The Godzdogz Team 2014-15

The Godzdogz Team, 2014-15

We are pleased that the Dominican community at Blackfriars has grown to 27 this year. The Godzdogz Team (i.e. the student brothers) is larger thanks to new vocations in the English Province. Earlier this month, Brothers Joseph Bailham OP and Christopher Pierce OP began their studies in the Blackfriars Studium, having made Simple Profession in Cambridge.

We also welcomed Br Richard Steenvoorde OP, who recently made Simple Profession in Zwolle for the Province of the Netherlands, having completed his novitiate in Cambridge. Br Jean-Baptiste Régis OP joined us from the Province of France, having made his Solemn Profession in Lille last month, and will study in Oxford for the next two years. From Poland, Br Mateusz Grzelczak OP has come for a year to continue his studies.

We also have more priests in the community. Fr Irenaeus Vincent OP has moved from London to continue his Doctoral studies. There are three priests from the Province of St Joseph (USA), two of whom are on sabbatical: Fr Albert Paretsky OP, Biblical scholar, and Fr Thomas Joseph White OP, director of the Thomistic Institute at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington. Fr Gregory Schnakenberg OP has begun a Master's in Medieval Studies at the University of Oxford.

Deo gratias.

DYM Study Day: Science vs Religion?

Simple Professions 2014

On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Sunday 14 September 2014, we rejoiced at the Simple Professions of two of our brothers at the Priory of St Michael in Cambridge. fr Joseph Bailham and fr. Christopher Pierce made their vows – a commitment for three years – in the hands of the Prior Provincial, fr John Farrell, for the Province of England. frs Joseph and Christopher have now arrived at the Priory of the Holy Spirit, Oxford, where they will begin their formal studies in the Order. We therefore welcome them to the Godzdogz team this year!

We are also delighted to report the Simple Professions of two of our Dutch brothers, fr Richard Steenvoorde and fr Matthijs Meeuwsen, at the Dominicanenklooster, Zwolle, in the Netherlands, having completed their year-long novitiate in Cambridge. fr Matthijs will do pastoral work in the Netherlands and continue his studies there, while fr Richard has moved to Oxford for his studies and will join the Godzdogz team.

Please keep all the newly professed brothers in your prayers.

Also in Cambridge, two new novices have been clothed in the habit of our holy father Dominic, one for the Province of England and one for the Province of the Netherlands. Please keep them, including the formation communities of Cambridge and Oxford, in your prayers.

Deo gratias!

Solemn Professions 2014

On 6 September 2014, fr. Oliver James Keenan and fr. Matthew Theophilus Jarvis made Solemn Profession in the Order of Preachers at the Priory of the Holy Spirit, Oxford. Many friars, sisters, and lay Dominicans, as well as the families and friends of the two brothers, came to celebrate with them. 

Solemn Profession is the final commitment of a brother to remain a Dominican for life – or, in the words of the profession formula, 'until death' (usque ad mortem). He promises obedience to God, to Blessed Mary, to Blessed Dominic, and to the Prior Provincial, who takes the place of the Master of the Order, and to his successors. Thus, Solemn Profession is about committing one's whole future to the Order, to serve the Church and the world through this band of Dominicans. 

As our brother Thomas Aquinas says, to take a vow is the only way to give our future, which must be lived successively through time, in the single moment of the present (see ST 2-2.186.6 ad 2). You could say that this is the greatest gift of oneself, the greatest use of our 'present'. Married couples, similarly, can attest to the importance of their vows as an act of total generosity towards each other.

Little wonder, then, that the Solemn Profession and the reception afterwards were very joyful! Some people travelled great distances to be in Oxford for the day, and many others also showed great kindness and generosity.

Please keep fr. Oliver and fr. Matthew in your prayers as they make this new beginning as fully committed Dominican friars in the service of God.

Deo Gratias!

Here are some more pictures of the celebrations:

Friars' Walk: Coast-to-Coast Pilgrimage update

Many of you will be following the Friars' Walk blog which is charting the progress of our four brothers walking Coast-to-Coast across England, including two members of the Godzdogz team.

You can now click the icon to the right of this page to reach that blog, or follow the link below:

http://friarswalk.wordpress.com

Here's a quick illustrated digest of what they've achieved so far....


24/07/14 – Feast of the Cumbrian Martyrs

10.30pm

Our Four walking Friars, two from Cambridge and two from Oxford, met at Carlisle at 2.30pm to take the Cumbrian Coast Line to Corkickle, which takes in some spectacular views over the Irish Sea to the West and Lakeland foothills to the East.


A hearty welcome awaited us at St. Begh’s, Whitehaven... Fr. Joseph Parkinson OSB and Deacon Stephen Scott received us at the Presbytery before allocating us to parishioners who, showing famous Northern hospitality, took us into their homes. Thank you to Sue, Sandra & Ian, and Roy. Special thanks also to Deacon Stephen for all his efforts in putting these arrangements together.

We met again for Mass at 6pm at St. Begh’s where Fr. Richard Finn OP preached on the significance and meaning of parables. He referred to the parable-like Dominican charism and our mission both generally and on this walk. After Mass, parishioners showed great generosity of spirit, wishing us well on our trek, and generously contributed to our fundraising efforts.

DAY ONE: 25/07: Feast of St. James

St. Bees to Ennerdale

An auspicious day (St James is the patron saint of pilgrims) to start our Coast to Coast fundraising pilgrimage!

We pray for vocations, our fundraising efforts, and the intentions of our benefactors and friends. Today we also remember Iraqi Christians especially in our prayers.

DAY ONE: Arrived at Ennerdale Bridge

In the glorious Cumbrian sunshine, we reached today’s destination at Ennerdale Bridge! We were delighted to be joined by Mary Clarkson who was wonderful company!! We encourage others to join us if possible. Details here: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zDj7ZFPT0-gc.kAbXsCg0_28Y

Please tell us via Twitter or Facebook if you would like us remember any intention in a decade of the rosary.

Our route today took us along the spectacular coastland from St. Bees to Whitehaven. ...

In the afternoon we scaled Dent Fell, looking out over a West Cumberland to the West and the daunting fells that awaited us to the East. The views were spectacular. A steep descent from Dent brought us finally to Ennerdale Bridge.

On arriving at Ennerdale, we were taken back to Cleator by our invaluable support crew consisting of John and Sue Collins from our Cambridge Priory and Br. Andrew Brookes OP

Vespers, a shower, Dinner and a drink rounded off a very successful first day. Thanks be to God!!

DAY TWO: 26/07: St. Joachim & St. Anne

Ennerdale Bridge to Rosthwaite

We contined to pray for the intentions of our benefactors and friends. The intentions entrusted to us, each of which is remembered at a decade of the Rosary, are often very grave. It was a comfort to us that we could pray for people who are facing all manner of difficulties; we hope it will be a comfort for them. ...

Over the next 1/2 mile, we climbed 340m, as we took the steps up Loft Beck. We met Australians Sue and Elaine near the top. They were in their 70s, and doing the Coast to Coast walk for third time! They were in a spot of bother because the steps seem to disappear and Elaine couldn’t work out where to place her feet in a particularly demanding scramble up the mountain stream. When we reached the summit, after some help and encouragement, they reported that they were now quite convinced of the existance of Guardian Angels!!

DAY THREE: 27/07: 17th Sunday of the Year

Rosthwaite to Patterdale, via Grasmere

...This promised to be one of the most demanding days of walking before us, a walk of over 17 miles over some long and step climbs.

The first major ascent is Lining Crag, a glacier smoothed fell of some 1778 ft. Upon reaching the top, we were greeted by a wonderful belvedere, a sort of hidden valley within a valley.

We then descended into Far Easdale before continuing to the outskirts of Grasmere at Goody Bridge. After a hard morning’s walking, the team felt it entirely necessary (!) to avail ourselves of the opportunity for tea in one of Grasmere’s many tea shops.

After a welcome breather, we began the formidable climb up beside two fells known as the Lion and the Lamb. Then we came up the Tip of Great Tongue, before traversing to Grisedale Tarn, a lake at the top of the mountain with views of the Old Man of Conniston.

There followed a long and invigorating descent leading to the valley of Patterdale, named after St. Patrick. William Wordsworth’s poem Brothers Parting is carved in stone in the valley: the evocative poem describes the parting of Wordsworth and his brother, John. ...



DAY FOUR & DAY FIVE

See here for some photos from the last couple of days.

DAY SIX: 30/07: OT.17.Wednesday


Kirkby Stephen to Keld

After a night of camping at Takoma Campsite, and a bacon muffin, we prayed Lauds with Maria, our host. Fellow campers awoke to the chanting of the Benedictus, which must have been something of a surprise!

... we met a British couple, Dave and Jacqui, and an American couple, John and Caroline. We spoke about our mission and the walk, speaking over the strong winds, which blew across the valley.

Both couples, like many other walkers we have met, were kind enough to make donations to our cause. Incidentally, anyone wishing to make donations can do so here, through Just Giving.

Our route continued across the boggy moorland, through the clouds. Once we emerged from the clouds, the views were impressive, if not somewhat bleak. As we came down from the higher ground, we stumbled across a wonderful farm at Ravenseat, which served that delightful English staple, “Cream Tea”. It would have been rude not to have availed oneself of the opportunity to sample such an idle pleasure.

We learnt that the remote farm was famous and had been the subject of television programmes and a book. During our short tea-time, we met some delightful friends including Denise Rowland a Catholic lady from Carlisle, with her friend Doris, and her granddaughter – also called Denise. One brother also made friends with Pippin, the farm hound.

When we arrived at the sleepy village of Keld, we discovered that our wonderful support team of John and Sue Collins had found Caroline (of the aforementioned American couple) injured by the roadside, and – playing the role of the Good Samaritan – conveyed her and her husband, John, to Keld by car.

Our support team then took us to St. Catherine’s Penrith where we spent the night.

DAY SEVEN: 31/07: Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Keld to Reeth

Today’s walk was a relatively easy stroll along the riverside through the Swaledale Valley from Keld to Reeth, covering just over 10 miles. Since we have not scheduled any rest days in our 12 day trek, a lighter day was a pleasant contrast to some of the more intense earlier legs through the Lakes. The landscape of the Yorkshire Dales, though similar, is altogether more gentle.

Just before we set off from the small village of Keld, a young chap approached us for a photograph. He said he had heard about some walking friars at the youth hostel where he was staying with a friend. His friend, however, had decided to take a rest day and not walk this particularly stretch. “Let’s have a photo so I can show my friend”, said the young chap, “he’ll be so jealous that he’s missed you!” Word is getting round, it seems!

...The gentle rolling hills, trickling streams, and dry stone walls made for a most pleasant walk. On the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, that great Saint, one was reminded of verses from the hand of the Jesuit poet, Gerald Manley Hopkins “Glory be to God for dappled things..”

DAY EIGHT: 01/08: Feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori

The day’s walk was much the same as yesterday in that we meandered through fields and countryside hamlets en route to Richmond. We stopped for Midday Office under the protection of a large tree as the rain came down around us.



Next, we continue to our overnight accommodation at Catterick Garrison.

Thank you for your generosity!

We're delighted to report that over £800 has already been donated online to support our Dominican preaching apostolates on the internet. THANK YOU to everyone who has donated so generously!

We now need less than £1200 to raise to reach our £5000 target for our dynamic new website. Please consider supporting us by clicking on the picture below.

Today is also the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, and you can read about it in a post earlier this year by Br Samuel Burke in our Popular Piety series. Happy feast to all!

Altarpiece of the Dominican church of the Holy Rosary, near the Vatican, showing our Risen Lord with two Dominican saints, Pope Pius V and Bishop Antoninus.

Pentecost 2014 photos

Last week we celebrated Pentecost, which is of course the titular feast of the Priory of the Holy Spirit (Blackfriars), Oxford. In recent years we have begun to celebrate the Pentecost Vigil on the Saturday evening, which offers us a rich scriptural feast and some glorious music, too. 

In his homily at the Vigil, the Deacon, Br Nicholas Crowe OP, drew out these connections between several Old Testament and New Testament narratives – including the way in which Pentecost resolves the linguistic chaos of Babel, not by abolishing the diversity of languages, but by uniting us in the Holy Spirit such that we are restored to a mutual understanding and love.

On Pentecost Sunday, the evening liturgy of Mass & Vespers was followed by the annual Doorkeepers' Dinner. This is our opportunity to show our appreciation to the volunteers who give up a lot of time to keep the door during the day, taking deliveries and answering all kinds of queries! This dinner is just a small way in which we can say 'thank you' for their generous support and friendship.

Requiem Mass for Peter Geach RIP

On 24 May, a Requiem Mass was held at Blackfriars, Oxford for the repose of the soul of Peter Geach, who died on 21st December 2013, aged 97. Together with his wife, Elizabeth Anscombe, Peter was an enormously influential philosopher of the 20th century, but also a great witness to the Catholic Faith. At this Requiem organised by their daughter, Sr Tamsin Geach OP, many members of the Geach family were present, as well as old friends, philosophers, and admirers.

We are pleased that Fr Richard and Sr Tamsin have graciously allowed that the sermon preached on that occasion be shared here on Godzdogz.

Sermon Preached at a Requiem Mass for Prof. Peter Geach

by Richard Conrad, O.P.

on 24^th May, 2014, Blackfriars, Oxford

Readings:  Song of Songs 2:8-14 (the Prophecy at Mass on the day Prof. Geach died, 21^st Dec. 2013)
                  I Peter 3:15-18 (the Epistle for Sunday 25^th May, 2014, 6^thSunday of Easter)
                  John 14:15-21 (the Gospel for Sunday 25^th May, 2014, 6^thSunday of Easter)

For the festschrift marking what he called “their fifty years of philosophical, spiritual and personal married partnership,” Cardinal Cahal Daly wrote: Peter Geach and Elizabeth Anscombe “have given us a model of personal faith and Christian witness, and of sacramentally hallowed and faith-deepened partnership in Christian marriage, which are a source of inspiration to us all.” Their Marriage took place on St. Stephen’s Day, 1941. They had met in the spring of 1938, at a Corpus Christi procession, providentially brought together by an even greater Sacrament. About that meeting granted “by God’s mercy,” Peter wrote, “I have never got over being suddenly struck with amazement from time to time at my good fortune.” All the Sacraments, of course, speak to us of the love affair between the Lord and His Bride the Church, the love affair between the Lord and each elect soul. But Marriage and the Holy Eucharist most specially point us back to an earlier moment in an earlier spring when the Lord who had come from heaven to seek His holy Bride bought her with His own Blood. Committing Himself to His Sacrifice, Jesus gave us the Holy Eucha­rist and thereby the privilege of applying the power of His Sacrifice to the living and the dead.

And so we offer the Holy Eucharist today for Peter, together with our continuing prayers. On 31^st May, 1938, Peter professed his faith in the power of Christ’s Sacrifice at his reception into the Catholic Church. Writing from Warsaw in 1985, he concluded his brief philosophical autobiography with the elegiac couplet:

            Sexaginta annos complevi hucusque novemque
            In Domino sperans, dum vocet ipse: Veni.
                        (which I translate:)
            Sixty and nine years have I thus far run
            Hoping still in the Lord, till He say, “Come!”

Peter had 28 more years to run, until that day last December when the passage from the Song of Songs was read at Mass in which the Lord says to His Bride and to the elect soul, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come.”

Not long before that day, Peter had expressed his persevering hope, and his conviction of our solidarity in Christ’s love, by asking More to “organise for [him] to be a courtier in the Court of the King of Heaven.” We are in fact compelled by gratitude and affection to do our bit to arrange that for him, by offering this Sacri­fice, and our prayers, that Peter’s hope, and our hope for him, may have been fulfilled.

For our offering, and our prayers, are made to the eternalGod about whose almighty Providence Peter wrote in a typically careful and penetrating way. The Liturgy entrusts to God all those personal pilgrimages whose outcome is not yet revealed to us while the Spirit and the Bride still say, “Come!”, and we hope to inherit the New Heavens and New Earth which the Lord Jesus has inaugurated and pledged by His Death and Resurrection. When, as David, Sybil, St. Peter and St. John say, the old cosmos is dissolved, then all that is hidden will be manifest; and we hope and pray, for ourselves and those who are dear to us, that all sins will be revealed as forgiven, so that nothing will be revealed that is not an occasion for joy. Then, we hope and pray, the Lord will say to us, and to Peter and Elizabeth, “Let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet,  and your face is comely.” Reflecting – reflecting to each other – Christ’s risen glory, we shall, in concert with the Angels, sing to God the Father every honour and glory, in, through and with Christ, united in the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the Gift of whom was won for us from the Father by Christ by the Sacrifice He offered.

Early Christian funerary monument in Rome: the souls of the dead are symbolised by doves around Christ (X-P)

For the time being, however, Peter’s voice, with which he spoke so elegantly, has fallen silent. So we lend him our own voices, and sing for him the prayer of someone facing the King of tremendous majesty, as Peter did last December, when what will be revealed at the General Doom was revealed to him personally. We call on Jesus the Fount of pietas, the one, that is, in whom God’s devotion to us took flesh, asking that all He did and suffered to purchase the pearl of great price, namely Peter’s soul, may bear its fruit.

We pray, then, that Peter may so have passed from this life as to have heard the Lord say, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come.” We pray that he may so have persevered in faith, hope and Love as to be welcomed by the Angels and Martyrs into the Courts of Heaven. And if any further “dying with Christ” remained to be done after he had endured some years of outwarddecline, we pray that Peter may swiftly and gently have completed his share in Christ’s Cross, so that faith and hope have been replaced by Vision and Possession, and Love has come home.

Faith, hope and perseverance are the work of the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Loyalty, whom Jesus’ Sacrifice won for us. Our love of God, our love of truth, our loyalty to each other and to our voca­tion, the cherishing by husband and wife of each other, are fruits of the Spirit of Truth, the Divine Covenant-Love in Person. The signs are that Peter was indeed possessed by that Spirit of Truth, and so possessed that Spirit while on pil­gri­mage, as we hope and pray he now possesses Him in Heaven. From his earliest years Peter had a native talent for sensing ideas that are incoherent, even wicked; and a love of wisdom, which his father nurtured. For a time he followed his father’s frequent changes of faith, but having discovered MacTaggart, Peter remained ever after grateful for the “standards of rigour, clarity and honesty” that MacTaggart set for him. Peter’s native talents, and his instinct for honesty, were, I suggest, a praeparatio evangelica. So, when he was a student at Balliol, as he later wrote: “My Mactaggartian beliefs were honed to a sharp edge by con­troversy. Increasingly… I found myself arguing with Catholics. I was certainly cleverer than they, but they had the immeasurable advantage that they were right – an advantage that they did not throw away by resorting to the bad philosophy and apologetics then sometimes taught in Catholic schools. One day my defences quite suddenly collapsed: I knew that if I were to remain an honest man I must seek instruction in the Catholic Religion.” 

At the same time, of course, Elizabeth was also seeking instruction; then they met, and, as Cardinal Daly put it, “shared a passion for truth… a profound reverence for God, the mysterium tremendum, and an equally profound reve­rence for truth… and they have seen the search for God and the search for truth as ultimately the same quest.” In this pursuit of truth they showed what Luke Gormally called “the sort of intellec­tual independence which is inimical to syndrome thinking.” So, to other people’s surprise, but not their own, Peter and Elizabeth would sometimes not know what the other was thinking. They could always be fascinated by each other’s ideas. But Peter could truthfully write: “Both of us, I hope, have avoided two vices: frivolous change of mind, and adherence to past sayings in the desire to have been right rather than beright.”

While remaining firm in the Catholic Faith, Peter respected the “[M]any people who are far from the Chris­tian religion… [but] have had a deep devotion to the pursuit of truth.” After all, “[i]t is not surprising that men are found to value truth even apart from being enjoined to do so in revelation; men are made for the truth…” While saddened in one place where he worked by “petty hostility” and some incomprehension, Peter “found relief in the friendship of a group of Christadelphians… a Christian tradition not of fanatical enthusiasm but of quiet persuasion; they often cite the text, ‘Be ready to make a defence to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence.’ My dialogue with my friends [Peter wrote] was I hope a matter of ‘speaking the truth in love’ on both sides; honesty about our differences served to bring out some measure of deep agreement.”

Peter had been given a special talent for logic, which is an invaluable tool in the service of truth. 

In the dedication of his book Reason and Argument, Peter quotes Kotarbiński’s poem:

            On every side the weeds of error grow;
            Vengeful logician, at them with the hoe!
            - Na chwasty moja praca później się rozpostrze.
            - A teraz czym się trudnisz? – Sama siebie ostrzę.
                        “Weeding? For that just now you must not ask!”
                        Why not? “Tool-sharpening is my present task.”

Peter’s recovery of his maternal Polish roots gave him a precious insight into how the “idiotisms of idiom” that each language has, do not matter for logic, a point sometimes missed by English – but not, he claimed, by Polish – philosophers.

Our natural talents, and the charismatic gifts bestowed by the Spirit of Truth, take on new lustre, a divine value, if – and only if – they are employed in Charity, in that divine Love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. In that Love, we can “speak the truth in love” by words and by deeds. St. Paul tells us (I Cor. 13: 8-13) that our know­ledge and our prophecy are imperfect – indeed, there comes a time when they, and the exercise of similar talents, must cease, and in Peter’s case, as in many cases, this was some years before death. But for all our present life, faith, hope and Love abide, and we pray that for Peter that God-given, God-directed Love has carried him to see “face to face”, so that his service of the truth is rewarded in “understanding fully, even as he has been [eternally] understood.” 

We pray, that is, for the fulfilment of his own prayer expressed in his book Truth and Hope: “Soaking myself in McTaggart, I imbibed a desire for Heaven and eternal life, which of course I had not to abandon on becoming a Catholic; and meanwhile I was preserved from giving my heart with total devotion to some less worthy end… Even as regards the relation of time and eternity I had no need to find McTaggart wholly mistaken. God’s life, the life of the Blessed Trinity, really is the sort of Boethian eternity that McTaggart ascribed to all persons; and we have the great and precious promise that, in a way we cannot now begin to understand, we shall transcend all the delusion and misery and wickedness of this life and become sharers in that eternal life.”

The music at Mass included:   

The Sequence Dies irae, dies illa;
The hymn “Lo! He comes with clouds descending” in the full version by Charles Wesley and Martin Madan;
The antiphons In paradisum and Chorus Angelorum

The literature referred to in the sermon comprises:

GEACH, Peter. “A Philosophical Autobiography.” In Harry A. LEWIS (ed.) Peter Geach: Philosophical Encounters. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1991. Pages 1-26.

GEACH, Peter. Providence and Evil. The Stanton Lectures 1971-2. Cambridge: CUP, 1977.

GEACH, P. T. Reason and Argument. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.

GEACH, Peter. Truth and Hope. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2001.

GORMALLY, Luke (ed.) Moral Truth and Moral Tradition: Essays in Honour of Peter Geach and Elizabeth Anscombe. With a foreword by Cardinal Cahal B. Daly. Blackrock: Four Courts Press, 1994.

OULikeit! - 'Oxford's most likeable wind quintet'

Br Matthew Jarvis will be performing on flute with OULikeit! – ‘Oxford’s most likeable wind quintet’ – this Saturday, 14 June, at 2.30pm in Jesus College Chapel. 

This relaxed afternoon concert will feature works by Barthe, Farkas, Ravel and Nielsen. 

Admission is FREE and the music will be followed by a drinks reception. 

Please feel free to share the following poster with your friends!

Please support Godzdogz!

Godzdogz needs your support! Click on the picture or the link below to find out more...

We're trying to raise funds to build a new website for all the online apostolates of the Dominican Friars in the UK. This will bring together original homilies, talks and other materials on the Catholic faith in the form of inspiring texts and videos, within an attractively designed new website suitable for viewing on desktops, tablets and smartphones.

Godzdogz – along with Torch, the preaching site of Dominican priests – will still exist as a distinct area within the new site, but with a shared navigation, and our readers and followers will have the option of discovering new material.

Being in a single site will also give us a higher profile on the web, meaning a higher search engine ranking, so more people will be able to come and discover our preaching. And with social media sharing fully integrated into the site, friends of our readers and followers will be able to discover this preaching for the first time.

Just think what this could mean – more people will hear the Word of God, and so more people will be able to hear the call of Jesus Christ. 

Could you be a part of this? In just a few weeks' time, will you be able to look at the new site and say, "I helped to build that!"

Please donate today, and help us bear the costs of this important new phase in our online mission. Thank you!

https://www.justgiving.com/dominicans-online-mission

The Sun came out for the Blackfriars Spring Fair

After a week of miserable weather, the Sun made an appearance in Oxford just in time for our annual Spring Fair on the Feast of the Ascension, last Sunday. 

Laughter and merriment echoed around the Priory as our 9.30am Congregation (Family Mass) got into the spirit of the occasion: there were children on the bouncy-castle, mums in the refectory café, dads on the games stalls.....

.... and Friars in the car?!

The event was thoroughly enjoyed by all, and what's more we raised £758.60 for the Blackfriars Fabric Fund. Thanks to everyone who helped out and took part!

Catholic Voices Training Day

On Saturday the Oxford community were joined by the Novices from Cambridge for a "Catholic Voices" media training day. The event was a great success! Valuable skills of effective communication were enhanced through the insights and practical exercises offered to us by the founders of Catholic Voices, Austen Ivereigh and Jack Valero. 

Catholic Voices started in the UK to improve the Church's representation in the media through having informed, articulate, mainly young, lay Catholics who are "media-friendly, studio-ready and ego-free". Since its inception, Catholic Voices have made over 550 media appearances in the UK, and the model has taken root in a dozen other countries in Europe, the Americas and Australia.

Through presentations, discussions, and role-plays, we tackled hot-button issues by using a technique of identifying the "frame" (or angle of the story), recognising and affirming the positive value behind the frame, and then reframing the debate in a positive and persuasive manner to shed light on the Church's perspective. The training was very well-received, and we are most grateful to Isabel Errington, Jack, and Austen (who also kindly gave each of us a copy of his invaluable book) for sharing their expertise! Please join us in keeping the excellent work of Catholic Voices in your prayers.

Oxford Brothers and Novices at the Catholic Voices Media Training day with Austen Ivereigh and Jack Valero