From the website of God's Own University:
A Durham consortium of University and faith leaders hopes that Pope Benedict XVI will accept their invitation to make the first ever papal visit to the North East of England.
Following a visit of Vatican representative and HM Ambassador to the Holy See, HE Francis Campbell, to Durham University in March of this year, a unique partnership of University, Anglican Church and Catholic Church representatives has invited Pope Benedict XVI to present a major academic address in Durham Cathedral in the course of his September 2010 visit to the UK.
Although Pope John Paul II made a pastoral visit to the UK (including York) in May 1982, were Pope Benedict to accept the invitation, it would be the first ever papal visit to the North East of England, a region that boasts the richest Christian heritage in the UK, symbolised by the twin shrines in Durham Cathedral of Saint Cuthbert (d. 687) the Bishop of Lindisfarne, and Saint Bede (d. 735), the most learned man of his age. Durham Cathedral, which would co-host the event with the University, is commonly regarded as the finest Romanesque building in the world and, together with the University-owned Durham Castle and Palace Green, is a recognised UNESCO world heritage site.
At a time of some increased sensitivity in Anglican-Roman Catholic relations, the strong ecumenical character of the invitation is very significant. The invitation is led by Dr Tom Wright both as Lord Bishop of Durham and as the University’s senior representative, and Mrs Maggie Wright, but is counter-signed and fully supported by Bishop Seamus Cunningham of the Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, the Chapter of Durham Cathedral, the Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey and the President of Ushaw College, the Catholic seminary for the North of England.
Bishop Wright said: “Durham has in recent years become a major global centre for ecumenical work and the close interlinking of Cathedral and University means that Durham is well placed to host an event which is simultaneously academic and ecumenically spiritual.”
The University’s Vice-Chancellor and co-signatory to the letter, Professor Chris Higgins, added: “The strong academic and ecumenical background of this invitation means there is simply no more appropriate place in the country to host such an academic lecture than Durham.
“Leaders of the major churches of the region are working together alongside scholars in Durham University’s department of Theology and Religion which was recently confirmed as the leading UK research department in its field in the most recent government Research Assessment Exercise.”
The original invitation has also received significant support from regional politicians, and a delegation from the consortium, headed by the Vice-Chancellor of Durham University, Prof. Chris Higgins, made personal representation to David Miliband as MP for South Shields in the North East.
Roberta Blackman-Woods, MP for the City of Durham has also added her support: “The possibility of a papal visit to Durham and to Durham Cathedral, a site of unparalleled beauty, would be of tremendous benefit to the North East. I’m sure that the people of Durham would feel great pride in welcoming Pope Benedict and the world’s media.”
Bishop Cunningham of the region’s Catholic diocese said: “In the age of Bede, before there was a single university in the world, never mind this country, this region was the foremost centre of Christian learning in the western world and it continues to be a world-regarded centre of Christian learning today.”
Prof. Paul D. Murray, Director of the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University concluded: “This would be an event of immense academic, ecumenical, cultural and regional significance. Durham University and the Cathedral have a proven track-record in hosting global political and religious leaders to great acclaim and we would be delighted to welcome Pope Benedict to the region.”
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God's own university? What was his degree in?
ReplyDeleteTheology, of course.
ReplyDeleteWhy on earth would God want to study theology? Surely he'd be better off doing a degree in something he didn't already know much about, like philosophy or biology.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I'd assumed that you were younger that. Oh, well, the Dawkins generation lives on, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteThe Dawkins generation? No one needs a philosophy course more than Dawkins.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe you're right - maybe God doesn't know much about Theology either.
ReplyDeleteOddly Francis Campbell is refarded as a Queens University success story. Takes all sorts.
ReplyDeleteCant see the Pope going to Durham.
Norfolk is much more likely.
But by the time of the visit there is an outside chance that you could be a Catholic MP in the Durham area and presumably on the Guest List if you actually does go.
Be a nice pic for the Constituency Office.
Agreed on Dawkins - he could certainly do with some philosophy. I'm not a fan.
ReplyDeleteOh, I think he'll come.
ReplyDeleteThere is a rich and very important tradition emphasising how little theologians know about God.
I do wonder what serious atheist theologians such as AC Grayling think of Dawkins. Extremely little, I expect.
But by the time of the visit there is an outside chance that you could be a Catholic MP in the Durham area and presumably on the Guest List if you actually does go.
ReplyDeleteHahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
The last refuge, Ruby.
ReplyDeleteYou are basically running on behalf of Holy Mother Church now aren't you? Have the Libs opposed this visit yet?
ReplyDeleteOh, we can't be that lucky. Can we? Carol Woods is nowhere near as clever as the Lib Dem candidate here, so I wouldn't be surprised if she did make some gaffe over this. Just what we need next door, of course. Labour has semi-publicly conceded this seat even before whichever ludicrous candidate is announced. The Tories can't possibly win here. And we only need the Lib Dems to denounce the Pope and the job is done. But, as I say, we can't be that lucky. Can we?
ReplyDeleteThere is indeed a rich tradition emphasising how little theologians know about God. I'm not sure there's such a rich tradition emphasising how little God knows about theologians, but it's an interesting idea.
ReplyDeleteLabour has semi-publicly conceded NW Durham? Really? I missed that.
ReplyDeleteMildertian, you've found your PhD. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteCylon, they have been all over the print and broadcast media here saying that this seat would be lost unless the all-women shortlist were abandoned. It hasn't been. In private (though not absolute privacy, it must be said), they make no bones about what therefore follows. They say to me directly that if I weren't here, then this could now be classified as a safe Lib Dem seat. But I am here.
David knows who I am and why I have to comment anonymously. I can confirm everything he says about the local political situation. The Lib Dem candidate is a county councillor from Consett and in many ways a good man but he will be in his seventies by this stage in the next Parliament. He doesn't really want the job and would only serve one term. He wants to get on with being a county councillor. Anyway the Lib Dems are the Lib Dems. That includes being the most ant-Christian and anti-Catholic of the three, like Liberal parties in Europe. The other two are like that now but they haven't always been. It is not fundamental. We are all praying for David. Praying and working.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the email, although you are right that I could have guessed it was you. It baffles me that Consett North, among other places, now votes for a party which wants to abolish Catholic schools and hand out condoms to 13-year-olds without parental knowledge or consent. But I have every confidence that those places would do no such thing in a parliamentary election if offered a real alternative.
ReplyDeleteYou are the Labour candidate here. The candidate of the local Labour machine. Some London schoolgirl won't know what has hit her.
ReplyDeleteCan we get back on-topic, please?
ReplyDelete