The YEAR OF FAITH...

...has begun, and Westminster Cathedral was packed with people and glorious music and great wafts of incense and a  great, great procession of priests, for a special Mass that was celebrated in union with the Holy Father in Rome and bishops in cathedrals around the world.

In fact, I had forgotten that today marked the launch of the Year of Faith, and had simply planned to be at the 5.30pm Mass as usual before leading a Catholic History Walk. En route I fell in behind some young men, one of whom was saying "...so I got the von Balthasar book, but have only read four pages so far..." and I said "Golly I find von Balthasar simply terrific, couldn't wait to go on reading!  " and they swivelled round: they are a group from the seminary whom I have come to know well, and it was fun to be talking and laughing with them as we crossed the rainy piazza. I dropped in to the bookshop (St Paul's) and found it unusually crowded: some one else noticed too and asked why, and then I  felt rather daft when it was pointed out that the Year of Faith was about to be launched next door. I just managed to find a seat - next to some Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and behind some Maltese sisters  -  and the cathedral filled and filled, and the seminarians were among lots of others taking a special part in the ceremonies, which were headed by Bishop John Arnold as the Archbishop was in Rome with the H. Father...

We had Newman's "Firmly I believe..." at Communion: the words are splendid.

As the crowds slowly spilled out at the end of Mass a group gathered on the steps for the History Walk, despite teeming rain. And it turned out to be a particularly agreeable Walk: first the Cathedral itself, that great illuminated front facing on to the splashy  piazza, then Ambrosden Avenue, and Archbishop's House (tales of Wiseman, Manning, Vaughan etc), and then down Great St Peter Street to the Abbey and Parliament, passing Abbey Orchard Street and the Grey Coat Hospital (girls still wearing grey uniforms, albeit blazers and miniskirts) and finally to Whitehall, and the Cenotaph (where we keep silence as we walk past) and Charles I...

At the core of this particular History Walk were young people from the SPES team at St Patrick's, Soho Square - undeterred by rain, cheerful, interested, enthusiastic: when I asked, on reaching Parliament, if they wanted to stop there or go on to Whitehall, they opted for the latter without hesitation. A great bunch: their year's work includes tackling a Maryvale diploma while active with evangelism, outreach, social projects, and more...