So, what is seminary about?

Being January, Oscott is closed for business. The seminarians, except the top year, who are still on holiday, are on pastoral placement, in our home dioceses. 


Henry is still on extended pastoral placement in North Walsham, and has only two weeks left before he returns to Oscott as a shiny new fourth year, with all the responsibilities of an acolyte. 


For the rest of us, we have just a short 3-week placement to dip our toes into a parish.


Ben is up in Peterborough, in the parish of St Peter and All Souls and Our Lady of Lourdes, and I am in Cambridge, in the parish of Our Lady and the English Martyrs and Our Lady of Lourdes (funnily enough). These are two of East Anglia's largest parishes, and we are staying in presbyteries which are homes to more than a couple of priests!

Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge

My parish in Cambridge has twelve Sunday Masses, including out-lying Churches served by the Rectory in the city, and so far, I have assisted at Sunday 3 Masses (still 2 more to go today!), this being our first weekend on the mission.


Today, I was privileged to speak to the parishioners about the purpose of seminaries (in addition to the preaching of the celebrant for the feast of the Baptism of the Lord). I have been discovering how hard it is to speak to all the members of the congregation at the same time! But there seem to have been a majority of attentive faces looking in my direction!


What follows is an abridged version:

"When Pope Benedict returned to Rome after his visited to the United Kingdom, he wrote a letter to the world's seminarians, encouraging us to persist in pursuing our vocation. “The seminary community”, he said, “is a community journeying towards God”. We have been sent to the seminary by our bishops to partake in this journey, the end of which is to discover the vocation which God desires for us. For most of us in seminary, that is to be found in the ordained priesthood.

Seminaries, however, are much more than just ‘priest-factories’. Seminarians should become men of prayer. We are to be called, in a particular way, to make manifest the Incarnate Word. We grow in intimacy with Him through prayer, both in the liturgy, and in private. In prayer, we not only give praise to God, but we become aware of our failings, and we learn to improve ourselves, remaining in the presence of God, joyfully serving Him. 

At the heart of our relationship with God is the Eucharist.  A seminarian comes to love the liturgy with ever deepening affection, not only by learning about it, but by experiencing it in all its beautiful potential. 

Only through prayer, and the experience of living our lives to the full, can we come to maturity as human persons, becoming well-rounded people. Seminary lasts six years, not only to get to know God, but to get to know ourselves and others. It is a “school of tolerance”, in which, we experience the fullness of life and forgiveness in the Church, which we are called to serve as priests.

Ultimately of course, we have to learn. We have two thousand years of wisdom and teaching to learn before we can be expected to teach and lead others in the faith. Seminarians have quite a rigorous academic timetable: Liturgy, Scripture, Philosophy, Greek, Theology, to name a few. Suddenly, six years can seem far too short a time.

Intellectual formation finds its fulfillment in the pastoral ministry of the priest, and regular pastoral placements anchor our formation in the service of the people of God."

I went on to ask the parish to pray for me and my brother East Anglians, and all the seminarians at Oscott, during our formation.

Update: While distributing the Precious Blood at the last Solemn Mass of the day (during which the music and the preaching were particularly splendid), I noticed on the base of the chalice an inscription reading: pro vocationibus sacerdotalibus. 


A happy co-incidence indeed!

The world needs priests until the end of time

Pope Benedict and the seminarians of England and Wales, Oscott

A few months ago, Pope Benedict composed a letter to seminarians the world over. Interestingly, the Spanish media reported that the letter was inspired by the Pope's visit to Oscott. I, for one, am happy to accept that as fact. 

There is so much beauty in this letter, so please read it, following the link above. The Pope has written like a pastor, and for me, reading this letter when it was faxed through to Oscott in October, I felt like it had come from a parish priest, talking intimately to his seminarian, reflecting on his own experiences. 

It is so beautiful, in fact, that I have added a new tag-line to the title page of the blog, with a quotation from the introductory paragraph. 

"The world needs priests, today, tomorrow and always, until the end of time."

There has also appeared on the right-hand column, a prayer for seminarians, which originates in the diocese of Corpus Christi in Texas, but I'm sure it works for East Anglia too, and, indeed, beyond:

O Lord Jesus Christ, great High Priest, I pray that You call many worthy souls to Your holy priesthood.

Enlighten the Bishop in the choice of candidates, the Spiritual Director in molding them, and the professors in instructing them.

Lead the seminarians daily in Your unerring footsteps; so that they may become priests who are models of purity, possessors of wisdom and heroes of sacrifice; steeped in humility and aflame with love for God and man; apostles of Your glory and sanctifiers of souls.

Amen.

Bishop Michael's health

Bishop Michael incensing the relics of St Therese of Lisieux at Walsingham, 2009

This last weekend, parishes in East Anglia received a letter from Bishop Michael, a health statement, which informed us that he may only have weeks to live.

We were greatly saddened to hear this news, and all the seminarians (who are presently within East Anglia on placement) will, of course, be joining with the rest of the diocese in prayer for our father, the Bishop, seeking the intercession of Our Lady of Walsingham, and St Felix, the first Apostle of East Anglia.

In his own words,

Rather than resign, I would like to continue among you as your bishop and the father of our diocesan family until this stage of my life ends. I do not know how long that will be. I am most grateful for the ways you have cared for and so prayerfully supported me in recent years. You remain very much in my thoughts and care. As I am sure you understand, I am able to do very little, and will need to rely on others. Please can I ask you to limit any expressions of care to prayer for now, rather than anything else to which I cannot respond.

As I live now under the shadow of death, my prayer is very much that of St Paul that I may know something of the power of Christ’s resurrection and a share in his sufferings, trusting that the Lord is with me. I pray that even now I can joyfully witness something of the good news we are all called to proclaim.

Pondering in the heart

This week, in Luke's Gospel during Mass, we have heard a good number of some of Jesus' most famous words, and, indeed, there is a string which runs through all of those readings from the week.

On Sunday, we learnt about the importance in faith in God, putting ourselves and our future entirely in His hands, while, at the same time, enlightening our hearts and minds to the necessity of serving our neighbour in His name.

Similarly, on Monday, a young and holy man went to Jesus and asked him what more he could do: Jesus told him to emulate the example of our Blessed Saviour and be a 'good neighbour' to the outcasts of society and community.

We are challenged again on Tuesday, for after our instruction about performing works, Jesus reminds us about the necessity to nurture the contemplative side of life: we are to be both Martha and Mary, and Jesus helps us with this on Wednesday by teaching us the Our Father. Thursday's Gospel further tells us that we can ask anything of our heavenly Father. Yesterday, we learnt that this leads us to unity with each other, and the evils of division and discord was explained to us.

Today, in the Gospel, we heard a very unusual and purely Lucan story. While Jesus was explaining all these other things, a woman in the crowd pipes up and says, "blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked."

But Jesus says, that the blessed derive their holiness not from simply being who they are, but more expressly, in their relationship with God, because He is the fountain of all holiness. Virtue, goodness, holiness, sanctity does not originate in individuals, rather, it is a reflection of the Father's glory.

Our Lady, to whom the woman was referring, is most blessed, not of her own doing, but by the grace of God. She does radiate light, helps us to see in the darkness, guides us on our way and gives us comfort; her light, however, is like the gentle light of the Moon, which is the reflection of the life-giving light of the Sun.

Blessed John Henry, whose feasts it is today, wrote the following:

Within her heart, Mary pondered upon the visit of the shepherds who told her of the vision of angels and told her of the vision of angels and announced that the Infant in her arms was the Saviour who is Christ the Lord. Twelve years later, when she found her Son in the Temple and He explained how He must do the work of His Father, again she treasured these things in her heart. Her faith so anticipated His first miracle that she forewarned the servants at Cana to carry out instructions to the letter. Our Lady, then, is the pattern of faith both in the reception and in the study of Divine Truth, acceptance being followed by a cherishing. Zechariah reasoned first and believed later; with love and reverence Mary believed and then reasoned.

The Book of Margery Kempe

What do seminarians do on their summer holidays?

Well now, that would be telling. But I will break up our complete lack of summer-time blog articles, with a little indulgence into one of my passions.

This seminarian went to a second-hand bookshop in the great East Anglian city of Cambridge, and found a little 1936 print of a very much older book indeed.

I spent a portion of my time at university translating mediaeval documents, such as wills and deeds (not for fun...it was a course module!). One place-name I came across was Lynn episcopi. This caused me a few moments of angst until I realised that, of course, it referred to King's Lynn, called, before the Reformation, Bishop's Lynn.

Bishop's Lynn, a town of our diocese, was, 570 years ago, the home of a certain woman named Margery Kempe. A book of her life, unimaginatively yet charmingly entitled, was that which I discovered in my county-town last week.

I have never before read The Book of Margery Kempe, though I have seen novel snippets found in the various tomes of Professor Duffy, and the like. The book is a cross between the life of a saint, and a 15th century episode of Eastenders.

Written down by a priest, she tells the stories of her life: arguments with her husband, her lustful temptations at evensong, her conversion to holiness, her pilgrimages, her meetings with bishops, friars, vicars and anchoresses, such as Julian of Norwich, who, regular followers will remember, was the subject of Oscott's Lenten reading this year.

It also recounts the course of her spiritual life, which, though mediaeval, is still, for me at least, inspiring and thought-provoking, worthy to be read in our own time. She reminisces of one occasion of her attending Mass and receiving Holy Communion (which she did regularly, so rare in her times, she had to seek permission from the Archbishop of Canterbury). I'd like to share with you her personal prayer for these occasions, which she shared for time immemorial:

Lord, as surely as Thou are not wroth with me,

grant me a well of tears,

whereby I may receive Thy Precious Body

with all manner of tears of devotion to Thy worship

and to the increase of my merit;

for Thou art my joy, Lord,

my bliss, my comfort and all the treasure I have in the world;

for other worldly joys covet I not, but only Thee.

And therefore my dearworthy Lord and my God,

forsake me not.

Ad multos annos!

It's funny what happens when you don't write on a blog for a while...

Back in June, the twenty-sixth of June that is, our fifth year brother, Pádraig, was ordained to the diaconate in Oscott Chapel, along with his peer of the archdiocese of Birmingham, Craig, by the Ordinary of that See, Archbishop Bernard Longley. We always enjoy the Archbishop's visits to the college, and for him to ordain our new top year was a great blessing, not only for our seminary community, which has two wonderful new deacons to minister to our manifold needs, but to both our dioceses, and to the Church. Congratulations on your ordination!

The ordinations to the diaconate happen, of course, every year, and, traditionally, mark the end of term, and the beginning of summer. This year, however, was different. A week after the ordinations, we seminarians returned to find the Rector's lawn festooned with teepees, and, very soon, we were to be over-run by young people in tents. It was the weekend of Invocation 2010, the first large gathering of people discerning a particular vocation in the Church as priests or religious. There were a variety of liturgies, workshops and talks, but, principally, it was an arena for the Holy Spirit, and it was evident that he was at work in the hearts of many of the people who were present. The Chapel was packed full to brim, and over, for Mass and the Offices, and said new deacons were granted a baptism of fire, and managed to tick off three of our nation's Archbishops at the event, +Bernard, +Peter (close to our hearts round these parts, of course), and +Vincent.

These two chappies made an appearance with our own Bishop Michael, this last Saturday, 10th July, in our Cathedral in Norwich. For our two seniors have managed to escape from seminary and be ordained priests!

The purpose of seminary is not to live in a permanent religious community, which can be a danger, though, thank God, is not the case in reality. A seminary is for the formation of men for the priesthood: to sanctify the Christian people, and to offer sacrifice to God.

It was with great joy, and - I'm sure I'm not only speaking for myself - great pride, that two of our brothers and friends, who began this blog, and indeed, set the ball rolling for the current crop of E.A. Seminarians, were ordained to the sacred priesthood.

It was such a beautiful sight: the Cathedral packed full of priests, deacons and lay faithful, surrounding the Bishop, as Michael and Luke were called forward to be ordained by him. The prostration, the promise of obedience, the laying on of hands, the clothing with priestly vestments, the anointing with Chrism, presentation of the chalice and paten, and the first concelebration of Holy Mass, brought several tears to my eye, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one!

It could be a fairy-tale, but it isn't, it's real: two new priests for the Church in East Anglia! Two good and holy men have offered their entire lives for the service of God's people in our diocese.

Ad multos annos, Father Luke and Father Michael!

May God bless your priestly lives, and may we all remember you in our prayers.

As soon as we get more pictures of the ordination, the first Masses in Peterborough, Ipswich and Walsingham, we'll write lots more! Do send in your snaps, if you have any you would like to share, to our e-mail: eastanglia@live.com.

Acolytate

June is proving to be a very busy month.

It is topped and tailed with Quarantore, and next week, we conclude the month of the Sacred Heart with ordinations to the diaconate.

Today, however, has been an important event for year three, including our very own Henry, who received the Ministry of Acolyte at Mass this morning. Two students from the archdiocese of Birmingham, and one student from the diocese of Nottingham received the ministry, and a Birmingham student received the Ministry of Lector. Both of these, formerly minor orders, are conferred upon men, who, usually in preparation for priestly ordination, become related to Mother Church's ministry in a particular way. As the bishop said to Henry and the others during the rite, "it is your responsibility to assist priests and deacons in carrying out their ministry, and as special ministers to give holy communion to the faithful at the liturgy and to the sick."

Pretty self-explanatory, really! Oscotian tradition dictates that those receiving this ministry 'take-over' the serving of those acting as their 'vicars' for the Liturgy of the Word. Needless to say, perhaps unintentionally, Henry took over my role; so we kept it East Anglian.

Congratulations to all those who received their ministries today.

New Looks

There have been a few changes afoot down ol' eastangliaseminarians.blogspot.com.

Along with a new experimental look, we have also installed a hit-counter, which allows us to see how many people are visiting our site, and various demographics. Also, to protect security, after a recent wave of spam, you will notice, hopefully, more control over comment moderation.

Do give your opinion, if you have one!

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In other news, Michael's reign as Dean of Seminarians came to an end just before half-term. However, the college swiftly elected a successor, a certain Pádraig, who, in what can now be called a tradition, will ensure East Anglia remains at the very pinnacle of the collegiate crème. Best of luck for your term in office!

Who lives and rains

We emerged from half-term last week, and, in preparation for the celebration of Corpus et Sanguis Christi on Sunday, the whole house entered into a period of forty hours Eucharistic exposition, which, in an original Italian manner, is styled Quarantore. It was a great privilege to know that the Blessed Sacrament was exposed and being adored almost next door to my bedroom all weekend!

As you can see from this picture of the chapel, we made sure that the Blessed Sacrament was suitably framed with a medley of beautiful flowers and candles.

After an early Mass on Sunday morning, Archbishop Longley visited the college, and presided over a Eucharistic Procession, in typical Corpus Christi style. The chapel was full of guests from far and wide who came to join us for the celebration, and, in spite of the rain, spirits were high throughout, and the sense of devotion and reverence was awesome. From our vantage-point from our seminary-on-the-hill, the Archbishop raised the monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament over Birmingham, and the city was blessed; the heavens, too, provided its own, unique, sign of approval. Fortunately, Our Lord was protected by a canopy throughout, and stayed nice and dry.

Though we are away for Corpus Christi next year, we hope to continue the tradition of public processions. This was my first Quarantore experience. Maybe some of our readers would like to share anything similar from their own parishes from this last week.

Diocesan Pilgrimage to Walsingham

It's very rare that many photo opportunities crop up, for some reason, but here is a nice one, taken from our recent Diocesan Pilgrimage to Walsingham, not only with all the E.A. Seminarians, but also with Bishop Michael, and Our Lady herself.