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
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.
Today we keep the feast of St George, the warrior saint, who shed his blood for Christ, patron saint of England and of many other countries, towns, villages and churches throughout the Christian world, including in Peru. Today we will celebrate the First Profession of Br Miguel Rimarachin Pinedo, so a day of rejoicing for the monastic community in Lurin. Yesterday, among many other things, I visited our bishop, Mgr. Carlos Garcia Camader. We spent a couple of hours together talking about many aspects of Church life in Peru and England, sharing experiences and looking with hope to the future. Mgr. Carlos has been a great supporter of the monastery and holds the monks in high esteem. This is a very lively diocese, with an amazing pastoral and social outreach on a grand scale. It also has a thriving seminary with many good vocations. Mgr. Carlos asks for your prayers and ours. I’m running late today (Monday) and am feeling very tired, with a big day to get through, rejoicing I hasten to add, tomorrow (Tuesday). I’ll be very brief in looking at the Gospel reading from John, (Jn 10: 22-30). Jesus is in Jerusalem for the festival of Dedication and he’s walking up and down in the Portico of Solomon in the Temple. People are wondering aloud whether he is the Messiah or not. “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly,” they say. He replies that he has told them and has also given them many signs. What is lacking? They might not know him, but his sheep do and he gives them eternal life. This is the Father’s will. He ends by saying, “The Father and I are one.” What more can he say? If he and the Father are one, then who is he?
Yesterday, being Sunday, was a very busy day, which left me so exhausted that I fell asleep during Vespers. Don’t get me wrong, it was a wonderful day in so many ways, but there was no free moment just to put my feet up from getting up at 3am until now that I’ve sat down in an armchair just before supper to jot these words down. What were the highlights? Well, during the Conventual Mass, a husband and wife became oblate novices, while our organist made his promises as a fully fledged oblate. Oblates are lay associates of a monastery and live in the world following the Rule of St Benedict. A number of my old servers from Tambogrande were also at the Mass, so it was a delight to speak with them afterwards and catch up with all the news. One of them, son of the mayor of Tambogrande who welcomed Fr Luke, Fr David and myself in August 1981, I’d not seen for over 30 years, but the warmth and the love were stronger than ever. Sadly, both his parents have passed away. Then at lunchtime, another old friend, Lima born and bred, came to have lunch with me and then go for a long walk together in the heat of the afternoon, as we shared our experiences of life, faith, politics, our respective governments and our hopes for a better world. As Christians, we can only live in hope. We returned just before Vespers and Adoration, at which I presided and fell asleep. All the same, it really has been a wonderful day. Our Gospel reading finds us at the beginning of John, chapter 10, the parable of the Gate of the Sheepfold. In comparison with thieves and brigands, who do not enter the sheepfold by the gate, “the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out.” He then goes ahead of his flock and his sheep follow him, “because they know his voice.” Sheep run away from strangers, as they don’t recognise their voice. Jesus, of course, lived in a very different world to the one we now live in. Flocks were small and cared for individually by their own shepherd. I can remember so well seeing this in northern Greece when I was a student there in the mid 60s and in northern Peru, when l first went out there in the late 70s. As they failed to understand the parable, Jesus had another go, saying, “I am the gate of the sheepfold.” He repeats himself saying, “l am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe; he will go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture.” He concludes with one of his most famous and important sayings, “I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full,” meaning more abundantly. We have no less than four important uses of the name of God in this section of John, three I AMs and a simple I to conclude with, “I have come that…..” God himself in Christ is the gate of the sheepfold, who comes to bring us eternal life, more abundant life, life in the Spirit.
Yesterday was a busy day, beginning at 3am, when I got up to get my personal prayer and reading done before Vigils at 4.30, just as at Belmont I usually get up about two hours before Morning Office at 6.30. At Belmont I include a quick walk, sadly now without Toby whom I miss terribly, it hurts each time l think of him or see a photograph. After Vigils, there’s further time for lectio before Lauds and then the Conventual Mass with time for thanksgiving before breakfast at 8am. I find the five hours between getting up and having my first cup of coffee and a bite to eat a bit difficult, but that’s how it is here. Staying overnight was one of my old altar servers from Tambogrande, now approaching sixty, who runs a website on the history of the town and district. He came to see and collect the hundreds of photographs and negatives I had accumulated over twenty years, many of them of great interest. Mid morning I went by car to visit Fr Luis at Santa Anita, one of the poorest sectors of Lima. Fr Luis, our first vocation, is now a diocesan priest, though he remains a monk at heart. He has the most wicked sense of humour and it very entertaining as well as highly intelligent. It’s always a joy to visit him and his family of cats and now a beautiful dog he has adopted, a stray who is now loved and cherished. After this, I had lunch in town, at a Chifa, a Chinese restaurant, with Br Wilmer, which was great fun, as we watched the world go by. I forgot to mention that after Terce at 8.45, the Community met in the Chapter Room for the Second Perseverance of Br Saul, the junior member of the monastic family. Peruvians are a very loving people, and throughout the day, whatever I was doing, wherever I was and with whoever I was with, the love, respect and joy were tangible. Lest I forget, I also chatted with my mother on FaceTime, corresponded with beloved friends in England, France and Spain and finished reading my latest novel. Some people think I’m out here having a rest and, to tell the truth, I am and enjoying every minute of it! Today is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, because we read a Gospel passage taken from Chapter 10 of John, in which Jesus tells his disciples, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd is the one who lays down his life for his sheep.” This is in contrast to the hired man, who runs away and abandons the sheep when he sees the wolf coming to attack and scatter the sheep. Jesus cares for his sheep, loves his disciples and all those who follow him faithfully. He comments, “I know my own and my own know me, just as I know the Father and the Father knows me, and I lay down my life for my sheep.” This, of course, is the very opposite to how the Pharisees look after their sheep. Jesus also talks of other sheep that are not of this fold, that he also has to take care of and lead to salvation. No one is excluded from the loving care of Jesus the good shepherd. All God’s children are deserving of his love and sacrifice. Ultimately, there will be but one flock and one shepherd. Our sad divisions and our inability to love and respect others do not reach to heaven: they will die right here on earth. How consoling these words of Jesus are to us today. Jesus alone is the Good Shepherd and he loves and cares for us dearly.