A vocation to the Carmelites...

...is a precious thing. And here is one that needs some help.

At the weekend, while at Maryvale, I met a lady who has been accepted as a postulant in the Carmelites, and all was going well...but she has a problem. She owns a small house on the outskirts of Birmingham and has been unable to sell it.  She is not allowed, under Church law, to enter a religious order until she has sorted out obligations of this sort. The house is a modest one, and she needs to sell it in order to pay off the mortgage and be free to follow her call.

Can you help? The convent has released her until the sale goes through. She is working as a supply teacher...and is desperate for help in getting this small house sold!  Any offers of help/advice would be appreciated. Send a COMMENT to this Blog marking it "Not for publication" and INCLUDING IN IT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS so that I can contact you.

London...London...

...I took a group of school pupils from a big London comprehensive school round Westminster Cathedral today. They were delightful, well behaved and friendly, and looked nice in their blue blazers. They don't know much history, but get eager and interested once you start to explain it...the key is to get them to answer up and repeat things. "Christ was born in...?" and they are too shy to answer so you repeat the statement and then one shyly mumbles "Jerusalem?" and you say "Not quite..." and you tell them "Bethlehem" and there's a vague murmur of "Oh, yeah...of course" and so you  then start again "Christ was born in...?" and you get a chorus of the right answer...and so it goes on. They knew the name of the first Pope - a big chorus of "Peter" and they eagerly searched for the name of Pope Benedict on the big plaque listing all of them...and they knew about him and about Pope John Paul, and of course about Pope Francis...They didn't know about Pope Gregory and St Augustine and "Non angli sed angeli"  but they liked the story and were able to repeat it back to me in due course. Odd gaps in children's knowledge, though...when I talked about St Paul one of them asked what a shipwreck was.

The main interest arose as we stood at the foot of the nave and I commented that it would be a superb aisle to walk up as a bride...one commented thoughtfully that you'd need a long hymn because the walk would be a long one, another asked how much a wedding like that might cost...(I noted that the cathedral would be free, but it would right to make a donation...and then afterwards, giving champagne and cake to all those people would cost a bit...best to start talking to her dad about it now, so as to get saving...)

And then, after a quick coffee-and-emails break in a nearby café, a change of mood.  I hurried to London Bridge. Here, a couple of us had agreed to meet at Precious Blood Church to do a Rosary Walk. We were doing it all last summer, a little group of women quietly walking around the parish, praying the Rosary. This evening, a Rosary in thanksgiving for many blessings received...

There is so much history in The Borough, along this little bit of the Thames. Borough High Street and Redcross Way... the little garden established by Octavia Hill with its rush-pond and little bridge... Guy's Hospital chapel and a lady came in to pray, and asked if we had any matches as she wanted to light a candle...

We are having a Parish History Walk on July 8th as part of the Patronal Festival. Watch this blog for more on that...

...and don't forget...

...the DAY OF FAITH, with Bishop Philip Egan and author George Weigel among the speakers. June 18th at St Patrick's, Soho Square. There is still time to book your ticket, but HURRY...info here...

We celebrated...

...the conclusion of our Evangelisation course with a party on Saturday evening, wine and snacks and cake and a general spirit of unity and merriment. There is a Maryvale Mythology that binds together all who have ever studied here, and cannot really be conveyed except by a general reference to  the culture of the place...

This weekend had a special mood of its own, set against the background of the horrible legislation now going through Parliament, and the all too obvious schemes by campaigners dedicated to wrecking any public teaching or affirmation  of Christian sexual morality. There was serious, thoughtful discussion, some inspirational teaching, beautiful moments in the chapel, and a great sense of growing unity and friendship among members of the group...

Fresh Evangelisation...

...oh, how badly our poor country needs it...

And doing it is joyful.

Spent Friday afternoon packing up prizes for the children taking part in the Schools Project run by the Ladies Ordinariate Group at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge. This was great fun: coffee brewed, sandwiches shared, and much agreeable talk and laughter as we worked. The LOGS group contacted all the Church of England and Catholic primary schools in Greater London - that's a large number, stretching from Barnet in the North down to Kent in the south - and invited the children to take part in a handwriting and artwork venture. They were given some Psalms to read, and were to choose one, and copy out some lines they particularly liked - minimum of 4 lines, max. of 6 - and illustrate them any way they liked. Then in one paragraph, to give reasons for their choice.

We received some absolutely beautiful work - wonderful illustrations of deer by running streams, and the Lord being a shepherd, and a cup overflowing, and so on and so on...and the children's reasons for choosing particular lines were touching and often truly inspiring. Reading through the entries was a big team effort and we loved it...and sending out prizes and arranging for a display of the children's work has been a most enjoyable exercise.

We were still busy and enjoying ourselves when Fr Chris came through and noted that it was 6 pm...and we all had homes and families and evening commitments...I was catching a late train to Maryvale from Marylebone...

On the train I relaxed with another thoroughly enjoyable project, embroidering a sampler to mark the birth of a new great-niece. The arrival of this baby has given much joy...

Maryvale, and the welcome that awaits as soon as you go through the gates and up the path beneath the arching trees. The grounds look particularly lovely this weekend because there is to be the annual Mass and Procession honouring the feast of the Sacred Heart...as the weekend progressed, the preparations gathered pace, with a great outdoor church created in front of the pillars and verandah at the side of the house where a lovely statue of Mary stands in front of a large flower-bed in the shape of a Cross, with the Stations alongside. Great stacks of flowers, chairs arranged in row after row stretching back towards the main lawn...and while we were at lectures tackling Evangelisation and discussing ways of  doing Confirmation preparation or youth work or talking about the problems and challenges and opportunities, with the Scriptures and the Catechism, Maryvale was readying itself to welcome large crowds for what is evidently a major local event...

The Coronation chair...

...is currently on display in Westminster Abbey, in a side chapel near the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior , close to the great west door. A thick band  of blood-red  Flanders poppies surrounds the tomb, and people gather round, falling silent as they read the inscription. Nearby the monuments include one to Lord Shaftesbury, whose great work for the poor including freeing children from work in mines and factories, and one to Winston Churchill.  Then as you turn your gaze to the sanctuary there are gleams of gold, and above you the great arches soar...all this in just a few short minutes taken from a busy morning, and the images linger in the mind throughout the day. We lunched in a pub near St James' Park and then made our good-byes - my sister will shortly be returning to New Zealand after this family visit - and I went on to Charing Cross, and thence to Pembury.

Pembury? It's a village in Kent, reached via a train journey through countryside all green and lush in June sunshine after months and months of rain. In Pembury Fr Ed Tomlinson of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham ministers to a growing flock...the church of St Anselm operates in a hall which functions as a nursery during the week and so has to be transformed for worship, with much unpacking of altar and arranging of chairs and collecting of hassocks etc from cupboards. Hassocks...now there's Anglican patrimony for you. "Couldn't you have proper tapestry hassocks, done by the ladies-of-the-parish?" I asked.  Of course, came the cheery reply, and here's-one-that's-been-done-already, and he showed a fine piece of work commemorating the Queen's diamond jubilee. I badly want to help: I'm currently just finishing a small cross-stitch sampler for a new baby ( enchanting new great-niece arrived just recently)  but when that's done, I hope the parish follows up on the hassocks plan and invites volunteers...

Mass, once the hall was transformed into a church. Then I gave my talk on saints - the latest in a series of talks organised by Fr Ed for the Year of Faith. A good attendance, and a good spirit among them all. The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is a sign of hope in sad and difficult times for our country.  As we sat talking later, we looked at reports and analyses of the tragic House of Lords vote to impose a redefinition of marriage on us all. It's grim: several Anglican bishops actually abstained, apparently unable to bring themselves to oppose this ghastly thing. The Catholic bishops have issued a statement emphasising opposition and saying they will fight for the rights of  conscience etc.

Whenever Christians gather to talk about saints today some one mentions martyrdom, and people start to quote that recent remark by Cardinal George of Chicago...

But there is everything to play for.  We need hope, courage, prayer, wisdom, common sense,  unity with Peter's successor in Rome...and trust in God...

London, sixty years after...

...the Coronation, with all its rich Christian symbolism.  And today Parliament voted to impose a new law stating that two men can marry.  A tragic day, a sense of something ending.

London was beautiful today - the tide was far out along the Thames, revealing wide beaches,  and while boats chugged past out in the deeper water, people on the shore sipped drinks and chatted and packed out the bars and restaurants...

I have been busy with family things all week, and this afternoon we went to The Globe, and stood in the Yard to enjoy an absolutely stunning presentation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. In Act 1, where Lysander is arguing with Demetrius about who should marry Hermia, he notes that Demetrius seems to get on very well with Hermia's father Aegeus, so why doesn't he marry him instead?  When Shakespeare wrote that, he could never have imagined...

With the Holy Father...

...the Church around the world today prayed in unity before the Blessed Sacrament.  He had organised it for 5pm, Rome time, and for us in Britain that meant 4pm - an ideal time, just completing a Sunday afternoon...

I went to morning Mass at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge -  it was the parish  First Communion Mass and a vast congregation, standing-room only.  There were a lot of friends-and-neighbours of the First Communicants, and  a number were all too obviously unfamiliar with being in church: a good deal of talking and Father made a plea for silence before Mass began. He preached extremely well - an easy, informal style, standing at the sanctuary steps... over the high altar are the words "Christus dilexit nos et lavit nos in sanguine suo"  and he asked for help to translate it. A child volunteered: the word "Christus" is obviously a fairly easy start...and together they did it, and as they did so, the congregation was hooked...

The children  behaved impeccably, the girls in white dresses and the boys in jackets-and-ties...the Mass ended with a great Blessed Sacrament procession surging out into the streets - we went  under the big railway viaduct, and along Borough High Street, past the War Memorial and down Union Street and so finally back to the church for Benediction... the girls strewed flowers before the Blessed Sacrament, the boys formed an honour guard, there was the usual muddle with singing as it's impossible to keep a straggly  crowd like that in unison, and several people said that next year we should have a brass band!  Then, after Tantum Ergo and a traditional Benediction, a terrific squash of people in the Parish Room where there was not only a celebration cake and lots of  snacks, but great platefuls of rice and chicken (this is a v. African and West Indian parish) and wine...

Then, later, after the clearing-up (including removal of  some chewing-gum from the carpet, ugh)...the quiet church, and the Blessed Sacrament, and a reminder that we were gathering there to pray in union with Pope Francis and the worldwide church: in America it was  11 in the morning, in Japan it was already night...

Then I went on to St Patrick's, Soho Square, because I had a longstanding commitment to go to the Procession there, too. I always love this Procession, because the Blessed Sacrament is taken right through Soho, and we give out little gifts of Miraculous Medals wrapped in Scripture verses. There are some wonderful encounters. "What is this? What is that parade about?" When I explain about the Blessed Sacrament, most people vaguely understand. One said "I'm a Catholic - but we don't have this in Ireland" (they do, they do, but evidently not enough, and not in his parish). Several others also said "I'm a Catholic..." but appeared unfamiliar with the idea of the Blessed Sacrament... light sort of dawning as I mentioned the Mass, and Holy Communion...

This Procession - a very large one, preceded by an International Mass in St Patrick's - always finishes with a grand Benediction in the churchyard of St-Giles-in-the-Fields, a nice ecumenical gesture. The Rector and his team made us all most welcome, and we all chatted agreeably over wine and fruit juices in the evening sunshine...

And then finally home. That was a lot of  procession and singing for one Sunday. But I loved it.

...and...

...looking ahead to the summer, don't forget to book in for the JOHN PAUL WALK to Walsingham, starts August 7th with a Mass in the ancient abbey at Bury St Edmunds. It's organised by the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph: find out more from their website here.

Summer is on its way...

...and Auntie is planning her summer activities - or rather, her winter ones, because part of August will be spent Down Under, where it will be wintertime.

First, however, to the USA, to take part in EWTN's Family Celebration,  and then on to Australia, for a rather rusharound lecture tour...I have three new books coming out, two are books of saints for children, and one is about Brigettine nuns and helping to save Jewish people in wartime Rome. An exploration of this tragic chapter of history reveals some poignant stories...and restores the truth about the maligned Pius XII, who actually saved a huge number of lives. Along with him - literally, working alongside, and making the necessary visits to places to arrange hiding-places etc,, often in dangerous conditions - was the young Mgr Montini,  better known to history as Paul VI.   Both of these men have been the object of sneers and abuse, and it is important to set out the truth and  give honour where it is due.

Working on the book about the Brigettine nuns has been difficult: by definition, hiding people secretly in wartime is not something that involves written records or publicity...but it was exciting once I got some breakthroughs, and now the thing has been written, and in a couple of months I will hold the book in my hands.

The feast of the Visitation...

...in Sussex, on a perfect May evening in the church of Our Lady Queen of Peace in the Adur Valley, an ordination, and  a packed church singing "Veni, veni Sancte Spiritus..."

It was all a bonus for me, as I had arranged to be with friends who organise the Catholic History Walks: we meet from time to time at their home in Sussex, to plan the next set of walks, check on how the whole venture is going, etc. We generally start with evening Mass in their local church, then enjoy a family supper and talk. But this time Jayne telephoned to say there was an ordination in their parish and asked if I'd like to go...

It was glorious. AS the long stream of clergy processed in, to the sound of our singing, bells were pealing out across the village, as the local Anglican church was also having an ordination that evening (and, pleasingly, mutual prayers were offered amid general goodwill: a nice gesture), and evening sunshine streamed in through the church windows.  The new deacon, Stephen Sharpe,  was ordained by the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton...it is always so moving when the ordinand prostrates himself before the altar and the saints are invoked in chanted  prayer. Here in this corner of Sussex, St Cuthman ("The boy with the cart")was invoked along with the other saints - including Blessed John Paul,  which gave a sense of the great sweep of time and history...

The Bishop was wearing new vestments - very beautiful, richly embroidered - and the new deacon was invested with a new dalmatic of the same design, the stiff material being unfolded as the garment was put over his head.  The prayers of ordination are magnificent, and there was a sense of a new surge of strength coming to the Church.

This is a good parish: lots of  families -  children's names on a notice-board announcing First Communion, each child's name inscribed on a pictured candle, inviting parishioners to pray. Fr Sean Finegan, the parish priest, spoke at the end of the Mass and invited everyone into the parish hall, where there was the most magnificent spread...the chocolate truffles were so especially delicious that we were invited to take some home with us, and Auntie did so, and they are waiting in the fridge to be enjoyed during the week ahead.

It was all so very beautiful and happy that we lingered, and it was late when Bryan and Jayne finally took me back to their house and over mugs of tea, we finally tackled the History Walks...more info shortly on these, but be assured that there is a full programme for the months ahead, and we're starting a new initiative for London Catholic schools

Auntie...

...was invested as a Dame of St Gregory the Great yesterday (May 28th) by Archbishop Peter Smith  at St George's Cathedral Southwark.

 

The Mass was beautiful, celebrated by Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Glorious music, with cantor Jeremy de Satge: a Missa de Angelis, with Panis Angelicus at Communion, and hymns including  Newman's "Firmly I believe" sung heartily by all the congregation...Fr Stephen Langridge preached.

Our country...

...what a tragic state it is in.

Pray for the family of the soldier murdered in South London. Pray for our country and for its current government, only too obviously dazed and confused.

If you enjoy...

...reading this, then you will enjoy the DAY OF FAITH, to be held on June 18th in London.  So book in and come. You can come for the whole day, or just for the evening. Details here, and do book your place now.  There are a lot of people already booked in, but there are still some places left.

The Archbishop...

...of Southwark celebrated Mass today at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge, and blessed the new Shrine to Blessed John Henry Newman which has just been established in the church. It is a beautiful shrine, with a portrait of Newman (copy of the famous Millais portrait, from the National Portrait gallery), in a side-chapel, on the left as you walk up the main aisle towards the sanctuary.

A glorious Mass with good singing, and a particularly delightful moment when the children from the Sunday school trooped up for a blessing.  Just for a moment, the scene had the look of a painting:  "Sunday in a South London parish", with the line of children two-by-two  at the foot of the  sanctuary steps, and the candles gleaming and the Archbishop bending to bless a child, and the first of this year's sunshine finally managing to show itself through the high windows on this May morning.

Our Lady of Westminster...

...in the shrine at Hampton Wick, by the Thames, was the destination of a parish walking pilgrimage this evening. We gathered at St Joseph's, New Malden, where there is a beautiful Mary Garden created by parishioners, with flowers and shrubs named after Mary (rosemary, marigolds, etc etc). The parish priest led us in prayers and blessed us and then we set off...it was a cheery, friendly group and a pleasant walk. We stopped just outside Kingston and prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, led by the Deacon. Then on through the town and across the river to the chapel of the Sons of the Divine Providence and the little shrine. There is also an attractive Lourdes grotto there, which on this May evening was covered with gloriously scented wisteria...

Then Fr Keyhoe at the shrine invited us in for tea and sandwiches and cakes, much appreciated. A happy evening.

The aim was to pray for vocations to the priesthood for our diocese. I had read that, as Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Woytila promised Our Lady that he would walk to every shrine within walking distance of the city, if she would grant him a student for his seminary for each such pilgrimage.  Within five years his seminary was full. So we are walking and praying.  This evening we arranged two further walks to local Marian places...

A procession through London...

...be there!!!

Sunday June 2nd. Starts 6pm with Mass at St Patrick's, Soho Square, then the Blessed Sacrament is carried through the streets. Come and join in!  We need a good crowd. It is a beautiful and impressive form of witness and London needs Christ.

This annual Procession has an international flavour - members of the Brazilian, Chinese, and other communities having links with St Patrick's always come along...

Beforehand, there will be a special hour of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, starting at 4.30pm. This is at the personal invitation of Pope Francis, and in union with Catholics around the world. The Pope has called for a co-ordinated worldwide time of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament on June 2nd...don't miss this chance to join in...

The nearest Tube stations for St Patrick's are Oxford Circus or Tottenham Court Road.

A talkative day...

...and, yes, I know, most days with Auntie are likely to be talkative.  But today, we were judging the finalists for the Assn of Catholic Women Schools RE Project, so reading aloud the children's essays and sorting out which should be the final winners in the two different age groups.

The children were asked to imagine going through the door of a church, and learning about three things, three stages in a journey of faith: the font where people are baptised, the Sacrament of Reconciliation with the forgiveness of sins, and Holy Communion. There were specific questions that they had to answer.  One was about which day of the week is the one on which we should all go to Mass, the special day. Most of course get it right about Sunday - several mentioning that God rested on the Sabbath day, etc etc.  Some wondered if the special day might be Thursday, because of the Last Supper being on a Thursday. Which  actually  shows some quite good thinking....

They were also asked what they should do immediately after receiving Holy Communion, and again most got it right with something along the lines of "I return to my place and kneel and say some prayers". Some listed specific things about which they pray: "I pray for my Mum and Dad, and ask God to say Hello to my Nan in Heaven."

On Confession, some gave...um... too much information: "I tell the priest my sins, things like fighting with my brother - but he started it..."    "God forgives us and we should forgive others, like I forgave Rita even though she was mean to me first".

Martyrdom...

...the theme of Fr Alexander Sherbrook's sermon today at St Patrick's, Soho, on the feast of the Mexican martyrs.  Inevitably, thoughts and, later, conversations, turned to the topic of being a Christian today in Britain and the legal and social pressures that are bearing down on us as the full implications government's insistence on a wholesale redefinition of marriage become clear.  Our freedom to teach about true marriage is by no means clear under the plans, and it is already assumed that this right should be denied to us. We have been given no assurances about the rights of priests and teachers and catechists to teach what we know to be true.

I was at St Patrick's to lead the young students of the School of Evangelisation on the final History Walk of their term. They graduate in June - they have been taking part in a course of study through the Maryvale Institute - and their days have also been filled with a number of other projects including of course the street-evangelisation for which St P's has become famous. Our History Walk took us to the nearby (Anglican) church of St Giles-in-the-Fields. The big Blessed Sacrament procession which St P's holds each June always finished here at St G's, with Benediction in the churchyard, after which the kind parishioners of St G's serve wine and snacks...a delightful ecumenical gesture which sends out a message of goodwill and friendship to all.

We also took a Tube journey to the Tower of London,  looked at Traitors' Gate etc, and finished with prayers at the site of St Thomas More's martyrdom. We also walked soberly round the great memorial to the men of the Merchant Navy who are commemorated in the great garden nearby, men who have no graves on the earth because they died at sea...

Home, to an evening of study centred on Lumen Gentium and  Bl John Paul's writings on Mary: academic essay to be completed by the end of June.

A wonderful evening...

...launching the "Newman week" at the Ordinariate church at London Bridge. I think Pope Emeritus Benedict would be pleased and moved to see how things have developed here: a new shrine of Blessed John Henry Newman is being established at this church and a copy of the beautiful Millais portrait arrived and was unpacked today. The week of celebrations was launched with a lecture by Dr Andrew Nash...and he did a superb job. I am allowed to say that even though he is my brother: he really was simply terrific, a magnificent lecture giving the great sweep of Newman's life and work, beautifully illustrated with sketches and photographs on a screen set up in the church.  The lecture was accompanied by an excellent display about Newman, produced by the Communion and Liberation Movement from Oxford. This welcomed people as they arrived at the church, and they were also greeted with a glass of champagne...it really was a splendid evening.  After the lecture, refreshments were served in the Rectory. It was a grand day, and a success for the Ladies Ordinariate Group, members of which worked hard with the parish priest Fr Christopher Pearson, to make it all happen...

You won't read about this...

...in the secular press, so read it here: Pentecost in Rome, and a vast crowd of some 200,000 people packed  into St Peter's Square and the nearby streets and squares, right down to the banks of the Tiber...these are members of the various New Movements and communities in the Church who, in an initiative begun by Blessed John Paul, come to celebrate Pentecost with the Holy Father...

To Somerset...

...for a country weekend. Spent much of Saturday sitting in the sunshine reading through the essays sent in by children (hundreds of them!) for the annual Schools RE Project run by the Association of Catholic Women. Birds sang, the freshly-cut lawn was cool and green, the view was glorious...in the evening, we all went to a gathering at the local Catholic parish where Patrick Reyntiens (artist: stained glass)  was speaking - a delightful event, done in a sort of "Desert Island discs" style, a packed church, wine and snacks in the garden in sunshine.  It was interesting to learn more about Reyntiens work: never really thought about how stained glass is done...his son has created the magnificent new window in Westminstare Hall for the Queens' Diamond Jubilee, which I was showing to a group of people just this past week.

Sunday Mass: again packed..., in this rural area, lots of Indian families...a changing Britain...

 Pentecost. Figures published by the Latin Mass Society reveal how numbers of Catholic baptisms and marriages have dropped by a staggering amount over the past 50 years. to a fraction of what they once were.  I have been studying these figures for a long while so no news there.  Of interest is the groups that have gone against the trend: among priests ordained in recent years large numbers have come from the FAITH Movement and from other groups which no one noticed for a while, like the Neo-Catechuemnate. Some years back, a report announced that there would be no baptisms or ordinations by the year 2000, but things didn't work out that way.

To the Walworth Road...

... to a baker's shop, recommended by a friend, to order a cake.  I have always rather liked this corner of London, a step or two from the Elephant and Castle. It still has proper shops - real and some of them messy, all sorts of shops and  not just Starbucks and estate agents.  And this was a real baker, inexpensive and with some yummy cakes on display. After we had arranged about the cake  - it's gotta be big, there are quite a lot of people coming - I bought a lovely warm pasty and hurried off to catch the bus. I know one shouldn't eat in the street. But sitting on a cold morning at a bus-stop  in the Walworth Road eating a delicious wedge of flaky-pastry at a bus-stop and remembering how I used to travel along this road with my father, more than thirty years ago, on our way to work, was one of those happy moments that just deserve to be relished and recorded.

En route to the Borough High Street, a girl on the bus was talking loudly into her mobile: "Yeah...bring them all along: we want theatre, and some street-dancers...yes, sounds great....mmm....yeah we want Shamans and Druids, everyone....it'll be wicked".  I don't know what she was organising, but I got the impression that she very much wanted us all to hear.  So now you know: to make a thing a success you want witch doctors and bogus druids and a general air of something satanic.

There is an ache in the heart in modern London.

Spent the day cheerily at Pr. Blood church, wrapping prizes won by children across London in a big project involving learning about the Psalms. We will be displaying some of the children's beautiful work...  Also tackled some writing for my Maryvale diploma in Evangelisation. Then Evensong and Mass, and a cheery time over glasses of wine and hot sausages. Thank God for being part of the Church....

Things are going to be difficult...

...for Christians in Britain, as in other countries in what we used to call "the West", over the next years.

For some while now, it's become fashionable among Catholics to talk about "the coming persecution". Too often the approach is  approach is a slightly smug  "Ah...well...it'll be good for us..." and even to add a note of relish.

Hmmm.  Persecution isn't fun, and talking tough doesn't mean that you will be tough when the time comes.  Gloating and oooh-golly-I'm-ready-for-a-fight  isn't a useful approach.  Better to be downbeat and realistic, add some humour, and lots of prayer, and keep going.

Plenty of nastiness coming our way. Attempt to impose forms of euthanasia under the nasty idea of "assisted dying" - this won't win a majority of votes in the House of Lords when it is brought forward in the next couple of days, but at this stage the aim of its supporters is simply to gain publicity and promote their message, and this will be very successful.

Then of course the ghastly plans to redefine marriage. Ugh: and the government is doing all it can to force this horrible thing through a Parliament that doesn't want it. Pray - and write again to your MP.

And, on the back of the govt's horrible planned law, great waves of propaganda promoting homosexual lifestyles  now being sent to schools, with everyone assuming that this it is compulsory to teach this stuff. It isn't. Schools have no obligation to promote homosexual activity, and Catholic schools have an absolute right to give the Catholic Church's teaching on this subject.

We are all going to need courage and be quite clear: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord".

... Yesterday, at a meeting...

...planning an Autumn event (info in due course) we broke off for tea, prepared by our kindly hostess who had welcomed us into her lovely flat near Westminster Cathedral.

 I went into the kitchen to help, took up the tray, crossed into the hall...and the bottom of it fell out, leaving me holding the frame! Shattering sound of crashing crockery - and milk, biscuits sugar, showering the carpet and walls....

You cannot imagine how far bits of broken china can travel, or how much mess one shattered milk-jug and full sugar-basin can make.

Mopping, hoovering, wiping - and, initially, leaving small trails of my own blood as I did so, because I didn't realise that I cut my thumb as I seized the first broken pieces from the carpet...

...and...

reading the children's essays, and discussing children and Religious Education generally, always brings out the tales of howlers. My recent favourite was the small girl praying earnest "Hail Mary, full of grapes..."

Children...

...have sent in some splendid work for the Assn of Catholic Women 2013 Schools RE Project. They had to study the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, and Holy Communion, as part of the celebration of the Year of Faith. A brochure showing a door of a church invited them to open the door and go in...this Project, sponsored by the Catholic Truth Society, has now been running for several years and we get literally hundreds of essays from Catholic primary schools across Britain. Every entry is carefully read, and we award a large number of prizes, all generously donated by the CTS. A team of judges then meets and some top winners are chosen - 1st,2nd and 3rd winners in two age groups. They win cash prizes for their schools, and the 1st winner in each age group gets a trophy to keep for one year...

Running this vast project involves teams of volunteers who mail out the brochures (a task done agreeably over mugs of tea and lots of chat, daily for several days at the CTS office in South London), reading all the essays, organising the final judging, and then packing and mailing out the prizes (a mammoth task).  It is all well worth while, and reading the children's essays reveals encouraging evidence of some good work being done in Catholic primary schools...

And we badly need good news, because so much of what is happening in Britain at the moment is horrid. Schools are being sent nasty material promoting same-sex "marriage", including material aimed at very young children. There is increasing evidence of unjust discrimination of employees in various services who dare to show - even privately - opposition to the imposition of acceptance of same-sex unions. The tradition of fair play and freedom under the law is now regarded as out of date and wrong, because an obligation to agree with the Government on this subject is deemed to take priority over every principle and every sense of conscience. And the Govt is trying to rush the legislation through Parliament despite strong and growing opposition...read more here...

To Northern Ireland...

...to speak at a conference organised by All Saints Church, Ballymeena, on 'Women and the Church'. Large attendance. An excellent introductory speech by Baroness O'Loane, who spoke of  great Christian women who had influenced and inspired her...and the parish priest spoke extremely well, giving the teaching of the Church with specific references to John Paul and Mulieris Dignitatem etc...

Earlier, a weekday Mass in the church with a substantial congregation - certainly over 150 -  and when I remarked on this I learned that was smaller than usual as a coachload of people had gone to Knock on pilgrimage...

Sunday - a journey to the coast, glorious countryside, a crowded Mass with lots of families...

Next time you hear that the Catholic Church in Ireland is dying...it isn't.

Extraordinary...

...sudden conversation this afternoon, in a busy café where I'd parked myself to tackle some work on my laptop for an hour or so. Pleasant girl sitting in vaguely yoga-position, cross-legged, at the table nearest to the only electric plug was friendly and helpful when I asked if I could share it...and after we had both spent a longish while beavering away on our respective computers, we got talking. She helped me tackle a bothersome layout problem on my Word document, and somehow we moved on from that to talk of theatre and writing and travel and  more...she announced with some vigour that she was an atheist and this resulted in a very lively conversation. Delightful girl: an actress and dancer, bright, articulate...conversation ranged over Dawkins, Hitchens, touched on evolution, Buddhism...it was blustery and rainy outside as we said goodbye, and I put my hands into my pockets to keep warm - and encountered a small Bl JPII medal given by a friend from Rome. I gave it to this new friend. JPII was an actor too....

On to Marble Arch, for the Tyburn Lecture. A disappointment. The Tyburn nuns are wonderful and always have a warm welcome, and the Lectures, celebrating free speech and debate about crucial current issues, are a magnificent tradition. But this one was unimpressive: given by a lawyer who lectures at the London School of Economics, it ended up as a rather tired-sounding rant against John Paul and Benedict. Somehow, after a lively conversation earlier, I felt let down. The speaker parroted the line that is apparently being pushed in The Tablet.  The silliest bit was his suggestion that John Paul didn't engage with the modern world. All those great gatherings in the cities of the world, the wall-shattering change that swept across Eastern Europe,  the breakthrough in relations with the Jewish people,  that extraordinary rapport with the young that created World Youth Day...apparently none of that really happened...oh, and he didn't seem to think that Benedict XVI would have much long-term impact either...

Listening to this rubbish was slightly embarrassing, like hearing someone who dabbles in poster-paints denouncing Michaelangelo.


 

I LIKE Papa Francis...

...have done from the start, but he keeps giving us all more and more reasons for doing so. Like today: read here...

The river Humber...

...goes out to meet the sea at Hull, and this became one of Britain's busiest ports. Some two million people arrived here from Northern Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries, travelling from here across the country to Liverpool to sail to America.

Hull: the sea, fishermen, a great maritime heritage...today the old docks have become a marina for  expensive pleasure-boats. There are wonderful old pubs and smart new cafes and restaurants...a fine statue showing a family group, commemorating those long-ago emigrants...an old lightship which you can board and explore, seeing the cabins and galley and shining brass equipment that was all in use just a few decades back...and the magnificent  buildings which once housed the shipping authorities and port officials are now  elegant empty offices advertising space to let...and there are a  number of museums, telling the local history and the maritime history...

What was once a busy noisy place is now clean and beautiful...but on a hot sunny day there were not many people in this waterside area, except at the cafes overlooking the marina. I walked along the quayside and old docks, gazed out towards the sea, pondering the history... and was  almost alone. Returned to a café to catch up on emails and do some work.

The crowds are elsewhere, in the big new inland shopping centre. The fine old City Hall now hosts a tourist bureau, and the Post Office has closed and is run from the back of a shop instead.

Lunchtime Mass at St Charles church - sudden Bavarian baroque in this Yorkshire seaside city! A good number of people for a weekday Mass. A rich history. A huge number of names, four long columns of them, on the  1914-18 War Memorial...

In the evening, a change of pace. I was speaker at the HULL FAITH FORUM .This has been running for several years, and is linked to the Faith Movement.  Young people from parish Confirmation groups, a great atmosphere, excellent local priests doing good work...

"I vow to thee my country..."

is the title of a lecture to be given by Charles Moore, at Brompton Oratory on June 13th. More info here...I will definitely be attending.  6pm, preceded by Evensong.  It is sponsored by the Friends of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and the theme is the future of Christianity in Britain.

Charles Moore is a v. good writer, and of course his latest biography is provoking a good deal of interest...

at Maryvale...

...there is an annual Pilgrimage with open-air Mass and Procession, honouring the Sacred Heart. This year it will be Sunday June 9th. Starts 3pm. Phone 0121 360 8118 for info - or just turn up. 

The Sacred Heart shrine here in this glorious old house is the shrine that John Henry Newman knew and loved. The wide lawns and the cool shaded paths are beautiful in the early-summer sunshine. There is birdsong and the cooing of pigeons, and the rustle of trees the roar of Birmingham traffic is a distant but useful reminder of the busy-ness of modern life and the world to be evangelised...

Endings and beginnings...

...and things changing...

Final weekend of my 5-year Degree course at Maryvale. For the past several trips to Birmingham, I've travelled by the cheaper Chiltern Line, which also mean arriving at the v. agreeable Moor Street station, ("retro"). Then one hurries through the underpass, and can get a taxi from New St station...except that today it was all different. They're doing some major reconstruction, and youngsters carrying magnificent signs, depicting giant-sized hands pointing the way, directed us all to a new taxi rank, in a new and different street...and what with this, and a sensation of gosh-this-is-my-last-Maryvale-weekend, and so on, gave this Friday evening a different feel from others...

Maryvale with an unchanging welcome...the sudden gulpy feeling as I was given some lovely cards of congratulation and kind things were said re the DSG...then a talkative supper, followed by study time, and then the sound of singing from the chapel, and I hurried, a trifle late, into Night Prayer. I love the chapel here, the candles glowing, the voices saying the psalms turn-and-turn-about...

Exams tomorrow.

/

A long-time hero....

Steve Stevens, awarded the DFC for wartime heroism,  later a pioneer pilot in Africa with the Missionary Aviation Fellowship, later still a founder of the Nationwide Festival of Light in Britain and then in Australia...now in his 90s he is still writing and campaigning, and has just sent me a copy of his latest book "Fighting for love, purity, marriage and family life".  It tells the story of the Festival of Light, and how it rallied young people in the 1970s...I was one of the thousands who were taught and inspired  by the NFoL and I am so grateful for the work and witness of Steve and Kay Stevens.

To Cavendish Square...

...to eat sandwiches in the sunshine w. sister-in-law, prior to a little shopping expedition.

Expedition initiated by said sister-in-law: "Joanna, what are you going to wear for this being-made-a-Dame thing?"  Faint note of dread that Auntie will turn up in favourite comfy shoes and unmatching will-this-do skirt n top.

For all previous special occasions, Auntie has been dressed by sister, sister-in-law, or, on one occasion, a niece. Grateful thanks to all. It's now become a tradition...

Cavendish Square is a pleasant bit of greenery off Oxford St, marred only by an equestrian statue which looks quite agreeable until you discover that it is of Butcher Cumberland. Grrrrh. It was removed in the 19th century because he was so loathed, then finally put back. Ugh.

Shopping. Shoes: nice ones, not expensive,  and surprisingly comfortable. DRESS: and will match v. suitable hat. 

A Newman week...

...at this church, with a lecture on John Henry Newman on May 20th at 6.3pm by Dr Andrew Nash. Do come!

Parents of First Communion children...

gathered at Holy Redeemer church, Chelsea.  While the children were having instruction (and being shown Mass vestments and having them all explained etc)  we were in the Monckton Room in the crypt where Auntie gave a talk about the Church's calendar of feasts and seasons, and how this is all part of our rich heritage that goes back 2,000 years and more...

Knowledge is crucial. People have a right to know about the Church's calendar, and so much else: what the name "Bethlehem" means, why it is significant that Christ was laid in a manger,  why there is a pub sign called the "Pig and Whistle", why March 25th is significant, why the number 40 is significant, the origins of the "Jack-in-the-box" toy, and more...and more...

There is a great joy in realising that being a Catholic doesn't mean adhering to a tradition or belonging to a club...it's all about the Incarnation, about God becoming one of us and joining in with us, and dying and rising again: and this is the core of human history, and everything flows from this.

BTW, I am sometimes asked if I  am "willing to give a talk to a local goup". OF COURSE I AM.  Just contact me. Send a Comment to this blog with an email address to which I can reply. I cannot replay to a Comment in the ordinary way - ...I have to have an email address (or phone number), so include one in your Commengt. Obviously, I will not publish the Comment.

PS If you want to know about the things mentioned in the second para, invite me to talk in your parish/school/youth group ...or try my "Book of Seasons and Celebrations"...

COME AND WALK!!!

Join us on the JOHN PAUL WALK FOR THE NEW EVANGELISATION.

It's a challenge - but it's glorious, and you will love it.

Walking through some of the most beautiful countryside in England... praying at Mass in  abbeys destroyed by Henry VIII now echoing again to the ancient prayer of the Church...singing together...eating a hearty supper together at the end of a long happy day...arriving in Walsingham as generations of pilgrims have done down the centuries...

Until you have experienced a glorious outdoor Mass with a group of singing pilgrims...or shared Evening Prayer together after a 20-mile walk....you cannot imagine how beautiful these experiences are.

Come and be part of the adventure. August 6th-11th 2013.

Contact Sister Hyacinthe at the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph: www.dominicansistersofstjoseph.com

...and you might like to read...

Auntie's EWTN blog...here...

From time to time...

...as a statement about freedom of speech, and the importance of discussing moral and social issues, I reprint on this Blog a section 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.

Sunday...

...and Mass at Precious Blood Church and a talkative time afterwards, lots of plans for parish activities. This church is a splendid example of how the Ordinariate can and should flourish...there is now a flourishing Sunday School, and the only problem is that it might be rather overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of children keen to attend...

Dr Margaret White...

...was a leading pro-life campaigner, one of the earliest members of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, a family doctor, magistrate, and a Christian woman of immense faith and courage. Today, her funeral at a country church gathered together family and friends together and we remembered her with much love...she leaves a wonderful heritage to her children and grandchildren, and to so many of us who learned from her wisdom, knowledge, and common sense. She was tireless in her defence of unborn children and in support of marriage and family life: she spoke at schools, colleges, women's groups, conferences, gatherings in Parliament, international events...many young people were helped by her wise counsel and genuine concern for their welfare, and many of us were inspired and encouraged by her Christian commitment.

I first met Margaret in the early 1970s, and I belong to a generation who looked up to her as a mentor, and will always be grateful to her. May she rest in peace, and may God reward her for a life of generous service...

Wrote to...

...the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Welby...I wrote with an Anglican friend: we both work together on CHRISTIAN PROJECTS, an ecumenical group bringing together Christians from different groups...

We wanted to send Dr Welby an assurance of our prayers on his new appointment - and to beg his support in defence of marriage in the light of the Govt's grim plans. We were - and are - particularly concerned about the freedom of Christians to talk about marriage as the lifelong union of a man and a woman. This greatly affects us as we are involved in talks to schools and youth groups...

I am underwhelmed by the response from Lambeth Palace. A lady cleric  has written with a formal acknowledgement of our letter, noting our concerns, and saying that the Lords Spiritual (formal expression for the Bishops in the Hse of Lords)  will be aware of these when the issue comes up in Parliament. The letter is not unfriendly....but it's not exactly warm.

Dr Welby - a good man, who has spoken warmly and from a sound Evangelical perspective about Christ and the glorious truths of the Christian faith - is ill-served by this bureaucracy.

A refreshing day...

...by the sea at Whitstable, visiting the Vocations Centre there, run by Father Stephen Langridge. All very encouraging: from the peaceful chapel with its "Benedict arrangement" of  candles and crucifix, to the bright pleasant rooms which welcome young people arriving for vocation gatherings, it is all very attractive...and out in the garden, a young volunteer was mowing the lawn in the sunshine, with that lovely scent of fresh green springtime grass...

A walk by the sea, and around the harbour, and a glimpse of the history of this boat-building town famed for its oysters and with a bustling High Street...

The Ladies Ordinariate Group and the Association of Catholic Women are combining to have a day at Whitstable in July, and Fr Stephen and I were planning this today, and it all looks set to be a happy time.

Dates for your diary: May 20th, 6.30pm, Precious Blood Church, London Bridge - lecture on Bl John Henry Newman. 

Sunday June 23rd, 1pm, St Sepulchre's churchyard, near Old Bailey (nearest tube: St Paul's). THE MARTYRS'  WALK.  We will be walking along the route to Tyburn, honouring the English Martyrs. Finishes with Benediction and Tea at Tyburn. Come and give witness to the Faith.

Overwhelmed...

Today a meeting of the British section of the international charity Aid to the Church in Need. A Luncheon marking Auntie's retirement from the Board...an involvement with ACN which began when she was a teenager.

An announcement from Archbishop's House, Southwark:  as one of his last acts as Pope, Benedict XVI appointed Joanna Bogle as a Dame of St Gregory.

I am overwhelmed and can't write any more at the moment...

John Paul the Great...

...some developments....read here

To Soho...

...which is a headline to get you interested.

I went to St Patrick's, Soho Square, to make arrangements for the DAY OF FAITH we are holding there on Tuesday June 18th.

Speakers include Bishop Philip Egan (afternoon) and George Weigel (evening). You can come for the whole of the conference (£20) or for just the daytime bit or just the evening bit (£10 each). Send a cheque for the relevant amount made out to FAITH/KEYWAY,  St Peter's, Bishops Rise, Hatfield Herts AL10 9HN.

There will be a buffet lunch and a supper. It looks set to be a really excellent day. Do please book your ticket NOW.  It is already filling up quite quickly...

Phone call from EWTN, as they are about to show my new TV series, featuring various saints days and feast-days.

In between everything else, rushed to get my latest essay to Maryvale. Exams in two weeks time. Then more exams in July.

Walking through the city of Westminster...

...on Friday evening, after a committee meeting in George Street....as we approached Grosvenor Square,  we decided to take a look at the statue of Ronald Reagan, unveiled there a couple of summers ago. It is an attractive statue, and the inscription gives details about his role in bringing to an end the Cold War, and includes some brief quotations from his speeches, eg  "Mr Gorbachev - tear down that wall!"

Stood pondering...Reagan, Thatcher, and the great John Paul II...each of them survived an assassination attempt, each has now, after a long old age, gone to God...

Evangelists...

...from a Catholic group gathered on the Green at Ealing, and began to sing. I was sitting munching a sandwich in the sunshine, preparatory to visiting a friend at St David's Hospice nearby.

The evangelists turned out to be from the Neo-Catechumenate group associated with Ealing Abbey, joined by others from around the country. Large numbers of children. General atmosphere of goodwill, everyone v. relaxed. Some singing, praying, recitation of psalms together,  then some talks - of varying quality, all obviously sincere.  The best was a speaker who spoke about three encounters - Lucifer in the garden with Eve, enticing humanity away from God, then the Angel with Mary, giving humanity the great news of the  opportunity of life in the Incarnation,  and finally the Gospel's encounter with us. Essentially, when we hear the Gospel message, we too are having a angelic encounter...

Useful meeting...

...of the committee of the Association of Catholic Women. The committee meets at St James, Spanish Place - beneath the church is a large bright room where a children's day-nursery sends out happy noises, plus  a kitchen, various offices, and a positive rabbit-warren of intriguing boiler-rooms and storage spaces...and various other rooms, one of which we used today for our meeting...

Lots to plan. Next year sees the ACW's 25th anniversary - we should do something splendid to mark it. Meanwhile, the 2013 nationwide Schools RE Project under way, discussion of plans for a Schools Music Festival, decisions about speakers for our AGM in the Autumn, a summertime pilgrimage trip (jointly with LOGS - see blog entries below), and more...

Much talk about the Govt's ghastly plans to redefine marriage. Among the many aspects not adequately discussed by those supporting these idiotic plans is the whole question of what people in Britain will in future be allowed to say about marriage, and what will be banned. As things stand at present, a ban on talking about marriage as the union of a man and a woman seems likely to be imposed on all sorts of people, randomly and weirdly. School governors, local borough councillors, teachers, clergy, speakers at school prizegivings or other public ceremonies...lecturers in public libraries or at seminars in hospitals or training colleges, policemen, magistrates and court officials...

It's all getting spooky.

Marriage is the union of a man and a woman, establishing a new family.  If you don't like my making this statement, get used to not liking it, because I am certainly going to continue making the statement from time to time in the course of my life, both in public as a writer and lecturer, and in private if the topic comes up in conversation.

Been sent...

...information about events run by this excellent group...it all looks very good indeed, and badly needed.

Also been sent a v. depressing and bitter rant in a mainstream newspaper supporting same-sex "marriage" and denouncing anyone who opposes it. There is something so surreal and horrid about seeing a society round on itself and pursue its own destruction in this way...

Signs of hope...only small ones...but on Monday we in the LOGS (Ladies group connected to Pr. Blood Church, London Bridge) read through all the entries for the children's project - absolutely beautiful artwork and writing all centred on studying the Psalms. From children at schools across London. Watch this space for more info - we are awarding prizes and certificates, planning a big display of the children's work, etc etc....

New Evangelisation...

After...

...a day in London (see below), I headed for the West Country, for a visit to a dear relative who lives by the sea in Somerset. 

A small seaside town on a wet April evening... few people around, most eating-places closed...but one pub offering food, and one Chinese restaurant. I am taking the relative to the Chinese place tomorrow so opted for fish and chips in the pub tonight. I have brought work to do, but to match my mood of history and traditions, I spent suppertime studying the history of the Borough, a corner of London I have vaguely known over the years but am now coming to love, and around which I am planning some history walks...so with Somerset accents around me, and a good supper in front of me, I pondered the stories of Chaucer and the George Inn, and St Mary Overie, Harvard, and  and Guys, and more...

up early...

...and to London, where I met Antony Tyler, former Master of the Catholic Writers' Guild...we had decided to go together to line the route for Lady Thatcher's funeral...

I had been in Fleet Street just a few hours earlier, leading a Catholic History Walk that finished up outside the Olde Cheshire Cheese, and thence to Waterloo station and coffee and much further talk....London had a great air of expectation...  crowd barriers were being erected and preparations made. The Walk had begun in Lincoln's Inn Fields and encompassed several hundred years of history, and it was somehow entirely natural to watch another event about to unfold in this city of the centuries...

So, this morning: we joined the crowds heading up from Blackfriars to Fleet Street, and were glad to be early as people were already lining the road and we were able to get a good place. A good spirit as the crowd swelled and swelled...people talked and swapped ideas, opinions, memories...a former soldier wearing medals, a former Wren, Londoners, people who'd travelled from much further afield...over towards Ludgate Circus a group of protesters waved placards that I couldn't read, and a shrill voice made a speech. General feeling of being British began to pervade the whole thing. A light fizzy rain drifted around a bit.

The drama began. Detachments of Royal Marines, Guards, Royal Naval ratings, marched by.  Then young guardsmen marched in to take up their positions at fixed places along the route. One could hear drumbeats etc in the distance. Guardsmen bowed their heads, then raised them and shouldered arms in unison. And then the procession came by - the coffin draped in the Union Flag, on a gun carriage, mounted officers with drawn swords, the full works....

Well, you can read about it in innumerable reports. When the service began in St Paul's, we all began to move off and into local pubs and places where we could watch on TV. We went to the Old Bell - a perfect place, everyone gathered around a well-placed  TV screen...the service all v. traditional, a touching moment when the young sweet-faced Thatcher granddaughter read very beautifully from the Scriptures with an American accent...but the best bit for us was the final hymn "I vow to thee my country" - the words were put up on the screen so a couple of us started singing and in a moment the whole pub was singing - a magnificent sound, and a truly glorious thing that I'll remember for years to come...

After the service was over people ordered drinks and food, and a young chap came over to our table to pay for our drinks ands people came up to say thank-you for getting us all singing.

And before you all write in and say this is all unimportant and why-put-it-on-a-Catholic blog, this was a bit of Britain happening.

Pollyanna Bogle...

...a nickname given to me a while back, and which I love.

I started to use it, because I loved the film "Pollyanna" as a child. Remember it? First film I remember watching, at a cinema in the London suburbs, one summer half-term.   Based on a children's story written in America in the 1900s...the film starred Hayley Mills as orphan Pollyanna from an impoverished family who goes to live with a grim great-aunt.  Pollyanna's late father, a missionary, had taught his little girl "the glad game". The Bible tells us to rejoice over 150 times. The key is to find something about which to be glad, even in a grim situation...

Easy to sneer, and lots of people did when the film came out, and do now.

When I was accused  of being a Pollyanna, I thought it was done with affection and fun, and was rather touched.  Only later discovered it was meant to be nasty: the idea was to attack Joanna and denounce her joy.  Ooops. Too late by then... I was using the name and enjoying it. My Iron Lady moment...

I don't always publish nasty Comments on this Blog - but I always read them, as I have always done with letters (death-threats, the lot!) that I've received over the years. Playing the Glad Game doesn't make you immune from insults, but you see them in perspective.

And, PS: Watch the film. Pollyanna wins. That's the whole point.

Tomorrow...

...Tuesday April 16th, I'll be leading a Catholic History Walk in London, starting at 6.30pm on the steps of SS Anselm and Cecilia Church, Kingsway (nearest tube: Holborn).  We'll be exploring Lincolns Inn Fields and the surrounding area, including the pub where Bishop Richard Challoner used to meet Catholics in secret for religious instruction in the 18th century...

An early morning Mass...

...at Precious Blood church, London Bridge. There are a lot of things happening at this church over the next months:  May Procession, May 5th,  Newman lecture May 20th,  a week-long Patronal Festival July 1st-8th....

Two young people from the Sion Community spoke briefly at the end of Mass about the Mission currently running at nearby St Michael's College. It sounds good.

The newsletter has a nice pic of Pope Francis and a quote from him as he took possession of St John Lateran last week, asking for our prayers...and also a pic of dear Papa Emeritus Benedict  with the suggestion that we pray for him on his birthday, which falls this Tuesday:"Alles gute zum Geburtstag heiligen Vater..."

Cardinal Schonborn...

...spoke in London the other evening, at a splendid event held in the National Galery. It was a great privilege to be invited, and he gave us an overview of the current position of Christianity and culture in Europe, tackling specifically the iussue of "Christophobia". It was a thoughtful and gentle approach, no polemics, but warmly assertive of confidence in the Church's message. The lecture was rich in the theology of Benedict XVI.  Schonborn is one of the "Ratzinger circle" - literally so, because they are not just friends but he is part of the Schulerkreise  established by Cardinal Ratzinger with his former pupils from the days when he was a professor...

You can read a rather charming and chatty report of the evening by a felow-guest here...

The evening not only provided a chance to listen to Cardinal Scvhonborn, but also to meet a number of friends...it was a joy to  chat to Ann Widdecombe, David Alton, Fr John Saward from Oxford, Neville Kyrke-Smith of ACN...

To Oxford...

...and lunch with Fr Andrew Pinsent. He is research director at the university's  Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion.   I have been enjoying his booklet Lumen. Fascinating discussion about, among other things, St Hilda of Whitby, St Hildegarde of Bingen, Aristotle,   the relationship between the Church and science, Thomas Aquinas, autism, and the roles of women in the Church in various centuries. Loved it.

In the evening, a long chatty time with a young relative...where we also ended up discussing, among much else, the relationship between faith the science, and the role of quantum physics. Golly.  

Also a brief meeting with the young team that produces the excellent Magnificat,  with which I bookend my days.

...and a bit more...

...on MT by Auntie is here...

A truly great figure...

...Prime Minister of Great Britain, a patriot, a Parliamentarian, one of the most remarkable women of our era: Margaret Thatcher. 

When she became Prime Minister, Europe was locked into the Cold War, Communism looked as though it would be a fixed and miserable part of the landscape for the foreseeable future for millions of people on half the continent, Britain was stuck in a mindset of economic and political stagnation.
She restored to Britain a robust belief in enterprise, gave Eastern Europe  a vision of freedom, won a war, and wrote history.

Unlike so many of today's politicians, she entered Parliament with real convictions and beliefs. She was not a professional politician  but had worked in industry (research chemistry) and was a qualified barrister. She honoured her parents and the Christian values they had taught her - and spoke about this with frankness and sincerity. She was very happily married. She loved Britain and had a deep sense of its heritage.

And she was a woman of kindness and courtesy. I was a very, very junior person working in the Conservative Research department in the exciting months of 1979. I remember the whirl of excitement as she came into the busy room where we were beavering away on items for the first day of the election campaign. She was efficient and breezy and exuded confidence, but there was also a sense of  quiet authority and of efficiency. We talked over the project on which I was preparing a brief - she was competent and knowledgeable. You felt you were part of a team that was going to do something useful and of value. And she was polite and disarmingly downbeat. I honestly do believe she saw politics as public service. And she served her country - and the cause of peace and the betterment of the human lot - well.

May she rest in peace.

Divine Mercy Sunday...

...and memories suddenly flood back of  dear Bl JPII, who went to the Father's House on the eve of this special feast which he himself had placed in the Church's universal calendar...if you haven't yet seen the superb film of his life, starring Jon Voight, EWTN is showing it next Saturday, April 13th...

You can now sense Spring in London - daffodils blooming on our small patch of lawn by the front gate, and my muffler suddenly felt too warm as I hurried to catch a bus...

We sang glorious Easter hymns at Mass, and afterwards sat planning various spring and summer activities.

Meanwhile in Rome, the H. Father has blessed a plaque naming the big square by St John Lateran in honour of  Bl JPII...

None of us who watched  the then Cardinal Ratzinger at the funeral of JPII will ever forget his sermon, one of the great and memorable events in the life of the Church...and then just a short while later he accepted the huge task of following him as the next Peter, and did it with grace and with the gifts of a brilliant mind combined with gentleness and sweetness.   And now Papa Francis has climbed into the papal jeep and opened his arms and somehow embraced us all in a hug: he has our hearts.

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If you enjoy this blog....

...you might also enjoy the Blog I write for EWTN. try it here...

Just seen...

...on the website of the diocese of Southwark, a cheery pic of the Chrism Mass in Holy Week, which shows our team and the  "Thank you to our priests" placard.

It's especially pleasing, because moments before the priests' procession began, the swift wind whirled our placard away from its tall post, so we had to hold it up by hand. But in the end, this proved to be easier and more convenient than wielding it on a long wooden post...so future Chrism scenes will be more or less like the one you see here...

Been reading...

...and hugely enjoying, George's Weigel's Practicing Catholic,  a collection of essays. Recommended.

Felt a bit smug as I pottered about the kitchen this morning, brewing some coffee, dealing with the washing, tackling some emails. Glanced at the clock from time to time  and set off for a weekday Mass feeling vaguely that I was a well-organised-Catholic-lady. Soon got into reality. Arrived at church and wondered why no one was there - usual attendance for weekday Mass in this lovely local parish is high. Heard voices from the Lady Chapel - people saying the Rosary. That usually happens after Mass...???...simple, really. On arrival home yesterday evening, we forgot to put the clocks at Bogle Towers forward one hour. So this w-o-C-l  is not so well organised after all.

Re-planned the day, hopped on a bus and train and got to a lunchtime Mass at Pr. Blood Church at London Bridge - and am glad I did....the church has been recently cleaned and  looked glorious with the most beautiful flowers in the sanctuary, a lovely arrangement below the lectern with golden ribbons, a sense of Easter everywhere. Thought of Pope Benedict and his emphasis on "the Way of Beauty". 

Coming up soon - some dates for your diary: Tuesday April 16th: London Catholic History Walk, starts 6.30pm outside the Church of SS Anselm and Cecilia, Kingsway (nearest tube: Holborn). Come and join us in discovering the story of Bishop Richard Challoner, and the pub where his memory is still honoured...Tuesday May 7th: Auntie speaks at the Hull Faith Forum, 7.30pm, St Joseph's. Boothferry Road, Hull.    Monday May 13th: History Walk at Westminster, starts 6.30pm steps of Westminster Cathedral.    Monday May 20th: Talk on Blessed John Henry Newman  by Dr Andrew Nash, 6.30pm at Pr. Blood Church, London Bridge.    Tuesday June 18th: all-day conference at St Patrick's. Soho Square: afternoon speaker, Bishop Philip Egan, evening speaker George Weigel - info here and scroll down...

Home...

...driving through chilly but beautiful countryside.  A brief cheery stop-on-the-way visit to young relatives   -  hugs, news, chocolate eggs, cups of tea, a small great-nephew enchantingly playing, with deep breaths and dedicated care, some simple tunes on the piano, to Auntie's great delight.

Army reminiscences as we drove over Salisbury Plain.

Stonehenge in the dusk, isolated and tourist-free, stark and ancient and imponderable.  

Darkness and the steady hum of the car. Talking together, and remembering so many other trips, Easters, Christmasses.

Suburbia, and our own front door and organising the chilly house into a welcome. I'm tapping out this in the kitchen as the kettle boils.

Exmoor and Easter lambs...

...and only the limitations of a frustratingly intermittent Internet access prevent me from writing about it all at greater length and more lyrically. I am interspersing long walks and some gentle cookery - plus family activities -  with much reading and studying (Tractarians/Newman/CS Lewis/John Paul II/various Biblical commentaries...).

Newest edition of The Portal is just out, and there is a good News Section too at Pr. Blood church in London...reports of Holy Week etc...take a look...

EASTERTIDE....

...beginning with Tea with a beloved elderly relation on Holy Saturday, with giving of Easter eggs etc, followed by travel to Oxfordshire, and a glorious Easter Vigil (six people received into the Church with baptisms and confirmations etc, packed congregation with hundreds of glowing candles, Missa de Angelis, beautiful Easter hymns) , followed the next morning by a family breakfast with cheery decorated eggs, and a happy morning of talk and laughter and chocolate eggs and a great Easter lunch...

And in due course, an Easter Monday journey onwards to more family at the seaside, and a breezy walk along the coast, family meals, affection, swapping of news, more chocolate...

I am writing this with a most enchanting view of the coast before me...it is so lovely that with night falling it is quite impossible to close the curtains...

A laptop and the kindly provision of books from an Anglican clergyman friend enables me to catch up on some necessary academic work...and meanwhile every day the daffodils nod in the stiff sea breezes, the sky is a clear if chilly blue, local eggs and honey and clotted cream make mealtimes a delight.

Alleluia!

Good Friday...

...is not a day for computers, so this post is being written late at night as the day ends...

The Maundy Mass at Pr Blood church on Holy Thursday evening was very beautiful...and as always the Blessed Sacrament was taken to the candlelit Altar of Repose at the end, and we were invited to remain for a while with the Lord ("Will you not watch one hour with me?").  We kept vigil, the silence interspersed with Scriptural meditations led by the priest. The Ordinariate is bringing beauty, solemnity and dignity, and a pastoral style which is very attractive.

The Good Friday liturgy saw a good-sized congregation. It is always so poignant  during the reading of the Passion, when we say "Crucify him!" and take the part of the crowd...during the Veneration of the Cross the Reproaches were sung, and then all joined in "When I survey..."

And now comes Holy Saturday, and then...

Maundy Thursday...

...and the name comes from the same root as Command (Latin: Mandatum).  Which command?  The one we all break: that we should love one another...

Spent the afternoon at Premier Radio (offices and studio in Chapter Street, not far from Westmin. Cathedral), recording some talks (re the new Pope, etc). You can listen to them in the week beginning April 8th - check out the Premier website...

Still have a bad cough and cold, but it's getting a lot better, and in a moment I shall walk in the chilly but bright sunshine down Victoria Street and cross the Thames to Waterloo, catching a train to London Bridge and to the Ordinariate church there for the Holy Thursday Mass.  Somewhere along the way I'll buy some hot cross buns for tomorrow's breakfast...

Just written my feature for the MAY issue of OREMUS, the magazine of Westminster Cathedral. The magazine is read surprisingly widely: when in Somerset at Christmas a nice priest told me that he has a subscription and always enjoys the magazine...BTW the April issue is just out (feature by Auntie in it) and has a pic of Papa Francis on the front...

Scouring the Internet for various bits of information, I realised that the arrival of a new Pope, and the retirement of the previous one, had given massive scope for the doomwatchers and all those the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-is-almost-here types. The other day, perhaps because of the cold weather, I was warned "Have you heard the Prophesy of the Three Days Darkness?"  Yes, I have heard it. Enjoyed a vogue in the 1970s. Popularised in the 18th century, then again in the 1950s because a bogus German group claiming visions from Heaven started to say that Padre Pio supported it ...this was eventually denounced in rather firm terms by Cardinal Ottaviani, then head of the Holy Office. Doesn't seem to have stopped people...I got the "Padre Pio believed in..." line again the other day. I am not quite sure why people focus on the three-day bit, because the main meat of the story is that two-thirds of all humanity will be wiped out in one fell swoop, which rather makes three days without proper lighting  seem rather trivial...

I wonder what happened to all those stores of food that people were keeping in the Autumn of 1999 because they were convinced that Everything Would Stop when the calendar moved to 2000, and no food would be available? I remember a publication in the USA carrying advertisments for sacks of dehydrated foods, guaranteed to last for five years...

And here we are in 2013 with plenty to worry about, and plenty to rejoice about, and plenty of work to be done, and an urgent mission of evangelisation to fulfil...

...Holy Week...

...and today is known as Spy Wednesday, commemorating the traitor Judas...

Tomorrow will see the traditional Washing of Feet at churches across Britain.  I remember first watching this back in the mid-1970s at our (then brand-new and v. modern)  local church, St Elphege's, in Wallington, and being very moved and impressed. I knew what the ceremony involved, but  had not seen it done before: watching our parish priest kneeling and pouring water over the men's feet was something very powerful. He was in my mind a busy, grown-up, getting-on-with-important-things person and this act spoke of humility and service in a real way, and I have never forgotten it.

Good Friday, back then, was a quiet day across Britain. Shops were closed. The TV and radio programmes reflected the nature of the day, and there was always a film about the Passion of Christ - either a classic Hollywood one or some new drama.

An innovation in the 70s which was of importance for our family was a united service organised by all the local churches, and held at a different church each year on Good Friday morning. We always went to this.  And of course the 3pm service in our church was the most important part of the day: again, my first experiences of this were powerful. Since then, I have spent Good Fridays in various places from an Army barrack church in Berlin to Brompton Oratory with full choir, and each Good Friday still always brings it own stark poignant message...

Today: one good thing in the suburb where the Bogles now live is a local Walk of Witness. This starts at the United Reformed Church which is conveniently placed at one end of the High street and finishes at the Methodist Church which is at the other end. It attracts reasonable numbers, including lots of Catholics. The "witness" bit is rather less effective, because there are few people around in the High Street - most shoppers go to the vast supermarket about a quarter of a mile away. So we aren't witnessing to many people... but I wonder if perhaps God actually rather wants us to think and pray, rather than (??a bit smugly??) consider ourselves to be "witnessing to all those shoppers".

There is a profound and tangible reality about the 3pm service on Good Friday.  In our excellent local parish it  is always packed to capacity - people sitting/kneeling on the floor, filling up all available space in the side aisles and crowding out the porch etc.

In between  the morning Walk and the afternoon Service - well, there's always a temptation to do a bit of shopping and one SHOULDN'T.

I have organised/posted suitable Easter goodies to godchildren etc, have quantities of  choc eggs, bunnies, and so on  for the various relatives with whom I will be celebrating Easter. We won't need any extra food for Good Friday's meals and everything else can wait until Saturday...

Icy winds, flecks of snow...

...all more like Christmas than Holy Week. But no one seemed to mind...people were arriving at Westminster Cathedral for the Chrism Mass just after 10 am, and the Mass wasn't due to start till noon.  The traditional group of us gathered in the piazza with our "Thank you to our priests" sign - members of the Assn of Catholic Women, together with young people from St Patrick's, Soho Square, and various other supporters. We handed out prayer-cards bearing a thank-you message to priests as they arrived. As always, there are far, far more priests than one imagines...we hear so much about a clergy shortage, but when they arrive for a big gathering like this, you realise that there are still huge numbers, and still they kept arriving...

The priests vest in the Cathedral Hall and then walk in procession up Ambrosden Avenue, filing into the cathedral...This year it seemed even more crowded than ever.  With a friend, I squeezed in at the very back, but I was desperate to sit down, and eventually found a place in St Patrick's chapel where my feet could rest, if not actually thaw out. All of us in these side-chapels could hear all of the Mass, the beautiful prayers for the blessing of the oils, and of course the superb music, led by the Cathedral's fine choir, and we knelt and stood etc along with the rest of the congregation.

Afterwards, we hurried to the Hall to give out the remaining cards, and then finally desposited our placard in the bookshop (St Paul's, in Morpeth Terrace - bless them!) from where I will collect it early tomorrow morning in order to take it to St George's Cathedral, Southwark, for their Chrism Mass - and then went for some hot soup. 

More on that meeting...

...between Papa Francis and dear Papa Benedict...I found that this report gave some extra details that are poignant...

It is very significant that Papa F. specifically spoke of BXVI's humility...

The voices in the media currently heaping praise on Papa F are precisely those that are likely to turn on him in due course, sneering when he supports - for example - marriage as the union of a man and a woman, or the right to life of the frail and sick. At the moment they are giving him the honeymoon treatment, and are emphasising, again and again, his simplicity and enthusiasm for poverty. This is intensely annoying, and in his own gentle way, he's taken a stance by emphasising in this gift to BXVI, the latter's own genuine humility.

BTW, the icon was itself a gift from the Russian Orthodox, who are thrilled  and touched that it has been given to BXVI.  Russia - where there is currently of course a notable revival of Christianity with churches drawing significant numbers, especially of the young - will  be of importance in the next years. Benedict XVI was popular with the Orthodox, and then they sent, for the first time since the Great Schism, an official representative to Pope Francis' inaugural Mass. Benedict XVI, in a little-noticed but significant gesture, quietly announced that he would no longer use the title "patriarch of the West". The scene is set for the possibility of talks-about-talks for the healing of the schism that has lasted for more than a thousand years...and if you fold into this the actions of Bl John Paul, and the consecration that he made in 1984 in response to the message of Fatima...and the subsequent collapse of Communism...

A small but pleasing...

item of news on the website of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.  The Ladies Ordinariate Group is an enthusiastic team and this project is its first major venture...

The Chrism Mass...

...at which all the priests of a diocese gather to receive the blessed oils that will be used  for sacramental anointing during the year, is always a big event. At Westminster Cathedral it has become quite a spectacle as the long procession of priests comes up Ambrosden Avenue and into the piazza.  Shoppers in Victoria Street pause to watch, people crane through bus windows, tourists take photos...but will it all happen this year, in this bitter cold? The Westminster Chrism Mass is tomorrow (Tuesday).

I'm writing this near the Cathedral (useful coffee-shop with Internet access has become a favourite haunt to this proud possessor of a new laptop)  and London is full of well-wrapped figures, hunched across the cold. Priests in albs and vestments will feel distinctly chilly - maybe the decision will be made to abandon the outdoor walk and simply have them arrive via the sacristy.  Which will be a pity in a way,  because we in the Assn of Catholic Women will be in the piazza with our "Thank you to our priests" sign, and small holy-cards with a message of prayer and gratitude. On the other hand, we always hand out the cards to priests as they arrive beforehand and are hurrying to the Cathedral Hall for vesting before the procession...and so it's still worthwhile.

On Wednesday the Southwark diocesan Chrism Mass takes place at St George's Cathedral, where the priests walk in procession from the adjoining Amigo Hall.  I'll be there with a  fresh team and with the placard and thank-you cards...and maybe the weather will be a bit warmer!

Other Holy Week duties include the purchasing of choc eggs, bunnies etc for family, godchildren, and friends...

Wonderful scenes...

...in St Peter's Square this Palm Sunday, with Pope Francis greeting young people who gathered there for the traditional start of World Youth Day. He will be in Brazil this summer for WYD itself, and his warm enthusiasm for the celebrations is evident. He sees himself as being in the footsteps of his two great predecessors in this:  " I too am setting out on a journey with you today, in the footsteps of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI. We are already close to the next stage of this great pilgrimage of the Cross. I look forward joyfully to this coming July in Rio de Janeiro! I will see you in that great city in Brazil! Prepare well in your communities — prepare spiritually above all — so that our gathering in Rio may be a sign of faith for the whole world.”

The meeting between him and Papa BXVI yesterday was rather moving to watch - even just sitting at home, crouched over a laptop. (Auntie has been rather housebound, with a bad cough and cold).  Papa Francis gave BXVI a lovely icon of "Our Lady of Humility", and told him that this was a special gift because BXVI had taught us all so much by by example about this virtue...

Watching BXVI - who looks rather old and frail, and so kindly and dear - kneeling there next to the new Pope, was of course at one level an extraordinary thing, but at another level it all looked rather comradely and normal. Two men in the service of God, getting on with what needs to be done in the service of the Church.

Palm Sunday Mass this morning at Westminster Cathedral.  I had planned to go to the Ordinariate parish at London Bridge, for an outdoor procession etc, but the weather was so bitter that I just couldn't manage it and headed instead to the warmth of the Cathedral. The singing of the Passion narrative was immensely powerful, done from the great pulpit with three fine voices and of course the choir, up in the apse. Vast crowd attending, great stacks of palm being handed out, Archbishop coming down the aisle as Mass ended, showering blessings...

Over the next days and weeks, watch the mass media - all following, irritatingly, the same line - seeking to stir up stories about how there will be splits between followers of BXVI and followers of Pope Francis. Don't go along with it. The truth is more prosaic: recent pontificates have shown a notable unity of course and of purpose and this looks set to continue.

Looking ahead...

...this is good news...

...and by way of background to Papa Francis, this is a good read...