Birmingham...

and Maryvale, and lectures on moral theology, and on the Fall and Redemption. A rather terrifying session on bioethics with information on some of the ghastly things that are now regarded as acceptable in our healthcare establishment...the great John Paul's naming of this as a "culture of death" was all too prophetic and accurate...

After the week ended, I stayed on for a further night at Maryvale, hurrying into Birmingham early on the Saturday morning to join fellow-supporters of Aid to the Church in Need on a pilgrimage honouring Bl. John Henry Newman, at the Birmingham Oratory. There is a rather grand new shrine to Bl John Henry there - very Oratorian in style - and then we gathered in the hall on the upper floor across the quadrangle for talks about him. In this very room he himself taught, as it formed part of the original Oratory School. I made an unhelpful contribution to the history of the place on a previous visit on a scorchingly hot day - I dashed enthusiastically to open a window, tugging on the sash, and down it came with a glorious crashing sound, glass everywhere, terrible mess. All replaced and mended now. Looking at it on this new visit, I wondered if the original window had been there in Newman's day and only my clumsiness broke the link with him...

An elderly Oratorian Father gave a most interesting talk on Newman and Afghanistan - did you know that General Gordon had a copy of the Dream of Gerontius with him on his last campaign, and had annotated it with various comments and enquiries? And there is an excellent exhibition lining the walls of the Hall telling the whole story of Newman's life and work....and his inkpot, and catechism, and other items, are all there on display. I warmly recommend a visit.

On to St Chad's Cathedral - a fine building, a strong and confident statement of faith, beautiful and much-loved, and with an excellent bookshop alongside where I spent some time...and thence by coach to Littlemore, the place where Newman lived and studied and made the great decision to enter the Catholic Church.

If you are interested in Newman you must visit Littlemore. The Sisters of The Work look after it all, and they make visitors very welcome, and it's all very delightful - the rooms, once stables, all fronting on to a small walled courtyard with a garden, and a sense of peace and quiet purposefulness.

By a pleasing arrangement of Providence, J. and I were due to meet friends in Oxford that evening for a dinner-party at a restaurant in Little Clarendon Street, so my day ended there, after a quick bus-ride from Littlemore. A talkative, happy evening marking a friend's 60th birthday. After the meal we dropped into the Eagle and Child for more talk and then J. and I went on to stay the night with relatives nearby.