Our annual Pentecost lectures began in 1994 at the initiative of Abbot Hugh. They have continued ever since, in the same format, on the Tuesday to Thursday after Pentecost, with the exception of one year when they had to be cancelled because of the covid lock-down. So our lectures this year were the thirty second in the series, and featured our fourth Dominican friar to date. We were most fortunate to have had Fr. Simon Gaine O.P. as our speaker. He is an extremely eminent theologian, who currently teaches at the Dominican University in Rome, the “Angelicum”. His subject was Eschatology, or the Last Things. Or, as he put it: "Heaven, Earth and Jesus." An account of his lectures will appear in due course in our quarterly magazine Pluscarden Benedictines. The venue, which as usual was the large room at St. Scholastica’s, was well filled, with several in the corridor and hallway outside, as around 70 people attended. Perhaps rarely - if ever - have we had such a good crowd: and the numbers remained high for all four lectures. Those lucky enough to attend showed thereby an agreement that the lectures were well worth listening to, with a most interesting subject, and a clear and engaging presentation.

Next year’s lecturer is scheduled to be Dr. Rebekah Lamb, a Canadian who currently teaches Theology at St. Andrews University in Fife. Her subject is yet to be announced: but she is a Newman scholar, and is especially interested in the way Art and Literature can help advance theological enquiry.