CAMBRIDGE VISITORS Contd. some pictures

A barbeque in the convent garden with other invited friends.

And a visit to Ely



Ely dancers














Ely picnic

KEELE UNIVERSITY CATHOLIC CHAPLAINCY SUMMER RETREAT AT

BARMOUTH, MID-WALES




Barmouth is an idyllic spot on the mid-Wales coast, facing Cardigan Bay and with Snowdonia behind it. The Jesuits own a centre there for visiting groups.

This was not a silent retreat in the traditional sense. This retreat was centred on the Mass daily, but also on faith-based study/discussion, using the teaching of St Thomas Aquinas. St Thomas was a saint and Doctor of the Church (for his spiritual wisdom) of the thirteenth century. Out of date? Not at all! His teaching is astonishingly relevant and useful to people today, young and old, who seek to know and understand better God and the things of God.
The study sessions were led by Sister Valery O.P and the discussions were lively and interesting, participated in by everyone present and on occasion gently guided by Fr Fabian Radcliffe O.P. the chaplain of the retreat. There were two study sessions each day.

The afternoons were spent variously. Fr Fabian and Sister Bernadeta O.P (a Czech Dominican sister currently staying at Cambridge to study English and companion to Sr Valery) took themselves off to the mountains - even attempting Cader Idris!

Everyone else preferred to visit the small town of Barmouth (on the first afternoon) and HarlechCastle and Shell island (on the second afternoon).



On Shell Island ! Dominicans by the sea

SUMMER INITIATIVE 2009

England is enjoying a "European Invasion" of Dominican sisters this summer! As a result of the work of the organization "Dominican Sisters International", Dominican sisters from several European countries are visiting England for the month of July in order to improve their English - and at the same time to consolidate good relations,
friendship, with the Dominican sisters of England.

Above you see the four sisters staying with our Conregation at our convent in Cambridge (see below). The sisters are from Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. They will be introduced one by one.
















The Convent of St catherine of Siena, Cambridge


The Czech republic

I am Sr Maria Kasparova. I am a junior sister in the Czech congregation of Dominican sisters. I am 28 and I am an art teacher. I teach in our secondary school - only girls. I enjoy handwork.
I have come to England because I want to learn English well.

Trinity School, Leamington Spa,
Vocation day

On thursady July 25 Sister Valery, of the Cambridge community, joined members of other religious congregations at Trinity School, Leamington Spa, for a day on Vocation and its meaning, for the 14 year-olds.

Each member of the group spoke to the seven groups of young people, each approaching the subject in their own particular way.

Sr Valery spoke about her own call from Our Lord to be a Dominican sister of the English Congregation. She gave a power-point presentation on that subject.

The day went happily and seemed well received by the students. Only time will show whether the talks and pictures have inspired any of those who listened and saw to wish to dedicate their own lives to God and the service of the Gospel.
Members of the team




Sr Valery at study - a page from the power-point

Account of the Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Stone Saturday May 30th

The Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary were celebrated on Saturday June 30th at St Dominic's Convent, Stone, by 150 pilgrims who came from as far afield as Warrington and Burton-on-Trent and included babies in buggies as well as residents of St Mary's residential home for the elderly.


The day began with an excellent talk, well researched and inspiring, on the history of the Rosary, given by Sr Mary Pauline Burling, the Prioress General of this Congregation.

The talk was followed by tours of the convent, church and chapel of Blessed Dominic Barberi, led by Srs M Henry, Cecily and Valery. In the convent library was a display of vestments, hand-embroidered by sisters of the community in the nineteenth century, as well as a portion of the hairshirt once worn by St Thomas More, and a baton used by Sir Edward Elgar, the composer, whose sister joined the Stroud congregation (see "Who We Are"). Blessed Dominic barberi was the Passionist priest, a missionary to England, who received John Henry Newman into the Catholic Church; as a consequence, Newman several times visited Dominic at Stone, attended Mass there and later preached the first sermon in the big church built by Mother Margaret Hallahan. Mother Margaret's grave could be seen in the sisters' choir (or chapel).

The Rosary procession to Our Lady of Stone began at 2.30 and was led off by two acolytes carrying silver processional lamps (given to the Dominican community by Cardinal Newman) and a trumpet solo, played by Br Robert Verrill, a student brother from the Dominican Priory in Oxford. Fr Leon Pereira O.P, Prior of Holy Cross Priory in Leicester was the celebrant, both at the procession and at the Vigil Mass of Penetecost which followed. Rosary banners (again, hand-embroidered by sisters in the eighteenth century) of the five Glorious Mysteries had been set up at "stations" round the convent grounds. The procession moved from station to station singing hymns to Our Lady. At each station a group of students, either from Oxford, Cambridge or Kings in London, provided a meditation and music and led the appropriate decade of the Rosary.


At the shrine itself there was the ceremony of the crowning of Our Lady and the Holy Child by Rhiannon Brown, aged 11, and Callum Plews, aged 9, both parishioners and pupils of local Catholic schools. Sr Anna Mary read a short meditation on Our Lady's glory and we sang the Salve Regina.

The pilgrimage will be held again next year - probably again on the last saturday in May. Watch this spot for future announcements!

Parish Mission Sherborne Dorset Lent 2009

At the invitation of the parish priest, Fr Rodney Schofield, a Dominican Preaching Team spent some days during Lent 2009 in the parish of the Sacred Heart and St Aldhelm, Sherborne, Dorset.

The team, Fr John Patrick Kenrick, Sr Anna mary House and Sr Valery Walker, based its evangelization programme on the text of Matthew 11:4-6: "Go and tell what you hear and see..." and on the celebration of the sacraments of the Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick and Reconciliation.

We were most hospitably received by the parishioners. In addition to the talks to groups and individuals, each day we shared Mass and afterwards a simple meal in the parish hall and had the opportunity to have wide-ranging discussions with those who wanted to come.