Prayer Requests

Please remember in your prayers Fr. Edmund Flynn who has been living at Carroll Manor on the Providence Hospital campus, Washington DC. Last week, Fr. Edmund was hospitalized for an infection in his leg that was very painful. He is out of intensive care and was feeling much better when Abbot Robert and Br. Efrain visited him last Friday. He should be returning to Carroll Manor this week.

We also ask your prayers for Abbot Robert. This past Monday he was hospitalized after a cat scan revealed a mass in his right lung which was also filled with fluid. By Wednesday, his condition was diagnosed as a non-smoker’s lung cancer and is terminal. He returned home to the Abbey Wednesday evening, 31 October, and  is considering his treatment options, consulting the community. Fr. Robert is in very good spirits and, while his energy still abounds, has, for example, visited Fr. Edmund at Providence Hospital, Br. Edward at Heritage Hall in Front Royal and attended the solemn profession of Sr. Maria at Crozet. Our Father Immediate, Abbot Damian Carr of St. Joseph’s Abbey, Spencer, Massachusetts, is visiting this week to just be with us at this crucial time.

We all are appreciative of your prayers and concern. We also realize that many would probably want to visit or have a word with Fr. Robert at this time; so we’d ask for your consideration to allow him some space and time right now to attend to some duties he deems important and to enjoy some free time to process all this. The greatest support you may give him is to allow him to be unavailable and to take some time to find his own balance of engagement and restorative retirement.

Please keep the community of Holy Cross Abbey in your prayers as we continue to re-found our community on a solid foundation.