Galas, Retreats, Judicial Services, et al
10 October 2021
» On 27 September, Bishop Philip Egan and a number of the Portsmouth Diocesan Clergy came to Douai for their annual retreat. The same day Fr Chad Bolton from Amplefoth was an auditor at a community meeting in response to questions regarding the English Benedictine Congregation’s future.
» Two days later the abbot celebrated Mass for the new pupils at Blessed Hugh Faringdon School in Reading. The community celebrated Fr Boniface’s diamond jubilee of profession and Fr Finbar’s 79th birthday. Ad multos annos!
» On 30 September, the abbot called to visit Fr Alexander at Stratford-upon-Avon and Fr Paul at Alcester, where he was shown the nearly completed renovations to the parish hall. He went on to visit Fr Benedict at Studley where he confirmed a number of young parishioners.
» The next day was the 50th anniversary of Fr Edmund’s clothing in the habit. In the evening, the abbot and Frs Godric and Oliver attended the Douai Foundation’s Gala Dinner at the Savoy in London which attracted nearly two hundred Old Dowegians and friends of Douai.
» On 3 October the abbot celebrated two Masses at Winchester College and during the second confirmed 20 pupils in the college chapel. Meanwhile Fr Hugh concluded the annual retreat he was leading for the the Benedictine nuns of St Cecilia's Abbey in Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
» An abbey trust meeting and abbot’s council were held on 6 October, with all councillors and trustees physically for the first time since the pandemic began. The next day, the parishes’ trust met, with some of the trustees attending by Zoom. Frs Hugh and Gabriel, as new parish priests, were welcomed as trustees.
» On 8 October was the Court Judicial Service for judges and magistrates, held for the first time in St James’s Catholic church in the ruins of Reading Abbey, the 900th anniversary of foundation is being celebrated this year. Bishop Philip Egan presided and the abbot preached. It was meticulously arranged, with three processions from the town hall, the crown court, and the presbytery, each heralded by trumpet fanfares played by Howard Rowntree, a Douai parishioner, and with musical settings of Sumer is icummen in, the medieval roundel composed at Reading Abbey. Lunch followed at the Town Hall.