Friday, October 31, 2014

Depressing...

...reports that the current Secretary of State for Education, Mrs Morgan, now says that she wishes she had voted for same-sex "marriage". At the time she decided to vote against, but now she has evidently succumbed to pressure to fall into line with the politically official view.

And it's depressing because the Department of Education is at the centre of what happens next.  There is enormous pressure on schools to teach the ghastly official line, forcing teachers to pretend that marriage can be between two men or two women (at least, at present - they might decide it is to be 3, or more, in due course), thus turning Britain's schools into places of horrid propaganda, in a way that is not only cruel and unjust, but is also contrary to the whole idea of education and academic life.

It is not at all clear that poor Mrs Morgan will be able to stand up to this pressure:  she's already got stuck in the sticky mesh of assuming that children should be force-fed the same-sex-marriage line and it will take courage for her to haul herself out and look at things fairly. She needs to step back and pause.

Now, here's a fair deal: people that specifically want the same-sex-marriage message and its associated ideology for their children should get together and organise schools to teach it. If there are enough of them, they can in due course apply for funds from the general taxation, and there can be a debate about whether or not they are making a fair case. They are offering a new ideology, one that is contrary to all that we have ever known about marriage and the transmission of life: they cannot assume any right to impose this, and must work to build up a case for themselves.

Meanwhile, leave the rest of Britain's children out of the propaganda battle.



Cardinal Vincent Nichols' letter...

...following the recent Synod in Rome...

Best comment on it so far comes here...

Unpleasantly warm, sticky weather...

...giving London a disagreeable feel on this last day of October. We are told we may get some cooler weather soon...oh for some crisp, fresh Autumn days...

News about the John Paul Walk by the Thames..

...and the statue that we carried, is in the latest issue of The Portal. You can access it here.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

The presentation of the 2014 Catholic Young Writer Award...

...took me to St George's College, Swaythling, Southampton, recently. You can read about it here...

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

It's irritating...

...to see nonsense written about the Church...

For example, silly media comments today suggesting that Pope Francis is doing something entirely revolutionary in suggesting that the theory of evolution is consistent with the Book of Genesis. This is not news!    It is what Popes Benedict and John Paul were saying, and indeed has been discussed, enjoyed, debated, analysed, prayed over, and made the topic of conferences and study sessions and lectures and books and academic papers and more, for years and years and years.  And rightly so.  It's an important topic.  Read Papa Benedict on the subject here  and here  and here...

When Papa Francis says that “Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve” he is saying  what Papa Benedict said with considerable wisdom and insight...and one cannot help feeling that the only reason for making the new headlines about Francis  is to hint that his poor old predecessors were sooooo out of touch and soooo stupid and they couldn't cope with topics like evolution...

Time magazine has a sane comment on this here.

Pope Francis actually made his comments at a conference honouring Benedict -  get the real story here -  and, praised Papa-Emeritus Benedict as "a great Pope: great for the power and penetration of his intellect, great for his significant contribution to theology, great for his love for the Church and of human beings, great for his virtue and piety.”

 To which one can only add "AMEN!!!  YES!!!  YES!!!"


Meanwhile...

...Auntie is also busy with academic work, in pursuit of which some hours are spent in study, attending lectures, reading, pondering, writing...post-graduate academic work is enormously satisfying but is also a challenge. Our home has always been crammed with books, at times to the point of absurdity. Recently a bookshelf became detached from the wall, unable to carry any more weight...

One book has a cherished place: it's a Bible, and would in any case be given special status on that account. But it was placed in my hands by my husband after a visit to Rome with the words "Look inside!" and, on the first page, it carries our names and the signature of (now Saint) John Paul.

I have consulted this Bible - it's a paperback, handy size, good translation - a great deal. But I sometimes feel that perhaps I really shouldn't, and it should be kept safely as something to be treated with special care rather than subjected to everyday use...it is kept on the sideboard, along with a great range of family photographs, including one of Jamie meeting St JP on the occasion on which the Bible was signed...

Off to Chelsea...

...to talk to young people on a half-term training course, part of the  "t!" magazine project.    You can pick up this attractive glossy magazine  FREE in various supermarkets - and it is run by young people, and offers lots of scope for them to train in writing about fashion, travel, cookery, sport, and more.  My task is to be part of the training team, and I enjoy it - having worked in journalism since my teens, I am glad to encourage others along the new paths being forged in the new world of internet/TV/radio/print communications...

"t!" began something like 15-18 years ago, and has grown and flourished...it's grand being part of it all.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Read Auntie...

on London and poppies etc here...

A niece...

...has been staying with us, and, as always, it is fun having some one young around the house. I am touched by the good manners and courtesy of the next generation: they are a joy to have around.  Some while back we  had a nephew from New Zealand with a wildly-painted guitar, and now a niece in theatre who currently has to spend part of each week dressed as a frog. And in both cases, charming manners, lively pleasant conversation, and a genuine and open sense of family affection. I do enjoy being an Aunt.

"Is it true...

...is it kind, is it necessary?"  These useful questions are a quick reminder for bloggers, and their commentators.  I have been sent some comments that will not be published, because their authors failed to get this right.

One correspondent announced to me that an archbishop had written, in an official letter, something that the archbishop had certainly not written.  Because my immediate instinct was to check the facts, I didn't make the mistake of slandering the archbishop. I checked to see what he had actually written, and it didn't include the words about which my correspondent was waxing indignant.

Some correspondents simply write angry stuff, others are fond of predictions. The "Fatimists" - the campaigners who assert that St John Paul and Papa Benedict XVI were/are part of  A Great Conspiracy to Silence the Real Secret, and all that -  have got odder and odder. One of their number announced a little while back that Pope Francis isn't really the Pope. Another  had confidently asserted that A Norfle Dreadful Catastrophe  could be expected  in April when St John Paul was canonised (several of these people were obsessed with trying to stop the canonisation of  St JP)  but the day passed joyfully in the soft golden sunshine of a Roman spring, and he fell silent...

Here's the basic rule, to be applied to all of us when sharing information or chatting about some topic or person of interest: "Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?"

Monday, October 27, 2014

Visiting...

... an elderly relatives in a (lovely, friendly, Catholic) residential home, the room had a warm and cheery atmosphere as an afternoon of music and crafts and games was drawing to a close. Tea was over, and supper a longish way off. Dusk was falling. An elderly gentleman began to sing. He started with  "There'll be bluebirds over/The white cliffs of Dover"... in a quavering voice but it grew stronger, and others began to join in, knowing the words, because they belonged to that generation, and the words were simply part of themselves: "The shepherd will tend his sheep/ The valley will bloom again/And Johnny will go to sleep/In his own little room again..."

And when that song was over, some one started another - and then another. Soon we were all singing - residents, staff, me..." On Ilkley Moor bar t'at" (yes, all the proper words: "Tha's been a-courting Mary Jane..." and the rest), and then  "She'll be coming round the mountain..."  with my favourite verse "Oh, she'' have to stay at grandma's when she comes..." and then "Daisy, Daisy" and - this one raised a grand sound "Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner"...and then of course "Tipperary" and "Pack up your troubles..."

The old gentleman sang - really rather  beautifully - "Lily Marlene" first in German and then in English, and reminisced about hearing it in France - "absolutely everyone was singing it" in 1945...

And as I left I found myself wondering: what songs will my generation be able to sing, when we are old and sitting around on an Autumn evening? What will the songs say to us? What will we remember?

25th anniversary...

...of the Association of Catholic Women, celebrated at St James Church, Spanish Place, on Saturday. A beautiful Mass with some lovely music, and then  lunch with the cutting of an anniversary cake...

The Association's activities range from meetings and conferences - the most recent was a celebration of Gerard Manley Hopkins' poetry, which proved so popular that some people had to be turned away - to a nationwide project for Catholic primary schools. Over the years. we've had pilgrimages, Days of Recollection, music and art workshops for teachers, a popular quarterly Review, and more... Perhaps our best-known event takes place each year at the Chrism Mass at Westminster Cathedral, when we arrive with our "Thank you to our priests" placard - what began as a simple gesture is now an expected part  of the whole scene, and it is always a pleasure to greet the priests and hand out our small holy cards, freshly designed each year with a suitable prayer from the treasures of the Church's liturgy and traditions...

But not to be undervalued is the ACW's provision of refreshments for the annual TOWARDS ADVENT Festival...tea and coffee and home-made sandwiches, all at moderate prices, and an opportunity for people to meet and chat, and linger in a cheery atmosphere...Come and join us on Saturday November 22nd at Westminster Cathedral Hall!

Sunday, October 26, 2014

A happy day...

...with the John Paul II Pilgrims: Mass at Precious Blood Church, and then our Pilgrim Walk along the Thames. Prayers in a side-chapel at St Paul's Cathedral. An unforgettable visit to the Sea of Poppies at the Tower - thousands and thousands of people were there, and we joined them...

Benediction back at Precious Blood Church. Earlier, at the morning Mass, Father Christopher blessed our Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady, which I had brought from Poland. This statue has a special, and extraordinary, link with St John Paul - see here....

We carried our little Pilgrim Statue all along our Walk. It will be kept at Precious Blood Church and come with us every year to Walsingham and on other walks...

Saturday, October 25, 2014

"In the footsteps of John Paul..."

People keep asking me about "that TV programme about St John Paul".  You can  now order a DVD here... It will take you to Krakow, to Jasna Gora, to Wadowice "where it all began", and to the great new Divine Mercy shrine...oh, and it'll give you a preview of the vast "Do Not Be Afraid!" pilgrimage centre and basilica, which the world will see when vast crowds of young people gather for World Youth Day in 2016...and you'll find out about JP's wartime life, his introduction to the "Living Rosary", his spiritual mentor in a Krakow suburb, the rooms he occupied as a student in the war years and then again as Archbishop in the 1970s...and much, much more.

And, just to clarify things - my recent trip to Poland was to produce a follow-up programme for EWTN, focussing on St JP's teachings and message. Filming was hard work, but deeply satisfying, and the next stage involves editing and checking...lots still to be done...

Working on all of this has been a great adventure. Now you can start to share it with me...

You might enjoy...

...this piece by Auntie...

Friday, October 24, 2014

Disturbing evidence...

...that schools are being pressured into imposing the ideology of same-sex marriage on pupils...it is very important that teachers, parents, school governors and pupils know that they do not need to cave into this pressure, and that it is perfectly acceptable to uphold the understanding of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. More info here...

...and the next CATHOLIC HISTORY WALK...

is on Wed November 5th, starting at 5.30pm at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge...we'll walk to the Tower of London and back. Note the starting-time...this will be an early-evening walk, so as to allow people to go on to any Firework event if they wish...

...and the next after that is on THURSDAY November 27th, meet at The Monument  (tube station of the same name is just nearby)  at 5.30pm (again NOTE THE TIME)...

Thursday, October 23, 2014

On Sunday...

...Oct 26th, the JOHN PAUL WALKERS will come to London!  And anyone is welcome to join us. This is our Autumn Reunion Walk, when we get together to celebrate having achieved the summer Walk to Walsingham. The John Paul Walkers are led by the splendid Dominican Sisters of St Joseph, and include people from across Britain who  pray for the New Evangelisation. We're glad to welcome anyone new who'd like to come along and meet us...bring sandwiches and wear comfortable shoes for walking.

...and it starts with 11 am MASS at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge, after which we'll eat our sandwiches with coffee in the Parish Room. Then we'll set off along the Thames to Westminster, and follow a route that takes us across various bridges and back to the Tower of London, where we'll pay tribute to the war dead at the blood-red sea of poppies, and pray at the site of St Thomas More and St John Fisher's martyrdom...and then return to Precious Blood Church for Benediction and Tea...

Helen Hull Hitchcock...

...a wonderful Christian evangelist, joyful upholder of true values, superb writer, and a dear friend, has died. She leaves a great gap in the lives of so many of us. Helen founded Women for Faith and Family which inspired Catholic women across the world to stand firm in their Catholic faith and to work on a range of projects aimed at supporting the work of the Church, teaching the young, and protecting innocent life. She was hard-working, joyful, and enormous fun, with a fine mind and a delightful sense of humour. Read some tributes to her here...

An early start...

...to the day, hurrying in the dark to catch a train to Southampton.

Destination: St George College, Swaythling,  where a pupil, Leo Stoy, is this year's recipient of the Catholic Young Writer Award. The school made me most welcome, and it was a real delight to present the shield, cash prize, and collection of books to Leo and to meet his parents and younger brother, and other pupils who had won prizes or certificates. The boys were an attentive audience, and responded well when I finished things by calling for three hearty cheers for their teachers. It was a thoroughly enjoyable morning.


Feast Day of St John Paul the Great...

...celebrated in churches around the world for the first time. Lunchtime Mass at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge, where I met an American friend who joined my group of Catholic History Walkers on a tour of St George's Cathedral, Southwark. The stained glass of St John Paul there is a fine one, and shows him giving the Sacrament of the Sick in the Cathedral on his visit to Britain in 1982. I remember it so well: the cathedral filled not with pews but with people in their beds and chairs, with blessings and anointings as the H. Father and Cardinal Hume moved among them...the stained glass brings it all back, right down to the details of the Holy Father's robes, and the bright green blankets on the beds - and Christ above, shown healing the sick...


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Trenchant comment on that Synod...

read here. It's a must.

THE FEAST OF ST JOHN PAUL THE GREAT...

...and we'll be celebrating it by visiting the cathedral in Britain that has him depicted in stained glass.

It's St George's Cathedral, Southwark. Join us there at 3pm today. Nearest tube/ main-line train: WATERLOO.

Over the next years, there will be more and more depictions of St John Paul the Great. There has been a suggestion that there should be a mosaic of him in Westminster Cathedral, which is an excellent idea.  How about a statue of him in London?  A number of people have expressed interest, and Westminster City Council is happy with the idea...raising the funds would not be difficult, and in fact I have already had people coming forward for that...

Where? somewhere near Westminster Cathedral would make sense...eg at the corner of Ambrosden Avenue?

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

To Lancaster...

...to this excellent school (C of E Academy) where pupils had won prizes in the 2014 Schools Bible Project. The choir sang gloriously as we gathered for morning prayers in the splendid chapel: "If you love me, keep my Commandments..." and the atmosphere was reverent and respectful. It was a privilege to be invited to distribute the Bible prizes gained by pupils, and it was an opportunity to thank the school for providing the choir to sing at the big Thanksgiving Serve held in London this summer for the 25th anniversary of the Schools Bible Project.

Afterwards, fresh coffee and a good chat in the headteacher's study...lots of good conversation, a sense of shared Christian faith...

Monday, October 20, 2014

..and enjoy more of Auntie...

...here...

You'll enjoy...

Cardinal Pell here...

Sunday, October 19, 2014

..and there's a...

...good short YouTube of today's events in Rome here...

...and so...

...on to a busy Sunday. After Mass, I hurried to the college where I am doing some post-graduate work, intending to send in my latest essay. One has to do this electronically, so I had arranged to do it on a Sunday afternoon when the Library is open and with few people there, so I could get the Help Needed for a Useless Woman Who Worries About Computer Things.  And the kind young librarians couldn't have been more helpful, but it turned out that for various reasons I couldn't deposit my essay yet. Gulp. Panic. A sudden overwhelming longing for the days when one could write - or type - something out and hand it in. Just like that. No computer, no magic electronic thingummy, no hassle. Just me writing and some one reading...

Anyway, we sorted something out and I browsed to find something stimulating to read on the bus. A book by an ex-Jesuit, writing in the early 1970s, assured me that "long before the year 2000 there will be no recognisable Catholic Church in the world..." which was amusing to read having spent the weekend at a big Blessed Sacrament Procession through London, followed by a busy Sunday parish Mass teeming with noisy children, while meanwhile in Rome crowds attended a beatification...oh, and I was en route to visit an elderly relative at a beautiful Catholic nursing home: when I arrived she was enjoying supper under the benevolent smile of a framed pic of the Pope.

Oddly enough, the Catholic Church is one of the things that hasn't disappeared, when so much else has: big red-brick Post Offices, public libraries, the Iron Curtain (Deo Gratias!), half-crowns (and florins, and sixpences..), people saying "wireless" and "greengrocers", telephones with dials, brown paper bags, and those old cash tills that opened with a pleasing TING.

I chose a book about Dr Michael Ramsey, an insight into the old CofE of the early and mid-20th century, got a cup of coffee from the student canteen, and settled at the bus-stop.

Paul VI...

... is beatified in Rome today.  He was derided by so many. I remember tirades against him from the early Lefebvrists...and a vile campaign which claimed to have prevented him from ever being beatified: it was tosh, and later the same chap tried the same with - now SAINT - John Paul. And of course there were all the massive attacks from the supporters of contraception who loathed Humanae Vitae.  And among most middle-of-the-road Catholics he was regarded with a sort of bleak sympathy, and/or people sneered at him because he so often looked so sad. All this made me read and study more on Paul VI and, especially over the past few years, I have come  rather to admire him.  And now he is to be honoured by the Church he loved and served, and justice is being done.

The beatification is a badly-needed sign of unity in the Church.  The heroes of the Synod  are Cardinals Mueller and Burke, and the African and Asian bishops who united to bring sanity after the interim report was produced. The worry for the future is factions and swings...

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Tradition established...

...the great Procession of the Blessed Sacrament from Westminster Cathedral to St George's Cathedral, Southwark took place today, with possibly the biggest crowd ever, streaming across Lambeth Bridge and packing into the Cathedral at Southwark to fill it with song and prayer...

We were led this year by Bishop Nicholas Hudson,  who sang Benediction magnificently...how good it is to hear a great cathedral of strong voices saying "Blessed be God...Blessed be his holy name..."

Part of the tradition is that I always worry beforehand that few people will turn up, or that it will pour with rain...and every year there are more and more and  more people, and the weather is mild and kind...and as we processed out from Westminster Cathedral, this time led by altar servers from the Faith Movement and from Precious Blood Church, among others, I realised that, once again, all was well: the long surge of people meant that the great Cross at the front was heading down towards Horseferry Road, while the tail end of the great crowd was still coming down Ambrosden Avenue...it was glorious.

As always, we had part of the procession singing one hymn, part of it another, while others were saying various parts of the Rosary...we have discussed using a loud-hailer or similar, but this poses its own problems,  especially as we have to divide to cross the main road before reaching Lambeth Bridge, and divide again when we cross by Lambeth Palace on the other side...

Warm thank must go to the Knights of St Columba, who steward the crowd with tact and efficiency every year, doing stalwart work....and to all at Westminster and St George's Cathedrals. We really are  very blessed as Catholic Londoners, and it is a grand thing to be praying together  through the streets of our capital city, led by one of our Bishops, and going from one great cathedral to another.

The Procession began with special prayers for the Christians of the Middle East in their suffering, and this added a solemn note to the whole day.




Friday, October 17, 2014

Next Catholic History Walk...

...is on Wednesday (Oct 22nd), at 3pm (NOTE TIME), at St George's Cathedral, Southwark. Nearest tube: WATERLOO or LAMBETH NORTH. We'll be looking around the Cathedral itself and learning its history.

...and more...

...on the Synod: read this.

Flying home...

...filled with memories of Poland and with a fresh understanding of its history and people...

Watch this to understand a bit more too...

Thursday, October 16, 2014

And on the subject of That Synod...


...you really do need to read this  to get some grasp of what is going on in Rome.

Evaluating...

...the message of St John Paul's life, sitting on the steps of the church that he helped to build  at Niegovic, and then pondering his portrait in St Florian's in Krakow...

Today is the anniversary of his election as Pope in 1978. Then followed the extraordinary missionary journeys, the assassin's bullet, the consecration of the world to Fatima, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the huge gatherings for prayer and Mass on every continent, World Youth Day, the Catechism of the Catholic Church,  the Theology of the Body, the establishment of devotion to the Divine Mercy, the great encyclicals...and more...and the death on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, and then canonisation this year,  St John Paul, numbered among the great saints of the Church....

We hadn't timed the filming of this EWTN feature to finish on the anniversary of his election, but it just fitted that way, and as we sat over a late and badly-needed meal in the great square in Krakow, a gentle rain began to fall after a week of glowing Autumn sunshine, and the project was completed...

So: home, and a whole set of projects ahead of me. . Blessed Sacrament Procession on Saturday, starts 1.30pm at Westminster Cathedral (do come!).

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

A colleague in Rome...

sends this report  about the Synod, a useful read. And this is really an essential read. As is this.

Auntie has been busy in Krakow, interviewing people for EWTN...we drove here from the Tatra mountains via a popular local  Marian shrine...Krakow is beautiful in Autumn sunshine with faint occasional sprinklings of rain...

Cardinal Dziwisz is about to fly to Rome for the beatification of Paul VI. More and more, Paul VI's courageous encyclical Humanae Vitae is proving prophetic and wise. The mid-session report from the current  Synod meeting in Rome - which, as already noted (see below, and umpteen comments elsewhere including the links above) is somewhat mixed - does say some useful things on this subject:

"53. It is not difficult to notice the spread of a mentality that reduces the generation of life to a variable of an individual's or a couple's plans. Economic factors sometimes have enough weight to contribute to the sharp drop in the birthrate which weakens the social fabric, compromising the relationship between generations and rendering the view of the future less certain. Being open to life is an intrinsic requirement of married love.

54. Probably here as well what is required is a realistic language that is able to start from listening to people and acknowledging the beauty and truth of an unconditional opening to life as that which human life requires to be lived to its fullest. It is on this base that we can rest an appropriate teaching regarding natural methods, which allow the living in a harmonious and aware way of the communication between spouses, in all its dimensions, along with generative responsibility. In this light, we should go back to the message of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae of Paul VI, which underlines the need to respect the dignity of the person in the moral evaluation of the methods of birth control."

Such attitudes will be felt by some commentators to be scandalous, and I remember, back in the early 1970s, horrible and vicious attacks on Paul VI with people saying  "I'm praying he'll die soon" and so on and so on...

And now Paul VI is rightly honoured by the Church, and his successors upheld the teaching, and will continue to do so down all the years to come...and there will be rejoicing in Heaven at this beatification, and joy in the hearts of Catholics worldwide.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Thank God for St John Paul...

...a magnificent Pope in tough times, with a message for all times...

Difficult to write about a TV programme on which one is working,  because describing what we are doing, and where, and how it is all working out, gives away the whole thing in advance which seems rather a pity. Watch EWTN in due course and you'll see Auntie and team in Poland in this new feature...and meanwhile, you might enjoy this one  which begins the story...

And...writing this in the Tatra mountains, after an unforgettable day exploring St John Paul's legacy, gives lots to ponder, especially at this time. The news from the Synod in Rome is rather bleak, and it is tragic that the Synod Fathers seem, so far,  to have sidelined  the opportunity to explore and teach the riches of the Christian understanding of marriage, of Bridegroom and Bride, Christ and Church, in the way the world so achingly needs...instead, there is kindness and goodwill but also muddle and misdirection (which means that some of the kindness will get  misdirected too)...

And there is so much richness that is in danger of  being ignored...in JP's theology of the body and in the work of so many groups and movements within the Church, and the wordy and uninspiring ponderous mid-time statement from the Synod just doesn't get it...

But there's time ahead in which to get this right, and it's useful to get some good perspectives on the Synod from reporters such as this one...
 and this one...  and, probably the best-informed and most valuable so far,  this one...

...and time to pray before the full Synod in 2015 and its actual message and teachings,  for which current discussions are the throat-clearing preparations.

Monday, October 13, 2014

...and in the mountains...

... Zakopane...glorious scenery, rich culture, long late discussions on so many things...driving here was a mix of swift motorways and people selling mushrooms alongside, vast advertising slogans and a sudden glimpse of a shrine....

This morning, in Warsaw, a visit to the museum commemorating the Uprising of 1944. Extraordinary to  encounter the full and graphic story I first discovered  in a London flat from an elderly lady who had served with the AK, and who told it to me in this book...

The Polish fighters of 1944 were heroes, and the story of this battle is one that will be told dopwn the generations in Poland...

Sunday in Warsaw...

... roaring traffic, vast office blocks , a great modern European city.

We stood in the great square, where St John Paul made history with that 1979 "Let the Spirit descend on the land...this land."  The Square empty, sunlit, fringed by vast gleaming office blocks and a park with golden, glowing leaves.

Warsaw is so utterly different from the bleak city of the early 1980s, with rationed food and shop windows dressed up with paper cut-outs...

Working with an EWTN crew is fun, energising, and, by the end of the day, tiring. A long talkative supper, a quick email home to J. to tell him of today's adventures...

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Lublin, Warsaw, and a day for JPII...

...and in unusually warm sunshine. We are filming a new feature for EWTN, exploring St John Paul's legacy in Poland. Lublin is a glorious city, with a castle and lots of royal history. The Catholic University - once the only such place of learning in the whole of the atheist bloc that stretched from Berlin to Beijing - is now named for John Paul II and is set in attractive buildings, with a courtyard of green lawns and a superb statue of  that moment when  Cardinal Wyzinski knelt to honour JPII and the latter raised him up...

Today is a special (annual) day honouring JPII and there will be a great Mass in Warsaw...and we also plan to film in the great Square where JP gave that unforgettable sermon back in 1979 and changed history...

Friday, October 10, 2014

The Mayor of Merton...

...attended the annual meeting of the WIMBLEDON LIFE GROUP, at which I was privileged to be the guest speaker. A good crowd, and a warm welcome. The group does excellent work supporting mothers-to-be who need help and housing, and is also busy campaigning against euthanasia...I spoke about Lord Falconer's "Assisted Dying" Bill and the danger it presents. It is very important that we oppose this ghastly idea of legalising the killing of gravely ill people. Useful material on this here...

Thursday, October 09, 2014

I hope that Papa Emeritus Benedict...

...will enjoy the special gift that we are sending him. You can read more here (with pic)...

Monday, October 06, 2014

The spin...

...that is being put on the Synod now taking place in Rome is all rather tiresome.. but this report highlights a prayer vigil that, despite its size. many media outlets seem to have missed...

Given the assumptions that are being made about about the Synod could/should be doing, prayer seems to be the most reliable and useful approach at this stage...

To Mass...

...  in London, and then also dropped in at the Cathedral and also at a suburban parish, in order to advertise the
PROCESSION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

THROUGH LONDON

on Saturday October 18th.

Starts 1.30pm WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL

crosses the Thames at Lambeth Bridge

finishes approx.  2.45- 3pm at ST GEORGE'S CATHEDRAL

ALL AE WELCOME: COME AND WITNESS TO THE FAITH

This Procession was started in 2011 to mark the first anniversary of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain and to give thanks. It has continued annually and grown steadily - come and make the 2014 Procession the best yet!

Saturday, October 04, 2014

Ths staggering growth in the number of Catholics in the world...

...from 266 million in 1900 to 1,197 million in 2012, (you can read more about this here) is relevant to discussions about the forthcoming Synod on the Family.   This massive growth has taken place chiefly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Bishops from these territories carry much - much! - more weight than those from Europe at a Synod such as this. Their grasp of the issues concerned - marriage, demography, relationships with non-Christian religions, education, economics - comes from a wide and deep database, and they speak with knowledge and confidence. On issues such as the rights and  dignity of women, the superiority of monogamy over polygamy, and the specific healthcare needs of the poor, they have crucial and necessary information to impart. Nor will the Synod be much influenced by chatter from the Western media.  Do not make the mistake of assuming that the opinions of media commentators in, say, Canada, Germany,  Denmark or the USA  will carry much weight at a Synod of the Catholic Church in 2014...

To Poland...

...in a week or so, to work on "John Paul: The Legacy"  for EWTN: we'll be going to Warsaw, Lublin, the Tatras and Niegovic, among other places. We will talk to people who studied under Wojtila at Lublin's Catholic University, we'll get a couple of young people reading from his play "The Jeweller's Shop" and from some of his poetry, we'll go to the mountains that he loved and see the church that was built under his initiative when he was still a young curate in the grim days of Stalinist Communism in the 1950s...

Trawling the internet to check a couple of details about St John Paul, I encountered weird attacks on him, including a Lefebvrist theologian denouncing this "false canonisation" a furious American campaigner predicting a gigantic catastrophe on the day, and an odd priest claiming to offer evidence including "immodest pictures" to show how wicked JP was.( The Lefebvrist chap and  the American campaigner seem to have fallen silent, especially when the planned flood/fire etc didn't happen. The other chap's pics turned out to be well known shots of the young saint picnicking and canoeing with friends).  All of these writings were confused and angry - but what was most striking was their note of dedicated bitterness: the passion that comes from having nurtured a hatred for a long time.

It certainly renewed my interest in teaching about this great saint and in passing on to the next generation the truth about his life of prayer, courage, wisdom and faith...

Knights and Dames...

...of the Order of St Gregory met at the Church of SS Anselm and Cecilia in London's Holborn for the annual Mass.  Glorious singing from the Schola of the Cardinal Vaughan School. Knights looking rather splendid in uniforms with silver trimmings, Dames in green cloaks...rather too warm, but the cloak can be sort of thrown back over one shoulder, which is a lot more comfortable.

Dinner was fun, candlelit, formal toasts, a sense of friendship and camaraderie: Bishop Richard Moth was the guest - he's Bishop of the Forces, spoke well, was amusing and then guided thoughts towards concepts of service and duty...it was a good evening. Afterwards, out into noisy and raucous London, a very warm night, so I walked down to the Strand and across the river to Waterloo...Jamie had been out late too, and as so often happens we met at the local bus stop...and so home together...

Thursday, October 02, 2014

The Synod on the Family...

...will start shortly. There will be a lot of related debate/discussion/controversy  about what is said, and what is alleged to have been said, and so on and so on.

Meanwhile, we all need to get on with promoting the Church's message on marriage and family. Useful link, just sent to me, on a postgraduate degree in Catholic Applied Theology (Marriage and Family):  "As we approach the Extraordinary Synod, this is an opportune moment to let people know about the wonderful course we offer here which is centred on the teaching of St. John Paul II. The course was developed in academic collaboration with the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome and this collaboration continues today..." You can find out more here...  and shortly after receiving this, I found this commentary on the Synod, which exactly matches the point...

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Hello to Dominic...

...who was among those taking part in the Catholic History Walk this evening. We started at Westminster Cathedral - a small group, only a handful of people, but somehow it turned out to be a particularly happy walk, and by the time  we were saying goodbye, in the lamplit churchyard of Westminster Abbey, with those glorious soaring gothic buttresses and the sense of quiet familiarity, we were real friends.

Big Ben chimed out the hour - 8pm - as we walked across Westminster Bridge, and on to Waterloo. We all found we lived in neighbouring suburban parishes, and a young relative of Dominic's goes to my old school...sometimes London really does feel like a collection of villages.

Read Auntie...

here, on Eastern Europe, and the New Evangelisation, and misty rain on Austrian mountains...