Greetings from across the pond! These first four days have disappeared at a ridiculous pace, but here is a brief re-cap of our first days of exploring and discovering Oxford!
After an eventful flight to Heathrow from New York, Beatriz and I took a bus to Oxford on Tuesday morning, enjoying the sweeping vistas of the English countryside. We were met in Oxford by a grad student at Blackfriars, Mikolaj, who took us to the hall where we will be staying for the next six weeks, Wycliffe. Wycliffe Hall is a college for Evangelicals training to become pastors, but they were gracious enough to open up two rooms for us. Everyone there is quite friendly; two of the students offered to lug our heavy suitcases up the narrow stairs to our rooms – no small feat! After unpacking a bit, we browsed around Oxford for a bit, grabbing a bite to eat, before heading over to Blackfriars for a Natural Law Symposium, sponsored by the Anscombe Bioethics Centre. The symposium was looking at a document issued by the International Theological Commission, “In Search of a Universal Ethic: A new look at the Natural Law,” and addressed such questions as to what extent morals can be arrived at through natural law, without reference to God. Here I also got to meet the tutors I will be working with: Fr. John O’Connor, O.P., Mr. Stephen Barrie, and Dr. David Jones. They, and all the other friars we met, gave us a very warm welcome to Blackfriars. We were also able to take a peek into the Blackfriars’ library – how to find words to describe this book-lover’s dream! Rows upon rows of books, ranging from Patristics, to moral theology, to literature, to Scriptural commentary, to history, from antique tomes to periodicals. There are several little nooks surrounded by shelves of literary gems where you can immerse yourself in your reading, occasionally glancing out a window, which has a stained-glass coat of arms of the Prior of Oxford from 1554, on the bustling St. Gile’s Street. Needless to say, after all of this excitement, we slept very well!
On Wednesday, after breakfasting with a couple of the students at Wycliffe, who were all quite friendly, we met with Fr. Richard Conrad at Blackfriars to go over some of the logistics of our stay. Besides giving us useful maps and helpful advice about writing our essays, he also told us a bit about the fascinating history of the Dominicans at Oxford. They founded Blackfriars in Oxford in 1221, but none of the original buildings remain – they were all destroyed during the repression of the monasteries and persecution of the Catholics under Henry VIII. Essentially exiled from England, there was a period when Dominican friars would come over to England to minister to the Catholics, but they had no mother-house here; their base was on the continent. In 1921, the Dominicans built the hall that is Blackfriars today. Fr. Richard lent us a couple books on the history of the Dominicans during the Reformation, which I look forward to perusing at greater length.
I met with Fr. John O’Connor next; he is going to be my tutor for my tutorials on moral philosophy. The tutorial system is quite different from the U.S. education system; once a week, students meet one-on-one with their tutor to discuss an essay they have written. The tutor will provide a reading list, but it is more a list of suggestions, or places to begin investigation, than an assignment list to work through and check-off. Students can choose which lectures they would like to attend, and they do not have to directly correspond with their tutorials. This whole method seems like such a wonderful way to foster independent learning – what an incredible opportunity to engage in individual discussion with an expert in your field of interest!
As it was a gorgeous, sunny day, Beatriz and I picnicked for lunch in the Christ Church garden. We also had a special treat in store for dinner: dinner with the Dominicans, Blackfriars style! After Mass and vespers in the Blackfriars’ chapel (tranquil, Romanesque style, with a huge window behind the altar, through which you can see leaves gently swaying in the breeze), we headed over to the dining hall, where about 20 Dominican friars and brothers were seated at a long table. The food was delicious, and the company even better! As the meal was closing up, there was a loud, wooden knock (like a judge hitting his gavel), and all the friars abruptly stand up by their seats to say the grace-after-meals.
From breakfast with the Evangelicals to dinner with the Dominicans, it was a memorable day!
On Thursday we decided it was actually time to try to get some reading in, and we spent a pleasant morning, ensconced in the library with our books. In the afternoon, I went to my first lecture at Blackfriars; it was Fr. Robert Ombres Moral Theology class, which this week happened to be on bioethics (how perfect!). He pointed out how it is crucial to have a correct anthropology, understanding man to be a body-soul composite. He also discussed how post-modernity has given up on truth, and morals become a mere matter of taste. Sincerity is substituted for truth; but to one who insists he is sincere and then thinks he is exempt from judgment, Fr. Robert responds, “Oh, I believe you’re sincere; you’re just mistaken.” An objective ethical standard has disappeared as an “auto-biographical morality” is adopted, where each individual is merely concerned with “what I think is right/wrong”, or whether “it is right for me”. A bioethics that respects the full dignity of a human person must not fragment human life; it must retain a harmony and balance of the society and the individual, and science and theology.
After the lecture, Beatriz and I went on a walking tour around Oxford, getting our bearing a bit more, and plenty of photo-ops!
Then we stopped in at another lecture, this one a reading group on Aquinas and Aelred. This week they were discussing the emotions, and how they relate to rational decisions.
For dinner, we cooked our first mean in the Wycliffe kitchen: chicken, pesto and pasta. It was delish!
We made our first excursion to London on Friday. In the front on the top of a double-decker bus, we were able to enjoy the panoramic views of the English countryside, complete with grazing sheep. Once in London, we first saw St. Paul’s Cathedral, which has beautiful mosaics on the ceiling, especially by the choir (or as they spelled it in the guides, “quire”) stalls. There was even a choir performing while we were there; they sang “Adoramus Te Christe,” a song that we’ve sung with the choirs back at PC. Climbing to the top of the dome, we had an impressive, a very windy, view of the London skyline. Towards the top of the climb, there was a covered skylight where you could peer down and see people, looking the size of ants, walking around the main altar.
Next we made our way to Dr. Johnson’s house, where an extremely friendly receptionist recounted tales of the various devices that protected the house from burglars (such as spikes that would prevent thieves from dropping children through the windows to unlock the doors from the inside--?). After wandering through his house, with bookshelves holding his volume of the dictionary, our next stop was the tower of London. Right upon enter the gate is the tower were St. Thomas Moore is supposed to have been held prisoner. The display of the crown jewels was quite impressive, and had special exhibits for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee, which takes place next weekend. Walking the walls, we went into a tower that has stone engravings from the Jesuit priests who were imprisoned there before being martyred. St. Henry Walpole’s name could be seen several places. Henry Walpole (1558-1595) was an English lawyer. After being sprinkled by St. Edmund Campion’s blood at his execution, Henry converted to Roman Catholicism and followed in St. Edmund’s footsteps, becoming a Jesuit priest. He was arrested for the crime of Catholic priesthood, and spent about four years in the Tower, where he was frequently and severely racked. In this tower there were also carving of hands and feet, which the prisoners would do as a reminder of Christ’s wounds. In the picture below you can make out “IHS” with the cross above it (a Jesuit symbol), “Maria” (for Our Lady), and the Jesuit motto: “Ad majoram Dei gloriam.” It is so incredible to think that this place, filled by passing tourists, is where heroic saints spent their last days before offering their lives to Christ.
After our visit to the Tower, we met up with TJ and Scott (PC reunion!) and wandered along the Thames, working up an appetite for traditional pub fare: fish and chips!
It has been an all-around wonderful, or as they would say here “smashing”, first four days in England! As this entry has gone on quite long enough, both for your sake as well as mine, I should probably get back to my tutorial reading. Cheerio!
