June 2021

The month of June offers us at Portsmouth Abbey several distinctively ecclesial moments: the universal Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and, for the Portsmouth community, the Dedications of the Abbey Church and of the Cathedral in Providence. While last spring, on the sixtieth anniversary of the dedication of our own church, the doors remained locked and its sacred space physically inaccessible, it seems appropriate now to remember, at sixty-plus-one, this unique and beautiful place of prayer.

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This issue marks our return to monthly publication for summer (June, July, August). The monastery anticipates a wave of renovation, a series of conferences and retreats both online and in-person, and a return to less restricted liturgical life.

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Even if we celebrate on June 1 the dedication of our church, a large tent set up on the “Holy Lawn” is the venue for the May 30 Graduation Mass. And June 13 marks the occasion for commencement exercises for the class of 2020, denied their rightful celebration during last spring’s restrictions. The two graduation ceremonies present speakers who bring distinctive voices to the experience of faith in the modern world.

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