Two professors and a bishop were the focus of attention during a seminar last Saturday morning at Netherhall House, the student residence in Hampstead, London, inspired by Opus Dei founder St Josemaría Escrivá.

The title of the seminar was “St Josemaría: the Saint of ordinary life”. Bishop George Stack, who introduced the event in the auditorium of the centre, which is an apostolate of the Opus Dei prelature, had earlier suggested that the great challenge in modern day society was to help people re-learn how to pray in an everyday setting. “Prayer is the oxygen of our spiritual lives”, he said.

In his address, titled: “Trial by fire: the early years of Opus Dei”, Professor John Coverdale, of America’s Seton Hall University, outlined the experiences of St Josemaría Escrivá in the anti-clerical atmosphere of early 1930s Madrid.

He argued that the saint was a passionate advocate of forming Catholics of all political persuasions in Christian principles, rather than promoting party political solutions for them to adhere to. During the interval Professor Coverdale signed copies of his recent book, Uncommon

Faith – The early years of Opus Dei, 1928-1943.