Sunday, August 02, 2015

Archbishop Bernard Longley......

... Archbishop of Birmingham, was a special guest at the Evangelium Conference in the glorious surroundings of the Oratory School, Woodcote, this weekend. There was a big concelebrated Mass in the chapel with beautiful singing, and then he joined us all for lunch...

It was a great pleasure to chat to him - we first met years ago when he was a seminarian, studying at St John's seminary, Wonersh, where a friend took me for lunch. It was Eastertide, and I remember the three of us singing the Regina Caeli, walking in the seminary grounds....

The Evangelium conference was a triumph: among the highlights a splendid lecture by Dr Roger Scruton, and a lively panel discussing apologetics, with Fathers Marcus Holden and Andrew Pinsent, and Sister Hyacinthe DeFos du Rau of the Dominican Sisters.

Being part of all this was a great privilege, and especially to be invited to give the final lecture on St John Paul and the Theology of the Body.  This was an attentive and receptive audience, a real joy to engage with them all.

As the weekend finally drew to its close, and lots of thanks-yous were being said, the finale was three hearty cheers for Frs Andrew and Marcus, all done with enormous enthusiasm, the Belloc Theatre reverberating with the noise. Then a joyful thanksgiving Benediction in the school chapel....

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