Want to read more about...

...Auntie's inside-story on the Ordinariate parish in South London? Read here...

A golden day, the New Evangelisation...

...and a biggish team of people walking through London, praying the Rosary, singing, handing out little messages of goodwill and copies of the Gospel.  We gathered at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge, and acquired a number of new followers as a short talk was given on the historical significance of various points along the way...London Bridge itself (Saxon/Viking battle there over a thousand years ago), The Clink Prison, the Globe Theatre, Blackfriars...Among members of the public who joined us was a young Russian, working for a tourist agency and interested in all such history-walks. He was very comfortable indeed with a religious procession of this kind, explaining that they happen all the time in big Russian cities. There is, of course, a massive Christian revival happening in Russia - and to him it all just seems normal, because it began in the 1980s and is an accepted part of life.

Back here in Britain:  the John Paul Walk for the New Evangelisation  is a project of the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph, and the main annual Walk is to Walsingham. But, starting last year, there is now a Reunion Walk, in London, for the Walsingham walkers plus anyone and everyone.  This year, as last year, the numbers were good. We walked along the banks of the Thames to Westminster, crossed at Westminster Bridge, and then all down along the river to the Tower of London, finishing with prayers at the site of the martyrdom of St's Fisher and More. Then across Tower Bridge and back for Benediction and Tea.

London was glorious with golden leaves scattering down along the Embankment, great crowds packing out the bars and restaurants, some pleasure boats chugging by, the sky a piercing blue. That evening the great rainstorm, predicted by the Met Office, hurtled in and railway lines were closed as trees crashed on to the tracks. By the morning, in a London messy with leaves and sparkling in sunshine after rain, I squeezed on to crowded buses and arrived late but triumphant at St Patrick's, Soho, to give a planned lecture on the Acts of the Apostles. Then on to Newman House (London University chaplaincy)  to talk on "Catholic Culture"...a particularly happy evening because my nephew studied there and met his future bride there...cheery memories flooding back...and today's young students were a joy and we sat talking until terribly late...then one walked me safely to the Tube station where I caught the very last train back to the suburbs...

Golden Autumn days and the New Evangelisation...

EXCITING....

REALLY EXCITING!!!

This is Pope Francis, meeting a group of distinguished Jewish leaders...among them Shimon Samuel, of the Simon Wiesenthal Institute, who is handing the Holy Father a copy of my book!  The book is "Courage and Conviction" and it tells the story of brave Brigettine nuns, who hid Jewish people in their convent in Rome during World War II.

I am really thrilled that my book should be given to the Pope.




 

There is an excellent...

...parish newsletter, called Our Faith on Sunday, which is produced by a Catholic firm in Farnworth, Lancs. It is printed in full colour, a page of useful and interesting material, on one side, and the other side if left blank for the parish to print its own news...

I most warmly recommend this newsletter. One of the latest issues has an excellent insight on marriage:
"if some one were to say  'by a triangle I mean a shape of three or four sides' then he would no longer be thinking about triangles, even if he carried on using the word. Likewise, when the law says 'by marriage we mean a conjunction of two adults. whatever their sex', it is no longer speaking about marriage...In such times, what does God ask of us? Of married people, that they love each other and keep their marriages undefiled and open to life. Of all of us, that we pray, and speak the truth. The present darkness will pass, and Jesus will refute all false doctrines."

A very important...

...new Guide for schools on the subject of marriage, has just been produced. You can read it here...
Parents, teachers, clergy, school governors: take note and recognise that you do not have to teach that children must believe that same-sex marriage is necessarily right, and you do not have to sit idly by when people try to force that belief on children. Get informed....more info on this and related matters here...

The Catholic Union...

...of Great Britain teams up with the Catholic Writers' Guild to run the annual Catholic Young Writer Award. This year's winner went to a Writers' Guild meeting recently to collect her award. Pic and report here...

Students at a number of schools gained runner-up prizes, winning copies of  YOUCAT, the excellent Youth Catechism  and other books.

Deep in the latest book project...inevitably

...interrupted by phone calls from TV and radio people when there is something in the news about the Church, or morals and values in community life, or related issues...

But these days I am able to send them on to the excellent CATHOLIC VOICES  where there is a team of informed, lively, committed young Catholics trained and energised for work in the media. While I'm glad to be of use when I can, I am increasingly conscious that there are so many good young speakers out there, and I don't need to hurry off to a TV studio while there is a book humming away to be written here at home...And Catholic Voices is going from strength to strength. It took courage and initiative to get it going, but it was an idea that was absolutely right and absolutely necessary - and it has been blessed with fine people and a sense of direction and purpose, and tasks that need to be done. Deo gratias.

BTW, this website often has good insights on the news: see recent report about Archbishop Nichols speaking out well on a recent radio interview...

The Holy Father...

...today met members of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.  This is of interest to Auntie, because one of the leaders of the Centre contacted me, interested in my book Courage and Conviction, about the Brigettine nuns who hid Jewish people in their convent during the Second World War. I was glad to be able to send him copies of my book, and we had some good conversations...I am hoping that perhaps my book was among the gifts presented to the Holy Father at the meeting...

A correspondent to this Blog...

...asks about the children's book that I wrote a while back. Yes, it's still in print, and available from Gracewing Books. It's "We didn't mean to start a school" and I wrote it under the pen-name "Julia Blythe". I loved writing it, and a sequel is in preparation...

Excellent series...

...of talks sponsored by the FAITH Movement and held at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge. After each meeting, discussions continued in a local pub until a late hour: evolution, Genesis, the relationship between science and religion, the Scotist understanding of the Incarnation...and more...and more...

I stayed behind from this evening's pub discussion, enjoying instead an equally lively chat in the Rectory about the Ordinariate, and the Church, and Vatican II, and the Faith Movement, and more...

We plan to continue the series of talks, probably in the New Year, and at another  London Catholic venue. Pr. Blood has been hugely welcoming and generous.  BTW, you will find both the Faith Movement and the Ordinariate at the Towards Advent Festival of Catholic Culture on Saturday November 23rd at Westminster Cathedral Hall. Be there! Admission free...a feast of Catholic talk, ideas, books, organisations, movements, DVDs, music...doors open 10am. All welcome.

CATHOLIC HISTORY WALKS...

...take place over the next weeks and months:

THIS SUNDAY (Oct 27th):  the John Paul II  Walk through London, led by Sister Hyacinthe of the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph.  Starts with 11 am MASS at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge. BRING SANDWICHES.  We will have coffee and sandwiches in the Rectory after Mass, then set off - with the banner that the John Paul Walkers carried to Walsingham this summer! - on a walk that will take us to, among other places, Blackfriars, St Paul's, and the Tower of London...we will finish with Benediction back at Precious Blood.

Tuesday November 26th - an afternoon walk, starting from Precious Blood Church after the 1.05pm Mass. Meet at the church door approx. 1.30pm. We will be visiting the Bishop of Winchester's Palace, the Clink Prison, and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre....

Tuesday Dec 17th, 3pm, a tour INSIDE Westminster Cathedral. Come and see the glories of this Cathedral, including the two new mosaics, and the special memorial stone, recently laid and blessed, commemorating the State Visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain...

....and here are some dates to book into your 2014 diary:

Sunday June 22nd 2014, The Martyrs Walk, starts 1.30pm at St Sepulchre's Churchyard, near the Old Bailey.

Saturday, October 18th 2014, the "Two Cathedrals" Blessed Sacrament Procession, starts 1.30pm Westminster Cathedral, finishes with Benediction at St George's Cathedral, Southwark.

Giving out prizes...

...to school pupils who produced good work in the Schools Bible Project, is a satisfying way of spending a morning, and also gives opportunities to talk things through with RE teachers, learn what's happening in schools' RE, and so on. Here is Auntie at a school in Essex...

Feast day of...

...Blessed John Paul.   And yesterday a meeting to discuss a new project connected with his canonisation. It is a useful and attractive little project with which Auntie is very glad indeed to be involved.

While doing some research about him, I needed to re-read this  encyclical, and this one, and realised just how prophetic and important they are.

Where was Auntie last Saturday?

At the Ordinations in the Ordinariate church...read about it all here . (Auntie helped with compiling this news report).

The splendid Cardinal Burke...

...of whom Auntie is a fan, recently gave an interview to an American Catholic newspaper. You can read  it here...

Cardinal Burke is a great supporter of the  "reform of the reform" of the liturgy, and emphasises that the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and the Ordinary Form should enrich each other. And he emphasises continuity - no rupture: "The renewed reformed rite of the Mass is not a new Mass, but is in continuity with the holy Mass as it has always been celebrated."

A number of  correspondents to this Blog have brought up questions relating to the prophesies and visions of Fatima: I urge them to read Cardinal Burke on the subject. As Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, he does know what he is saying, and he measures his words carefully. I suppose that some of my correspondents will always yearn for the Great Conspiracy Thing: secrets-not-yet--revealed and plots-to-hide-the-Real-Truth.  But the reality is what matters. Cardinal Burke: "With regard to Our Lady of Fatima, we know well the prophecies that were given to the three seers at Fatima which have all now been published and what they indicate with regard to the attacks of Satan upon the Roman Pontiff. I am sure that Pope Francis has this clearly in mind and is invoking the intercession of Our Lady for her protection even as she protected Blessed John Paul II from an assassin’s bullet. It was on Our Lady of Fatima’s feast day that the dreadful attempt occurred, and John Paul was fully convinced that she interceded to save his life. I believe that Pope Francis is imploring that same intercession and protection from her at this time."

for more by Auntie on...

...the TenTen Theatre and its work...read here...

Teaching a Confirmation class...

...is not a totally new experience for Auntie.  I have given talks to a number of Confirmation groups in the past, including the large class (usually at least 40 teenagers) in this excellent parish, which is where I learned so much about how to do it, and what to teach, and received so much help and encouragement in starting my Maryvale course...

But actually running a course from scratch is a new experience and one that I am (so far!) enjoying. I'm doing it in this parish and we began last week. This is a special class for people who for one reason or another missed out on Confirmation and responded to an invitation to start a course.  The parish priest started us off with a prayer and a blessing, and the atmosphere has somehow been just right.   With a Catechism to hand, and a Simple Prayer Book for each person round the table, we began work.  There is a wide age-range (youngest a just-teenager, while another member of the group is a busy mum who brought her two small children along, who were given cheerful and kindly care by a wonderful volunteer, with books and crayons etc from the Sunday school). But there is interest, attention, and a great goodwill, and it is a real privilege to be involved...

While we were in the parish room, getting  to grips with God and the Covenant, and the Ten Commandments,  another parish team was busy in the church itself, lifting all the pews and stacking them away, filling the sacristy with all the statues and candle-stands and so on...to get the entire floor area clear for a brand-new heating system to be installed. And once the floor was cleared, it was ruthlessly scrubbed by enthusiasts with brushes and soap suds and is now the cleanest church floor in England...The church is going to be warm and welcoming for Masses this winter.

The TenTen Theatre...

...is really excellent. In a packed  theatre at Leicester Square we were taken to Poland in the 1940s and the drama of Maximillian Kolbe.  The full poignancy of this haunting story of courage and extraordinary heroism is brought out fully in Kolbe's Gift,  a most powerful bit of theatre. We are made to ponder the fullness of the thing: Kolbe stepped forward at Auschwitz when prisoners were being picked out to suffer the horror and torture of death by thirst in an underground starvation bunker.  When one such prisoner blurted out "My wife! My children!" Kolbe offered himself to go in his place, saying calmly to the supervising officer: "I am a Catholic priest", and explaining that he had no family and was prepared to go forward. 

What is especially poignant in the story is that the man whose life Kolbe saved went on to live in a very ordinary way, and not without sorrow. His two sons, having survived the Warsaw Uprising and other wartime horrors were both killed by random fire of the Russians in the last days of the fighting. He  worked as a minor town hall official in the drab and difficult years of post-war Communism, suffering as did all other Catholic Poles from all the petty restrictions and practical hardships and miseries of those years...there was no dramatic reason, humanly speaking, why his life should have been saved.

And that, the drama seems to be saying, is all part of the importance of Kolbe's gift. It was a pure gift, an act of pure generosity. The man whose life he saved didn't have to "earn" the honour by going on to do something hugely significant. The message is about love, and about the law of giving, of being some one for others...Kolbe's gift, not only in his final heroism but by many acts of heroic kindness in Auschwitz where he shared his bread and gave hope and faith to men in desperate misery, is a gift we have to ponder and ask ourselves about...

TenTen has done some powerful work in schools, exploring in drama - really superb drama - issues concerning crime, killing, hatred, sacrifice, and truth.  They also work in prisons.The plays - like Kolbe's Gift - are not comfortable or cosy in their message, but powerful and important.  If you get the chance to see one of their plays, don't miss it. If you are working with young people, connect to the website and get information.

A Surrey town in Autumn...

...and a friendly group awaiting me at the Leatherhead Community Association. I was speaking to them about Caroline Chisholm, the Australian pioneer heroine.

This is the part of the world that has so many echoes from my childhood...family expeditions to the river Mole where my father fished and we'd have a picnic...walks in the Surrey countryside...and although so much has changed, so much hasn't and it's easy to feel at home.

The Britain of today is a place where,  suddenly, and with great depth of understanding, one can have a sense of great alienation, of not belonging. So perhaps it's good just sometimes to relax into familiarity, memories and the joy of shared references to history, to children's books, and more...

Walking through London...

...with the young team from the SPES group.  SPES is the St Patrick's Evangelisation School, based at St Patrick's, Soho. My job was to lead them in the first of a couple of History Walks. Their daily regime is challenging, starting early with prayers and breakfast and continuing through the day with lectures, Adoration of the Bl. Sacrament, Mass, Rosary, and a whole range of activities including  a Maryvale course - gaining certificates by the end of the year - street evangelisation, meals for the homeless, etc etc.

So things began with a talk in their lecture-room at St P's, then Mass and a hearty lunch, at which we were joined by the parish priest Fr Alexander Sherbrook, and then we set off...visiting St Giles-in-the-Fields and learning the history of this area, its leper hospital etc, then on to Holborn and Lincoln Inn Fields (martyrs, Sardinian Embassy chapel, etc), and then the Temple Church (Crusades, Templars) and Fleet Street, and so on to St Paul's. We finished with big cups of tea near St Paul's...these young people are the World Youth Day, BXVI generation, very enthusiastic about evangelisation, with a sense of mission. They love to swap stories of WYD - "I  celebrated my 16th birthday at World Youth Day at Cologne"  "At Rio, praying together on the beach was just so amazing". They want to share their faith,  conscious of the sense of loss and confusion among many of their peers who have never encountered Christ or who have been given only a vague distorted image of him...

It was now nearly 6pm, so as they went back to St Patrick's, I  walked across the Millenium Bridge, for Evensong at Pr. Blood Church on the opposite bank.  The sunset was extraordinarily beautiful, staining the sky pink beyond the done of St Paul's, long strands of glowing light trailing across the London skyline. It was low tide, with the rocky muddy shoreline making the river look more "homely" somehow, showing evidence of the years and years and years of human activities and homes and livelihoods that have been happening along its banks. People were beginning to pack into pubs and into the Globe, and teeming along to Waterloo or London Bridge stations. And so on to Precious Blood...Evensong, and the Psalms going back and forth. Deacon Scott was leading the service, and will be ordained on Saturday.

To Lancaster...

...to present prizes won by pupils at Ripley St Thomas CE Academy, in the 2013 Schools Bible Project. This excellent school is set in magnificent surroundings - a glorious Victorian building, with a great tower, a sense of welcome, some wonderful stained glass, and a splendid sense of reassurance and confidence about it, set in fine grounds. And the grounds include a farm - yes, a farm, and pupils relish it, spending part of their time in wellies, digging and planting, and eating the results, as great stacks of fresh produce is taken to the school kitchens for lunch. I loved my visit: a friendly gathering in the staff-room with an inspirational start to the day,  a warm welcome at morning assembly in the magnificent chapel, where it was a pleasure to hand over the Bible prizes one by one, and to join the pupils at prayer...coffee and talk with the Principal and head of RE and chaplain...and then a couple of pupils showed me round the school. They were so obviously proud to be part of it all - everything from the great entrance hall with its  fine staircase, to the sheep and ponies and rabbits in the farm, and on to to the big hall where a dance class was in progress, and the sports field and the science labs and the classrooms...and all the students looking smart in brought blue blazers, and a great sense of  friendliness everywhere. The school is rooted in a deep tradition of Evangelical Christianity and it shows. I was impressed, and cheered.

The Catholic Young Writer Award...

...is presented every year, organised by the Catholic Writers' Guild and the Catholic Union of Great Britain.  Auntie has been involved with this Award from its inception, and you can read about the 2013 Award here...

At the Catholic Women of the Year...

...event, held on Friday, there was a special tribute paid to the wives of Ordinariate clergy. More about this on the Ordinariate website here...

Red faces among the Grunerites...

...and if you don't know who they are, be grateful, as they are a tiresome bunch who are doing harm.

Their leader, Rev Nicholas Gruner, took them to Rome this past weekend, with banners and placards, thousands of brochures, and large lorries with big slogans on the side - all ordering the Pope to "consecrate Russia".

Of course the Holy Father was not going to do that, because it has already been done, by Blessed John Paul in 1984.

But Gruner and his followers have built up a whole organisation on the basis that there is a dark sinister plot, in which both John Paul and Benedict were deeply implicated,the Real Secrets of Fatima Haven't Been Told,  the past two Popes have been liars and deceivers, and Gruner is to be followed when he orders the new Pope to do things. Oh, and his Fatimist team put it about that  Gruner was already in touch with the Pope, and great things were to be expected, and it's All Going To Happen Soon...

Reality:

On Sunday, Pope Francis, in a prayerful ceremony shared by vast crowds in St Peter's square, entrusted the world to Mary's immaculate heart, and her maternal care. It was a peaceful and beautiful thing to do.

And no, of course it didn't involve Russia, Gruner's nonsense, or anything else.

Gruner and his team - who have been collecting large sums of money from gullible people for years on the grounds that they are some sort of Fatima mission - have been made to look more than usually stupid and wrong.

Now - and this is important: Catholics need to know the truth about things. Cardinal Raymond Leo Buke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, wrote to me on September 24th:
"You are correct that there is much confusion about the message of Our Lady of Fatima, caused especially by Father Nicholas Gruner, a priest who is not in good standing in the Church, and that this confusion is harmful to many good people who are being led astray about the important message of Our Lady of Fatima.".

Cardinal Burke thanked me for the feature about Fatima in FAITH magazine:  "May God reward you for working to make known the truth about the message of Fatima!"

I  have the letter before me as I write...I am quoting only the relevant parts of it. I will keep and cherish this letter from a great Cardinal holding high office, who incidentally writes in a most beautiful, humble and pleasant way. Thank God for  his sanity. Thank God for Pope Francis.Thank God for the Church.

St Edward the Confessor...

...has his feast-day today. He was our last Saxon king before the Norman Conquest. He reigned at a difficult time - I only realised, via a sermon yesterday evening at Westminster Cathedral, that when he came to the throne, it was only  a few decades since the Archbishop of Canterbury (St Elphege) had been martyred by the pagan Danes at Greenwich, and the Danes (Vikings) ruled large parts of England for a long time...

Anyone who thinks we live in uniquely difficult times today knows little of history...

History Walks...

...in London: the Autumn/Winter programme of CATHOLIC HISTORY WALKS has now begun. The November Walk will be on Tuesday November 26th,  beginning with the 1.05 lunchtime Mass at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge. The church is in O'Meara Street: nearest tube is Borough, or London Bridge. We'll go along the river, stopping at the Bishop of Winchester's palace, the Clink Prison, the Globe Theatre, and other places of interest. No need to book - just turn up. Wear suitable clothes and shoes - we'll be walking whatever the weather. This is the first time we have done a weekday lunchtime/afternoon Walk of this sort: you can of course leave the Walk at any stage, and we'll be near bus and tube stops all the way.

The Procession crosses the Thames...

...with Parliament in the background, here is the head of the great  "Two Cathedrals"  Procession crossing the Thames at Lambeth Bridge. We were led by a great Processional Cross, carried by robed altar server and acolytes, and then followed a great swathe of the crowd, after which came, in due order, various acolytes and the Blessed Sacrament itself, with clergy from Westminster and Southwark cathedrals, followed by another great swathe of people singing and praying.  It  was very splendid and at the same time somehow  very simple, and fitted perfectly well into the London scene.

Come and join us next year! We walk at a measured pace, and the route is not too long - it's only about an hour and a half's walk. And although the crowd is big, there is a friendly feel and, especially as we all spill out of the cathedral at Southwark as Benediction ends, a sense of something good having been done.

More pics etc from the Westminster Cathedral website and its facebook links...see here, scolling down as required...

The now-traditional procession...

...of the Blessed Sacrament from Westminster Cathedral, across the Thames to St George's Cathedral, Southwark, took place today, with a vast crowd, glorious Autumn sunshine, and some wonderful singing. Every year I am worried that the numbers won't be great, and every year the crowd is huge, and Southwark cathedral is packed, with a great surge of voices singing at Benediction.

This year, the date clashed with a couple of other events, and even as the Procession began to gather on the steps of Westminster Cathedral and Orders of Service were being handed out, an enthusiast for another event was busily trying to recruit, despite my pleas that we be left alone...but once the Bl. Sacrament was brought out, and we began to go down Ambrosden Avenue, everything felt suddenly all right.  In traditional style, we inevitably had one part of the great procession singing one hymn, another beginning a fresh one, and people in between singing something else or praying the Rosary...but the overall result was still  hugely impressive, as well as being  prayerful, sincere, and, I hope, pleasing to God and somehow good for London...

What is most delightful is that, in this third  successful year, we can truly say that it is now an established traditional part of the annual London scene. The Procession was begun in thanksgiving for the successful visit of Pope Benedict in 2010, and the idea is to have it on or near the feast of Bl John Henry Newman, beatified by the H. Father on that visit. The Feast on October 9th, so it can be a Saturday near that date... thus Oct 4th suggests itself for 2014...

The most impressive part of the Procession is crossing Lambeth Bridge, with the Houses of Parliament in the background.  Incidentally, along the whole route, we get no opposition, no signs of disrespect,  and the whole thing always goes peacefully and beautifully.

Deo Gratias.

Working for much of this year, and last...

...on a book about Brigettine nuns who helped to shelter Jewish people in Rome in WWII, I naturally got interested in the whole tragic story...was touched to read today's news item about the H. Father and his meeting today with Jewish people in Rome...

The Catholic Women of the Year Luncheon...

...is always a very cheerful event, and this year was a bit special because, in addition to the four Catholic Women of the Year, a special award was given to the wives of the Ordinariate clergy. This was a really lovely idea, and the Award - in the form of a framed certificate with a message honouring them  - was  accepted on their behalf by Mrs Jill Newton, wife of the Ordinary.

There was an excellent talk by Dr Caroline Fairey, of the Maryvale Institute. She spoke of the significance of the date - Oct 11th, anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and of the Council of Ephesus many centuries before. It was at Ephesus that the Church's doctrine on Christ's true divinity was firmly upheld, through the statement that Mary was truly Mother of God, and not merely the mother of  a man called Jesus Christ. Caroline's talk combined erudition with a lively account of recent gatherings in Rome to support the work of teaching and passing on the Faith, and ended on a quiet meditative note and a prayer in which we all joined...

I was at the table with the Ordinariate ladies, and it was talkative and fun. They are a dedicated and courageous lot, and I warmly agree with the citation honouring them. They have “bravely supported their husbands on the path to Christians unity: in the process they have surrendered financial security and family homes while having to support their families at a time of great stress and uncertainty. They are an often forgotten but nevertheless vital part of fulfilling the vision of the Ordinariate.”

The mood at the Luncheon was friendly and there is always a great sense of community, and of energy and commitment in supporting the Church.

Science and religion...

...and a fascinating talk to a packed room.  Fr Roger Nesbitt spoke at an evening gathering organised by the Faith Movement, and held at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge. Among the points raised were the problems faced by today's fashionable atheists in trying to persuade scientists to stop talking about God...because the great advances made in science in recent decades have produced more and deeper discussions about religion, and the great reality of God and the "unity law" perceived in the universe...

Fr Nesbitt:" Modern science has revealed a simple but profound truth - the physical universe is manifestly one. From the furthest galaxy to the smallest atom or micro-organism it is an interrelated and interdependent unity....It is an ordered and harmonious universe, finely tuned and delicately formed. It is not a chaos but a cosmos. Science has consistently revealed that Law, of differering complexity, operates at all levels and in all areas. The differing sciences now overlap with one another. There are laws of physics, cosmology, chemistry, biochemistry, biology etc which are all interdependent, so much so that many scientists are now searching for a Grand Unified Theory which will bind all the physical laws of the universe into one Law..."

Want to know more? Get info from the Faith Movement, and/or come along to the next meeting, on Oct 16th at Pr. Bl church, 7.30pm.

There is a rather good summary of the approach taken by the Faith Movement here...

An overnight stay...

... near Oxford, following the Night Walk to Littlemore (see previous blog post), and then the bus to London this morning. This evening, the first of the Evenings of Faith at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge. Speaker: Fr Roger Nesbitt. Mass 6.30pm, talk at 7.30pm. Light refreshments.

Bl John Henry Newman's Feast Day...

...is today, October 9th, the day that he was received into the communion of the Catholic Church. This happened at the village of  Littlemore, just outside Oxford, and every year there is a Night Walk from Oxford to Littlemore to mark the event. We walk through the city, stopping at places associated with Newman, and praying the 20 decades of the Rosary. At each stopping place, we are told about the link with Newman - it was especially touching to learn about the house where he lived with his mother and sisters - and then a short reading from one of his letters or similar, describing the place in his own words. This year, the first part at each stop was done by Fr Christopher Pearson of the Ordinariate, and the reader from Newman's works was Dr Andrew Nash. The last part of the Walk is by candlelight, and we sing "Lead kindly light". You can find out more about Newman and Littlemore etc here...

A message from...

Premier Radio has just arrived in my in-box and it says:

Hey Joanna

 

You’ll be on the air next week between 7:15 and 7:30 on Premier’s Inspirational Breakfast show, with Thought Of The Day

 

Thanks again for coming in!

 

Chris

 

Chris Byland is the producer. So if you want to hear Auntie on the radio, tune in to Premier next week at 7.15 am London time...

The Catholic Young Writer Award for 2013...

...will be presented this week at a meeting of THE KEYS, the Catholic Writers' Guild of England and Wales. The winner this year is Cecile Janssen, of St Mary's School, Ascot. She wins a trophy to be held for one year, plus a cash prize (£50) and a collection of book prizes.

The Award was inaugurated in 1999, when Antony Tyler was Master of the Guild,  and it has gone from strength to strength. Antony runs Fisher Press, a very successful  small independent publishing company. This year, as always, he will be among those donating a book prize for the winner and meeting her and her parents at Mass and dinner at the Guild meeting. The speaker will be journalist Christopher Howse, whose writings in the Daily Telegraph and elsewhere are always a delight.

Runner-up pries were gained by pupils at a number of Catholic schools, and some will receive YOUCAT, generously donated by Aid to the Church in Need,  others a Simple Prayer Book (CTS) and yet others a small pocket catechism produced by Fr John Redford of Maryvale fame.

Theme of the Award for 2013 was mercy and forgiveness, and students were invited to write a letter to a friend who had said "I don't need to go to confession. I don't commit sins", or to write an essay focusing on the theme of the Prodigal Son.

Don't forget...

..the Blessed  Sacrament Procession on Sat Oct 12th, starts 1.30pm at Westminster Cathedral, crosses the river at Lambeth Bridge and finishes with Benediction at St George's Cathedral, Southwark.

Also of interest: Big Catholic History Walk, and Walk of Witness, Sunday Oct 27th, starts with 11 am Mass at the Church of the Precious Blood, London Bridge. Bring sandwiches. We will be walking along the Thames, praying at the site of St Thomas More's martyrdom, finishing with Benediction at Pr. Blood at about 5pm.

Traditional Mass for...

...the Knights and Dames of St Gregory, at the Church of SS Anselm and Cecilia, in Holborn, a part of London rich in history: the pub where Bishop Richard Challoner used to meet Catholics to give instruction is just round the corner and carries a commemorative plaque telling all about it.

This evening's Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Mario Conti, and there was glorious singing (Mozart: Missa Brevis in D for the Kyrie and Gloria)  from the Scola of the Cardinal Vaughan School. Various Knights did the readings, brought up the Offertory etc. The Agnus Dei and Sanctus were Missa de Angelis and we all joined in heartily, and the hymns included Praise to the Holiest, and Soul of my Saviour... During the Bidding Prayers, we prayed for deceased Knights and Dames and a long list was read out, including names that one recognised as having done all sorts of different things for the Church in Britain...The Knights' formal uniform is in green and silver, a sort of mess-kit, and Dames wear green cloaks. Thanks to the generous and heroic work of a kind friend, designing and stitching,  I wore mine for the first time, feeling a tiny share in a big history.

Hot, sticky weather...

...travelling on the Tube is Much Too Warm.   Hurrying about in the heat, I  went to Premier Radio to record some talks (info on this later) and while there linked by telephone to EWTN's Register Radio for a feature on Bl John Paul. Register Radio has since sent me info about how to listen to their programmes:

Register Radio airs Friday at 19:00 hrs./7:00 p.m. BST on Sky Satellite Radio for Europe  / and for the U.S. audience: 2:00 p.m. EDT (U.S.)

Register Radio encores twice throughout the weekend:

1.      Saturday: 12:00 p.m. BST on Sky Satellite Radio for Europe / and for the U.S. audience: 8:00 p.m. EDT (U.S.)

2.      Sunday: 4:00 a.m.  BST on Sky Satellite Radio for Europe / and for the U.S. audience: 11:00 a.m. EDT (U.S.)

The show airs on 220 EWTN AM & FM affiliates across the U.S., as well as Sirius Satellite Radio’s channel 130, and on Sky (our European broadcast); and around the world on web stream through www.ewtn.com/radio, via mobile devices (EWTN, iHeart and TuneIn apps,) and of course—what first made EWTN go global 20 years ago—our EWTN Shortwave Radio signal traveling the globe.

We will post the audio of the show Friday evening shortly after it has aired and you can download the audio from the podcast if you wish to listen or post it on your website or for any promotional purposes.

Go to www.ncregister.com and click on the “Radio” tab and then click on the “microphone” icon.  Previous shows are also archived there.

The news...

that the canonisation of Bl John Paul and Bl John XXIII is to take place on  Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27th, was not unexpected...but very joyful!  You can read Auntie on the subject here....a very personal account. Talking to "Father Stan" was so interesting, and I will long cherish the rosary, blessed by John Paul, that he gave me...