Hyning Monastery Christmas Newsletter 2011

COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER CHRISTMAS 2011

It is early December, that paradoxical time when the days are short as the calendar year draws to its close, and at the same time we begin the new liturgical year and journey once more with all those who throughout history have prepared to celebrate the birth of Christ.  We appreciate the fact that Advent lasts the full four weeks this year and that there will be a complete week between New Year and the beautiful feast of the Epiphany.  We are fortunate that our liturgy is so rich and that we have this time to enjoy it.
The beginning of Advent brought us the new translation of the Roman Missal although the texts of the Mass have been in use since the beginning of September.  It will take some getting used to, so we reserve judgement as we familiarise ourselves with it.  Our preparation for this began in Lent when we watched a DVD explaining the texts and how the translation had been arrived at.  Sr. M. Anthony and Sr. M. Bernard went to several meetings in the local parish and in March Sr. M. Cecilia, Sr. M. Stella, Sr. M. Colette and Sr Maria attended a day at Salford which addressed the issue from the point of view of composers and setting the new texts to music.  This was extremely helpful and one consequence of the new texts has been the work of sourcing Mass settings of them and extra singing practices to learn them.

2011 began with Sr. M. Emmanuelle leaving us for a month to prepare for her Solemn Profession which took place at La Plaine, our Generalate House near Lille on 30th January.   Hyning was represented by S. Josephine Mary, S.M. Joseph and S.M. Colette but the whole community was able to share the ceremony thanks to a Powerpoint presentation which S.M. Emmanuelle brought back with her.   It was a joyful occasion attended by many friends and family and was echoed on June 5th by the Solemn Profession of Sr. Mary Johanna which took place here. Sr. Mary Helen was over from France together with Sr. Christine, the novice mistress in France, and S.M. Nicole.  Apart from Sr. Catherine who was unwell, the community from Brownshill was present as was Fr. Peter, their chaplain, and several close friends from Gloucestershire.  We also welcomed other members of the Cistercian family: Brother Benedict and Brother Luca from Caldey and Fr. Anselm and Fr. Terry from Mount St. Bernard.  It was a great joy for us all that Sr. Mary Johanna’s father, Mr. Irwin, was well enough to attend – together with other members of her family and friends from Hull.  The chapel was packed; we even borrowed chairs from the local parish church.  Ecumenism indeed!  Thank you Fr. Damian for your kindness in delivering and collecting them.

Two Solemn Professions left only Jane in the novitiate and she became a novice last month.  Her father had a slight stroke just as she was beginning her retreat in preparation for this, but seems to be making good progress.  Jane had the joy of a visit from her brother and sister-in-law during the summer to introduce her to her first niece, Anya, born in May.

In August Sr. Maria took over the role of novice mistress and has attended several interesting courses to help her with this work.  She is also involved with the north-west Compass group, a vocational discernment programme begun by Fr. Christopher at Worth Abbey some years ago.  In October Sr. M. Apolline and S. M. Philippa together with Sr. Maria followed a two week course on Cistercian anthropology given by Fr. Michael Casey which was held at Nunraw Abbey. 

Sr. Mary Colette has now taken on more of the bursar work in England which has necessitated numerous trips to Brownshill to work with Sister Catherine as well as attending a number of meetings on various subjects involving finance.  In January there was a meeting at our Generalate House on the subject of temporal administration and this was attended by the Prioresses and bursars of all our communities.

Other sisters have also followed courses to help in their work or on-going formation.   Sr. Michaela had the opportunity of visiting the community in Tautra, Norway in March for a session on early Cistercian women.  The same month Sr. Josephine Mary went to Rome to help with the introductory week for the three month Benedictine Course for Formators in Rome and has also recently returned from the celebration of the 50th jubilee of A.I.M. (an organisation founded by the Benedictine and Cistercian families to help new monastic communities in the developing world) which was held in Ligugé near Poitiers.

As a community we have also had some interesting and informative input on a variety of subjects.  Dr. Hancock gave us a fascinating talk on his work in Kamuli Hospital, Uganda and in August we were happy to meet Sr. Gilda, its administrator, during her visit to England. Sr. Samia from Egypt spoke to us of the complexities of the situation in her country.  A member of the local Alzheimer’s Society gave us an insight into that disease and advice on how to help sufferers, and just recently Phoebe Caldwell helped us understand a little more about autism as she shared some of her work with us.

Several sisters spend a significant amount of time leading retreats and giving input to groups.  During Lent we held our usual Scripture course, this year’s subject being an overview of each Gospel.  Sr. Josephine Mary, Sr. M. Anthony, Sr. M. Stella, Sr. M. Colette and Sr. Michaela each prepared a session.  For 2012 beginning on 28th February our subject will be ‘Women in the Bible’.  In response to a number of requests we will also be staying open for more of the month of August 2012.  This seems to be a popular time for a retreat so we have two opportunities: between July 27th and August 7th or between August 21st and August 29th when the house will be open to those wanting a few silent days.

The guesthouse has been busy during the year and we have welcomed old friends and new.  We greatly enjoyed the visit in September of Mother Hildegard and a group of German and Swiss nuns.  They had been studying St. Aelred and took the opportunity to profit from a short seminar in England including a visit to the abbey of Rievaulx.  Their visit coincided with the day designated for beginning the new responses at Mass, so we assured our regular congregation that a second reading in German was not an integral part of the new liturgy!  Gabrielle, a French student of engineering in Nantes spent over a month with us in the summer improving her English and helping especially in the garden.  We also had Sr. Rose for two months, a sister from Tanzania who has spent the past five years studying education in Rome and who wanted to refresh her English before returning home.  She also profited from spending a day in our local primary school.  Sr. Rose too gave us much cheerful help. Perhaps this is the point at which we could say a very big thank you to all those who support us and help us in very practical ways.  We have wonderful friends and volunteers who render all kinds of service on a regular basis.  Your help is invaluable, we do not take it for granted and without you Hyning would not function as it does.

 Another very happy event shared with families and friends was the celebration in July of the Diamond jubilees of Sr. M. John and Sr. Marie Pia together with Sr. M. John’s 90th birthday.  Sr. M. John continues to live at Dolphinlee in Lancaster but comes home for special occasions and we see her at least once a week.  Bishop Michael presided at the Mass and Fr. Peter Watson, a long standing friend of Sr. M. John’s family, preached the homily.  Soon after this we said goodbye to S.M. Pia who after many years at Hyning has returned to her native France and also to S.M. Emmanuelle who has also returned to France after eighteen months here at Hyning.  As you can imagine we miss them both.

Inevitably the year has not been without its mishaps.  In May Sr. Michelle Marie was enthusiastically helping Sr. M. Stella with some painting in Cottage 2 when she fell off the step-ladder and broke her foot in several places.  She spent a few days in hospital and then returned home for several weeks before the swelling had reduced enough for an operation to be possible.  Six months later and with a foot full of metal, it is still not quite right.  David Harbach, a very long-standing friend and helper, also fell off a ladder at home just before Easter and spent many months in hospital; it is good to see him much improved.

The painting both in the Cottage and in the main house was finished by Sr. M. Stella, but the rest of the maintenance undertaken this year has been of the unseen variety!  Roofs continue to leak and to be mended, this seems to be a regular occurrence at Hyning.  Our roofer is never short of work.  Last year’s torrential rain and gales were a lethal combination.  We also had an underground water leak which, for several months, proved impossible to track down despite knowing that the water meter was racing.  It was eventually traced to piping outside the laundry and at this point we had the old pipes from the community area and from both cottages to the main water supply replaced.  This was a significant distance and entailed digging up tarmac outside the kitchen and garage as well as parts of the garden.  It is always a pity when costly maintenance has no aesthetic value at the end of it!  Currently we are choosing new carpet for the main guests’ dining-room and white library which will be replaced during the closed time in the new year.  At least that will be a visible improvement.  We have also spent a lot of time this year researching alternative methods of heating, notably wood chip boilers.  As we mentioned last year this will be an enormous undertaking and we have, as yet, no time scale for this or even certainty that it will be feasible. There is much still to be considered before any course of action can be undertaken.

In the garden the tree planting programme continued, but we were saddened to lose our beautiful weeping beech in June.  Its wide trunk was split and condemned as unsafe and although we obtained advice from a number of experts, it was far from certain that bracing it or any other alternative was going to last more than very short term.  Safety was paramount and it had to be felled.

One project which did come to fruition this year was that of the Stations of the Cross in the icon studio.  They were commissioned by a parish in Rosscarbery near Cork where the church was being completely renovated.  Sr. M. Stella and her Wednesday group worked on them for a year and they were exhibited in our chapel in April together with an explanatory booklet. In October Sr. M. Stella went over to Rosscarbery together with Sr. Zela, an Ursuline sister who is part of the group and her own sister Lucy.  They were driven by Maureen and John Calnan who carefully transported the icons.  John’s cousin Kieran is a member of the parish in Ireland and it was through that connection that the commission came.  Sr. Josephine Mary also went over for the actual presentation to the parish which took place on the evening of 11th October and at which Sr. M. Stella gave a brief explanation of each icon.  Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue, retired bishop of Lancaster and now living near Cork, was the chief celebrant at the Mass, a lovely connection as he knows Hyning so well.  The next day Maureen and Sr.M. Stella stayed at the church to give explanations to the primary and secondary schoolchildren who came to see the icons.  The small group returned to England very pleased with the reception of their work and happy that the icons were so appreciated.

We are aware that you are always interested in news of other sisters you have known here at Hyning.  Sr. Mary Helen, as Prioress General, spent two weeks with us in June after Sr. Mary Johanna’s profession.  She has just returned from visiting our sisters in Japan and will be setting off again soon to spend Christmas with the small community in Vietnam.  Scarcely back from that she will go to see our community in Goma in January.

Sr. Anna Maria returned to France for a few weeks in the summer to celebrate her Golden jubilee with her family and friends but was not able to come over to England.  She and Sr. Christine Marie continue to be part of the implantation in Vietnam, but the third sister has returned to Japan.  In October two French sisters joined them: Sr. Odile who spent several weeks here before leaving and Sr. Sylvie who was previously a member of the community at St. Bernard du Touvet. Both speak excellent English and both are now attending classes in Ho Chi Minh City rising to the challenge of learning Vietnamese, an extremely difficult language to master

In Burkina Faso the community have just welcomed a postulant, Florence.  Sr. M. Apolline is the only African sister in England at the moment, a member of the community at Brownshill, but she will be returning to Goma for several weeks in the new year to renew her visa.

There are frequent comings and goings between Hyning and Brownshill and several of their community joined us for our annual retreat preached by Abbot Joseph from Mount St. Bernard.  Sr. M. Philippa had the sadness of her mother’s death in May followed only six weeks later by that of her uncle.  Both were resident with the Little Sisters of the Poor in London.  Sr. Frances is now very unwell and bedridden.  She has moved into Resthaven, a local nursing home, where she can be given all the care and medication needed. She is always interested in news of Hyning and our guests as she lived here for many years.

In sharing with you just a little of our local ‘life at Hyning’ during this past twelve months be sure that we are not unaware of the wider world; the need for peace and reconciliation in many parts of the world, the ever present threats to so many and the economic climate.  These are part of our background too.  We are also very conscious amongst close friends of bereavement and pain, of serious illness.  All these intentions are remembered by us and kept in our prayer.
As we prepare to celebrate the beautiful feast of Christmas we thank you again for your friendship and send our very best wishes for Christmastide and 2012.