Abbé Friedenthal
My blogs
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Location | United Kingdom |
| Introduction | James is from a family of German origin, originally from Breslau in Silesia, and grew up in Essex, which he loathed,and Paris, which he loved, before settling in London. He studied at Royal Holloway College and at Birkbeck College in the University of London, and later at St Benet's Hall in the University of Oxford, where he did his Theology. He tried his vocation first with the English Dominicans, for whom he retains a lasting affection, and with the Oratorian Fathers, at St Aloysius, Oxford. He teaches in the studium of the Norbertine Priory of St Philip at Chelmsford (philosophy and patristics) as well as occasionally giving conferences to the monks of Farnborough Abbey on Scripture. He was ordained to the diaconate 10 June 2006 by Archbishop Kevin McDonald at St George's cathedral, Southwark, and exercises his ministry at St Saviour's Catholic Church, Lewisham where among other duties he has a ministry to the large numbers of French-speaking parishioners. In April 2010 he joined the Norbertines (the Canons Regular of Premontre) at Chelmsford as a donatus, a member of the Third Order. He also works as chaplain for the NHS in Springfield Psychiatric Hospital, Tooting. |
| Interests | literature, especially French literature, Proust and Sartre (I attended in the 1960s for a short period the same school as these illustrious writers- the Lycee Condorcet in Paris); cooking and entertaining my friends (doesn't Mgr Knox say somewhere that giving drink to the clergy is a corporal work of mercy?); stamp collecting, especially France, Danzig, Silesia, and Religion; and travel, especially (you guessed it) to my beloved France. |
| Favorite Movies | I like silent films very much, especially those of Rudolph Valentino; French cinema- Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, and more recent films such as Le Dernier Metro, Au revoir les enfants, Les Choristes and Huit Femmes. And, bringing back forcibly the France of my teens, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg with the delicious Catherine de Neuve and the handsome Nino Castelnuovo. English films too, especially those directed by David Lean- Brief Encounter of course, and above all This Happy Breed, both with dear Celia Johnson. |
| Favorite Music | The operettas of Jacques Offenbach, especially La Grande Duchesse ("Ah que j'aime les militaires!"); the operettas of Emmerich Kalman ("Komm mit nach Varasdin") and of Franz Lehar ("Du bist mein ganzes Herz"). French cabaret of the inter-war period, Charles Trenet ("Boum!")and, yes, Tino Rossi, whom I saw at the Mogador in Paris in his old age ("O Corse, ile d'amour"). Favourite tenors: Richard Tauber, Fritz Wunderlich and the eternally romantic Mario Lanza. |
| Favorite Books | Proust; the Diary of Samuel Pepys; the plays ofTennessee Williams and Terrence Rattigan; the poetry of Lord Tennyson and dear Lord Byron. |
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