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This was a first. At the
request of the Abbot President and the abbots and abbesses
of our Congregation, a meeting was organised at Downside
for all the novices. This year there are eleven, from
this country and from the USA.
It was a great chance for
these young people to meet each other and share their
experiences, hopes and challenges in the framework
of a conference where the talks looked at various influences
on the Benedictine tradition that make our English
Congregation a bit distinctive.
It involved looking
at the role monastic life played in the original mission
to England under Augustine, the balance of contemplation
and mission, the spiritual wisdom of the English mystics
and of Augustine Baker, the impact of the establishment
of autonomous monasteries at the end of the Nineteenth
Century, and what young monks and nuns are hoping to
find and to offer the world of the Twenty First Century.
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