Dear friends,

Greetings from Porta Latina and I am happy to write to you again after the long summer break and now we are nearly into December and it is more than time for me to give you some news of our Institute. I returned to England towards the end of June because of my mother’s declining health. It meant that I was able to get to Cardiff on July 1st and meet many of the brethren and Ascribed for the Province celebration of the feast of our Founder, Blessed Antonio Rosmini. The feast was all the more special as it was the fiftieth anniversary of Religious Life for our Provincial, Father David Myers together with David Tobin, Les Slack, Brian Cuddihy and Bill Jackson. And celebrating sixty years of Religious Life were Fathers Ted Cody, Jim McKnight and Kit Cunningham. Father Kit was not present as he has been living in our community in Stresa. He will be returning to England this month and taking up residence in a home in Tite Street, Chelsea.   Fathers John Bland, Philip Scanlan and Les Slack celebrated forty years of priesthood. Congratulations to them all. After Mass we enjoyed lunch with the jubilarians, our brethren, ascribed and parishioners.

St. John Vianney wrote “a priest is not born of an angel but of a mother”. As many of your know after forty-three years as a priest I had the privilege to be with my mother for the last days of her life. She died peacefully on July 7, aged 95. May she rest in God’s peace.   Fr. Brian Cuddihy represented our Provincial, Father David Myers, and with seven of the brethren joined me in celebrating her requiem Mass . I would like to thank them and all of you for praying for my mother, for our family at this time, and for all the messages of condolence we received.
In July I was able to join the Ratcliffe Lourdes Pilgrimage which for many years has worked with a group from Cambridge caring for sick and disabled people for a week at Hosanna House in Bartres, and joining in the various ceremonies in Lourdes. Both the Ratcliffe and Cambridge groups have grown quite large, so it has been decided to form our own Ratcliffe group for next year. Teresa Gamble with the support of her husband Richard has been, and please God will continue to be, our enthusiastic and devoted leader. The new headmaster of the College, Mr. Gareth Lloyd, hopes to join the pilgrimage next year.

I was able to visit our sisters in Loughborough and received a warm welcome and hospitality in their newly built convent. I enjoyed seeing them again after being away in India for the past six years. I met Sister Margaret who is now living there after her long years of service with our sisters in India. I was back in Wales, in Newport, early in August for the funeral of Father Ray Bunting. I had been a novice and a student for the priesthood with Ray, and together with Father Tom Driscoll, we were ordained in May 1966. Ray was very active in his priestly ministry and will be greatly missed in Newport and in the Province. I went to Loughborough convent again in August to visit Father Simon Giles recovering from a hip replacement.
Father Denis Labartette is now resident in the Lodge at Grace Dieu Manor School. He is helping both in the school and locally on parishes as needed. The Lodge is developing as a place of prayer and hospitality. We decided to make a pilgrimage to France at the end of August just before I returned to Rome. Earlier this year, on June 19, the feast of the Sacred Heart, Pope Benedict XVI declared the Year of the Priest. The year will conclude in Rome with an international gathering of priests with the Holy Father from June 9-11, 2010. With the announcement of this Year for Priests, the Pope has declared St. John Vianney the Universal Patron of Priests on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of the Cure of Ars. Father Denis booked us into the local seminary at Ars which has a guest house for priests on retreat and pilgrimage. It is comfortable and with breakfast and an evening meal is good value. We celebrated Mass each day at the Altar at which St. John Vianney celebrated Mass for forty one years! It is now a side altar leading into the large shrine where so many priests and pilgrims gather to pray to and honour St. John Vianney. The Year of the Priest is a special call and a special time to pray for priests, to love them, to support them and to help them to be holy. We priests are human, weak and fragile. If you are not praying for us we stumble and fall. We need your prayers.

Particularly in the light of scandals which have become public in recent years, we are all aware that the priesthood itself has been attacked both inside and outside the Church. I am sure you will agree that intercession for priests is vital today, vital for the priests themselves, and for the good of the Church in which they serve.

Collegio Rosmini, Via di Porta Latina 17. Rome 00179. November 15th 2010. Dear friends, Greetings from Porta Latina and I am happy to write to you again after the long summer break and now we are nearly into December and it is more than time for me to give you some news of our Institute. I returned to England towards the end of June because of my mother’s declining health. It meant that I was able to get to Cardiff on July 1st and meet many of the brethren and Ascribed for the Province celebration of the feast of our Founder, Blessed Antonio Rosmini. The feast was all the more special as it was the fiftieth anniversary of Religious Life for our Provincial, Father David Myers together with David Tobin, Les Slack, Brian Cuddihy and Bill Jackson. And celebrating sixty years of Religious Life were Fathers Ted Cody, Jim McKnight and Kit Cunningham. Father Kit was not present as he has been living in our community in Stresa. He will be returning to England this month and taking up residence in a home in Tite Street, Chelsea. Fathers John Bland, Philip Scanlan and Les Slack celebrated forty years of priesthood. Congratulations to them all. After Mass we enjoyed lunch with the jubilarians, our brethren, ascribed and parishioners. St. John Vianney wrote “a priest is not born of an angel but of a mother”. As many of your know after forty-three years as a priest I had the privilege to be with my mother for the last days of her life. She died peacefully on July 7, aged 95. May she rest in God’s peace. Fr. Brian Cuddihy represented our Provincial, Father David Myers, and with seven of the brethren joined me in celebrating her requiem Mass . I would like to thank them and all of you for praying for my mother, for our family at this time, and for all the messages of condolence we received. In July I was able to join the Ratcliffe Lourdes Pilgrimage which for many years has worked with a group from Cambridge caring for sick and disabled people for a week at Hosanna House in Bartres, and joining in the various ceremonies in Lourdes. Both the Ratcliffe and Cambridge groups have grown quite large, so it has been decided to form our own Ratcliffe group for next year. Teresa Gamble with the support of her husband Richard has been, and please God will continue to be, our enthusiastic and devoted leader. The new headmaster of the College, Mr. Gareth Lloyd, hopes to join the pilgrimage next year. I was able to visit our sisters in Loughborough and received a warm welcome and hospitality in their newly built convent. I enjoyed seeing them again after being away in India for the past six years. I met Sister Margaret who is now living there after her long years of service with our sisters in India. I was back in Wales, in Newport, early in August for the funeral of Father Ray Bunting. I had been a novice and a student for the priesthood with Ray, and together with Father Tom Driscoll, we were ordained in May 1966. Ray was very active in his priestly ministry and will be greatly missed in Newport and in the Province. I went to Loughborough convent again in August to visit Father Simon Giles recovering from a hip replacement. Father Denis Labartette is now resident in the Lodge at Grace Dieu Manor School. He is helping both in the school and locally on parishes as needed. The Lodge is developing as a place of prayer and hospitality. We decided to make a pilgrimage to France at the end of August just before I returned to Rome. Earlier this year, on June 19, the feast of the Sacred Heart, Pope Benedict XVI declared the Year of the Priest. The year will conclude in Rome with an international gathering of priests with the Holy Father from June 9-11, 2010. With the announcement of this Year for Priests, the Pope has declared St. John Vianney the Universal Patron of Priests on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of the Cure of Ars. Father Denis booked us into the local seminary at Ars which has a guest house for priests on retreat and pilgrimage. It is comfortable and with breakfast and an evening meal is good value. We celebrated Mass each day at the Altar at which St. John Vianney celebrated Mass for forty one years! It is now a side altar leading into the large shrine where so many priests and pilgrims gather to pray to and honour St. John Vianney. The Year of the Priest is a special call and a special time to pray for priests, to love them, to support them and to help them to be holy. We priests are human, weak and fragile. If you are not praying for us we stumble and fall. We need your prayers. Particularly in the light of scandals which have become public in recent years, we are all aware that the priesthood itself has been attacked both inside and outside the Church. I am sure you will agree that intercession for priests is vital today, vital for the priests themselves, and for the good of the Church in which they serve.
	Prayer for Priests St. Therese of Lisieux. O Jesus, I pray for your faithful and fervent priests; for your unfaithful and tepid priests; for your priests labouring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for your tempted priests; for your lonely priests; for your lonely and desolate priests; for your young priests; for your dying priests; for the souls of your priests in Purgatory. But above all, I recommend to you the priests dearest to me: the priest who baptised me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me your Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way. O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen
I hope you received the daily reports I sent out from the first Gentili Assembly in Dublin. I can send the reports to anyone who did not receive them. There were fifty three of the brethren at the Assembly from England Ireland and America. We are looking forward to the establishment of this new Province at a date to be announced shortly. Father David Myers, who will be the first Provincial of the new Province told the Assembly that definitely a novitiate will be established for the Province, and the details of location and supporting community will be announced later. We have one novice at present, Paul Gillham who is due for his first profession early next year. In Africa we have eight postulants and ten novices. In Venezuela we have three novices and no postulants. In India we have three novices and fifteen postulants. In Italy we have three novices and one postulant. Father General and Father Joe O’Reilly are at present attending the first East African Province Congregation (chapter) in Tanzania. Some of you may have received the daily reports of the Chapter. I can send them to anyone who wants a copy. Thank you for your prayers, love and support for us all. Anthony D. Meredith.