Sept 19 – Regular Visitation
Dom Gerard D’Souza, Abbot of Our Lady of the Genesee Abbey and designated visitor to New Melleray, initiated our Regular Visitation this evening with a brief address to the community. In his opening comments, Dom Gerard reminded us of the purpose of the regular visitation and offered us three questions to consider:
“In the two years since the last visitation,
1. What have been the blessings; what is working in your communal and monastic life?
2. What have been the pain-points; what has not been working so well?
3. What are the issues confronting the community as it moves into the future?”
In the morning Dom Gerard will preside at a Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit before beginning the scrutinies with each member of the community.
from Constitutions and Statutes of the Monks and Nuns of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance:
C.75.2 “The purpose of the regular visitation is to strengthen and supplement the pastoral action of the local abbot, to correct it where necessary, and to motivate the brothers to lead the Cistercian life with a renewed spiritual fervour.”