...and the glorious sweep of its fields and woods, bathed in summer sunshine. The Oratory School with its Newman tradition and its sense of confidence, pictures of boys at sporting activities, Cadet parades, theatre, music, a Corpus Christi procession...panels lisiting School Captains going back 150 years...
We were there for the Evangelium conference, a great Catholic gathering sponsored by the CTS. Vast crowd of young adults,packed talks, great reverence at Mass(Latin chant,some good hymns) and a roar of young voices for the "I confess..." and the Creed and the Our Father, somehow very moving. Excellent talks from, among others, Dr Tom Pink of Kings College, London, Fr Brian Harrison,Fr Tim Finigan, Fr Andrew Pinsent, Jack Valero of Opus Dei...Young people everywhere, talking and laughing, enjoying the lovely grounds, packing out the talks and workshops, singing Night Prayer in the beautiful chapel, chattering to a terrific volume over meals in the dining-hall...a volunteer concert in the evening, glorious violin music, some Irish Ballads,a teenage singer... Auntie rounded things off leading community singing ("Pack up your troubles...")
This was the second year for this event: the 2008 conference, planned as a once-off, proved so hugely popular that organisers offered another, and it drew even larger crowds. Theme:"Explaining the Catholic Faith in the Modern World". I was impressed by the quality - as well as the quantity! - of the young people present, drawn from a wide variety of jobs and backgrounds and professions, showing a lively and intelligent commitment to the faith. A good number from some of the notable new Movements in the Church (Youth 2000, Neo-Catechumenate, FAITH) with a great ability to relax and integrate together. An underlying seriousness, a recognition that things may get tough for Christians in Britain in the next years. For all the joy and laughter and intellectual stimulus, there was an underlying sobriety in the way certain things were discussed. I came home inspired, encouraged, thoughtful.
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2 comments:
'Pack up your troubles' would once have been considered demotic at an event like this and rings the wrong note. If you want to be authentically retro you should have got 'Green grow the willows o' going. It was a great favourite with the Oxford Group meetings of the 1930s and joined in enthusiastically by people like T. S. Eliot under the direction of Mary Trevellyan. There was a better sens of occasion in those days and trench songs were discouraged.
"demotic" ? I had to look it up, as I was fairly sure you didn't mean something to do with ancient languages. Dearie me. Tunbridge Wells is everywhere ...
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