ENGLISH FRIENDS of the FOYERS NEWSLETTER NOV 2001.

The most important event in our calendar as we prepare for the foundation of a FOYER in England is the annual retreat. This year's turned out to be truly providential.

As last year, we arranged for it to be held at the Carmelite Priory on Boars Hill near Oxford. The programme was sent out at Easter to all on our ever-increasing mailing list. The initial response was disappointing, and by the beginning of June I was becoming worried that it would not be viable.

So I wrote to our old friend Leonie Caldecott and asked her if she would like to write a piece on Marthe for the Catholic Herald. The result which appeared in the issue of June 29th was quite excellent (and I hope many of you read it), and enquiries began to trickle in. From these we doubled our bookings, and secured some very promising supporters.

With Father Edwin Gordon we numbered 20—fewer than last year— but when the retreat ended on the Saturday morning, at the final meeting when we could talk again, no fewer than 10 of these said: "We want to be associated with the foundation of a FOYER, and we want to meet again before too long." So we arranged to return to Boars Hill on December 5th for two nights in order to discuss the way forward.

Both Donal and 1 attended the Plater College Week in early August at which the new Ecclesial Movements were featured, and Cardinal Stafford, head of the Congregation for the Laity was present. I was one of ten people who gave a 20 minute presentation of their movements, and some interest was aroused.

But the week did not produce supporters as Leonie's article did. There were a number of old supporters at Plater College like Stratford Caldecott, John Saward and Timothy Tindal-Robertson, and one or two useful new contacts were made.

We were immensely grateful to Father Edwin for conducting our retreat so skillfully. He gave us two profound conferences each day, as well as homilies at Mass and the evening Holy Hour. As usual the all-night vigil on Thursday was a highlight for me and for many others. We were glad to welcome Stratford Caldecott on Friday afternoon. The weather was perfect, and once again my dog Bonny enjoyed the week hugely.

A recent article in "Alouette" shows how close they are in Ireland to founding a FOYER. There was also a remarkable article on the recently founded FOYER in the Lebanon, which I read at the retreat on Saturday morning. It shows what an extraordinary influence a FOYER can have in a most troubled part of the world.

We are supported in prayer by many religious communities in England as well as by the FOYERS at Chateauneuf, Courset, Tressaint and Poissy. It is hoped to produce a new booklet in the new C.T.S. series on the "New Movements". Do get hold of these, and especially the one by Father Ian Ker called "The New Movements a Theological Introduction" (Mo 04).

Incidentally Fr Ian has kindly agreed to lead our next retreat which will be at Boars Hill from September 9th to 14th, 2002. Please make a note of this in your new diary.

Martin Blake & Donal Foley

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