...is the sound of the moment. It's popular, it's important, and it does you good.
So if you want to learn how to sing it, go to St Joseph's, New Malden, for a special one-day Gregorian Chant Workshop this Saturday, July 5th. Find out more about it here.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Flanders...
...has a rich Christian past but seems uncertain of its future. Fastest growing religion is Islam. The countryside is lush and fruitful - everywhere, rich fields of crops, and in the suburbs, people busy on allotments (or whatever they are called in Belgium), and in the towns, busy restaurants and coffee-shops stocked with lovely food. In Antwerp on Saturday, a noisy parade with African-style drums and various other events, plus a massive Hindu parade on the Cathedral Square, while shoppers teemed through the pedestrianised streets.
Home late by Eurostar with a thousand images filling my head from a fascinating visit...
This morning, a quiet cycle ride to Mass through the London suburbs, to St Pius X church in Norbiton. Magnificent singing from the many young people present - turns out several were from the Cardinal Vaughan school which has a magnificent musical tradition...
Home late by Eurostar with a thousand images filling my head from a fascinating visit...
This morning, a quiet cycle ride to Mass through the London suburbs, to St Pius X church in Norbiton. Magnificent singing from the many young people present - turns out several were from the Cardinal Vaughan school which has a magnificent musical tradition...
To Belgium...
...via the Chanell Tunnel (Eurostar) in great style. One images it will feel very dramatic going under the sea, but of course it isn't at all - it's barely noticeable - the train whizzes fast through countryside and tunnels and then one is aware of being in a longish tunnel, then countryside again...
Brussels - kind friends had arranged for me to meet a colleague who introduce me to the city's charming old centre, and a lunch of moules-and-frites. Much talk of the state of things in Belgium generally, in the Church especially...a visit to the beautiful Cathedral, which is dedicated to St Michael and St Gudule (local saint - must find out more about her). As with most churches in Belgium, there is nowhere to kneel down. Pews and kneelers have been replaced with neat bleak rows of chairs so the place feels like a theatre or meeting-hall. Ghastly. So people sit smugly throughout Mass, as if it is a performance and they are mere spectators rather than participants... Even when you simply drop into the cathedral to light a candle and pray - and lots of people do the former and, one assumes and hopes, the latter - you can't kneel, except rather awkwardly on the floor, which I did.
Overnight stay at the welcoming home of M. - more talk and a delicious supper. The next day, a visit to Ghent. Again, a glorious cathedral, again a sense of its being a place where people watch but do not pray. At the - friendly and helpful - visitors' desk, I asked about the Blessed Sacrament. He didn't seem to understand at first - then light dawned "Oh yes, it's in the crypt". Which also houses a display - a rather interesting one - of some of the cathedral's fine vestments and other treasures. Which in turn means that the crypt feels more like a musueum, where people talk and walk about, rather than a church. I felt Our Lord was a bit sidelined and got few if any visitors, felt a bit mean when I had to leave...
In the evening, something very different - a cheering Mass, organised by Opus Dei for the feast of St Josemaria, at the glorious St Jacobus church in Antwerp. The painter Rubens worshipped here, and his works are all around the church. I don't know when I have been at Mass anywhere more splendid. But it wasn't this which made the evening memorable. The congregation gathered for this Mass included many young people, and it was heartening to sing out a glorious Credo and Pater Noster in such surroundings. I got the impression that people were hugely glad to be there - that such a Mass was unusual in its style and its joy. Afterwards many warm introductions at a reception in a nearby college.
It was an interesting example of what is alive, and what isn't, in the Church in today's Europe.
Brussels - kind friends had arranged for me to meet a colleague who introduce me to the city's charming old centre, and a lunch of moules-and-frites. Much talk of the state of things in Belgium generally, in the Church especially...a visit to the beautiful Cathedral, which is dedicated to St Michael and St Gudule (local saint - must find out more about her). As with most churches in Belgium, there is nowhere to kneel down. Pews and kneelers have been replaced with neat bleak rows of chairs so the place feels like a theatre or meeting-hall. Ghastly. So people sit smugly throughout Mass, as if it is a performance and they are mere spectators rather than participants... Even when you simply drop into the cathedral to light a candle and pray - and lots of people do the former and, one assumes and hopes, the latter - you can't kneel, except rather awkwardly on the floor, which I did.
Overnight stay at the welcoming home of M. - more talk and a delicious supper. The next day, a visit to Ghent. Again, a glorious cathedral, again a sense of its being a place where people watch but do not pray. At the - friendly and helpful - visitors' desk, I asked about the Blessed Sacrament. He didn't seem to understand at first - then light dawned "Oh yes, it's in the crypt". Which also houses a display - a rather interesting one - of some of the cathedral's fine vestments and other treasures. Which in turn means that the crypt feels more like a musueum, where people talk and walk about, rather than a church. I felt Our Lord was a bit sidelined and got few if any visitors, felt a bit mean when I had to leave...
In the evening, something very different - a cheering Mass, organised by Opus Dei for the feast of St Josemaria, at the glorious St Jacobus church in Antwerp. The painter Rubens worshipped here, and his works are all around the church. I don't know when I have been at Mass anywhere more splendid. But it wasn't this which made the evening memorable. The congregation gathered for this Mass included many young people, and it was heartening to sing out a glorious Credo and Pater Noster in such surroundings. I got the impression that people were hugely glad to be there - that such a Mass was unusual in its style and its joy. Afterwards many warm introductions at a reception in a nearby college.
It was an interesting example of what is alive, and what isn't, in the Church in today's Europe.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Tha National Prayer Breakfast...
...was held at Parliament this morning. Rousing hymns, and Danish pastries, and coffee and orange juice and croissants. I sat next to Edward Leigh MP, a fellow-Catholic, and we didn't wave our arms about in the hymns. But I must say I like the evangelical rousing singing, even early in the morning (I was cycling to the station at 6 am to get to Westminster on time). General pro-life tenor to the various talks etc, and a mood of standing-for-what-is-right, in a straightforward and decent way. It's difficult to gauge how useful such great events are - I did meet some old and valued friends, and I think the general largeness of the thing sent a cheering message, and a stimulus to good work in all sorts of fields... much of the best Christian work is done, of course, in more humble surroundings, a point that was well made by those organising the event...there were some extraordinarily good interviews plus video-coverage ofa range of really noble work done in places as far apart as India and Sierra Leone and so on...
It felt odd to be eating breakfast, with crisp white tablecloths and an atmosphere of genial goodwill, in the Great Hall where St Thomas More and St Edmund Campion were tried...I think their prayers are always with those who are trying to do what is Christian and right, and certainly all in the hall would have more in common with them than with Richard Rich or with Topcliffe... if martyrdom ever looms again in Britain it would be to Campion's faith and courage we must look...
It felt odd to be eating breakfast, with crisp white tablecloths and an atmosphere of genial goodwill, in the Great Hall where St Thomas More and St Edmund Campion were tried...I think their prayers are always with those who are trying to do what is Christian and right, and certainly all in the hall would have more in common with them than with Richard Rich or with Topcliffe... if martyrdom ever looms again in Britain it would be to Campion's faith and courage we must look...
Monday, June 23, 2008
If you have never read...
...anything by the great journalist T.E.Utley, you are missing out. Get started here to find out about the man. Recently I went to the presentation of the 2008 Utley Memorial Awards, organised by members of this talented family, an utterly enjoyable evening.
Because much political chatter in today's London is dominated by the noisier bits of the 1990s-Left, it's hugely enlivening to spend time in the wider company of people with large minds and lots of humour and a sense of history and a sense of proportion...and a sense of pushing open wider and wider the door that leads to rooms of ideas just a bit fresher and less claustropobic than those we have had to endure this past decade.
Because much political chatter in today's London is dominated by the noisier bits of the 1990s-Left, it's hugely enlivening to spend time in the wider company of people with large minds and lots of humour and a sense of history and a sense of proportion...and a sense of pushing open wider and wider the door that leads to rooms of ideas just a bit fresher and less claustropobic than those we have had to endure this past decade.
Take a look...
...at this new on-line magazine - it's a good read. The article by the Anglican Bishop of Rochester is especially recommended. And the one on the MOD is a worrying and thought-provoking read.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Tower Hill...
...by the Tower of London, is now a Memorial Garden to all the men of the Merchant Navy - hundreds of their names, on the panels of white stone - who were killed at sea bringing food to Britain during two world wars. In the grey fizz of rain, early on a Saturday morning with not many people about, the carved young face of the merchant sailor in his greatcoat stared out towards the Thames.
Gradually, our group gathered, and in the end we were quite a crowd: we were there to commemorate a different chapter of history, starting at the site of the maryrdom of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, which adjoins the Memorial Garden. The rain was clearing as things began: the 2nd annual Martyrs Walk organised by "Continuity", the movement launched by the Catholic lay movement Miles Jesu.
After an intrduction and talk about More and Fisher, we set off through the City, stopping at various places for a short talk on the history: St Olave's church, St Peter-upon-Cornhill (oldest church in London: the first church on this site was built when we were still under Roman occupation), the Cross Keys pub. At Greyfriars, where we broke for lunch, we had a splendid talk by one of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal...wearing the same style of habit as worn by the brave Franciscan martyrs...) . Then on, praying the Rosary and singing hymns, to St Patrick's Soho Square, where we had Benediction, and welcome cups of tea, and buns, and an excellent talk about the Tyburn martyrs, and so on to Tyburn itself. I think the walk is about seven miles in all. It was extraordinarily moving to be singing a Litany of the English Martyrs as we walked along - all those English names and we sang "Ora pro nobis" after each one. By now it was warm and sunny. Mass at Tyburn, with Fr Nicholas Schofield officiating, in the cool white chapel, with the traffic roaring past on the Bayswater Road but everything calm within, and the words of consecration...
Gradually, our group gathered, and in the end we were quite a crowd: we were there to commemorate a different chapter of history, starting at the site of the maryrdom of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, which adjoins the Memorial Garden. The rain was clearing as things began: the 2nd annual Martyrs Walk organised by "Continuity", the movement launched by the Catholic lay movement Miles Jesu.
After an intrduction and talk about More and Fisher, we set off through the City, stopping at various places for a short talk on the history: St Olave's church, St Peter-upon-Cornhill (oldest church in London: the first church on this site was built when we were still under Roman occupation), the Cross Keys pub. At Greyfriars, where we broke for lunch, we had a splendid talk by one of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal...wearing the same style of habit as worn by the brave Franciscan martyrs...) . Then on, praying the Rosary and singing hymns, to St Patrick's Soho Square, where we had Benediction, and welcome cups of tea, and buns, and an excellent talk about the Tyburn martyrs, and so on to Tyburn itself. I think the walk is about seven miles in all. It was extraordinarily moving to be singing a Litany of the English Martyrs as we walked along - all those English names and we sang "Ora pro nobis" after each one. By now it was warm and sunny. Mass at Tyburn, with Fr Nicholas Schofield officiating, in the cool white chapel, with the traffic roaring past on the Bayswater Road but everything calm within, and the words of consecration...
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The magnificent spire...
...of Chichester Cathedral soars above West Sussex, a landmark from coast and Downs alike. So it was interesting to read, in an excellent historical display in the Cathedral, of how it collapsed in the 1860s one ferociously stormy night, after great cracks had been appearing in the walls and despoerate engineering work had failed to stem off the disaster. The spire was rebuilt thanks to the speedy and effective generosity of local landowners, including the Duke of Norfolk. It is said that a group of them gathered for a breakfast meeting soon after the disaster and immediately agreed that Sussex' greatest landmark must be restored, and before the ham and eggs were even finished, they had each agreed to give a generous sum.
The Cathedral was at its most glorious in mellow sunshine. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds had telescopes set up in the cloister so that one could view the peregrines who are nesting on the roof. A Memorial Service for some distinguished person was taking place inside and the sound of voices raised in "Tell out, my soul" rang out as I walked round to the West Door.
I was in Chichester to award prizes and certificates gained in the Association of Catholic Women/CTS Schools Religious Education Project by pupils at St Richard's School. A delightful afternoon: the solemn small boy who had won Second Prize wasn't sure if he was allowed to open his parcel, and sat politely holding it very tightly, until I suggested that we open it together, and he was thrilled with the three beautiful books that emerged, while the Headmistress was even more delighted with the generous cheque for the school, which he was able to hand over to her with a suitable flourish.
Later I met, by pre-arrangement, the team from Continuity organising this year's Martyrs' Walk in London on Saturday. Come and join us! Just turn up at 11 am at Tower Hill (we're gathering at the site of St Thomas More's execution)
The Cathedral was at its most glorious in mellow sunshine. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds had telescopes set up in the cloister so that one could view the peregrines who are nesting on the roof. A Memorial Service for some distinguished person was taking place inside and the sound of voices raised in "Tell out, my soul" rang out as I walked round to the West Door.
I was in Chichester to award prizes and certificates gained in the Association of Catholic Women/CTS Schools Religious Education Project by pupils at St Richard's School. A delightful afternoon: the solemn small boy who had won Second Prize wasn't sure if he was allowed to open his parcel, and sat politely holding it very tightly, until I suggested that we open it together, and he was thrilled with the three beautiful books that emerged, while the Headmistress was even more delighted with the generous cheque for the school, which he was able to hand over to her with a suitable flourish.
Later I met, by pre-arrangement, the team from Continuity organising this year's Martyrs' Walk in London on Saturday. Come and join us! Just turn up at 11 am at Tower Hill (we're gathering at the site of St Thomas More's execution)
Monday, June 16, 2008
Do you remember reading
quite widely, until very recently, a columnist called Mark Steyn? Haven't seen much of his work recently. Here's why.
On a cheerier note, do look at this...
parish blog which I think is a very good one. And take particular note of the excellent First Communion scheme they are recommending....
Great meeting...
...organised by Family and Youth Concern on Saturday. First speaker Mrs Irina Tyk, headmistress of Holland House School in Edgware - a fresh, amusing speaker who challenged the cliches that abound in the education scene today. She's set up The Butterfly Project reading course for children using the phonics method, to which people are now returning after discovering that the various "let's pretend" methods don't work, and she's author of Culture in the Classroom, on which subject she spoke. Among other things, she mentioned the difficulty of teaching children who have not been given any concept of right and wrong - this robs them of points of reference, an understanding of morality, and an ability to grasp many things. She emphasised the need to encourage children to have the confidence to look widely, to challenge the recieved statements they get from TV, and the limited packaged-version of soundbites they recieve through the narrow tube of that sub-culture.
Next speaker was Ray Lewis, a former prison governor who now runs the Eastside Young Leaders Academy in the London Borough of Newham.
This is a scheme, in one of the poorest parts of London, for giving troubled young boys a fresh start, so that they don't drop out of school and lose all life's great possibilities. An inspiring and invigorating message. There are some good things going on: with strong links with some of the famous Public Schools chools of Britain, the Young Leaders initiative has recently sent two boys to Rugby School....Ray Lewis is now now assisting new Mayor of London Boris Johnson on youth projects. He was very, very funny about daft bureaucracy and the collosal waste of money involved in various stupid official youth schemes. The Young Leaders Academy involves, among other things,a recognition that boys are different from girls and have their own specxific needs, and am introduction to church and to Christian worship...
We also met foster-parents Owen and Eunice Johns, who have fallen foul of new horrible policies forcing them to accept that homosexual activity is normal and to teach this to any children in their care. They are refusing to do this and after years of dedicated service as foster-parents are now being blocked...
Much lively discussion on all of these and related topics...but a general sense of anxiety as to what the future will bring, now that family breakdown in endemic in Britain, and so much social policy reinforces this. It was good to hear encouraging stories, but goodness, these are rare and the heavy hand of bureaucracy is mostly used to crush independent initiative and to force complaince with anti-marriage and anti-family policies...
London was en fete for the Trooping of the Colour, bright sunshine, hordes of police, various Tube stations closed etc, and I struggled with a heavy case down Picadilly to get to this meeting...but it was well worth it.
Next speaker was Ray Lewis, a former prison governor who now runs the Eastside Young Leaders Academy in the London Borough of Newham.
This is a scheme, in one of the poorest parts of London, for giving troubled young boys a fresh start, so that they don't drop out of school and lose all life's great possibilities. An inspiring and invigorating message. There are some good things going on: with strong links with some of the famous Public Schools chools of Britain, the Young Leaders initiative has recently sent two boys to Rugby School....Ray Lewis is now now assisting new Mayor of London Boris Johnson on youth projects. He was very, very funny about daft bureaucracy and the collosal waste of money involved in various stupid official youth schemes. The Young Leaders Academy involves, among other things,a recognition that boys are different from girls and have their own specxific needs, and am introduction to church and to Christian worship...
We also met foster-parents Owen and Eunice Johns, who have fallen foul of new horrible policies forcing them to accept that homosexual activity is normal and to teach this to any children in their care. They are refusing to do this and after years of dedicated service as foster-parents are now being blocked...
Much lively discussion on all of these and related topics...but a general sense of anxiety as to what the future will bring, now that family breakdown in endemic in Britain, and so much social policy reinforces this. It was good to hear encouraging stories, but goodness, these are rare and the heavy hand of bureaucracy is mostly used to crush independent initiative and to force complaince with anti-marriage and anti-family policies...
London was en fete for the Trooping of the Colour, bright sunshine, hordes of police, various Tube stations closed etc, and I struggled with a heavy case down Picadilly to get to this meeting...but it was well worth it.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
A copy of Magna Carta...
...is on the table near me as I write. Regular readers of this Blog will be aware that J. and I obtained a copy on a recent visit to Runnymede, where the Carta was signed by King John in1215...
We put the copy, in its rather splendid black and gold-coloured case, on the table here with other odds and ends after reading it and talking about it for a bit...then it got moved about when I cleaned and dusted...and somehow it has simply stayed there...but today its presence suddenly struck with with a special force: I could not have known that it would be so relevant so soon.
Here is a relevant section, taken from the table and read and typed out for you to read with me:
"No free man shall be taken, imprisoned, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will We proceed against or prosecute him, eccept by the lawful judgement of his equals and by the law of the land."
Habeas Corpus, you see. No arbitrary unjust imprisonment without due trial.
Last night, Parliament voted that I can be imprisoned for 42 days without trial and without being charged.
We put the copy, in its rather splendid black and gold-coloured case, on the table here with other odds and ends after reading it and talking about it for a bit...then it got moved about when I cleaned and dusted...and somehow it has simply stayed there...but today its presence suddenly struck with with a special force: I could not have known that it would be so relevant so soon.
Here is a relevant section, taken from the table and read and typed out for you to read with me:
"No free man shall be taken, imprisoned, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will We proceed against or prosecute him, eccept by the lawful judgement of his equals and by the law of the land."
Habeas Corpus, you see. No arbitrary unjust imprisonment without due trial.
Last night, Parliament voted that I can be imprisoned for 42 days without trial and without being charged.
Want to hear...
...about the Catholic Women of the Year? Vatican Radio has an interview with Auntie about it all.
More schools...
...to visit to distribute prizes and certificates gained in the Catholic Truth Society/Association of Catholic Women Schools RE Project. Do click on that link to the CTS - they have some wonderful books and DVDs. I am interested in their excellent material for children, but their other books and materials are also top-quality - and did you see the recent publicity over their new pamphlet on exorcism?
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Don't forget...
...this event in London on Saturday June 21st. It's an opportunity to learn some history and mark London's extraordinary heritage as well as honour the Faith...
Another event worth noting is the Evangelium conference planned for August, run by the CTS. Visit www.evangelium.co.uk for info. It's Explaining the Catholic Faith in the modern world and speakers include Fr Jerome Bertram author of The People of the Gospel, Walter Hooper, biographer of CS Lewis, and Fr Thomas Crean OP of A Catholic Replies to Professor Dawkins....
Another event worth noting is the Evangelium conference planned for August, run by the CTS. Visit www.evangelium.co.uk for info. It's Explaining the Catholic Faith in the modern world and speakers include Fr Jerome Bertram author of The People of the Gospel, Walter Hooper, biographer of CS Lewis, and Fr Thomas Crean OP of A Catholic Replies to Professor Dawkins....
The National Catholic Register...
...in the USA contacted me to write something about the future of Catholic adoption societies in Britain now that we have this horrible new law compelling all such groups to agree in principle to place children with homosexuals and lesbians or face being closed down. You will be able to read my piece in a few days in the Register.
Whatever happens to the various Catholic adoption societies - and it is better that they close down than attempt to compromise with a grossly immoral law - the ordinary secular authorities are vigourously promoting the lesbian and homosexual lifestyles. A horrid poster in our local shopping centre enthuses brightly for lesbians to come forward to take other people's children for fostering and adoption. (We can be sure that the people who designed the poster are not offering their own offspring for this social experiment).
Children are not a piece of property to which people have a "right".
Whatever happens to the various Catholic adoption societies - and it is better that they close down than attempt to compromise with a grossly immoral law - the ordinary secular authorities are vigourously promoting the lesbian and homosexual lifestyles. A horrid poster in our local shopping centre enthuses brightly for lesbians to come forward to take other people's children for fostering and adoption. (We can be sure that the people who designed the poster are not offering their own offspring for this social experiment).
Children are not a piece of property to which people have a "right".
I am so glad you asked...
...and since you seem so interested in what we are doing on July 8th....
We've been invited to Tea with the Queen!!
Well, us and a few hundred others. We're going to a Garden Party At Buckingham Palace.
It is very exciting and I will borrow a hat from my sister-in-law and wear the nice blue dress-and-jacket bought for our Silver Wedding a couple of summers ago.
We've been invited to Tea with the Queen!!
Well, us and a few hundred others. We're going to a Garden Party At Buckingham Palace.
It is very exciting and I will borrow a hat from my sister-in-law and wear the nice blue dress-and-jacket bought for our Silver Wedding a couple of summers ago.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Hot July weather...
...continued today. While on the Isle of Wight, one of the jolliest activities was giving out the prizes gained by St Thomas of Canterbury RC primary school, at Carisbrook. They had gained prizes and a Merit Certificate in the 2008 Schools RE Project organised by the Association of Catholic Women and the Catholic Truth Society.
It was a very happy morning: the children sat cross-legged on the floor and the Head Teacher began the Assembly by reading out the Gospel from Sunday's Mass (the calling of St Matthew) and gave a little explanation of it, and then we had the prize presentation. Great enthusiasm. The little boy who won First Prize and a trophy for the School held the latter high up above his head like a football champion. A little Polish girl had gained a Merit certificate for her essay even though English is her second language. The local newspaper turned up to take photographs, and we all posed outside in the bright sunshine.
I was really sorry to leave the Isle of Wight - got home yesterday afternoon - and today seemed hot and sticky and difficult while I was tackling work. Glorious lunchtime break with a friend. She had recently visited Lourdes and brought me, among other things, a Rosary which is now tucked into my pocket. It is the 150th anniversary of Bernadette's apparitions this year and the Rosary is a special commemorative one. Everything felt better as I cycled home from our prolonged, enjoyable and talkative lunch.Tackled ironing, emails, cleaning kitchen floor, and various bits of work in fresh heart.
It was a very happy morning: the children sat cross-legged on the floor and the Head Teacher began the Assembly by reading out the Gospel from Sunday's Mass (the calling of St Matthew) and gave a little explanation of it, and then we had the prize presentation. Great enthusiasm. The little boy who won First Prize and a trophy for the School held the latter high up above his head like a football champion. A little Polish girl had gained a Merit certificate for her essay even though English is her second language. The local newspaper turned up to take photographs, and we all posed outside in the bright sunshine.
I was really sorry to leave the Isle of Wight - got home yesterday afternoon - and today seemed hot and sticky and difficult while I was tackling work. Glorious lunchtime break with a friend. She had recently visited Lourdes and brought me, among other things, a Rosary which is now tucked into my pocket. It is the 150th anniversary of Bernadette's apparitions this year and the Rosary is a special commemorative one. Everything felt better as I cycled home from our prolonged, enjoyable and talkative lunch.Tackled ironing, emails, cleaning kitchen floor, and various bits of work in fresh heart.
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