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Here is a collection of correspondence for Session Two, 1999.Faith and Reason back for Session Two A rough collection of the correspondence for weeks 5 - 8 The Faith and Reason Society is proud to present the Calender of Events for the Michealmas term for the Year of Our Lord 1999. Firstly, a plug for the Apologetics Conference on the 14th of August. The day starts at 10 am and goes through to 5pm filled with great talks in the Holme Building at the University of Sydney. Our Room is rm 306 of the Mathews Building, that is, one floor up from the glasshouse. We meet on Thursdays at 1pm each week starting week 2.
Weeks 8 and 9 Friday 3pm The Reluctant Saint A movie about the life of St. Joseph of Cupertino, patron Saint of students. Picture here After Week 9 is the mid semester break, we'll let you know the arrangements for the rest of semester as soon as possible. One question: who would be interested in a bible or catechism study class on Tuesdays? Faith and Reason Society, UNSW http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Plaza/3743/
And here is the news: There is a room change for our first talk:
The webpage can now be reached through: http://fly.to/faithandreason which I hope is more convenient. The Fides et Ratio newsletter is bigger and better than ever and should be coming to a letterbox near you this week. If you miss out, do not hesitate to contact one of the Executive (Veronica, Masaki, Hiro, Felicity) for your copy. Fr. Little, who gave a talk last session, passed away in July. He gave a talk about the Turin Shroud. Here is something to read, but one last note, think about becoming a paid up member of the society. Many people receiving these emails may not have paid the $2 membership. You can contact any of the executive about this, thank you. This is the thrilling romance of Orthodoxy. People have fallen into a foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum and safe. There was never anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy. It was sanity: and to be sane is more dramatic than to be mad. It was the equilibrium of a man behind madly rushing horses, seeming to stoop this way and sway that, yet in every attitude having the grace of statuary and the accuracy of arithmetic. The Church in its early days went fierce and fast with any warhorse; yet it is utterly unhistoric to say that she merely went mad along one idea, like a vulgar fanaticism. She swerved to left and right, so exactly as to avoid enormous obstacles. She left on one hand the huge bulk of Arianism, buttressed by all worldly powers to make Christianity too worldly. The next instant she was swerving to avoid an orientalism, which would have made it too unworldly. The orthodox Church never took the tame course or accepted the conventions; the orthodox Church was never respectable. It would have been easier to have accepted the earthly power of the Arians. It would have been easy, in the Calvinistic seventeenth century, to fall into the bottomless pit of predestination. It is easy to be a madman: it is easy to be a heretic. It is always easy to let the age have its head; the difficult thing is to keep one's own. It is always easy to be a modernist; as it is easy to be a snob. To have fallen into any of those open traps of error and exaggeration which fashion after fashion and sect after sect along the historic path of Christendom - that would indeed have been simple. It is always simple to fall; there are an infinity of angles at which one falls, only one at which one stands. To have fallen into any one of the fads from Gnosticism to Christian Science would indeed have been obvious and tame. But to have avoided them all has been one whirling adventure; and in my vision the heavenly chariot flies thundering through the ages, the dull heresies sprawling and prostrate, the wild truth reeling but erect. G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (end of Chapter six) Faith and Reason Society, UNSW http://fly.to/faithandreason After many room changes, Dr. Harker's presentation finally started in the Applied Science building. Hopefully this sort of thing will not reoccur since from now on we have commandeered Rm 306 of the Mathews Building. Any one who finds this inconvenient should reply to this email at once and tell me of a preferred building for next session. Marie Bernard Soubirous was born in France near Spain, in the Basque country. Her nickname was Bernadette, 'little Bernard', because of her short stature. Her father was a miller, but while Bernadette was growing up he lost his job, moving to cheaper accomodation until they ended up in a small room that had been used as a prison cell but which was now considered unfit for even prisoners. She was often sickly, especially in her lungs. She was unable to attend school regularly since she was helping her mother. At the time children were not allowed to make their First Holy Communion until they had learnt the Catechism. Bernadette took many attempts to finally receive Our Lord. I can't reproduce the whole talk here. There are some good books in the Uni library about St. Bernadette and the miracles at Lourdes. Dr. Harker also detailed Our Lord's Passion and Death. There are many good books on this topic, notably The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Bishop Alban Goodier. The whole talk was based around a slide show. There were some amazing reconstructions of how Our Lord was crucified. The last part of the talk was about the miracles. Dr. Harker had visited Lourdes as a doctor. He showed some of the cases with before and after pictures and xrays. He also related how people had found healing of a more spiritual nature. One priest had said that the real miracles happen in the confessionals. This week's talk is about the Billings method of Natural Family Planning. It isn't a specifically Catholic talk, but what other society will promote it? Pharmaceutical companies make big money out of contraceptives. Studies into the side effects are not well received. Third world countries are used as testing grounds and big companies use the dubious claim of overpopulation to justify pushing the pill on these developing countries. Every little bit we can do to help spread the message that the best way to avoid 'unwanted' pregnancies as well as sexually transmitted disease is to promote loving, permanent union men and women, ideally in matrimony.
Anyway, the details are: Other upcoming guest speakers at our weekly meetings, Thursdays Mathews Rm 306, 1pm:
WHEN: Sat August 14th, 10am-5pm. WHERE: Sydney Uni, 1st Floor, Holme Building, Macallum Room (near the Footbridge off Parramatta Road.) 10.00 IS THERE ONE TRUE CHURCH - Mr Robert Michael Lumen Verum Apologetics 11.30 THE ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY - Mr David Obeid Lumen Verum Apologetics 12.30 CHURCH INTOLERANCE: INQUISITION? - Rev Fr J. Parsons Canberra / Goulburn Diocese 2.30 PURGATORY: DOES IT EXIST? - Mr Anthony English Centre for Thomistic Studies 3.30 THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS - Rev Fr P Mankowski SJ Visiting American Jesuit If you need any info just ring Andy on 98170603. Faith and Reason Society, UNSW http://fly.to/faithandreason Many thanks to those who came to the conference! For those who didn't, my condolances. You missed the biggest event so far in the history of Sydney! Five brilliant talks to equip you with the information to Defend the Faith. Tapes are available from Mr. Robert Haddad of Lumen Verum Apologetics or just reply to this email.
Briefly the talks were:
Last Thursday's talk was given by Dr. Kevin Hume explaining Natural Family Planning. This is often misunderstood to be an unreliable or overly complicated method of controlling fertility. Dr. Hume showed well how false these beliefs are. He also explained how artificial contraception is being used to exploit developing nations. For more information you can see: But if you're still reading this, check if you can make this Thursday's talk at 1pm in Room 306 of the Mathews Building. Deacon Anthony Lawrence is back! Last session he showed us beautiful examples of treasures of the Eastern Catholic Tradition. This week his talk is on Icons: Images of the Citizens of Heaven. Mark your diaries for the 23rd-24th of October. The Thomas More Centre of Sydney Spring School On the Threshold of the Third MilleniumFeaturing:from UNSW (proving which is the best campus in Sydney)
Bishop Kevin Manning, Fr. Peter Joseph, Fr. Terence Mary, Gerard Gaskin, Eamonn Keane and Alice Nelson Registration forms can be obtained at any meetings (if you can't be there 1-2pm, come a little early, from about 12.40, or catch us before we leave) or over the internet at http://www.tmc.org.au Thanks for reading Faith and Reason Society, UNSW http://fly.to/faithandreason |
