A Summer to Remember

I arrived in London the morning of July 7, 2025. Awaiting me at the arrival area at Heathrow

was my dear friend and colleague, Fr. Liam Finnerty, O.C.D., who drove me to the Carmelite

Priory at Boars Hill, a short distance from Oxford. The friars accommodated me in the “cottage,”

where I enjoyed the peace of the monastery and the quiet time I needed to prepare for the events

of the next two weeks. My first planning meeting was with Dr. Joanne Mosley, with whom I

would be engaging in a conversation on Two Sisters in the Spirit, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St.

Elizabeth of the Trinity during the 2025 Spirituality Summit beginning on July 11.

Pictured here is Father Alex Ezechukwu, O.C.D., Prior of the Monastery, introducing me for my keynote address on “Called to Hope: St. Thérèse of Lisieux for Today.”

I gave the address that afternoon, readying the audience during the workshop that followed, for the second full day of the summit, July 12. There, in addition to our conversation, Dr. Mosely and I, along with the other keynote presenters, Father Vincent O’Hara, O.C.D. and Father Liam joined one another in a panel discussion summarizing our findings for the celebration of Saint

Thérèse’s 100 th anniversary of canonization. Complementing our in-house audience was the

cohort of distance learners, joining us via Zoom from around the world.

No sooner had the Summit come to a closure with Solemn Vespers and a wonderful supper for

speakers and participants than the next day, July 13, marked the start of the Center for Applied

Carmelite Spirituality (CACS) Summer School on Journeying Towards God with St. Teresa of

Avila. I was granted the privilege of being the main presenter for this program, offering in total

eleven sessions on the main theme of praying under Saint Teresa’s guidance. My first lecture was at 5:30pm on July 13, with sessions 2-4 on the 14th ; sessions 5 to 7 on the 15th ; sessions 8 and 9 on the 16th ; and sessions 10 and 11 on the 17th . These sessions have been recorded and may soon be available on our website courtesy of CACS.

During our free time from class, our group went for an excursion to Littlemore, the former

residence of John Henry Cardinal Newman near the Oxford campus.

On the left are our Fathers Luke, Alex, Liam, and Clement, along with me and the residential students, including our own Jean Marie Farina, board member and outreach coordinator of Epiphany Association.

Our classroom (pictured below) was fitted with recording equipment and a screen to welcome distance learners, whose feedback was uniformly positive and for many, life-changing.

One other excursion occurred during the summer school to Dorchester to the magnificent Church of Saint Birinus, with a special welcome from the pastor of the parish, Father John, who explained its architecture and gave us a special blessing.

We took a group photo (pictured below) in front of the rectory, and from the smiles on our faces, it is clear that the summer of 2025 will be among the most memorable of our Epiphany travels in service of a mission and ministry whose fruits have proven to be as inspiring and informative as we had hoped they would be. As Jean Marie Farina remarked in her testimonial for the monks:

“[This summer] inspired me to ponder more deeply the story of my soul and the souls of each one of us: how we are called to embrace our own little way of hope and holiness;…to grow in sensitivity to the indwelling Trinity; and to realize even more that it’s Christ in us, our hope of glory."