FREEDOM OF SPEECH...

...and the right speak about great moral truths....a crucial freedom.

The Secretary of State for Education has made some rather frightening comments about views she regards as "extremist".  In this category she seems to place the understanding that homosexual acts are wrong. She sounds rather muddled, so we must assume that she doesn't really know what she is saying.

But what is uncomfortably clear is that she has decided that we all ought to hold the opinion that homosexual behaviour is acceptable. That may be her opinion, but it is not one that we are all obliged to share, and in our country we have a tradition of allowing different points of view on such matters.

From time to time, I publish on this Blog the teaching of the Catholic Church on this delicate and important subject.

If there is ever a time when I am banned from doing so - for example by the internet provider blocking this Blog, or by some officialdom attempting to restrict my writings, then I will know that a cherished freedom, for which my country has been justly famous, has been taken from us.

This is the teaching of the Catholic Church, stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church

1257 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.

Heat and glare...

...beating down on the city streets. I greatly dislike hot weather, and when people say "What a glorious day!"  I can only answer "Mmmm. It's hot" or talk about something else as in " Mmmm. I'm just on my way to..." whatever.

The grass turns white and grey.  Rooms get stuffy and open windows admit traffic noise and dust rather than cool air. Trains become like ovens. Everyday tasks become less pleasant, but of course still remain to be done. Walking becomes less enjoyable. Small treats like a decision to choose a pleasant route become less possible: the priority has to be on not arriving looking hot and sticky. Heavy luggage becomes a  real burden instead of a bearable nuisance.

The rule is to pretend that none of this matters, so I bought some new sandals and walked with a spring in my step. The sandals broke. I've now got another pair. Apart from writing this blog, I am not allowing myself to whinge about the heat and am pretending that it's all hugely delightful. I've got a delicious cool drink and the roses outside the window are lovely if rather tired. The washing has dried quickly on the line. It's nice chatting to neighbours as people are out and about instead of shut indoors. Lots of people all over the world live with searingly hot weather all the time.

On the recent ghastly decision by the Supreme Court in America...

...this this good read.

In a London heatwave...

...I took a group of Spanish students, led by a young Legionary priest, along the Thames to tell them some of London's history. The river was at low tide revealing sandy beaches, rocks and intriguing bits of old jetty, plus chunks of wood  but little if any rubbish or litter, which was pleasing.  I told them about Henry VII and the victory at Bosworth, and the betrothal of  young Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon, and then  Arthur's death and Henry VIII.... They more or less knew the story, of course - and ...er...certainly the bit later on about Philip and the Armada...

We finished at the Tower.  A much-needed drink - on hot days mine is always a shandy - at the pleasant bar/restaurant up alongsiside Tower Bridge. Then I left them and crossed the by bridge - always a satisfying walk across one of the world's best-known landmarks - and once on the Southwark side I abandoned my original plan of heading straight for Waterloo and decided to tackle some of the history in the hinterland. I know the riverside well - London Bridge and the little house where Catherine of Aragon first stayed on arrival in Britain, and The Globe, and Blackfriars, and the replica Golden Hinde, and more - but on Wednesday I am leading another History Walk around The Borough, so needed to look at the connections with the Marshalsea, and Dickens, and  St George the Martyr church, and so on.  The area around Southwark Street and Hopton Street is familiar to me as my late father's office - where his father worked before him  - was in Hopton Street, overlooking the Thames...it was he who introduced me to this corner of London. A sudden sense of his dear presence and happy memories as I walked in the cool evening...

Wonderful weekend...

...at Buckfast Abbey, studying with other catechists from parishes around Britain at the School of the Annunciation.  Some really good lectures, tackling how to teach the Trinity, emphasising Scripture and the use of the Catechism of the Catholic Church...

A bonus was the glorious sung Mass this morning. There is a really excellent choir, with young singers from across Devon.   Afterwards I met several over coffee and snacks in the South Gate lodge, while the Abbey bells poured glorious peals out across the countryside. We were staying at NorthGate...the the Abbey has a good deal of property and attrracts great numbers of visitors, and the accomodation and meals were extremely good. As we sat at lectures in the modern Conference Centre, tourists arrived to enjoy the Abbey grounds, children scampering across the lawns, and people pottering around the various gardens.

Useful conversations with fellow-catechists...discussing First Communion classes, after-school groups, etc. A major issue is that parents often resist the idea of weekly attendance at Mass: they want their child to have a lovely First Communion day (white dress, pics, all the trimmings), and are happy to send them along to classes on a Saturday afternoon or a weekday evening, but Sunday Mass too often clashes with sports or other "can't miss" activities. They will sometimes express resentment at a priest expecting them to make Sunday Mass a priority for the family.  On the other hand, if they as parents happen to sit in on a First Communion class, they generally enjoy it and exclaim with pleasure "Oh, I didn't know all that! Oh, it's all so interesting..." and often decide to come again to learn more...

A warm June evening...

...and the great tower of Buckfast Abbey,  with the rounded Devon hills all green beyond, set against a wide blue sky with feathered clouds swept gently across it in the evening sunlight.  A delicious fish-pie supper in good company - greeting friends, exchanging news and ideas - and then an excellent first lecture of this weekend Catechetics course, opening wide the mind and heart for good things...

Compline in the Abbey church, and dusk falling as we make our way back across the lawn to our guest house.

Ghastly news from America and a sudden sense of sadness: a great nation failing and falling.

George Weigel...

...American writer, spoke to The Keys, the Catholic Writers' Guild, yesterday at St Mary Moorfields.  Guild meetings start with Mass, then drinks and chat in the crypt, followed by dinner. George Weigel's talk was excellent -  rich in history, well argued, faith-filled, stimulating. He makes a good case for the current and coming era in the Church to be that of Evangelical Catholicism, a Church on mission, calling men and women to be disciples of Christ: we are not living in times where anyone can soak up Christianity from the surrounding culture or from a family tradition that does not need to offer explicit teaching. It's a vision of the Church offered by St John Paul and, perhaps even more strongly, by Benedict XVI who spoke so powerfully about the grim "dictatorship of relativism" under which we are already starting to labour...and it chimes with Pope Francis' repeated calls to evangelise, teach, and serve...

Cardinal Manning...

...has been the subject of an excellent exhibition in Westminster Cathedral for the past few weeks, organised by the diocesan archivist Fr Nicholas Schofield. The exhibition is now touring some other churches in the diocese. Manning's brilliance shone at Oxford and people spoke of him as a future Prime Minister: instead he took Orders in the Church of England and dedicated his life to the message of the Gospel with great seriousness. The early death of his young wife increased that seriousness, and when he became a Catholic it was with a deep sense of solmen commitment which is revealed in all the subsequent photographs. As an old man he looks gaunt, and there seem to be no pictures of him smiling...but he was not a grim figure and his trach record of service to the London poor, of establishing schools (over 40 of them), of public duty (a leading figure in the campagn to build decent homes to replace hideous slums) is extraordinary.

I went to Westminster catheral to meet Fr Nicholas and helped to take down the exhibition and pack it away for its next destination.  The Cathedral looks particularly impressive at the moment, because this coming weekend marks the feast of St John Southworth, the heroic London priest whose body lies in the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs. Each year it is brought out to the central aisle and surrounded by candles, and people come to venerate it and to pray. He ministered to the dying poor in the years of the London plague in the 17th century - but it was illegal to be a Catholic priest at that time, and he was arrested and executed.

On Saturday  young men will be ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral, a new generation...

This weekend...

...off to Buckfast Abbey for a weekend of lectures for a catechist course.

London...

...and a very cheery dinner last night with a grand group of pilgrims from this parish in the  USA, led by Fr Doug Grandon. They wanted to talk about St Thomas More, the Tudors, the events of Elizabeth I's reign, and then the Ordinariate, news of the church in |Britain today... We dined on fish-and-chips at the Marquess of Anglesey in Covent Garden...it was only as we were leaving that I realised this was a most suitable place at which to be dining at this time of the Waterloo anniversary....

Afterwards, a walk down to the Strand and across the river to...well....Waterloo.  The river glittered in the lamplight, and the tide was partly out, revealing stretches of beach....

Today, lunch with a friend at the National Gallery, and then later I walked across St James' Park to Westminster Cathedral, for the sung Mass marking the eve of the Birthday of St John the Baptist. Canon Tuckwell reminded us of the significance of it all: midsummer and the solstice: John the Baptist heralding Christ...

On to dinner in Marylebone to discuss various plans for future Catholic activities. Midsummer in London.

The Emperor has no clothes...

...read here...

The Martyrs' Walk...

...takes place each year on the Sunday nearest the feast of SS John Fisher and Thomas More. We start in the churchyard of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, and walk the route along which Catholic martyrs were dragged in the 16th and 17th centuries to brutal death at Tyburn. We stop at St Etheldreda's, Ely Place, SS Anselm and Cecilia in Holborn, St Giles-in-the-Fields, (CofE, goodwill visit) and St Patrick's Soho. We pray the Rosary and other prayers, and at each church we  have a short history-talk.

This year we had a large crowd - but we were well-prepared with microphone and leaflets etc and it all worked well.

St Sepulchre's (CofE) was having a parish lunch...it is a freshly-evangelical parish and they  couldn't have been more friendly, offered food, chatted,  and  we gave them a hearty round of applause by way of thanks and greetings as we started our Walk...

We began with a look at the result of the Battle of Bosworth and the rise to power of the Tudors, then tackle the heroism of More and Fisher, then the years that followed, with the ghastly cruelties of Elizabeth's reign,and the long centuries of unjust laws...There is so much of history and heroism to ponder on this Walk, from the Doleful Vespers  - many of the victims were buried at St Etheldreda's - to the noble Richard Challoner at Holborn...

At Tyburn we were uncomfortably squashed in the chapel, although things were eased as some of the pilgrims had finished the Walk at St Patrick's,..we were running late simply because the large numbers made for delays at the various stopping-places. Benediction with glorious singing, and then a splendid Tea with sandwiches and cakes and apparently bottomless teapots  offering much-needed refreshment after the long afternoon's walk...

...and home...

...There's a lot more to write about Papa BXVI, and our time in Munich...but it won't be on this Blog: watch out for TV and newspaper features in due course...

Home after a happy final evening in Munich,  beer in an open-air market with all the team, and then hopping to a pleasant restaurant for a cheery meal, talk and laughter.

And then today, a change of pace...Sunday in London, Mass at Westminster Cathedral, and on to the annual Martyrs' Walk, which starts near the Old Bailey and finishes at Tyburn with Benediction, and a splendid Tea produced by the good Tyburn sisters.

We caught the number 11 bus from Westminster after Mass, and when we arrived at St Paul's, we were just in time to catch a moment of history...the Honourable Artillery Company with a coach and horses, bringing the Waterloo Despatches.  All part of the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of this important battle...they have brought the despatches all the way from Belgium, and it was a delight to catch this sight, right in the heart of London and on the final lap of the journey...

History is taught so shockingly badly in Britain's schools today - not the teachers' fault, but the clumsy compulsory National Curriculum plus general ignorance, political-correctness, inertia, etc - and when I give talks on Journalism to young people I explain the crucial neccessity of a reasonable knowledge of modern history.  To get them started, I ask "When was the battle of Waterloo?"  They usually don't know. I offer some thoughts to get things into some sort of historical time-line: armour and longbows, or tin helmets and tanks? 13th century? 17th? 20th?  Blank.  They also don't know who won. So we have to work it all through, starting with the date, then the victory and its implications. We tackle Waterloo in context, and look at the sea battle ten years earlier at Traf - al Gahar...and when they work out that this is Trafalgar they usually light up: "Trafalgar Square!"    So then we talk about Waterloo Station too, and from there we get to the whole question of the Napoleonic Wars and who won and with what results...What language do people speak in Australia? Why? They like sudden  questions that open wide doors of thought, and then following through...

When we went to Marktl...

...the little village where Benedict XVI was born,  we were the only visitors. The one shop was not open, but provided coffee for us when our kind German guide knocked on the door and got chatting. There is a museum in the house where the future Pope was born, but it was not open. The whole village was silent...just one or two visitors in the  church while we were there. However, the townsfolk seem to be quite proud of Benedict XVI: there is an annual festival marking the life of their most famous son , a  commemorative column in the village square in the form of a rolled-up scroll with events of BXVI's life, a tourism centre with a film and various displays...you can get your postcards marked with a special stamp, and there is  lots of literature included a mapped out "Benediktweg" for cyclists which takes you to all sorts of local places associated with him...

Bavaria is of course extremely beautiful, and we've been enjoying mountains and lakes and glorious barque churches  and delicious food, visited  Tittmoning  where BXVI spent part of his childhood, and Traunstein ditto...

The Bavarian tourist industry, which is thriving, offers beers, sausages, local costumes etc in great abundance. Apparenly when BXVI was first elected there was "Benedict beer" and shops sold  BXVI teddy bears and cakes and so on, but there's nothing of that now. However, every church and village and institution with which he has ever been associated marks him with plaques, statues etc.

On the whole...

...I think the Church/taxpayers relationship in Germany is a bad one...of course it does mean that the German Church is able to fund all sorts of projects in poor countries. But it also means that the Church has lavish funds fotr all sorts of offices and staff it doesn't really need...and it looks bloated, too rich, bureaucratic and lacking in energy and zeal...

There are some fine Catholics in Germany, and I'm enjoying meeting them.  But they don't much care for the Church/State bond as it has been established by history, and it's probably time for a fresh approach...

On Sunday, June 21st...

...meet at St Sepulchre's churchyard, near the Old Bailey at 1.30pm for a 2pm start ...it's  the annual Martyrs' Walk through London. We'll be stopping at the Church of SS Anselm and Cecilia,, at St Giles-in-the-Fields and  at St Patrick's, Soho. - where they are holding their annual Bazaar in the Garden Square, in aid of their work for the homeless - and will then go on to Tyburn.  At Tyburn we have Benediction, and then the sisters give us a splendid Tea.

All are welcome to join us. We will be praying the Rosary, and will have a short historical talk at some places of interest alonmg the way...

While in Bavaria...

...we'll be visiting the great Marian shrine at Altoetting ...

Munich...

...and Sunday Mass at Heilig Blut  church, where the young Fr Ratzinger was once a curate....  Then busy days, working on a project for EWTN  in this glorious cathedral  and  in various parts of the city, and I'm writing this late at night in the hotel after a tasty wurstl supper...

...and a happy evening at the Church of Our Lady and St Michael...

...in Uxbridge, with parish priest Fr Nicholas Schofield, some lovely Brigettine sisters from Iver Heath, and a wonderful team of friendly parishioners!

This really is a super parish...just had a Bl. Sacrament Procession with the parish school, children strewing flowers etc...the parish hall had a big display of pics of a pilgrimage to Rome...and pics of all  the chldren making their First Communion this year...and there was freshly-brewed coffee and a lovely cake, and a wonderful welcome...

Topic for the evening was "Celebrating feasts and seasons" and we had a good time exploring saints and festivities, ending up with a discussion on celebrating the feast-days of  our patron saints, and honouring our baptism anniversaries, and more...

And then after a delicious supper, I was driven to Heathrow, where I am writing this, ready for the flight to Munich tomorrow (Sat) to work on a big project about beloved Pope Benedict XVI in Bavaria...

At a recent meeting of the LOGS...

...the Ladies Ordinariate Group, the speaker was Fr Nicholas Schofield, who told us about Fr William Lockhart, friend of Bl John Henry Newman, and a remarkable London priest whose generosity and efforts brought back the ancient church of St Etheldreda's, Ely Place, into full use in the Catholic Church.

Fr Nicholas' book on Fr Lockhart, which he's holding in this pic,  is a good read, and brings alive the events and activities of the Catholic Church in mid-Victorian London.

Incidentally, Fr Lockhart is a distant relative of the Bogles...

St Etheldreda's is a popular church, which served for many years as the Guild Church of The Keys, the Catholic Writers' Guild...a plaque in the crypt commemorates this.

On Friday, I am speaking at Fr Nicholas' parish in Uxbridge, on "Celebrating Feasts and Seasons". All welcome - come and join in!

MEN AND WOMEN ARE DIFFERENT AND COMPLEMENTARY...

...and this is central to our dignity as human beings.

And Papa Francis has just emphasised this again...and we must teach this truth, and challenge the ghastly gender ideology which campaigners are trying to impose on us.

Thank God for Papa Francis speaking out...

Many good people will be hurt...

...when the Church gives its definitive statement on the alleged visions at Medugorge.

 Like so many other Catholic writers, I've met numbers of good people who have had profound  experiences of spiritual renewal at Medugorge. And I've been told dozens of times that I "ought to go" and so on, and so on... But I've never had any desire to go there, and have always assumed that the Church would eventually say something along the lines of "This is a place where many good people have prayed and found help, where many good confessions have been heard and much good has been done...but we cannot state that the alleged visions are authentic." The sheer volume and vagueness of the "messages" together with the seemingly unending saga of the thing as it has expanded over decades made it seem unlikely that there were actual, literal, visions of Our Lady involved.

When the decision is announced, it will be horrible to see and hear the gloating of people who have long sneered at "mega-forgery" and who will delight in the discomfort of those who have been pilgrims and who have believed in the alleged visions.

I won't be among those gloating. Most - indeed virtually all - the pilgrims and fans of Medugorge that I have ever met have been good and sincere people whose activities, manner and commitment to the Church have been worthier and humbler than some of those who attack the alleged visions.

The Medugorge enthusiasts are going to need help and spiritual support, and the Church will need unity and goodwill...

read about...

...the LOGS at Whitstable...here

"When are you next on EWTN?"

...people ask. And I honestly don't know...I don't keep a copy of the current schedule with me all the time...best to look at the EWTN website or contact St Clare Media in UK...

Missed the programme on St John Paul? You can get it on DVD  here... or ask St Clare Media...

Want to know more about what it's like working for EWTN/ walking in the footsteps of St John Paul/organising, interviewing, planning such programmes, having odd adventures??? Send a Comment to this Blog (WITH AN EMAIL ADDRESS AT WHICH I CAN CONTACT YOU), and invite me to speak to your parish or school or Catholic organisation...if it's feasible, I'll do it.

and here are some pix...

...of the Corpus Christi Procession in the parish of the Most Precious Blood at The Borough, London Bridge...

CORPUS CHRISTI, and walking...walking...

...starting with a splendid Blessed Sacrament Procession from Precious Blood Church  around The Borough, London Bridge. This was  led by  the Sunday School children carrying bunches of flowers tied up with white ribbons, and the Rector carried  the Blessed Sacrament aloft beneath a great canopy, flanked by candles and incense, and followed by a good crowd of parishioners singing hymns...things finished with Benediction in the church and, finally, with the Angelus...

Then I had to hurry to Chelsea, where I had - weeks ago, without realising that the day would mean I was already busy - organised a great History Walk in the footsteps of St Thomas More. It went well, we gathered at this church, and went along the Thames to More's statue and Roper's Orchard and so on...we finished with prayers at the plaque commemorating More on the wall at Allen Hall...

I had just enough time to enjoy twenty minutes with a cold drink and a snack in the Kings Road, then caught the bus to Oxford Street and the great Blessed Sacrament Procession organised from St Patrick's Church, Soho.  A packed  church, and magnificent singing as all surged out into Soho Square and through the streets. Distribution of Miraculous Medals and small folded Scripture verses as we made our way through the streets, and a final Benediction in the churchyard of St-Giles-in-the-Fields, The vicar and a team of his parishioners always welcome the procession, and  kindly give us wine and fruit juice aftewards, and it was good to stand around chatting in the cool evening after a looooong day...

Home late, and  swapping stories with J., who had had a similarly walking day, with an afternoon of cricket, and then a dash to London  to take part in the  Procession led by Cardinal Vincent Nichols from Farm Street Church to St James', Spanish Place...again large crowds, a packed Benediction...

A good day.

Pope Benedict XVI...

...is the subject of the current project on which I am working with co-writer and TV presenter Clare Anderson.  We meet alternately in London and the country to work...so Saturday saw us sitting in the sunny garden of the Anderson home deep in the English countryside, with books about Benedict XVI and Bavaria, while birds chirrupted and the family dogs scurried about...

Clare and I have known each other for something like 30 years, working on various projects - when we first met I had just returned with my husband from an Army base in Germany, and Clare with her husband and bunch of small children from some years in America. Over the next years we would meet very occasionally - both busy with family commitments - as we wrote for different magazines and sent feature articles back and forth. It seems funny now to realise how much could be accomplished with typewriters and scribbled corrections - computers have made things so different from  the days of re-typing and Tippex and carbon paper and visits to libraries to pay 20p for a photocopy...

After our book on St John Paul the Great was published last year we had a splendid celebration at Warwick St by kind invitation of Mgr and Mrs Keith Newton,, with  our wonderful publisher Tom Longford of Gracewing , and with Neville Kyrke-Smith of Aid to the Church in Need who wrote the Foreword, with lots of friends and a lot of talk and laughter and toasts and fun.... Then later, we had a family dinner for just the four of us - the Andersons and the Bogles -  and the two husbands, who get on well, discovered to their amusmenent that they are in fact very distant cousins...both have an interest in family history, and a chance remark got them checking over some books and family trees and the link was found...

The annual CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION THROUGH SOHO...

...is this Sunday, starts after the 6pm Mass at St Patrick's.  Goes through the streets of Soho, with the Blessed Sacrament carried under a canopy, with singing, incense,  prayer...finishes at the churchyard of  St Giles-in-the-Fields with Benediction.

We need a good crowd, so if you are reading this and will be in or near London, come and join in!

This is a powerful witness to the Faith in the heart of  a vibrant but often sleazy part of London. But it is only really powerful if it has lots of people praying together, so good numbers are needed.

People in the streets  and restaurants stare, a few cross themselves, most accept the small medals they are given, Outdoor Benediction in the ancient churchyard at St Giles on a summer evening is an unforgettable experience...there has been Christian worship on that site for over a thousand years...

Come and join in!

More info here...

Want to know more about...

...why Auntie went to Liverpool?

Read here...

Anyone in London...

is invited to take part in this event with theatre, music, prayer, and a sense of community coming alive...find out more here...

Cardinal George Pell...

... one of the very best: a good man, a fine priest, a great Australian. Currently being subjected to a vile attack, and deserves our full support.

Read here..

Interested in St Thomas More?

Then come and join us on the HISTORY WALK this Sunday (June 7th).  Meet 2.30pm at the Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer in Cheyne Row, Chelsea.

Auntie and prison...

...read about the work of the Church in prisons in the latest issue of The Portal. Here...

NEW DAWN IN THE CHURCH...

...is the name of a big gathering that has been taking place at Walsingham for some years. They have invited me to be among the speakers this year, and I went to the organising group, based in Liverpool, for the weekend to learn about it all and discuss things...

It turned out to be an immensely interesting weekend, with a most useful afternoon of talks with Myles Dempsey, initiator of the whole project. Then a  lively tralkative supper with young people associated with the Prince of Peace Community house where it is all based...a lady from Ireland, a couple from Austria, a priest from Zambia, a girl from Germany...we ended up having a fascinating discussion about languages and accents, revealing in the end all sorts of things about habits and ideas and customs...much laughter and also much thoughtful stuff...

Celibacy for priests....

...why?

A talk on the subject organised by the FAITH Movement.  Tuesday, June 2nd, 7.30pm at 24 Golden Square London W1 (hall of the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory). Speaker: Fr Stephen Brown, chaplain at Bradford University. ALL WELCOME.

Off to Bavaria...

...next month for a project on the life and work of Pope Benedict XVI.. I have written a bit about this in the latest issue of OREMUS, the magazine of Westminster Cathedral...you can find out more here...

VOCATIONS...

...and a visit to the Vocations Centre at Whitstable in Kent. The LOGS (a group of Ordinariate ladies) have established a joyful tradition of an annual summer visit, and we love it: Mass in the beautiful chapel with its "Duc in altum..." inscription arund the chancel, a delicious and talkative lunch with Fr Stephen Langridge and the young men who are at the Centre discerning a possible call to the priesthood, the Rosary at the garden shrine...it's always a very special day.

LONDON: History....

...with a visiting American priest  who will be bringing a big group later in the summer. We walked around St Thomas More's Chelsea, and included a visit to the seminary, Allen Hall where we were made most welcome. The seminary  numbers are going up and they are having to rearrange accomodation to find the neccessary rooms this Autumn. This is good news...

Hurry and book your place...

...on the John Paul II Pilgrimage to Walsingham. 6th-9th August, starting with an open-air Mass in the ancient abbey at Bury St Edmunds - where Magna Carta was first drawn up.

Easy to book - simply email sister.hyacinthe@googlemail.com


More info here

"You can't go there - the roof's fallen in"...

...was what friends said when I announced my intention to go to Mass at Blackfriars, Oxford. Well, actually, the roof hasn't fallen in - but the chapel does need some work and restoration, and so at present Masses are celebrated in the Refectory.  It's a good sized  long room, formal, panelled, with a fine ceiling - but it is smaller than the church and so Mass was absolutely packed and it all got rather warm. But it was a most delightful and inspiring Mass - whereas the Sunday morning Masses attrract families with children, this evening Mass in Oxford of course  sees large numbers of young people, They filled every available space, including the Medieval-style long benches lining the walls on either side. Splendid singing - the Mass is combined with Vespers, so the psalms rang back and forth, the strong voices of the young Dominicans (there are lots of them!) mingling with those of the young congregation. A young girl was being confirmed, ands we all joined in the reaffirmation of Baptismal promises: "Do you renounce Satan?" "I do" "And all his works, and all his empty promises?" "I do"...

It was a delight, afterwards, to exchange news with Fr Richard Conrad, a longtime family friend and coincidentally one of my lecturers when I was doing my first Degree at Maryvale. and with Br Samuel Burke...

And then I hurried to the station and am writing this on the train to Paddington, looking out from time to time at the  most glorious glowing sunset over the passing countryside.

OXFORD...

...and the celebration of a new Chesterton Library, based at the Oxford Oratory (St Aloysius).. Speeches, wine, delicious food, lots of lively talk.  There was a reading of a 1909 debate between George Bernard Shaw and Chesterton, with Dr William Oddie taking the part of the latter.  It made one realise how utterly faraway is that Edwardian England...

The evening was cheery, convivial, celebratory and gently academic, much greeting of friends and general enjoyment.

Afterwards, out into the Oxford summer night, with "hen party" girls shrieking and wobbling on their spiky stilt-heels, and joining groups of undergraduates in drunken vomiting and staggering about in the pedestrianised shopping centres. Police hovering about in their ugly heavy anti-stab jackets, with siren cars at the ready, lights flashing.

A bus out through the Oxfordshire countryside, and an overnight stay with relatives. In the morning, news, expected but still depressing, of Ireland's collapse into absurdity.  Over the past few years, I have learned much, of  the bossines and deficiencies in the old-style Irish Catholicism...it offers no joy to note that now Catholicism, in any style at all, seems to be treated with derision there...

A walk along London's river...

...with  lots and lots of history on the way...

Several kind readers of this Blog have sent me comments about the EWTN series currently running, about London's Catholic history. I am glad that the programmes are giving so much pleasure...the team working on this included some fine camermen and a great producer, and all the people interviewed gave of their very best too, making it a most satisfying project.  I loved doing it all, and the answer to the frequently asked "Will you do more of these features?" is most certainly "YES!".  There is so much rich history to explore, and it all has so much to teach us.

More info on all this can be obtained from EWTN: best to enquire there about broadcast times etc...I don't have this information.

And meanwhile in a Kent village...

...something good is happening too....read here. And admire Auntie's handiwork too...

You might need cheering up a bit...

...so read this.

Male and female...

...and why there are two sexes...and whether it's important...and why there is a male priesthood...and more...

Fascinating talk by Fr Roger Nesbitt at the Evening of FAITH held at Golden Square, Piccadilly, on Tuesday evening...

These are regular evening talks...more info here...

Looking ahead to the Synod in Rome in the Autumn...

...this is a rather useful read...

The Tyburn Lecture...

..is an annual event organised by the splendid nuns at Tyburn Convent.  Each year it is given by a prominent figure in British public life. This year's lecture, held a few days ago,  took up the theme of freedom, on this 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. A superb address - read here, examining the trial of  the heroic St Edmund Campion, and his defence of freedom, especially freedom of expression.

It is always a crowded gathering: I only just squeezed in at the back. Afterwards, the beaming nuns serve drinks and delicious food and there is a great chatter of talk...it's a grand gathering of men and women of the Church in England. It was particular pleasure to be greeted by Sister Margaret - who taught me at St Philomena's,...and to talk to Br Samuel Burke of the splendid young Godzdogz team...

A warm London evening, and it seemed a pity to hurry to the Tube. I set out to walk, sharing part of the route with Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate, going bac to Warwick Street. Lots to talk about, after a great lecture with a sweep of history and large ideas...

Cardinal Pell and St John Paul the Great, and the great Tradition...

...of the Church. The Synod this October will not and cannot change the Church's teaching on marriage. Read here.

We began in the Mary Garden...walked along the riverside...saying the Rosary...

...on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady  at Hampton Wick.

This is an annual walking pilgrimage, begun after discovering a story about St John Paul the Great.

In the 1970s, concerned about finding enough priests - in the difficult years under Communism - for his diocese of Krakow, he made a promise to our Lady that he would walk to every  Marian shrine within walking distance  of the city, if she would grant him one new young priest for each such pilgrimage. Soon his seminary was full...

So we've started a walking pilhgrimage... an adapted form of the Krakow idea.  Rather than go to various Marian shrines, a walking group starts in the Mary garden at this church, and  walks into Kingston,  crosses the Thames there, and then follows the river down to Hampton Wick,

We prayed the Rosary along the way, and sang the Regina Caeli at the shrine, and were given splendid refreshments and a happy social time  before departing to our homes...

English spiritual writers, and a great tradition...

...are combined in the CALLED TO BE HOLY Novena of Prayer. Find out more about it all here...

Auntie writing about...

...London and recent events...see here...

ASCENSION DAY...

...PLEASE PLEASE

Dear Bishops

Please may we have Ascension Day back to its proper day??

I don't want - or need - to be told that I can go to an Extraordinary Form Mass or  Byzantine Rite or something. WE NEED TO HAVE  OUR ORDINARY CALENDAR BACK. We need to have the feast days on their proper days. We want our  feast days! We want our Sundays!

ASCENSION DAY IS A MOST IMPORTANT FEAST DAY...and it just doesn't work to move it to the nearest Sunday.

Today, I went to a midday Mass at a London church. It was well attended. This was partly because several people there thought they were celebrating Ascension day. All were regular Massgoers. All were conscious that some feast days had been moved. BUT THEY ALL ASSUMED THAT ASCENSION DAY WAS...ASCENSION DAY!!! So they came to Mass.

In the evening J. and I  had an invitation to the Ascension day service at the Guild Church of St Margaret Pattens, with the Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers.  The Worshipful Company marks Ascension Day each year with this special service - members wearing robes etc.

Pattens are those high blocks that for many years women wore beneath their shoes when walking in the sloppy mud - especially on the banks of the Thames. As I hurried across London Bridge in driving rain to the City, up Pudding Lane and along Eastcheap, I was walking where thousands and thousands and thousands of Londoners have gone before me...many of them, along ago, wearing pattens...

Today the Worshipful Company keeps up the footwear link by providing, among other things, orthopedic shoes for soldiers injured in battle,  and scholarshps for young people engaged in the shoe trade....

It was beautiful to be welcomed into the warm church and to sing glorious old hymns and  be inspired by a superb choir. Afterwards, a drinks reception in the City Library by the Guildhall, with a feast of history:  letters, seals, photographs, telling the story of the  public meetings and Parliamentary debates and  massive work that led to the Penny Post and a proper postal service, with  lots of original letters from Sir Rowland Hill, and splendid proclamations to postmasters couched in forthright Victorian language.

It is a very satisfying thing to celebrate a feast day in style. It lends itself to all sorts of traditions, celebrations, and trimmings. If the Church of England can do it, why can't Catholics?

The election, the new government, the things that matter...

...you might be interested in this overview...

Cardinal Vincent Nichols...

...had just finished celebrating Mass at westminster Cathedral when I arrived to meet my fellow History Walkers on the steps. He greeted me very cheerily and wished us a good walk, adding that he hoped I wouldn't make everyone go too fast...a weeks back I bumped into him when I was hurrying across the piazza.  It's true that I do walk v.v. quickly - more than once I've had Walkers begging me to slow down a bit...but I always feel so keen to show everything that is along the route, as London as so much fabulous history!

It was a beautiful May evening, and our Walk took us into St James Park, and on down to Horseguards. The Houses of Parliament were bathed in a sunset glow and then slowly the darkness fell and the lamps came on.

So much of London is ugly now: the revolting "walkie talkie" in the City, the blank, faceless soaring Shard, the horrible concrete and glass slabs destroying any possibilty of a pleasant walk down Victoria Street (always a dull road, and available for some imaginative changes, but no...)

But things move and change...one day the vile ugly buildings will come down, to be replaced by something different again. London once had slums where cholera festered, and a public executiuon site where people crowded to view the hangman and his butcher assistants.  And those things seemed normal at the time.

More Walks planned...meet Sunday June 7th, 2.30pm  at Holy Redeemer Church, Chelsea, for a walk in the footsteps of St Thomas More....Sunday June 21st for the big Martyrs Walk starting 1.30pm Stepulchre's churchyard, near the OLD BAILEY...Monday July 6th, meet 6pm (after Evening Prayer) at St Patrick's, Soho....

ON A TOPIC OF SOME IMPORTANCE...

...the Catholic Union is organising an evening lecture and discussion. All are welcome - especially parents, teachers, and clergy. Schools governors and local councillors should come along too.

Teaching Sexuality Following the Mind of the Church: 

a lecture by Louise Kirk

a lecture by

Louise Kirk

on Thursday, 18th June, 2015 at 6.30 pm

at Trafalgar Hall, Notre Dame University

1 Suffolk Street, London SW1Y 4HG

more info here....

CALLED TO BE...

HOLY.

Under this title, there is a Novena of Prayer, starting on Friday (May 15th) to Saturday May 23rd, organised by the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and focusing on  some of the great Eng;lish spiritual writings.

A booklet has been produced. It's a feast: The Cloud of the Unknowing..., The DREAM OF THE ROOD...some lovely pieces by Bl John Henry Newman and by Julian of Norwich...Thomas Ken...Lancelot Andrews...

Some of  my readers are not Catholics, or even practising Christians. But you will still love this booklet, because it has some of the most beautiful Eng;lish writing.  Enjoy it: you can get a copy of the booklet by contacting the Ordinariate (24 Golden Square London W1F 9JR tel 020 7 440 5750 ), collecting a copy from the stack at Precious Blood Church (O'Meara St, London SEI - nearest tube The Borough or London Bridge). Or by contacting the Called to Be Holy website...

An important issue....

..for our times.

One of the main things that people know about the Catholic Church - in fact for lots of people it is virtually the only thing they know about the Church - is that the Church opposes abortion, contraception, and same-sex unions.   It is  good that people know this. But they need to know more.

 It is routine in many Catholic schools for a speaker to come in to talk about why abortion is wrong, but it seems more rare to have in a guest speaker to tackle Confession, daily prayer, Sunday Mass... or some aspect of  Church history, or the glories of Christian achievements in art, medicine, science, architecture, exploration...or the Church's teaching on marriage, or the priesthood, or what Baptism is all about, or why we anoint the sick...

 Church history, in particular, is important. I have met Catholic students who have received very little information on, for example, the Crusades, Church/State relations, or the Medieval Church. In general, they get - via the media and everyday culture, from folklore and from pub-gossip - what might be called the "Wolf Hall" version on such things.

Result:  many young Catholics find that they know a lot about the Church being opposed to abortion - and they are glad to support the Church on this.  But they don't quite know how to go on from there. They don't know how to share the message of repentance, forgiveness, and mercy.They havn't had a deep formation in the Christian faith that makes it possible to teach these things, and are left rather stranded when their Church is accused of being pitiless and negative. They know they should be able to offer a message of Christian hope and mercy, but  lack the specifics.

A "Wolf Hall" version of how the Church operates, plus inadequate formation in the nature of Christ and the sacraments makes for a lethal mix.

Pope Francis' announcement about the Jubilee Year of Mercy is thus of crucial importance: will pro-life groups take this up and start promoting it?  It could be one of the most important things to happen in the struggles to promote an authentic culture of life: a breakthrough with lasting consequences. Over to the pro-life groups.

post-election thoughts...

...including a look at the hideous display of screeching anger by spoilt youngsters waving banners with filthy words on them, in a demonstration  organised by an extreme-left group in Westminster the other day. They belong to the "deserving rich" who like to shriek with socialist placards and express hatred for the country that has given them a comfortable home throughout their lives. And if you don't believe me about the posh middle-classness of it all, take a look: scroll down to the young ladies with the banner with the F-word...

Some in the crowd  defaced a memorial to women who served in WW2...I suppose they weren't able (DG!) to get to the Cenotaph itself.

Perhaps we may charitably assume that others - including those who got their pix in the newspapers - felt that such a defacement was wrong, and would like to say so. We are waiting.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL...

...Australia's great Archbishop, now heading up an important office in Rome, spoke powerfully and movingly  at a significant gathering ithis week.

Read about it here...

and he has reaffirmed the message that the Synod this Autumn won't change the Church's teaching on marriage and family...

David Cameron...

..once spoke to a Pope about the “new culture of social responsibility that we want to build in Britain”.

“People of faith are great architects of that culture,” he said. “For many faith is a spur to action… Faith is part of the fabric of our country: it always has been and it always will be.”

As Cameron now returns to his responsibilties as Prime Minister,we must ensure that he keeps true to that, and to his shared belief with the Pope that “faith is not a problem for legislators to solve but rather a vital part of our national conversation”.

As it happens, events from seven decades earlier meant that his first public act after accepting office from HM and reeturning to Downing Street to announce the fact, was to take part in a public televised Christian service. 

The Scriptures remind us to pray for all who hold public office, so let's do so.

The VE Day anniversary...

..and Auntie's analysis as one grateful for a freedom dearly bought...read here

MAY PRAYERS...

at this university.   We gathered at the Chapel-in-the-Woods in pale May sunshine, students and staff, young  voices singing  " Virgin Mary, by God's decree... Ave, Ave, Maria..." .  The chapel (18th century) is tiny, and we gathered outside by its open door, the candelit interior sending out a welcome.  Prayers for those facing exams and dissertations,  for the whole University community,  for our country on this Election day, for the repose of former students who died in the two World Wars (VE Day anniversary tomorrow)...The students  had brought lanterns to light the little old chapel - the big candle-lanterns that are used for NightFever, and glowing votive candles in blue glass, honouring Mary.  Afterwards, freshly-brewed coffee and cake and lots of lively chat...a lovely May morning celebration celebrating a special heritage.

A booklet arrives...

...in the post from the Catholic Truth Society. It's Everyday Evangelising with Pope Francis  and is rather good. It offers a thoughtful and practical approach the the whole idea of spreading the Gospel, emphasising prayer and deeds of kindness. It quotes Pope Benedict "We impose nothing, yet we propose ceaselessly...And everyone, in the end, asks this of us, even those who seem not to. From personal ands communual experience, we know well that it is Jesus whom everyone awaits."

The booklet is readable and attractive, with a powerful message. Recommended.

Ooooh, the Pope's gonna say...

...except that he isn't going to say what people seem to think he's going to say...

Read here for some common sense on the forthcoming "green" encyclical.

Papa Benedict was the "green Pope" and it seems likely that papa Francis will follow the same approach...

and...

...the NEXT CATHOLIC HISTORY WALK

is on

Monday May 11th, starting at 6.30pm on the steps of Westminster Cathedral, after the 5.30pm Mass. All welcome.

There are more pix...

...of that May procession through the streets of The Borough, London Bridge, here

The Brigettine sisters...

...at Maryvale in Birmingham  invited me to the Silver Jubilee of Mother Giacomina. It was a real delight to be at Maryvale again - I have not been through those gates since I gained my degree a couple of years ago, receiving it in due course from Archbishop Bernard Longley in St Chad's Cathedral.

In all the years I studied at Maryvale, praying the daily Offices and attending Mass in that lovely chapel, I never went into the gallery. So today was a first - I was ushered up there because I arrived a bit late, and the rest of the chapel was packed full. So was the gallery, but a space was made for me, and  as I joined in the Mass I felt the years slipping away and remembered the many Maryvale days that began with Mass here...and then a breakfast (you had to "tick for an egg" on the notice-board) followed by a morning of lectures...During the Mass Mother C. renewed her vows in a strong clear voice, a moving moment. She had several members of her family with her from India - the ladies in the most beautiful saris.

And then there was a delicious buffet lunch and the pleasure of meeting many friends...

An odd link with my very first visit to Maryvale, back in 2008: I had forgotten my spectacles and that first weekend of lectures and introductions and discovering the layout of the place etc proved a bit more of a challenge than I had planned. On this visit, some half-dozen years later, my spectacles snapped in half as I made a grab for them while sharing a hymn-sheet. So again, I was operating under slight difficulties all day...

Oh, but it was a happy day and a joy to be with the Brigettine sisters. It was through meeting them at Maryvale that I came to write the book  which was in due course presented to the Pope and which tells of the heroic Mother Riccarda Hambrough and her care for Jews in Rome in WWII...

London ...

...with helicopters clattering overhead (lots of crowds,media activity around Kensington Palace because of the Royal baby) our Catholic History Walk through Chelsea in bright sunshine culminated in a warm welcome at Allen Hall for a Tea (excellent walnut cake!), tours led by the students, and a most beautiful Vespers and Benediction.

 Allen Hall is the diocesan seminary for Westminster and is named for Cardinal William Allen who founded it in Douai in the years when the Catholic faith was banned in England. It is now operating at full capacity, and has also recently had some refurbishment . The library looks beautiful, with some graceful ceiling detail showing mulberry leaves - a reference to the famous mulberry tree in the garden, where St Thomas More is said to have relaxed with his family. The Chapel now has some proper heating - badly needed because of its height - and is about to get a new reredos. Vespers, with the strong young male voices singing the psalms was moving. There is a sense of confidence in the future here, inspired by the courage of the past...

The morning showed a different but also encouraging aspect of Catholic life in London, with the annual May Procession through the streets of The Borough, London Bridge, organised by the Church of the Most Precious Blood.. Four men carried the big statue of Our Lady aloft on its special platform, all decorated with flowers and ribbons, and in front of them walked the children of the parish, scattering flowers from ribboned boxes. The congregation surged behind, and people on buses along Southwark Street  took pictures on their mobile phones, and a long line of people queuing at a popular restaurant gawped in silence. All very traditional: we sang "Ave, Ave..." with the front part of the procession singing one verse while the end had started on another, and people in the middle got muddled and struck out with a verse of their own...

A good day.

You can read the latest issue...

...of The Portal, the magazine of the Ordinariate of O.L. of Walsingham, here.

A Saxon princess and a day in Kent...

...at Minster Abbey., named for St Mildred and originally founded in the wake of St Augustine's arrival...

A fabulous, quiet day there. I went with D., who is secretary of the Catholic Writers' Guild, and on the evening before she gave an excellent dinner party at her London flat, lots of laughter and lively talk over a delicious meal. The next morning we were up early, to get to Minster in time for the morning office at 8.30am (the nuns get up even earlier and sing while all is still dark and the birds are just beginning to wake up...but we had to drive from London...).

Minster is glorious - the nuns singing, the familiar words of the psalms going back and forth,  bluebells in the garden, lots of books  to enjoy in a comfortable guest-house. There is a sort of farm-ish area they call Parkminster where there are ducks and a big barn they use for welcoming large groups of visitors, pilgrims, and groups studying crafts etc. The village has a couple of good pubs and we lunched there...

We  agreed to be silent during the day, except for lunch, attended the  nuns' Offices, enjoyed the grounds, read, wrote, sewed, rested.   The final Office,Compline, was sung in Latin and followed by a time of silent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The chapel is very simple and attractive,  the altar centred on a big chunk of glossy wood, the big windows beyond the altar clear glass giving views of the glorious trees and wide Kent sky. We drove back through a dusk still glowing with the remains of a pink sunset.

...and the latest on sex-ed in a Catholic school...

...read here...

Does the Church oppress women? What about same-sex "marriage"? and more...

...if you missed the talk at the Amigo Hall, Southwark, recently, you have a second chance to hear it and to join in the discussion:

The Centre for Catholic Formation  is organising a repeat on THURSDAY JUNE 25th at the Catholic Church in Faversham, Kent. The whole series of talks on "Answering common objections to Catholicism"  is  being repeated, tackling subjects like "Does science disprove religion" and  "The  Catholic Church is stuck in the past". Admission is free, but it would be useful to book a place in advance. The parish is run by the Carmelites: more info here,  or contact thre Centre for Catholic Formation.

A very jolly evening...

...at the launch of a new edition of Lynette Burrows' book "GOOD CHILDREN". Lots of young people, young parents with babies...lots of prosecco, delicious nibbles, jazz, talk, and laughter. It all happened at the Cable Cafe in the Brixton Road...it was full of friends and it was enormous fun to be in good company, for a good party, on a Spring evening.

The book is a practical, don't let's-panic-about-it guide to raising children. It has a positive and joyful message about family life...Lynette and her husband raised six children, and there are now lots of grandchildren, and both the book and the party celebrate all of this...

The book tackles all sorts of things, from how to avoid producing spoilt children (she gives specific examples, eg the child who refuses food because it's on the wrong colour plate) to the joys and challenges that a handicapped child brings...it's a good read, with an upbeat message. The chief thing she urged is "don't listen to too many experts". They are so often wrong, and often make parents feel scared and inadequate.. it is not really hard to achieve happy, disciplined children in a happy home where there is love and security, and parental instincts and common sense are central in all of this.

You can order the book at

 tyler@fisher-press.fsnet.co.uk

and it is £20 plus £3.00 postage...

On marriage, truth, and the freedom to speak of these things...

...and with the Election focusing thoughts on what the next Government will be like, and what might happen over the next years....read here...

CATHOLIC HISTORY WALK...

TODAY , Monday April 27th. Starts at this church...Mass 1.05pm. Nearest tube: LONDON BRIDGE

Papa Francis giving good advice...

...and a heart-warming sight as new priests are ordained. See here...

Reading up on the debates over whether the weather is changing...

...I found this of interest...

While at a care home for elderly people...

...one of the residents kept gently reminding everyone that "Songs of Praise", the popular BBC Sunday programme of hymns, would shortly be on the TV. Part of me thought "Oh, dear...I suppose that's the sort of thing people here like...." But the cheery nurse turned on the TV and we heard some of the most enchanting, beautiful singing from children's school choirs. DO LISTEN, especially to the choir of  Ysgol lau Llangennech - and watch the young faces. And there's lots more: enjoy. Here...

And share this with friends.

A  particularly wonderful moment this afternoon was the staff and residents of the home - yes, and Auntie Joanna too - joining in with "What a friend we have in Jesus" with the choir of St Peter's CofE school,   Go on. Listen, watch, and join in too.

An important read...

...about an important dialogue. Read here...

London...

...very crowded indeed on a sunny April Saturday.  The London Marathon tomorrow, various Gallipoli commemorations today...the bells of St Paul's Cathedral were ringing a most glorious peal  (??Evensong? It was just before 5pm) and helicopters were chattering overhead at intervals throughout the day.  I was lunching with Ciara, who works at St Patrick's, Soho - good to catch up on news and ideas...she was due to spend the evening in street evangelisation (they give out  holy medals, get chatting to people)...

Yesterday evening, I attended, with a fellow student, a fund-raising event for one of our MA team, Fr Bala, who later this year will be returning to India to work with disadvantaged youth in a scheme run by the Jesuits...a group of his friends and parishioners here in London had organised a splendid fund-raising dinner-dance  and H. and I were glad to support it. We went along in our best dresses and enjoyed being part of it all!  Delicious food, beautiful candlelit tables, lots of talk and music, a very happy atmosphere, a really splendid evening...Fr Bala gave a short presentation about the work he hopes to do in India and you can get a flavour of it here...

Shock sex eduation in a Catholic school....

...yes, I thought that would get you reading.

More info here

There is evident fear about what might happen if pupils become influenced. And the organisation involved is active, apparently, in giving talks to other schools and to youth groups. Info here...

If you do not know...

...why  thousands of Australians and New Zealanders , young and old, will be getting up at dawn tomorrow morning, then you must find out.

This is a day that never goes uncommemorated in the Bogle family (Australian, and grateful and proud of it)  because, as for so many other families, it resonants with family names, family history.

An Australian friend sent me an ANZAC link which includes the words from Ataturk on the Gallipoli memorial: 
Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours ... You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

St George's Day...

...and  Mass and celebration supper at this London cathedral,

I was due to give a lecture in the cathedral hall, as part of a whole series of talks on the Catholic faith, organised by the Catholic Formation Centre, and  it drew good numbers, extra chairs brought in etc. Topic was a suitable one for the feast of St George, who is patron of chivalry...we were tackling male/female relationships, marriage, family...

St John Paul the Great gave us a rich new way of teaching all this, with the Theology of the Body, and there are now some good resources on this to enable useful discussions, especially with the young.

University Chaplain...

...Fr Mark Vickers of Hatfield, spoke at LOGS.  As  Catholic Chaplain to students at  the University of Hertfordshire, he welcomes students from all over the world, many of whom are baffled by the (often ugly, sordid, and drunken!) lifestyle of modern Britain. African and Asian Christians find a home-from-home in the Church. It was fascinating to get a picture of what the Church can offer to students at a modern university and to realise the creative part played by things like the FAITH Movement, World Youth Day, and the whole vision of the New Evangelisation...and the day-to-day life of a welcoming Catholic community.

A useful, upbeat and informative evening - and we also had a lot of planning and discussion because the LOGS activities are endlessly increasing as the Ordinariate activities expand and our own evangelistic outreach grows...projects for primary schools, meetings, pilgrimages, and we've got to look ahead and book our slot for carol singing in December (yes, I know that sounds daft but the big London railway stations get booked by dozens of groups each year!) and we're thinking of  our programme for 2016 too...

...and meanwhile in San Francisco...

...a major on-line secular newspaper ran a questionaire on the topic of the Archbishop's upholding of Catholic moral teachings in Catholic schools.

The thing began because the San Francisco Chronicle ran an advertisment paid for by rich Catholics demanding that the Archbishop be sacked: they are angry because he is upholding the teaching that Catholic teachers in  Catholic schools should abide by Catholic moral teaching on sex and marriage. The rich-team think that as "prominent Catholics" they must tell him to stop doing that.

Here's the latest, reported by the CWR Blog,  and you can read more here...

The San Francisco Chronicle, the newspaper that published the appeal, is the largest circulation daily in northern California, owned by the Hearst group. Its online twin is SFGate, with 22 million visitors monthly.

To reinforce the impact of the appeal’s publication, SFGate also launched a questionnaire with four pre-determined answers—two pro and two con—to this question: Should Pope Francis remove Archbishop Cordileone from the San Francisco archdiocese?

And what came of it? The overwhelming majority lined up not to fire the archbishop, but to defend him.

For the sake of accuracy, at noon on Sunday, April 19th, here are the results of the questionnaire:

77% answered: “No, the archbishop is upholding the values of the Catholic Church.”

11%: “Yes, the archbishop is fostering a climate of intolerance.”

10%: “No, the archbishop is right to oppose same-sex marriage.”

2%: “Yes, his morality clauses for teachers in parochial schools defies the law.”

Evidently, the signatories of the appeal are “prominent Catholics”, but they have neither the pulse nor the following of bulk of the faithful, not even in the U.S. city depicted by the media as the most “liberal”.

Privacy...

...a couple of correspondents have written in demanding that I give out more information about my family - and especially about my closest elderly relatives.  I deliberately protect their privacy by not revealing any information: not their names, not the specific relationship, not their address, not any information that will reveal the address. So please stop seeking it. We have discussed this in the family and agreed to protect our privacy.

Like many other writers, I will often want to refer to personal anecdotes and will continue doing so, and will tend to refer simply to "a relation" or "a young friend" etc. Get used to it.

St John Paul - Doctor of the Church?

...The idea has been raised and certainly has merit. Read some thoughts here...

One suggestion is that he should be honoured as the "Doctor of Mercy"  but that title really belongs  also to St Faustina...

St John Paul's teachings on marriage, family, the male/female sacranmental bond, the "nuptial meaning" of the Eucharist, and the "theology of the body", along with his work on freedom, inter-religious dialogue, and the centrality of truth, are all of huge importance. His Trinitarian emphasis, at the core of all his teachings, is of significance.

...and when at St Patrick's. Soho the other day...

...I picked up info about SPIRIT IN THE CITY, which happens in June. Events include drama, a street party, and a great Blessed Sacrament Procession through Soho. More about it all here...

A sudden gift...

... of a happy evening after a slightly frustrating day.

This is a nice story, so enjoy it.

Our washing-machine having finally given up the ghost, we spent a busy but eventually unsuccessful day trying to sort out a new machine and various other neccessary things for the house...

In the evening, I set off to visit a beloved elderly relative in a residential care home...with a big suitcase of  sheets and towels, to take to a launderette on the way back, plus some embroidery to do while the washing whirred.

I started sewing on the bus, and another passenger got chatting, noticing that I was embroidering the words "Our Lady of Walsingham". I felt that I vaguely her.We got off at the same stop, and I mentioned that I was on my way to St W's.  care home, and she said that she knew the lovely nuns who run it...and then we suddenly both remembered that we'd met some years ago, when I'd brought a group of carol singers around all the local houses - and that this lady had welcomed us in and given us wine and mince pies...  "Are you staying overnight somewhere? she asked, indicating the suitcase, and I admitted that no, it was just some washing for the launderette...

"Why not leave it in my machine while you go to St W's?   And so I ended up, after a lovely visit with my relative, back at  this kind lady's  lovely house, and a glass of wine, and lots of chat discovering mutual friends in the local Catholic parish etc etc... and at her suggestion my husband joined us and we all had a very pleasant time, and trundled back home with freshly washed sheets and towels...

A happy evening.

...

Hidden gem...

...see here...

THE FAITH MOVEMENT...

...is holding SUMMER TALKS, following the success of the winter and spring series. Venue:  crypt hall at 24 Golden Square London W1 (nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus) on alternate Tuesdays at 7.30pm.  Aimed at young people, but all are welcome:

Tuesday 5 May
The Church’s teaching on sex; time for change? Ryan Day

Tuesday 19th May
Why a male priesthood? Fr. Roger Nesbitt

Tuesday 2nd June
Clerical celibacy; should priests be married? Fr. Stephen Brown

Tuesday 16th June
The Four Last Things; truth or fiction? Fr. Philip Miller

Tuesday 30th June
Holy Communion; who can receive and why? Fr. Tim Finigan

Tuesday 7th July
Is St John Paul relevant to the Family Synod's discernment? Joanna Bogle

7:30pm @ basement of 24 Golden Square, London, W1F 9JR All welcome

Come and join in the debate...

"Is the Catholic Church anti-women and anti-gay?"

Amigo Hall, St George's Cathedral, Southwark, this coming Thursday, April 23rd, 7.30pm. Admission free. More info here...

NEWMAN on Vatican II...

...read here...

YES!!!!! And a big THANK YOU to Papa Francis....

...for common sense and wisdom on a topic on which today's muddled Western thinking has become more and more absurd. Read here

...and the NEXT Catholic History Walk is...

...on MONDAY APRIL 27th, a lunchtime walk,  starting with the 1.05pm Mass at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge.  (Nearest tube: London Bridge, or Borough).

We'll enjoy the river, the story of a Viking Battle at London Bridge, a  glimpse of the Tower, and links with Geoffrey Chaucer, John Harvard, and Charles Dickens...

All welcomre. No need to book. Come for as little or as long as you like...

...and make sure this date is in your diary: SUNDAY JUNE 21st, 1.30pm for 2pm, meet at ST SEPULCHRE's CHURCHYARD near the OLD BAILEY (nearest tube: St Paul's) for the annual MARTYRS WALK to Tyburn.

LOGS at the seaside...

Read here...

Gathering on the steps...

...of Westminster Cathedral on a glorious spring evening, the History Walk started with a good look at the  Cathedral, its Byzantine red brick glowing in the April sunshine, and memories of the visit of St John Paul the Great in 1982 and of beloved Papa Benedict XVI more recently...

...And then on down Ambrosden Avenue, with some stories of Cardinals Wiseman and Manning and Vaughan...and so on to the Horseferry Road. A ferry with a platform on which you could stand your horse  was an importrant feature of London's transport system in the old days, when there were were fewer bridges over the Thames and no buses or Tubes (or cars or bicycles). Most of London's bridges are fairly new, although London Bridge goes back to the days of Viking battles, and there were bridges at various points such as Kingston (where my father's regimental colours are laid up in the great parish church, where long ago Saxon kings were crowned...).

Down along Great Peter Street - named for our first Pope - on on to the Abbey and Parliament. We went into the gardens alongside the Victoria Tower, and a park keeper came up to tell us the gates were closing...but allowed us to continue our walk and unlocked the rear gate for us. He was nice, and we chatted as we walked along - he enjoys his job working in one of the most famous places in the world, though he  said it gets v. cold in winter...and so on to the Sovreign's entrance where we sheltered from the wind and talked of Lords and Commons and Parliamentary democracy...and thence to the Great Hall where Benedict XVI spoke so superbly back in 2010 and reminded us that democracy rests on spiritual and moral values and needs to be constantly nourished by them...

There is always a great atmosphere on these History Walks, and people are friendly and we finish with prayers for our country...

NEXT WALK: April 27th, a lunchtime walk. Meet at the 1.05pm Mass at the Church of the Most Precious Blood, London Bridge.

There's a overview of the History Walks here...

and you can find out about the John Paul walk to Walsingham here...

And book SUNDAY JUNE 21st in your diary: meet at 1.30pm for 2pm at St Sepulchre's Churchyard, near the OLD BAILEY (nearest tube: St pauls) for the annual MATYRS' WALK to Tyburn. All welcome: no need to book, just turn up - bring your friends, your family, people from your parish...

OBJECTIONS....

...to the Catholic faith. Come and join in the discussion. Auntie J. is among the speakers. Series starts  this week, on Thursday April 16th, 7.30pm at the AMIGO HALL, St George's Cathedral, Southwark, topic "Doesn't science disprove religion?".  Auntie speaks on Thursday April 23rd: "Isn't the Church anti-women and anti-gay?"

All welcome - admission free, but you are asked to register: info here.

St George's Cathedral is opposite the Imperial War Museum: nearest tube: WATERLOO or LAMBETH NORTH.  Amigo Hall is right alongside the Cathedral.

The Myrrh Bearer...

...an icon that was given to me some years ago on a special Birthday hangs over my desk. It is of St Joanna the Myrrh Bearer.

"I don't think I've heard of her..." I said tentatively when it was placed in my hands "Oh, yes you have", I was told, and I was sent to look up the Bible's account of the Resurrection.

And there she is: Luke 24: 1-10. Joanna was one of the women who came  "on the first day of the week, at early dawn" with spices to anoint Christ's body.  And Joanna went  with Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and the other women, to tell the Apostles what they had seen and heard at the tomb...

...and here's the latest on Divine Mercy...

...the Extraordinary Jubilee Year, set to begin on the feast of the Immaculate Conception...read here