Retreat at Buckfast

It was one of the best retreats that I have been on - it was very spiritual in tone and it was excellent to have two sets of adoration finishing with Benediction -  we ended the retreat this way having prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet during the Adoration. 
Praying the Rosary in the Abbey as a group was also great - it also made a statement to the visitors to the Abbey - some joined in with us others stood and looked somewhat bemused.
Father Guy is a very good  priest - reminds me somewhat of Fr Peter Edwards. His two talks on the spirituality of the diaconate taught me an awful lot and gave me a great deal to reflect on. Dr Olivers talks where different in style but equally as reflective.
Thank you to all my fellow retreatents. I hope and pray that you got as much out of it as I did.

The Catholic Church and Freemasons

There has been a programme on Sky TV "Inside the Freemasons". This has prompted some to ask 'Can a Catholic be a Freemason?' The lastest official document that I can find states as follows;
"It has been asked whether there has been any change in the Church’s decision in regard to Masonic associations since the new Code of Canon Law does not mention them expressly, unlike the previous Code.

This Sacred Congregation is in a position to reply that this circumstance in due to an editorial criterion which was followed also in the case of other associations likewise unmentioned inasmuch as they are contained in wider categories.

Therefore the Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enrol in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.

It is not within the competence of local ecclesiastical authorities to give a judgment on the nature of Masonic associations which would imply a derogation from what has been decided above, and this in line with the Declaration of this Sacred Congregation issued on 17 February 1981 (cf. AAS 73 1981 pp. 240-241; English language edition of L’Osservatore Romano, 9 March 1981).

In an audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II approved and ordered the publication of this Declaration which had been decided in an ordinary meeting of this Sacred Congregation.

Rome, from the Office of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 26 November 1983.

Joseph Card. RATZINGER
Prefect

+ Fr. Jerome Hamer, O.P.
Titular Archbishop of Lorium
Secretary