If He Gets The Words Wrong, We Might End Up Married!

Thirty years ago on the Friday in Easter week 1989, Dom Cuthbert Brogan and I made our simple profession in a joint ceremony. Members of my family attended along with friends one of whom was a keen photographer who compiled this wonderful collection of photographic memories of the day.

A Quarr Orientation

Thirty years ago in 1989, during the middle of Lent, with Cuthbert and I preparing to make our simple profession together on the Friday in Easter week, 31st of March, it was decided that we should take a weeks retreat at Quarr Abbey on the Isle Of Wight.
 I hadn't been to the island since I was a child and had never been to the abbey. During our stay we visited Osborne House, which was closed! We also attended Vespers at St. Cecilia's Abbey, a community of benedictine nuns in Ryde. 

My enduring memory of our Quarr retreat was that shortly after our arrival we were shown around by some other monks. Whilst outside in the grounds, I was following a step or two behind and wasn't engaged in the conversation. Suddenly I was shaken from my thoughts by the word "Orientation!" For a brief moment I actually thought they might be talking about orienteering, however the knowing "Nods & Winks" quickly alerted me to the true nature of the conversation and I attended myself to comprehend what was transpiring more clearly. "Always important to know the orientation," someone said. I wish I could remember the names. I have no further memory of this particular conversation continuing however in hindsight I believe Cuthbert was indeed "Orienteering!" Marking his map and developing useful networks of those similarly oriented that could prove useful, one way or another, in assuring his ascent within the Order and The Church.