Fr Bill Mcloughlin OSM, Hon. General Secretary, writes:

The Hon Gen Secretary was presented to Pope Benedict XVI at the Papal Audience held at Castel Gandolfo on 8th Sept for the delegates of the Pontifical Marian International Academy [PAMI] Congress and conveyed the greetings and good wishes of the ESBVM. This was a simple instance of the esteem in which the society still stands in that it was included in the presentation of significant groups engaged in Marian work. A full report of the PAMI Congress and ESBVM participation will appear in the next ESBVM Newsletter.

 The discussion continues in the society about its future direction of effort. The Hon Gen Secretary invites continuing contributions from members as to what they would like to see happening in the future and most importantly what part they feel able to play in the implementation of their ideas. It is not enough to suggest to the Hon Gen Sec or other officers of the ESBVM what they might do. They are probably already doing as much as they can already. Nor is it enough to lament the poor presence of certain traditions in the membership or offer the statistics that suggest an imbalance in this regard. Extension and invitation to new membership is down to each one of us. The May 2012 meeting of the ESBVM Executive drew together such strands of common mind and fresh initiative as was possible and made recommendations to the Council, which met on 13th June 2012, with a strong indication of the need to simplify governance of the society with a reduction of administrative meetings where it is possible to do without them. Perhaps the wisest words have come from one of our moderators at the June Council of last year: “Not to do too much / but really to pray / to lead to preaching and writing and devotion.” Clearly among some of the veterans there is a seeming weariness and a view surfaces periodically among them that the society has outlived its purpose, which is not always a helpful contribution and certainly not one shared by all. Perhaps new minds and contributors will bring a refreshed approach. The new Editor’s comment in the last May issue indicates an alternative viewpoint and suggests fresh interest in the exchange among, for example, with Evangelicals who are beginning to show interest anew in Our Lady, and for us to draw in this interest would be a valuable part of the purpose and task of the society.

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Please pray for the eternal happiness of The Reverend Dom Alberic Stacpoole, Monk of Ampleforth Abbey, who died on 30th September 2012 in the 82nd year of his age, the 53rd of his monastic life and the 43rd of priesthood.

Fr Bill McLoughlin OSM, Honorary General Secretary of ESBVM, had spoken by phone with The Abbot on Friday to offer prayers and good wishes to Fr Alberic and the Community from the ESBVM. ESBVM now offers to Fr Abbot and the Ampleforth Community deepest sympathy and also to all members of the ESBVM in our loss and prayer of thanks for one who always offered the society such powerful and wise support.

May Fr Alberic come to that full share in the Resurrection in the hope of which we all live and may he rest in Peace.

Provisional Funeral Arrangements
Fr Alberic’s funeral Mass will take place at Ampleforth Abbey on Thursday 11th October at 11.30am, followed by burial in the vault in the Monks’ Wood, and a buffet lunch at about 1.30pm in the Main Hall.

2012 AGM LECTURE:
‘Redemptoris Mater revisited’
[The Encyclical of Pope John Paul II published 25 years ago]

Fr Aidan Nichols OP
on Saturday 3rd March 2012 at 11.30am
at Allen Hall [St Edmund Room]
28 Beaufort Street Chelsea London SW3 5AA
[By kind permission of The Rector]

Free admission / All welcome

Please bring packed lunch for a lunch break from 12.45pm until 13.30.
Coffee and tea provided by ESBVM

The Annual General Meeting is at 13.45 until 15.15pm

Allen Hall is close to a number of tube stations
Sloane Square (25mins walk, or by bus 19, 319 or 22)
South Kensington (20mins walk, or by bus 345 or 49)
Gloucester Road (20mins walk, or by bus 49)
Earl’s Court (25mins walk, or by bus 328)
Victoria (by bus 11 or 170).

There are a large number of bus services very close to Allen Hall.
King’s Road – 11 and 22
Beaufort Street – 19, 319, 49 and 345
Chelsea World’s End – 328
Chelsea Embankment (Battersea Bridge) – 170.

Further information from Hon General Secretary / e-mail: gensec@esbvm.org.uk

ESBVM learns with sadness of the death earlier today of Joe Farrelly K.C.S.G., longtime and dedicated member of the Society, its Council and Executive. May his soul rest in peace and may Our Lady pray for him.

The funeral is to be at St Elphege [Joe’s parish church], 120 Stafford Road, Wallington, Surrey SM6 9AY. Tel/Fax: 020 8647 5079 on September 22nd 2011 at 10.00am.

The next meeting of the ESBVM Executive will take place on Thursday 15th Sept at St.Vincent’s Carlisle Place: 12 noon [lunch] 13.00-15.00 [business].

Members of the Executive are asked to notify the General Secretary of their ability to attend.

Canon Nick Sagovsky and Father Bill Mcloughlin OSM
 

Canon Nick Sagovsky, Sr Marie Farrell (from Sydney) and Father Bill Mcloughlin OSM
 

Canon Nick Sagovsky, Sr Marie Farrell (from Sydney) and Father Bill Mcloughlin OSM
 

Saturday 26th March 2011 at 11.30am

at St Vincent’s Centre, Carlisle Place, Victoria, London, SW1P 1NL
(close to Westminster Cathedral)
[By kind permission of The Sisters of Charity]

At 11.00am The ESBVM AGM Business will be held
in anticipation of the ESBVM AGM Lecture.

Free admission / All welcome

Further information from Hon General Secretary

gensec@esbvm.org.uk

The AGM will precede the liturgical celebration at 14.00
of the 950^th Jubilee of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham
to be held in Westminster Cathedral.

Because of the transport difficulties caused by heavy snow across England in the past 24 hours, the meeting of the Council of ESBVM which was to have taken place tomorrow, January 7th, at the University Catholic Chaplaincy at Oxford has been postponed to Thursday February 18th. It will take place at Oxford and replaces the meeting of the Executive that was to have taken place on that day in London.

The lunch at Christ Church College which was to have preceded tomorrow’s meeting is also postponed to February 18th. Please could members of the Council inform Fr Bill Mcloughlin at their earliest convenience whether they will be able to attend the rescheduled meeting, whether they will be attending lunch at Christ Church Colllege and whether they will need a parking space at the college.

The Executive of the ESBVM notes the publication on November 9th 2009 of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus which provides a means by which groups of Anglicans may enter into the communion of the Catholic Church while preserving those aspects of the Anglican tradition that are compatible with the teaching of the Catholic Church. In respecting the conscience of those who freely wish to take up this offer of the Holy See the ESBVM remains committed to the wider unity that all Christians involved in the ecumenical movement continue to seek. The Executive will place this matter for further discussion on the agenda of the January 2010 meeting of the ESBVM Council.

ESBVM does not comment upon the internal life of particular churches and ecclesial communities, and notes that this Apostolic Constitution is similarly published not as a commentary on difficulties within the Anglican Communion in recent times but as a pastoral response by the Holy See to requests from bishops and groups of the Anglican tradition over a number of years.

Conscious that the Anglican tradition originated in England, known across the centuries as ‘Our Lady’s Dowry’, it is the sincere prayer of ESBVM that under the patronage of Our Lady, and building upon the work of many, including the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission for Unity & Mission (IARCCUM), the response by groups of Anglicans to Anglicanorum coetibus will make a significant contribution to the reconciliation of all Christians in one flock with one shepherd, that ‘they may all be one’.