Comedians, Neighbors, Canadian Brothers and Prayerful Stitchers

This weekend, Brothers Josép and John are involved in the staging of "The Curious Savage," a comedy by John Patrick, at St George's Episcopal Church in Newburgh. This is a fund-raiser for the church's ministries. Br. Josép has been directing the troupe of parishioner-comedians for the last couple of months. Br. John plays the character of Hannibal. In the play, Hannibal, once a statistician, was fired and replaced by an electronic calculator. He has then taken up the violin, which he wrongly believes he can play beautifully. He is a kind man with a vast array of knowledge stored in his sometimes sarcastic head. We're told John is very funny in his role. Several of us are going to the show this Sunday afternoon.

Monks relaxing in our enclosure's West Atrium after Sunday mass;
from left to right, Br. John, Br. Bob, Br. Bede and Br. Scott.

This Sunday, Br. Aidan, the last of the Celtic Pilgrims is returning home after a week in a hermitage in Glendalough, Ireland and a visit with friends in London. You can read about the pilgrimage and about his retreat in Glendalough on his blog.

This weekend, we couldn't help noticing that the Guest House had a definite feminine touch to it. All but one of our guests were women and all three retreat programs were led by women. It's an unusual mix for our Guest House but one we feel completely at home with.

Hildegard Pleva has expertly led the "Prayerful Stitches" retreat this year. And Sisters Elizabeth and Shane, CMA, led a parish retreat on Forgiveness. All three of them are locals; Hildegard often comes to worship with us from Ulster Park and Elizabeth and Shane recently moved in a beautiful house just north of us on the grounds of Ascension Church. This Sunday morning, we were glad to see another of our neighbors at mass; John Chichester has been dropping in for mass or offices often over the years. We are blessed with great neighbors!
We also welcomed a yoga recovery group who has been coming on retreat here for years.

From top, clockwise, Srs Elizabeth and Shane, CMA, flanking Hildegard Pleva;
the sun shining through the remaining incense smoke from mass;
John Chichester, neighbor, frequent visitor, and friend.

This past week, I went to General Theological Seminary for my monthly visit as Spiritual Director. I got to meet with my three fellow directors there and connect with more students and staff. On Wednesday evening, I got to have supper with my friend, the Rev. Gwyneth Murphy, who is interim rector at St John's in the Village.

We had three Canadian brothers visiting us this week. They had renovations going on back home in Toronto and needed to not be underfoot of the craftspeople doing the work. So they chose to come and have something of a retreat time with their West Park brothers.

From the top, clockwise, Br. Charles McMulkin:
Br. Leonard Abba, Br. Christian Swayne and our Postulant, Peter Pearson.

This week has seen a lot of activity in preparation for the public launch of our "Open Hearts, Open Doors" Capital Campaign next Sunday.  We will have a Kick-Off event at the Monastery to celebrate the start of our fund-raising effort. Check it out and let us know if you'll join us. The more, the merrier!