Columba's Companions

Hi, everyone! After several days without phone and Internet service, I'm able at last to post from Georgia where June and I will be staying for the summer.

During our conversations after the picnic supper on May 29, two weeks ago today, I gave a brief report about the visit June and I made to The Dwelling Place Monastery in Martin, Kentucky. Here's an edited reposting of an email summary for those of you who were unable to be with us at the picnic.

Our visit with Sister Judy Yunker at The Dwelling Place Monastery in Martin, Kentucky, was a real pleasure. The vision at The Dwelling Place Monastery is that it will soon be a fully ecumenical (in the fullest robust sense of that word!) Benedictine monastery sometime this summer. That's going to be a truly remarkable development. The Holy Spirit keeps whispering to me that you all will find what's going quite a blessing for the Church, full of possibilities!

Sister Judy is excited about our little community and has offered to come in late September to visit us so that we might become more acquainted with the monastery's oblate program. After checking her calendar, here are the dates Sister Judy says will work for her; you will want to mark on your calendars:

September 29, Saturday: Sister Judy visits us in Richmond; she'll be sharing what it means to be oblates in an ecumenical Benedictine monastery.

October 26-28, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: Our retreat at The Dwelling Place Monastery in Martin, Kentucky.

When I mentioned to Sister Judy that we were trying to come up with a name, she loaned me Wisdom of the Celtic Saints, a book with lots of short biographies of Celtic saints. On the way home while June was driving, I read most of them, and at the picnic suggested that we do something with St. Columba as a name possibility. After I shared a bit of Columba's life, we agreed that "Companions of Columbia" would be a good name for us. Later that evening I went anew to Google to make sure we are okay in using that moniker. While I found that some scholarly works refer now and then to the "companions of Colomba," that is, to those who historically traveled with Columba (for example, an Irish missionary named Congan), I found no single contemporary group who call themselves "Companions of Columba." However, even though I did not find the exact phrase "Companions of Columba" (noting the plural "companions") I did find that members of an Oregonian Episcopal group of Christians call themselves "Culdees of the Columba Center" and sometimes identify themselves individually as a "Companion of Columba." That's a pretty close moniker to what we have come up with so far, and close enough that I wonder if we should make a change so that no one who googles "companion(s) of Columba" will be be confused as to who we are in contrast to our Episcopal friends out west. So I'm suggesting that we slightly alter our moniker from "Companions of Columba" to "Columba's Companions." That little difference, I think, will give us enough name distinction that we should avoid the possibility of anyone confusing us with some other group. Please let me know what you think.

As I mentioned at the picnic, some of us (including you!) may wish to initiate becoming oblates (or at least getting information about the possibility). As the brochure some of you received indicates, it's a two-stage process. First, an inquiry; second, reception of information. Inasmuch as we've made an inquiry, I think it's safe to say that anyone of us can now write Sister Judy and ask, as the brochure puts it, for the "guidelines and study lessons to begin the journey deeper into God by a study of the Rule of Benedict and the Scripture."

I have phoned Sister Judy to find out, as one of you requested, what expenses are involved with the information phase. Sister Judy says that there are no expenses other than the personal purchases of whatever books listed in the bibliographies that you or we as a group may wish to purchase. Some of us may already copies of some such books that we can share. Sister Judy also indicated that all anyone needs to do is email her at mtabor150@hotmail.com , or write her at Mt. Tabor Benedictines, 150 Mt. Tabor Road, Martin, KY 41649, and ask for the guidelines and student lessons. She'll send what you need to you right away. I'm going to email/write Sister Judy this afternoon and ask that she send me what someone interested in the oblate program receives. Then I'll get to work on the reading, reflecting, and whatever else required. If you too want to begin your information stage, please email or write Sister Judy.

In the meantime, thanks again for the wonderful picnic, for your prayers, for your calendar markings, and for your desire to deepen your lives in Christ.

Andy

PS: The Church remembers the wonderful and wonder-making ministry of St. Columba on June 9. You may wish to visit the following resources to get acquainted with his missionary work and life:

• Columba, Abbot of Iona and Missionary, 9 June 597
• Icon of St. Columba of Iona
• Columba of Iona
  

I'll provide some more links for additional information about St. Columba, Celtic Spirituality, and related resources on our blog's Online Resources soon.