Will you be at...

...the Evangelium weekend conference in August? It's for young Catholic adults aged 18-35 and promises to be a terrific gathering., Last year's event was so successful that a 2009 weekend had to be held, by huge popular request...speakers include a diocesan exorcist, a young novelist, historians, philosophers...it's in a glorious setting at The Oratory School (founded by Cardinal John Henry Newman)...

I spent a couple of busy days at the Catholic Truth Society offices in London last week, helping to mail out the prizes for this year's Schools RE Project organised by the Association of Catholic Women and sponsored by the CTS. The winners will be announced on the ACW website. There were some really excellent essays sent in by children at Catholic schools around Britain, as well as some poorer ones. They had to write about "What I see in church") and were given a list of things (The Tabernacle, the altar, confessionals, etc) from which they had to choose three to describe and explain. Many included detailed drawings - including several of Confession, showing a kneeling child penitent (bubble coming out of mouth:"I fought with my brother..."). Some amusing howlers, of course: "The Tabernacle is a respectable for holding the Host". Among many interesting insights gained is the fact that, for many children, going to confession is something associated with school rather than family ("We go to Confession with our Year Group.") and rarely ("We go to Confession once a year."). Many essays were written with rather touching comments about Christ, and about Mary, though occasionally one wondered about the influence of a parental hand:"I love Mary. She is just like my mummy - always loving and patient and kind." Some children revealed poor teaching on the Eucharist ("In the Tabernacle is the blessed bread") but others had clearly been very well taught, and were able to explain about the Mass,and the Real Presence with reverence and understanding. There was interest in the details of some local churches: my personal favourite is the church with a statue of Our Lady originally intended to have a local dedication. But its arrival coincided with the outbreak of the Second World War, and a concern that naming the suburb might be useful to enemy parachutists, so the statue was named "Our Lady of Hereabouts" and is still honoured under that title...