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Bonnevaux Contemplative New Cloister

Contemplative Cloister and Contemplative Health

Please help us with the next step for Bonnevaux

Dear Friends:

I’d like to update you on our plan for the next major step in the Bonnevaux vision. The core idea of 26 contemplative cells remains but we have moved from a contemplative village model to a ‘Contemplative Cloister’. The new design has several advantages: cheaper, more eco-responsible and blending more harmoniously with the Barn and Stable. 

I am as always most grateful to Angelene Chan, Chairperson of DP Architects, for her inspiration and practical guidance at all levels of this new vision. We all feel it deepens the contemplative spirit here. Angelene has recently joined the WCCM Guiding Board and Trustees.

The new cloister is the same size of the original monastic cloister of which only one wing still remains at the front of the Abbaye. The cells have clear views of the lake and woods. 

Under the direction of Dr Barry White and Giovanni Felicioni a new Contemplative Health Centre will be included in the Cloister with peaceful treatment rooms focusing on healing and physical and mental health.

Angelene Chan present the new project:

Your support for this next stage may be offered in a number of ways:

  • personal donations or cell sponsorship in honour of a named family member or other loved ones
  • national community sponsorship of a ‘cell’ in the contemplative cloister.
  • individual donation from a group of meditators

Any amount you can give, large or small, will help make this vision a reality as it has in all earlier stages of the Bonnevaux project. Angelene and I ask that you share this presentation and our needs with others you know in the community or beyond. If you have suggestions for potential donors who might like to help and whom we could approach personally, please share your thoughts with us.

Bonnevaux is already proving to be a strong force for unity within our community through personal visits and the online programme. Many have also expressed this through generous gifts of their time and talent, both here in person or from afar, as well as with financial support. 

During the John Main Seminar hosted here for the first time with participants from so many parts of the community worldwide, in person and online, I felt with wonder and deep joy how Bonnevaux is becoming a home for meditators everywhere and a global centre for peace

The Contemplative Cloister brings an ancient idea of an open, sacred and peace-filled space into a contemporary expression. It will help our troubled world to see how the love of God and neighbour and love for our beautiful wounded planet flow into each other. Please join us in becoming part of this vision.

Laurence Freeman OSB.

Donate here and help us to complete the Bonnevaux project