getting quietly plastered...

Regulars at daily Mass will notice some boring but necessary works going on during the next week or so.  It begins in the church where some plaster is looking a bit dodgy and ought to be scraped away and made good.   That's all because the walls are no longer damp, and as they dry the plaster crumbles.  it was much safer when the roof let in water and the walls were kept wet!   Then there are a couple of slates that slid off the roof during the snow when toboganning was in fashion.  They need to be put back before other slates get the idea.  And then the entrance arch needs consolidation, weeding and cleaning, and the flagpole renewed.   We hope most of this will be covered by insurance, so it shouldn't affect the Campaign, but we will let you know if it does!   It really is routine maintenance, though if we were able to afford to do the whole Church now, the plastering would be included in a greater whole.

A temporary shrine

Our Cardinal is due to be declared "Blessed" on 19th September. It seems unlikely we will have the new chapel, baptistery and courtyard finished by then, so as a temporary measure we are going to set up a little shrine to Blessed JHN at the back of the right-hand aisle (where S Luigi Scrosoppi is now). We have a preliminary design for a small altar with an aedicule above it to contain a portrait of Newman, and above that his coat of arms. Once we know the detailed costs, we will invite you to consider making it part of your share in the Campaign!

Unless, of course, you would find it more exciting to refix some loose slates on the roof... (more of this later)

Book salvage

Following the tragic demise of Family Publications, some fragments have been shored up. Our constant readers may be glad to know that titles by an author at the Oxford Oratory are now available from the well-known Gracewing imprint of Leominster, seen here taking delivery of stock. This includes a good quantity of copies of the "Life of St Philip Neri", by his own PA, Father Antonio Gallonio, both hardback and paperback, one of FP's most elegant productions. But it does not include the new edition of "Newman's Oxford", of which virtually all the stock is still held at the Oxford Oratory. It remains at £5, of which £2 is a direct contribution to our ever-loving Reaffirmation and Renewal Campaign.

Some other titles were rescued by another author, and distribution for them will be announced in due course.

Campaign newsletter number 13

The latest campaign newsletter is now available online and can be downloaded here.

Midsummer marvels

Strange things happen at midsummer. The two bay-trees that have long guarded the entrance to the parish centre, and gave every appearance of being dead, have suddenly thrown out new pale green leaves in various places. We shall watch them eagerly. A sign of things to come.


And the statue of St Aloysius in the relic chapel has now acquired a "splendid shield" by Tom Meek. The original statue was wood, from Ammergau, and was mysteriously sold away just before the Oratory came to Oxford. The one we have now was given to us by the nuns of Oulton Abbey, and recently restored by Richard Pelter's team from IFACS. With the ihs  and sa monogrammes on the background, it is a little reminder of four hundred years of Jesuit ministry in Oxford, from Fr Edmund Campion to Fr Richard Manners SJ.

Floor and More

Work on restoring the church and parish floors has gone quicker than expected.  The Guildroom was done at the beginning of the week, new blocks, scale and polish, all looking sparkling ready for this Sunday.  In the Church the patch in the right hand side aisle which has been plain boarding for 18 years is now smart new blocks, and throughout the church loose blocks are being refixed and sealed.    Underneath it we saw again the curious substructures.  Can the curving wall really be the foundations of the apse of the pre-Constantinian basilica?  The red pipes are the new heating system installed in 1999; the wires relate to the rewiring done in 2008 when the sanctuary was redecorated.

Next comes the temporary Newman shrine at the end of the same aisle to incorporate a portrait of Our Cardinal; the first design is being considered by the Fathers.

And in the meantime don't forget the amazing american extravaganza starting on 3rd July, full details elsewhee in this column and in the parish section of the website.

The rebels are getting closer

It is only four weeks now till the American Week, a reminder of the great rebellion against his late majesty King George III, but a chance to make up and dance...
Lots of events, on this poster which we have now succeeded in copying for you, although only the text - for the pretty layout you will need to research elsewhere!

Tickets are on sale in the Porter's Lodge, or after all Masses on Sundays. Some things you can pay at the door, but the cooks do want to know how many are coming for dinner.

Registered Charity No. 1018455


3rd-9th JULY 2010

IN(TER)DEPENDENCE WEEK

Celebrating Americans in Oxford

http://campaign.oxfordoratory.org.uk/

A Week of Events in Aid of The Oxford Oratory's 'Reaffirmation & Renewal' Campaign

SATURDAY 3rd JULY, 12-5pm: A Summer Festival at The Perch, Binsey

live music and fun for all ages, with Cajun swing band L'Angelus from 3pm

Purchase a £5 Pass for discounts on food & drink and entry into a prize draw

SUNDAY 4th JULY: American Composers at the 11am Mass

MONDAY 5th JULY, 8pm: Adventures in the New World

Adam Brakel & the International Baroque Players in an exclusive concert at the Oratory

Tickets £12 (£8 concessions). Available online at www.ticketlessmusic.com

TUESDAY 6th JULY, 2-4pm: The Medieval & Reformation Eras: Oxford Town & Gown

Oxford History Tours by John Whitehead

with tea at 4pm. Tickets £12 (£8 concessions) or £20 (£12) for both tours

WEDNESDAY 7th JULY, 8pm: An American Remembers C.S. Lewis

a talk by Walter Hooper, Lewis' last secretary, at the Oxford Oratory. Tickets £5

THURSDAY 8th JULY, 2-4pm: From JH Newman to the Inklings: Oxford Culture

Oxford History Tours by John Whitehead

finishing with a tour & history of the Oxford Oratory, and tea at 4pm

Tickets £12 (£8 concessions) or £20 (£12) for both tours

FRIDAY 9th JULY - FINALE: Dinner at Harris Manchester College

with after dinner speaker Fr Richard Duffield, Cong. Orat. £75, apply via order form

Tickets and passes for all events available in The Porter's Lodge of the Oratory

St Aloysius Church, 25 Woodstock Road, OX2 6HA.

You can also reserve tickets by emailing campaign@oxfordoratory.org.uk,

or calling 01865 315800.

The Oratory can only accept cash or cheque payments.

Concessionary rates are considered a matter of conscience.

Ticket price for the Concert & Talk include a £1 subscription fee to the Social Club, to permit the purchase of beverages in the Parish Centre.

Monet makes the world go round

Just to put our appeal into proportion, did you notice that there is a picture of some waterlilies up for sale at £40,000,000? That means that our appeal for five million could buy one eighth of a waterlily. Not to mention an infinitisimal fraction of an Olympic game, or of any of the other big spending projects of our day. For a mere £5,000,000 you could buy a chapel and baptistery that will put us in the architectural guidebooks and on the tourist trail for hundreds of years to come,a library to secure books and papers for future generations, and rooms to train priests to baptize those generations... Or a waterlily. But they say she only loved him for his Monet....

Our first million

We now can officially record on our data base that the Campaign has reached one million pounds. That's a fifth of the way, after two of the most difficult years on record for fund raising. Thanks to everyone.

Not that we actually have a million pounds in the bank. A great deal has already been spent on the restoration of the Sanctuary, Lady Chapel and Relic Chapel. And quite a lot on the boring, invisible necessities, like plans and surveys, reports and planning applications. There'll be more of that before we can show you two bricks put together - the archaeological assessment, tender drawings, elf-and-safety requirements, structural surveys... if modern building regulations had been in force Solomon would never have completed his Temple. He took seven years on the Temple and fourteen on the palace, we could still beat him to it.  Some important fund-raising events coming up! (see next item)