Off to St Pancras...

...Station in London, to catch the train to Luton. The vast majority of people at St Pancras are not doing anything of the kind - they are all heading for Lille or Brussels or Paris, via the Eurotunnel. So finding the ordinary local trains is quite difficult. One potters about bleating "Where is Platform B?" rather bleakly. And what was once the Ticket Hall - the name still carved into the brickwork - is now a v.v.grand dining-place with expensive breakfasts and important-looking waiters. I found Pl.B and had coffee and a bacon roll in a nice little cafe-bar, and arrived at Luton having read Ratzinger and De Lubac all the way (exams at the end of the month - Ecclesiology). St Margaret of Scotland primary school is a delightful and welcoming place and I was there to present prizes won in the ACW Schools RE Project - the 1st prizewinner a lovely girl whose parents had come along to enjoy the ceremony, an absolutely super family. Somehow, the whole day had a glow about it - the children trooping into the school hall, hands clasped ready for prayers, the sound of young voices chorusing together the beautiful words asking God's blessing on the day...the rousing sound when I called for three cheers for the prizewinners - and the absolutely terrific roar when I called for a final cheer for the school itself and its Patron, St Margaret! Every classroom had a traditional Epiphany Blessing (C+M+B) on its door, there were crucifixes and beautiful images of Our Lady etc, the Staff Room had a prayer corner with a big rosary and holy images...and the whole school exuded a sense of welcome and of being at the service of children and families.

Rural Kent...

...and the little church of St Anselm in Pembury, where Augustine Michael, the baby son of Ordinariate priest Fr Ed Tomlinson and his wife Hayley was being baptised by Mgr Keith Newton. A packed church, a glorious Mass, the clear voices of the parents and godparents making those powerful baptismal promises - and baby Gus yelled properly, in traditional style, when the water was poured... Afterwards, a big buffet lunch in marquees in the paddock next to the church, quantities of children running about, lots and lots of talk, a beautiful iced cake, sunshine dappling the scene and then giving way to fizzy rain in true English style...an English Sunday.

A timely and beautiful book...

...Why Children Matter - and it's being sent out free to anyone that wants it, and you can get hold of a copy by linking here.... Wise, gentle, and full of hope and common sense, it's a book for today's parents, trying to raise children to be happy and good in a world where crude, ugly, violent and vicious alternatives surge into childhood hearts and minds all the time. The author is Johann Christoph Arnold and the book carries an Introduction by Cardinal Timothy Dolan. It's a delight to be ble to recommend this book, which comes from Plough Publishing, which has produced other excellent material over the years. There is a simplicity and joy about their work and message. They write with courage, taking a clear spiritual and moral approach which could get them lots of criticism today - indeed the author at one point describes being told to leave a school platform halfway through a morning assembly because he dared to mention God. This gives us all an extra reason for reading, and passing on to others, this delightful paperback, which incidentally is beautifully produced and a pleasure to handle.

....and across the pond...

...this comment is relevant and a good read.

Visiting...

...a friend who is gravely ill in hospital. A quiet and solemn visit. The Rosary. Then my route home, in a corner of London not familiar to me, took me past the long high walls of Wormwood Scrubs, the all too grimly-named establishment for involuntary guests of HM...and because I was thinking about suffering, somehow there was a consciousness of the suffering within those walls too...and then, because I was on my way to Mass,a vague link in my mind with the bleak news from the USA of the latest court decision there, not a good sign for religious freedom. On to Westminster Cathedral, and the Mass for Saints Peter and Paul, with Archbishop Vincent Nichols in red vestments and wearing the Pallium. A sudden deep realisation that this unchanging Mass, this huge reality, links us down across the centuries with Peter in Rome long, long ago in prison, and being released from his chains...and the Faith was brought to us, here on this island, and here we all were this June 29th in London, singing out "Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!" in a packed cathedral...

Come and join...

...walkers to Walsingham. The John Paul Walk for the New Evangelisation. Read more here...and come and be part of it!

...and while on the subject...

...of St Patrick's Soho Square (see blog post below), there will be considerable excitement there about this news. Fulton Sheen was a regular preacher and confessor at this church, as he stayed there whenever he was in London. Used to like to describe himself as an honorary curate there.

June 29th...

...is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul and one of the few remaining Holy Days left to us. DEAR BISHOPS:Please may we have all our Holy Days back? Today, chatting to a couple of Catholic ladies, one noted that "somehow it makes the saints look more important than Our Lord, as they get a special day and his feast-days don't". Quite. The idea in moving the special "feasts of the Lord" to Sundays was apparently to make them seem more important, but of course it did nothing of the kind: in the minds of many, feasts like the Ascension instead just "got abolished", because marking them on the nearest Sunday merely seemed to downplay them. Anyway, it will be a pleasure to honour the great martyr-saints Peter and Paul and to give thanks for the Church...and Auntie will probably do so at Westminster Cathedral or possibly at St Patrick's Soho Square...

To the London launch...

...of a new book on Shakespeare by Nicholas Fogg. He's a native of Stratford-on-Avon and so grew up with the the folklore of Bard. The London launch was at St Mary Moorfields - Nick is a member of The Keys, the Catholic Writers' Guild, which meets there - and followed the usual pattern of such events, with much talk and wine and agreeable conviviality....Nick's book is warmly recommended: more info here.... I was at the launch with a journalist friend who worked for some years at the BBC World Service - which incidentally has now moved from its time-honoured home at Bush House in the Strand. I had always thought that the World Service owned that building, which has the motto "Nation shall speak peace unto nation" carved into its stonework...but apparently they only leased it, and the carving was a mere piece of coincidental providence.It was from that building that the BBC provided news from freedom to occupied Europe during WWII, and to Eastern Europe during the long years of the Cold War that followed. It always had a special atmosphere, and went on using those big square microphones on green-baize-covered tables long after they had disappeared from other radio stations.

A planned meeting in Rome...

...which will, I think, prove to be of considerable interest. I am meeting a gentleman who, as a small boy during World War II, was hidden in a Rome convent, along with other members of his Jewish family. You will read the results of our conversations in due course...it is very important indeed that the truth about the plight of Rome's Jewish community during WWII is told, and tribute paid to them and to the courage of those who helped to shelter and rescue them.

for more on...

...how Auntie has been spending her days just recently, read here...

On the feast...

...of St John Southworth, hero priest of the London Plague and a martyr, his body is brought out from its usual chapel at Westminster Cathedral and placed in the Nave, surrounded by candles. This evening, at the usual sung High Mass, the glowing candles, the glorious singing, the evening light, were all a sort of balm after a particularly hectic day. Last week, there was a special Mass for a reunion of former choristers - they joined the procession and sang with the choir from the apse, men of all ages, some middle-aged, some still almost schoolboys, lots of them - and apparently effortlessly they sang out together the most glorious music, soaring up to the great basilica roof and lifting all our hearts. I LOVE WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL.

And to all those...

..on the Martyrs' Walk who expressed interest in the Walsingham Walk, please click here for details...

If the young lady...

...who was so kind to me on the train going to Portsmouth today is reading this, a big big THANK YOU!!!! And yes, I did finally make it to the meeting! and for other readers...here's what happened. At Waterloo,I hopped brightly on to a train for Portsmouth, and en route used my mobile to telephone a taxi to meet my train at 1.30pm . A kind young lady hesitantly approached and said that she couldn't help but overhear...and felt I ought to know that the train certainly wouldn't arrive at Portsmouth until at least 2.15pm. Gulp. I had caught a slow train by mistake...and when I started to think about telephoning the church hall concerned to tell them I'd be late etc, I realised I wasn't even certain of its name. St Saviour's? Yes, surely that was it...but no. We found - by now the young lady was an ally in helping to sort things out - an Anglican church of that name but the kind vicar there said I most certainly wasn't going to speak at any meeting that he knew of that afternoon (extraordinarily, he knew my name and had read some of my stuff over the years!). After some more thinking and googling, light dawned - St SWITHUN!! Yes, that was the name. But the only church seemed to be miles away near Southampton. Oh, dear...and at this point the kind young helper had to leave as we had reached her station...so, if she's reading this: IT'S ALL RIGHT! I telephoned the RC diocesan office, and with their help and that of the Southampton church, I found the right church, St Swithun's in Southsea! And arrived there in time to give my talk on "Celebrating the Church's feasts and Seasons". Phew...

Cardinal Raymond Burke...

...has just published a book which looks like a good read. His is a thoughtfuland prayerful voice, and an inspiring one: he has written the Foreword to an important and authoritative book on Fatima , which lays to rest the fantasies of the they-haven't-told-you-the-full-secret campaigners and emphasises the real, and challenging, spiritual message of the visions. His new book draws on Bl John Paul's Ecclesia de Eucharistica and Papa Benedict Sacramentum Caritatis in offering meditations on the Eucharist.

The traditional...

...Martyrs' Walk made its way through London yesterday,following the route taken by Catholic martyrs to Tyburn long ago. We prayed for religious freedom, gave thanks for the sacrifices made by the martyrs in England long ago, asked for courage for whatever lies ahead. We stopped at SS Anselm and Cecilia in Holborn, at the (Anglican)church of St-Giles-in-the-Fields - where we remembered all those, Protestant and Catholic, who died during the turbulent years of the Reformation and prayed the De Profundis, , and St Patrick's, Soho Square, before finally making our way to Tyburn and Benediction. It's no longer possible to walk down Oxford Street(traffic, crowds), so we divided up into sections and went along other roads. Fr Robert Nicoletti had come from Rome to be our chaplain for the day, and for all of us on the organising team the day began at Westminster Cathedral where he concelebrated the 10.30 High Mass with Canon Christopher Tuckwell for the feast of the Birthday of St John the Baptist.

Getting ready...

...for the Martyrs' Walk tomorrow (Sunday June 24th). Meet near the Old Bailey - site of Newgate Prison where many Catholic martyrs of the 16th and 17th centuries were held before their execution. We'll be gathering in the churchyard of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, nearby. We'll be walking along the route taken by the martyrs, stopping at the Church of Sts Anselm and St Cecilia, at St Giles-in-the-Fields, and and at St Patrick's, Soho Square. We finish at Tyburn Convent with Benediction. The Walk is part of a tradition stretching back a hundred years, commemorating the Martyrs and praying for our country and for unity and goodwill among Christians. We pray the Rosary, and there are opportunities for Confession. Come and join us.

Got talking...

...about the Prodigal Son. The finest bit of the story is the Father, who sees the son from far off, and runs out to meet him. The initiative comes from him, and the son's is actually rather grudging - he's only homeward-bound because he knows that at least there'll be some food there. The Father's heart is full of love and concern.If he saw the son from far off, probably it was because he glanced that way often, day after day, praying and hoping....but what if the son arrives announcing that he's been right all along, that he's a saint and no sinner, and just what the family needs, and he's going to change things to the way he believes they ought to have been from years back? Penitence is unpopular today, and "returning home" is more often seen in terms of assuming rights.

Extraordinary...

...evening at St Patrick's Soho Square, with a magnificent and evocative performance of a play about St Therese of Lisieux. A one-woman show: Eva Herendez in an unforgettable performance which had us spellbound from the moment she walked slowly up the aisle in the Carmelite habit, and sat down before us. Suddenly she was Therese, recounting incidents from childhood (as described in "Story of a Soul"), becoming - hilariously - a turgid novice-mistress listing the timetable for each day in the monastery, and, finally, revealing the self-surrender to the love of God that is at the heart of the Therese message. The church (which was packed) sort of held its breath as the story drew to its end. Extraordinary. Well worth seeing this fine piece of theatre. It's been presented in churches and theatres around France, and even in some prisons, where it's drawn a deep response. If you get the chance, do see this play.

Catholic schools...

...come under fire a lot, and there will be more if this ghastly same-sex marriage scheme goes through and schools are told that they must teach that two people of the same sex can marry...which no Catholic school can teach under any circumstances. Meanwhile I have been spending the week sending out certificates and prizes for the 2012 Schools RE Project run by the Association of Catholic Women and realising just what a lot of good work is done in Catholic junior schools in Britain. They face an uphill task, however. Vast numbers of those who seek to send their children to Catholic schools are not actually practising the Faith, and indeed seem puzzled at the notion that they should, as Catholics, actually go to Mass every Sunday...

The book...

...by von Balthasar that I mentioned (see below) was actually produced jointly bewteen Von B. and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now BXVI. They sort of have it half-each. It's Mary - the Church at the source and it's fascinating. Explains just why the decision of the Fathers at Vatican II to include Mary in the document on the Church rather than just have something separate about her was hugely prophetic as well as being absolutely right.

The Guild Master...

...of The Keys the Catholic Writers' Guild, Mary Kenny, has a good piece in the Irish Independent about the Eucharistic Congress. I've been hearing a good deal about it, too, as I've spent this week at the offices of the CTS in London, working on the Schools RE Project run jointly the CTS and the Association of Catholic Women. A team from the CTS spent the week in Dublin and returned highly enthused and inspired, which is quite the reverse of how I thought things would be. I hadn't known they were going, but learned about it when I arrived at the South London HQ (Vauxhall, in a building that owes its existence to Bishop Brown who worked long years in what was then a very poor district and who built the fine church of St Anne, now a thriving parish). A great procession of the Blessed Sacrament with about 12,000 people surging along, a packed stadium for the final rally on Sunday - the only complaint was that the various talks and workshops were in rooms that were too small, in some cases only sitting 200 people, so many were turned away and were disappointed. The Congress wasn't the biggest thing happening in Ireland at the weekend - for many, football took precedence. But it was a great event, a turning-point, and a sign of hope: read Mary's piece, and you'll get something of the flavour.

Been reading...

...a lot of von Balthasar.

Watched...

...this DVD, warmly recommended.

A jubilee of priesthood...

...marked in South London. Father Anthony Richins celebrated Mass at Holy Ghost church in Balham, fifty years to the day that he celebrated his First Mass there, the day after his ordination. He taught for several years at the John Fisher School in Purley, a school with which Auntie has strong family connections, and we had a happy chat after Mass when I joined others bringing congratulations. I have some Jubilee prayer cards to give to other members of the family, and have also tucked one into my new Missal, where I already have the Ordination cards of young men recently ordained for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham...

...

"A boy student...

...at a vocational school wore a cross around his neck.The school authorities told him 'You'd better take off that cross. Otherwise, you're banned from campus, and what's more, you can't take part in any training programmes.' The boy refused, and was expelled." Sound familiar? It is actually a quote from Stanislaw Dziwisz' A Life with Karol, his moving account of his service with the man who became the world's first Polish Pope. The incident he describes here took place in the late 1960s, when Poland was under Communist rule and we in the West used to hear, from time to time, about the repression of the Church there and the courage shown by Catholics. Six decades on, and here in the West...

Rain, Lumen Gentium, and a Royal Oak...

...at a busy week at Maryvale. Exploring ecclesiology, studying Vatican II's Lumen Gentium, rich theology on the nature of the Church...a midweek break for a visit to Boscobel, rich in history, where Charles II hid in the oak tree after the Battle of Worcester. Regular readers of this Blog will know that I love rain, and we had lashings of it spattering the windows of the old house at Maryvale, soaking into the green lawns. Night after night groups of people arrived from local parishes for a Novena of Masses leading up to the Feast of the Sacred Heart: Maryvale is a centre of devotion for this and has an old shrine dating back to recusant times.

News...

...that the Lefebvrists have been summoned to the CDF, had a lengthy discussion, and been offered a Personal Prelature. Will they - or some of them - swallow pride and submit to Rome? They could do so, as they have been announcing that they "don't need to accept all of Vatican II" and will probably stick to that claim to save face, and can then go ahead. Once back in the Church, the struggle will be to adapt from the "non serviam" approach of the past few decades to "serviam", but that is certainly possible. And they will find that being in the Church changes them, and that as the years go by, they will not mind...and may some day wonder why they made all that fuss.

Thursdays...

...from now on, will mean Evensong and Mass at the Precious Blood church near London Bridge, where the South London Ordinariate group meets. I went for the first time this past Thursday. Evensong is beautiful, and although I had always thought of it as linked intrinsically with choirs-with-white-ruffles and evening-sunlight-through-stained-glass and bells-pealing-out-over-English-countryside, it works just as well in a big brick London church with a railway trundling alongside. The Ordinariate group has a cheery parish feel to it, and we gathered afterwards for champagne and cake as there were three major birthdays to be marked including that of the priest. It was appropriate to be marking this particular Thursday, as it was the ORIGINAL FEAST DAY for CORPUS CHRISTI, now pointlessly transferred to Sunday. Please, dear Bishops, may we have our feast-days back? In lieu, we had a Votive Mass of the Precious Blood. Anyway, from now on: Thursday, Evensong 6pm, Mass at 6.30pm. Nearest station: London Bridge. The Mass will also be useful for all the local city-office workers.

LIttlemore...

...where Bl. John Henry Newman lived and prayed and worked, where in service in Church of England, he built a church and served as its faithful pastor, and where in study and reflection he came to the momentous decision to be recieved into the fullness of the Catholic Church...it's on the outskirts of Oxford and now has a large modern church dedicated to Bl Dominic Barberi who recieved Newman into the Church. The community of The Work, which cares for The College where Newman lived, holds an annual summer Garden Party: a gathering of friends, strawberries and cream, a raffle, stalls selling cakes etc....and in true English style, it was held in the church hall this year because of the weather. I met a number of friends there including a young man who was one of the big Quo Vadis group attending World Youth Day last year - and who was doing sterling work this afternoon selling raffle tickets...

A memorable evening at The Keys...

...the Catholic Writers' Guild. Mass and dinner at St Mary Moorfields. Master of the Guild, Mary Kenny, gave her valedictory speech, telling tales of 1960s Fleet Street and pondering on playwriting,people,politics and popularity, with some thoughts on journalistic ethics and the craziness of filing-the-story-on-time in the days before email. It was a splendid evening, well worthy of the great traditions of The Keys. Mass before was celebrated by our chaplain Fr Peter Newby. In the sermon he commented on the perils of being assailed by people who become obsessive on one particular topic, a tendency to which religious-types can too easily become attached. I have written on this subject .

A message...

...from Papa Benedict to the Queen on her Jubilee. See here...

The Catholic Women of the Year...

..for 2012 have been chosen. Read more here...

And for Auntie's definitive thoughts on the Jubilee...

...read here...

A magnificent Mass...

...at Westminster Cathedral to give thanks for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. At Clapham Junction, clutching my special invitation-only ticket, I ran into a friend who had his ditto and we travelled to the Cathedral together. Glad we got their early. Three quarters of an hour before the Mass was due to start it was filling up rapidly, people content to sit or kneel in silence for a long time just to be there....Soon there were no spare places at all. The Lord Mayor of Westminster arrived with glittering chain of office and was led to a seat in the front. Mass began with a great procession to the sanctuary - Archbishop Vincent, other bishops, lots and lots of priests (and a great double-column of seminarians, a sign of promise and hope for the future), plus of course that fabulous choir...We had Mozart's magnificent Kronungsmesse - it is glorious to hear stunning sacred music in the setting for which it was originally intended, the celebration of Holy Mass - and for the other sung parts everyone joined in with great strength, a great chorus of voices roaring out the plainsong Pater Noster and Agnus Dei...as the Mass ended we said the Jubilee prayer for the Queen and then sang the National Anthem with full hearts...and slowly the procession left the sanctuary to Walton's Coronation March... It was all magnificent, and I think the Queen would have loved it. Earlier, the Archbishops of Edinburgh, Westminster and Cardiff were at the big thanksgiving service at St Paul's, a nice ecumenical statement. When the Mass was over, people stood in pouring rain under umbrellas and talked about the Jubilee - one young about-to-be-seminarian who shared his umbrella with me had spent the morning with the vast outside St Paul's cheering HM in and out, and seemed unworried by the wet. These Jubilee days have certainly done the nation good. The moral and spiritual state of Britain requires much, much more than this, of course....but joy and thanksgiving and a spirit of community are good things in themselves, and open our hearts to more good things...

And more...

...on the superb experience of Kensington Gardens in this summer of 2012 ...read here...

ST Andrew-by-the-wardrobe...

...is a fine Wren church that stands facing the river, not far from Blackfriars. An excellent venue for the special Evensong last week to mark the 45th anniversary of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Some lovely singing from the St-Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe girls' choir, who looked extremely charming in their red-checked school dresses (Sir John Cass Foundation School)and were so delightful aftewards, helping to hand round the drinks and snacks... Dr Richard Chartres, the (Anglican) Bishop of London, preached extremely well, placing the evening in the great perspective of 2,000 years of Christian life and worship. I am so glad I attended this very special event: may the EBVM grow and flourish. London is looking beautiful in its Diamond Jubilee flags - and the weather is just right. This isn't a hot-weather city, and on scorching days it feels bleak, with dust and insufficient shade, and few fountains and too much traffic, and plump people exposing too much scorched pink flesh and dropping their drink-cans and expanded-polystyrene cups and ice-cream wrappers everywhere...Today, in cold winds and grey might-it-rain mode, the bright shops and red buses and chattering people exude a welcome. I am off to Westminster Cathedral for the Diamond Jubilee Thanksgiving Mass, wearing a new dress and matching hat...

...and today...

...a street party where we live. My task was to produce the Quiz. In response to requests, I reproduce it here. It's all just for fun: see if you can match the knowledge of our local residents - a multi-racial group, with children and adults, representing a heritage that includes Korea, India, Poland, and Italy among other places. We enjoyed a wonderful party with delicious food, spicy meat cooked on a barbeque, potato salads, Polish soup, chocolate cakes, scones,sandwiches, fruit punch, and more...and we sang Happy Birthday to the chap at number 25 who organised the event(his birthday was this weekend), raised three hearty cheers for Her Majesty, and had a tug-of-war and face-painting as well as the Quiz. We lined up by the Queen's picture and waved flags for a photograph, and feel we've made our own small contribution to the Jubilee. One of several thousand street-parties held across Britain this weekend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUIZ For the DIAMOND JUBILEE of HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Max: 30 points. 1. What year was the Norman Conquest and what was the name of the Saxon king who got killed at the Battle of Hastings? (2 points) 2. Who was the next king after William the Conqueror? (1 point) 3. Which king had six wives? What were their names? (7 points) 4. Who was the Lord Chancellor of England who was executed at the Tower of London in 1535, saying “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first”? (1 point) 5. Which king fought against Oliver Cromwell and lost? (1 point) 6. Who was king when the American colonies broke away to form the United States of America? (1 point) 7. What year was the Battle of Waterloo? (1 point) 8. What was the name of Queen Victoria’s husband (Christian name AND surname?) (2 points) 9. In 1901 King Edward VII became king (on the death of Queen Victoria). Who came after him? (1 point) 10. In July 1916 a terrible battle was fought which brought the highest number of casualties ever known in the history of the British Army. What was that battle? (1 point) 11. Which king abdicated in order to marry an American lady who had already divorced two husbands?(1 point) 12. What year was the Battle of Britain? (1 point) 13. Who was Prime Minister when Queen Elizabeth II first came to the throne? (1 point) 14. In 1979 Mrs Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. Who was the Prime Minister before her? (1 point) 15. What is the name of the queen’s castle in the Scottish Highlands? And her house in Norfolk?(2 points) 16. Our coins carry the letters FD after the Queen’s name. Why? (1 point) 17. Where was the Queen crowned? (1 point) 18. What is the official address of the Prime Minister? (1 point) 19. What was the name of the first Pope ever to visit Britain? What is the name of the present Pope? (2 points) 20. What does a lady do on meeting the Queen? And a gentleman? (2 points)

Tradition, Continuity, London, and good cheer...

...making a grand day. Crowds at the local station, cramming on to trains. In London, I headed for Mass at St Patrick's, Soho Square. Glorious music, especially the Panis Angelicus after Communion, beautifully sung...after Mass, there is usually a great gathering for coffee and buns, but today most people were heading elsewhere, just as I was. "Off to see Her Maj?" asked Fr Alexander, and yes, that's just what I was doing.Tube to Charing Cross and then I walked down Whitehall to see the Chere Reine. Crowds teeming everywhere, Westminster Bridge packed tight...I finally settled, along with hundreds and hundreds of others, in the gardens next to Parliament. Ideal place. As people found spaces and opened packets of sandwiches, the atmosphere was just as I remember it from Cofton Park during the Pope's visit in 2010 - friendly, chattery,damp, wonderful. A vast TV screen brought us the scenes further up-river as the Royal family arrived and the great flotilla gathered...when the Queen appeared, everyone broke into cheers and whistles and applause, and for the next two hours it was all a party atmosphere, and very delightful. London at its best - damp grass, grey skies, no actual rain and everyone being friendly. When the boats and barges reached our stretch of the river we all stood and cheered like anything. Then, queues for the loos,followed an orderly trudge out into Millbank and the surrounding streets, and the rain started to hurtle down just as I was heading towards Victoria Station. Found refuge in Westminster Cathedral, to be greeted by a pic. of the Queen - she's on the front page of the current Cathedral magazine (which incidentally also has a feature by Auntie in it). Then on home...donning my emergency plastic-poncho-left-over-from-the-Papal-visit when the rain really got ferocious as I left our local station. I wonder whether there will ever be a Royal event like this again? The Britain of today is so utterly different from the one the Queen inherited in 1952, but sitting in the Parliament gardens on the damp grass I did feel a sense of continuity and familiarity. The screaming violence of last summer's riots, the routine drunkeness and vomiting and shrieking of summer evenings in our suburban shopping centres, the bleak adoption of formalised slogans in place of sincere discussion on crucial social and moral issues, all slipped away for a while, and we were just ordinary friendly people enjoying solidarity and a sense of shared patriotism.

Looks like rain...

...for the Jubilee celebrations. But then that's sort of British and traditional. I'm heading for LOndon anyway. At Masses this weekend, there will be a special prayer for the Queen, after the postCommunion prayers and before the final Blessing: the Bishops of England and Wales have issued a special liturgical directive giving instructions on this, and you can read it all here.

...

Pray for Papa Benedict...

...at this time of difficulty. And rejoice that he found such a gigantic wave of love and enthusiasm from those vast crowds in Milan. The theft of letters from the Holy Father's office is going to be the subject of endless gossip and speculation. One possibility is that it may have been carried out by dupes who believed that they were really "helping" the Pope by stealing his correspondence. I have often been appalled by the way in which stupid Catholics will accept nutcase freemasons-in-the-vatican-who-surround-the-pope conspiracy theories (think Visions/Huge Secrets Not Yet Revealed/Paul VI-was-really-a-lookalike/Vatican-II-was-all-a-plot etc etc). This kind of gullibility can be used and abused. Meanwhile, thank God for a serene and courageous Pope, and for the thousands and thousands who turned out to cheer him today. As always, he talked a lot of sense: I like his idea of families helping other families and his rallying call to the young was magnificent...

A young American...

..has written a rather touching poem about Britain on her blog and you can read it here...

Blessed John Paul and the Queen...

...and a notable anniversary. Read here (and listen to Auntie on Vatican Radio) to reflect on the 30th anniversary of the visit of Blessed John Paul the Great to Britain. It is pleasing that this anniversary marches with the celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee of HM the Queen this weekend. I have just finished putting up bunting, hanging it across from window to window with the help of a neighbour, ready for the street party...

To Kensington Gardens...

...to watch a new production of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", CS Lewis' classic brought to the stage. And what a stage...a gigantic tent with the most fantastic displays of light and snow and fire, in which the characters fly and battles and drama and firelight and music and Aslan's roar take us utterly to Narnia. I had envisaged a rather tame theatre-in-the-summer-garden type of evening, but it is nothing of the kind - you are transported to another world, and caught up in the hugeness of the drama with its great redemptive message. The play is absolutely faithful to Lewis, in dialogue and in style and mood. The great question of how to depict Aslan has been tackled by following the lead given in "War Horse" and with the same good effect. The White Witch is magnificent, icy-toned with glittering crystal vowels, terrifying and cruel. The children are convincing.The scene at the Stone Table brought absolute, tingling silence to an audience that had been following the drama with tangible participation all the way through and was now gripped. This is a don't-miss production. Some scenes too scary for very young children - I would say it's for 9 and up. YOUR TEEANGERS MUST SEE THIS. Get more info here. and there's a useful review here...

Read...

...THE PORTAL, monthly magazine produced by members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. June issue now out. Read here...

London, summer, and young Catholics...

...read more here.

...

A debate...

...on same-sex marriage, at which the team led by CATHOLIC VOICES acquitted itself well. A general feeling of vigour and confidence among the (mostly young) RCs who were there in large numbers. On the whole, however, as on other occasions connected with this depressing subject, I left feeling...well..depressed. No vote was taken at the end. The chairman asked if anyone present had changed his or her mind as a result of the debate, and no one had. The side promoting same-sex marriage did not offer an intellectually grounded or well-reasoned approach, but rested on a general appeal to people's desire not to allow any form of discrimination. As we approach the Queen's Diamond Jubilee a survey shows that most people in Britain think that we are, in general and indefinably, in a worse state than we were 60 years ago. This despite the great advances in health and dental care, in longevity, in acquisition of consumer goods and opportunities for holidays and sunbathing and travcelling and eating great quantities of food. It is dreadfully sad to be living in a country where the human realities of marriage and the transmission of life, a sense of joy and hope in the arrival of the next generation, and a belief in the culture and values bequeathed to us by the past, are all denigrated. Of course we are sad. The Queen's own pleas for an honouring of Christ's message each Christmas, the evident sincerity of her own faith, echo this. This is a poignant Jubilee.

Street parties...

...(see below) have changed over the years. These days, it's all barbeques and chilled wine, and going on until late. Back in the 1970s I was a Borough Councillor (London Borough of Sutton, where I grew up) and was asked to give out the prizes and make the speech etc at a street party for the Queen's Silver Jubilee: at that time it was still tea and orange squash and sandwiches and cakes and finished at 5pm. A chap produced a guitar and we sang "God save the Queen" and I called for three hearty cheers for HM the Queen and urged that we make them so loud that she'd hear them at Buckingham Palace. That went down well, so I repeated it at the Golden Jubilee street party held locally ten years ago...

Bunting, flags, and announcements of events...

...for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. In the West Country, every village fluttering with Union Jack flags and red-white-and-blue bunting. London draped in ditto. In our suburb, flags and bunting in the High Street, Jubilee paper hats, china mugs, towels, whistles, badges, bags, in shops and supermarkets. There is to be a Street Party in our road on the Monday. I've rather rashly promised to organise a Quiz. I did one with a fellow-resident ten years ago for the Golden Jubilee: people formed into teams and answered the questions - all on British history, dates, royal anecdotes etc. The girl with whom I organised it all lived a few doors up from us, and we'd chat from time to time but then lost touch...then suddenly a few months ago we found ourselves greeting one another formally at the Sign of Peace at Mass! She was accompanied by a small boy - since the Golden Jubilee, she'd married, moved, and here she was at Mass with her child!

Sizzling...

...in London, so looking ahead to more pleasant things. The Ordinariate of OUr Lady of Walsingham flourishes: news of latest ordinations here. Also more details on the summer pilgrimage. The Ordinariate News Service reports: Blessed John Paul II Walking Pilgrimage 9th - 12th August 2012 The Ordinariate is taking part in the Blessed John Paul II walking pilgrimage to Walsingham for the New Evangelisation in England & Wales. The 50 mile pilgrimage starts with Mass in the ruins of the Abbey at Bury St Edmunds and concludes at the Sunday Mass in the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Accommodation and food are provided as is transportation each day for luggage. Morning & Evening Prayer is sung each day and Mass is celebrated en route with prayers, hymns, rosary and talks as the pilgrims walk along. The cost is £55 per person. You can book in to this pilgrimage here

More enquiries...

...about "how to get that John Paul Book", from people who watched the EWTN BOOKMARK programme. You can order the book here...

...

IN THE HEAT...

...of a sizzling Sunday, I travelled home from a family gathering in the West Country. Stopped off for Mass in a church I will refrain from naming-and-shaming because it had quite the silliest and most ghastly music I have heard at Mass for a long time: a thumpy-thump piano and a truly dreadful choir of middle-aged ladies with microphones, and they sang...I am not making this up and only wish I were - "Shine, Jesus Shine" and a lady in front of me started to clap and sway while her two teenage sons squirmed with horror. THIS IS THE WAY TO STOP PEOPLE GOING TO MASS. Ugh, ugh. And earlier we'd had a silly thump-thump song at Communion and another similar horror at the Offertory. The priest, seemingly oblivious, celebrated Mass with quiet dignity amid this rubbish, the words of the Liturgy serenely sane in the midst of the mess. But the liturgy seemed lost in the drivel: the ladies with microphones stood at one side facing us as if performing at an old-fashioned glee-club, with undertones of Joyce Grenfell. As soon as I could, I fled.

You really must...

...MUST see the superb CATHOLICISM series produced by Fr Robert Barron...it's a visual feast and it takes you through the great and magnificent truths of the Faith while walking you through some of the great cathedrals, shrines, and pilgrimage-places of the world and accompanied by some of the most glorious music....the latest church to offer this course is this one, which is 20 minutes from LOndon (Waterloo) and a wonderful parish with a warm welcome. (While at the church, take a moment to enjoy the enchanting little Mary Garden surrounding her statue...find out a bit more about it here)

....and....

...the CTS (see post below) has just produced a delightful little handbook on "Being a parent today". It is charming, practical, easy to read and with much wisdom. Drawing on the experiences of a range of parents, it offers ideas on "children, faith, and family life". It's produced in association with the TenTen Theatre. This is a superb drama group which has presented some extraordinarily good productions in recent years, tackling issues that are of interest to today's families. I was part of a spellbound audience that watched one year ago on the theme of street violence: it was powerful and unforgettable. I hugely recommend TenTen.

To the offices...

...of the Catholic Truth Society in Vauxhall, South London. The CTS sponsors the annual Schools Religious Eucation Project run by the Association of Catholic Women, and today I had the agreeable task of choosing books from their excellent catlogue as prizes. We need a good many books, as we have some really excellent work sent in from children at Catholic primary schools acroiss Britain. In addition to the main prizewinners, there are a number of runner-up prizes to be awarded...BTW, if you haven't already done so, you should treat yourself and get a beautiful new CTS Missal. Beautiful bound with ribbon markers and glorious illustrations from gems of Medieval art, a pleasure to use and handle, with the full Latin and English side-by-side - it's a joy. I have a Sunday Missal and am relishing using it. There is also a Daily Missal, which today I examined with great delight while at the CTS. These are beautiful books that are not only practical and good to use, but will become treasured over the years.

SUNDAY...

...and I went to Mass at the Church of the Precious Blood at London Bridge, where an Ordinariate group has its base. They join with the longstanding parish for the 11am Mass. Like all RC parishes in England and Wales, we had the Mass for the Ascension today. DEAR BISHOPS: PLEASE CAN WE HAVE OUR PROPER FEAST-DAYS BACK? It's so absurd. Everything feels muddled. It is time to end this experiment of moving certain feast-days to the nearest Sunday. It has caused confusion, irritation, and annoyance without achieving anything.

A great get-together...

...organised by the Association of Catholic Women to meet ladies of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. We had a delicious tea and much, much talk.A most useful as well an enjoyable afternoon.It was a particular pleasure to have the Sisters of the Ordinariate with us. We finished the day with a visit to the Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer and St Thomas More, and one of the Sisters led us in prayer.

Tough times...

...may be coming for Christians. The Holy Father, speaking to bishops on an ad limina visit this week: "with the progressive weakening of traditional Christian values, and the threat of a season in which our fidelity to the Gospel may cost us dearly, the truth of Christ needs not only to be understood, articulated and defended, but to be proposed joyfully and confidently as the key to authentic human fulfilment and to the welfare of society as a whole.”

A STUNNING....

...and unforgettable NIGHT OF WITNESS organised by Aid to the Church in Need at Westminster to pray for all who are persecuted for their Christian faith. Watch the highlights here. Things began with a beautiful Mass in a packed Westminster Cathedral: Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi preached and a large number of priests concelebrated with Bishop Declan Lang, and then the vast crowds spilled out into the piazza for a rally with speeches, music, dance, and prayer that sent out a powerful and very moving message. We were welcomed by Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, and speakers included Bishop Joannes Zakaria of Luxor, Egypt, Archbishop Coutts,and Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali former Anglican Bishop of Rochester.There was music from the West End Gospel Choir and from the group Ooberfuse which sang at World Youth Day. On a great screen we watched news features about the abuse and cruelties suffered by Christians in Pakistan, Egypt, Nigeria, and elsewhere. As the rally drew to its climax, a team from the British Pakistani Christian Association carried a great cross around the piazza and we all slowly followed along behind, flowing into the cathedral where a candlelit Vigil of Prayer was held. This was possibly the most moving part of the whole event: we prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary , and as each Mystery was announced, a candle was lit and a particular victim or group of victims of persecution was commemorated. Thus we commemorated Fr Ragheed Ganni from Iraq and Shabbaz Bhatti from Pakistan, and the victims of a Christmas Day church bombing in Nigeria...at each Mystery, the Our Father was prayed in a different language (Urdu, Aramaic...) and then the congregation prayed the familiar Hail Marys in English. A magnificent and powerful event: no one who was there will ever forget it.

In Solidarity...

Auntie adds her voice in support of this Christian blogger whose promotion of the Coalition for Marriage has brought him extraordinary harassment. Auntie fully supports the Coalition for Marriage, urges readers to support it, and prayerfully supports all who are working to uphold marriage as the lifelong union of a man and a woman.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

Here is an extract from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I intend to publish this and other extracts on my Blog from time to time especially as they are relevant to public debate and current issues. ...................................................................... FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: 2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. 2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition. 2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

A nice American...

...telephones from a Catholic radio station, to interview me about my book on Blessed John Paul the Great. So American readewrs of this blog may have heard me on the (surely dreadfully-named?)"Son Rise show". BTW you can now get the book from ACN, which means that every copy you buy helps to raise funds for hard-pressed Christians in various prts of the world where they are suffering...

...

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM...

...is crucial. Pope Benedict affirmed this speaking to the Diplomatic Corps at the start of this year,noting that religious freedom is "the first of human rights, for it expresses the most fundamental reality of the person." He said that "religious freedom should be understood not merely as immunity from coercion, but even more fundamentally as an ability to order one's own choices in accordance with truth." And this freedom is widely under attack. Lord (David) Alton chaired a meeting in Parliament yesterday organised with Aid to the Church in Need, to draw attention to the plight of Christians in Pakistan and in Egypt. Bishop Joseph Coutts of Pakistan spoke about how Christians are bullied at work because of their faith - in rural areas they may be denied access to wells because they are deemed to be "dirty", and they are unable to get the educational opportunities they need because they are told that they should become Moslem in order to fit in. Pakistan was never envisaged as a fully Islamic state - the idea of true religious freedom and tolerance was firmly upheld by the nation's founder, Jinnah, back in the 1940s. But now a new form of militant Islamicism has taken hold and Christians cannot affirm and live their faith peacefully alongside their neighbours without fear. The Second Vatican Council's declaration Dignitatis Humanae forcefully emphasises religious freedom:"The council further declares that the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person as this dignity is known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself. This right of the human person to religious freedom is to be recognized in the constitutional law whereby society is governed and thus it is to become a civil right." Christians are not asking for privileges, but rights. Join ACN and other defenders of religious freedom tomorrow, May 17th, at Westminster Cathedral piazza, 5pm This is your chance to make a stand. Come, and bring your friends. More info here.

Working...

...on an essay on Ecclesiology. Topic is the image of the Church as a Bride. Reading Ratzinger's Daughter Zion. "Marriage is the form of the mutual relationship between husband and wife that results from the covenant, the fundamental human relationship on which all human history is based." Bridegroom and Bride: Christ and his Church. Male and female.

,,,,

IN LOVING MEMORY

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ My dear father-in-law, Brigadier Bruce Lockhart Bogle, died yesterday, aged 90. A greatly beloved father, grandfather, husband, and head of the family. We honour and cherish his memory, and are so grateful for his long life and for all that he gave us. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This Blog will not be published for the next few days.

In the New Forest....

...there is a wonderful community of Dominican sisters. Nearest station is Brockenhurst (an hour or so from London Waterloo) and Sister Hyancinthe met us there and drove us through glorious woods and meadows, with New Forest ponies and donkeys grazing ("they often go out on to the road - cause huge traffic delays and muddles"), to the big house (Edwardian? late Victorian?) with its fine new chapel. I was accompanying Fr Christopher Pearson of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and he concelebrated the Mass with the community's own chaplain, while birds added a chorus from the meadows beyond the wide clear windows and the sisters in their white habits filled the choir-stalls beneath the great oak beams of the roof. We were there to discuss plans for the annual John Paul Pilgrimage for the New Evangelisation - it's a walking pilgrimage from Bury St Edmunds to Walsingham. Find out more and book in! It lasts over 3 days - be prepared to do some good walking, as you cover 20 miles a day for the first two days, and then another 15 or so on the last lap to Walsingham. Find out more from the Sisters: contact them here. The pilgrimage begins with a Mass in the ruins of the old abbey at Bury St Edmunds...that would also be a wonderful event for a parish to attend as a day-trip...

Auntie has been speaking...

...about Blessed John Paul the Great at various groups and conferences and meetings. Most recent was a talk to to the boys of FAITH Club at the John Fisher School, Purley. We have strong family associations with this school and it was a very special thing to be walking through the familiar gates and greeting the boys in their familiar blue blazers with the golden Fisher badge... and it was good to be talking about the great John Paul to a members of a new generation to whom he is already a hero-figure and part of Catholic culture...by long tradition, FAITH meetings at the Fisher conclude with substantial quantities of tea and buttered toast, and as I munched I remembered - and Dan Cooper, who runs the FAITH Club, told the current members - how my mother had for years presided at the teapot and toaster, passing round plates stacked high with delicious slices... Later in the evening, a happy time with Dan accompanying me on my usual evening time with my mother...talks, memories, the strength of the faith and of long and valued friendship...

PHYLLIS BOWMAN...

...a brave woman and an inspiration to a generation, a leader in the fight to defend unborn children,has died. May God reward her for her dedication to a noble cause and for the leadership that she gave to so many of us. Phyllis gathered a team of younger people around her in the pro-life cause in the 1970s and 80s, and we all learned so much from her. She was courageous, hard-working, and professional,and an excellent journalist and communicator, working with skill, enthusiasm and good humour under pressure. Her love and concern for unborn babies drove her and this, combined with her Christian faith, made her some one to whom we looked with admiration and even awe. Britain is in her debt: she understood the great moral issues of our era and sought to make a better future. Just a short while ago, through unusual circumstances, I met Phyllis and her husband Jerry in a London hospital while visiting another friend...it had been a long time - too long - since our last meeting and I now cherish the time we had together, to talk, and to embrace. David (Lord) Alton writes:"For half a century Phyllis has been an indefatigable champion of the unborn child and for the sanctity of human life. Her tireless efforts, right up to her final illness and last days, serve as an inspiration to the next generation. She was an extraordinarily talented woman, utterly dedicated, highly articulate, politically shrewd and the possessor of an encyclopedic memory. Her early training as a Fleet Street journalist never left her short of things to say. Her Christian faith and her beloved husband, Jerry, kept her strong throughout years of having to fight endless battles against abortion, embryo experimentation, human cloning and euthanasia. Her name deserves to be associated with some of the great women who have given their lives to great causes - Elizabeth Fry, Florence Nightingale, Emmeline Pankhurst, Cicely Saunders, Mother Teresa and Sue Ryder."

St Thomas More, the river, and Allen Hall...

...on a strikingly cold May Sunday. JB leading a Catholic History Walk that took us around Chelsea,honouring St Thomas More and thus telling the story of Henry VII and the frail sickly Prince Arthur and young Princess Catherine of Aragon and her subsequent marriage to Henry VIII and all that followed... Henry VIII's book on the Seven Sacraments is perhaps a classic example of a book that while attempting to defend doctrine somehow dramatically fails the Church. It's a mistake that today's self-proclaimed "Catholic traditionalists" also too often make. Prof Jack Scarisbrick described the book once in a lecture at Maryvale as "an unloving book" and he was right... In the end, St Thomas More did something far greater and nobler and of more lasting benefit to the Church with his heroic witness that culminated in martyrdom on Henry's orders on Tower Hill... We stood where Thomas More once lived, and walked along by the Thames to Chelsea Old Church where his first wife Jane has her tomb in a side-chapel where he had planned that he too would one day be buried. The church is not quite the one that More knew - Luftwaffe bombers removed most of that - but the More chantry was rebuilt from the ruins and today's church also includes a number of other retrieved features of the original building. Our walk finished at Allen Hall, the seminary for the diocese of Westminster. In what is now an annual tradition, we were welcomed to tea and a team of seminarians took groups around the building explaining its associations with Thomas More (it stands on the site of his garden) and with the later hero martyrs of the 16th and 17th centuries. The Rector, his team, and the students made us really welcome. We gave three hearty cheers for the students - it made a very rousing sound as we were a good-sized group and enjoying our tea after the cold walk! - and it is really good to meet them and to see the future of the Church in their strength and faith. We finished with Evening Prayer and Benediction in the chapel, the strong voices of the young men singing out the psalms and the Tantum Ergo...

Well, was he, or was he not, "the great"?...

...read here.

CATHOLICISM....

...and Father Robert Barron from the USA speaking about his evangelisation project which carries that name. He was at St Patrick's Soho Square and long beforehand a queue was forming outside the church. The place was absolutely packed, people sitting on the floor, cramming the gallery and squeezing in at the back. Obviously it was mostly young people, but some of us oldies were there too, and I met various friends. The Catholicism Project is excellent - a set of DVDs with the Faith being explained and taught in a glorious pilgrimage through some of the world's great Christian places of faith and pilgrimage - Namugongo in Uganda where the young martyrs died in the 1880s and where thousands now flock to honour their memory, Chartres Cathedral, Calcutta where Mother Teresa's nuns labour radiantly in the slums, the Holy Land, Notre Dame in Paris, Lourdes where vast crowds of pilgrims hold glowing candles aloft...

Trafalgar Square...

...at night, with people milling about, and a group of us making our way to the London Centre of Notre Dame University, which is just near the Square. This is where the Catholic Voices Academy meets, and the topic for the evening was feminism and the role of women in the Church. I am not sure that I did very well: I think I am too much conditioned by having to oppose the passionate anti-Church feminist campaigners of the 1980s and 90s. It was comparatively easy to "score off" against them in debates, but it didn't neccessarily win over the more neutral people who were listening in. Thus today there are young Catholics who know the feminist rhetoric, know that there are some answers to it, but do not find that the traditional Catholic teachings on this subject win hearts or minds. They seek ways to put the teachings more effectively - they like Bl John Paul's Mulieris Dignitatem and they like Pope Benedict's assumption that women can and should hold positions of influence in the Church, but they find it hard to give convincing sound-bite-sized arguments for the male priesthood, partly because they recognise that this requires a greater degree of genuine respect for the Christian faith than many of their listeners are prepared to give. They operate in a world where savage denunciation of Christianity is common - a tough world. They also know that there are many people who are genuinely seeking a way forward and who have been wounded by the messy break-up of families and relationships and who need love and help. I think my confident assertion about the Church valuing and honouring women - all those women saints, the central role of Mary etc - did not sound as convincing as they would have liked, and the bridegroom/bride nuptial reality of priesthood and Church is a deep mystery which can sound trite unless it is allowed to be discussed properly.

A strange...

...and angry photocopied brochure arrives in the post, lots of small print and odd little drawings. It's produced by a lady in Scotland who is very angry indeed about things in the Church, and very much dislikes Auntie Joanna. The brochure opens with a big tirade partly aimed at me. But the poor lady who writes it dislikes a lot of other people too, and emphasises throughout that this is because she is a Catholic who is responsible for defending traditional and true Catholicism against people like...well...JB among others. It was kind of her to send me the brochure but I am not very clear what her aim was in doing so. In any case, I have read it, and have now returned it with good wishes and thanks.

CATHOLIC VOICES...

...has been under fire again. The Tablet carries a criticism of the group for having invited a woman called Joanna Bogle to talk about the topic of women and the Church. The line is that JB is ignorant of women's needs and problems: the lady theology lecturer making these comments could contact me if she likes as it might be useful to talk. In any case, undeterred, CV - with which I have been involved for some while - will be running its Academy session tomorrow night in London, with speakers Sara de Nordwall and JB. Sara was recently on BBC Radio Woman's Hour and you can hear her here (it's the March 30th one). We'll be looking at a range of issues. The priesthood will be among them. Auntie has discussed this issue a lot, eg here...

Spent the evening...

...helping with envelopes for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, sending out info,inviting support etc. The Holy Father has just sent a generous donation. This is a project very close to his heart. Which is nice, as it's close to Auntie's heart too. Good to know that one is going along in the same direction... You can read Auntie in The Portal, the Ordinariate's on-line magazine. Click here and enjoy...

Tor Vergata...

...in Rome, where young people gathered for World Youth Day in 2000 was hosting another gathering this evening, as a new generation honoured Blessed John Paul on the first anniversary of his Beatification.

A solemn...

...feel to things as I led a Catholic History Walk this evening. A mild April day, rain having given way to gentle sunshine, and a beautiful sunset as we stood on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral. Our city. "Domine dirige nos" is its motto. We had begun the walk at St Mary Moorfields (my own Guild Church - it's the home base of the Catholic Writers' Guild), and the Walk took us to various City churches, and the Guildhall, and Bl. John Henry Newman's birthplace, and more. And as we finished at St Paul's, we had the steps of that magnificent monument to ourselves,and the sunset glowed over Ludgate Hill and the sweep down to Fleet Street and an overview of one of the most famous cities in the world... and we pondered those who had stood there before us - thinking about things like Churchill's funeral in that vanished Britain of the 1960s, and that impressive but ill-fated Royal Wedding of 1981, and the happy Golden Jubilee ten years ago which we will echo again this summer at the Diamond Jubilee...and then, as with all our History Walks, we ended with prayers. These were for our poor country, now stuck in a miserable doomed groove from which only Christian vigour can remove it: there's something so dead-end and bleak about foisting same-sex "marriage" on a people who have been heirs to a great civilisation and must now be part of its decline. Latest news, incidentally, is that, if this new law goes through, Catholic schools may be told that they cannot teach about Christian marriage. Will they be allowed to stock and use books such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states Christian doctrine on marriage and sexual integrity with particular clarity? I walked down Fleet Street and along the Strand and crossed the river to catch the train home from Waterloo. I remember my mother once describing how, when they had just got engaged and were talking and planning about their future, she and my father stood on that bridge and looked at London and he said "It's ours - they didn't get it", meaning the War and the city being saved from enemy invasion.They felt that Britain's freedom was secure. Bought a cup of coffee at Waterloo. Felt a bit bleak.

Came across...

this poignant comment-piece while trawling the Net this evening...

What was I reading...

...while at Walsingham? Two or three good things, but specifically this which, while not a deep or profound study of its subject, is well-informed, quietly inspiring and lifts the heart. Also, of course, my ever-faithful Magnificat, which gets taken everywhere and was especially good to have to hand on a pilgrimage. And I also took along - simply because I had been at a meeting on Friday where they were handed over to me - a big batch of entries for the Assn of Catholic Women's Schools RE Project for some initial reading. This year, the children were invited to write about certain of Christ's miracles. Some splendid spelling: "Ten leppers with horrabul woonds" and a "Roman offerser" who wanted his servant "heeled" were among my favourites...

Walsingham...

...in driving rain and wind. A pilgrimage with supporters of Aid to the Church in Need. We were small in numbers this year - just one coachload from London, and a few joining us from elsewhere. But, as always, it was beautiful to pray in the ancient shrine chapel, and to be at Mass in the big barn church. Walked with friends down the Holy Mile that links the Catholic shrine to the village...the planned procession was abandoned because of the high winds, and people went by coach , but we elected to enjoy the gusty challenge, and it was rather glorious. The surging and buffeting of the wind, the great beauty of the Norfolk landscape, and the reality of Walsingham with all its profound messages, drew us to talk of big things, and it was so good to do this with old and valued friends... Later, after a beautiful Benediction in the church in the village, I had a good meeting with Sister Camilla of the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham. They run a House of Prayer in the Brentwood diocese, but their aim has always been to be linked to Walsdingham. If you'd like to find out more, and help out, you can do so here... On a whim - and because J. was busy with various commitments over the weekend and there was no need for me to hurry home - I decided to stay overnight in Walsingham. The Pilgrim Bureau (Elmham House) is very comfortable.The village, on a wet and windy April night, was bleak, but that made being with other pilgrims in a cosy house all the more agreeable. There is a night-time Benediction for pilgrims in the church - which is right next to the pilgrim house - and this is usually followed by a candlelit procession into the garden and prayers by the statue of the Mary. It wasn't feasible to pray outside so we lit our candles and held them aloft as we turned towards the statue in the church instead. They are special candle-lanterns with little Walsingham scenes and the words of the "Ave, Ave, Ave Maria" hymn on them, so you gaze at your lantern and sing - it was all rather delightful. Later, a mug of tea with some Irish pilgrims who told me all about "Mass-pats" and answered my question about holy wells, with many stories of saints and miracles...and a long comfortable read in bed before a good restful sleep.

Blessed John Paul...

...was beatified a year ago...this link gives more on the subject...

More on that Ordinariate celebration...

...can be read here...

Been browsing...

...Fr Robert Letellier's book for Sunday and feast-days. A good read. I have so much enjoyed his excellent lectures at Maryvale. Enjoy the book: more about it here...

Priestesses and the TV version...

... and, as I predicted, a muddle. Some while back, I was invited to take part in a TV discussion about whether or not there were priestesses in the early Church. It was all quite pleasant and friendly - I was flown to Rome, and the filming was done in a church there. I explained the Church's position, gave information on the history, was asked "But surely there were women priests in the early Church?" so explained again, gave more informationm on the history, was asked again, explained again...and so on... The TV presenter was a pleasant young lady, but not at all well informed even about the basics of Christian doctrine, let alone the history of the Church. She seemed to know little or nothing about the Church of the first few centuries, and to be rather muddled about the centuries after that. In place of knowledge, she had a fixed opinion about the need for the Church to have priestesses, based on a rather 19th and 20th century view of the Church. It was tiresome explaining things as she didn't really grasp some of the central points...but she was friendly and pleasant and enthusiastic about working in TV, and on the whole I enjoyed doing the interviews even though I knew that the resulting programme would not be of particular value to anyone with a serious intterest in the subject of the priesthood. The programe was aired last week, and a number of people have been commenting on it. I didn't watch it, but many of the comments made echo my own thoughts at the time of the filming. This one , for example, seems to me relevant...

Lots to ponder...

...following recent visit to Poland...and I'm doing so partly through a series of talks for Premier Radio. Listen in to them daily, in the week beginning May 7th...

Glorious...

...really glorious. A beautiful church, magnificent music, strong voices united in the timeless words of the Liturgy, an atmosphere of great reverence and prayer with a packed-to-capacity congregation...that was St Patrick's, Soho Square, today as history was made with two new priests being ordained into the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. It is always moving and impressive to see a young man prostrate before the altar, pledging his life in service to God. And there is a sense of awe as the Bishop lays hands on the ordinand's head, a profound reminder of a unity in faith that goes all the way back to the Apostles... Mgr Keith Newton preached, long lines of communicant approached the altar rails with reverence, there was magnificent singing - I don't think I've ever heard the Pater Noster sound so superb - and the day sent out a message of youth and hope. Afterwards, the two new young priests dispensed blessings galore, and there was food and wine and talk and a happy time...

At the Shrine of Divine Mercy...

...there is silence and prayer, crowds and faith and peace. The candle glow and intimacy of the original chapel where you pray and where Sister Faustina lies at rest contrasts with the hugeness of the vast new church with its message of "Do not be afraid!", a statue of John Paul standing as if at the prow of a great barque putting out to sea...the whole combines to send a message of hope and certainty and strength.

Our trip to the shrine came at the centre point of a week's stay in Krakow, and this seemed just right somehow.

John Paul the Great gave many magnificent things to the Church, but opening up the message of Christ's limitless mercy was one of the most important. Britain has need of this message...

Krakow...

...is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and from the moment you fly in to John Paul II Airport, you know you are somewhere special.

Wawel cathedral and castle, St Mary's church where the haunting bugle-call still marks each hour, delicious pierogi with onions and butter, a bus ride to Wadowice and John Paul's boyhood home being turned into a pilgrim shrine... Krakow's streets and trams, the Jewish quarter, the river,the Divine Mercy shrine...and more...and more...

It's coming up to...

...the First Communion season. A couple of people have asked me about my book on Blessed John Paul II - ideal First Communion gift. You can order it here. DO get a copy: children enjoy it, and the illustrations, by Kati Teague, are absolutely enchanting.

STAND UP FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM....

...and support those who are really suffering for their Faith.

Come to the Vigil at Westminster Cathedral piazza on May 17th.Bring a crowd!

Get information here - and spread it around. Tell your parish. Tell your friends and family. BE THERE!!!

Off to see Father Jim...

...who is a family friend, and celebrated the Nuptial Mass at Jamie's and my wedding over 30 years ago...

A delicious lunch, and lots of chat, and then...

FR JIM HAS STARTED A BLOG!!!

and you can access it here and find out about all the books that Fr Jim has written...especially of interest to fans of Blessed John Henry Newman...and for parishes and groups preparing to celebrate the Year of Faith and the Catechism...

St Andrews...

... is possibly the most beautiful setting for any university. On the train from London I was busy with books and letters for most of the time, but after Edinburgh the only wise thing to do is just relish the glorious ride along the Scottish coast.

I was speaking to the Cathsoc at Canmore. Topic was celebrating the Church's feasts and seasons - we'd titled the talk "How to evangelise using the calendar" and this turned out to be good because people were rather intrigued (one told me that he'd wondered if it was going to be some sort of weird advice like 'Never evangelise on a Thursday"!). Delightful young people. A beautiful Mass in the chapel of the big old house - which I first visited to give a talk over 30 years ago, before today's undergraduates were even born...

After the meeting, everyone crowded into the chapel again for Compline. Candlelight, and young voices, and outside the sea and the sky...

Planning...

...for the next weeks and months.

I am off to Poland next week, a sort of Bl.John Paul pilgrimage...will be writing up some of the adventures on this blog.

BTW - for younger readers: if you want to take up Bl. JP's call for a fresh evangelisation of our country, contact here and ask about the John Paul II Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham this summer.