Monday, July 30, 2012

In reply to...

...the chap who wrote in asking about the rules for Comments on my Blog.....the rules are , in general:


nothing too long; nothing that has an offensive, discourteous  or bullying tone;
not too much from one particular commentator (ie imaximum of one or two  Comments on any one topic from any individual); 
nothing anonymous unless the person concerned sends a separate email giving his/her name, and possibly not even then if the comment is too rambling or discursive or rude; and
nothing that simply prolongs a discussion once I feel it is time to draw things to a close.

These are roughly the rules used by newspapers for publication on a Letters Page.  Newspapers also reserve the right to edit or shorten letters, but I am unable to do that on a Blog.

I told you...

....that Archbishop Mueller was a good man (see earlier post "...and while on the subject of  Rome...") .  Now  read more 

Beautiful liturgy for your parish...

...is achievable. Book in for this conference.  A weekend of music, instruction, ideas and inspiration, with a glorious concert thrown in. Auntie hopes to be there for at least part of it all....

Sunday, July 29, 2012

The excellent Archbishop...

...Chaput of the USA has given an important lecture. What he says is, in all sorts of very obvious ways, absolutely true of Britain too. Read, pray, act.

The Prime Minster...

...has made some offensive - and frankly stupid - comments about the Church's teachings on same-sex unions. It is worrying to see him assuming that he can attack the Church in this way. From time to time, as an assertion of my freedom to do so, I publish the teaching of the Church, taken directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, on this topic. If there comes a time when I am told by some public authority that I may not state this teaching, or affirm my commitment to it, publicly in Britain, we will know that something terrible has come to pass. Note this: I am publishing this because I affirm my full commitment to this teaching and my right to do so as a Catholic in Britain. Here it is. Starts at section 2357: Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. 2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition. 2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

A friendly welcome...

...at a local Evangelical publishing house which produces attractive Bibles. The Schools Bible Project will be using some of these as prizes in the 2012 Project. The task of mailing out the prizes - a big one - will take up a week at the end of August and I have some good volunteers for the task, which is enjoyable as well as greatly worthwhile...it was excellent to be able to talk with a sense of shared values, and to sense a real concern for the needs of young people in Britain...

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Exams, and...

...a mild panic when I arrived, as no one else was there. I was an hour early. The chap at the Cathedral was kind. I daresay he has met daft middle-aged ladies before. In due course other candidates arrived. Cups of tea. Into the examination-hall. Seats all marked with our names and numbers. Prayer. Distribution of papers. Then we began. Afterwards, much lively and pleasant chat - everyone briskly avoiding a post-mortem. Lovely chat with a lady, editor of a Catholic newsletter, who had opted for a Maryvale degree course after reading a feature on the subject sent to said newsletter by Auntie! Delightful. We hugged. The newsletter runs various competitions and I'm donating a copy of my book on JPII as a prize....lunch, now a tradition, with two fellow London-based students in my year group. Much talk. We've been 4 years together, working through Philosophy, Scripture, Ecclesiology, Mariology, Canon Law, and more...we shook hands and pledged to keep on keeping on. We meet again in Sept.

Spectacular...

...opening of the Olympics in London, but Auntie was tucked up in bed, reading von Balthasar, with exams looming the next morning...I was staying with a friend who had generously given hospitality so that I would be near the exam centre (the Amigo Hall at St George's Cathedral, Southwark, since you ask) in the morning. Overhead, as I sat studying, helicopters chattered and clattered. Further up-river that great spectacular was unfolding...and giving, from what all the reports and images seem to tell, a magnificent swirl through British history with just the right message of glory and humour...

Friday, July 27, 2012

Auntie on...

Vatican Radio. Listen here to Auntie talking about the Association of Catholic Women and the Day for Life and related topics...

...and while on the subject of Rome...

...I found this interview interesting. A good man.

...and...

...I spent time in Rome with EWTN's Joan Lewis, and did a programme for Vatican Radio... visited a number of bookshops. Dipped into this fascinating book, among many...could spend a fortune on books if I had money/space to put them...

...and...

...walking to various meetings, it was a joy to visit some of the great GREAT churches of the city. The New Cheese (oh, work it out - it's what the students at the English College call it) never fails to impress, and I have always liked Santa Maria in Transpontina in the Via della Conciliazione which is such a restful stop in the heat of that wide and crowded road. And the church of Sant' Andrea is, most usefully, opposite a new internet centre where I tackled some emails...in St Peter's I prayed - along with a lot of other people - at the tomb of beloved Blessed John Paul II and entrusted a number of things to his intercession...in the Square, a plaque marks the place where he was shot back in 1981. Look high up for the image of Our Lady with the "Totus Tuus" inscription and follow a direct eye-line down from there. In gloriously pouring rain I stood by the plaque but couldn't quite reach it because of the system of railings designed to keep in check the long queues of people entering St P's...the next day I returned in blazing sunshine and found a gate open, knelt to pray...

...and while in Rome...

...I went to Mass on Sunday evening in a modern church I hadn't even known existed. Ugly, I felt,and surely completely unneccesary in Rome where it stands within a very short walking distance of a number of other churches each of which is large and magnificent, rich in the glorious images painted and sculpted by some of the greatest artists of all time and soaked in centuries of prayer and music? However, this church had a good-sized congregation on a hot summer's evening, young people doing the Scripture readings, babies yelling from time to time, the poignant silence with the chiming of the bell at the Elevation...the reality of parish life. It felt somehow just right to find this normality within yards of the glories of St Peter's.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Rome...

...the eternal city. And, as in all the summers these past 2,000 years of Christian history, and all the summers before that, it's been sizzling in heat. There are occasional outbreaks of almost tropical-style rain, and the day after my arrival saw one of these, bringing comments about the Englishwoman from London who brought some London weather...I was kept busy, doing a programme for Vatican Radio, attending various meetings, and above all spending an unforgettable afternoon at a convent, talking to a wonderful gentleman who as a teenager was hidden there with other members of his Jewish family, during World War II. A kindly Sister with a sweet smile brought us a tray of fruit juice and pastries, and we sat around the table with Fr Nicoletti translating everything back and forth as Mr P. did not speak any English and I have no Italian. Outside, the sun beat down on the busy piazza, inside we sat in the cool room with its big old-fashioned furniture and its heavy tablecloth, various pious objects on shelves, and the sound of chanting coming from the chapel...and the tale of events of seven decades ago slowly unfolded...

Saturday, July 21, 2012

MARK THIS DATE!!

...put it in your diary. Tell your friends. OCTOBER 20th, Blessed Sacrament Procession through London. Starts 2.45pm WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL. For the first time, last year, a massive procession brought the Blessed Sacrament through London, from Westminster Cathedral across the river to St George's Cathedral, Southwark. The 2012 Procession will now follow this tradition, making the Procession an annual event. BE PART OF IT. Arrive at Westminster Cathedral in good time for a 2.45 pm start. Spread the word: put it in your parish newsletter, tell your family and friends and Catholic contacts. Incidentally, Oct 20th also sees a day-conference organised by Aid to the Church in Need in the Cathedral Hall: it will climax with all those attending taking part in the Procession.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Working with...

... a team of lively, bright young people on a school end-of-term project. They are hampered by lack of general knowledge, especially history. At their request, a special session on this - proved v.v. popular. Time-line of crucial events in British history... Roman Empire, arrivals of Angles and Saxons, mission of St Augustine, Saxon kingdoms, Norman Conquest, Middle Ages, etc etc. They also loved 19th-century stuff, Battle of Waterloo, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, India, etc... Much enthusiasm..."Why aren't we taught all this?" "All we've done is bits and pieces, all muddled up. Themes, not proper dates and events." "Can we do more of this?"

Meeting of...

...the Board of the UK branch of the international charity Aid to the Church in Need. As always, a great deal to discuss. New catalogue of books etc out shortly. It includes the book on Fatima with a foreword by Cardinal Burke which is an authoritative guide to the visions and message. ACN's recent Vigil of prayer for persecuted Christians was something of a landmark, involved speeches etc in Westminster Cathedral piazza culminating in the carrying of a great cross into the Cathedral itself for the vigil of prayer as night fell...

Rather underwhelmed...

...with the statement put out by the Lefebvrists re the possibility of their being brought into full communion with the Church. Translated it seems to read as "basically, er, no thanks, but we'll talk to you again later". A bit of gratitude for the generosity they've been shown over recent months wouldn't have gone amiss...Rome has been v. patient and understanding...

Spent the day...

...working with a good team of both Catholics and other Christians on the Schools Bible Project.. Pupils at secondary schools across Britain are invited to study the New Testament - various specific events in the life of Christ, full details on that link just given. A good number of schools taking part this year, and a range of essays of a high standard.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

A couple of reports..

...from young members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, telling of their impressions of the InVocation Festival. Worth reading: here.

Recently watched...

...a film version of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Chilling. This was the first really grown-up book that I ever read to review: we were in the VI form and studying English Literature and exploring the whole concept of book reviews and how to write one. I remember reading Huxley and also George Orwell's 1984 and writing a review comparing the two. I found Huxley more chilling because, as I remember writing then "we seem a lot nearer to Huxley's world of artificially-created life, and "feelies" now than when he wrote this book back in the 1930s". And if that was true in 1969, golly, it's much more true now. And there are whole aspects of the book that I had forgotten and which ring horribly accurately in modern Britain: the cult of physical pleasure, the utter obsession with sexual activity as recreational ("erotic play" sessions for children, endless sexual "engagements" among the adults), the absence of anything approaching a lifelong binding selfless love. And the things I remembered from that first reading back in my schooldays - the banks of embryos, the 3-dimensional "feely" TV/films which could be "felt" as well as watched. Huxley's book was what propelled me into activity with groups defending marriage and family life and, in particular, opposing abortion and related evils...

Monday, July 16, 2012

Religious freedom...

...and Catholic schools. Read some thoughts here.

Allies...

..in defence of marriage. A news report - the Chief Rabbi has announced his opposition to the Govt's plans for same-sex marriage: "In a submission to a Home Office consultation, the London Beth Din (the Chief Rabbi’s court), and the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue (RCUS), stated that same-sex unions were “against Jewish law”. “Marriage by definition in Jewish (biblical) law is the union of a male and a female. While Judaism teaches respect for others and condemns all types of discrimination, we oppose a change to the definition of marriage that includes same-sex relationships. Jewish (biblical) law prohibits the practice of homosexuality.” Civil marriage for same-sex couples should be rejected because, they said, “any attempt to redefine this sacred institution would be to undermine the concept of marriage”.They also voiced concern that “if the government were to introduce same-sex marriage through a civil ceremony, any attempt to exclude the possibility of a religious ceremony for such couples would be subject to challenge to the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds of discrimination”.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

I have just...

..comes across this small feature on a Catholic news website, and was touched by it.

You might enjoy...

The Evangelium conference...even though Auntie is one of the speakers. Always crowded - both the programme and the numbers of young people. Hugely attractive setting at The Oratory School near Reading. It's Catholic, young, welcoming and frankly fun. Talks on a range of topics all related to the Faith, socialising, a daily Mass (dignified liturgy, fine singing), making friends. Exhausting - people tend to enjoy themselves until a late hour - but agreeable, strong sense of friendship and solidarity. Come!

Back to school...

...to St Philomena's, in Carshalton, Surrey. I was there for 13 years from the age of four, and here we were, members of the Catholic Union, meeting there for the Summer Gathering. Mass in the beautiful chapel - filled with memories. Lunch in the old panelled library. Rain splashing down on to the green lawns...but, goodness, the things we needed to tackle were not there in the vanished Britain of my childhood and teenage years. Same-sex marriage.Infringements of the rights of Christians in Britain. A host of petty bits of bureaucracy that make running Catholic schools - or any schools - increasingly difficult. Euthanasia - and the creeping advance of it in British hospitals with misuse of the 'Liverpool Care Pathway'. The next years are going to require courage and good leadership in the Catholic Church in Britain.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Pope Paul VI...

...may be beatified during this forthcoming Year of Faith, according to news reports. I am glad. I had always been given the impression that he was a weak and uninteresting character and then it became very fashionable - still is - for people to denigrate him, especially people with scant wisdom but strong opinions. But it is worth finding out more about this servant of God. A short while back, without knowing that he was going to be beatified, and simply because I was doing some research into the role of Pius XII in World War II and the help given to refugees and Jewish people, I started to find out a great deal more about him. Did you know that the future Paul VI was the man who organised safe places for numbers of Jewish people in Rome during those years? That he was tasked with ensuring that the Papal accomodation at Castel Gandolfo - among other places - was turned over to refugees and that and were safe and fed? That he initiated the huge system for helping people of all nations to trace missing relatives in war-torn Europe? He was of course a very close associate of Pius XII and they worked together every day. He suffered from the cruel untruths (now, thanksfully, being corrected) that were put about concerning Pius XII's wartime efforts After the war, the organisation they had established for refugees became the Italian Caritas. Many years later he had the unenviable burden of the Papacy during the final sessions of the Second Vatican Council and in its aftermath. He was bitterly attacked by all sorts of people, gave us the courageous and prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae - among much else that was good - and served both the Church and humanity well. And yes, I do know quite a lot about the liturgical issues initiated during his Papacy.

We gathered...

...under darkening skies, on the Cathedral steps after the 5.3pm sung High Mass. The Catholic History Walks, begun a couple of years ago, keep attracting more and more enthusiasts. As the rain began to fall, I explained that, by Tradition, it makes no difference whatever to us - our brochures proclaim "Wear suitable clothing and shoes - we'll be walking whatever the weather" - and we moved into the blustery piazza and gazed up at the glorious frontage of the Cathedral as I told something of its story, the visits of Blessed John Paul (30 years ago this year) and of the current Holy Father, the visit of HM the Queen for its centenary and more...On down Ambrosden Avenue to Archbishop's House and the story of Cardinals Wiseman, Manning, Vaughan, Bourne, etc etc...then, by now extremely wet but very cheerful and undeterred, to Westminster City Hall, where we examined the City's crest, which features Our Lady (yes it does - look and check) commemorating Our Lady of Westminster, and we said a Hail Mary. On to St James Park with various stops for thoughts on London's history - names of pub signs, Catholic saints and martyrs, monarchs and wars and events, events, events...and finally to Buckingham Palace where, in keeping with the Tradition established on the very first History Walks, we ended with a rousing three cheers for our Sovreign, and prayers for our country. No one had left the group, people to lingered to chat beneath dripping umbrellas, all were cheerful, and it was a grand evening.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Note this date now...

...OCTOBER 20th, Westminster Cathedral. Blessed Sacrament procession through London to St George's Cathedral, Southwark.The first such event was held last year and drew large crowds.Don't miss this year's Procession! Be there! Starts 1.30pm Westminster Cathedral.

The Catholic Writers' Guild, THE KEYS...

...met this evening. Mass at St Mary Moorfields, drinks, supper. Guest speaker: Baroness (Julia) Neuberger. Amusing, articulate, good company. V. interesting on House of Lords reform - had just come from the House. Definitely a bit muddled on some aspects of social policy and medical ethics, but declared herself against the Govt's same-sex marriage proposals, DG. The Guild now takes its summer break. The Autumn programme of speakers includes Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury. Which brings me on conveniently to the new episcopal appt in PORTSMOUTH,which has caused general joy. A very good appointment, and just in time for the start of the Year of Faith. Here comes the New Evangelisation, slowly but surely...

Monday, July 09, 2012

for more on...

...InVocation, including some lovely pix, see here.... And for more from Auntie on the subject, read here...

Sunday, July 08, 2012

On Saturday night...

...in weather that could only honestly be described as Extremely Cold, a great crowd of young people carrying candles followed the Blessed Sacrament round the lanes and lawns and woods of Oscott College, singing gloriously and apparently oblivious to any discomfort. At the front of the College, all sank to their knees on the gravel for Benediction. The silence was profound, the young faces glowed in the candlelight, the College's noble facade made a dramatic backdrop to the scene beneath the dark and starless sky. Next morning, an overflowing chapel for Mass, and I squeezed in next to a young Benedictine novice, all crisp white veil and sunny smile, alongside some young Franciscan sisters who grinned a welcome. Around us were seminarians and sisters, students and school-leavers. At the Sign of Peace, the sight and sound of all these young people greeting one another with quiet dignity was extraordinarily moving - no gimmicks, no false displays of bogus friendship, just genuine solidarity and a sense of values shared and forged. After Mass, everyone spilling out on to the lawns where packed lunches were being distributed for the journey home as the InVocation 2012 event slowly and reluctantly drew to its close. Lots and lots of talk and much swapping of emails and contact details, much talk of "next year" and many promises of prayers. Two of the young people with whom I spent time this weekend will be in Religious Orders by next year, another will have completed his first year in seminary, another will be a deacon. InVocation 2012 has been a memorable and inspiring experience.

I wish I could have painted...

...the extraordinary scene at Oscott, with young people streaming out of the chapel and waiting quietly on the wide green lawn as, dotted all around, priests (and bishops) quietly heard confessions, seated along the terrace or in the big marquee. Apart from World Youth Day in Madrid - where there were similar scenes at the big Festival of Forgiveness beneath the trees in the city's central park - I have never seen anything quite like it. And if John Henry Newman had wandered along, he would indeed have seen something of an early English rain-sprinkled summer following his "Second Spring". He once wrote about an English summer - in the context of writing about honouring Mary in May - and noted that it was often chill and damp, and yet that it holds the promise of warmth and fruitfulness...

Saturday, July 07, 2012

Newman's "Second Spring" sermon...

...was preached at Oscott, the seminary on the outskirts of Birmingham. And now a new generation gathers here, young people camping in tents on the wide lawns and packing into Pugin's glorious chapel for Morning and Evening Prayer and for Mass. This in InVocation, a festival which draws together members of religious orders from all over England, together with crowds of young people, keen to explore what the future might hold for them. Last night there was a superb talk by Canon Luiz Ruscillo, drawing on St John's Gospel, and the miraculous catch of fish, and Christ on the shore...today, an inspirational address from a young Sister - former Olympic speed-skating star - from the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal. This afternoon I walked over to Maryvale, where I am writing this. But I plan to be back to take part in the Candlelit Procession around the beautiful grounds of Oscott this evening. Like last year, the InVocation weekend has been gently drenched in rain. But no one seems to mind, and as there is a large marquee for all the talks, with other adjoining marquees complete with armchairs and coffee-tables for chats, it's all extremely pleasant and comfortable. There is a terrific atmosphere - lots and lots of young people, talk and laughter over delicious meals. In chapel, the deep roar of young men's voices leading the Offices. This afternoon, as I left for Maryvale, a priest wasinviting anyone who wanted to meet by the big statue of Our Lady to say the Rosary...

Friday, July 06, 2012

For my generation...

...religious freedom meant smuggling booklets and pamphlets to hard-pressed Catholic groups in Eastern Europe,heart-thumping moments at Customs, an address of a contact on a tiny scrap of paper, pinned carefully into deep recesses of clothing (I was given the useful advice "wrap the address in plastic cut from a plastic bag - you'll sweat, especially when you're scared, and the paper will disintegrate, so wrap it to keep it dry"). It meant trying to help people who were struggling under a Communist system which prattled about peace while persecuting people who just wanted to publish religious poetry or organise a pilgrimage to a shrine. It meant praying at the grave of the heroic Fr Jerzy Popiełuszko in Poland, and telling people back in London about the courageous Warsaw students who were carrying on his message. It meant vigils outside the Soviet Embassy, and fasting and praying for people who suffered in far-away labour camps and prisons beyond the Arctic Circle. We did talk, of course, about the possibility of persecution happening in our own country - we knew about the martyrs of times past and we were only too well aware of the battles we were already fighting against abortion and looming euthanasia...but...thirty years later, here I am, seriously pondering on the likelihood of horrible clashes with the law, here in my own Britain, if the Govt forces through the ghastly same-sex "marriage" plan, and schools are told that they must teach children untruths and openly attack the most everyday realities of human relationships and family life. And there is new pressure to legalise forms of euthanasia. And opposing abortion can mean, for anyone working in the Health Service, the end of a career. And so on. How ironic it will be if my earlier experiences of assisting Catholics in Eastern Europe turn out to be of raw practical value in keeping alive faith and freedom in my own native city, the London once hailed as a rallying-place for freedom in a dark world...

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

On the feast of St Thomas the Apostle...

...a great gathering in Westminster Cathedral. A mass for the repose of the soul of Phyllis Bowman, tireless pro-life campaigner. The celebrant was Archbishop Vincent Nicholas, with a great number of other priests, and all the Canons of the Cathedral (who sung their Office beforehand in the sanctuary - rather a splendid sight as they trooped in, red-robed, and took their places in the stalls). The music was by James MacMillan - rather a fine English Mass - with a Purcell motet at Holy Communion...the cathedral was full, and I saw many old friends. Memories came flooding in - of the early 1970s when as a recent school-leaver I'd be helping to put leaflets in envelopes and roll off letters on a Gestetner (remember gestetners? before photocopiers? all that ink and the hassle of typing things out on to a 'skin'...)in a house in Eaton Place where Society for the Protection of Unborn Children had first come into being. Memories of a later, cramped, office in Chiswick and the electricity occasionally running out because it came via a meter and we had to keep putting in 10p coins...Memories of big London rallies and lobbying of Parliament, of learning how to write Press Releases and of a sense of "We're winning! We're winning!" which we weren't, but back then it felt as if we might be. In the 1970s and 80s most people in Britain still thought abortion was horrible and wrong, and a number of Parliamentary initiatives to restrict the 1967 Abortion Act were introduced, some only narrowly failing to become law...today only the Catholic Church and some Evangelical bodies still firmly assert what was once commonly held as normal and reasonable, ie that the child in the womb should be protected. It is horrid living in a country where both law and common practice regard the killing of children as normal: it's a country which is killing off its own future. After the Mass, tributes to Phyllis were paid by, among others, David Alton and Ann Widdecombe. Several speakrs quoted John Paul apt description of our culture as a "culture of death". Pray that we may have a future, that God may in great mercy restore to us a culture of life...

Monday, July 02, 2012

Memo to...

...the chap from America who sent me the nasty anti-Jewish rant. It went straight into the Trash section along with other rubbish. Why do you think it useful to send such stuff? How do you think it could possibly be pleasing to God to reproduce this horrid material?

Off to St Pancras...

...Station in London, to catch the train to Luton. The vast majority of people at St Pancras are not doing anything of the kind - they are all heading for Lille or Brussels or Paris, via the Eurotunnel. So finding the ordinary local trains is quite difficult. One potters about bleating "Where is Platform B?" rather bleakly. And what was once the Ticket Hall - the name still carved into the brickwork - is now a v.v.grand dining-place with expensive breakfasts and important-looking waiters. I found Pl.B and had coffee and a bacon roll in a nice little cafe-bar, and arrived at Luton having read Ratzinger and De Lubac all the way (exams at the end of the month - Ecclesiology). St Margaret of Scotland primary school is a delightful and welcoming place and I was there to present prizes won in the ACW Schools RE Project - the 1st prizewinner a lovely girl whose parents had come along to enjoy the ceremony, an absolutely super family. Somehow, the whole day had a glow about it - the children trooping into the school hall, hands clasped ready for prayers, the sound of young voices chorusing together the beautiful words asking God's blessing on the day...the rousing sound when I called for three cheers for the prizewinners - and the absolutely terrific roar when I called for a final cheer for the school itself and its Patron, St Margaret! Every classroom had a traditional Epiphany Blessing (C+M+B) on its door, there were crucifixes and beautiful images of Our Lady etc, the Staff Room had a prayer corner with a big rosary and holy images...and the whole school exuded a sense of welcome and of being at the service of children and families.

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Rural Kent...

...and the little church of St Anselm in Pembury, where Augustine Michael, the baby son of Ordinariate priest Fr Ed Tomlinson and his wife Hayley was being baptised by Mgr Keith Newton. A packed church, a glorious Mass, the clear voices of the parents and godparents making those powerful baptismal promises - and baby Gus yelled properly, in traditional style, when the water was poured... Afterwards, a big buffet lunch in marquees in the paddock next to the church, quantities of children running about, lots and lots of talk, a beautiful iced cake, sunshine dappling the scene and then giving way to fizzy rain in true English style...an English Sunday.