A Catholic Religious Education Project...

...for primary schools, run by the Association of Catholic Women, has now been flourishing for several years. This year, we've teamed up with the CTS to make the whole venture even bigger. There are two trophies to be won, for different age groups, and some lovely prizes, and Catholic primary schools across Britain are invited to join in...one invited us to address the children, so this morning I went to St Vincent's primary school in Acton, to speak at Morning Assembly.

It's a joy to come in from litter-strewn streets and graffitti and the general cheerlessness of much of today's London, and find a school buzzing with a sense of purpose and small children. They walked into Assembly in neat lines, looking very nice in their school uniforms, sat cross-legged on the floor in rows looking bright-eyed, and led by a teacher put their hands together and closed their eyes for prayers. The chorus of children's voices in prayer was moving - I suppose teachers get used to it, but to this jaded journalist it was so sweet. Then I was introduced and told them about the RE project, and how we were doing it to help children all over Britain learn about our Catholic Faith...I mentioned the Pope and asked if anyone knew his name, and a lot of hands went up and I chose one at random and he was spot-on with the name of BXVI...

It's fun doing something like this, but facing a whole school assembly is surprisingly scary - all those faces. Much more challenging than last night's marriage preparation group, but more enchanting too. A joyful start to the day.

Afterwards I got the Tube to Victoria and relaxed for ten minutes with a cup of coffee and a roll and the Daily Telegraph - excellent commentary today by Simon Heffer about the Govt's Stalinist imposition of its own horrible version of "culture" on schools.