Friday, October 14, 2016

Wonderful news for Australian readers: Flavigny monks establishing a monastery in Hobart!

Monks from the Abbey of St Joseph de Clairval, above, pose outside the main entrance of their monastic quarters.


You can find the details in the Catholic Weekly here and in a letter from Fr Pius Mary Noonan OSB who will lead the new monastery.

The Flavigny monks, who offer mass in the Extraordinary Form, have been coming to Australia to run retreats for several years now.  You can read an article I wrote on them several years ago for Oriens Magazine here, though it is a little out of date now.

The monastery will be dedicated to Our Lady of Cana, and is essentially starting from nothing.  The letter says:
"After a longer period of discernment and lengthy negotiations both with the Abbey authorities in Flavigny and with the local Church authorities in Australia, it has been decided that I will be released from the abbey of Flavigny in order to dedicate myself to establishing a community of traditional monastic observance in Australia. The foundation will take place in the archdiocese of Hobart, Tasmania, with the blessing of Archbishop Julian Porteous. 
The community will not be officially established for a couple more months, but we have now reachedthe point where the news can be shared with our friends and benefactors. This is necessary so that you can pray for its success but also so that you can be aware of our need for support as we initiate this project.
At this stage we have nothing except the good will of several candidates to the monastic life."
The monks need help firstly with prayers (they are asking for rosaries for the success of the foundation), vocations and donations to cover basic expenses of establishment, including construction, purchase of land, and operational expenses.

Donations can be directed as follows:

NOTRE DAME PRIORY
Commonwealth Bank account # : 1024 4562
BSB:062-654.

Cheques may be made payable to “Notre Dame Priory” and sent to:
Notre Dame Priory
℅ P.O. Box 450, PICTON NSW 2571
Australia

For those in America, the donation details are:

NOTRE DAME PRIORY, INC. (501 c3 non-profit, tax deductible) Chase Bank account # : 889087032 Cheques may be made payable to “Notre Dame Priory” and sent to: Notre Dame Priory ℅ 1202 Park Hills Court Louisville, KY 40207 USA

3 comments:

Brian M said...

Does Flavigny still offer the Novus Ordo in Latin or has it gone entirely over to the Vetus Ordo? Does it use the 1963 monastic offices or the new Solesmes books?

Kate Edwards said...

I'm not sure about Flavigny itself Brian, but the foundation will EF I gather, and Office as per the Rule (which I take it means using older books but to be confirmed!).

Brian M said...

Thanks, that's great news!