Page 13 - LOTN Autumn Issue 54 2023

DIOCESE
Solemn Profession

of Brother Benedict-

Joseph Miller

n Saturday 7 October 2023 our Brother Benedict
Joseph made his solemn profession as a Benedictine
Omonk of Pluscarden.
Br Benedict Joseph was born in 1966 in Iowa U.S.A. A convert
to the Catholic Faith, he entered the international Community
of St. John, and made his final profession with them. After some Br Benedict Joseph with Abbot Anselm and members of the
years, including postings in Senegal and in the Netherlands, he Community of St John and Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia
felt a call to a more strictly monastic form of life, and eventually the theological studies he had previously begun.
requested a transfer to Pluscarden Abbey. According to the law No immediate family was able to come for the Profession, but
of the Church, such a transfer has to include not only permission our Brother was supported at the Mass by the presence (among
from the former Institute, but also a period of trial, formation others) of the American Dominican Sisters of Elgin, and some
and probation. In this case, the trial period included a spell at members of the Community of St John resident in Aberdeen,
our daughter house of Petersham, Massachusetts. and Fr Johannes Elias, a former confrere in the Community of
While with us Br Benedict Joseph has undertaken a number St John who came from the Hague especially for the profession.
of works, most notably in the kitchen. He has also continued

Da Broken Parts programme with the London based Art and Health Hub
and has shown her art throughout the UK and also in the
US. This is her fifth solo exhibition.
hetland-based artist Joyce Davies has been Joyce is married and the mother of three adult daughters,
exhibiting some of her work at Peacock Visual Arts and a grandma to one peerie grandson.
Sin Aberdeen. The exhibition "Da Broken Parts"
includes 40 individually painted monoprints realised
during a 5-day residency at the print studio in October
this year.
Joyce, a parishioner of St Margaret and the Sacred Heart,
Lerwick is a self-taught artist and began working on her
creative practice as a visual artist and writer in 2019 with
Shetland Arts, which quickly became a very meaningful
part of her life. Joyce previously had a long career in a
senior role as a Consultant Clinical Child Psychologist in
various parts of the UK. To her, art is a form of play and self-
expression, and art-making is a joyful process that compels
her to keep working. She feels that a lot of adults forget
how to play when entering into adulthood, with its higher
demands. But in art, she says, "you find freedom again to
just be," and "finding your own preferred creative outlet
could have a huge beneficial effect on all aspects of your
physical and emotional health and often also improve the
network of people you bring into your life."
The works in this exhibition are focussed on the physical
body, considering issues of health and well-being. The
process of making was for Joyce a way to untangle complex
memories and difficult emotions. She was hugely surprised
by the images that were produced. "I was aware of feeling
more and more brave as the week went on,’" she remarks.
"These works are the most raw and authentic work that I
have made to date."
Joyce previously had a residency at Peacocks two years
ago funded by Creative Scotland, Shetland Arts and the
Shetland Charitable Trust. Joyce then became a member of "These works are the most raw and authentic work that I have
the Peacock Print Studio, is currently on an Art Development made to date."

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