SCT Summer School: outings and evening activities

As well as lessons, we give the students a choice of afternoon activities, and we have a range of evening events, as well as one or two outings. This year we went to Arundel; we had Mass in the Cathedral, by kind permission of Bishop Kieran Conry, and had a look at the charming town.


Two years ago we had a guided tour of Arundel Castle and Mass in the private chapel there. This year I directed the students to the Anglican church of St Nicholas, whose original chancel is the Catholic Fitzalan Chapel, owned by the Dukes of Norfolk. The present altar of the church is in front of where the Rood Screen once went; you can see over and behind it, however, the grill separating the nave from the Fitzalan Chapel.


We had a couple of films during the course of the week: 'Going My Way', a sequel to the famous 'The Bells of St Mary's', and 'A Time for Miracles', a film about St Elizabeth Seton, the foundress of the Sisters of Charity, and the first American-born canonised saint. We also had a very engaging talk from Dominic Scarbrough, the Catholic journalist, who writes quite often in the Catholic Herald. He spoke about the importance of Tradition in today's world.


We also had a piano recital from Matthew Schellhorn, a concert pianist we were privileged to have on our staff for the first time this year.

The students' reaction to his programme, which included Scarlatti, Mozart, Mahler and List, all played from memory, reminded me of the passage from A Merchant of Venice:

...do but note a wild and wanton herd,
Or race of youthful and unhandled colts,
Fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing loud,
Which is the hot condition of their blood;
If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound,
Or any air of music touch their ears,
You shall perceive them make a mutual stand,
Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze
By the sweet power of music:

See here for more photos.