Faith Matters, Lent 2010 - the Year of the Priest

Faith Matters - the Catholic lecture series - returns on Tuesday evenings in Lent at Westminster Cathedral, taking the priesthood as its theme.

Launching this special year of reflection on the call to the priesthood, Pope Benedict invited us to give thanks for "the immense gift which priests represent, not only for the Church, but also for humanity itself". "This series of lectures aims to explore this gift from various angles, reflecting on how the priestly vocation continues to be lived out fruitfully in the Church and at the heart of our world," says Father Dominic Robinson SJ from the Mount Street Jesuit Centre. Faith Matters is a collaborative project of the Centre and the Agency for Evangelisation. "We hope that through the participation of many from parishes around the Westminster Archdiocese and of our young people we can help nourish the life of our parish communities and foster priestly vocations.  On each evening there will also be a guest facilitator who will make a response to the lecture and raise points leading into questions from the audience.  Following each lecture, there will also be an online discussion forum on the diocesan website," adds Fr Robinson.

The first lecture - The Priest: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - will be delivered by Fr Aidan Nichols OP, on Tuesday 23 February, with Sr Louise Mullan OP acting as facilitator.  Fr Nichols will focus on the history of the development of our understanding of priesthood in its classical Western form since the 16th century.  From this he will consider the difficulties encountered in the period following the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and offer some prescriptions for the future.

In the second lecture on 2 March, Dr Clare Watkins, Catholic theologian, wife and mother of four, will take up the important theme of the contemporary Church's call to explore the nature of the ordained priestly ministry through the perspective of the universal call to holiness and mission . "In a culture where 'difference' and 'order' are overwhelmingly understood in terms of inequality and power relation", says Dr Watkins, "we revisit an understanding of Christ's mission which is able to speak of the variety of calls in terms of a single and mutual service".  Her lecture is entitled The Priest & the Universal Baptismal Call and will be facilitated by Mgr Mark O'Toole.

On Tuesday, 9 March, the lecture The Call to Priesthood in a global city will be given by Fr Andrzej Forys MS who will share what he has learned about his ministry and the people he serves as a priest working away from home.  He will address the topic from the perspective of some 12 years working in the Polish Catholic Community in Essex, and will reflect on the call to priesthood lived out in a city whose Catholic population is more and more international.  He will consider in particular his experience of three core aspects of priestly identity - teacher of the Gospel, minister of the Sacraments, and leader of the community and will draw inspiration from the recent document of the Roman Congregation for the Clergy 'The Priest and the Third Millennium'.  The facilitator will be Patsy Cummings.

Finally, Archbishop Vincent Nichols will conclude the 2010 series of Faith Matters by considering The Priest as Witness. "Much of the life of the priest is centred on his public ministry, spoken of in terms of a ministry of preaching the Word of God, a ministry of celebrating the Sacraments and a ministry of the pastoral care of the people in his care," says Archbishop Nichols. "These are the ministerial tasks he fulfils 'in the person of Christ the Head'.  Yet the life of the priest is, in itself, a gift given to the Lord and, in every detail, can be a witness to the power of grace.  Everything about the priest, then, can be a witness to Christ.  Of course we often fail, and quite spectacularly.  Yet this is our ambition and our calling."

These lectures are open to all but entry will be by ticket only through the Agency for Evangelisation.  For more information please contact Ausra Karaliute on 020-7931-6078; or e-mail faithmatters@rcdow.org.uk


 Mount Street Jesuit Centre

 Agency for Evangelisation