Fraternal visits, monastic exchanges and ecumenical presence

With particular joy br Enzo went to Chevetogne at the end of December to celebrate with some other close friends the fifty years of monastic profession of fr Michel van Parys; with his discernment and his human and monastic wisdom fr Michel continues to accompany the life of our community. In February the prior held a fraternal collatio with monks of the chartreuse of Farneta, while in March he visited the community of our friends, the Benedictine nuns of Viboldone, where he gave a talk on the prayer of the psalms, with the title “Interceding with the Psalter”. Sr Antonella too visited the sisters of Viboldone in the same month accompanying m. Anne-Emmanuelle and sr Raphaël of Blauvac. In addition, br Vincenzo participated in the prior’s name at the assembly of the Italian monastic conference, held this year at the Benedictine abbey of Farfa.

We are grateful to the Pontifical council for promoting Christian unity and to the department of Unity, faith, and order of the Anglican communion for having chosen our monastic community as a propitious place for taking up again the Anglican-Catholic theological dialogue. The International Anglican-Catholic commission (ARCIC) stayed at our monastery of Bose from 17 to 27 May 2011. The commission, composed of eighteen members (ten Anglican and eight Catholic) has for its co-presidents the Catholic archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, and the Anglican archbishop of the New Zealand dioceses, David Moxon. On this occasion it discussed two themes: “The Church as communion, local and universal” and “How the local Church arrives at discerning, in communion, a just ethical teaching”.