Recordings of the online colloquium celebrating St Newman’s 10th anniversary of beatification and 1st anniversary of canonisation.
***The recordings are made available freely with the request for a donation to support our costs.***
Please donate here:
***The talks are made available freely with the request for a donation to support our costs.***
Please donate here:
The fourth talk of Saints, Scholars and Spiritual Masters will explore the spirituality of one of the Church’s greatest theologians: Thomas Aquinas. Known for his unique and massive synthesis of Catholic theology, Aquinas earned the title of “The Angelic Doctor” not just for his great learning, but for the wisdom and light he brought to the Church’s thinking. In this talk, Fr Richard Conrad, O.P. will focus particularly on the themes of being, freedom and friendship. As the greatest of God’s gifts, they are fundamental to this great saint’s spirituality.
Richard Conrad studied chemistry at Cambridge, and after his doctorate joined the Dominican Friars. He has served as Prior in Cambridge and Leicester, and for 8 years was Novice Master of the Province. He taught dogmatic theology at Maryvale Institute part-time from 1992 to 2016, and from 2007 has been resident at Blackfriars, Oxford, where he teaches dogmatic theology and the thought of Thomas Aquinas, and is currently Director of the Aquinas Institute.
***The talks are made available freely with the request for a donation to support our costs.***
Please donate here:
The third talk of Saints, Scholars and Spiritual Masters explores the spirituality of the latest English person to be canonised: John Henry Newman. Known for his great intellect and his conversion from Protestantism to the Catholic Faith, Newman’s journey was powered by his grasping of the realism and certainty of God’s presence. At the heart of this journey was his conscience, drawing him “out of the shadows into truth”. This talk will focus on Newman’s ‘realism’ and his conversions.
Tutorial Fellow in Latin Language and Literature at Corpus Christi College Oxford. He came to St Andrews in 2016 after research fellowships at Magdalen College, Oxford and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He worked as an assistant editor for the Oxford Dictionary of Medieval Latin, and has published especially on Latin language and literature, philosophy of language, and the theory of fiction, ancient and modern, including above all Tolkien’s views on the ‘mystery of literary creation’. He is an Associate of the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Art in St Andrews and the Tolkien Editor of the Journal of the Inklings Studies. He is a member of the RSE Young Academy Scotland, the Young Academy of Europe, and a collaborator of the Meeting of Rimini, for which he has curated exhibitions on John Henry Newman (2011, 2014), Oscar Wilde (2015) and JRR Tolkien (2021).
***The talks are made available freely with the request for a donation to support our costs.***
Please donate here:
The second talk in the series explores the life and spirituality of Therese of Lisieux. Perhaps one of the most beloved saints of Western Europe, Therese died at the age of only 24 after a long struggle with tuberculosis. She had spent 9 years as a Carmelite nun, fighting to be allowed to enter the convent at the age of 15. Her hidden and simple, yet whole-hearted life of prayer was repaid with a special grace of intimacy with God. Her vocation to love in her very ordinary struggles and simple life instantly made her an immensely popular and accessible saint. Canonised only 28 years after her death, her “Story of a Soul” has been read by and inspired countless people all over the world.
Canon John Udris is Spiritual Director at St Mary’s College, Oscott, Birmingham. He has a Licence in Spirituality from the Dominican University in Rome. He is the author of two books on St Therese: ‘Holy Daring’ and ‘The Gift of St Therese of Lisieux.’
***The talks are made available freely with the request for a donation to support our costs.***
Please donate here:
The first talk in our online series, Saints, Scholars and Spiritual Masters, explores the life and spirituality of St Ignatius of Loyola. Founder of the Society of Jesus, St Ignatius is perhaps one of the most attractive and enigmatic of the Western Saints. A mercenary and a romantic, he was wounded in battle and spent time recuperating in hospital. He famously converted when forced to read the Gospels and the Lives of the Saints out of boredom. The ensuing time he spent in solitude, seeking the real meaning to his life, provided the basis for his Spiritual Exercises. These remain hugely relevant, immensely popular and religiously followed centuries later.
Fr Dominic Robinson, SJ is currently Parish Priest of Farm Street in central London. Farm Street Church, and the adjoining London Jesuit Centre, is a vibrant city centre ministry of the Jesuits, aiming to extend welcome and hospitality to many different groups. Fr Dominic is also UK director of Landings, the programme for returning Catholics, teaches Theology at St Mary’s University, is Chair of Justice & Peace in the Diocese of Westminster and Ecclesiastical Assistant to the charity Aid to the Church in Need.
