Douai Abbey Retreat 2008
The Young Catholic Adults (YCA) retreat at Douai was fully booked this year and proved to be the most successful to date. It was led by Br. Christopher Greener the Guestmaster of the Abbey. The accommodation in the Bl Hugh Faringdon and St Alban Roe buildings was excellent, and much improved from previous years.
Fifty People Join in the First Marian Procession in Recent Memory
On the afternoon of Saturday 5th July at 2.30pm, YCA organised a Marian Procession in the grounds of the Abbey. This was the first such event in recent years at Douai, and was made possible with the help of the organisation Our Lady Help of Christians. Fr. Abbot gave a blessing and joined in with approximately fifty other people, including many clergy and religious. Everyone loved the event, including one of the resident monks who said that this was his first Catholic Procession ever.
The rest of the weekend involved saying the Rosary, attending Vespers (in Latin), a talk on St. Benedict given by Br. Greener and having social time in the evenings. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with other guests commenting about how nice it was to hear younger people praying the Rosary.
Monsignor Conlon Celebrated Mass
On Sunday 6th July, almost one year on from the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, the Traditional Mass returned to Douai Abbey for only the second time since the liturgical changes. Monsignor Conlon (despite and incredibly busy weekend) celebrated Low Mass (the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost) in the Parish Church of Our Lady – which is adjacent to the Abbey. Some on this retreat had never been to a Traditional Mass, (there were also two Anglicans in the group) and so Monsignor very kindly an excellent and informative talk about the positive benefits of the extraordinary form of Mass and how the Pope wants the Old Rite to flourish once again in every Parish in the West. Again the comments afterwards were all positive – someone suggested that they would now like to start attending Latin Masses. The Mass was open to the public (not just retreatants) so afterwards some of the congregation thanked Monsignor Conlon for celebrating a Mass, which they had not seen for almost forty years.
The Abbey are keen to keep the event an annual one and have already invited YCA back for next year. Young Catholic Adults would like to wholeheartedly thank Fr. Abbot, Br. Greener and Monsignor Conlon for making this event a truly extraordinary success.
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