other's company,
Bonnie addressing our assembly, Bonnie wearing her Olympic medals and connecting with attendees.

In the month of November, we will mail more information about this capital campaign to about 8000 recipients. But in the meantime, you can find out more about the campaign and watch our 5-minute campaign video on our campaign's website.