Monday 12 November 2012

Fr Timothy Radcliffe Coming to Brighton

The word on the street is that Dominican priest and long-term unofficial chaplain to The Tablet, Fr Timothy Radcliffe, will be in Brighton on Saturday 24th November, between 9.30am and 3pm at St Peter's Anglican Church.

The event, 'From Sunrise to Sunset', will  see Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, alongside Fr Richard Ounsworth OP, talking on how to make time holy through the Liturgy of the Hours.

The day will explore the ancient prayer known as the Liturgy of the Hours of the Divine Office, in which psalms and short readings are prayed at moments throughout the day, sanctifying time by bringing minds, hearts and all life's activities back to God in prayer and praise.

The conference is part of Into Silence - an ecumenical project exploring prayer and the spiritual life - in association with the Diocesan Jubilee for the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. Those interested are asked to bring lunch - no booking is necessary - and to bring friends.

I'm a little disappointed this event is not taking place in a Catholic Church. Surely, before we go about inviting Anglicans to pray the Divine Office with us in a spirit of ecumenism, we ought to be a little familiar with it ourselves, no? At this time, when the Catholic identity is so weak, it seems strange to turn what could be an good opportunity to build up Catholic identity and to form Catholics into men and women of prayer, into an 'ecumenical event'.

Why are we getting to this stage where every Catholic event turns into an Anglican event?

Anyway, I'm sure I'm just being overly negative and grumpy.

If I am able to, I might go check it out. Hey, maybe I could interview him for this blog?

6 comments:

georgem said...

I believe he supports the Soho Masses. So there's a question to ask: Why?

Richard Collins said...

I suppose we should be grateful that it's not being held in the local Hindu Temple.

BJC said...

Wooly, confused, still thinks its 1968. Fr Timothy Radcliffe epitomises everything that went wrong with the Church in the post-Vatican II world. I can never figure out how people like him got it into their heads they should be priests. In another era they wouldn't have bothered to fill in the application form because they knew they would have no chance. In many ways that summarises the problem.

Tim said...

You'd be better off staying home and saying the Little Office.

Patricia Phillips said...

Yes, definitely stay away Bones. He actually celebrates Mass for the Soho Masses Pastoral Council on an occasional basis. He has also publicly stated in one of his books, and made the same quotes in The Tablet (I have the article at home) that he 'doesn't know' if the Church should ordain women, he 'doesn't know' if the Church should stick to its general teachings on sexual morality, and he 'doesn't know' if homosexual people should remain celibate. For someone who 'doesn't know' an awful lot he is a prolific writer and speaker. Catholic World Report ran an excellent article on him once, exposing his modus operandi. I can snail mail you a copy if you like.

P Standforth said...

I've not met Fr Radcliffe for a long while, but I was a student when he was a chaplain in West London, and I owe my continuing Catholicism in no small part to his time there. (My liturgical preferences lie more towards polyphony than cacophony, so I'm no liberal either!).

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