NEW RELEASE BOOK

Señor Pilich The Monastery Cat and the Sinister Mr Dreggs
by Fr Anscar McPhee OSB

The Benedictine Community of New Norcia and Network Books are pleased to announce the launch of Señor Pilich the Monastery Cat & the Sinister Mr Dreggs by Fr Anscar McPhee OSB.

Señor Pilich was launched by Elaine Forrestal at the New Norcia Bakeries, Mt Hawthorn on Monday 9 July 2007.

This is the saga of cat extraordinaire, Señor Pilich and how he saved the monastery from the sinister Mr Dreggs. 

“Mr Dreggs, a thief, was at large in the monastery. He was a confidence man. He was overly interested in valuable and historic things. He looked suspicious, acted suspiciously and, above all evils, he did not like cats. Dreggs was a positive threat to the place. He had to go”

Sr Pilich and his friends foil Dreggs at every turn in a hilarious adventure which causes mayhem throughout the monastery. Meanwhile, monastic life at New Norcia continues to follow the Rule of St Benedict.
This is more than a story about a monastery cat. Indeed, the real value of Pilich’s presence in the monastery is not so much his exceptional detective abilities, but the pair of eyes he gives to readers, through which we get a privileged view into an otherwise private and sequestered life. 

Señor Pilich will appeal to readers of all ages.

The author, Fr Anscar McPhee OSB, was born in 1939 and educated in Victoria. He joined the Monastery at New Norcia in 1957, and made his solemn profession as a monk in 1961 before being ordained a priest in 1964. He was in charge of the old Museum before setting up the present Museum & Art Gallery in 1977. He ran the Oblates of New Norcia from the 1960s to the 1980s. In the late 1980s he took on his present position as a parish priest at Kalumburu in the Kimberleys.

Hardback editions of Señor Pilich ($27.50) are available exclusively from the New Norcia Museum Shop or by mail order.