Kevin Jones

Sponsor a parachuting priest! £5000 needed!

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What is St Benedict’s Academy all about? We are a part-time academy based in Preston, Lancashire, looked after by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, and welcome children from age 5 to 18. In September, the academy will be entering into its third academic year, having started in January 2018.

The education provided at St. Benedict’s is all deeply rooted in the Catholic faith, as all subjects lead back to Our Lord. Whether in the study of History, with the Incarnation as its centre-piece, learning about and admiring the wonderful creation of God through the sciences, or in the study of the sacred language of the Church, Latin, through looking at the texts of the Mass, as well as passages from the Vulgate, Christ is always at the centre.

As priests, it is a great privilege to be able to teach the children, and to pass on the faith to them. The Sisters Adorers teach Catechism and French, as well as Gregorian Chant and Polyphony. It is wonderful to have religious around the school, as an example and inspiration to the children!

Every Friday, at 12 noon, there is a sung Mass at English Martyrs, at which some of the boys from St. Benedict’s serve, and the rest of the children sing the Kyriale of the Mass, as well some of the Ordinary, along with one or two polyphonic motets.

While the majority of the teachers at St. Benedict’s are volunteers, there are in fact many other essential costs needed to run the formation of the children, which include: heating of the building, electricity and water bills, textbooks, insurance and maintenance of the Academy.

As the academy is a charity, we never wish to turn a family away if they are not able to afford the fees and at present the majority of families do not pay fees. In order to keep the Academy running and to provide a strong catholic education to as many children as possible, we rely on the donations of generous benefactors.

As we read in our dearly-beloved Missal at Christmas time, “Thine almighty Word, O Lord, leaped down from heaven”. Priests must always imitate Christ in all things. Therefore, Canon Vianney Poucin, accompanied by Philip Russell (a trustee) and Kevin Russell-Young (a parent of three of the children) will also be leaping from the heavens (15000ft), but by means of an aeroplane and a parachute in order to raise funds for St Benedict’s!

The planned date is the 4th September in Lancaster

Will you help make Catholic Education great again? Will you sponsor them?
#If you feel able, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/parachuting-priest



Galleries

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Rather than perhaps allow our photographic chronicle to be lost within what we hope will become a more populated main page, we have created a seperate page entitled ‘Galleries’. It can viewed from the menu bar above.

Goodbye Abbé

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We bid a fond farewell to seminarian Abbé Ritchie on Sunday. He has left us to return to the seminary to continue his formation. We presented Abbé with a statue of St Winefride as a token of our gratitude for his help in the fledgling months of the apostolate in Shrewsbury. Abbé, be assured of our prayers!

Preparing and Supporting Your Futute Priests

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Seminarians at class and during their studies

The obligatory formation for all our candidates to the holy priesthood is comprised of a one-year course of Spirituality, a two-year course of Philosophy, and a four-year course of Theology. This academic programme is taught by professors from Roman Universities, the Sorbonne, the IPC Philosophical Faculty in Paris, as well as by some of our own priests who have academic degrees. The oblates share in part of this formation over a five-year period with selected courses chosen for them by their superiors.

The intellectual formation of our seminarians is accompanied by a thoroughly human formation, which includes general culture, priestly manners, and an extensive amount of daily practical work in the house and around the outside grounds. This combination is very efficient for the complete education of mind and body which we want to give our seminarians.

At the same time, he also must learn to integrate his life into the discipline which serves as the foundation of true charity toward others. It is not always easy, and it will cost sacrifice and mortification of the will. However, in the end, through free obedience and hard work, it will give everyone joy and satisfaction.

Prayer Life

Without any doubt, the most important element in seminary life is daily contact with Our Lord through Holy Mass, the Divine Office, the Rosary, and personal meditation. The seminarians come to know not only the history and the rubrics of the Sacred Liturgy, but also its inner meaning and great power for their spiritual lives. Every single gesture of the Classical Liturgy has a profound signification. Every detail matters when it comes to our relationship with the Lord.

Holy Liturgy and Unchangeable Catholic Truths

The personal faith of our seminarians has to be measured by the objective holiness of the liturgical mysteries and by the unchangeable truth of the Catholic Faith. Subjective piety and objective grace have to form a unity linked by the celebration of the Traditional Latin Liturgy. Neither exterior formalism nor pietism can survive when a seminarian, under the guidance of the authority of the Church which is represented by his superiors, strives in his liturgical participation and his interior life to “do what the Church does.”

This authentic Roman Catholic harmony between the subjective and the objective, between nature and grace, between the human and the Divine is a fruit of obedience towards the tradition that the Lord Himself has given and guarantees to Holy Mother Church.

How the Faithful Can Help

Our seminarians are very dedicated and generous young men. On the path to fulfilling their call to the Holy Priesthood, they are called to holiness and service to souls in a world that is in urgent need of returning to Our Lord. However, they do not always have the financial means necessary for the seven to nine years that it takes to complete the seminary programme and be ordained a priest. The expense of maintaining the seminarybuilding, as well as that of lodging, feeding, providing instruction, and supplying the necessary study material to approximately seventy young men, is very high. Our seminarians are asked to contribute a relatively small amount each month toward these costs, but many are not able to afford even this contribution. In these cases we do not turn away seminarians that are unable to support themselves. Through your generosity the seminary is able to accept those who are unable to contribute toward the expenses of their own formation.

Occasional donations to our seminary are gratefully accepted as they help to meet the increasing costs for ever greater numbers, but would you consider becoming a sponsor by committing to cover, at least partially, the monthly expenses of forming one seminarian? To do so please contact Canon Smith directly via email or by phone (0)7366 321039.

Saint George the Martyr

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We can be certain of only a few facts about the life and martyrdom of Saint George and there is much disagreement about details. What we do know for sure is what matters most and makes him relevant still for us today: that he was martyred for his Christian faith during the persecutions of Diocletian, which began in the year 303. His cultus was established early on and spread rapidly. It is widely accepted that he was born of Christian parents around 280, probably in Cappadocia, and was, like his father, a soldier of high rank in the Roman army. Read more in our weekly newsletter here.