Upcoming events at the House of the Open Door Community
The Community hosts many events throughout the year, using some of the facilities in our Retreat Centre; we list those coming up in a calendar below.
Our Tithe Barn is sometimes reserved for guest groups but is at other times is an ideal event space for meetings or conferences hosted by the community such as our Friday night Fellowship meetings, or those visiting for discipleship. Smaller meetings such as craft retreats take place in our Craft Studio.
If you are visiting for one of the events it may be possible for us to cater for you in our Dining Room; during your visit you are welcome to spend any spare time in our Retreat Centre Gardens.
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Our guest speaker will be Fr Bernard Murphy CFR, a member of the Franciscans Friars of the Renewal serving at St. Fidelis Friary, London.
Fr. Bernard Marie Murphy, CFR is the former Community Servant (Superior General) of the Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a new Franciscan community established in 1987 in the Bronx, NY under the patronage of the late John Cardinal O’Connor, Catholic Archbishop of New York. Prior to his position of Community Servant, Fr. Bernard served as Vocation Director, Postulant Director, and Novice Master. Initially entering religious life as a brother in another community, Fr. Bernard transferred to the Friars in 1993 and was ordained a priest in 1998. Fr. Bernard presently resides in his community’s London residence, St. Fidelis Friary.
The primary mission of the Franciscans of the Renewal is to serve the materially poor, most especially the destitute and homeless. Fr. Bernard, along with the other friars in Canning Town, serves our less fortunate brothers and sisters at the Friar Benet Kitchen. Fr. Bernard has also been on the Board of Directors for Good Counsel Homes, a “safe haven” for single mothers in a crisis pregnancy situated in New York City, as well as the Saint Benedict Joseph Medical Center in Comayagua, Honduras, a medical outreach facility sponsored by the friars in Central America.
The Franciscans of the Renewal are also involved in evangelistic efforts inspired by the call of our late Holy Father, St. John Paul II, for the New Evangelization. Fr. Bernard has been actively involved in conducting parish missions and youth retreats extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, Africa, and the Far East. He is a regular Retreat Master for priests and communities of Religious Sisters, most particularly Saint Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
