Pub: Irish; food: good; beer: excellent – and a crowd of approximately 80 interested in sparking a renewal of interest in Catholic culture, history and intellectual life.
Last week’s gathering might almost have come out of the rollicking circle of famed English Catholic intellects in the 1930s such as GK Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc and Christopher Dawson, except that it happened in Northbridge’s restaurant strip on February 26.
Such was the setting for the launch of the Christopher Dawson Society which held its inaugural gathering at Rosie O’Grady’s Irish pub; organisers Daniel Matthys, Tom Gourlay and Elizabeth Bogoni (all currently studying at university or recently graduated) were hoping to offer something they feel has been missing on the Perth Catholic scene – a society devoted to forensic analysis of contemporary issues and a reconnection with some of the greats of the Catholic tradition.
Named for the legendary British historian, Christopher Dawson, whose Catholicism is believed to have excluded him from teaching at Oxford in the 1920s and 30s, the Dawson Society is hoping to meet every two months.
Last Tuesday’s meeting featured presentations by Perth laymen Jing Ping Wong and Andrew Kania.
Mr Wong, an engineer with a Master’s degree from the John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family, contrasted the Catholic and secular concepts of gender and the meaning of sex, addressing issues increasingly debated in the public square.
Dr Andrew Kania, an Oxford- trained academic who is Director of Spirituality at Aquinas College, spoke on the lay vocation and its importance to the future of the Church, reminding listeners that on numerous occasions it was laity which had played a key role in saving the Church’s orthodoxy when clerics were not up to the task.
Dawson Society co-founder Daniel Matthys told The Record he had been pleased with the inaugural gathering.
“I was very pleased with the first meeting. It stimulated some good discussion and, from the feedback I’ve had, got people thinking.”
The next meeting of the Society is on April 9. Anthony Coyte from the University of Notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle campus will speak on papal frontrunner Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s theology of the family, followed by a panel discussion. Further information: from Tom Gourlay via: gourlayt@gmail.com or 0434 402 884.