On Sunday, February 7, Brother Sixtus Roslevich offered the principal conference for the annual gathering of religious of the Diocese of Providence for the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life. The opportunity arose after a Lenten Day of Recollection for the diocesan religious, to have been led by Fr. Gregory Havill on campus last March, was canceled due to the pandemic. Brother Sixtus subsequently was asked by Sister Elizabeth Castro, H.M.S.P., director of the diocesan Office of Religious, to lead this virtual gathering to celebrate Day of Prayer “XXV”, echoing Super Bowl nomenclature. In his capacity as the monastery’s liaison to the diocese, Br. Sixtus has been getting to know more of those in consecrated life throughout the diocese. His conference served as the keynote for the two-hour virtual program, which included Vespers, Benediction, Adoration, and a Renewal of Vows. 

His talk, “Mission as a Journey to Holiness,” was an elaboration and extension of a conference he had offered in-house in December for the monastery’s own Christmas retreat. Br. Sixtus realized, “Although I may not have been fully aware of it as a little boy, I discovered as I delved into the topic and the past that mission of one sort or another has formed me into the man and the monk that I am now.” His talk included personal details of his upbringing and expressed his personal mission, which in turn integrated “mission as witnessed, experienced and written about by spiritual writers, saints, Popes Benedict and Francis, and then expanded further to the foundational importance of mission in the English church and specifically the English Benedictine Congregation.” The theme of mission has long been a focus for him, present in his reflections, “many times in St. Louis, in talks to our schoolboys, to the Oblates and the Men’s BaCON breakfast group, to summertime ‘Monk Campers,’ in our community meetings.” At Saint Louis, Abbot Thomas Frerking had often encouraged Brother Sixtus to develop the theme.  

As the program was virtual, the day’s Nor’easter snowstorm presented no problem, although Brother Sixtus notes that negotiating Zoom and the online experience was somewhat of a challenge, due to various WIFI issues and the elderly demographic of much of his audience. Eschewing PowerPoint, Sixtus comments on his preferred modus operandi: “I polished the text right up until an hour before showtime, printed out a full copy and placed it in a 3-ring binder. My laptop is placed high enough in front of me so that the binder rests on the table where I can read it easily. It is unseen by the camera unless a page-flip shows onscreen, but I’m not hiding the fact that I have a full script in front of me.” While Sixtus would have gladly welcomed Q&A or any follow-up discussion, the online environment lent itself more readily to moving directly through the preplanned schedule of events. 

Grateful for this opportunity and for the ongoing and developing diocesan contact, Sixtus looks forward to further events. He is appreciative of the affirmation of the diocesan office, who “are very keen to make more people aware of the ‘hidden treasure’ we have here.” Despite the small geographic reach of the diocese, many of the state’s religious have never been here and are not aware of all that is happening at the Abbey. He hopes that other members of our community will eventually also be able to share their insights and vision further within the Diocese of Providence.