News: Better Late than Never

At our annual Chapter in early June the Order of the Holy Cross made two changes to the way we function.  These are experimental, in that they require formal approval to change our formularies, which takes some time.  But we will try them for the next three years and see if they work.

The first is in the way each of our monasteries chooses its leader.  In the past the Superior has chosen the Prior of each monastery and that choice was ratified (or not) by the Council.  The members of the household had at best conversational input, and sometimes no input at all.  Beginning this year each house elects its Prior, who takes office after the Superior and the majority of Council give their assent.  I was elected Prior of Mount Calvary on June 28 and confirmed shortly thereafter. 

The second change is that each of our houses will now be a house of formation for its new members.  This is not much of a shift for West Park and Grahamstown, who have had formation programs for many years.  But it will be a major change for Toronto and for us here in Santa Barbara.  We are quite excited about the prospect of attracting and training new monks for our monastery here.  I hope to write more about this in this blog soon, and there will shortly be a new page for it on the monastery website.  If you are considering a vocation to be a monk in our tradition, I hope this will perk your interest!

In terms of people, Br. Bob Pierson joined us in May.  Bob was a member of St. John's, Collegeville, for many years, and decided to become part of Mount Calvary after a year of discernment with OHC at West Park, where he was received into the Episcopal Church and into the Order in life vows on March 31.  He is a delightful addition to the community here!

Sermon for Sunday Pentecost 7, Proper 12A

It was a joy and privilege to preside and preach at St. Bede's Episcopal Church in Mar Vista (Los Angeles) last Sunday, July 27.  The Rector, Jim Newman, an Associate of Holy Cross and a friend of long standing, was on a well-deserved vacation.

Despite the best efforts of the lectionary revision people, this time all three lessons worked together for good, to use St. Paul's language from Romans in the second reading for the day.  At St. Bede's they record the sermons electronically and paste the link into the sermon page of the parish website, making it available for the benefit of shut-ins, people who can't get to church, and anyone else who might be interested.  Which might include you, gentle reader!

Lessons:
Genesis 29:15-28
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Here's the link:
http://www.stbedesla.org/sermon/sermon.htm