St. Stephen's House

It is Friday morning at St. Stephen's House, Oxford, in between the summer apologetics conference and the beginning of the Perelandra Colloquium. I thought I might take this opportunity to comment on the setting for these two events.

St. Stephen's House was formerly the mission house for the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE). This Anglican order is also known as the Cowley Fathers due to the location of the original mission house in Cowley, a suburb of Oxford. The photo above is of the cloister with the Church of St. John the Evangelist beyond. Below is a photo of the mission house itself.

It was to this location that C. S. Lewis came to make confession to Father Walter Adams, one of the Cowley Fathers. Lewis began the practice of confession to a priest during the first week of November 1940, as noted in his letters to Sister Ruth Penelope Lawson. Lewis continued on with Father Adams until Adams' death in 1952. After Adams' death Lewis continued the practice of confession with the priests of St. Mary Magdalen Church in the heart of Oxford.

Here are photos of a confessional booth in the church of St. John the Evangelist, a booth which dates to Lewis's time:

Father Walter Adams is remembered on the wall of the chapel in St. Stephen's House:

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Will Vaus

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