Downside Abbey to open doors on UK's largest monastic library

The Downside Abbey monastic library includes a 14th century Book of Hours of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which dates back to the 14th century.

The doors of the largest monastic library in the UK and the admired but leaking modernist building which holds it will open to the public for the first time after a major grant to Downside Abbey from the Heritage Lottery fund.
The Benedictine monks, who also run Downside school at the abbey near Shepton Mallet in Somerset, founded the monastery after they were expelled from France in the wake of the revolution, but their library - described by the abbot, Dom Aidan Bellenger, as a "secret garden" - was already centuries old and among its 450,000 volumes are many illuminated manuscripts dating back to the Middle Ages.
Once conservation work on the building is complete, exhibitions, guided tours and regular public access are planned to the books and archives of the community, founded in Douai in 1606.The order trained generations of priests to work as missionaries in Protestant England – including six who were hung, drawn and quartered as traitors or spies in the early 17th century.
The library's treasures include Cardinal John Henry Newman's personal copy of the Bible, together with some of the earliest Bibles printed in English, a beautifully illustrated 14th-century Book of Hours and other medieval manuscripts, rare theological texts, and unusual donated collections. These include books on sundials, birds, archaeology and local history, along with the archives of the English Benedictine Congregation dating back to the 17th century.
There was no full catalogue of the collection until after 1971, when the books were moved to the new library building from storage in cupboards and attics all over the abbey.
Although most of the abbey's gothic buildings are Victorian, the library was added in a strikingly modern design by Francis Pollen. At six storeys tall with double height windows, it has been described by the architectural historian Alan Powers as "like nuts threaded onto a bolt" and was intended to suggest a beacon when lit from inside at night.
The £856,000 grant means the building will now be restored and the glazing replaced to improve the climate control and protect the collection. Much of it will also be placed online for the first time.
Bellenger said: "The secret garden of this great centre of Christian culture and heritage has at last been opened. Home to a vast range of books, pamphlets, periodicals and papers dating back centuries, the library has palpable potential and Downside are delighted to have its rightful place as a national centre for religious heritage unlocked thanks to the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund."
Old Gregorians, named for the abbey's patron saint Gregory the Great, include the Oscar-nominated playwright Peter Morgan, the author and former Tory MP Rupert Allason, the hotelier Rocco Forte, the television presenter Chris Kelly and the late novelist and Private Eye diarist Auberon Waugh.

Bishop Alan Hopes as new Bishop of East Anglia

The Pope has appointed Bishop Alan Hopes as new Bishop of East Anglia.
The 69-year-old is currently auxilliary Bishop of Westminster. A former Church of England vicar, he converted to Catholicism in 1994 and was appointed vicar-general of Westminster in 2001.
The see has been vacant since July 11, 2011, following the death of Bishop Michael Evans from cancer.
Speaking of the appointment, Bishop Hopes said: “It is with a profound sense of trust in God’s loving care for us, that I will undertake this new ministry as Bishop of East Anglia, entrusted to me by our Holy Father, Pope Francis. In this year of faith, and at the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Francis, it is an immense privilege to be called to follow in the footsteps of the late Bishop Michael Evans in serving and leading God’s holy people in this diocese.”
“I am grateful indeed to Fr David Bagstaff who has been Diocesan Administrator for the past two years and all who have had supported him in this responsibility.”
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, said he was “delighted” by the appointed and said he would like to thank Bishop Hopes for his “considerable service” for Westminster.
East Anglia Diocesan Administrator Fr David Bagstaff welcomed the new bishop, and said: ”I am sure that he will be warmly welcomed in our Diocese, which has worked so hard to continue our mission of proclaiming the Gospel over the two years since Bishop Michael’s death. I am most grateful to the priests and people of the Diocese for their support, and am glad to hand over the responsibility for the Diocese to an experienced and trusted colleague who already has some knowledge of our Diocese and has expressed such joy in his appointment.”

An historic Mass was celebrated at Shrewsbury Abbey to mark the Year of Faith.

It was only the second time since the Reformation of the 16th century that a Mass has been celebrated at the abbey, formerly a Benedictine foundation dating back almost a thousand years.
The Mass was arranged by the Shrewsbury deanery with the permission of the Church of England and was celebrated by the Rt Rev. Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury.
The abbey was full to capacity as hundreds of local Catholics and about a dozen priests turned out for the event on a blazing Saturday afternoon.
The Mass began with the singing of the Te Deum, in which the congregation asked for the intercession of such saints as St Winefride, whose tomb used to lie in the abbey, and such local martyrs as the Elizabethans Blessed Robert Johnson and Blessed Richard Martin.
In his homily, Bishop Davies recalled the example and inspiration of the saints.
Bishop Davies said: “We have come together as part of this year-long celebration to the historic Abbey Church of Shrewsbury where we are reminded of the many, what the Book of the Apocalypse calls ‘a huge number impossible to count’ who have walked this path of faith before us.
“The Letter to the Hebrews describes them as ‘a great cloud of witnesses’ encouraging us on every side.
“At a moment when we hear voices say Christianity stands on the wrong side of history the eloquent silence of these stones, which have witnessed here so many crises and calamities in England’s history, remind us of the side of history on which we wish to forever stand.
“As we declare at the end of this Mass: with all the saints! The great saints of our history and those men and women of whom nothing is remembered except the witness of their faith which they left as an inheritance for us.”
Bishop Davies also spoke of the present situation of Church and noted the rapid pace of secularisation which may leave Christians in a minority by the end of the decade.
He said this represented “one of the most momentous changes in our history since the missionaries sent by Pope Gregory arrived on the coast of Kent in the Spring of 597 AD”.
“However, I wish to suggest today in this Abbey Church so bound-up with our long Christian story this may not be an entirely negative development,” the Bishop continued.
“It may serve to dispel ambiguities and will surely require of Christians a greater clarity in both our teaching and our witness.
“As Catholics we speak of this situation as demanding nothing less than a ‘new evangelisation’, a new proclamation of the Gospel in our time. It is ‘new’ because we face a new and changed situation.
“It was surely with this in mind that our Emeritus Pope Benedict called for the Year of Faith we are now celebrating.”
He added: “This Year is to be an invitation, in Pope Benedict’s own words, to ‘rediscover the joy of believing and enthusiasm in communicating the faith’ and ‘to profess the faith in fullness and with a renewed conviction’.
“This is surely what is needed as we stand at a crossroads, a true crisis in our history.”
The congregation was first welcomed into the abbey by the Rev. Paul Firmin, the vicar of Shrewsbury Abbey and St Peter’s, who described them as “my brothers and sisters in Christ”.
“I am absolutely delighted to welcome you here today,” he said. “I understand that this may be the second Roman Catholic Mass since the Reformation.
“That makes it about one every 200 years,” he joked. “I hope it won’t be 200 years to the next one – I sure we can arrange that.”
Shrewsbury Abbey was founded in 1083 and by the early 16th century was one of the most wealthy and important of more than 600 monasteries throughout the country, and was ruled by a “mitred abbot” who also sat Parliament.
It was dissolved in 1540 by King Henry VIII and the shrine of St Winefride, today a patron of the Diocese of Shrewsbury, was desecrated.
Following improvements in ecumenical relations since the Second Vatican Council, Benedictine monks were about a decade ago permitted to celebrate Mass at the abbey for the first time since its dissolution.

(Photos by Simon Caldwell)

Homily at the Northern Catholic Conference Liverpool Hope University, 9th June

The recent analysis of the 2011 Census results appears to indicate that before the end of this decade Christianity – once the faith of the great majority of British people – will become the faith of a significant minority. If most English people no longer identify themselves as Christians it will surely be one of the most momentous changes in our history since missionaries sent by Pope Gregory arrived on the coast of Kent in the year 597 AD. However, I want to suggest today that this may not be an entirely negative development as it dispels any ambiguity and requires of Christians a greater clarity in both teaching and witness. As Catholics we speak of this as nothing less than a “new evangelisation”, a new proclamation of the Gospel in our time. It is “new” not because there is a new faith or a new Gospel but because we face a new and changed situation. It was surely with this in mind that Pope Benedict called for the “Year of Faith” as an invitation in Pope Emeritus’s words to “rediscover the joy of believing and enthusiasm in communicating the faith” (PF n.7) and “to profess the faith in fullness and with a renewed conviction” (PF n.9). This is surely what is now needed and it is what this Northern Catholic Conference sets out to address.
In the first of the Scripture readings the prophet Elijah is confronted amid drought and famine with the death of a widow’s son and prays: “Lord, my God may the soul … I beg you, come into him again” (I Kings 17: 21). The Church comes not to bring condemnation, as the widow at Zarepath feared, but to offer this same word of life to a post-Christian Britain wherever there is “no breath of life” left in us. “Now I know … the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth itself” said the woman (I Kings17: 24). I suspect most people in our country have never consciously rejected Christianity but have somehow lost the Christian memory to the extent we might speak of a “national amnesia”, a forgetfulness of our past and our identity. The great Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter may remain our national holidays but the saving truths they proclaim are often dimly if at all perceived. I think of a group of youngsters on a street corner who asked me, “Are you a vicar?” and they volunteered the information that not one of them had ever been inside a church in their lives. I was not met with any hostility but rather with incomprehension. I suspect this may represent a wider situation in our society.
In the most recent debates in Parliament on the identity of marriage you may have been struck by a similar, sometimes breath-taking ignorance of the Christian foundations of our society. After fourteen centuries of Christian England it is a sad situation but one which also offers the opportunity to rediscover, in Pope Benedict’s words, the joy of believing the fullness of the faith. The faith which is not a human ideology, as St. Paul told the Galatians (Gal. 1: 11) but a Divine call. It is the encounter with Jesus Christ which offers not only to the young man being carried out to his burial but to every person, to a once Christian people the invitation: “I tell you arise” (Luke 7: 11-17).
I know many voices may urge us to leave well alone, not to disturb what appears dead in our society. Should we not be realistic and concede that the defence of human life, the identity of marriage and the integrity of the family is all but lost? Should we best remain silent so as not to weaken the Church’s increasingly, precarious standing in society? We might, indeed, be tempted to speak only of those concerns which accord with the social consensus around us. Pope Francis, however, shows us a different approach by his startlingly, direct way of speaking and the clear witness of his actions. In the North of England we certainly understand plain speaking! The contemporary world, Pope Francis has shown us, is often more ready to listen and take notice than we as Christians are ready to speak or give witness. Amid the twilight of a Christian England this witness will shine out more clearly.
In the witness this moment in history demands of us we should not expect to find safety in numbers. Catholics in this country have known quite a lot about being a minority. The lack of social supports can serve to bring us back anew to the true source of our life. Generations before us never doubted by what the Church’s mission lives or dies: “It is the Mass,” they said “which matters!” This conference comes to its conclusion where our life and mission begins anew every week at Mass, in the Eucharist. Pope Benedict observed that every great reform, every renewal of the Church’s life and mission is “in some way been linked to the rediscovery of belief in the Lord’s Eucharistic presence amongst his people” (SC n.6). It is Christ Himself, truly present in the Eucharist, who calls us amid all that is dying, like that young man at Nain, to rise and walk again. St Ignatius of Antioch said at the dawn of 2nd Christian Century what applies equally to 21st Century Britain: in the Eucharist, he declared, we have “the medicine, the antidote for death and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ” (cf. p.97 “Compendium of the Catechism). May we come to recognise this more clearly. Amen.

National Bible Conference at Ushaw College

A national Bible conference held at the historic venue of Ushaw College, near Durham, has been affirmed as beginning a potential ‘sea change’ in Catholic Bible ministry and outreach in England and Wales.
Bishop Peter Brignall, Wrexham, a member of the Bishops’ Conference Department for Evangelisation and Catechesis, attended the Word of the Lord conference, 24 – 26 April, along with more than 70 delegates from across England and Wales. He said:
"This gathering is the first of its kind in a generation and as such marks a very significant moment, a potential sea change, in the profile and importance of the Bible in Catholic life in England and Wales. The Word of God lies at the heart of Catholic life and initiatives such as this conference are pivotal to encouraging others to read, study and pray with the Scriptures. The conference is one of a series of bible-focused initiatives that have been generated by a new working group established by the Bishops' Department for Evangelisation and Catechesis in partnership with Bible Society. It’s hoped that more and more people will receive the invitation to listen to and proclaim, through many different means, God’s Word, which is the Word of Life."
Among the keynote speakers at the conference was former Master of the Dominican Order worldwide, Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, who highlighted the importance of listening, that entering into the conversation with God meanslistening to others, particularly to women and to the poor.
Meanwhile, Dom Henry Wansbrough of Ampleforth Abbey, one of the leading Catholic Scripturescholars in England and Wales, gave an overview of how the biblical apostolate was embraced by Catholics before and after Vatican II. Michelle Moran, President of Catholic Charismatic Renewal, invited those gathered to embrace the call of the Word to engage in the mission of the Church.
Group Chief Executive of Bible Society, James Catford, was also welcomed at the event and presented with an icon of Saint Mark in appreciation of the assistance provided by the Society to organise the conference. He said:
"This conference represents an exciting next step in our journey together with the Scriptures. The themes of the conference have challenged us to consider afresh how we pass on God's word in the written scriptures, through the Arts and through the witness of our lives. It has been a timely invitation to 'be the word' for others."
The Conference was initiated by the Department for Evangelisation and Catechesis of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, in partnership with the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University, and Bible Society. One of the highlights of the conference was the launch of a new study guide, entitled The Word of the Lord, produced by the Department and published by the Catholic Truth Society. The guide is designed to assist reading of Pope Benedict’s Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini which was issued in response to the Synod of Bishops on the Bible held in Rome in 2008. Delegates also visited Durham Cathedral and prayed at the tomb of the Venerable Bede, doctor of the Church, and patron of Scripture scholarship in these lands.
Fr Adrian Graffy, member of the Bishops' Scripture Working Group, said:
"The whole event was so energising. The delegates were so positive and the speakers excellent. In the Year of Faith it was an opportunity to deepen our appreciation of Scripture at the heart of the Church in this country and to make plans for the years ahead."
Ingelise McNulty, who attended as a member of the Hexham and Newcastle Diocesan Evangelisation Team said:
"I am lost for words. I really enjoyed the conference and it was so good to be there."
Bishop Seamus Cunningham (Hexham and Newcastle) and Bishop Edwin Regan (Emeritus Wrexham) were in attendance and a video message was played to delegates from Bishop Kieran Conry (Arundel and Brighton).

A Parable - shamelessly stolen from another blog (Field of Dreams)

There was once a Jewish restaurant, moderately successful, and one of the things that attracted at least some of its customers was that it advertised itself as strictly kosher. That means much more, you understand, than that it did not serve pork chops or prawn cocktails. The kitchens were regularly inspected by the local Rabbi, who gave it a certificate saying that all food was being prepared in accordance with the rules of Torah.
Many of the regular customers were, naturally, observant Jews for whom the keeping of the dietary rules was a matter of religious obligation. Others were Jews of a more liberal attitude, who did not necessarily always keep the rules for religious reasons, but because they were part of their Jewish cultural identity. They liked to meet their more observant friends there, too. And there were even  non-Jews who just liked the decor and the friendly atmosphere of the restaurant, and enjoyed Jewish cooking now and then.
One day, the old manager retired, and the new temporary acting-manager said, “We would get a lot more customers if we dropped all those silly kosher rules, and became a general restaurant like others in our area. Anyway, it is insulting that we have to have the Rabbi in to inspect our kitchens, as if we cannot be trusted to maintain hygiene. Surely the local council health inspectorate is enough?”
So the kosher rules were dropped. But of course, the strictly observant Jews now had to go elsewhere to be sure that their food was kosher (luckily there was another Jewish restaurant, not too far away but in a less posh area). Some of the chefs too felt they must move to the other establishment (where they already did some part time work). And even some of the less observant Jews began to feel that there was less point in going to this place, if the Jewish dimension was dropped. And (because this was a time of recession, and the other restaurants in the area were already struggling for customers) the expected new clientele failed to materialise.
Qui legit, intellegit.

Why am I not surprised?

The Church of England yesterday gave a green light to wedding-style services for couples in civil partnerships despite its official opposition to same-sex marriage.

A report from the Church’s doctrine watchdog urged priests to devise “pastoral accommodations” for gay couples” and to be “flexible”.

It said the aim was to enable them to enjoy a “closer approximation” to marriage.

The senior bishop who drafted the missive to priests insisted that it did not amount to a policy u-turn and that an official ban on formal "blessings" for civil partnerships remained in place.

But he said it was clear there was a need for committed same-sex couples to be given recognition and “compassionate attention” from the Church, including special prayers.

Liberal priests, who already conduct unofficial dedication and thanksgiving for gay couples who are not allowed to marry, said it amounted to the first official endorsement for what they do.

The Church of England leadership has been strongly opposed to David Cameron’s plan’s to redefine marriage which it maintains must be between a man and a woman.
But the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, has spoken of having “no truck with homophobia” and described gay couples having a “stunning” level of commitment.
Church of England rules prevent priests conducting civil partnership ceremonies or performing formal “blessing” services afterwards, similar to those previously offered to divorcees when they could not remarry in church.
But scores of such services take place under the radar across the country every year, usually called services of thanksgiving or dedication to avoid falling foul of the rules.
They vary from small, informal prayers to full wedding-like services complete with a celebration of the eucharist.
High profile churches such as Southwark Cathedral and St Martin-in-the-Fields in London are among those in which some form of dedication for civil partnerships take place openly.
The report by the Church’s Faith and Order Commission, chaired by the Bishop of Coventry, the Rt Rev Christopher Cocksworth, a leading traditionalist, insisted that marriage should remain between a man and a woman and said that gay relationships fell short of God’s “ideal”.
But it also condemned “censorious judgment” and urged priests not to treat the issue of recognising civil partnerships as “simply closed”, urging them to approach the question on a case-by-case basis.
“In pastoral responses a degree of flexibility may be called for in finding ways to express the Church’s teaching practically,” it said.
“In affirming its belief in marriage as the form the creator has given us for intimate and permanent relationship of a man and a woman, the Church does not treat questions of what is possible in hard circumstances or exceptional conditions as simply closed. They require pastoral wisdom.”
It draws a direct parallel between civil partnerships and questions the Church faced in the past over whether to marry divorcees or even the approach taken by clerics in Africa when deciding how to deal with people in polygamous marriages who then convert to Christianity.
“What [the Church] can do is devise accommodations for specific conditions, bearing witness in special ways to the abiding importance of the norm,” it adds.
“Well-designed accommodations proclaim the form of life given by God’s creative goodness and bring those in difficult positions into closer approximation to it.”
Bishop Cocksworth insisted that there was no change in policy and that the Church was not calling for “public, formal blessing services”.
He said that marriage was the “designated relationship” for heterosexual couples but that the law had now created a special class of relationship for gay couples – civil partnerships.
“People within them deserve respect and compassionate attention from the Church, care and prayer," he said.
“The form of the prayer will depend upon the particular case in hand.”
He said the Church needed to accommodate those for whom “the ideal of marriage isn’t possible for all sorts of reasons.”
Rev Dr Giles Fraser, a leading liberal cleric, said that it was clear from the document that the Church’s stance had shifted even if the official policy had not.
“What this is saying is that you can bless civil partnerships as long as you don’t say that is what you are doing," he said.
“They are winking at people like me saying ‘be creative’ – it is a classic Anglican fudge.
“In effect what it is saying is you can do it as long as you don’t say that is what you are doing – call it something different, be as imaginative as you can.
“But the truth is this is how change happens in the Church of England.”
It came as the Archbishop of Wales signalled that the Church in Wales should reconsider its teaching on homosexuality.
He told the Church’s governing body that it should also debate cutting its last links to the state in response to gay marriage.