THE
P RTAL
March 2012
It’s old but solid and comfortable, it’s English, it’s connected
with John Henry Newman, it’s steeped in sound Catholic doctrine,
it’s friendly, it’s got a garden with roses and wide lawns. Everything
about Maryvale fits perfectly: if you like the Ordinariate, you’ll love
Maryvale in Birmingham. Which is just as well because a number
of Ordinariate clergy are taking various Maryvale courses. We
had one with one such priest with us just this past weekend, as we
tackled Canon Law in a beautiful portrait-lined room overlooking
Maryvale’s front lawns.
Catholic recusant family
Maryvale
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na
wri tes
much that is
beautiful and
lovely awaiting all Ordinariate members in the
Catholic Church in England too. Maryvale awaits you.
Interested in getting trained as a parish catechist? Doing
a course on art and beauty? Studying the Catechism of
the Catholic Church, just for the satisfaction of getting
Today it is, as readers the Portal probably know, to know the Faith really well, in good company? These
and certainly ought to know, Britain ’s main Catholic are just some of the courses on offer, at moderate prices
study centre offering courses ranging from formation and with very, very much delight awaiting you.
for parish catechists to post-graduate research
degrees. Those of us who are studying there gather
No one from Maryvale is paying me to write this:
for weekend courses, with lecturers brought in on the contrary, I not only pay my own fees for the
from Oxford, London, Rome and elsewhere. There’s Maryvale course I’m attending, but I’ve been helping
a convivial atmosphere, there’s a warm welcome with general fund-raising just because I love the place
from the Brigettine sisters who provide the meals and want it to flourish.
and hospitality, there’s daily Mass and prayer in the
our country needs the Gospel
beautiful chapel.
My enthusiasm is simply rooted in the reality of
Courses
it all: this is a place which is taking seriously our
Ordinariate groups across Britain have had to leave mission to evangelise. Goodness knows, our poor
beautiful churches which they have loved and cared country needs this.
for over many years. There is a general expectation
that a local Catholic church will be modern, bleak or
As you travel to Maryvale from Birmingham New
dominated by statues or other objects that are in poor Street station on a Friday night you are there with
taste or downright ugly. None of this may actually be the shrieking youngsters tanking up for the night’s
the case, but it’s as well to be prepared for this possibility. boozing, the lonely folk that always seem to hang
So it is important to understand that there can be around shopping centres with a bleak look, the huge
mosque that stands alongside the swooping main road.
Maryvale was for many generations the home of a
Catholic recusant family, and Mass was celebrated
here secretly. In the mid 19 th century it welcomed John
Henry Newman who lived here while pondering plans
for what has since become the Birmingham Oratory.
Long ago, in the vanished Britain of Queen Victoria’s
reign, John Henry Newman walked across fields from
Maryvale to Mass. Pugin was building his glorious
gothic churches at that time (look at St Chad’s cathedral
as a fine example) and church attendance figures were
steadily rising. Today – well...our country needs the
Gospel, it needs people prepared to live it and love it
and teach it.
Do think about a course at Maryvale?
You can find out more from:
www.maryvale.ac.uk