At 12:40 p.m. on Jan. 14 I arrived at Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Italy for an administrative council meeting with Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum (CIB), the international community of Benedictine women. It was cold and rainy.
On July 29, I flew to Zurich where I was met at the airport by Helena, head of the Asia Desk of the Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund (SCLF), our partner for about 20 years at the Institute of Women Studies. They took care of the airfare for my sabbatical trip all over Europe.
THE LAST half of my sabbatical brought me to several capitals of Europe. After my spiritual renewal sessions and retreat in Ireland and Scotland, I came to London just in time for the opening of the Olympic Games. We watched the event in a town square with a giant screen. It was spectacular!
I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever go to Russia. But when I was planning my six-month sabbatical trip to Europe, a Scholastican, Marla Lazaro Beyer, invited me to visit her and her family in Moscow. Her husband Philip works as attaché in the American Embassy there.
After eight years as Prioress of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of the Manila Priory, I was taking a six-month sabbatical in Europe. My first stop: Ireland, where I’d be taking a one-month course at All Hallows College in Dublin.
I was very excited when, in our meeting of the Administrative Council of Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum (CIB), the international association of Benedictine abbesses and prioresses, it was decided that our conference this year would be in West Africa—Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana and Benin!
