Meanwhile, however, Mr Dawkins...

... the leading atheist campaigner, asked a rally in Washington: "How is it conceivable that the laws of physics should conspire together – without guidance, without direction, without any intelligence – to bring us into the world?”

Indeed.Keep asking, Mr D. You are slowly getting there.

In great sadness...

...to Bedford Square, where a prayer-vigil was being held outside an abortion centre. We prayed, led by Bishop Alan Hopes, and young people took turns to read aloud Scriptural meditations for the Stations of the Cross. The idea was to express sorrow and repentance that none of us have been able to stem the tide of the killing of the unborn that is happening in our country, and to pledge ourselves to renewal and hope. But it was not possible to hear much as a large group of angry protesters with loud hailers and drums and various instruments had gathered to drown us out. It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen: the protesters included a number of young women, angry and shouting, a picture of sadness and self-loathing such as I have never viewed before.

It used to be that even people who viewed abortion as a legitimate choice would emphasise that it was a sad thing, that no one really wanted it, that it could and should be avoided if at all possible. That was how people spoke in the 70s and 80s when I was first involved in debates on the subject. It is the saddest things on earth to see young women shouting things like "Get your Eucharist out of my uterus" and jeering when people pray.

I went to this vigil because it had been announced that some people wanted to prevent it happening: in the Britain I inherited, the right to pray in this way was cherished, so I felt I should be there. I met a great many friends and at one level it was, or should have been, a time of solidarity and and hope. The pro-life movement is strong and there were lots of young people praying earnestly, along with priests and Franciscan friars, and older people - like me - who have taken part in various such events for decades.

But my overwhelming feeling about the evening is one of profound sadness: the image that stays with me is of the young women on the opposite side of the barriers erected by the police, shouting angrily and sort of gleefully their support for the destruction of the next generation, affirming their right to eliminate their own offspring. Thus is a nation ending itself. Whatever comes next will be different. It all feels bleak.

"The truth...

... is a desire of the human person, the search for which always supposes the exercise of authentic freedom. Many, without a doubt, would prefer to take the easy way out, trying to avoid this task. Some, like Pontius Pilate, ironically question the possibility of even knowing what truth is (cf. Jn 18:38), claiming is incapable of knowing it or denying that there exists a truth valid for all. This attitude, as in the case of scepticism and relativism, changes hearts, making them cold, wavering, distant from others and closed. There are too many who, like the Roman governor, wash their hands and let the water of history drain away without taking a stand.

On the other hand, there are those who wrongly interpret this search for the truth, leading them to irrationality and fanaticism; they close themselves up in “their truth”, and try to impose it on others. These are like the blind scribes who, upon seeing Jesus beaten and bloody, cry out furiously, “Crucify him!” (cf. Jn 19:6). Anyone who acts irrationally cannot become a disciple of Jesus. Faith and reason are necessary and complementary in the pursuit of truth. God created man with an innate vocation to the truth and he gave him reason for this purpose. Certainly, it is not irrationality but rather the yearning for truth which the Christian faith promotes. Each man and woman has to seek the truth and to choose it when he or she finds it, even at the risk of embracing sacrifices.

Furthermore, the truth which stands above humanity is an unavoidable condition for attaining freedom, since in it we discover the foundation of an ethics on which all can converge and which contains clear and precise indications concerning life and death, duties and rights, marriage, family and society, in short, regarding the inviolable dignity of the human person. This ethical patrimony can bring together different cultures, peoples and religions, authorities and citizens, citizens among themselves, and believers in Christ and non-believers...

Christianity, in highlighting those values which sustain ethics, does not impose, but rather proposes Christ’s invitation to know the truth which sets us free. The believer is called to offer that truth to his contemporaries, as did the Lord, even before the ominous shadow of rejection and the Cross. The personal encounter with the one who is Truth in person compels us to share this treasure with others, especially by our witness...

Convinced that it is Christ who is the true measure of man, and knowing that in him we find the strength needed to face every trial, I wish to proclaim openly that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. In him everyone will find complete freedom, the light to understand reality most deeply and to transform it by the renewing power of love...

The right to freedom of religion, both in its private and in its public dimension, manifests the unity of the human person, who is at once a citizen and a believer. It also legitimizes the fact that believers have a contribution to make to the building up of society. Strengthening religious freedom consolidates social bonds, nourishes the hope of a better world, creates favourable conditions for peace and harmonious development, while at the same time establishing solid foundations for securing the rights of future generations."

Papa Benedict XVI, speaking today in Cuba. What he says is important for Britain too. Read more here...

I recently spent...

... some days sorting out medals and wristbands and parcels of books and posting them off to children who won them in a big Southwark Vocations Project. Read my latest EWTN blog

I have been nicknamed "Pollyanna"...

...because of being glad about too many things.

Papa Benedict is a Pollyanna Catholic too. Read what he says for World Youth Day:


"Joy has to be shared. Go and tell other young people about your joy at finding the precious treasure which is Jesus himself. We cannot keep the joy of faith to ourselves. If we are to keep it, we must give it away. Saint John said: “What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; we are writing this so that our joy may be complete” (1 Jn 1:3-4).

Christianity is sometimes depicted as a way of life that stifles our freedom and goes against our desires for happiness and joy. But this is far from the truth. Christians are men and women who are truly happy because they know that they are not alone. They know that God is always holding them in his hands. It is up to you, young followers of Christ, to show the world that faith brings happiness and a joy which is true, full and enduring. If the way Christians live at times appears dull and boring, you should be the first to show the joyful and happy side of faith. The Gospel is the “good news” that God loves us and that each of us is important to him. Show the world that this is true!"

And there's more: read it all here...

Latest issue of...

...VOICES, magazine of Women for Faith and Family in the USA, is published. Auntie has a feature in it, on a v. topical subject - you may be interested in it. Read it here.

Hate mail on the Internet...

...with a campaigning group for the homosexual lobby posting horrible, vicious anti-Catholic comments, including an announcement that Catholics should never have been allowed freedom in freedom, that the Catholic Emancipation Act should not have been allowed etc etc. Sample: one of the more mild and comments describes the Church as "an international criminal organisation committed to the grossest of immoralities, bigotries and nastiness. It should be closed down and prosecuted."

Can anything be done to stop this deliberate stirring up of hatred and prejudice? Does anyone have information on this?

Working on...

...current book( due out in 2013, must be with publisher this summer), and took some time out to do some planning and organising for this event later this year...

V. tempting to do a quick trail on the internet from time to time when working. Rome seems to be trying good-cop/bad-cop routine with the Lefebvrists, trying to get them to return to the Church.

Theology...

...at Maryvale. There was a Study Week,a wonderful opportunity to have hours of good library-time, work on essays, consult, think. A group of PhD scholars were there - much fascinating conversation at meal times. The chapel with the dear Brigettine sisters: morning Mass, Stations of the Cross in the evening, the Office. Afternoons on the Library with von Balthasar, de Lubac, Ratzinger.

...and so to...

...a Lenten Day of Recollection organised by the Association of Catholic Women. Fr Alexander Masters from Westminster Cathedral led us in an inspiring meditation, with glorious music, on the Seven Last Words from the Cross. The music included some from the St Matthew Passion, some by James McMillian, and a final rousing "When I survey the wondrous Cross" with a magnificent Welsh male voice choir...

Fr. reminded us that the Cross is a central part of all our lives - and it's there all the time, with crowds hurrying through Charing Cross station and not knowing how its name originates, or using words like "crucial" or expressions like "the crux of the matter"...

In the afternoon a thoughtful and beautiful talk by Sister Camilla from the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham, on seeking and following God's will. This is a new and young community, and we plan a visit to their House of Prayer in the summer...

A good day, and a neccessary one for me.

A place of sanity...

...in a Britain that is steadily feeling more and more alien to common sense. St Patrick's, Soho Square, had a Mass for the vigil of its patronal day. Packed, of course, but I managed to squeeze into a pew at the very back instead of sitting on the floor. As always at St P's, the Mass brought together people of every race and background - slightly surreal experience of singing "On Erin's green valleys look down in thy love" with a pewful of Chinese.

I never liked St Patrick's Day as a child because as an English Catholic I resented the enthusiasm of Irish nuns. Looking back, it was of course an important day for them and they had a right to sing and feel tribal. Today, that hymn about St Patrick had a solemn ring to it and was sung with fervour - that the Faith may not be lost in the land he evangelised.

Grim news re the Govt's ghastly plans for crushing marriage.These creepy politicians are now so frightened of the rest of us that they have announced that the pretence of a "consultation" won't make any difference - the cruel new law will be pushed through anyway.

Living as a Christian in Britain over the next years is going to be quite difficult - although awfully interesting - and watching bureacrats becoming increasing nasty to us all is going to be rather tiresome. How pointless their dreams are - to try to rewrite humanity's deepest realities. Like the gruesome Marxist experiment, theirs will fail. We will need courage and good humour as we live through what is to come: and when it all gets really ghastly, it will be Christians who will be around to pick up the mess and cope...

And about wearing a cross in public...

read Auntie here...

Read more about Britain and the ghastly Govt plans...

...here.

When you go...

...to Mass at Westminster Cathedral on a Sunday morning, you are assailed by various group urging you not to do so. There are earnest men with tracts explaining that all you need to do is say one prayer and then you are Saved and that's that. There are bright young girls with handbills inviting you to attend services at a new church somewhere else. And there is a Lefebvrist with leaflets telling you why he thinks the Church is all wrong. And the message from each of these is:please stop and talk instead of going to Mass.

But if you gently ignore them and walk up the steps and enter the Cathedral then the atmosphere of prayer greets you and folds you in. As Mass begins, the choir sings gloriously, the timeless reality of the liturgy sweeps you up into the hugeness of the mystery.

Today,instead of a sermon, a special Letter from our Bishops re marriage. As the priest started to read it out, the atmosphere became somehow more intense, as if everyone knew that something of particular importance was happening. You don't normally get that when a letter from a Bishop is announced - it's usually the signal for people to settle back comfortably and not really bother to engage. But today was different.

There were extra copies of the letter to take away at the end of Mass, but these all ran out quickly. (You can get a copy by following that link given above). Outside, as the crowds poured out, the groups in the piazza had been joined by another - a little lobby of people with a placard being rude about the Church for opposing same-sex marriage.

The Cathedral newsletter urged people to sign up to the marriage petition on the internet, giving the link. For those that don't have internet access, there are forms...I had some with me and a friend was keen to sign then and there - lots of other people then surged round to sign too.

What will happen about this new marriage law? I expect that the initial reaction to our Bishops' letter will be sneers - especially from those who for some reason seem to delight in arousing indignation about anything a bishop says.

It's also a grim fact that the Govt will only be swayed by one thing - the possibility that the ghastly plans to rewrite the definition of marriage will prove so unpopular that it might cost them the next election.

So one small thing you can do is to sign the petition, and get others to sign too.

Come to...

...St George's Cathedral, Southwark, on Monday evening for a talk on some of England's Catholic history. "From Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II"...come and enjoy. For info here...

Yes, the speaker is Auntie. BUt the topic is interesting, so do swallow your prejudices and come...

If you haven't already signed...

...the petition to HM Govt about marriage, hurry and do so now. IT'S VERY IMPORTANT>

Over 100,000 signatures already, but we need lots more. Sign up here.

I know...

...that it's a v.v. long way ahead, but can you please note adate for your diary?

Sat Oct 20th - the Two Cathedrals Procession, from Westminster Cathedral to St George's Southwark, carrying the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of London. Book it in your diary now.

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee...

...will be celebrated in June and a neighbour stopped me in the street the other evening to ask what we were going to do about a street party. For the Golden Jubilee, we had a grand party - tables in the street, cakes, sandwiches, sausages rolls, drinks - and I worked with a nice girl from further down the road to organise a Quiz, with people gathering in teams to tackle questions on British history and local folklore...we ended up with some singing and with three rousing cheers for Her Majesty and a good time was had by all.

Oddly enough, I met this girl again just the other day...when we found ourselves exchanging the Sign of Peace at Mass! She had married and moved away, but still in the same local area...

What to do about the Diamond Jubilee? Britain is in a mess but that's not HM's fault, and a neighbourly get-together would do everyone good and might gently remind us all about some of the values that really matter...

BTW I found this piece a good read...

This evening, in Parliament...

...Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, retired Anglican Bishop of Rochester, gave a lecture on marriage. It was well-attended and the clear message was one of a robust and intellectually profound defence of marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman, establishing a new family. Excellent stuff. There was much enthusiasm on the news that the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have urged support for marriage and opposition to the Government's plans to alter the law.

My London....

...is really Westminster and its environs - the Cathedral, and also Parliament and the places associated with it where meetings and conferences of various sorts happen - plus a good slice of the City where I take groups of history enthusiasts...and of course the southern suburbs where I have made my home for decades and where I've worked on local newspapers, the interlocking places that were once (long ago!) villages and now merge in a muddle of traffic in the loops of the Thames or out along the old roads that reach down to Surrey and Kent...

But there is another London out there to the east, where once the great Docks brought shiploads of goods to a great city, and where, long long years before, Romans and Saxons and Vikings made their way up the Thames to make bridgeheads and encampments and carve out their own chapters of our complicated history...

And that's where I found myself on Sunday. Walking along a great stretch of water,rain lashing down, silence all around broken only by the sudden splash of oars and cries of instruction and encouragement as a rowing team ploughed its way past me.

I was out beyond Docklands, at the University of East London - invited there to give a talk on London's Catholic history. Arrived early and no one - absolutely no one - was around on the university campus by the ancient stretch of docklands water. I walked with God in the rain, pondered history, said the Rosary, relished it all...

Made my way back to the station to be met by Father Thomas of the Community of St John, entrusted with the chaplaincy at the University. Warmth and friendship in the pleasant Chaplaincy room. Next door, a lecture hall transformed into a chapel with icons and altar and candles. Students - mostly Africans - gathering. Mass,with singing led by young men with strong voices. Atmosphere of great devotion. A cheery gathering afterwards for my lecture.

It was a wonderful morning, and then a ride to Canning Town where the Community of St John is based (busy parish, over 800 regular Massgoers, plus chaplaincy of a big secondary school etc etc...) lunch, much talk, and I borrowed a fascinating book about Mother Teresa for the journey home...

To Allen Hall...

seminary for the diocese of Westminster. As we arrived, we were asked to respect the silence - the men studying there were having a silent retreat all day.

The Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary was holding its annual meeting in one of the public rooms...superb lecture by Fr Aidan Nicholls. He spoke about Marian ecclesiology - I found it v. exciting to realise that it exactly chimed in with what I had been reading, studying and pondering in the light of Lumen Gentium (regular readers of this blog will know about this) and the significance of Bl John Paul's insights etc...

Think about Magnificat - it is the song of the Church, as well as of Mary...

And read my EWTN blog...

...here...

Read the latest...

...news and views from the Ordinarite of Our Lady of Walsingham here... (and Auntie has a feature in it).