Text of Sister Lynn Marie McKenzie's portion of the video above in English:

Greetings to all Benedictine women of the CIB!

First, I thank you for your witness of fidelity to prayer and your life in community.  I strongly believe that our communal life of prayer is more important in our world than ever. We must be women of hope and peace during this time of disorientation in our world, reminding our world of what is important in life. It is not about what we do as much as knowing who we are in the light of God, the Resurrected Jesus who has redeemed us.

I remind us all that we have so much in our monastic life that is gift and we must, from our hearts, share it freely. Let us encourage each other and our world to have courage, not fear.  As my monastic friends I met in Spain last fall taught me, we can say, “Animo!” Take courage! Christ has risen. 

From a letter by Sister Jennifer Mechtild, Chair of the Conference of Benedictine Prioresses:

At the opening of the 2018 Symposium in Rome, each Region brought a cloth that represented their region. At the end of the Symposium, each region was given the cloth from another region and were asked to hold that region in prayer until the next Symposium in 2022. We received the cloth from Region 7 -- Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine.

As a way of sharing in prayer for Region 7, each community will have the cloth for a month and can display it a a reminder to pray.

The schedule of travel for the cloth around our Region is listed below.

Sister Lynn Marie travelled to Germany and Abtai Dinklage, a women's Benedictine abbey in the town of Dinklage.  She attended a Council meeting of the Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum (CIB). Sister Lynn Marie serves as moderator of the Council which consists of women monastic leaders from Spain, Germany, Tanzania, and Belgium.  During one of the CIB meeting days, Abbot Primate Gregory Polan, joined the group to discuss various topics.

Here is a link to some local German coverage of the event (in German):

https://www.mbenediktinerinnen-vernetzen-sich-europaweit/.ade-in-dinklage.de/dinklager-

On Friday, September 14, 2018, the final day of the quadrennial symposium of the Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum (CIB), the assembled delegates from all parts of the world elected our Federation President, Sister Lynn Marie McKenzie, to a four-year term as Moderator of the CIB. Her term of office follows the twelve years of service completed by Sister Judith Ann Heble of Chicago.

The role of the Moderator is to coordinate all of the CIB activities. She presides over Conference and Administraive Council meetings and directs the work of the CIB.  She also serves as the liaison between the CIB Conference and the Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation.

The primary purpose of the CIB is to promote mutual support and exchange of ideas and experience among Benedictine women on an international level and to foster the development of women's monasticism.  The CIB also serves to support the relationship between women's communities and the Benedictine Confederation and to advise the Abbot Primate on issues as they relate to Benedictine women. For more information about CIB, visit their website at www.benedictines-cib.org