Abbey of Regina Laudis Cheese & More

We read childrens' stories to each other before going to sleep. Tonight we continued with The Witches by Roald Dahl & Quentin Blake. During intermission, Michelle read how the book's royalties went to the Roald Dahl Charity for Children.

Perusing Roald's Wiki page, Michelle recognized his first wife, Patricia Neal.

Perusal of Patricia's Wiki page disclosed she "had become a Catholic four months before she died and was buried in the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut, where the actress Dolores Hart, her friend since the early 1960s, had become a nun and ultimately prioress. Neal had been a longtime supporter of the abbey's open-air theatre and arts program."

Thus....

https://abbeyofreginalaudis.org/stewardship-dairy.html

The CBS segment begins with the Monastic Community singing Gregorian Chant in our church Jesu Fili Mariae and then correspondent Mo Rocca visits our dairy where he interviewed an Abbey herdswoman and cheesemakers. Watch Sister Jeanne Paul feed the cows and introduce her beloved Milking Shorthorn Red Wing Lily who is certainly not camera shy. Sister Teresa Benedicta and Monastic Intern Regina show Mo the final steps of the Bethlehem cheesemaking process as they salt and wrap the cheese in cheesecloth. Mother Noella introduced Mo to the ripening process in the cheese cellar and through a microscope. They spoke about Benedictine Spirituality and how the work of each nun with an element of creation, opens to the comprehensive vision of St. Benedict. And of course Mo had his first taste of our Bethlehem cheese!

Mother Noella on the Science and Spirituality of Cheesemaking
In this web exclusive, Mother Noella, a Benedictine Nun of the Abbey of Regina Laudis, talks with correspondent Mo Rocca about enzymes—the catalyst in the traditional cheesemaking process—and how they relate to the spiritual. You can, she says, find the universe in a microbe.

 From the CBS Sunday Morning Website, November 20, 2016

Watch the video Mo Rocca Pays a Visit to the Abbey Dairy Farm.
Watch the Interview with Mo Rocca on the Science and Spirituality of Cheesemaking from the CBS Sunday Morning broadcast.

NETFLIX PREMIERE OF COOKED DIRECTED BY ALEX GIBNEY IN COLLABORATION WITH MICHAEL POLLAN, February 2016

Explored through the lenses of the four natural elements—fire, water, air and earth—COOKED is an enlightening and compelling look at the evolution of what food means to us through the history of food preparation and its universal ability to connect us. Highlighting our primal human need to cook, the series urges a return to the kitchen to reclaim our lost traditions and to forge a deeper, more meaningful connection to the ingredients and cooking techniques that we use to nourish ourselves. 

Synopsis of the documentary film Cooked from Michael Pollan's Website

On February 19, 2016, Netflix began streaming an original 4-part documentary series based on journalist and author Michael Pollan's book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. Regina Laudis, in particular the Abbey Dairy, is featured in episode #4: Earth—Fermentation's Cold

As a fan of Michael Pollan, it is with enthusiasm I encourage you to peruse his books Cooked and How To Change Your Mind, two I very much enjoyed.

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Gregorian Chant

https://abbeyofreginalaudis.org/video&chant.php?mediaID=8&autoplay=1#top

CHANT AT THE ABBEY TODAY

Gregorian chant is not something the Abbey "preserves" or "performs" simply as a treasured relic of the Church’s heritage. Chant for us is a way of life. We are privileged to continue our study of the Chant under the direction of our Abbess, Mother David Serna, who is an accomplished musician and directed the monastic Choir for our third CD, The Announcement of Christmas

Seven times a day, and once in the middle of the night, the nuns of Regina Laudis come together to pray the Divine Office, an arrangement set forth by Saint Benedict in his Rule more than 1500 years ago. For us, Gregorian chant is life-giving. In the words of Mother Benedict, Chant is a medium that has the power to release and strengthen people. The chant is for me unique and superior to all other musical responses to Scripture. There is nothing that equals it because of its paradoxical simplicity and complexity. The chant centers our mission to praise God at all times, a mission expressed in the Abbey’s motto: Non recedat laus—Let praise never cease.

Watch a video clip of an Abbey class with Dr. Theodore Marier from the 1980's on the Rhythm of Kyrie XVI.