This July 22 – 28 the brothers of New Clairvaux were blessed with a visit from the Abbot General of our Order, Dom Bernardus Peeters of Tilburg Abbey, Netherlands. The Abbot General is stationed in Rome with his councilors at the Generalate, which serves as the headquarters of the Order. Among his other duties, he visits the monasteries sufficiently often to be aware of the state of the whole Order (Yes, all 153 monasteries on 6 continents! He does a lot of traveling!). We were part of his west coast trip to the U.S., coming to us from Redwoods Abbey in Humboldt County and going from us to Guadalupe Abbey in Oregon. The last time the Abbot General visited New Clairvaux was 10 years ago, when Dom Bernardus’ predecessor visited, Dom Eamon Fitzgerald of Ireland. It was well worth the wait. Dom Bernardus toured the monastery and made time to meet with each brother personally. He gave two conferences to the assembled brothers. He also gifted us with a letter based on the personal interviews and his experience of our community, summing up what he sees as our particular gifts and challenges. We are grateful for his time of visitation that bonds us more closely with the whole Order, and hope that it will not be such a long time until the next visit! We share some pictures of his visit.
#visitation #AbbotGeneral #Cistercian #Trappist #NewClairvaux #monks
