My dear brothers and sisters,

I have been ordered by my Superiors to study at Monastera Masina Maria, our monastery in Madagascar. I am going with a joyful heart, filled with the knowledge of the goodness of God and knowing that He would never ask us to do that which is beyond our strength.

It will be difficult for me to leave the land of my birth, to leave my family, but is it not written that "when I became a man I put on the things of a man?" I have grown up spiritually, as I had grown up physically, and I am, I feel, much better for it. I know now that my involvement with liquor, drugs, sex and the other traps of the flesh was God's way of testing me. I have found my true home here in the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (the Trappists) and hope to spend the rest of my life atoning for both my sins and those of others.

It is very possible that I will return to Canada, even to Blind River, in the future. In the meantime, I shall pray for each of you and ask only that you do not listen to that imposter who posts as me as I used to be.

Yours in Christ,
Brother Crispin Fiacre, OCSO