So That's Where Caroline Farey is!


This morning, Deacon Nick Donnelly announced on his blog the exciting news that a new Centre of Formation for the New Evangelisation has been established by some of the staff who recently resigned their positions at Maryvale in Birmingham. 

Dr Petroc Willey, Dr Andrew Beards, and Dr Caroline Farey have embarked on a new adventure, calling their centre the School of the Annunciation. It is based in the grounds of Buckfast Abbey in Devon, thanks to the generosity and collaboration of the Abbot of Buckfast, the Rt. Rev. David Charlesworth and the monastic community. The School of the Annunciation will begin by offering a Diploma in the New Evangelisation as well as short Summer Schools which it is hoped will provide a unique opportunity to study the Catholic Faith in the beautiful setting of Buckfast Abbey, sharing the monastic community’s life and prayer over long summer weekends in August. I have to say it sounds idyllic!

Deacon Nick himself is the Director of Formation, responsible for formation programmes and spiritual elements of the courses. 

This news ends a period of speculation about where the highly esteemed academic leaders of the Archdiocese of Birmingham's Maryvale Institute would end up. Indeed, the title of this blog post is inspired by a number of searches which have brought readers to my blog over the last few weeks.

I hope all readers will join me in praying for the success of this venture and that it will bring Christ's light into our country which remains very much in need of the "New Evangelisation".

It is interesting to note the endorsement of the new bishop of Plymouth, Rt. Revd Mark O'Toole, who is quoted on the website as saying:
“I am delighted to welcome this new initiative for the New Evangelisation at Buckfast Abbey, and I am grateful for the generosity shown by Abbot David and the Monastic community in providing it a home and direction. The Diocese of Plymouth looks forward to working with the School of the Annunciation so that the Gospel may more effectively be preached in our society.”
With the support and endorsement of both Bishop O'Toole, and the Rt Rev. David Charlesworth, Abbot of Buckfast Abbey, one has to see this as a fantastic opportunity for the School of the Annunciation to become an important centre to develop and foster Catholic leadership and take it out to the rest of the country.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bishop John Arnold - "A Nasty Little Bully"

Image
Pat Buckley has posted  a letter from a Salford priest giving the low down on what is going on in that diocese. I think it is really important because it is a report from the diocese, but also because if you pay attention to communications from the CCBEW you would think Bishop Arnold is the best bishop in the country! This despite the fact he is clearly seriously at odds with much of the Catholic faith and overly concerned with issues best described as mission creep. He advised the Catenian Association to drop "practicing Catholic" from its statutes and is obsessed with CAFOD and climate change, issues which might seem trendy, but in reality only diminish the Gospel. Arnold is chairman of CAFOD and approved the appointment of the current director who is clearly at odds with Catholic teaching . He also loves an "LGBTQI+ Mass" - more on some of that stuff here . To me he epitomises so many of the bishops: he likes the trappings and power but is very uncomfortable wit
Read more

Real Life Catholics on BBC TV defend Church Teaching on Contraception.

Image
This morning on BBC TV Sunday Morning Live there was a good debate inspired by Melinda Gates (who identifies as Catholic) comments about the pope potentially changing doctrine on contraception. The Catholic contributors were Fr Paddy McCafferty, Clare Short and Obianuju Ekeocha. I think they did really well. Uju's direction is very interesting and easily wrong foots those who want to impose western ideas of morality on Africans in an imperialistic way. Interesting that the presenter agrees with her on this. Fr Paddy gave a great account of his experience as a priest. He was compassionate, realistic and honest, while upholding the value and importance of the doctrine. Clare said she had experience of both ways and the Catholic way is better by far. I thought that was awesome! I especially liked her focus on equality and bringing the responsibility of both husband & wife into the discussion. Watch out for the bit where the other lady says "Pope Francis has ind
Read more