Trip to Oscott

Virgin's Pendolino took me up to Birmingham today for a flying visit to Oscott College where I was invited to give a lecture on the priesthood and Pro-Life work. I focussed particularly on the question of pro-life preaching, using some very useful material from Priests for Life as well as some of the discussions that I have had with pro-Life priests in the UK. I'm very grateful to the students for inviting me. Please pray for those who are soon to be ordained.

There was some forceful and intelligent discussion afterwards, especially concerning the relationship between pro-life preaching and social justice. This is an important topic and one which I hope to address on this blog in due course.

The chapel at Oscott is beautiful. At one time, a new "people's altar" (as the Germans would call it) was placed halfway up the nave. This has now moved back to the sanctuary so that the chapel can be seen in all its glory:

The students also showed me their wonderful statue of Our Blessed Lady:

It was great to see some of my colleagues from the English College in Rome. Fr Phil Egan is soon to be taking up a fellowhip at Boston College. Fr Harry Curtis is now the Academic Dean and Fr Mark Crisp is doing a great job as Rector of the College. It is all very hopeful for the future of the Church.

This week has been quite busy and I was glad to be able to do most of the parish newsletter on the train while travelling back down to London. Tomorrow we have a Family Day in the parish and I want to be available for that as much as possible.

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