Good news for today

About the conference

This conference was entitled “Why the Church and her message are still Good News for Today”. The principal speaker was the then Bishop, now Archbishop, John Wilson.

The conferences involve various speakers in an atmosphere of profound priestly fraternity as priests enjoy the excellent Thornycroft fare, its beautiful environment and stimulating talks and discussion.

Outcome

After an intensive three day conference, the priests were reinvigorated to spread the Good News while growing in love for the Church. While the Church has been rocked with great tragedies and scandals in recent years, she is by no means shipwrecked. Her role in society is as important today as it ever was and her mission remains the same: to go out and spread the Good News to all people.

Event Speakers

Archbishop John Wilson - Principal

Archbishop John Wilson - Principal

Archbishop

Archishop John Wilson, is, since January 2016, an Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and Titular Bishop of Lindisfarne. He studied at Leeds University and, following priestly formation for the Diocese of Leeds at the Venerable English College, was ordained a priest in 1995. He has worked in various pastoral assignments, including parish ministry and hospital, hospice, school and prison chaplaincy. He taught moral theology at Ushaw College, Durham and was Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation. During the sede vacante he was the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Leeds before becoming a parish priest in Wakefield prior to episcopal appointment. On 10 June 2019 he was appointed Archbishop of Southwark by Pope Francis.

Mgr Mariano Fazio - Speaker

Mgr Mariano Fazio - Speaker

Auxiliary Vicar of the Prelature

Mgr Mariano Fazio has been Vicar General of Opus Dei since 2014. Born in Argentina, he has been Rector of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and was appointed as a Synodal Father in the last Synod for Youth. He is author of more than 20 books on modern society and the process of secularisation. He co-authored A History of Modern Philosophy (2017) and A History of Contemporary Philosophy (2011). Other books by him translated into English include Pope Francis: Keys to his Thought (2013) and Last of the Romantics (2018). He is a great lover of English culture and his published works include studies of GK Chesterton and Charles Dickens.

Fr Philip Caldwell - Speaker

Fr Philip Caldwell - Speaker

Professor of Theology at Oscott College

Fr Philip Caldwell is a priest of the Diocese of Salford and is now Parish Priest at St Joseph’s Reddish. Having studied English literature at Reading and Cambridge universities, he qualified as a teacher and has spent much of his priestly life working in seminaries training future priests, particularly at St Cuthbert’s Seminary Ushaw in Durham where he was Vice President and Oscott College in Birmingham where he was Dean of Theology. He is author of Liturgy as Revelation: Re-Sourcing a Theme in Twentieth-Century Catholic Theology (2014) and other articles on liturgy and fundamental theology.

Fr Philip Conner - Speaker

Fr Philip Conner - Speaker

Chaplain to the Youth Service, Keswick

Fr Philip Caldwell is a priest of the Diocese of Salford and is now Parish Priest at St Joseph’s Reddish. Having studied English literature at Reading and Cambridge universities, he qualified as a teacher and has spent much of his priestly life working in seminaries training future priests, particularly at St Cuthbert’s Seminary Ushaw in Durham where he was Vice President and Oscott College in Birmingham where he was Dean of Theology. He is author of Liturgy as Revelation: Re-Sourcing a Theme in Twentieth-Century Catholic Theology (2014) and other articles on liturgy and fundamental theology.

John Deighan

John Deighan

CEO of SPUC Scotland

John Deighan is Chief Executive Officer of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) Scotland and Deputy Chief Executive for SPUC. Married to Angela, they have seven children aged 14 to 24 years old. He began his career as an engineer with Babcock Energy and Rolls Royce, was a lecturer in systems analysis and design, and was then for many years the political officer of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, organising successful campaigns against assisted suicide and euthanasia bills in the Scottish Parliament. He was also involved in directing the Scotland for Marriage campaign. He was awarded a papal knighthood by Pope Francis.

About Cliff Farrand

I am founder of a web development company called Webformity. I work with lots of commercial clients and specialise in developing school websites. A former lecturer in Information technology and more recently Head of global web services for Promethean. I enjoy walking and recently undertook the hobby of photography. I am married to Yvonne and have a daughter called Natasha.

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