Holy Hour & Lecture by William McGurn, “The Pr*son Witness of Jimmy Lai"

Holy Hour to Pray for Persecuted Christians and Lecture, “The Pr*son Witness of Jimmy Lai,” by William McGurn (Wall Street Journal)

Join St. Patrick’s Seminary, the Benedict XVI Institute, and Archbishop Cordileone on Wednesday, May 8th, to pray for and learn about the situation of persecuted Christians on mainland China and in Hong Kong.

The evening begins with Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, led by Archbishop Cordileone. Special music for the Holy Hour includes the premiere of a new composition by Frank La Rocca on a text by James Matthew Wilson, “Stanzas for the Chinese Martyrs,” commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship. Other compositions by Diana Corliss, Kevin Allen, and Paul Jernberg will also be sung by the choir, directed by Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music.

The second and final event of the 2023–2024 St. Patrick’s Seminary Lecture Series follows. The lecture by William McGurn, opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal and godfather of Jimmy Lai, is entitled “The Pr*son Witness of Jimmy Lai.” Jimmy Lai is the founder of the popular Hong Kong paper Apple Daily, who has now been imprisoned in solitary confinement for organizing pro-democracy protests.

4:45 – Doors open

5:00 – Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

5:45 – “The Pr*son Witness of Jimmy Lai,” Lecture by William McGurn

7:00 – Reception

William McGurn is a member of The Wall Street Journal editorial board and writes the weekly “Main Street” column for the Journal each Tuesday. Previously he served as Chief Speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He spent more than a decade overseas—in Brussels for The Wall Street Journal/Europe and in Hong Kong with both the Asian Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic Review. And in the mid-1990s, he was Washington Bureau Chief for National Review. Bill is author of a book on Hong Kong (Perfidious Albion) and a monograph on terrorism (Terrorist or Freedom Fighter). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, holds a BA in philosophy from Notre Dame and an MS in Communications from Boston University.

Frank La Rocca’s Mass of the Americas has been hailed as “perhaps the most significant Catholic composition of our lifetimes” and “the best liturgical composition for the Mass since Duruflé.” Cappella label’s recent recordings of La Rocca’s Mass of the Americas and Requiem for the Forgotten/Messe des Malades have debuted in the top spots of Billboard’s Traditional Classical chart. La Rocca is composer-in-residence for the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship, a faculty member of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Catholic Scholars and Artists.

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