Watch out for...

...this book, due out any day now...

Arriving by Royal Mail...

...rather surprisingly, given the recent strikes, have been some useful books. A rather charming little booklet of prayers produced by CHOOSE LIFE. "This devotional work is designed for private and public use to encourage people to pray regularly in reparation for the sins of abortion and euthanasia - sins against God's gift of life." Send a donation to HUMAN LIFE at 18 Chelsea Square, London SW3 6LF and ask for a couple of copies.


Also Different and Complementary, another book in the excellent "Alive to the World" series for schools. Useful for the Personal Social and Health Education now officially part of the curriculum in Britain's schools - but unlike much material produced under that banner these books are packed with wholesome and useful material, celebrating virtue and lifting the heart. Absolutely free of gross, sexually explicit or vulgar stuff, they teach real lessons for life, following the adventures of a busy family grappling with real challenges. The books form part of a whole scheme aimed at primary schools - moderately priced and ideal for your local school...

Domestic...

...life has kept me busy of late, and I have spent much time sorting through various family things preparatory to a house-move for a relative. Came across the note I wrote to my parents on the eve of my wedding...stacks and stacks of family photographs bringing back hosts of memories...sudden discoveries of oddly useful but unused Christmas presents (a nice set of matching towels) and unused and not-useful ones (embroidered traycloths)...

And books. Neville Shute, A Town Like Alice, Gerald Durrell, wartime escape classics The Wooden Horse, The Great Escape, lots of Catholic stuff, poetry by Alice Meynell, books on art featuring the pre-Raphaelites.

Several bagloads of things went to charity shops, from where I then obtained some videos for evening relaxation in the weeks ahead: a particular delight was finding a collection of some Joyce Grenfell programmes, a joy in prospect...

In essence...

...the issue the Lefebvrists have to face in Rome as they embark on discussions at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is whether they accept the "Hermeneutic of Continuity" in which the Second Vatican Council is understood as being part of the faithful heritage of the Church and its documents are presented and accepted in that light, or the "Hermeneutic of Rupture" in which that Council is understood as being a break with the Church's heritage. For two decades now, the Lefebvrists have taught the Hermeneutic of Rupture with vigour but a sense of muddle overlaid with dark comments about Masonic plots. Their position upholding the Rupture theory has been enhanced by the support for the same theory that has come from the legions of "progressivists" who have been similarly telling us that "everything changed at Vatican II" and that there were lots of things that "no one need believe in any more."

Ditching the Rupture theory will free the Lefebvrists from the straitjacket. Some won't like that and will want to stay in it, at least for a while. Others will be glad to wriggle free. We'll probably continue to hear quite a lot about Masonic plots, but will just have to cope with that, as also with some rather Jansenistic stuff on sex, love, and human relationships (but they'll gradually open up to the teachings of John Paul II).

It's clear that Rome is keen to hurry things along, and also that a way is being found to remove any elder-brother resentments (ref. the story of the Prodigal Son, see below) by showing that the way forward must always be based on generosity. Hence the Anglican Rite offer presented first, to a group with a different history but a shared common need. The parable about the labourers in the vineyard and the wages they were paid also comes to mind...

The price paid by the Holy Father has been considerable in terms of personal suffering and humiliation. He has spent much of his life promoting goodwill and theological understanding between Christians and Jews (read some of his writings on the subject, info here) and has made many personal friendships along the way. Following the anti-Jewish ranting of the Lefebvrist Bishop much of this work has been put at risk, and the public view of the Holy Father's own personal integrity along with it - a cruelty inflicted by the Lefebvrists which caused him the evident anguish revealed in his letter to the world's bishops.

I remember once a wise and kindly priest urging me, during a previous pontificate: "Pray for the Pope in his Gethsemane".

Books, books...

...and there is one on sale at the St Paul's bookshop next to Westminster Cathedral, which might be of interest to readers of this Blog. Produced specially for the Year of the Priest, it's a new simple life of St John Vianney...

Jamie and I are meanwhile enjoying a sudden new enthusiasm for Dorothy L. Sayers and are reading Busman's Honeymoon together each evening.And I've been re-reading Walter Hooper on C.S.Lewis with much pleasure and benefit...

Meanwhile in Rome...

...the Lefebvrists have been having their first official meeting with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and everyone is being very nice to them. The general view seems to be that if the Prodigal Sons want to return, it would be right to make fatted-calf noises even if they are some way from being repentant, in the hopes that repentance might eventually follow even if it's not verbally expressed for some while...probably at some stage it will dawn on at least some of the SSPX members that they could have avoided a lot of unpleasantness if their Society had stuck to the original agreement which was signed in 1988 and on which Archbp Lefebvre then changed his mind. When he decided to split from the Church and ordain his own Bishops he made a dreadful choice,led many people astray, and the results have been tragic. If he had remained obedient, a great many things might have been different...

And what about Williamson? It would be something - I am being perfectly serious here - if he could do the right and honourable thing and make a genuine statement of contrition for the horrible things he said, and make reparation, perhaps with a visit to an appropriate place to acknowledge the truth of what occurred there and to kneel in sympathy and sorrow. He need pay no price except that of his pride...

What will the future hold...

... for various Anglican groups? Dunno. I have had some contact in recent years with the Forward in Faith movement, and their magazine, New Directions. It is witty - has often made me laugh aloud - thoughtful, well-informed and often includes some really excellent writing. It has also often revealed much genuine sorrow and anguish over the religious state of Britain, the plight of the C. of E. etc...oh, I do hope large numbers of its writers and readers will take the oars of the boat heading across the Tiber, negotiate the rubbbish in the river, ignore the cross-currents, disregard the blathering and the cries of ohdon'tbotherthereisn'tanypoint, and come on home. There is so much that could be done for the Faith together, so much that needs to be done...

Brompton Oratory...

... on Saturday evening, and again early on Sunday morning... I was there to give out leaflets about the Towards Advent Festival after all the Masses. At the earliest Sunday Mass, I met a friend - who had just come off-shift after working all night at a media network and was hurrying to Mass before going home to sleep. She helped me hand out leaflets first. Now that's real five-star friendship.

At the Oratory, they pray for HM the Queen at all the Masses in the Bidding Prayers. We did this in the parish where I grew up, and I think it should be more regularly done everywhere...

Large crowds of course, for the 10 am Mass (lots of young families) and the 11 am Mass (all ages, and lots of visitors esp. from America and Australia) and the 7pm Mass (very large numbers of young people, many of them v. elegant in a just-the-right-of-denim-jeans sort of way, making me feel v. matronly and aunt-like with my skirt and coat).

I ran into lots of friends, and the whole day was fun. In the afternoon, I whizzed off to the suburbs to take Mother out to tea, then back again for the evening Mass...at the end of which I got chatting to a young couple, friends of one of my godsons. Conversation ranged over various topics and I mentioned that I sometimes felt gloomy about Britain, could not feel optimistic about the future. "Do you really think that?" the young man asked in genuine astonishment, despite the fact that he'd been saying the Govt is hopeless, Tories aren't going to be any better, pro-life movement doesn't seem to be going anywhere, etc etc. "But we've just been saying that London is a wonderful place, it's been a fantastic, sunny, beautiful Autumn day, day, and - well - everything feels marvellous!" He - and others - believe that the Church here has lots going for it, and there is no need to be gloomy at all. So Auntie should shake off her middle-aged despondency.

Our poor country...

...is in a mess. Of course we need a new government - anyone with sense can see that. But this won't alter the misery of so many of our young who have been robbed of normal family life, the vulgarity and crudity that hallmarks our culture, the sneering at spiritual and moral values.

Signs of hope?

The news of the Catholic/Anglican plan from Rome is good, tho' there will be attempts to wreck it (why doesn't The Times get its act together and stop trying to play 19th century politics with religion? The headline about Vatican tanks on the Anglican lawn was comically bad, worthy of a Private Eye spoof).

The Tories seem to be connecting - at last - with the reality that violence, social unrest, and youth alienation is connected with the undermining of marriage and the removal of family structures. They might just get on and do something about this when in office.

People haven't entirely lost their sense of humour, and it's a healthy sign when people joke about things like the Royal Mail strike, the ghastly BNP, and the grisly business of MPs' expenses...

For a very good analysis...

...of what the new Catholic/Anglican plan will mean, read this from an Anglican Rite parish in the USA. And another perspective with useful insights comes from Fr Dwight Lngenecker who as always offers wisdom and humour...

BIG NEWS....

...from Rome. Anglicans offered a safe home, with preservation of Anglican liturgical traditions and more...for a useful analysis and comment see here...

Over the past few days I've been reading the new Shawcross biography of the Queen Mother and it made me realise, with an aching heart, how important are certain aspects of a certain English spiritual heritage, and how these are slipping away...so today's news is hugely important, as the only safe home is the one built on a Rock.

And it is a home: there is warmth and a welcome, it's a bit messy and we bicker a lot, we've got some rather odd members of the family and some of the music is not always to everyone's taste, but...the foundations are sound and the food is always nourishing. Some parts of the old house are gloriously beautiful, but everyone is aware that some are shabby, and there are always parts that need cleaning.

And there are no strangers here, and in a sense no newcomers: those seeking a home find, once arriving in the hall and shedding their coats and wellies, that they feel as if they have been there all along...

A book launch...

...of a charming book The Priest and the Playwright by M. Brown...telling the story of a priest in an impoverished London parish, and a leading playwright in Edwardian England. With Christmas to think about, an enjoyable book is worth noting...

Another...

...Catholic History Walk, this time in Chelsea, with a wonderful welcome at Holy Redeemer Church where parishioner Josephine Robinson showed us round and with a joyful bonus in a visit to Allen Hall, the diocesan seminary built on what was once St Thomas More's land. There is a good-sized community of seminarians there now, as numbers of men training for the priesthood in the diocese has been rising in recent years - some of them joined us for the Walk - and it was grand to be welcomed and to hear all about the history of the place and the work that is done there. This second Catholic History Walk drew a large crowd, and our original intention of "just dropping in" gave way to a full-scale gathering in the refectory. We ended, as planned, by going into the grounds for lamplit prayers around the old mulberry tree, in the shade of which More used to sit with his family...

These Catholic History Walks are proving hugely popular. The next is on Thursday November 19th - meet on the steps of Westminster Cathedral at 6.30pm after the 5.30pm Mass.

"A new springtime...

...in the Church" - a phrase that we've heard in recent years, and on an Autumn evening in London it was suddenly gloriously,joyfully evident...crowds in front of Westminster Cathedral, voices raised in a great hymn,a splendid procession as four days of prayer were brought to a climax, and a shower of rose-petals poured down from the balcony...

As the relics of St Therese were slowly carried out as the pilgrimage around Britain concluded, it was clear that something rather dramatic had happened. We have rediscovered, on a large scale, that popular Catholicism which has always been part of our heritage and too rarely makes its presence felt. It was good to be there. As the H. Father said at his inaugural Mass, looking back on the crowds that had packed Rome for the farewell to John Paul II and the events that followed:"The Church is alive and the Church is young"...

I was on my way to record some broadcasts for Premier Radio (now available nationwide - it started as a London-based Christian radio station), and thought I would cut across the Cathedral piazza. Not possible. Vast crowds and I was caught up in them, part of a memorable event in London's Catholic history...

BTW, you can hear the radio talks in the week beginning Nov 2nd, broadcast as "Thought of the day" at about 8am and again 10 am...

"Alive to the World"...

...is a wonderful new series of books for schools, designed to engross children in stories which also give values and form a full programme suitable for Personal Social and Health Education. Visit this website and find out more...I am really attracted to this series, which would work well in any school, whether Church-based or not. The books would also work for parents who want to teach their children at home, and parish groups working with children would also find them useful. The stories are all linked, so week by week you follow the adventures of a couple of families - the illustrations are bright and good, the characters come alive, and you want to keep on reading!

Do give this website a try, and order a couple of the books. Even if you just read them and pass them on to a local school, it would be a real service to the community...

The British Ambassador to the Holy See...

...gave a superb talk to the Catholic Union of Great Britain on Tuesday. You can read it here. He was exploring the thinking of Pope Benedict on whole question of religious liberty, with reference to the role that Christianity has in our traditions and culture, and the role it must play in the future. He is clearly a great fan of the H. Father and his analysis of the subject widened and deepened my understanding of it. Papa Benedict has devoted a great time of thought to this whole subject, and it is central to his Papacy and its message of the relationship between faith and reason. Read the Habermas/Ratzinger discussions to get more on this...it's all immensely enriching and points a good way forward...

This was the Craigmyle Memorial Lecture, an annual event sponsored by the Catholic Union, and was delivered in Portcullis House, next to the Houses of Parliament. It was well attended, with a good number of younger people. The Catholic Union is keen to attract younger members, and is holding a drinks reception in November with this in mind...see that website link for details.

After leaving Portcullis House I collected my bike from where I had left it at Queen Anne's Gate - I love these beautiful Georgian streets on lamplit Autumn evenings - and cycled up to Westminster Cathedral to see how things were going with the St Therese relics. Large crowds, a great air of genial goodwill, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves as they queued up and moved slowly forward along the barriers to gain entrance to the Cathedral. Met lots of people I knew, including Frs Emmanuel and Jacob, Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.Fr Emmanuel was special guest speaker at the Catholic Women of the Year Luncheon, held last week...

Global warming?

I dunno. But there are beginning to be doubts about the standard orthodoxy on the subject. Read here.

You could hear...

...the music as you walked down Victoria Street. And the crowds were gathering...friendly, chatty, calm, expectant. People poured across the piazza in a steady flow to join them. On a giant screen, Mass was being broadcast from inside the Cathedral, complete with magnificent music and a mitred Bishop preaching.

The relics of St Therese were coming to Westminster Cathedral. I hadn't really planned to be there - just thought I would "look in while passing". I had a letter to drop in to Clergy House for Canon Tuckwell, the administrator, so I needed to go that way. As I approached the piazza I noticed a friend, stopped to greet her...and was hooked.

Visiting the relics of St Therese was a wonderful, prayerful experience. Everything about it was right. A delicious October evening with twilight merging into the London lamplight and the glow of the illuminated cathedral. Lots of lots and lots of friendly people. The joy of sharing all this with good friends, and making new acquaintances as the queue moved along. Dignity and beauty in the procession and the liturgy. People clutching roses. Occasional outbreaks of a Marian hymn. The quiet of the cathedral as we mounted the steps.

We had each been thinking of the prayer-intentions we were bringing along, and promising to pray for one another. As I approached the casket I suddenly remembered another, more urgent plea to put before the saint, and so in the end it was that one that actually took priority! Dear Saint Therese, please please take all my petitions and present them to God...

A glorious Mass...

...in the magnificent OLEM church in Cambridge. I was last here some three years ago for the baptism of a young relative. This weekend it was a splendid setting for the Mass celebrated for the annual meeting of the Association for Latin Liturgy. A good choir, a glory of timeless worship. A grand meeting and the delight of meeting various friends. A warm, open, friendly atmosphere with an upbeat feel. The day ended with a beautiful sung Vespers and Benediction...

On the anniversary...

...of the reception of John Henry Newman into the Catholic Church, a great gathering at the school he founded - The Oratory School, near Reading. Launch of a magnificent book celebrating 150 years of the school, a glorious Vespers and Benediction in the school chapel - a rousing "Faith of our Fathers"... the glow of candles, the boys' strong voices singing the Psalms and leading us in Newman's beautiful hymn "Lead kindly light"...

A delicious buffet supper in the magnificent surroundings of the Georgian manor house which forms the core of the school's group of buildings, and then an excellent lecture by Prof Sheridan Gilley on Newman as a writer of novels. It is years since I first read Callista, and Loss and Gain - Prof Gilley's lecture brought the books alive and has sent me hurrying to read them again...

Catholic History...

...is all around us in London. Come on the next Catholic History Walk! Thursday, October 15th. Meet at 6.30pm at the church of Our Most Holy Redeemer and St Thomas More, Cheyne Row, London SW3. We will be walking in the footsteps of St Thomas More, and the tour starts with a look round the church named in his honour, after which we will go down along the river, vsiting his statue on the Embankment, and Chelsea Old Church where he used to serve Mass. We'll finish at Allen Hall, the Westminster diocesan seminary, where we'll have prayers by lamplight around the mulberry tree in what was once More's garden.

No need to book - just turn up. Wear comfortable shoes. The Walk lasts about one and a half hours. We'll be walking whatever the weather!

The Tory party...

...has been chattering away at its conference. But will the Cameron team commit itself to the only policies that will really foster social cohesion and justice, reduce crime, and give people back a sense of belonging to a country that believes it has a bright future? To have hope in the future you need families. This means support for marriage as the union of a man and a woman, who establish a family together.

A happy day...

...beginning work on research about WWII heroine Mother Riccarda. Visiting Brighton, I had a very happy meeting with Fr Ray, of St Mary Magdalen's. Golden sunshine and the sea sparkled. Before leaving Brighton I skipped down to the beach and had a paddle. The Channel was calm and blue, and there were even some people swimming.

What kind of a country...

...has ours become?

You can now be in trouble as a Christian for expressing your views, in a private capacity, to the Comments section of a website. See this case.

A weekend..

...in the West Country with family. We began in Oxford, watching the play produced at the Oratory by a young team, honouring St Therese. It was grand to see so much goodwill and energy united in a great endeavour. It shows that there are some great young people around...and the author of the play is to be warmly congratulated for getting them together and inspiring them.

The next day, on to Somerset, and a weekend of walks on Exmoor - wide and glorious and breezy and rainy and with fabulous views and the sea and visits to beautiful country churches followed by deeply satisfying family meals and talk.

On Monday we drove home stopping at Salisbury. In gentle evening rain to the great Cathedral. Evensong. Few people there, a choir singing beautifully, the perfection of those soaring arches and that great nave, a walk in the magnificent cloister. A prayer for our country, that it may not betray its Christian heritage...

Autumnal Oxford...

...was glorious. We were there on Friday for the play about St Therese at the Oxford Oratory. Arriving early, I walked in Christ Church meadow, approaching it through the war memorial gardens in St Aldgates...it was silent except for the rustling of the trees and the calling of some birds gathering for the evening, and the quietness combined with the Autumnal mood to bring solemn wonderings about what sort of a country we have made, from the one that the young men defnded so heroically and at such a cost...

Catholic traditions? The Church's heritage of feasts and seasons?

...if that's your sort of thing you might be interested in this event on Saturday October 10th in Cambridge.