Departed Brothers

On Tuesday, November 9, we remembered our 54 Departed Brothers. We observe this every year to remember those whose faithfulness and service in the monastic life have built up the bases on which our worship and ministries are being built up. After a requiem mass, we process to the columbarium in the St Michael chapel under the church and to the cemetery north of the monastic enclosure for a short ceremony honoring our departed.

Remembering Departed Brothers. From top left, clockwise: Br. Robert James, our Superior about to cense the founder's shrine (James Otis Sargent Huntington) in the crypt; processing to the cemetery; gathering at the tombstones of our brothers; the Superior sprinkling holy water on the tombstones.

That same day we received a beautiful icon of Saint Benedict that was commissioned by a donor in memory of Br. Thomas Schulz. Tom died on March 16, 2021, in Santa Barbara, CA, and his ashes are in our West Park columbarium. The icon was written by our Associate Zachary Roesemann of New York, NY. Zachary himself brought us the icon and stayed for a few days of retreat with his husband Clark Anderson.

On a completely different note, our new and larger back-up electricity generator was delivered Monday. Our contractors are now busily removing the old generator, destroying its too-small cement pad and laying down a new right-sized concrete pad to receive the new generator. We are hoping for no power outages in the next couple of weeks, as we are without a functioning generator in the meantime.

New additons to our monastery. From top left, clockwise: Associate Zachary Roesemann near the new icon of Saint Benedict he has painted; Saint Benedict icon; the new generator temporarily stored on the uphill parking lot (the car gives the scale); the formwork for the coming concrete pad to receive the new generator and the transfer panels for the electric supply of the monastery; Zachary relaxing with a book in the Guesthouse garden.

This Sunday, we had the visit of our friends Monica Vega and Heidi Schmidt, two missionaries in the province of Jujuy in the mountains of northern Argentina. We support their work with prayers and donations and they like to come and give us a rich report of their work with what they call "the forgotten poor." Monica and Heidi have been friends of our Order since the time when their work in South Africa coincided with the beginnings of uMama weThemba Monastery in Makanda, Eastern Cape Province. Since that time, they have started successful ministries to the poor in Brazil and now in Argentina. 

A visit from our missionary friends in Argentina. From top left, clockwise: Ms. Monica Vega; Heidi Schmidt and Monica Vega talking to the Brothers after the Sunday mass; the Brothers assemble to listen to Heidi and Monica's report on their ministry and the lives of those they serve.

A few years ago, Br. Josép got to visit the Guadalupe Mission in Jujuy. You will often here him bringing them up for the prayers of the people during mass.