Cycling through London...

...the other day en route to St Mary Moorfields for a meeting of the Catholic Writers' Guild, I was hailed by a young friend near Kings College in the Strand. We stood chatting for a good while in the evening sunshine. We swapped news and a general enquiry about social life turned into real girl-talk, wherearealltheCatholicmen, the cry one hears so often.

Auntie worries about the difficulties young people seem to facer these days in simply finding a marriage partner! Am I alone in finding it irritating that Catholic young men seem to spend time saying (a) there are few nice Catholic girls around (when in fact there are dozens and dozens!) or (b) that in any case they are "discerning" the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood - this usually said by some one aged 30-plus, with an apparent inability to commit to anything specific, or (c) that one can't ask a girl out to a meal because feminism has made everything so fraught and complicated. (The answer to the last is: why not just try a pleasant straightforward suggestion of a meal and a film - and yes, there are some good films around - and see what response you get?)

As I cycled away, the bells of St Clement Danes' started to peal out gloriously, and then as I approached St Paul's Cathedral, they were ringing there, too. A happy sign. The sound was magnificent, drowning even the steady roar of traffic, pouring out over the office blocks and shops and banks and people...

In the post...

...comes a lovely invitation, which alas I can't accept due to a previous engagement, to a May Procession and Crowning of Our Lady,organised by Rydes Hill School in Surrey. They will walk in procession from the school to St Mary's Church. The Crowning will be followed by a Mass celebrated by the Bishop. It sounds absolutely beautiful, and I do wish I could be there.

Fr Paul Check...

...mentioned below in my post about Sunday, works for part of each year with Mother Teresa's sisters in Calcutta. He invites those who might be interested in a couple of weeks of work and prayer with the Sisters to contact him. You can do so via a Comment (which I will not publish) to this Blog if you wish, BUT YOU MUST GIVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS AT WHICH I CAN REACH YOU. The idea would be to fly out to Calcutta in October.

On Sunday.,..

...I went to the Jesuit Church at Wimbledon. This has an interesting history and a while back the parish did a drama presentation about it, narrated by Dr William Griffiths - a good friend and a fellow-member of the Catholic Writers' Guild - telling the story of the remarkable Mrs Edith Arendrup through whose dedication, foresight and generosity this great church was built. By chance, William arrived in my pew on Sunday - we shared a hymn book! Much rousing singing of Credo III. I was sorry that I had to slip out before the "Domine salvam fac..." that they always sing for the Queen after Mass ends...I had to hurry away to Wimbledon station to meet a priest visiting from America to whom we had promised lunch...I arrived a bit breathless but just in time...

A glorious walk on Wimbledon Common, much talk. It was great to meet Fr Paul Check and we much enjoyed his company. He was in Britain to attend a conference and establish links to develop the work with which he is involved - it is badly needed here. The Common was lovely in spring sunshine and we had a good pub lunch.

I've been reading and HUGELY RECOMMEND Peter Seewald's new book Benedict XVI, an intimate portrait. Ignatius Press, USA: I bought my copy at the CTS bookshop in London. The book tells the story behind the interviews between the author and the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger a few years ago - you can trace the author's own development of faith, told with honesty and humour - and there are fascinating insights into the life of the Pope and into the current tensions in the Church today. I simply couldn't put the book down and have been carrying it everywhere to read whenever I get the chance...

A glorious evening...

...at the Monteverdi Vespers, sung by the Crouch End Festival Chorus, a young relative among the singers. The church of St James at Muswell Hill was so full that, arriving a little late, I sat on the floor, resting against a pillar. The music was simply magnificent, awe-inspiring, uplifting. At the end the roar of applause was something terrific...

To Somerset ...

...to speak to a full hall in the parish of Cheddar - local Catholics had got together to launch a series of talks as part of a diocesan-wide evangelistic campaign...we had a cheery evening looking at the traditions associated with the feasts and seasons of the Church, and it was all highly enjoyable. Stayed overnight with a super family I first met almost 20 years ago...we had a good time swapping memories and news. They had recently returned from the annual Celebrate event, about which they were hugely enthusiastic...I too have been to this over the years and loved it...

Susan Boyle...

...has been such a tonic. Like everyone else, I've been watching that YouTube and passing it on. Was invited by Mercator Net to write something about it all. You can read on here

Teachers...

...in Catholic primary schools in and around London are invited to a Day of Art and Music in Religious Education, on June 24th. Sponsored by the Association of Catholic Women, this will take place at Westminster Cathedral Choir School and feature a workshop on Gregorian chant specially aimed at helping teachers to introduce children to this glorious music. Send a Comment to this Blog WITH AN EMAIL ADDRESS AT WHICH I CAN REACH YOU for further details...

This weekend...

...sees an important conference in London. Read about it here. This aims to present a sane view of sex and discuss it in the context of human dignity and human values. Read about it on that link, and pray for its success.

I now have an extra blog...

in addition to this one. Use this link and look for "A Catholic journalist in London..."

Home...

...after a round of Easter visits. Among the holiday activities was a now-traditional raid on charity-shops in the seaside town near a Bogle family home: niece and sister-in-law on a quest to Get Auntie Joanna Looking Smarter by seeking out bargains, and all of us having a great deal of fun in the process. We turned down, with some reluctance, a very smart red hat ("But Auntie Joanna, it's just YOU!") on the grounds that I didn't have any weddings or similar occasions coming up at which to wear it...our Eastertide energies were also employed in a clue-driven Easter-egg hunt in which niece and a friend found their way through clues in Latin ("Interroga Avunculum tuum") and German, and only got stuck on a quite simple English one, a jumble-up word "anepimletc".

On arrival home, a lovely bundle of letters, including a wedding invitation - so perhaps I should have got that hat after all...

The English countryside...

...enchants in April...and Easter was full of good things...a glorious Easter vigil with fire and candles and heavenly music, a family enjoying a delicious lunch with talk and fun, an Easter table groaning with simnel cake and chocolate cake, and scones-with-jam-and-cream, an Easter branch decorated with home-made Easter biscuits tied with ribbons, lambs gambolling in fields, very small children hunting for Easter eggs hidden in a garden...primroses along all the banks and lanes, and even the sides of motorways, a small great-nephew playing with his train-set, and being taken to see his first Real steam-engine...

On Easter Monday we took an Australian friend to see Dorchester - where St Birinus baptised the king of the West Saxons in the Thames more than a thousand years ago. We wanted to show him the beautiful little Catholic church there, and ended up being welcomed with magnificent hospitality...standing in the mellow late-afternoon sunshine of an April day in this most lovely of villages, as a happy day drew to a glowing close, it was difficult to believe that Heaven will not be a little bit like this.

Rain and flowers...

...and I'm taking damp posies of flowers to neighbours, and wrapping Easter eggs in layers of plastic bags for transportation to nieces and nephews...as I love rain, I will enjoy this Easter...probably won't be blogging much, and take this opportunity of wishing my readers the blessings of the season...

A HAPPY EASTER!!!

The Good Friday liturgy...

...was packed, as always, with extra chairs in every available corner of the church, and people overflowing into the porch and out into the street. This is a young parish - suburban area, lots of families - and there were a number of children there, but no shouting or noise...small boy in front of me began by showing signs of why-do-I-have -to-be-here but got gripped by the reading of the Passion and then the veneration of the Cross...

Tradition dictates...

...a local Walk of Witness on Good Friday morning, organised by all the local churches, led by a Cross and culminating in a short service. We walked in silence - rather touching somehow - and then joined to pray, and sang "There is a green hill far away" and other hymns, and the Scripture account of Our Lord's death was read...and all this happened in what used to be the town centre, but somehow isn't any more. In what we still call the "High Street" we walked past a shuttered Woolworths, and other empty and abandoned premises, and posters advertising closing-down sales, and several charity shops and the closed Police Station. The real "centre" these days is Tescos - always teeming with crowds - but that is some distance away, on a turning off the motorway.

For a tradition you need a sense of place. Even five years ago, this was still strong locally. But now, our Good Friday Walk, and the gathering at the War Memorial in November, and the summer festival sponsored by the local Rotary Club, take place in what was once the heart of the town but now seems to be unconnected with the way people live and shop.

"When...

...the Lord of the world comes and undertakes the slave's task of foot-washing - which is an illustration of the way he washes our feet all through our lives - we have a totally different picture. God doesn't want to trample on us but kneels down before us so as to exalt us. The mystery of the greatness of God is seen precisely in the fact that he can be small...only when power is changed from the inside, and we accept Jesus and his way of life, whose whole self is there in the action of foot-washing, only then can the world be healed and the people be able to live at peace one another."

Pope Benedict XVI

Preparations...

...for Easter, distributing chocolate eggs to various godchildren by bicycle or by post, organising domestic arrangements, Hot Cross Buns, simnel cake, etc...it has been a busy week with hospital appointments jostling with work and cookery and devotions and more...and HM Revenue and Taxes chooses this week, of all weeks, to send out our Tax return forms!...and there are letters and emails and deadlines for publishers and things...and then evening falls and a hushed congregation gathers for the solemnity of the washing of the feet and the Mass of the Last Supper... Maundy Thursday...

Oh dear, this is really comic...

...Tony Blair telling us how the Pope should change Catholic teachings in order to make the Church acceptable to the Blair world-view. He thinks, you see, that as he and his chums support various ideas - in this instance, about homosexual activity - it is time that the Church supported them too, and that Popes can change Catholic teachings when they want, and should do so in this instance.

Does poor Blair really, honestly, believe that Popes can change teachings because "Organised religions face the same dilemma as political parties when faced with changed circumstances" and that Our Lord planned that the Apostles should get together from time to time and change God's message to fit "changed circumstances" while holding on to their "core vote"?

Did poor Blair get any instruction, even of the simplest kind, about the Catholic Faith before he was brought into the Church?

The Chrism Mass...

...at Westminster Cathedral was brimming with people...no room to stand at the back, and the side aisles were thronged, as were all the chapels. I sat on the marble step at the edge of the chapel where Cardinal Hume is buried. One couldn't see all of the liturgy,all happening up in the sanctuary, but one could hear perfectly - the lovely prayer as the oils are blessed, which tells of how God created the trees and all their fruits, and then all about King David - anointed with oil as King, of course - and so on... and glorious singing...there were throngs and throngs of priests, who processed in from Ambrosden Avenue, with a good crowd of young seminarians, too, which was grand to see. And we were there to greet them, with our placard saying our thanks to them, and holy cards with a lovely quote from the Holy Father...see pic above, a team from the Association of Catholic Women, with various others, and there was also a cheery group of young people from St Patrick's. Soho Square...

Afterwards, much greeting of clergy friends, and news and talk and all very delightful...then I cycled on to the City, where I delivered chocolate Easter eggs to a brother-in-law for some of my nieces...and thence back to Westminster for some Easter-gift shopping at the CTS bookshop...and thus Holy Week gathers pace...

Palm Sunday...

...with a procession, palm crosses, sunshine, and the solemn reading of the Passion.

Holy Week...family arrangements for Easter with talk of travel arrangements and grandparents and simnel cake... jostling with the veiled statues in church and the Gospel bringing home the stark ghastliness of a Roman crucifixion and Christ's agony.


Recieved during the week: the excellent New Directions magazine produced by Forward in Faith - it is always a must-read with features that are crunchy and amusing, thoughtful, moving, and well-informed. Also Annals Australasia, edited by Fr Paul Stenhouse, which has a feature about Pugin and his influence in Australia (Rosemary Hill, author of a fine new biography of Pugin, recently spoke to the Catholic Writers' Guild, and is quoted. And Voices, magazine of Women for Faith and Family in the USA, with some good material from Fr James V. Schall on the dignity of the human person, quoting Benedict XVI on Plato...all this is a feast of reading.

Is there any point in Belgium?

It really does seem a fairly pointless sort of country if its Parliament has nothing better to do that pass resolutions being rude about the Pope. How crass and daft. Remember all those jokes about trying to name ten famous Belgians? No one ever can. Brussels is noted as a centre of the European child-sex industry. But apart from that, and the extraordinary financial irregularities of the European bureaucracy, its achievements in recent years have been a bit mininal.

A lovely Spring evening...

...and we drove out into the Surrey countryside for a glorious walk, finishing with supper at a pub...the sun was setting in a glow of pink as we walked from the woods just misting with new green out along the path to the open fields, and then the pub glowed warm and inviting as we walked back through the darkening way. Fish and chips. Cider. Memories of visits to this pub over the years. Back past the house where my grandparents lived...Sunday teatimes, picking lettuce in the garden first, to be eaten dipped in salt, and then there would be scones...there was a field at the bottom of their garden, with horses in it, and it's still there...

...a rushed day...

... a lunchtime Mass at Westminster Cathedral - very well attended, and with a lengthy queue trailing down the right-hand aisle as people waited patiently for confession. Crucifixes, statues, etc draped in purple cloth for Passiontide.

The morning paper had reported that the new Archbishop of Westminster would be announced at midday, so at Mass I prayed for whoever it was.It is Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, a not unexpected choice. He has our prayers as he takes on new responsibilities.

By train to...

...the Wirral (USA readers, you can jolly well look it up on a map) with England looking beautiful in pale damp spring sunshine as we flew through the country, via that reassuring stop at Crewe (which always has a slight feel of Victorian-railway-station-splendour about it)and a change at Chester.Here, I had time to spare so got comfortably stuck into my theology and philosophy studies (Maryvale degree,and I'm loving it) with coffee before catching the local train to Eastham Rake. Warm welcome from the delightful family with whom I was to stay. A delicious supper. Their young son had just written a story, about a troll with a body made partly of a disused washing-machine. Most enjoyable.

On to a large gathering at the local church,Christ the King, Bromborough. This was an evening organised by the ladies of the parish. First, we had Stations of the Cross in the church - always extraordinary powerful and moving on a Lent evening..."We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee/ Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world..." Then into the parish hall and in due course a talk from JB about "Feasts and Seasons in the Church". (If you want to know more, you can read the book).

Catholic Education...

...is a hot topic at present. The Catholic Union is sponsoring a conference on the subject at Liverpool Hope University in May. Worth attending. Contact the Catholic Union here.

There was much on the radio...

...this morning about the possibility of riots in London, because of the G-thingummy Summit. People in the City were apparently all being warned to Arrive In Casual Dress so as to Look Like A Protester and Not a Rich Banker. So Jamie left for work in his idea of Casual Dress... I am not sure the tweed jacket and barbour were quite what was meant, but since he's neither rich nor a banker I suppose it doesn't matter... Actually, since the protests were supposed to include a farmer's market and camping and outdoor barbeques, it all sounds rather country-tweed-ish anyway.