Dana and Friends, Stories of Faith, Hope and Love is an evening of music and testimony with former Eurovision winner Dana
Fr Mark Vickers will talk about his book, God in Number 10: The Personal Faith of the Prime Ministers from Balfour to Blair, in Coffee Saints on Tuesday, 21 May.
Join Friends of the Cathedral to hear about the influence of faith in the lives of those who have occupied the highest political office in the land and on the role of faith in the public sphere.
Fr. Mark Vickers is a priest of the Diocese of Westminster. Having read History at the University of Durham, he worked for a law firm in the City of London. He initially felt called to politics, but God had other plans. Fr. Mark studied for the priesthood in Rome and was ordained in 2003. He has written a number of books on Church history;God in Number 10 was published in 2022. Fr. Mark is currently a parish priest in West London.
Join Friends of St Mary’s Cathedral for a talk by Sir James MacMillan, one of the world’s most successful living composers, and Scotland’s best known Catholic musician.
Sir James MacMillan has managed to bring his deep-rooted Catholic faith, and the overt Catholicism in his music, into the secular realm in a uniquely successful way. As a globally acclaimed composer, and as the pre-eminent Scottish composer of his generation, his concert music is broadcast and performed throughout the world. As a conductor, he travels the globe working with some of classical music’s top ensembles. In 2014 he founded The Cumnock Tryst arts festival in his childhood town, and he was awarded a knighthood for services to music in 2015. In 2021 he was named Patron of Music of our own St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh.
In his talk, Sir James will explore how chant, as the music of Faith, has influenced the history of music. It’s a rare opportunity to hear insights from one of the world’s most acclaimed classical music composers, and one of the Church’s great musicians.
The Old Testament is full of stories of remarkable women, join Friends of the Cathedral on Wednesday, 21st February, 7.30pm in Coffee Saints to hear Prof Stephany Biello talk about their courage.
Please contact ppccathedral@stmaryscathedral.co.uk to let Friends know you would like to come. You can find out more about and join Friends of St Mary's Cathedral at https://www.stmaryscathedral.co.uk/friends.
After his excellent series of talks on the Gospels of Mark, Prof James Edwards will speak to Friends of the Cathedral on the life and death of the German theologian, Ernst Lohmeyer.
Prof Edwards is the author of Between the Swastika and the Sickle: The Life, Disappearance, and Execution of Ernst Lohmeyer. We are delighted to hear him speak about Lohmeyer’s fight against Nazism and Communism.
Friends are asked to RSVP to book their place. There are some tickets available on a first-come-first-served basis to non-members
Please reply by Monday at 5pm to ppccathedral@stmaryscathedral.co.uk
Lohmeyer was a distinguished theologian in the 1930s and 40s in Germany. He spoke out against Nazism and antisemitism and was critical of post-war Communism in East Germany, where he lived and worked.
Lohmeyer was arrested by the Soviet secret police when re-establishing the University of Greifswald in East Germany in 1946. He was executed and anyone who mentioned his name in public in the ensuing years of Communist rule in East Germany would be imprisoned for doing so.
Prof Edwards is the author of Between the Swastika and the Sickle: The Life, Disappearance, and Execution of Ernst Lohmeyer. He has spoken on Lohmeyer in the United States and we are looking forward to hear him tell Friends about Lohmeyer’s moving story of principle and courage that is rooted in his Christian faith.
The presentation looks at the history of the shroud and its journey across Europe from the 14th Century onwards, as well as earlier sightings that are rarely heard of. This gives us the opportunity to consider how early observers of the shroud would have interpreted the cloth prior to the onset of scientific analysis. Henry will then discuss the scrutiny of the shroud under scientific methods and photography.
Although very extensive analysis exists, especially the infamous ‘carbon test’ of 1988, Henry simplifies the controversy using newly published data from the test. The presentation concludes by considering Henry James Creechanthe probability of whether or not the shroud is that of Jesus Christ.
Tico Seifert will share new insights on how Van Dyck’s famous Portrait of the Lomellini Family came to Scotland. Letters by the Scottish painter and agent Andrew Wilson, who purchased the group portrait on behalf of the Royal Institution, the predecessor of the National Galleries, in 1830, reveal fascinating details of the transaction, including bribes and the shipping arrangements from Genoa to Edinburgh. The talk will finish with a note on a lost Lamentation by Van Dyck, a copy of which is in the octagon of St Mary’s Cathedral.
Tico Seifert is a parishioner here at St Mary’s Cathedral and has been Senior Curator of Northern European Art at the National Galleries of Scotland since 2008. He received his PhD from Freie Universität Berlin, where he taught art history from 2003. Tico has published and lectured widely on German, Dutch and Flemish art from the 1500s to about 1900 and has organised exhibitions on themes ranging from Dürer’s Fame to Vermeer and from Rembrandt to nineteenth-century Norwegian and Swiss landscape paintings.
This event is free for Friends of St Mary’s Cathedral. Friends should email this address to attend the event.
A Sister from the Poor Clares, Italy showing a prayer card of Our Lady of Peking
Many Christians across East Asia live under dictatorial or oppressive regimes which squash their human rights. State-sponsored persecution has led to events such as the destruction of churches, the arbitrary imprisonment without trial of the faithful, and even the killing of Christians. Asia continues to be the continent where religious freedom is violated the most, and in the east the long shadow of communism and militant atheism are still responsible for the repression of millions of believers on spurious charges such as “threatening the good of society”. This talk will explore not only the pressing challenges facing Christians in East Asia, but how the faith continues to flourish despite daily violations of their human rights and religious freedom.
The talk will be given by Dr John Newton, who has worked for 15 years in Aid to the Church in Need (UK)’s Press and Information department, which oversees various areas of the charity’s work including PR, research and parliamentary outreach. Dr Newton is the co-author of the charity’s keynote Persecuted and Forgotten? report on the oppression of Christians. His Religious Freedom Today: The Catholic View which summarises the Church’s teaching on religious liberty was printed by CTS, and The Eastern Catholic Churches: A Short Introduction was published by ACN earlier this year.
This event is free to Friends of St Mary’s Cathedral. Friends should email this address to reserve a seat for this event.
Melanie McDonagh is an Irish journalist working in London. She is a columnist with the Tablet, arts critic of The Evening Standard and contributor to the Telegraph, Times and Spectator.
Melanie will talk about the book she is researching on Catholic converts, from Oscar Wilde to Edinburgh's very own Muriel Spark, to be published by Yale University Press.
The Religious Sisters of Mercy, based at St Andrew's, Ravelston, accompanied the Cathedral pilgrimage to the Holy Land this summer. We are delighted that on Tuesday, 13th September, 7:30pm, in Coffee Saints, Sr Mary Pierre, RSM, Sr Miriam Fidelis, RSM and Sr Anna Marie, RSM will give a talk about the pilgrimage open to the whole parish. To be sure of your place, please RSVP by Sunday, 11th September to cathedralhouse@stmaryscathedral.co.uk or phone the office. The pilgrimage was a wonderful spiritual experience and was blessed with the Sisters’ companionship, knowledge and good humour. Join us for the talk as they take us on a journey back to the Holy Land, with insights, anecdotes, and pictures from the trip. There will be a chance to socialise with the pilgrims afterwards.
