We are planning to keep you up-to-date on different events - courses, Coffee Morning, big celebrations, and so on - as they come up. And then once a year, for the Feast of St Augustine, we will produce a roundup of the other news for you all.

Community

The highlight of the year so far has been Sr Silvana’s Final Profession on 21st July, celebrated by Bishop Paul Swarbrick. The chapel was packed with friends from all parts of Sr Silvana’s and our life. The Bishop preached movingly, and afterwards wrote in his blog:

It was a day of great joy, and not a little emotion. The chapel was full with family and friends of sister Silvana, together with invited guests, members of our Religious in the Diocese and beyond. We also welcomed a good number of visiting clergy. The witness of Religious women has served the Church well over the years. It is an aspect of the Church’s life that we must value and promote. I wonder if anyone reading this might sense the stirrings of a Religious Vocation? Do have the courage to speak to someone about it. What a privilege this day has been. When we see a beautiful rose bush, so often only the flower is noticed. Of course, the rest of the plant is essential and must be healthy to produce a beautiful bloom. So it is with a vocation. What we see so easily is only part of the story, only part of the life. But the Lord knows and sees it all...

We are very grateful to the Bishop, to our many guests, to Vincent our organist, to John and the ladies for the singing, to Shirley for the flowers, to the kitchen and guest house staff and to all who helped to make this an unforgettable day. Ad multos annos! from the day.

Please CLICK HERE to download and read Bishop Swarbrick's homily

The Community Retreat in Lent was led this year by Fr Stephen Morrison.

As a Norbertine Father, he lives a canonical way of life very similar to ours. Fr Stephen engaged us with his music, his humour and his profound meditations on the liturgy.

Sr Eileen continues to serve on the General Council but sadly missed two meetings before being able to join her fellow Councillors again in July as they plan an unusual event for us - an inter-Chapter Assembly to take place in October. This is to review decisions taken at the last Chapter and to prepare for the next one in 2021. As always it was a great joy to be with our Sisters for the meeting hosted by our Community in Morlaix.

Sr Margaret A. was privileged to spend ten days in the Holy Land in May, as part of the Anglican-Roman-Catholic International Commission (ARCIC).

A week of it was meetings, but she was able to see quite a bit of Jerusalem and a day to visit Galilee and also time to go down to Jericho.

In February we suffered a traumatic event when we had a power surge which left us without power for lighting, heating, cooking etc for many hours. Thankfully the local Fire Brigade and David and his lads came to the rescue to ensure that we were safe and comfortable. All work to rectify the damage is not quite completed as yet as its effects were so far reaching.

Guest House and Nursing Home

Our courses so far this year have included Health and Salvation on Communication, Thinking Scripture on Peter, James and John, Two Wings & Some Prayers for birdwatchers, a fascinating weekend about John Bradburne, and, most recently, an excellent Thinking Faith week both thinking about pilgrimage and engaging on it in practice. For details see elsewhere on the website. [Link]

We remain the venue for a monthly Silent Meditation group and are very grateful that they continue to bless us by their prayer and presence. The meetings are open to anyone who wishes to share in the silent prayer- they meet at 2pm on the third Tuesday of the month.

The repainting of the Guest House is being completed with the decoration and refurbishing of the Sisters’ Lounge.

Many thanks to Derek for doing a wonderful job here. We have the carpet laid and hope to have the new curtains and refurbished furnishings in place before Christmas!

It has been good to welcome as volunteers András from Hungary, Giovannni from Italy and Mary from Slovakia. We always feel enriched by the presence of our friends and helpers from abroad.

We are very happy to welcome Elizabeth McConnell back full-time as the Registered Manager for the Nursing Home, as well as her wider responsibilities as Director of Operations. In October last year we received a well-deserved CQC Inspection Report with “Good” in all categories except for Responsive in which we received an “Outstanding” ; we are in the process of seeking accreditation for our End-of-Life care through the Gold Standard Framework programme. Stephanie Conway, our relatively new Activities Coordinator, has been developing a very varied and interesting programme, including speakers, musicians, regular trips out and lots of gardening.

Other

The Coffee Morning this year raised funds for making Boarbank greener. As always it was a lovely event, and gave us the chance to catch up with many old friends. We are very grateful indeed to all who help us with this.

For more, click on   COFFEE Morning   and   GREENING Boarbank   info.

We continue to appreciate visits from schools, including this year a residential retreat group from Our Lady’s, Lancaster and a day visit from Eaglesfield Paddle School, which some of the Sisters have also visited in their turn. We are excited about the possibility of closer collaboration with Allithwaite Church of England Primary School from the autumn.

Sr Ildikó continues to serve as our link to the local Parish by her role on the Parish Council and we are always grateful to join in the various Ecumenical events in and around Grange. We were sad that Rev Andrew Norman left the locality as he had become a real brother to us but are delighted to know that he is not too far away in Beetham, Arnside and Storth and wish him every blessing in his new role as Parish Priest.

Requiescant in Pace

We have lost several close friends and family member this year.

These include: Jósef Bálsa (Sr Ildikó’s father), Anne Connell (Sr Elizabeth’s cousin), Fr Paul Mitcheson (Sr Anne’s cousin), Fr Michael Tully, Fr Terry Rodgers and Fr Michael Lakeland of our diocese, Paul Holland, Dorothy Webster, Peter Harrison, Charlene O’Hara, Lionel Green and Denise Fish. Please pray for them and for their loved ones.