End of academic year and Scott's transition

This week, I made my last visit of the academic year to General Theological Seminary to provide spiritual direction to students and staff. Br. Scott also made his last visit of the year to Yale Divinity School in the same capacity. We appreciate this opportunity to reach out to the next generations of church leaders. I will resume this ministry at GTS next September.

Around that time, Br. Scott, on the other hand, will probably be making his way to Grahamstown, to become a member of our Marya uMama weThemba Monastery. The exact timing of his stationing there will depend on the speed of obtaining a Religious Worker visa.

Br. Scott on a celtic pilgrimage to Scotland (one of his favorite places) a few years ago.

We are excited for Scott and our Brothers in South Africa but also sad to see him go. We are grateful for living alongside him these past 16 years. We are grateful for his innumerable contributions to our common life. And we wish him well in this new monastic adventure.

During my many visits to GTS this academic year, I have been able to connect with dear New York friends on the free evenings. This past Wednesday, I had supper with longtime friend Lewis Folden at a restaurant near the seminary; the Tipsy Parson. It served great Southern comfort foods and my cocktail celebrated the restaurant's name adequately ;-).

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These past two weeks, I have started my yearly round of pastoral meetings with the Brothers. I do meet with the brothers as the need arises throughout the year. But this meeting makes sure that we have leisurely time to explore issues pertaining to their spiritual life, their life in community and any feedback they may want to give me on my leadership as Prior. It is a good way to make sure everyone is heard, even those who are not squeaky enough to get the proverbial oil. I had initially thought I'd do such a meeting twice a year, but I find that most pastoral issues find a forum in the various other one-on-one meetings I have with most brothers.

A new jigsaw puzzle completed in Pilgrim Hall.
 Cause for contemplation with a cup of coffee.

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Last Friday, we had our monthly House Meeting. This is a business meeting that is attended by all the brothers who are not in Assisted Living. It is a place of broad consultation and decision-making. Some longer-term work may be delegated to ad hoc committees (such as the Liturgical Committee that hashes out proposals for the whole community to review and decide upon).

The agenda is open (any monk may put an item on the agenda) and circulated the day before the meeting. Br. Josép, who is my administrative assistant, prepares the agenda and the minutes of the meeting. I try to keep the meeting to about an hour but sometimes, like this week, we go a bit longer. We don't go longer than 90 minutes as most people are "cooked" in terms of substantial discussion and decision-making after going that long. We make a real effort to give everyone a voice and to encourage the more introverted or less articulate brothers to speak.

I am encouraged by how effective most of our meetings are.

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I remember that several years ago, Br. Bede, then our prior, blogged here on how he often prayed for those whose light reached him in the night: houses or passenger trains on the other side of the Hudson. I have taken up that prayer practice and will often send an arrow prayer to heaven for those who share the valley with us. I often do that too for the crew of the boats that park on our stretch of the Hudson and for the pilots who on or off those boats at our location.

The bulk carrier "Teal Bulker" has been parked on the river for several days.
Here it is catching the setting sun, with the Vanderbilt Mansion in the background.

The waters of the Hudson are navigable by ocean vessels (such as the colossus pictured above; 623 ft long) to Albany, NY.  The Hudson River to Troy, NY is a tidal estuary connecting to the Erie Canal, Lake Champlain, Great Lakes, and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Most large vessels journeying on the Hudson require river pilots to make their trip safe for them and the environment. Hudson River Pilots board such boats at the Yonkers Pilot Station, just north of NYC for a 56 mile transit in the lower half of the Hudson, passing under 6 bridges, twisting through the sharp turns at the US Military Academy at West Point and, after an approximately a 5.5 hour trip, ending at the second pilot station at Norrie Point (about two miles north of the monastery on the east side of the Hudson).

After a second pilot exchange, the upper part of the Hudson River involves a 54 mile run to the Port of Albany.  This transit can take from six to seven and a half hours, depending on the vessel as the navigable channel north of Kingston, NY narrows to a width of 400 feet. Total transit time from Yonkers to Albany will be 11- 13 hours.

I learned all this on the Hudson River Pilots Association's website.

Sometimes, you can see from the monastery the tiny boats that exchange pilots near Norrie Point.

We think that those boats which linger by the monastery for longer are awaiting available berths at the various harbors north of the monastery. Although some have conjectured that they are crewed by devout mariners who like to hear our tower bell ringing the angelus...

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Eastertide blessings! We pray for all our visitors (online and at our home). Would you pray for us?