Bishop Richard Henning as Principal Celebrant for Mass of Confirmation

This midway point in the calendar year, with June as the sixth month already upon us, offers the opportunity for The Current staff to take a deep breath, to sit back with feet on a footstool or in the sand, and to reflect on recent events, as well as on what’s in store for us next. Since the number ‘six’ appears in the opening sentence, perhaps putting things into the context of numbers will help us process the whirl of activity a little more easily.

Bishop Richard G. Henning, the ninth Bishop of Providence, made two important episcopal visits to Portsmouth Abbey this May. On Friday, May 3, he ordained Br. Benedict Maria to the Sacred Order of Deacons (see a full report elsewhere in this issue), presiding over the ordination Mass, with the entire School and many friends present for the occasion. Bishop Henning then returned a mere nine days later on Sunday, May 12, for the Confirmation Mass of twenty-eight students at Portsmouth Abbey School. As expected, the Abbey Church was filled to capacity for both episcopal visits and our Easter season enhanced by the celebration of these special sacraments.

Graduation Procession (2020)

While the national news in May often led off with stories of protest encampments and tents erected on college campuses, the Portsmouth campus saw its own cavernous tent arrive on trucks for a more festive occasion, the joyous commencement ceremonies of Sunday, May 26. The School has maintained its traditional practice of beginning the morning with the 9:30 a.m. Mass in church, afterwards shifting the focus to the tent on the Holy Lawn for the celebration of its graduates. Beginning with the entrance procession of students and faculty, the assembled guests this year witness 93 young men and women receive diplomas on which their names appear in traditional hand-done calligraphy by Br. Joseph Byron, O.S.B., Prior of the monastery. Brother Joseph has carried on this monastic practice of calligraphy, inherited from past members of the community, as from centuries of Benedictines.

Ab. Gregory Mohrman, Br. Sixtus Roslevich, Fr. Andrew Senay,
and Ab. Michael Brunner singing “Ad Multos Annos” for Br. Benedict Maria
 

Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Student Center (May 2022),
with its view of Narragansett Bay in the background

A highlight of commencement weekend, which routinely is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, is the official opening of the new Student Center for the School. Long-awaited by everyone, but mostly by the graduating seniors, it was available for occupancy after its soft-opening in March and, from all reports, the facility has been filling a need in the community life of the campus. Combining room for recreation and relaxation, study and meeting areas, and a food service component as well, it has truly become the “Front Porch” of the community, enhancing the grounds with its expansive view of Narragansett Bay affording an uninterrupted view of the colorful Ocean State sunsets. With its location amidst the residential houses, and as expressed in its name, it will serve as a central gathering place for students. The facility will benefit others as well, including monastery guests, retreatants, and summer programs and camps. Many of our extended community enjoyed the venue on the evening of the diaconate ordination, following an afternoon session of board meetings and the dinner in the Winter Garden, as members of the board walked to the center for a dessert reception with the Form VI graduating seniors. Greeted by this year’s Head Boy Robert (Bo) Howenstein and Head Girl Rebecca (Becca) Healey, granddaughter of Tom ’60 and Meg Healey, longtime supporters of the school and prime movers behind the center who were in attendance, the gathering was entertained by a rendition of “Ad Multos Annos” sung for Brother Benedict by the monks of St. Louis origin. The venue also provided the space on May 16 for a beautiful Mass for boarding girls, the location substituted for the Lourdes Grotto. While the weather that evening did not cooperate for an outdoor Mass, the spacious windows of the new “Front Porch” created the feel of being outdoors anyway.