FIFTH WEEK: Science, Religion, Priesthood

Our Fifth Week Event MT11 will be a talk by the Rev. Dr. Andew Pinsent (Oxford University) on 'Science, Religion and Priesthood'.  Come along and find out more!

Tuesday 8th November 2011, The Old Palace (Catholic Chaplaincy), Rose Place, St. Aldates, 8.30pm.  Ring the general door bell.  Drinks afterwards.  All welcome.

About the Speaker ...

Fr. Andrew Pinsent is Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Religion and Science at Oxford University, a Research Fellow of Harris-Manchester College and a member of the Faculty of Theology at Oxford. He is also a priest of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton in England.

Fr. Pinsent has a doctorate in particle physics from Oxford, a degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a doctorate in philosophy from St Louis University. He is a named author on thirty-one papers of the DELPHI experiment at CERN, Geneva and a member of the United Kingdom Institute of Physics. His licentiate dissertation in philosophy examined the specifically divine nature and end of the Christian virtuous life, especially in the spiritual anthropology of Thomas Aquinas. His doctoral dissertation continued this work by examining the unity of the non-Aristotelian virtues, gifts, beatitudes and fruits in Aquinas's work, drawing an analogy between Aquinas's virtue ethics and the findings of contemporary experimental psychology, especially joint attention and the second person. He has published articles, reviews and popular books, including a critically acclaimed catechetical course Evangelium.

THIRD WEEK: Newman's Pastoral Idea of a University

Dr. Paul Shrimpton

‘Newman’s Pastoral Idea of a University’

The Old Palace (Catholic Chaplaicny), Rose Place
Tuesday 25th October, 8.30pm

Dr. Shrimpton is a member of Opus Dei and has taught at Magdalen College School for twenty-four years. He has published A Catholic Eton? Newman’s Oratory School and is currently working on a book on Newman’s pastoral idea of a university education. He will examine how the idea of human flourishing underpins Newman’s conception of education, influencing his idea of the university in which the true object is not instruction in a particular subject, but the development of a mature human individual.

LMS Oxford Pilgrimage

LATIN MASS SOCIETY

OXFORD PILGRIMAGE

SATURDAY 22 OCTOBER 2011

Mass in Blackfriars at 11am.

Procession from St Michael at the North Gate in Cornmarket,

leaving at 2pm, to the site of the martyrdoms of 1589 and back to Blackfriars.

Benediction at Blackfriars at 3pm.

As a special incentive this year the Mass will be a Solemn Mass in the Dominican Rite: the first time we've had this at the Oxford Pilgrimage, and one of the first such Masses in the country since the 1970s.

The preacher will be Fr Guy Nichols, Cong Orat.

Fr Thomas Crean OP will lead the procession and Benediction.

The Schola Abelis will provide polyphony as well as Dominican Chant for Mass,

and will lead the singing for the Procession and Benediction.

St Frideswide's Day Evensong

Today is the feast of St. Frideswide, patroness of the University and City of Oxford.  The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham will be celebrating Solemn Evensong and Benediction in honour of the feast.  This will be the first occasion on which the Order of Evensong, newly approved by the Holy See, will be used solemnly in Oxford.

Aquinas and Eastern Orthodoxy

Our Second Week event will be a talk by Prof. Andew Louth of Durham University on St Thomas Aquinas and Eastern Orthodoxy.  All welcome!

Thursday 20th October, 7pm
Danson Room of Trinity College
(ask at the lodge for directions)

- A joint event with Oxford University Orthodox Society and Oxford University Catholic Society -

Term Card: Michaelmas Term 2011

Unless otherwise stated, meetings start at 8.30pm and are held in the Blue Room at The Old Palace (Catholic Chaplaincy), Rose Place, just off St. Aldates. Please ring the general door-bell for admission.


The dates and times of some events are still to be confirmed (‘TBC’). Details will be posted on the website in due course.


FIRST WEEK

Freshers’ Drinks Party - Tuesday 11th October, from 8pm

We have reserved the Wadham Room at the King’s Arms, Broad Street, for drinks from 8pm. The President will say a few words of introduction about the society. Wine will be served at the start and afterwards drinks can be purchased from the bar.



SECOND WEEK

Professor Andrew Louth

‘Aquinas and Eastern Orthodoxy’ - Date & time TBC

Porf. Louth taught theology at the universities of London and Oxford, before taking up a post at Durham University, where he currently holds the chair in Patristic and Byzantine Studies. His writings include Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition and Discerning the mystery: An essay on the nature of theology, as well as books on Dionysios the Areopagite, Maximos the Confessor and John Damascene.

Eight years ago Prof. Louth was ordained a priest of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchal Diocese of Sourozh and he currently serves a parish in Durham. He will provide an assessment of St. Thomas Aquinas, Western Christendom’s greatest theologian, from an Orthodox perspective. - A joint event with the O.U. Catholic Society and the O.U. Orthodox Society -



Evensong of St. Frideswide & Benediction

Wednesday 19th October, Blackfriars, St. Giles, 7.30pm

The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was created by Pope Benedict as a means of enabling Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. The service of Evensong forms an essential part of what the Holy Father has called ‘Anglican patrimony’ and the Vatican, in an historic move, has authorised its use by the Ordinariate. This service of Evensong for the feast of St. Frideswide, Patroness of the University and City of Oxford, will be one of the first occasions in which the new liturgy is solemnly used. The Celebrant will be Monsignor Andrew Burnham (who will speak to the society later this term) and the Preacher will be the Rt. Rev. Aidan Bellenger, Lord Abbot of Downside. The service will be followed by a drinks reception, to which all are invited.



THIRD WEEK

Dr. Paul Shrimpton

‘Newman’s Pastoral Idea of a University’ - Tuesday 25th October, 8.30pm

Dr. Shrimpton is a member of Opus Dei and has taught at Magdalen College School for twenty-four years. He has published A Catholic Eton? Newman’s Oratory School and is currently working on a book on Newman’s pastoral idea of a university education. He will examine how the idea of human flourishing underpins Newman’s conception of education, influencing his idea of the university in which the true object is not instruction in a particular subject, but the development of a mature human individual.



FOURTH WEEK

Speed Dating!
- A joint event with the O.U. Catholic Society - Date & time TBC



Dr. Roger Litten

‘Psychoanalysis and the Church’ - Tuesday 1st November, 8.30pm

Dr. Litten has a degree in Research Psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. He came to England in the early 1990s to complete a doctorate in Psychoanalytic Studies and a Postgraduate Practitioner Diploma in Counselling Psychology. He is currently is chairman of the London Society of the New Lacanian School. His talk will examine Roman Catholicism from a psychoanalysist’s perspective.



FIFTH WEEK

The Rev. Dr. Andrew Pinsent

‘Science, Religion and Priesthood’ - Tuesday 8th November, 8.30pm

Fr. Pinsent is Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Religion and Science at Oxford University and a member of the University’s Faculty of Theology. He has a doctorate in particle physics from Oxford, a degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a doctorate in philosophy from St. Louis University. He is a named author on thirty-one papers of the DELPHI experiment at CERN, Geneva, and has also published articles, reviews and popular books, including a critically acclaimed catechetical course, Evangelium. Drawing on his own experience as a Catholic priest and as a scientist, Fr. Pinsent will speak to us about ‘Science, Religion, and Priesthood’.



The Rev. Monsignor Andrew Burnham and others

‘One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic: Possibilities for Church Unity’ - Date & time TBC

Two years ago the Right Rev. Andrew Burnham, Anglican Bishop of Ebsfleet, visited the Newman Society and spoke about the possibility of re-union of Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church. This term he returns as one of four former Anglican Bishops now ordained for service as priests within Pope Benedict’s newly-created Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Pope Benedict has been described as the ‘Pope of Christian Unity’. His dialogue with the Orthodox Churches, with Anglicans, and with the followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre is recognised as one of the hall-marks of his papacy. In conversation with a panel of experts drawn from the church’s Religious Orders, Fr. Burnham will discuss how Christ’s injunction ‘That they may all be one’ can be realised today. - A joint event with the Catholic Society -



SIXTH WEEK

Ambrose Hogan & Rashad Ali Merton College - 15th October, 8.30pm

‘Religion in the Media: Misrepresentation of the Church and Islamic communities in Britain’

A Christian and a Moslem will lead a discussion on the presentation of religious groups in the British media. Does our media have a secularist bias, or is its religious reporting balanced and impartial?

Ambrose Hogan is an Education specialist and is Programme Co-ordinator of a Master’s Degree in Moslem Societies and Civilisation at London University’s Institute of Education. He also writes regularly for the Jesuit’s on-line journal ‘Thinking Faith’.

Rashad Ali lectured and taught in Saudi Arabia and has an interest in Islam related issues. He was also involved with non-violent Islamist extreme political parties for several years, before renouncing these views for a more traditional version of Islam. He currently works for CENTRI, a counter-extremism consultancy specialising in issues related to Islam, faith, cultural diversity, and integration.



SEVENTH WEEK

The Very Revd. Dr. John Drury

‘The poetry and religious significance of George Herbert’ - Tuesday 22nd October, 8.30pm

Dr. Drury is an Anglican clergyman and holds Oxford University’s highest degree, that of Doctor of Divinity. Since 2003 he has been Chaplain and Fellow of All Souls’ College and he previously served as Dean (Head of House) of Christ Church. He is an expert on the poetry of the seventeenth century Anglican Divine, George Herbert, and has a particular interest in Herbert in his historical context and his poetry’s relevance for the present-day.



EIGHTH WEEK

Termly Mass and Dinner - Date & time TBC

The termly Mass will be a Sung Mass in the extraordinary form. In his Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontifcum Pope Benedict encouraged re-engagement with the Church’s ancient Latin liturgical tradition. Writing to the world’s Bishops the Holy Father identified the tradition’s relevance for young people, saying ‘it has clearly been demonstrated that young persons have discovered this liturgical form, felt its attraction and found in it a form of encounter with the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist’.

Following the Mass there will be the society’s termly black-tie dinner. Details about dates, venues, and times will be announced in due course (check the website).

 
MEMBERSHIP – Membership forms are available at meetings or upon request from one of the Society’s officers. The rates are: life membership: £20; university membership: £12; annual membership: £6.


SPEAKER DINNERS – Members are invited to dine with the speaker before meetings. Places are limited and there is a small charge. To enquire about attending e-mail the President: sofia.abasolo@merton.ox.ac.uk.

COMPLINE & DRINKS – We conclude each Speaker Meeting with drinks. When the meeting takes place at the Catholic Chaplaincy, there is also Compline or another form of prayer in St. Thomas More’s Chapel.

ELECTIONS – Nominations for the positions of President-Elect (to be President in Trinity Term), Treasurer, Secretary, Social Secretary, and Publicity Officer can be submitted to the Returning Officer at the above address until 1pm on Friday of Sixth Week. See the website for the full Constitution.

THE ‘FAITH IN OXFORD’ APPEAL – Our Patron, Cardinal George Pell, has launched an appeal to raise an endowment to support the society. See the appeal section on the website for further details.

TIES – Society ties (gold, red & blue) can be purchased at Walters on Turl Street. Ask at the counter.



PATRONS
HRH The Duchess of Kent
His Eminence George Cardinal Pell
The Rt. Rev. Arthur Roche
The Rt. Rev. Peter Elliott


EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
President: Sofia Abasolo, Merton
Senior Member: John Eidinow, Merton & St. Benet’s
Past-President: Emeric Monfront, Christ Church
President-Elect: Krishan Nadesan, Christ Church
Treasurer: Richard Pickett, Exeter
Secretary: Timothy Sherwin, Merton
Social Secretary: Charlotte Irwin, St. Anne’s
Publicity Officer: Michael Towers, Christ Church
Junior Officer: Thomas Treherne, St. Catherine’s
Returning Officer: Gregory Stacey, Trinity

Lawrence England at the society

Joe Shaw has a post about Lawrence England's recent talk to the society on his blog.  Click here to read it.

Fr Timothy Finigan: 'Jansenism, Dissent and the Liturgy'

Fr Tim Finigan, of 'The hermeneutic of continuity' blog (http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.com/) and parish priest of Blackfen, Kent, is coming to talk to us about Jansenism, Dissent and the Liturgy.


This is happening today (17th June) at 8.30pm at the Catholic Chaplaincy.


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=167198833341696

Trinity Term First Event

Pilgrimage in Honour of Blessed John Henry

In conjunction with the Oxford Newman Society, Oxford Gregorian Chant Society and the Latin Mass Society.

Join us on the exciting pilgrimage to the place where Blessed Newman was received into the Catholic Church!

2.30pm: Sung Traditional Latin Mass at Greyfriars (Ss Edmund & Frideswide)
Walk to The College, Littlemore for Vespers (Sung, Latin)
Followed by convivial supper

FACEBOOK

Juventutem Oxford

Homily on Bl John Henry Newman

Homily by Fr Daniel Seward, Cong Orat

for the Newman Society’s termly Mass, 8th February 2011

Oriel College

Our Cardinal has now been beatified. So it’s important for us to ask: what is a saint, and why should we want Newman to be raised to the altars of the Church? To have a saint of our own is not just a feather in our cap, or even an excuse to promote the different causes to which Newman devoted his life. It is about much more that that: the Church beatifies and canonizes men and women from among her number in order to glorify their sanctity. Holiness – that is what it is all about. The saints show us that heroic sanctity is possible and necessary for us as Christians. They remind us of that call to holiness which is addressed to each of us, and they encourage us on our journey towards that perfection for which God has created us. Whatever the value of Newman’s theology, or his prose, or the interest of his many letters; all this is as nothing in comparison with the importance of his holiness – the extent to which he imitated Christ in his earthly life.

St Philip [Neri] used to say that we should never marvel at what the saints do, but rather at what God does in His saints. So here is the first qualification for holiness. If a person is merely a human marvel, that is no doubt a good thing, but it is not enough. He must point us beyond Himself to the God who is the source of all holiness. So to make someone a saint is not the equivalent of giving them the Nobel Prize or a kind of celestial knighthood, it is done for the glory of God alone.

The deep wish to do God’s will and to pursue holiness marked out John Henry Newman from a young age, in a way that he saw very clearly to be a mark of Divine Providence. The Calvinist religion in which the young Newman began his spiritual journey attached great importance to God’s grace but very little to personal holiness. Yet his inner conversion at the age of fifteen was accompanied by an unusual conviction that God was calling him to a celibate life. St Paul said, “The world as we know it is passing away. I should like you to be free of all worries. The unmarried man is busy with the Lord’s affairs, concerned with pleasing the Lord”. So the young Newman, while still a Protestant, made that sacrifice of himself in witness to the transience of this world and the endurance of the kingdom of heaven. Celibacy is certainly not the only route to holiness of course, but for Newman, it was part of his conviction that God had a mission for him, a definite service, a work committed to him not given to any other.

Loss and Gain: The story of a convert's chapel

After yesterday's article about Our Lady of Oxford, readers might be interested to see how her chapel has developed over the years.  Here is the first Oxford chapel, as it stood up until 1907 in Hartwell de la Garde Grissell's house at Number 60, High Street, in Oxford.  Many of the features still observable in today's chapel can be seen: the lavish baroque frame with the picture of Our Lady of Oxford, the altar (carved in Rome) and its canopy, and the reliquary cupboards.  Under the altar is the body of the boy-martyr St. Pacificus.

Grissell kept a register of the clergy who celebrated Mass in his chapel.  They included Fr. Bowles (who had been at Littlemore with Newman), Henri Brémond, abbé Loisy, Dom Bede Camm, the future Cardinals Mercier and Gasquet, Bishops Hedley and Ilsley, and the great Dominicans Bede Jarrett and Vincent McNabb.

1900s - Foundation

The fate of Grissell's collection preoccupied him.  He contemplated the foundation of a 'Newman Memorial Chapel' in Oxford and corresponded with Cardinal Vaughn, who was eager to obtain the collection for Westminster Cathedral.  However, Grissell was determined that the collection should remain in Oxford and, when he died in 1907, his will stipulated that it be enshrined in a chapel of St. Aloysius' Church, Oxford.  This next photograph shows the chapel as it was fitted out to receive the collection in 1908.  Grissell's original relic cubboards were reconstructed to right and left of the altar.  The paintings on the ceiling are by Gabriel Pippet and depict iconography from the Roman catacombs, alluding to the relics of many of the Roman martyrs housed within the chaepl. A sacristry was erected to the epistle side of the chapel and was accessed through a door where St. Aloysius' statue stands today.  Here were kept a valuable collection of vestments, books, objects from the catacombs, and other artefacts.

1950s - Grey

The next stage of the chapel's development came in the 1950s.  The florid Victorian stencilling of the chapel had fallen out of fashion and the ceiling was painted battleship grey, leaving Pippet's paintings floating in mid-air.  The iron railings seen in the previous picture were removed and the bottom of the relic cupboards were cut away to house radiators for a new heating system.

1970s & '80s - Loss

The 1970s and 1980s witnessed the saddest period in the chapel's history.  The cult of relics did not chine with the spirit of the age.  Despite Grissell's fastidiousness in ensuring that all his relics were authenticated by ecclesiastical authorities, the entire collection was declared to be 'inauthentic' and was dispatched to the local crematorium.  The physical remains of St. Pacificus had survived the Roman persecutions of the church, but did not survive the twentieth-century.  The top of the altar still bears the marks of an asiduous 'recker' who chiselled out a relic of St. Peter's altar enshrined there.  The other artefacts of Grissell's collection were dispersed and the sacristry was turned into a public conveniance.  The chapel stood empty and Mass was no longer said there.  Thankfully, the image of Our Lady of Oxford survived in place above the altar.

1990s - Gain

With the arrival of the Oratory Fathers in the 1990s efforts were made to restore the chapel.  In late 1994 a new collection of relics, most of which were given by the Carmelites of Chichester, was installed in the chapel.  The Carmelites also gave a cast iron screen, which can be seen in the above picture.  Happily, the present screen is rather finer than the original one.  Visible on the altar is the inscription announcing the indulgences granted to Our Lady of Oxford by Blessed Pius IX in 1869.  A statue of St. Aloysius was placed in the chapel and its walls (which had become damp and were in a poor state) were draped with temporary hangings of red damask.

2000s - The threshold of hope

In 2009 the chapel was restored as part of the Oxford Oratory's 'Reaffirmation and Renewal' campaign.  The original ceiling stencilling was reinstated, contextualising Pippet's paintings in their original artistic setting.  The relic cupboards were given state of the art lighting, showing off the new relics on display.

Among the relics on display is a first class relic of Blessed Lucy of Narnia, given by the C.S. Lewis scholar Walter Hooper!  The ashes from the relics of Grissell's collection have be re-enshrined in a glass urn, bearing an inscription which translates as 'From the ashes of ten thousand martyrs'.  Thus, St. Pacificus and his celestial companions continue to interceed upon supplication of the faithful!

There follow some photographs of the newly restored chapel and of Pippet's paintings.

Society's Patronal Feast Day of Our Lady of Oxford

Today - the Saturday before the fourth Sunday in July - is the feast of Our Lady of Oxford and is the patronal Feast Day of the Newman Society. The image of Our Lady of Oxford depicts the Madonna under the title Mater Miserecordiae ('Mother of Mercy') and is enshrined in a chapel at the Oxford Oratory.

The image was originally brought from Rome by the Newman Society's co-founder, Hartwell de la Garde Grissell (wikipedia article here), who housed it together with his vast collection of relics in a private chapel on the High Street. Upon his death Grissell left the image and relics in trust to the Archdiocese of Birmingham, with the proviso that they be enshrined in a special chapel at St. Aloysius' Church in Oxford. The church's former baptistery was hastily prepared to receive the collection and was opened to the public in 1908. A number of ex voto offerings, including several silver 'miracle hearts', are preserved in the parish and attest to miraculous favours attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Oxford.

The Newman Society was formally dedicated to Our Lady of Oxford by Cardinal George Pell on 7th March 2009. After a Mass said at Our Lady of Oxford's altar the Cardinal consecrated the society to her and placed its members under her special patronage. The photograph on the right shows His Eminence celebrating the Mass.

 

Click on the images of the prayer card below for information about the indulgences which Blessed Pius IX gave to Our Lady of Oxford and for the special prayer to her: O Blessed Virgin Mary, whom we venerate in this thy Sanctuary under the sweet title of Mother of Mercy: thou who wast of old so loved and honoured in this University and City ...

 

Society launches Newman beatification website

The society has a new section of its website dedicated to Cardinal Newman's forthcoming beatification.  The society is planning a number of events to mark the occasion and details will be posted on the site shortly.  Visit the site by clicking here.

'Are you in the club?' The Newman tie featured in Country Life magazine

The people at Country Life magazine have kindly written to us about an article which they recently published on tie fashion, 'Are you in the club?'.  The Newman tie - which is a broad stripe of Papal gold, Oxford blue, and Cardinal red - is featured in the article and is pictured above.  Members will be pleased to learn that the Newman tie makes the top twenty in the list of 'Notable neckwear' appearing in the article, whereas the Bullingdon tie does not!  To read the article click on the image below and then click again to zoom in.

Members may purchase the Newman tie from Walters of Oxford on Turl Street.

'Loyal to Peter' - The Newman Society's lost statue of Saint Peter

The Newman Society gave a bronze statue of St. Peter to St. Aloysius’ church in 1893. The gift commemorated the departure of the much loved Fr. Walter Strappini SJ, who had served as Rector of the parish for eleven years and had been a formative influence in those early years of the society’s history.

The statue was a scaled replica of the famous statue of St. Peter which stands in the Vatican Basilica and is attributed to the thirteenth century sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio. The original model for the sculpture can be seen in the Basilica’s crypt, where there can be found a classical sculpture of a seated philosopher which has been transformed into a christianised image of the Prince of the Apostles teaching from his cathedra.

On Ss Peter and Paul’s day the bronze statue is vested with a cope, Episcopal ring, and Papal tiara. A special indulgence can be obtained by kissing its foot, which has been worn down to a smooth surface by the veneration of pilgrims over the centuries. The gesture has a two-fold meaning: it is an act of veneration of St. Peter and - as the traditional gesture of obeisance upon meeting a Pope - is also an expression of loyalty to the person of the Holy Father as successor of 'the Fisherman' Peter.

In St. Aloysius’ parish records there survives a papal grant giving this same indulgence to the Newman Society’s statue and Fr. Martindale’s history of the parish records that it was much venerated by people entering and leaving the church.

The statue was removed from the church and decapitated (!) several decades ago. The head was rescued by a parishioner and has recently been returned to the parish.  It can now be seen in the Oratory House, where it serves as a sad reminder of the reprehensible destruction of so much of our Catholic patrimony falsly carried out in the name of the Second Vatican Council (see below).

The above photograph has recently come to light. The astute observer will notice that the marbled base of the sculpture is now used as a plinth for St. Joseph’s statue in the church.


The Fathers of Vatican II on sacred art:

Very rightly the fine arts are considered to rank among the noblest expressions of human genious. This judgment applies especially to religious art and to its highest achievement, which is sacred art. By their very nature both of the latter are related to God’s boundless beauty …


The practice of placing sacred images in churches so that they may be venerated by the faithful is to be firmly maintained …


Ordinaries must be very careful to see that sacred furnishings and works of value are not disposed of or allowed to deteriorate; for they are ornaments of the house of God.

(Vatican II, S.C., 122, 125, 126)

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin's address to the Newman Society

“THERE ARE MANY YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE STRUGGLING TO FIND A REASON TO REMAIN IN THE CHURCH”

Speaking Notes of Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin
Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland

Newman Society, Oxford, 4th June 2010

The title that I have chosen for my reflections this evening – There are many young people who are struggling to find a reason to remain in the Church” – may seem slightly puzzling to some of you. Let me explain its origin. It is a line taken from the comment of the Parish Pastoral Council of one Dublin parish sent to me in the light of the publication of the Murphy Report into the sexual abuse of children by priests within the Archdiocese of Dublin.

The Murphy Report was a very significant examination of how allegations of sexual abuse by priests were managed by Church and State authorities in Ireland. The Report was the fruit of a Government instituted Commission which was established to examine a representative sample of how abuse cases were managed in the period of time between 1975 and 2004.

The findings of the Murphy Report were disastrous. Certainly much of what was dealt with took place in different times and in a different culture. Medical science and juridical reflection may have underestimated the damage done to children who were sexually abused. But what the Murphy Report narrated was nonetheless catastrophic. I have repeated on numerous occasions that for me the only honest reaction of the Church to that Report was to publicly admit that the manner in which that catastrophe was addressed was spectacularly wrong; spectacularly wrong “full stop”; not spectacularly wrong, “but…” You cannot sound-byte your way out of a catastrophe.

Visit of the Archbishop of Dublin

The Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, the Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin, visited the society earlier in the term.  He gave a lecture at the Catholic Chplaincy, which was followed by Ecumenical Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral and the society's termly black-tie dinner, which was also held in Christ Church.

Here is Patsy McGarry's report on the Archbishop's lecture, which appeared in the Irish Times (click here for original article):

Children 'rarely in equation over abuse'

PATSY McGARRY

CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said it was hard to understand why in the church’s dealing with the sexual abuse of children, “the children themselves were for many years rarely even taken into the equation”.

Speaking last night, he said: “Yes, in the culture of the day children were to be seen and not heard, but different from other professions church leaders should have been more aware of the Gospel imperative to avoid harm to children, whose innocence was indicated by the Lord as a sign of the kingdom of God.”

Archbishop Martin was addressing Oxford University’s Newman Society.

Last month the Catholic primate, Cardinal Seán Brady, withdrew from a lecture he had been invited to deliver to the same society at Oxford on May 12th when authorities there expressed concerns about his attendance.

It was feared his presence might provoke protests following recent revelations about the cardinal’s handling in 1975 of canonical investigations into allegations of child sex abuse by Fr Brendan Smyth.

The Newman Society at Oxford did not want negative incidents associated with Cardinal Newman as he is to be beatified by Pope Benedict during the papal visit to England and Scotland in September.

“The findings of the Murphy Report were disastrous,” Archbishop Martin continued last night. “The cultural situation was different; abuse takes place in many other sectors of society. This is all true. But it cannot be used as an excuse to downplay the gravity of what took place in the church of Christ.”

He said the church was a place where children should be the subject of special protection and care; and that the Gospel reserved “some of its most severe language for those who disregard or scandalise children in any way”.

He said he felt that the light at the end of the tunnel for the Catholic Church in Ireland was still a long way off.

He said the grief of the past could and should never be forgotten. “There is no simple way of wiping the slate of the past clean, just to ease our feelings.

“Yet the Catholic Church in Ireland cannot be imprisoned in its past. The work of evangelisation must if anything take on a totally new vibrancy,” he said.

There was no way “that we can underplay the effect that the abuse scandals have had on young people. But it must be said very clearly that the crisis of belief among young people has far deeper roots and roots which were there well before the abuse scandal.”

There were “structural and cultural factors which are unique to the Irish church which have contributed to this alienation of our young people”, he said.

“The particular religious history of Ireland led to great emphasis being placed on the school as the principal vehicle for religious education.” This “became a rather authoritarian school system, with Victorianism, Jansenism and older Irish penitential spirituality combining. Questioning was not encouraged. Questions of faith were to be accepted in obedience.”

He added: “In more recent years, due to the drop in the number of priests and the increase of their workload, the link between sacramental preparation and school deepened and the link between sacramental preparation and parish diminished. A form of religious education which is separated from the parish or some other non-school faith community will almost inevitably cave in the day that school ends.”

Presidential league table!

If you become President you have over a one in four chance of becoming a priest! Over the past fifteen years twelve of forty three Presidents have gone on to be ordained or are currently training for the priesthood. The number soon looks set to rise still further …

Since 1995 the top three colleges in the presidential league table are St. Benet’s, with eight Presidents, Keble with five, and Exeter and Merton in joint third place with four each.

Here is the list:

TT10 - Conor Ganon (Wolfson)

HT10 - Hubert MacGreavy (St. Peter’s)

MT09 - Emeric Monfront (Christ Church)

TT09 - Jocky McLean (Christ Church)

HT09 - Patrick Milner (Keble) [second term]*

MT08 - Patrick Milner (Keble)*

TT08 - Mark Hamid (Corpus) [one day Presidency]

TT08 - Paul Fleming (Mansfield)

HT08 - Yaqoob Bangash (Keble)

MT07 - Michael Ryan (Brasenose)

TT07 - Laura Barrosse-Antle (St. John’s)

HT07 - Darren Collins (Keble)*

MT06 - Alexander Morrison (Oriel)*

TT06 - Matthew Allen (St. Benet’s)*

HT06 - Alexander Stafford (St. Benet’s)

Cancellation of Cardinal Brady's lecture

Oxford University Newman Society regrets to announce that Cardinal Seán Brady has cancelled his visit to Oxford, which was scheduled to take place on 12th May 2010. The following message has been received from Cardinal Brady’s Office:

As he continues a gradual return to normal duties following a short period of illness Cardinal Brady has, with deep regret, decided to cancel his proposed visit to Oxford.

He was due to deliver a lecture to the Oxford University Newman Society on the subject of the ‘Challenges Facing the Church in Ireland in the Twenty First Century’; in addition to celebrating Mass in Trinity College and attending a Dinner in St Benet’s Hall, on Wednesday 12th May before travelling to Lourdes with the Armagh Diocese.

Cardinal Brady expressed the hope that he would be able to visit the members of the Oxford University Newman Society in due course and conveyed his good wishes and prayers for the work of the Society and the University, especially for those students preparing for examinations at this time.

Cardinal Seán Brady to visit Newman Society and deliver major lecture on Irish Catholicism - Wednesday 12 May

 

The Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, will be visiting Oxford at the invitation of the Newman Society on Wednesday 12th May 2010. The Cardinal will deliver the society's termly Thomas More Lecture in the Divinity School of Oxford University on the subject of "The Challanges Facing the Church in Ireland in the Twenty-First Century". After the lecture His Eminence will celebrate a Solemn Pontifical Mass in the Chapel of Trinity College, the College where Newman studied as an undergraduate. Following this, the Cardinal will attend a dinner hosted by the society at St. Benet's Hall.

 

Press release: click here

 

Programme for the visit - Wednesday 12th May

• Thomas More Lecture, Divinity School, Bodliean Library, 5pm
• Solemn Pontifical Mass, Trinity College Chapel, 6.15pm
• Dinner in honour of His Eminence, St. Benet's Hall, 7.30pm

 Members of the public are welcome to attend the lecture and Mass.

Members of the society wishing to attend the dinner should contact newman@herald.ox.ac.uk.

 

 

Further information about the lecture

Cardinal Brady's lecture tales place in the wake of the Holy Father's recent letter to the Catholics of Ireland on the issue of sexual abuse of children. The Cardinal will use his speech as an opportunity to respond to the issues raised by the Holy Father and to reflect on how the church can move forward seeking healing, forgiveness, and renewed dedication.

 

The Cardinal's lecture will be the last in the 2009-2010 series of Thomas More Lectures, which have examined the subject of 'Religion in the Public Square'. The previous lecturers in this series included Cardinal George Pell (Archbishop of Sydney), Francis Campbell (HM Ambassador to the Holy See), and Paul Murphy MP (Former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland).