On 5th July, several of us joined the nuns of Stanbrook to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Consolation. We arrived at the Abbey church for Mass at 11.30, which was celebrated by Fr Chad, and sung beautifully by the nuns of Stanbrook. Afterwards we shared a (typically) delicious meal with a glass of wine, prepared by the nuns and their faithful cook, Lynn. Our monasteries' "brother-sister" relationship, we universally agree, is of huge value to us, so much so that in his thank you to Mother Andrea, Fr Gabriel quipped that she might take responsibility for the care of a new venture: a double monastery! There is, of course, precedent for this in North Yorkshire, with St Hilda running a mixed community of men and women at Whitby Abbey. Regardless of any great ideas, we are grateful for the fellowship we share with our sisters, and the support we find in them, and look forward to what this might bring us in the future, as we continue to seek God in the 21st Century.
