Auntie goes to Soho...

...to give a talk to the excellent young people at the St Patrick's School of Mission. A great team, with students from China, Germany, and the USA as well as Britain. We prayed the Rosary together, as they do every day, in the little downstairs chapel before going into the big church for Mass. A little-known fact is that St Patrick's is home to a big Chinese Catholic community - the room where we lunched had lots of cheery Catholic posters and notices in Chinese and is host to the social gatherings after Chinese Masses.

Next week is a party to launch my new Yearbook of Seasons and Celebrations. I shall wear the beautiful new skirt sent to me by my sister in New Zealand, which I also wore for the Catholic Women of the Year Luncheon (see blog entry for a few days ago)....I know it's a bit daft to write about clothes on a blog, but this skirt really is a joy, all swishy and delightful, fits like a dream, and gives huge pleasure, and was commented on very favourably by other guests. As I not infrequently have a just-arrived-by-bike-sorry-I-look-a-mess appearance, it was gratifying to have a different feel...

In November I'm off to Bath where I'm speaking to Catholic groups at Bath and Bath Spa universities. I'll also be speaking at Prior Park School, as part of the Tamezin project on journalism.

An excellent report from Rome, at the ordination to the diaconate of a number of young men, including the son of friends of ours...it was evidently a glorious occasion. The North American College, where all the young deacons have been studying, now has more students than at any time in the last 40 years...

News today about the Holy Father having a warm and friendly meeting with Jewish leaders. A while back, I was sent some horrid anti-Jewish material, denouncing the Pope, from a group claiming to be Catholic. I am proud of our courageous Holy Father who quietly and prayerfully does the right thing and shows us how we should behave.

Brompton Oratory...

...is magnificent in its solidity, standing appropriately next to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. I spent all of Sunday morning there - and indeed part of Saturday evening too. I was handing out leaflets for the Towards Advent Festival (Sat Nov 3rd, Westminster Cathedral Hall...oh I know you are tired of having me mention it all the time...but be there!!). The Saturday evening Mass has the Schola of the London Oratory school - wonderful singing. The 10 am Mass has an excellent children's choir - both girls and boys - and then of course there is the famous professional choir at the big 11 am High Mass, all very glorious. Always lots of small children - there is a strong family feel to the 10 am Mass, and at the eleven o'clock small wriggling running-about children are awed into something like silence by the fabulous music and - if they are pointed towards the altar and given a chance to see things - by the candles and incense and so on.

I do wish parents would take advantage of some of the really lovely prayer-books and other religious items for children that are now available. It seems mean to bring them into church empty-handed, as Mass can sometimes seem long. The publishers at Second Spring have done a superb job with their beautiful Mass book by Susan Bateman - incidentally their website has lots of other very good things too.

Jamie has been in Rome, at the diaconate ordination of James M, son of some friends. He brought home the beautiful order of service, which has most interesting information about St Peter's and especially at high altar and the Chair. Mass has been celebrated there, and St Peter's successors have been there, all in an unbroken link, down all the years from the Church's first dawning years.

This afternoon an Autumnal walk with F., a friend visiting from Ukraine - we followed the trail of our local small river, the Beverley Brook, which sparkles along behind houses and in sudden culverts, and still forms the official boundary between the two local Boroughs, as it has done since Medieval times. We diverted to drop into the local Catholic church as I wanted to pick up a copy of the Catholic Times (my feature this week was about St Denis - why not just buy the paper and read my column each week, if you enjoy this Blog?). F. was impressed by the large numbers of young people as the place was very full.

Pottering in the kitchen...

...this morning, I heard the sound of a strumming guitar and young voices singing next door. It was not, to be frank, very good guitar-strumming. One found oneself vaguely allowing it to float into the brain...and I suddenly realised I was hearing the words "Christ is risen..Christ will come again..." and that the girl next door and some friends were practising something for Mass.

I'm not a fan of guitar-music in church - it doesn't work well, kills off the possibility of good congregational singing, usually has tunes that are trite and often words that are pretty soppy too (though these have marginally improved since the '70s). I would perhaps have been happier if I had heard young voices raised in a simple but beautiful Kyrie, a glorious rendition of the Credo, or just a fine old hymn with a good tune...but for all that...somehow...there is something mildly heart-lifting about teenagers singing about God in a suburban garden on a September morning.

Lunching...

... with some 250 other women...golly, the NOISE!! But the Catholic Women of the Year Luncheon is always fun, and this year I sat between Aghi Clovis, who is one of the four Catholic Women of the Year, and Sara Johnson, author and journalist, who was our guest speaker. Sara spoke extremely well, amusingly and frankly, putting the human and biological reality of marriage and children across in a superb analysis of why human beings need families. It was funny, forthright, and honest - and she murmured to me beforehand that some of it might be just a little too frank, and should she give a warning about this as there were some children present? We discussed, and I hurried off to warn the young mother of the children in question - who said breezily oh, not to worry, they very likely wouldn't be listening anyway, it would all go over their heads...and she was quite right. The boys, very cheery and looking v. nice in their best jackets and crisp shirts, were enjoying themselves and like most sensible children didn't bother about all the grown-up speeches at all.

The four Catholic Women of the Year included pub landlady Bridie Morrissey, Jo Norton a worker for seafarers with the Apostleship of the Sea, Ann Widdecombe MP - unfortunately unable to attend - and Aghi Clovis, already mentioned, of Human Life International. Chairman Jan Woodford presided, and there were speakers from the two charities we were supportinmg this year, Rainbow International - which helps children suffering bereavement or family break-up - and the Medaille Trust, which runs homes for victims of sex-trafficking.

There is always an atmosphere of goodwill, with people able to celebrate values that matter in a friendly and cheerful way... The Catholic Women of the Year are chosen from a vast number nominated, all with inspiring stories, and you realise just what a lot of goodwill there is around. They invariably dislike having their achievements paraded, but I can't resist mentioning Mrs Morrissey, with whom I had a lovely chat...her nomination had described so many quietly good things..helping out people in difficulties, taking in children needing care, running a prayer-group, and having an open-house at Christmas for anyone who might otherwise be alone...and Mrs Norton, whose work involves meeting ships and helping with the things matter to seafarers miles from home: phone calls, getting to a bank, buying neccesities for the next journey - and also arranging for them to get to Mass, to have rosaries, prayer-books, contact with the Faith, the knowledge that the Church is there for them even when miles out at sea...

Aghi Clovis is a great friend so it was a joy to be next to her at lunch. You simply must come and hear her speak, about her journey from Islam to the Church, at the Towards Advent Festival - Saturday November 3rd, Westminster Cathedral Hall.

Latest edition of VOICES, magazine of Women for Faith and Family, in the USA, arrives. If you enjoy this blog, you might enjoy some of the features I've written for the magazine, so try this link.

Traditional Catholic teaching...

... on marriage can be conveyed in new ways and has the power to inspire, especially if it's all seen in the fresh light of Pope John Paul's "Theology of the body". It is a privilege to be part of a team leading talks and discussions on this with young couples preparing for marriage in London. I was doing this on Tuesday with couples gathered at St Mary's Cadogan Street, Chelsea. Rain was lashing down, and it was rather exciting cycling there from Waterloo, across the river and round Parliament Square, up past Westminster Cathedral and on past the Royal Hospital (which is having a major rebuilding programme - giving our old soldiers good quality care, which they certainly deserve and have earned).

Earlier, I had had a gloriously long talkative lunch with a longstanding friend, C. - we first met years ago when I was editing the Roman Chronicle magazine, to which she contributed regular features. Over pizza and a series of cups of coffee, - and, in my case, a delicious piece of chocolate cake - we talked over a great many things ... gosh, what a gift friendship is! She also gave me a couple of religious medals - one shows Pope Benedict (of whom we are both huge fans) and the shrine of Our Lady at Altotting. Later, at Chelsea, the parish priest kindly blessed the medals for me and I am now wearing the Altotting one.

Balham...

...Catholic church, dedicated to the Holy Ghost, is in a corner of an agreeable square and has a cosy feel on an Autumn evening. Busy parish, and a very young one, lots of families with small children. FORUM CHRISTI is a Sunday evening gathering for the late-teens-and-twenties. Good atmosphere, warm welcome, tolerance of my less than slick use of power-point in talk on Papa Benedict, shared enthusiasm for the subject, real engagement and interest, and several people bought my books!

John Pontifex was there, having just run a half-marathon around Tooting Common raising funds for Aid to the Church in Need (see yesterday's Blog - helping beleagured Christians in the Holy Land). He had gone home, showered, changed, and was at the meeting full of energy!

I had begun the day in my own parish, where there was a Fayre in aid of the young people going to World Youth Day. I bought some nice things for Christmas ( hidden now in cupboard. Makes one feel v. smug to be so well prepared this early) and chatted to two students from Wonersh seminary who were there for the day - most encouraging. There was also a most gratifying moment when a lovely reader of this blog told me she'd bought some of my crab apple jelly!

From there I cycled to Carshalton, where Mother and I had our usual agreeable Sunday afternoon walk and Tea - seagulls around Carshalton Ponds as they have flown in from the coast as Autumn gathers, children shrieking and squeaking on the swings and slides in the park by The Grove. After seeing M. on to the bus, I cycled off, following the Wandle river down to Mitcham. I have lived this this corner of the world from childhood but never followed the Wandle along this stretch - there's a whole area that is really semi-rural tucked in between Mitcham and Colliers Wood, lots of it, with suburban houses facing away from an enchanting river-path, and clear water gurgling along with trees and grassy areas...then you emerge into South London proper, and are back on that great road that was old in Saxon times, and today is all Asian shops, and a great Islamic centre, and lively cafes and street-stalls, and shops selling great sticky sweets after Ramadan.

After my talk at Balham I cycled all the way home, so I must have covered a good many miles in all. I passed what was my old office when I worked on the South London News - it's now an ordinary shop. It was shabby and tired when I worked there in the 80s, and there was a horrible scary basement reached by a trap-door, where the old back copies were stacked. No one ever went there except to haul up an old bound volume for research when writing the "fifty years ago" snippet each week. Huge spiders, and a dusty placard on the wall which, through its layers of grime, still read "Please leave this air-raid shelter as you would like to find it".

What an extraordinary experience...

...to be part of a glorious Sung Mass in Westminster Cathedral with the Archbishop of Galilee as preacher! Beautiful music, the timeless words of the Mass, swirls of incense, vast crowds, some chattering tourists awed into silence as the First Reading from the Book of Daniel was announced, the usual great mixture of ages and races and types of people in the congregation...

Archbishop Elias Chacour has been in Britain as a guest of Aid to the Church in Need, and was the top speaker at a conference this weekend at Westminster. The Mass launched the conference and he made a notable figure as he walked to the lectern to preach: the Archbishop is of the Melkite Rite and wore his traditional robe, cross and headpiece - he had us spellbound as he told us about what it is like for Christians today in the Holy Land, caught between the Israeli authorities and the world of Islam, forgotten by much of the rest of the Christian community in Europe and elsewhere, seen as tiresome and an irritant, living almost as refugees in their own homeland.

His message was absolutely rooted in a appeal for kindliness, common sense, neighbourliness, and peace - there was no rancour here and no politicking. Jews and Christians in the Holy Land, he said, do not need to be taught how to get along with one another - they only need to remember how they have managed to do so over many centuries, and claim that heritage. His plea that we should know abut the Christians there, holding fast to their faith and traditions, facing poverty and exile, uncertain of what the future holds.

He spoke with humour - enjoys pointing out that Christ too was "a man from Galilee" - and with a love of his heritage, talking about the olive groves, the smiles of the children, the language and the customs of his people. He spoke with passion and with warmth, recognising the tragic history of the Jewish people in the 20th century, appealing for understanding.

After the Mass, crowds waited in Ambrosden Avenue to pack into the Cathedral Hall for the conference. In addition to hearing about the Holy Land, we had a young speaker from China (a member of the young international team based at St Patrick's, Soho Square), and ACN's own John Pontifex talking about his recent visits to Eritrea and Ethiopia, plus Director Neville Kyrke-Smith giving us the latest news from the former Soviet Union...it was a terrifically interesting, inspiring, and challenging day.

You can help the Christians in the Holy Land by buying some of the lovely Christmas gifts they make out of olive wood - and while doing that, don't miss the beautiful cards and notelets printed with designs drawn by a Bishop while imprisoned in China - this brave man has since died in prison, a hero of the faith - and the range of inspiring books also now available from Aid to the Church in Need.

Bishop Peter Elliott...

newly-appointed Bishop in Melbourne, Australia, is visiting Britain. Our friendship with him goes back nearly thirty years...it was an absolute delight to see him. We joined him at St Patrick's, Soho Square, (see pic) for a wonderful talkative dinner on Wednesday, hosted by the splendid Fr Alexander Sherbrook. Bishop Peter had just come from Rome, where he was attending a sort of "staff course" for Bishops. In Australia, one of his main projects is the John Paul 11 Institute for Marriage and Family - I wish we had something like this in Britain.

St Patrick's is of course a wonderful place - a church packed with history, prayer, good activities, young people, and a great sense of mission. A soup-run takes food, faith and hope around Soho, young people attend a School of Evangelisation, it is home to a big Chinese community which meets for Mass, ditto Brazilians and various others, it is involved with the Cenacolo project helping people move on from drugs-and-alcohol addictions...oh, and lots more. And it's desperately in need of funds. This is one of London's great institutions - linked with Archbishop Fulton Sheen (he worked here when in London and wrote extensively about his experiences here), with various show-business people who worshipped here or were married here or came here for hope and help...It was fairly badly bashed in WW11 and then repaired, but now time and wear-and-tear have taken a terrible tool of ceilings, walls, fabric, wiring, you name it...and it needs a great deal of money to get the work done. There's an appeal, and a lot of goodwill - and you could join in, if you simply log on to the website I've given...

This is...

...the church of St James, Spanish Place, in London, where the Association of Catholic Women held its annual meeting at the weekend. I went along with Mother - a most enjoyable and interesting day. There was an talk from Mgr Langham of Westminster Cathedral, giving a sort of "behind the scenes" view of Cathedral life and explaining the role of a cathedral in relation to the diocese and the parishes, and then a wonderful look at some traditional English shrines of Our Lady in an illustrated talk by Anne Vail, whose book on the subject (published by Gracewing) is the fruit of a great deal of careful research and an evident love of her subject. I had not known there was once "Our Lady of Coventry" and "Our Lady of Doncaster". I did know about Our Lady of Caversham, as we have been there more than once, and indeed one of my godsons made his First Communion there.

The church's address is always given as Spanish Place, because of its historic links - its predecessor was a Spanish embassy chape. The present magnificent building retains strong links with Spain, the Ambassador attending an annual Mass in honour of St James, etc - but it is really in George Street, in that slightly villagey part of London around Marylebone High Street and not far from Baker Street. There is a fine statue of Sherlock Holmes near Baker Street tube station. Oddly, the only time I have ever had my handbag grabbed from me by a thief in a London street was in Baker Street, near Holmes' fictional home.

After the AGM, Mother was met by my brother who took her off for a family weekend at their new home.

The ACW has had a successful year, with activities ranging from fund-raising for a clinic for children with Downs, to organising the annual Religious Education project for primary schools...oh, and we'll be running, as usual, the refreshments at the Towards Advent Festival on November 3rd at Westminster Cathedral Hall (some of my blackberry jam on sale). Weve had correspondence with various Government departments about such horrors as the revolting and vicious notion that gravely ill pateints should be denied water in hospital

The Thames in September...

...can be glorious. We had niece L. staying with us over the weekend and spent Sunday afternoon on the river. Things began with Sung Mass at Westminster Cathedral (if you live in or near London and haven't heard that glorious choir, you are missing something excellent) and then some hurrying about arranging which boat and where to meet etc...a picnic lunch in St James' Park - reached via streets packed with cyclists as there was a massive and very cheerful cycling rally in London all day...and then a splendid bit of just-to-the-minute timing as Jamie joined us on the pier moments before the boat was due to leave - and off we all went together, chugging along past the Palace of Westminster and down on towards Hammersmith and Putney and Mortlake and Kew.

The commentaries on the boats are priceless, as anyone who has experienced one of them will know...and there are some nuggets of information there: I had no idea, for instance, that the (Latin) words of the Our Father are carved in the stonework of the Houses of Parliament, along with all the kings and queens and heraldic devices...

At Kew, we disembarked, and walked down to the Green - where one can have tea in the churchyard of St Anne's church - all done by volunteers, and proper scones with jam and cream, and cake. There was cricket on the green, and the golden September sun filtering through the trees, and the bell ringing for Evensong.

If you enjoy Auntie Joanna's blog...

...you might enjoy this feature, just published in the new on-line version of an American magazine, Crisis...

Another kind donation for World Youth Day (following my cycle ride) arrived today, from an elderly lady of 88 in Cornwall...saying she'd love to meet the Holy Father, but is too old to travel and couldn't afford Australia anyway, but here is something for the young people...things like this make one gulp. I am saving up some of these letters to show to some of the young people when I speak at one of their meetings in a couple of months' time.

Further to the information on my blog yesterday about Aid to the Church in Need, a young staff member there is running a half-marathon in aid of Christians in the Holy Land. Read about it here.

My niece is coming to stay for the weekend, and we are hugely looking forward to this: we have planned a "Thomas More day" with a trip to Hampton Court, because we have been watching (OK, re-watching) A Man for all Seasons with its lovely scenes of a particular stretch of the river that we know extremely well: we've often walked along that path, with the little steps that run satisfyingly up and down along the wall to the Home Park near the Long Water...

Auntie will be off to America...

...though not for a few weeks yet. I fly to the USA in a month's time, Oct 20th. But there is a great deal to do in preparing for the programmes I will be doing with EWTN in Alabama. These involve doing some cookery - no, I won't give away details. But golly, it's complicated working out recipes, listing what is needed, and arranging what I need to bring myself...especially as, in order to get things right, I have to test some of the recipes here first...

Some good news about religious frreedom in Britain - read this on the Christian Institute's website.

Worked today on the computer virtually non-stop all morning till a late lunch . Is this good for one's eyesight? Cycled off to bank etc, returned to further work. While I type, I enjoy music: I have a set of "100 Popular Classics" which probably makes me seem like a complete musical twerp but there you are...I also have some lovely CDs from the Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan School.

Today is our wedding anniversary. I emailed a request to Classic FM that they play "Sheep may safely graze", which we had at our wedding - and J's parents had at their wedding a quarter of a century earlier...I wonder if it will be played?

Mellow fruitfulness...

...is all around us. Cycling from Kingston yesterday, I passed under a tree postively groaning with glowing rosy crab-apples. I've made as much c/a jelly as anyone possibly could (and if you want some, go to the Fayre being held at St Joseph's, New Malden, on Sept 30th to raise money to send young people to World Youth Day). But I simply had to gather some of these...and it's not scrumping, is it, if the tree is on a public highway? They made a superb apple puree, which I turned into a crumble-topped pudding which J. really enjoyed.

I wish we made more of the Harvest Thanksgiving tradition in Catholic churches in Britain. It needn't be all Thomas Hardy-ish and nostalgic... with golden Autumn sunshine, and gardens and hedges filled with good things, it seems bleak not to celebrate a bit...Papa Benedict seems keen on all things eco-friendly and so on, so perhaps he'll encourage us...

Coffee today with A., a friend who is a Catholic born and brought up in Iraq. The news from Baghdad about the Christian community there is just so tragic: churches blown up or abandoned as Christians have been forced out of their homes...

Co-incidentally, latest material from Aid to the Church in Need reveal it is doing what it can to give help to the Christians of Iraq, and of the Middle East generally. They have just produced a catalogue of beautiful Christmas cards, books, and gifts...why give your money to supermarkets when you can get things from this excellent charity which can do so much good with what you send?

I've been sent a number of lovely books to review over the past couple of weeks. Anna Melchior's Mothering: a spiritual and practical approach (St Paul, £8.95p) is a good read: I thought it might be pious and unrealistic, but it isn't - it's up-to-date, honest, and with good useas and much usefuyl information. Recommended.

The Poor Clares...

...of Arkley, near Barnet, hosted a Family Day for local families today. It began with a picnic in the September sunshine, and then Fr Daniel, from the Oratory, gave a talk to the young people, and there were activities for the small children - which seemed to include making hats out of cardboard plates, as some good-natured parents were later seen wearing some of these creations - while I spoke about "Feasts and Traditions" to the grown-ups. We were invited to use the sisters' Parlour - which in traditional style is a room with a divider built across it, so that the sisters can welcome guests while still remaining within their Enclosure. We were too many for the guests' bit, so spread over the two, with me perched on the dividing ledge. The sisters were busy around their daily routine - we saw some in the garden - and were happy simply to have us all there, which was very kind, and the whole atmosphere was welcoming and delightful. It was well worth the long cycle ride - there's a good deal of Barnet and it goes on Barneting for a good while as you toil along from the station out towards Arkley...all pretty and pleasant. Things finished with a Mass and then Benediction - which I couldn't attend as I had to get back home. For those interested in such things, I'll note that the Mass was in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite!

Yesterday evening I did a very cheery and pleasant interview for the Catholic Times - with my own parish priest, Fr Peter of St Joseph's, New Malden. The current edition features an interview with Fr Stephen of Balham.

Conkers...

...are particularly splendid this year, large and glossy and bountiful. I have always found that the problem is that they are so beautiful that of course one must collect some up - and then, what to do with them? But in the Daily Telegraph the other day there was a list of Useful Hints for Saving the Planet, or something - noting that what used to be thrift is now being green and eco-friendly and not having carbon footprint and things. And apparently, conkers are excellent as an alternative to mothballs! So there you are. A good reason to collect them and put them in with Jamie's socks.

Also collectable are quick jokes. Thanks to B. for this one: Luciano Pavarotti arrives at the Pearly Gates. St Peter is pleased:"Squeeze in Luciano - good to have you here. I'll go and tell the boss." And he goes off to tell God: "I've got the tenor I owed you..."

I am off to speak at a Family Day tomorrow, but today, with so much to do and write and tackle at home, it's urgent that we leave some of it, get out into the glorious blue and golden September.

Today was a rush...

...to London for a discussion on the Jeremy Vine Show (BBC Radio 2), then back to write up a feature interview with Josephine Robinson of the Association of Catholic Women, for a Catholic newspaper, then on to Mother's, where we enjoyed a evening together watching a DVD about England's countryside and the writers and artists who have celebrated it..and both joined in with a lot of the poetry especially Rupert Brooke on Grantchester and the corner of a foreign field that is for ever...and all the while I was sticking stamps on envelopes (over 300 of them) for RC parishes across London and the South East, with handbills about the Towards Advent Festival on Sat Nov 3rd.

I love this time of year, the fresh exciting mornings and the reassurring promise of Autumn that you get around teatime.

In reply...

...to various kind enquiries: YES, you can most certainly obtain my books even if you live in America. Simply look up the books you want on my website and once you have chosen the book, contact me, by sending me a cheque (oh, very well, check, if you want to spell it the American way...). You can reach me by writing to me c/o 34 Barnard Gardens New Malden Surrey KT3 6QG. I can accept American cheques, and I keep a supply of my books - just write to me listing the one(s) you want, and send me a cheque for the amount, plus about five dollars extra for postage (or say ten dollars if you want the book airmail). To find out how much to pay, look at the price in £s and send about twice that plus a bit more, ie a book costing £5 would be about thirteen dollars. Make the cheque out to Mrs J. Bogle. I will hurry to the Post Office with your book. I will sign it if you like. I will put a ribbon round it if you like...

If you want my latest book, it's not yet listed on my website and I haven't got any copies until October. But you could still order it from me! Just allow a little while for delivery... It's A Yearbook of Seasons and Celebrations and sells for £7.99p.

By the way, Australian readers of this Blog can get my books from Freedom Publishing, 582 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne VIC 3051

Please do buy my books!!

To the kind enquirer who asked about my next EWTN series: it will be broadcast in the spring and is a series of six programmes with ideas for things to make, cook, eat, and sing for Lent and Easter. I also have two new series of Catholic Lives coming up - these are interviews with Catholics who are doing interesting and useful things in London...I am filming some of these in October, and have already done several interviews already too. They include Fr Tim Finigan, of Hermeneutic of Continuity fame, Charles Cole who directs the Schola of the Cardinal Vaughan School, and Sister Chiara who works in Holy Ghost parish, Balham.

We badly want to do a seies about the recusant houses of England, priest-hides, etc. Prayers, please, for this venture...

To St Mary Moorfields...

...in London for a meeting of The Keys, the Catholic Writers' Guild - the first after the summer break. Speaker was Mgr Henri Brincard, Bishop of Le Puy in France, who gave us a superb talk on the Holy Father's encyclical Deus Caritas Est.

It was really illuminating - I had not really considered the full impact of this remarkable document. Speaking to a culture obsessed with the notion that the Church is always saying "No!", always nagging people about not doing things, Papa B. asserts the biggest truth of all: that God is love, and loved us first, and that the essence of Christianity is to be found in this and in our response to this love...

Autumn with all its freshness and new activities is upon us. Yesterday was Mother's birthday and I cycled over for a cheery lunch with her (pizza at an Italian restaurant) and then Tea with the neighbours, M. and I serving cakes and pouring tea like anything...

I have spent most of today working on plans for my next EWTN series - I fly to Alabama to record it in October - and some interviews, also for EWTN, which I'll be recording here in London before I go.

Weddings...

... are one of the joys of life, and we went to a lovely one on Saturday: James and Melissa marrying in the Little Oratory of the the famous Brompton Oratory. Glorious music, a radiant bride, a most beautiful wedding Mass, and then a reception at the Travellers Club, with lots of talk and laughter and small bridesmaids and pages romping about, and some splendid hats, and delicious food served in the splendour of candlelight and white roses and crisp damask napkins.

Malta Day

...is held in London every year at Westminster Cathedral to mark the feast of Our Lady of Victories. There is a great procession through the streets of Westminster with the "bambina" statue of Our Lady, and a splendid Mass in the Cathedral - all preceded by a fair in the Cathedral Hall with Maltese foods and crafts on sale, and a band playing, and speeches from the Maltese High Commissioner. This year, an award-winning young author was among those invited to the platform...my niece-in-law Fiorella, whose latest book, Father William's Daughter was being launched that day as part of the celebrations. Her first book, The Cassandra Curse, won her an award - the impressive engraved plaque was on display at the bookstall - and this new one is also a very good read. It was all very exciting. You can order her book via the link I have given. F. was accompanied by her husband E and their enchanting little boy H.who has the most beautiful eyes and delicious smile, and was very happy indeed playing with the lovely curly red-and-white ribbons which had been decorating the door of the Cathedral Hall for the opening ceremony and were solemnly cut by the High Commissioner (they were then just tossed aside until rescued by Auntie Joanna for H - it seemed such a pity to waste them...) Fiorella's sister Cecilia was also there - she is a talented young musician whose beautiful playing of the harp is a joy.

It was...

...my birthday on Friday. A lovely parcel from my sister in New Zealand, containing the most beautiful skirt - she has long been my best fashion consultant and this one is really just perfect.

Hugely enjoyable...

...party to launch Fr Martin Edwards' book The Bread of Life, designed to prepare children for First Confession and First Communion. It's available from Gracewing Books and also from Aid to the Church in Need. I had said I would help with pouring wine etc, but in the end got talking to lots and lots of friends. Bishop Bernard Longley was there and v. kind and interested in my recent Cycle Ride, and among other guests were author Ruth Rees, whose book on the Rosary is also published by Gracewing, Gillian van der Lande who runs Devotium, selling beautiful statues of saints etc - will have a stall at the Towards Advent Festival of Catholic Culture (Sat Nov 3rd, Westminster Cathedral Hall - be there!).

Some one sends a comment to my Blog asking if it's true that there are 1600 redundant churches in Britain being made into dance halls, pubs etc. No, that's not true. There are a great many redundant churches - probably at least 1600 - but they can't be made into pubs or dance halls as many are in remote places, lovely Suffolk villages, or places where there were villages in the Middle Ages but aren't any more, or small hamlets that were once large and now boast three great churches which can't be sustained, etc. Many of these Medieval churches are glorious - if you visit Britain and don't tour at least a few of the fabulous churches of, say, East Anglia, then you haven't grasped a whole crucial reality of English life and history. Many (most?) Americans who come here don't even think about such things - and that includes devout souls who would probably be very interested if only they stopped to think about it all for a moment. There is an official body that looks after many of our glorious old churches, and there are others that badly need some funds and cherishing and could be open for worship more often if these were available...all this is a great burden for the C of E. There are also some newer, Catholic, churches that are likely to be closed over the next years - some of these are fine buildings, others may be deemed less so. It is most unlikely that these will be turned into pubs. The irony is that while some churches are not needed, others are being built - for example, the rapidly growing Black Pentecostal movement is turning cinemas and bingo halls into churches, raising funds for this from devout and dedicated people who turn up in large numbers. In the Catholic church, there are groups and movements which could almost certainly make very good use of some church buildings that might otherwise be left vacant: it is to be hoped that our Bishops will approach this subject with generous hearts and large minds.

Oh, and those comments about why the BBC didn't send a car for me for that radio broadcast - in the middle of a Tube strike, cars couldn't be found, and London was one big traffic jam. Even on a normal evening, a car is a ghastly risk - the last time the World Service offered one, I rashly took it, got stuck in traffic, and never made the broadcast at all...

Much media talk about...

Mother Teresa, as a new book of her letters has just been published, to mark the 10th anniversary of her death. Phone call from BBC World Service, as I was about to cook supper: would I go and do an interview about M.Teresa, her "dark night of soul" etc? Quickly prepared supper, left in oven so J. could switch it on when he got in. Cycled to station, padlocked bike, rushed to get train to Waterloo. Tube strike, so Londoners walking everywhere. Fabulous golden evening, slanting sunlight over the Thames. So many cranes, though, around St Paul's and the City - more vast sky-scrapers going up, reducing city to faceless anywhere-place...

To Bush House in the Strand. Interview was easy, interesting, and done by intelligent interviewer - all v. agreeable, World Service a contrast to much other media (incl. much of BBC!).

Home to J., supper, mugs of tea.

Wow...

...it's great to be able to get news, video clips etc over the Internet. Vast crowds at Loreto in Italy, over 500,000 at a youth gathering which is a sort of localised version of World Youth Day. If Sydney is going to be anything like this, then I am very glad to be helping young people to get there. Superb scenes in Italy, glowing lights as dusk falling, prayer vigil, opera singer Andrea Bocelli pouring out glorious music...I hadn't known he is blind, wondered at first why he seemed to be singing with his eyes closed, then realised.... The Italians organised this huge gathering extremely well and as a spectacle it was terrific: young people talking to the Holy Father about their ideas, worries, hopes, aspirations - all youthful and idealistic and hair-tossed-in-the-wind and so on - and then the silence of the Holy House, and pilgrims trickling in, and scenes of prayer there flashed up on giant screens...

Today a friend from Oxfordshire, Sara, 'phoned. She is keen to attend some meetings of the London Faith Forum. Sara is blind, and finds it easier to get around in London if she is accompanied, so I generally meet her at Marylebone ands she stays overnight with us. One of life's extraordinary coincidences: one night last year as we were coming home, quite late, we met a neighbour, Robert. We all got chatting and he mentioned that he happens to keep braille machines in his house, as he helps a society for the blind. I regard this as one of the most extraordinary and useful coincidences I have ever had. A couple of days later I followed it up, and he gave me lessons in braille, and lent me one of his machines. So I am able to drop notes to Sara regularly. I am not good at braille but am getting better and it is a useful thing to acquire, I think.

Watch this one, it's inspiring...

Yesterday evening we watched Amazing Grace which tells the story of Tory MP William Wilberforce who led the fight to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire: it's a splendid and inspiring story, well told. Makes one realise that we're here to do large and noble things, forces a re-evaluation of one's own life and contribution. There are criticisms one could make of the film, some voices and styles of talking are all wrong (v. 21st-century vowels) and we don't see enough of W's Christian beliefs tho' these are assumed all the way through - but the story is carried well and the result is terrifically powerful. You can this DVD through most Blockbuster shops and I recommend it.

Crab apple jelly...

...is not complicated to make, though it takes a good many crab apples to produce just one jar. I gathered the crab apples - there's a little tree simply bowed down with them - from the same place where I gather blackberries and rose-hips, which is the local cemetery. The bit where the blackberries grow is alongside the Moslem bit. The graves are all slanted, as they think they have to point towards Mecca. The cemetery is vast - it was created at the end of the 19th century to serve the rapidly-growing suburbs of Greater London. There are a number of famous people buried there.

Today...

...there is a big youth festival at Loreto in Italy, which the Pope will attend. Which wouldn't be of special interest to a Catholic journalist in Britain except for its size and enthusiasm, and for this comment from the leader of a local religious community, which I think is v. relevant. Look down the link - the bit to which I am referring is a thoughtful, timely and interesting one, echoing young Catholics' dislike of endless pop junk battering their ears: they hear pop all the time and want something different at a religious event. Since Papa Benedict's views on this are known, and he is (deliberately? or just fortunately for him?) missing the pop-noisy bit of this gathering, there is a general sense that the mood is veering in a new direction. Grown-up organisers of these things are going to have to connect with the newer trend among youth and ditch the sense of obligation to invite pop groups to blare out junk noise at such events. Organisers of World Youth Day in Sydney and elsewhere, take note...Incidentally, the debate on this is not helped by those who postively want modern liturgy to be horrible, because they are worried that a "reform of the reform", more beauty, and wider use of Latin at Ordinary Masses, will marginalise the Extraordinary (er - what used to be called the Tridentine - let's get used to new labels!) Rite. They are wrong - it won't, and it shows a lack of faith in the E-rite to believe it will. But more importantly, it shows a sour and narrow approach which doesn't seek the greater glory for God of having as much beauty in all worship as possible, at all times, and especially at large events which have a sense of marking a major moment in the life of the Church.

Money is still coming in for my sponsored cycle ride - a cheque arrived yesterday from a kind anonymous pensioner, and another £20 was pressed into my hand by another supporter.

To London...

...for coffee with Josephine Robinson, chairman of the Association of Catholic Women. She will be among the people I am interviewing for a new series of Catholic Lives on EWTN this Autumn. Her book Marriage and Gift, published by Pauline Press, is now available in America - warmly recommended. The Association of Catholic Women has some busy months coming up - annual meeting on Sat Sept 22nd, St James church, Spanish Place. Speakers are Mgr Mark Langham of Westminster Cathedral, taking us behind the scenes in the life and work of the Cathedral, and Anne Vail on "Shrines of Our Lady in England". The Association is a sponsor of The Towards Advent Festival which is on Sat Nov 4th at Westminster Cathedral Hall (you can buy some of my home-made jam there, at our Refreshments stall...)

Parliament Square looks a mess at the moment. They've put up a big fence around the green at the centre of the Square, to try to deter the anti-Iraq-war campers whose tents and makeshift shelters, banners and placards, give the whole place a shanty-town appearance. Winston Churchill is behind the fence, and his belligerent stance looks a bit sad there. The Middlesex Guildhall is under scaffolding because of some work being done on it (Oh dear - I do hope it's restoration, not demolition? The building must be listed, surely? It's not that old, about 140 or so, but it's v. pleasing and its facade has some beautiful sculptures...)

Then further along the road has been blocked off and the traffic lights covered, to stop terrorists being able to get near Parliament. Thus traffic can no longer go along down that stretch by the river towards Millbamk - this actually makes the road between the Palace of Westminster and the Abbey rather nice, because for the first time in (??) about 170 years it is free of traffic, and one can walk there and enjoy the glory of the Abbey's Medieval gothic and the Palace's Victorian gothic-revival - there's 1,000 years of history between the two of them as you stand in the middle of the street, and yet they match most gloriously.

Various comments...

...to this Blog have asked how Britain comes to be in its current rather sad state (incidentally our local paper here has front-page news of another stabbing, one that doesn't seem to have made the national press...). No easy answers to that, of course...a list of things that must have contributed would include (in no special order of importance) the destruction of some good schools, imposition of bureaucracy and paperwork on the police, adoption of daft educational policies denying boys a fair chance...but the deliberate denigration of marriage and family must be a central part of the problem too. See this feature in CRISIS magazine which looks as some of this...

I really like this pic...

so I decided to put it on my Blog!

A busy day today, beavering away at the computer. Which is why I stopped to browse a bit and looked up things in the news, including this pic of Papa Benedict in St Peter's Square - still dreadfully hot there, though here in Britain things have a faintly Autumnal feel...

Worked with my publisher on lists of people to be invited to the Launch of new book in Oct. Wrote some features for the Catholic Times. (Go on - buy a copy next Sunday. And if you didn't get the current edition, you missed the big pic and full account of my Cycle Ride...). Wrote five talks for Premier Radio, which I'll record next week. Made arrangements to record a new series of Catholic Lives for EWTN, which we're doing in October. Cooked supper. Jamie home and we're going to watch the classic film "I Confess" while I finish my patchwork quilt. Mugs of tea and a fresh apple sponge, warm from the oven.

Worth discovering...

...is the story of Bishop von Galen, the "Lion of Munster", German patriot, passionate opponent of the Nazis, beautified in 2005. A letter arrived for me this weekend from America via Germany asking for information about him: the people in Munster who have cards and prayer-leaflets etc about him sent it on to me to ask me to deal with it so I could send some material in English. I was at the beatification in Rome - a powerfully moving occasion, as the newly-elected German successor of St Peter came at the end of Mass to speak to the (packed) congregation about this German hero son of the Church...

If you don't know about the story, you can get the basics from this link, and there is lots more on the Internet both in English and in German, but I'm keen to write a booklet about him and get, for example, the CTS to publish it. Bishop von Galen became known for his courageous sermons against the horrible Nazi euthanasia campaign - but of equal interest are his denunciations of the history books that children were being made to use in school, which sneered at the Church and the role of Christianity in history, and his concern at the immoral messages they were getting from various official youth schemes. He urged parents to counter this by teaching the Faith at home and remaining loyal to the Church. Er...if this begins to sound familiar, then you will see why I think his life and work have a message for today.

Apples and chairs

At the weekend we bought some chairs - from where everyone locally gets good second-hand things, which is Missionary Mart. They have stacks and stacks of furniture - some of it absolutely horrible, some rather nice - and are jolly and friendly. The money goes to various (Evangelical) charities. There are lots of dining-room tables and chairs, and indeed kitchen tables too, at the moment, because families don't eat all-together-round-the-table much any more, so they get rid of the relevant furniture. Which seems a bit bleak.

We had a barbeque in the garden, using up a couple of our old, very bashed and broken, chairs, for firewood. I had made a big apple-and-blackberry crumble. Then we went inside and watched - as I have wanted to do for ages - the film "Pope John Paul" starring John Voight, on our new DVD which plays American films. It's a very very good film. Comes with footage telling a bit about how it was made etc. There's a bit where JP11 talks to Cardinal Ratzinger, which must have been weird for the present Holy Father to watch...

A Bank Holiday weekend...

...and as I pushed my bike up Sutton High street on Friday night, a group of girls were shrieking obscenities and laughter in response to some anecdote told by the largest and fattest: "Yeah, so I told him to f...off, yeah?" etc etc. The mating rituals are rather sad: the boys it in a solemn row at the bottom end of the litter-strewn shopping centre, looking glum, with their trousers sagging down to their knees, and puff cigarettes and drink out of cans and burp, and the girls sort of shriek around the edges and kick bottles and cans about, and leer and are very loud. One couple had made a connection and were groping together in a rather embarrassing way on the steps of the war memorial while others shrieked on the roof of a nearby shop. These last stepped up their noise as I approached, and I think they wanterd me to tell them they were trespassing and doing malicious damage - which they were - but over the past few weeks two or three people have been stabbed to death trying to remonstrate with youth, so one tends just to leave them to it. If I am to meet a violent end - with which I've been threatened a couple of times - then I'd rather do it when I'm in a calm and ordered state of mind, not when I'm annoyed. As I passed the war memorial I felt sad about all the men whose names are listed there.

A correspondent to this Blog asks if my book is Victorian or contemporary! It's written for now, for heaven's sake - precisely to help create a vivid new alternative to the lifestyle mentioned above...the illustration on the cover was simply chosen because it is charming...

New bulletins dominated by accounts of the child shot in Liverpool, latest in a series of public killings of children by teenagers. Perhaps now it will be admitted that public order, the punishment of crime, and safety under the law, should be among the priorities of our rulers, rather than banning hunting, imprisoning good parents who smack naughty offspring, and promoting lesbianism and homosexual activity. But don't hold your breath.

Hurrah!!

Oh, joy!! Advance copies of my new "Yearbook of Seasons and Celebrations" arrive from the publisher. Standing in the kitchen, holding the book in my hands, I have a sudden memory of standing in the same place 21 years ago, sending off the manuscrpt of the first edition of my earlier "Book of Feasts and Seasons" (still in print!) - Jamie took a photograph and we celebrated with a glass of fizzy apple juice...

You can get the book from Gracewing Publishing. It's crammed with ideas for things to make, do, eat and sing for all the feasts of the Christian year, with all sorts of information on things like origins of pub signs and nursery rhymnes and old sayings...

I love giving talks about this topic: to women's organisations, church groups, Confirmation classes, schools, colleges, Parent Teacher evenings, you name it. Send a COMMENT to this Blog, with an email address at which I can contact you (and please remember that if you fail to give me an email address, I have no means of reaching you) if you can think of any group that might like to invite me as a speaker.

Glastonbury Tor...

...is glorious on a breezy summer's day, with bright sunshine after rain, and huge blue skies, and the Somerset levels stretching out beneath us as we climbed.

The Tor is a tall hill, dominating the skyline of Glastonbury. Pilgrims come here, and have done for centuries. It's a place of mystery, and of faith.

Legend says that Joseph of Arimithea came here, when the small band of Christ's first followers left the Holy Land to spread the Faith everywhere after Pentecost. He planted his staff in the soil and after a time it took root, and grew - and certainly today a bush of Glastonbury Thorn, native to the Middle East, grows in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey.

There's more to the legend, too - some say that Christ himself came here, and stayed for a season, while on a trading trip with his uncle, during those "hidden years" of his early adult life before he started his public ministry and was working as a carpenter in Nazareth. This is the origin of the idea behind Blake's "Jerusalem": "And did those feet, in ancient time, walk upon England's mountains green..."

As I drew breath and rested on my way up the Tor, I got chatting a a couple of other walkers, who talked about the legend. "We should keep our minds and hearts open to it anyway" one said...

Glastonbury made a glorious end to a happy weekend family visit, which included camping in a field (very wet, but fun!), gathering blackberries at a heavenly place where Somerset meets the sea, lots of running about with children and a puppy, a successful session in a busy seaside High Street in pouring rain finding bargains in charity-shops (a couple of really nice skirts and shirts, all for less than £12!), and a cheery Sunday Mass in a crowded church where the parish priest welcomed visitors and urged us all to gather as many apples as we wanted from his garden as he simply couldn't cope with all the bounty...

We drove home via other friends whose enchanting baby was toddling slowly across the room with deliberate steps and beaming at his achievement, and who loaded us with fresh eggs from their hens, and beautiful damsons from a plum tree groaning with fruit.

If Christ the Lord really did live here for a season, and walked the Mendip hills, and ate the apples of Avalon, and saw the evening sun going slowly down in the west, oh I hope he will give us strength now to cherish the Christian faith and not let our lovely country slither into whatever chaos descends when the message of that faith is lost...

Time for action...

...not just complaining. Have you written to Rome yet about the disgraceful nonense produced by "Caritas Social Concern", an agency of our Bishops' Conference? Scroll down through this blog to get information.

A young friend alerted me to the needs of Christians in Iraq and there is useful information on this at this blog. A donation to Aid to the Church in Need (1 Tiomes Square, Sutton, Surrey SM1) wouldn't go amiss either - they are currently trying to help Christians there.

The Christian Institute website has a lot of useful material on parents rights and talks a lot of common sense. There is a worrying possibility of a new law which would criminalise good parents - go on, look it up, and write to your MP. Look up their new YouTube on religious freedom, too.

Until the Daily Telegraph made me think about it, I hadn't honestly given any thought at all to the plight of our soldiers in Afghanistan. They are doing a desperately difficult job, in vile heat and in the knowledge that few people at home care at all about it. Over 80 per cent of the heroin that our drug addicts use in Britain currently comes from Afghanistan: there is a pious hope that at some stage a sane government there might help to stamp out this nasty trade and in theory our Army is there to help bring forward that day...meanwhile the drug culture here continues to create the demand which Afghanis and others will naturally supply...what a mess. Our soldiers' bravery deserves your thanks and mine: it hadn't even occurred to me to think of them in my prayers. What about you? The Telegraph is urging the soldiers' valour to be marked with a proper campaign medal - before you sneer that this is an irrelevance, find out what soldiers think about it. One died the other day, heroically refusing morphine because he wanted to be alert to help get his men to safety.

Rosehips are ripening...

...which is slightly uncomfortable as they are usually associated with Autumn. What's happening to our seasons? I paused to gather a huge bowl of rosehips on my way to Mother's, then made them into syrup while I was there. I wasn't quite sure how to do this: I put the berries in a saucepan with cold water, stewed them for a good while, added more water from time to time as they seemed to soak it up. Then poured the lot through a sieve, crushing the berries with a wooden spoon as I did so. Ditched the mess left in the sieve, added sugar to the liquid which had strained through, and brought it to boiling point and let it simmer a bit...decanted it into jars and put some in a bowl. M. and I both had a spoonful...it was absolutely delicious! Will use it on pancakes, or poured over ice-cream.

Demonstration by young people

...at the Chinese Embassy in London. Well done.

Action...

...life has been busy. Yesterday a young relative arrived to stay overnight, so as to be in London early today for a human-rights demonstration outside the Chinese Embassy. (I hope they get some publicity - if you see anything, send info to this Blog).

The post brings the excellent new catalogue from Family Publications - as always, so many books I'd love to get. Some while back, a correspondent to this Blog asked for information on any good material teaching children the Catholic Faith. The Faith and Life Series, available from Family Publications, looks very good indeed.

Also info in the post about the conference to be held by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children on Sept 7th-9th at Leeds - speakers include Nicole Parker of Central London Fertility Care , and Sister Roseann Reddy of the Sisters of the Gospel of Life, who runs Cardinal Winning's Pro Life Initiative.

It's the feast of the Assumption - a proper Holy Day, not moved to merge into the nearest Sunday, hurrah! - and I'm off to evening Mass in Wimbledon, dropping in to some friends afterwards to give them some of my freshly-made blackberry jam. Did you know that the proper tradition for the feast of the Assumption is to go bathing or paddling? There's said to be "a blessing in the water" on this day. In some places, there is a ceremony of blessing the sea, and throwing a wreath of flowers into it...if you read this week's CATHOLIC TIMES, you'd be able to find out all about this, and other Assumption traditions, in my column...

I've just been reading his book and it's simply great...

...so I thought I'd put a pic of him on my blog. Hurrah for our dear Holy Father - and if you haven't yet read his book Jesus of Nazareth, go out quickly and either buy a copy (it's not expensive) or order one at your local library. (You do this by simply asking for it, and if neccessary filling in a card - you may have to pay about 50p, but for goodness' sake, it's worth it. Ordering a copy in this way ensures that not only will they get a copy for you, but it will then later be on the shelves for others. Go on. Do it today). The book really makes you think about who Christ was, and who he claimed to be, and why we still number our years after his birth, and why it all matters, and why it's no use simply trying to dismiss him with cliches.

I must add something absurd: if you Google for " Catholic Pope Benedict images" you get - among lots of other images - a pic of apples and one of blackberries, taken from this Blog! Which just goes to show that the Internet has its daft side too.

In response...

...to comments to this Blog about the state of the Church in Britain, following the discovery of the horrible attack on the Holy Father's encyclical by an agency of our Bishops' Conference ...

It's crucial to take the right action about this.

First, don't make silly comments about there being no decent priests in Britain: that's rubbish. I know a number of superb, dedicated and rather holy priests, and of these there are several who would make excellent bishops. They are (in no particular order of importance) intelligent, capable, prayerful, well-read, fluent in two or three languages, knowledgeable about the Church and the world, close to Christ, warm-hearted, and lead good lives. From these men could come the bishops of the future. Why not pray about this?

Second: write to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome about the appalling booklet produced by "Caritas Social Concern". (The CDF's address: Piazza d. S. Uffizio 11, Rome 00193 Italy. Put on two normal second-class stamps and the letter will get there. Do it today).

Three: your own Bishop needs to know about this Write to him. Be respectful of his office, and fair, and thank him for the fact that he is dedicating his life in service to God and the Church. He probably doesn't know anything about the rubbish being produced by "Caritas Social Concern" in his name. You are there to inform him and to ask his help and getting something done. Bear in mind that "Caritas" will probably try to suggest that anyone who writes is ill-informed, bigoted, uncaring about the plight of the poor, or lying. Ensure that your letter conveys the fact that you are none of these.

Four: If/when you get any replies, inform me or other Catholic bloggers about them, so that we can get a proper action going about this.

Five: DON'T just say "oh, isn't it terrible...nothing we can do...state of the Church...oh, I remember when...so different today...dreadful...guitars...can't abide..." and then do none of the things I have suggested.

Bramble cheese...

...is of course not really a cheese at all, but a delicious blend of apple-and-blackberry, carefully cooked and pureed with sugar, and sealed into jars for enjoyment and relish. It is delicious on buttered toast, or with cold ham or cheese as an alternative to pickles.

Apples are beginning to ripen now in suburban gardens, and our next-door neighbour allows me to gather some of hers, in return for some of the resulting jams and jellies. In fact I give some to all the neighbours (we have people on all sides, and upstairs, and everyone helps by collecting jam-jars all year). As I write this, a great cooked panful of blackberries is also slowly dripping through a jelly-bag in our kitchen, to be turned into glowing bramble-jelly by the end of the day.

I'm really saddened by the fact of people not gathering all the (free, for goodness' sake!) fruit at this time of year and enjoying it. It's scary to lose useful skills, to leave children in ignorance of how and where food is obtained, to forget God's goodness as a provider, to wander through supermarkets complaining about "too much choice" in a world where others go hungry...

I'm told it might ber illegal to sell home-made jam (oh, healthnsafetyreggerlations and all that) so I'm not announcing when and where I'm selling mine - anyway, it's the jars that are for sale, the jam inside comes free! - but I will note that the excellent work of the Association of Catholic Women, and especially its Education Project for children at primary schools, prospers partly on the proceeds....

...So why not go out blackberrying yourself? Especially if you are a blogger-addict. It's summer, get out of doors! Then, while the jelly drips, or the blackberry-and-apple pie is baking, you can write to the Bishop (see previous blog entry, below).

BTW, please DON'T send me a Comment about the matter below unless you have already written to the Bishop concerned, or to your own Bishop, about it. There's no point. I feel every bit as indignant as you do. The question is: what are you going to do about it?

What on earth do the Bishops think they're doing?

...by sponsoring the publication of a book underming and attacking the Holy Father's encyclical Deus Charitas Est? See Damian Thompson's report on the Daily Telegraph blog. The book is produced by something called "Caritas - social action" which announces itself smugly in the Catholic Directory as "the voice of the Catholic church on social justice and care in England and Wales" and "an agency of the Bishops' Conference" seeking to "influence Government policy and advocate for a more just society." Difficult to see how social justice and care in E and W are enhanced by using the funds of churchgoers for a book denouncing "the ideology of the nuclear family" and endorsing "the open family ideology rooted in a feminist perspective". Oh, and using inverted commas around the word "terrorist" when describing the 9/11 attack on New York. And saying that the Holy Father's encyclical reveals him as taking a stance in favour of "the capitalist system and colonialism."

It is possible that Bishop Budd would like to have the views of faithful Catholics, whose money is being used for this nasty rubbish. He is Bishop of Plymouth.

THE CYCLE RIDE: Here is a pic of me...

...arriving at West Grinstead!

Now that I'm home again, I'm collecting the sponsorship money. If you agreed to sponsor me, just send the cheque, made out to St Pius X Church and post it to me at:

34 Barnard Gardens New Malden Surrey KT3 6QG.

St Pius X is the next parish along from St Joseph's, New Malden, and Fr Dominic Allain, who is the parish priest there, is in charge of the local young people who are hoping to go to World Youth Day.

The Cycle Ride - I made it!!

... and have brought back some pebbles from Brighton beach to prove it!

The Sussex countryside on an August evening was beautiful as I left West Grinstead and headed through Partridge Green , then past fields and woods to Cowfold and Bolney. I stopped briefly at Parkminster - the great Carthusian monastery of St Hugh, standing alone and silent up a driveway. No one was about, but you can peep through a window-slot in the great door to an inner courtyward with immaculate lawns leading to a great church.

But traffic roared terrifyingly along the lanes and roads, making life very difficult for the cyclist. I can quite see why most parents do not dream of allowing children to go about freely on their bikes or on foot- a restriction unknown to previous generations...it was bliss to arrive at the lovely farmhouse of friends near the village of Ansty and to be made welcome with cool drinks...I used up a lot of my kind hostess' heavenly lavender-scented bath salts and then we were sitting down to a chicken supper and swapping news and talk. G. and A. are old friends whom we first came to know through G's wonderful help with the International Congress for the Family back in 1990 - which coincidentally was held in Brighton (and, goodness, how prophetic it was in its call for a restoration of the rights and values of the family based on lifelong male/female marriage).

The next morning, after much consultation of maps, I was off to Brighton. It was delightful until I was forced to use the main road. I couldn't locate any cycle track - with relief I saw a sign marked "Equestrian route" and felt that, where a horse could go, a bike might too. This was great for a while, but then veered off up to the South Downs, whereas I needed to keep on to Brighton. It was horrible, in terrific heat, trying to keep safely up against the verge and away from the great trucks and lorries thundering past. Eventually, there was a turning where I pulled off, and while I was resting a rider came by: we hailed each other with the sort of vague solidarity that cyclists and riders have, and she told me there was a cycle track that began just across the bridge:"follow the pink track, all the way to Patcham". I did as I was told and I was soon on my way to the coast.

I was late arriving at St Joseph's, and midday Mass was just ending, but at the church door a lady greeted me with "Congratulations! You've arrived!" and in the cool church I was welcomed with evident relief by some kind people and was soon chatting to them and to Father Paul Williams, chaplain to Sussex University, who had just said Mass. I wanted some something formal to show my sponsors, so he wrote on a parish newsletter: " Joanna Bogle arrived safely, if hot, at 1.00pm on Tuesday 7th August."

West Grinstead

...is a beautiful and important shrine in Sussex, dedicated to Our Lady of Consolation and looked at its most enchanting in August sunshine as I arrived there, singing, on Monday afternoon. There was a most wonderful reception from the parish group from New Malden, who came running up to greet me and broke into applause! A priest at the shrine rang the church bell, I told of my adventures (horrible journey down the main road with heavy lorries roaring past, wonderful joy to turn off down the quiet lane marked with a sign to the shrine...) and then I was given cups of tea...

The parish at New Malden had planned this Pilgrimage to coincide with my arrival at the Shrine and to celebrate the Feast of the Trasnfiguration. We had Benediction in the beautiful shrine church, with Father Peter and our Deacon John, and a most interesting talk about the shrine by the priest in charge, Father David Goddard. There is a hidden chapel in the attic of the priest's house, where priests celebrated Mass in the days of persecution, and a priest-hide where they could go if the house was searched. The magnificent shrine church dates of course from a later period and was begun by a French emigre priest who, in an extraordinary turn of events, was here as a refugee from France when the Church there was facing its in time of danger. In due course there were all sorts of things here, including an orphanage and even the beginnings of a small seminary.

It was a beautiful afternoon. Groups went up the twisting stairs to the little chapel, while others explored the lovely Rosary Way in the garden. Father David is a former Anglican, and married, and his wife took the groups up to the chapel and told its story. There are so many layers of history here. The land was owned by the Carryl family, staunch supporters of the Old Faith, and when they were driven out after years of fines and persecution, they finally went to America: a member of the family, Bishop John Carroll, was the first Bishop of Baltimore.

I was given a grand farewell by Father Peter, Father David, and Deacon John (who took pics - some will appear on this blog in due course) as the parish group departed for home...as I set off down the lane the scent of the lavender I had gathered in the churchyard wafted up from my bicycle-basket, and there were birds chirruping, and I had Father David's final instructions in my head:"Straight to Partridge Green, and then turn left there and down the lane..." I followed his directions and was soon on my route to Ansty, past fields all golden with the harvest.

This pic...

...shows my departure from New Malden, with Fr Peter Edwards and supporters (you can see our little parish shrine to Our Lady just behind me).

Horsham...

...is a pleasant Sussex town, and I'm writing this in the public library!

I was given a splendid send-off from St Joseph's, New Malden, yesterday, with a blessing from the parish priest with lots of holy water as Mass ended, and lots of people signing up to sponsor me, and a cheery family of cyclists to accompany me down the Kingston Road and wave me off as I headed south to the A3...

It was a glorious ride in good sunshine, and I stopped in Epsom, past the Spread Eagle where I remember going for lunch years ago with my mother and grandmother - it's now a smart clothes shop! - then past a bustling Sunday market with rather nice foods on sale, then the Assembly Rooms, doing a good trade in Sunday brunches...and so to St Joseph's church, where the last Mass of the morning was just finishing. Vast modern church - I've been here before to give talks at Family Days and Confirmation groups. I was HOT and the cloakroom was beautifully cool and air-conditioned! Into the church for the end of Mass - they had "Soul of my Saviour" at Communion which is one of my favourite hymns.... A friendly Polish priest who had just come from Africa, and was thanking the parish for its support of his work there...he greeted people as they emerged, and I got some one in the parish office to sign a piece of paper saying I'd been there (I'll put that on my Blog in due course just to prove it to you!) and then I was sitting down with the parish priest and gulping lots of water and chatting...duly refreshed I set off again, and the next stretch of the journey became steadily more rural, green fields and cool shady woods. I got away from main roads as much as I could, cycled through Leatherhead (still a pretty town, and largely unspoiled by slabs of concrete) and off towards Mickleham.

It got extremely hot as the afternoon began, so I turned off at Westhumble, remembering a little ruined chapel there which I thought might be worth visiting. I rested agreeably in the shade next to a dear little St Michael's Church ("Prayer Book services: 8am Communion first Sunday of the Month. Prayer Book Mattins 11 am Third Sunday in the month"). Some hikers went by asking for directions and on looking at their guide-book I realised that the ruined chapel was the predecessor of this small church, so cycled off and found it. Wrecked by Henry V11, just one main wall and some stumps still standing, in a cool green lush corner. I scrambled over a wall and knelt and prayed...it would be simply lovely to have Mass here...could easily be arranged, the place belongs to the National Trust, you could put a table up against the wall and just have Mass on it, where the altar presumably stood 400 years ago...the chapel was dedicated to St Michael - is this the origin of Mickleham??

Off again and it was very hot on the final lap. Stopped in Dorking, freshened up and ate a late-lunch snack, then took off again.

Wonderful to arrive in the afternoon slanting afternoon sunshine at the lovely home of the L. family: cool drinks, a wonderful shower and change of clothes, everyone being very nice to me...and then people (including my Jamie, bringing some things I'd forgotten!!) arriving for a dinner-party...delicious food, lively conversation, parish priest Fr Dominic writing out a splndid Formal Announcement of my arrival on headed notepaper...coffee and chocolates afterwards, then a blissful sleep in a cool bedroom overlooking the lovely garden...

This morning I was awoken with promises of bacon-and eggs, and after this excellent breakfast I was off on the road again, through Capel - very pretty - and down green lane and along some slightly scary main roads...brief stop at the Catholic Church in Horsham and now I'm off to West Grinstead...

I'm off!!

...on my sponsored cycle ride, tomorrow morning.

Parish Mass at St Joseph's, New Malden, at 9.30 am, and as it ends I depart in style, with Father Peter blessing me and my bike, and pictures of the Holy Father being distributed, and (I hope!) a general feeling of parish solidarity as I head off down the Kingston Road towards The Fountain and thence southward...heading for the coast, and Brighton!

It is rather nice that I am going from St Joseph's in New Malden to St Joseph's Brighton, via St Joseph's in Dorking - might also manage to drop in at St Joseph's in Epsom! And the Pope's name is Joseph. So it all fits nicely together, to raise funds for young people to go to World Youth Day.

First overnight stop will be with friends near Dorking (see above).

The Catholic Times has a nice mention of my Ride this week.

Weather is HOT. We spent today working in the garden, long overdue tidy-up. Everything is scented with rosemary as we have been trimming the big rosemary bushed that are overgrown both at the front and the back of the house, and carrying armfuls of the gloriously aromatic branches. We broke for a garden lucnh, with a big blackberry pie, berries just gathered an hour earlier from my favourite local spot. Nephew E. is staying to help us with a computer problem. I packed for tomorrow: a couple of changes of clothes, overnight things, water to drink, some money, my rosary.

Faith Movement

A couple of evenings this week have been spent at the annual Summer Session of the Faith Movement, in the lovely surroundings of Woldingham School. Biggest-ever such event, crowds and crowds of cheerful young people, groups chatting in the lovely grounds, sense of energy and activity, sound of young voices praying together. I arrived in time to hear a sparkling talk from Sister Roseanne Reddy of the Sisters of the Gospel of Life - powerful, inspiring, amusing, challenging. This is a new religious order, based in Glasgow and emerging from Cardinal Winning's Pro Life Initiative, and doing good work with women and babies in a spirit of great goodwill and generosity. Sister Roseanne always arrives with a crowd of enthusiastic young Scots who have given their own distinctive stamp to the whole Faith Movement - yesterday evening saw a splendid ceilidh, a vast improvement on the traditional disco. Here, the dancing was lively and continued non-stop until late: a really delightful sight with people quickly getting a grasp of the dance and twirling partners and forming circles and jiggling round the room in terrific style to traditional Scottish music. It was a joy to watch.

Sister Roseanne and Sister Andrea look great in their religious habits, though I sometimes spare a thought for the vision allegedly first discussed at one of the early gatherings of interested young women: tartan veils!

For Jamie and me, it was a time to meet old friends - the talk and laughter greeted us as we approached the (beautiful, ??? vaguely Jacoebean-style) school building with its wide steps leading down to the lawn. In the evening cool children ran about and their giggles and shrieks made a background to the adult chatter - a nice feature of the Faith Movement is the arrival at this summer gathering of young couples who met through the movement and now return with their families for this agreeable get-together. An even more noticeable feature is the large numbers of priests who arrive here - men whose vocation has been directly or indirectly formed with and through the Faith movement, now active in parishes across Britain. And among the young people taking part, an even larger number this year seemed to be training for the priesthood, or just off to the seminary this Autumn.

We stayed until much too late - Jamie had joined in the dancing and both of us were also hugely enjoying the company of young relatives among the attendees. As we left, people were wishing me well for the Sponsored Cycle Ride. One young cycling enthusasist assured me that I ought to be able to do 20 miles in about two and a half hours. Hmmmm.

`Families

Bulletin arrives from the National Association of Catholic Families. A good read, as always: news of a retreat planned by NACF Youth for October, local groups running Family Days with guest speakers and opportunities for families to get together, a team going to World Youth Day...a report on the annual pilgrimage to Walsingham which was held on one of the wettest weekends of the year, a stream overflowing into the river where the families were camping, tents blown down, a Force 8 gale...and the Psalm at Mass on the final morning was "So let the good man pray to you in time of need. The floods of water may reach high but him they shall not reach. You are my hiding place, O Lord"...!