At Allen Hall...

...in Chelsea, a good crowd met for for the annual Summer Gathering of the Catholic Union. Mass was celebrated by the Apostolic Nuncio. Then a meeting chaired by Lord Brennan, our President, and with a report from Dr Tony Cole on the the latest activities of the Parliamentary and Public Affairs committee of the Union...a good, serious, up-to-the-minute session which looked at the various projects currently on hand. Things are grim with regard to the Govt's gruesome schemes for reducing marriage to the same level as same-sex unions, and with the endless pushing of euthanasia at so many levels by so many campaigners who find supporters in, for example, the BBC. There are continuing problems in education - although the immediate threat for compulsory sex education for five year-olds seems to have receded temporarily. There are continuing, and increasing, pressures on Christians in public and professional life...

After lunch, further talks, which explored the issues raised by the latest (excellent) lecture sponsored by the Union in Parliament - Lord Griffiths, looking at banking and the economy - at the Catholic Young Writer Award sponsored by the Union,at the needs of Catholic schools especially with regard to improvements in RE...and more...and more...

It was good to be at Allen Hall , with its links with St Thomas More. He planted mulberry trees in his garden - because their name in Latin can be a sort of pun on his own name. It has a fine chapel, and a refectory with portraits of former Archbishops of Westminster, and a Roll of Honour of the Douai Martyrs, a sense of a great heritage for the English Church...outside the rain lashed down, and there were jokes about this being officially our Summer Garden Party, but somehow we never seem to be able to get into the gardens very much...

It was encouraging to see such a good attendance at this meeting, with people there from Catholic Voices, and the Catholic Medical Association and the Catholic Writers' Guild....there was a good spirit, a sense of solidarity and of purpose. As we face tough times in Britain, with Christianity and Christian values increasingly coming under attack, there is quiet resolution, good humour, and courage...