Diocesan spokesman [Van] McCalister said the posting was accurate. But Abbot Joseph of Holy Transfiguration called it “outdated and not entirely accurate.”
Holy Transfiguration, said Abbot Joseph, is traditional and contemplative; but, he said, “the previous abbot (now deceased) gave Holy Communion to Fr. Schofield (who has not visited our monastery since he became a bishop many years ago.)” The monastery’s practice in administering communion, said the abbot, “is stricter now, and we simply follow the rules of the Church.”
As for being charismatic, the monastery once had “a weekly prayer meeting (very low key by charismatic standards),” said Abbot Joseph, “but we discontinued it years ago.”
The abbot called it “inaccurate” to call Schofield an “extern member” of the monastery (akin to an oblate in Latin monasteries). Holy Transfiguration’s contact with Schofield is “quite infrequent,” said Abbot Joseph, “though we consider him a friend and hold him in respect, and I’m sure he relies on our prayers. He has no canonical relationship to our monastery, but simply a spiritual affiliation.”
Having visited Holy Transfiguration Monastery a decade ago, and followed its affairs both before and after that visit, I can testify that, after the retirement, return to his native Belgium and subsequent death of its founding abbot, abbot Boniface Luyckx (1915-2005) — a Belgian Norbertine liturgist whose own career adumbrates in so many ways the hopes, achievements, disappointments and reactions of many “reform-minded but orthodox” 20th-Century Catholics — the monastery has reconsidered some of its founder’s more eccentric (in an Eastern Christian monastic context) enthusiasms, such as “charismaticism” and a kind of “flexibility” concerning offering the sacraments to individuals who were/are neither Catholic nor Orthodox.
As has been said elsewhere, this is a good time to pray for the Bishop and his family. Seems like a lot of focused “opposition research” is going on, as within the last few days a number of rumors/attacks have bubbled up. It’s a safe bet that his opponents are parsing every little word that comes out of his mouth, looking for anything to use against him. I’m sure he can handle himself, but that has got to be tiring.
Psalm 19:14
This seems like a non-story story to me. What’s the point.
Actually, P from SWFLA, I think the last line, “though we consider him a friend and hold him in respect, and I’m sure he relies on our prayers” that the brothers of the monastery are praying for Bp Schofield a great thing. Bp Schofield, the clergy and laity of San Joaquin need all our prayers and more!
Oops, I sneaked a wafer once at an RC service. I agree with Parson.
I wish there were a monastic community near where I live, so I could have some sort of connection, even if only attending Morning or Evening prayer once a week.