Wendell author to speak at Warwick Free Public Library
WARWICK — The Warwick Free Public Library will host a free author talk with Wendell resident Kathy-Ann Becker on Tuesday, May 5, at 7 p.m.
Becker is the author of “Silencing the Women: The Witch Trials of Mary Bliss Parsons,” detailing the true story of a 17th-century Puritan woman who was too beautiful, too rich and too outspoken for her times. Becker is a Parsons descendant.
The book explores how fear, gendered politics and theology mixed with governance, justice and gossip to create a culture of blame-targeting, social tension and the silencing of voices.
The library is located at 4 Hotel Road in the center of town, just off Route 78. Parking is available in front of the library and across the street at Town Hall.
Mount Grace hike set for Saturday
WARWICK — The community is invited to the 25th annual Ned Green Scholarship Fund Hike up Mount Grace on Saturday, May 9, from 10 a.m. to noon.
Participants are advised to meet at the Oscar Ohlson Field off of Route 78, Warwick. Hikers will receive a free book, “Cutting a Bond with the Long Trail,” in appreciation of hiking. Hikers are encouraged to bring water, a snack and insect repellent. The event will be canceled if there is inclement weather.
Thomas Aquinas College announces commencement speaker
NORTHFIELD — Thomas Aquinas College has announced that the spring commencement speaker will be Gavin Ashenden, a former chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II, author and theologian.
Ashenden originally discerned a vocation to the Anglican priesthood while earning his law degree at Bristol University. He was ordained to the Church of England in 1980 and served as a parish priest in and around London. In the early days of his priesthood, he helped smuggle Bibles, works of theology, and medicine into the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia to aid underground Christians.
Ashenden studied psychology of religion at the Jesuit Heythrop College and completed a doctorate on Charles Williams’ life and work. Following his education, he served as a senior lecturer and chaplain at the University of Sussex for 23 years. From 2008 to 2012, he presented a weekly “Faith and Ethics” program for the BBC’s radio and podcast shows.
In 2008, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Ashenden to her College of Chaplains, a station he later resigned from after criticizing a Scottish cathedral for hosting a service featuring a reading from the Quran that denied the divinity of Christ. For the next two years, he served as a missionary bishop in the Christian Episcopal Church, a traditionalist Anglican offshoot. He formally entered the Roman Catholic Church on Dec. 22, 2019.
He is currently associate editor for The Catholic Herald and runs two YouTube channels, Ashenden Scripted and Catholic Unscripted, commenting on aspects of the Catholic faith and the Christian Church.
Accompanying Ashenden on commencement day will be the Rev. Andrew Beauregard, who will serve as the principal celebrant and homilist at the Baccalaureate Mass. Andrew is vocations director of the Franciscans of the Poor Christ.
“Both men have taken a countercultural stance in the world, as every Thomas Aquinas College alumnus must: Fr. Andrew, in his profound adherence to the Franciscan way of life; Dr. Ashenden, in his valiant devotion to speaking the truths of our faith to a culture that denies them,” Thomas Aquinas College President Paul O’Reilly said in a statement. “They have much wisdom to offer our graduates, who must face their future with Christian strength and zeal to share Christ’s teachings.”
Girl Scouts solve mock crime at Fiddleheads Gallery
NORTHFIELD — Seven Girl Scouts from Troop 64980 who live in Greenfield, Bernardston, Northfield and Montague recently participated in a forensic science program at Fiddleheads Gallery. The program was designed to help them earn a Special Agent Badge.
The young “detectives” were presented with a simulated “crime scene” involving a breaking-and-entering incident that resulted in an art heist. The girls listened to a witness account from gallery volunteer Deb Putnam, who described what she saw when she opened the venue, including an open back door, a broken frame and a “weird” odor.
The Scouts scoured the area inside and the area surrounding the door looking for evidence. Among several clues, they found a key, broken eyeglasses, a hair scrunchie and pieces of a broken picture frame. The girls then participated in several print and impression testing exercises, including fingerprinting, print lifting from objects, lip printing, shoe impressions and tool marks. They ended their investigation by examining human and animal hairs.
The thief was ultimately determined to be Putnam, hence the dropped key and lack of door damage, plus misleading witness answers.
“They all had an amazing, informative experience,” Tara Stone, a volunteer Girl Scout parent, said in a statement.