Christmas Newsletter
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Dear Friends,
During this beautiful Season of Advent and over the Christmas period you and your loved ones will be very much in our thoughts and prayers. Here we would like to share something of our year with you all.
Celebrations:
Sister Mildred Maria’s Solemn Profession
My Solemn Profession was the happiest day of my life and the happy faces of my friends reflected the image of the Lord to me. The most moving part of the ceremony for me was the declaration of my vows before Mother Nikola and the community. I stood in front of the altar and read my Profession Chart, and sang the Suscipe 3 times in Latin, which translates “Uphold me O Lord according to your promise and I shall live”. I was aware that for many people present this was their first experience of a monastic Solemn Profession.
The Corona, where all the sisters gathered in a circle around me, offering me their blessing, prayers and the kiss of peace was very moving. This is a sign that I am truly a member of the Minster Abbey Community forever. I was reminded that my sisters in community are always there to help me and support me. They are shining examples to me of how to live out my monastic vows in Community, with patience, love and understanding.
Offering myself as a Bride of Christ is my way of showing God my desire to be one with Him, and to be a beacon of light for the Church and the whole world.
Sr. Mildred Maria
We were delighted to welcome Mother Abbess Hildegard Dubnick of Saint Walburga’s Abbey in Eichstätt – now abbess emerita – who visited us in March. She came to celebrate Mother Nikola’s 25 years in office with us. It was good to have this opportunity to meet her, and we are glad that she is happily settled with our sisters of St Emma’s in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
This year the community of Stanbrook Abbey celebrated their 400 year Jubilee. Sr Walburga represented us at the special celebration for the wider monastic family.
In October we joined the Vincentian Fathers and volunteers of the Divine Retreat in Ramsgate in a Farewell Celebration for our retiring Parish Priest, Rev. Christopher Basden. We are grateful for all the fraternal support and kindness of Fr. Chris throughout his time here and pray for many blessings in his well-deserved retirement. We donated one of Mother Concordia’s artworks, a Christ in Majesty, to The Divine Retreat Centre where it will be on display in their peaceful grounds.
On the feast of St Michael the Archangel we joined in the celebration of the Silver Jubilee of the Coptic parish of St Michael and St Bishoi in Cliftonville, Margate. Our community was present at the dedication of the Church by Pope Shenouda in 1999, and we rejoice with Bishop Anthony, Abbouna Angelos and all our Coptic (and Ethiopian!) brothers and sisters in the growth of their Christian Community.
Visit to Eichstätt
At the end of November Mother Nikola and I travelled to Germany for the Abbatial blessing of Mother Elisabeth Hartwig at St Walburga’s Abbey, Eichstätt. Many of you will know that our monastery was re-founded from Eichstätt in 1937, so the links between our two monasteries are very valuable to us. Mother Nikola knows the community well, having lived there as a young Sister while studying at the University, while for me it was my first visit and the first chance to visit the shrine of my holy patron St Walburga! (There is a lovely short video on their website about the shrine https://youtu.be/GXoG7oclYmE As well as visiting the shrine and experiencing this ancient monastery I also thoroughly enjoyed learning about their wood chip heating system (including a practical session helping to clean out the boiler!). Another highlight was exploring their library cataloguing system in its various evolutions. As I’m our community librarian currently knee deep in cataloguing, this was fascinating to me and a great reassurance to carry on! I’m really looking forward to continuing the contact in the future.
Sr. Walburga
Monastic Experience
Our recent Monastic Experience weekend was a great success. The 4 participants got a taste of the monastic life by joining the Sisters for the Divine Office, Mass, Adoration, work and recreation. They also had sessions of shared lectio divina and input on the monastic life and vocational discernment. The feedback was very positive and we are planning 3 such weekends in 2025 (weekend commencing 28th February, 27th June and 3rd October). Please spread the word and join us in praying for vocations to our community.
Sr Walburga
Hospitality
This year has brought many guests to us for retreats, quiet holidays and family breaks. Hospitality is a key monastic virtue bringing mutual blessings. We are always heartened when our visitors find peace and healing just by being in this holy place.
Our self-catering accommodation is proving to be very popular. Sadly some of our former guests are unable to come now. We do not forget them and we keep them in our thoughts and prayer. Guests appreciate the opportunity to pray with us and it is always a blessing to welcome them to the chapel.
We have had an increase in day groups, including Confirmation and First Communion Candidates, and we are delighted to be able to offer a variety of venues. Our hospitality extends to those wishing to visit the grounds, enjoy a guided tour and to spend time in our little abbey shop. School visits are always a highlight for us, and we were delighted to host ‘abbey days’ again for our local Minster School and also to visit St Ethelbert’s school in Ramsgate where attended Year 5 School Assembly.
If you wish to spend time at the Abbey, please visit our website for more information about the guesthouse and booking details. We now have a special email for all guesthouse enquiries: minsterguesthouse@gmail.com
Sr Benedict
For almost nine years we have had the joy of hosting the students and staff of Looking Ahead at Parkminster. Sadly they have decided to withdraw from the end of January. However, they will continue with their work at the cafe and art gallery in Margate and will be very pleased to see old friends there. We wish them every blessing in the future.
Our Safeguarding team attended the Conference and AGM of the Religious Life Safeguarding Service (RLSS) in the spring. This was a very fruitful experience and we very grateful for their support and guidance.
Message to our Chaplains
We would like to thank you, our many generous priests who minister to us here at Minster Abbey as our chaplains through the year. Your presence is supportive of our monastic life and inspires us in our commitment to the Lord. We are grateful to Him for sending you to us, and to you for your response to the promptings of grace which led you here to us. It is our joy to offer you a quiet space in which to pray and be refreshed during your visit to us. We always say that the Lord provides — and in you we are forever rediscovering that when He provides, he is always generous beyond our expectations!
Farm, garden and orchards
We opted for a late Lambing Season this year to avoid the freezing late winter/ early spring nights. With some expert advice, our by now very experienced midwifery team, Sr Benedict, Sr Walburga and Sr Mildred, delivered ten beautiful healthy lambs. As in previous years we had plenty of offers to help with the bottle-feeding of our triplets. Visiting the lambs and sheep is also always a favourite part of school and family visits!
This past year has been very fruitful and productive in the vegetable garden. We have had a proliferation of runner beans, beetroot, celeriac, courgettes, marrows, onions and tomatoes as well as leeks and parsnips. This has enabled us to give a regular supply to our local Food Bank at the Birchington Baptist Church. We have also had a few additions to our sheds and storage areas. Our very hardworking handyman Adrian built a new potting shed from scratch and we also bought a small tool shed. Luckily, we have not been as affected as other parts of the country by either the excessive dry periods in summer or the recent heavy rains causing flooding. All the many water butts are full and we are at present digging over the garden in preparation for the new sowing season, starting in February. Our friend Lorna has been magnificent at working and preparing plots and doing quite heavy work in the veg garden, as well as working in the guesthouse and in the Abbey very efficiently. We are very grateful to her. I have also managed to keep the Chapel flower garden and the Tower garden flourishing with various plants and rose bushes over the past year. We had a magnificent Harvest Festival in October starting in our Meeting Room with a cup of tea with our ecumenical group from the other Churches, followed by a display of produce in our Chapel with a prayer service to finish off.
It was a great success.
The orchards have been exceptionally productive, and Sr Walburga’s pest control is paying off in a big way; the apple cellars are filled to overflowing. Sr. Walburga has also planted more soft fruit, both currants and blackberries, and we are stocking up on plums, too.
We look forward to God’s blessing on our future undertakings next year and we ask you to join us in thanksgiving for all God’s gifts.
Sr. Margaret Mary
Our ‘Poets-in-Residence’
You can watch a video of Sr Mary Stephen reading one of her recent poems on the website. It was inspired by the work for the installation of the solar panels. Sr Johanna recently won third place with her poem
“Saint Anne, the day after the Angel’s visit” in a poetry competition on catholicliteraryarts:
Catholic Arts.
Our ‘maintenance team’ has been working hard to keep grounds and building in good shape. Sadly, our friend Adrian is very unwell and unable to continue working for us. We are tremendously grateful for all his assistance and remain in close contact. We ask you to keep him in your prayers.
We remember in a special way family members and friends who have gone before us. Sr Benedict’s sister Susan died earlier his year. Sr Benedict was able to visit her for a few weeks and Susan died very peacefully with her family around her.
For more than 30 years Fr David Standley led retreats – together with Sr Aelred and Sr Benedict – for parents and others with a family member with a disability. We are grateful for his friendship, his humour and great wisdom!
Sr Aelred’s brother-in law Stuart died in November and we pray for Shirley and all who are grieving his loss. We also pray for Edmund, a good friend of our community for over 40 years, who died recently.
As always, Holy Mass will be offered for all our friends, relatives and benefactors on 26th December, the Feast of Saint Stephen.
With our love and prayers, M. Nikola and the community.