Brother Oliver

Sunday in Oxford was busy. Much busier than I expected. While it still has that old world, small town feel, it can get as jammed as a D.C. metro during rush hour on days like today. I suppose it might have been caused by all of the new students that had the good sense to arrive in the 1ST week of class. Well, it was either good sense, or it simply didn't occur to them that they could show up in the 0th week. I've already ran into quite a few confused new students who have shown up this week, since Sunday. One girl asked me what one of her orientation programs was going to be like, and blessed be, I was able to give her a pretty full answer thanks to all I've been hearing from Max. Then she walked past me later asking if I had a plug adapter for Denmark. Darn, can't say I do. So I'm 1 for 2 in the helpful game. If only I was Mary Poppins and could pull something out of my carpet bag! Speaking of bags, I just got this industrial olive green messenger bag for 50p (that's cents to you folk!) at a charity housewares sale. Everything was less than a pound, it was the highlight of my week. 

So, back to the topic of Sunday. We attended mass at the Oratory of St. Aloysius Gonzaga:  

http://www.oxfordoratory.org.uk

This will be our regular parish while we are here. It is only a 20 minute walk or 5 minute bike ride from Wolfson College. The community is alive and well, here. The mass was packed, and in Latin (novus ordo) just like it was at Thomas Aquinas College. The choir sang BEAUTIFULLY. (I promptly emailed the director to see if I could join, possibly with Max, and he said yes! Choir rehearsals are Sunday mornings). 

The choir posted their musical works in the bulletin that morning, and I didn't know my dad, Michael Wise, composed such great music in his former life! (see photo, right hand side of the page. Apparently he wrote the Exsurge Gloria Mea! Go dad!):

In this church, Bl. John Henry Newman preached and taught. He attended the University of Oxford and belonged to Trinity College. It just so happens that his feast day is THIS WEEK! As a result, the Oratory is having an evening walk/pilgrimage to the town of Littlemore by candlelight, and it all sounds magical and exciting.

The main reason I wanted to discuss the parish, though, is because we noticed that there was a new group for young people (ages 16-30) advertised at the church. It was going to be a free dinner that Sunday evening in the parish centre, so we figured, why not? We had NO idea what to expect. We ran our errands in the busy, jam-packed Oxford city centre (I gave up at one of the stores where I needed to buy some essentials because the lines stretched endlessly through the store), then, at 7pm, we left our flat and walked, somewhat trepidatiously, to the church for this free dinner and the chance to meet some young people. Oh, let the awkwardness ensue, I thought. 

We walked in and I was immediately taken aback. It was a small, cozy group of people all clustered about chatting, and in the back where the kitchen was stood a young guy in black robes, pouring red wine for everyone!

Due to our restricted budget, I won't be buying wine for a while now, and what a pleasant surprise it was to be given it freely. In a real wine glass, too. These priests and brothers, well, they know how it's done. That young guy pouring wine at the beginning of the evening was Brother Oliver. Assisted in the evenings events by Fr. Daniel and Fr. Nicholas, three of nine priests at the Oratory. 

Oh, and guess what Brother Oliver did to make this young person's group, with its free wine and food, possible? He jumped out of an airplane. To raise money for charity, Fr Daniel and Brother Oliver decided to sky dive, because, let's be honest, who wouldn't want to pay to see that?? Normally, they wear these long black robes. They are intelligent and kind, but most of all- dignified. When he told me he jumped out of an airplane to pay for the dinner I laughed. Really hard. 

Here they are, Fr Daniel on the left, Br. Oliver on the right, about to board the plane, sans robes (you can still see their collars though):

The best part is, they exceeded their goal of £10,000 for the parish building fund and charity, so the leftovers got to go to our new group, courtesy of Br. Oliver, whose idea it was. We will meet once a week for a free meal and discussion. (We will see if the games idea works out). And we end the evening with prayer in the old, fragrantly incensed church.  

In this group I already met a Doctor in residency from the local hospital (he says they really need volunteers, yay!) and a teacher who is about to travel to Kenya with her students, and a delightful Irish guy who looked at me and Max and said "I don't know what the plans are for this evening's group, but it better be good- I'm giving up Downton Abbey for this." Hahahahaha. 

At the end of a beautiful Sunday, all I have to say is:

Thank you Br. Oliver!