| DOUAI ABBEY |
No 11 - SUMMER 2000
Developments at Douai
NEGOTIATIONS concerning the future use of the former school buildings have now reached an important and hopeful stage. By the time the next issue is published we shall be able to give you full information. The administrator has disposed of the contents of the buildings, mainly by auction on June 29. We are happy to know that we shall continue to own the Parish Church and the Park. We hope to find ways by which it will be possible for our neighbours to share the use of the Park for recreational purposes.
Douai Magazine
THE next issue of the Douai Abbey Newsletter will be larger as it will be combined with a new style Douai Magazine. There is no longer a place for the old style magazine since a large proportion of its contents covered school events. However, it seemed good to continue the title and a decision has been reached that the December issue of the Douai Abbey Newsletter should be combined with the Douai Magazine. Apart from containing news, the magazine will also include articles and news of former pupils of the school.
Abbey Church Guidebook
A guidebook to the Abbey Church was published in April. This is, in fact, the first guidebook we have had of the Abbey Church. There have been previous guidebooks, but they have covered the whole campus. The text is by Abbot Geoffrey Scott OSB, with an introduction by Alan Powers. It was designed by Christy FitzPatrick, in California, the finished design being conveyed electronically to the printers in London.
Copies can be obtained from Douai Abbey Bookshop, price £3.50 plus 50p post and packing.
New Assignments
ON June 1, Fr Benedict Thompson OSB became assistant priest of the local parish, with responsibility for the Woolhampton and Burghfield areas, in succession to Fr Alexander Austin OSB. Fr Alexander has gone as administrator of the parish of Pershore, Worcestershire until next summer. Pershore is a parish of the Birmingham archdiocese which we have agreed to look after for a period.
Fr Austin Gurr OSB has moved from Alcester to Stratford-upon-Avon as Parish Priest, where he replaces Fr Romuald Simpson OSB who is returning to the monastery. Fr Boniface Moran OSB who was assistant in Startford has gone as Parish Priest to Alcester.
Homily on the Feast of the Dedication of the Abbey Church - July 9 2000 by Abbot Geoffrey Scott OSB
AS you drove here up the hill, you will have passed St Peter’s, the Anglican parish church, on your right, now deserted by its village which has moved down into the valley. At the Reformation, when the predecessor of this building passed out of the jurisdiction of the pope and into the hands of the English Crown, Catholics set up a chapel in the loft of the manor house next door, in what is now Elstree School, since the Lord of the Manor continued to hold onto the Old Faith. Then a succession of churches and chapels followed. The first was on the site of the old school tower, another just behind it, then St Mary’s, a hundred yards from here, and finally, this Abbey Church, begun in 1929 and finished in 1993.
When the monks arrived here on the top of the hill in 1903, they settled on a wedge-shaped piece of land which came to a point at the old school tower and which reached its widest extent on the site now occupied by this church. So, as we celebrate the dedication of the abbey church today, which, incidentally, rarely falls on a Sunday, we are also celebrating the continued growth and expansion of the Christian faith in this locality. After the abbey church, as the land further opens out, comes the graveyard - ‘God’s acre’. There is perhaps some meaning in that.
In celebrating the dedication of a church, we have constantly to remind ourselves that we have to temper material progress and change with spiritual and moral development. Recently, an architect told me that the biggest problem with the millennium dome was that it was designed and built before there was any real idea what might go into it or what purpose it might serve. We must be careful that our churches never become just vanity cases; they should be a permanent expression of ourselves who are the living stones which make up that living temple, the Body of Christ. Buildings and people are intertwined; we are affected in all sorts of ways by the buildings we inhabit. They can depress us or they can enliven our spirit; they can imprison us or they can shelter and support us. Church buildings have the same effect and a dedicated church helps people, who are usually busy and distracted, to be caught up in that inner life of prayer even while for most of their lives they find themselves devoted to outside business. Inwardly, that is in the temple of the church and in the temple of their hearts, men and women consider the hidden things of God, while outwardly they bear the burdens of living in the confusion which is signified by that other great building of the Old Testament, the tower of Babel. The vision of the Church, the temple of the new covenant, is that of a building which embodies God’s purpose for his people, embodies that unity which reverses the curse of Babel with its multiplication of languages and gathers into one all the scattered children of God to worship together in sincerity and truth. You are God’s temple.
We pray for all those who helped to build this church and we pray for a strengthening of faith among those who pray and worship here today.
Douai in partnership with Reading University
THE Pastoral Programme has established links with Reading University. Beginning this autumn two series of lectures entitled ‘Towards a twenty-first century Christianity’ will be given by Douai monks as part of the University’s ‘Department of Continuing Education.
Also during the academic year the University will put on two Saturday Schools, one on October 21 entitled 'Monks and monasticism: foundation, development and crisis through the medieval and Reformation periods' and the other on May 19, 2001, entitled 'Time machines: churches as sources of archaeological evidence.' There will also be a week-end course, 'The English Parish Church in new Millennium’ given on March 17 and 18.
Full details of these courses can be obtained from
‘The Department of Continuing Education, The University of Reading, London Road, Reading RG1 5AQ
tel 0118 931 8347 fax 0118 975 3507
e-mail continuing-education@reading.ac.uk
A Benedictine Parish: Vision 2003 at Studley
AT Studley, Warwickshire Fr Paul Gunter OSB, who has been Parish Priest for a year now, has been challenging the parish to prepare for the year 2003 when the church will be 150 years old. Earlier this year he gave an address to the Parish Committee, entitled Vision 2003. He said the fundamental question to ask is: "What kind of a parish do we want to be?" and he continues: "it is quite remarkable to recognise that this is in our hands. We are the people on the ground and can be much of this development... Canon Law (c536) teaches that we are to be Christ’s faithful fostering pastoral action." "Catholic Churches are often described as unwelcoming and irrelevant, filled largely with people fulfilling an obligation rather than motivated to give and receive love. The primacy of obligation produces a people who do not participate fully in the life of the parish, people who will not share anything of themselves, give to the liturgy and who are unwilling to do more than the law of the Church requires. As a committee of committed people, we need to look beyond this attitude ourselves and structure ways to move ahead... The Gospel must be effectively lived in our parish and the Catholic faith explained. This will happen more effectively when we recognise that in contrast to the values of a secular society, it is what we are that matters to God, not our social or financial status. Our parish needs in itself, organically, to embody Christ in community, prayer and action. Our Parish Committee needs to lead the way, with the parish priest, for our parish to become more fully a Benedictine Parish." "In his Rule St Benedict led people of very different temperaments and made of them a community. Their common aim was to seek God. This Rule laid an order of life which could be seen today as the basis for a civilised society. The priorities of the Rule highlight the Benedictine charisms which are meant for us as inheritors of this Benedictine mission. There is much in the Rule to enable us to become a worshipping parish, a caring parish and a learning parish. We might be tempted to wish that the essentials of a parish were simply the predictable to which we have been so long accustomed. St Benedict understood much of our apprehension when he said: Thereford we intend to establish a school for the Lord’s service. In drawing up its regulations, we hope to set nothing harsh, nothing burdensome. The good of all concerned, however, may prompt us to a little strictness in order to amend faults and to safeguard love. Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation. It is bound to be narrow at the outset." (Prol vv 45-49)
Fr Paul speaks of a need for greater committment to the liturgy and a greater willingness to serve and to change perspective: "reading at Mass needs to become the proclamation of the Word and distributing Communion identifying with our neighbour".
The ministry of hospitality permeates the whole of parish life and is crucial to the success of everything else. St Paul said: "make hospitality your special care." So, for example, people should be "welcomed into church and receive what is needed for the liturgy from human hands. People will be encouraged if they sense that people care about them... A worshipping community is conscious of hospitality and will do everything possible to make even the exterior of the church building inviting".
Moreover "we need to share our compassion with people around us... we need to look at ways to reach out and to be Christ to one another".
The address goes on to emphasise the importance of being a learning parish. "We need to commit ourselves to seek a dynamic expression of our faith. The Church will not continue to exist, before long, in the way that we have known and maybe loved it The study of our faith needs lay initiative. It really is not the preserve of the clergy."
"We can only live in so far as we have a message to proclaim and are proclaiming it. The nature of the Catholic Church is embodied by a faith and a sense of tradition that have at times been heroic. We recognise now the value of being more humble so that a parish can live, empower people and be open to new perspectives... We should relish our roots and traditions and not use them as a means to ossify else we will become sterile. The sense of our belonging to and being mutually responsible for the parish will encourage us to take the necessary leaps of faith".
Douai Monks at ‘The Gathering’
THE monastic community was well represented at the Portsmouth diocesan ‘Gathering’ to celebrate Jubilee 2000, which was held on June 24 in the grounds of Farnborough Hill School.
Fr Nicholas Broadbridge OSB and two of the novices, Br Andrew Grattan OSB and Br Simon Hill OSB made up the Douai contingent. They were accommodated in a large marquee, along with other religious communities, parishes and craft stalls.
The monks had a dual role: to promote vocations to which end a vocations exhibition stand was erected illustrating aspects of monastic life at Douai and literature was given to interested people. Leaflets were also distributed advertising the ‘Pastoral Programme’, including the ‘Spirituality in the Workplace’ workshops and the ‘Music at Douai’ programme.
Another aspect of life at Douai on offer was that of the wooden craft objects for sale, the product of Fr Nicholas’s woodworking skill: hanging and free-standing crucifixes, ‘Jesus’ plaques and ‘Towers of Hanoi’ puzzles.
After a slow start, a brisk trade was soon established. Br Andrew showed a hitherto unknown aspect of his talents, that of a lively market trader, his sales patter and bonhomie with customers gave us a profitable day and stocks were soon sold out. However, visitors was happy to place and pay for forward orders, that the team were happy to take. Fr Nicholas has been busy since, meeting this backlog and refurbishing stocks. All outstanding orders taken on the day have now been dispatched. Br Simon had kept a vigilant business-like eye over proceedings, stocks and takings.
Two heavy thunder showers in mid-morning had threatened to spoil the day, but the weather gradually improved to a sunny, yet cool afternoon.
Fr Nicholas was delighted to meet many old friends and acquaintances from the many parishes of the diocese where he has either supplied or given retreats over the years.
In the late afternoon the brethren joined many thousands at a concelebrated Mass presided over by Bishop Crispian Hollis which rounded off a busy but successful day.
More Monastic Activities
MAY 9-10: Abbot Geoffrey Scott OSB gave a paper at the quatercentenary celebration meeting held at Abergavenny, Wales to commemorate ‘that mysterious man’, Augustine Baker OSB.
During June, Fr Peter Bowe OSB was in Rome and Subiaco to take part in the annual meeting for Monastic Inter-Faith Dialogue.
Twenty-two members of The Cardinal Allen Association from Douai, France visited us on the Feast of St Benedict, Patron of Europe, July 11. They arrived in time for Vespers. During their tour of England they also visited our parish at Ormskirk, Lancs.
Oblates
THOUGHOUT the world, there are thousands of Benedictine Oblates, women and men who work and pray in spiritual union with monastics who follow the Rule of St Benedict. Oblates are active Christians who enrich their Christian spirituality through a bond with a particular monastery. Oblates are committed members of their own faith community, who find the values of the Rule of St Benedict add depth to their lives.In common with all other oblate communities, the Douai oblates are growing in number. This growth in the oblate movement is considered to be one of the major Benedictine contributions to Christian life at the present time, not least because of its ecumenical dimension. The Rule of St Benedict is older than the major divisions of Christendom. Certainly, Benedictine heritage and tradition have much to offer the world today.
Oblates keep in touch with their chosen monastery by visits, correspondence, and through the internet.
At present, four residential retreats a year are offered to Douai Oblates. At the most recent, in July, three oblate novices made their final oblation.
If you are interested in exploring the possibility of becoming associated with the monastic community at Douai by becoming an oblate, or would simply just like more information please contact the Oblate Director either in writing or by electronic mail.
Douai Abbey Newsletter is published at Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Reading, Berks, RG7 5TQ. Phone: 0118 971 5300 Fax: 0118 971 5203
E-mail douaiweb@aol.com
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