...to sing for the Holy Father.
This was written in 2005 to mark his election - we took our inspiration from the Wiseman hymn "Full in the panting heart of Rome" and then produced a new version, to which musician Jeremy de Satge produced a new and very singable tune. We have now tweaked it to produce a final polished version, which we offer as we prepare for the Holy Father's visit.
Enjoy! And use it in your parish, school, youth group...
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
You need to keep up to date...
...on the topic which has dominated this Blog in recent days. Read here for an excellent commentary/ analysis...
The big CHRISM MASS picture...
...above, comes from the website of the Diocese of Westminster.
You can read here the statement of Archbishop Vincent Nichols at the end of Mass.
You can read here the statement of Archbishop Vincent Nichols at the end of Mass.
Support for the Pope...
...is now surging worldwide. The American Bishops Conference statement is worth readimg.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
AT THE CHRISM MASS...
...at Westminster Cathedral, we had a big placard saying THANK YOU TO OUR PRIESTS and gave them thank-you cards with a pic. of St John Vianney. The cathedral was packed, and at the end of the Mass, Archbishop Vincent Nichols made a special and strong statement about the current storm surrounding the Church, explaining the truth - including the fact that that there is no special "secrecy directive" - and indicating his firm support for the Holy Father. The whole of the cathedral was with him.
There were TV cameras outside the Cathedral as the great columns of priests walked up from Ambrosden Avenue, and were greeted with applause (and chants of "We love our priests!" from the young people in our group!)...but you won't see us on TV as the cameras instead focussed on three people who wanted to talk about sex-abuse. There was no opportunity for another side to be put, or for information to be corrected.
There were TV cameras outside the Cathedral as the great columns of priests walked up from Ambrosden Avenue, and were greeted with applause (and chants of "We love our priests!" from the young people in our group!)...but you won't see us on TV as the cameras instead focussed on three people who wanted to talk about sex-abuse. There was no opportunity for another side to be put, or for information to be corrected.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Good grief...
...the New York Times (no I'm not going to give the link, it's all too nauseating) has now arranged for its dishonesty and invective to be used as formal educational material in schools because "teachers and parents want to help their students and children understand the current sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church": it offers a schema for lesson-plans so that children can be duly instructed in its propaganda.
Your chance...
...to show support for priests and for the Church at this difficult time comes on Tuesday (March 30th) at 11.45 am when the priests of the Westminster diocese arrive at the Cathedral for the Chrism Mass. As in previous years, a group of us - organised by the Association of Catholic Women - will be there to say a big thank-you to our priests for the service they give. As always, we'll have a placard and be handing out thank-you cards. Join us!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Bishops - where are you?
There are Bishops speaking out for the truth in this dreadful time of lies and hatred aimed at the Holy Father and the Church. This list is not exhaustive, but these are some men to note:
Honour to:
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster - see previous recent blog entries
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, New York
Cardinal Marc Quellet, Primate of Canada
Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna
Catholic Bishops Conference of France
Among lay people, honour to Jack Valero of Opus Dei and, to a lesser degree, Christina Odone along with a number of Americans, including George Weigel, John Allen and Bill Donohue.
Among clergy - honour to Fr Dwight Longenecker - read the piece on his Blog.
Honour to:
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster - see previous recent blog entries
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, New York
Cardinal Marc Quellet, Primate of Canada
Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna
Catholic Bishops Conference of France
Among lay people, honour to Jack Valero of Opus Dei and, to a lesser degree, Christina Odone along with a number of Americans, including George Weigel, John Allen and Bill Donohue.
Among clergy - honour to Fr Dwight Longenecker - read the piece on his Blog.
Palm Sunday...
...and we met outside the church and processed in, remembering Christ's entry into Jerusalem.
Vile attacks on the Church and the H. Father in the press today, rather resembling those produced the Goebbels' propaganda teams.
But there's a story the press haven't picked up. Who was the Bishop who routinely dismissed child-abuse claims, admitted shredding files on priests accused of abuse, and who was then revealed as having paid out $450,000 from church funds to his own former homosexual lover?
Step forward Archbishop Rembert Weakland, currently posing as the "good guy" who wrote to Rome to reveal a child abuse case. The real facts? He dismissed sexual abuse time and again,then in the 1990s eventually contacted Rome twenty years after a serious abuser had been active in his diocese, and has given no reason for his failure to act before then. The priest in question was by then dying, so nothing useful could be done and the chap died a few months after his case had been discussed in Rome.
You can get a lot more about this here and do further research by checking Weakland's Wikipedia entry.
Vile attacks on the Church and the H. Father in the press today, rather resembling those produced the Goebbels' propaganda teams.
But there's a story the press haven't picked up. Who was the Bishop who routinely dismissed child-abuse claims, admitted shredding files on priests accused of abuse, and who was then revealed as having paid out $450,000 from church funds to his own former homosexual lover?
Step forward Archbishop Rembert Weakland, currently posing as the "good guy" who wrote to Rome to reveal a child abuse case. The real facts? He dismissed sexual abuse time and again,then in the 1990s eventually contacted Rome twenty years after a serious abuser had been active in his diocese, and has given no reason for his failure to act before then. The priest in question was by then dying, so nothing useful could be done and the chap died a few months after his case had been discussed in Rome.
You can get a lot more about this here and do further research by checking Weakland's Wikipedia entry.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Walking...
...from the Old Bailey to Tyburn, along the route we will take for the Martyrs Walk in June. (It's June 20th, mark the date in your diaries now).
All the time, the current storm surrounding the Church was in the forefront of all our minds, especially as we stopped to pray at the various churches along the way.
Where are the Church's defenders? Honour to George Weigel,who spoke up with clarity before anyone else, a lone voice and a brave one. Now a few others have joined in - including this correspondent. The French bishops and some others have spoken up, including Archbishop Vincent Nichols. IN the USA the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights has been working hard.
We need a group in Ireland which will rally to the Pope's letter and start taking action along the lines he urged - starting with prayer.There's a lot of talk about the impossibility of healing and so on - but healing has to start somewhere.
We need a lot less gloating - we don't need the voices saying "Oh, it's all due to the Church being harsh and repressoive in the old days" or "Oh, it's all the liberals in the Church since Vatican II". We need realism about the joy all this is giving to those who hate the Church and the Christian message. We need to work - now - to ensure that those who are seeking to use all this to crush the Papal visit to Britain are denied their goal.
All the time, the current storm surrounding the Church was in the forefront of all our minds, especially as we stopped to pray at the various churches along the way.
Where are the Church's defenders? Honour to George Weigel,who spoke up with clarity before anyone else, a lone voice and a brave one. Now a few others have joined in - including this correspondent. The French bishops and some others have spoken up, including Archbishop Vincent Nichols. IN the USA the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights has been working hard.
We need a group in Ireland which will rally to the Pope's letter and start taking action along the lines he urged - starting with prayer.There's a lot of talk about the impossibility of healing and so on - but healing has to start somewhere.
We need a lot less gloating - we don't need the voices saying "Oh, it's all due to the Church being harsh and repressoive in the old days" or "Oh, it's all the liberals in the Church since Vatican II". We need realism about the joy all this is giving to those who hate the Church and the Christian message. We need to work - now - to ensure that those who are seeking to use all this to crush the Papal visit to Britain are denied their goal.
Friday, March 26, 2010
And more...
...yes, yes, I know you'd like Auntie to write lots of cheery stuff about how she is whizzing about on her bicycle in the London springtime. But it isn't like that just at the moment in the life of this Catholic journalist. There's a war on, fought in no small measure through the Internet and the rest of the media, the former being a new and powerful weapon in the hands of those who loathe the Church. And most people aren't well-informed. Are you? Have you read this from New York? And this which goes into some detail?
And I'm assuming that most serious readers will have read this and been pleased that Archbishop Vincent has spoken out (BTW don't buy the wretched Times: look at it on-line).
Of course there are other things to tackle, work to be done. I spent today partly at Premier Radio, talking about Alive to the World and recording some talks (about Mary, among other topics) which will be broadcast in May. And of course I also took part in the main news programme which discussed....
And I'm assuming that most serious readers will have read this and been pleased that Archbishop Vincent has spoken out (BTW don't buy the wretched Times: look at it on-line).
Of course there are other things to tackle, work to be done. I spent today partly at Premier Radio, talking about Alive to the World and recording some talks (about Mary, among other topics) which will be broadcast in May. And of course I also took part in the main news programme which discussed....
Get yourself better informed by reading...
...this blog which has some useful material on Crimen sollicitationis, the Church document which deals with the evil of sexual solicitation in the confessional. Did you know that this document actually obliges a person to tell about any such solicitation? And that the promise of secrecy is given for just this purpose?
Look: it's like this. If I go to confession and confess adultery, and the priest is evil and makes a disgusting suggestion along the lines of "Well, if you've done that..how about you and me..?" it is my absolute duty to report this to some one in authority in the Church, and ensure that action is taken. But I might have an obvious reason for not doing this - because it might be that in explaining what happened, I have to explain that it began with my own confession of adultery. In order to protect my privacy, and to encourage me to come forward with the information about the priest, the Church insists that I am given a promise of secrecy. This does not extend to everything that subsequently occurs as the whole thing goes on, but it does remain absolute with regard to my part in the proceedings.
I have deliberately chosen adultery because it is one of the less disgusting sins which might be involved in this sort of matter.
The document is not, as it happens, very relevant to many of the issues being raised in the current storm. That of course it why opponents of the Church and her disciplines want to fudge things by pretending that it is, and simply randomly talking about "secrecy" and "Vatican documents" and "issued by Cardinal Ratzinger" and so on.
Look: it's like this. If I go to confession and confess adultery, and the priest is evil and makes a disgusting suggestion along the lines of "Well, if you've done that..how about you and me..?" it is my absolute duty to report this to some one in authority in the Church, and ensure that action is taken. But I might have an obvious reason for not doing this - because it might be that in explaining what happened, I have to explain that it began with my own confession of adultery. In order to protect my privacy, and to encourage me to come forward with the information about the priest, the Church insists that I am given a promise of secrecy. This does not extend to everything that subsequently occurs as the whole thing goes on, but it does remain absolute with regard to my part in the proceedings.
I have deliberately chosen adultery because it is one of the less disgusting sins which might be involved in this sort of matter.
The document is not, as it happens, very relevant to many of the issues being raised in the current storm. That of course it why opponents of the Church and her disciplines want to fudge things by pretending that it is, and simply randomly talking about "secrecy" and "Vatican documents" and "issued by Cardinal Ratzinger" and so on.
An early start...
...after a late arrival home last night. While busy with a project at Chelsea (helping to produce the cards that will be given to priests as part of our annual thank-you gesture at the Chrism Mass), media 'phone calls and much discussion as the storm rages.
Important to get the facts straight and to be alert for the next wave of attacks. My guess is that these will seek to besmirch Pope John Paul.
Who is it within the Church - in the USA? in Rome? - who is helping to feed all this? With what motive(s)?
Important to get the facts straight and to be alert for the next wave of attacks. My guess is that these will seek to besmirch Pope John Paul.
Who is it within the Church - in the USA? in Rome? - who is helping to feed all this? With what motive(s)?
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Hurrying along...
...the Kings Road in Chelsea after a busy day (see below) and en route to another meeting, I answered my mobile phone. A voice asked "How are you?" and I answered rather curtly asking who it was. He said he was from the BBC, and would I like to do an interview that evening about the story in the New York Times? Assuming that this was all part of the escalation of the media storm I explained that I was on my way to give a talk and couldn't manage a BBC interview. Made a mental note that things were were racheted up still further, perused Internet when I got the first chance and scanned all the latest shrieking.
This is getting bizarre: it is no longer serious discussion of crimes by priests but a weird attempt to crush the Pope and the Church. It won't work, but what's the game here? Why are they so frightened of the Catholic Church?
This is getting bizarre: it is no longer serious discussion of crimes by priests but a weird attempt to crush the Pope and the Church. It won't work, but what's the game here? Why are they so frightened of the Catholic Church?
A splendid...
...Day of Art and Music for teachers and catechists, held at the Monckton Room, at the church of Our Most Holy Redeemer and St Thomas More in Chelsea. Superb presentation of glorious art by Lionel Gracey who works with the "Art Beauty and Inspiration" courses at Maryvale. Then a teaching session of plainchant with Jeremy de Satge of The Music Makers. Finally we went upstairs into the church for a beautiful Annunciation Mass, celebrated by Fr Sunny Paul from Woldingham School, with wonderful singing of the newly-learned chant. We sang a Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei, did a beautiful Ave Maria for the Offertory, and as Mass finished honoured the Annunciation again with Ave Regina Caelorum. We also sang the psalm and a new English version of the Gloria.
The day was hugely successful - the third such event organised by the Association of Catholic Women. We had teachers from a number of London primary schools, plus a team from St Patrick's School of Evangelisation, and from the Heralds of the Gospel, a new international movement with a branch based near Kingston...
After Mass, some of us lingered, talking and planning... much talk of the Papal visit, current and possible future media storms,the ghastly Children's Schools and Families Bill and its effects, likelihood of tough times ahead...
The day was hugely successful - the third such event organised by the Association of Catholic Women. We had teachers from a number of London primary schools, plus a team from St Patrick's School of Evangelisation, and from the Heralds of the Gospel, a new international movement with a branch based near Kingston...
After Mass, some of us lingered, talking and planning... much talk of the Papal visit, current and possible future media storms,the ghastly Children's Schools and Families Bill and its effects, likelihood of tough times ahead...
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
In London...
...for a meeting at the excellent Billings Family Life Centre run by Veronica Pierson. This Centre has helped to many couples, and Veronica is a person of immense commitment, courage and faith who has been working with dedication and skill since she founded the Centre in the 1980s.
This has been a week for friends. Yesterday a delightful lunch with a fellow member of the Association of Catholic Women, who had just returned from Rome, full of news and joy. She gave me a most beautiful scarf, and some medals and pictures and a lovely calendar with pictures of the Holy Father and we talked and talked. She is busy launching a Trust to raise funds for the school for blind children in India where her daughter has been working...a reminder that there are some wonderful young people who challenge and inspire us. (I'll be publicising more about this Trust in due course - a project hugely worth supporting).
And today an unexpected bonus - meeting a friend whom I had planned to see yesterday evening ...we had missed one another at the Cathedral but then were able to meet instead today. She has been working on the excellent Alive to the World series - amid all the controversy over Govt plans for Personal, Social and Health Education in schools here is something you can really trust as use while the debates rage. It really is a wonedrful resource, with modestly-priced books which children will love, use, read, and enjoy. Do visit that link for a closer look.
And then on to Tyburn, where I was visiting the nuns to make arrangements for the Martyrs Walk. (Book the date: June 20th: details from Continuity/Miles Jesu.) The Sisters at Tyburn are a tonic: I was welcomed with tea, the arrangements for the Walk were discussed with cheerful friendly efficiency, we chatted over dozens of other things, and I felt surrounded by affection and care.
Decided to drop in at Mass at Westminster Cathedral before I went home. We sang some wonderful traditional hymns as well as all the usual glorious Latin chant with the choir, and in honour of its being the vigil of the feast of the Annunciation made a special prolonged genuflection in the Creed. Huge congregation, Archbishop processing down the aisle with crozier blessing people... the Mass honoured Archbishop Oscar Romero, on the 30th annniversary of his death. He is not some one I have ever really studied: interesting info on the Mass-sheet - he prayed the Rosary daily, wore the Carmelite scapular, pleaded with people on both the political left and right in attempts to foster peace in his country. Those who have tried to portray him as a liberation-theologian seem to have rather missed the point.
On arrival home, a bonus - a simply wonderful email message from the dear Sisters at St Cecilia's on the Isle of Wight, with a copy of the message they have sent to the Holy Father. If I get their permission, I'll reprint it on this Blog.
This has been a week for friends. Yesterday a delightful lunch with a fellow member of the Association of Catholic Women, who had just returned from Rome, full of news and joy. She gave me a most beautiful scarf, and some medals and pictures and a lovely calendar with pictures of the Holy Father and we talked and talked. She is busy launching a Trust to raise funds for the school for blind children in India where her daughter has been working...a reminder that there are some wonderful young people who challenge and inspire us. (I'll be publicising more about this Trust in due course - a project hugely worth supporting).
And today an unexpected bonus - meeting a friend whom I had planned to see yesterday evening ...we had missed one another at the Cathedral but then were able to meet instead today. She has been working on the excellent Alive to the World series - amid all the controversy over Govt plans for Personal, Social and Health Education in schools here is something you can really trust as use while the debates rage. It really is a wonedrful resource, with modestly-priced books which children will love, use, read, and enjoy. Do visit that link for a closer look.
And then on to Tyburn, where I was visiting the nuns to make arrangements for the Martyrs Walk. (Book the date: June 20th: details from Continuity/Miles Jesu.) The Sisters at Tyburn are a tonic: I was welcomed with tea, the arrangements for the Walk were discussed with cheerful friendly efficiency, we chatted over dozens of other things, and I felt surrounded by affection and care.
Decided to drop in at Mass at Westminster Cathedral before I went home. We sang some wonderful traditional hymns as well as all the usual glorious Latin chant with the choir, and in honour of its being the vigil of the feast of the Annunciation made a special prolonged genuflection in the Creed. Huge congregation, Archbishop processing down the aisle with crozier blessing people... the Mass honoured Archbishop Oscar Romero, on the 30th annniversary of his death. He is not some one I have ever really studied: interesting info on the Mass-sheet - he prayed the Rosary daily, wore the Carmelite scapular, pleaded with people on both the political left and right in attempts to foster peace in his country. Those who have tried to portray him as a liberation-theologian seem to have rather missed the point.
On arrival home, a bonus - a simply wonderful email message from the dear Sisters at St Cecilia's on the Isle of Wight, with a copy of the message they have sent to the Holy Father. If I get their permission, I'll reprint it on this Blog.
Tenebrae...
...is the Church's traditional Office for Holy Week. Westminster Cathedral gave us a foretaste of it this week, with the most glorious and dramatic Tenebrae you could imagine - the great cathedral darkening as the tall candles were snuffed out one by one, the music soaring to the vast domes, the night sky visible beyond, an absolute and utter silence as the sharp loud clatter of the Strepitus ended and the solitary candle re-emerged to remind us of Christ. As we approach the great drama of Passiontide, here it was, utterly awesome. The great crowd departed in silence.
Monday, March 22, 2010
GOOD...
...commentary and analysis of the Pope's plans for Ireland here in a forthright piece accurately entitled "The end of Euphemism". Sample: "Benedict XVI’s striking combination of candour and hope in addressing what is, quite simply, a disastrous situation may be the beginning of the kind of reform that could make Irish Catholicism vital and vibrant once again."
"Those who see in these scandals an opportunity to cripple the Catholic Church and its moral teaching have long had the card of “cover-up” to play in the global media. That card has now been taken away by Benedict XVI. Those who care for the Church, on the other hand, must now hope and pray that the follow-up from the Vatican is as vigorous and unsparing as the Pope’s letter."
"Those who see in these scandals an opportunity to cripple the Catholic Church and its moral teaching have long had the card of “cover-up” to play in the global media. That card has now been taken away by Benedict XVI. Those who care for the Church, on the other hand, must now hope and pray that the follow-up from the Vatican is as vigorous and unsparing as the Pope’s letter."
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