.The Advent wreath...

...on the table, and I've just been placing the candles carefully in it, and soon we will sing "O come O come Emmanuel..." and light the first candle and pray the Our Father...

It's over thirty years since we had our first Advent together. We bought some plastic Christmas crib figures by mail-order from an advertisment in the Universe  and said that these would do for a while, but that one day of  course we'd get some Really Beautiful Ones...but now I would hate having anything other than those very first figures, which I'll soon be unpacking and setting up for the 30-something-th time...

A group of young people...

...from Ealing Abbey, on a London history walk with Auntie. Great fun, and although it was a large group there was a sense of community and togethernesss...and starting at Westminster Cathedral we made our way down to the river, with golden and russet leaves, and Autumn sunshine, and enjoyed exploring Roman and Saxon and Norman and Medieval London...and Tudor and Victorian and more, and more...

And ended with snacks and drinks and a long talkative  late lunch/tea at a South Bank open-air cafe/restaurant, several tables  brought together, Auntie consuming several glorious large cups of tea and cake, young appetites enjoying food, and a grand time...finally as dusk fell I headed home  and they varioouslky to pubs and parties...a happy day.

Papa Francis at the European Parliament...

...read the actual text, as delivered,  here...

and here, also checked against delivery,  his speech to the Council of Europe.

I am honestly at a loss to find anything derogatory about grannies in either.

And watch here to see how he was received (14 interruptions fotr applause, and a standing ovation at the end...)

Latest issue of VOICES...

...the magazine of Women for Faith and Family in the USA, is now published...many tributes to the splendid Helen Hitchcock who launched the organisation some 25 years ago and went to her reward this year. She will be hugely missed. I was privileged to work with her, and VOICES carries my tribute among many others...

The magazine, as always, covers all sorts of topical issues, including a feature on Pope Francis and women...

"The Mad Bishop...

...and Bear" is the name of the pub at Paddington Station. And even though it's absolutely in the middle of one of London's busiest railway stations, it somehow has  a proper pubby feel to it...

Co-author Clare Anderson and Auntie meet here from time to time to work on our next book/TV feature/other projects. The team behind the bar know us:"How's the book progressing?"   "Did the trip to Poland go well?"  Today, over fish pie and gin-and-tonic we got to grips with our next (EWTN)  TV venture, which involves a good deal of planning and will be filmed (DV) next summer.

We start at 12 noon and are still talking and working as commuters start filling the pub for evening drinks and supper. People are tucking into fish and chips as we part and C. hurries home to rural Berkshire and Auntie crosses London to the southern suburbs. A useful day, and it is satisfying to have things (sort of) planned for our next two major projects...

...and

...one of the silliest things I have yet read is a criticism of the Pope in The Guardian  for his recent poignant message to Europe at Strabourg, when he noted the continents tragic infertility and absence of new life. The writer, a self-styled Catholic Feminidst announces that this is an attack on grandmothers. I thought it was a spoof at first. No, I'm not giiving the link: some things are so daft it just isn't worth encouraging anyone to go there.

"In sixteen hundred and sixty-six...

...London burned like rotten sticks".  Children are still being taught history by using that rhyme - my small great-niece recited it to me the other day when I told her that I was about to lead a special History Walk in London exploring the route of the Fire.

We'll start at The Monument, which conveniently has a tube station alongside. We'll go to Pudding Lane where the fire started, and take a look at some other sites, and some post-fire Wren churches. A recent TV series on the Fire seems to hint at a "Popish plot"...for years the Monument asserted that Catholics had started the fire  ( ‘Where London’s column pointing at the skies, /​ Like a tall bully, lifts its head and lies’). This lying inscription was only finally removed in the early 19th century with Catholic Emancipation: how weird that it should be revived again via TV fiction in the 21st century...

Our Walk this evening will finish with Evensong and Mass at Precious Blood Church, across the river. The Fire stopped when it crossed London Bridge, as there was a firebreak on the south bank, in the form of open land beyond the bridge before the houses and shops and pubs of The Borough.

...and here is...

...prizewinner Maddie Carling of St  Mary's School Bishops Stortford with her parents and Mgr Keith Newton at the 2014 TOWARDS ADVENT Festival.  She won a cash prize, a Missal (CTS, hardback, ribbons - something to keep and use for always) and books including, yes,  Auntie's book on St John Paul the Great.
pic: ©Oremus/DP

Wisdom on Europe...

...but will they listen? Read here...and here...

The Catholic chatosphere...

...doesn't seem to have made much of this, preferring on the whole to follow the NBC line of silence...

Do children in Britain today know the Lord's Prayer?

Often the answer is "Alas, no."

No reason to assume this should be permanent or acceptable.

Read here.

Torrential rain meant that...

...we were unable to have the planned Procession of the Blessed Sacrament in honour of today's feast of Christ the King, rounding off the Church's year. All the Sunday school children had been taught about Christ the King and made crowns to wear for the procession, so wore them for Benediction in the church instead.

Superb singing....

...from the choir of the John Fisher School, a splendid welcoming ceremony with Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a hall filled with stalls and displays from a great range of Catholic groups and organisations, and lots of freshly-brewed coffee and delicious cakes and sandwiches to great people as they arrived...the 2014 TOWARDS ADVENT Festival was by any measure a really wonderful day!

It seems extraordinary to reflect that it is our 15th Festival.  Standing on the platform at Westminster Cathedral Hall  I was suddenly conscious of  the great adventure it has all been. When I first chaired a gathering of various Catholic groups (Aid to the Church in Need, Fisher Press, the Catholic Truth Society, the Catholic Writers' Guild,  Gracewing Books) to discuss the possibilities for such a Festival, we did believe that we were on to something worthwhile and rather exciting. And we've been proved right - but I honestly don't think that we realised just how deeply and confidently it would become embedded into the life of the Catholic community in London and its suburbs, or how easily it would adapt to the many and swift changes of the past decade and a half...the internet, swift desktop publishing, mobile phones, two changes of Pope, and the arrival of some wholly new things on the Catholic scene including the Ordinariate, a new translation of the Mass.

We celebrated the 15th Festival with the presentation of prizes in our special Schools Essay Project (see below) and with the blessing of a picture of St John Paul which will be carried on pilgrimage to Walsingham with the John Paul Walkers. The choir of the John Fisher School filled the great hall with glorious music. The talks and workshops proved hugely popular - these take place in the Hinsley Room on the opposite side of the Cathedral but no one seems to mind hurrying out into rainy Ambroiseden Avenue to get there - and the stalls reported good sales of books, Christmas cards, rosaries, home-made jam, and more...

We'll have the usual wash-up meeting shortly. There are many groups that ought to be at the Festival (we have a waiting-list now for participants).There were special successes this year (big new coffee-maker - my small nephew proved particularly useful in helping to fill it up with water as Auntie poured freshly-ground coffee in the percolator at the top). And there are lots of things to talk about...
but it was a grand day, and a happy atmosphere, and I've come home with some lovely cards from a craft stall, and some delicious cakes, and a glorious John Paul  mug from Youth 2000, and lots of reading material...

PRIZEWINNERS...the St John Paul/St John XXIII Essay Project 2014...

The organisers of the 2014 TOWARDS ADVENT Festival have pleasure in announcing the winners of the St John Paul/St John XXIII  Essay Project, organised in association with the Festival.

They are:

GEORGE EZEKIEL  and MADDIE CARLING of St Mary's School, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire. The prizes will be presented tomorrow (Sat Nov 22nd)  at the Festival at Westminster Cathedral Hall by Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. George and Maddie win a cash prize of £50 each, plus a commemorative Missal and other book prizes.

Runner-up prizes were gained by other pupils at St Mary's, and by pupils at St Augustine's School, Ealing. These will be presented in ceremonies at their schools over the next few days.

The Project was open to pupils at Catholic secondary schools in the diocese of Westminster, to mark the canonisation of Saints John Paul and John XXIII. We were impressed by the standard of entries and are glad to have played a part in enabling young Catholics to mark this very special year in the life of the Church.

Britain's former Chief Rabbi...

...spoke superbly at the Humanum conference in Rome. Read  and watch here,

He defended marriage as the lifelong bond between a man and a woman, speaking with warmth, dignity, and truth:

"... compassion for those who choose to live differently should not inhibit us from being advocates for the single most humanising institution in history. The family, man, woman, and child, is not one lifestyle choice among many. It is the best means we have yet discovered for nurturing future generations and enabling children to grow in a matrix of stability and love. It is where we learn the delicate choreography of relationship and how to handle the inevitable conflicts within any human group. It is where we first take the risk of giving and receiving love. It is where one generation passes on its values to the next, ensuring the continuity of a civilization. For any society, the family is the crucible of its future, and for the sake of our children’s future, we must be its defenders."

The Catholic Union...

of Great Britain ...has been working to help support and encourage Catholics in public life in Britain for  somegthing like 150 years. The Annual Meeting began with Mass in Westminster Cathedral and then a gathering in nearby Vaughan House. The President, Lord Brennan, gave his retiring speech - he is handing over to Sir Edward Leigh MP. Lord Brennan has been an excellent President, and Sir Edward's strong and lively address gave us all a sense of confidence in the future. There is certainly plenty to do...the meeting was well-attended, the spirit good, but....oh my goodness there are grave issues facing us all and the mood when we tackled these was serious. Deliberate killing of the gravely ill. Imposition of a secularist agenda on all schools. Pressure on Christian doictors and nurses to accept gross and unethical procedures.

Lively talk over drinks and sandwiches...plans for 2015, no sense of abandoning hope or shrugging off the future as beyond our care.

The chairman is Councillor Robert Rigby, of Westminster City Council. Auntie is on the Education and Outreach Working Party. Among many other activities, there is a public lecture sponsored by the Catholic Union on Dec 4th, 6.30pm  at the University of Notre Dame, Suffolk Street, just off Trafalgar Square. Topic is Catholic education. Worth attending.

And there's more about the TOWARDS ADVENT Festival...

...here....and here...and here...and here...

At the TOWARDS ADVENT Festival....

...the winners of the special St John Paul II/St John XXIII   Project will be announced.  This is an essay project, a new venture for the TOWARDS ADVENT Festival. Pupils at Catholic secondary schools in the diocese of Westminster were invited to write essays about one or both of these great Popes, focusing on the question "What is a Pope?" and showing evidence of understanding the role and purpose of the papacy.

We have two winners, a boy and a girl, and each will recieve a £50 cash prize and a beautiful Missal. There are runners-up who will also receive Missals (for those of special merit) or other book prizes.

There were some good entries - choosing winners was not easy.

I am encouraged by the work produced in some of our Catholic secondary schools.

A sample: one entrant wrote:

"Jesus Christ appointed Simon Peter the first Pope, 'You are gthe rock and on this rock, I shall build my Church.' This means that the Pope is the Supreme Pastor which means he represents Christ's love and concern for every living being. All Popes are successors and descendants of Peter, although they are not blood descendants, they carry on Peter's work of spreading the good news across the globe."

After last night's Requiem...

...there was an Advent sale of craft goods to raise funds for the "Open House" that St Patrick's offers to the homeless - hot meals and companionship and a place to shelter. I bought some lovely Christmas decorations, and a bag of ginger cookies all tied up with ribbon. You can buy things after all the Masses this coming Sunday (Christ the King) and can also add names to those tucked into the greenery by the altar steps...

A Requiem ...

...Mass celebrated in a packed St Patrick's, Soho. Tomas Luis de Victoria's Requiem for six voices, sung superbly by the St Patrick's choir. At the back of the church, cards were provided on which we all wrote the names of  deceased family members and friends, and at the Offertory we walked up and tucked these into the thick greenery wreathing the altar-rails...

November and praying for the dead  means more and more each year as you get older. Long, long ago, it meant praying for the uncle-who-died-in-the-war-before-I-was-born, and then a bit later, year on year,  it meant praying for dear grandparents...then adulthood and then the inexorable arrival of middle age, and with it the deaths of those closer still...

Gleaming chalice and glittering candles, a great church filled with people praying, voices saying the Lord's Prayer, a choir singing "Lux aeterna luceat eis Domine..."

As I write this...

...in a cafe near Westminster Cathedral, a cross and sullen horde of  youngish people, some with balaclavas covering their faces, is shouting outside. They are carrying placards: one says "F--k fees" and another "Free education tax the rich".

What a depressing and horrid group of people they appear to be.  I am particularly nauseated by the sight of anyone trying to look like a terrorist with a face deliberately kept hidden by a black balaclava (I hope he is uncomfortable - it is warm and mild day, unsuitable for such gear).

But above all, how sad it is to see a generation, the most expensively educated in our history, given every advantage and heirs to a freedom and prosperity unknwon to previous generations, ranting and complaining in this sullen way.

Oh, the spoilt, disgreeable, horrid, selfish narcissicism of it all...

And their freedom and prosperity was not of their making. It rests on sacrifices made by their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents...who for the most part never even dreamed of university and travel and the grand opportunities open to today's young......

More about...

...that picture of St John Paul the Great, and the Towards Advent Festival, here...

Studying and discussing....

Thomas Aquinas, all part of my post-graduate studies in theology. Loving it. The university of course teems with young people, and when I drop into the refectory for some coffee and a piece of cake, there are vast crowds tucking into burgers and beans and chips. The college specialises in sports-related things, and also in theatre studies... all this gives a great sense of pace and energy to the place. At the post-grad theology level, there is energy too, though it's rather different - a real sense of zest as we study.  We're a mixed group - a great range of races and ages. We include several priests, a deacon, a young teacher, a cheery nun, a young seminarian from India who has just flown home for ordination...and Auntie, who alas had ti hurry in late yesterday, following a family hospital visit. But I felt involved as soon as I sat down, and was soon deep in Aquinas :"...I answer that..."

Essay due in by Jan 28th. There's a system called Turnitin, which means that the essay goes through a sort of internet mesh to make sure you haven't plagiarised...

Auntie has just completed...

...an embroidered picture of St John Paul the Great. Quite hard work, in petit-point.

I bought the kit in Rome during the wonderful days that we were there for the Canonisation. I like to have some sewing project on hand, as quite a lot of my time is spent with elderly relatives, just sitting  and being companionable...and a lot of time is spent on buses and trains. But this particular embroidery was quite complicated, because each tiny stitch matters when you are working to illustrate facial features...and there are  sublties of  colours and shades for skin and hair...finally the thing was finished, and I bought a mount and a frame...

The idea is that we will carry the picture on the John Paul Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham next summer (Aug 6th-9th...put the dates in your diary, and come and join us! Info here).  So...I thought I'd take the picture to the TOWARDS ADVENT Festival on Saturday at Westminster Cathedral Hall, and get it blessed by Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham!  So you'll see me on the platform with him on Saturday...come and be there to share in it all...and please be polite about my embroidery: it may not be the most perfect piece of artwork, but it was done with love and enthusiasm!

...and find out about Auntie's latest TV series...

here...I think this series will be repeated at various times, so you may like to check the general website for information...

Read about...

...Auntie's next Catholic History Walk - the final one of the year - here.

"Children have a right..."

...“Children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the child's development and emotional maturity"


Pope Francis, speaking today in Rome.


Do you realise that if he was  a Government minister, or a Mayor of a major city, or a senior police officer, or a judge, and he  made the above statement in Britain today, he would probably be hounded out of office?

THANK GOD FOR THE POPE!

Having a Christian leader who can speak out in this way is a guarantee of some freedom of speech.

More on his speech here.  But he is only saying what everyone, down all the generations, has always and everywhere known to be right and true. 

"Domine, salvam fac..."

...the traditional  prayer for the Queen, sung at the end of Mass. The subject came up on this Blog recently (see below, a few days back) and by coincidence -  Providence - I went to Mass on Sunday at a church I don't usually attend, and it was sung, and beautifully. It is sung there every Sunday at 11 am Mass.

Interestingly, almost eveything is sung at this Mass, including the Confiteor, and it works well. I used to attend this Mass regularly, and always loved it - the choir is now even better  and the congregation has perhaps also grown, although it was always large.

There was a cake sale after each Mass - the young people running it greeted Auntie, having met me at FAITH events - and I bought some to enjoy on a slightly complicated series of travels through the rest of the day...travelling via various errands to end up at Hatfield where I was giving a talk to the Cathoc of the University of Hertfordshire Cathsoc.  This was a joy: good numbers, a great atmosphere, reverent prayer, lively conversation.  They have a busy programme  and a number will be going to the FAITH Movement winter session at Stonyhurst...

I went to...

...Tyburn Convent which stands as a place of prayer, penance and reconciliation on the site of the old Tyburn Tree (see below). 

The Tyburn nuns are longstanding friends of Auntie, and there is always a welcome there. I had gone on an errand for EWTN, and we also had a long talk about lots and lots of things...and we reminisced as Mother X recalled my first visit, back in 1978,  when I was organising an all-night vigil  to pray for Christians in Czechoslovakia on the 10th anniversary of the Soviet invasion... 

The commnity is growing steadily -  there are now convents in all sorts of places and their DVD tells the story

Tyburn....

... the site of the ghastly Tyburn Tree where for many years people were hanged,on a vast triangular gallows that could take several victims at once. People gathered in vast crowds to watch, and there are descriptions of them doing so, bringing packed lunches and with jugglers and musicians to entertain them during the wait for the victims to arrive from Newgate,  Sometimes the victims were very young Sometimes they were  swindlers or had forged coins, and were unpopular as swindlers and forgerers are today. Sometimes they were good-looking or behaved with remarkable courage, and so got a cheer from those watching them writhe and choke and die. Sometimes they were members of a religious body deemed to be a threat to the State (including of course, the RC Church), and sometimes they were thugs or murderers. Hanging - and in some cases mutilation and butchery while still alive after a partial hanging - was a public spectacle that drew immense excitement and people travelled long distances to watch it all. Nor does there seem to have been any opposition to the notion of  families spending a day in this way: along with watching public burnings at the stake,  it was apparently an acceptable way for a Christian to spend a London afternoon.

 Next time you are told that we are living today in  a particularly gross and horrible era,  remember that.

Come and meet...

...the Ladies Ordinariate Group.

On Monday Dec 8th, one of our young members, Daisy Powles, who walked to Compostella on a traditional walking pilgrimage this summer, will be telling of her adventures. Come and enjoy the talk, and the hospitality of LOGS...6.30pm, St Mary's Church, WEST CROYDON.

On Britain today, and carol singing, and more...

...read Auntie here

...and an evening studying...

...St Thomas Aquinas, and pondering von Balthasar's point about a theologian really needing to be a saint...echoing St T's own need to be near the Tabernacle when working...

Apparently......

Papa Francis is keen to have prayers after Mass for the persecuted Church: the St Michael Prayer (of which he is particularly fond) and the "Hail Holy Queen". This seems a good idea.  For some years there were "Prayers for Russia", but they were often said in a great rush with a let's-get-this-over feel.  A revival would benefit from the gap:  there would be a sense of freshness, and of urgency -  the prayers would feel intimately connected with the tragic news that we hear almost daily of the savage persecution of Christians.

The Bidding Prayers enable us to have public prayers for specific issues.  When they were first introduced they were structured, and worked well: they almost invariably included one for the Queen  (which we'd not had as part of normal parish Masses in Britain before)  and for those in public office, and for the poor, and for various other needs at home and abroad.    Then things went through a very messy stage when some priests would say "Does anyone have anything they'd like to pray about?"  which invariably produced awkward silence or some mumbled and incoherent plea, or some  statement  about a fashionable cause..  Dreary.  Now the trend is towards formal Bidding Prayers again. Of course the persecuted are often - in recent months always - mentioned. But something specific after Mass would be very much in Papa Fr's style. If it happens, you heard it here first.

The number of Catholics...

....in the world  has more than tripled over the last century. Did you know that there are now nearly 1.1 billion of us?

Find out more about...

...that John Paul Walk and the statue from Poland that accompanied us. Read here...

As I walked along the Thames....

...people were streaming towards the Tower of London  and the poppies....

My destination was across the river, at The Borough, where the congregation of Precious Blood church walked in procession, led by the churchwardens carrying staves,and the Rector in cope and biretta, to the War Memorial in the High Street.  Here, all was done very well and in full traditional style, with "O God our help in ages past" and the Last Post - and the police stopped all the traffic for the Silence, giving us a rather beautiful  experience of a London High Street at peace, The Mayor is a Sikh and his  local Sikh leader read splendidly from the Bible about swords being beaten into ploughshares. The Mayor is extremely nice - we met him the other day when setting out for the John Paul II Walk along the Thames,as he happened to be finishing some other formal event, all in red robes and golden chain of office, and  he greeted the young JP Walkers and it made a very good start to the day...Today, laying the first of a great series of scarlet wreaths, he was again resplendent in formal robes, and there was  Autumn sunshine, and the voices uniting in "We will remember them..." and the  Lord Lieutenant and  local MPs  and councillors and  so on all coming forward one by one to place their wreaths and stand for a moment...

I spent the afternoon with family out beyond London, a magnificent nephew having volunteered to tackle a computer problem.  A woodland walk with a young relative, tracking the course of a local stream...an agreeable sense of adventure along muddy paths and through Autumn mulch, through new territory for us, these woods previously unexplored.    Quite suddenly, we came across small Remembrance crosses bearing poppies, planted in the ground - all in the middle of woodland.   A brass plate nearby explained that the great tree alongside had been planted in 1919 in thanksgiving for the ending of the War...

Auntie is declaring war on...

uwwa zyke.

As in "So, I was at uni and uwwa zyke 'where's the party?' and then uwwa zyke 'yay, it's cool' and uwwa zyke..."

Or:  "So I got this job and uwwa zyke ' yay, it's OK' but then uwwa zyke late and uwwa zyke  dunno what to do..."

Another version is ahmlyke, as in:

"Ahmlyke buying some, like, boots and ahmlyke, yay, wicked, but ahmlyke, they're, like, wild, and ahmlyke,  will they, like, fit? And  ahmlike, whatever..."

Don't forget...

...to come to WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL HALL on Saturday Nov 22nd, any time from 10am, for the  TOWARDS ADVENT Festival.  It promises to be exceptionally good this year...come at 10.30am for the Opening Ceremony with  Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and the choir of the John Fisher School, Purley. Join us for the talks given by Canon Luiz Ruscillo on Catholic Education, and Mgr Newton on ecumenism and the future - and join us for what promises to be a superb  practical workshop on Gregorian Chant and how to sing it...

The Festival - launched as part of the marking of the Millenium, and now a vibrant annual chapter in the London Catholic scene - takes a lot of organising, but is fun.  This week, I've been tackling details that range from organising the new coffee machine (freshly brewed REAL COFFEE on sale with other refreshments as you enter the hall) to the  commemorative gifts that are presented to all choir members...plus labels and wrapping for the craft goods, and masses of chocolate coins for various stalls...and more...

There is still time for all young Catholic Londoners of secondary school age to take part in the SS JohnPaul and John XXIII essay project...details on that link.

HRH the Prince of Wales...

...has given his support to the call for religious freedom and tolerance, and for help to those suffering...

read here, and watch the video...

..and there is more on the sea of poppies...

here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/11197458/How-the-Tower-of-London-poppies-grew-from-a-single-flower-to-a-stunning-sea-of-red-in-visitors-pictures.html

The poppies...

...in the blood-red sea at the Tower of London bring more and more people every hour. Each night, the Last Post is played and 180 names are read out, from among the over 800,000 British and Commonwealth  dead from 1914-1918 commemorated there.

Something has happened in London over these past few days. Remembrance Day means more this year. There are of course poppy-sellers everywhere, some of them young men and women in uniform - cadets from the three services - and the sight of  young people formally attired in this way is so unusual and striking that it makes the whole of a crowd at a railway station or on a busy street look different, somehow. Others sellers are Chelsea Pensioners, or of course simply kindly volunteers of the type you find helping in charity shops or at church events or local fetes and fairs. We are conscious of a friendly and open-hearted Britain that we do not often see, of formal clothes that have a formal meaning, of time given without financial reward, of goodwill and of a sense of common purpose.

It isn't the usual London.

Won't last, of course. But even the dismantling of the scarlet sea - there are over 8,000 volunteers to clean and pack and post the poppies to their owners - will mean something. And we have joined together in something bigger than ourselves, and found a bond with our history that stirs our souls and links us to ideas and ideals we do not often think about and sometimes feel we are no longer allowed to discuss openly.

A nice point of etiquette...

... waiting in the queue for confession this week at Westminster Cathedral, each of us  kneeling or sitting as the mood and need for prayer or reflection took us.    Meanwhile, in the main body of the Cathedral, the magnificent Annual Requiem Mass for the Catholic Police Guild was taking place.  Impressive sight: rows and rows of policemen in their dark uniforms, and a Guard of Honour carried a (proper, bobby's) helmet up to the High Altar.  As Mass ended, the Last Post heralded two minutes of silence. No problem - we penitents were already silent. Then  Reveille. Then...the familiar sounds that herald the first notes of the National Anthem. My knees automatically unbent and I rose, as with a reflex action, the music simply making it happen.  "Sorry" I murmured to the chap next to me. "I fear I am constitutionally unable to remain kneeling or seated for this one. "  And  so we stood.

What's the etiquette? Does one rise for the National Anthem while waiting for confession, or does the need for a suitable posture of prayer before sacramental absolution take precedence?  So far, all those with whom I have discussed this say "Stand".
Auntie has never yet remained seated while The Queen is played and cannot imagine ever doing so.

Your views?

...and this evening, November 5th...

...Auntie is leading a Walk to the Tower of London. We'll be thinking about poor Guy Fawkes and all that, and we'll also look at the poppies in the moat...

Meet 5.30pm (NOTE TIME) at Precious Blood Church, O'Meara Street, London SEI. Nearest tube: BOROUGH or LONDON BRIDGE.

The Walk will take us along the Thames,  past HMS Belfast, across Tower Bridge...

on Sunday Nov 16th...

...the Chaplaincy at the University of Hertfordshire will be hosting a talk on the subject of the Ugandan Martyrs. Their message is an uncomfortably topical one.  The story of these heroic young men needs to be better known. Sun Dec 16th, Mass 6pm, St Pweter's Church, Hatfield, followed by the talk...

The FAITH Movement...

...has been running excellent Evenings of Faith at the church hall at 24 Golden Square, Piccadilly, on Tuesdays, and last night's tackled  the Synod on the Family. Regular readers of this blog will by now know the issues involved...what a mess it has all been, rescued by Cardinals Burke and Pell and the African and Asian bishops. Yesterday evening's talk gave us a good analysis and opportunity to talk about it in some detail...

The next Evening of Faith will be on Tuesday Nov 18th and will tackle the topic of contraception and holiness. A good follow-up to the discussion about the Synod.

Incidentally, by clicking on to that link to the Faith Movement, you can also find out about many more events, including  the FAITH WINTER SESSION, which will be held at Stonyhurst after Christmas, and next year's Summer Session...both of these events get fully booked very quickly, so it is worth getting organised now...

ALL SOULS...

...and it means more as the years pass and there are more and more names to add to the list of those for whom prayers are to be said...

Joan  Lewis of EWTN has a good piece on Hallowe'en/All Saints/All Souls and Rome...

Early on Sunday morning...

...a telephone call from RADIO SOLENT, where they were interviewing young Leo Stoy, who won this year's CATHOLIC YOUNG WRITER AWARD - he was in the studio along with his parents and parish priest. I was to join in the discussion. There is something agreeably surreal about sitting with a mug of tea in the cold morning light in London chatting on a radio programme down on the South Coast. It was fun and a good way to start Sunday. Then Mass, and on to Oxfordshire to spend the day with relatives. Autumn leaves bronze and golden and green and glowing along the lanes. Exchange of family news and I regaled them with adventures in Poland making the new programme for EWTN, avoiding bears in the Tatras and being offered boiled cheese and whey by a kindly shepherd as he told us about his meeting with St John Paul...

All Saints Day...

is today, November 1st, but our poor Bishops think that no one could possibly want to celebrate it, so it's been merged into tomorrow, Sunday.
Yesterday was Hallowe'en, the Eve of All Hallows, All Saints. Celebrated with a nationwide explosion of faces painted with grisly torture marks, shops covered in orange and black trimmings,  houses draped with sheets and images of ghosts, and children dressed up as ghouls and monsters going from house to house seeking sweets...walking down a residential road in  prosperous suburb - I was returning from a session in the College library - was like walking through an American
stage-set for "let's celebrate Hallowe'en - here's how to do it!"


This is absolutely the right time for us to be saying "Yes - and it's ALL SAINTS TOMORROW, and ALL SOULS AFTER THAT! Fantastic opportunity to engage with the culture. Ghosts and ghouls and children having fun - all part of an ancient tradition recently revived (albeit sometimes in horrible and lurid forms). Let's engage. Let's celebrate. Let's evangelise . But no.  Our poor dear Bishops think that...er...well...er...let's not have All Saints, let's just tell people to mark it on the next Sunday. Downplay it. Muddle it. Make people feel it's been "abolished".  Have no answer when people say "So what's Hallowe'en then? When did Hallowe'een start? " and similar questions. Run away from the culture. Try to ignore it. Heads in sand.


It is all the sadder this year, because All Souls Day has to be moved to Monday anyway (ie, it would do so even without the move-All-Saints stuff).
Please, PLEASE, dear Bishops:
PLEASE MAY WE HAVE OUR FEAST-DAYS BACK?
When I last had correspondence with a Bishop on the subject - a good man, and a kind one - I
explained that, when a feast-day is moved to a Sunday, most people simply think it's been "abolished". They go to Mass on Sunday, and honestly don't notice that the readings etc are for a feast-day. His response: "Do they not read their parish newsletter?"




No, dear Bishop, they don't. Of course they don't. Some may browse it during the homily.  Some (devout) people might take it home and have it handy for checking weekday or confession times. Some might - might -  take note of some forthcoming event such as the Christmas Bazaar. But the idea that most will even remotely connect the newsletter with "Oh, so it's All Saints Day then! How splendid! A really important feast" is just pathetic wishful thinking. THE WAY TO HELP PEOPLE UNDERSTAND ABOUT ALL SAINTS' DAY IS TO CELEBRATE IT ON ALL SAINTS' DAY.

Depressing...

...reports that the current Secretary of State for Education, Mrs Morgan, now says that she wishes she had voted for same-sex "marriage". At the time she decided to vote against, but now she has evidently succumbed to pressure to fall into line with the politically official view.

And it's depressing because the Department of Education is at the centre of what happens next.  There is enormous pressure on schools to teach the ghastly official line, forcing teachers to pretend that marriage can be between two men or two women (at least, at present - they might decide it is to be 3, or more, in due course), thus turning Britain's schools into places of horrid propaganda, in a way that is not only cruel and unjust, but is also contrary to the whole idea of education and academic life.

It is not at all clear that poor Mrs Morgan will be able to stand up to this pressure:  she's already got stuck in the sticky mesh of assuming that children should be force-fed the same-sex-marriage line and it will take courage for her to haul herself out and look at things fairly. She needs to step back and pause.

Now, here's a fair deal: people that specifically want the same-sex-marriage message and its associated ideology for their children should get together and organise schools to teach it. If there are enough of them, they can in due course apply for funds from the general taxation, and there can be a debate about whether or not they are making a fair case. They are offering a new ideology, one that is contrary to all that we have ever known about marriage and the transmission of life: they cannot assume any right to impose this, and must work to build up a case for themselves.

Meanwhile, leave the rest of Britain's children out of the propaganda battle.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols' letter...

...following the recent Synod in Rome...

Best comment on it so far comes here...

Unpleasantly warm, sticky weather...

...giving London a disagreeable feel on this last day of October. We are told we may get some cooler weather soon...oh for some crisp, fresh Autumn days...

News about the John Paul Walk by the Thames..

...and the statue that we carried, is in the latest issue of The Portal. You can access it here.

The presentation of the 2014 Catholic Young Writer Award...

...took me to St George's College, Swaythling, Southampton, recently. You can read about it here...

It's irritating...

...to see nonsense written about the Church...

For example, silly media comments today suggesting that Pope Francis is doing something entirely revolutionary in suggesting that the theory of evolution is consistent with the Book of Genesis. This is not news!    It is what Popes Benedict and John Paul were saying, and indeed has been discussed, enjoyed, debated, analysed, prayed over, and made the topic of conferences and study sessions and lectures and books and academic papers and more, for years and years and years.  And rightly so.  It's an important topic.  Read Papa Benedict on the subject here  and here  and here...

When Papa Francis says that “Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve” he is saying  what Papa Benedict said with considerable wisdom and insight...and one cannot help feeling that the only reason for making the new headlines about Francis  is to hint that his poor old predecessors were sooooo out of touch and soooo stupid and they couldn't cope with topics like evolution...

Time magazine has a sane comment on this here.

Pope Francis actually made his comments at a conference honouring Benedict -  get the real story here -  and, praised Papa-Emeritus Benedict as "a great Pope: great for the power and penetration of his intellect, great for his significant contribution to theology, great for his love for the Church and of human beings, great for his virtue and piety.”

 To which one can only add "AMEN!!!  YES!!!  YES!!!"

Meanwhile...

...Auntie is also busy with academic work, in pursuit of which some hours are spent in study, attending lectures, reading, pondering, writing...post-graduate academic work is enormously satisfying but is also a challenge. Our home has always been crammed with books, at times to the point of absurdity. Recently a bookshelf became detached from the wall, unable to carry any more weight...

One book has a cherished place: it's a Bible, and would in any case be given special status on that account. But it was placed in my hands by my husband after a visit to Rome with the words "Look inside!" and, on the first page, it carries our names and the signature of (now Saint) John Paul.

I have consulted this Bible - it's a paperback, handy size, good translation - a great deal. But I sometimes feel that perhaps I really shouldn't, and it should be kept safely as something to be treated with special care rather than subjected to everyday use...it is kept on the sideboard, along with a great range of family photographs, including one of Jamie meeting St JP on the occasion on which the Bible was signed...

Off to Chelsea...

...to talk to young people on a half-term training course, part of the  "t!" magazine project.    You can pick up this attractive glossy magazine  FREE in various supermarkets - and it is run by young people, and offers lots of scope for them to train in writing about fashion, travel, cookery, sport, and more.  My task is to be part of the training team, and I enjoy it - having worked in journalism since my teens, I am glad to encourage others along the new paths being forged in the new world of internet/TV/radio/print communications...

"t!" began something like 15-18 years ago, and has grown and flourished...it's grand being part of it all.

Read Auntie...

on London and poppies etc here...

A niece...

...has been staying with us, and, as always, it is fun having some one young around the house. I am touched by the good manners and courtesy of the next generation: they are a joy to have around.  Some while back we  had a nephew from New Zealand with a wildly-painted guitar, and now a niece in theatre who currently has to spend part of each week dressed as a frog. And in both cases, charming manners, lively pleasant conversation, and a genuine and open sense of family affection. I do enjoy being an Aunt.

"Is it true...

...is it kind, is it necessary?"  These useful questions are a quick reminder for bloggers, and their commentators.  I have been sent some comments that will not be published, because their authors failed to get this right.

One correspondent announced to me that an archbishop had written, in an official letter, something that the archbishop had certainly not written.  Because my immediate instinct was to check the facts, I didn't make the mistake of slandering the archbishop. I checked to see what he had actually written, and it didn't include the words about which my correspondent was waxing indignant.

Some correspondents simply write angry stuff, others are fond of predictions. The "Fatimists" - the campaigners who assert that St John Paul and Papa Benedict XVI were/are part of  A Great Conspiracy to Silence the Real Secret, and all that -  have got odder and odder. One of their number announced a little while back that Pope Francis isn't really the Pope. Another  had confidently asserted that A Norfle Dreadful Catastrophe  could be expected  in April when St John Paul was canonised (several of these people were obsessed with trying to stop the canonisation of  St JP)  but the day passed joyfully in the soft golden sunshine of a Roman spring, and he fell silent...

Here's the basic rule, to be applied to all of us when sharing information or chatting about some topic or person of interest: "Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?"

Visiting...

... an elderly relatives in a (lovely, friendly, Catholic) residential home, the room had a warm and cheery atmosphere as an afternoon of music and crafts and games was drawing to a close. Tea was over, and supper a longish way off. Dusk was falling. An elderly gentleman began to sing. He started with  "There'll be bluebirds over/The white cliffs of Dover"... in a quavering voice but it grew stronger, and others began to join in, knowing the words, because they belonged to that generation, and the words were simply part of themselves: "The shepherd will tend his sheep/ The valley will bloom again/And Johnny will go to sleep/In his own little room again..."

And when that song was over, some one started another - and then another. Soon we were all singing - residents, staff, me..." On Ilkley Moor bar t'at" (yes, all the proper words: "Tha's been a-courting Mary Jane..." and the rest), and then  "She'll be coming round the mountain..."  with my favourite verse "Oh, she'' have to stay at grandma's when she comes..." and then "Daisy, Daisy" and - this one raised a grand sound "Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner"...and then of course "Tipperary" and "Pack up your troubles..."

The old gentleman sang - really rather  beautifully - "Lily Marlene" first in German and then in English, and reminisced about hearing it in France - "absolutely everyone was singing it" in 1945...

And as I left I found myself wondering: what songs will my generation be able to sing, when we are old and sitting around on an Autumn evening? What will the songs say to us? What will we remember?

25th anniversary...

...of the Association of Catholic Women, celebrated at St James Church, Spanish Place, on Saturday. A beautiful Mass with some lovely music, and then  lunch with the cutting of an anniversary cake...

The Association's activities range from meetings and conferences - the most recent was a celebration of Gerard Manley Hopkins' poetry, which proved so popular that some people had to be turned away - to a nationwide project for Catholic primary schools. Over the years. we've had pilgrimages, Days of Recollection, music and art workshops for teachers, a popular quarterly Review, and more... Perhaps our best-known event takes place each year at the Chrism Mass at Westminster Cathedral, when we arrive with our "Thank you to our priests" placard - what began as a simple gesture is now an expected part  of the whole scene, and it is always a pleasure to greet the priests and hand out our small holy cards, freshly designed each year with a suitable prayer from the treasures of the Church's liturgy and traditions...

But not to be undervalued is the ACW's provision of refreshments for the annual TOWARDS ADVENT Festival...tea and coffee and home-made sandwiches, all at moderate prices, and an opportunity for people to meet and chat, and linger in a cheery atmosphere...Come and join us on Saturday November 22nd at Westminster Cathedral Hall!

A happy day...

...with the John Paul II Pilgrims: Mass at Precious Blood Church, and then our Pilgrim Walk along the Thames. Prayers in a side-chapel at St Paul's Cathedral. An unforgettable visit to the Sea of Poppies at the Tower - thousands and thousands of people were there, and we joined them...

Benediction back at Precious Blood Church. Earlier, at the morning Mass, Father Christopher blessed our Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady, which I had brought from Poland. This statue has a special, and extraordinary, link with St John Paul - see here....

We carried our little Pilgrim Statue all along our Walk. It will be kept at Precious Blood Church and come with us every year to Walsingham and on other walks...

"In the footsteps of John Paul..."

People keep asking me about "that TV programme about St John Paul".  You can  now order a DVD here... It will take you to Krakow, to Jasna Gora, to Wadowice "where it all began", and to the great new Divine Mercy shrine...oh, and it'll give you a preview of the vast "Do Not Be Afraid!" pilgrimage centre and basilica, which the world will see when vast crowds of young people gather for World Youth Day in 2016...and you'll find out about JP's wartime life, his introduction to the "Living Rosary", his spiritual mentor in a Krakow suburb, the rooms he occupied as a student in the war years and then again as Archbishop in the 1970s...and much, much more.

And, just to clarify things - my recent trip to Poland was to produce a follow-up programme for EWTN, focussing on St JP's teachings and message. Filming was hard work, but deeply satisfying, and the next stage involves editing and checking...lots still to be done...

Working on all of this has been a great adventure. Now you can start to share it with me...

You might enjoy...

...this piece by Auntie...

Disturbing evidence...

...that schools are being pressured into imposing the ideology of same-sex marriage on pupils...it is very important that teachers, parents, school governors and pupils know that they do not need to cave into this pressure, and that it is perfectly acceptable to uphold the understanding of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. More info here...

...and the next CATHOLIC HISTORY WALK...

is on Wed November 5th, starting at 5.30pm at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge...we'll walk to the Tower of London and back. Note the starting-time...this will be an early-evening walk, so as to allow people to go on to any Firework event if they wish...

...and the next after that is on THURSDAY November 27th, meet at The Monument  (tube station of the same name is just nearby)  at 5.30pm (again NOTE THE TIME)...

On Sunday...

...Oct 26th, the JOHN PAUL WALKERS will come to London!  And anyone is welcome to join us. This is our Autumn Reunion Walk, when we get together to celebrate having achieved the summer Walk to Walsingham. The John Paul Walkers are led by the splendid Dominican Sisters of St Joseph, and include people from across Britain who  pray for the New Evangelisation. We're glad to welcome anyone new who'd like to come along and meet us...bring sandwiches and wear comfortable shoes for walking.

...and it starts with 11 am MASS at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge, after which we'll eat our sandwiches with coffee in the Parish Room. Then we'll set off along the Thames to Westminster, and follow a route that takes us across various bridges and back to the Tower of London, where we'll pay tribute to the war dead at the blood-red sea of poppies, and pray at the site of St Thomas More and St John Fisher's martyrdom...and then return to Precious Blood Church for Benediction and Tea...

Helen Hull Hitchcock...

...a wonderful Christian evangelist, joyful upholder of true values, superb writer, and a dear friend, has died. She leaves a great gap in the lives of so many of us. Helen founded Women for Faith and Family which inspired Catholic women across the world to stand firm in their Catholic faith and to work on a range of projects aimed at supporting the work of the Church, teaching the young, and protecting innocent life. She was hard-working, joyful, and enormous fun, with a fine mind and a delightful sense of humour. Read some tributes to her here...

An early start...

...to the day, hurrying in the dark to catch a train to Southampton.

Destination: St George College, Swaythling,  where a pupil, Leo Stoy, is this year's recipient of the Catholic Young Writer Award. The school made me most welcome, and it was a real delight to present the shield, cash prize, and collection of books to Leo and to meet his parents and younger brother, and other pupils who had won prizes or certificates. The boys were an attentive audience, and responded well when I finished things by calling for three hearty cheers for their teachers. It was a thoroughly enjoyable morning.

Feast Day of St John Paul the Great...

...celebrated in churches around the world for the first time. Lunchtime Mass at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge, where I met an American friend who joined my group of Catholic History Walkers on a tour of St George's Cathedral, Southwark. The stained glass of St John Paul there is a fine one, and shows him giving the Sacrament of the Sick in the Cathedral on his visit to Britain in 1982. I remember it so well: the cathedral filled not with pews but with people in their beds and chairs, with blessings and anointings as the H. Father and Cardinal Hume moved among them...the stained glass brings it all back, right down to the details of the Holy Father's robes, and the bright green blankets on the beds - and Christ above, shown healing the sick...

Trenchant comment on that Synod...

read here. It's a must.

THE FEAST OF ST JOHN PAUL THE GREAT...

...and we'll be celebrating it by visiting the cathedral in Britain that has him depicted in stained glass.

It's St George's Cathedral, Southwark. Join us there at 3pm today. Nearest tube/ main-line train: WATERLOO.

Over the next years, there will be more and more depictions of St John Paul the Great. There has been a suggestion that there should be a mosaic of him in Westminster Cathedral, which is an excellent idea.  How about a statue of him in London?  A number of people have expressed interest, and Westminster City Council is happy with the idea...raising the funds would not be difficult, and in fact I have already had people coming forward for that...

Where? somewhere near Westminster Cathedral would make sense...eg at the corner of Ambrosden Avenue?

To Lancaster...

...to this excellent school (C of E Academy) where pupils had won prizes in the 2014 Schools Bible Project. The choir sang gloriously as we gathered for morning prayers in the splendid chapel: "If you love me, keep my Commandments..." and the atmosphere was reverent and respectful. It was a privilege to be invited to distribute the Bible prizes gained by pupils, and it was an opportunity to thank the school for providing the choir to sing at the big Thanksgiving Serve held in London this summer for the 25th anniversary of the Schools Bible Project.

Afterwards, fresh coffee and a good chat in the headteacher's study...lots of good conversation, a sense of shared Christian faith...

..and enjoy more of Auntie...

...here...

You'll enjoy...

Cardinal Pell here...

..and there's a...

...good short YouTube of today's events in Rome here...

...and so...

...on to a busy Sunday. After Mass, I hurried to the college where I am doing some post-graduate work, intending to send in my latest essay. One has to do this electronically, so I had arranged to do it on a Sunday afternoon when the Library is open and with few people there, so I could get the Help Needed for a Useless Woman Who Worries About Computer Things.  And the kind young librarians couldn't have been more helpful, but it turned out that for various reasons I couldn't deposit my essay yet. Gulp. Panic. A sudden overwhelming longing for the days when one could write - or type - something out and hand it in. Just like that. No computer, no magic electronic thingummy, no hassle. Just me writing and some one reading...

Anyway, we sorted something out and I browsed to find something stimulating to read on the bus. A book by an ex-Jesuit, writing in the early 1970s, assured me that "long before the year 2000 there will be no recognisable Catholic Church in the world..." which was amusing to read having spent the weekend at a big Blessed Sacrament Procession through London, followed by a busy Sunday parish Mass teeming with noisy children, while meanwhile in Rome crowds attended a beatification...oh, and I was en route to visit an elderly relative at a beautiful Catholic nursing home: when I arrived she was enjoying supper under the benevolent smile of a framed pic of the Pope.

Oddly enough, the Catholic Church is one of the things that hasn't disappeared, when so much else has: big red-brick Post Offices, public libraries, the Iron Curtain (Deo Gratias!), half-crowns (and florins, and sixpences..), people saying "wireless" and "greengrocers", telephones with dials, brown paper bags, and those old cash tills that opened with a pleasing TING.

I chose a book about Dr Michael Ramsey, an insight into the old CofE of the early and mid-20th century, got a cup of coffee from the student canteen, and settled at the bus-stop.

Paul VI...

... is beatified in Rome today.  He was derided by so many. I remember tirades against him from the early Lefebvrists...and a vile campaign which claimed to have prevented him from ever being beatified: it was tosh, and later the same chap tried the same with - now SAINT - John Paul. And of course there were all the massive attacks from the supporters of contraception who loathed Humanae Vitae.  And among most middle-of-the-road Catholics he was regarded with a sort of bleak sympathy, and/or people sneered at him because he so often looked so sad. All this made me read and study more on Paul VI and, especially over the past few years, I have come  rather to admire him.  And now he is to be honoured by the Church he loved and served, and justice is being done.

The beatification is a badly-needed sign of unity in the Church.  The heroes of the Synod  are Cardinals Mueller and Burke, and the African and Asian bishops who united to bring sanity after the interim report was produced. The worry for the future is factions and swings...

Tradition established...

...the great Procession of the Blessed Sacrament from Westminster Cathedral to St George's Cathedral, Southwark took place today, with possibly the biggest crowd ever, streaming across Lambeth Bridge and packing into the Cathedral at Southwark to fill it with song and prayer...

We were led this year by Bishop Nicholas Hudson,  who sang Benediction magnificently...how good it is to hear a great cathedral of strong voices saying "Blessed be God...Blessed be his holy name..."

Part of the tradition is that I always worry beforehand that few people will turn up, or that it will pour with rain...and every year there are more and more and  more people, and the weather is mild and kind...and as we processed out from Westminster Cathedral, this time led by altar servers from the Faith Movement and from Precious Blood Church, among others, I realised that, once again, all was well: the long surge of people meant that the great Cross at the front was heading down towards Horseferry Road, while the tail end of the great crowd was still coming down Ambrosden Avenue...it was glorious.

As always, we had part of the procession singing one hymn, part of it another, while others were saying various parts of the Rosary...we have discussed using a loud-hailer or similar, but this poses its own problems,  especially as we have to divide to cross the main road before reaching Lambeth Bridge, and divide again when we cross by Lambeth Palace on the other side...

Warm thank must go to the Knights of St Columba, who steward the crowd with tact and efficiency every year, doing stalwart work....and to all at Westminster and St George's Cathedrals. We really are  very blessed as Catholic Londoners, and it is a grand thing to be praying together  through the streets of our capital city, led by one of our Bishops, and going from one great cathedral to another.

The Procession began with special prayers for the Christians of the Middle East in their suffering, and this added a solemn note to the whole day.

Next Catholic History Walk...

...is on Wednesday (Oct 22nd), at 3pm (NOTE TIME), at St George's Cathedral, Southwark. Nearest tube: WATERLOO or LAMBETH NORTH. We'll be looking around the Cathedral itself and learning its history.

...and more...

...on the Synod: read this.

Flying home...

...filled with memories of Poland and with a fresh understanding of its history and people...

Watch this to understand a bit more too...

And on the subject of That Synod...

...you really do need to read this  to get some grasp of what is going on in Rome.

Evaluating...

...the message of St John Paul's life, sitting on the steps of the church that he helped to build  at Niegovic, and then pondering his portrait in St Florian's in Krakow...

Today is the anniversary of his election as Pope in 1978. Then followed the extraordinary missionary journeys, the assassin's bullet, the consecration of the world to Fatima, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the huge gatherings for prayer and Mass on every continent, World Youth Day, the Catechism of the Catholic Church,  the Theology of the Body, the establishment of devotion to the Divine Mercy, the great encyclicals...and more...and the death on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, and then canonisation this year,  St John Paul, numbered among the great saints of the Church....

We hadn't timed the filming of this EWTN feature to finish on the anniversary of his election, but it just fitted that way, and as we sat over a late and badly-needed meal in the great square in Krakow, a gentle rain began to fall after a week of glowing Autumn sunshine, and the project was completed...

So: home, and a whole set of projects ahead of me. . Blessed Sacrament Procession on Saturday, starts 1.30pm at Westminster Cathedral (do come!).

A colleague in Rome...

sends this report  about the Synod, a useful read. And this is really an essential read. As is this.

Auntie has been busy in Krakow, interviewing people for EWTN...we drove here from the Tatra mountains via a popular local  Marian shrine...Krakow is beautiful in Autumn sunshine with faint occasional sprinklings of rain...

Cardinal Dziwisz is about to fly to Rome for the beatification of Paul VI. More and more, Paul VI's courageous encyclical Humanae Vitae is proving prophetic and wise. The mid-session report from the current  Synod meeting in Rome - which, as already noted (see below, and umpteen comments elsewhere including the links above) is somewhat mixed - does say some useful things on this subject:

"53. It is not difficult to notice the spread of a mentality that reduces the generation of life to a variable of an individual's or a couple's plans. Economic factors sometimes have enough weight to contribute to the sharp drop in the birthrate which weakens the social fabric, compromising the relationship between generations and rendering the view of the future less certain. Being open to life is an intrinsic requirement of married love.

54. Probably here as well what is required is a realistic language that is able to start from listening to people and acknowledging the beauty and truth of an unconditional opening to life as that which human life requires to be lived to its fullest. It is on this base that we can rest an appropriate teaching regarding natural methods, which allow the living in a harmonious and aware way of the communication between spouses, in all its dimensions, along with generative responsibility. In this light, we should go back to the message of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae of Paul VI, which underlines the need to respect the dignity of the person in the moral evaluation of the methods of birth control."

Such attitudes will be felt by some commentators to be scandalous, and I remember, back in the early 1970s, horrible and vicious attacks on Paul VI with people saying  "I'm praying he'll die soon" and so on and so on...

And now Paul VI is rightly honoured by the Church, and his successors upheld the teaching, and will continue to do so down all the years to come...and there will be rejoicing in Heaven at this beatification, and joy in the hearts of Catholics worldwide.

Thank God for St John Paul...

...a magnificent Pope in tough times, with a message for all times...

Difficult to write about a TV programme on which one is working,  because describing what we are doing, and where, and how it is all working out, gives away the whole thing in advance which seems rather a pity. Watch EWTN in due course and you'll see Auntie and team in Poland in this new feature...and meanwhile, you might enjoy this one  which begins the story...

And...writing this in the Tatra mountains, after an unforgettable day exploring St John Paul's legacy, gives lots to ponder, especially at this time. The news from the Synod in Rome is rather bleak, and it is tragic that the Synod Fathers seem, so far,  to have sidelined  the opportunity to explore and teach the riches of the Christian understanding of marriage, of Bridegroom and Bride, Christ and Church, in the way the world so achingly needs...instead, there is kindness and goodwill but also muddle and misdirection (which means that some of the kindness will get  misdirected too)...

And there is so much richness that is in danger of  being ignored...in JP's theology of the body and in the work of so many groups and movements within the Church, and the wordy and uninspiring ponderous mid-time statement from the Synod just doesn't get it...

But there's time ahead in which to get this right, and it's useful to get some good perspectives on the Synod from reporters such as this one...
 and this one...  and, probably the best-informed and most valuable so far,  this one...

...and time to pray before the full Synod in 2015 and its actual message and teachings,  for which current discussions are the throat-clearing preparations.

...and in the mountains...

... Zakopane...glorious scenery, rich culture, long late discussions on so many things...driving here was a mix of swift motorways and people selling mushrooms alongside, vast advertising slogans and a sudden glimpse of a shrine....

This morning, in Warsaw, a visit to the museum commemorating the Uprising of 1944. Extraordinary to  encounter the full and graphic story I first discovered  in a London flat from an elderly lady who had served with the AK, and who told it to me in this book...

The Polish fighters of 1944 were heroes, and the story of this battle is one that will be told dopwn the generations in Poland...

Sunday in Warsaw...

... roaring traffic, vast office blocks , a great modern European city.

We stood in the great square, where St John Paul made history with that 1979 "Let the Spirit descend on the land...this land."  The Square empty, sunlit, fringed by vast gleaming office blocks and a park with golden, glowing leaves.

Warsaw is so utterly different from the bleak city of the early 1980s, with rationed food and shop windows dressed up with paper cut-outs...

Working with an EWTN crew is fun, energising, and, by the end of the day, tiring. A long talkative supper, a quick email home to J. to tell him of today's adventures...

Lublin, Warsaw, and a day for JPII...

...and in unusually warm sunshine. We are filming a new feature for EWTN, exploring St John Paul's legacy in Poland. Lublin is a glorious city, with a castle and lots of royal history. The Catholic University - once the only such place of learning in the whole of the atheist bloc that stretched from Berlin to Beijing - is now named for John Paul II and is set in attractive buildings, with a courtyard of green lawns and a superb statue of  that moment when  Cardinal Wyzinski knelt to honour JPII and the latter raised him up...

Today is a special (annual) day honouring JPII and there will be a great Mass in Warsaw...and we also plan to film in the great Square where JP gave that unforgettable sermon back in 1979 and changed history...

The Mayor of Merton...

...attended the annual meeting of the WIMBLEDON LIFE GROUP, at which I was privileged to be the guest speaker. A good crowd, and a warm welcome. The group does excellent work supporting mothers-to-be who need help and housing, and is also busy campaigning against euthanasia...I spoke about Lord Falconer's "Assisted Dying" Bill and the danger it presents. It is very important that we oppose this ghastly idea of legalising the killing of gravely ill people. Useful material on this here...

I hope that Papa Emeritus Benedict...

...will enjoy the special gift that we are sending him. You can read more here (with pic)...

The spin...

...that is being put on the Synod now taking place in Rome is all rather tiresome.. but this report highlights a prayer vigil that, despite its size. many media outlets seem to have missed...

Given the assumptions that are being made about about the Synod could/should be doing, prayer seems to be the most reliable and useful approach at this stage...

To Mass...

...  in London, and then also dropped in at the Cathedral and also at a suburban parish, in order to advertise the
PROCESSION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

THROUGH LONDON

on Saturday October 18th.

Starts 1.30pm WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL

crosses the Thames at Lambeth Bridge

finishes approx.  2.45- 3pm at ST GEORGE'S CATHEDRAL

ALL AE WELCOME: COME AND WITNESS TO THE FAITH

This Procession was started in 2011 to mark the first anniversary of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain and to give thanks. It has continued annually and grown steadily - come and make the 2014 Procession the best yet!

Ths staggering growth in the number of Catholics in the world...

...from 266 million in 1900 to 1,197 million in 2012, (you can read more about this here) is relevant to discussions about the forthcoming Synod on the Family.   This massive growth has taken place chiefly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Bishops from these territories carry much - much! - more weight than those from Europe at a Synod such as this. Their grasp of the issues concerned - marriage, demography, relationships with non-Christian religions, education, economics - comes from a wide and deep database, and they speak with knowledge and confidence. On issues such as the rights and  dignity of women, the superiority of monogamy over polygamy, and the specific healthcare needs of the poor, they have crucial and necessary information to impart. Nor will the Synod be much influenced by chatter from the Western media.  Do not make the mistake of assuming that the opinions of media commentators in, say, Canada, Germany,  Denmark or the USA  will carry much weight at a Synod of the Catholic Church in 2014...

To Poland...

...in a week or so, to work on "John Paul: The Legacy"  for EWTN: we'll be going to Warsaw, Lublin, the Tatras and Niegovic, among other places. We will talk to people who studied under Wojtila at Lublin's Catholic University, we'll get a couple of young people reading from his play "The Jeweller's Shop" and from some of his poetry, we'll go to the mountains that he loved and see the church that was built under his initiative when he was still a young curate in the grim days of Stalinist Communism in the 1950s...

Trawling the internet to check a couple of details about St John Paul, I encountered weird attacks on him, including a Lefebvrist theologian denouncing this "false canonisation" a furious American campaigner predicting a gigantic catastrophe on the day, and an odd priest claiming to offer evidence including "immodest pictures" to show how wicked JP was.( The Lefebvrist chap and  the American campaigner seem to have fallen silent, especially when the planned flood/fire etc didn't happen. The other chap's pics turned out to be well known shots of the young saint picnicking and canoeing with friends).  All of these writings were confused and angry - but what was most striking was their note of dedicated bitterness: the passion that comes from having nurtured a hatred for a long time.

It certainly renewed my interest in teaching about this great saint and in passing on to the next generation the truth about his life of prayer, courage, wisdom and faith...

Knights and Dames...

...of the Order of St Gregory met at the Church of SS Anselm and Cecilia in London's Holborn for the annual Mass.  Glorious singing from the Schola of the Cardinal Vaughan School. Knights looking rather splendid in uniforms with silver trimmings, Dames in green cloaks...rather too warm, but the cloak can be sort of thrown back over one shoulder, which is a lot more comfortable.

Dinner was fun, candlelit, formal toasts, a sense of friendship and camaraderie: Bishop Richard Moth was the guest - he's Bishop of the Forces, spoke well, was amusing and then guided thoughts towards concepts of service and duty...it was a good evening. Afterwards, out into noisy and raucous London, a very warm night, so I walked down to the Strand and across the river to Waterloo...Jamie had been out late too, and as so often happens we met at the local bus stop...and so home together...

The Synod on the Family...

...will start shortly. There will be a lot of related debate/discussion/controversy  about what is said, and what is alleged to have been said, and so on and so on.

Meanwhile, we all need to get on with promoting the Church's message on marriage and family. Useful link, just sent to me, on a postgraduate degree in Catholic Applied Theology (Marriage and Family):  "As we approach the Extraordinary Synod, this is an opportune moment to let people know about the wonderful course we offer here which is centred on the teaching of St. John Paul II. The course was developed in academic collaboration with the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome and this collaboration continues today..." You can find out more here...  and shortly after receiving this, I found this commentary on the Synod, which exactly matches the point...

Hello to Dominic...

...who was among those taking part in the Catholic History Walk this evening. We started at Westminster Cathedral - a small group, only a handful of people, but somehow it turned out to be a particularly happy walk, and by the time  we were saying goodbye, in the lamplit churchyard of Westminster Abbey, with those glorious soaring gothic buttresses and the sense of quiet familiarity, we were real friends.

Big Ben chimed out the hour - 8pm - as we walked across Westminster Bridge, and on to Waterloo. We all found we lived in neighbouring suburban parishes, and a young relative of Dominic's goes to my old school...sometimes London really does feel like a collection of villages.

Read Auntie...

here, on Eastern Europe, and the New Evangelisation, and misty rain on Austrian mountains...