As a teenager and a faithful Catholic, she had even been told that using the cards could invite evil spirits. Read more

Majendie has built several cardboard boxes for people to use as prayer or contemplative rooms.

Designed as a "quiet space", the boxes will be placed around the city for use by the public.

"They've been called everything - containers, god boxes. They can be whatever they want to be to each person. They can be used as changing rooms for all I mind," he said.

"I just thought there was a need for a place of reflection in Christchurch. Even if you have no religious affiliations, you can just sit and have some time out."

Source

• The Press
• Image: The Press

This small, red, leather-bound volume with its beautiful calligraphy is now on exhibit and is reputed to be the oldest intact book in all of Europe. The library purchased the volume from the British Jesuits for the equivalent of $14 million.

The origins of these two English national treasures lead one far from the bustle of London to Northumbria, hemmed in by Scotland to the north and the turbulent sea to the east. It was in the early seventh century that the Anglo-Saxon King Oswald invited Aidan, a monk from the island of Iona, to evangelize his people.

Aidan, later called the "Light of Northumbria" founded a primitive Christian community of monks on a small island in the North Sea. Their island, some three miles in length and a mile wide, is Lindisfarne, later called Holy Isle, a place of retreat, a haven in a brutal world. From this outpost on the edge of the civilized world these monks spread the Gospel among the ancestors of the English people.

A journey to Lindisfarne is neither easy nor simple. To get there today one can travel by rail some three and a half hours north of London, skirting the walled city of York, bypassing the cathedral city of Durham to the west, calling at the coal-rich city of Newcastle Upon Tyne, and disembarking finally at the seaside town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, three miles south of the Scottish border. From there it is another eight miles to the island by any form of transport one can find. This rural countryside is green and lush. Sheep are ubiquitous and castles dot the landscape, reminders of the warfare that was for centuries endemic to this borderland.

One approaches Lindisfarne with caution. Much like Mont Saint-Michel off the coast of Normandy, it is the sea that rules here. It is perilous to ignore its tides. Twice a day the fast-rising waters of the North Sea flood the mile and a half causeway that joins the island to the mainland. Tide times and the corresponding crossings are posted everywhere, and locals in Berwick and the 150 permanent residents of the island organize their lives around them. Read more

Sources

• Dana Greene in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Wikipedia

A spokesperson for the Diocese, Lynette Roberts-King, said that Symposium was a great success and that many of those attending had expressed satisfaction with the experience.

The keynote speakers were Dr Donna Orsuto (Professor at the Gregorian University in Rome), Stephen Kirk (Catholic composer, musician and worship leader), Joy Cowley (a writer for whom writing is a form of prayer) and Abbot Brian Keogh (Leader of Southern Star Abbey).

On Friday Dr Orsuto spoke on "Treasures Old and New: Finding New Ways to Pray in the Old Traditions'.

Brian Keogh's presented ‘To Work and to Pray - the rhythm of Daily Life' and Joy Cowley "Prayer for All Seasons" on Saturday.

Sunday saw Dr Donna Orsuto speaking on ‘Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary' and Stephen Kirk on ‘A Primer on Prayer; A Transforming Relationship of Truth, Love and Mutual Self-giving'.

There were four workshop sessions which included a variety of topics such as Contemplative prayer; Prayer in marriage and family life; "Your will be done" - praying in difficult times and Prayer through journaling

Source

• Diocese of Palmerston North
• Image: Diocese of Palmerston North