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In this edition:
Last Thursday the Monastery celebrated the 100 year anniversary of St. Augustine's Chapel.  It was a joyous day, with The Rt. Rev. Andrew Dietsche, Bishop Visitor of the Order, presiding at the festal Eucharist.

A Word from the Guesthouse

Dear friends,

As you know, the Monastery Guesthouse re-opened this past September and it has been a joy having so much more life in the buildings after the long, fallow period of the past year and a half.  If you haven't made it back yet (or visited for the first time), we hope to see you soon!

Last week the Monastery celebrated the 100th anniversary of the consecration of the Chapel of St. Augustine.  In celebration, a new book has been published, A Century of Praise, which you can order below from our Etsy shop, or pick up in-person at the Monastery bookstore.

In the lead-up to the celebration, The Rev. Martin Smith gave a series of three talks, The Axis of Adoration, The Word Issuing from Silence, and The Bodies’ Offering, which can be read here (they are well worth your time!).  On the Feast of the Dedication itself, The Rev. Sean Mullen, Rector of St Mark's, Locust Street, Philadelphia, was invited to preach, honoring the fact that his predecessor Fr. Frank Vernon gave the sermon at the original event; Fr. Mullen's sermon can be heard or read here.

You'll find in this edition of the Mundi an interview with Br. Bernard Delcourt, the latest from the OHC Sermons Blog and The Monastery Column blog, and a listing of upcoming retreats and programs.

Yours in Christ,
The Rev. Matthew Wright
Assistant for Guesthouse Communications

A Century of Praise: New Book Available!



In celebration of the centennial of the chapel at Holy Cross Monastery, the monastic community has produced a commemorative book which lays out the history, architecture and changing fortunes of this sacred space over the last hundred years.  Richly illustrated with archival and contemporary photos and explored through essays and interviews, it offers a unique introduction to this remarkable building and a keepsake for all who have ever worshiped here or who would like to know it better.

Copies may be purchased at the Monks Cell Book and Gift Shop at Holy Cross Monastery or through our Etsy shop for $20.00

Order a copy online here.
In Profile: Br. Bernard Delcourt, OHC

This past month I sat down and talked with Br. Bernard Delcourt about what brought him to the Monastery and how monastic life has changed him.  This summer Br. Bernard was newly appointed as Director of Associates.

Tell me a little about your background.

I've had dual-citizenship since 2009; I’m both an American and a Belgian citizen.  I was born in Belgium and raised in a Roman Catholic family by practicing parents.  In my mid-teens, I had a rebellious episode against the religious institution of the Roman Catholic Church.  I threw out the baby with the bathwater in that I thought that I didn’t believe in God anymore.  A few years later I realized that I did believe in God, I just didn’t believe in the institution, so I was able to separate those two issues.  But for the best part of 25 years, between 15 and my late 30s, I was unchurched.

I had a career as an investment banker.  In the course of that career, which started in Belgium, I moved to the head office of JP Morgan in New York and I worked on Wall Street for a few years.  That’s how I came to New York City and acquired a green card to have permanent residency in the U.S.  During that time, by chance, I discovered the Episcopal Church.  I wasn’t really looking for it, it just sort of happened to me—or so it seemed.  And I thought, “Oh isn’t this interesting—this is a church I probably wouldn’t have left as a teenager.” 

My issues had to do mostly with the sexual morals issues of the [Roman] church, and the fact that Episcopal clergy could be married, that women could be priests, and that at the time homosexuality was at least a conversation we were willing to have—even though we hadn’t made all of the decisions we’ve made since in terms of inclusion—made it a place I could try to call home, and I was received in 2000.  I give thanks for the Episcopal Church regularly.  I like to quip that it saved my soul; of course, it’s Jesus who saved my soul, but the Episcopal Church was his tool to hook me back into the fold.
 
So why aren’t you still a banker attending a parish church in NYC?

Well, that would be a perfectly good Christian vocation, but in 2000, Chase Manhattan bought JP Morgan, so it was a big merger of two big banks.  Over time there were several layers of layoff and eventually my whole department, which was involved in internet finance, was laid off.  I had career counseling services thrown into my separation package, and during that process I realized that I wanted to help people one-on-one.  So I became a life skills and business skills coach in the fall of 2001 after September 11. 

I started having a private practice as a coach seeing individual clients—and that worked and it was a labor of love.  It was fulfilling, I loved New York, and at the time I thought “Okay, I’m going to finish my life in New York and I’m going to build up this practice as a coach, and that will be that, and I will be a member of the Church.”
 
However, 9/11 was a shock to the system in that it made a lot of people question what the values were that guided their lives.  It sort of threw ontological questions at us—“Why am I here?  What am I about?  What do I want to do?”  And in that time I also discovered the extent of God’s love for me, and I became overwhelmed with how much God was loving me and caring for me and I wanted to requite that love.  That evolved over the next couple of years and I realized that I wanted to respond to this love more fully with my life.  And I didn’t know what that meant or what that looked like.  It was an open question.
 
How was God’s love made real for you in your life?

Well, looking back, it feels a little bit egocentric and selfish, but I realized I was spared in 9/11; I didn’t lose any members of my family, I didn’t lose any friends or colleagues.  I now realize we are loved by God, and that God is alongside and with us, even when we go through immense suffering and unfairness and injustice.  That doesn’t mean that God is absent.  But in my simple mind at the time, I felt like God had taken care of me.  So, you know, God sometimes gets you to have interesting feelings that help you in your journey with God and later on you can question the validity of those feelings, but they were functional in getting you on the path of greater intimacy with God.
 
So you wanted to respond more fully to this love.  What options did you see before you?

I was considering that my new profession was already a step in the right direction in that I wasn’t one of the cogs in the large international capitalist system.  I was an investment banker for fourteen years, and during those years I managed to keep the cotton over my eyes and not look at the fact that I was participating in a system which could have a lot of negative effects. 

I kept lulling myself to sleep with the fact that there were also positive economic effects to having the capital markets functioning.  And the system remunerated me wonderfully financially and experientially: I traveled internationally; I was able to learn languages.  There were lots of wonderful things that happened to me in my banking career, and those helped me not look at the downside of what I was doing.  But once you’re out of there, you don’t have those golden manacles attached to your wrists anymore and you’re free to deconstruct and critique the system that you were a part of before, which was uncomfortable to dissect while you were in it.
 
So how did you find the Monastery?

I had this open question in my heart and I didn’t know how to answer it and what to answer it with, but in Advent of 2000 I started coming to the Monastery for retreats.  I discovered that there were such things as Episcopalian religious—who knew?  A lot of Episcopalians to this day still don’t know that.  And I loved the place, I loved what it did for me in my retreat time, and I started coming more and more often.  That in itself should have been a signal that something was going on.  By 2003, I was coming to the Monastery 3-4 times a year.  And one day the cab from Poughkeepsie train station turned into the driveway and my gut said, my heart said, “Home” in a very powerful way.  “We’re home.”

I had been trained academically and professionally to be in my head, and my head said, “No, no home is in Manhattan, you silly.”  But the feeling wouldn’t go away and at some point I realized, “Oh, duh, this is one way of answering God’s call more fully.”  And then I freaked out and decided, “Okay this is really too weird for words, I need to shake this off.”  It took me about six months to realize, “Okay, I’ve got to work this out of my system one way or the other.” 

So in May of 2003, I came out as a “candidate monk” to the community here, as somebody who was in discernment, and started talking with the Novice Master and Vocations Minister, at the time Br. Reginald, and started having a conversation with my spiritual director.  I took a leave of absence from my customer base in the summer of 2003 and visited every single men’s religious community in the Episcopal Church. That was the head trying to build a spreadsheet of the pros and cons of everything in order to decide intellectually which was the best community, when in fact I had heard the call and fallen in love with this community. 

At the end of the exercise, I realized my head couldn’t solve this and my heart had decided up front what it was going to be—and I listened to my heart.  I entered the Monastery in late March 2004.
 
You came to the Monastery to respond to the love of God.  How has your love affair with God evolved or deepened?  What is that relationship like today?

It’s wonderful. It has deepened.  It has become stronger on my side—I mean, I don’t think God’s love could be any stronger today than it was when I was born or any day after that, but my love for God has deepened.  When I first came here, I had a great relationship with God the Creator—and I was scared senseless of intimacy with Jesus, because even though intellectually I was a totally liberated, emancipated, out gay man, deep inside I still really felt that it was probably not okay to love Jesus as a gay man.  That I could only love Jesus if I emasculated the gayness out of me. 

This was not as explicit as I state it now, but looking back that’s what it feels like.  So it took me a long time to become tamed by Jesus into his love.  Just like the fox in The Little Prince, I had to be tamed and Jesus had to be very patient with me.  Now I pray to Jesus as Beloved.  I call him Beloved because he is the Beloved of God, but he is also the Beloved of me, and I am his beloved as well.
 
Would you share something with us about your prayer life as a monk?

Our life of prayer—that’s the main thing about being a monk—enables, encourages, and sometimes even forces prayer on you.  I pray corporate prayer with my brothers upwards of two hours a day, and that is not some decision I make day by day, it’s just something I do every day, and it’s wonderful.  I love our Divine Office and the chanting and the exposure to Scripture over the years.  So that’s the basis, the non-negotiable. 

Then there’s personal prayer.  Our Rule encourages us to have about an hour of personal prayer a day.  I don’t time it, but I think there’s probably more than that in my life.  Eventually this life works its magic on you in that the life is imbued with prayer throughout.  So I pray first thing when I wake up in my bed, I pray last thing when I go to sleep in my bed, and in between I have many forms of prayer that support me.  And I use technology.  I use modern things as well.  I use a Jesuit app called Pray As You Go.  I call it “lectio light”—it’s not the true form of lectio divina, but it’s a light approach to it.  I do Centering Prayer, that’s an ancient technology.  And I read meditations and spiritual books.

I also continue to have a lot of what my spiritual director in the early 2000s introduced me to as “arrow prayers.” You’re just surprised by something in the middle of your day and you address an exclamation to God, “O Lord, thank you, this is beautiful.”  I’d say the arrow prayers are a lot about gratitude for me, and gratitude continues to have a very important place in my prayer.  I also do a lot of intercessory prayer, and as the Director of Associates, there is a lot that comes my way in that regard.
 
Why do you pray?

It’s part of my relationship with God.  I try to do everything with intent, and to try to not get lost and disconnected with my relationship with God in anything I do.  In that regard, you could say that turns everything into prayer one way or another.  But those moments in my day that I can more readily identify as prayer are like quality time with your spouse; the relationship is there anyway, but the relationship gets better if you spend the quality time with your beloved.
 
What is your hope for the future?  Do you see a direction you believe the Order is moving in?

I try not to do that.  Part of my mental health is in trying not to say, “I see what direction we’re going in and this is what is going to happen and I’m going to help make it happen.”  That is a dangerous trap for me and I try not to enter it.  The trap still beckons from time to time, but I have also come to realize that I have deeper trust in God.

In seventeen years, it seems to me that the emotional intelligence and the level of mutual trust and intimacy in this community has only grown, which is something I wanted, and it happened without me pushing for it. I think we’re a healthier community now than we’ve been at any time in the 17 years I’ve been here. 

I wish we had more young, ardent vocations joining us, and we have one who just joined us now—Yay!  I’m thrilled.  But I also know that whatever God is doing here is not a numbers game.  So, whatever this community needs to become in the hands of God, it will become.  I don’t need to have it figured out and to push for it to happen.
 
Is there anything you would want to share with your readers?

If you aren’t an Associate, you’re missing out!  Consider it.  Get in touch with me.  It’s easier than you think and bears great fruit.
 
Thank you, Br. Bernard!
(listed alphabetically by last name)








 
 




 
 




Br. Bernard Delcourt
I continue to oversee capital projects. The Middle House re-roofing might be complete before the winter (fingers crossed). The big frustration is that we cannot use the new Guesthouse elevator until backup power hiccups are cleared. Various solutions have been considered and rejected. In the end, we may need to meet the big expense of an additional or a larger backup generator. Sigh.
 
In mid-August, I was appointed as Director of Associates to follow in the steps of Br. Josép who will focus the freed time and energy on vocations and formation ministries. It's a big job, we have integrated the Associates who were previously overseen by the Santa Barbara Brothers into our care. We now connect with more than 570 Associates. We are blessed. I am in the midst of Associates annual reports season. I have already read and responded to close to 100 reports. More to come.
 
In August, I got to visit Kent School, in Kent, CT, with Br. Aidan. I had long wanted to see this vibrant institution which was started by Holy Cross Brothers in the early 20th century. In September, I gave a presentation to General Theological seminarians about writing a Rule of Life. I have restarted my ministry of spiritual direction to students and faculty of GTS for the academic year.
 
In mid-September, we celebrated the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, our patronal feast. Seventeen years in my run and I am still happy to be a Holy Cross monk. TBTG.
 
 
Br. Timothy Jolley
The summer has been spent bringing my life in California to a close and saying goodbye to a lot of people and places.  I made a final retreat with the Camaldolese in Big Sur in August, and before that I helped with the dismantling of the Mt. Calvary property in Santa Barbara where I have lived since the summer of 2020.  By the time I left on Sept. 25th, most of the rooms were getting close to empty.  We celebrated the move of the iconic Great Iron Cross which for decades symbolized the Order's presence in Santa Barbara, to St. Mark's Church, Los Olivos where it graces their new Garden of Remembrance.  I had the feeling that once that cross left the property, Holy Cross had finally come to a close in the area after over 70 years of prayer and ministry.  Mary Ann Paxton, our Guesthouse Director, has been a whiz on Craigslist and is solely responsible for some brilliant sales!
 
In late September I left Santa Barbara for a 4 day cross country train ride to the east coast and West Park.  What a magnificent journey through the Sierra Nevadas, the Utah desert and the Rockies down to Denver.  Then on to the plains of Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois.  From brown to green.  It was exquisite, restful and fun.  Would I do it again?  In a New York minute!!
 
I look forward to my life here now and to establishing myself in a new community.  The monks have graciously received me and given me the space to "re-enter."
 
 
Br. Robert James Magliula
We just celebrated the centennial anniversary of the monastery church. Leading up to the celebration Eucharist on Thursday, Martin Smith framed the week with three outstanding reflections on our relationship to sacred space. It was good to have so many Associates and friends with us. I had an extensive meeting with our Bishop Visitor, his first since the pandemic, catching him up on the Order and myself. Other brothers were also able to have time with him over the two day visit. This was followed by two fruitful days of discussion on our common life by the brothers who were able to be here in person, and those because of border restrictions, were present virtually. Janet Vincent, our facilitator, also preached at the Sunday Eucharist. It has been quite a week!
 
 
Br. Josép Martínez-Cubero
I had a wonderful week of vacation in August, house-sitting. It is a beautiful house with a large yard and a pond in a wooded area not far from the monastery. I stayed with two goofy dogs and one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever known. Lots of reading, cooking and rest. I had different brothers and our alongsiders, Yanick and Matthew, over for lunch or dinner on various occasions. It is fun to get to cook for people, something I don’t get to do often. 
 
I am now serving as Assistant Formator. I am teaching some classes I feel ready to teach and attending the classes taught by Br. Robert James as a review of all the material and paying close attention to how it is done! It is great situation for me to be able to have this comfortable training. Not for Rob, though, who has taken the responsibility of Formator on top of his Superior duties! We are working with our postulant, Daniel, and our Monastic Intern, Eric. Both our doing amazingly well! Classes are fun and engaging.
 
I continue to be in conversations with four men who are discerning a vocation with us: Kevin, Marc, Nicholas and Kyle. Please pray for them by name! God already knows who you’re talking about.
 
 
Br. Robert Sevensky
After a wonderful August retreat at a hermitage in Valle Crucis, NC, I enjoyed a visit with an old friend who lives in the greater Asheville area.  Then back at the monastery two events shaped my days. The first was the reopening of our guest ministry as we felt our way together to welcoming guests new and old.  The second was the centennial celebration of the consecration of St. Augustine's Chapel here at West Park.  I chaired the committee that organized the observance, which included a series of three brilliant addresses by the Rev. Martin Smith and the Festival Eucharist and reception with the bishop of New York presiding and the rector of St. Mark's, Philadelphia, preaching... just like a century ago. 

Due to the pandemic, the events were smaller than we had originally planned but no less joyous.  And as part of the celebration, we produced a commemorative book on the history of the chapel and its architect, Ralph Adams Cram, titled "A Century of Praise: The Monastic Chapel of Saint Augustine."  Copies may be purchased in person at the monastery bookstore and ordered online through our "MonksCell" Etsy account.  I think you'll like it.
 
 
Br. Carl Sword
I recently watched two Webinars sponsored by the Trinity Spiritual Center, Trinity Church, Southport, CT. The first Webinar was by Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, a Hindu Mystic teacher, who discussed her journey as a white American woman into becoming a practitioner and teacher of Hindu mysticism. 
 
The second Webinar was by Fr. Matthew Wright with his presentation of an introduction of heart-centered prayer called Opening the Eye of the Heart.
 
I continued my ministry of psychotherapy and spiritual direction. I recently have read and studied John Main’s book: Word Into Silence, A Manual for Christian Meditation.

Associates’ Weekend

Led by: Br. Josép Martínez-Cubero, OHC

Friday, 29 October – Sunday, 31 October 2021


Join Br. Josép, the Monastic Community, and other Monastery Associates for a time of retreat and reflection on Christian and monastic spirituality. This retreat is perfect for Associates wanting to get to know one another and the Monastic Community more deeply and also for anyone considering becoming an Associate!

Suggested Donation: $220
LEARN MORE HERE

On Walsingham Way: An Early English Pilgrimage in Music and Word

Led by: James Ruff

Saturday, 30 October 2021, 2.30pm

in the Monastic Church of St. Augustine

A musical exploration of the famous Marian pilgrimage site in Walsingham, England, featuring James Ruff, tenor and Early Gaelic Harp in ballads, poems and music of the three periods of importance to the site: Medieval pilgrimage, Tudor destruction and lamentation, 20th century restoration. A singular journey of devotion with tenor and harpist, James Ruff.

Since 2005, tenor James Ruff has focused his energies on researching and performing both the Early Scottish Gaelic Song and the Early Gaelic Wire Harp repertoires. He currently enjoys presenting concerts of this music at festivals and on music series such as the Scoil na gClairseach: Festival of the Early Irish Harp in Kilkenny, Ireland, Boston Early Music Festival Fringe, and Gotham Early Music Scene Midtown Concerts in New York. He has studied Scottish Gaelic Song with award winning Scottish singers Kenna Campbell, Mary Ann Kennedy and Christine Primrose, and early harp techniques with noted Irish harpist Siobhan Armstrong.

Suggested Donation: $15
LEARN MORE HERE

Spiritual Practice of Singing

Led by: Br. Josép Martínez-Cubero, OHC

Tuesday, 16 November – Friday, 19 November 2021

 

St. Athanasius of Alexandria believed that singing is essentially a spiritual discipline and an important practice in spiritual formation. Singing allows us to use the core elements out of which the world came into being and through which it is sustained: breath, tone, intentionality, and community.

This retreat offers intensive spiritual work on the fundamentals of singing: posture, breath, tone production, and diction. Br. Josép will use a variety of practical methods to help participants find their best tone production and range. Participants will explore the spirituality of singing through a variety of musical styles. All who would like to explore singing as a spiritual practice are welcome, as well as clergy who do not feel comfortable with their singing, those who wish to get in touch with their singing voice, and those who feel out of practice and want to get back into it.

 
Suggested Donation: $385
LEARN MORE HERE

Your Life as Story

Led by: Beverly Donofrio

Friday, 19 November – Sunday, 21 November 2021
 

Are you stuck, looking for a way in, unable to figure out how to proceed, wondering how to make a compelling read from the raw material that is your life? To master memoirist Beverly Donofrio writing is about diving deep to find your truth, and then shaping your experiences into a story that others will not want to put down: because your truth, pain, shame, and obsessions help them face their own. And because telling your story not only has the potential to heal the teller but the reader too.

Beverly will offer in-class exercises designed to unearth memory and approach your material in a safe, fun, and original way. She will instruct you in the craft of plot, setting, scene-writing, and reflection; she will also teach you to move back and forth in time seamlessly and to write detailed, visually descriptive language.

Beverly Donofrio has published three memoirs.  Her personal essays have appeared in many anthologies and periodicals, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Spirituality and Health, Oprah Magazine, Huffington Post, and Slate. She has taught creative nonfiction workshops internationally and across the United States and is currently on the faculty of the low-residency MFA program at Wilkes University. Ms. Donofrio lives in Woodstock, NY. Visit beverlydonofrio.com to read some of her essays.

Suggested Donation: $420
LEARN MORE HERE

Thanksgiving, the Monastery Way

Led by: The Monastic Community

Tuesday, 23 November – Friday, 26 November 2021

Harvest Thanksgiving is a wonderful and ancient tradition that calls us into a thankful relationship with God and all of God’s creation. As Americans, we join with our sisters and brothers without regard to faith tradition in giving thanks and praise to God at every opportunity. At the monastery, we blend American (yes, turkey, dressing,  and the works on Thanksgiving) with religious tradition. Come join us for any or all these day.

Suggested Donation: $95/night
LEARN MORE HERE
The Monastery Column by Br. Bernard, OHC
 

The centennial of St Augustine Chapel and OHC conferences

 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, The Rev. Martin Smith presented three reflections on the nature and spirituality of worship. They were engaging and stimulating. The monastic community intends to ruminate on what Martin had to say and how it may influence our own worship. Several guests were in attendance in the St Augustine Chapel itself and more were following the presentations online. You can find those recordings on our Facebook page (unfortunately the sound on the first of the three presentations is unsatisfactory). [read more]
See our full retreat listing here: 
https://holycrossmonastery.com/events/
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