• Notes from the Director of Oblates
    Notes from the Director of Oblates
    December 12, 2020
    by Br. Sixtus Roslevich O.S.B.
    Brother Sixtus Roslevich reminds us to beware the Ides of March, notorious from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. And precisely a half-year later, this year’s Third Sunday of Advent, six months into our extended pandemic restrictions, comes his latest update.
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  • Greeting from the Director of Oblates
    Greeting from the Director of Oblates
    December 5, 2020
    by Br. Sixtus Roslevich O.S.B.
    Brother Sixtus Roslevich reflects on images associated with Advent, seemingly one of the comparatively simpler, more quiet of liturgical seasons. Pitting the Advent wreath against the Christmas Star, the Magi, or even the dreidel or menorah, we find the season understated in its mode of anticipation - but no less significant in the formative memories it contains for us.
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  • Welcome to Advent! The Prior’s Advent Message
    Welcome to Advent! The Prior’s Advent Message
    November 28, 2020
    by Prior Michael Brunner O.S.B.
    While noting that Saint Benedict does not mention Advent, Prior Michael tells us that, “the whole spirit of the Rule is to be a guide for making one’s whole life an Advent looking forward to union with Jesus Christ by living a radical Christ-like life.” And in this year’s season, muted and subdued in our time of pandemic, “the joy of anticipation has an edge to it.” In his Advent message, the Prior invites us to enter into this forward-looking season of preparation. 
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  • WORDS
    WORDS
    October 10, 2020
    by Br. Sixtus Roslevich O.S.B.
    Brother Sixtus Roslevich, in an October note to oblates and friends of Portsmouth Abbey, offers a reflection on the theme of "words." Inspired by his interaction with some of the texts he has found in his inherited office in the monastery, and their physical link to the community's past, the very tangible experience of words elicits his own attempt to verbalizing an experience of words, of the Word, and of what may be beyond words.
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  • Rethinking Greatness: A Reflection
    Rethinking Greatness: A Reflection
    September 24, 2020
    by Prior Michael Brunner O.S.B.
    In offering an assessment of our present circumstances, Father Michael draws on Robert F. Kennedy, as well as Grandmaster Flash. The latter, for the uninitiated, wrote the 1982 hit song, "The Message," with its most famous line: "Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge…" The first comment currently posted beneath a Youtube clip of the song (are footnotes needed for that citation?): "This song is SO the cut for RIGHT NOW!" Fr. Michael offers some RFK hit quotations from the 1960's which also address our present moment with unsettling clarity, calling for, after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., "not division…, not hatred…; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another."
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  • A Letter from Oblate Director
    A Letter from Oblate Director
    August 15, 2020
    by Br. Sixtus Roslevich O.S.B.
    A letter from Oblate Director to the greater Abbey community with his recent reflection and some updates.
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  • Updates from the Oblate Director
    Updates from the Oblate Director
    June 27, 2020
    by Br. Sixtus Roslevich O.S.B.
    An update from Br. Sixtus for the July issue of the Current.
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  • Open Letter to the Portsmouth Abbey Community
    Open Letter to the Portsmouth Abbey Community
    June 3, 2020
    by Prior Administrator Fr. Michael Brunner, O.S.B.
    Today, on the Memorial of the martyrs St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, we share an Open Letter to the Portsmouth Abbey Community from Prior Administrator Fr. Michael Brunner, O.S.B., on behalf of the School and Monastery.
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  • Notes from Quarantine: An Update
    Notes from Quarantine: An Update
    April 30, 2020
    by Br. Sixtus Roslevich
    In an update this week, Brother Sixtus Roslevich comments on various “signs” we might seek at this time: “A popular song from my first year of university had an earworm refrain that went: ‘Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind. Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?’
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  • Easter Message and Online Invitation
    Easter Message and Online Invitation
    April 9, 2020
    by Prior Michael G. Brunner, O.S.B.
    Prior Michael G. Brunner wishes many blessings and invites all friends, alumni, family, faculty, and oblates to join the monks in prayers and for the Holy Mass online in this message.
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  • Holy Week Message
    Holy Week Message
    April 3, 2020
    by Brother Sixtus Roslevich
    Holy Week Message by the Oblate Director.
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  • Oblate News
    Oblate News
    March 14, 2020
    by Br Sixtus
    Oblate News from Br Sixtus.
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  • Day of Recollection Canceled
    Day of Recollection Canceled
    March 12, 2020
    by Br Sixtus Roslevich
    After consulting with Fr. Michael Brunner and other campus officials last evening, we have come to the conclusion that it is in the best interest of everyone’s health and safety that we sadly cancel this Sunday’s (March 15) Lenten Day of Recollection.
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  • Chilenos to Home
    Chilenos to Home
    March 7, 2020
    by Dr Blake Billings
    Our winter crew from the Manquehue Apostolic Movement returning home to Chile this week after making their short visit to St Louis Abbey, MO on the way.
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  • Confirmation Prep-Retreat
    Confirmation Prep-Retreat
    February 1, 2020
    by Dr. Blake Billings
    About twenty Confirmandi made their way to Attleboro, Massachusetts, led by Fr. Francis Hein and assisted by Fr. Edward Mazuski and several of the visiting Manquehue group.
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  • March for Life 2020
    March for Life 2020
    January 25, 2020
    by Dr. Blake Billings
    More than 40 Students of Portsmouth Abbey School participated in MFL 2020 along with Mr. John Huynh and a group of faculty. Five Chilean missionaries from Manquehue were also part of this venture.
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  • Abbot President's Visit
    Abbot President's Visit
    January 19, 2020
    by Br. Sixtus Roslevich
    Abbot President Christopher Jamison O.S.B visited Portsmouth Abbey last week to follow up on his visitation from last year.
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  • RIP Patricia M. Wardell (Oblate)
    RIP Patricia M. Wardell (Oblate)
    January 13, 2020
    by Br. Sixtus Roslevich
    Oblate Patricia Wardell of Providence, 78 passed away peacefully on Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at Rhode Island Hospital.
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  • Monks in Focus Conference with the Missionaries
    Monks in Focus Conference with the Missionaries
    January 11, 2020
    by Dr. Blake Billings
    Monks and Missionaries from Portsmouth Abbey had a blast at focus conference SLS20 in Phoenix Arizona. The event was majorly sponsored by Dr.Timothy Flanigan.
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  • NEW MANQUEHUE MEMBERS ARRIVE
    NEW MANQUEHUE MEMBERS ARRIVE
    December 28, 2019
    With the departure of Cata Quiroga and Alvaro Gazmuri soon to occur, we welcome five new residents coming in from Chile and the Manquehue movement.
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