Brother Michael went up to London to watch the Royal Wedding from the Mall. He took a few hundred photographs and was impressed with the atmosphere.

Fr Abbot and Brother Michael went to Rome for the beatification of Pope John Paul. It was a first  visit for Brother Michael.
They bumped into a number of ‘friends and family’ (as BT used to call them) on the way. The first was the Archbishop of Westminster at Gatwick airport. Another was Dame Catherine of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, East Hendred (left – she will try to supress this photograph when she learns of it.) Dame Catherine was in Rome for the Bloggers’ Meeting at the Vatican.

Fr Abbot met some of his Maronite and Ukranian friends, and nun of Stanbrook who is working at Santa Cecilia, the Archbishop of Toulouse (a Benedictine and old friend of the abbot – he was at the abbot’s ordination), and many French friends who had invaded Rome from Paris. The liturgy of the beatification bore the firm stamp of Pope Benedict. There was a wonderful sense of joy and of the Church. After a visit to the coffin of the new beatus in the basilica, we were delighted to be invited by Polish and Czech priests to venerate the first class relics which they would next day take to Poland.