Abbey News
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Coming of Age
Our second daughter house, Nossa Senhora do Novo Mundo, (Our Lady of the New World) was raised from the status of a priory to that of an abbey at the last General Chapter of the Order. The celebration of this happy event will take place at Novo Mundo this coming Tuesday, November 11th. At that time Dom Bernardo Bonowitz will be blessed as the community's first abbot. Abbot John Denburger and Fr. John Eudes are representing Genesee for this gala event.
Here at Genesee we too will be thanking and praising God for the growth and prosperity of the community and enjoying a feast dinner in their honor.
Many Sizes And Shapes
Thursday of this week, November 11th, we will join all the men and women of the Benedictine Family celebrating our very own special feast day, Feast of All Benedictine Saints. In addition to commemorating the well-known Benedictine saints we recall the multitude of hidden saints known only to God. And what a diverse lot they are, ranging from scholars to illiterates! As Fr. Andre Louf points out in today's Lectio Notebook they include all sorts of characters and temperaments and come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. All of which makes Benedictine community life most challenging and interesting right up to the present day.
Bread Store Changes
For over thirty years now we've been operating our little bread store on a self-serve basis trusting that our customers would pay for their purchases by depositing payment in cash boxes provided for this purpose. There has always been some, shall we say, 'leakage' but for the most part our customers have proven worthy of trust. Of late though, due in some measure to the expansion of the store, the 'leakage' has developed into a veritable 'torrent' making it impossible for us to continue operating the store using the trust system.
A number of changes are in the offing to help us cope with the problem. For starters beginning December 1st the bread store will be open from 9 AM to 6 PM only. Soon we hope to inaugurate a system whereby payment will be made to a 'storekeeper' who will be on duty whenever the store is open. Hopefully these measures will 'plug the leak' and provide our customers with a bit more customer service.
Local Author
On a happier note one of our local authors, Fr. Marcellus, has published a collection of his homilies entitled: Walking with the Lord. Just in time for Advent/Christmas lectio it consists of his homilies, most of which were given here at the abbey, for the Advent and Christmas seasons along with a collection of homilies for various occasions.
Fr. Marcellus self-published this volume (other volumes are to follow) at Lulu.com. If you are looking for some meditative readings for the coming Advent/Christmas season for yourself or as a gift for others you might want to check it out at Walking with the Lord.
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