Today...

...I worked at the CTS (see yesterday's post. More of same.) Hurried to an Anglican ladies' group in Streatham where I gave a talk ("Celebrating feasts and seasons"). Back through rain to central London in a steamy bus. Brief visit to Westminster Cathedral - all scaffolding and repairs at present - met a friend, as so often happens, in the Bl. Sacrament chapel and had one of those conversation that start in whispers because it's in church and continue properly outside as you walk up to Victoria station and cover all sorts of things from liturgy to current trends in Church and nation. He's involved with an (excellent - I've met them. V. devout, keen on adoration, confession, Rosary, loyalty to Pope) charismatic-based group, but laments, and very rightly, aspects of their liturgy (pottery chalice!! aaaarggh!).

Met dear niece L. by pre-arrangement at Temple tube station. Jamie took us out to dinner - v.v. agreeable. The Middle Temple and its environs looks wonderful on a May evening with a faint drift of rain and a feeling of Dickens and the Knights Templar and history gently blending, and Jamie enjoyed taking his wife and niece through the corner of London that is his own, and bustling us into a restaurant and giving us a good dinner.

Back at home, sat late with niece, talked and talked. Covered Jane Austen, Harry Potter (we're in favour),youth crime, what a future Govt could/should do about all sorts of things.

I was working all day...

...at the offices of the CTS in Vauxhall. Staggered there with literally hundreds of children's essays in a big backback, to join with the hundreds already there...all part of the big Religious Education Project run jointly by the Catholic Truth Society and the Association of Catholic Women.

The children had written about some of Christ's miracles in the New Testament. Top prizewinners get cash for their schools, and book prizes for themselves, and a large number of runners-up get copies of the new Compendium of the Catholic Catechism.

My task today was to inscribe certificates (400 in all, got about half completed today), and several dozen bookplates (name, school, and "Presented by the Association of Catholic Women..." etc etc) and write and sign several dozen letters, and pack all these into jiffy bags and address them to the schools...a steady great pile of them grew in the corner of the room and spread out across the floor as I worked.

The CTS is a good place to work. At 12 noon some one looked in and asked if I'd like to join in the Angelus - we all gathered in front of an icon, and said the prayer, and prayed for the Holy Father, and the Bishops, and the patrons and benefactors of the CTS...atmosphere in the office is cheerful and friendly. It's all v. modern with computers etc, but has a heritage going back to the 19th century, when booklets were published at a penny each...

Soho at night...

...can be slightly scary though brightly lit and full of life. Cycled there to collect a DVD of pics from St Patrick's, neccessary for some journalism. Got muddled in that network of streets off Shaftesbury Avenue and around Dean Street and Old Compton Street - kept suddenly finding myself out at Piccadilly Circus. Joy to arrive at St P's, cosy shabby house warm and welcoming, teeming with life and a happy sense of purpose. Some one arrived to confer about World Youth Day, was organising a group of some 40 young people from London and Oxford. In the hall, I was greeted by another chap, who'll be coming with a number of others to an event I'm helping to run on Friday in Chelsea. As I cycled away, Soho didn't seem scary at all.

Home v. late as delays on trains. Perhaps because of this, and because it was a cold rainy night, people were cheery and friendly and suddenly...well...British and cheerful. Some one offered me a seat, and when I explained that I was really all right as I needed to stand to steady my bike, he was v. nice and said was I sure..and then took the seat v. politely...and there was talk and laughter about the trains and whether we'd be departing from Waterloo this week or next, and then some one asked if anyone wanted to share a taxi to Surbiton...and discussion became general, and I said I was sorry I couldn't offer anyone a ride as pillion, and there was agreeable speculation as to how many people might be fitted on...somehow it was all just fun and daft and cheerful. Now, why can't things be like that more often?

Today...

...while rain hurtled down, I wrote two features for different newspapers, then another for a web-page. Went to Mother's in the rain, and out for a pizza with her , had a game of Scrabble (she won), cycled home in rain, worked on a scheme for a TV programme, dealt with some domestic trivia, looked around the Internet for a few luxurious minutes and vastly enjoyed this Blog, and this one, both of which I intend to read more regularly in future.

Terrific rain...

...is hurtling down on London and its suburbs this Bank Holiday Monday. I know we're meant to be annoyed, but I'm not. It's clattering., splashing, noisy, soaking, neccessary, natural rain...water from heaven, crucial for life. And it matches our mood. Rain and tears, water and sorrow...another stabbing to mourn, another boy killed in a London street, another family grieving. Read this comment which is apt and to the point. There's something so ghastly about the destruction of ordinary values in our country at the moment, and the apparent impossibility of getting the authorities even to talk about it except in the most loathesome jargon and pointless political slogans.

I have just had the most awesome experience...

...a great Procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Soho. I wasn't sure I was going to go...I was tired after a hectic week and getting into London can be difficult on Sundays as the trains aren't running properly...but I did make it, and when I arrived at St Patrick's church and padlocked my bike to the railings, I found I could barely get inside. The place was simply jammed - people kneeling on the floor, on the entrance, and in every corner. I found a tiny place beside a side-altar,but no, some one was already squashed in there already...

Mass was still going on. It was an International Mass - a great roar of voices saying the Our Father all together, but in different languages, terribly moving. A great united singing of the Agnus Dei. Long shuffling crowds going up to Communion. And then, as it ended, some brief instructions, and then we were slowly spilling out into the street, more or less in language groups, with a great crowd of Chinese at the front, then English speakers (or rather, singers - we all had hymn-sheets and the whole procession resounded with song), then the Spanish, with the Blessed Sacrament carried under a great canopy...

We went round half of Soho Square, then off to the left and down into the streets of clubs and restaurants, crowds gawping, traffic sidelined, police making way for us. Led by the Cross, and Newman's "Praise to the Holiest", and other glorious hymns - we sang each at least six times - we wound our way along a route through the crowded streets and down along Shaftesbury Avenue. Eaters and drinkers in pubs and cafes stopped and stared, took pictures. Upper windows were flung up, pedestrians stopped, asked each other what was going on. It was a large procession, and there were different groups of singers, with the Spanish doing something dramatic with hand-clapping way behind us, while the English group moved from Newman to "Praise my soul the king of Heaven" and "Love is His Way"...among us were some of Mother Teresa's nuns, hordes of young people in jeans, some older people like Auntie, a fully-equipped team of altar servers in cottas and cassock...and along the route Fr Alexander, in cassock and surplice and stole, quietly moved about, making sure the thing kept together. Climax at the (Anglican) church of St Giles, a glorious Benediction in the parish garden, a great movement of people cascading to thre ground as the Blessed Sacrament was brought in...Tantum Ergo Sacramentum...

After it all ended, the nice vicar of St Giles made a lovely speech, making us welcome, and teams of his parishioners appeared, with trays of wine. People lingered and talked, a Chinese group started a spontenous joyful singing of hymns in a corner of the Square, and I chatted to members of the SPES team, and arranged to meet for lunch with a friend, and invited people to the fund-raising event I'm helping to run on Friday...

I cycled back through a London just faintly being dusted with the faintest fizz of rain - it had held off all evening - and Whitehall in the lamplight, with little traffic, looked beautiful.

Pope John Paul II...

...might be beatified as early as next year, 2009, according to a report in today's press. So today, to celebrate that, I watched a rather good DVD about his life, produced by Vatican Television. The commentary is a bit awkward at times - a clear, experienced English voice but a text that was clearly translated from another language. Doesn't spoil the drama of the thing, fabulous images of those extraordinary years...Poland...the fall of the Berlin Wall..a million young people in France at World Youth Day...huge gatherings in Africa...that shooting in St Peter's Square on May 13th...no wonder Papa Benedict spoke of him as "the great John Paul"...

Vatican Radio...

...phoned me yesterday, to talk about the Catholic Women of the Year. The four women chosen for this honour have just been announced - the Catholic press will be running the story in the next editions.The idea is to honour "unsung heroines" - women who serve the community and the Church and show the reality of the Faith in their lives...they don't get a medal or anything, just the thanks and gratitude of other Catholic women at a celebration lunch! And the Catholic Women of the Year Luncheon this year is on Friday October 10th at the Thistle Hotel, Marble Arch. Send SAE to the Chairman for details: 22 Milton Rd WARE Herts. Funds raised at this year's Luncheon will go to Youth 2000.

I hadn't known much about Vatican Radio and am now interested. You can find out about it for yourself here.

Corpus et Sanguis Christi...

...is a most beautiful feast of the Church. In its honour, we have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament all day and into much of the night every Thursday in our local parish. I was working at home today, whizzed out in the afternoon on my bike to do some errands, and dropped into church. How lovely... the silence, the quiet companionship of those at prayer, the reverence, the candles glowing.

There is a big annual Corpus Christi procession for the Deanery, which this year will be on Saturday June 8th and as usual will be in the grounds of Marymount School, Kingston Hill.

Yesterday we had a meeting of the small working committee which plans the Towards Advent Festival of Catholic Culture at Westminster Cathedral Hall. We now meet at the Cathedral Clergy House, and plans run smoothly: handbills to be printed, speakers confirmed, arrangements agreed for refreshments...As we sat there efficiently, my mind went back to the first-ever gathering where a small group of people, from the Catholic Writers' Guild, Catholic Truth Society, Gracewing Books, and Aid to the Church in Need met at a house in Kennington to explore the idea of such an event. It seemed such a huge undertaking! (This year's event - Nov 8th. Mark the date. Speakers include Fr Aidan Nichols on the topic of his new book: the Conversion of England. And if you don't think that's important, read the entry below).

"In the valley of the shadow of death..."

...The words of the Psalmist came into my head today as I read the headlines. The psalmist promises that, with the Lord as our shepherd, we need not fear...

Today our country walked into the valley of the shadow of death. Parliament has voted that a family does not consist of a mother and father who transmit life to their children. It banned any statement that a family needs a father, and agreed that two lesbians who want a child can decide to have one using artificial means. It rejected calls to tighten up the abortion law even after hearing the descriptions of how children are dismembered as small perfectly-formed babies at 22 weeks. It passed legislation which treats a human person as something that can be used for a utilitarian purpose.

If some one, in whatever civilisation replaces ours, writes about these days, those who passed this legislation will be treated with savagery. The evil that will result from what Parliament has now permitted is clear enough even at this stage - but it will generate more evil, and terrible things will be done.

No civilisation has ever survived, let alone prospered, when it failed to understand that human beings are at the heart of it all, that human existence has a value. Nor can any civilisation work that is based on a lie: and everyone knows that it is a lie to pretend that human life is not generated through the union of a man and a woman, and that this creates a family.

Today the sun shone, and the London evening paper had headlines about whether the latest Royal wedding should have been featured in "Hello!" magazine, and the BBC ran a football match as its main story. And the nation which once helped to take the Christian Gospel to distant lands, and stood against neighbouring tyranny in the face of terrible odds, and produced some of the world's most glorious literature, closed its face to its own future...

Jamie home...

...after a trip to Malta. He loved it - the history, the churches, the friendliness, the traditions. If you want to get something of the flavour, try books by this award-winning young author.

A full hall...

...at St Joseph's parish centre in New Malden last night for a superb talk from Fr Luiz Ruscillo, of the Lancaster diocese, on the Fit for Mission call to improve Catholic schools. He was on terrific form, amusing, challenging, informative, profound. I was with a governor of a major London school and we both found ourselves fascinated by Fr Ruscillo's choice of a description of the early Church community in the Acts of the Apostles as a blueprint for a modern Catholic school. He notes that this description - in which the members of the community are described as being faithful to the teachings, to the breaking of bread, to the fellowship, and to prayer - is the pattern for the new Catechism of the Catholic Church. I looked this up when I got home and sure enough, there it was: the Catechism starts with the teaching about God and so on, then the sacramental life, then the life of the Church, then the life of prayer...

I had just...

...literally, just finished writing the item below when I turned to my main task of the afternoon, which was to review a booklet on St Paul, published by Shrewsbury Catholic Cathedral to mark the Year of St Paul which starts on June 28th.

I opened it at random, and this is what I found: "...He made it very clear that all due reverence should be paid to the sacrament at this holy moment. He commented further that the sacrament must be kept seperate from socialising, and the appeasement of hunger." (page 11)

At Mass...

...recently (and I am not saying where this was) a mother in front of me fed her little boy potato crisps while we all sang the Gloria...then of course he was thirsty, so out came a carton of orange juice and a straw...in due course both went up to Communion...

When did this fashion for feeding snacks to children in church begin? Priests sometimes complain of sweet-wrappers (once even a hamburger container) found in the pews after Mass...

I do remember being bored in church as a small child. It all seemed to be a bit remote and to go on for a long time and although I knew it was important and I was happy to pray and so on, it was difficult not to be glad when the second collection came round and things were clearly drawing to a close. But I didn't expect snacks or sweets - or toys or chat - and nor, when I swap these reminiscences with Anglican, Baptist, and Methodist friends, did they.

Please don't sugest that it's a problem of the liturgy: I have seen children munching through the most glorious Latin chant, while incense swirls around an altar glittering with candles - and indeed this week's experience was in that league, too. It's something to do with assuming that children simply have to be given a snack whenever they appear to want one, or to be bored or wriggly. But they don't.

I've been asked...

...to publicise a series of events linked together as Spirit in the City and am glad to do so. Right in the heart of London, a week of events including a Masses, prayer gatherings, Reconciliation, a great outdoor Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, an all-night vigil, some fine speakers, and more. Churches involved include St Patrick's Soho Square and Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane. Go on, click on to that link and find out more.

This week...

...I spoke to a branch of the (Anglican) Mothers' Union in Cheam, Surrey - a nice group...and to a very jolly social club in West Wickham in Kent...I mostly go about by bike, but when there's a train or tram journey involved I always make sure I've got something to read, and this week it's been Leonie Caldecott's excellent paperback What do Catholics Believe? (Granta Press £6.99p). It's fresh style and approach would make it ideal for young readers (VI formers, University students) and I especially like its honesty, the way it tackles history, its treatment of marriage and the approach to the Mass.

A common thread in any discussions at local community groups at present is the criminal rate among the young and especially among young girls. It's not just the stabbings and bashings-up - it's the more casual stuff, that people witness and feel they cannot report as it puts their own safety at risk: vandalism, deliberate and offensive littering, shoplifting, threatening behaviour especially towards the elderly or frail. There's a general awareness, of course, that the problem won't be resolved by current techniques - last summer's pathetic response in one area, you may recall, was for the police to hand out bars of chocolate to young drunkyards, in the hope that thje food would help them to digest the alcohol more quickly - but by a restoration of common sense. Restore status to marriage and allow stable families to flourish, stop funding daft groups that celebrate children's "rights" over their real needs, ban the gross forms of sex "education" that restablishes a pattern of premature sexual activity, establish sane drinking hours instead of this 24-hour nonsense. All that would be a start.

Melanie Phillips has some good material on this: read her here.

If you want to help...

...the victims of the hurricane disaster in Burma, you can do so via an international Catholic charity - find out more here. They are working through Catholic movements including Focolare, and aid is going through the diocese of Rangoon and Pathein, south of the capital...

It's sort of cosy reading through the Catholic blogosphere over a mug of coffee, and nothing wrong with that but, um, real Catholic action involves a bit more...er...

SURVEY: HAVE YOUR SAY....

...on this important survey on Catholic education launched by the Association of Catholic Women. Take the opportunity to add your comments in the final section.

FIT FOR MISSION...

...is the name of the report on Catholic education produced by the Diocese of Lancaster, which has changed the whole tone and feel of the debate on this subject. Want to know more? Want to help ensure that the Catholic faith is passed on to the next generation? Want to be better informed on this whole ubject? Come and hear Fr Luiz Ruscillo, Lancaster's diocesan Director of Education. Monday, May 19th,7.30pm-9.30pm, at St Joseph's pastoral centre, Kingston Road, New Malden.

New Malden is about 20 minutes from London Waterloo

Classic FM...

...has been running an advertisment for a CD of Gregorian chant, emphasising its calming and inspirational qualities....but why not come along and try it for yourself? On Saturday July 5th at St Joseph's, New Malden, there is to be a Gregorian Chant Workshop, led by Fr Gerard Bradley of St John's Seminary, Wonersh. Book the date now, and tell others, too.

Many parishes now - including St Joseph's - have Masses with some Latin, and a chance to sing Gregorian chant in the setting of the Mass, which is the setting for which it was intended...so although it's OK to listen to it on CD, it's much, much more satisfying to have it as part of one's life. Sunday by Sunday - and all for free!

The Tyburn Lecture...

...at Tyburn Convent, near Marble Arch, was given this year by General Sir Mike Jackson, and very good it was, too. A straightforward, honest assessment of where things stand in the international situation from the perspective of one who has spent his life as a soldier. He noted two significant dates: the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the attack on the Twin Towers. The one marked the final end of the Cold War, the other the start of the al-Quaeda offensive.(He also noted, in passing, that the Twin Towers attack was 9/11, using the American system of putting the month first, and the fall of the Berlin Wall was actually also 9/11, using our system of putting the month second. An odd coincidence).

The Tyburn Lecture was launched by the Sisters a few years ago as a way of making a contribution to the national discourse by having a distinguished speaker address a topic of importance here, at this significant place. The convent marks, of course, the site of the old Tyburn gallows where over 100 heroic Catholic martyrs gave their lives...

After the lecture, a crowded and talkative gathering over refreshments downstairs. The dear Tyburn nuns are so welcoming and it's always a joy to be there...

And I had some news to pass on: Father K, the imprisoned priest for whom I have been begging for prayers, has been given leave to appeal. The good sisters will of course continue to pray fervently. Regular readers of this blog: PLEASE ADD YOUR PRAYERS TO THEIRS, for this priest who is serving a lengthy sentence for which he has been unjustly convicted.

Today...

... the House of Commons debates the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Bill. It will be a grim day if this horrible legislation goes through in the form in which it has been presented. Prayers...

It was good to see...

...the Holy Father condemning anti-semitism recently, when also raising the plight of Christians in the Holy Land. I do hope that some of my (allegedly "Catholic") correspondents, who have sent me horrid anti-Jewish comments - including the one denouncing the Holy Father for visiting a synagogue - take note.

Ecclestone Square...

...is an elegant Square in Pimlico, with an attractive garden in the middle, scented at present with its glorious lilac bushes. I have long wanted to enter, but couldn't, because it's restricted to local residents, who are given keys.

Why was I in Ecclestone Square yesterday evening? Regular readers of this Blog will be aware that, with a friend, I have for the past nine days been engaging in a Novena for our Bishops. What I didn't put on the Blog - because I didn't want a lot of nutcases turning up - was our venue. We've been standing outside number 39 Ecclestone Square, headquarters of our Bishops' Conference, saying the Rosary each day at 5pm. (yes, I know that makes us nutcases too. But there are only two of us).

Yesterday being Pentecost Sunday we met to celebrate after our Novena and - joy of joys - the garden was having an open-day. It was enchanting inside - lots of lovely little paths going in and out around intriguing flower-beds, tiny mazes made of box-hedges, sudden vistas of cool lawns, a gravel walk. I enjoyed myself. When P. arrived, I ran to the railings: it was most gratifying to greet her from within them. Only problem was how to get out. I didn't want to interrupt one of the dwindling number of family groups gathered round barbeques on the lawn by asking for the neccessary key, so had to clamber out over the railings. Inelegant, but it was worth it.

We went back to Patti's for a supper and talk. I had brought a DVD of the John Paul II film starring Jon Voight. It was late when I set off for home and I had missed the last Tube, so I cycled all the way back to the Surrey suburbs in the cool silence of the night. It was superb.

Now, why can't our tiresome public authorities give us back our proper Whitsun holiday weekend?

Instead of the clumsy muddle of Bank Holidays that we currently have, with May Day and Early Spring and I know not what, why can't we just have what is logical and fits with our traditions and heritage: holidays at Easter and Whitsun?

London is uncomfortable...

...in this heat. It's enjoyable riding about by bike, horrid in the trains trundling stickily out to the suburbs. I take cool wet-wipes, and plenty of reading material

Issues in the Catholic press: it's clear that the Lefebrists are beginning to unravel down various seams as the implications of the new encouragement of the Extraordinary Form (Tridentine Rite) of Mass emerge. If, as we can assume, its use becomes more normal in a fairly wide range of parishes over the next years, it will be harder and harder for them to hang on to their supporters. Watch for cross exchanges here. Meanwhile one shouldn't be older-brother-of-the-prodigal-son-ish so best leave comment minimal...

In the post comes the Family Bulletin of Family and Youth Concern with news of its annual conference (always excellent) on Sat June 14th in London. Speakers include Ray Lewis, a former prison governor on "Rites of passage in a modern age". Also at the meeting will be a courageous couple whose dedicated service as foster-parents may be forcibly ended as they are being told they must sign an approval of the hoosexual lifestyle if they wish to continue. The Bulletin has some horrible news from the European Parliament, which has passed a resolution announcing that children have a "right" to abortion - sorry, " sexual and reproductive healthand family planning education and services" and that this "must" be an "integral part of thje future EU strategy on the rights of the child." Ugh. Did your MEP vote for this? Did you even know it was on the agenda?

Also in the post: New Directions, published by the Anglican group Forward in Faith. It has some very, very good writing in it. There's a snappy and funny diary column, a good comment-piece on the Shannon Matthews case, and some excellent book reviews including one of Fr Aidan Nicholls' The Realm.

Golly...

...how things can grow. Today, a wonderful ceremony to present the Young Writer Awards run by Tamezin magazine. I remember when Tamezin was just getting started, years ago, with a team of people committed to the idea that it simply had to be possible to create a magazine for teenage girls that was a real alternative to the semi-pornographic drivel currently dumped on them...and now, here we are, crowding into a large room in one of London's smartest hotels for a ceremony honouring the latest project associated with this fast-growing magazine, the latest issue on every chair all glossy and enjoyable...

My involvement, as regular readers of this Blog will know, is visiting schools and running Journalism Workshops there, which is terrific fun and brings in new contributors/readers/enthusiasm/support for Tamezin. If you know of a teenager who deserves a magazine she can really enjoy, get on to that Tamezin website and rush her a subscription today.

To Parliament...

...to watch Lord Tebbitt distribute the prizes won by young people in the Robin McNair Essay Competition organised by SPUC. It was a delight to meet some of these young winners, their families and teachers. Lord Tebbit spoke well: in alluding to his own religious practice, he said that his local vicar had asked him why he attended church, and he had replied that he went because he didn't want the church pews to be empty and the building closed, as he wanted it to be there and available for everyone in the future. I sort of like the circular logic in that.

Afterwards, I was able to show some people round - we went out on to the Terrace where the great Thames swirled regally by, and we looked up to the glorious gothic facade with its royal coats of arms and its turrets and spires, and we thought about the monks who had lived on that spot and drained the marshes and made it possible for Parliament to meet there, on land safe from the king's intervention. Later we walked through the Great Hall, where Thomas More was tried and Edmund Campion also, and where just a few years ago the coffin of our last Queen Empress lay in state with the Koh-in-Noor diamond on the imperial crown flashing in sudden shafts of sunlight from those Norman-arched windows...

Afterwards, a cup of coffee with SPUC Executive member Richard Marsden, ( a young journalist,whose blog is a good read) and then on to the CTS bookshop, where I ran into Dan Cooper, of the John Fisher School. He was enthusiastic about Jamie's feature article, on marriage and fathers, in the latest FAITH magazine, which I hadn't yet seen - when I got home there was my copy of the magazine waiting for me. I read the feature and warmly concur with Dan's opinion.

To the Oxford and Cambridge Club...

...in Pall Mall on a very warm evening, for a reception honouring this year's winner of the Templeton Prize, one Fr Michael Heller from Poland (read about him in the link given). He had been at Buckingham Palace that morning, to recieve the prize from Prince Philip.

There was wine, and orange juice, and - far best of all as the room got warmer and warmer - elderflower fizz. There were LOTS of people, nice things to eat being passed around on trays, a rising roar of talk, official speeches. I chatted to, amoing others, David Alton, who told me about the large crowds attending the meetings and rallies against the Govt's loathsome Embryology Bill. (Have you written to your MP about it yet? If not, do. Information here.)

I like the Oxford and Cambridsge Club, because I am taken there from time to time by my publiosher to discuss plans and ideas for books, so it has v. happy associations. Afterwards, it was good to walk back to Waterloo across the Mall and through St James' Park, with the heat of the day having gone, and the glow of lamps, and those big pleasure-boats chugging up and down the river with people waving up as one walked across Westminster Bridge.

Inside Catholic...

...is the name of a website for which I am now writing regularly. See latest offering here.

To Runnymede...

...for the day. Something we'd often discussed was a visit to the Royal Air Force Memorial overlooking the river at Runnymede. I was taken there as a child, because an uncle's name is among the 20,000 commemorated - he was a young Flying Officer and was shot down over the North Sea in 1943...

In recent years, many times, driving past that way, we've said that some time we must make a visit. Today was that day.

It is a noble, airy, formal and worthy memorial, with the glorious words from the Psalm "If I ascend to the Heavens, thou art there..." cut into the glass that lifts your eyes up to the wide sky above the Thames, and a collonade surrounding a green lawn, with panel after panel of white stone bearing the names of those who died. I searched for Uncle John's name and there it was...Campbell J.M. There's a book kept near the entrance which lists family and other details.

When Mother speaks of him his memory is as fresh and clear to her as it was when she told us about him when we were children and explained about Remembrance Day. She still has some of the plays he wrote and amateur films he made. He was her oldest brother and his photograph has always been there on the shelf in her room.

Later, we went down to the river and looked at Magna Carta Island. There were families picknicking on the riverbank, a cheerful and friendly scene. Extraordinarily, at the Memorial, we'd run into people we knew - who said they read this Blog so if they are seeing this, I greet them again! - and somehow the whole of today had a special feeling. We went into the tea-rooms, and Jamie found they were selling good quality copies of the great document and thought it would be nice to have one...which gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, and I duly asked for "A pot of tea for two and a copy of Magna Carta please".

May traditions...

still linger. Mother described to me today the Wallington May Queen celebrations: the little May Queen was crowned at the Old Town Hall (where I took my seat as a borough councillor some years ago...) and then the procession went along the main road - past Mother's front window which gave her a grand view and much pleasure - with flowers and fun and a celebration of summer coming. It's been part of Wallington life since 1903. A tiny bit of Lark Rise to Candleford in a London suburb... read about it here: http://www.wallingtonmayqueen.co.uk/

London on a summer Sunday...

...was rather pleasant, and the air felt the sweeter for knowing we no longer have a Socialist overlord. Cycling across Westminster Bridge , I had the Sunday Telegraph with its gleeful analysis of the Boris Johnson victory and its aftermath smiling up at me from the bicycle basket...oh, BTW, for the commentators to this blog who berated me for my voting pattern: I suppose you didn't know about the transferable voting system, which enabled us to vote for Johnson, and an independent candidate. So there.

This is a Bank Holiday weekend: how horrid that we no longer have a holiday for Whitsun, but just this artificial one dumped arbitrarily upon us.

Westminster Cathedral was full for high Mass marking the Ascension. The superb choir always does something special for such a feast and today was no exception - but the Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei were all by a modern composer and shriekingly unattractive. Good to be able to join in with full-throated enthusiasm, however, for the familiar Credo and Pater Noster - a cathedral full of Latin chant is a gladsome thing. Wanting a copy of the Cathedral magazine Oremus, ( has feature by JB about Catholic traditions for May) I went back in during a later Mass, which was even more packed, with people kneeling on the floor at the rear. A sign of the times: one of the readings was in Polish.

The Cathedral has a Quarant'Ore from May 22nd-May 24th, marking Corpus Christi. One should certainly go to that - if possible dropping in during one of the night watches. Silent prayer in a great candelit cathedral in a great city in the middle of the night.

While marking dates: here's a note to all Catholic Londoners: June 21st, Martyrs' Walk, starts at Tower Hill 11am. Be there!

We Londoners...

...were having our votes counted today, and the London free newspapers had hopeful headlines suggesting Red Ken's days as our mayoral overlord were passing away...

I bustled about London with a vast and heavy long-handled suitcase-on-wheels, carrying some 800 children's essays to the CTS office at Vauxhall...entries for the ACW Religious Education Project. The final judging will not be completed until the end of May, and I'll give the results on this Blog as well as to the press etc...The CTS is doing terrific work at the moment: click on that link and go to "News" to see what they are up to in Afghanistan and the USA as well as here at home...

London was cheery in the rain. There was a special Vespers at Westminster Cathedral, with the choir of Westminster Abbey taking part in a joint service. I had time for a cup of coffee and sandwich near Victoria, enjoying the excellent Ratzinger's Faith - The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI by Dr Tracey Rowland, by far the best book and most readable about the H. Father's thinking and ideas that I have read so far.

On the train, going to Mother's for the evening, I met a friend of hers, and as we sat chatting, another local friend came up saying "I thought I knew that voice!" and we all got out together at Wallington. This sort of thing gives one a sense of roots and belonging. As we made our way to the High Street, we got talking about...the fact that our wretched Bishops have abolished Ascension Day! "I don't know anyone who thinks it was a good idea" said A. "It was a daft thing to do" agreed R. "Do they think we hate having Feast Days? It's as if they've given up on the Church. But why do they think that we have, too?"

Two sisters...

...who share a home and have done so for years have been denied a tax advantage because they are not lesbians in a Civil Union...see this comment.

Yesterday, Ascension Day, marks the start of the original Novena - nine days before Pentecost. This is origin of the tradition of having a Novena, nine days of prayer for some special intention - because the Apostles spent the days between the Ascension and Pentecost in prayer.

So a friend and I have started a Novena to pray for our Bishops. We are meeting every day to pray together in London. Want to join us? You can do so anywhere. We meet at 5pm London time, and we pray the Rosary. Yesterday being a Thursday, we started with the Mysteries of LIght...

Over 2,000 Catholic children...

...at schools around Britain, have sent in entries for the School RE Project launched jointly by the Catholic Truth Society and the Association of Catholic Women. This is awesome! The children were invited to write about Christ performing miracles, and were given specific instructions: they had to look up certain New Testament references and show an understanding of the events involved (they were given specific miracles to study, including Christ calming the storm at sea).

Deadline for entries was yesterday, and sifting and judging is now taking place. We have two trophies to award, one for older children and one for younger, plus a large number of prizes and certificates. An initial sweep through a range of entries indicates that some are very good indeed - in fact, really touching and inspiring to read - some are poor, the vast majority show a grasp of Christ as God the Son and some one to be loved...

I suspect that this must be the biggest single venture undertaken by any Catholic women's organisation in Britain in recent years. We launched the RE Project a few years ago, and it has grown steadily. At first, we simply sent out brochures to schools, addressing hundreds of envelopes by hand. Then we got our website organised, and things grew a bit more. Then, this year, we decided to contact the CTS and see if they were interested...

Next time some one tells you that everything in the Church is hopeless, all-going-downhill, everything-has-gone-wrong-since Vatican-II etc etc, read them the above.