The Newman Society:
Oxford University Catholic Society
For Catholic members of the University to reflect on
and live their faith through prayer, talks and social events
President Roberto Weeden-Sanz St Benet’s
Vice President Amy Owens Hertford
Secretary Robert O’Shea Pembroke
Treasurer Heinrich von Jagwitz-Biegnitz Balliol
Social Secretaries Andrew Paverd
Katarzyna Zielinska
Balliol
St. Anne’s
Publicity Officer Maciej Jarocki Keble
Ecumenical Officer Jack Norman St Peter’s
St Thomas More Lecture Anna Branford Somerville
Charities Officer Josephine Jackson St Edmund Hall

Christian Life Community (CLC)
Life at Oxford can be incredibly busy. At any given moment there are hundreds of things you could be doing and it can be hard to find the time to think, let alone pray. Christian Life Community (CLC) involves being part of a small group who meet regularly to take time out to pray together and listen to God. We try to see how God is acting in our lives and discern where he is guiding us through the ups and downs of everyday life.

A typical meeting begins with a cup of tea, a biscuit and a chat, catching up on the week. We then move to a guided meditation on a Gospel passage. This is in the style of an imaginative contemplation in which we imagine ourselves in the Gospel scene either as one of the characters or as an onlooker. Afterwards there is a chance to share our reflections with each other, perhaps identifying particular points in the passage or meditation which have meant something to us. Then we move onto our prayers of intercession.
Contact Christine Hobden christine.hobden@nuffield.ox.ac.uk

Wednesdays 7pm Old Palace
Prayerful reading of the Scriptures
Contact Tim McEvoy tfmcevoy@hotmail.com

Greetings prospective Vincentians!
The St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) is an international Christian voluntary organisation dedicated to tackling poverty and disadvantage by providing direct practical assistance to anyone in need. Our own group or ‘Conference’ at the Catholic Chaplaincy is part of SVP 1833, a branch of SVP which aims to encourage young adults aged 18-30+ to volunteer in a Christian context in their local community.

Contact Ann Killian ann.killian@lmh.ox.ac.uk

Pray for us!
Even if you are unable to volunteer, we would be very grateful if you could remember the work of the Society in your prayers.

Click on the link to find out about volunteering oppportunities: SVP Info Sheet

CAFOD Group
Raising awareness of global issues of justice through the international Catholic charity. Soup lunch every Friday after Mass
Contact Nick Chan nicholas.chan@sant.ox.ac.uk

If you are leaving this year, here is a leaflet to download!

Leavers’ Leaflet

A clue comes from the Jewish tradition in the first reading for next Sunday. Well before the coming of Christ, Judaism was able to imagine a being (“Wisdom”) that existed with God before Creation took place: “when there were no depths, I was poured forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water… when he had not made the earth”. Then, it turns out, Wisdom actually assisted God in creation; “I was at his side as a craftsman”. And Wisdom “plays” before God, and (here’s the thing) “rejoices in the sons of men”. So “Wisdom” enables brings God close to his precious humanity.

That is the message also of the psalm for next Sunday, the lovely Psalm 8, which praises God as our creator. The psalmist is stunned by the loveliness of God’s creation (“when I look at the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you established…”), and, in consequence, by the inferiority of human beings: “what is a man that you remember them, a son of man that you care for them?” And yet humanity has a glorious radiance (“little less than a god”!); and, somehow or other, that has to do with God’s passionate concern for creation, which is what the feast of the Trinity celebrates.

In the second reading for next Sunday, Paul reflects aloud on what God has done for human beings; and, almost without noticing it, he speaks in language that would later be used to talk about the threeness of God: “Because we have been justified as a result of faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”, he begins, powerfully, and this “gives us access into this grace in which we stand and make our boast, in the hope of the glory of God”. And that rich reality of God, not just the Father but also Jesus, also makes sense of our troubles, “because “troubles bring about stamina, and stamina brings about quality-testing, and quality-testing brings about hope; and hope is not ashamed”. And why not? “Because the love of God is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us”. So the threeness of God, we see, is not a remote mathematical mystery, but the answer to the question, “How can the great God possibly be interested in us?”

So to the gospel reading, from Jesus’ speech to his disciples, in the supper-room on the night before he died. He makes it clear, to the disciples who are going to have to cope without him, that he is not telling us everything “I have still much to say to you – but you can’t bear them now”. But his absence is qualified: “When that One comes, the Spirit of Truth, he will lead you on the road of all truth”; and he is not a rival to Jesus, but “he will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and announce it to you”. So there is a lovely intimacy between Jesus and the Spirit; and the one whom Jesus calls “Father” is there, too: “everything that the Father has is mine – that is why I have told you that he takes from what is mine and will announce it to you”. So the mystery of the Trinity, to which next Sunday’s celebration is given, is one that directly touches the lives of each of us.