The kindness of strangers

Jennifer Kavanagh was inspired by her visit to a place of refuge.

by Jennifer Kavanagh 25th September 2015

In Genessee Diary, an account of staying for seven months in a Trappist monastery, Henri Nouwen, the Dutch priest, writes about the discomfort of living as a contemplative while reading accounts of torture in Chile and elsewhere. That was in the 1980s. Thirty years later, in different countries, the same issues remain.