“It was an event not to be missed,” is how Father Paul Mark, the abbot of the Abbey of New Clairvaux described it. On May 3rd, Belgian brewers from around the country gathered for a special evening of fine Belgian-style food and beer inside the Sierra Nevada Big Room in Chico.

The beer makers came from near and afar, including parts of the east coast and overseas.  And there was, of course, the Chico-based brewery Sierra Nevada that makes Ovila, which is part of a joint venture with the Abbey of New Clairvaux.  More than 200 people spent $135 per plate to support the restoration of the historic Ovila chapter house building on the grounds of the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina.

Father Thomas X. Davis joined Father Paul Mark, who gave a memorable and endearing speech to the gathering.

“We both enjoyed the food, beer and – above all -- the camaraderie,” said Father Paul Mark.

“Monasteries do not always get attention in such venues but there is something particularly Cistercian in this sort of publicity,”  said the abbot. “Cistercian monks have often found themselves in environments that other religious do not (and I mean this in the best sense!).”