Fr Matthew was a monk for over sixty years; a Priest for fifty years. Before he was a monk he was a soldier, being of the generation that did military service, and he fought in the jungle in Malaysia. He was a tall, strong man, whose long and interesting life was mostly behind him when he arrived at Pluscarden nearly twenty years ago.
Two Ordinations
Requiescat in Peace
Re-opened Guest Houses
Pluscarden Benedictines No. 200 - Winter 2022
Lectures on Holy Scripture
Fr. Chris Monaghan CP is an Australian Passionist Priest and Scripture Scholar. He did his further studies in Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical College in Rome in the 1980's. There he became a friend of our Fr. Abbot, who studied with him at the same time. The two also went on together, after Rome, for yet further studies in Jerusalem.
Sickness at Pluscarden
Homily for 29 January 2023, Sunday 4A, Matthew 5:1-12
Recently I was asked to speak to a visiting group of sixth form teenagers. In the course of our exchange one of them asked: “What is the purpose of life?” I thought that a jolly good question. You can imagine lots of different answers coming from different people.
Well, I’m a Benedictine monk, so the first answer that came into my head, was: “to give God glory”. Then I thought of another: “to become the person God wants you to be - the person you alone can be - so that you give God glory in the way you alone can”.