Turvey Benedictines

December 2006

On 30 September 2006, the Turvey communities were saddened by the death of our beloved Sr Benigna Maria Plaisier, OSB. Born in 1926 and professed at Schotenhof in 1957, Sr Benigna came to teach at our Cockfosters school in 1961, eventually becoming headmistress before the community moved to Turvey in 1981.

In his Rule, St Benedict writes that ‘through the continual practice of monastic observance and the life of faith, our hearts are opened wide, and the way of God’s commandments is run in a sweetness of love that is beyond words’ (Prologue 49). As the many people who attended Sr Benigna’s funeral and sent their condolences proved, her heart was indeed opened wide in love—to her Benedictine Sisters and Brothers, relatives and friends from Belgium, former pupils and their families, and visitors whom she met and befriended here in Turvey. Sr Benigna made a deep impression on people because her commitment to God gave her a genuine love for others. We thank God for her life and her example! 

December 2005

Sr Johanna Makes First Profession

Sr Johanna made her First Profession on 21 December, the day on which we celebrate the coming Messiah as ‘O Oriens’, O Rising Sun. During midday Mass, she made the Benedictine vows of stability, obedience, and conversion of life for a period of three years. We were delighted that Sr Johanna’s friends from Douai Abbey, Fr Gervase Holdaway and Br Placid Hughes, were able to join us for this special occasion.

January 2006

Communities Attend Play: The Nativity

Eleven of the nuns and three of the monks attended a local production of The Nativity at All Saints Church in Turvey on 13 January. The text wove together several of the medieval mystery plays to produce a narrative of salvation history from the Creation to the birth of Jesus. We were very impressed with the production and tremendously enjoyed taking part in this village event.

Study Day on Reconciliation

Sr Fidelis writes… On 31 January, Turvey’s two juniors, Srs Fidelis and Johanna, accompanied by Sr Ruth, joined fifteen other novices, juniors and novice directors for a study day at the monastery of the Anglican Benedictine community of St Mary at the Cross in Edgware. The theme, ‘Reconciliation—A Lifelong Process’, was presented by Sr Eva Heymann, SHCJ. Her main emphasis was on the three stages that need to be traversed before true reconciliation can be attained: Awareness that wrong has been done, Acceptance of the pain this has caused, and Affirmation when reconciliation has been reached and life renewed. To reach true reconciliation means patiently allowing God’s love to penetrate and heal the damage, in whatever amount of time it takes for each individual person and situation. It is indeed a lifelong process. For the day though, we received a very warm welcome from the Edgware community, including a delicious meal…and we left nourished also with much food for thought.    

March 2006

Sr Miriam Leads Biblical Reflections in Schools

Sr Miriam writes… Early in March I was invited by Thornton College in Buckinghamshire to lead a retreat day for 4- to 8-year-olds. They had called their day ‘The Amazing Friends of Jesus’ and had asked me to prepare material on a selection of biblical stories. I arrived with a car boot full of props ready to explore the Feeding of the 5000, Martha and Mary, Zacchaeus, and the Wedding Feast at Cana. The children in each of the four classes were extremely attentive and very eager to take part in what was essentially lectio divina using the imagination and the senses. At the end of the afternoon each class performed their chosen story in dance, mime, and song. The day came to a memorable end as the whole school assembled in the playground and released huge helium balloons, each one bearing ‘a message for the world’.

Towards the end of March I was invited to take part in a Mission Day at St Thomas Aquinas School, Bletchley. The day was entitled ‘Will you help me carry my cross?’ and this time I was asked to focus on Simon of Cyrene and Veronica. I was part of a team of visitors from the parish community and various organisations. The day began with a whole school assembly setting the Mission Day theme through storytelling and a PowerPoint presentation. I worked with three classes in Key Stage 1, introducing them to silent meditation using pictures and imaginative contemplation. The children were both reflective and spontaneous and particularly enjoyed role-playing Simon of Cyrene and Veronica. The children in Key Stage 2 prepared the closing Eucharist, with Year 6 performing a vibrant liturgical dance to accompany the closing hymn. 

Spring 2006

Sr Esther Leads Icon Events

From 31 March to 2 April, Sr Esther led a retreat at Bishop Woodford House in Ely on ‘Icons and the Passion of Christ: Looking Towards Easter’. This combined learning about the Orthodox icons and liturgies connected to Holy Week and meditating on them in quiet preparation for the Easter mysteries. The experience was further enriched by attendance at some of the services at nearby Ely Cathedral. Later in the year, Sr Esther took her icon-painting skills on the road to lead workshops at Minster Acres (16 to 19 June) and Emmaus (7 to 11 August).   

May 2006

Sr Esther Attends Ecumenical Meeting in Italy

Sr Esther writes… I had the pleasure of accepting an invitation to the KAIRE meeting in Bari, Italy, from 16 to 22 May. KAIRE comes from the Swedish word for ‘rejoice’ and is an organization formed in 1971 when a group of Protestant deaconesses and Roman Catholic women religious began to search for ways to live their vocations together. Over the years, KAIRE has developed into an international ecumenical women’s group with links to the World Council of Churches, International Union of Women Superiors, and DIAKONIA. Meetings are held once every two years and this year’s gathering took place at the Osai Santa Maria, a large retreat house run by the Deaconesses of St Andrew. There were 47 women in attendance, drawn mainly from Western and Eastern Europe and from Orthodox, Protestant, and Roman Catholic communities.

The focus of the meeting was the story of the Samaritan woman in St John’s Gospel (4:5-42). Each morning biblical scholar Corina Combart led a period of study and reflection on the text, beginning with its historical background. We studied the dialogue of Jesus with the Samaritan woman, her mission, and the meanings of the well, water, worshipping in spirit and truth, and the implications of the ‘I am’ statement of Jesus. The remainder of the mornings was spent in individual silent reflection followed by group sharing. There was also time for Morning Prayer and singing of the Beatitudes, generally done in different languages using the same tunes. Throughout all the events, there was simultaneous translation in English, French, German, and Italian where needed.

The afternoons included sessions on ‘The Mediterranean Region: Crossroads of Peoples, Cultures, and Faith’ and ‘Byzantine Traces in Apulia’, the area of which Bari is the capital. On one afternoon we went into the city of Bari and had a few minutes to enjoy the Adriatic Sea. We then visited the Ecumenical Institute of Bari, an international study centre run by Dominicans. The Archbishop of Bari made an impromptu visit when he heard that we were visiting the Institute—he is an ecumenical enthusiast! He talked of his support for organizations such as KAIRE and concluded by urging us to continue in our ecumenical endeavours since women ‘seem to make a far better job of it than men!’ We were treated to a delightful tea before visiting the cathedral and crypt of St Nicholas. The upper part of the cathedral seems to be run by the Roman Catholics while the Orthodox look after the crypt. True to their Byzantine heritage, both Churches integrate well throughout Bari. As we were running late, we had only a short time at the shrine where St Nicholas’s relics are kept and members of the local parish sang the Acathist of St Nicholas in place of the Vespers we had planned. As someone rightly exclaimed to me afterwards, ‘You must have been in heaven!’

We also enjoyed a day-long excursion to various sites, thankfully with a guide meeting our coach at each stop. Among other things, we saw the stalactites and stalagmites of Grotte Castellanta and the round white stone houses with curved tiles on the roofs at Alberobello. Needless to say, the Byzantine frescoes in the churches of S. Angelo and S. Nicola at Mottola were an unimagined delight for me.

Indeed, the whole experience was unforgettable. That also includes my many encounters with people from various countries, religious communities, and faith traditions—and last, but not least, just my type of weather! 

June 2006

Sr Lucy Attends Interfaith Meeting in Austria

This year, after long involvement in the Monastic Interfaith Dialogue (MID) Commission of Britain and Ireland, Sr Lucy took up the position of coordinator for a term of five years. One of her first responsibilities was to represent our region at the annual meeting of European MID commissions. This year’s meeting—of sixteen representatives in total—was held at the Cistercian Marienkron house near Vienna, Austria, from 5 to 9 June. The itinerary included a very interesting day led by Dr Ursula Baatz on Fr Hugo Enomiya-Lasalle, known as a pioneer in Christian–Buddhist dialogue. Several other days were devoted to reports from the various commissions and discussion of future activities. One possibility is greater involvement from Hungarian Benedictines and Buddhists, and the representatives enjoyed a brief outing to the Pannonhalma monastery in Hungary to meet their counterparts there. Another possibility is widening MID’s remit to include more contacts with the other Abrahamic faiths, Islam and Judaism. Sr Lucy returned from the meeting excited about continuing Monastic Interfaith Dialogue and armed with some solid ideas about the way forward. 

Sr Ruth Completes Course in Italy

On 24 June, Sr Ruth returned to Turvey after completing a three-month course in Italy for novice masters and mistresses, the Monastic Formators’ Programme. Most of the course took place in Rome, where about thirty monks and nuns from the Benedictine and Cistercian orders gathered to study the monastic tradition and how newcomers can best be brought into it.

Sr Ruth writes…It was an experience of deep nourishment on all levels: a loving, lively, richly diverse community; excellent teaching on a broad range of interesting and relevant subjects; aesthetic delight in Rome’s art and joy in the breath-taking beauty of the Apennines, Umbria, and Assisi; heart-warming Benedictine hospitality from the many communities who welcomed us; and many intensely prayerful liturgies. I found a keener sense of Church and a deeper faith, and returned to my community with a greater hope. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and one for which I am deeply grateful—to my community for their sacrifices in allowing me to be away for three months, and to the course directors.

Turvey Hosts Meeting for Young Benedictine Nuns

Sr Judith writes… From 19 to 23 June, a meeting for young European Benedictine women took place at Turvey Abbey. The purpose of the meeting was two-fold: to reflect together on the theme of good zeal and from that reflection to discuss relations within Europe that would offer support and encouragement to younger Sisters. The suggestions resulting from these discussions were presented to the Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum (CIB) Symposium in Rome in September 2006 in the hope that the CIB would be able to help us develop and sustain future contacts.

Young Sisters attended the meeting from Sweden, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Belgium and England; they were joined by four speakers from monastic houses within the UK. Each day began with group lectio divina, which enabled us to encourage one another in our commitment to lectio and which set a tone of prayerful reflection for the rest of the day’s activities.

Sr Zoë of Turvey introduced the theme and thereafter it was divided into three sections: good and bad zeal, presented by Sr Julian of Stanbrook Abbey; selfless love, presented by Fr Gervase of Douai Abbey; and preferring Christ, presented by Sr Mary Bernard of Minster Abbey. Each of the speakers shared with great generosity from their own experience, giving us much that challenged and inspired us in our monastic journey. They also left us with thought-provoking questions that were the basis of our small group discussions and helped us to discuss our own experiences of monastic life. The meeting was a time of renewal and refreshment; it offered hope and encouragement; it enabled us to deepen our commitment to monastic life and to support each other.

Srs Fidelis and Johanna Attend Juniors Conference

Sr Johanna writes… Sr Fidelis and I were among the fourteen junior professed Benedictines who gathered at Minster Abbey from 25 to 28 June for our second annual meeting. The monks and nuns, including nine of us who attended the inaugural meeting, came from nine different monastic houses. The Minster community provided a warm welcome and generous hospitality, and Mother Nikola Proksch, Prioress, gave a lively talk situating the history of her monastery within ‘The Early English Monastic Tradition’.

On the overall theme of ‘Benedict’s Further Reading: Rule of St Benedict, Chapter 73’, Fr Augustine Holmes of Pluscarden spoke about St Basil the Great and Dame Laurentia Johns of Stanbrook spoke about John Cassian. Two Coptic Orthodox monks from St Anthony’s monastery in Egypt, Fr Angelos and Fr Hilarion, joined the group for a day and helped put the concept of spiritual reading into context. They emphasized that reading matter needs to be suited to one’s personality and circumstances and, most importantly, that reading needs to be put into practice. Key texts like the Rule are, to use Dame Laurentia’s analogy, road maps for the spiritual journey.

The meeting was organized so that we could continue to follow the monastic horarium throughout the event. We shared lectio divina and celebrated Divine Office and Mass with the Minster community. We also enjoyed an outing to Fr Angelos’s parish in Margate, where he and Fr Hilarion discussed the practicalities of living their monastic vocations in urban Britain.

As with last year’s meeting at Stanbrook, the whole experience was one of forming bonds, delighting in the many things that we have in common, and seeking to learn from our differences. Fr Hilarion’s talk on ‘Monasticism Yesterday and Today’ concluded that the life is no less challenging now than in the Patristic period, and the juniors appreciate these opportunities to grow together in their search for God and to support each other in meeting its challenges.

July 2006

Sr Benedict Represents Turvey at Bernardines’ Mass

Our friends the Bernardine Cistercian nuns decided after prayerful deliberation to give up their school in Berkshire and to relocate within England. Sr Benedict represented our community at the closing Mass at St Bernard’s Convent in Slough on 9 July. She reported that, while the outdoor celebration was enlivened by high winds, the large crowd of well-wishers was undeterred from showing their appreciation for the Bernardines, who had been in Slough since 1897.

Nuns Visit ‘Art in Action’

Through the great generosity of one of our benefactors, our entire community of nuns was able to enjoy an outing to Art in Action on 14 July. This was held at Waterperry House near Wheatley in Oxfordshire. After a group tour of the house, we split up to visit the exhibits and demonstrations that interested us personally. There were exhibits based on cultural traditions—Chinese, Indian, the Abrahamic faiths, and so on—and also areas devoted to individual crafts, such as textiles and jewellery. The spacious gardens were open to all and there was even a series of short concerts throughout the day. With something for everyone, it was truly a memorable trip.

September 2006

Three Turvey Nuns Attend CIB Symposium in Rome

Sr Judith writes… The fifth international symposium of the Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum took place at San Anselmo in Rome from 5 to 15 September 2006. As well as the conference delegates and substitutes, a young professed Sister attended the meeting from each of the nineteen regions. Our Sr Zoë attended as the delegate from the British Isles, Sr Miriam went as a member of the CIB’s Secretariat, and I was our region’s designated young professed Sister.

The theme of the meeting was ‘wisdom leadership’. Father S M Selvaratnam, OMI, of Sri Lanka spoke of leadership from a psycho-spiritual perspective, using Erik Erikson’s eight stages of human development as his starting point. He suggested that religious leaders today need to be rooted in their own search for God, committed to self-growth, and be able to call others to growth and maturity. He stressed that leadership is a relationship between the leader and the led, and that the leadership of the future needs to be collaborative and inclusive. He ended his sessions with a meditation on the Gospels, pointing us to the examples of leadership provided by Jesus. Renowned speaker Sr Aquinata Bockmann turned our attention to the Rule, focusing on chapter 64, verses 17-19. She emphasised the importance of providing space within the community so that the strong have the challenges they need to stimulate them and the weak are not overwhelmed. Mother Joanna Jamieson of Stanbrook Abbey and Sr Cecilia Dwyer of St Benedict’s in Bristow, Virginia, grounded much of the earlier input as they reflected for us on their own personal experience of leadership. On the last morning of the conference, a panel of the young professed Sisters reflected on their response to the conference and on their hopes for the future of monastic leadership.

An opportunity for everyone to explore and respond to the thought-provoking and challenging ideas raised by the speakers was provided by language-based discussion groups. Each afternoon began with a cultural presentation from one of the regions, giving us some insight into the life of the region. Sisters Mary McDonald and Elisabeth Brennan, of the Australian Good Samaritan Sisters, facilitated the conference with great skill and sensitivity.

The conference provided plenty of opportunity for socialising, not least through the trips arranged for the free days. The options for these included Subiaco, Monte Cassino, the four major basilicas of Rome, and Assisi. We were also invited to St Paul’s Outside the Walls to join the international community there for Vespers. The whole group spent a day of pilgrimage at Norcia, which began with a Eucharist at the Church of St Benedict and ended at the Church of St Scholastica, where we renewed our vows.

October 2006

Sr Fidelis Departs

Sr Fidelis left Turvey with our gratitude for the many contributions she made to community life and our best wishes for the future. 

Sr Benigna Maria Plaisier, OSB

On 9 October, we laid to rest our dear Sr Benigna, who had come to the end of her earthly life on 30 September. We began the Office of the Dead with a vigil on the preceding evening and continued it at Lauds and Vespers on the 9^th. The requiem Mass was at 1 o’clock and was concelebrated by our Br John and Dom Paul as well as by Dom Bernard from Cockfosters. This was followed by a short service at Bedford Crematorium and light refreshments back at the Abbey, graciously provided by our friends and benefactors. The theme of the day was Sr Benigna’s own motto, ‘That in all things God may be glorified’, and we said our farewells feeling that God truly had been glorified in her life of loving devotion. 

Second Annual East-West Day at Turvey

Sr Esther writes…On 28 October, we held our second Christian East–West Day, centred on the theme of ‘The Church—Evolving or Devolving?’

Talks were given by Bishop Basil of Amphipolis, the governing bishop of the Russian Orthodox in Britain under the Ecumenical Patriarchate; Janet Arsang from the Egyptian Coptic Church; Anglican Canon Hugh Wybrew, known to many through his books on prayer in the Orthodox tradition; Fr Robert Gibbons, monk and priest from the Greek Melkite Church; Mother Hilda, an Orthodox solitary from Whitby; and me. Among the many topics raised during the day were the coming of the Church into its full being at the end of time, the need to return to our early Christian roots, the growth of Pentecostalism and the declining membership of the traditional Christian churches, the early Celtic saints, and the vision of Dom Constantine Bosschaerts, the founder of the Vita et Pax foundation to which Turvey belongs.

Prayer during the day included one of the small hours from the Coptic liturgy, Midday Office and Vespers with the Turvey communities, and Orthodox Vespers served by Bishop Basil. We had a good crowd in attendance from many different Christian traditions and hope to welcome people to more East–West events in 2007. 

News from the Mews

Br John writes… A trawl through the events of this past year is a sobering experience, especially in view of Br Tom’s departure in August. It’s amazing how much goes on here with so few people officially ‘on the books’ and continues to go on. We are now three monks—myself, Br Herbert, and Dom Paul—but with a variety of lay people coming and going, mostly at just the right moment, that is, when particular help is needed. This makes for an exciting lifestyle; we never quite know whether things will work out for us but as we continue to trust and hope, so they do. So we may now be fewer in number, but our core values remain—above all, a sense of peace that if the Lord is at work in all our ups and downs then all is well and will continue to be so however that works out in terms of personnel, place, and material.

But you want to hear our news! Well, here is some of it:

Interfaith Events. The year was punctuated by three CCJ (Council of Christians and Jews) evenings—Rabbi Jonathan Gorsky spoke to us on Judaism in the time of Jesus; Rev. Dr. Marcus Braybrooke on sharing prayers of other faiths; and Rev. Wendy Carey on ‘What’s in a Name?’, reflecting on the role of prison chaplains of various faith traditions including Rastafarians and Pagans. The first two were full to bursting but the latter made up for fewer people with the presence of our Bishop Peter and the Rev. Dr. James Cassidy, the ecumenical officer of the diocese. We also had our yearly interfaith weekend in May, on the theme of Prayer and Activity, with speakers from the Buddhist, Hindu, and Baha’i faiths, and from Orthodox Judaism and Christianity.

Ecumenical Events. We continue to receive visits from a wide variety of Christian denominations—especially Anglican but also including several mixed groups such as the German YMCA, the Luton Church’s Educational Trust, and the Waverley Abbey group of retreat givers. It’s been a pleasure to host three sets of study groups with participants from All Saints Church in the village as well as ourselves. The first was on The Cloud of Unknowing, the second on Julian of Norwich—ably led by Br Tom, and the most recent on The Rule of St Benedict.

Sadly, we are unable to continue with the production of our ecumenical review, One in Christ, simply because of a lack of people-power. We had attempted to broaden it into an interfaith journal and to set up a new board of editors, but Br Tom’s departure has precipitated its sudden ending. Everything is in place for a restart if an editor and enough interested people can be found.

Psychotherapy. Our Psychotherapy Centre continues to go from strength to strength and it is a great blessing to us both financially and in bringing a wide and stimulating—not to say challenging—range of people to us. Partly to meet the challenge, we broke all the rules and put on two separate days of Psychotherapy and Spirituality in Dialogue. Patrick McGrath spoke as a psychotherapist and Celtic Catholic, I spoke from a Benedictine perspective, and Dr Tony Ang spoke as a psychiatrist and convert to Christianity from Buddhism. This made for some fascinating dialogue that we hope to continue next year. There are also plans afoot for another group room at the rear of the monastery that we could also use as two guest rooms.

Bits and Bobs. Br Herbert, Br Declan, and I visited Wintershall in Surrey on 30 June to watch the Life of Christ performed by a cast of hundreds including Catherine Leon, a regular visitor at Turvey. It was a very rewarding day with much audience involvement, remarkable acting, and a dramatic setting.

John-Paul Williams, who was with us as a ‘familiar’ for three years, has decided to try his vocation at Golgotha Monastery in the Orkneys. John Ramsey, who was clothed as Br Declan in February, has also decided to leave and try his vocation at Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire. We are very grateful for their hard work and presence with us, and wish them well in their new ventures.

Finally, many thanks to all who have come to our help in recent days. We seem to be realising Dom Constantine’s vision of a monastic village more by accident than by design—or is this how it should always be?

Turvey Oblates

Benedictine oblates are men and women who find inspiration in the Rule of St Benedict and wish to commit themselves to following the principles of that Rule in their everyday lives. We have a substantial number of people who have made oblation to the two communities here at Turvey and were very happy to welcome three more this year. Annie Hargrave made her solemn oblation on 25 June, while Joyce Gilsenan began her probationary period as on oblate on 22 January and Sally Davis began her probation on 23 July.

Br John, Oblate Secretary, writes… The oblates weekend—held this year from 21 to 23 July—was, as always, hugely enjoyable—not least because of the presence of the oblates themselves. We had talks on the Camino—the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella in Spain—by Michael Hargreaves, on Little Gidding and T S Eliot by Br Tom, and on Benedictine sites in Italy by Sr Ruth.