A one-day course on development education is to be held at the Westminster Cathedral Conference Centre on May 18. The conference is designed for geography and religious education teachers and has been organised jointly by the Justice and Peace Commission, the Westminster Diocese Schools Committee and the Council for World Development Education. Bishop David Konstant, Bishop in Central London will chair the meeting. Details from Education Commission, 33 Wilfred Street, London. SVVI.
A Gregorian Singing Weekend will be held at Loreto Grammar School, Aitrincham, Cheshire from May 5 to 7. Dr Mary Berry, of the Scholz Gregorlana of Cambridge, will conduct the weekend, which will conclude with Mass in St Vincent's Church, Altrincham. Singers and non-singers are welcome. Details from Mrs M, Pethica, 91 Oldfield Road. Altrincharn. Telephone 061 928 0409.
The Burslem Peace Group has organised a Peace Poster competition among Catholic schools in the area. Prizes will be presented by the Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent at the Bursiem Leisure Centre on May 12 at 7 pm. The competition has been organised in connection with the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament.
An hour of prayer for peace will be held at St Joseph's Church, Burslem. Stoke-on-Trent, on May 23 at 8 pm. It will be led by Bishop Cleary, Auxiliary of Birmingham, and has been organised by the Burslem Peace Group who have also printed 24,000 prayer leaflets for distribution locally.
Grey Court, the house at Ham, near Richmond, where Cardinal Neuman spent his childhood, and which has been renamed Newman House by Grey Court Comprehensive School, of which it now forms part, is to be renovated for use as the school's music department at a cost of £32,700. The renovation work will start in June so that the building can be used from the start of next year's spring term.
Barnet Deanery, Hertfordshire, is offering three short courses, "Prayer '78", with priests, religious and lay speakers. Each starts at 8 pm and is free. The Whetstone course is at the parish centre, Athenaeum Road, N20, on Mondays, April 24, May 8 and 22, The Finchley course is at St Alban's Hall. Dale Grove, N12, on Wednesdays, April 26 and May 3. The Burnt Oak course is at St Rose's Convent. Orange Hill Road, on Thursdays, May 4, I I and 18. Everyone is welcomed to whichever is the most convenient course. There will be a chance to meet over a cup of tea after each talk.
The National Board of Catholic Women held its provincial meeting and AGM at Oxford last Saturday. On the Friday a reception was held for the local members of constituent organisations and for members of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations. There were women from 30 countries including Africa, Europe and South America. Bishop M cCartie, Mr Evan Luard, MP, and Mr Bob Walsh (with wife) of the Social Welfare Commission were present.
The Benedictine nuns of Cockfosters will hold a monastic weekend for young people — on the theme of "Community, Prayer, Work" — from May 12 to 14. Further details can be obtained from Priory of Our Lady Queen of Peace, Priory Close, London, N14. Telephone: 01-449 8336.
* * * A concert is being presented at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, in Rothamsted Avenue, Harpenden, liertfordshire, next Saturday at 7.30 pm, when the Jeffreys Consort of Voices from London will give a recital of choral music. The guest conductor will be Colin Mawby, who until recently was Director of Music at Westminster Cathedral.
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Dr Hugh Monteflore, Anglican Bishop of Birmingham, will give the first in a series of talks between April 20 and May 18 entitled "Christianity '78" at St Luke's Church, Battersea, South London. Other leading Christians, including Archbishop Anthony Bloom and Lord Soper, will also speak in the series, which is on Thursdays at a pm and Sundays at 10 am.
A one act play, "The Battle of Box Hill", will the high spot in an evening's entertainment on April 29 at the Church of Our Lady Immaculate, Tolworth, Surrey. On May 30, at the same church, there will be an ecumenical panel at the Union of Catholic Mothers' meeting to answer questions on any sort of topic.
* * * More than 3,500 people from all parts of the diocese of Clifton flocked to Downside Abbey last Sunday to attend a special Mass for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life. The procession was led by 150 altar servers, and 60 priests concelebrated the Mass, Choirs from several parishes took part in the singing. Bishop Alexander, of Clifton, the principal concelebrant, said in his homily: "We must always start from the vocation that we all share — the vocation to be a Christian."
An anti-abortion demonstration to be held in Newcastle upon Tyne on Saturday. April 29, has been organised jointly by LIFE and SPUC. Protesters will assemble at Richardson Road, Newcastle, at 1.45 before marching on a circular route through the city. On their way they will stop at the Civic Centre to present the Lord Mayor with a wreath.
School and college news
Ninety Catholic secondary school head teachers met at Ratcliffe College, Leicester, last week for the annual two-day meeting of the Conference of Catholic Colleges. For the first time in its 80 years' history. headmistresses took part in the conference. The theme was "The Threat to Religious Education in Schools," The principal speakers were Bishop David Konstant, Bishop in Central London, and Miss Noreen Hunt, dean of Faculty at New College, Durham.
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Two lecturers at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, Middlesex, are standing as Labour candidates in the borough council elections in Richmond upon Thames on May 4. They are, Mr Duncan MacPherson, senior lecturer in religious studies, specialising in eastern religions, who is a member of St Margaret's Church and secretary of the district's trades union council; and Mr Brian Firth, principal lecturer, author of a study of the mass media.