Sunday, May 31, 2015

NEW DAWN IN THE CHURCH...

...is the name of a big gathering that has been taking place at Walsingham for some years. They have invited me to be among the speakers this year, and I went to the organising group, based in Liverpool, for the weekend to learn about it all and discuss things...

It turned out to be an immensely interesting weekend, with a most useful afternoon of talks with Myles Dempsey, initiator of the whole project. Then a  lively tralkative supper with young people associated with the Prince of Peace Community house where it is all based...a lady from Ireland, a couple from Austria, a priest from Zambia, a girl from Germany...we ended up having a fascinating discussion about languages and accents, revealing in the end all sorts of things about habits and ideas and customs...much laughter and also much thoughtful stuff...

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Celibacy for priests....

...why?

A talk on the subject organised by the FAITH Movement.  Tuesday, June 2nd, 7.30pm at 24 Golden Square London W1 (hall of the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory). Speaker: Fr Stephen Brown, chaplain at Bradford University. ALL WELCOME.

Off to Bavaria...

...next month for a project on the life and work of Pope Benedict XVI.. I have written a bit about this in the latest issue of OREMUS, the magazine of Westminster Cathedral...you can find out more here...

VOCATIONS...

...and a visit to the Vocations Centre at Whitstable in Kent. The LOGS (a group of Ordinariate ladies) have established a joyful tradition of an annual summer visit, and we love it: Mass in the beautiful chapel with its "Duc in altum..." inscription arund the chancel, a delicious and talkative lunch with Fr Stephen Langridge and the young men who are at the Centre discerning a possible call to the priesthood, the Rosary at the garden shrine...it's always a very special day.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

LONDON: History....

...with a visiting American priest  who will be bringing a big group later in the summer. We walked around St Thomas More's Chelsea, and included a visit to the seminary, Allen Hall where we were made most welcome. The seminary  numbers are going up and they are having to rearrange accomodation to find the neccessary rooms this Autumn. This is good news...

Monday, May 25, 2015

Hurry and book your place...

...on the John Paul II Pilgrimage to Walsingham. 6th-9th August, starting with an open-air Mass in the ancient abbey at Bury St Edmunds - where Magna Carta was first drawn up.

Easy to book - simply email sister.hyacinthe@googlemail.com


More info here

Sunday, May 24, 2015

"You can't go there - the roof's fallen in"...

...was what friends said when I announced my intention to go to Mass at Blackfriars, Oxford. Well, actually, the roof hasn't fallen in - but the chapel does need some work and restoration, and so at present Masses are celebrated in the Refectory.  It's a good sized  long room, formal, panelled, with a fine ceiling - but it is smaller than the church and so Mass was absolutely packed and it all got rather warm. But it was a most delightful and inspiring Mass - whereas the Sunday morning Masses attrract families with children, this evening Mass in Oxford of course  sees large numbers of young people, They filled every available space, including the Medieval-style long benches lining the walls on either side. Splendid singing - the Mass is combined with Vespers, so the psalms rang back and forth, the strong voices of the young Dominicans (there are lots of them!) mingling with those of the young congregation. A young girl was being confirmed, ands we all joined in the reaffirmation of Baptismal promises: "Do you renounce Satan?" "I do" "And all his works, and all his empty promises?" "I do"...

It was a delight, afterwards, to exchange news with Fr Richard Conrad, a longtime family friend and coincidentally one of my lecturers when I was doing my first Degree at Maryvale. and with Br Samuel Burke...

And then I hurried to the station and am writing this on the train to Paddington, looking out from time to time at the  most glorious glowing sunset over the passing countryside.

OXFORD...

...and the celebration of a new Chesterton Library, based at the Oxford Oratory (St Aloysius).. Speeches, wine, delicious food, lots of lively talk.  There was a reading of a 1909 debate between George Bernard Shaw and Chesterton, with Dr William Oddie taking the part of the latter.  It made one realise how utterly faraway is that Edwardian England...

The evening was cheery, convivial, celebratory and gently academic, much greeting of friends and general enjoyment.

Afterwards, out into the Oxford summer night, with "hen party" girls shrieking and wobbling on their spiky stilt-heels, and joining groups of undergraduates in drunken vomiting and staggering about in the pedestrianised shopping centres. Police hovering about in their ugly heavy anti-stab jackets, with siren cars at the ready, lights flashing.

A bus out through the Oxfordshire countryside, and an overnight stay with relatives. In the morning, news, expected but still depressing, of Ireland's collapse into absurdity.  Over the past few years, I have learned much, of  the bossines and deficiencies in the old-style Irish Catholicism...it offers no joy to note that now Catholicism, in any style at all, seems to be treated with derision there...

Saturday, May 23, 2015

A walk along London's river...

...with  lots and lots of history on the way...

Several kind readers of this Blog have sent me comments about the EWTN series currently running, about London's Catholic history. I am glad that the programmes are giving so much pleasure...the team working on this included some fine camermen and a great producer, and all the people interviewed gave of their very best too, making it a most satisfying project.  I loved doing it all, and the answer to the frequently asked "Will you do more of these features?" is most certainly "YES!".  There is so much rich history to explore, and it all has so much to teach us.

More info on all this can be obtained from EWTN: best to enquire there about broadcast times etc...I don't have this information.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

And meanwhile in a Kent village...

...something good is happening too....read here. And admire Auntie's handiwork too...

You might need cheering up a bit...

...so read this.

Male and female...

...and why there are two sexes...and whether it's important...and why there is a male priesthood...and more...

Fascinating talk by Fr Roger Nesbitt at the Evening of FAITH held at Golden Square, Piccadilly, on Tuesday evening...

These are regular evening talks...more info here...


Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Looking ahead to the Synod in Rome in the Autumn...

...this is a rather useful read...

Sunday, May 17, 2015

The Tyburn Lecture...

..is an annual event organised by the splendid nuns at Tyburn Convent.  Each year it is given by a prominent figure in British public life. This year's lecture, held a few days ago,  took up the theme of freedom, on this 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. A superb address - read here, examining the trial of  the heroic St Edmund Campion, and his defence of freedom, especially freedom of expression.

It is always a crowded gathering: I only just squeezed in at the back. Afterwards, the beaming nuns serve drinks and delicious food and there is a great chatter of talk...it's a grand gathering of men and women of the Church in England. It was particular pleasure to be greeted by Sister Margaret - who taught me at St Philomena's,...and to talk to Br Samuel Burke of the splendid young Godzdogz team...

A warm London evening, and it seemed a pity to hurry to the Tube. I set out to walk, sharing part of the route with Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate, going bac to Warwick Street. Lots to talk about, after a great lecture with a sweep of history and large ideas...


Cardinal Pell and St John Paul the Great, and the great Tradition...

...of the Church. The Synod this October will not and cannot change the Church's teaching on marriage. Read here.

We began in the Mary Garden...walked along the riverside...saying the Rosary...

...on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady  at Hampton Wick.

This is an annual walking pilgrimage, begun after discovering a story about St John Paul the Great.

In the 1970s, concerned about finding enough priests - in the difficult years under Communism - for his diocese of Krakow, he made a promise to our Lady that he would walk to every  Marian shrine within walking distance  of the city, if she would grant him one new young priest for each such pilgrimage. Soon his seminary was full...

So we've started a walking pilhgrimage... an adapted form of the Krakow idea.  Rather than go to various Marian shrines, a walking group starts in the Mary garden at this church, and  walks into Kingston,  crosses the Thames there, and then follows the river down to Hampton Wick,

We prayed the Rosary along the way, and sang the Regina Caeli at the shrine, and were given splendid refreshments and a happy social time  before departing to our homes...

Saturday, May 16, 2015

English spiritual writers, and a great tradition...

...are combined in the CALLED TO BE HOLY Novena of Prayer. Find out more about it all here...

Friday, May 15, 2015

Auntie writing about...

...London and recent events...see here...

ASCENSION DAY...


...PLEASE PLEASE

Dear Bishops

Please may we have Ascension Day back to its proper day??

I don't want - or need - to be told that I can go to an Extraordinary Form Mass or  Byzantine Rite or something. WE NEED TO HAVE  OUR ORDINARY CALENDAR BACK. We need to have the feast days on their proper days. We want our  feast days! We want our Sundays!

ASCENSION DAY IS A MOST IMPORTANT FEAST DAY...and it just doesn't work to move it to the nearest Sunday.

Today, I went to a midday Mass at a London church. It was well attended. This was partly because several people there thought they were celebrating Ascension day. All were regular Massgoers. All were conscious that some feast days had been moved. BUT THEY ALL ASSUMED THAT ASCENSION DAY WAS...ASCENSION DAY!!! So they came to Mass.

In the evening J. and I  had an invitation to the Ascension day service at the Guild Church of St Margaret Pattens, with the Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers.  The Worshipful Company marks Ascension Day each year with this special service - members wearing robes etc.

Pattens are those high blocks that for many years women wore beneath their shoes when walking in the sloppy mud - especially on the banks of the Thames. As I hurried across London Bridge in driving rain to the City, up Pudding Lane and along Eastcheap, I was walking where thousands and thousands and thousands of Londoners have gone before me...many of them, along ago, wearing pattens...

Today the Worshipful Company keeps up the footwear link by providing, among other things, orthopedic shoes for soldiers injured in battle,  and scholarshps for young people engaged in the shoe trade....

It was beautiful to be welcomed into the warm church and to sing glorious old hymns and  be inspired by a superb choir. Afterwards, a drinks reception in the City Library by the Guildhall, with a feast of history:  letters, seals, photographs, telling the story of the  public meetings and Parliamentary debates and  massive work that led to the Penny Post and a proper postal service, with  lots of original letters from Sir Rowland Hill, and splendid proclamations to postmasters couched in forthright Victorian language.

It is a very satisfying thing to celebrate a feast day in style. It lends itself to all sorts of traditions, celebrations, and trimmings. If the Church of England can do it, why can't Catholics?


Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The election, the new government, the things that matter...

...you might be interested in this overview...

Cardinal Vincent Nichols...

...had just finished celebrating Mass at westminster Cathedral when I arrived to meet my fellow History Walkers on the steps. He greeted me very cheerily and wished us a good walk, adding that he hoped I wouldn't make everyone go too fast...a weeks back I bumped into him when I was hurrying across the piazza.  It's true that I do walk v.v. quickly - more than once I've had Walkers begging me to slow down a bit...but I always feel so keen to show everything that is along the route, as London as so much fabulous history!

It was a beautiful May evening, and our Walk took us into St James Park, and on down to Horseguards. The Houses of Parliament were bathed in a sunset glow and then slowly the darkness fell and the lamps came on.

So much of London is ugly now: the revolting "walkie talkie" in the City, the blank, faceless soaring Shard, the horrible concrete and glass slabs destroying any possibilty of a pleasant walk down Victoria Street (always a dull road, and available for some imaginative changes, but no...)

But things move and change...one day the vile ugly buildings will come down, to be replaced by something different again. London once had slums where cholera festered, and a public executiuon site where people crowded to view the hangman and his butcher assistants.  And those things seemed normal at the time.

More Walks planned...meet Sunday June 7th, 2.30pm  at Holy Redeemer Church, Chelsea, for a walk in the footsteps of St Thomas More....Sunday June 21st for the big Martyrs Walk starting 1.30pm Stepulchre's churchyard, near the OLD BAILEY...Monday July 6th, meet 6pm (after Evening Prayer) at St Patrick's, Soho....


ON A TOPIC OF SOME IMPORTANCE...

...the Catholic Union is organising an evening lecture and discussion. All are welcome - especially parents, teachers, and clergy. Schools governors and local councillors should come along too.


Teaching Sexuality Following the Mind of the Church: 


a lecture by Louise Kirk

a lecture by
Louise Kirk
on Thursday, 18th June, 2015 at 6.30 pm
at Trafalgar Hall, Notre Dame University
1 Suffolk Street, London SW1Y 4HG
more info here....



Tuesday, May 12, 2015

CALLED TO BE...

HOLY.

Under this title, there is a Novena of Prayer, starting on Friday (May 15th) to Saturday May 23rd, organised by the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and focusing on  some of the great Eng;lish spiritual writings.

A booklet has been produced. It's a feast: The Cloud of the Unknowing..., The DREAM OF THE ROOD...some lovely pieces by Bl John Henry Newman and by Julian of Norwich...Thomas Ken...Lancelot Andrews...

Some of  my readers are not Catholics, or even practising Christians. But you will still love this booklet, because it has some of the most beautiful Eng;lish writing.  Enjoy it: you can get a copy of the booklet by contacting the Ordinariate (24 Golden Square London W1F 9JR tel 020 7 440 5750 ), collecting a copy from the stack at Precious Blood Church (O'Meara St, London SEI - nearest tube The Borough or London Bridge). Or by contacting the Called to Be Holy website...


Monday, May 11, 2015

An important issue....

..for our times.

One of the main things that people know about the Catholic Church - in fact for lots of people it is virtually the only thing they know about the Church - is that the Church opposes abortion, contraception, and same-sex unions.   It is  good that people know this. But they need to know more.

 It is routine in many Catholic schools for a speaker to come in to talk about why abortion is wrong, but it seems more rare to have in a guest speaker to tackle Confession, daily prayer, Sunday Mass... or some aspect of  Church history, or the glories of Christian achievements in art, medicine, science, architecture, exploration...or the Church's teaching on marriage, or the priesthood, or what Baptism is all about, or why we anoint the sick...

 Church history, in particular, is important. I have met Catholic students who have received very little information on, for example, the Crusades, Church/State relations, or the Medieval Church. In general, they get - via the media and everyday culture, from folklore and from pub-gossip - what might be called the "Wolf Hall" version on such things.

Result:  many young Catholics find that they know a lot about the Church being opposed to abortion - and they are glad to support the Church on this.  But they don't quite know how to go on from there. They don't know how to share the message of repentance, forgiveness, and mercy.They havn't had a deep formation in the Christian faith that makes it possible to teach these things, and are left rather stranded when their Church is accused of being pitiless and negative. They know they should be able to offer a message of Christian hope and mercy, but  lack the specifics.

A "Wolf Hall" version of how the Church operates, plus inadequate formation in the nature of Christ and the sacraments makes for a lethal mix.

Pope Francis' announcement about the Jubilee Year of Mercy is thus of crucial importance: will pro-life groups take this up and start promoting it?  It could be one of the most important things to happen in the struggles to promote an authentic culture of life: a breakthrough with lasting consequences. Over to the pro-life groups.






post-election thoughts...

...including a look at the hideous display of screeching anger by spoilt youngsters waving banners with filthy words on them, in a demonstration  organised by an extreme-left group in Westminster the other day. They belong to the "deserving rich" who like to shriek with socialist placards and express hatred for the country that has given them a comfortable home throughout their lives. And if you don't believe me about the posh middle-classness of it all, take a look: scroll down to the young ladies with the banner with the F-word...

Some in the crowd  defaced a memorial to women who served in WW2...I suppose they weren't able (DG!) to get to the Cenotaph itself.

Perhaps we may charitably assume that others - including those who got their pix in the newspapers - felt that such a defacement was wrong, and would like to say so. We are waiting.

Saturday, May 09, 2015

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL...

...Australia's great Archbishop, now heading up an important office in Rome, spoke powerfully and movingly  at a significant gathering ithis week.

Read about it here...

and he has reaffirmed the message that the Synod this Autumn won't change the Church's teaching on marriage and family...

David Cameron...

..once spoke to a Pope about the “new culture of social responsibility that we want to build in Britain”.
“People of faith are great architects of that culture,” he said. “For many faith is a spur to action… Faith is part of the fabric of our country: it always has been and it always will be.”
As Cameron now returns to his responsibilties as Prime Minister,we must ensure that he keeps true to that, and to his shared belief with the Pope that “faith is not a problem for legislators to solve but rather a vital part of our national conversation”.
As it happens, events from seven decades earlier meant that his first public act after accepting office from HM and reeturning to Downing Street to announce the fact, was to take part in a public televised Christian service. 
The Scriptures remind us to pray for all who hold public office, so let's do so.

Friday, May 08, 2015

The VE Day anniversary...

..and Auntie's analysis as one grateful for a freedom dearly bought...read here

Thursday, May 07, 2015

MAY PRAYERS...

at this university.   We gathered at the Chapel-in-the-Woods in pale May sunshine, students and staff, young  voices singing  " Virgin Mary, by God's decree... Ave, Ave, Maria..." .  The chapel (18th century) is tiny, and we gathered outside by its open door, the candelit interior sending out a welcome.  Prayers for those facing exams and dissertations,  for the whole University community,  for our country on this Election day, for the repose of former students who died in the two World Wars (VE Day anniversary tomorrow)...The students  had brought lanterns to light the little old chapel - the big candle-lanterns that are used for NightFever, and glowing votive candles in blue glass, honouring Mary.  Afterwards, freshly-brewed coffee and cake and lots of lively chat...a lovely May morning celebration celebrating a special heritage.

Wednesday, May 06, 2015

A booklet arrives...

...in the post from the Catholic Truth Society. It's Everyday Evangelising with Pope Francis  and is rather good. It offers a thoughtful and practical approach the the whole idea of spreading the Gospel, emphasising prayer and deeds of kindness. It quotes Pope Benedict "We impose nothing, yet we propose ceaselessly...And everyone, in the end, asks this of us, even those who seem not to. From personal ands communual experience, we know well that it is Jesus whom everyone awaits."

The booklet is readable and attractive, with a powerful message. Recommended.

Tuesday, May 05, 2015

Ooooh, the Pope's gonna say...

...except that he isn't going to say what people seem to think he's going to say...

Read here for some common sense on the forthcoming "green" encyclical.

Papa Benedict was the "green Pope" and it seems likely that papa Francis will follow the same approach...

and...

...the NEXT CATHOLIC HISTORY WALK

is on

Monday May 11th, starting at 6.30pm on the steps of Westminster Cathedral, after the 5.30pm Mass. All welcome.

There are more pix...

...of that May procession through the streets of The Borough, London Bridge, here


Monday, May 04, 2015

The Brigettine sisters...

...at Maryvale in Birmingham  invited me to the Silver Jubilee of Mother Giacomina. It was a real delight to be at Maryvale again - I have not been through those gates since I gained my degree a couple of years ago, receiving it in due course from Archbishop Bernard Longley in St Chad's Cathedral.

In all the years I studied at Maryvale, praying the daily Offices and attending Mass in that lovely chapel, I never went into the gallery. So today was a first - I was ushered up there because I arrived a bit late, and the rest of the chapel was packed full. So was the gallery, but a space was made for me, and  as I joined in the Mass I felt the years slipping away and remembered the many Maryvale days that began with Mass here...and then a breakfast (you had to "tick for an egg" on the notice-board) followed by a morning of lectures...During the Mass Mother C. renewed her vows in a strong clear voice, a moving moment. She had several members of her family with her from India - the ladies in the most beautiful saris.

And then there was a delicious buffet lunch and the pleasure of meeting many friends...

An odd link with my very first visit to Maryvale, back in 2008: I had forgotten my spectacles and that first weekend of lectures and introductions and discovering the layout of the place etc proved a bit more of a challenge than I had planned. On this visit, some half-dozen years later, my spectacles snapped in half as I made a grab for them while sharing a hymn-sheet. So again, I was operating under slight difficulties all day...

Oh, but it was a happy day and a joy to be with the Brigettine sisters. It was through meeting them at Maryvale that I came to write the book  which was in due course presented to the Pope and which tells of the heroic Mother Riccarda Hambrough and her care for Jews in Rome in WWII...




Sunday, May 03, 2015

London ...

...with helicopters clattering overhead (lots of crowds,media activity around Kensington Palace because of the Royal baby) our Catholic History Walk through Chelsea in bright sunshine culminated in a warm welcome at Allen Hall for a Tea (excellent walnut cake!), tours led by the students, and a most beautiful Vespers and Benediction.

 Allen Hall is the diocesan seminary for Westminster and is named for Cardinal William Allen who founded it in Douai in the years when the Catholic faith was banned in England. It is now operating at full capacity, and has also recently had some refurbishment . The library looks beautiful, with some graceful ceiling detail showing mulberry leaves - a reference to the famous mulberry tree in the garden, where St Thomas More is said to have relaxed with his family. The Chapel now has some proper heating - badly needed because of its height - and is about to get a new reredos. Vespers, with the strong young male voices singing the psalms was moving. There is a sense of confidence in the future here, inspired by the courage of the past...

The morning showed a different but also encouraging aspect of Catholic life in London, with the annual May Procession through the streets of The Borough, London Bridge, organised by the Church of the Most Precious Blood.. Four men carried the big statue of Our Lady aloft on its special platform, all decorated with flowers and ribbons, and in front of them walked the children of the parish, scattering flowers from ribboned boxes. The congregation surged behind, and people on buses along Southwark Street  took pictures on their mobile phones, and a long line of people queuing at a popular restaurant gawped in silence. All very traditional: we sang "Ave, Ave..." with the front part of the procession singing one verse while the end had started on another, and people in the middle got muddled and struck out with a verse of their own...

A good day.




Friday, May 01, 2015

You can read the latest issue...

...of The Portal, the magazine of the Ordinariate of O.L. of Walsingham, here.

A Saxon princess and a day in Kent...

...at Minster Abbey., named for St Mildred and originally founded in the wake of St Augustine's arrival...

A fabulous, quiet day there. I went with D., who is secretary of the Catholic Writers' Guild, and on the evening before she gave an excellent dinner party at her London flat, lots of laughter and lively talk over a delicious meal. The next morning we were up early, to get to Minster in time for the morning office at 8.30am (the nuns get up even earlier and sing while all is still dark and the birds are just beginning to wake up...but we had to drive from London...).

Minster is glorious - the nuns singing, the familiar words of the psalms going back and forth,  bluebells in the garden, lots of books  to enjoy in a comfortable guest-house. There is a sort of farm-ish area they call Parkminster where there are ducks and a big barn they use for welcoming large groups of visitors, pilgrims, and groups studying crafts etc. The village has a couple of good pubs and we lunched there...

We  agreed to be silent during the day, except for lunch, attended the  nuns' Offices, enjoyed the grounds, read, wrote, sewed, rested.   The final Office,Compline, was sung in Latin and followed by a time of silent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The chapel is very simple and attractive,  the altar centred on a big chunk of glossy wood, the big windows beyond the altar clear glass giving views of the glorious trees and wide Kent sky. We drove back through a dusk still glowing with the remains of a pink sunset.