Central London Catholic Chaplaincy

Last night I was at 111 Gower Street: Newman House which is the Central Catholic Chaplaincy Centre for London Universities. (Newman House also has its own blog.) The chaplaincy invited me to speak about the principles of Catholic Moral Theology as part of their Faith Formation course. Obviously a massive topic, I tried to bring it down to manageable size by following the outline of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Fathers Peter Wilson and Brian Creak were most welcoming as was Chris Castell, the pastoral associate who contacted me to come. There was a very good discussion afterwards - courteous and intellectually challenging.

The group of students was cosmopolitan and many languages were bandied around the room in conversation beforehand. The chaplaincy is obviously thriving with an impressive programme of events. After the talk, Fr Wilson led Compline in the chapel. As well as arranging Mass once a year in the usus antiquior, he introduces the students to the use of Latin in the newer form of both the office and Mass so we ended Compline with the Ave Regina Caelorum.

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