Fr David and Fr Stephen return to Belmont
Life at Belmont has been enriched by the return of two of our oldest monks after many years of work outside the monastery in parishes and in Peru.
Fr David Bird
returned to the UK after serving for a record 36 years in Peru. During those years he served as Assistant Pastor in Tambogrande, followed by three long stints as Parish Priest in Piura, Negritos and San Miguel de Pallaques in northern Peru, and finally as Superior of the Monastery of the Incarnation at Pachacamac. It has been very hard to pull himself away from the Community and the many friends and parishioners he got to know over the years.
Fr David who is now 81 is already taking a full part in community life, leading some retreats and doing some teaching in the monastery. He is a fine theologian and runs an excellent blog called "Monks and Mermaids." It's well worth a visit: you might become an addict.
Fr Stephen Holdsworth , now aged 87, is Belmont's oldest monk. During his working life he has served as teacher, Games Master and House Master at Belmont, Alderwasley and Llanarth. After those years in the school he went on to serve as curate or parish priest at Abergavenny, Swansea, Hereford and Weobley and, for the last five and a half years, as chaplain to the Benedictine nuns at Colwich. He has returned to Belmont to retire, but not having lived in the monastery itself since 1957 it is quite different from the years of pastoral work.
Fortunately he has settled in very well, and is very regular in the monastic choir and and all the community activities. We are grateful to have him back with the friendly and cheerful disposition for which he is known. We wish him a long and happy retirement.
