The fourth Thinking Faith week took place at Boarbank Hall on 19th-25th July 2008. We were a group of sixteen, including the five organisers. Participants were mainly in their late twenties and thirties this year, and among them were a doctor, a computer programmer, several teachers and someone who is about to start a pasta business - between us we could look after most of the essential aspects of life!

The week was the usual mix of prayer, socialising, expeditions and study. We began our formal talks with a presentation on the sanctity of life, which focused on arguments about when human life begins, with particular reference to the Human Fertility and Embryology Bill. This was followed by a lively session on Richard Dawkins’ criticisms of God, in The God Delusion, which in particular pointed out how difficult it is for even intelligent non-believers to grasp some of the basic ideas that educated Christians may take for granted.

The next day began with a talk about religious violence, which showed that the increase in this phenomenon affects all religions across the globe, and looked at some possible explanations for one or two concrete cases, in particular that of the Leeds bombers. A slide show on images of Augustine followed, which focused on the fifteenth century frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli in San Gimignano and the near-contemporary panel-paintings in Carlisle. This explored the relation between Gozzoli’s presentation of Augustine and the Observant Reform.

We then watched the film ‘Atonement’, based on Ian McEwan’s novel, and with the help of an informative introduction, examined this through guided discussions in small groups. The key question seemed to be: can one talk of ‘atonement’ in a world without God? Next the group were introduced to the background of Benedict XVI’s two encyclicals, on hope and on love, with particular reference to their connections with the writings of J.H.Newman: the ‘liberalism’, which was for Newman the perennial problem, is more or less equivalent to the ‘relativism’ to which Benedict repeatedly returns.

Finally a guest speaker told us about the development of pilgrimages to Jerusalem during and after the reign of Constantine. The speaker described the way in which the Easter liturgy in Jerusalem, based on reliving the events of the last days of Jesus in the actual places where they occurred, has created the liturgical drama of the Easter Triduum, celebrated now across the world.

As usual, we had two days out. The first was to Shap Abbey, a ruined Norbertine abbey set in the fells north of Kendal. We enjoyed a walk and picnic, which incorporated a visit to the sixteenth century Keld Chapel. We ended the afternoon with Mass in the open air - actually in the warming room, or calefactory, of the abbey. Unfortunately, the calefactory has lost its original walls, so Mass was a little affected by strong gusts of wind, but providence kept the rain away, and we all felt a powerful sense of continuity with the tradition of the monks who served the abbey for several centuries, using the same Rule of St Augustine that today’s Dominicans and the Augustinian sisters of Boarbank also use.

The second expedition was to Grasmere. There we split into two groups. The more intrepid walkers went up Far Easedale to High Raise and completed the circle by returning via Easedale Tarn - a leg-stretching six hours, in good walking weather with superb scenery. The less intrepid, or perhaps the more literary, were led on a literary tour of Grasmere and Rydal, complete with readings from Wordsworth, Ruskin, Hopkins and company at appropriate points. We regathered in the evening for a meal in the garden of the Royal Oak pub in Cartmel.

Other activities included watching the very moving film ‘Shadowlands’ about C.S. Lewis, walks to Cartmel and Humphrey Head, various games of tennis and table tennis, and plenty of conversation. There was opportunity for private prayer, and for Exposition as well as the regular timetable of daily Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, celebrated partly with the group alone and partly with the Boarbank community. We also celebrated a Mass for sick friends and relatives. On the last evening, we enjoyed our usual party with the sisters, incorporating the ever-welcome Charlie Chaplin film, this time ‘The Kid’.

Once again this was a thoroughly enjoyable week, which provided a chance for participants to think more deeply about their faith and its relation with the secular issues and the world of ideas. We pray that the friendships we have made will contine and will sustain each of us in our journey as Catholics, attempting to unite in our lives the life of the heart and the life of the mind.