The Holy Cross Convent, Rempstone and Costock.

This was the home of the Sisters of the Community of the Holy Cross at the Convent, Rempstone until 2011.

They have now moved to smaller accommodation in Costock.

UPDATE - AUGUST 2009

ON THE MOVE - where? And when?

Convents and monasteries don't relocate every five minutes. It is against their ethos. So why are the sisters moving from Rempstone to Costock? One overriding reason is the A6006. The traffic is incessant and noisy nowadays as any Rempstone resident will substantiate, and an atmosphere of peace and quiet is as vital for a monastic community as for those visitors who are seeking at least temporary respite from the pressures of daily living in a frenetic world. Highfields Farm at Costock is sufficiently distant from the A60 to be idyllic by contrast.

Many other practical problems will also be lessened by having a purpose built convent and more extensive and improved facilities for our guests and helpers. The whole complex should be more environmentally friendly and, after the initial outlay, less expensive to maintain. Of course, there will be unforeseen snags but we are doing our best to keep them to a minimum.

Principally though, we are looking to the future. These are not easy days in the church and it is a temptation to become despondent. There is so much apathy and indifference about religion around and Christianity is often an easy target for ridicule. All the same, there are many signs that the tide could be turning. This is certainly true as far as vocations to the religious life are concerned. God is still calling individuals here and there to serve him in this particular form of dedicated living. It is essential therefore, that places where such callings can be lived out and tested should continue to be maintained, places open to change, development and growth under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Other communities similar to our own, both in the C. of E. and the R.C. Church, are likewise on the move so it certainly feels like being part of a movement of the Spirit taking us to fresh fields and new areas of challenge. Please join us in the venture, with your prayers and support, even if, like ourselves, you might find it hard to see just now, how it is all going to turn out in the years ahead. Taking steps of faith usually brings down greater blessings, so on we go in trust.

The Community of the Holy Cross Contemplating...

THE EFFICACY OF PRAYER

January 18th to 25th has come to be known in many Christian circles as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. A concerted effort has been made from the early years of the last century to make this truly a time for besieging heaven to help us get things right between ourselves as Christians. We should be ONE BODY but manifestly don't seem to manage it.

This must not discourage us. We must persevere but without ongoing prayer to back our efforts we cannot hope to succeed. Personal and corporate intercession needs to become the warp and weft of our daily Christian living. If Christians can overcome division then so much else in our world would be healed as well. Fr. Shirley Hughson, and Anglican monk in the American religious community, the Order of the Holy cross, wrote as follws about prayer, probably in the early years of the 20th century.

Prayer in some mysterious way we cannot see, has the effect of releasing the omnipotence of God upon the world. This is what St. Thomas Aquinas meant by his great definition of prayer - 'Prayer is the means God wills us to use in order that we might obtain blessings He wills to give us.' Prayer is the means by the use of which we appropriate to ourselves and gain for others the gift of God's love. This Church of ours is not lacking in activity for good, but what a woeful lack of prayer there is, and as a consequence, how thin is the life of the Church. The human element is magnified, the divine element is neglected. The Church lacks power in the world because it fails in its work of prayer. Prayer is intercourse with God, association with Him personally and lovingly. We are eager enough to do His work, but we are slow to go to Him for the power with which to work.

We Sisters of the Holy Cross have prayed consistently for the Church over many years. Life for us is now quite hectic as we put our plans to move to the new convent at Costock into actual practical motion. Whatever we do in the coming months we shall not cease to be at prayer. Forgive us if we don't manage our slot in Compass for a spell. Please join us in prayer meanwhile, you will be in our prayers still.

THE BUILDING SAGA - a progress report (June 2010).

Things have gone forward in strides since we last wrote of our plans to relocate the convent from Rempstone to Costock. The buildings at Highfields Farm are more than halfway complete now and it is very exciting to watch it all coming into being. The greatest joy is to see our church in the centre of the complex, gradually evolving into what already feels like a true place of worship for the greater glory of God - a place to be shared with our guests and visitors as well as being a monastic choir for ourselves.

On Monday April 12th the Earl of Halifax came to lay the foundation stone of the church. This was very appropriate since his great grandfather had done the same in 1902 at our previous convent in Sussex. Bishop David Hope led the service at the small gathering. Numbers had to be limited naturally but, happily, our local parishes were represented.

As well as the buildings themselves there is much underway in the grounds and woodlands around us. It is very much part of the monastic tradition to care for the whole of God's creation, as his gift to us and as a task enjoined. Suitable habitats for birds and wild life in general are being created and this is already reaping dividends. Barn owls have taken up residence in one of the special boxes provided and are rearing their young. Also, trees and wild flowers are being planted and sown and well-established species protected.

In conjunction the buildings and grounds here at Rempstone have been 'on the market'. At the time of writing, we can safely say that it looks as though a sale is going through but because of complex business arrangements, we have not yet signed on the dotted line. If all goes to plan, we shall remain here until next Spring when the new convent should be completed. The new residents will use part of the house as their family home and part as business premises - more details of this when everything is settled. The old proverb about not counting chickens too soon is very wise.

In all of it though we continue to trust in God, to ask for wisdom and to thank him for enabling all that has happened so far to come about. We have our part to play and much work lies ahead. Moreover, without the help of our friends and benefactors, our wonderful team of builders and professional advisors, we would be nowhere.

Thank you everybody.