ESBVM

Once again, the Canterbury Branch has been busy with four meetings in the autumn. At the first, on Sept 17, Dr Mark Bateson, Senior Archivist to Canterbury Cathedral, gave a talk about the archives. These are particularly rich for the medieval period and we were shown signatures of such famous people as Archbishop Lanfranc and William the Conqueror and his queen.

The second talk was on the importance of ecumenism in today’s world by Mr. David Heap on October 1. He explained the origin of the word in the Greek oikoumene, meaning the whole inhabited world. He went on to explain some differences between the Catholic view of ecumenism, aiming at one visible church in union with the present Catholic Church and some Protestant views, aiming at spiritual unity. He talked about the German Lutheran theologian, Edmund Schlink who considered common focus on Christ as the key. He also talked about relations with other religions.

The meeting ended with a vigorous discussion.

On 29 October, Fr. Tony Cassidy, who is well known for his profound expositions of Scripture, talked to us about women in the early Church. He said that women were not always mentioned as being present at important events in Our Lord’s life, but that did not mean they were necessarily absent. They are not mentioned at the Last Supper, but as Passover was essentially a family celebration, then women and children would have been present at it as they still are today. After his talk, Fr. Tony tried to answer the questions posed by his appreciative audience.

Finally, on 3 December, Miss Barbara Markham gave a meditation on Isaiah’s prediction of the birth of Jesus. She used the medium of music to illustrate each prophecy, making particular use of relevant parts of Handel’s Messiah but also including some Latin plainchant and Hebrew hymns. Barbara ended her recital with a prophecy for Zephanaiah which directly refers to Our Lady’s role in the Incarnation. This was ‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, they King cometh unto thee. He is the righteous Saviour and he shall speak peace unto the heathen’. The meeting closed with tea and mince pies.

Our plans for the near future include.

Monday March 17th – 1pm in the Upper Room of St Thomas’ Church, Mr David Heap will talk about ‘Crusading for Mary, the mother of Jesus’.

The London Branch continues to meet monthly at St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge, on the first Wednesday of each month. Often, we study a chapter from the gospels, but sometimes we have a talk or join the church in their liturgy. We are grateful for the kind hospitality of the parish priest, Fr Warner. Why not visit us sometime? The meetings begin at 11.30 am and include an act of devotion to the Blessed Virgin and a shared packed lunch and discussion.