The Christian Heritage Centre

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“We believe in one God the Father Almighty”

15 March 2025

"We believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of all things..."
Commemorating the 1,700th anniversary of Nicea

By Stefan Kaminski

This is the opening statement of the symbol of the Church’s first Ecumenical Council, convened in Nicea in 325 A.D. by Emperor Constantine, in concert with Pope Sylvester I. For the last 1,700 years, Christians have repeated these words to signify their participation in the ecclesial communion as believing members.

Perhaps no statement in the Creed is more fundamental than this one, at the level of establishing the horizon and backdrop of our thinking and imagination. This foundational belief sets the intellectual scene for the way we perceive reality: the world around us, other people and ourselves.

Commentators such as Mgr James Shea, President of the University of Mary in the US, rightly interrogate the basic intellectual framework that underpins contemporary Western society. Mgr Shea contends that we are essentially back in an “Apostolic era”, rather than a Christian one, as society’s collective imagination does not any longer operate on the foundations of a Creator and Redeemer God. Christianity today, he suggests, is facing a challenge not dissimilar to that of the early Church. Our belief in “one God, the Almighty Father” is in many ways no less counter-cultural in a secular, pluralistic society than it was in the pagan, pantheistic one of Rome.

The only difference is that today, theoretically, Christianity is a public point of reference and a large proportion of the population express some sort of belief in God, with a significant minority still professing a Christian belief. However, practically-speaking, religious faith is often seen as a private matter of subjective belief which has no place for expression in public life.

The opening of the Nicene Symbol is a powerful reminder that the very opposite is true. At the heart of Nicea’s first statement is the all-encompassing and creative power of the Father. This power is not to be understood in the common sense of ‘power over something’ or ‘power to do something specific’; rather, it is absolute power, within which all existence resides.

The radicality of this is easy to miss. To “create”, as spoken of in Genesis 1 and intended by the Nicene Creed, is “to call into being from non-being, from nothingness” (St John Paul II). God’s creation consists of willing everything that exists outside of Him, to be. It is this that the Church intends by “omnipotent” or “almighty”.

The rest of our Christian vision cascades from this starting point. If God is the only Being that is (“I am who I am”, Exodus 3:14), then everything that is created receives its being from God – or better still, receives being from God. Put differently, if the act of being belongs only to God, then all things and creatures are and continue to be by virtue of God’s will: “For he spoke, and it came to be” (Ps 33:9).

This has a profound consequence for our understanding of things in themselves. God, Who is Good, only creates and wills what is good. Thus, all things are good in their existence and in the way that they are intended by God. Nothing that exists can be said to be evil or wrong in the fact of its being and its being intended by God in a particular way. It is only when we redirect the purpose of something, starting with ourselves (Satan being the example par excellence), thereby detracting from God’s intention, that evil enters the equation.

It is thus that we can perhaps make sense of Jesus’ words, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Christ Himself is the Incarnation of this perfection, and the fact that God the Son gave Divine perfection human form tells us how high an intention and end God has for us.

Detail from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, by Michelangelo
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Blog Media

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”

5 March 2025

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also":
Ash Wednesday and the CHC

By Stefan Kaminski

Before the CHC was invented and its motto (the above words of Jesus as reported by Matthew) adopted by its Board of Trustees in 2012, these words closed the Roman Church’s Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday for a good 800 years, if not more.

On the strength of the long association of this saying with Ash Wednesday, it could be said that the start of Lent therefore also serves as the CHC’s “spiritual feast day”. I suspect this will not suffice to claim an exemption from fasting and abstinence for its incumbent Director.

However, the words do merit a brief reflection on this particular and very important day in the Church’s liturgical cycle. Even if this verse is no longer to be found in today’s Gospel reading, as per the present lectionary, the current Gospel reading has retained many of the same verses, but shifted forward to a little earlier in the chapter, so dropping verse 21. The essence of this verse therefore very much retains its thematic consistency with Ash Wednesday’s Gospel.

In a literal sense, the choice of these words could be seen as ironic for a charity whose first objective was the preservation of material goods. As I am sure is obvious to our readers, this would be to miss the point of the relics and religious artefacts that form the core of the Stonyhurst Collections.

The Sermon on the Mount, by Carl Bloch, 1877

Whether it be part of the bodily remains of a saint or an object directly associated with that saint, relics are venerated as the incarnate memorial of those persons who are now living with Christ, and whose same bodies served as a “temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 6:19) on this earth. It is only by virtue of this sanctity, that one may hope for further graces to be channelled through the physical memorial of these saintly people who stand before the face of God.

Thus, properly-speaking, relics have no value for this world whatsoever. As an object, in terms of both what they represent (the saint) and what they mediate (grace), their orientation is heaven and their raison d’être is our own arrival therein.

The logic of this motto for our charity is therefore hopefully obvious: “treasuring” a relic for its ability to nurture the growth of our soul before God signals a heart that is focussed on heaven; whereas “treasuring” a relic for its earthly (i.e. monetary or historical) value signals the orientation of the heart to this earthly life.

Man of Sorrows, by William Dyce, c.1860

What Christ has to offer in Matthew’s chapter 6, as part of the Sermon on the Mount, is precisely wisdom for orienting our lives towards heaven. And rather neatly, our CHC motto is immediately preceded by Jesus’ words on the three Lenten disciplines: prayer (verses 5-15), fasting (verses 16-18), and almsgiving (verses 1-4). All the more does this seem to justify claiming Ash Wednesday as our spiritual feast day!

The Lenten season is one of “putting to death whatever is worldly in us” (Col 3:5): it is a period of purgation, purification and preparation (a catchy summary for your children or students!). The two great historical references in the Old and New Testaments both involve long periods in the desert, a place where there is little bodily comfort and where one’s existence before God is given a raw reality. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are essentially about this exercising of our spiritual ‘muscles’ and the trimming down of our reliance on material wellbeing. They are about working towards heaven, rather than working for the world.

Each of these three disciplines, moreover, has a particular role in further disposing us to the three theological virtues. Prayer, which we examined extensively in last year’s blog and podcast series, should aid our faith, increasing our closeness to God and our sense of reliance on Him. Fasting should teach us to materially place our hope in the spiritual, rather than the material, realm, by denying to some extent what we desire through our body. Almsgiving builds us up in charity, as we give of what we have for the good of others: a small, practical expression of the highest form of love, which is the greatest of the virtues.

The start of Lent is a time not just for fixing on specific resolutions, but on meditating more broadly on the orientation of our heart, and to enact practices that will express a heavenly resolution.

Categories
Courses Events

What is God? [residential course]

Summer course

'What is God?'
Philosophical, Christian
and Islamic Approaches

22nd - 25th August 2025

“The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God…”

Nostra Aetate, 3

What can we know about God through our reason alone?
What do Christianity and Islam respectively teach about God?

In partnership with

On the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate (1965),  CEPHAS 2025 invites participants to come together to reflect on the “unresolved riddles of the human condition, which today, even as in former times, deeply stir the hearts of men: What is man? What is the meaning, the aim of our life? […] What is that inexpressible mystery which encompasses our existence?” (NA, 1).  

In considering concepts of God, this course will first differentiate between the knowledge of God that is attainable naturally, by human reason, and the knowledge of God that comes from Divine revelation, and so provide a brief, philosophical account of the Divine.

From this basis, the concept of God as formulated in the Islamic tradition will be examined, before providing a study of the Christian accounts of the Trinity and of the Incarnate Son of God, as synthesised in Thomas Aquinas’ writings. A final lecture will draw a comparison between the two monotheistic accounts.

The lectures will be interspersed with workshop sessions in which participants will be able to further discuss and unpack the lecture material.

The course requires no prior qualification or knowledge, but is intended to serve as an introduction or primer to Catholic, Thomistic philosophy and theology.

The course is offered to anyone wishing to engage in this area. It may be of special interest to future, current or former students of philosophy and theology, and secondary-level teachers of the same.

For queries about the course content or requirements, please contact Dr George Corbett at [email protected]

CEPHAS courses are built around a combination of philosophical and theological lectures and workshops, with plenty of discussion.

A guest talk, accompanied by good wine, is offered on one of the evenings.

The course is framed by opportunities for Mass during the day and communal prayer in the morning and evening.

 

Dr Fernando Cervantes (keynote speaker) is a historian of early modern Europe specialising in the intellectual and religious history of early modern Spain and Spanish America. Between 2005 and 2008 he was principal investigator of a major Leverhulme Research Project entitled The Celestial and the Fallen: Angels and Demons in the Hispanic World. With Dr Andrew Redden of Liverpool University, he is currently completing work on a co-authored monograph. A co-edited collection of essays entitled Angels, Demons and the New World was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013. His most recent book, Conquistadores: A New History, was published by Allen Lane/Penguin in 2020 and by Viking in 2021. Longer term projects include a study of the literary imagination of early modern Europe that seeks to place the works of Montaigne, Cervantes and Shakespeare in the wider context of early modern humanism and the epistemological crisis of the early seventeenth century. Dr Cervantes was the John Coffin Memorial Lecturer in the History of Ideas at the University of London in 2005 and has held fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UCLA, and the Liguria Study Centre for the Arts and the Humanities, Bogliasco, Italy. In the Spring quarter of 2009 he held the Tipton Distinguished Visiting Chair at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was also Series Editor for Pickering and Chatto’s (now Routledge) “Religious Cultures in the Early Modern World” until 2018.

Prof. George Corbett (Director of CEPHAS) is Professor of Theology at the School of Divinity, University of St Andrews. Previously, he held positions as Junior Research Fellow in Philosophy, Trinity College, and affiliated lecturer, University of Cambridge. He received his BA (double first), MPhil (distinction), and PhD (AHRC-funded) from the University of Cambridge. He has also studied in Pisa (as an Erasmus-Socrates exchange scholar at La Scuola Normale Superiore), Rome (Institutum Pontificium Alterioris Latinitatis), and Montella (Vivarium Novum).

He teaches and researches in historical and systematic theology (with specialisms in medieval theology, Aquinas’s theology and its influence, and Catholic theology) and theology and the arts (with specialisms in Dante studies, sacred music, and theological aesthetics).

Prof. Corbett is the author of Dante’s Christian Ethics: Purgatory and Its Moral Contexts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020) and Dante and Epicurus: A Dualistic Vision of Secular and Spiritual Fulfilment (Oxford: Legenda, 2013),  and is co-editor of Vertical Readings in Dante’s Comedy, 3 vols (Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2015-17), an international collaboration by thirty-four scholars on a reappraisal of the whole poem. He has also published on Aquinas, sacred music, medieval theology, and the arts.

Sr Valery Walker, O.P. is a Dominican Sister of the Stone Congregation. In the early 1970s, she was introduced by Fr Romuald Horn O.P. to a particular method of studying the Summa Theologica of St Thomas Aquinas. Since then, she has run numerous study days on Saint Thomas study days and weekends.

 

 

 

Sr. Magdalene Eitenmiller, O.P. is a Dominican sister of the Stone Congregation.

She received a Master’s degree in Theology (Ave Maria University, Florida), and the Licentiate in Sacred Theology in Thomistic Studies (Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C.), and has obtained her doctorate in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome. She is the author of “On the Separated Soul according to St. Thomas Aquinas,” Nova et Vetera 17.1 (2019):57-91 and “Grace as Participation according to St. Thomas Aquinas” New Blackfriars (2017): 689-708, among other publications.

Sr. Magdalene teaches courses on the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas online, and has developed a website called Thomisticstudies.org, as well as a Youtube channel, Facebook, and Instagram pages.

She believes that theological studies can help one develop a deeper union with God and strengthen one’s faith, especially when learning from the teachings of Aquinas, one of the greatest theologians of all time.

Theodore House offers a wonderful venue for any residential course. The tranquil and beautiful surroundings of the Stonyhurst estate offer a peaceful setting with endless opportunities for walks. Guests will enjoy the comfortable recreational spaces and a beautifully lanscaped garden.

For more information about Theodore House, please click here.

  • Arrivals from 3pm (Friday)
  • Course commences with dinner at 7pm (Friday) and introductions; lectures commence Saturday at 9:15am.
  • Departures after lunch (Monday)
Cost

Single room: £350 p.p.*

Twin room (sharing): £285 p.p.*

Non-residential, (includes lunch and dinner): £190 p.p.

*Costs include full board from Friday dinner to Monday lunch inclusive.

Bursaries are available for anyone (whether employed or not) who would like to come but would benefit from financial assistance. Please contact us at [email protected] for further information.

“My first Cephas event has been excellent and I would recommend to everyone to attend. Hope to book for next year’s. Great learning environment, relaxed and no pressure, which I really appreciated.

It’s a real tribute to everyone who has been involved in pulling off such a huge topic brilliantly. Well done!

Please register below (includes £50 p.p. deposit payment):

Venue & Getting to us:

If you are reliant on public transport, please consider traveling by train to Preston train station. From there, we aim to co-ordinate minicab shares or lifts amongst participants of any given event. If you require further advice or assistance, email us: [email protected]

Categories
Events Retreats

Called to Love

A retreat for young Catholics

Called to Love

9th - 11th May 2025

Masculinity and Femininity: nature, challenges and wisdom

“Man, whom God created ‘male and female,’ bears the divine image impressed in the body ‘from the beginning’; man and woman constitute, so to speak, two diverse ways of ‘being a body’ that are proper to human nature in the unity of this image.”

Pope Saint John Paul II, General audience, 2nd January 1980

About the ‘Called to Love’ retreats

Called to Love is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the Catholic vision for human love and sexuality, and the discernment around the Sacrament of Matrimony.

Who are the retreats for?

The retreats are aimed at young adults, whether single, dating or engaged.

What’s involved?

The retreats consist of some input, time for prayer and liturgy, discussion and an evening of dinner and dance!

The input will focus on the following themes:

  • The Christian understanding of the human person as male and female
  • Contemporary challenges to an authentic masculinity and femininity
  • Spiritual wisdom for the moral life
  • The virtue and role of chastity in human maturation

The retreat is structured around four sessions, with opportunities for discussion, for prayer and reflection, and for an evening social.

The retreat is framed by morning and evening prayer, with Mass, Adoration and the opportunity for confession.

Stefan and Ella Kaminski both have Licentiates from the John Paul II Institute for Studies in Marriage and Family Life, having dedicated their studies to the themes of human love and sexual complementarity. Stefan serves as Director of The Christian Heritage Centre, where he has been creating and delivering Catholic formation content for the last five years. Ella previously worked at the John Paul II Institute in Rome, before joining Stefan in Lancashire following their marriage. She is engaged in teaching dogmatic theology to seminarians on the one hand, and 5-year-olds on the other. Together, they offer marriage preparation courses and ongoing formation for catechetists.

Fr Peter Littleton is a priest of the Diocese of Southwark. He is engaged in a variety of ministries, including teaching, hospital chaplaincy and young adult ministry. He is an increasingly sought-after spiritual director and is engaged in vocations promotion and direction.

Theodore House offers a wonderful venue for any residential course. The tranquil and beautiful surroundings of the Stonyhurst estate offer a peaceful setting with endless opportunities for walks. Guests will enjoy the comfortable recreational spaces and a beautifully lanscaped garden.

For more information about Theodore House, please click here.

  • Arrivals for a 10:30am start (Saturday)
  • Departures from 3pm (Sunday)
  • For Friday arrivals, check in is available from 4pm
Cost

Single room: £230 p.p.

Twin room (sharing): £175 p.p.

Costs include full board from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch inclusive.

If you require assistance with meeting costs, please contact us on [email protected]

“Beautiful in structure and gave strong foundations.”

“Wonderful combination of theology, discussion, lived experience.”

“Beautifully articulate talks.”

This retreat is intended for young adults. If you have any queries regarding eligibility, please do contact us.

Please register below (includes £50 p.p. deposit payment):
Venue & Getting to us:

If you are reliant on public transport, please consider traveling by train to Preston train station. From there, we aim to co-ordinate minicab shares or lifts amongst participants of any given event. If you require further advice or assistance, email us: [email protected]

Categories
Events Retreats

Be still and know that I am God

Weekend Retreat

'Be still and know
that I am God'

14th - 17th November 2025

Exploring Mindfulness, Psychology and the Christian life

Led by Fr Roger Dawson, SJ, Liz Lord and Steve Noone

This weekend explores the human condition through your own life story, in the context of the Gospel and the Christian spiritual life, using mindfulness skills and contemplative Christian prayer.

In its methodology, this retreat seeks to reclaim practices that are common to mindfulness for the Christian tradition of contemplative prayer. In particular, mindfuless practices share common ground with the tradition of apophatic prayer and theology that is deeply rooted in the monastic and the Eastern Orthodox traditions.

The retreat will make use of such practices to help participants gain a greater awareness of their own experiences, to exercise a discipline of the mind, and to place them on the threshold of prayer, with an attentiveness and disposition to God’s presence.

This retreat will offer several talks over the weekend, framed by Mass, communal prayer in the morning and evening, and Adoration.

Free time for walks and reflection is built into each retreat.

‍Fr Roger Dawson SJ is a Jesuit priest, previously Director of St Beuno’s Jesuit Spirituality Centre. He is trained as a clinical psychologist and has a long experience as retreat and spiritual director. He is currently the Superior of the Jesuits in Scotland.

 

 

 

Liz Lord is a tutor on the MSt in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) at the University of Oxford. Formerly she was an assistant head teacher and has worked in education at all levels.

 

 

 

Steve Noone is a recently retired clinical psychologist who has used mindfulness skills extensively in his practice and teaching.

Theodore House offers a wonderful venue for any residential course. The tranquil and beautiful surroundings of the Stonyhurst estate offer a peaceful setting with endless opportunities for walks. Guests will enjoy the comfortable recreational spaces and a beautifully lanscaped garden.

For more information about Theodore House, please click here.

Friday

  • Arrivals from 3pm
  • Retreat commences with Welcome & Orientation at 6:30pm followed by dinner

Monday

  • Departures from 2pm
Cost (per retreat)

Single room: £405 p.p.*

Twin room (sharing): £305 p.p.*

Non-residential: £195 p.p.**

*Costs include full board from Friday dinner to Monday lunch inclusive.

**Costs include lunches and dinners from Thursday dinner to Sunday lunch inclusive.

The retreat was much more than expected, and the content very helpful

“The tutors’ willingness to share their knowledge and expertise in a relatable way was greatly appreciated”

Please register below (includes £50 p.p. deposit payment):
Venue & Getting to us:

If you are reliant on public transport, please consider traveling by train to Preston train station. From there, we aim to co-ordinate minicab shares or lifts amongst participants of any given event. If you require further advice or assistance, email us: [email protected]

Categories
Events Retreats

Unveiled Faces

Weekend Retreat

Unveiled Faces:
Healing & Transformation
with the Saints

27th- 29th June 2025

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" (Mt 9:12)

Led by Fr Emmanuel Mansford, CFR

Holiness begins with the acknowledgment of our need for healing and redemption. The saints were not perfect people. Like us, they were born into a broken world and experienced their own share of brokenness. Progressively they were transformed by the Lord’s grace and mercy. The saints show us this very real human journey lived out in very real human ways.

During this retreat the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal will help us to acknowledge our own wounds and seek the healing power of grace as experienced concretely by different saints.  

This retreat will offer several talks over the weekend, framed by opportunities for Mass, communal prayer in the morning and evening, and Adoration.

Free time for walks and reflection is built into each retreat.

Fr Emmanuel Mansford is originally from a small village in Bedfordshire. He joined the Franciscan of the Renewal in the Bronx, NY in 1998 and made his solemn vows in 2003.  Ordained a priest in 2007, he lived for several years in the friary in the East End of London where he served as the local superior. In 2014 he became the vocation director for the friars and lived in New York City where he was involved in the friars apostolates of preaching the Gospel and serving the needy.  He has a passion for preaching and people and loves to see God’s people encounter Him and come to life through the Gospel.  He also enjoys playing and watching football and is a boyhood fan of Luton Town FC. He recently moved back to the UK to serve with the friars in their mission in Bradford.

Br. Mariano Bonaventura CFR is from Brazil and has lived in Mexico, Honduras, and the USA. Currently residing in England, he holds a keen interest in the theology of Saint Bonaventure.

Theodore House offers a wonderful venue for any residential course. The tranquil and beautiful surroundings of the Stonyhurst estate offer a peaceful setting with endless opportunities for walks. Guests will enjoy the comfortable recreational spaces and a beautifully lanscaped garden.

For more information about Theodore House, please click here.

  • Arrivals from 3pm for a 6pm start on Friday
  • Departures from 3pm on Sunday
Cost (per retreat)

Single room: £230 p.p.*

Twin room (sharing): £175 p.p.*

Non-residential (includes lunches and dinners): £115

*Costs include full board from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch inclusive.

“The content of the talks and delivery by the retreat guide was exceptional.”

Please register below (includes £50 p.p. deposit payment):
Venue & Getting to us:

If you are reliant on public transport, please consider traveling by train to Preston train station. From there, we aim to co-ordinate minicab shares or lifts amongst participants of any given event. If you require further advice or assistance, email us: [email protected]

Categories
Clergy Events Retreats

The Eucharist and the Liturgy

Diaconal retreat

10th - 12th October 2025

The Eucharist
& the Liturgy

A retreat for permanent deacons and their spouses

Preached by Fr Matthew Jarvis, OP, Prior of the Rosary Shrine

In this Year of Hope, our annual deacons’ retreat will turn to the ‘source and summit’ of that hope: the Eucharist. 

The retreat will firstly explore ways of understanding the Real Presence, how the bread and wine are totally converted into the Body and Blood of Christ, gaining insights from the Church Fathers and medieval theologians like St Thomas Aquinas.

With St Irenaeus, the Doctor of Unity, consideration will be given to the seeking of fuller unity in the Church, through the relation between the communion of the Church and the communion of the Eucharist.

The retreat will also examine the meaning of liturgical texts and gestures, such as the office of Corpus Christi and the elevation of the Chalice.

Finally, the pastoral application of this theology and spirituality will be explored, such as the encouraging of frequent reception of Holy Communion with the proper preparation and dispositions.

Extend your retreat with a further 24 hours of private recollection or time out with the option to arrive on Thursday evening.

  • The retreat is offered specifically for permanent deacons, married or unmarried
  • Deacons’ wives are welcome to attend and participate
  • The retreat will be preached, with opportunities for confession.
  • The retreat will maintain silent recollection during the day, with time for sharing and social amongst participants in the evening
  • The retreat timetable will include daily Mass, a Holy Hour and Compline.
  • Single and twin rooms are available on a first come, first served basis
  • Option to arrive on Thursday for an extra 24 hours of private recollection

Fr Matthew Jarvis is Prior of St Dominic’s Priory (the Rosary Shrine) in north London. He also serves as Provincial Secretary for the Dominican friars in Britain and as a member of the Order’s international liturgical commission. His intellectual interests include theology and church history, especially of the Patristic and medieval periods. He is presently researching the medieval and modern practice of Dominican chant for a part-time DPhil at Oxford University.

Theodore House offers a wonderful venue for any retreat. The tranquil and beautiful surroundings of the Stonyhurst estate offer a peaceful setting and endless opportunities for walks.

All accommodation is en-suite, with comfortable facilities and a beautifully lanscaped garden.

For more information about Theodore House, please click here.

For those arriving on Thursday, check in is available from 3pm onwards.

Arrivals are welcome on the Friday from 3pm for a 6pm start.

Departures on Sunday are from 3pm.

Cost:

Retreat only

Single room: £240 per person*

Twin room: £350 per couple*

*includes full board from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch

Thursday + Retreat

Single room: £340 per person*

Twin room: £490 per couple*

*includes full board from Thursday dinner to Sunday lunch

Please register below (includes £50-£60 deposit payment per person):
Venue & Getting to us:

If you are reliant on public transport, please consider traveling by train to Preston train station. From there, we aim to co-ordinate minicab shares or lifts amongst participants of any given event. If you require further advice or assistance, email us: [email protected]

Categories
Media Video

Year of Prayer

Friday 10th January 2025

2024 Year of Prayer podcasts

Categories
Events Retreats

The Martyr-Saints of the North-West

Weekend Retreat

The Martyr-Saints
of the North-West

12th - 14th September 2025

Exploring the lives of the region's Reformation saints

A weekend’s reflection on the Catholic legacy of the Salford area, led by Mgr John Allen, Diocese of Salford

Part-retreat, part-biographical study, the aim of this weekend is to draw closer to the saintly martyrs and confessors of the region from the Reformation era.

The North-West was a hotbed of Catholic recusancy during the Protestant Reformation, with a remarkable number of priests and lay men and women being prepared to pay the ultimate price for confessing their faith in Christ’s Church. Amongst these were such figures as St John Southworth, who grew up at the nearby Salmesbury Hall, was executed at Tyburn, London in 1654, and is named as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

The retreat will offer a historical and biographical examination of some of the leading confessors of the Catholic faith, as well as a spiritual reflection on their lives and on the cost of witnessing to the faith today.

Mgr John Allen has recently published “A Popular History of the Salford Diocese”, with a foreword by Eamon Duffy, and is eminently equipped to offer a closer study of the lives of the area’s Catholic life.

This retreat will offer several talks over the weekend, framed by opportunities for Mass, communal prayer in the morning and evening, and Adoration.

Free time for walks and reflection is built into each retreat.

Born and brought up in Greater Manchester, Mgr John Allen trained for the priesthood at the Venerable English College, studying at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He served as archivist at the Venerabile and trained in the Scuola Vaticana di Paleografia e Diplomatica at the Vatican Archives. Present in St Peter’s at the opening of the Second Vatican Council on 11 October 1962, he was ordained priest that same month. He has served in the diocese of Salford as curate and parish priest and for eighteen years was secretary to Bishop Thomas Holland. Pope St Paul VI appointed him a papal chaplain in 1977. In 1982 Pope St John Paul II named him a prelate of honour. Elected to the Old Brotherhood of the English Secular Clergy in 1999, he has been president since 2014. Publications include The English Hospice in Rome (ed.), The International Eucharistic Congresses: A Spiritual Odyssey 1881-2016, Palazzola 1920-2020, A Popular History of the Salford Diocese and Pilgrims of Hope: Out and About in the Salford Diocese.

Theodore House offers a wonderful venue for any residential course. The tranquil and beautiful surroundings of the Stonyhurst estate offer a peaceful setting with endless opportunities for walks. Guests will enjoy the comfortable recreational spaces and a beautifully lanscaped garden.

For more information about Theodore House, please click here.

  • Arrivals from 3pm for a 6pm start on Friday
  • Departures from 3pm on Sunday
Cost (per retreat)

Single room: £230 p.p.*

Twin room (sharing): £175 p.p.*

Non-residential (includes lunches and dinners): £115

*Costs include full board from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch inclusive.

“Very informative and thought-provoking”

“This was an amazing experience, great speaker, comfortable venue.”

Please register below (includes £50p.p. deposit payment):

Venue & Getting to us:

If you are reliant on public transport, please consider traveling by train to Preston train station. From there, we aim to co-ordinate minicab shares or lifts amongst participants of any given event. If you require further advice or assistance, email us: [email protected]

Categories
Blog Media

Pope Francis

10 December 2024

Pope Francis | The Year of Prayer

By Joey Belleza, PhD (Cantab.)
We end our series of reflections on the Year of Prayer where it began—with Pope Francis. We hope that these reflections have been helpful to you, your friends, and your family. The Holy Father convoked this Year of Prayer so that we might more readily enter the joyous festivity of the Jubilee Year 2025 with renewed vigour in our Christian faith, and we hope that our brief look at prayer through the eyes of the saints and the liturgy might help our listeners prepare for the great Jubilee. To close this Year of Prayer, then, perhaps let us allow Pope Francis to speak to us. Prayer is important for all the reasons we have covered this year, but perhaps an underrated reason for prayer is that Christ himself—God made flesh—also prayed! In the Gospels, the Pope tells us,
we learn that Jesus not only wants us to pray as he prays, but assures us that, even if our attempts at prayer are completely vain and ineffective, we can always count on his prayer. We must be aware of this: Jesus prays for me. Once, a good bishop told me that in a very bad moment in his life, a great trial, a moment of darkness, he looked up in the Basilica and saw this phrase written: “I, Peter, will pray for you”. And this gave him strength and comfort. And this happens every time that each of us knows that Jesus prays for him or for her. Jesus prays for us. In this moment, in this very moment. Do this memory exercise, repeat this. When there is a difficulty, when you feel the orbital pull of distractions: Jesus is praying for me. But, father, is this true? It is true! He said it himself. Let us not forget that what sustains each of us in life is Jesus’ prayer for every one of us, with our first and last name, before the Father, showing him the wounds that are the price of our salvation.
May our prayers become one with Christ’s prayer that we might be one with him.