Tag: chaplain

Welcome to Fr. Ian

Fr. Ian Bordenave, O.P., is our new chaplain! He’s a Dominican priest of Creole descent who grew up mostly in Florida, and he’s been visiting our community now and again for about twenty years. Right now he’s finishing up his doctoral thesis, and needs a quiet place to work–and so we are fortunate enough to get him! We are enjoying his straightforward homilies and quiet manner, and we hope he will find it quiet enough here to get his work done. We’ll have more about Father in our next issue of “Monastery Bells”, coming out this fall.

Welcome, Father Ian, and may you grow closer to God while you are with us.

Farewell to Fr. John

Fr. John Lydon, O.P. has been our chaplain for four years now, and we’re going to miss him as he moves on to a new assignment elsewhere in the province. Father kept us laughing during his homilies and parlor visits (like the one above) with his dry humor and delightful anecdotes. We’ll always remember Father John’s great devotion to Blessed Pier-Giorgio Frassati, O.P., the young Italian Dominican tertiary who died suddenly of polio and left a wonderful legacy of generosity to the poor and simple holiness in his everyday life. Perhaps some of this saintly influence has rubbed off onto Father!

Farewell, Father John! We hope to meet you again some day if you are ever in the Lufkin area!

Father John saying goodbye to us in the parlor. Maybe he’ll miss us, too?

A Mass for the Dead

 On the Friday after Thanksgiving, Fr. Denzil Vithanage came to our monastery to celebrate a Mass for all the deceased religious of the Tyler diocese. We found out after Mass that he videoed the whole thing, and posted it on YouTube! While you can\’t see us (except maybe briefly at the end) you can hear us singing, and Father\’s Mass was quite lovely. Our chaplain, Fr. John Lydon, concelebrated the Mass. Please consider checking it out!