Wed March 6th

TIBETAN MONK

What is it about the marriage preparatiion talks? So often, they are accompanied by an extraordinary, and rather delightful, encounter. Regular readers of this Blog will remember the time I got lost, and recieved help and an unexpected lift to the church from a dear Moslem man who spoke about it being a priviledge to help a "Christian sister" in good work....last night, it was a Tibetan monk! This is what happened: on the Tube going home from Chelsea (after a most happy and successful evening with some delightful young couples, excellent talk from the praish priest about the marriage covenant, Christ and his Church etc etc....) I found there were huge delays, and passengers were finally jammed together on a lone late train trundling out of Earls Court. I was Not Popular for having a bike on board, but a kind figure in Eastern robes beamed at me as I mumbled apologies for jamming the wheel against his foot. I had a book in my hand, with a small holy pic of the Pope, which I was using as a bookmark. "Pope" he said, and beamed. "Yes" I said. The Tibetan monk beamed: "He is a good man. Very good man. He is the new Pope?" "Yes, the new one.....look, would you like a picture too?" and I dived into my bag and produced one for him. He was thrilled "For me? A gift.....I learn English" He indicated the newspaper he had been trying to read, and shrugged to show he didn't think much of it (indeed not, it was one of those freebie papers, and they have v. little news and often rather horrid features). "Now I study this instead" and he read, with great devotion, the prayer on the back of the card. By now a couple of other people were interested. They obviously enjoyed the sight of a nutty woman with a bicycle handing a picture of the Pope to a Tibetan monk. I enjoyed it too. We parted as warm friends, he held up the card and then tucked it down into some deep pocket within his robes.

Tuesday March 6th

SO WHAT IS LOVE?

Marriage preparation talk tonight in Chelsea, and another in South London on Saturday. Wanting to give the couples something to take away, I thought of Papa Benedict's message to young people for World Youth Day. It's good, and has a special part dedicated to young people who are engaged to be married. Download it and enjoy it - and pass it on. I've typed out the specifically relevant bit and will be handing it out tonight.

BOOKS.....

Just been sent Sun and Wind a story based on the legend of Joseph of Arimithea, by William Boardman. It looks a good read (Sceptre Books). I've long been interested in the legend, as a regular visitor to Glastonbury....have led pilgrimages there, and once walked up the Tor at night with Jamie (by lamplight, praying the Rosary as we went).... A rather windswept Glastonbury Thorn stands on Weary-All Hill. A sprig from it is still sent to the Queen every Christmas. Intrigued? You should be. It's one of the most fascinating legends associated with Britain's history. The last Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey was hanged on the top of the Tor - one of our English Martyrs, Richard Whiting. I shall be reading Bill Boardman's book this evening and report on it later in this blog......

Monday Feb 5th

IN THE RAIN.....

....which I love. It's a weird obsession, but I do enjoy rain. The pleasure of ordinary everyday things, like cups of tea, and getting indoors when one is cold and wet, and interesting books and newspapers, are all enhanced when it is pouring and blustery outside. London looks nicer - much nicer - in the rain than in searing heat. Gardens need drenching with rain regularly. London's red buses look very cheery against a rainy background. Puddles are satisfying to cycle through if not too deep. And so on.

So....in the rain to the doctor (problem with foot continues), to photocopying shop for work for ecumenical project (more on this later as it develops), to bank, to supermarket, home to get some work done, and finally to London for pleasant supper with A., close friend of many years standing, visiting from America....long good talk about dozens of things. A. and and her husband J. are both good friends of Jamie and me and we always have great fun as a foursome: tonight with both husbands absent we had a long chatty supper. Home - through still more rain and ferocious winds, against which it was quite difficult to cycle.

MARRIAGE.....

Newspapers today announce that David Cameron, leader of the Tory party, is going to announce policies of support for marriage, ie encouraging a taxation system that gives advantages to a married man and woman raising children. Well hurrah - even if they simply stop penalising married people it will be a start!! But could we also please have a commitment to:

- allowing Church-based schools to teach Christian doctrine and morality, including sexual morality, with no restrictions and without fear of legal sanctions against them?

- a ban on giving contraceptive drugs and devices to children under 16 (which is the legal age of consent for sexual activity)?

- a commitment to emphasising marriage as the basis of our community, so that ambiguous words like "partner" will be removed from official documents and be replaced with "spouse" or "husband" and "wife"?

Sunday March 4th

CATHOLIC PAPERS

I enjoy cycling in rain - provided one is headed for a warm home and the chance to dry out. To Mass in mild drizzle, home in a satisfying downpour. Actually, I didn't go straight home - partly because of the rain, I stopped half-way at a Costa Coffee shop in the High Street and enjoyed the Catholic Times. You really are missing out if you don't read the Catholic papers. Jamie has a rather good letter in this week's edition! And.....er.....yes, I do have a couple of features in it too.....

Spent the afternoon writing a couple of book reviews for American publications.

ROME....
is our destination at the end of next week. Am hugely looking forward to it. We are attending a conference - will report on it in due course. I hope we'll get a little time to potter about, too. One visit is usually to the monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie in St Peter's basilica. Easy to find....if you think of St Peter's as a cricket pitch with the altar, as it were, being the wicket, then the Stuart monument is at the bowling end, on the left-hand fielder's side.

I hope we might catch a glimpse of Papa Benedict (OF WHOM I AM A HUGE FAN!!!) and I want to get some postcards of him, and - if I can find one - a statue or bust for a blind friend, who longs to know what he looks like....

And we want to dip into some of our favourite churches, and trail our hands in the Trevi fountain, and talk with friends over coffee in a place with an agreeable view, and possibly visit the Colliseum at night and see it standing hauntingly there, with those little wild cats and kittens scarmbling about, looking so charming and actually ridden with fleas....

OH....AND MY CHILDREN'S BOOK

Some one commented to this Blog that the link to my children's book didn't work. It does now.

Do try it, and think about buying the book....Easter gift for a niece, godchild, daughter, granddaughter?

Saturday March 3rd

CATHOLIC TEACHING IN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS BANNED BY THE GOVERNMENT ?

That is the plan outlined in the official Committee Report suggesting the way ahead for the new Sexual Orientation Regulations. Published yesterday.

The Report says:"In our view the Regulations should clearly apply to the curriculum, so that homosexual pupils are not subjected to teaching, as part of their religious education or other curriculum, that their sexual oreintation is sinful or morally wrong".

The Report goes on "We welcome the Government's acceptance that [the Regulations] should apply to all schools....without any exemption for particular types of school such as faith schools." It also notes that the Regulations would apply to both publicly-funded schools and independent schools.

Noting that it might be acceptable to note factual information "in a descriptive way as part of a wide-ranging syllabus about different religions" the Committee affirms that the Government should ban "a curriculum which teaches a particular religion's doctrinal beliefs as if they were objectively true" because this might "lead to unjustifiable discrimination."

This means that teachers in Catholic schools would not be allowed to affirm that the Catholic teaching is true or that it should be followed.

This means that Catholic schools cannot function.

What should the Bishops of our country do?

In New York, some while back, Cardinal O'Connor threatened to close down Catholic hospitals and other services which were threatened with similar legislation. The authorities saw there'd be a complete collapse of crucial services, and effectively backed down.

Twenty years later in Britain, it seems likely that the media - and of course all official voices - would easily and swiftly convey the message to parents that it was the Church who was wrecking their schools, and most parents would believe this. Anger would be directed against the Church and not against the Government. And there might be those within the Church who, for all sorts of reasons, would be very gleeful about that and certainly would not rally to the support of Catholic schools or Catholic teachings. Be sure they would gain a prominent place in any media discussions.

Our Bishops are going to need courage and wisdom. A first preliminary statement should affirm categorically the right and duty of Catholic schools to give instruction in Catholic doctrine and morals with the clear intention of passing on the teaching of the Catholic Church, and to state that it is the right of all in the Church - and all people of goodwill - to affirm that right and to oppose Government plans to deny it.

Pray.

TODAY

Golden spring day. Ordinary errands a pleasure - to the dry cleaner's, to the shops....even having to get my bike mended (yet another puncture - shard of glass stuck in the tyre, the umpteenth time that's happened).

FOYLE'S WAR

We've been enjoying DVDs of the TV series Foyle's War - about a detective working in a South Coast town in Britain during World War 11. It's interesting in its depiction of a vanished England - manners, morals, speech, values - and also in its exploration of how the massive power of Government authority, neccessary in wartime, can trap innocent people in a web that causes sorrow and injustice when not intending to do so.

Friday March 2nd

WORTH LEARNING

Well, we've learned a number of specific things from the comments sent to this Blog about homosexuals adopting children..... perhaps the most significant of which is that people who are (or claim to be) employed in adoption agencies will actively seek to ban practising Catholics who uphold the Church's teachings in this area from adopting any children at all. If these people who have written in to me about this had the courage to give their names and the organisations for which they work (and why not? They seem very proud of what they are doing) then their unjust and discriminatory work practices could be at least challenged....any offers? Too cowardly?

"As for me and my house....." There will be no change whatever in adherence by the author of this Blog to traditional Christian teachings on this as explained with clarity and charity in the Catechism of the Catholic Church,. I don't mind publishing rubbish trying to claim that these teachings are wrong/can be altered/should be altered/ whatever....as I have indicated on previous occasions, I will publish anything so long as it is isn't grossly offensive. But it obviously won't and can't change what is right and true, nor can it change my obligation - and yours - to follow that truth.

It is certainly worrying to observe that by simply affirming the human and Christian understanding of our nature, and of the reality of marriage and the needs of children, Catholics are likely to be penalised over the next years.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Off to a local school - parents' discussion evening re children's books. I have spent much time researching this over the past weeks, talking to families, visiting libraries and bookshops, seeking out good modern fiction, chatting, laughing, enjoying. The theme I've been given for my talk is "Happiness, Children's Fiction, and Choices". I plan to publish material on all this in due course....will give info on this blog.

Bought my children's book yet?
If all those correspondents who disagree with me are as large-minded and tolerant as they claim to be, they'll obtain and read my books just to find out what message I communicate there.

BUSY.....

Next week we are off to Rome for a conference, and before that I have a couple of v. busy days and a number of speaking engagements. Later in the month we are off to Austria. Will seek out internet-cafes etc to try to keep this blog up to date when checking on emails for work etc.....

Thursday March 1st
To St Mary Magdalene church, Willesden Green, to take part in a Marriage Preparation course. Distributed copies of book Engaged to be married, published through the Association of Catholic Women available from Gracewing. Gave talk......was asked "What would you say have been the high points, and the low points, of your marriage?" which gave food for thought. A useful evening.

THIS IS CRUCIAL

Worrying - very worrying - telephone conversation concerning the Govt's loathesome Sexual Orientation Regulations. Check the facts and find out what is actually at stake. Look, this isn't just a matter of homosexual couples adopting children - though that is bad enough. It's a matter of what things schools will be obliged to teach - yes, including Catholic schools - and the forcing of individuals, including you and me, into doing things that offend our consciences (for example, you could find you were breaking the law if, as a caterer or photographer, you declined to cater for a "gay wedding").

OH, and PLEASE don't immediately say smugly "Oh, but lots of Catholic schools already teach all sorts of wrong things...." So that makes it all right for the Government to force them to do so? Is that what you are saying? Read me again. The new law could force Catholic schools to teach that homosexual activity is not sinful. They may be able to get round the law by not teaching anything on the subject at all.

I can certainly think of a Catholic school which teaches that homosexual activities are sinful. It is quite controversial teaching these days, and it has to be said that some of the parents and families of the pupils probably don't agree with the Church on this - and probably some of the pupils don't either. So they could certainly cause trouble for the school if they were stirred up to do so....and stirring them up is exactly what "gay rights" lobbyists exist to do.

I am certain that our Bishops, who are currently adopting a "let's-chat-to-the -Government-very-privately-and-on-a-friendly-basis" approach on this are failing to tackle this with the urgency that they should. I am quietly confident that they won't do anything at all vigorous unless they are jolted into some sort of action. Have you written to your Bishop about it? No, I'm NOT interested in your comment that he-probably-won't-do-anything-anyway. If you wrote - or got various other people to write - raising some of the specific issues in the useful link I have given you above, it would mean that you at least knew he had been given some relevant information.

I've noticed that people are very happy to write to Bishops about anything connected with the liturgy - and love blogging about it too, and getting all excited. The idea of some one else's little boy or girl being adopted by a homosexual pair who will teach the child that this sinful lifestyle is just fine.....well, that's not nearly so important is it?

Is it?

Wed Feb 28th
FEASTS AND SEASONS

Typing this quickly over a cup of coffee before hurrying off on my bike to the station.....off to speak to a Wives Fellowship in Notting Hill. I'm waiting till the rain eases off a bit before I go. I'll be talking about my Book of Feasts and Seasons (takes you through the year with things to make, do, eat and sing....click on the link to find out more about this and my other books, or send a Comment to this blog to order a copy....or check it out on AMAZON.....)

Wives Fellowship=ecumenical gathering of ladies, affiliated in some sort of loose federation to a national group which affirms some simple Christian principles. In my experience, they are invariably extremely pleasant and nice, and v. welcoming, nice lunch, real coffee, etc. Perhaps they are not exactly part of the Church Militant....I mean, one wouldn't find them planning street evangelism or standing outside Parliament with torches praying about the latest new horrible piece of legislation.....but not everyone's ready for that....


WHAT AUNTIE'S READING
I am reading a v. depressing book at the moment about the future of Europe. Small numbers of children being born, massive collapse of church attendance and consequently of sense of spiritual and cultural identity, rise of militant Islam. The first of these three is irrevocable: if the children aren't there, then the nation doesn't exist. Just labelling a stretch of land "Holland" or "Italy" doesn't make it Dutch or Italian unless there are Dutch or Italian people there.

What a lot of people seem to be reading is blogs....including mine. I looked on the meter thingummy and there have been over 25,000 hits since it began. I suspect that it's a fairly small team of people who read the thing every day....well, it's v. kind of them and I hope all enjoy it.....but I'm beginning to get pangs of guilt about encouraging people to sit at computers and switch gleefully from blog to blog when they could be doing something interesting.

Note to the nice lady who wants me to add her to my blogroll: I want to do this very much, but haven't the technical know-how at present!! Wait till I get a chance to be instructed by some one who can help....

Off to get my bike. I keep it padlocked in the back garden, which means trundling down the muddy lane at the back. But the rain has eased and everything looks fresh. It will be a good day.

Tuesday 27th Feb

LENTEN MASS
One ought to get to weekday Mass a bit more often in Lent....and I'm obviously not the only local person who feels this, because when I arrived this morning the church was almost full. I propped up my bike as usual precariously against the wall but won't have to do this much longer......We had a v. impressive new parish centre built recently, with a (rather good) bookshop and a big meeting-hall etc....today workmen were busy on a crucial addition: a proper place for parking bicycles alongside the church. There have been some bike-slots there for years and years, but they were all overgrown and also blocked off by a low wall which had evidently been put there some years after they were created. A proper place to park will be a boon.

John Pridmore is speaking at the parish mission this Friday. He's a former East End gangster - I've heard him speak before and he is well worth hearing.

GET ON WITH WORK!!

Idly tapping in "Pope Catholic" to the Internet to check on a current news story, I found that the second item listed was about the return of Pope John Paul....yes, that's right. A loopy group which thinks that the End Is Nigh has decided that he's the Antichrist and will be Coming Back Shortly, and to prove it here's a picture of him with some Muslims showing that he aims to be ruler of all religions...and here's a map of Rome showing there are Seven Hills and that all Fits In with the Bible because...um...er....whore of Babylon and all that, and serpents, and things.....oh, and the Lateran Treaty came into it somewhere, and the hugeness of the Papal funeral in April '05 which was the biggest such event the world has ever seen.

This sort of thing is also sometimes quoted by daft Catholics-who've-lost-the-plot and who are into things like the Coming Great Chastisement and the Pope Isn't Really the True Pope and so on and so on and so on....(I was sent literature about this throughout the 1980s, predicting something Awful would happen in 1991....make that 1997....no, um, 2000....). And do you remember the people who for years had a thing going about the Real Pope Paul VI being locked in a Vatican dungeon while a pretend one presided at St Peter's, and you could tell because of his plastic ears?

One should stop wasting time and get on with work.

Monday Feb 26th

A GOOD READ

I am very much enjoying Genevieve Kineke's The Authentic Catholic Woman (Servant books, just published). It is a realistic, well-informed and thoughtful book which looks at modern life and the modern Church and sees the tasks facing Catholic women. It's rooted in the Church's teachings, has a sense of joy about it, and doesn't carry any pious woffle or unattainable goals.

It has often seemed to me that feminist campaigners over the past thirty years have raised some useful questions but failed to listen to the answers. The Church - and this book brings it out beautifully - is a mother who cherishes her daughters and wants to see their talents devel;oped and used widely. Pope John Paul's "Theology of the Body", a rich understanding of the Church as Christ's Bride, and a sense of confidence and identity, are all important ingredients in recognising the vocation of being a Catholic woman today. Calls for women to be ordained priestesses are calls from people who are getting the whole picture wrong.

I particularly like the chapter on sanctifying time, on seeing the importance of feasts and seasons, family events and anniversaries. I have always noticed that it is women who are the keepers of a family's heritage - and I don't just mean mothers here either - and recognise the value of passed-on memories, traditions, snippets of family history. This doesn't mean endlessly harking back to the past or attempting to fossilise traditions or keep up childish things....it involves celebrating each passing year, noting it, remembering things as part of something alive and valuable.

I really recommend this book.

SPANISH PLACE

With Mother to St James' Church, in London's Spanish Place, for a most inspiring Day of Recollection organised by the Association of Catholic Women and led by Father Stephen Wang. He began - after leading us in the Rosary - with a talk on the Holy Spirit. He pointed out that in the Gospel, when we hear about Our Lord going into the desert, it specifically says that he was led there by the Holy Spirit, something which we often ignore or simply don't even notice. And he went on to explain the significance of this figure in the Holy Trinity, and how he could inspire our lives this Lent....

CHRISTENING

In the late afternoon, I joined Jamie at the christening of the new baby (fifth child) of the delightful Emery family. I am godmother to their oldest boy, Thomas, who took part in the ceremony, acting as proxy for a godparent unavoidably absent in Australia. The church stood reassuring against a darkening sky....as I entered the building, the group round the font, the priest in stole and alb pouring water and saying the timeless words, the voices affirming the beliefs of the Church, the glow of candlelight on the faces, all made for an unforgettable image as I stood there, a late arrival, on this February day. Afterwards, back for drinks and a generous talkative time, hot sausages and pizzas, cakes and goodies passed around with friends and neighbours gathering in a welcoming home, children rushing about trailing mud from the garden, tiny new baby gazing, unfocused, from safe parental arms at this world in which he is now a born-again Christian.....

Friday

LONDON SUBURBIA

Cycled to Mother's. The London suburbs can be rather depressing on a mild evening, with sullen groups of drinking adolescent girls hunched on ugly bleak corners, sometimes shrieking obscenities and sometimes just passing bottles or cans across to one another, with groups of boys some way off in a rather dreary sort of tribal mating system!! Oh, dear. Surely things ought to be better than this? They all seem very cross and unhappy, and although the girls have gone to a great deal of trouble with lots of slicked hair and very tight jeans, they don't look very pretty, and they sit on railings or on the pavement all hunched up with their hands inside the sleeves of their little bomber-jackets, while the boys burp and make monosyllabic noises some way off.

OLD FILMS

At M's, supper and an old movie. We enjoy these, and M. is interesting on the subject because she knew some of the actors many years ago.....Great Uncle Walter was an actor,moderately successful and well-known in his day, appearing in a number of classic films including "All Quiet on the Western Front". M. remembers various actors coming to the house, including James Mason - "he'd come and drink tea, and they'd all be sitting talking and talking...." During World War 11 Uncle Walter, who had lived mostly at the London Actors' Club, came to live with her parents when an air-raid destroyed much of London clubland. "He was rather a bore in the air-raids. Stood about being theatrical instead of getting down to the shelter or being useful."

I looked up Great Uncle W.on the internet under his stage name. One of the films in which he had a minor part was the one about Queen Victoria starring Anna Neagle.Another relation, Mother's cousin Dennis, created the part of Lord Peter Wimsey on the stage.

The main thing one notices about old films - apart from all the obvious things, like fashions and the manners and morals etc, is the clipped English voices. I can just - just - remember when that was how lots of grown-ups spoke, in the Britain I knew.

Thursaday

A MUST-READ!!!

Readers of Catholic blogs - you really MUST get this week's CATHOLIC TIMES (no, it's not available on-line. Go to your local church this Sunday and buy it there. It has a feature interview with Father Timothy Finigan of the Hermeneutic of Continuity, written by fellow-blogger JB.

I have also to report an unfortunate - but amusing - mistake in my weekly Catholic Times column. I write about celebrating all the traditional feasts and seasons of the year (see what you're missing if you don't get the paper?) and this week it's St David. I mention the national Shrine of Our Lady in Wales....it's the shrine of Our Lady of the Taper at Cardigan. The Welsh name for Cardigan is Aberteifi, so I put that in brackets alongside. But the Catholic Times computer doesn't speak Welsh, so it automatically "corrected" it to "Aperitif".....

Oh, dear. I am sure some Welsh readers are going to be rather offended.

BONUS PASTOR

A visit to Bonus Pastor Catholic secondary school in South London....train via Victoria to Beckenham Junction, then a pleasant walk. I was invited to speak as a journalist, the idea being to have Catholics active in various fields, speaking at lessons OTHER than Religious Education. So they had me speaking in the English lesson. Unfortunately, I got so enthusiastic talking about journalism, that I barely mentioned Catholicism at all. I do wish I had been more forthright about the Faith, about the great traditions of Catholic writing, etc....however, I donated a couple of books to the School Library, one being my "Book of Feasts and Seasons", and they now want to have me back to speak on that subject, so that can go better.....

Comment from the RE teacher there - the pupils are open to the Faith, they can be very inspired by the Christian message, but they find Sunday Mass "boring". She believes, and she is not alone in this among Catholic teachers, that more glorious music - yes, in Latin too, and lots of it - in a reverent liturgy is the key. Since this is definitely the trend in which liturgy is moving, there is hope here. If the Mass is just a formula, with either no music at all or just a couple of bleak hymns, then young people will continue to find it boring.

Incidentally - and this is just my comment, not hers - my experience is that young people often think they won't enjoy Latin or any form of remotely classical music. They may associate it with people who are "sad", who dress in an old-fashioned way and are clique-ish. But once they experience it at Mass, especially if it's NOT combined with a clique-ish or over-formal atmosphere, then they love it and the Mass begins to mean something great and real and marvellous. Fortunately more and more parishes in London - although I am not at all sure that this is the case elsewhere in Britain - seem comfortable about having some Latin,at least for the sung parts of the Mass. And of course if the Tridentine Rite is once again part of the mainstream this will make things even better. It will not only be something that could simply be a part of normal parish life in itself - eg one of the Sunday Masses could be in that rite - but will undoubtedly slowly influence the way in which all the other Masses are celebrated too.

Ash Wednesday

PACKED CHURCH

Local church absolutely packed for the 10 am Mass with large crowds going up to receive ashes - and this in an ordinary suburb. I hadn't expected this, and only just got a seat. The evening Masses on Ash Wednesday are always overcrowded, but I hadn't known the morning ones were too.

This all goes to show that people don't object to attending Mass on a special day - a point I wish our Bishops had noted when they casually cancelled a whole lot of our Holy days...ooops, sorry, moved them to the nearest Sunday. It was one of the single most damaging things they could have done to a sense of Christian culture and identity.

Afterwards we were asked to continue helping distribute cards about the Parish Mission - once through every letter-box in the parish. They were laid out in neat stacks, each topped with the name of the road to be tackled. Two of these were on my route home so I took them....one was the High Street, and it was really rather interesting diving into the backs of shops find the residential bits behind and above. You get a sense of how the town grew, and what some of the original buildings looked like, as the back bits are of course not masked with modern frontages, neon-lit signs etc. About half of our local shops are now Korean-owned,and many are travel agents, representatives of various Korea-based businesses and enterprises, etc, plus a good many KOrean restaurants and food-shops. Most of the shops that I remember were here when we moved to the town some 20 years ago have gone.

If you live in London or its southern suburbs - come to our parish mission! Information here

Shrove Tuesday

PANCAKES!!

I ate pancakes for breakfast and I'm having them for supper, too. With chocolate sauce. The traditional thing is to have them with lemon and sugar. But I'm having chocolate sauce.

Lent seems awfully long, at forty days. The only way to tackle it is not even to think about cakes or chocolate. And all that starts tomorrow.

MEANWHILE.....

Met Josephine Robinson of the Association of Catholic Women for coffee and a long talk this morning.We'd arranged to meet at the Grosvenor Hotel at Victoria Station - irritatingly, I was waiting in one coffee-room, while she was waiting in another! Finally, we found one another.....entries are coming in well for the Religious Education Project run by the ACW - open to all children at Catholic primary and infant schools. We talked about arranging the judging and the certificates...two trophies are offerred every year, one for infant-aged children 5-7, and the other for Juniors, 7-11. Prizewinners also get a copy of the new Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Incidentally, we could do with more funds to run all this, so if you want to make a Lenten donation, why not send it to ACW? Address: 22 Surbiton Hill Park, Surbiton Surrey KT5 8ET. If you are worried about poor RE teaching, this is your chance to do something about it. The Project involves having children learn specifics aspects of Catholic doctrine and write about them, studying the New Testament and the Church's teaching.

Spent the afternoon working at home: I've now produced a reading-list of children's books, including some old and some new....many thanks to people who sent in ideas and comments re. this to this Blog. I'm still open to more information, especially about NEW authors, and also about any initiatives to re-publish some of the great children's classics (I think it's sad that The Jungle Book doesn't seem to be available anywhere.....)

I am concentraing on children's fiction, but of course children need good poetry too. Ideas? A Child's Garden of Verses is still available and I have seen some v. attractive new editions of it. And an excellent book of verse Set the Echoes Flying was produced some years ago by Fisher Press.

AND MORE ON CHOCOLATE

Before you finish reading blogs tonight you MUST click on to Father Tim Finigan's blog (see list to the right), and read his story "Contraceptives and Chocolate". It will raise your spirits hugely - cheered me up no end.

UNITED UNDER THE POPE?

Front page story in The Times today highlights a new report from some ecumenical committee which suggests that Anglicans could unite with Catholics under the Pope....well, of course some possibly will in due course, but to suggest that the whole Anglican Communion, or even a large bit of it, could just be told summarily that this was about to happen, new lines drawn on a map, that's the scheme everyone, is silly.

The only reason to join the Catholic Church is if you believe its doctrines and moral teachings - including an understanding of the role of the Pope as successor of St Peter, the Church as the "pillar and ground of truth" etc etc....

Radio discussion about this on the Jeremy Vine Show, where I was with the excellent Ann Widdecombe MP who is an old friend and of course a convert to Catholicism. She was forthright and sensible, as usual, and we were helped by a v. nice Evangelical Anglican who patiently explained that he represented a whole school of thought which sincerely opposes some Catholic doctrines (seven sacraments, for example)and in no way want to unite with "the Roman Church" which they truly consider to be in error.

MORE ON CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Ann and I shared a taxi back to Westminster, and had a good talk. She was able to recommend an excellent children's author, Michael Morpurgo and I shall now read some of his books and use this in my talk on the subject. It is always much more useful to recommend the good than to denounce the bad, and although I have a good list of all the obvious classic children's authors (E. Nesbit, Arthur Ransome, A.A.Milne, C.S.Lewis,etc etc) I need lots of good new ones, too.

DO WATCH THIS EXCELLENT VIEDO CLIP!!!

Many thanks to Fr Tim Finigan for explaining how to get video things on to a website. ( I am trying v. hard to get the technical side of this blog improved.Watch - and pray! - for the success of my efforts.......)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0nSjxDKJEo

MISSION

At Mass this morning we were all invited to take cards advertising the Parish Mission, and deliver them to all the houses in our street. The cards are rather good - big pic of a hand with a rosary and the words "Catholicism for the Curious", info on the back re various talks. For more info, look on the parish website

At the final talk in the series, I think it would be great to have the video which you can view by clicking on the link above. Am going to try to see if we could arrange this.

Sat Feb 17th

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

To the local library to get out a good selection of children's books for a talk I am giving on the subject. What a depressing experience. The Library is brand-new, a bright pleasant building in an attractive style, easily accessible, lots of nice seats, carpeted, welcoming. Three children there - one rather listlessly on a computer game, and two playing while their parents browsed through mewspapers. No one was looking at the bookshelves, and I am not surprised. What a bleak collection of books - all nw, all bright paperbacks in plastic covers, and mostly all junk. I collected a big stack, chosen at random from different sections. There is a lot of fantasy sci-fi stuff, and vast quantities of pre-teen-girl-finds-romance, the latter with massive doses of parental adultery, some gentle doses of propagandist it's-ok-to-be-gay messages, and a good deal of promotion of the we-must-accept-mum's-new-boyfriend stuff with a preachy air, as if written by a social worker seeking a Modern Fiction Award.

Sample, from an author, said to be in her teens herself and "The UK's youngest new literary sensation": on weekend visit to her dad, our heroine finds he has a new girlfriend whom she doesn't like. She tries to cause trouble between fail but fails and meanwhile her own new boyfriend is becoming more important in her life and persuades her to accept the situation. As the story ends, dad's girlfriend is pregnant and our heroine and her chums are having a happy time swapping experiences of kissing eg 'How many times have you snogged Jason?'

I am not inventing this.

Meanwhile, over in the educational section, a large stack of books on Islam and a smaller one of Christianity. Glossy illustrated book, thick with quotes from Hans Kung and Matthew Fox (no, I'm not inventing this, either), big chapter on homosexuality and lesbianism:"Reflection - I am a gay Christian....The Church's teachings are, without doubt, hypocritical...." section on "feminist theology" and one on "liberation theology", nothing whatever putting the ordinary Christian teaching and message. Some critical material on the Catholic faith and teachings but nothing simply stating facts. This rubbish is published by "Heinemann Educational" and I suppose its's used as propaganda in schools.

Good grief, if this is the diet of modern children no wonder they look so bored and cross, and end up so narrow-minded and unhappy in their teens.

Friday Feb 16th

PRIOR PARK COLLEGE BATH

This is a most glorious corner of England. Bath is all mellow honey-coloured stone, Georgian houses, pleasant coffee-shops, and Jane Austen.

Prior Park is a fabulous mansion set in swooping grounds - I mean great curved hills and vales going down to a beautiful lake and river. What a superb place in which to spend one's schooldays. I was here to give a talk to a group of pupils interested in journalism - all part of the Tamezin magazine project. A good response and they especially enjoyed learning about interviewing skills, taking part in a m ock Press Conference etc.

Afterwards, with my colleague Kirsty, enjoyed a lovely walk into the city itself, the Abbey (a pleasing building - lots of Victorian gothic additions? I must find out more about its history), an excellent pizza in a beautiful restaurant with a perfect view over Georgian streets as twilight fell and lamps came on.

There is still (just) time for young people to enter the Tamezin Young Journalist Awards....click on the above link to find out more, ot send a Comment to this Blog with your postal address (I will not print it, but can send you a brochure.

Thursday Feb 15th

CATHOLIC CULTURE

Superb talk at the Catholic Cultural Group about Helen Asquith, teacher and convert to the Catholic Faith, daughter of Raymond Asquith, son of the Prime Minister, killed in the First World War.

Speaker was Emily Keyte, herself a young teacher, in a beautifully presented talk which wove extracts from Helen's letters into a well-rounded description of a journey in faith. The room was packed, people on chairs, the wide cushioned window-seats, the floor, a fascinating discussion/question session followed the talk, we had delicious snacks served by the young family who were our hosts (enchanting children handing round cheese straws and hot sausages)......a wonderful evening. The CCG brings together a good mix of people. I met a couple of young Catholic bloggers (blogging is definitely an activity mostly pursued - at least among Catholics - by people considerably younger than me, something which is reflected in the technical aspects of most Catholic blogs which are generally superb....I'm afraid mine has a distinctly Auntie-is-not-very-up-to-date feel about it, but I have been promised help on this by young enthusiasts, so watch for improvements!).

Afterwards I cycled a good part of the way home - a pleasant night and I enjoyed the chance to think over the talk as I spun through Hammersmith and Kensington and eventually put the bike on a tube to head out to the suburbs....

Checking emails, enjoyed this link, sent to me by a friend.

Thursday Feb 15th

JEEVES AND WOOSTER

Last night Jamie came home v. tired after the conclusion of a difficult case (he's a lawyer). We watched a "Jeeves and Wooster" DVD.....we were given a set of these for a Silver Wedding present last year. We had a late supper on a tray, and chocolates, and enjoyed it all hugely.

NEW SERIES FOR EWTN

I am preparing a Lent and Easter series for EWTN (Catholic TV network) to be broadcast in 2008. The idea is celebrating the traditional seasons of the year at home - filmed in the kitchen. I started glibly to write about making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and tossing them three times in honour of the Trinity....this could look awfully messy on TV. Pancakes are actually not that easy - tho' of course the recipe itself is simple - and the first one is usually a bit of a disaster, things get easier as you get the pan hot enough. I'll also be doing Lenten food ("Nasty Meals for Lent, with Auntie Joanna" - doesn't sound very appetising, does it?) and special things re St David, St Patrick, St Joseph etc. Have also been researching about Maundy Thursday - of course the origins of the Royal Maundy in Britain are well known, but I'd love to know more about how the thing has developed in other countries, incl. those with a more consistent Catholic tradition....

ROME

We are off to Rome for a conference in March and yesterday, in the intervals of working on various feature articles, I spent time booking the flight and arranging accomodation. The Internet makes everything sooooo much easier. And to put myself in the mood, I watched the dear Holy Father at the Wednesday audience ("Television Catholique" - just look for it on Google. Much recommended). He said a lot of very interesting things about women in the New Testament and in the early Church - noting that (as a priest once pointed out to me) women stayed with Our Lord at the foot of the Cross when the Apostles just couldn't cope. Golly, it makes one wonder....would one have had the courage to do that? Temptation just to run away from something so ghastly....imagine.

Wed Feb 14th

CANDLES AT 9 am......

Sudden power cut this morning while I was at the computer. I had just finished arranging to send some flowers to my dear ma-in-law, and had enjoyed browsing among the options and choosing something nice....when sudden the computer made a sort of polite exclamation and went blank, and the lights went out. A quick glance at the nighbours' houses (we are all squashed close together here, so one look out of the window revealed the situation) showed they were in gloom, too. I lit a lamp and a couple of candles, and got on with some other tasks.....it's a measure of how we all think these days that my initial reaction was "has there been a bomb somewhere which has taken out a power station?" Of course it was nothing of the kind, merely a temporary blip, and the lights came on again when I was in a local shop buying batteries for the radio....

But it did delay my getting Comments posted on to my blog, enabling some one to write in gleefully suggesting that I had been censoring comments simply because they contained criticisms that were valid.....

Tuesday Feb 13th

MORAL PROBLEM

I've been wondering what to do about comments to this Blog. From the moral point of view, one should simply delete anonymous messages . (I don't mean people who do not wish to have their names or addresses published - that's fair enough - I mean ones that are anonymous when they write in, ie too cowardly to put their names to the letters they send me roundly insulting me, my motives, my moral worth, etc etc. What are more colloquially called poison-pen writers).

My first instinct is to publish anything and everything that is rude about me, partly because the insults are often funny, and partly because I often actually agree with them. A pompous anonymous preacher writes in today accusing me of "a complete lack of self-knowledge and a vain desire for publicity". Jolly good. I'm sure he feels a lot better about himself now. I'm publishing his message but only because I have done so before, and the new policy only starts today, so I want to be fair to him. (Also, he's made a mistake and I want to correct it: the quote about honey and vinegar - a very good one - is from St Bernard and not St Francis de Sales).

I've also had a couple of anonymous comments referring to Jewish teachings in rather horrid terms.

Policy: in future, when you write in to say how wrong/nasty/vain/etc I am, please put your name to the letter or it won't get published. (I won't publish your name - I just want you to be brave enough to write it. Send it separately if need be, as for technical reasons this makes it easier to publish your comment without it).

Also, a note to those who, anonymous or not, are being gratuitously nasty about Jewish things: I will retain current policy, namely that I won't publish these at all.

Sunday Feb 11th

INSULTING THE H.FATHER

Radio Five Live programme.....rushed to the BBC from Kings Cross, my mind still full of Durham, stories of heroic miners, image of glorious cathedral, glow from happy gatherings with family and friends.

Tube system caught up with Sunday repair work, so the train stopped at Marble Arch....wrrrrgh....had to hail a taxi to get to BBC at White City. Usual surreal sensation sitting in studio, sealed off from outside world, people phoning in to shout their opinions at me through headphones....I am not good at keeping my cool in such situations, and however hard I try, I always sound shrill and annoying. Topic was children and the future: Pope Benedict had pointed out that Europe is dying - people see children as a threat, as taking something away from personal pleasures, while in reality they are the future.....is this refusal to have children a form of deadly selfishness? I noted economic realities: without new generation being born, people alive today will endure to lonely and extremely difficult old age , no working population to create tax-base or provide any services. We must hope that the immigrants who will settling in Britain from other countries will be interested in caring for the dying indigenous population - but if they honestly aren't, it will be difficult to hold them entirely to blame. People phoning in: "I don't see why my decision not to have children makes me selfish - I just want to do what I want with my life. I want to enjoy myself, travel, spend my money as I choose. So why doesn't this horrible woman in the studio just belt up?" Most people began their comments with "I can't believe what this woman in the studio is saying!" and many went on to say that they hated my voice. One or two expressed the vigourous opinion that I was probably insane, or needed a sedative (this last possibly true by this stage!)

I always agree when people say I am annoying, irritating, have a disagreeable voice etc. Also when they say I'm probably nasty. But does that mean that the economic facts I am presenting are untrue?

Many routine - but rather gross - insults about the Pope, of which the milder ones were "He wears dresses and lives in luxury."

Home, rather tired.

Sunday Feb 11th

CATHOLIC CONTACTS

Early morning Mass with L. in local parish in St Cuthbert's, Durham. What a meeting-point for Catholics!! Young people, including M., daughter of friends Clare and Malcolm U. (one of their other daughters is a godmother to our great-nephew. Now there's a nice network - does it make them sort of spiritual relations?) - gosh and how delightful these young people are, talking and laughing together..... and to our huge pleasure we are also greeted by the delightful C. family - some of whom I last met in a field at Walsingham, where we were gathered for the annual pilgrimage run by the National Association of Catholic Families. Much good talk and "Why didn't you tell us you were coming to Durham?" Immediate invitation to supper tonight. Jamie is able to go, but I am distraught - I have to be back in London for a radio programme at 11pm! And it will be such a wonderful get-together: Professor Sheridan Gilley (author, speaker - last enjoyed at a Catholic Writers' conference on the Isle of Wight) will be there....

Jamie very gleeful, because it turns out that Robert C. is an Australian, so is Sheridan, and so is Father Mark W. who will also be of the party - and so, of course, is Jamie! - which means a glorious Aussie gathering this evening. Durham - which we are already hugely enjoying because of delightful niece, her extremely agreeable young friends, and yesterday's special and lovely family gathering with Auntie P - takes on a further glow.

GLORIOUS MUSIC

On to morning service at St C's college, where L. sings in the choir. Glorious music, choir in academic gowns, everything beautifully done. Opportunity to sing some splendid hymns. Afterwards a v. agreeable gathering over coffee (and it's REAL coffee, not instant) and cake (birthday of choir director).

AND MORE.....

Readers of this Blog are going to get fed up with me saying what a good time we've been having in Durham, but I'm jolly well not going to stop, because next came a really enjoyable lunch with Fr Mark W., currently in Durham for studies.....niece Lucy already knows him through the pro-life group, Cathsoc etc, so it was a wonderful, talkative, informative, laughing meal in which we covered - in no particular order - Anglo-Saxon saints, ideas for a research centre on business ethics, Feenyism, liturgy(of course), why sermons emphasising social justice without proper mention of God are a horrible waste of time, Durham's history, and more......

Afterwards, back to Lucy's house for final mugs of tea...and then a wonderful final visit to the great Cathedral, its interior glowing against the dusk outside, prayers at St Cuthbert's tomb (Fr Mark's suggestion) for the rather scary BBC radio programme awaiting me in London.......a brief look at the Castle (where I once stayed, a few years ago, when up here for a debate at the University)....and then on to the railway station, the London train, and Jamie seeing me on board with hugs and reassurances....

Sat Feb 10th

FAMILY TIME

A wonderful gathering with my Auntie P, who lives in Durham....her granddaughter, S. a delightful girl (daughter of my first cousin - so that makes her my second cousin), Lucy, and Jamie and me....a get-together across the generations, and we made sure we got photographs. Fascinating talk , especially on family history - memories of the General Strike, of a wartime wedding, in uniform. at Westminster Cathedral, of postwar married life.

Saturday Feb 10th 2007

DURHAM......

On arrival in Durham, in the early hours of this morning in lashing rain, (I had caught a late train after a busy Friday) I hurried to the hotel. A terrific wailing noise was emerging from the building, and I entered to find an oddly assorted crowd of people, some wrapped in bedclothes......some one had set off an emergency fire alarm and one harrassed night-time member of staff was trying to sort things out. It emerged that no one could turn off the alarm, as it is centrally controlled under a computer system locked in to that of the local Fire Brigade.....who eventually turned out in a fairly leisurely way and went carefully from room to room checking everything, while people shivered in the rain, crowded into a partially-covered outdoor garage area, or endured the appalling ear-damaging siren in the warmth of the foyer.

Finally, it was announced that everything that been checked, no fire found, and a crucial new piece of glass could be fitted into the alarm thus re-setting it and enabling most people to go to bed. Not me, however, as I didn't yet have a room. The poor tired sole hotel staff representative wearily booked me in, behaving with commendable courtesy under the circumstances. I plodded gratefully to room number 13. It was bliss to have the possibility of sleep.

A GLORIOUS CITY

After a good and neccessary breakfast, I met my niece Lucy and we both greeted Jamie as he arrived by a morning train from London - he had had to stay in Town last night for an official dinner. We dropped off his luggage (heavy, because of dinner-jacket etc) and were then ready to enjoy this magnificent city, so headed for the great Cathedral: "Half church of God, half castle 'gainst the Scot". St Cuthbert (7th century, shepherd boy, saw vision, became hermit, and in due course Bishop of Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumbria) is buried here - relics brought from Lindisfarne by monks who thus saved them during a Viking raid.

Is this the most glorious cathedral in Britain? Its great- vast - pillars and Norman arches, all in perfect proportion, lead the eye up and up, and onwards to the High Altar, to the shrine beyond, to great things, to God. The large, clean lines are largely uncluttered, not defaced by the innumerable memorials to 18th century landowners or public figures, and the shrine of St Cuthbert is treated with reverence, candles glowing, a kneeler and prayer-card.....

Over lunch, v. interesting conversation. fascinating, with L., who is studying Anglo-Saxon - all so interesting, especially with reference to Cuthbert, and Bede (also buried in the Cathedral)
....a vast chapter of history about which too little is known.

Friday Feb 9th 2007

I have recieved a charming letter from a little girl in America for whom I have (I hope) organised a British penfriend. This all happened through my Blog, which is most satisfying.

Phone call from a local school, where I am due to give a talk about children's books and magazines. (Reminder: anyone interested in my children's book? Fiction, non-pious, just fun....£5.95p add £1 for postage, for American readers $20 - send comment to this Blog WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS for details....)

A couple of weeks ago an elderly friend sent us a copy of his book about his wartime experiences as a pilot with the South African Air Force. I am often sent books of this kind and don't always find them readable - but this one is really superb. Well written, well illustrated. It is Beaufighter over the Balkans, by Steve Stevens DFC (Pen and Sword books, 47 Church Street, Barnsley S.Yorks S70 2A email enquiries@pen-andc-sword.co.uk) The most moving section is the one about the tragic Warsaw Uprising of 1944 when the brave Poles of the Home Army rose to claim their city and drive out the German forces, in expectation of the Russians advancing across the Vistula. The Russians deliberately delayed, allowing the Poles to fight on, with limited supplies of food and ammunition, until they were eventually starved into submission....the British sent over some supplies by plane but this involved a flights of over 1,000 miles across enemy territory, and not many made it. Steve also flew in the Berlin Airlift...extraordinary and powerful story of how the West faced down the Soviets and retained West Berlin's freedom....Jamie and I got to know Steve through various Christian activities (Steve is a keen Evangelical and settled in Britain after many years with a missionary aviation organisation serving remote areas of Africa....) and in all the years we have worked with him, we never knew he had this extraordinary and impressive tale to tell....

Thursday Jan 8th 2007

GOOD CONTACTS

With thick snow, gradually turning to slush, limiting travel, my lunch-appointment in London was cancelled so I have had a day at the computer, interrupted only by slushy trips to the Post Office and shops.

There are some excellent Catholic blogs around. Try this one, from Kevin Tierney, an American writer. And also the excellent Against the Grain which is part of the Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club. Both these blogs have been courageous in tackling the question of esoteric, but nominally Catholic, columnists or bloggers who are actually very anti-Jewish and write horrible things about the Jewish people. This seems to be an American problem - I haven't sensed anything of this sort here - but ever since I got a nasty email from a (Catholic) campaigner denouncing the Holy Father for visiting a synagogue, I have been uncomfortably aware that this is something that needs to be tackled.

While I enjoy reading blogs, especially those which read like a good, crunchy, well-argued piece of journalism rather than a ramble around some one's muddled opinions, what is really satisfying about a sudden free day is the amount of work that can be done. Several feature articles written and sent off, and a number of letters and mundane jobs sorted out. When I've finished this blog entry, I shall increase my sense of wellbeing by doing some hoovering.

This weekend we are off to see a dear niece currently studying in a great university city.

Wed Feb 7th

LOVELY BABY......
Fleeting visit to see enchanting new baby born to local friends....the fifth child of the E. family, whose oldest son Thomas is my godson. The newborn baby, curled up in his mother's arms, was fast sleep, warm and content. I had just dropped by with a bottle of wine and some crackers to celebrate. (Another note for Americans: here, crackers AREN'T biscuits, but are those things you have for celebrations with children...oh, made of silver paper and with a thing that goes "bang" when you pull, and inside there is a little toy, and a riddle, and maybe a silly hat....)

Baby William will be baptised in a couple of weeks, and we are invited. His parents are a simply wonderful couple, with whom we have sat and talked and laughed and had so many happy times....among their jolliest celebrations was a "Pope Party" to celebrate the election of our dear Holy Father, Papa Benedict......

EXCELLENT WORDS

Which reminds me, the H. Father has given a wonderful and touching message to the young people preparing for World Youth Day (Sydney, 2008...the preparations look good, and the Aussies have been looking forward to this for a long time...we have friends who are v. involved....). There is a special message dedicated to young people who are engaged to be married.(You can read it on Fr Tim Finigan's blog. Would be excellent to reproduce for marriage preparation talks.....

COLD!!
At last, a really cold wintry day. Carshalton Ponds partly frozen over when I cycled over to meet Mother there for a walk. There's a local Ecology Centre - rather pretentiously-named, but a good idea and interesting to walk around, although on our Dec, Jan and Feb walks we have been the only visitors....aim is to get local schoolchildren interested in the natural world, so there are places for birds to nest, and hedges created to harbour wildlife etc etc....a shelter where the pupils sit for lectures, and a "listening circle" where they are meant to sit on logs with their eyes shut and hear the birds (er...and the traffic roaring by on the nearby road, alas). We enjoyed the walk and then were ready for some tea. GREAT BRITISH TRADITION: it was Wednesday, early-closing day, and the two teashops in the village were closed!! How daft can you get....I thought these days things had moved on....tealess I saw M. on to the bus and then had a chilly ride home....

Forecast is snow for tomorrow.

While on the subject of British traditions....I was amused at a comment to this Bliog with an all-too-apt description of the (ghastly!)Traditional British Sunday Lunch. However, I have to disappoint him - my reference to last Sunday's meal was to the concept of traditional eating in general, rather than to the British menu: our host on this occasion was Belgian, and we ate an excellent meal, meat cooked deliciously with herbs, followed by a tarte citron of memorable quality....

Wed Feb 7th

CATENIANS

Last night I was invited to speak at a delightful dinner arranged by the Catenian Association....for American readers (and any others who don't know what Catenians are: this is a Catholic men's group, raises money for charity, organises Catholic events...a bit like a sort of Catholic version of the Rotary Club....). It was held at the RAC Club in Epsom. (OK, ok, for Americans again: RAC=Royal Automobile Club...originally for motorists to join when cars were a rare and strange hobby....now the RAC Club in London and the country one in Epsom are simply v.v. beautiful club-houses suitable for dinners, wedding receptions etc). I looked on the map, thought it would be easy to reach by bike...put bike on train to Epsom, cycled out along the planned route...it got darker and darker, and more rural...no street-lights....hadn't realised that the Club was on the outskirts of Epsom Downs....had to knock on door of local house to ask directions, and am sure they thought I was a potential burglar casing the place.....anyway, on arrival, warm greeting, met several good friends, delicious dinner, all v. companionable and friendly.... spoke on "Our traditional feasts and seasons" , v. good atmosphere, good discussion at question-time.

The Catenians have been v. good to us at the "Towards Advent" Festival in Westminster Cathedral every year - have taken on the dogsbody work of hiring tables, keeping accounts, etc. and I am v.v. grateful to them

As dinner ended, consternation expressed at my cycling back, and the nice chairman and his wife put my bike in the back of their car and drove me home.

Jamie rolled his eyes "For Heaven's sake, I could have told you not to go out there by bike....I bet you arrived looking a mess." Which last was alas probably true.....

Tuesday Feb 6th

IN THE CATHOLIC PRESS
Current issue of Catholic Times has a review (by me) of Josephine Robinson's new booklet about Pope John XX111. (Catholic Truth Society, £1.95p). It's amazing the myth that has grown up around this Pope: he actually wrote and said a lot of things that today would be regareded as hugfely politically-incorrect. And he was certainly an extremely old-fashioned Catholic, with liturgical and doctrinal ideas that today would place him firmly in the ultra-orthodox camp. People who have not read or studied his life and work - including the group "We are Church" which campaigns for, among other things, ordination of priestesses - have adopted him as a hero but discovering the real man is much more interesting.

In the same here is also a v. amusing letter from Fiorella Nash about the National Board of Catholic Women. Oh, do buy the paper and read it. If you enjoy this blog, why not get the Catholic Times every week, where you can read my column and soak up informatio on celebrating all the feasts and seasons of the Church's year? (You can pick it up at most Catholic churches, or get a subscription - they are doing a special offer at the moment which involves them giving a donation to a charity of your choice too. Contact kevin.flaherty@totalcatholic.com )

AND ON RADIO

Phone call from Radio 5Live - they want me to do a debate late on Sunday night about children. Recently the Holy Father pointed out that attitudes to family life are distorted - people see children as an optional extra, even as a sort of threat, taking something away from their own lives and their own pleasures. These profoundly wrong attitudes mean a loss of a sense of hope in the future.

Well, of course, suggesting that people should be open to life and should be glad to welcome children - and to point out that without children there is no future whatever - is to invite the wrath of those who are so obessed with the contraceptive idea that they can no longer think logically at all. So one such angry campaigner will be denouncing the Pope on this radio debate, and I'll be defending him. Tune in. Radio 5Live 11pm on Sunday night.

Europe is dying. All countries except Malta and Ireland now have birth rates that are below replacement rate. Most people in Europe - although not, it has to be said, most of the Catholic and also Evangelical families I number among my friends - see children as a pleasant and delightful accessory, in limited numbers. But the idea that children are a blessing, the natural fruit of married love, a gift from God and an assurance of the future....such an idea, a rich part of our Christian understanding of life, God, and the reason for our existence, is deemed to be old-fashioned, even harsh and repressive. It's all desperately sad. Imagine actually having to debate the fact that children are the future, and the right of a Christian leader to affirm,teach, and celebrate that truth.

Tune in - and join in: it's a phone-in programme and anyone can take part.

Mon Feb 5th

Not sure if I have mentioned before - anyway I am now mentioning again - the beautiful little book "THE MASS - illustrated for children" published by Second Spring. It costs just £5 and would be a boon to any family. The booklet makes the Mass easy to follow - has the full text, with the priest's words in red - but what makes it a joy is the beautiful quality of the illustrations, which have a gently Medieval feel, and also express theological concepts very well. Thus, in the Canon, the words "We pray that your Angel may take this sacrifice to your altar in Heaven...." are written into the wings of an angel who with downcast eyes and reverent look, is there beside the Chalice and Paten....and there is a wonderful picture of the Church on earth, with all sorts of people, led by the Holy Father and including old people, babies, sick people, a bishop, nuns, daddies with children held aloft etc etc all facing Heaven where Our Lady and the saints are waiting....every turn of every page is a quiet joy. Yours to enjoy, too. Includes extra prayers such as the "Hail, Holy Queen...."

PROBLEM MORNING

Bike had two punctures. Foot functioning badly. Lots to do. Bike to mender's. Doctor's appt. Various parcels to Post Office. Shopping. Finally settled at bus stop (£2 for one ride! Golly. Can't wait to get bike back!). Shopping slithered off narrow bench and bottle of olive oil shattered on pavement. As I mopped it up, cutting my hand in the process, the bus came. Oil everywhere, complete mess, shards of glass difficult to grasp with pages torn from back of Daily Telegraph (didn't want to spoil interesting bits of the paper - brilliant feature by Janet Daley and some amusing letters re Blair)....

But life has its pleasures. As I settled back, gripping the rest of my shopping with one hand while staunching blood from the other, a passenger next to me said thoughtfully "I can imagine throwing the Guardian or Independent on the ground, but it does seem such a waste to do it with the Telegraph, doesn't it?". I did so agree with him, and we had a pleasant and amusing chat, and by the time the next bus arrived everything seemed much funnier and more enjoyable....

Monday Feb 5th

A very jolly weekend with two parties - an engagement party on Saturday evening in London (lots of pleasant young people, pink champagne, agreeable chats about wedding plans, long talks with older friends) and then a birthday party in Oxfordshire on Sunday (leisurely traditional lunch, pink champagne, log fire, tea with home-made cake).

The Sunday party was preceded by attendance with our host and hostess at their local (Anglican) church. Some v. agreeable hearty hymn-singing of some of Charles Wesley's best. A goodish number of young families. At one point, introducing prayers, there was supportive mention of stand taken by Catholic bishops on adoption policy. Simple - extremely simple, almost austere except for a pleasing anthem - Communion service. (I have a dislike of fussy liturgy). Glorious church, with Norman tower and lovely Lady chapel with newly-restored statue.

OH, and before anyone gets worried and starts writing cross comments to this Blog..., no we didn't take part in Communion, and yes, I know it wasn't a Mass, and obviously I went to Mass earlier and am perfectly aware of all the issues involved..........

Sat Feb 3rd

MUST-READ

Do read the Spiegel's feature on Pope Benedict (I've linked you to the English version) - an excellent commentary on this papacy. At last some of the media are getting beyond the Ratzinger-bashing to the real story.

A golden sunny day, and the crocuses are out in the garden - started as tiny purple spears this morning and are now open.

(Terrifying headines in all the press about global warming. Whatever the facts, this extraordinary winter-without-a-winter has made us all think there may be something in it).

I have been sent a copy of David Morrison's "Beyond Gay" (Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, USA) - an excellent read. It explains very well how old-fashioned and heavily condemnatory approaches to the subject from Christians played into homosexual-activists' hands. A debate in a college magazine about a plan to ban funding for the Gay and Lesbian Student Union:"I wrote from my recent, real-life experience of growing up with same-sex attraction in solation, loneliness and fear and the liberation I found as part of GLSU. The Christian wrote the homosexuality was a sin, an overturning of the moral order, and deserved to be condemned. When the measure came before the student government, student lawmakers voted it down overwhlemingly." In due time, Morrison found that "gay activism" and an accompanying lifestyle didn't make life bearable, didn't lead anywhere, caused only anguish, and found a wholly new and different way in Christ. His description of this journey, and of how this whole issue should be handled, are of extraordinary value in our current debates. He quotes the approach given in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2357, 2358, 2359) with approval, together with the 1986 letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith detailing pastoral approaches, and sees this as the way forward.This is an issue that isn't going to go away.

BREAK-IN AT THE ORATORY !

After a cheery talkative supper at the Rembrandt Hotel, opposite Brompton Oratory, I went to collect my bike and ride home. Ooops. Bike securely padlocked inside the Oratory gates. Gates locked. Fortunately the railings are not too high and the spikes quite far apart. So I hitched up my skirt and climbed over. The harder part was heaving the bike over without letting it crash on to the pavement and damage the wheels. Having done that, climbing back over was quite easy. I bicycled swiftly away.

CANDLEMAS Feb 2nd

Every year, about this time of year, an old friend of my dear father drives over to take Mother and me out to lunch. We catch up on news, enjoy a pleasant meal, and talk of my father, of whom all memories are such good and happy ones.

Afterwards I went back to Mother's to put down some new carpet.This involved a good deal of measuring and cutting, and afterwards we both felt very pleased with ourselves. Then we had a game of Scrabble, and she beat me by a narrow margin, thanks to a brilliant use of a "z" on a double-word score. Then we both admired the carpet a bit more, had tea, and I cycled off to Brompton Oratory for Candlemas.

Glowing candles, heavenly music, and the largness of that magnificent church - all a perfect way to round off the Christmas season. Afterwards, having padlocked my bike securely inside the Oratory gates, I enjoyed a pleasant supper with Margaret from Aid to the Church in Need, and Magdalena from the Portugese office of the charity, whom I had so signally failed to meet earlier this week (see Wednesday's blog).

Thursday Feb 1st
Tomorrow is Candlemas and we will take down the Crib, which has been up since late December.

Today I invested in some sensible shoes. Foot still uncomfortable. Came home and settled down at the computer to get lots of work done.

In a few days, my oldest nephew gets married in Australia. We have sent presents, of course, and a message to be read out., and we'll be thinking of them all.

Family weddings give one a perspective on time. Nephew O. was a tiny boy at our wedding, looking solemnly out from the family group in the wedding-pic which is near me as I write. I remember playing with him in the garden before going off to get changed into my wedding-dress and veil: the lawn had been freshly-mown and we were piling up the cuttings and playing with them...... It just doesn't seem that long ago. But since then we've had the fall of Communism and the reshaping of the political and ideological map of Europe, the arrival of computers in our homes and in our lives, mobile phones, and talk of climate change and global warming. Actually, the 1980s are a different era. What changes will O. and his bride see over the first quarter-century of their married life?

Thursday Feb 1st

WORTH READING....

In the post today, A Cairn of Small Stones, by John Watts (available from Mungo books 0141 552 5523), a beautifully-written and delightful story about a Scottish Catholic family at the time of the Jacobite Rising in 1745. Any enthusiast for Bonnie Prince Charlie will love this book. It's a compelling read, with charming detail, written by some one who knows and loves the Highlands. It is without affectation or unneccessary "twee" bits of bogus Highland-isms, just a first-rate tale, well told, which takes us right into the lives and beliefs of Catholics living and honouring their Faith in difficult times two and a half centuries ago. Buy it and enjoy it.

I know the author - he is one of our wonderful team of diocesan workers for Aid to the Church in Need, who go to parishes to talk about the needs of Catholics worldwide who are being persecuted for their Faith or are oppressed by poverty and war.

The book's cover has a lovely illustration of craggy mountains and the book is pleasing to handle, a paperback but of hardback quality. I do most warmly recommend it.

Wed Jan 31st

JOLLY UNCOMFORTABLE

For some weeks I have had a rather painful foot, and suddenly in these last few days and nights it has become much worse, so today I finally made a medical appointment to get it sorted out. With a busy day planned, I was able to get a late appointment - 8pm. Hobbled off to see a friend, J, who has just had a new baby: it was bliss to sit in a rocking-chair at her house, foot propped up on a stool, with the delicious, tiny, warm, enchanting little baby girl in my arms as we chatted and caught up on news and views. There are two delightful little boys - very happy and proud of their baby sister - and one helped to open the present that I had brought, a patchwork cot-quilt ( love doing patchwork - v. satisfying to watch it grow and to match up colours, and it is easy to carry about and do on train journeys ) It was with great reluctance that I left, to hobble off in the evening twilight.....

On to Westminster Cathedral Hall, which was packed for the launch of a new DVD and booklet, produced jointly by the Catholic Truth Society and Luton Good Counsel: The Joy of God's Plan, on the Church's teaching on marriage and fertility. Archbishop Kevin McDonald of Southwark spoke, and on a large screen they showed extracts from the DVD: it is all high-quality, and very attractive. This is going to be of huge value to marriage-preparation groups and is something that will change the focus and approach of the Church's work in this area in Britain. Go to www.cts-online.org.uk to get more information.....

At this gathering, I was due to meet a lady from Aid to the Church in Need, visiting from another European country's ACN office, but it was not possible to find her in the crowd, and as I had my medical appointment I had to hobble off again, leaving messages for her. Most unsatisfactory. Feeling v. uncomfortable about this, I made my way to the station and thence to have my foot examined....by the time I got there it was feeling very odd indeed. It turns out that there has indeed been something wrong, and all my own fault because of wearing ill-shaped boots ("you see the bones have been forced in opposite directions...it's really a bit like a form of deliberate torture." Gulp.) Am now at home and bandaged.

AND MEANWHILE THE DEBATE GOES ON

Lots and lots of comments to this blog - not all of which I have published. I don't mind people being offensive about me, but from now on I won't publish material that is gross, or insults the Church, the Holy Father, or priests in general. Wise advice from a priest, a fellow-blogger, who said that if really vile stuff gets sent in "Delete it at once, say a Hail Mary, and move on to the next task". I shall do that. I will also not publish stuff that is rambling, too confused, or simply reveals some one's personal difficulties and is not really appropriate for general reading.

Can't resist commenting on the person who wrote in noting that I probably have homosexual friends, colleagues, acquaintances. Well of course I do! All of us have friends of all sorts and I certainly don't check people's moral or social or physical or mental or spiritual status before I engage in normal friendly convivilialty with them. Do you? Er....and do you expect that everyone will share your religious or other convictions? Golly, I don't. I know perfectly well that lots and lots of people disagree with me, particularly on religious issues.

Meanwhile Melanie Phillips has an excellent article in today's Daily Mail: "Same-sex couples are not hurt by Christians choosing not to place children with them any more than, say, a Conservative Party activist would be hurt by a Labour MP who chose not to hire him as a spin-doctor.

"It is not gays who will be hurt by these regulations but Christians, who will be forcibly prevented from acting in accordance with their beliefs...

"....This is but the latest move against religion by a culture which believes that only secularism provides freedom. This is a big mistake.

"Our liberal values arise from our Judeo-Christian tradition. Eradicate that, and you will destroy not only individual freedom but also the civil society formed by the diverse institutions it creates, to be replaced instead by repression, uniformity and intolerance.

"If the Catholic adoption charities are forced to pull down the shutters, it will also be liberal Britain that turns out the lights."

Wed Jan 31st

AND MEANWHILE......

A comment to this blog (which I haven't published, as it was rather muddled) claims that if one tries to affirm traditional Catholic teaching on homosexuality, some one is bound to be able to say "Well, the Pope doesn't agree with you!" or "The New Catechism doesn't agree with y0u!" Uh? The Pope most certainly DOES affirm traditional Catholic teaching, and did so again just this week, in a clear-cut statement against same-sex "marriage" in an important speech to the Roman Rota, the Church's highest marriage tribunal. It is not the first, or the second, or the third, time he has spoken out, with great seriousness and with marked publicity, on this subject, and as events unfold across the various countries of once-Christian Europe, I daresay he will speak out again.

And the Catechism speaks with an extremely clear voice on this subject too: much clearer in fact than the old "Penny Catechism" which referred to the subject with Biblical quotations, in language that was clear to those who understood the relevant word, but otherwise covered with a certain discreet Biblical allusion. It was possible - although dishonest and totally wrong - to claim that the "Penny Catechism" - based on the Catechism of the Council of Trent - didn't actually teach that all homosexual activity was sinful, as the relevant Old Testament words could be interpreted to mean something else. The new Catechism, however, while also referring to Scripture, devotes a whole section to the subject with an explicit and detailed analysis, allowing of no ambiguity whatsoever, and stressing that the homosexual inclination is in itself disordered (something largely omitted in previous materials aimed at the ordinary Christian, probably because it simply didn't need to be said as the subject was not one for common debate) and giving the reasons why homosexual activity is contrary to God's plan for the human race. It also offers a pastoral approach which emphasises the value of each human being and the need for sensitivity and respect towards everyone.

Tuesday Jan 30th

AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED

To a Board meeting of ACN at Brompton Oratory. As always, lots to discuss.....at 12 noon, we always stop and say the Angelus. The Oratory's bell rings out across South Kensington in a most reassuring way, and calls us to prayer. It was Sir John Biggs-Davison MP, a member of the ACN Board over twenty years ago, who first got us responding to the bell's call, and we have never omitted the prayer since....and always remember him.....

Each diocese now has a representative of ACN who visits parishes to speak about the work and appeal for funds: the needs just continue to rise as there are projects in the Middle East where the Christian community is so hard-pressed, and the vast new openings in China, and continuing work in the former Soviet Union's distant regions where there are small Catholic communities.....ACN is the only Catholic charity specifically committed to funding the pastoral needs of Catholics who are oppressed and struggling, and its track record goes right back to the bitterest days of Stalin's persecutions in Eastern Europe, and to the ruined cities of Germany and displaced people struggling to make homes in bombed-out cities.....

Tuesday Jan 30th
On Saturday evening we went to a wonderful performance of "The Pirates of Penzance" at Richmond's Orange Tree theatre. This was a delightful evening, organised by friends, with a buffet supper at their house beforehand, and delicious cakes and puddings afterwards....and the G and S was simply splendid, very cleverly done and with some extra verses added to the Major-General song to refer to current events, and a wonderful slick ending with some glorious punning on Shakespeare and....oh, just a very authentic Gilbert and Sullivan carried out in modern dress and with a fast pace and magnificent singing. Hugely enjoyable.

Home late, and then I was up early on Sunday morning to get to London from where I was catching a coach to Preston. Dropped in to the Cathedral first: I happened to meet Fr Mark Langham, the administrator, and we had a brief chat. He has always been v. helpful re the "Towards Advent" Festival every Autumn and makes things efficient and pleasant for us.....of course we spoke of the events of this past week, with the Cardinal in the headlines....."tell him he's got lots of support......it's just so horribly wrong that a Govt tries to force a Church to act against Church teaching" I said, and hoped that others would be expressing this solidarity too.

To Preston, after a long coach journey during which I completed a patchwork quilt I have been making for a friend's new baby. I used to get horribly ill on coaches, but things have improved and the newer coaches are sooooo much smoother and seem to have quite a different feel, and one can read or sew and not feel sick at all. I don't know Preston well, but St Walburga's is easy to find because of its immensly tall spire (third tallest in England? Or so I have been told). Its presbytery now houses a small community of Fanciscan Friars, who have been given the care of the spiritual needs of Catholics at the University of Central Lancashire.

Mass in the small house-chapel, then a chicken-curry fork supper, and chairs drawn up for people to listen to my talk on "Celebrating traditional feasts and seasons". It was a cheery evening, and I enjoyed the company of the students - an international group, with some from India and some from Barbados. Fr Mark, the Guardian of the Franciscans, beamed and seemed v. happy. Taking on the chaplaincy is a big challenge, as the University is in a sense a far-flung organisation, with many students living some distance out of the town, and many on part-time courses, and considerable difficulties to be faced in trying to establish contact with the Catholics among them and communicate the message that there is a Chaplaincy there for them, a centre for evangelisation and faith.....

I stayed the night with kind relations who live in Preston - a warm welcome and a comfortable time of catching up with news, then the next morning a good breakfast and sandwiches for the journey home.....

Tuesday Jan 30th

A busy few days, and I was just settling nicely at the computer this evening, with Jamie at his nearby, enjoying his mug of tea and with his favourite music playing, and everything feeling cosy and getting-on-with-things, when the doorbell rang. We wanted some peace and quiet. V. depressing headlines in the press today:"Catholics defeated on opt-out...." Irritated, I got up rather grumpily to answer the door....

And there was the dear little girl from next door, in a new white dress with ruffles, holding, with great care, a parcel wrapped in silver foil.

"It's my mummy and daddy's wedding anniversary, and we've been having a party, and this is some cake for you."

And inside there was a large and generous wedge of a most delicious light sponge cake, newly-baked and topped with lovely crumbly frosting.

They are an Indian family - wonderful neighbours, with delightful children. They are very devout Christians, When they moved in a year or so ago, they held a little service with prayers and enthusiastic hymns.

Suddenly, this evening seems cheerier and happier. I hugged the little girl, and called out congratulations to her mother, who had come out to see the cake safely handed over, and there was one of those moments of pure sanity and joy in a tiresome and annoying world....and the child skipped happily about, and we told her that being married and having a family is one of the most wonderful and happy things....and now J. and I are enjoying the cake, with a couple of slices saved for tomorrow.

SATURDAY NIGHT - LATE

A Comment to this Blog asks where people can buy my book for girls (it's for ages 9 and up). The answer is that you can get it via Amazon(it is published by GRACEWING BOOKS) or (better!!) directly from me. Send a cheque for £7.95p or US$20 to me: c/o 34 Barnard Gardens New Malden Surrey KT3 6QG England. Make the cheque out to Mrs J.Bogle. (I'll send the American ones by surface mail, so if you want the book more quickly, send me an extra $5 and it will go by airmail).

Also: the nice letter from Miles Jesu who asked me about bicycles - I'm longing to reply to you - but unless you give me an email address, I can't!!!

PLEASE NOTE: comments to this blog automatically cut out your email address unless you include it in the main body of what you are writing. I HAVE NO MEANS OF CONTACTING YOU UNLESS YOU SPECIFICALLY SEND ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS.

NOTE to anguished people who have sent in Comments to this blog because they "just cannot understand" why the Catholic Church teaches that two men cannot marry : a lot of people can help you, but this blog cannot adequately do so. Start with Pope John Paul's "Theology of the Body" and the "Catechism of the Catholic Church - and be open to the possibility that the Church does have the answers to your questions.

ADDICTION....

I am mildly addicted to keeping up with news of the Holy Father and events in the Church - tap "Catholic Benedict Pope" into Google and find out the latest news from Rome. Also, by tapping "Papa Ratzinger Forum" into Google, one can get all sorts of lovely pix of the H. Father - baptising babies in the Sistine Chapel, and chatting to people in St Peter's Square, and blessing people, and hugging children and meeting all sorts of ambassadors (and their wives, all gratfyingly clad in mantillas) in large marbly rooms in the Vatican. Not sure why I need this - I think it's just vaguely reassuring.

Now that the plumber has completed his ministrations here at home we need to think about the kitchen floor, which needs to be redone and the (rather old) lino-tiles are gently rising from their places and tripping us up as we enter and leave. Big discussion as prospect of new-look kitchen v. pleasing.

Sat Jan 27th

HERO......

Cycled to Mother's yesterday evening: it's always so nice to arrive to a warm welcome, glass of sherry, comfortable catching-up on news. We always watch a film together, and this time it was
"Damien of Molokai", MUCH recommended - the story of the hero priest who went to serve the lepers exiled to lives of squalour and misery in Hawaii. I bought the DVD from the CTS bookshop in Westminster Cathedral Piazza. It's immensely powerful - sound of the surf pounding on the beach, and the wind roaring, Damian saying Mass and restoring a disused church, tending to the needs of the hideously wounded people, sucking on his pipe so as to mask the dreadful stench of their sores, holding a dying man in his arms, nagging the authorities for a proper fresh water suppply and for decent food and clothes for the orphaned children.....The story is incredibly inspiring.

Cycled back home this morning, still thinking about Fr Damian and how one ought to do things that are large and generous and noble, and not waste any time. Cycling through local park, fresh early-morning feel, a nice family stood back to let me pass and I sailed happily on, just catching the young mother saying "Don't bother to say thank-you, or anything...." and realised I looked dreadfully rude.....too late to stop and cycle all the way back and apologise and make a point of it.....cycled on feeling suddenly horrid. Oh dear.

Fiday Jan 26th

ODD LOT.....

Golly, some readers of this blog are an odd lot. Some comments - which I have not published - have come in from people who seem to think we should emphatically do nothing to stop the Governmen forcing Catholic organisations to accept adoption of children by active homosexuals. Their reasoning? Apparently some Catholic adoptions over the years have been less than satisfactory and some bishops have allowed this or remained wilfully ignorant of it (eg adoption by single people who might have homosexual tendencies, or to divorced-remarried people). Er....so that makes it acceptable for the Government to force us to accept homosexual adoptions? By this reckoning, Thomas More should have accepted Henry V111's divorce and remarriage on the grounds that there were hideous immoralities among the clergy, and therefore the KIng's attempts to force the Church into submission were acceptable.

I just don't get some of these people. Two or three have written to me with apparent glee noting where Bishops and Cardinals have got things wrong, or pursued policies that have not upheld the Church's moral teachings. (They've omitted our first Pope, who denied the Lord three times....but they focus on more recent activities). They are doubtless glad that the Government's spokesmen, and others who want to curtail the Church's mission, have been making equally gleeful use of this material....and indeed of the fact that it has now been revealed in the recent past children in the care of various Catholic children's societies were abused, sent to Australia in mass emigration schemes of dubious value, etc etc. But I still don't see why that means we have to accept homosexual adoption.

Spent today doing media debates about the Govt's plans. Whatever the Bishops finally decide I feel they have at least put up a fight, and certainly most people in Britain have now learned that the Catholic Church does not accept "gay marriage". Even if lots of people feel they ought to regard that position as bigoted, cruel, homophobic, or whatever, they do at least know it is where the Church officially stands. I suspect that quite a lot do respect the Church for its stand, even though they have to say publicly that they deplore it because it is cruel, oppressive, unjust etc etc......

Personally, I hope the Bishops stick to their guns, and close down the adoption socities rather than accept - even on paper and with private reservations that they will not implement them - the Government's new rules. It is heartbreaking to think that there will be no official and formal way a Catholic mother can seek a specifically Catholic family for the adoption of her child. But there are ways to help achieve it through links with other adoption societies, and it would be better to do this than have official Church institutions legally committed to accepting immoral lifestyles....