The Hermeneutic of Continuity

Mass at Wonersh was at 8 o'clock this morning: a little later than usual in view of the festive occasion of the institution of several students as Lectors and Acolytes. Here are the lists: Lectors Valentine Erhahon Dominic Findlay-Wilson John Watts Daniel Weatherly Acolytes ( left to right in photo above ) Harry Heijveld Paul Keys Thomas Lynch Simon Dray Oliver Lowson Valentine Erhahon Tomorrow, Gerard Hatton will be ordained Deacon. I was sorry not to be able to stay for that, but as well as the usual schedule in the parish I have a wedding and a baptism in the afternoon so we have our own celebrations here. Congratulations to all the students who have take a step closer to priestly ordination. I am proud to have a small role in their formation.

St John's Seminary at Wonersh tonight celebrated the admission to candidacy for Holy Orders of Daniel Kelly, David King, Jonathan Routh and John Chandler. They will be ordained Deacons in a few months. Normally I find it difficult to get to Wonersh for these occasions but I was delighted to be able to come down this afternoon. I'll stay overnight for the ceremony at 8am tomorrow when several students will be made Lectors and Acolytes. Unfortunately I cannot stay for Saturday when Gerald Hatton will be ordained Deacon. The new Candidates have all just taken (and passed) my course in Sacramental Theology so I hope that I have given them some help for their future priestly ministry. It is great to see them coming closer to ordination. After the ceremony this evening there was a special dinner, following which the students invited me down to the "Dive" (their Common Room) to continue the celebrations informally. The television was showing the crushing defeat of the D...

A priest friend of mine kindly sent me a set of CDs of the bible as a gift on the occasion of my silver jubilee. It is the King James Bible and we know that is not ideal but we are waiting for someone to record the Vulgate... I have started listening to the Bible during my frequent moderately lengthy car journeys. Well - an hour or so is moderately lengthy by UK standards; by US standards, I suppose that would just be just like popping out to the shops. At any rate, I am now half way through the book of Leviticus. This morning I met my new Sacramental Theology class at Wonersh. The majority are in the fourth year of seminary training and in the final year of the theology degree. I also have two former Anglican students for occasional tutorials. I enjoyed getting back into the swing of talking about the theology of the sacraments and I think that my experience of teaching other courses at Parkminster helps to round things out a bit, especially with regard to Christology and the Theology...

Kate, mother of eight children, writes an excellent blog called "At home in my Father's house" (now added to the blogroll). She has followed up on my recent post about The importance of a "culture of vocation" with her own thoughts on the culture of vocation at home . One of her sons is in the "Quo Vadis" group organised by Fr Stephen Langridge, the vocations Director for Southwark (see: Southwark Vocations )so say a prayer for him and for the others in the group. I was at Wonersh today for my last session of the academic year. The students have various pastoral and other courses before the summer break. First of all, though, they have to take their exams so a prayer for them to St Joseph Cupertino would not go amiss.

In my post on Monday, Happy Anniversary Father , I mentioned something about kissing the priest's hands. The following day at our Deanery meeting, Fr Michael Jones, parish priest of St John Vianney, Bexleyheath, told me that he had an old photo of me kissing his his hands on the day of his ordination to the Priesthood at St Bartholomew's, Norbury in 1978: He also sent me this interesting photo of the Wonersh schola from 1976: ( Back row left to right ) Bernard Longley, Michael Jones, Robert Ellis, John Inglis. ( Middle row left to right ) Christopher Basden, Graham Wheedon, Richard Moth, Tim Finigan. ( Front row ) Martin Thompson (Schola Master.) From that time, I remember singing a wonderfully soupy version of O Esca Viatorum , a three-part setting of the Cherbikon , and a setting of the Tota Pulchra that we all found quite difficult. Of the above, Graham left the seminary and all the others were ordained to the priesthood. They are all still in the active ministry which is n...

In Rome the custom is that on the first day of snow, the " Prima nix ", students are given the day off from lectures. Sadly for the students at Wonersh, this custom is not observed in England. Above is the view from the window of my room at the Seminary after breakfast this morning. Fortunately, the afternoon was a little brighter and I was able to drive round the M25 and in to North Greenwich in time to catch the tube to the Good Counsel Network where I was giving Benediction. Then a peaceful and quiet evening Low Mass in the parish before catching up on the blogosphere. Tomorrow, Fr Charles Briggs and Deacon John Harrison are coming to join me in the evening so that we can celebrate the Epiphany with Solemn High Mass. It is a little odd to be operating with two calendars (I celebrated the English Masses of the Epiphany on Sunday) but amid such troubles, Fr Charles and I recall the words of the hymn: " prrroblems of life, you 'elp us to face... " as well as the...

Normally I go to the seminary on Sunday night and stay over to teach on Monday morning, returning in the afternoon. This week I stayed an extra night to join the community for the celebration of the transferred feast of St John the Evangelist, the patron of the Seminary. This is a major occasion in the calendar: today Bishop Paul Hendricks was the principal celebrant. We were in the same year at Rome, and Paul was ordained priest the day after me, on the 29th of July 1984. Also concelebrating were Bishop Hollis (of Portsmouth), Bishop Walmsley, (Bishop of the Armed Forces), Bishop Tripp (emeritus auxiliary of Southwark), the Abbots of Worth and Douai, several silver and golden jubilarians, together with assorted staff and alumni. The ceremonies were competently directed by Philip Smith MC and the schola enhanced the dignity of the occasion with well-chosen motets. Fr Leo Mooney, a golden jubilarian, preached an engaging sermon in which he took us through his own vocational discernment ...

It was a red letter day at Wonersh today as Rev Shaju Varkey ( left ) and Rev Tom Dubois ( right ) were ordained deacons by the Bishop of Clifton, the Rt Rev Declan Lang. Both have been in my sacramental theology class and I was delighted to see them take ascend this final gradus before their ordination to the sacred priesthood. The Mass was expertly arranged as are all such functions at Wonersh. The Mass setting used was the Missa Orbis Factor . Immediately after Mass, the procession moved into the Ambulacrum, the central corridor of the building, along which there is a frieze with the text in Latin of the opening verses of the prologue of St John's Gospel: the seminary is dedicated to St John. In the centre of the ambulacrum there is an altar in honour of Our Lady, Queen of the Clergy, set up in by students and colleagues in memory of Canon Hallett, a former rector. The procession stopped there to sing the Salve Regina . Among the various diocesan concelebration vestments and th...

Last Thursday, Bishop Pat Lynch visited the parish to administer the sacrament of Confirmation to 37 candidates from the parish. After Holy Communion, we sang the hymn "Guardian Angel from heaven so bright" as Mulier Fortis mentioned the other day. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of enthusiastic comments that I received afterwards about this hymn from young parents who had never heard it before. The Confirmation preparation is a major enterprise for us. Although we have excellent catechists who do the main teaching work, I always begin the sessions with some prayers and a little talk. With groups held on two evenings, that does clog the diary up a bit and it is a relief to have some more time. There are a great many things on my desk that I need to catch up on... At Wonersh today, my class is almost through the theology of the sacrament of Holy Orders. The essay deadline is near and we are beginning some revision for the exam. A visit to the computer room in the lat...

Looking at the Southwark Vocations blog , I find a video of the Magnificat from Advent Vespers at St John's Seminary, Wonersh. The Rector, Mgr Jeremy Garrett incenses the altar while Fr Gerard Bradley, the Spiritual Director, directs the choir.

The library at Wonersh is one of those libraries that is full of character. The original shelving is intact – solid as a rock, it would be possible to walk along the deep, waist-high shelf that supports the top section of each bookcase. (OK, it is possible: I do it sometimes.) Some of the gems tend to be tucked away under here: Bellarmine’s Controversies, Jugie’s Summa of dogmatic theology of the orthodox Churches and many other wonderful tomes. Then high up above the most consulted books, there are the manuals in Latin and other forgotten works. Well, they are not entirely forgotten… Today, I was looking for a suitable book of meditations. I found a copy of Ronald Knox’s Meditations on the Psalms from 1919 which looks as if it will do nicely. Then I came across a book by Cardinal Bona, published in Nancy in 1836. The full title is De Sacrificio Missae Tractatus Asceticus. Continens praxim attente, devote, et reverenter celebrandi . (Ascetical treatise on the Sacrifice of the Mass, c...

A tradition at St John's Seminary, Wonersh is that the new first year has to entertain the House with a scratch concert. The usual form is for the students to imitate the staff in various sketches. The students include some sisters from the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood who follow some of the courses at Wonersh. The format for this concert nowadays is to have supper served in the Upper Common Room and the concert to take place afterwards. I found it a most enjoyable end to my visit last week. The picture below is from a hilariously deadpan rendering of Cinderella.