Encouraging....

....morning at the John Fisher School, Purley. The young chaplain, Fr James Clark, organises guest speakers for the VI form on Mondays. The boys looked smart in their blazers with the golden school emblem, there was a warm and friendly welcome, and it was rather moving to be speaking in the school hall where I have attended receptions following the ordinations of  former pupils.  May there be many more...

Topic was communication, writing, lnguage, truth...told them about smuggling in Christian books, history, social comment, Catholic doctrine, into Eastern Europe under Communism,  about St John Paul's emphasis on truth, about how truth and freedom go together. Talked about today's Britain, need to seek and defend truth.  Find out what the Church teaches, and what is really happening: don't rely on the BBC's version. And how how do we make good use of the internet? The biggest single use is people wasting their lives in porn...

This is a school I have known for over 40 years: there is now a Fawcett Building, named after Fr Fawcett who I remember so well and who taught at the school for so many years...

Chatting in the sunshine with Fr James, we were joined by a number of other priests, who had come to help with hearing confessions (the whole school goes, form by form). They included Fr Ian Vane, at whose church in Sussex I recently took part in a  women's prayer event with a crowd of some 80/90 people on a  midweek afternoon, impressive...

At John Fisher, the sunshine dappled on the lawn by the chapel, , the sky was  clear, boys hurried here and there, a VI-former stopping to chat...everything somehow held promise and hope. Pray for this fine school and its future: it's just marked its 85th anniversary, celebrating a noble heritage.