October 2000   For the Newsletter

The Master Writes

It was excellent to see such a good number of you at the Keyıs weekend at St Johnıs Seminary, Wonersh. We were blessed with superb weather. The Father Rector, Kevin Haggerty (and his dog, Amber!), made us very welcome, as did the seminarians who looked after us most attentively. There are currently about 50 training men training for the priesthood at St John's, although a few of these are non-resident at any particular time because they are out on in parishes for pastoral experience. 17 joined the seminary as "new boys" this autumn. We had our meals with the seminarians and staff and the chance to join them at Holy Mass and in their morning and night prayers; a number of seminarian also joined us for some of our events. I was much struck both by the zeal of many individual seminarians, and of their consciousness of the great tradition in which they are hoping to follow. There is more detail elsewhere of the weekend and of the fine Sarum rite video which Fr. Sean Finnegan showed us on Saturday night.

The Keys will have a small stand at Towards Advent, the Catholic Cultural Festival at Westminster Cathedral Hall on Saturday 11th November. I would like to hear from any members who could spare an hour or two to man this on the day. The Festival will be open from 10am to 6 pm Rosemary Nibbs is preparing a brief flyer explaining the Keys' history, the kind of speakers we have, and what we are and do. We will have membership application forms for those interested in being considered for membership. We also hope to have a display of photographs of Keys events eg Young Catholic Writer of the Year Award ceremonies, Keys' weekends etc. Anyone with interesting photographs or archive material is asked to let Rosemary or me have this as soon as possible.

Members will want to follow with interest the initiative of Robert Whelan who has been a driving force behind the creation of the Institute for the Study of Civil Society which is seeking to raise awareness of the importance of the two parent family based on marriage. The Institute is currently seeking a Project Manager for their Family Studies Unit (salary £18,000 to £25,000, depending on experience). Anyone interested or who know of someone who might be suitable should ensure that CVs should go to Robert Whelan , ISCC/FET, The Mezzanine, Elizabeth House, 39 York Road, London SE1 7NQ.

I look forward to seeing you at Dr Gabriele Finaldiıs talk on Tuesday 24th of October, and that of Fr. Francis Marsden who will be talking about the church in the Ukraine at our Christmas meeting on Tuesday 28th of November.

Yours in Domino

Antony