Conferences – English Catholic History Association

Michael Hodgetts reviews the 300 years of liturgical practice of Catholics under penal conditions in England from the mid 1500s to early Victorian times. Music, missals, primers, chapel architecture and decoration, official and unofficial records of one sort or another, contribute to our knowledge of the quite elaborate rites that took place in wealthy country houses, despite unfavourable circumstances. We also get an impression of the secrecy and isolation under which priests laboured in order to bring the sacraments to Catholics in towns and villages.

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A clear and concise overview of the celebration of the Eucharist from the time of its foreshadowing in the Old Testament with the figure of Melchisedek (Genesis 14: 18-20). Fr Peter Jones shows that there is a core and constant ritual at the heart of all celebrations of the Eucharist, but the manner in which it has been celebrated over the centuries, and is celebrated today, shows great diversity.  Fr Peter leads us from the OT prefigurations of the Eucharist, through the several New Testament accounts of the Last Supper to the celebrations of the early church, known to us from the Didache and onwards.  He looks at the diversity of liturgical rites as they develop in the patriachal churches, and in more detail at the practice in the West where the Roman rite is only one of several in use.  He leads up to the present day and the recent instructions from Rome to allow the more general use of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass (the Latin rite) and he comments on a little known instruction of Cardinal Ratzinger with regard to the Anaphora of Addai and Mari which does not include an institution narrative. A fascinating introduction to this subject and a spring board for those who would like to study more deeply.  Fr Peter Jones is parish priest of Pershore, in the Diocese of Birmingham.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THIS TALK     Playing time 48 minutes

Fr Ian Ker of Oxford University is a distinguished biographer of both Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman and G K Chesterton. In this talk he draws upon his extensive knowledge of these great literary and religious figures to draw out the several points they have in common, such as  they were both converts to the Catholic faith and apologists for it through their extensive writings.    An interesting talk on an unusual theme, bringing to life these prominent members of the English Catholic Church of the 19th and 20th century.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THIS TALK     Playing time 33 minutes

Br Michael Curran is a De La Salle brother.  The Institute was founded in France in the 17th century by St John Baptiste de la Salle, princially for the education of boys from poor backgrounds.  Br Michael looks at the history of the Stations of the Cross at St Augustine’s Catholic Church, High Wycombe, reputedly carved by Eric Gill and concludes that although Eric Gill almost certainly provided the drawings, they would most likely have been carved by one of his companion wood carvers. Br Michael looks at the origin of the Stations as a devotion and in detail at these particular Stations, which reveal Gill’s distinctive style, and occasionally subversive nature.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THIS TALK     Playing time 53 minutes

A detailed overview of the expansion of the Catholic Church from 1750 to the present day in the area covered by the Diocese of Northampton, as established in 1850 at the restoration of the Catholic hierachy in England & Wales.  Includes the counties of Buckinhamshire, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Northamptionshire.  In 1750 only about 20 Catholic places of worship existed in the whole area and all of these were in private homes.  After the Catholic Relief Act of 1791 it was made legal to erect public Catholic Chapels and over the following 250 years or so, 100s of Catholic churches were built. Today there are over 250 in the area and the original diocese has been split in two to  create of East Anglia Diocese.  From 1990s there has been a decline in building with some churches closing.  Brin Dunsire has spent many years working for the Diocese of Northampton.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THIS TALK     Playing time 53 minutes