In mid-November, the week before Thanksgiving, the clergy of
the See of Caer-glow spent an active week at the Saint Thomas Aquinas
Seminary in Saint Petersburg. Based on a resolution made at last year's
Convocation of the Council of the Old Roman Catholic Church, we gathered for a
few days of continuing education. This year the subject was apologetics,
and we based our lessons largely on The Belief of Catholics by Monsignor
Ronald A. Knox. Monsignor Knox, a convert to the Catholic Faith, a cradle
Protestant and son of an Anglican bishop, wrote in the early part of the
twentieth century, well before the events of Vatican II. It was very
valuable to see how he contrasted the liberal theologies of the reformed
religions with the unchanging truths of the Catholic Faith--a contrast that has
become far more meaningful when applied to pre- and post-conciliar
Catholicism: "That modernism among the clergy and scepticism among
the laity are to some extent parallel effects of the same causes, hardly needs
demonstration. The confident assertions of the philosopher, the scientist, the
historian--that truth is relative, not absolute; that we can no longer believe
in Genesis...." Knox does a skilful job of making it clear why belief
in God and the acceptance of His Church is rational. After giving strong
motives of credibility for the divine origin of the Church, Knox devotes a
number of chapters to explaining the practices and beliefs of the Catholic
Faithful. Our study guide, which includes some supplemental materials, is
available [HERE].
Our week included the A.D. 2010 Convocation of the
Council. It was decided that next year's continuing education topic would
be moral theology--perhaps spread over more than one year. Bishop Euler
and Father Brusca were delegated to find a suitable text and design a study
guide.
Perhaps the most significant event of the week came on
Saturday during the 9:00 AM Mass at Our Lady of Good Hope, when Archbishop
Humphreys tonsured our newest seminarian, Mr. Andrew King, and raised
Father Dirk Peter Dandy to the sacred priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ.