The Library would like to thank all those who made the launch of RJ Stove’s book and the first Bookmarks talk such a success, in particular Mr. Hugh Henry for his introduction to the book and to Rob himself for accepting the invitation to host the event at the Library.

The talk itself was well-attended, with more than thirty music-lovers filling the meeting room to hear stories of the great composers, with a dash of politics and religion to go with them. Perhaps all that was missing was a performance of Rob’s works.

So thank you again to those who came, some photos will follow, and we look forward to seeing the rest of you at the next talk.

Public Talk by Sen. Barnaby Joyce

The Catholic Media Group will be hosting a public talk by Senator Barnaby Joyce on "Philosophies and Ethics in Politics" on Monday 19th May 2008 at 6pm in the Library. The talk will be followed by a light supper and drinks.

The cost of the evening will be $10 and those intending attending should RSVP by Sunday 16th May to cclibrarybookmarks@gmail.com

The Catholic Media Group is an informal network of journalists established in April 2007 to provide a forum to discuss ethical and work-related issues, and create a network of Catholic professionals in the journalistic field. Though it exists to serve its members, talks held by the Group are open to general public and all members of the Library are most welcome to attend.

2008 Cardinal Knox Lecture

Professor Greg Craven, Vice-Chancellor of Australian Catholic University, will be delivering the 2008 Cardinal Knox Lecture on The Catholic Intellectual: An Extinct Species on Wednesday 14th May at 7:30 pm. The venue for the lecture will be the Knox Room at Catholic Theological College.

Professor Craven is a columnist for several national papers, and authority on constitutional and public law.

As the Library play an important role in the intellectual development of Catholics this will be of particular interest to our members, so please do attend.

To reserve a seat please contact Catholic Theological College by email at ctc@ctc.edu.au or phone on 94123314 by Friday 9th May.

The Age reports the State Government has invested $10.4 million towards raising the profile of Melbourne as a home for writers and writing, A third of the funds will be directed towards a new Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas based at the State Library of Victoria, as part of a bid to become only the second UNESCO City of Literature. The remaining funds will be for a program of public events at the Centre. This is in addition to $9 million which the Government has already invested for repairs to the State Library and support of the Melbourne Writer's Festival.

In the same paper, the Entertainment section includes a review of a cabaret-comedy show performed by a Darwin-based librarian. In Librarian Idol Andrew Finegan attempts to challenge the sterotype of librarians as awkward, introverted, myopic and just plain boring. While doubtful as to the success of his performance, Finegan does at least manage to convey the idea that libraries are not just for scholars and students, nor are they mere repositories of knowledge. Rather they are spaces where anyone, especially the homeless and mentally ill, can find comfort, convervation and above all, a sense of their human dignity.

Bookmarks 1

This year the Library will commence a series of evening book launches and talks entitled Bookmarks, which will highlight the literary achievements of a number of our members.

For our first Bookmark, the Library is pleased to host the launch of Rob Stove's A Student's Guide to Music History (published by Intercollegiate Studies Institue) on Thursday May 8th at 6:00 pm.

Rob is an accomplished composer and organist, as well as an contributing editor at the American Conservative and writer of two other books: Prince of Music: Palestrina and His World and The Unsleeping Eye: Secret Police and Their Victims. Rob's articles have appeared in The New Criterion, Chronicles Magazine, National Observer, Oriens and Annals Australasia. He is a graduate of the NSW Conservatorium High School and University of Sydney, with majors in History and Italian.

With the musical theme in mind, let us read what Pope Benedict XVI writes in Feast of Faith on its religious siginificance:

[St] Thomas says that through the praise of God man ascends to God. Praise itself is a movement, a path; it is more than understanding, knowing, and doing - it is an "ascent", a way of reaching him who dwells amid the praises of the angels. Thomas mentioned another factor: this ascent draws man away from what is opposed to God. Anyone who has ever experienced the transforming power of great liturgy, great art, great music, will know this. Thomas adds that the sound of musical praise leads us and others to a sense of reverence. It awakens the inner man, as [St] Augustine had discovered in Milan. With Augustine the academic, a man who had come to appreciate Christianity as a philosophy but was uneasy about the Church herself, which seemed to have a lot of vulgarity about her, it was the singing Church which gave him a shattering experience, penetrating the whole man, and which led him forward on the way to the Church. From this point of view, the other, pedagogical aspect, the "stimulating of others to praise God" becomes meaningful and intelligble, particularly when we recall that "pedagogy" meant for the ancients, namely, a leading to one's real nature, a process of redemption and liberation.

Attention Chestertonians

The Australian Chesterton Society and the G.K. Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture will be jointly sponsoring a conference with the theme Redeeming the Culture: The Reforming Vision of G.K. Chesterton. The conference will focus on the enduring value of Chesterton's thought, especially in light of the centenary of publication of Orthodoxy and The Man Who Was Thursday.

The conference will be on the weekend of June 30 - July 2 at Campion College and will be an excellent opportunity for younger Catholics to discover this giant of Catholicism as they prepare for World Youth Day. Speakers include Sheridan Gilley (Emeritus Reader in Theology, Durham University), Thomas Storck (Board Member of the Chesterton Review) and Karl Schmude (President of the Chesterton Society and guest speaker at the Library's own conference in 2006).

For further information please contact Karl by email on kschmude@northnet.com.au or phone on 0407721458.

An Upstart Crow

This day the world celebrates the birth and death of the "upstart Crow, beautified by our feathers", William Shakespeare, the greatest writer in the English language and among the foremost dramatists in history.[1]

For centuries there has been much debate over Shakespeare's religious beliefs and today the question still remains, was he a Roman Catholic? Though no definitive documentation has been provided, not the least in his own hand, there is circumstantial evidence which suggests that he was a Catholic, albeit in secret. However this evidence depends to a great extent on Shakespeare, and his parents before him, having practiced the faith during the reign of Elizabeth I and not having subscribed to the new religion.

Among the evidence which has been put forward in support of his Catholicism are: accusations of recusancy against both his father and daughter for not attending Protestant services; Catholicity of his mother's family; influence of Catholic schoolteachers in Stratford; his possible kinship to the Jesuit martyr Robert Southwell; discovery of a pamphlet written by another Jesuit martyr, Edmund Campion, and hidden in the rafters of the family home, which includes a formal profession of Catholicism by his father; absence of Shakespeare's own name on registers of those attending Protestant services; his purchase of Blackfriars Gatehouse, which was purportedly a Catholic hiding place; and the Catholic character of his writings.

While no one piece of evidence is enough, together they at least lend weight to the idea that Shakespeare was at least sympathetic to the Catholic faith, going as far as to incorporate its vision into his works.

For those wanting to read a little more in the claims for Shakespeare's Catholicism, readers may wish to look at the following articles:

Shakespeare's Millenium by Edward T. Oakes in First Things December 1999
Assurances of Faith: How Catholic was Shakespeare? How Catholic are his Plays? by Paul J. Voss in Crisis July/August 2002
Cracking Shakespeare's Catholic Code: An Interview with Clare Asquith by Debra Murphy of Godspy.com

[1] The first published reference to Shakepeare as a playwright was in a pamphlet written by another playwright, Robert Greene. In it Greene criticises Shakespeare the actor for believing he can put his hand to writing plays and produce anything equal to the works of university educated playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe and Greene himself, who were considered the only ones capable of writing poetry.

The pamphlet is also an attack ad hominum against the power which actors wielded in the Elizabethan age, when there were no copyright laws to prevent them staging plays and playwrights received no royalties. As such Shakespeare was in the unique position of being to earn a living from his plays by staging them as well.

AAP reports the home in Somerset where Evelyn Waugh spent the last ten years of his life is being placed on the market as his family can no longer afford to keep running it.

Combe Florey House was built by Thomas Francis in 1665 and acquired by Waugh in 1956, who saw in it "possibilities of beautification". Among the additions Waugh made were a 6ft chandelier, wooden throne in the main hall (a gift from his friend John Betjeman), oil painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe (which he acquired in a visit to Mexico) and stone porch to accentuate the front door.

Of Faith and Felines

This evening His Lordship, Bishop Peter Elliott, launched a new book by Dr. Tracey Rowland entitled "Ratzinger's Faith: The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI" and published by Oxofrd University Press. The book explores the development of Pope Benedict's thought, with particular reference to problems within the tradition of the Catholic Church such as ecclesiology, liturgy and Revelation. It also provides an insight into the influence of Plato, Sts. Augustine and Bonaventure, and John Henry Newman on the Holy Father - influences which stand in contrast to the Aristotelian-Thomistic thought of his predecessors.

Dr. Rowland is Dean and Associate Professor at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family (Melbourne). She is a member of the editorial board of Communio and holds a doctorate from Cambridge University.

NB For those wondering about the title of this post, Bishop Elliott eluded to the fact that Dr. Rowland's book is outselling Joseph and Chico: The Life of Pope Benedict XVI as Told by a Cat.

In the April newsletter:

• David Kehoe considers libraries as a key tool in the Church's mission
• John Young ponders how Jesus can be both God and the Son of God, while distinguishing what it is to be a child of God made in how image and likeness, and a child of God through baptism.
• Jude Sebastian pays tribute Fr. John Wilkinson CM
• Book Review of Characters in Search of their Author by Ralph McInerny
• Reminder that as tax-time approaches, contributions made to the Library are tax deductible.

Keep reading this blog for further details on Bookmarks, a series of twilight talks by authors associated with the Library, and the Ira Fawcett Childrens Collection.

Dominicans at the CCL

The Library is please to announce the Blessed Adrian Fortescue Chaper of the Dominican Laity has chosen to support it as one of its works of charity.

The Dominican Laity are men and women, singles and couples, living a Christian life with a Dominican spirituality in the secular world. They are committed to the apostolic mission of proclaiming the Gospel by word and work, living for God and neighbour, a life of prayer, penance and study, and the pursuit of justice and truth. The origins of the Dominican Laity date to 1285 when the seventh Master General, Munio de Zamora, devised a rule known as the "Third Order of Penance of St. Dominic." While the original emphasis of the Third Order was on performing and offering works of penance, over time it began to emphasise the importance of Catholic laymen having a solid faith and of sharing that same faith with the world. Among its most illustrious members the Third Order can count St. Catherine of Siena, St. Rose of Lima, St. Louis de Montfort, Bd. Pier Giorgio Frassati and of course, Bd. Adrian Fortescue.

Bd. Adrian Fortescue was born in 1476 and served in King Henry VIII'S campaign against France, after which he became part of the royal court. He served again in France and assisted at the coronation of Anne Boleyn, his first cousin, for the pope had not declared yet Katherine's marriage valid. In 1535 his eyes were opened to Henry's pretensions and true to the Catholic faith, he resisted signing the oath of supremacy. At the time he was a knight of St. John of Jerusalem and a Dominican tertiary. Condemned to the Tower in 1539, he was beheaded on July 9th of the same year.

** The motto of the Dominicans "Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare" is translated as "To Praise, To Bless, To Preach". Together with the order's other mottos are "Veritas" ("Truth") and "Contemplata aliis Tradere" ("To hand on to others what has been contemplated"), they embody what it is to be a Dominican.

News has just been received of the death of Fr. Peter Knowles OP from pneumonia. At the time of his death he had been residing at the Dominican Priory in his native Adelaide. Fr. Knowles, like the late Fr. Wilkinson, was a great supporter of the Library and presented talks here on several occasion.

Fr. Knowles was an archpriest of the Byzantine Rite since October 2005 and had served the Russian Catholic chapel in Kew. He was an accomplished and published expert on Eastern Catholicism, having written and presented papers on the history of the Catholic Church in Russia and Eastern monasticism. He had also made several visits to churches and monasteries in Eatern Europe and Russia. Previously Fr. Knowles had served as Master of Mannix College for eight years.

With his passing from this world the Church has lost a great priest, whose devotion to the liturgy, hospitality and commitment to the monastic ideals of prayers and penance, ingratiated and inspired countless souls.

Fr. Knowles' funeral service wil be held this Friday and the Most Rev. Peter Stasiuk CSSR, Bishop of Sts. Peter and Paul Eparchy, will be the principal celebrant.

May Christ our true God, Who rules over the living and the dead, place the soul of His departed servant, Peter, in the abode of the Saints, grant him rest in the bosom of Abraham, and number him among the Just, through the prayers of His most pure Mother, of the holy, glorious, and praiseworthy Apostles, of our venerable and God bearing Fathers, and of all the Saints; may He have mercy on us and save us, for He is gracious and loves mankind.
(From the Divine Liturgy)

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for him
St. Dominic, pray for him
Sts. Cyril and Methodius, pray for him

As this holy season of Lent draws to a close let us bare in mind the words of Fr. Knowles who often remarked that "to keep the fast is to keep the feast and to keep the feast is to keep the faith."

Advertised Event

Though it is not a Library event, this may be of interest to readers.

The Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission of the Archdiocese of Melbourne will be hosting a Muslim-Catholic Youth Friendship Nighton Sunday 9th March at the Cardinal Knox Centre, between 7 and 9 pm. The purpose of the evening is for young Catholics and Muslims to come together and learn a little more about each other.

Coincidentally this will follow meetings in Rome between Vatican officials and senior Muslim leaders in preparation for talks later this year involving the Holy Father.

Finally please pray for the release of Archbishop Paulos Raaho, Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul in Iraq, who was kidnapped by gunmen last Friday.

Blesed is the servant whom when the Lord shall come, he shall find watching.

It was with much sadness the Library received news of the death of Fr. John Wilkinson CM on February 19th, in the ninety-third year of his life and seventieth year as a priest.

Fr. Wilkinson had dedicated the greater part of his priestly ministry to the education and formation of Catholics. After his ordination he studied at the University of Dublin and remained there teaching in two Irish seminaries. Returning to Australia he first taught at St. Stanislaus', Bathurst and was then appointed rector of the Vincentian seminary in Perth. Thus began thirty-six years instructing and inspiring generations of priests in Australia, New Zealand and even Lebanon. He then returned to St. Stanislaus' for four years before taking up the role of chaplain to Macquarie University. When not teaching he was active in missions, retreats and relief work for other priests.

Fr. Wilkinson's other great love was history and it probably explains his long-standing interest in the Library. He contributed to the Australian Catholic Historical Society and to the history of his own order. In fact his last few years were spent preparing a history of the Vincentian mission in Fiji.

The funeral mass for Fr. Wilkinson was held at St. Joseph's, Malvern on February 25th and his mortal remains laid to rest at the East Malvern Cemetery.

O God, who didst endow they servant John with apostolic power for the preaching of the Gospel and for promoting the honour of the priesthood, grant that he may attain unto the everlasting fellowship of him whom he imitated and proclaimed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, forever and ever. Amen. (Adapted from the Collects for St. Vincent de Paul and a Deaceased Priest.)

In the News

In the first edition of the Library Newsletter for 2008:

• David Kehoe discusses "thinking with the mind of the Church" and the importance of the Library in forming the minds of Catholics.
• John Young reviews GK Chesterton: Thinking Backward, Looking Forward by Stephen R L Clark
• Anna Krohn pays tribute to Bill Finnegan, the Library's bookbinder and repairer, who passed away late last year.

Also included is an insert advertising the first three Wednesday lunchtime talks for the year: Saving Unborn Babies with the Helpers of God's Precius Infants and An Approach to the Apostles with Br. Christian Moe.

Br. Christian Moe cfc, a long standing contributor and supporter of the Library, was awarded the Medal of the Sacred Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice for his contribution to Catholic education in October last year. The request was made to the Vatican by Archbishop Denis Hart to coincide with Br. Christian's departure from Corpus Christi Seminary, where he has been a lecturer in the Catechism and tutor. In receiving this award, Br. Christian's fiedlity to the Magisterium and commitment to the faith of generations of Catholics has been duly honoured. Further the timing of this honour could not have better as Br. Christian prepares to celebrate seventy years since receiving the habit of the De Lasalle Brothers and sixty years of solemn profession.

So in the words of Our Lord when he spoke the parable of the talents:

Euge, serve bone, in modico fidelis, intra in gaudium Domini tui.

The Committee of the Caroline Chisholm Library wishes all its patrons and supporters a most joyful and peaceful Christmas, with every blessing and grace for the year of our Lord 2008.

The Library will be closed from Friday 21st December 2007 to Monday 28th January 2008.

It will reopen on Tuesday 29th January 2008.

News from London

The Library has been informed its counterpart in London, The Catholic National Library, has received a blessing and message of support from Pope Benedict XVI. This coincided with its relocation to St. Michael's Abbey at Farnborough. One of the strengths of the Naional Catholic Library is its Board of Trustees which includes Rev. Dr. Ian Ker, Mr. Piers Paul Read and Lord Nicholas Windsor.

The Secretary of the Board, Mr. Anthony Tyler sent a message to our Library which began:

"It was your group of vulnteers who inspired us to preserve our own library in London in 1997 ... Anyone from the Caroline Chisholm Library in Melbourne, the city in which I was brought up, will receive a warm welcome at the Library here. "

For further information on the Catholic National Library please visit their website at:
www.catholic-library.org.uk

Caroline Chisholm

A perfect woman, nobly planned, to warn, to comfort and command.

The Priests and the Levites went forth, to feast at the courts of the Kings,
They were vain of their greatness and worth, and gladdened with glittering things;
They were fair in the favour of gold, and they walked on, with delicate feet,
Where, famished and faint with the cold, the women fell down in the street.
The Priests and the Levites look around, all vexed and perplexed at the cries
Of the maiden who crouched to the ground with the madness of want in her eyes;
And they muttered - 'Few praises are earned when good hath been wrought in the dark:
While the backs of the people are turned, we choose not to loiter nor hark.'
Moreover they said -'It is fair that our deeds in the daylight should shine:
If we feasted you, who would declare that we gave you our honey and wine.'
They gathered up garments of gold, and they stepped with their delicate feet,
And the women who famished with cold, were left with the snow in the street.
The winds and the rains were abroad - the homeless looked vainly for alms;
And they prayed in the dark to the Lord, with agony clenched in their palms,
'There is none of us left that is whole,' they cried, through their faltering breath,
'We are clothed with a sickness o soul, and the shape of the shadow of death.'
He heard them, and turned to the earth - 'I am pained,' said the Lord, 'at the woe
Of my children so smitten with dearth; but the night of their trouble shall go.'
He called on His Chosen to come: she listened and hastened to rise;
And He charged her to build them a home, where the tears should be dried from their eyes.
God's servant came forth from the South: she told of a plentiful land,
And wisdom was set in her mouth, and strength in the thews of her hand.
She lifted them out of their fear, and they thought her their Moses and said;
'We shall follow you, sister, from here to the country of sunshine and bread.'
She fed them, and led them away, through tempest and tropical heat,
Till they reached the far regions of day, and sweet-scented spaces of wheat.
She hath made them a home with her hand, and they bloom like the summery vines;
For they eat of the fat of the land, and drink of its glittering wines.

By Henry Kendall as quoted in Caroline Chisholm: A Biography by Mary Hoban (Melbourne: Polding Press, 1984)

Reading these lines one cannot help noticing the similarity between Kendall's image of Caroline Chisholm and Chapter 31 of the Book of Proverbs:

Who shall find a valiant woman? One must search to the far corners of the world for the means to pay the price of her. Her husband entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize. She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. She obtains wool and flax and makes cloth with skillful hands. Like merchant ships, she secures provisions from afar. She rises while it is still night, and distributes food to her household. She picks out a field to purchase, out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She is girt about with strength, and sturdy are her arms. She enjoys the success of her dealings; at night her lamp is dimmed. She puts her hands to hard work, and her fingers ply the spindle. She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy. She fears not the snow for her household; all her charges are doubly clothed. She makes her own coverlets; fine linen and purple are her clothing. She makes garments and sells them, and stocks the merchants with belts. She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs at the days to come. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and on her tongue is kindly counsel. She watches the conduct of her household, and eats not her food in idleness. Her children rise up and praise her; her husband, too, extols her: "Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all." Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her a reward of her labours, and let her works praise her at the city gates.

So may the words of the hymn from the Office of Holy Women finally resonate throughout this country:

Let us all praise a valiant and heroic woman,
Famed and renowned the world over for her glorious holiness
Wounded by shafts of holy love, she shrank from the world's sinful love
And made her way through all difficulties to heaven above

All Saints and All Souls

Please pray for the repose of Mr. Anthony Krohn's mother, who died on All Soul's Day after being admitted to hospital earlier in the week. Please also pray for Anthony, Anna and the rest of the Krohn family during this time of loss.

To You alone, Lord, is it proper to always have mercy and to forgive. We implore You on behalf of the soul of Your handmaid, who You have taken out of this world. Do not forget that soul forever and let the enemy take it, order Your holy Angels to receive it and carry it to heaven, its country. May the soul which has put its hope and its faith in You not have to suffer the pains of hell but rather possess eternal joy. This we ask of You through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, God, for ever and ever. (Collect from the Office of the Dead)


In other news, photos from the Ronald Knox Seminar have finally been received and will be posted on the blog this weekend.

Next year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Caroline Chisholm, the pioneer of family, immigrant and women's rights, whose work went beyond racial and religious divisions. To commemorate her life, the Friends of Mrs Chisholm are organising a number of events including the launch of a website, http://www.mrschisholm.com/, conference, and publication of a collection of writings by and about her. The anniversary will also provide an opportunity to renew interest in the cause for her sainthood.