All the new students are here, about forty of us.  Most are in their twenties or older, and a few are recent high school graduates.  Finally, I am not the only teenager.

The girls come from Louisiana, Illinois, Texas, Michigan, New Mexico, New York and all over.  They’ve been recruited from the Grail’s city centers.  There are a few foreign students.  They are a lively bunch.  I am so relieved.

We compare accents.  They say where did you learn to speak the King’s English?  I have to explain that English is my native language even though I come from the Far East.

Then they ask me to repeat the calf walked down the path just for the fun of giggling over my accent.  I totally got that from Mother Paulinus.  I don’t mind because they say they just love to hear my British accent.

What kind of finishing school is this?  Actually, it isn’t at all like a school.

Even the students must go to daily Mass and communion.  It is always a Missa Cantata or High Mass.  We sing it in Latin.  We sing processionals and hymns in English.

After Mass we must walk back in silence with the group.  We are not allowed to go anywhere, not even to the general store and post office without permission.   And then someone always comes with us.

There is only one lecture each morning by various members of the staff.  So far, it is all about this women’s movement, how it started and what they want to do.

They want to train everyone to be saints and convert the whole world in about seventy-five years.  They are dead serious.  I am not going to write to anyone about this.