Weigel's The Truth of Catholicism. Recommended.
Are you coming to the TOWARDS ADVENT Festival on Sat Nov 24th? Westminster Cathedral Hall. Official opening 10.30am. Among the speakers: former Olympic speed skater now a Franciscan Sister of the Renewal. Plus a team celebrating Blessed John Henry Newman and the "Second Spring". Come and join in....
Been busy giving talks on journalism and the media to young people on half-term courses at a youth centre. The BIG gap in their education is in history and general knowledge. They are aware of this and find it frustrating. I ask them some general history questions: does anyone know who Gladstone was? Disraeli? Can they name the king who followed Queen Victoria? Then I go back a bit: Who won the Battle of Waterloo? Battle of Trafalgar?
It's ghastly to be left in ignorance. And actually discovering your own history can be fun and satisfying. I compile a history chart, explain about the Roman Empire, Saxons, Norman invasion, Middle Ages...Henry VIII (he's about the only one they know, because of his wives: "divorced,beheaded, died/Divorced,beheaded,survived"...), Mary Tudor, Elizabeth...
We keep hearing that the Govt is going to "do something" about the disgraceful betrayal of young people and the way they have been banned from knowing about their country's history. Meanwhile, the thing to do is get on and teach history whenever you can.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
for pure pleasure....
....click on to this site of the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph and scroll down to where Sister Mary Catherine plays Mozart. Enjoy. Just enchanting.
The Sisters do lots of good things, and initiated the John Paul Walk for the New Evangelisation, which last weekend took a grand crowd of us along the Thames.
The Sisters do lots of good things, and initiated the John Paul Walk for the New Evangelisation, which last weekend took a grand crowd of us along the Thames.
The young team...
...of the St Patrick's Evangelisation School in Soho Square are a great bunch. Today and yesterday I was with them, and I'm impressed with their energy and dedication. Prayer, study, service to the local community especially those in need of a meal and friendship...there are special initiatives such as this one...
The church is of course beautiful, and people hurry in for a lunchtime Mass...you think there are not very many, but then you suddenly realise there are a good number filling up the pews towards the back...and then during the afternoon people come in quietly to pray before the Blessed Sacrament...
It was good to be part of the community for a little while, and I enjoyed the Rosary in the small downstairs chapel, the lively chat as we all sat at a long table for a community lunch, the celebration of a SPES member's 21st birthday, and the laughter as we recalled highlights of that Thames Pilgrimage on Sunday, especially the last bit in the mud and dark with the rain starting...
Poor Ambrose, Fr Alexander's dog, who walked the whole route with us, has spent the past two decades chiefly in exhausted slumber.
The church is of course beautiful, and people hurry in for a lunchtime Mass...you think there are not very many, but then you suddenly realise there are a good number filling up the pews towards the back...and then during the afternoon people come in quietly to pray before the Blessed Sacrament...
It was good to be part of the community for a little while, and I enjoyed the Rosary in the small downstairs chapel, the lively chat as we all sat at a long table for a community lunch, the celebration of a SPES member's 21st birthday, and the laughter as we recalled highlights of that Thames Pilgrimage on Sunday, especially the last bit in the mud and dark with the rain starting...
Poor Ambrose, Fr Alexander's dog, who walked the whole route with us, has spent the past two decades chiefly in exhausted slumber.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Twenty miles along the Thames...
...is a looooooong walk. But we did it, and a grand team of John Paul II Walkers packed out the chapel the Shrine of Our Lady of Westminster at Hampton Wick, in good voice for Evening Prayer and Benediction, and then did full justice to splendid supper laid on by the Sons of Divine Providence and their team of helpers.
A wonderful day: the Thames Pilgrimage, praying for the New Evangelisation. This was planned partly as a Reunion for the young people who took part in the Summer's Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham, but it turned out to be much, much more than that.
Arriving at Westminster Cathedral for Mass, I met D., who a couple of weeks earlier had walked a long part of the route with me, helping to plan the day. The Cathedral is always full for the Sunday Masses, so we were glad to find two places near the front. A glorious Mass - as always at the Cathedral, magnificent music - and Fr Simon Heans, our chaplain for the day, concelebrated. Then out into the piazza - to be confrontd by a grand crowd of people, far more than I had hoped or imagined, all ready and eager for the Pilgrimage Walk along the Thames!
Down Buckingham Palace Road and along to Chelsea Bridge, across the river and into Battersea Park, where, now free of traffic noise, we were able to start praying the Rosary, led by Sister Hyacinthe. Before leaving the park, we settled for a pleasant lunch, Fr Simon saying Grace, and by now we felt like a real community together. On down the Thames Path, Sister Hyacinthe giving us some excellent talks along the way, all equipped with microphone and notes: Vatican II, the Scriptures...
The weather was just right, the river rippled peacefully, golden leaves were strewn at our feet. Joggers and walkers passed us and we exchanged greetings: they asked about our banner (Our Lady of Walsingham) and gave good wishes when we told them we had walked from Westminster Cathedral. Kindly people at a Boat Club let us use the loos. Wandsworth, Putney, Barnes...we broke into hymns, we prayed the Rosary, we walked and chatted...
Dusk was falling by now. We cut along the Upper Richmond Road so as to avoid the big loop of the river by Kew, and at Richmond an advance party caught the bus to Kingston. The rest of us rejoined the river and walked , in darkness now... the line of walkers became straggly, well spaced out along the dark towpath. I went back and forth with my torch calling out in reassurance. We had children and parents, and young people and middle-aged and elderly among us. A family of children walked happily together, the girls telling me with enthusiasm about their school (St Catherine's) as we passed it on the opposite side of the river: I was able to tell them that my mother was at that same school, more than seventy years ago, and was happy there just as they were. A group of girls from various countries at a London hostel, led by a delightful nun, walked cheerily along swapping laughter and chat, oblivious to discomforts even though one was wearing beautiful blue shoes more suitable for dancing than a 20-mile hike. Deacon Henry, who joined us from Oscott seminary, walked with vigour, unconcerned by the fact that this long day was the prelude to an early start on the morrow when he'd be flying to Rome on pilgrimage. A team from St Patrick's Soho Square had brought Ambrose, Fr Alexander's dog, who seemed, like them, to be of inexhaustible energy.
The very last bit, once we had crossed the river just beyond Teddington Lock, was the only bit that felt really tiring: by now we were walking past ordinary houses and were nearly at our destination. And then, finally, we were there - a wonderful welcome, a true sense of homecoming, and the Sons of Divine Providence, accompanied by the Herald of the Gospels (a splendid group with the most magnificent religious habits I have ever seen!) literally welcoming us with open arms.
A chapel filled with prayer, a table laid with delicious food...a time to give thanks and there were speeches and cheers and applause. Then relaxing, much talk, thoughtful conversations about hopes for the New Evangelisation, the worries about the future of our country and of Europe...
Vocations to the priesthood are up, there is a sense of great seriousness about prayer for the years ahead, the Year of Faith has been launched...this is a time for commitment and for courage.
A wonderful day: the Thames Pilgrimage, praying for the New Evangelisation. This was planned partly as a Reunion for the young people who took part in the Summer's Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham, but it turned out to be much, much more than that.
Arriving at Westminster Cathedral for Mass, I met D., who a couple of weeks earlier had walked a long part of the route with me, helping to plan the day. The Cathedral is always full for the Sunday Masses, so we were glad to find two places near the front. A glorious Mass - as always at the Cathedral, magnificent music - and Fr Simon Heans, our chaplain for the day, concelebrated. Then out into the piazza - to be confrontd by a grand crowd of people, far more than I had hoped or imagined, all ready and eager for the Pilgrimage Walk along the Thames!
Down Buckingham Palace Road and along to Chelsea Bridge, across the river and into Battersea Park, where, now free of traffic noise, we were able to start praying the Rosary, led by Sister Hyacinthe. Before leaving the park, we settled for a pleasant lunch, Fr Simon saying Grace, and by now we felt like a real community together. On down the Thames Path, Sister Hyacinthe giving us some excellent talks along the way, all equipped with microphone and notes: Vatican II, the Scriptures...
The weather was just right, the river rippled peacefully, golden leaves were strewn at our feet. Joggers and walkers passed us and we exchanged greetings: they asked about our banner (Our Lady of Walsingham) and gave good wishes when we told them we had walked from Westminster Cathedral. Kindly people at a Boat Club let us use the loos. Wandsworth, Putney, Barnes...we broke into hymns, we prayed the Rosary, we walked and chatted...
Dusk was falling by now. We cut along the Upper Richmond Road so as to avoid the big loop of the river by Kew, and at Richmond an advance party caught the bus to Kingston. The rest of us rejoined the river and walked , in darkness now... the line of walkers became straggly, well spaced out along the dark towpath. I went back and forth with my torch calling out in reassurance. We had children and parents, and young people and middle-aged and elderly among us. A family of children walked happily together, the girls telling me with enthusiasm about their school (St Catherine's) as we passed it on the opposite side of the river: I was able to tell them that my mother was at that same school, more than seventy years ago, and was happy there just as they were. A group of girls from various countries at a London hostel, led by a delightful nun, walked cheerily along swapping laughter and chat, oblivious to discomforts even though one was wearing beautiful blue shoes more suitable for dancing than a 20-mile hike. Deacon Henry, who joined us from Oscott seminary, walked with vigour, unconcerned by the fact that this long day was the prelude to an early start on the morrow when he'd be flying to Rome on pilgrimage. A team from St Patrick's Soho Square had brought Ambrose, Fr Alexander's dog, who seemed, like them, to be of inexhaustible energy.
The very last bit, once we had crossed the river just beyond Teddington Lock, was the only bit that felt really tiring: by now we were walking past ordinary houses and were nearly at our destination. And then, finally, we were there - a wonderful welcome, a true sense of homecoming, and the Sons of Divine Providence, accompanied by the Herald of the Gospels (a splendid group with the most magnificent religious habits I have ever seen!) literally welcoming us with open arms.
A chapel filled with prayer, a table laid with delicious food...a time to give thanks and there were speeches and cheers and applause. Then relaxing, much talk, thoughtful conversations about hopes for the New Evangelisation, the worries about the future of our country and of Europe...
Vocations to the priesthood are up, there is a sense of great seriousness about prayer for the years ahead, the Year of Faith has been launched...this is a time for commitment and for courage.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
A rallying call...
...to evangelise. Read here. The Bishops have come up trumps: it's a stirring call.
We shall be following the call tomorrow, as the John Paul II Walk for the New Evangelisation starts at Westminster Cathedral and heads off along the Thames to the Shrine of Our Lady of Westminster, some 20 miles up-river at Kingston. Along the way, we'll be passing some of the places that hold a huge part of our country's history - Chelsea where St Thomas More lived with his family, Syon where once stood the great Brigettine house - but also the homes and churches and schools and workshops and offices where the people of our great city and its suburbs live and work and pray, the parks and gardens where they relax and enjoy themselves, the sports fields, the boatyards, the pubs, the shops and restaurants. And we'll be praying for God's blessing on everyone, asking that hearts be opened to the glorious message of the Gospel, and that in a spirit of goodwill and neighbourliness the truths of the Christian faith will be communicated and become clear, with a bright hope for this new century...
To participants reading this: it will be COLD, so dress warmly. Hats. Gloves. Scarves. It will be DARK towards the end of our journey so bring a TORCH or a lantern. Bring a good sandwich lunch, and something to drink. Be prepared to obey instructions: we will cross a couple of busy London roads, and be walking alongside a deep and potentially dangerous river, so it will be neccessary at times to be well disciplined.
We'll be hearing some talks along the way, and praying the Rosary, and singing some hymns. There will be a good Tea waiting for us at Hampton Wick.
All readers: please pray for us.
We shall be following the call tomorrow, as the John Paul II Walk for the New Evangelisation starts at Westminster Cathedral and heads off along the Thames to the Shrine of Our Lady of Westminster, some 20 miles up-river at Kingston. Along the way, we'll be passing some of the places that hold a huge part of our country's history - Chelsea where St Thomas More lived with his family, Syon where once stood the great Brigettine house - but also the homes and churches and schools and workshops and offices where the people of our great city and its suburbs live and work and pray, the parks and gardens where they relax and enjoy themselves, the sports fields, the boatyards, the pubs, the shops and restaurants. And we'll be praying for God's blessing on everyone, asking that hearts be opened to the glorious message of the Gospel, and that in a spirit of goodwill and neighbourliness the truths of the Christian faith will be communicated and become clear, with a bright hope for this new century...
To participants reading this: it will be COLD, so dress warmly. Hats. Gloves. Scarves. It will be DARK towards the end of our journey so bring a TORCH or a lantern. Bring a good sandwich lunch, and something to drink. Be prepared to obey instructions: we will cross a couple of busy London roads, and be walking alongside a deep and potentially dangerous river, so it will be neccessary at times to be well disciplined.
We'll be hearing some talks along the way, and praying the Rosary, and singing some hymns. There will be a good Tea waiting for us at Hampton Wick.
All readers: please pray for us.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Glorious...
...music from the Cardinal Vaughan Schola, in concert at the Carmelite Church, Kensington, with funds raised going to Aid to the Church in Need. The magnificent singing was interspersed with Scripture readings and other meditations, all honouring Mary, read by Fr Dominic Allain, the school Chaplain. It was a theological as well as a music feast. I have known and loved this Carmelite Church all my adult life - J. and I went there sometimes when we were engaged, and then many years later I found myself there giving Marriage Preparation talks to young couples...
The Schola, which has become famous over recent years for its superb singing, is in really magnbificent voice at the moment, and offers one of London's finest musical experiences.
The Schola, which has become famous over recent years for its superb singing, is in really magnbificent voice at the moment, and offers one of London's finest musical experiences.
The BBC...
...was one of the first big organisations that was the reciever of indignant letters and protests from the author of this Blog and her friends and colleagues, years and years ago in the 1970s...that was in the days when we were young campaigners and sickened by its bias against Christian and moral values. It was so frustrating that protests against the display of sexually explicit material were dismissed, and that vulgarity and sexual crudity were assumed to be wholly acceptable and rather clever. It was rare, on the Beeb, to have a fair discussion of the great social issues of the day: instead there always seemed to be an assumption that it was neccessary to promote a particular secular, political skewed world-view which reflected a sort Guardian-reading-London-dinner-party pomposity. This was especially true of any programme that discussed sexual morality, or even news programmes covering related topics (eg a pro-life march or rally, and there were a number of huge pro-life events in Britain in those days).
And now...the sordid everyday reality of life at the Beeb in those days is emerging: staff being subjected to sexual overtures, paedophile activities quietly ignored, a culture of acceptance of horrible behaviour. What we all long suspected turns out to be true: this was an organisation where immoral and even gross behaviour was regarded as normal, and opposition to it as merely narrow-minded and absurd.
Mary Whitehouse, the leader of the "Clean Up TV" campaign, which became the National Viewers and Listeners Association, was widely derided as a prude.. For years, she was deemed to be a "non person" at the Beeb, even though she became a national figure as her campaign gathered strength. I was and am very proud to be have been one of her young supporters and, as the years went by, a friend. She was brave, dedicated, and loyal - a woman of great faith who spent time in prayer each day, reading the Bible each morning and night with devotion. Mary and Ernest had a happy home life and were a real example to younger people
The NVALA organised excellent meetings and conferences discussing the role of the media, morality, education, and family and community life. It sponsored awards for good programmes, ran events for schools and youth groups, trained people for TV and radio work. It was a voice for thousands of people who saw the massive influence of TV, and knew that the mass media would expand further and further and be a gigantic influence on all our lives. Evidence was mounting that Britain's tragic rates of divorce, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, and youth crime were going to cause gigantic problems, and that the influence of the mass media was a major factor in determining people's lifestyles.
Campaigning had its dangers: Mary Whitehouse recieved death threats from pornographers and from promoters of paedophilia, was sent vile things through the post, was physically threatened and abused , and sometimes needed police protection. But her work of NVALA, and associated groups grew and flourished, and ideas and values and hopes were passed on.
And back then, lots of people used to say "One day, Mary Whitehouse will be proved right."
And now...the sordid everyday reality of life at the Beeb in those days is emerging: staff being subjected to sexual overtures, paedophile activities quietly ignored, a culture of acceptance of horrible behaviour. What we all long suspected turns out to be true: this was an organisation where immoral and even gross behaviour was regarded as normal, and opposition to it as merely narrow-minded and absurd.
Mary Whitehouse, the leader of the "Clean Up TV" campaign, which became the National Viewers and Listeners Association, was widely derided as a prude.. For years, she was deemed to be a "non person" at the Beeb, even though she became a national figure as her campaign gathered strength. I was and am very proud to be have been one of her young supporters and, as the years went by, a friend. She was brave, dedicated, and loyal - a woman of great faith who spent time in prayer each day, reading the Bible each morning and night with devotion. Mary and Ernest had a happy home life and were a real example to younger people
The NVALA organised excellent meetings and conferences discussing the role of the media, morality, education, and family and community life. It sponsored awards for good programmes, ran events for schools and youth groups, trained people for TV and radio work. It was a voice for thousands of people who saw the massive influence of TV, and knew that the mass media would expand further and further and be a gigantic influence on all our lives. Evidence was mounting that Britain's tragic rates of divorce, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, and youth crime were going to cause gigantic problems, and that the influence of the mass media was a major factor in determining people's lifestyles.
Campaigning had its dangers: Mary Whitehouse recieved death threats from pornographers and from promoters of paedophilia, was sent vile things through the post, was physically threatened and abused , and sometimes needed police protection. But her work of NVALA, and associated groups grew and flourished, and ideas and values and hopes were passed on.
And back then, lots of people used to say "One day, Mary Whitehouse will be proved right."
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Church and state, Bishops, the Economy, and Catholic social teaching...
...all discussed in an excellent talk given by Philip Booth of the Institute of Economic Affairs, at the Catholic Writers' Guild this evening. Drawing on Pope Benedict's Caritas in Veritate Bl. John Paul's Centesimus Annus and Vatican II's Dignitatis Humanae along with Leo XII's Rerum Novarum, he gave us a thoughtful and challenging exploration of current economic and social problems. He was scathing about the way in which much of what has passed for Catholic social teaching in recent years has omitted the truths contained in the documents mentioned, and has thus massively missed its mark. May we hope for better in the years to come? General opinion seems to be "yes" , as a younger generation of clergy is taking a fresh approach and is less wedded to the economic ideas of the 1960s and the notion that the State should be the main provider and organiser of social welfare.
Over supper, general talk of Catholic matters....I'm underwhelmed by the (belated?) departure of Williamson from the Lefebvrists: the reasons for his having to leave seem to be that that he was disobedient and disruptive to the Society, rather than that he announced horrible opinions about Jewish people, and about the Church and the Second Vatican Council. And, alas, from Comments recieved (but not published) on this Blog, nasty anti-Jewish statements seem to be acceptable among supporters of the SSPX, in a way that I did not know about until recently.
Also discussed: worries about religious freedom, hopes for the Ordinariate, thoughts on the future of the C. of E. On that last point, I am quite genuinely sad about the fate of the Anglican Church as it pushes itself into absurdity by its apparent ambivalence on the issue of same-sex marriage, and its tortuous discussions about lady bishops. I'm not being patronising: it really is horrid watching it all happen. Please, Anglican readers: there is a great and noble home awaiting you in the Ordinariate: God is calling you, and you are needed, and you could do large and exciting things for our poor country...
Over supper, general talk of Catholic matters....I'm underwhelmed by the (belated?) departure of Williamson from the Lefebvrists: the reasons for his having to leave seem to be that that he was disobedient and disruptive to the Society, rather than that he announced horrible opinions about Jewish people, and about the Church and the Second Vatican Council. And, alas, from Comments recieved (but not published) on this Blog, nasty anti-Jewish statements seem to be acceptable among supporters of the SSPX, in a way that I did not know about until recently.
Also discussed: worries about religious freedom, hopes for the Ordinariate, thoughts on the future of the C. of E. On that last point, I am quite genuinely sad about the fate of the Anglican Church as it pushes itself into absurdity by its apparent ambivalence on the issue of same-sex marriage, and its tortuous discussions about lady bishops. I'm not being patronising: it really is horrid watching it all happen. Please, Anglican readers: there is a great and noble home awaiting you in the Ordinariate: God is calling you, and you are needed, and you could do large and exciting things for our poor country...
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Remember...
...Saturday November 24th, the TOWARDS ADVENT Festival, Westminster Cathedral hall. Official Opening 10.30am with Archbishop Vincent Nichols. Music from the choir of St Benedict's school, Ealing. Come and celebrate in this YEAR OF FAITH!
Among the speakers during the day: Sister Catherine Holum, former Olympic speed skater, now a sister with the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal.
Also: a celebration of Blessed John Henry Newman, honouring the anniversary of his "Second Spring" sermon.
And: a glorious art gallery featuring work by the Society of Catholic Artists.
And: come and meet the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, the Catenians, the Catholic Truth Society, the Association of Catholic Women, the Knights of St Columba, and more, and more...plus Catholic books, statues, devotional items, craft goods...plus delicious refreshments, opportunities to chat and network, meet old friends and make new ones...
Admission free. Small charge for the main talks.
Among the speakers during the day: Sister Catherine Holum, former Olympic speed skater, now a sister with the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal.
Also: a celebration of Blessed John Henry Newman, honouring the anniversary of his "Second Spring" sermon.
And: a glorious art gallery featuring work by the Society of Catholic Artists.
And: come and meet the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, the Catenians, the Catholic Truth Society, the Association of Catholic Women, the Knights of St Columba, and more, and more...plus Catholic books, statues, devotional items, craft goods...plus delicious refreshments, opportunities to chat and network, meet old friends and make new ones...
Admission free. Small charge for the main talks.
To St Mary's College,
...Strawberry Hill, Twickenham. Gave a talk to a group a the Benedict XVI Community House, on Faith, Culture and the New Evangelisation. I am interested in the point made by Weigel in his biography on Bl John Paul: "Culture is what drives history over the long haul." Not politics or economics. The Church does not impose herself by statecraft: she preaches the message of the Gospel - and sings it, and draws it, and paints it, and walks it, and celebrates it, and lives it in serve to the poor and sick and imprisoned.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
My old school...
...St Philomena's, Carshalton. Last night, I was due there for a radio show: Heart Gives Unto Heart Radio, a new internet-based Catholic radio station, is making some programmes and will start to air next month. As I walked there from Sutton, I realised that the main gates (very grand ones - the school buildings are centred on a fine Queen Anne Mansion and its lovely grounds) would be shut. So I turned down Shorts Road and reminisced about using this back entrance very often as a Sixth-former, hurrying out to buy sweets and snacks...and the first gate I came across was also locked, so for a moment I worried that, as of old, I might have to clamber in over a wall (we used a route right down at the end of the lacrosse field...remember?). But there is a new entrance further down, so I entered as a grown-up. Posh new Hall where the old Margaret Clitheroe Dining Room used to be. Felt odd sitting there doing a radio show.
We talked about Catholic education, Catholic schools popular and over-subscribed...but are the children practising the Faith?...how to teach the Faith...the importance of beautiful liturgy...how to encourage young people to go to Mass...
A major issue is that of children of other faiths or none, who seek to attend Catholic schools. There are so many Catholic families who seek places it seems unjust to exclude some in order to offer places to children of other faiths. And what happens when parents get annoyed that their offspring are being taught Catholic doctrine and morals to which they object? That is a bit like insisting on your chuld being given a place at a dancing-school and then objecting when she is taught to dance!
The school grounds, which are beautiful, looked ghostly in the dark and I remembered all those school legends about the Grey Lady, and the footman who fell down the stairs in the 1780s or thereabouts, in the days of Sir John Fellowes...
And the chapel, and the Quad, and that slithery Marble Passage where we weren't allowed to run...
We talked about Catholic education, Catholic schools popular and over-subscribed...but are the children practising the Faith?...how to teach the Faith...the importance of beautiful liturgy...how to encourage young people to go to Mass...
A major issue is that of children of other faiths or none, who seek to attend Catholic schools. There are so many Catholic families who seek places it seems unjust to exclude some in order to offer places to children of other faiths. And what happens when parents get annoyed that their offspring are being taught Catholic doctrine and morals to which they object? That is a bit like insisting on your chuld being given a place at a dancing-school and then objecting when she is taught to dance!
The school grounds, which are beautiful, looked ghostly in the dark and I remembered all those school legends about the Grey Lady, and the footman who fell down the stairs in the 1780s or thereabouts, in the days of Sir John Fellowes...
And the chapel, and the Quad, and that slithery Marble Passage where we weren't allowed to run...
Bit worried...
...about the great Pilgrimage Along the Thames on Sunday (see various posts on this Blog in recent days/weeks). Spent today sorting out various arrangements. What if it simply pours and pours w. rain and we just can't struggle along the towpath by the Thames any longer? I started to worry about this and then realised: we stop, and walk inland and catch a bus or two. The whole route, although it gets fairly rural at times (Kew Gardens, Old Deer Park) is in the London suburbs, and nowehere is far from civilisation and buses and indeed tubes and trains. Our final destination at Hampton Wick - just across the river from Kingston - is half an hour from central London by public transport.
But I'd still be v. grateful for the prayers of faithful readers of this Blog - this is a young people's Pilgrimage, and the aim is to the pray for the New Evangelisation...may I ask, in particular, my American readers - especially those who love London and enjoy reading about it - to pray for us?
But I'd still be v. grateful for the prayers of faithful readers of this Blog - this is a young people's Pilgrimage, and the aim is to the pray for the New Evangelisation...may I ask, in particular, my American readers - especially those who love London and enjoy reading about it - to pray for us?
Monday, October 22, 2012
Worth watching...
...this video
and, while you're about it: have you signed the petition? Have people in your church signed it? Have you written to your MP? And to David Cameron?
and, while you're about it: have you signed the petition? Have people in your church signed it? Have you written to your MP? And to David Cameron?
Today is...
..the feast of Blessed John Paul. Once a person is declared Blessed by the Church, the feast-day can be celebrated - but only in the place(s) with which he or she has been associated, unless or until Bishops elsewhere make a special request. Thus today is a feast-day in Rome and in Poland. But the Bishops of the USA voted to ask the Church to have the feast celebrated in America and so today, it will be!
I think it would be great if it could be celebrated in England and Wales, too, so I am going to write to my Archbishop to suggest this. Why not join me, by writing a note to your Bishop, too?
There are a lot of plans for honouring Bl John Paul the Great, which will develop over the next years, and celebrating his feast-day will be an annual joy...let's get it well established in the calendar...
I think it would be great if it could be celebrated in England and Wales, too, so I am going to write to my Archbishop to suggest this. Why not join me, by writing a note to your Bishop, too?
There are a lot of plans for honouring Bl John Paul the Great, which will develop over the next years, and celebrating his feast-day will be an annual joy...let's get it well established in the calendar...
Saturday, October 20, 2012
The Blessed Sacrament in procession...
...across the Thames, with about 1,000 people surging along in a great crowd...
We gathered at Westminster Cathedral and then, singing "Praise to the Holiest in the Height" processed out into the piazza and down Ambrosden Avenue and Horseferry Road to the river. Knights of St Columba - all wearing their formal ribbons of office and other insignia - guided us as we crossed Lambeth Bridge and walked on down through Southwark to St George's Cathedral. We sang "Sweet Sacrament Divine" and "How great thou art!" and other hymns, and said the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. The Blessed Sacrament was carried aloft under a canopy by Bishop John Sherrington, with accompanying clergy and altar servers, and Knights of Our Lady in splendid cloaks were in attendance.
At St George's Cathedral we all knelt in prayer - it took quite a while for everyone to pour in - and then there was a most glorious Benediction, a great roar of voices responding to the Divine Praises: "Blessed be God" "Blessed be his holy Name"... and things ended with a great singing of the Salve Regina, the sound surging up to the great arches and filling the whole cathedral...
It's now an established tradition: the Procession took place for the first time last year, marking the first anniversary of visit of Pope Benedict, and the new feast of Blessed John Henry Newman, and now it's definitely here to stay. Numbers seemed to me to be a bit lower than last year, but others said they were higher.We had nuns, priests, seminarians, the SPES team from Soho Square, and lots and lots of ordinary faithful people...there is a report, with lots of pix, on it all .here...and another here...
Pointers for the future: we need more unity in the singing - a good choir at the front and back of the procession? Some one suggested that we could all carry lighted candles (the sort that come in special procesional holders, as at Lourdes and elsewhere), which I would love, but it's difficult if there is a high wind.
As is traditional, the singing was a bit muddled - one half of the procession singing one hymn, others, further back, already embarked on another, while another set of voices had begun another Rosary...with large numbers, some incoherence is I suppose inevitable... Otherwise, no real hassles, oh, except that we also had, as we all departed:, some protesters (this time, from the Lefebvrists!) handing out leaflets denouncing the Church...
We gathered at Westminster Cathedral and then, singing "Praise to the Holiest in the Height" processed out into the piazza and down Ambrosden Avenue and Horseferry Road to the river. Knights of St Columba - all wearing their formal ribbons of office and other insignia - guided us as we crossed Lambeth Bridge and walked on down through Southwark to St George's Cathedral. We sang "Sweet Sacrament Divine" and "How great thou art!" and other hymns, and said the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. The Blessed Sacrament was carried aloft under a canopy by Bishop John Sherrington, with accompanying clergy and altar servers, and Knights of Our Lady in splendid cloaks were in attendance.
At St George's Cathedral we all knelt in prayer - it took quite a while for everyone to pour in - and then there was a most glorious Benediction, a great roar of voices responding to the Divine Praises: "Blessed be God" "Blessed be his holy Name"... and things ended with a great singing of the Salve Regina, the sound surging up to the great arches and filling the whole cathedral...
It's now an established tradition: the Procession took place for the first time last year, marking the first anniversary of visit of Pope Benedict, and the new feast of Blessed John Henry Newman, and now it's definitely here to stay. Numbers seemed to me to be a bit lower than last year, but others said they were higher.We had nuns, priests, seminarians, the SPES team from Soho Square, and lots and lots of ordinary faithful people...there is a report, with lots of pix, on it all .here...and another here...
Pointers for the future: we need more unity in the singing - a good choir at the front and back of the procession? Some one suggested that we could all carry lighted candles (the sort that come in special procesional holders, as at Lourdes and elsewhere), which I would love, but it's difficult if there is a high wind.
As is traditional, the singing was a bit muddled - one half of the procession singing one hymn, others, further back, already embarked on another, while another set of voices had begun another Rosary...with large numbers, some incoherence is I suppose inevitable... Otherwise, no real hassles, oh, except that we also had, as we all departed:, some protesters (this time, from the Lefebvrists!) handing out leaflets denouncing the Church...
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