auntie joanna writes

Come to...

2012-01-27T10:50:00.001Z

....Coloma School, Croydon, on Feb 7th for a wonderful day. Your opportunity to learn Gregorian Chant, and to sing it at a Mass in the school chapel. A delicious lunch, and an inspiring talk, and all in good company. Send me a Comment to this Blog, marked NOT FOR PUBLICATION and including an email address to which I can reply to you (I cannot simply send a reply to your comment - you need to include an email address in the text of the comment).

"We live in...

2012-01-25T22:10:00.000Z

... a culture where our marketers and entertainment media compulsively mislead us about the sustainability of youth; the indignity of old age; the avoidance of suffering; the denial of death; the nature of real beauty; the impermanence of every human love; the oppressiveness of children and family; the silliness of virtue; and the cynicism of religious faith. It’s a culture of fantasy, selfishness, sexual confusion and illness that we’ve brought upon ourselves. And we’ve done it by misusing the freedom that other -- and greater -- generations than our own worked for, bled for and bequeathed to our safe-keeping.

What have we done with that freedom? In whose service do we use it now?"

Read more on this here.

Home now, and reflecting...

2012-01-25T19:36:00.002Z

...on America. Read here.

Ohio, South Carolina, Washington...

2012-01-25T18:02:00.002Z

...a travelogue is not neccesarily interesting, and people who use their blogs to publicise their general activities are not perhaps the best bloggers. So Auntie will spare you her "yesterday I flew on to Newtown..." chatter. There are big issues being debated in America: I will long remember this January 2012 visit.

South Carolina is fortunate in having a fine priest, Fr Dwight Longenecker, among the local clergy and you can read his blog here. A couple of buses packed with young people went from Greenville, S. Carolina, to Washington for the March for Life and it was great to be able to travel with them. On the March (vast crowds, lots of rain, squelchy underfoot as we listened to speeches on the Washington Mall and the thousands of feet inevitably churned the lawns into mud) I saw a banner saying "Thank you, Pope Benedict XXVI for Angelcanorum Ceotibus" and it amused me. How many of Washington's politicians, I wondered, would know what the banner was saying? Are they fluent in Latin? And would the message, in any case, encourage them to help overturn Roe v. Wade? But I squelched over to investigate, and the banner was also carrying a pro-life message and was being held high by a cheery group of new members of the Ordinariate glowing with goodwill and joy. It was great to march alongside and swap news and share enthusiasm.

America is in the middle of a great heart-searching about aborting its unborn children, a heart-searching that has yet to take place in Europe.The modern-day United States of America, with all its very obvious faults, is a country where millions believe in God and pray to him daily.It is a country with a future.

After our section of the March had reached its destination at the Capitol building, I watched as the thousands and thousand and thousands behind us more marched too. Then I squelched mud into the carpet of the hotel, enjoyed a chat with some of the EWTN team covering the March, drank some hot chocolate, slept for a while and then headed for home, treading mud into the aeroplane and later, much later, into the London streets, and so home.

In Birmingham...

2012-01-15T02:46:00.000Z

...no, not our Birmingham, but the other one, the one in America. I'm here to do some work for EWTN, which is based in a small town on the city's outskirts. But by today the various projects had been completed, so I was able - with a number of EWTN staff - to join the big March for Life through the city, one of several across America over the next days to mark the anniversary of the notorious Roe. v.Wade court case which established the right to destroy American babies in the womb.

A good-sized crowd gathered in a local park, and after a welcome we had prayers led by a local Presbyterian pastor, and the solemn ringing of a bell to mark the millions of children killed by abortion in the years since 1972. Then a silent march through the wide city streets. People carried placards begging for better help for women, for respect for all human life, for an end to abortion. It was impressive, touching, and big.

America will see an end to abortion before we do in Britain: there is a sense of unity and purpose here as people gather for a greast march such as this, a seriousness matched by a sense of community and solidarity, goodwill between Christians of different denominations, and a feeling of youth and vigour as so many young families walk with measured pace.

In a few days I'll be taking part in the bug national March for Life in Washington. God bless America.

And here's another date....

2012-01-13T22:26:00.000Z

...for your diary. Want to learn how to sing Gregorian Chant? Here's your opportunity. Find out more here.

And where is Auntie...

2012-01-12T02:09:00.001Z

...at the moment? Read here.

IMPORTANT:

2012-01-08T22:08:00.001Z

another date for your diary.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 11th at 6.30pm

at St MICHAEL's CHURCH, WEST CROYDON

a showing of the film "John Paul II". Coffee and snacks, suggested donation £5, which will go to the Friends of the Ordinariate.

This is a very special evening. The Rev Donald Minchew and a large group from his congregation are joining the ORDINARIATE OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM. This means that they will have to leave their beautiful church and worship somewhere new. This special film evening is an opportunity to show your support and welcome for this group as they take this major step in Christian Unity and faith.

St Michel's is a magnificent church, easy to find as it dominates this corner of West Croydon. It is right next to the bus station and a few minutes' walk from East Croydon and West Croydon railway stations.

NOTE: there is a showing of this film on Feb 3rd at the Hinsley Room adjoining Westminster Cathedral. The Hinsley Room is not huge and we will accomodate people on a first-come first-served basis. If you live in the southern suburbs of London you may find that this Croydon evening is betrter for you.

An unexpectedly special evening...

2012-01-07T22:24:00.000Z

...in Kennington. It's a corner of South London I know quite well, but I had never visited this particular church before.

Let me explain. There is an Ordinariate group in South London which worships at St Wilfrid's, Kennington, and I met their priest, Fr Christopher Pearson, through EWTN's Rome correspondent Joan Lewis when she was in London a year ago covering the foundation of the Ordinariate and the ordination of its first priests. Fr Christopher and I have subsequently met and talked a lot, and I was delighted to hear that his group would have a special visit from Bishop Peter Elliott on the latter's visit to Britain this month. Bishop Peter is a longstanding friend of our family, and we spoke on the 'phone when he arrived in London a couple of days ago - I was glad to assure him that I'd certainly be at St Wilfrid's for tonight's Mass.

Jamie is currently away for a few days. "Don't forget to get some chalk and say the prayer and write up the new date over our front door" he told me, as we always keep this Epiphany tradition in our home, having learned it from friends in Austria. "Of course" I told him pompously - but yesterday I couldn't find any chalk. I even hunted among the stones and earth in our garden and some neighbours' gardens - after all, this corner of England is all surely mostly chalky soil (white cliffs etc etc...)??? But no...I couldn't find any.

Then tonight, at St Wilfrid's, a beatiful Epiphany Mass in a glow of candles and mist of incense, with an inspiring sermon from Bishop Peter and some fine singing - and at the end, a beautiful formal Blessing of little sticks of chalk, and Father Christopher distributing it after Mass, with slips of paper on which the House-Blessing was printed, so that we could all bless our homes and chalk up the date.

After Mass we had a cheery gathering at a local pub and then I travelled home by train, and I have just come in after using the chalk to inscribe the year 2012 above our door and praying the House-Blessing as I stood by the lintel.

20 + C + M + B + 12

"God of Heaven and earth, you revealed your only-begotten One to every nation by the guiudance of a star, Bless this house and all who live here. Fill us with the light of Christ, that our concern for others may reflect your love. We ask this through Christ our Saviour. Amen."

"Dear Bishops...

2012-01-06T21:59:00.001Z

...of England and Wales,

Please may we have our feast-days back? Today is the feast of the Epiphany, one of the most important celebrations in the Christmas season, marking the manifestation of Christ to the wider world. If I were in Scotland, or if I were an Anglican, I would find it marked in my calendar - but as I'm a Catholic in the London suburbs I have to pretend it doesn't really exist, as it has been officially arbitrariuly abolished by being merged into the nearest Sunday. No one asked for this to be done, and it has caused much hurt and resentment. We feel we have been robbed.

Please, as part of the New Evangelisation, may we have our proper feast-days back? We need to know we are part of the worldwide universal Church, and can celebrate our faith certainty and with joy. Celebrating feasts and seasons is something understood by everyone: it forges a bond with people of other faiths, links us to one another in neighbourliness, offers opportunities for bringing Christ into weekday life. Going to Mass on a feast-day is not a chore, it's not something we do with plodding steps and a sense of doom - it's something important,joyful, significant, it gives meaning and purpose, lifts our hearts, reminds us why we're here, why we were born.

Of course I know I can go to Mass today - like many other Londoners I often go to a weekday Mass, and it's an important part of life. But it won't be the official Epiphany Mass, and there will be a sense of muddle.

Please may we have the Epiphany back, on its proper day, so that we can celebrate Twelfth Night, linking the joy in church to the celebrations we have in our homes?

Dear Bishops, please may we have our feast-days back?

Yours sincerely and obediently,

Joanna Bogle."

The Community of St John...

2012-01-04T19:54:00.002Z

...has been in touch and has senbt information about an event for young people which looks terrific. Find out more here

"God accompanies man...."

2012-01-04T08:37:00.000Z

I'm trying to place a quote. Blessed John Paul once said - or wrote - "God accompanies man on his journey through history". Can anyone trace this quote for me? I think it must have been connected with the marking of the Millenium. I quoted it to a friend and am now anxious to get it correct and give the source...

Auntie began...

2012-01-03T12:36:00.004Z

...2012 at a rousing Evangelical service at a country Anglican church. The Cotswolds in great beauty, a large congregation with a great many families and children, "Hark the Herald Angels", good friends, an inspiring and challenging sermon, a sense of commitment for the year ahead.

In the afternoon, a good country walk, and then evening Mass at the Oxford Oratory, all warm and glowing with candles and light, and again packed - standing-room only as people poured in - and that sense of timelessness that comes with the Mass and the bell ringing out to tell the presence of God.

And so to the adventure of 2012. I have jotted down some ideas about what I think will happen during the year ahead. They include things that depress me. It's not a "wish list", in fact in a way it's a dread-list, although it includes some good things too. No, I'm, not going to publish it, but it will be interesting to note how accurate or otherwise I have been...

And meanwhile for an excellent analysis of the significant Catholic events of 2011 and some pointers for the future from a thoughtful Catholic writer, read here...

A New Year...

2012-01-03T11:32:00.002Z

...and some dates for your diary:

Friday Feb 3rd. Hinsley Room, adjoining Westminster Cathedral. 6.15pm (note time). A showing of the film "John Paul 11". Coffee and snacks, suggested donation £5. Funds raised will go to the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.Come early - it's a longish film. This is likely to be a popular event. Be on time - once the hall is filled we'll just have to turn people away.

Wednesday Feb 15th, 2.30pm . An Afternoon Tour of Westminster Cathedral. This is part of the Catholic History Walks programme sponsored by Miles Jesu/Continuity.

And so to...

2011-12-23T20:33:00.003Z

Christmas. Carol singing in London – the money we collected will be divided between projects abroad (an orphanage in Ukraine run by Miles Jesu) and at home (a residence for the elderly). Family visits – we are off to relatives in Oxfordshire and there will be lots of talk and laughter and fun and music and happy times. There are also elderly relatives too frail to travel so there’ll be visits to them – more talk, more music, with added memories, remembrances of Christmasses past, laughter as we recall absurd family happenings of long ago, and tenderness perhaps as we think about people who have died, times that are gone...

A snippet that gives a flavour of Christmas in Britain in 2011: as we sang carols, one of our number, a student, told me that when she went singing with a college group the leader told them that they wouldn’t sing any Christian carols “as people might be offended”. So they warbled some invented songs about Frosty the Snowman – which probably offended people far more. What a lot of nonsense is being talked about all this at the moment. Watch this space as I intend to follow this up with the college.

Thank God – I mean it, Deo Gratias – for the strength of family life and solid friendships, enabling us to pray together without fear. We’ll be at a traditional Midnight Mass – strong young voices joining with older ones as the priest says “The Lord be with you” and we say “And with your spirit” and all enter into the glorious drama of the mystery of our redemption. We’ll sing carols and the Credo and Sanctus and Pater Noster with full hearts. There’ll be people packed uncomfortably into pews, and squeezing up to cram in just one or two more. There’ll be a long slow line making its way up for Communion, and people at the back patiently waiting and finding their way to join. And then outside there’ll be that confusion of greetings and “Merry Christmas” and people we haven’t seen for ages and swapping of news and much chatter, and then the journey home and hot chocolate and lingering talk before bed.

Nephews and nieces who – oh, it just doesn’t seem so long ago – were small children squeaking excitedly at gifts crammed into stockings on Christmas morning are now grown up and delightful, pouring drinks and talking about amusing things and all in the light of a shimmering Christmas tree. And there’s the next generation, too – small great-nephews and a great-niece, all ready to enjoy the thrill of parcels and noise and a crowded dinner-table.

Christmas is a time for nostalgia. Can it really be twenty years since my dear father died? How he would have loved seeing his great-grandchildren. Old traditions...watching the Queen make her annual broadcast, a crucial not-to-be-missed event after Christmas lunch. These days, you can watch it on your computer at any time that’s convenient – but somehow it isn’t the same. It ought to be watched with the pudding-plates still on the table, and people looking absurd in paper hats, and everyone flopping gratefully into armchairs only to scramble up again because of the National Anthem.

I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas. Let us pray that 2012 brings peace, and goodwill, and honour to God in the hearts and minds of men and women everywhere.

In the course of....

2011-12-23T00:58:00.004Z

...study for my Maryvale degree, I've been reading Henri de Lubac, so when I saw a title by him in a friend's bookcase I pounced. But it was something different - and I'm absolutely fascinated. It's an account of activities in defence of human rights in wartime France - heroic stuff,meetings of underground groups, secretly-distributed newsletters, crucial papers eaten and swallowed by a priest friend while in a room awaiting interrogation from the Gestapo...

Fr de Lubac was part of courageous group that wrote and distributed the secretly-printed Cahiers du Temoinage Chretien and his memoirs were published in the 1980s, by Ignatius Press, so that the events would not be forgotten: "Christian Resistance to Anti-Semitism: memories from 1940-44." What emerges is the heroism of many in the Church in France - and also the shameful reality of the Petain regime.The latter, of course, had its apologists who hailed it as supporting Traditional Catholic France, opposing Communism etc... It helps to explain the situation of the Church in France, and tensions even up to the present day.

It is interesting that de Lubac's theology, which would later have a profound influence on many priests of the rising generation and at the Vatican Council opened by Blessed John XXIII, was forged not in comfortable libraries in easy circumstances but in the more poignant atmosphere of a nation where major issues of right and wrong - on which vulnerable lives depended - were crucial realities for every day. So things like justice,truth, the value of the Church with a consistent teaching , and the essence of a personal relationship with Christ, are all explored alongside brief accounts of difficult wartime communication and the tensions of various Resistance groups.

Although much of the history was known to me, the theological insights are sparkling in freshness. A real find.

Carol singing...

2011-12-22T18:43:00.001Z

...in London to raise money for projects at home and abroad. This was the annual carol-singing organised through the Catholic History Walks team. We went from house to house in Chelsea and sang and sang. Funds raised will go to an orphanage in Ukraine and to home for the elderly in Britain.

The History Walks programme for 2012 has now been published. Note these dates:

WED FEBRUARY 15th. 2.30pm Tour of Westminster Cathedral. Meet inside the Cathedral, by the shop entrance.

Thursday March 29th. 6.30pm (after the 5.30pm Mass) Meet on the steps of Westminster Cathedral. We'll be exploring the Westminster and Pimlico areas.

There's more - but those are the main ones to get in your diary now.

Also - not organised by the History Walks, but worth attending: Feb 3rd at the Hinsley Room,Westminster Cathedral, 6.15 pm, a film on the life of Blessed John Paul. DON'T MISS THIS! It's a longish film, so turn up on time. Coffee and snacks to keep you going. Suggested donation £5, and funds raised will go to the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Mgr Keith Newton, leader of the Ordinariate, will be attending.

Read Auntie's thoughts...

2011-12-21T13:56:00.000Z

...on the subject of Mr Cameron's commitment to Britain's Christian heritage...

I've had a...

2011-12-20T23:59:00.001Z

...curiously Polish day. I went to visit a friend in Ealing - which happens to be a rather Polish corner of London, though he is Irish - and we talked at some length about his visits to Poland in the 1980s when he was part of a series of seminars organised with Polish academics, in the teeth of opposition from the Communist authorities...all rather exciting stuff, police spies, plans for a speedy getaway if required, "we were on 30-second notice to disband, had to keep papers ready to stuff into a case and go..."

On the way back I did some shopping, bought rather delicious-looking Polish pastry. Back at home, washing-machine still out of action(see earlier blog), went to launderette with great bag of towels etc, plus book, plus pastry to eat. One other occupant, showed me how to work the machine,turned out he was Polish. We talked John Paul II, Krakow, Wadowice, showed him my book.He told me about Polish London - churches, shops:"You find nice Polish ladies choosing meats and things to make a very proper meal. That's about twenty per cent of the custoimers. And the rest are men with big backpacks, buying beer, six bottles on special offer for the price of five." He was washing a great stack of grubby overalls:"My work clothes, I can't do them in the machine where I live as the others complain". Back to Poland in January to finish studying law. "You will enjoy Poland. And you must eat what John Paul liked - Kremowki." And when I later checked on the internet, that was exactly the pastry I had chosen.

A Polish day.

With Christmas coming...

2011-12-19T17:52:00.000Z

we all deserve some good cheer. I've come across this, about a great Archbishop who is a Bogle family friend and a man we much admire.

Wow...

2011-12-18T00:04:00.002Z

this looks good...

Doing all the Christmassy things...

2011-12-17T17:57:00.000Z

...in these last days of Advent. The crib went up today - those Christmas figures were first put up in our home over 30 years ago for our first Christmas, ordered by post from the Universe newspaper. The Christ-child figure will be taken to Mass tomorrow to be blessed, and then placed in the manger on Christmas Eve. Presents have been wrapped and labelled - there are now nephews and nieces, and small great-nephews and nieces, on the list, all unknown 30 years ago...The Christmassy wreath that hangs on the front door is a bit battered now, and the trimmings have had to be renewed, but with fresh white ribbons it looks fine. Vast numbers of cards are being recieved and sent...

But there's something sad about Christmas 2011. The great feast is somehow a reminder that the first and most important freedom is religious freedom. There is a worrying sense of its being eroded, and whittled away. The new law on marriage will see Catholic churches under pressure - the sensible thing to do will be to re-register as legal places for marriage, and offer only the Church's sacrament of matrimony, thus making it absolutely clear that there can be no question of formalising same-sex unions. Thus something that was gained after the 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act will be lost - but it is the most realistic way forward, relieving the Church from the pressure of legal action by campaigners.

It is delightful hearing the familiar traditional Christmas carols sung by choirs in streets and in railway stations. But we need to emphasise that it really is perfectly acceptable to sing these and that the religious nature of their words in no way means that they have to be sidelined. Perhaps that is why I've been doing a lot more carol-singing in recent years: it's important to sing out loud the glorious words about Christ and Mary, the angels, the shepherds, the star and the good, good news.

"the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits."

"the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person as this dignity is known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself. This right of the human person to religious freedom is to be recognized in the constitutional law whereby society is governed and thus it is to become a civil right." (Vat II, and relevant to modern Britain.)

In Sussex...

2011-12-16T22:29:00.000Z

...earlier this week, for a meeting of the small group that runs the Catholic History Walks. You can note some dates in your diaries now if you like: June 24th will be the annual Martyrs' Walk through London,, and May 6th will see our annual Catholic History Walkers visit to Allen Hall seminary, where we join the students for a Holy Hour,aftrer a tour of the seminaryt and tea.

The History Walks are sponsored by Miles Jesu, a Catholic movement which runs various projects including a retreat house in Rome, and some children's homes in Ukraine. We'll be raising money for the latter this coming WEDNESDDAY, December 21t, when we go CAROL SINGING in London . Come and join us - meet 6pm at Sloane Square tube station.

And singing...

2011-12-16T21:27:00.001Z

...greeted me as I finally made it to Victoria station, much too late to fulfil my usual role of conducting the carol singers - who were anyway in fine voice and doiing a simply splendid job. When I arrived, they broke into "We wish you a merry Chrisdtmas!" as I took up my usual stance as conductor and then, even though the time-slot that had been allocated (5-7pm) was really at its end, we had "Joy to the world" and it was glorious.

The group brings together a number of volunteers, notably from St Joseph's Church at Roehampton. They re simply wonderful!

more on...

2011-12-16T17:31:00.002Z

...Rabbi Sacks' excellent speech in Rome. Here...

WAITING, waiting...

2011-12-16T13:56:00.000Z

...at home for an electrician to come to tackle a problem in the kitchen. And this afternoon I am due at VICTORIA STATION to lead the carol singing! A friend organises this every year and I conduct the group, and we sing and sing, and full the station with a joyful sound, and it's glorious, and it's a great tradition, and has been a big part of my Christmas for years...and we've just spoken on the 'phone, and I'm distraught that I may not make it!

Praying that the electrician comes in time to free me to be there...

The Chief Rabbi...

2011-12-13T22:21:00.002Z

...of Britain, Lord Sacks, has been lecturing at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome,and saying some wise things. He asks "Has Europe lost its soul?" Read more here

Advent...

2011-12-11T23:02:00.001Z

...is gathering pace, and next Sunday, in our parish, we'll have the blessing of the bambini. This tradition was established by our excellent parish priest a couple of years ago, and is something that ought to catch on everywhere: you bring the infant Jesus from your family nativity crib to Mass for a special blessing. Simple, beautiful, and memorable - and it establishes the whole point of having a crib.

Evangelising...

2011-12-11T22:55:00.003Z

...with prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, carols on the church porch, friendship, and a glorious procession through the streets...that was how Gaudete Sunday was spent at St Patrick's, Soho Square. Things began on Friday evening when the Mission Team gathered with friends and supporters at the church of Notre Dame de France in Leicester Square - prayer, singing, an inspiring and challenging talk from Father Stephen Wang from Allen Hall. Then there was street evangelisation all through Saturday - and today when I arrived at St Patrick's things were busy as delightful young Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, plus young members of the SPES team, plus other enthusiasts, gathered for prayer and action. The climax was the International Mass in the evening, followed by a great procession through Soho - we had Chinese, Brazilians,French, and British people all singing hymns, a statue of Mary carried aloft by some sturdy young men,clergy in vestments, a Cross-bearer surrounded by altar servers and incense...as we walked and people gawped, teams of young people handed them little gift-bags, each containing a Scripture verse, a medal, and some sweets.We walked from St Patrick's to Notre Dame de France, where we had some more splendid singing, and prayers, and a blessing. By then rain was falling, and by the time things were over and the statue had to go back to St P's it was torrential - undeterred, the mission team walked steadily back, saying the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, water hurtling down from the heavens. All of us were soaked, but joyous, and for me the best moment of Advent 2011 was standing together at St Patrick's as Father Alexander led us in the final prayer and blessed us. An unforgettable day.

An excellent evening at...

2011-12-09T09:16:00.000Z

...the Catholic Voices Academy , which is held at the London centre of the University of Notre Dame, just off Trafalgar Square. It's a splendid venue, with a large room where we all gather for the lectures which are followed by a social time and glass of wine. Then many go for a meal together nearby, and the talk goes on until late.

This evening Catholic Voices looked at the whole question of the persecution of Christians in various parts of the world, with speakers from Aid to the Church in Need.

Trafalgar Square now has its large glittering Christmas Tree, and in front of it a platform has been erected on which last night a group of singers led carols. With the familiar tunes, and Londoners gathered under a frosty sky, and the roar of London traffic all around, and gusts of chilly wind, I lingered en route to the Notre Dame building. Another Catholic Voices chap had done the same and we greeted one another and enjoyed the scene. For a while, it all felt like the Britain of old, not like therather crude and bleak one that we mostly experience in 2011.

And...

2011-12-08T14:56:00.000Z

...one of the best things on the LOndon social scene last weekend was the Catholic Boogie Night held at Hammersmith. It was great fun, and I am glad I was able to be part of it.Huge congratulations to the organisers. Things began with Mass in St Augustine's church, followed by a talk, and then we all went into the hall beneath the church, were welcomed with mulled wine and mince pies and boogied the night away! I most warmly recommend these evenings. The initiator, Ray, is to be hugely commended - and has the grateful thanks of the huge numbers of people who came and had a simply wonderful evening! Thanks, too, to the Westminster diocesan youth chaplain who celebrated Mass and preached most beautifully about Advent, and our sense of time, and the significance of time. And to the parish clergy whoi gave the event full suppport. THis is a great way forward.

Remember that I wrote...

2011-12-07T23:40:00.000Z

... few days ago about losing my purse, and people being so kind and helpful?

There's more.

I got a telephone call the other day from the Maryvale Institute. My purse had been found, and in it was my Maryvale student card, and thus they had been contacted. My purse - with cheque-card, cash, and other items all intact - had been handed in at an office in Mincing Lane, in the City. When I went there to collect it, the nice secretary was just so happy to have been of help - she explained that it had been found by a chap who happened to be on his way to a meeting there, and he had given it to her asking her to deal with it all. He had found it on the Tube.

Today I noticed, at a Tube station, an advertisment asking people to send in any stories about "acts of kindness on the Tube". So I've written to them! Check out that website from time to time and see if my little story appears on it...

Spent today...

2011-12-07T23:08:00.003Z

...in and around London. First, a visit to Oliver House, a delightful small prep school overlooking Clapham Common. Then on to central London, and a visit to St Paul's Cathedral - all surrounded with muddle and chaos because of the tented Occupation. It looks a mess. But everyone concerned - public, police, clergy, campers - are being Very Consciously Tolerant and Friendly. I was actually there because I needed to collect something from the gift shop. And in the cathedral itself musicians were tuning up for a big service involving lots of choirs and instrumentalists. It was all somehow a rather surreal experience.

By bus to Kensington for a meeting. The Number 11 goes down Ludgate Hill and along Fleet Street - we passed St Mary-le-Strand and I realised for the umptenth time that I have never bothered to cross to the traffic island on which it stands and peek in. It's said to be a masterpiece of English baroque, and there it stands reproachfully, doors open, and no one going in...

Golden leaves were scattering down as we rounded Trafalgar Square and down Whitehall past the Cenotaph, past another encampment in Parliament Square, and so up Victoria Street. Yesterday I was at the bookshop next to Westminster Cathedral and my book on Blessed John Paul is in the window. (Have you bought your copy yet? Ideal Christmas gift).

The Kensington meeting was re. the Ordinariate. Fund-raising. We gotta get serious about this. Most Catholics haven't got the remotest idea of how significant this Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is, what it means after 400 years, what promise it holds. Much talking and planning: modest but useful things organised for early 2012, more to follow.

There's a very delightful report...

2011-12-05T20:43:00.002Z

...of Mgr Keith Newton's excellent talk at the recent Towards Advent Festival, on the Ordinariate Website...

Book the date...

2011-12-04T19:15:00.000Z

Friday Feb 3rd, 6.15pm at the Hinsley Room, Westminster Cathedral. Film "Pope John Paul II". Coffee and snacks, Donations (suggestion £5) for the Friends of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

This is an event by popular request - a snippet of this film was shown at the Towards Advent Festival as part of a celebratory tribute to Blessed John Paul, and there was great enthusisam when I asked if people would like to see the whole film.

Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate will be joining us.

...and you must listen...

2011-12-04T16:51:00.001Z

...to the excellent talk by Fr Gerard at Holy Ghost Church. Balham, the other day about the new Mass translation. It was most inspiring, and we finished with a beautiful Benediction, the church glowing with candlelight on the November evening...

Read Auntie...

2011-12-04T16:34:00.002Z

on the media,telephone tapping, etc...here...

Organising for Christmas...

2011-12-02T16:08:00.001Z

...Advent wreath on the table in the main room, presents posted to family overseas, various arrangements made Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Shopping: I'm not using Tescos at the moment, as they are funding a homosexualist "Pride" activists' event in London. Correspondence with them on the subject has been polite but completely unsatisfactory. As it happens it is much more pleasant and convenient to use a couple of other local shops, so the collecting of Christmassy goodies and gifts is well under way.

London is getting into Christmas mode - read here.

Tonight...

2011-11-30T13:40:00.000Z

...I am off to Holy Ghost Church, Balham (8pm) to hear a talk from Fr Gerard Bradley on "Praying the Mass" , a spiritual introduction to the new translation of the Mass. Next week (Wed Dec 7th) this is being followed up at St Anselm's, Tooting, with a practical session on "Singing the Mass" led by Jeremy de Satge. All are welcome.

Portsmouth...

2011-11-30T13:30:00.002Z

...once a proud naval base, and still with Royal Navy associations and some ships...but we have only a tiny Navy now and wouldn't be able to muster the sort of fleet that saild to the Falklands 30 years ago...

I was in Portsmouth to talk to young Catholics at the University. They don't have a chapel or a room for evening meetings,so we met in a standard lecture-room. But the atmosphere was cheery and friendly - a group had also come from the CathSoc at Southampton University - and afterwards there was a talkative gathering at a pub over drinks and (extremely good) snacks.

Topic of my talk was "The Church and women" and we explored the whole male/female bridegroom/bride theme, looked at the great women saints of the Church and at Blessed John Paul's theology of the body and Mulieris Dignitatem.

Last month I met met people from Portsmouth when I was invited to speak to a meeting organised by the Ascent Movement in South London. We got friendly, and they urged me to stay with them if I was ever visiting the area - an invitation I gladly took up on this trip. They were so warm and welcoming, and we sat talking over mugs of tea till after 1am!

AN IMPORTANT CONFERENCE...

2011-11-29T18:30:00.000Z

...is planned for Tuesday Jan 17th at the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham. "The Beauty of Complementarity - a day on authentic Catholic Womanhood". Starts 10 am, includes lunch. Some excellent speakers from the Siena Symposium for Women, Family and Culture and the POntifical John Paul II Institute....more info. from artassistant@maryvale.ac.uk

Latest issue of FAITH mgazine...

2011-11-26T22:30:00.000Z

....arrives. A good read. Sample it here...

Went to...

2011-11-26T22:24:00.002Z

...an excellent evening of the new Catholic Voices Academy. Subject was same-sex unions. Informative,up-to-date, thoughtful, useful. This is a project that is going from strength to strength and doing a necessary and valuable job.

The book...

2011-11-26T19:38:00.001Z

... for children, on Blessed John Paul seems to be popping up all over the place, which is pleasing.I delivered some to a friend today, who wanted copies for the school where he works...

It's not just for Catholics. An Anglican bookshop is stocking it too...

In the West Country...

2011-11-26T19:01:00.000Z

...to speak at the Exeter University CathSoc, a delightful group of young people. A lively talkative pasta supper - much reminiscing about World Youth Day, which several attended in the Quo Vadis group to which I was also attached - then a time of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel. It was lovely to be there in the peace and silence: it was Thursday so I said the Luminous Mysteries, realising again how perfectly these fit in the presence of the Bl. Sacrament...

My talk was on "The Catholic Church and Women". It is interesting that with Catholic groups in universities there is a lack of any assumption that the Church should have women priests: on the contrary, a recognition that there is something profound here in the male/female bridegroom/bride relationship between Christ and his Church. The young women are confident and cheerful in leadership roles and have no time whatever for any hint of misogyny. They are mildly aghast, and perhaps amused, at attitudes of the recent past which blocked women from attending university or gaining degrees, and they like Bl. John Paul's Mulieris Dignitatem and related Church documents of recent times. Their attitude to the priesthood is one which recognises its theological reality: they don't see a male priesthood as something which denigrates women.

Above all, this group at Exeter is enthusiastically Catholic: comitted to prayer and to Mass, loyal to the Church. They like a dignified liturgy (yup, Latin and all) , they like silence in prayer, they talk about these things together, they are at ease with being strongly identified as Catholic...

We talked until very late.

Pass it on...

2011-11-26T12:36:00.002Z

Read on:

On Tuesday evening, on the Tube, I realised I had lost my wallet - a nightmare as of course it has my cheque-card etc in it, and I was due to travel to the West Country for a speaking engagement... I was anxious about getting home as I had no money for a taxi, and when I telephoned J. about this, a fellow-passenger overheard me and said "Let me help - I'm getting a taxi and would be very happy to get you home!" She insisted and got me safely to my house, refusing all offers of let-me-have-your-address-and-I'll-pay-you-back" etc and we both agreed that I'd simply pass the goodwill on next time I saw some one in need of help...

Fast forward to Taunton railway station the following night, and I'm asking the way to my hotel. A lady standing nearby says "We used to live next door to that hotel - my husband is coming to meet me here in a couple of minutes. We'll give you a lift there..."

Two acts of random kindness within 48 hours...but would I get the chance to pass on the goodwill?

Next day, back at the station, I'm deep in Weigel's The End and the Beginning about Bl John Paul and a young man hurries to the ticket office in something of a panic "I've left my wallet on the train..." The ticket collector is helpful and starts various enquiries...and the young man has no cash and is in exactly the position I was in two nights back. "Here" I said, handing over a tenner...

And we chatted and I told him briefly about what had happened. He said he will pass the goodwill on.

A bit more...

2011-11-21T14:35:00.000Z

...about TOWARDS ADVENT can be read here...

...and do read here a kind and enthusiastic review of the new book on Blessed John Paul...

Hallelujah!

2011-11-20T23:39:00.000Z

A glorious Hallelujah Chorus was sung at the end of Mass this morning at Holy Ghost, Balham, to mark the feast of Christ the King. A number of us gathered for lunch at the presbytery, hosted by Fr Stephen Langridge of Southwark Vocations, for a World Youth Day reunion - we drank a toast and recalled giant grasshoppers and horrible ants and scorching heat, and the thunderstorm and the blessed cool that followed and the glorious night vigil of prayer with the Holy Father...I will never forget Madrid and WYD 2011 and it was good to be talking and remembering together.

This evening, another excellent gathering at St Joseph's, New Malden part of the Confident 2B Catholic series...we watched a DVD on St Edmund Campion and then talked about this magnificent hero-saint and his life and its message...

A GOOD CROWD, and a happy spirit...

2011-11-20T23:25:00.002Z

...the 2011 Towards Advent Festival was a great success! Great numbers of people thronged into Westminster Cathedral Hall,the Gallery Choir of the Cathedral Choir School sang gloriously, Archbishop Vincent Nichols greeted everyone and opened the Festival in great syle,our special guest speaker Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate spoke to a standing-room only gathering in the Hinsley Room. All the bookstalls and displays by Catholic groups and organisations reported good sales and lots of visitors. Crowds poured into the Hinsley Room again for the celebration of Blessed John Paul by the youth drama team from Oxford: people crammed into every available space, sitting on the floor and on window-ledges. It was all wonderful, and possibly our best Festival yet...the Assn of Catholic Women did a wonderful job serving teas and coffees and sandwiches and cakes all day, and the Hall was filled with so many wonderful andinteresting things to see and read and watch and buy and discuss. Some wonderful paintings by members of the Society of Catholic Artists filled the stage area. Some beautiful craftwork was on sale at various stalls - hand-made rosaries sold in aid of a charity in India supporting nuns who care for and educate blind children, some fine statues, olive wood products from the Holy Land...Aid to the Church in Need was there, and EWTN, and the CTS and the National Catholic Library and all sorts of booksellers and publishers,and the Catenians, and the Knights of St Columba, and many many more groups and charities...

A hectic day for Auntie, but a happy one: this Festival began its life in 2000 and it is most satisfying to see it safely launched into the start of its second decade...

...and today...

2011-11-17T22:44:00.000Z

...a "washup" meeting for the Catholic Women of the Year event held in October. This overview meeting of the organising committee involves a lot of noisy chat, a mild air of self-congratulation ("It all went very well, didn't it?") jostling with ideas for next year, tiresome discussion of menus ("So are we agreed then on the salmon followed by the lemon mousse?") and some useful ideas and thoughts and plans. The 2011 Catholic Women of the Year Luncheon was chiefly notable for the excellent guest speaker - Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate - and we came up with some good ideas for the 2012 event.

On to Westminster Cathedral for a glorious sung Mass celebrated by Bishop John Arnold and attended by members of the Catholic Union on the occasion of its Annual General Meeting. We needed the inspiration and beauty of the Mass because the meeting, tackling a number of major issues currently confronting Christians in Britain, included much depressing news. The most depressing of all is the Government's ghastly plan to redefine marriage. Edward Leigh MP spoke to us on this subject: he is being courageous in speaking out clearly on this subject.

I joined the Catholic Union back in the 1970s and back then we knew that much was wrong - abortion had been legalised, there was a vast amount of pornography widely on display in newsagents and supermarkets, there were schemes of sex education in schools that were crude and damaging,...and there was a concern that things would get worse and that we must all stand firm to uphold human and Christian values. Well, we were right to worry and right to do what we could, and we'll go on doing what we can...

Where has auntie been...

2011-11-17T22:12:00.002Z

...over the past few days? Check here...

A most impressive evening...

2011-11-12T23:29:00.000Z

...organised by PACT Schools to launch their scheme for two new independent schools in the London area. Speaker was James Stenson who gave an upbeat, positive and stirring call for strong and inspirational education to develop "outstanding young men and women with a great love for truth and freedom".

I am already familiar with the work of PACT, and especially with Oakwood School - I remember having supper with a small group of friends who were gathering together to get the whole project off the ground, back in the 1990s. It has gone from strength to strength.

I found Friday's gathering really exciting, because although this will be a huge new venture, there is a sense of dedication and hope. There is a real concern about the future in Britain, about what is happening to our young, about Christianity and its place in our common life, about what sort of community will exist here in a decade's time. We will need men and women of faith and courage and they are the children who are around now, who will be teenagers over the next five years...

Remembrance Day....

2011-11-12T23:13:00.000Z

...on Friday, and I arrived at Victoria Station just as the Two Minutes Silence was about to start, so stood silently with other passengers and staff on the crowded concourse...

Committee meeting of the Association of Catholic Women: our next main event is a Study Day for Catholic teachers and parish catechists on the subject of the Eucharist. Fedb 7th, at Coloma School, Croydon, starts with lunch at 12.15pm. Workshop on Gregorian chant with Jeremy de Satge of The Music Makers. Talk on the Eucharist and the school/parish community by Father James Clark, chaplain to the John Fisher School, Purley. MASS, at which the chant learned at that afternoon's workshop will be sung.

All Catholic teachers and parish catechists are welcome. The fee for theday is £20 which includes lunch, tea, and workshop materials. If you are interested, send a Comment to me at this blog INCLUDING, IN THE TEXT OF YOUR COMMENT,an EMAIL ADDRESS to which I can reply to you. Of course I will not publish your address.

Mgr Keith Newton...

2011-11-10T21:23:00.000Z

...of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham spoke at The Keys, the London branch of the Catholic Writers' Guild, on Thursday. He was excellent - the format was a question-and-answer session in which the interviewer was Fr Peter Newby, chaplain to The Keys and parish priest of St Mary Moorfields where the meeting took place.

Things began with Mass in the church, and then dinner. Before the talk began, the winner (Jodie Goss, Ursuline School, Wimbledon) and runner-up (Emma Findlay-Wilson, St Mary's School, Shaftesbury) for this year's Catholic Young Writer Award were presented with their prizes by the Master of the Guild, Mary Kenny, and the Shield was presented to the winner by Mgr Keith. Entrants this year were invited to write about love, marriage, and the Wedding at Cana (theme chosen because of the Royal Wedding in April) and the winning entries were of a very high standard. The Award is sponsored by the Catholic Union of GReat Britain and you can read the winning entries here and here.

This was a really excellent evening. Mgr Keith is frank, open,and informative. He has no illusions about the challenges facing the Ordinariate. He is most interesting on the history of the Church of England in the latter part of the 20th century, on its current state in the 21st and its prospects. He speaks without any sense of having sort of hidden agenda - he believes in the urgency of evangelising Britain and relishes being part of the universal Church which has this task. He is knowledgeable and unpretentious, and communicates with a great sense of warmth and joy.

Can anyone help me...

2011-11-08T00:53:00.002Z

..place a quote? Somewhere in one of CS Lewis' books (The Great Divorce? Mere Christianity? Can't find my copy of either...)there is a most useful description of Purgatory, which suggests that emerging from there might be a bit like that moment at the dentist when you hear the blessed words "Just rinse out now..."

Which book? Which essay? Any thoughts? I really need this for something I am writing...

Here is Auntie...

2011-11-06T20:07:00.000Z

...with her book about Blessed John Paul. You can read more about it all here...

...and the book might be a nice stocking-filler for a son or daughter/godchild/niece or nephew/grandchild/young friend this Christmas?

And on the subject of beauty...

2011-11-06T19:43:00.000Z

...if you don't subscribe to Magnificat, you really are missing out. This is a monthly spiritual feast - Morning and Evening Prayer for each day, glorious art to relish and commentaries and explanations linked to it to ponder, the texts of the Mass readings and prayers for each day, and fascinating stories of saints and heroes of the Faith to read...and more. It is pocket-sized, arrives every month by post, and links you with the whole Church in prayer. It is a pleasure to use and handle - the paper is creamy,thinly textured and has lovely print in red and black - and it is well produced so that it won't disintegrate when you use it day after day. Just relish it.

A couple of correspondents...

2011-11-06T19:32:00.001Z

...to this Blog have asked for details about the Towards Advent Festival on Sat Nov 19th. It's at Westminster Cathedral Hall - doors open 10 am, formal Opening Ceremony with music from the Gallery Choir of the Cathedral Choir School 10.30am. Admission is free, tickets for talks £2.00 each. Special guest speaker is Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham at 1.30pm - but get there well before that as you need to buy a ticket for the talk first.

Down by the river...

2011-11-06T19:16:00.000Z

...we were staying with relations and Sunday morning saw us all at Mass in the beautiful little church of St Birinus at Dorchester. As Autumn sunlight dappled the churchyard and its golden leaves, people filled the pews of this exquisite little church and raised their voices in glorious chant and in some lovely hymns ("Immortal invisible..." "Jerusalem the golden..."). The new Mass translation brings out the glory and wonder of what is taking place at the altar.

The New Evangelisation needs this beauty: to give witness to God who is Truth, Goodness and Beauty we need all three: to hear the sacred timeless words of consecration in the context of glorious music and the cherished loveliness of a beautiful building is to experience what the Church is all about...

To Oxford...

2011-11-06T19:08:00.001Z

...to an absolutely delightful, hilarious play by P.G.Wodehouse, presented in a theatre at Wadham College. This was one of the most enjoyable evenings I have spent at any theatre - a talented group of players and the enchanting wit of Wodehouse...it was pure pleasure.

On All Souls' Day...

2011-11-03T23:44:00.000Z

...an evening Mass at the Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer and St Thomas More in Chelsea. As the London November evening darkened outside, the church glowed with candles and the timeless rhythm of the Mass bound us with those for whom we were praying.

On All Souls' Day, everyone brings memories to Mass as we all pray for our dead.

Read about...

2011-11-03T23:39:00.003Z

...what I was doing on All Saints' Day here...

This Friday...

2011-11-02T11:55:00.002Z

...you simply must come to hear the talk on Blessed John Henry Newman, given by Dr Andrew Nash. Venue: the Hinsley Room, Westminster Cathedral. 7pm. All welcome. Coffee and cake served, any funds raised will go to the Maryvale Institute.

This is an illustrated talk, and it's really excellent. Lots of people vaguely know about Newman but haven't heard the full story and aren't aware of his huge significance for today, his influence on our present Holy Father, etc etc. Come and hear!

There is a lovely review....

2011-11-01T10:10:00.002Z

...of Auntie's book on Blessed John Paul II here...

An absolutely superb evening...

2011-10-30T18:46:00.000Z

...on Thursday, when Baroness Cox gave the Craigmyle Memorial Lecture at the House of Lords. This lecture is sponsored annually by the Catholic Union, of which Lord Craigmyle was President for many years.

Baroness Cox focused on the plight of Christians suffering for their faith in various parts of the world. She highlighted in particular Southern Sudan, from which she has only recently returned. Slavery is still a reality in Sudan: people, including children, are kidnapped and sold as slaves. The humanitarian relief organisation with which Caroline Cox is involved has been able to rescue some children, and their stories were heart-breaking...

The lecture, which was illustrated with pictures taken by Caroline on her recent visits to various countries, gave a good overview of the whole question of religious freedom in the world today. THis included, of course, a discussion bout things in Britain. It is nonsense to suggest that Christians here are in any way persecuted. But recent court cases have been worrying, and there is a lack of depth and breadth to the discussion about the role of Christianity in our heritage which is frightening.

Goodwill...

2011-10-29T19:44:00.000+01:00

..at Assisi. At a time of much uncertainty and fear on the international scene, I found this a rather moving report...

Saints and Celebrations...

2011-10-29T19:42:00.000+01:00

...and an English village in the enchanting beauty of a golden October day. I was invited to speak at a village church in Hampshire to mark the patronal feast of All Saints. Teams of enthusiasts had created floral arrangements around the church to honour various saints, each with a little dish of appropriate food - thus a Cattern Pie for St Catherine, and Scottish shortbread for St Andrew, and bara brith for St David, and more...My task was to explain about the calendar and the origins of celebrating saints days, and to set the whole thing in context. It was a charming and friendly event and I was made very welcome - a happy day.

London's history...

2011-10-28T19:17:00.002+01:00

...and a team of us wove our way from St Patrick's, Soho Square, via St Giles-in-the-Fields and Bloomsbury Baptist Church to SS Anselm and Cecilia in Kingsway (links with Bishop Richard Challoner and the Gordon Riots) to St Etheldreda's Ely Place and thence to St Sepulchre-without-Newgate. I had been asked to lead a History Walk for members of SPES, the St Patrick's Evangelisation School, and we were joined by a number of other enthusiasts...we explored the history that tells the story of the Christian faith in this land from Roman times onwards, we prayed in each church we visited, we experienced kind hospitality and we pondered the passing of the centuries...

The SPES team is a terrific group, lively and enthusiastic and prayerful. St Patrick's is a joy - the church, so gloriously restored, is a place of great beauty and a midday Mass there is peace and refreshment in hectic London.

Exploring history involves the big sweep of things - Saxons and Normans, St Giles founded by Queen Matilda as part of a hospice for lepers, the events of the Reformation,. the Free Church traditions and the Baptists, Victorian England and the Catholic Revival...but it's also the everyday and the ordinary, the local men who died in the Great War of 1914-18 and are commemorated on a heartbreaking Memorial which begs that they never be forgotten, the parish notices in KIngsway which show Church life still bustling on, the people dropping into St Etheldreda's quietly to pray as we gazed at its stained glass and statues...

Cardinal George Pell...

2011-10-28T19:02:00.002+01:00

...gave an excellent and thought-provoking lecture on climate change at Westminster Cathedral Hall on Wednesday. Read more here. Afterwards, he answered questions with great patience and goodwill: it was a model of how a Bishop shpoul;d speak and act.

You may feel...

2011-10-25T23:32:00.003+01:00

...that you've read enough of Auntie's thoughts on World Youth Day, but just in case you feel you haven't, try this feature...

And you might be interested in this feature about nuns...

Been reading...

2011-10-25T23:22:00.002+01:00

...a lot of von Balthasar over the past few days. Also de Lubac. You can see how both influenced the thinking of Ratzinger the theologian - and how this has enriched us all.

Over the past months I've come to realise how my understanding of the Second Vatican Council has changed. For years I was told that this Council was simply dreadful, should never have happened, was nothing but a disaster, carried no real authority, should be dismissed as history. I don't mean that I neccesarily believed that, or that the people who said these things were the best and wisest people I knew - on the contrary, they were often belligerent and ill-informed: but as a Catholic journalist I lived with the fact that this was a consistent noise that framed the whole debate about Vatican II and helped to dictate its terms. It made it difficult to see the subject in perspective or to work up much enthusiasm for studying the Council's documents. Now I have done so, and also studied much of the material that influenced those who spoke there and who worked there - and it is all much richer and more beautiful and important than I had been led to believe.

Browsing the Web for news...

2011-10-25T23:15:00.000+01:00

...about Blessed John Paul (feast day last Sat), I came across this item of interest.

Through falling Autumn leaves...

2011-10-25T23:04:00.001+01:00

...to a meeting of the Board of Aid to the Church in Need at Brompton Oratory. Hugely successful conference on religious freedom - publicity re Ann Widdecombe's excellent speech still reverberating. Discussion on all sorts of current projects: this is now a major Catholic charity in Britain and we are blessed with an excellent team headed by Neville Kyrke-Smith, working with energy and competence. It funds projects around the world where Christians are impoverished or persecuted, unites people in prayer, acts as a source of reliable news and information. Sales of Christmas cards and gifts already brisk. Planning ahead: a pilgrimage to Walsingham on Sat April 28th next year, coach departing from London.

ACN will be among the many Catholic groups at the Towards Advent Festival on Sat Nov 19th at Westminster Cathedral Hall.There's a feature about this Festival in the ADOREMUS BULLETIN, published in the USA: you can read it here along with a number of other interesting features on liturgy, prayer, and related subjects...

And then...

2011-10-24T21:54:00.000+01:00

...I went to the BardFair. The what? A wonderful event run by The Bard School. Yes, bards. Poets, writers, singers of songs. With mulled wine and a warm welcome, a generous table of food and lots of delightful young people...and it all happens regularly at a well-known London church, St Mary of the Angels in Bayswater. I had vaguely heard of it, but being part of it, after arriving breathless after a busy day (and transport hassles - Tube lines closed for repairs), was wonderful.

Who are the Bards? Some students,a young Dominican, a couple of teachers, a musician or two, and people with all sorts of different jobs and professions who write and create and entertain...there was some poetry, some music, lots of good talk, displays of work. I bought some delicious scented soap made with rose leaves, and there was some lovely artwork, and lots of good creative things, and all this with candlelight and in a very happy atmosphere, preceded by a beautiful sung Mass.

The young Domimican read a charming and funny poem with kindness and wisdom in it. A young publisher read a poem inspired by a meeting with Richard Dawkins. There was a feeling of freedom, and a real sense of fun. Ihope to have more contact with the Bard School...

An important conference ...

2011-10-24T21:33:00.001+01:00

...organised by Aid to the Church in Need, on the subject of religious freedom. Among the speakers was the excellent Ann Widdecombe,and you can listen to her speech here.

For some years, as a Catholic journalist, I was writing about the position of Christians in the USSR,the Baltic states and in Eastern Europe, noting their struggles in the confusing network of laws that restricted religious freedom in all sorts of ways. This was the late 1970s and early 80s, with wrangling about children having the right to attend religious education classes, and people struggling to get jobs or degrees once it became known that they were regular churchgoers or had written religious poetry or contributed to magazines featuring essays on religious themes...and it felt somehow safe, writing about it all in London, secure in the knowledge that one was British and away from all that sort of thing...

...And now, in a most uncomfortable way, I'm reading about Christians in Britain getting into trouble at work because they have written in support of Christian marriage, and Christian sexual morality.

Blessed John Paul II....

2011-10-21T09:33:00.001+01:00

...more about that book here...

All very exciting...

2011-10-19T10:20:00.000+01:00

...lots of people, wine, snacks, cake, speeches. A book launch is a bit like a christening-party, with everyone wishing the new arrival well. So the new book on Blessed John Paul has got off to a happy start...

It is hardback, with the most beautiful illustrations by Kati Teague.There's drama, with images of the Occupation in WW11, and the assasination attempt in 1981, and there is tenderness, with some lovely scenes of BlJP with children. There's lots of information about his mission and work - his devotion to the Rosary, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (nice pic of the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger busy at work on it), World Youth Day, and more...

The launch party was at St Paul's bookshop next to Westminster Cathedral, and was a lot of fun, with chatter and laughter. Afterwards, a family supper: I had spent the day with a dear niece - it's half-term this week - exploring Westminster and Parliament and then decorating the celebration cakes together at the bookshop.

Auntie and a bookshop...

2011-10-18T23:34:00.000+01:00

...and a happy evening...Read on...

BIG DAY...

2011-10-17T21:53:00.001+01:00

...the launch of my book on Blessed John Paul the Great. Party at a bookshop, speeches, cake, celebrations...

DON'T FORGET...

2011-10-17T21:52:00.000+01:00

...the TOWARDS ADVENT FEstival on Sat Nov 19th, Westminster Cathedral Hall. Music from the Gallery Choir of Westminster Cathedral Choir School. Stalls and displays featuring a wide range of Catholic groups and organisations and charities: books, DVDs, craft goods, and more... A talk from Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. A special celebrtion of the life of Blessed John Paul with film and drama...

Everyone is welcome. Doors open 10am...

The Scola Cantorum...

2011-10-16T19:37:00.002+01:00

...of the Cardinal Vaughan School sang at today's 10.30am Mass at Westminster Cathedral: magnificent.

I was there to meet a young friend - working as an au pair with some relatives - as I had promised to show her around London. We had a happy day, beginning with a trip up the Cathedral Tower - spectacular views across London and out beyond to the misty suburbs and the North Downs. She was also awed by the Cathedral itself, where the 12 noon Mass, with wafts of incense and a vast congregation, was taking place. As we stood there, the priest was silently incensing the altar, and then the server incensed the concelebrants, and then all of us, and I suddenly saw it as a young outsider would, in all its beauty and solemnity, and realised all over again the glory of the Eucharist..."Pray, brethren..."

We went on to explore Westminster: the bells of the Abbey were pealing out, bright sunshine made the Thames glitter and golden leaves were fluttering down in St James' Park. We lunched at the Albert pub in Victoria Street, a favourite haunt, and then caught a bus to the City. There were protesters with banners denouncing captalism so various areas had been cordoned off, but we looked in at some Wren churches and finished with tea near St Paul's.

But London in Autumn beauty brings sadness, a sense of nostalgia. The Palace of Westminster, the Union Jack flapping against the flagpole on the Victoria Tower, Big Ben calling out the hour with its huge deep rolling note...I remembered days working in Parliament and writing on all sorts of issues, in the days when defending male/female marriage, and opposing gross forms of "sex ed" for children, and working to affirm the sanctity of human life all seemed more possible and achievable...

And today...

2011-10-15T21:02:00.001+01:00

...an excellent talk from Mgr Andrew Burnham at the Assn for Latin Liturgy meeting at St Mary Magdalene's, Brighton...

The sun sparkled on the sea, and the blue was a brilliant blue...but Brighton has a shabby, slightly sad feel at present, and it was good to get away from the shops and the sea-front and head for St MM's, which is a most beautiful church, and meet many friends there. The hall was rather over-full for the meeting and consequently much too hot, but the talk was enormously interesting and gave insights as to what the Ordinariate will bring to the life of the Church in Britain.

Autumn....

2011-10-15T20:59:00.002+01:00

...a time for reflection, and I was somewhere special just the other day...read here...

An Archbishop speaks...

2011-10-13T01:07:00.000+01:00

...and merits our full support. Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow notes that "a mandate to govern does not include a mandate to reconstruct society on ideological grounds, nor to undermine the very institution which, from the beginning, has been universally acknowledged as of the natural order and the bedrock of society, namely marriage and the family. In terms of law, its support and defence have been on a par with the defence of life itself. We weaken it at our peril."

The Archbishop's statement on marriage can be read in full here.

Thinking about the future of the West...

2011-10-13T00:54:00.003+01:00

...this is worth reading....

...and so to Maryvale...

2011-10-12T23:31:00.002+01:00

...where the Autumn term is now in full swing. I cannot adequately convey how hugely I enjoy my studies there.

On Sunday, with the weekend's lectures over, I lunched v. agreeably with the editor of the Ordinariate Portal and his family - based not far from Maryvale - and we finished the day by joining the October Devotions at the parish of Holy Cross and St Francis, Walmley. A mellow October day, and people quietly coming into church for the Rosary and Benediction. A peaceful reflective sense as we all prayed the Rosary together, and then a beautiful Benediction, heads bowed, the Blessed Sacrament raised over us....Why don't more parishes do this, and give everyone an opportunity to make October's Sundays really special?

Back at Maryvale, the kind Brigettine sisters let me in, and I settled in my room with some books from the library. It felt rather strange, as I was all alone in the main part of this great old house, with the creaking sense of the past centuries all around me. When it's all busy and all the rooms are occupied by students, and there is a sense of life and activity, it feels quite different. Now, as darkness fell, I was the only person in all those layers and layers of rooms and history, the hidden chapel from the days of persecution, Newman's room, the stairs that slope and slant, the rooms that have echoed to the voices of the children when the house was an orphanage, to the voices of students from around Britain in the years of study...

I dropped in to the chapel before I finally settled for the night. The lamp was glowing in the sanctuary. The Lord was keeping watch over the house...

The Catholic Women of the Year Luncheon 2011....

2011-10-12T21:08:00.001+01:00

...was packed, and the speaker was Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. He was excellent - by turns amusing, informative, thought-provoking, and inspirational. There is a real vision here for the way things could develop for the Church in England. And our poor country badly needs this boost and this sense of a new adventure...afterwards I helped to hand out leaflets about the Friends of the Ordinariate and some people were already also giving spontaneous donations...

The Luncheon - some 300 women, all chattering away like anything, golly the noise - also included the inevitable raffle, for which Auntie had obtained some books signed by authors: I was particularly pleased that among these was Light of the World, kindly signed by the German journalist Peter Seewald, who wrote a very nice message in it for the winner...

NO, Mr Cameron....

2011-10-07T09:08:00.000+01:00

...No. You cannot achieve anything by seeking to redefine marriage by announcing that you can couple together two people of the same sex and announce that it's all about "commitment" and that such a relationship should therefore be given full marital status. If you think you can do that, why stop at just two? Has he thought this through at all?

The Prime Minister' pathetic attempt to redefine marriage is an embarrassing reminder of how tragic it is watching a society lose its hold on truth and reason.

The Church is a voice of sanity, and will be there to pick up the pieces of people's lives as the chaos continues. Archbishop Peter Smith has explained patiently that no amount of pretence can alter the reality of things:"Marriage by its very nature is between a man and a woman and it is the essential foundation of family life. The state should uphold this common understanding of marriage rather than attempting to change its meaning."

DON'T FORGET...

2011-10-06T23:37:00.002+01:00

...the TOWARDS ADVENT FESTIVAL, Sat Nov 19th, Westminster Cathedral Hall. Opening (with the Gallery Choir of Westminster Cathedral Choir School) 10.30am.

Events during the day: 1.30pm - Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham; 3pm Celebration of the life of Bl.John Paul, with film and presentation by drama group...

All day: talls and displays from a wide range of Catholic groups and organisations. Books, DVDs, Christmas cards, all sorts of goods on sale. Refreshments served all day. Play corner for children.

And if you want to know more...

2011-10-06T23:32:00.000+01:00

...about St George's Cathedral, Southwark (has a history linked to the Gordon Riots, was designed by Pugin, bombed to ruins in WWII, rebuilt in the 1950s, is home to a good-sized parish community...come long on WEDNESDAY Oct 19th at 2.30pm, and meet us at the Cathedral doors...we're having a History Walk and there is lots of discover...nearest Tube is Waterloo or Lambeth North.

If you've enjoyed my recent blog entries...

2011-10-06T23:25:00.002+01:00

...then you might enjoy this one too...

You wouldn't have thought....

2011-10-05T11:08:00.000+01:00

...that a lecture on philosophy would be a crowd-puller. But when I heard about a new series of lectures being run at Holy Ghost church, Balham, I thought I'd go along, and brush up on a topic that I studied in the first year of my Maryvale degree course...I turned up last night (Tuesday) to find people standing out in the entrance hall and on the steps - the room was packed out, with people sitting (and in some cases kneeling, as there wasn't even room to sit!) on the floor and pressed up against the walls...

The speaker was Re Dr Francis Selman, who lectures at Allen Hall. He has a quiet, pleasant voice and everyone was gripped. One chap, standing in mild discomfort right up against the front door and straining to hear, was making copious notes and sharing them with a friend. People asked interesting questions.We explored Aristotle and Plato and forms and reality and life and existence...

As the room emptied when the evening was over, it was quite astonishing to see just how many had been crammed in there...I can't go to next week's lecture as I will be at Walsingham, but as numbers are so great they are now looking to move into the nearby school hall.

I've been reading a lot just recently about Bl John Paul II and Poland and this evening made me think, somehow, of descriptions of the "flying university" in the Poland of the 1980s...

Next CATHOLIC HISTORY WALK...

2011-10-02T19:42:00.000+01:00

...is this week. Wed Oct 5th, meet 6.30pm on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral. No need to book - just turn up. Wear suitable shoes for walking. Walk lasts about an hour and a half, though of course you can leave at any time. We'll be looking at the City, and some of its fascinating byways...

There is a really good report...

2011-10-01T21:21:00.004+01:00

...on today's big Blessed Sacrament procession on this London news site...

The pics are particularly good as they show details of the event. Note the thurifer walking backwards so that he faces the Bl. Sacrament...and also note, in another pic, the splendid processional cross leading us...

It was a priviledge to have Bishop Alan Hopes with us, and all the clergy were really splendid: it was complicated because this was a long walk in which to carry, with due honour, a heavy monstrance - we crossed from Victoria through Westminster and down to the embankment, and then over the big bridge and thence via Lambeth and into Southwark...

On the way we passed, variously, the Victoria Tower gardens next to Parliament, Lambeth Palace, and the Imperial War Museum...somehow it is good to think of the Blessed Sacrament being carried, with prayer and praise, through our London like that...

History was made...

2011-10-01T17:35:00.003+01:00

...today as, for the first time, the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession from one London cathedral to the other, across the Thames. A huge crowd of the faithful (see below for description of what it felt like to be part of it), great singing of hymns and praying of the Rosary, an atmosphere of devotion and unity, a sense of thanksgiving, and all under the clearest of clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine...

The aim was to give thanks for the Visit of the Holy Father last year, and for the Beatification of Bl.John Henry Newman, himself a Londoner and the first person to be beatified on British soil...in the great procession, which included people from every age and race and background, we had Sisters in blue habits and veils from the new Ordinariate convent recently established in London, and sisters from Mother Teresa's order in their distinctive blue-and-white sari-habits, and Franciscan brothers in brown robes, and Knights of St Columba with their traditional ribboned collars with medals of office...we had families with children in push-chairs, and young people teaming up (I saw a couple of WYD backpacks, which brought back cheery August memories for me), and parish clergy, and seminarians from Allen Hall and from St John's Wonersh....

Before it all began, I dropped in to a shop near Westminster Cathedral to fortify myself with a cup of coffee. I was much too worried and nervous (willanyonecome?willitbeallright?) to eat anything. A young friend happened to be getting a cup of coffee too and caught sight of me - we got talking, swapped WYD memories, spoke about a book on Bl.JPII which I am currently re-reading and hugely enjoying, relaxed...suddenly everything felt that it was going to be all right. And it was, it was. Across the road, people were pouring into the Cathedral and a great piece of history was about to be made...

Deo Gratias.

A huge, unforgettable procession...

2011-10-01T17:16:00.003+01:00

... with an enormous crowd, far far larger than I had ever imagined possible, stretching down to the river as the Blessed Sacrament, borne aloft and surrounded by acolytes and candle-bearers and billowing incense, was carried out from Westminster Cathedral...

We sang hymns, we prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, we prayed in silence, we sang "O Sacrament most holy....". You can get a flavour of it all here, complete with some good pictures... We began in a well-filled Westminster Cathedral with Newman's "Praise to the Holiest in the height" with a glorious organ accompaniement, and slowly, slowly the crowd made its way out and turned down Ambrosden Avenue...by now it was abundantly clear that we had vastly underestimated the numbers attending and so not everyone had hymn-sheets, but it didn't matter, as the singing was fine and people joined in the Rosary with vigour, the voices going back and forth as we passed the Royal Horticultural Halls and Vincent Square and Marsham Street... We poured over Lambeth Bridge and I turned for a moment to look at the Houses of Parliament with the flag flapping under the clearest of blue skies. The splendid Knights of St Columba were stewarding the whole thing, and had mapped out the route and checked all the cross-roads - at each major junction we were allowed across in sections, bus passengers gawping, tourists stopping to take pictures. As we wound our way past Lambeth Palace and down towards St George's at Southwark it began to feel extremely warm - it must have been hard work for the clergy carrying the Blessed Sacrament and its big umbrella-canopy thing ( what's the official name?) and dressed in robes...at St George's every pew was filled to capacity and people still filed in at the back...and then Benediction began, with a splendid Tantum Ergo and then the roar of voices echoing "Blessed be God..."

Pondering the Holy Father's visit to Germany...

2011-09-30T19:48:00.001+01:00

...I came across this thought-provoking piece about a significant anniversary...

The throne room...

2011-09-30T14:36:00.001+01:00

...at Archbishop's House, Westminster, was packed and consequently rather uncomfortably hot as we gathered on Wednesday evening for a reception given by the Friends of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Cardinal Levada was there from Rome and spoke with enthusiasm of the Ordinariate, urging that it be given all possible support. You can read more about the evening here.

There were dozens and dozens of people there whom I knew, and it was one of those milling-about-and-talking occasions where you intersperse inconsequential greetings with sudden lengthy discuissions on rather important subjects...

It is hugely important that the Ordinariate flourishes.It needs funds. Scope here for serious generosity on the part of those who want to see the Church flourish in Britain and reach and heal our poor old country...

I'm off to Walsingham in a couple of weeks...

2011-09-27T22:27:00.002+01:00

...and if you are interested in the shrine there, you can read about it here...

And you are coming, aren't you...

2011-09-27T22:22:00.000+01:00

...to the Procession of the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday? (Oct 1st) Starts 1.15pm Westminster Cathedral. This week I was working on the hymn-sheet...we are starting of course with veneration of the Blessed Sacrament, so O Salutaris Hostia...and during the Procession we will have some of the best hymns, including "Sweet Sacrament Divine" and of course Newman "Praise to the Holiest in the height...."

WE NEED YOU to come and join us.