Abbot Paul
Meet Fr Paul - Abbot of Belmont
Abbot Paul has been serving the Belmont Community as it's Father for over 17 years. His role involves responsibility for the spiritual and material needs of the community. He is supported by the monastery council.
About the Abbot
Abbot Paul was at one time a teacher and house master at the former Belmont Abbey School until 1981, when he was sent to help found a monastery in Peru. As well as establishing a monastery he worked with the local people on a very extensive parish
The abbot is elected by those monks who are solemnly professed and initially serves for eight years but can be re-elected. The abbot of Belmont is also responsible for ourfoundation in Peru, and has worked for a number of years for AIM (the Alliance for International Monasticism), assisting monasteries all over the world.
He gives many retreats to monastic communities and to visitors at Belmont, and is acting as parish priest at Belmont.
News from Abbot Paul
Messages, reflections and general articles about the Abbot's activities
Belmont Abbey Hereford
I do apologise for the lack of a message today. I was travelling all day yesterday, sleeping for much of the time. The journey back from Peru was not without its complications. We left Lima two and a half hours behind schedule due to an incident on board that involved police, security and airport staff. This resulted in a very late arrival in Paris and a four minute mile dash through that vast airport to catch my connection. Miraculously, I made it and am still breathing, but my luggage didn’t. No doubt it will arrive by taxi on Monday. Normal service, I hope, will be restored tomorrow. This comes with my best wishes and prayers for a wonderful day. Fr Paul
Yesterday was my last day in Peru and I’m glad to say it went very well. After Terce I had a very productive meeting with the community and reassured them that the new abbot would have as much care and interest for our Peruvian foundation as I had. Lurin is very much part of Belmont and the English Congregation and we all look forward to the day it becomes an independent monastery in its own right. Packing was easy as I had practically nothing to bring back, as I usually go out with vast amounts of luggage for the brethren and come back empty handed other than for a few small presents, I’m sitting in one of the lounges at Lima Airport writing this message and will need to send it off before my flight leaves. A new runway and terminal are almost ready and Lima has become the busiest and most important hub in South America. You can catch a flight here for almost anywhere, apart from London! Let’s not kid ourselves: we’re not as important as we used to be! Today’s Gospel reading comes from John, (Jn 14: 1-6), one of the best known readings in the Bible. Jesus is speaking with his disciples during the Last Supper. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house; if there were not, I should have told you. I am now going to prepare a place for you, and after I have gone and prepared a place for you, I shall return to take you with me; so that where I am, you may be too. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Jesus wishes to assure his disciples of his love for them and of his desire to have them at his side for all eternity. However, Thomas finds the argument difficult to follow and says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” To this Jesus replies, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” This is as simple to understand as it is true. Jesus is the Way in that he teaches by example, but also gives us the means of walking with him on the way of truth that leads to life. Jesus is the Truth in that he teaches God’s truth, showing us the will of God and the commandment of God, the rule of love, but he is also the Truth in that he incarnates the truth he has learned from the Father and passes onto us. Jesus is the Life, for he is the Source of life, the Word through which all things were made and have their being. But, even more, by his Cross and Resurrection, he has restored us to life and opened for us the gates of eternal life. Hence, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still and trust in me.”
Yesterday was my last full day in Peru and what a day it was. In addition to all the usual things we do every day in a monastery, the services and periods of reading and prayer, a full programme had been arranged for me. In the morning after Mass, a 20 minute car trip along the PanAmerican Highway to Punta Hermosa, an exclusive beach resort, which many people have now made their permanent home, to have breakfast with a dear friend of the monastic community and of the Cistercian nuns before us. Apart from the wonderful company of a deeply religious lady and retired diplomat, I have never been served such a splendid breakfast in my entire life. It was quite spectacular and included everything you could think of, yet all beautifully understated in its presentation. All this on a balcony overlooking the beach and ocean. In the afternoon I had the visit of a dear friend for a heart to heart. I served him lunch, but couldn’t bring myself to eat anymore after the breakfast I’d had. The monks had arranged early Vespers, so that a party could take place in my honour. This also involved our oblates and friends of the community, a professional singer with two guitarists and two young professional dancers. There was the most amazing programme of Peruvian music and dancing, plus songs and poems by the monks. As always in Peru, the noise was well above safety levels and my ears are still ringing. Will I ever hear properly again? There were speeches, food and drink in abundance and general dancing of the traditional Peruvian huayno from the Andes. So it’s really very late indeed as I sit to write these few words. I shall leave the Gospel commentary for today, if you don’t mind, as I need to get to bed. Tomorrow, i.e. today is going to be a very long day indeed.
Although yesterday began all cloudy and grey, with a touch of dampness in the air, it ended in glorious sunshine and blue skies. At 11 o’clock we had the solemn Mass for the First Profession of Br Miguel Rimarachin Pinedo, with a large number of guests: Br Miguel’s family from Cutervo, Cajamarca, oblates, friends of the monastery and people devoted to St Benedict. This was followed by the most delicious lunch prepared in our kitchens, served with chicha morada, a drink made with purple maize. There was a lot of animated conversation as old friendships were renewed and new friends made. I sat at a table with a very old friend, who many years’ ago had been the Peruvian Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Celebrating these important events and preaching, and simply being the host, I still find to be really exhausting if exhilarating, even after being Abbot for so long! An interesting fact, I am half way through my 24th year as Abbot, and Br Miguel recently celebrated his 24th birthday. One of the particular joys of this visit has been meeting up with my old servers from the parish of Tambogrande, where I served as parish priest from 1981 to 1986, probably, until now, the happiest years of my life. They are all now in their late 50s and early 60s, yet have retained my most incredible affection and respect for Fr Luke, Fr David and myself. They’re talking about organising a reunion next year. That would be amazing. Today is my last full day in Peru. How the days have flown by! Our Gospel passage comes from John, (Jn 12: 44-50), in which Jesus speaks openly of his relationship with the Father and of how his word ultimately derives from the Father. “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me, sees the one who sent me.” In other words, to believe in Jesus is to believe in God and to look upon Jesus and truly see him is the see and know God the Father, for Christ and the Father are One, the one true God in the unity of the Holy Spirit. He continues, “I who am the light have come into the world, so that whoever believes in me need stay in the dark no longer.” To walk with Jesus is to walk in and with the light of grace, the dawn of salvation, the new life of the resurrection, the glorious beauty of the truth. Jesus then goes on to repeat the words he spoke to Nicodemus, “I have come not to condemn the world, but to save the world.” This means that anyone who rejects Jesus and the word of life he speaks, that comes from the Father, will be judged by the very word that is rejected. Nevertheless, the hope and prayer of Jesus is that all people will receive and believe in the word with open hearts, for it’s the word that leads to eternal life.