Monday Nov 6th
At a conference such as this, one barely puts one's nose out of doors, and I have only manged one walk - in the grounds of a nearby College, where russet and golden leaves were cascading on to wide spacious lawns and echoing the colours of a beautiful building in red sandstone....it turns out to be a Pontifical College, the only College in the USA owned by the Vatican, and Marcus Grodi's son is among those studying there......

This Autumn weather links one immediately to childhood.....Autumn mists and the smell of cordite with fireworks exploding in suburban gardens, and the joy of standing around a great bonfire, sparks shooting up into the cold dark sky, family faces illuminated in the glow, and hot sausages and potatoes to enjoy as the flames died down...... It is of course a useful and timely coincidence that this conference on the English Reformation should be taking place on the weekend of Guy Fawkes' Day, and I was able to use this in my speech, explaining of course the truth of the so-called Gunpowder Plot, which was almost certainly a complex set-up by Govt spies to entrap Catholics, able to make use of young Catholic hotheads and thence to establish in the minds of Englishmen for several generations the notion of "Papists" as dangerous traitors intent on handing over England to foreign rule......for a fuller treatment of this contact the COMING HOME NETWORK and get the tape of my talk......

Dr Scott Hahn has been among the speakers this weekend, talking about Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, and particularly emphasising the scholarship of each of these remarkable men, and the contribution they made to culture and learning even apart from their martyrdoms.....I had not really thought of this before, never having read any of Fisher's works, and only knowing some of More's letters. Fisher was something of a Ratzinger figure in his day, a brilliant mind given to the service of the Church, deep in theological knowledge which he comunicated well.

Dwight Longenecker, soon to be ordained a priest, is an old friend and we have worked together on various projects over the years. He trained at a very anti-Catholic Evangelical college here in the USA, but went on to think things through for himself and, loving all things English, was ordained as an Anglican and eventually became vicar of a parish on the Isle of Wight, with an English wife and the care of an enchanting old church rich in history......but the pull of truth was strong and he and his family eventually became Catholics......after an odysey which saw him writing a number of excellent books, and becoming well known as a speaker and writer, he is now back in the USA - and becoming a Catholic priest and a school chaplain near the College where he was initially trained! He has given a excellent lecture here this weekend, explaining the history of Christianity in Britain, going back to Roman times - with illustrations from his former parish on the Isle of Wight, showing features from the different eras of our history......