One of our Priests ordained this year was Brother Michaël Brossard who trained through the Auxiliary Pathway. Brother Michaël is part of the community at Mucknell Abbey and his ordination to the Priesthood was held at the Abbey, conducted by Bishop Anne Hollinghurst, former Bishop of Aston who is the Episcopal Visitor to the community.
The Community at Mucknell Abbey was founded in the 1940s with a particular intention to pray for Christian unity. The Community includes men and women, lay and ordained, and welcomes on retreat people of all denominations, all faiths and none who wish for prayer and reflection.
Br Michaël is in fact the first member to be ordained from within the Community – the other ordained members were in parish ministry before entering. Nuns and monks are all individuals called by God to a particular life and work, publicly recognised, within the Church. Within that number, some feel called to monastic priesthood and, in our diocese, undergo a discernment process with the Diocesan Director of Ordinands before attending a Church of England selection panel, like other candidates.
Like other Priests, those in Monastic life are called to pray, read the bible, study, proclaim the Gospel, be an instrument of God’s peace, live according to the way of Christ and work towards the kingdom of God. The monastic priest is also called to minister the doctrine and sacraments of Christ, accept and uphold the discipline of the Church and absolve the penitent in Christ’s name.
Abbot at Mucknell Abbey, Thomas Quin, said:
“Having lived several years with Br Michaël and experienced his pattern of discipleship, we now welcome wholeheartedly the recognition of his particular vocation and the extension of his ministry. It was a great pleasure to us that Bishop Anne Hollinghurst, the Community’s Episcopal Visitor and an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese, came to the abbey to ordain Br Michaël, and that Bishop Hugh – even after two ordinations already that weekend – came and preached for us. We are entering gladly into this new chapter of life for the Community and the Diocese.”
Brother Michaël said: “Being in a rather unusual setting, I knew from the beginning that my deacon year would look rather different to that of my fellow deacons ordained last year at the Cathedral. It has been a fruitful year of continuing to discover what it means to be both a professed monk and an ordained minister.
Living my ministry within the monastery has deepened my sense that all Christian service flows from prayer and returns to prayer. I have also felt profoundly blessed by the support of my brothers and sisters, our regular friends and volunteers, and the many friends of the community further afield. I am deeply aware of having been carried by the prayer and love of others.
As I look towards priesthood and to continue to serve and minister the community and all who come to the abbey, I do so with gratitude, thankful for the call to share more fully in the sacramental ministry by which God’s people are gathered around Word and Sacrament. And if Saint Augustine could say, “For you I am the bishop, with you I am a Christian,” then I pray that I may never forget, as a monk who is ordained priest, that any ministry at the altar must remain the service of one who is first a brother among siblings, seeking God for the life of the world.”
