January Information Forum
Today we held our first Information Forum for 2018. We gather each month to share news about personal items and the goings-on within the monastery, the region, and the Order. No one had personal news to share this month. News from the various “department heads” included refreshers regarding when to “close ranks” in choir at the Office and at Mass, preparations for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Feb. 2) and the beginning of Lent (Feb. 14), decisions regarding the 2018 Mass of Remembrance for those buried in a Trappist casket or urn, the distribution of the monies from the sale of Holy Trinity Abbey’s property to the Order and the remaining monasteries in our region, and a more active search for a forester and land-manager to help us with responsible stewardship of our forest and lands.
about Information Forum
The purpose of the Information Forum is to provide an opportunity for brothers publicly to give information or news about themselves or their departments and areas of responsibility that will be of interest to the community or important for the brothers to know.
The Information Forum is a response to:
Constitution 16 of the Order, “Active Participation of the Brothers: the brothers are called to mutual care, mutual co-operation, and mutual obedience. … The abbot and the officials are to communicate to the brothers what concerns all and readily accept their desires and suggestions” (16.2,4).
Priority One of the Transition Process 2012:
Whatever we do, we need to do it together in the community as a whole.