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Over its history, the ESBVM has published a large number of pamphlets by respected theologians of the traditions that make up its membership. These are now being made available as a free-to-access online archive as downloadable PDF files and using the YUDU magazine publishing facility.

Recent additions to the archive include:

Fire and Spirit in Her Womb: Mary in the Poetry of St Ephrem, Jill Pinnock (Read online | Download as a PDF) (2003)
Concerning Recent Marian Apparitions, Jacques Cabaud (Read online | Download as a PDF) (2002)
The Betrothal and Marriage of Mary to Joseph, Bernard Orchard (Read online | Download as a PDF) (2001)
ARCIC I and II: An Anglican Perspective, Christopher Hill (Read online | Download as a PDF) (1998)
Rest and Light Perpetual: Prayer for the Departed in the Communion of Saints, David Chapman (Read online | Download as a PDF) (1996)

This is only a small selection and the full list can be seen on our Publications page. If the pamphlet you want is not yet available online, email the publications secretary and that title will be prioritized.

On Friday February 22nd 2013 at 6.00pm, the Ecumenical Office of the Ecumenical Society of the
Blessed Virgin Mary will be sung at Pusey House, St Giles, Oxford by the Choir of Pusey House.

The preacher will be The Very Reverend Stephen Platt, Rector of the Russian Orthodox Parish of St Nicholas, Oxford.

All are welcome.

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There was a good presence of ESBVM members and other ecumenical guests at the celebration in Spanish Place of Solemn Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary & Hymn of the Annunciation of the Mother of God to mark forty years of Common Statements between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches and to pray for Unity on the feast of St Nicholas on 6th December 2012 .  We know ESBVM members would not  feel misled in the promotion of the occasion in our recent ESBVM Newsletter and on our website and will be very content to know that if Our Lady is duly and ecumenically honoured, that fulfils the task and purpose of ESBVM. New friends were made and outreach was achieved.

The original request was for  the possibility of using the Ecumenical Office of the Society to better promote attendance and an invitation to make it a joint occasion with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Coptic Orthodox Church to which the Ecumenical Society of the BVM readily agreed. In the event that use of the ESBVM Office did not happen.

Despite that change, ESBVM had its best publicity of the year for its 45th Anniversary of Foundation outside our own vehicles of news since it featured, prior to the change, on http://beta.rcdow.org.uk/events/ and so ESBVM’s anniversary was noted and some coverage of our existence and purpose secured. The Hon Gen Secretary is not aware of other publicity about the ESBVM’s jubilee but members are urged to let us know of any that they have noticed.

A notable and much appreciated sermon was given by His Grace Archbishop Kevin McDonald,  Archbishop Emeritus of Southwark and Catholic Co-Chairman of the Catholic-Oriental Orthodox Regional Forum with a response by His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom & Oriental Orthodox Co-Chairman of the Catholic-Oriental Orthodox Regional Forum, together with the presence of HG Bishop Vahan Hovhannesian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Great Britain, President of the Council of Oriental Orthodox Churches and HE Abba Seraphim, Metropolitan of Glastonbury, the British Orthodox Church. Archbishop Kevin conveyed his good wishes and congratulations to the ESBVM on its anniversary. He was a speaker at one of our earlier international congresses. Bishop Angaelos, one of our patrons, also wished to have his good wishes conveyed.

The Catholic- Oriental Orthodox Regional Forum expressed thanks to Father Christopher Colven, Rector of the Church of St James, Spanish Place  and a member of ESBVM for his welcome and for the hospitality of the Catholic Church of St James, Spanish Place, London W1 in hosting this Celebration of Vespers to mark more than forty years of theological dialogue towards unity between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

The Choir of St James’ Catholic Church, Spanish Place and the Choir of St Gregorios’ Indian Orthodox Church, Brockley supported the occasion beautifully  and  Pontifical Blessing was given by His Grace Bishop Vahan.

The respective websites of the two sponsoring bodies are given here for those not aware of them www.cbcew.org.uk  and www.orientalcounciluk.org

The kind footnote mention of the ESBVM [in the Order of Service actually used] expressing a greeting  to the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary which read:

We congratulate the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which marks its Forty-Fifth Anniversary in 2012, and we warmly acknowledge its support in making this Ecumenical Vespers the concluding event in their year of celebrations.www.esbvm.org.uk 

was deeply appreciated by the society and has been duly acknowledged, though in fact our anniversary year has a little longer to run concluding in the WOPFCU in January 2013.

The ESBVM web site is now linked to both Facebook and Twitter. Posts on the ESBVM web site are now Tweeted with a URL link and appear as posts on ESBVM’s Facebook page. If you are signed up to Twitter and follow ESBVM, you will receive a Tweet each time a new post appears here, and can reTweet it to a wider audience. If you are on Facebook, and press the Like ESBVM button, a summary of each post will appear in your newsfeed and can be ‘Liked’ to a wider audience.

Please ‘Like’ ESBVM on  here. If you do not have a Facebook account, sign up here.

Please follow ESBVM on Twitter here: Follow @esbvm. If you do not have a Twitter account, sign up here.

Fr Robert Byrne CO National Ecumenical Officer and Secretary to the Department for Dialogue and Unity at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has written to the Hon Gen Sec to arrange a celebration of ecumenical Vespers proposed by the Department of Dialogue and Unity and intended to be held with the Oriental Orthodox Communities.

The Vespers will take place during Advent on 6th Dec at 7.00pm at St James’s Spanish Place. Fr Christopher Colven, Parish Priest of St James’s who is a member of ESBVM, has generously offered the use of the church and choir.

Clearly, it is felt the event will be very valuable as a joint event of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Coptic Orthodox Church. Bishop Vahan Hovhanessian, President of the Council of Oriental Orthodox Churches in the UK, and Armenian Primate, is planning to attend as is Metropolitan Seraphim of the British Orthodox Church. Bishop Angaelos may attend and perhaps other Orthodox bishops. Archbishop Kevin McDonald emeritus Archbishop of Southwark is to attend.

It would be a great opportunity and moment to contribute as the ESBVM and an occasion at which the purpose and even existence of the ESBVM might become better known in the remaining weeks of the 45th Anniversary Year.

Members able to be present are urged to attend.

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Mr Peter McQuirk, one-time founder of our ESBVM Rome Branch, died last Wednesday, 24th October 2012 at St. Peter’s Residential home in at 2a Meadow Road, VAUXHALL, London SW8 1QH where the funeral will be take place on Friday 2nd November at 11 am. May he rest in peace.

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.

On September 8th, at the Papal Audience at Castel Gandolfo, Fr Bill OSM was able to greet the Pope on behalf of all members and patrons of ESBVM. Fr Bill was in Rome to attend the Pontifical Academy International Marian Congress PAMI 2012.

The U.S. branch of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary will hold its next semi-annual meeting on Saturday, June 16, at Holy Cross Antiochian Orthodox Church, in Linthicum, Maryland. The meeting will begin with coffee and registration at 9 AM and continue until noon. Lunch will be available for a small donation, to be followed by a business meeting of the society. The meeting is open to all (no registration fee) and all are invited to attend the business meeting.

The meeting will open with a short ecumenical prayer and feature three presentations. First, Bruce Lawrence, who is completing his M.A. in theology at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, will speak on the Formula of Reunion, a short creedal statement that helped to reunite the Church in 433 AD after a brief schism following the Council of Ephesus. This was the period when the Church officially acknowledged Mary as the Godbearer (Theotokos) and Marian devotion began to develop. Bruce is a member of the Holy Cross Antiochain Orthodox Church where the meeting will be held.

Then, the Rev. Warren Tanghe, Associate Pastor at the Church of the Resurrection, Ellicott City, Maryland, will speak on “Preaching Mary.” Fr. Tanghe has had a long association with the ESVBM, and can share information on the purpose and founding of the Society to those who are interested.

Finally, ESBVM USA president Virginia Kimball will speak on the work of the Rev. Dr. Donald Lacy, his books, and his overall contribution to the ESBVM. The recently departed Dr. Lacy was a United Methodist minister in Indiana who had long been active in ecumenical activities and the promotion of devotion to Mary – a real embodiment of the goals of the ESBVM.

The meeting will have a strong Society of Mary flavor. The Society of Mary is one of several Catholic devotional societies within the Anglican tradition, honoring her whom God has honored, the Virgin Mother of His incarnate Son, Jesus; thus bearing witness to His holy incarnation. (From the website: Society of Mary, American Region) http://somamerica.org/.” Both Dr. Lawrence and Fr. Tanghe are members of the council of the Society of Mary, and Dr. Lacy was a long-time member of the Society of Mary.

Holy Cross Antiochian Orthodox Church is located at 105 North Camp Meade Road, Linthicum, Maryland, just minutes from the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. More information on the church can be found at http://www.holycrossonline.org/ . Also, more information on the ESBVM and updated information on this meeting may be found at http://www.esbvm.org .

The newly published ESBVM USA book, Mary for the Love and Glory of God, will be available at this meeting. The cost is $25 and $10 for members. Plan to pick up a few copies for yourself and friends, or for your church or educational institution.