Life Going On
» Monica Morris, parishioner and long-standing friend of the community, has donated a bench for our grounds in memory of her late husband, Dr Vernon Morris. It is likely to placed in the meadow in the vicinity of the Calvary.
» On 20 July the resident community met to discuss the shape and direction of the pastoral programme and guesthouse for the coming year. Given the present state of uncertainty regarding the epidemic the community intends to use the period up to Christmas to air ideas and arrive at the best possible way forward.
» The next day the Abbot's Council met, with the aid of Zoom since two mission fathers, Frs Hugh and Paul, who are members of the Council were unable to return to Douai because of the restrictions. The canonically minded will be relieved to know that the abbot has received official permission from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life in Rome to use Zoom for Council meetings.
» As part of his project to write the history of the English province of the Dominicans, Fr Richard Finn OP has been able to resume from 20 July his researches in the Dominican archives held for the province at Douai. No doubt keen to make up for time lost during the lockdown, Fr Richard visited twice in the space of a few days.
» On 25 July Fr Henry Wansborough of Ampleforth called in to deposit duplicate books for our library from Ampleforth; in return Douai presented him with a few boxes of Douai duplicates.
» Unable to avoid the drizzle that has been such a feature of this summer so far, six of the brethren cleared the meadow of ragwort on 26 July.