Above (left), is a picture of Domus Pacis from the side. You can see how close it is to the church of Our Lady of the Angels. And the picture at your right hand side, is a shot of Gesu Bambino. The accommodations are quite nice. Internet reception is lousy, though.
Impressions: It is wonderful to see how seamlessly the nuns and monks work together at this General Chapter. We are very much one Order, not two. Everywhere you look, men and women are side by side, finding solutions to problems, catching up on old friendships, meeting new faces, or at the head table directing the meeting. It is a true sign of healthy family dynamics. Most of the time we function as equals and value the gifts of each. Canon law reserves some things for the monks. For instance, since we are a clerical institute the Father Immediate of any house has to be a priest. And, of course, administering the sacraments and saying Mass are reserved for priests. This, at times, causes considerable inconvenience for the nuns in some houses, but I don’t sense a strong movement to overthrow those rules.
God made men and women different. In an ideal marriage, there is the concept of complimentarity, where the strengths of one fill in for the weak areas of the other. One of the nuns in my commission mentioned that idea in relation to how the monks and nuns of our Order work together. Each one brings his own perspectives of the world, and it is refreshing to see them all coalesce.
Fr. Stephen, Genesee