Hugely enjoyable...

...party to launch Fr Martin Edwards' book The Bread of Life, designed to prepare children for First Confession and First Communion. It's available from Gracewing Books and also from Aid to the Church in Need. I had said I would help with pouring wine etc, but in the end got talking to lots and lots of friends. Bishop Bernard Longley was there and v. kind and interested in my recent Cycle Ride, and among other guests were author Ruth Rees, whose book on the Rosary is also published by Gracewing, Gillian van der Lande who runs Devotium, selling beautiful statues of saints etc - will have a stall at the Towards Advent Festival of Catholic Culture (Sat Nov 3rd, Westminster Cathedral Hall - be there!).

Some one sends a comment to my Blog asking if it's true that there are 1600 redundant churches in Britain being made into dance halls, pubs etc. No, that's not true. There are a great many redundant churches - probably at least 1600 - but they can't be made into pubs or dance halls as many are in remote places, lovely Suffolk villages, or places where there were villages in the Middle Ages but aren't any more, or small hamlets that were once large and now boast three great churches which can't be sustained, etc. Many of these Medieval churches are glorious - if you visit Britain and don't tour at least a few of the fabulous churches of, say, East Anglia, then you haven't grasped a whole crucial reality of English life and history. Many (most?) Americans who come here don't even think about such things - and that includes devout souls who would probably be very interested if only they stopped to think about it all for a moment. There is an official body that looks after many of our glorious old churches, and there are others that badly need some funds and cherishing and could be open for worship more often if these were available...all this is a great burden for the C of E. There are also some newer, Catholic, churches that are likely to be closed over the next years - some of these are fine buildings, others may be deemed less so. It is most unlikely that these will be turned into pubs. The irony is that while some churches are not needed, others are being built - for example, the rapidly growing Black Pentecostal movement is turning cinemas and bingo halls into churches, raising funds for this from devout and dedicated people who turn up in large numbers. In the Catholic church, there are groups and movements which could almost certainly make very good use of some church buildings that might otherwise be left vacant: it is to be hoped that our Bishops will approach this subject with generous hearts and large minds.

Oh, and those comments about why the BBC didn't send a car for me for that radio broadcast - in the middle of a Tube strike, cars couldn't be found, and London was one big traffic jam. Even on a normal evening, a car is a ghastly risk - the last time the World Service offered one, I rashly took it, got stuck in traffic, and never made the broadcast at all...