» This week the abbots and abbesses of the various EBC monasteries in England and the USA are gathered at Douai for their annual meeting, under the chairmanship of the Abbot President, Dom Richard Yeo. The resident community is trying offer them true Benedictine hospitality, in which we hope we are succeeding. Also here this week are a number of priests of the Ordinariate, with their Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton.
» The large number of visiting priests has strained our liturgical resources a little but certainly made for a richer scene last night when Abbot Geoffrey clothed Alex Bellew as Br Justin. Assisting Abbot Geoffrey were Abbot Cuthbert of Ampleforth and Prior Leo of Downside, who imposed on Br Justin the scapular and the hood respectively. By this action Douai returned to the Westminster succession, which links us directly with the monastery at Westminster Abbey under Queen Mary, itself the last vestige of the pre-Reformation Benedictine congregation in England. Please pray for Br Justin as he enters into this crucial stage of his formation; and pray also for those desginated to form him for our way of life, that they may do so wisely.
