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There is a person impersonating a member of our Order and asking for money. This person is not a member of the Order. Please do not give him money and do not consider his requests. ocso.org This person is not a member of the Order.

In view of the fighting in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent days, we invite you to pray for our communities of Clarté-Dieu and Mokoto, but also for the Bernardines of Goma, and of course for all the communities and the entire population of this region. May peace, hoped for 30 years, finally reign there. ocso.org

The General Chapter of the Congregation of Sankt Ottilien, meeting at Waegwan Abbey (South Korea), has elected Father Javier Aparacio Suarez Abbot President of the Congregation. He replaces Dom Jeremias Schröder, elected Abbot Primate at the Abbots' Congress in September 2024. Until his election Fr. Javier Aparicio Suarez served as Mission Procurator of the Congregation. He received the abbatial blessing from Archbishop Hyginus Kim of Kwangju on 19 January. Father Javier is currently a member of the AIM Council.

On January 17, 2025, Sister María Rodríguez Méndez made solemn profession at the monastery of Esmeraldas (Ecuador). Sister María was born in 1975 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain). She was a perpetually professed religious of the Dolores Sopeña Catechetical Institute and began her transitus in our Order in 2021 in Esmeraldas. ocso.org

“In order that everyone might be spiritually united in prayer on the feast of our Founders “for vocations and the renewal of our way of living Cistercian life”, it was proposed that, a text created by the RéCiF Region might be made available to all Communities.” (CC 2021)™ https://ocso.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Prayer.pdf ocso.org

Circular Letter from the Abbot General of the OCSO on the occasion of the Solemnity of Our Founders https://ocso.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Circular-Letter-26.01.2025-EN-PRAYER-AS-A-SCHOOL-OF-HOPE-1.pdf ocso.org

On 3 January 2025, Mother Lucia Tartara, Abbess of Naší Paní (diocese of Prague, Czech Republic), presented her resignation during the visit of the Abbot General. On the same day, the Abbot General, with the consent of his Council, accepted it with immediate effect. On 8 January, Dom Loris Tomassini, Abbot of Frattocchie and Father Immediate of Naší Paní, appointed Sister Chiara Pascucci as Superior ad nutum of the community. The appointment became effective immediately. Mother Chiara was born in Pesaro (Italy) in 1971, entered Vitorchiano in 1991, made solemn profession in 1997 and was a member of the founding group of Naší Paní in 2007. At the time of her appointment, she was in charge of the confectionery industry. ocso.org

On January 12, 2025, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Sister Gabriella Vu Thi Luong, Sister Dominica Ho Thi Hang, Sister Cecilia Luu Thi Ngoc Mai made solemn profession at the monastery of Ajimu (Japan). Sister Gabriella was born in 1989 in Nam Dinh (Vietnam). She entered Ajimu in 2015 and made first profession in 2020. Sister Dominica was born in 1990 in Nghe An (Vietnam). She entered Ajimu in 2015 and made first profession in 2020. Sister Cecilia was born in 1990 in Binh Phuoc (Vietnam). She entered Ajimu in 2015 and made first profession in 2020. ocso.org

On 8 January, Fr. Patrick Schöder OSB was elected as the new abbot of Göttweig Benedictine Abbey. He succeeds Abbot Columban Luser as the 66th abbot of this historic monastery. Abbot Columban held this office for more than 15 years with prudence, spiritual depth, and foresight. The renewal of the entire roof structure will be particularly remembered. He made his position available due to age. Abbot Patrick Schöder OSB was born in 1983 in Durban, South Africa, where he also spent his childhood. The family later moved to his father’s homeland in Austria. Initially, he entered the St. Pölten seminary, where he began studying theology. In 2006, he decided to join the Göttweig Benedictine Abbey, to which he felt particularly connected through the then-Abbot Clemens Lashofer. In 2010, he made his solemn profession. He studied theology, religious education, and English in St. Pölten and Salzburg and was ordained a priest on 24 June 2011. Afterwards, he served as a chaplain in the parishes of Rabenstein/Pielach, Hofstetten-Grünau, and Loich. In 2013, he moved to Krems, where he took over student ministry and rebuilt the rectorate community of the Piarist Church in Krems. At the HAK/HAS school, Fr. Patrick taught religion and English, and from 2016 he also served as chaplain and religion teacher at the International School Krems. In September 2020, Fr. Patrick was inducted into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in Linz and invested as a knight by Archbishop Alois Kothgasser. Since 2021, Fr. Patrick has served as episcopal vicar for universities and student ministry in the Diocese of St. Pölten. In May 2024, Fr. Patrick was admitted as an honorary officer into the Constantinian Order of St. George of the House of Bourbon-Sicily and, in June 2024, was appointed chaplain of the House Order of Bourbon-Sicily for Austria. In September 2024, he was promoted to commander in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem during a ceremonial event in Klosterneuburg. osb.org Abbey of Göttweig: https://www.stiftgoettweig.at/portal/en/home&&ts=1736513996350

By Cyprian Consiglio OSB Cam This first period of my mandate as the secretary general of Dialogue Interreligieux Monastique · Monastic Interreligious Dialogue ( DIMMID ) has been a bit of a gentle whirlwind. Though the appointment was not official until 1 October, it felt to me as if it began when my esteemed predecessor Fr. William Skudlarek introduced me to the assembled abbots and priors at their congress in Rome on 17 September, when I gave my short introductory remarks after his final report. Immediately afterward I found myself delightfully involved in many conversations with abbots and priors from around the world who expressed interest and gave me their contact information. I have technically been on a sabbatical year after a ten-year stint as prior of my community in California and had accepted a few scattered commitments for the last quarter of the year to allow me to return to the work I love in music, retreat work and dialogue. I had to fly to my first event the day after the congress, in northeast Poland. I somehow had not realized it before then, but on the plane from Rome to Warsaw I was flooded with a wave of consolation knowing that I was on my way to give a three-day retreat on the thought of Bede Griffiths, since I had introduced myself the day before by saying that I considered myself to be in the lineage of him and Abhishiktananda. The remaining few events burgeoned under the aegis of this new enterprise. My two events at Oxford stretched into meetings with Islamic scholars all week; the retreat I was to offer in Australia turned into a series of events including a wonderful day with the monks and oblates of New Norcia in Western Australia on the spirituality of interreligious dialogue; and two retreats and some music in the Philippines opened up to some work with the monks of Our Lady of Montserrat in Manila. And I am happy to say I ended that first period back in India with my brothers and sisters at Shantivanam, virtually the birthplace of interreligious dialogue in the modern church. Fr. Daniel, Fr. Cyprian Consiglio and Abbot John Herbert at New Norcia, Western Australia. On 17 December, (auspiciously the day of O Wisdom and the birth anniversary of both Fr. Bede and Pope Francis), we had a very good online meeting of the DIMMID board of directors, my first as secretary general, which, for being online, was very interactive and positive. I laid out my aspirations to the members, how I hoped to visit places where there are commissions of DIMMID and perhaps use my presence as an occasion for a reinvigoration of some sort if the region has been somewhat dormant. The increase of our members’ interactions with Islam around the world was notable and laudable. Fr. William organized and participated in a Shi’a-Monastic encounter hosted by Inkamana Abbey in South Africa in December, and it was especially heartwarming to hear how many of our communities are hosting their Muslim neighbors, sometimes for Friday services and even sometimes housing refugees. I have plans to be in the USA, Korea, Belgium, and France in the new year, and hope to get to Senegal as soon as feasible. I do see at least these first years as pilgrim years. I described to Fr. William that I saw this role as being like an ambassador, and he said that was it exactly. For the coming years I will be based in Rome, which will make international travel easier and allow me chances to interact with the monks and nuns from around the world as well. I will also be giving a five-day intensive course at Sant’Anselmo in the summer as part of their regular program. Abbot Jeremias has expressed his willingness for Sant’Anselmo to be a place of encounter and so board members and I have discussed plans to hold an in-person international meeting there, and perhaps a European version of a gathering we held in the USA three times called “Monks in the West”. Several have expressed the desire for the students at Sant’Anselmo to have more exposure to DIMMID and dialogue in general, so we will see what we can do about that as well. In the meantime, I hope to continue the work that I love to do, in music, in writing, in retreat work, most of which usually falls under the greater umbrella of this same theme. I do not know if it is any worse, but the situation of division and violence in the world, sometimes in the name of religion, is certainly no better than I have ever known it. There is a perennial and urgent need for someone to be this face of Christianity, open, inclusive, and compassionate, and for the specific gift of deep spirituality that we monastics have to offer. So if DIMMID can be of any service to your community, your local church, or your part of the world, please reach out to me personally: sgdimmid@gmail.com. osb.org

On Wednesday 15 January 2025, Sister Johanna Lee will make her perpetual profession at the Priory of Daegu (South Korea) in the congregation of the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing. On Monday 10 February 2025, Sister Lilian Lee, Sister Vania Kim and Sister Adela Han will make their perpetual profession at the Priory of Daegu in the Congregation of the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing. On Tuesday 11 February 2025, Sister Maria Kolbe Hong and Sister Rosaria Choi will make their perpetual profession at the Priory of Seoul (South Korea) in the Congregation of the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing. https://osbtutzing.org

On January 5, 2025, Solemnity of the Epiphany and Patronal Feast of the Community, Sister Antonia Kam Shuk Han made solemn profession at the monastery of Our Lady Star of Hope, Macau (Macau). Sister Antonia was born in 1964 in Hong Kong. She entered Macau in 2016 and made first profession in 2020. ocso.org