Work crew measures for new elevator

Activity on campus seems to have reached a fever pitch in the past two months and little of it, in reality, was connected to the reboot of classes, as one might have expected. Connections have been made by the monks with a number of external entities in our Diocese of Providence, and a quick rundown of those relationships which might be termed symbiotic as well as symbolic could be a good way to kick off this update from inside the walls.

Retreat with Pius V school

Sister Josemaria Pence, O.P., and several of her Dominican Sisters of the Nashville Province have become regular visitors to Portsmouth joining in on various diocesan events hosted by the monks. Sr. Josemaria is the principal at St. Pius V Elementary School in Providence, near Providence College. A welcome call from her one day was to request permission to hold their one-day faculty retreat on the Portsmouth campus, a request which the monks were happy to fulfill. Abbot Michael celebrated a morning Mass for them on Friday, August 25, and their sessions were held in both the Regan Lecture Hall as well as in the Head Conference Room of the new science building. Midway through the day, they enjoyed lunch in the Stillman Dining Hall and had ample time to walk the grounds before departing.

Probably our closest neighbors in terms of religious communities are just across the Mt. Hope Bridge in Bristol: the retirement community of the Missionary Society of St. Columban, known as the Columban Fathers, and the Sisters of St. Dorothy. Both communities are in close proximity to each other and both have commanding views of, and access to, Bristol Harbor. We are familiar with the St. Dorothy Sisters through Sister Fatima, a regular Mass attendee at Portsmouth, who recently returned for her second mission stint in the Philippines following on her initial visit there earlier this year which lasted eight months. Fr. John Brannigan is the superior at the Columban house and it was through him that Br. Sixtus was invited to attend a Mass on August 29 celebrated by Bishop Richard Henning commemorating 90 years of being on their property in Bristol. It was on the Solemnity of the Assumption in 1933 that they officially took ownership. A week before that Mass, however, Fr. John sent an S.O.S. message to the monks after learning that their expected retreat director, a Columban in his nineties who was booked to fly in from South Korea, had been diagnosed with cancer of the blood and forbidden to travel. In an act best described as fraternal charity to neighbors in need, five monks each agreed to deliver a daily retreat conference from Sept. 3-7. Presenting 30-minute talks, in the order of their scheduling, were Br. Sixtus, Fr. Paschal, Fr. Andrew, Abbot Michael and Fr. Gregory. The Columban retreat ended on Friday, September 8, with an 11:30 a.m. Mass followed by a generous luncheon in their dining room overlooking the harbor.

We have written in the past about the Manquehue (man-KAY-way) lay Benedictine group based in Santiago, Chile, especially about their term-long residencies during the winter in our Guest House. Each year they participate in the liturgical life of the monastery and work with our students in fostering their spirituality and prayer through lectio divina and tutoria. For slightly more than a week (September 14-23), the monks hosted two young college-age men on a sort of reconnaissance mission: Martin Rosselot Saavedra and Vicente Garnham. It was their first visit to Portsmouth and they left here with a better idea of what will be expected of them when they return to lead their group in January.

Exterior view of elevator construction

Speaking of college-age visitors, on Tuesday, September 26, a group of thirteen architecture students from Yale University spent the morning on campus with their professor, New York architect Daniel Wood. He and his co-teacher, Karolina Czeczek, led them on a weeklong field trip through Rhode Island with an eye towards reimagining the state as an ecotopia, a somewhat new word worthy of looking up and learning about. This was a carbon-neutral trip with travel arranged via rail, electric bus and a catamaran with visits to a wind farm, beaches, islands, cities, farms, and forests. Their interest in Portsmouth? Pietro Belluschi’s Modernist campus buildings, in particular his 1962 Abbey Church. Their campus guide and speaker for the morning was Br. Sixtus who supplied the group with appropriate take-aways of brochures, articles reprints and, hopefully, good memories. The morning ended with participation in Midday Prayers with the monks, giving the students the full experience of seeing and hearing the space in use by its inhabitants, those for whom the architect designed. After prayers they retreated to lunch in the Stillman Dining Hall, another Belluschi creation.

Interior view of elevator construction

While the students may be getting excited as their new architect-designed Student Center nears completion on the lower end of campus, the monks may be showing their own level of excitement, albeit subdued, over some long-awaited improvement projects on their upper end of campus. Concrete has been poured for the new elevator system which will allow stair-free access to all floors. Located in an exterior corner of the building and tucked into a small part of the monastery’s Zen Garden, everyone agrees that it has been a long time in coming. Longtime friend of the monks, Paul Jestings, is overseeing the entire project including the essential asbestos abatement, as well as the installation of new fire alarms and smoke detectors throughout the entire monastery. These safety improvements are sure to give everyone, monks and guests, faculty and students and staff, greater peace of mind.