Friends News - From The Editor
by Fr.
Anthony Maggs C.R.L.
A great deal has happened since the last number of our magazine. The summer wasn't really a summer at all but we managed to celebrate the feast of St. Augustine in some style. It fell on a Bank Holiday so people found it easier to join us for Mass and a buffet lunch. After that I tok off almost immediately for Italy and a study week in the lovely Abbey of Neustift in the German-speaking part of Italy known as the Alto Adige. The Abbey church is a glorious example os exuberant baroque style and we were in constant danger of distraction during the offices. The country roundabout was the scene of fierce fighting in the First World War.
From there I went to Gubbio, a lovely Umbrian town not far from Assisi where the Canons have the care of a parish and where they also maintain a pastoral centre. It was there that we held the General Chapter of the Order and elected a new Abbot General, D. Bruno Giuliani. D. Bruno, an Italian, has spent the last thirty years of his life in Brazil and so we are expecting a new thrust, a new angle on our way of life under his leadership.
I have been in correspondence for some time with a group of American priests who are interested in becoming Canons and setting up a foundation in the States. They asked me to fly over and make contact with some Bishops in the East to seek their approval for such a foundation. It was my first visit and I found it fascinating. I was particularly pleased to be able to see the first Catholic foundations in the newly formed Union in Bowie and Baltimore. Nothing certain for the moment but there may yet be a house of Canons in the States so please do keep it in your prayers.
So what do we have for you in this Christmas number of the Millennium? Well, first of all we all send our best wishes and pray that God will bless you and your families this Christmas. Then some news of our Fathers: a Canon Regular at Lambeth; Fr. Denis at Westminster Cathedral; Trying to understand the Holy Trinity; Early Catholic beginnings in the States.
This is the Editorial from Friends News No.82, the Journal of the Canons Regular of the Lateran. For details on receiving a copy of this journal, e-mail.
