Saturday, January 16, 2010

Maryvale

I'm just back from a trip to a very snowy Maryvale Institute in Birmingham, where I attended an Exam Board as an External Examiner for their degree in Philosophy and the Catholic Tradition, which is validated by the Open University.

While I was there, Fr Michael Cullinan said a Traditional Low Mass in the chapel, which I was privileged to serve. This chapel, and the altar where Fr Cullinan said Mass, was the first place J.H. Newman said Mass on returning to England, after being ordained in Rome.

Fr Cullinan gave a talk at the LMS Priest Training Conference in London Colney. As well as serving the Traditional Mass community in St James' Spanish Place, he is the Director of Theology at Maryvale.

This is my second year as an External Examiner for Maryvale, and I enjoy my visits very much, both for the interest of the work and the good company of the staff and the delightful Bridgettine Sisters who look after the place.

Maryvale provides a in valuable and unique service with its distance-learning courses in teacher training, Theology and Philosophy, which are taken by students all over the UK, Ireland, and even Africa. Many of the students are priests and seminarians; many others are teachers in Catholic schools. For most of these students, a distance learning course is the only option, and Maryvale now has considerable expertise in providing such courses, which are validated by a number of external institutions. May Maryvale continue to flourish!

1 comment:

  1. Jackie Parkes4:24 am

    Amen to that! My brother works there.

    ReplyDelete