Members of the public of all faiths and none are invited to learn about Flannery O'Connor, the storyteller on Saturday 22 March 2025.

The Study Morning will take place at the Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery of St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth near Guildford. Fr John Seddon OSB, resident Benedictine monk at the monastery, will show Bishop Barron's video on Catholicism's Pivotal Players and then lead the discussion about it afterwards.

Members of the public attending need no prior knowledge, do not have to be Catholic and don't have to contribute anything in discussion if they prefer. Optional holy Roman Catholic Mass is at 9am in the Abbey Church. Then, we meet in the Assisi Room at the rear of the monastery for a Video and Talk from 10.30am-12.20pm.

Refreshments will be freely available. Bring a friend if possible.

The Study Morning is free to attend, however a charge of £10 per person is being charged for refreshments and room hire.  ADVANCE BOOKING strongly recommended owing to limited seating at www.ticketsource.co.uk (search 'Flannery O'Connor').......All funds raised will be spent on conserving the Abbey Church organ at St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth.

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More about Flannery O'Connor, the storyteller: In Britain, many may not have heard of Flannery O'Connor, perhaps because she is American and Catholic. But according to Bishop Barron, her influence on contemporary culture is 'profound' both in literature and film. While her novels can be shocking, even convoluted, funny and violent; full of strange characters, they are haunted by Christ. We might have our own idea what religious fiction should be, but O'Connor radically changes it. Fundamentally, she makes us aware we are all sinners in need of salvation. 
We travel in this concluding episode of 'Pivotal Players' to Yaddo, Millgeviile, Savannah, Andalusia and all the places associated with this Pivotal Catholic writer. As Bishop Barron comments: 'In a fallen world, God's love is typically experienced in an interruptive, even violent way. O'Connor's stories compel us to look, with the eyes of faith, precisely at these unnerving moments'.

Image credit: Cmacauley, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons 

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