Farnborough Hill, which stands on the hill opposite Farnborough Abbey, with the south western mainline railway running in between, was formerly the Empress Eugenie's home, later and to date a girls school, which in my day was run by a teaching order of nuns.
Back then, the Abbey provided chaplaincy to the Sisters and to the school. I really liked the church. It's organ, when playing low notes, could set up an amazing chest vibrating resonance!
It was a great pleasure to be invited as a novitiate to watch school plays and attend carol services.
The school had it's own swimming pool. Cuthbert and I would regularly use it privately on a Sunday afternoon, having first collected the key from the Sisters.
No, not really, but wouldn't that have been an idea for Messrs Atkinson & Curtis!!
Actually probably inspiration for all manner of scripts and parody...
Mork Calling Orson
Went to Farnborough Abbey last week.
The guest rooms were very basic but comfortable. The monk's rooms were basically very comfortable!
Farnborough Abbey P.T.A. (Post Truth Association!)
Peyton Place / Farnborough Abbey
The original "Another Abbot Extraordinary" blog found at this address was actually apparently inspired by this book and here is a remnant of the blog saved on a readers computer, recently discovered and now returning home!
In their letter to this blog Messrs Eggar listed a number of comments that contained allegedly false accusations against our impeccable Abbot. Then as now we asserted that do not wish to judge and promptly apologised for any possible harm, deleted the allegedly offensive material and closed the comments. This blog is no place for unsubstantiated allegations.
Subsequently we noted that several correspondents wrote in to assert the truth of what they had written. Without prejudice to the good Abbot’s reputation we offered to refer these people to the competent authorities so that they could put their case there. We are delighted to have been able to do so since. Let the authorities do what is theirs to do.
One comment was not objected to by Messrs Eggar. It asserted that the Oxford degree attributed to the Abbot on this site has never been awarded to him, which of course it has not. Fact.
Perhaps this falsehood has nothing to do with the good Abbot? In that case surely Father Abbot has instructed his solicitors to demand forthwith that this inaccurate information about him be immediately withdrawn, lest it detract from and defame his reputation. No Oxford graduate he.
Posted by Another Abbot Extraordinary at 2:07 PM
Go out to the whole world?
It is quite interesting for us to note that in the last month this blog has attracted in excess of 10-20 hits from the following locations:
USA: Los Angeles, California, Fresno, Bakersfield (CA), New York, Brooklyn, Newark (NY), Chicago, Peoria (Il), Worcester, Boston, Cambridge, Petersham (MA).
This is by no means exhaustive. There have also been numerous hits from the following locations: Belgium, Brazil, Netherlands, Australia, Algeria, Yemen, Oman, and Saudi Arabia; there are hits from every country in continental Europe.
The hit counter, of course, gives some indication of this blog's popularity. There have been 1980
unique hits on the site in the last four weeks.
Posted by Another Abbot Extraordinary at 2:01 PM
Thursday, February 17, 2011
'I am the very model of a modern major [superior]'
While returning once again to the book which inspired this blog, we found the image above which correlates nicely with the image of the Abbot of Farnborough in our previous post. If you have not read Anson's book or even the excerpt posted here, you should. It makes for fascinating reading.
(Apologies, I do not have or know which images are being referenced ~Tom~ )
Congratulations are due to our Abbot. According to the Charity Commission website the 2009 annual returns for the Abbey charities were received by the Commission on Saint Scholastica’s day, a mere 102 days late. The 2008 and 2009 accounts are still to come. They are currently running at 471 and 106 days late respectively.
The Abbot has been very busy attending to financial matters though, as his Ebay account (davidcast67) shows. Perhaps it is the business of putting all these essential purchases into the accounts that is taking so long? We can’t wait to see them. From the 2009 returns it looks like income is substantially down.
Our attention has also been drawn to the number of foreign trips which we have been told the Abbot and monks of the monastery have made in the last eighteen months. Although our correspondent has seen photographs from these outings, we have not posted them here. We do believe that they include a number of trips to France (including Lourdes, other shrines in France and separately a wedding) as well as Eastern Europe. Farnborough Monks have also been noticed at some other events within Britain, including the Rosary Crusade in central London and, of course, that Pontifical High Mass in Leicester.
Some messages I sent to His Lordship, Abbot Cuthbert Brogan after he accepted my facebook friend request. I was yet again at a low point with my alcoholism and was still subservient to the illusion, but what I discovered with this online reunion would eventually tear away the curtain of my ignorance and reveal this arch manipulator, bully and abuser more clearly!
Tom
Hi,there..good to see all you've acomplished through your perseverance.please pray for me...t
Tom
Hi,thanks for accepting friend request,assume your off to vepers now...best wishes..God Bless..Tom.
Tom
"Happy Feast Day!" Do you still keep both feasts as Solemnities?Hope your well...Best Wishes....t
Tom
Tom
Hi Cuthbert,Congratulations againon your twenty one years...you do know why I haven't been in touch until going onf/book in the last year?Not long after bringing my friends down including the organist stephen who enjoyed playing the fantastic cavaille coll,I was contacted for less than charitable purposes by one of the ladies from the old choir.I rang the monastery and spoke to fr Magnus who was pleased I informed him what was happening and we left it at that....I was never contacted again BUT thought it best if for everyones sake I "Dissappeared"...So I did..but have often thought of you...I did remove your "News feed" because for some reason those more objective might discern..it made me sad..but "Check In" from time to time to see how you are.I don't know if any of this is news or wether or not you would want a personal chat with me..I remember just before Ray,Paul and myself left we had met in the calefactory with you and one of the former choir and it had all been really pleasant..just give me a "No holds barred" explanation of how you see things.I work in mental health and I'm a realist...people can cope with most things if they know the reason..NOT knowing can cause the brain to make up reasons usually far from the TRUTH.If you would indulge me I would be grateful...More than that for old times sake and ...is this popes questionaire thing..(Which I haven't looked at yet) the "Sensum fidelis" of VAT 2?(Correct my latin!!!..lol..!!)anyway look...take care..I'm SO glad everything has worked out for you..Sincere good wishes....tom.x.
Gosh, Tom - that all takes me back. I remember all that choir business and speaking to you from Rome. The woman was XXXX XXXX- she was married to a choir man but left him and ran of with XXXX XXXXXX - the head choir man whom I am sure you will remember. She blamed me for closing the choir (whereas I suspect she was the real reason!) and then she did the same stuff with XXXX when he refused to divorce his wife. All that stuff is more than a quarter of a century ago.Many of the old choir people still come and are on good terms with the community. Brother Bede died a few years ago, Fr Wulstan and Fr Magnus died last year. Fr David Higham died about 5 years ago. Brother Leander is in Mexico - I saw him in July - and Fr Andrew Southwell is studying and is on friendly terms with the community. So we lead the very quiet monastic life I always dreamed of, we are small but young, and very happy.We have a nice congregation who are very supportive and lots of good friends. I do a lot of work fro our congregation these days, trying to help other communities - I a responsible as visitor or the USA and Mexico, which takes me across the water from time to time. I am interested to know what became of you. Have you always worked in mental health? Where do you live now?
Thanks for the updates on the community..I of course knew in my heart of hearts that many must have died..however...still sobering!You'll remember I was friendly with Fr Tim Madeley..we went to see him at wonersh?Well he too has found himself with much responsibility as I'm sure you will know as Dean of Arundel(I think that's his title)When the pope visited I played "Spot fr Tim!!"as I think he was at Birmingham...speaking of Birmingham..the guy who brought the wonersh students over to farnborough (Bernard Longley? now or was then Bishop,described himself as "Ordinary"I thought ..don't be so down on yourself...until I saw a programme on Westminster Abbey and it was explained that the Abbey is a "Peculiar"so that put "Ordinary" in its context!!haha..lol..!!Yeah ok ..the dreaded "Talking about myself bit!"...I had been out of work a while and so was seeking some voluntary work...found some at Tendring MIND.(a local branch of National MIND the mh charity with the white dove logo.)At the time there was a big drive to encourage users of mh services to create their own services and means of support/recovery.Some say that people are drawn to various ways of life because wether recognised or not they have needs to derive from it as well as give to it..when I started listening to others I found parrallells in my own life.One friend thought that to linger in this environment would be bad for me..I think i understand his point,but the truth is i was really struggling in the cut and thrust of ordinary life and as I'm sure you remember,I am too Idealistic(or stubborn and self righteous)to stand for anything I perceive as unfair or not right or exploitative!!
So with others we started some mental health support groups in 1993 and in 1996 we secured public funding and changed our name to what it is today "Mayday Self Help Groups."The funding allowed for a small wage which relieved me of that pressure...HOWEVER..about five years ago conditions were put on that source of funding that we thought were retrograde and would seriously impact on our ability to function as we hitherto had and so defacto,we had to find another way which we did withmembers paying £3.00 a visit and also the huge generosity of people who find it a lifeline and a means of maintaining their health and where they can socialise among teir peers without fear..or in the caseof the paranoid..hopefully less fear!!So I'm back to hand to mouth existence but never mind,I've no dependants.After the best part of twenty years I'm living at home with my Mother.Dad died of the dreaded prostate cancer in 2006..Fr Tim Madeley concelebrated the requiem...yes on my down moments I do question wether I did the right thing in moving back,but there...Mum is ademant that "When the time comes"the house will have to be split three ways with my brothers and there's no way I am likely to be able to buy them out..in anycase I'm not sure I would want to stay here..too many memories and I have a bad habit of looking back when I should be looking forward.If I'm still working in Clacton it makes sense to move back there I just hope I am lucky with the neighbours..not that I have been physically in danger with previous neighbours,but noise and aggression gets to me and scares me and I've a tendancy to drink too much to block it out and that can lead to a very dark and unhappy condition.
About a month later to an unrelated condolence I offered, he replied..
Yes, poor XX XXXX was only in his early 50s. We'll all be dead soon!
So much for being interested to know what became of me! Perhaps he had heard all he needed to know! NUTTER! Anyway, that was pretty much the end of our personal correspondence. I would send him a birthday greeting and he would thank me. Occasionally I would look at his page and follow / unfollow his newsfeed, which still led to me feeling sad.... of course... I now know why!
Years passed until the Autumn of 2016 the scales really started falling from my eyes culminating in publishing my story in January of 2017 and perhaps not surprisingly being blocked on facebook by Cuthbert.(See original blog entry to recap)
I imagine that if this habitually litigious legate needs to explain to the curious why in my case I am not drowning in more solicitors letters than Harry Potter's invites to Hogwarts maybe he ascribes mercy to one obviously troubled! An explanation, I'm sure, that convinces some more than others!
The Great & Mighty Oz... Is Not!
Perhaps also a great metaphor to ascribe the whole roman catholic institution!
"Fans of Gregorian chant will know the heavenly noises made by the choir of St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough, Hampshire (10,000 of you bought the CD). But behind the rood screens, a drama to tax the imagination of Monteverdi has been unfolding.
Everything seemed normal back in July. Then, out of the blue, came a letter from the prior to all the choristers, telling them their services were not needed after 24 September. Consternation engulfed Farnborough. Rumours flew. Accusations centred on the figure of Cuthbert Brogan, the abbey's new 26-year-old "precentor", a recent Oxford graduate who sings lead vocals at abbey masses. Members of the congregation looked at the prior (in his seventies) and at the ambitious Cuthbert, and concluded that the prior had been manipulated by the younger monk. But why?
Then the choirmaster discovered that in the current British Music Yearbook his name has been replaced by that of the upstart Cuthbert. A local woman, incensed by the loss of the Farnborough chanters, distributed leaflets of complaint outside the abbey - and someone set the police on her for "trespassing". Distraught locals were then advised that the abbey was closed for a "restoration" which would involve the removal of choir stalls and the vastly precious organ; a letter claimed that the arrangements were being made with the help of English Heritage, but they, when asked, knew nothing.
Exciting, huh? More Anthony than Joanna Trollope, with a dash of PD James. But the question remains: why is the shadowy Dom Cuthbert trying to sack his choir and bin his organ? Suggestions that he is embarking on a solo career as a Gregorian crooner are surely too fanciful to be true."
(In the event the organ was not "binned," but beautifully restored.)
We have Cuthbert's view, which was strange. I mean others may be able to corroborate that certain adult choir members had relationship difficulties but it seems doubtful that would bring the whole choir down? I mean it was strange because I expected him to give the reason for the choir's dismissal as the communities desire to live a more enclosed contemplative life. I seem to recall concerns that the choir disturbed the conventus, obviously not shared by all, but I did, the memory of which strengthened me in defending Cuthbert at the time of the phone call.
The newspaper too highlights "More Questions Than Answers"! Then we have my, over time, discerned concerns, as highlighted elsewhere in this blog, for "One Of The Former Choir"
Sadly history has revealed that choirs have not been immune from abuse, but what in this case is the TRUTH?
The imperceptible vibrations of the abbey's stones declare the truth and implore the courageous to claim their justice!
During the latter half of the 1980's loose cotton boxer shorts came back into fashion doubtless assisted by Nick Kamen's famous Levi 501 advertisement!
Cuthbert Brogan was the proud owner of a pair, pink with pink panther design!
I have memories surrounding those shorts, some not too pleasant!
Mercy me! Who could forget the 2017 Vatican nativity scene or the the Australian school statue of St Martin De Porres!
Saint Michael's Abbey / Farnborough Abbey artwork is not without a few eyebrow raisers either!
"So Many Degrees Of Wrong!"
(I once saw this captioned)
And even the Abbey logo
With regard to the monk in front, the monk at his rear, it would appear, is very pleased to see him!
They think we are are all fools!
Enjoy the craic while it lasts... Walls come tumbling down!
Dom Gregory Carey OSB or Fr Dominic Carey SSJ (Society Of St John) as he was formerly known (pictured on the left), was simply professed as a Benedictine monk at Saint Michaels Abbey / Farnborough Abbey earlier this year.
I imagine the style of Benedictine "Austerity" as practiced by the F'bro monks must have been one of the attractions. In the past....
"Among the society's (Society Of St John) invoices were bills for a $26,480 dining table, a $15,000 mirror, a $9,800 executive desk, three $6,000 rugs, a $6,828 bar, a $4,900 armoire and a $2,900 cocktail table." Here's some choice cuts from the material available online about Fr Dominic Carey and The Society Of St John: Sept 2014 The seeds for Father John Horgan's association with the Society of St. John were sowed when he arrived in Vancouver in the 1980s and was befriended by Dominic Carey's parents. Carey is currently the rector of the society's seminary in Paraguay.
In the 1990s, Carey went to St. Pius X seminary in Winona, Minn. where he met Eric Ensey, another seminarian, and came under the spell of a charismatic teacher named Carlos Urrutigoity.
The Curious Case of Carlos Urrutigoity (VIII)
Dec 2014 Livieres replaced Urrutigoity with Fr. Dominic Carey, a Canadian whose affiliation with the SSJ dates back to the early 1990s, before the group was ousted from the Society of St. Pius X and settled in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He would go on to become the SSJ’s main fundraiser—that was one of the reasons Bishop Joseph Martino wanted to meet him. But Carey left for Paraguay without Martino’s permission. “I never laid eyes on him,” Martino testified in 2008.
Carey admitted that some SSJ priests shared their beds with boys, but claimed there was nothing sexual about the practice, according to the 2002 affidavit of Diane Toler, a former supporter of the SSJ. “Father [Carey] said that this was Fr. Urrutigoity’s method of having the Society priests bond with boys,” she testified. (Under oath, Urrutigoity denied sharing beds with boys; the sworn testimony of several others disputed his claim.) Carey did not respond to a request for comment.
I think admitting Fr Carey into the monastic community seriously calls into question Abbot Cuthbert Brogan's judgement and therefore his position on The Diocese Of Portsmouth's Safeguarding Commission ! I seriously hope people in their dealings with them exercise caution, particularly where adolescents and young men are concerned and that those who give this community an air of credibility by inviting them to functions will stop!
