St. Gabriel's Retreat, The Graan, Enniskillen

It has been a very busy time at The Graan. We have had an
extremely busy summer. As well as changes in personnel, it
began with the death of Fr Tom Devitt. We offer our sincere
thanks to the Community, at Holy Cross, Ardoyne for helping us
to fulfil the wishes of Fr Tom's family to have him buried with
his brother Fr Leonard in Holy Cross Cemetery. We are most
grateful for the help of the Community there.

Fr Marius was asked to go
to St Gabriel's in Prestonpans
for the time being. Fr Terence
came from Crossgar to The
Graan. Fr Terence is working
exceptionally well with us
here in our Community. We
offer our sincerest thanks to
both Marius and Terence.

Thanks also to the generosity
of Fr Dermot and Fr Kenneth
Brady who helped us on other
occasions when we were very
short. Many thanks.

We had an Altar Server's day out in early July. Naturally
enough the servers had a wonderful day touring Croke Park,
getting to play on the pitch, and seeing all the wonderful
facilities that are available in Croke Park. We even had lunch
there and had great difficulty getting the boys and girls to
leave it.

The Young Adults Group
which has changed its name
to Anam Cara to emphasise
friendship and spirituality, met
on many occasions throughout
the summer. On one special
day we had a pilgrimage to
Glendalough. All of us
climbed to the very peak of
Glendalough and offered Mass
on the top of the
mountainside. It was a
magnificent day for
everybody. One of the
members of the group, Colin
Crossey, has decided to
further his education by doing
a Doctorate in Ministry with
the Passionist Community in
CTU in Chicago. On
completion of his Doctorate he
hopes to do some work with
our teams particularly the
Anam Cara Group at The
Graan and the work that the Alliance Avenue Community
continues to do.

On a structural level, there is work to be done on the side-
chapels at The Graan. The flat-roof on each chapel has
outlived its guaranteed span and both of them will have to be
repaired at considerable cost. We are also continuing
negotiations to end the right of way through our car park.
Negotiations are progressing with our neighbours, The Graham
Family, to allow them to have a new avenue into their house
which would form the boundary between their land and The
Graan land and would mean that the right-of-way through our
property would be removed and they would have a proper
entrance to their family residence. It would also take away a
serious complication should either holding want to develop.
We are running the Lottery for the third and final year. The
lottery made almost £90,000 over three years and facilitated
the complete repainting of the church and house as well as
hopefully going a long bit towards repairing side-chapels.

On Saturday 13th September there was a special service to
dedicate a plaque in memory of the Flying Fortress "Galley
Uncle" which crashed on the folly hill near The Graan on the
9th December 1943. A local historian Joe O'Loughlin has
written widely about this in local papers. He has been in
contact with those who remember it, especially Fr Fergus who
with others, did such heroic work on that sad day. Marius also
helped in the research greatly. Relatives of those killed came
from America for the dedication service. There is now a further
plaque with the names of those who died inscribed on the
memorial shrine at The Graan.

September the 20th & 21st were Heritage Days in Northern
Ireland. The Graan was chosen as one of the places in
Fermanagh to receive visitors on that day. We were displayed
in the brochure and visitors were free to come to visit the
Monastery and chapel on both days.

Harvest Thanksgiving will be held on October 18th in The
Graan. There will be a night for the Bereaved on November
12th.

Prayer Meetings are still well attended. We have Prayer
Meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of
each week. The Chairperson for Charismatic Renewal in
Ireland, Marie Beirne came to speak to the Prayer Group
during the summer. There was a magnificent turnout. Frs
Victor, Oswald and Terence each help with Prayer Groups. Fr
Victor continues with his Healing Services and Masses in
Honour of Padre Pio. We do of course keep Blessed Charles's
name well to the fore too and there is a great devotion to
Blessed Charles in the area.

Fr Oswald celebrated his
78th birthday recently and a
good day was had by all. Fr
Brian's book a Little Bit Of
Hope has been re-printed
again on its 10th Anniversary.
It is selling well. If any Houses
would like some copies
contact us and we will
forward them to you.