Roses, and wine, and good company...

...at the launch of a new DVD, celebrated in a small party at the St Paul's Bookshop next to Westminster Cathedral.

The CD is called A Parish Rosary. It contains all twenty mysteries, accompanied by glorious music, Ave Marias by Schubert and Caccini...it has been produced by the Cathedral's Rosary Group. The group has been meeting faithfully for some 8 years at the Cathedral, and, as Canon Christopher Tuckwell, the Cathedral's Administrator, said in his speech this evening, is central to the Cathedral's spiritual life.

This is a double-CD, very attractively produced, and would make a perfect present for some one who is housebound and wants to pray but often feels alone. Its tone has a warmth that communicates a real sense of prayer - and this is because , as group leader Anna Johnston explained this evening, it was all recorded in the Cathedral.You can order it here.Anna is herself a professional singer, and the music really is a delight.

We had a very happy party, and were all given roses as we left...

I walked back down to Westminster Abbey and across Waterloo Bridge with Josephine Siedlecka of the Independent Catholic News Service. The Houses of Parliament look magnificent illuminated against the night sky. We had been talking about the H. Father's historic address in Westminster Hall, and now as we walked there, we stopped and recalled it. Our Parliamentary tradition is rooted in Christianity, is nourished by it, and is imperilled where it is marginalised or crushed...he did well to make us understand this, and the thought is a solemn one...