PORTSMOUTH ABBEY SCHOOL ANNOUNCES 2010
PORTSMOUTH INSTITUTE CONFERENCE

America’s Premier Catholic Boarding School To Hold Second Annual Conference Dedicated To Exploration, Discussion Of Catholic Life In The 21st Century

JUNE 2010 CONFERENCE:  NEWMAN AND THE INTELLECTUAL TRADITION

Portsmouth RI, December 8, 2009 -- Portsmouth Abbey School, America’s premier Catholic boarding school, today announced its second annual Portsmouth Institute, a conference program of summer study focused on issues pertaining to Catholic life in the 21st century.  The Institute will provide scholars, intellectuals and all those interested in Catholic faith and life with a unique opportunity to interact with leading experts in spiritual, theological, historical, scientific, artistic, political, sociological and other aspects of contemporary society and engage in exploration of the roles and relevance of modern Catholicism.

The Portsmouth Institute will feature leadership and participation by Portsmouth Abbey’s resident Benedictine monks and faculty of the Portsmouth Abbey School. Institute programs are designed to offer attendees frequent opportunities for informal discussion as well as access to recreational opportunities on the School’s campus, at Carnegie Abbey, and in nearby Newport.  In keeping with its mission, the Institute’s yearly sessions will also provide opportunities for attendance at Mass, the Divine Office and “mini-Retreat” sessions centered around the Abbey’s landmark Church of St. Gregory the Great.

This year’s Portsmouth Institute conference will be held June 10-13, on Newman and the Intellectual Tradition.  The conference will be held just months prior to Cardinal Newman’s beatification, which is now expected to be presided over by Pope Benedict XVI personally, during his official visit to England next September.

“It is a tremendous privilege to be able to offer such an outstanding array of scholars paying tribute to the life and thought of the Venerable John Henry Newman at this momentous time,” said Portsmouth Institute director, James MacGuire ’70, in making the announcement.  “We look forward to an intellectually exhilarating exploration of this great thinker and giant of the Church.”

So far our roster includes a number of distinguished speakers.  Fr. Ian Ker of Oxford University, author of the definitive intellectual biography of Newman, will speak on “Newman’s (and Pope Benedict XVI’s) Hermeneutic of Continuity;” Professor Peter Kreeft of Boston College will speak on Newman’s great poem, The Dream of Gerontius; Dr. Paul Griffiths of Duke University will speak on Newman’s  The Grammar of Assent; Father George Rutler, Pastor of the Church of Our Saviour in Manhattan, will speak on “The Anglican Newman and Recent Developments;” and Edward Short, whose book on Newman and his contemporaries will be published next year, will speak on “Newman and the Americans.”  Deacon John Sullivan of the Boston Archdiocese will preach about his miraculous healing after praying to John Henry Newman. Patrick Reilly, the president of the Cardinal Newman Society, will speak on "Newman and the Renewal of Catholic Identity in American Catholic Higher Education", and Fr. Richard Duffield, Provost of the Birmingham Oratory and Actor of the Newman Cause will speak at dinner Friday evening on the Newman cause for canonization, of which he is the former postulator.

Musical Director Troy Quinn is planning a Saturday evening concert featuring major sections of Elgar’s monumental The Dream of Gerontius as well as a shorter concert on Friday evening.  Although the main body of the conference will be Friday and Saturday, there will be recreational opportunities at Carnegie Abbey and elsewhere on Thursday afternoon, a welcoming cookout at Green Animals Thursday evening, and a closing Mass and brunch on Sunday morning for all who wish to attend these additional events.

The Portsmouth Institute is a conference, study, recreation and retreat center for all those interested in Catholic life, leadership and service in the 21st Century.  “As with last year’s inaugural conference on The Catholic William F. Buckley Jr.,” MacGuire commented, “In addition to the formal sessions there will be ample time for prayer, sport, music, humor and friendship.  We welcome any and all who might be interested in this year’s Newman conference to join us on our wonderful campus and promise that you will leave Portsmouth Abbey refreshed, stimulated and inspired.”

“We look forward to welcoming old and new friends alike to Portsmouth Abbey and School,” said Dr. James DeVecchi, headmaster, “So that they can be better acquainted with the academic and spiritual excellence that has been nurtured here for the past eighty years on the beautiful shores of Narragansett Bay.”

About Portsmouth Abbey School:

Portsmouth Abbey School is a coeducational boarding and day school for students in grades 9-12. Founded in 1926 by a community of English Benedictine monks, the school is located on a 500-acre campus along the picturesque shores of Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay.

The Portsmouth Abbey education is grounded in the Western intellectual tradition, from ancient Greece and Rome and continuing into this century. This classical curriculum is balanced by a focus on spirituality, science, athletics, the arts and fun.
The School's mission encompasses the importance of reverence for God and the human person, respect for learning and order, and responsibility for the shared experience of community life.

For More Information:
The complete conference program and registration information for Newman and the Intellectual Tradition is available at www.portsmouthinstitute.org, by calling Cindy Waterman at (401) 643-1244, emailing her at cwaterman@portsmouthabbey.org, or writing her at Portsmouth Abbey School, 285 Cory’s Lane, Portsmouth RI 02871. 
Additional queries may be addressed to James MacGuire at jmacguire@portsmouthabbey.org.

2010 Portsmouth Institute Schedule
NEWMAN AND THE INTELLECTUAL TRADITION

Thursday, June 10, 2010

(Golf and fishing available at Carnegie Abbey; tennis available at Portsmouth Abbey; sailing on the Bay)

Friday, June 11, 2010

(Bus tour of “Anglo-Catholic Newport"; or Guests free to go to Newport, Tiverton, or Bristol. Afternoon golf at Carnegie Abbey; tennis at Portsmouth Abbey; sailing on the Bay)
 

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Sunday, June 13, 2010