Our Vision
The School for Prophets aims to hear and heed God’s voice from within the tumult of this time.
Practicing the prayer, study, and silent receptivity exemplified by the prophets, school-participants will examine the world as God sees it, and discern ways to speak God’s truth, for both what is needed and possible.
…The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
“The spirit of the lord is upon me
Because he has anointed me and sent me
To bring good news to the poor,
To release the captives,
To restore sight to the blind,
To unburden the oppressed,
To declare a Jubilee of the lord’s favour.”
Luke 4:17-19
What does a Prophet do?
‣ Sees what is needed, what is possible,
and what is Good
‣ Witnesses to God in words and example
‣ Empathizes with suffering humanity
‣ Works for peace and justice
‣ Empowers the powerless
‣ Includes marginalized
‣ Speaks for God to the people, and for the
people to God.
Abraham Joshua Heschel “The Prophets”
Key Features
▸Inspired by Scripture and the Living Tradition:
The curriculum draws on the experience of biblical prophets and saints from the Carmelite tradition. The Carmelite values indispensable to the prophetic commission – solitude, silence, community prayer, contemplation, collaborative work, presence, listening, discernment, welcoming, and integration – are at the heart of the programme.
▸Applying Prayerful Enquiry:
The programme encourages a prayerful engagement with current social reality, fostering critical thinking from a spiritual perspective that addresses causes, and not simply effects.
▸A Participative Model:
The residential weekend gatherings and frequent on-line sessions allow for building relationships and confidence in a community growing and learning together how to witness the movements of the Holy Spirit at this time.
▸Catholic, Ecumenical and Inter-disciplinary:
Prophets operate at the boundaries between the religious and the social. This requires gathering input from a wide spectrum of sources, contemplating and processing these within the rich guidance of scripture and tradition, and making God’s presence and desires alive in the world.
▸Communal Emphasis:
Learning and growing together in our prophetic calling and encouraging one another in the demands that prophetic truth-telling engenders.
▸Led by a Religious and Lay Team:
Programme facilitators bring their insights and lived experience as lay and religious members of the Church to enrich the conversation with course participants.
▸Creativity—Inspired and Inspiring:
Prophets not only tell truths that in God’s name must be spoken. They also conjure the latent potential for healing, wholeness, and holiness that reside in each human person created in the imageof God.
Course Outline – Preliminary Schedule
| October 23th – December 18th | January 15th – February 12th | February 26th | March 11th | March 25th | April 8th – May 6th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scriptural Foundations for The Prophetic Vocation | Growing in Contemplative Prayer to Hear God’s Whisper | The Prophetic Grace Bestowed at Baptism | Prophetic Saints and Their Example | Catholic Social Teaching as Prophetic Praxis | Posing Prophetic Questions |
| ‣ Lessons from the Biblical prophets ‣ Qualities, attributes, and patterns of prophecy ‣ The Beatitudes as a prophetic paradigm ‣ Prophetic theology and spirituality | ‣ Seeds of Prophetic Contemplation ‣ Invoking and attending to the Holy Spirit ‣ Spiritual and communal practices for Discernment | ‣ Prophetic gifts ‣ Prophetic calling ‣ Prophetic attributes and tools ‣ Prophetic responsibilities | ‣ Audacious vocations for the truth ‣ Creating communities of mission ‣ Transforming Church incarnating Jesus in time and place | ‣ Core principles from papal encyclicals ‣ Lessons from addressing ‘the signs of their times’ ‣ Lay advocates who put in practice innovations based on CST | ‣ Taking to heart the questions Jesus posed ‣ The ethical art of subversive questions ‣ Honing critical thinking, and self-critical reflection |
| Session | Dates | Venue | Curriculum | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oct 23 | On-Line | The Prophetic Vocation – Then & Now | CONTEMPLATE |
| 2 | Nov 6 | On-Line | Introduction to the Biblical Prophets | CONTEMPLATE |
| 3 | Nov. 20 | On-Line | Encountering Jesus As Prophet | CONTEMPLATE |
| 4 | Dec. 4 | On-Line | Prophetic Qualities, Attributes & Challenges | CONTEMPLATE |
| 5 | Dec. 18 | On-Line | The Beatitudes As Prophetic Template | CONTEMPLATE |
| 6 | Jan. 15 | On-Line | Prophetic Prayer: Heeding Silence | DISCERN |
| 7 | Jan. 28-29 | Residential | Forming a Prophetic Community | DISCERN |
| 8 | Feb. 12 | On-Line | Reading the “Signs of the Times” | DISCERN |
| 9 | Feb 26 | On-Line | Discerning Prophetic Gifts | DISCERN |
| 10 | Mar 11 | On-Line | Finding One’s Prophetic Voice | PROPOSE |
| 11 | Mar 25 | On-Line | Catholic Social Teaching, Applied | PROPOSE |
| 12 | Apr 8 | On-Line | The Ethical Art of Prophetic Questions | PROPOSE |
| 13 | Apr 22 | On-Line | Receiving & Serving the Holy Spirit | PROPOSE |
| 14 | May 6 | On-Line | Prophetic Contributions to the Church & Beyond | PROPOSE |
| 15 | May 18-19 | Residential | Commissioning |
Cost
Suggested price: £950
(including two residential overnights)
For further support towards the cost of the programme please send an email to:
Fr Alex Ezechukwu OCD
fralex@carmelite.org.uk
Please download our poster:
Our Team
John Dalla Costa is an author, theologian, and ethicist. For over a decade, John taught ethics at the Schulich School for Business at York University (Toronto). Currently, he is a member of an interdisciplinary team at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), working to give dimension to the new economy Pope Francis has envisioned in his social teachings.
Alexander Ezechukwu, OCD is a Carmelite priest and serves as the prior of the Carmelite community at Boars Hill, Oxford. Fr Alex is a trained spiritual director with many years of pastoral experience in guidance in the spiritual life. He holds a Licence in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome.
Kelvin Ekhoegbe, OCD is a Carmelite priest and is involved in the retreat work at the priory. He holds degrees in Philosophy and Theology from The Dominican Institute, Ibadan and Institut Catholique de Toulouse (Catholic University of Toulouse), respectively.