Off to the USA shortly...

...to make a new series for EWTN. As always, much emailing to and fro, with lists of props required (just to tantalise you, this new series involves the use of some garden tools and some herbs, some people singing a nursery rhyme, an omelette, a library, and Auntie doing some sewing...)

A conversation...

...with a priest, some wise counsel, some practical projects to discuss. But in the course of the conversation, something which increasing occurs - the thoughtful assumption that we may, as Catholics, be facing tough times with the authorities in our country.  It's becoming more and more usual...something which only a short while ago would have seemed unlikely now seems horribly possible. To disagree, publicly and sincerely, with the Government's imposition of same-sex marriage, for instance, is certainly likely to cost you your job or any advancement in your career if you hold any sort of public office (magistrate, local government official, possibly even just teacher or school governor). And to discuss things like the need for heroism, a recognition of the spiritual strength needed for tough times, for all active Catholics, is not to be weird or fanatical, but just to be realistic. Gulp.

Good News for the New Evangelisation...

...as this news item sparkled in Auntie's in-box this morning:

A Centre of Formation for the New Evangelisation has been established by leading experts in Catholic education.  Dr Petroc Willey, Dr Andrew Beards, Dr Caroline Farey and others, have established this centre, called the School of the Annunciation, in the grounds of Buckfast Abbey in Devon, UK, thanks to the generosity and collaboration of the Abbot of Buckfast, the Rt. Rev. David Charlesworth and the monastic community.

Dr Petroc Willey was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation in 2012. The Holy Father also appointed Dr Petroc Willey and Dr Caroline Farey as advisors to the Synod on ‘New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Faith’ held in the Vatican.

The School of the Annunciation will begin by offering a Diploma in the New Evangelisation delivered by experts in this exciting and newly emerging field of activity and reflection in the life of the Church. As well as the Diploma in the New Evangelisation, the School of the Annunciation is offering short Summer Schools.  These provide a unique opportunity to study the Catholic Faith in the beautiful setting of Buckfast Abbey, sharing the monastic community’s life and prayer over long summer weekends in August.

More info here...

Allen Hall...

...is the seminary for the diocese of Westminster, and stands on the site of what was once St Thomas More's garden at Chelsea...in May I will be leading a group of Catholic History Walkers there, and in what has now become an annual tradition, we are given tea and then shown round by teams of students, after which we join them for Adoration in the chapel, and then Evening Prayer...

When I dropped in today to make arrangements, I was made most welcome.  After the meeting, I asked if I could possibly make use of their wi-fi, as I had an urgent email to send...they could not have been more helpful, and so the final corrections to the proofs of my new book on JPII were sent from Allen Hall, on the site where St Thomas More once lived...

To Manchester...

...to speak to the North West branch of the Catholic Writers Guild.  It meets at the Catholic Chaplaincy of Manchester University, where there was a lot going on, as a Catholic Medical Group was also meeting, and of course in any case the place was teeming with students... the chapel was full for Evening Mass.  Afterwards in a crowded room we struggled to get the projector etc working for the power-point I had prepared. To no avail - and in the end I did the talk without it, and no one seemed to mind. Topic: John Paul the Great. It really is fascinating to explore his extraordinary life - working in a stone quarry, having lost both parents and his only brother, studying secretly for the priesthood under the noses of the Nazi authorities with all colleges and universities closed, his country occupied by a ruthless power in a savage war...and then the grim years under Communism, the long-drawn-out battles to build the church at Nowa Huta, the young people  in solidarity with their Archbishop...then Rome, and that magnificent "Do not be Afraid!" and the great missionary journeys...World Youth Day...Veritatis Splendor...the Theology of the Body...

Exmoor...

...looking enchanting, Porlock village in a fold of the hills, the sea a sturdy blue, meadows lush and green,  and while I work at my computer in front of a wide window on to a lovely garden, there is birdsong, and two pigeons cooing. 

Correcting proofs of forthcoming book, and working on a power-point for a talk to the NW Catholic Writers' Guild,to be  held at the University Chaplaincy in Manchester.  How extraordinary to be doing this while nourishing the eyes and heart by looking out on to a Medieval church, great hills with cloud and sunshine gently altering their colours moment by moment, and the sound of a rushing river - a reminder of those recent floods which soaked so much of the neighbouring parts of Somerset - mingling with the trilling of the birds.

Clifton Cathedral...

....is a truly dreadful lump of concrete, and Sunday Mass there a most depressing experience. The place leaks - plastic buckets stacked in a row - and it was more than half empty. I counted just over 130 people at the 11 am main Sunday Mass.  There are horrid chairs with soft seats and spindly legs, and it's arranged like a theatre, and several people sat through Canon of the Mass.  For the psalm, a lady got up at the microphone and waved her arms at us,  in that infuriating way that they do when assuming that we won't know how to sing the response unless they indicate it to us. So I waved back. A guest choir sang Panis Angelicus at Communion much, much too fast. The Stations of the Cross are ugly and the whole place feels bleak.

To Bristol...

...and an excellent production of The  Merry Wives of Windsor at the Redgrave Theatre. Hugely enjoyable, a richly talented young  cast, a glorious set and costumes -  all Edwardiana which perfectly matches the mood of the play - a great sense of fun...a perfect evening.

Beloved Papa Emeritus Benedict...

...joined Papa Francis in Rome for the ceremony creating new cardinals. Watch here...

Get a flavour...

...of the recent LOGS pilgrimage to Littlemore here...

...and I'm busy planning...

...a launch party for this...

John Henry Newman...

...and Littlemore.  We had a wonderful pilgrimage there this week. You'll be reading about it shortly in The PORTAL...

A MUST event...

 Message from St Patrick's, Soho:  In just over a week St. Patrick's church in Soho is hosting an exciting international conference called Choose Life: Choose Love! Speakers from across the Canada, the U.S and Australia will be there for this weekend conference on 'Beauty, Freedom and the Family'. Students can attend all the talks for FREE, or, if they wish to enjoy meals can pay half price. Advance booking is necessary. For more information and to book please visitwww.chooselifechooselove-rcdow.eventbrite.co.u

For full details of programme please look at here:  www.stpatricksoho.org 

"From the beginning...

...the Creator blessed man and woman so that they would be fruitful and multiply..."

Papa Francis on marriage and family. Read more here...

JOYFUL EVANGELISTS...

We are looking for joyful evangelists! 

Nominations are invited for the 2014 Catholic Women of the Year. Every year,  four women are honoured, chosen by ballot from nominations sent in from across Britain. Any Catholic woman can be nominated – and the aim is especially to honour those who are living out their faith publicly, in service and in witness, as part of the New Evangelisation in our country.

Pope Francis has emphasised joy – Evangelii Gaudium – the Joy of the Faith. We are looking for joyful women who teach the Faith, serve their local community, and share Catholic values with the next generation.

“In fidelity to the example of the Master, it is vitally important for the Church today to go forth and preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, with­out hesitation, reluctance or fear. The joy of the Gospel is for all people: no one can be excluded”.  (Pope Francis: Evangelii Gaudium)

 

How to nominate some one as a Catholic Woman of the Year

It’s simple. You can use the form here:  http://catholicwomenoftheyear.wordpress.com/nomination-form/

or you can send an email to: mijamajoje@ntlworld.com: 

or a letter to: Catholic Women of the Year 2014, 22 Milton Road, WARE, Herts SG12 0PZ

All we need from you to nominate some one  is the lady’s name and  information on why why she is being nominated: a few paragraphs setting out what she does, and where she does it, and the spirit in which she does it! The nomination can be from a friend, family member, or parish priest. It does not have to be long, but it must give relevant information – and must give the writer’s name and contact details. It is not necessary to obtain permission from the lady being nominated – for most of our Catholic Women of the Year, the honour comes as a complete surprise, and perhaps that’s the way it should be!

Closing date for nomination is April 30^th 2014

t!...

...yes, I know that looks a bit odd. But t! is the name of a girls' magazine, now distributed FREE through Sainsbury's. It's run by a young team, which also organises courses on journalism for students...and I was invited to be part of the course running this half-term. A grand group of young people, and it was great fun...info here...

...and if you want to read...

...Auntie on the subject of the Ordinariate (recent feature in the CATHOLIC HERALD) you can do so here , with  thanks to the Ordinariate Expat blog.

A splendid traditional Sunday Mass...

...at St Anselm's Church at Pembury in Kent. Well, two splendid Masses: I went to the 9.15, with a fine choir singing some glorious music, and a troop of children trotting off to Sunday School, and a rousing hymn to finish, and then there was a gathering outside (no church hall as yet...they are raising funds for a development project to create one) for coffee and orange juice and biscuits and children running about and making a cheery noise...and then I went in again for part of the 11 o'clock Mass.  This was all because I was giving a short appeal at the end of each Mass, to invite people to get stitching for the Great Hassocks Project. Thanks to a modest donation, we are able to  make some proper church kneelers (hassocks) for this church, and we need volunteers...I have several people already working away, and Fr Ed invited me to the parish to explain the project in detail.  And also to get the parish involved in the big "Our Father" project, which is for children at RC and CofE primary schools, and involves them writing out the Lord's Prayer, and answering some short questions to show their understanding of it.  We have a number of local groups running this project across Britain...and now Kent is to be involved, too, and it was WONDERFUL to meet local volunteers from this excellent parish who will be taking it all on.

This little church at Pembury is thriving under the care of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Fr Ed and Hayley and their cheery family welcomed me to a very jolly lunch, and it was so good to relax and talk over so many things.

...and thence to Kent...

..also rainwashed, and the trains delayed. But I made it, am writing this from a damp Tunbridge Wells,  and tomorrow (Sunday) will be at Pembury, to talk about church kneelers, and an education project. More on this later.

Meanwhile, of you want to know more about the Confirmation last Sunday at Precious Blood Church in London, read here...

Writing this...

...in Somerset, where I've been visiting an elderly relative, and am marooned overnight because of the weather.  Early bus back to London tomorrow...

Rain and winds  lashed the small seaside town where I was visiting, and lashed the windows of the comfortable room where we were sitting chatting and sewing - fortunately high up, on the edge of Exmoor, so flood-free -  and lashed the country bus as it went along the lanes and made its usual stops in the villages...

With laptop and mobile phone, and plenty of work to do, I am comfortable in a pleasant b-and-b...too many in Somerset and elsewhere in Britain are not comfortable tonight, and it's still raining...

Life and love...

...a conference that promises to look at this theme in depth, and with some wonderful speakers.

Dana Rosemary Scallon, plus the Family Life team from Holy Trinity Brompton, plus a beautiful setting at St Patrick's, Soho Square...this is a weekend event not to be missed.

Marriage is so much under attack today, and simply hoping that things will get better isn't good enough...we need to explore and celebrate the good, the true and the beautiful, and do so with wisdom and knowledge and in good company...

It's Feb 28th-March 2nd, and there's more info here...

Big excitement...

...for Auntie is...


THIS

which will be formally launched in April!!!

The river...

...at Kingston was lapping up against the verandas and swishing over the banks, as the train chugged across the bridge this afternoon, taking me to a meeting at Strawberry Hill.  Elsewhere, homes are flooded and people are being evacuated.

The weather matches the sense of solemnity felt today: the anniversary of the resignation of dear Papa Benedict...it is good that he is still with us, praying with serenity, close to Papa Francis, and presumably still working quietly away on the books that will be part of  the rich theology that he is contributing to the Church and which will illuminate minds and hearts for generations.  We are grateful for so much...for that wonderful visit to Britain in 2010, for his joy, his teaching...

Rain falling, and an icy wind cutting into faces.

Like vast numbers of other people, I can't travel by rail to the West Country later this week...the coaches to Taunton are still running, so I've booked a seat on one, but the western rail route down through Reading from Paddington is disrupted by flooding. A planned visit to Cornwall has had to be postponed indefinitely as the railway line along by Dawlish has been swept to pieces and is partly in the sea...

Spent the day partly working on a piece for the Catholic Herald (for a couple of weeks ahead:  first anniversary of Papa Francis election), and partly mulling over plans for some possible further academic work...all this interspersed with work for Christian Projects (25th anniversary of Schools Bible Project) and EWTN (I fly off to the USA - weather permitting! - in a couple of weeks' time to make a new series).

Worth signing...

...this, and getting your friends and neighbours to do so, too.  With a certain urgency. Things are a bit grim.

Confirmation...

...tomorrow (Sunday) and the class met today for a run-through with Father C.  Their catechist found it gratifying - and was relieved - that the group was able to answer up in response to questions about knowledge of the Sacrament and what it means and so on...Explanation of the various parts of the ceremony, including the anointing (oil...strengthening...) touch on the cheek ("It's a sign of his authority"). Some are first being baptised - explanation of the signing with the Cross ("claimed for Christ") etc...

Oddly moving to sit in the church as the group held a practice session and each candidate went to kneel before Fr C., seated in the Bishop's chair.

Home in pouring rain. News of more to come.

I find it difficult to think with great seriousness about the issue of Scotland breaking the union that has been the United Kingdom for these past centuries...such a break is obviously a very bad and rather stupid idea.  But with the government having imposed a law destroying the legal framework of marriage, and obliging public officials to tell lies about the fundamental relationship between a man and a woman, somehow breaking apart a state seems of less long-term importance. 

Rain against the windows, under a darkening sky. Working on material for next EWTN series, exploring Marian themes and lives of saints. List of names of Confirmation candidates carefully typed out for tomorrow: the catechist has to present them.

To Coventry...

...to meet the Coventry Ordinariate Group and discuss a schools project with them. Young Father Paul met me at Coventry station, and the meeting was in his house, with his young family evidently happy and familiar with parish events, tucking in with us to the bring-and-share supper...( quantities of the most delicious food, including two different sorts of  lasagne, and a most great array of puddings). Everyone had made enough for twelve...

A most useful meeting, talkative and friendly, and the schools project looks set to be under way shortly...all rather exciting (details to follow in due course).

I'd spent much of the earlier part of the day au Euston station, as I was worried that with the Tube strike I might not get there on time...in the end I arrived by bus with two hours to spare, so got out my laptop and finished doing the footnotes etc for the new Prayer Book to be published by the CTS, to mark the canonisation of Pope John XXIII and John Paul II.  Working on this book has brought me into greater contact with John XXIII.  I'd read his Journal of a Soul, of course, and studied his other writings and encyclicals, but there is more.  An impressive and extraordinary life: Bulgaria and Turkey in wartime,  with so many conflicting groups and tensions,Nuncio to Paris in the days immediately following WWII...and then, as Pope, a joyful and humble certainty that the Church can face the future with confidence and hope. I've become a fan...

After the meeting in Coventry I stayed the night at the home of Ronald and Jenny Crane, and we talked Ordinariate news and The Portal, and so on. I do wish the Archbishop of Birmingham - who is an old friend whom I have known since his seminary days - would show more strong and positive support and encouragement for the Ordinariate: it's going to be a big part of the Church of the future in this country, and it could bring him and the diocese a much-needed boost...

Travel is going to be restricted over the next weeks because of the rain and floods...I was due to go to Cornwall, but the railway line linking it to the rest of the country has been swept away, and it is just a mangled mess of metal and shingles along by the beach at Dawlish...

Ooops...

...in an earlier post - some 2-3 weeks ago, I advertised a Catholic History Walk as being on Feb 14th. But it isn't. It's TODAY, Tuesday FEB 4th. Sorry about that: misprint unnoticed  and resulting from too-hasty typing.

CATHOLIC HISTORY WALK TODAY Feb 4th, 6.30pm, meet on the steps of Westminster Cathedral after the 5.30pm Mass...

On Monday Feb 10th...

...an important meeting about sex-ed in schools, and how to cherish family values...sponsored by the Catholic Union Charitable Trust...read more here...

En route to...

...a meeting to plan the 2014 TOWARDS ADVENT Festival, which is always held at Westminster Cathedral Hall, I ran into Archbishop (soon to be Cardinal) Vincent Nichols. I was hurrying across the piazza in front of the Cathedral, and so was he...we greeted each other, and I  explained, a bit breathlessly, that I was on my way to a meeting  and he laughed and said "Off you go then!" and I hurried on...he will open the Festival, and we have some fine speakers booked...details in due course...

Evening: meeting of LOGS (Ladies Ordinariate Group) at St Mary's, West Croydon. An excellent - really rather gripping - talk by Father James Clark, about his work as a chaplain in a Young Offenders Unit. The plight of young, usually fatherless, men caught in a trap of re-offending and friendlessness...there were some poignant descriptions of the way things are and the work of a chaplain...it was all very down-to-earth and makes for a lot of prayerful reflection, and  a commitment to do what we can...one of our number, a lawyer who has worked in prisons also spoke up at the general discussion...

Our Schools Project is now under way, we have various speakers planned for meetings through the rest of this year, we will be studying a new teaching scheme for possible Sunday School use, and there is more...but we have also long had the idea of adding some form of prison work and this will now be on the agenda...lots to pray about...

On Papa Francis...

...and the latest media thing, read this...

Candlemas...

...and last night as I walked home from visiting a beloved elderly relative, I realised I was seeing something not seen for weeks...stars glittering in the night sky. A clear night, no thick layer of cloud! No rain!  And Candlemas Day dawned bright, clear, and with crisp cold air and a blue sky.

The church was full for the CandleMass, and there were great stacked boxes of candles to the side of the sanctuary, blessed by Fr Chris to be used for sanctuary lamps etc throughout the coming year. The Sunday School children paraded off to their class behind their processional cross, holding their lighted candles as we all sung the Gloria (Missa de Angelis) each of us with lighted candle too  and the whole congregation drawn together, and drawn up to the sanctuary and to God...

Next Sunday will also be a special one for this church, as Mgr Keith Newton is coming to administer Baptism and Confirmation. The catechist - you can guess who it is - is a little nervous, hoping that all the candidates are confident and knowledgeable (well...and prayerful, of course...and their catechist too) ...we have one final session of preparation, which will probably focus on the details of the ceremonies...  Much discussion at the previous session, about Confirmation names: some have still to choose one. On the other hand, there was evidence of considerable knowledge when it came to some of the doctrine, Scripture etc we have been discussing over recent weeks. The ANCHOR programme is warmly recommended...

In the afternoon, to St Anne Line Church in South Woodford, Essex, for a most interesting lecture about this heroic woman, and about Shakespeare and the hidden messages in his plays, about Catholicism and persecution, and the feeling among the people at that time...The speaker made a  good case for Anne Line being the inspiration for more than one of his female characters...

A visit...

...to a friend of many years  Professor Dennis O'Keefe,  confined to a hospice following a serious spinal injury and enduring this with courage. His wonderful family, including an enchanting small granddaughter, bring him joy, strength, and comfort: it was a privilege to see.  Dennis, author and academic, was active, along with Roger Scruton and others, in supporting Solidarity in Poland during the grim years of martial law, and I have been writing down some of his memories of that time...

...and you can read Auntie in...

...The Portal, the on-line magazine of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Read the Feb edition here...

GOOD NEWS...

...and worth reading about it. The excellent Neil Addison reports...read here...

On Feb 10th...

...at 6.30pm at Precious Blood Church (22 Redcross Street London SEI - nearest tube: London Bridge) a meeting, sponsored by the Catholic Union, looking at issues relating to marriage, the family, and the education of children...info here.  Admission free. Do come!

Theology of the Body...

the 10th in a series of annual lectures honouring Bl John Paul's Theology of the Body, organised by the diocese of Westminster.

Tuesday March 4th 2014

Jonothan Doyle  "Beyond the Digital Prison".

"Jonathan Doyle offers hope to all who are concerned about the rising tide of internet pornography. Explaining the science and psychology of addiction, he argues that, in the midst of shame and despair, the human heart still longs for intimacy, love and deep connection. Applying insights from theology of the body, he reveals what we can do to create a counter-culture of life and love"


Contact Catherine MacGillivray
cathmacgillivray@rcdow.org.uk
020 7931 6064
£5 entry fee will be collected on the door

Registration essential
  

A Catholic heroine...

Anne Line: Shakespeare’s Tragic Muse

A new biography has just been written on St Anne Line, the English martyr,  by Martin Dodswell.  He will be giving a talk on his new book at 3.30pm in the Parish Hall of St Anne Line Parish, South Woodford this Sunday 2 February – followed by Benediction in the church at 4.30pm.

The Parish Hall is at the back of the Church - entrance via the car park.

 

St Anne Line Parish is in Grove Crescent, South Woodford, London, E18 2JR.

There is ample parking at the church. It is close to South Woodford Station (Central Line) and to both the MII and the A406.

Regular readers of this blog...

...will be familiar with the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and with the Church of the Most Precious Blood at London Bridge. But they, and others, might be interested to get a flavour of the thing from this post..

...and to Bicester...

...where I was met at the station by the splendid Breff Kelly who with his wife Jill hosts a Catholic Reading Circle. Tables set out with books to borrow or buy...lots of Ignatius Press, Gracewing Books, CTS, and more...the smell of good coffee, a buzz of talk, a warm welcome. A packed room - not a spare seat anywhere - and it was a joy to give a talk to such an audience. Afterwards, a talkative lunch with Breff and Jill, and a visit to the beautiful local church...

A train back to London through rainy countryside: in the evening, the FAITH meeting at Warwick Street: Speaker, Father Chris Findlay-Wilson, speaking on God as man's natural environment. Excellent talk. Father Chris had travelled from Cornwall - his parish is the farthest west in England - and drew on images from nature, and the birds and plants of Cornwall and how each has its own developed form and needs...

Human beings are  part of all creation, but are unique in it,: we alone have spiritual souls. We find our environment in God: birds, fly, fish swim in water, humans pray.

To Brighton...

...to St Mary Magdalene Church, to speak about Mother Riccarda Hambrough,  a nun with a remarkable story, and a special link to Brighton. A local bus now carries her name!  (To find out more, read this book). A beautiful Mass and a warm welcome from the splendid parish priest Father Ray Blake. A packed hall, despite a rainy night. Delicious sandwiches and cakes, and freshly-brewed tea. A friendly  atmosphere with a sense of great good cheer - what a wonderful parish! Members of the Hambrough family had come along - it was wonderful to chat, and they are arranging for me to talk to a family gathering as they are all keen to learn more about their remarkable great-aunt!

Burns Night...

...and a wonderful party organised by the young people of SPES at St Patrick's, Soho Square. J. wore his kilt and sporran. All done splendidly: haggis-and-neeps, and whisky, and splendid reels. Jamie is a good dancer and led me off for the first reel, great fun.   In due course I got v.v. warm, and then the heel whizzed off my shoe, so I was glad to sit out some of the later reels and watch  from the side, clapping in time to the music, and enjoying the whole scene. We finished in grand style with Auld Lang Syne, sung properly and loudly in a great circle.

A lot of the young people also go to the FAITH talks - currently at Warwick St - and some also take part in the John Paul Walk to Walsingham in the summer...

Home v. late, having had a grand time.

from time to time...

...and as an affirmation of religious freedom and human dignity, I post on my Blog a section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church relating to a specific topic which is causing controversy at the present time. So here it is again, an item have posted  before and will probably post again:

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.

Pope Francis...

...sent a message to America's March for Life, saying that he was joining the March with his prayers.
As always, large crowds, mostly young people...I took part in the March a couple of years ago, and was impressed by the numbers. The weather is always bitterly cold (Washington in January), and the scenes of the marchers battling snow or icy rain are splendid...

FAITH Movement...

...new series of talks in London. Fr Dominic Rolls with an excellent presentation of God's salvific plan through the Jewish people...a superb lecture, delivered extremely well.

We'll be expanding the talks, as it's all been so successful, and - possibly after a brief gap when this winter series ends - the programme will run through the Spring, as we have a number of other speakers worth hearing.

The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has been v. supportive, and it is good to be meeting in this historic church, just off Piccadilly Circus...

Marriage and the Govt's daft plans...

...it's a most depressing subject, and the future is going to be horrid.

The government has imposed a ludicrous and cruel new law which insists that a man can marry another man.

Bureaucrats are now having to work out ways in which this will be imposed on, among much else, the Army and its housing for our soldiers. Imagine: a senior officer decides he is in love with a young soldier, divorces his wife, marries the young now ex-soldier and moves him into the comfortable married quarters (which you and I are subsidising)...do you think it couldn't happen?

Think about a teenage girl, unhappy because her parents' marriage broke up and she doesn't like her mother's latest boyfriend, and confused and cutting herself and so on...and a lesbian teacher decides to take her up, and in due course they announce that they are getting married...when it breaks up, the young girl is told that the baby she dutifully had by artificial means is not hers, as the older woman has custody as she had stayed home to do the babycare sending the young girl out to work...

Meanwhile, a Catholic school has quietly hidden its religious education materials when an official from the education authority calls, because the book on the Sacraments emphasises male/female marriage, and the Catechism is quoted, and so on...

Do you think this couldn't happen?

On Popes, and Pope Francis, and more...

...this is a useful read.

The Schools Bible Project...

...an ecumenical venture which helps pupils at schools across Britain to study the New Testament, is 25 years old this year. Meeting to plan a celebration. This year's Project looks set to be exceptionally good. Some fine teachers, plus loyal volunteers who help with the organising etc, make this whole venture a real gift to Britain's school pupils...pray for its continued flourishing.

A large toad...

...greeted me on the doorstep this morning. Hardly surprising - many  suburban roads have small rivers gushing down the sides, and along the main road near us there are tide-marks where great puddles that result from each night's giant downpour ha slowly drained away to await the next...

To Mass at Westminster Cathedral...the 9am, packed, adorned with the cries of many small children, (and the irritating whispered chitchat of  elderly ladies behind me: if what they want is a pious gossip, can't it at least wait until after Mass?). Then on to Paddington, and a train to the West Country - the countryside, washed by rain, offering scenes of occasionally heart-breaking beauty -  for a family gathering to mark a nephew/godson's birthday. Great fun, again numbers of small children, plus lots of 20-somethings, plus some teens, plus oldies like Auntie, plus party food, fizz,  cake, hearty singing of "For he's a jolly good fellow"...

Home late, but the whole journey enlivened by the latest Standpoint magazine, a good read, bought at Paddington to enjoy over some coffee, and  I was still reading it on the late train after the party...definitely value for money. But will magazines like this survive? Do people read any more? Few on trains or Tubes are reading: they play with mobile phones, listen to (? music one assumes) with plug-in things to their ears. Some have kindles, but disproportionately few...it used to be normal for people to be deep in newspapers, magazines, books...

Coronation Street...

...and "assisted suicide". Read some thoughts about it here  (scroll down)...

Planning a visit...

...to St Anselm's Pembury ... discussed travel plans, normally an uninteresting and trivial matter for a trip into Kent, but current situation dominated by floods.  Pembury is fine, but the railway line from London has been under water for part of the way...it will doubtless be all cleared up by the time of our planned trip, but meanwhile thoughts turn to the people whose homes have been wrecked, commuters stranded for long hours trying to get home, etc...

And as I write it is still raining.

EWTN's Rome correspondent...

Joan Lewis, over at Joan's Rome  has some wonderful descriptions, and pictures, of the concert given in honour of Papa Benedict's brother, Mgr Georg Ratzinger.  Some  good pix of dear Papa Benedict. He looks elderly, but is happily greeting people. The (soon-to be-created Cardinal) Archbishop Muller is in the front row for the concert. (I am a fan) and it all looks rather delightful...

Joan has not been well - had an eye operation - but her blog has continued without a break and she is a continuing fund of news and comment from Rome, an absolute professional.

Confirmation group...

...and we are using the excellent ANCHOR programme, produced by the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph. It works really well: everyone has a folder and the leader has the same material, plus more, in a v. easy-to-use handbook. There is much use of magnificent art, and as we explore the images, and use the Scriptural references, and the links to the liturgy, the whole thing sort of unfolds and it is very enjoyable to be discovering the story of God's working out of his plan for the human race...

25th anniversary of...

...the Association of Catholic Women comes up later this year. We will be having a special Mass and a party to celebrate, and also launching a new project for young Catholics (18-30)...details announced in due course. It was fun planning all this today, and also working on our more routine tasks, including the big nationwide Schools RE Project which involves all the Catholic primary schools in Britain  and this year will be on the theme of "Saints",  with children invited to write and do projects on the patron saint of their parish...

...and in a rainy London...

...tea and an afternoon of sewing and chat with a relative in Islington, and then a bus ride through the City and across the river - looking magnificent with lights glittering in the rain and dark, and Tower Bridge making a spectacular landmark - to Evensong and Mass at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge.  A new series of evenings with the excellent Catholicism DVD has begun - tonight Fr  Robert Barron taught about the Eucharist.I was particularly struck by what he said about words. God creates through his Word: it creates, it brings all creation into being. And Christ is the living Word...and his words create...

If your parish hasn't yet done a big presentation of Catholicism    then hurry, HURRY, and get one started. It is a superb teaching tool, and a visual feast...

an excellent evening...

...with the FAITH Movement. Speaker: Fr Stephen Dingley, professor of theology at St John's Seminary, Wonersh.  He tackled the subject of whether humans are different from animals. Who are we, as human beings?  What is our relationship to the rest of  creation, to God, to one another? You can find out a lot more about all this by consulting the FAITH website...

The hall was packed...we were at the Ordinariate Church, the historic Church of the Assumption in Warwick St, just off Piccadilly Circus. This church originated as a chapel to the Portugese Embassy, and as such was a place where London Catholics could get to Mass in penal times. It has a crypt which functions as a parish hall, and is approached by steps that go down below the Rectory in Golden Square, at the back of the church. So we were - literally - deep in history.

The FAITH Movement is for anyone and everyone, but the overwhelming majority of those involved are young, and this evening the hall was packed with young people: students from London University, some VI-formers from the suburbs, 20-somethings from across London...

Anger at Pope Francis...

...from a lady writing from a mainstream newspaper who fizzes and fumes because he has dared to lament the killing of babies by abortion. Her anger sends her into twirling fury, round and round like a hamster in a wheel. For good measure, she adds fuming bitterness against Pope Benedict too...even though he, like Papa Francis, rarely spoke out on this subject, and, like Francis, always with compassion and restraint...

I'm not putting a link to this lady's furious newspaper feature - why add to her readership? But when I looked up the speech by the H. Father, and saw this brief  and poignant mention of abortion, I really did wonder at this lady's wild and furious anger...he was simply giving voice to what we all know is true: that there is something ghastly about a throwaway society, which even throws away precious human lives...

When Pope John Paul first wrote about Divine Mercy, I didn't really attach much importance to it...I remember thinking "Well, of  course  God is merciful... why the need to devote a whole encyclical to it?"  But then when I came to learn about Sister Faustina and so on, it became clear that this was a message urgently needed for our times. People do not know what to do with their anger and their hurt and their sense of being caught up in something that they know is wrong but from which they cannot seem to extricate themselves. In the face of the horrible events of the 20th century, mercy, mercy/....in the face of the horrible things of the 21st, mercy, again and again...

Do come to this!! All Welcome!

The Music Makers are delighted to announce the Liturgical Première of the 

Westminster Mass for Boys’ Voices

Music by Jeremy de Satgé

to be performed by the

Choristers of Westminster Cathedral Choir

Directed by Martin Baker

at the 5.30pm Mass on Tuesday, 14th January 2014

at Westminster Cathedral

You are warmly invited to attend this premiere

If you know of others who might wish to attend, we should be most grateful if you would forward this email accordingly.

For more information regarding the music please click HERE

The Catholic Women of the Year event...

not only honours Catholic women who serve God, the Church and the community is all sorts of ways, but also raises funds for good projects. There is a joyful "Thankyou!" from one of the projects we supported in 2103...see here.


You'll be invited soon to nominate women for the 2014 CWOY...news will be on this website...

Sheets of shining water...

...as the train trundled through the West Country, taking Auntie to visit a relative in hospital. At Weston-Super-Mare there was an extra amount of inland mare...rather magnificent to see, with wintry trees standing starkly up from the water, and odd stretches of hedge, no long fulfilling their task as boundaries of fields, emerging over lapping wavelets...

We spent Christmas in Somerset, on the edge of Exmoor...Midnight Mass in a well-filled church and with lovely carols, feasting and jollity with family and friends... and this return trip was in a different mood, rather bleaker...but the hospital is giving excellent care, and the visit went well.

Back in London today, a Confirmation class in a busy parish. We are using the excellent ANCHOR programme, much recommended. It uses glorious art to ponder with Scripture references, and it tackles the Catholic faith systematically. Today, we looked at Christ's Baptism, the Trinity, making the Sign of the Cross...then sin, forgiveness, pic. of Christ's betrayal by Judas, discussion of repentance (Peter's denial contrasted w. Judas' action), mercy, confession...

More on Papa Francis...

..excellent article in The Spectator about him... my feeling is that media won't  drop its love affair with him, but will continue to misinterpret him, and deliberately tell us that he is saying something that he isn't saying...this will be the way to save face, and also there is a quite genuine inability among some of them to get any understanding of reality... eg on marriage, family... also on  population and  how and why the West is dying...

But there will be a turning against him in the Church...especially among ageing Germans and Austrians intent on promoting contraception and divorce/remarriage. The wannabe-Lefebvrist types also seem to hate him, and that  will continue. 

The Speccy piece is by Luke Coppen, of the Catholic Herald. It's good, but don't just click on the link. Go and buy a copy of the magazine - it has lots of other good stuff in it -  and enjoy it, as I have been doing today, on the Tube, the train, at a bus stop, hospital waiting area, and finally in a pub with a gin-and-tonic...You don't need a laptop to enjoy a good read. just a paper and enough light to read by...

Meeting...

...at the CTS to discuss a project on which Auntie is working, for the canonisation of John XXIII and John Paul II. More on this in due course...

Corpus Christi....

....Church in Maiden Lane,  Covent Garden, is the Catholic church serving theatreland. A prayer group meets there regularly, dedicated to St Genesius, the patron saint of actors, and to Blessed John Paul. I went along this evening - a beautiful Mass, then  a time of silent Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament,  finishing with the Rosary, and finally Benediction...afterwards a talkative get-together over hot drinks and snacks at a café in The Strand...the group is led by Father John Hogan, who broadcasts regularly with EWTN, and  tonight's gathering included people involved with  the music industry and radio...topics ranged over Pope Francis(will the pack turn on him when he reaffirms Catholic teachings on marriage? We must pray for him and support him), Pope Emeritus Benedict (general view: he'll be a Doctor of the Church one day),  miracles, prayer, soap operas (discussion: could EWTN ever create a successful Catholic-based one? Probably not...) and more...

Home v. late, last Tube pulling out of London on the District Line. At the moment, I carry my cross-stitch work with me to do in odd moments, and have nearly finished another hassock for the church in Pembury...

Pope Francis...

...blessing a new statue of Our Lady. The statue has a vaguely baroque, as opposed to 19th century or high Medieval look. The  very traditional red-and-blue (royal) colours, and the large formal halo, give a formality and dignity, but there is also something "approachable" as Mary presents her Divine Son to us and he stretches out his arms, while she holds a rosary in her other hand...

Auntie will be in Rome...

...for the canonisation of John Paul the Great and the good John XXIII  at the end of April. 

Just been re-reading the book of an interview with Cardinal  Tarcisio Bertone about his meetings with Sister Lucia and the  Fatima visions. A fascinating read. To ponder the visions and message of Fatima and the life of Bl John Paul in 2014 is to ponder a deep thing. The canonisation of John Paul will place the whole matter ever more deeply into the tradition of the Church. This is also a relevant read...

Looking back, the 20th century was for so many people a terrible one. The Fatima visions spoke of war and tragedy and horrors to come, and these certainly came.  It was as if there was one great chastisement after another, with always the innocent suffering: the Holocaust and the murder of 6 million Jews, the famine forced on the Ukraine under Communism in which millions  starved to death, the 1960s similar Communist-created famine in China (people were reduced to  trying to eat leaves and tree-bark, and the trees in some cities were stripped bare until there was literally nothing at all), the Baltic deportations to slave labour under Stalin...all centuries have had their horrors, but the sheer numerical scale of the horrors of the 20th century places them in a category of their own.

John Paul saw the start of a new millennium as a time to repent, pray, and make, in a very profound and Christ-centred way, a fresh and humble beginning. I suppose we all instinctively want to "make a fresh start" with each New Year:  God puts that longing into our hearts. As a saintly (and heroic!) successor of St Peter, he led the Church across the gateway into the new millennium. The Church, at least, takes seriously the idea of peace, forgiveness, trust, and mercy (especially that last)  - all so necessary for attempting to live together. JPII  gave voice to this, and with his great sense of how God works in human history, he drew us into some understanding of the need to take things like the Fatima message very seriously...

A lovely pic of...

the Epiphany crib at Precious Blood Church in London, with an account of the Blessing of the Chalk etc...read here.

Glorious and rather exciting cloudbursts...

...great clattering, rattling, hard-to-talk-above-the-noise rain, driven initially by roaring gusts of wind. Not, somehow,  English rain, not the insistent drizzle that has shaped our culture and greened our land over centuries. This is weird and magnificent rain, and in London it is all rather enjoyable. No floods - at least, so far -  and plenty of places to shelter...but it has been fairly ghastly for people in various other parts of the country, and the rain shows no sign of stopping tonight.

Meeting of LOGS, the Ladies Ordinariate Group, yesterday evening. We tried, and failed, to get the DVD to work and so we didn't watch the film of Mother Teresa that had been planned. It sits forlornly on the table in the Rectory reproachfully.  We did, however, have a good discussion and have planned an excellent year of activities. Tackled a whole lot of envelopes for a big schools project. Arranged our forthcoming trip to Littlemore. Booked a Church Music workshop for the Autumn, and a talk on CS Lewis.

Read about Auntie's...

...involvement with projects around the canonisation of the great John Paul

We're going to be hearing a lot from campaigning atheists...

... in 2014, as we did in 2013,  as they seem to be on a roll at present. I found this useful.

And you ought to read...

this  as it is alas more than possible that you will meet people who will have been taken in by the hoax and will be boring on about it...

Epiphany chalk...

...was blessed and distributed at Mass today. The Wise men had arrived at the Nativity scene, and the small basket of chalk sticks  was placed in front of it, the sticks then being blessed and distributed to us all, along with a prayer to use in blessing our homes.

J. and I first discovered this practice in the Tyrol, and loved it. We have for some years had the traditional blessing and chalked up the initials C+M+B  and the new date above the front door.  So  this evening J. read a psalm from Vespers and I did the New Testament reading - from today's Gospel about the Wise Men - and then we went out into the drizzle, and J. rubbed out the 13 from the date and replaced it with 14 above the door while I stood there with a candle-lamp because the hall light isn't working, and we said the Our Father and J. read the little prayer of blessing brought from church, and our home is now blessed for the year ahead.

While also commemorating the Wise Men- traditionally named as Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar -  the initials stand for Christus Mansionem Benedicat.

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

This could have been written for all Catholic bloggers and debaters:

"From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity
Thou, who would give no sign, deliver me.

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead
Of Thee, their thin-word image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle's eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die."

CS Lewis

for some useful insights on Pope Francis...

I found this a good read...

A casual mention of CS Lewis...

...at a New Year gathering got me thinking about him and, as so often happens, I then found his name cropping up again and again, or seemed to notice books by him on every other shelf I passed.  So I am now, with great enjoyment, deep in a book with some wonderful extracts from his letters and essays..."CS Lewis - The authentic Voice" (Lion, paperback, 1986). Recommended.

Have also been reading a lot about Pope Francis - a spate of biographies, of varying quality, on sale this Christmas. But I am about to write some reviews for various publications so can't/won't write about them here...

Was deep in CS Lewis on a bus so got a bit worried when I realised we had crossed Battersea Bridge and passed Prince of Wales Drive and I probably needed the next stop for Clapham Junction and might miss it.  I turned to the  passenger next to me, who had also been deep in a book  - and to our mutual surprise it was a a friend, who just that day had been asked to contact me to invite me to a new John Paul II Prayer Group that meets in London...a piece of Providence!  So I hope to go along, and the leaflet with the information is tucked into the Lewis book as a bookmark.

We are getting daily and nightly massive downpours, the Thames Barrier has been lowered, and there is much news of flooding in different places. Darkening skies at midday give a strange atmosphere.

History Walks...

TUESDAY....Jan 14th, meet 1.30pm (after the 1.05pm  lunchtime Mass)  at the Church of the Most Precious Blood, London Bridge. The church is in O'Meara Street SEI.  Nearest tube: LONDON BRIDGE or Borough.

TUESDAY Feb 4th. 3pm,  An afternoon walk INSIDE Westminster Cathedral. Meet by the main door .

And an evening walk, also on Tuesday Feb 14th: meet 6.30pm - after the 5.30pm Mass - on the Cathedral steps. We will walk around Westminster, Whitehall, St James' Park, finish outside Buckingham Palace.

What books did auntie enjoy...

...during 2013? Read here...

In the ordinary way...

...life at home is two of us J. and me, plus a lot of activity, much hurrying about, trains, buses, Tubes, telephones, meetings, conferences...

But at Christmas we are part of a series of big extended family gatherings. And the pace changes. Music, talk, books, walks.  A dear elderly relation, shared memories of previous Christmasses, comfortable evenings with a DVD of a classic film and with Turkish delight and glasses of wine. Cheerful kitchen talk over washing-up. Meals with a lot of us gathered around a big table, afternoons spent crawling on the floor with small nephews and nieces, muddy walks in wellies.  Young relations singing Christmas carols alongside Auntie in church.

Time to sit back and share in the general talk and laughter. A splendid box of crackers - a gift from New Zealand relatives and much enjoyed - children sucking sugar-candy sticks  from the Christmas tree and an uncle dozing comfortably. I tackled a new tapestry project. "Auntie - let me see your knitting...let me have a go!" pleaded an energetic small nephew. I showed him how to put in a stitch or two, and with solemn expression and much sucking-in of breath he drew the wool through the material with deep satisfaction.

Some work intrudes. You can do a lot with a laptop, and some book-proofs needed checking and re-checking. An idea for a feature jiggled itself around in my head and resolved itself into something that had to be written. And as 2014 draws into sight, new adventures and new horizons beckon...

Happy New Year...

...and some dates to note:

Tuesday Jan 14th HISTORY WALK, meet 1.30pm  (after the 1.05pm Mass) at Precious Blood Church, O'Meara Street, London SEI (nearest tube: London Bridge)

Wednesday Jan 15th, 7.30pm Church of the Assumption, Warwick St London WI (nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus) . FAITH Evening: speaker, Fr Stephen Dingley. This is the first of a series of FAITH Evenings at Warwick St: book them into your diary - EVERY WEDNESDAY EVENING FROM JAN 15th for FOUR WEEKS.

Tuesday Feb 4th, 3pm Westminster Cathedral. History Walk in and around the Cathedral.

Sat March 8th -Training Day on Public Speaking. See below.

Interested?

...If you are interested in a (one-day) Training Session on Public Speaking, focusing on communicating the Catholic Faith:

A Public Speaking Training Day will be held at EALING ABBEY (London: nearest tube - Ealing Broadway)   on Saturday March 8th.  It will start with (REAL) coffee at 10.30am, and finish at 5.30pm.  The Training Day originated as a follow-up to the 2013 Evangelisation course at Maryvale, but is open to anyone interested. It will be interesting, useful, and fun.

The Day will include a sandwich/buffet lunch. Cost of the whole day: £20.

If you are interested, send a Comment to this Blog marked NOT FOR PUBLICATION. and including - this is crucial - an EMAIL ADDRESS AT WHICH I CAN CONTACT YOU.

Christmas adventures...

... midnight Mass, and then we were with a large house-party on Christmas Day - great fun, a great gathering around the large table, the youngest a baby a year old, the oldest a cheery 80-year-old. Lunch, much talk and laughter and then music...

We decided to leave the exchange of gifts until Boxing Day, and all was prepared for a small family dinner, gifts stacked beneath the Tree, candles glowing by the crib. Jamie cooked a delicious meal but then - in the kitchen,  a sudden slithering of plates, a crash, the sound of breaking china, and Jamie with a badly bleeding arm...I  rushed to patch him up from the First Aid box, but it was more serious than that, and  Hospital was needed.  Our kind guest David - retired Army padre and a wonderful friend - hurried him there in his car while I  sorted out other domestic arrangements... J. is now safely home and the evening ended with mince pies and big mugs of tea...and the gifts beneath the Tree can wait until tomorrow.

Want to see...

...something of our carol singing at London Bridge station?  Read here...

Working on...

...a new series for EWTN, due to be recorded in March. Reading up history, checking out sources, writing up notes, all in the light of the Christmas tree.  Across the room stands the crib, with the Christ-child tucked into a vase nearby, awaiting arrival in the manger after Midnight Mass. Three Wise men are making their way slowly across some piles of books, to arrive for Jan 6th. The Advent wreath has small tealights this year, as being easier to use than taller candles. Yesterday evening a family dinner, marking the Fourth Sunday of Advent...

For January...

... WEDNESDAY EVENINGS 7.30pm  at the Church of the Assumption, Warwick St, WI (nearest tube:  Piccadilly Circus). FAITH Movement.

Wed Jan 15th Fr Stephen Dingley "What makes man unique in God's creation?"

Wed Jan 22nd  Fr Dominic Rolls “The Evocation of the Word”

Wed Jan 29th Fr Chris Findlay-Wilson “God our Environer"

Wed Feb 5th Fr Tim Finigan 'How does Jesus Christ save us?'

 

ALL WELCOME.  No need to book - just turn up.  Come and find out more about the Catholic Faith. Come with questions. Come ready to listen and talk and think things through.  Come on your own or being some one else along too.

 

London as Christmas approaches...

..has some heart-warming sights. A troop of children in long golden robes and with circlets of golden tinsel on their heads, carrying carol-sheets and walking along two by two, with a teacher at the head and rear, heading for a nearby church for a Nativity play. An angelic choir, but giggling and excited and messing about...

Some shops have lovely window displays, and there are lots of Christmas trees including one in New Palace Yard by the Houses of Parliament, and of course the big one in Trafalgar Square.   But...some shops have ALREADY (BEFORE CHRISTMAS HAS EVEN ARRIVED!) taken down their Christmas decorations and put up signs for post-Christmas sales...aaargh!

We - that is LOGS, the Ladies Ordinariate Group - gathered in good numbers at London Bridge station to sing carols. This involved some  formalities beforehand, reporting to the Network Rail Office in Tooley Street and being given a formal Briefing ("In the Event of Fire, you must Leave by the Nearest Available Exit" etc)...and then there is always a moment of awkwardness as the group forms up on the station concourse and carol-sheets are distributed...but then once we really got singing, it was all absolutely superb.. We sang and sang, and there was lots of goodwill, people coming up to donate money, to thank us, to wish us a Merry Christmas. People especially like to bring their children up to put a coin in the box and to enjoy the carol-singing...

Our singing filled the station: we found that the acoustics worked really well if we stood facing outwards, with the trains behind us...and people in fact could also hear us even as they approached from the steps and escalators.

All heartily enjoyable, and then afterwards, a cheery gathering back at Precious Blood Church with mulled wine and mince pies...

Carol singing...

tonight (Fri 21st Dec) at London Bridge station. Look out for us...

And on Wednesday I joined a group singing at VICTORIA station, organised as ever by the splendid Yvonne with volunteers from various places including  the excellent parish of St Joseph's, Roehampton. The singing was really glorious - we had a good crowd, a couple of guitarists and we sang all the traditional carols, with some particularly lovely singing for "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World", and the most magnificent "Glooooorias" for "Angels we have heard on high"  and "Sing dong merrily..."  We sang "Adeste Fideles" in Latin and in English. Mindful of Papa Francis' call to evangelise, we sang  "Joy to the World" specially for him, and it went exceptionally well - and then we sang "Silent Night" for Papa Benedict, and it was so lovely that we sang it again, and then a third time.

It was all most heartily enjoyable, and the station - surging with massive commuter crowds - was filled with our music, and we had lots of people stopping to thank us, take pics, or even come and join in for a carol or two.

Now, this is all part of the real Christmas.

Last night, a group of us were due to sing carols around the streets of a corner of The Borough, but the terrific roaring thunderstorm made it completely impossible,  so after Mass, with the rain still hurtling down and thunder crashing, we settled in the parish room with some wine and snacks and had a very enjoyable time of talk and laughter.

Tonight, London Bridge station...

This morning...

I went to Mass at the lovely Catholic residence where a much-loved elderly relative lives. I normally visit in the afternoon or evening, and this was the first time I'd been at the daily Mass in the chapel. It was a beautiful experience. 

Sometimes - and this was such a time - there is this wonderful sense of being utterly at home in the Church, of knowing that this is where we all belong.  Celebrating the Mass was Bishop Howard Tripp - whom I have known since I was a teenager - and concelebrating with him was Fr Scott Anderson, of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, who was there at my suggestion because we had arranged to meet and this was a convenient place and time. Despite the age and frailty of many of the residents, all joined in the responses, and received Communion with great devotion...while other memories get confused, and life can seem very muddled when you are very old, the Mass remains a constant, and I found it a most powerful experience to be there witnessing that. And a kind volunteer visitor at the Home was serving the Mass - and came up to chat afterwards, reminding me that we had known each other years ago when I was a Borough councillor in the Borough of Sutton...it was so good to talk, and to reminisce...

The Advent candles glowed on the wreath - just one more to be lit next Sunday - and in the big room next door a large crib stood in the wide bay window, awaiting the Christ-child. Bishop Tripp spoke about St Joseph, and his role in the Christmas story, and the whole thing came alive...

This morning Mass gave a glow to the whole day.

Want to know more about Christmas?

And test your knowledge on what you already know?  Try the Christmas Quiz in this parish newsletter. Link here  and go to "Advent III" and you'' get the Gaudete newsletter complete with Quiz...

CATHOLIC HISTORY WALK...

...the last one of 2014. Meet INSIDE Westminster Cathedral this Tuesday at 3pm. A tour of the Cathedral, telling the story of the various side-chapels, the great events that have taken place there etc etc. New stone, recently laid by the great main door, commemorates Papa Benedict's magnificent visit in 2010 and his meeting with the crowd of young people in the piazza. New mosaics up by the High Altar. Mosaic of St David, finally honouring Wales after a century when only England Scotland and Ireland had their saints in the Cathedral. And more. Come and join us.

Gaudete Sunday...

...and after Mass, and a brief interlude for some coffee and biscuits, a team of volunteers set about cleaning the church and getting it ready for Christmas.

Precious Blood church at The Borough, London Bridge is a v. mixed parish. A lot of men - a pleasing sound of deep voices in the Mass responses - a lot of children (yes, and some yelling babies). Mix of races and ages. All sorts of people. Busy parish, and Christmas looks set to be busy.

Some of us got to work cleaning, while others started to clamber up into the attic and search out decorations, manoeuvre big Christmas trees into position and unpack the Nativity scene etc.  "If you find bubble-gum stuck under pews, don't use soap and water to get it off - come to me, as I've got the right stuff", said the Rector cheerfully. Bubble-gum? Yes, although stuck on to the floor, not under a pew. Only one piece. But - ugh!

We did a thorugh job of cleaning. Never thought of hoovering inside a confessional before, but if you think about it, it does get dust and mud and so on in there. We also tackled some high-up cobwebs in a side-chapel, using a mop with a looooong handle...

A couple of years ago, I fell down some stairs and broke my arm and after that I began to be wary of steep stairs or steps, so in order to conquer this fear I've been making a special point of  asking to go up ladders.  This meant that I got some v. enjoyable  jobs today, including putting the star on top of the Tree, and draping the lights, and fixing the golden bells and other ornaments on the highest branches.  Most satisfying.

Putting the finishing touches...

...to the next BOOK, due out in the Spring. I am writing it with a friend, Clare Anderson, with whom I have also made a TV programme, which you can watch on EWTN in due course. The programme is about the great John Paul, and we travelled in his footsteps from Wadowice to Krakow, visiting Czestochowa  and Kalwaria...we have just been sent a DVD and I went to Clare's house to watch it. We  sat rather nervously while her husband put the disc into the machine...but then when the programme3 started, we found we were pleased and even rather gripped.  Info about when it is to be broadcast will be announced on this Blog as soon as it is available...or you can keep checking the EWTN website, which will also of course be carrying info...

Pics arrive...

...from the official photographer at Auntie's Degree ceremony. The Apostolic Nuncio looks splendid, standing in the magnificent Cathedral, handing over a formal scroll, all tied up with ribbon...but who is the the plump jolly bespectacled lady in academic cap and gown, beaming at the camera, all rosy cheeks and hearty handshake? Golly, it's me.

J. says loyally "You look splendid!"  and nephews and nieces give kind affectionate hugs. But I remember a slimmer young woman, long long ago, in other formal photographs taken at dances and regimental dinners, with a waist and with light brown hair....golly, the years go by. And here I am. Different.

A wonderful traditional candlelit procession through London...

...rounding off the Mission Weekend organised by St Patrick's, Soho.  It was a superb sight - and sound - as the crowd came surging through the streets around Piccadilly, with the singing and the glowing candles and lanterns and the young faces.

The Sunday evening began with a great Mass at St Patrick's - this is an International Mass, with everyone singing the   Credo, Agnus Dei, Sanctus etc etc  in Latin, a rousing sound, and saying the Our Father together in lots of different languages. Then the procession moved out into the street, a great statue of Mary carried high by strong young men, and the whole thing led by a Cross-bearer and acolytes... lots of singing...people in pubs and restaurants staring and taking pictures, and teams of young people dispensing holy medals all around...

This year the procession finished at the Ordinariate Church in Warwick Street,  the Church of the Assumption, where there was a Litany, and then  Night Prayer - all the young voices singing, so glorious to hear.  And then there was mulled wine and mince pies for anyone who managed squeeze in and get some...my job was to dispense the mulled wine, and I hugely enjoyed doing this and the wonderful atmosphere of joy and friendship...

Soho...

...all of London needs the love of Christ, but Soho perhaps needs it in specially large doses. And will be receiving it this weekend, as the young team from St Patrick's Soho hold their Advent Mission. Prayer, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, street evangelisation, young people with lanterns taking the message of Christ out to the lost and lonely and the rich and the miserable and the muddled and the why-was-I-ever born...

Want to help? Join them in prayer...

The culmination of...

...a year's work.  The Prizegiving for the 2013 Schools Bible Project took place this week at the House of Lords. Baroness Cox, who is a Trustee of Christian Projects, the group that runs this big annual essay scheme for schools, presented the prizes.

This is a nationwide project, run on a large scale. Every secondary school in Britain receives a brochure, inviting pupils to study six different events in the New Testament. Each pupil must then choose one of the events and write about it as if he or she had been actually present. This year, the events included Christ raising Lazarus from the dead,  Christ calming the storm at sea, Mary Magdalene meeting the risen Christ...

As all the essays pour in, a team of judges is gathered and every essay is read carefully. The main winners are selected, together with a large number of runners-up. Prizes are posted  or delivered to all the schools - a mammoth task. During the Autumn term, I am also  kept busy visiting various schools to present prizes - a task I very much enjoy.

The main winners go to the Houses of Parliament, where they are given a tour and taught about the history (JB's task again) and then there is Tea and the presentation of the prizes - which include books for the pupils, and cash awards for their schools.

The winners this year:
1st prize: Megan Tyrell, St John Payne School, Chelmsford and How Turnbull, Hereford cathedral School.
2nd prize: Tyson McGuirk, St Joseph's School, Workington and Alice Cox, Our Lady's Convent, Loughborough
3rd Prize: Alex Meher. st John's C and E School Epping and Isabella Ward, St Mary's School, Ascot
4th Prize Binuri Wijesinghe Dr Challoner's High Schools, Bucks, Lindsay Marie Davis, Hillgrove School, Bangor and Harrison Tinley, Mayville High School, Southsea.

A full hall of...

...First Communion parents, at St Joseph's, Epsom. A most happy and heartening evening: this is a large and thriving parish, and every year when I am invited to talk to the First Communion parents, there is such a wonderful welcome...it is partly because this is all not far from my home, and also the home in which I grew up, and so there are all sorts of links, friendships, shared knowledge of schools and parishes and so on.  But it's mostly simply because this is a wonderful parish where good things are happening. This time, I had brought along copies of YOUCAT which had been specifically (and generously!) donated so that every parent could have a copy. I cannot recommend YOUCAT too highly...if you haven't got a copy. hurry and get one.

Yesterday was a strange day, in that it began in Willesden, at the Shrine of Our Lady, where I met members of the SPES team from St Patrick's for a pilgrimage. An early Mass, a short talk about the shrine, which is well worth a visit and then we set off on a Rosary Walk along the canal. It ought to be a lovely walk - and in lots of ways it was, a beautiful Autumn morning, a good spirit between us, and the voices saying the Rosary back and forth - but the path along the canal is spoilt by litter and horrible manic graffiti, and it somehow has a bleak feel to it. We were all perfectly safe, but it would be no place to go for an evening walk....

However...we finished at Tyburn convent, where we paid tribute to the martyrs, and prayed, and then went on to the site of the Tyburn gallows and said some more of the Rosary there (suitably, we were now at the Sorrowful Mysteries).  And so on to St Patrick's.  Here, Auntie acknowledged her age and was given an opportunity for a good rest. Then lunch, and a talk to the SPES team.  Then home, and a rush to pack things up and hurry to Epsom...

...and there is a rather delightful...

report from Rome describing  what it was like being one of the people selected to meet the Holy Father at the publication (good analysis of the thing, too...)

Papa Francis...

...who is of course simply splendid, has come up with a new Apostolic Exhortation, and it's excellent - warm, vigourous, challenging, orientated towards active lay apostles and not diocesan bureaucrats, and with an upbeat 21st-century feel. Full text here.  It tackles greed, the current obsessions with money and the sinister use of unjust power in unbridled money-making, our longing for truth and for beauty, the urgency of teaching the glorious message of the Faith...

At the start of this pontificate, a nasty Blog (USA-based, I think)  which asserts itself as being "traditional", said a number of horrible things about the Holy Father. Never apologised. Never posted a proper correction. Then the Lefebvrists weighed in with their nasty rants, as did a couple of quasi-Lefebvrist lobby groups. Ugh.  Meanwhile, there was a  grand turn-out for World Youth Day, some wonderful encounters in St Peter's Square, and more...

My only worry is that the joyful call for an invigorated evangelisation will fall, as did Papa Benedict's, on deaf ears.  For too many people, Catholicism is seen as a sort of tribal tradition, in which a passionate search for truth and a joyful discovery of God's huge love for us do not really feature.  Papa Benedict's message was centred on the love that God has for each one of us, and the life-changing things that can happen when we discover that love. To help people make that discovery, we must evangelise - and doing so is itself a joyful adventure.

Oh, and a memo to those who don't get what Christ's love is all about: it doesn't mean that the Church ever can, or should, or wants to, or seeks to,  change the deep meaning and purpose in God's plan for human life and love, as taught "from the beginning."  (Bet  they don't listen. While all sorts of great and good things happen, they'll still be moaning about why the Church is oppressive in saying that marriage is between a man and a woman...it must be so dreary for them).

And they never learn from  their mistakes, even the blatant and embarrassing ones. Remember all that talk about John Paul being a Polish peasant whose influence on world events was going to be fairly minimal? About how Communism, while it had irritating aspects,  was basically an economic success story which hadn't been allowed a fair chance to prosper?   About how an elderly Pole couldn't possibly talk to youth in the late 20th century?   And, for good measure, about how Benedict's visit to Britain wasn't going to be a success?   Their idiotic comments flashed through my mind as we stood in Hyde Park and heard the cheers and cheers of the vast crowd as he made his way towards us, and we saw on the TV screens mothers holding up their babies for him to bless, and people holding up placards of affectionate greetings...

Catholic schools...

Read some thoughts by Auntie here...

Whitstable...

...and the Vocations Centre there, now very much up-and-running, with young men at prayer in the chapel and busy at various tasks, good numbers expected at various planned events and conferences, a little Jack Russell dog keeping everyone lively, and a warm welcome for this guest...

Discussion of a school project, piloted a couple of years ago and now about to swing into action for Jan 2014.  A walk by the sea with the sun saying its farewell to the Autumn day in a glow of gold and silver.  Much talk and laughter, and news...

Read more...

...about the Procession here...

A Traditional procession for the Feast of Christ the King...

...to round off the Year of Faith.  The  Blessed Sacrament carried aloft beneath a canopy held up by four very study young men, who responded to an appeal at the end of Mass and tackled the task of getting the whole thing through the church door with vigour...a large flock of people, Sunday School children  wearing brightly coloured crowns studded with glitter etc and with hand-written messages like "Jesus in our king"...all preceded by a loud ringing of the bell and a great Cross and  much swirling of incense, and candles held in those useful glass thingummys on poles, so they don't putter out.   We sang "Hail Redeemer King Divine - all eight (or it is ten? haven't got the sheet with me) verses again and again...this actually worked better than trying to cope with different hymns, and the volunteer stewards in day-glow jackets kept us moving...down the Borough High Street...Workmen at the War Memorial (being dismantled for repairs) stared a bit but none removed their helmets or showed any interest...

Only a few years ago,  a religious procession with servers and a cross and loud singing, would have meant some passers-by pulling off their hats and/or crossing themselves. Now, at least in The Borough High Street, you get indifference, except for lots of people snapping on mobile phones. It's as if people can't enjoy reality, only a picture of reality...

After Benediction, a gathering in the Parish Room with some delicious snacks and fizz...

An afternoon visit to a beloved elderly relation.  Yesterday at Towards Advent I was given a copy of Johnann Christoph Arnold's new book "Rich in Years" which has some wise and helpful thoughts on this subject. The Alliance of Pro-Life Students is distributing it around...warmly recommended...