Pope Emeritus Benedict...

...is the subject of a special feature in the new FAITH magazine...unique insights from his friend and biographer Peter Seewald. 

I have a limited number of copies to give away...send a Comment (which I will not publish)  to this blog WITH A FULL NOTE OF YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS and I will send you one.

and at London's PICCADILLY...

...the new series of FAITH Movement talks begins.  All are at 7.30pm at 24 Golden Square WI (go down the steps to the church hall). Wine and pizza at the end of each evening...and lots of talk and conviviality...

Tuesday 12 January 2016
The reason for the incarnation: Why does it matter? Dermott O'Gorman

Tuesday 26 January 2016
Son of God: A remedy for sin? Joanna Bogle

Tuesday 9 February 2016
The Tabernacle: The Son of God with us today Fr Roger Nesbitt

Tuesday 23 February 2016
The Resurrection: Truth or fiction? Fr Dominic Findlay-Wilson

Tuesday 8 March 2016
The future of humanity Fr Stephen Dingley

Nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus.

Christians persecuted...

...and how we can give some help...

Ben Rogers of Christian Solidarity Worldwide will be the speaker at the January meeting of the Lades Ordinariate Group in London on Monday Jan 11th. Info here...

I was pleased to be able to write a commendation for Ben's book From Burma to Rome, published in 2015. It will be a real privoledge to have him speak at LOGS.

...and thoughts turn to 2016...

...and I'm looking out at Exmoor across lawns that are unnaturally lush and green in this oddly warm weather: where there would normally be crunchy frost there are now emergent daffodils, and sunshine dapples the trees and creates great sweeps of light across the rising moor beyond the valley. There is no smoke curling out of cottage windows - it's just too warm to merit a fire today, although a fresh breeze indicates that could change.

Thoughts go to people in Lancashire whose homes have been wrecked by floods: a miserable way to end the year...

A laptop means that in the intervals of  being with family-and-friends for Christmastide gatherings, one can keep track of current projects, and plan for the year ahead...

On Saturday Jan 16th, at 12 noon, a celebration to mark the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Church of the Most Precious Blood, the Borough, London Bridge. The choir of the John Fisher School will be singing. Over these Christmas days,  staying with family first in Oxfordshire and then here in Somerset, I've been busy with "Auntie Joanna's knitting", namely cross-stitch samplers and kneelers...I love to sit sewing while  we all sing carols round the piano, or  while a noisy game of charades is in progress (it doesn't hold back mental processes -  I held my own in charades while stitching progressed). Latest project is some kneelers for the John Fisher Chapel. The school playing fields occupy part of of what was once Croydon Airport  and the boys recently made a video telling the history with support from the Croydon Airport Society... as this year marked a quarter of a century since the Battle of Britain, I'm doing a commemorative kneeler...

"...and is it true...

..and is it true? and is it true,

This most tremendous tale of all,

Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,

A Baby in an ox's stall?

The Maker of the stars and sea

Become a Child on earth for me?"

(John Betjeman)

A Merry Christmas to all my readers...

I was told...

that "it's not allowed" to sing Christmas carols in public any more. This is complete rubbish. I've been leading traditional carol-singing groups in public places  this past week, including a great London railway station, and it's all been splendid. Official support, plenty of enthusiasm, lots of goodwill - and we've raised funds for charity. And, yes, at the railway station we were a church group, and  got our official badge from the railway authorities just as we have always done.

"Once in Royal David's City" "Away in a Manger" "Hark the Herald angels" "Adeste Fideles" "Silent Night "The First Nowell" "While Shepherds watched"...the lot. And more.

So can we please stop this ghastly apparent determination to drive Britain onto some sort of ideological slavery?

If anyone tries to stop you singing Christmas carols, this is your Edelweiss moment. Sing out loud and clear, and invite everyone to join in.. 

...so we sang...

...around the Crib, in the light of the glittering Christmas Tree. led by some one with a flute, all the  elderly people, and the nursing staff, and friends-and-visitors... people  chose favourite carols one by one and then we all joined in gloriously... and the darkness gathered outside, and the darkness could not overcome it...

"...Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail, the incarnate Deity..."

Want to know more about Pope Emeritus Benedict? And have a small Christmas treat?

....Then  enjoy the interview with  his biographer Peter Seewald in the Jan/Feb FAITH magazine. Send a Comment to this blog INCLUDING YOUR FULL POSTAL ADDRESS, and I will arrange for you to be sent a copy.   Peter Seewald  has all sorts of fascinating insights and personal anecdotes...and gives a taster of what promises to be a magnificent biography in due course...

This offer is limited, as complimentary copies of the magazine are limited. So hurry...

Across the frontage of St Peter's in Rome...

...is the surname of the Pope on whose orders the current building was erected.  These days the building is illuminated and  featured across the world on TV and  so, on an even more enormous scale than proud  Paul V Borghese could have imagined, his grand surname is there for millions to see.  Somehow, it massively misses the point. The desire to perpetuate a family lineage, rather than the spiritual lineage from Christ's call to St Peter  meant an opportunity lost:  as you pick out the words, you get  a sort of bureaucratic feel rather than the pleasing discovery of a familiar prayer or piece of Scripture...

Some of the  most notable  Popes in recent centuries haven't come from grand families at all: nothing on the frontage of St Peter's notes the surname of Sarto, son of a village postman, or Woytila, son of a retired Polish Army officer.

When people want to be rude about the present Pope,  they use his surname, Bergoglio, perhaps because it sounds faintly ridiculous to non-Latin ears, and emphasises that he comes from a family of Italian immigrants to South America.

Thoughts about all this arose when the news of Mother Teresa's canonisation was announced: an Albanian who studied in Ireland as a teenager, taught at a girls' school in India in the days of the British Raj, and then, following "a call within a call" set out to serve the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta.  At her canonisation, there will be Indian garlands and nuns in saris, along with formal representation  from Albania, which not so long ago was an officially atheist state persecuting Catholics...

When Blessed John Henry Newman is canonised (oh, I do hope it's not too long now!) there will be the faintly absurd feeling of an Englishness about it all, words like  Oxford, Littlemore, Birmingham echoing round St Peter's Square.

Years from now, there will be a Chinese Pope, and, well before that, one from the Indian sub-conitinent, and from Africa.  The Borghese pretension is only a part of a long long history, after all.

Mass, with four candles glowing on the Advent wreath...

...and pondering on that astonishing unfolding drama in today's Gospel: Mary walking along the hill country, just as the Ark of the Covenant went centuries before , and John the Baptist leaping  as David leapt before the Holy of Holies...

An afternoon visit to a dear elderly relative...darkness falling before teatime... a talkative evening visit to friends on delivery of a Christmas parcel to a godchild...home a safe haven in the rainy December night.

Reading a book about the outbreak of war in 1914 and thinking about the history of that era that shaped our own...

Attempts to think about plans for 2016, things that need to be done, responsibilities, projects.

Christmas and its message matters first and most.

Our home looks distinctly...

...random (useful word, learned from nieces) at the moment...Christmas presents all wrapped and labelled, Advent wreath, cards, crackers in glittering silver paper, Nativity scene, all jostling with thr ironing, the usual stacks of books and papers.  Plans for major and overdue repair work in the kitchen will add to the chaos...

Christmas, and much love and joy ...but as you get older, you are much more conscious of the realities of this season: it's so bittersweet. The message of Christ's arrival among us is glorious - it's the great central fact of time and eternity...but with its memories and its tender moments, each Christmas brings consciousness of sad anniversaries, of hopes and of fears,  challenges in the year ahead, ...

And I'm thinking of the prisoners, of divided families, of the young who don't know what the Incarnation is all about - not even remotely, not even with vague ideas - and of the people who aren't really bothered about these things...

Long ago to a child in the London suburbs what mattered was the almost unbearable excitement of a lumpy stocking on Christmas morning and parcels under the Tree, and roast turkey. Church and peaceandgoodwill and so on was the official part and it was obviously central but only in a taken-for-granted sort of way. As you get older...

By chance, came across...

...this on the internet and it gave me a good laugh...is it a spoof? I had thought that all this sort of thing died in about 1989/90...it was an enjoyable, if unreal,  piece of nostalgia.

At a major London railway station...

...we gathered to sing carols. The singing worked well, and there was enthusiasm and goodwill among the teeming crowds of passengers: we raised a good sum of money and we got lots of  indications that people were enjoying it all.

There is enthusiasm for Proper Carols: people like The First Nowell, Once in Royal David's City, Hark, the Herald Angels, Silent Night, We three Kings and Away in a Manger...

We had carol sheets, and we stood in choir formation to sing (it's hopeless if you spread out), and we gave of our best.

We in the LOGS, thre ladies group of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, enjoy doing things like this, and afterwards we enjoyed ourselves some more over a good supper and much talk and laughter.

Funds raised will go to charity. Carols sung will have given praise to God and spread goodwill on earth this Christmastime.

A sudden odd debate on the internet...

...alleging that the Pope doesn't kneel enough when praying. So I  googled Pope Francis kneeling  and found he does it all the time, and especially before the Blessed Sacrament. So who is announcing that he doesn't, and why?

at the House of Lords...

...a wonderful welcome for the young winners of the 2015 Schools Bible Project. We are starting a new website for this Project in 2016, so for the moment it suffices to say that this is a venure that has been flourishing for over a quarter of a century and involves pupils at schools across Britain being invited to study events in the life of Christ and to write about them. We get some superb entries, and every year the main winners come to receive their prizes from Baroness Cox, who is one of the Trustees. It's always a delightful day, and this year it somehow seemed to go better than ever. Delightful young people, wih their parents and teachers - as always a mix of ages and races and from schools in different parts of Britain. The Project involves a good deal of work, but is worth every moment, and I have  some great teams of volunteers who who all sorts of things from judging the essays to packing and posting the prizes.

And a door opens...

...the Door of Mercy at Maryvale House, blessed and opened by the Director of the Maryvale Institute, as students, staff, and Brigettine sisters gathered in the dark and chill of a December morning. All over the world, these doors were opening, in great cathedrals and in parish churches, as the Year of Mercy began.

It's been a busy weekend of lectures...and it finished with a train ride down into Surrey for a joyful evening with old friends, who were hosting  Prof Tracey Rowland from the John Paul Institute in Australia.  A delight to have a long talk with Tracey, to catch up on news, to be able to give her a copy of my JPII book,...

On a day of steady rain...

...at Maryvale  in Birmingham,  I am working on Apologetics, and ouside the window, under the shelter of the wide pillared veranda,  a  couple of cheery Brigettine Sisters kneel with with evergreens and bright Autumn chrysanthemums  to make a great garland around the chapel door.  Tomorrow this will be blessed and opened as the Holy Door for the Year of Mercy for the diocese of Birmingham.

The house is bright and warm, lectures are taking place in the main rooms and there's a promising smell of cooking wafting from the kitchens...It is good to be here,sitting amid books and papers under the kindly gaze of Bl John Henry Newman, who lived and worked here over 150 years ago, and with  thoughts of all who came here in the years before, when this was a recusant Mass-house, approached across the lanes and fields where all is now roads and houses and shops and curling motorways...

Birmingham is, truly, a dreadfully ugly city now - there are some gems in the city (St Chad's Cathedral is one), but the place is dominated by vast slabs of concrete and steel and  a simply horrible massive lump all covered with enormous blisters, alongside New Street Station. On summer nights, there is a lot of shrieking and drunken lurching about and fighting in the shopping centres as crowds of the young entertain themselves, but last night in December rain the city centre was just traffic and Islamic families shopping. Arriving at Maryvale brings a sense of welcome - I spent happy years here working for my BA...I used to walk around the grounds, and put my hopes and worries about my exams before the white statue of  Mary near the chapel door where, just now, a Brigettine sister stands, hands on hips, surveying the garland work while another tweaks a leaf here, a branch there, to make all complete...

All along by the Thames...

...on the South Bank, under a clear blue sky and in bright winter sunshine, there are  stalls selling roast-pork-and-potatoes, and French crepes with chocolate sauce, and wonderful arrays of chocolates and fudge and marzipan fruits...and there's a merry-go-round, and roasted chestnuts, and people enjoying it all.   I  bought some Christmas gifts, ate a good lunch, and then settled in a cafe with coffee and my laptop and tackled some work...a perfect way to spend an Advent weekday after a lunchtime Mass.

In one place there was recorded music, with a choir singing "Amazing Grace" and other hymns and carols which was lovely...further along there was horrible rock stuff with a woman shouting, MUCH TOO LOUDLY into a microphone the sort croon that begins "Ah gotta...Ah wanna".  But in general it was all just delightful and as dusk fell and the tide went out, and the wide sandy beach revealed its rocks and pebbles and the flotsam of centuries in the lamplight  it was rather wonderful...

We'll be carol-singing at London Bridge station on Friday Dec 18th: come and hear us - or, better, come and join in! (6pm, main concourse).

Confirmations...

...and baptisms at church, including one of a former Moslem...

A street procession through Soho with a great statue of Our Lady...

News of a Soho Mission with these sisters....

A busy day showing some Americans around Westminster Cathedral and explaining the history...then J. treated us all to a Proper Tea at the Strand Palace Hotel.

To Richmond...

...and Mass at St Elizabeth's Church,  where Fr Stephen Langidge has recently been appointed Parish Priest.  This is a church  with a fascinating history, on which I will be doing some research. As is customary in most parishes, the Mass-intention was announced, and today it happened to be a foundation Mass for the soul of Louis-Phillippe d'Orleans  whose family has a long link with this area, living for some while at Twickenham...just one bit of the rich history of this loop of the Thames...

One perk of getting older is that life begins to have agreeable links. As a teenage school-leaver in the 1970s, I began work as a journalist on the Richmond Herald newspaper, then based in George Street. Years before, my mother and her brothers were growing up in Richmond, and she still speaks with happy memories of childhood days in Richmond Park and along by the river. Somewhere in the parish archives will be the record of the reception of her father and all the family into the Catholic Church...

St John Paul II...

...and I had forgotten how angry some people were when he spoke about the significance of our being male and female, and the language of the body...

I spent the morning busy w. research in the large University library, where a useful catalogue initiates rich internet possibilities.

2016 will be spent largely working on a dissertation, and this research is beginning to show how extremely interesting it is all going to be...

And meanwhile, Advent is here, heralding Christmas. The annual arrival of the Chronicle from the dear nuns at St Cecilia's on the Isle of Wight is always a joy...it's always ful of good and  spiritually nourishing  things. But it's also a reminder that the Bogles have cards and letters to write, and domestic Christmas arrangements to make....and there is carol singing (some at a big London railway station, some at a local home for elderly people), and more..

Air war in Syria...

...and while Parliament debates, I am in one of HM prisons teaching Prevenient Grace to a young catechumen.

N. is preparing for baptism, and my task today was to look at the way in which God is really the initiator: he loves us first, and so  it isn't a question of us saying earnestly "We should all try to be holy". It is essentially just about saying "Yes" to God and responding to his love...we looked at St paul teaching this to the Ephesians...

I hadn't much wanted to go to the prison this afternoon...apart from anything else, the walk from the railway station is a rather horrid one, and also I had wanted to stay on at college where the research for the dissertation  is just getting interesting.  Which just shows how rather spoiled and fussy I am. I always learn a lot from the young prisoners, and although I suspect I don't really help them very much, at least they get a visitor and, I hope, an ordinary sense that being in prison doesn't make any difference to being part of the Church - we're all together when we pray, and all just Catholics.

Home, and thinking about bombing Syria. Is it a good plan? Bombing places from the air never really seems to work: there'll be TV scenes of burned children,  and it will all go on into a terrible muddle, getting worse and worse, while the guerilla-types on the ground, hide out,  building strength, knowing their own territory and telling the local people how horrible we are.

A long...

...but useful and necessary analysis of the recent Synod on the Family is here...

Pray for Pope Francis. We were so blessed with Familiaris Consortio and  St John Paul the Great.

Rorate Coeli....To rural shires...

...and a family christening on this First Sunday of Advent, the procession to the font led by a glorious Rorate coeli desuper...Drop dew, ye Heavens...The baby's grandfather, a Deacon, presided, and the baby's young uncles and aunts formed a choir, singing most beautifully (the uncles include former choristers at Westminster Cathedral)...the church was filled with friends and relations, the water for the baptism had been brought specially from a saint's well in Cornwall, and there was a tender moment as the young parents, with their little daughter and newly-baptised son, were blessed by the deacon/grandfather...

We finished with a rousing rendition of "On Jordan's bank.." and then, appropriately, walked along in the evening dusk and lamplight  by a lovely river, to a fine old Tithe Barn now used for just such family gatherings, where there was a magnificent Tea, with sandwiches, and scones-with-jam-and-cream and  simply wonderful cakes.

As assorted small children played cheerily on the floor, grown-ups greeted and hugged and talked and reminisced,..this was the kind of gathering that makes Auntie's heart rejoice...

...AND IT WAS A JOY!!!

...the  2015 Towards Advent Festival of Catholic Culture was a great day.

The choir of St James School, Twickenham, sang a lovely Christmas carol, and then the Cardinal Archbishop opened the Festival, with a beautiful speech reminding us about Advent as the season of waiting, and also of travelling - like Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem.  He asked us to give our throughts in particular to people who were journeying in distress: the Christian refugees feeling religious persecution, leaving their homes and land, in order to hold on to their faith. He reminded us too about the Year of Mercy with its message of the greatness of God's love....

And so the Festival opened, the choir singing a glorious Salve Regina, and then all present joining in "O come O come Emmanuel..."  It was a moving moment to be standing on the platform at the  Cathedral Hall, sharing the hymn-sheet with the Cardinal, with an absolutely packed crowd all singing the ancient Advent carol of hope and journeying...

The young winner of our Towards Advent Essay Project, Agnes Freely, of The Laurels School,  was presented with her prize by the Cardinal: I had wrapped it up and placed it beneath the big Christmas Tree on the platform, The prize was books, and I topped it with what looks like a small bag of Brussels sprouts...they are chocolate ones!

A good and happy day: books and Advent calendars, monastic produce, rosaries, home-made soaps and jams and jellies and more, and more...a powerful workshop on the plight of Chrsitians in the Middle East...  the joyful witness of the dedicated Franciscan Friars (one of whom, at my request, blessed the beautiful new book I bought in which to record my Dissertation research, as recommended by the U niversity authorities)...Knights of St Columba wearing impressive ribboned collars and medals, ladies from the Friends of the Venerabile with golden shoulder-sashes...oh, and much, much more. People had travelled from far and wide in order to come, and the wonderful team doing the coffee from a massive tall percolator and delicious sandwiches and cakes never once flagged in their hospitality...

A young relative had come along with his mother to help, and delivered leafletss with me outside the Cathedral urging people to "come to the Festival - just round the corner, with freshly-brewed coffee!"... his enthusiasm seemed to be infectious - we got a number of people deciding to do just that.  Later he and I went up the Tower of the Cathedral - with warm thanks to the kind and delightful young lady in charge who made it a really special day for this nine-year-old boy, who was thrilled to stand gazing out across that stunning view of London "with the cars looking just like toy cars!" and the great green domes of the Cathedral lying way below us...

We have been running this Festival every year of this new Millenium - fifteen years so far, a decade and a half. A tradition established, and more to come..

And here is a cheery piece explaining why the Festival happens...

read here...

TOWARDS ADVENT...

...the big Festival is TOMORROW!!!! Sat Nov 28th,

Westminster Cathedral Hall. Be there! Official opening 10.30am with glorious music, freshly brewed coffee, and a warm welcome!

Everyone is welcome. Admission free; stalls and displays from a crowded variety of Catholic groups and organisations, talks and workshops (tickets  just £2 each), delicious food served all day...

Nearest tube: Victoria or St James Park. You can't miss the Cathedral - look for the tall bell-tower and the Papal flag and Union Jack!

I recommend...

...the new booklet Religious Freedom Today produced by the CTS. Author is John Newton, of Aid to the Church in Need. It explores the whole topic at a deep level, looking at the Church's teaching, and echoing the statement of Benedict XVI that religious liberty "should be understood, then, not merely as immunity from coercion, but even more fundamentally as an ability to order one's own choices in accordance with truth". Newton details examples of restriction of religious practice and puts these in the context of a rich theological insight about freedom and human rights, linked to an authentic development of Catholic teaching centred on the dignity of the human person. The address of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Nations General Assembly is important on all this. Meanwhile the plight of persecuted Christians lays a deep claim on the compassion of us all, and ACN is doing excellent work...

A talented young American editor...

...asked me to write something about Harvest traditions in Britain, to link with the celebration of Thanksgiving in the USA. You can read the result here...

A visit...

...to this school in Liverpool on Monday, to present prizes won by pupils in the 2015 Schools Bible Project. A warm welcome, and I was impressed with the school - an independent initiative, offering an excellent education.

I travelled to Liverpool on Sunday evening, staying overnight at the Adelphi Hotel...a magnificent great place with a majestic feel, worthy of the city's days as the great Atlantic port.   Huge rooms for banquets and dances, enormous staircases and mile after mile of vast, rather intimidating, carpeted corridors. My room was inexpensive but comfortable: all I wanted or needed was a  bath, a cup of tea and a sandwich, and good sleep, all of which I got. One felt that the hotel's glory days may already have passed....but staff were friendly, busy and efficient and it seems that conferences and dinners and so on continue to flourish there: it would certainly be a superb venue for any major event or celebration.

Judging by the shrieks and yells of drunken girls in the streets late at night, however, Liverpool now is like other British cities and towns at weekends: the aim is not style and fun and having a special evening, but simply getting completely drunk and possibly being sick in the street.  Which is depressing.

and you might enjoy...

reading this, too...

On a cheerier note...

..we are still allowed to hold a  traditional Christian procession in London ...

I was travelling back from Liverpool...

...when I read about the blocking of the "Our Father" thing (see below). The organisation that made the decision is called Digital Cinema Media and its website says "Come and say hello at 350 Euston Road  London NW1 3AX"  so I thought I would do so. It wasn't hard to find:  posh office building about 5 minutes' walk from Euston.

They aren't really expecting visitors, and the idea that I might just come and say hello obviously baffled them a bit, but they were perfectly polite. They have a couple of  jars of popcorn on the reception desk and comfy chairs for visitors.   They sent a young lady to talk to me, who was very polite and  when I asked why the "Our Father"  feature had been banned, she said what she had been told to say about their policy having been in place for a very long time, and that it applied to all religious and political advertisments. I think it was rather unfair of the company to make her say that, as  apparently the truth is that the feature was gladly agreed back in July and then suddenly banned a while later.   But it is possible that the newspapers have got it all wrong, and the company planned to ban it from the beginning.

She is a nice young lady and I gave her my name and email and she said the company would be in touch with me. I do hope they are.

If Britain is going to be caught in in difficult times over the next few years, it is possible that people will need the message of hope, forgiveness, and freedom from fear that this old prayer - which has been in place for a very long time - can give. I really am interested in why the people at DCM want to prevent it from being shown in cinemas.

...and you can also watch it...

here...from which you can embed it into your blog.. Email it to friends, Twitter it, Facebook it...make sure that it reaches fifty times the people it would have reached if the idiotic cinema people hadn't tried to ban it.

Pray for our country.

Watch this video....and send it on...

On animal rights and wrongs...

...read this...

Traditional Catholic feasts and seasons...

...and a visit to the Church of the English Martyrs at Horley, where the excellent parish priest Fr Ian Vane had invited me to speak on this subject. A cold evening, a warm welcome, and a good attendance.  People enjoy exploring the calendar and how it works, discovering the allusions to Christmas in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, discussing origins of pub signs and nursery rhymes, learning about how the Advent wreath first came to Britain via the Lunn family and downhill skiing, and more...

The followers of Mohammed...

...who believe passionately in establishing a Caliphate  to include Britain, are doubtless busy planning their next move.

I squeezed on to a busy train manouvering a large suitcase on wheels, a cup of coffee misguidedly bought at the station, a backpack, and a newspaper. People were kind and helped  to mop up spilt coffee, offered me a seat, and were chatty and pleasant. London at its best can be very agreeable.

How much, I mused, am I  helping to uphold Christianity by ferrying jars of home-made jam, wrapped in towels, across the London suburbs?

The jam - including Auntie's best-yet Bramble Jelly and Apple Cheese - is destined for sale at the Towards Advent Festival at Westminster Cathedral Hall next weekend. A rather modest contribution to the front-line defence of Christianity. I suppose it's the sort of thing that tiresome Catholic ladies have been doing since the Acts of the Apostles.  After storing the jam in its temporary home while it awaits onward delivery to the Festival, I joined a team delivering leaflets around The Borough. The leaflets give information about the local church and times of Masses etc. One group of flats proved difficult to access, so I clambered over the railings. A mistake, as I blackened my hands and clothes. It took a good while to get the stuff off...I think the railings are painted to help deter burglars.

The Tyburn nuns...

...are a much-loved part of London, a place of peace and prayer  which is also a focus of postive action, and a centre where minds meet. They are holding a "Light to the Natiuons" concert in January to raise funds for their mission work: info here.  I shall certainly be going: an ideal way to start the New Year and there will be Bach, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn.  Date is Jan 2nd, at St James. Spanish Place...

The Catholic Union...

...met this evening, after a glorious sung Mass at Westminster Cathedral.... the Union is v. active, and there was a detailed report on events in Parliament including the defeat (DG!) of the Marris Bill which would have introduced legalised killing.  It seems likely that the battle will now go to the courts...campaigners seeking to impose things that way, because they have failed to get Parliament to agree to their plans.

The Education/Outreach committee reported on the various projects and this was more encouraging, with some  excellent public lectures on aspects of education, some examples of  children's work, in the "Our Father" Project,  a report on the Catholic Young Writer Award   which is run by the CU Charitable Trust,and so on.

Afterwards a drinks reception with much greeting of friends and good talk...encouraging to meet young people who are becoming active...

The Catholic Union Charitable Trust is sponsoring a lecture by Francis Campbell, former UK Ambassador to the Holy see, on catholicism in the Secular World. Info here

....Difficult to find...

...anything suitable for children to offer some useful teaching using the Scripture readings at Mass each Sunday. There are a number of books, but they all offer large crude drawings aimed at 5 year olds to cut out and colour in and glue on to cardboard or stick together to form a sort of  paper toy. It's along the lines of:  "Jesus said 'I am the vine.'  Cut out these grapes and stick them on the vine."   and so on.This means that children learn to colour and stick, but do not absorb much about the Gospel of the day.

All good catechists say "Well, teaching shouldn't be happening on Sunday during the Mass anyway...instead children should be taught systematically in classes after school, or by parents, or whatever."  But that's like the story of the chap who got lost in the city and asked the way to the park and was told "Well, now, if I were going there, I wouldn't start from here".  We have no choice but to start from where we are, if we want to go somewhere better.    If childen are coming to a Liturgy of the Word organised by kindly people, they  need to have some genuine encounter with the Word, and then be taken in to Mass to encounter the Word made Flesh. It has often happened in the history of the Church that children, properly taught, begin to teach their parents.

There is a lot of goodwill around: people volunteer to be catechists and the pattern they are given is to have the children for a short while every Sunday morning, during the Liturgy of the Word. Starting from here - even if it isn't where we want to be, or are meant to be - it is possible to achieve something. But some good material is neccessary.

There's something extremely sad...

...about the realisation that all the solemn denouncing and presentation of floral tributes that have followed the ghastly Paris bombing doesn't really begin to meet the great questions about the weakness and muddle at the heart of the West just at the moment. When confronting Communism, the West, in the Reagan/Thatcher years, had a sense of identity, a sense of being a "we" with a set of values rooted in a rich Christian heritage. Now, our officialdom is troubled about such concepts. There's an official sort of vaguely giggly embarrasment about recognising that we have any sort of definitive heritage, and a weird notion that Christianity shouldn't be allowed to be mentioned at all.

It was a relief to see the French gathering in vast numbers at Notre Dame.

The Ordinariate's official book of ...

...Divine Worship really is magnificent, with gold blocking and creamy pages and beautiful ribbon markers.Today I was helping here  with  parish-wide delivery of leaflets, each one individually addressed: all part of mission.   The new book of Divine Worship had just arrived and it is beautiful.

Any Anglican readers who long for full communion with the Catholic Church but who miss the Book of Common Prayer...come to an Ordinariate Form Mass, and find out about it all...

Religious freedom...

...and an excellent celebration in London to mark the launch of Benedict Rogers' splendid book From Burma to Rome  which tells the story of his own Christian journey in the context of his work for persecuted Christians in various countries including Burma and North Korea. It's partly a sort of Apologia, and partly an adventure story, and it works well...and the celebration this evening was hosted by Lord Alton and brought together all sorts of people from Parliament, Christian organisations, and academia...

Ben does wonderful work with Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and because he travels a great deal, the theme of a journey echoes throughout the book. The reader can in a sense accompany him, and the companionship is a good one, cheery and uplifting.

A delight to chat to, among others, young people from Youth 2000, the team from Aid to the Church in Need, Baroness Cox - who will shortly be presenting prizes, in the House of Lords, for the Schools Bible Project which I help to run - and the excellent Tom Longford of Gracewing Publishing. A particular pleasure to talk to Peter Smith, currently editor of Crossbow, magazine of the Conservative think-tank The Bow Group, The latest issue is a good read, tackles  topics including resuscitating the NHS, an authentic One Nation approach, a way forward from the current EU tangles...and more.

Long years ago, Auntie was editor of Crossbow. I still have some back copies poking out of a bookcase, and will look them up...

A gusty wind whirled across London, hurtling down golden and brown leaves into the lamplight as I walked back down The Mall and along by Parliament Square.

There will be another celebration for Benedict's book this Friday: all welcome...more about it here...

The Flag...

...on the Victoria Tower of the Houses of Parliament  was at half-mast this morning to mourn the deaths in the Paris massacre: a rather powerful sight as the train drew in towards Waterloo and the normal look of that view across the Thames suddenly had this small dramatic change.

Readng Religious Freedom Today, useful booklet produced by Aid to the Church in Need. Author John Newton has done an excellent job.

To Aberystwyth...

...to speak to the Cathsoc...topic: "St John Paul, Catholic youth, and the future".  A lively, friendly bunch who gave me a warm welcome.  Lots of good talk: immensely stimulating and enjoyable.  An overnight stay and a glorious morning walk in the blustery wind along the seafront, with the hills sweeping up ahead, and the bright town with its sense of glow against the fierce elements...

The train line connects to Birmingham, which was ideal for me as my next visit was to Maryvale.  I spent many happy years studying here, and it was good to be back, The Brigettine sisters were at prayer and I went to join them, and then after supper there was time for good talk and catching up...

The ghastly events in Paris have of course been on everyone's minds...prayers today at Mass and the staff at Maryvale sent a message to their colleagues at the Ecole Cathedrale...

Much enjoying...

...this book...

A meeting of...

...members of the FAITH Movement: it's got a great deal going on at the moment, with regular lectures in London and Glasgow, the Winter Session coming up, and plans for next year's Summer Session already under way, plus all the other events for younger teenagers etc. There is a Seminar which tackles a specific theological issue in depth over a weekend, gatherings for priests, and then the various events which crop up from time to time which in 2016 will include a group going to World Youth Day. But the meeting was looking at more, and there is considerable enthusiasm. FAITH has strong links with the Sisters of the Gospel of Life who in the midst of their magnificent work for mothers and babies manage to tackle all sorts of admin for FAITH, and to prove an inspiration to us all.

Shortly after I had finished writing...

...the piece about Krakow (see below - scroll down) I dropped in to Westminster Cathedral, partly to deliver some leaflets about the Towards Advent Festival.  Large numbers of pople were arriving, including young people in Scout uniform, and elderly men with flags and rows of medals.Intrigued, I enquired.  It was the Polish community, marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, in which Polish squadrons fought with such courage.

I stayed. Paying tribute to the men who fought for Britain's freedom, only to be denied freedom for their own country when the war ended, is a debt of honour. Some years ago, I learned, through working on a book with a survivor, about the courageous battle of the Polish Home Army in the Warsaw Uprising, and growing up near a former Battle of Britain fighter station, I learned too about the Polish pilots.

For years and years, Poland could not honour her heroes properly, but the Polish exiles in London always did so. And now, 75 years after the war ended, here in London the Polish Embassy was doing so too. You can read more about this on the Embassy website, which also has some pix of the Mass.

"Mindfulness"...

...is a new  (silly) fad, and you hear about it all the time,  It's essentially a sort of substitute for religion.

So I was surprised to be told that the Maryvale Institute was running a course on it. They aren't, of course. But the name Maryvale is used by all sorts of institutions around the world - retreat centres, spas, clinics -  so when I googled "Maryvale mindfulness" I found places in Asia and America organising mindfulness retreats and events and whatever...and one in London that was being promoted on a website that also, separately, mentioned the Maryvale Institute  in a different section.

Which just goes to show that you need to check.

I watched...

...this and it made me want to be in Krakow...

World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011 was an amazing experience, despite - or perhaps because of - that great thunderstorm, dispelling the terrible heat and drawing us somehow all closer to dear Papa Benedict and to prayer together with him...attempting to cover it all as a journalist was v. demanding, but that was all part of the adventure.

Auntie is Definitely Too Old to go to WYD 2016...but...

These are people well worth hearing...

...on topics that really matter. Find out more here. Already a lot of people have booked in, but there are still some places available, and it's all free...it's not absolutely crucial to book, but it helps with the arrangements.

Remembrance Sunday...

...and  I had promised to show visiting American Matt Pinto  and his family and colleagues around London: so we gathered at Precious Blood Church and joined the parish procession to the War Memorial in the Borough High Street. As always, it was dignified and moving: "O God our help in ages past..." the chimes  of Big Ben, relayed from Westminster (an innovation in recent years, made possible by new technology) marking the start of the Silence at 11am, the booming of guns as it finished...wreaths laid, prayers...

As it all finished, we processed back again to Precious Blood for Mass, which concluded with the National Anthem...

A pub lunch, long and talkative, then a walk across the Thames...history...Viking battles... the Tower...the Great Fire of 1666... and on to Kensington where they are all staying...

A delightful...

....Dinner and Ball in aid of the Good Counsel Network, which works to help  and support young pregnant women and their babies, saving them from abortion.

Lots and lots of  friends, especially young ones,  were there - I spent the whole evening greeting and being greeted, a very convivial atmosphere. A delicious dinner and a lot of dancing...when I left  shortly before midnight they were still moving and shaking on a packed dance floor to a pounding beat...

Read about the 2015 Catholic Young Writer Award...

  here...

Just received...

....new book From Burma to Rome by Benedict Rogers. It's a good read. Benedict works for the human rights organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide and has had some fascinating adventures meeting Christians in various countries where there is oppression or outright persecution...

He travels a lot and the book takes you to places around the globe, but  it is essentially about his spiritual journey. He interviews various people, among the most interesting  Lt Col Christopher Keeble, Falklands hero...

...and this sums up what most of us know and believe...

...on a controversial topic raised at the Synod...

Working all day tackling...

...themes of evangelising through beauty, via von Balthasar and Ratzinger...

In the evening, a meeting of the Ladies Ordinariate Group. Our speaker, on CS Lewis, was unable to come so I spoke instead, having spent the past weeks reading Alister McGrath's excellent new book  on Lewis and enjoying a fresh look at Mere Christianity,  which  I have been using as a prize this year for the Schools Bible Project.

J. home, tired after complicated travels...mugs of tea, catching up on news.

Fog all day yesterday....

... and J. got an extra day in Rome as there were no flights to London.

We quoted to one another the legendary newspaper headline summing up British attitude: "Fog in Channel: Continent isolated"...

I spent the day on academic work, then went to the All Souls Mass at St Patrick's, Soho. We are invited to write on cards the names of family members  and friends who have died, and place these among the garlands of bay leaves along the altar rails...the church was very full, the choir sang most beautifully...

...and on Sunday...

...early morning prayer in the great Abbey Church, and then, mid-morning, a magnificent All Saints Day Mass, with a superb choir: the singers come from across Devon to form one of the two choirs now associated with the Abbey. A substantial congregation: every pew was full, and people also sit, medieval style, along the low  wide ledges set against the wall, where the monks have thoughtfully provided mats against the hard stone...

A final cheery talkative lunch, and then farewells."We'll next be here when the trees are green in Spring" said our driver as we set  off through the glowing Autumn colours for the station...

The train ride from Newton Abbott along the Exe estuary is a delight and as darkness fe;ll I got out some tapestry: it's a kneeler for the chapel of the John Fisher School and all in the school colours of blue and gold. The nice girl sitting next to me took an interest, and when I wondered about the date of the school's foundation - I'd just got to that bit of the design - she googled it for me on her mobile phone. The uses of modernity: a Victorian lady sewing on a Great Western railway journey would marvel at such convenience.

By family tradition, I frequently break West Country journeys to visit beloved young relatives who live conveniently along this route: a joyful evening of family chat, young parents,their enchnating little girl and her delicious new baby brother, great happiness.

Monks...

...chanting the final Office of the day into the glorious arches of Buckfast Abbey, while in the darkened church candles glow on every altar for this Eve of All Hallows, and I find a place in the in a pew and simply soak it all in...

I'm here for a catechetics course: lots to study and discuss, but also a sense of peace with the rythm of the Benedictine monastic hours. And the glowing, golden leaves of this extraordinarily mild Auumn...and good company at meals and at lectures and at prayer...and the beauty of Devon...

Aid to the Church in Need...

...and a warm welcome when I visited the office and joined them all for the daily Angelus...

Since finishing my service on the Board, as Trustee, chairman etc, I have deliberately not hovered around the office or dropped in endlessly for visits...so it was lovely to be back, to meet some new members of staff and catch up on everything. Chatty lunch w. the excellent Director. ACN is now a massive charity, always in the news, doing wonderful work helping Christians persecuted for their faith - they recently had a big meeting in Parliament, highlighting some of the needs of Christians in the Middle East and Africa....my memories go back to the 1970s and helping people in Eastern Europe, working with ACN's founder Fr Werenfried van Straaten about whom I subsequently wrote a book...

If you want to catch up with ACN's latest work, come to the Towards Advent Festival on Sat Nov 28th at Westminster Cathedral, when John Pontifex will be talking about the plight of Christians under pressure from militant Islam...

Busy with preparations for...

...this event...been ordering books, reading entries for a young people's writing project, putting labels on jars of jam and other goodies, printing out words of an Advent carol...and handing out leaflets...

Currently reading...

...At the Centre of the Human Drama (K.L.Schmitz), an exploration of the philosophy of St John Paul II. Recommended. Wish I had read it years ago...anyway I'm relishing it now.

Just finished: an excellent biography of CS Lewis by Alister McGrath. Again, warmly recommended and I have just discovered this enjoyable review of it by Paul Johnson...

To Lewisham...

...where, as in so many parts of London, there are massive building works - huge concrete tower-blocks to dominate the place, a swirl of bleak traffic slicing through once-familiar roads and destroying the sense of community life. Ugh.

St Stephen's church is a sort of haven...a  fine building, a magnificent interior, friendly people:  I was made most welcome. They had invited me to speak on "Christian feasts and seasons". It was the Feast of SS Simon and Jude (I went to Mass earlier here) and with All Saints/All Souls coming up, and Advent, and Christmas, and more, this is a good time of year for such a talk...

On train journeys at present, I am working on a fresh sewing project: a kneeler for a school chapel. The colours are blue and gold, the lettering fairly easy...but I fear that tackling the school crest is going to be beyond me. People like to watch, and can't resist asking "What is it you are making?" and one has some pleasant conversations.

...and of course...

...at the FAITH meeting (see below) and at virtually every other gathering over the past few days, we were all talking about the Synod...for a good analysis of where things now stand, read here...

Laudate Si, and a good discussion...

...tackling this encyclical at a FAITH Evening, at the church of St Mary of the Angels in Bayswater.  These Evenings of FAITH had to move from the Church of the Assumption and St Gregory in Warwick Street because the crypt hall there is being refurbished.  There was some worry that numbers might drop drastically following the move, as Bayswater/Notting Hill Gate is much less central than  Warwick Street which is just off Piccadilly Circus. But numbers have been good, and there is lively chat over wine and pizza after the main talk...

Fr Chris Findlay-Wilson unpacked the encyclical and then answered questions and led a good discussion. A fruitful and talkative evening.

..and on the Synod...

...watch and listen here..

A lot of weird spin...

...about the Synod in Rome, with one major Sunday newspaper in Britain telling the exact opposite of what actually happened, and announcing that "the Vatican" had made new regulations for admitting divorced people in new unions to Holy Communion. Uh?  The true story can be found here

At least the press has been accurate however in reporting the Synod's description of homosexual unions as not even remotely analagous to marriage.

Useful overview of the Synod's final report and media here and a good report from a Cardinal actually involved and present is here

Young people...

..at a  Sunday evening Mass in the MUCH TOO SMALL chapel of the  Catholic chaplaincy at the University of Bristol: this needs to be expanded  expand it, and this could be done by knocking down the outer wall and extending it further forward...

I had already been to Mass in London that morning, so thought I would just slip in at the back of the chaplaincy  - no chance. Not a spare place anywhere...eventually I squeezed in, very much struck by the atmosphere of devotion.

Afterwards, a cheery gathering in a similarly overcrowded room for supper -  platefuls of vegetable curry, all cooked and served by the students - and then upstairs for the Cathsoc meeting, at which I was to speak on St John Paul the Great.

Just the sort of evening any guest speaker would relish - great atmosphere, lots of  young people filling sofas and armchairds and extra chairs carried up from below. Well organised but no formality - I sat comfortably on a large solid table and told the story, the wonderful story, of one of the greatest men of our era, a Saint with a great and powerful message for this new century.

It was a strange, but rather touching, thing to realise that in describing adventures in Communist-era Poland (addresses of contacts pinned inside my clothes, careful reminders about conversatons being taped, booklets and materials from London handed over  after a coded exchange of greetings) I was telling about history...but then as I talked about World Youth Day and the Theology of the Body, it was all about now, and about hope for the future.  Several of the audience will be off to World Youth Day, and an even larger number to the TOB series in London in Jan...

A happy evening, and then later there were mugs of tea in the kitchen, and more talk, and ideas about future Cathsoc speakers and meetings, and then finally a retirement to a comfortable room, ready for an early start the next day  as I was off on a family visit to a beloved elderly relative...

Saints John Fisher and Thomas More...

...died as martyrs rather than support their monarch  when he renounced his wife and formed an adulterous union.Today, we remembered them as a group from the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge came to London to take part in a Catholic History Walk as part of the commemoration of the parish's 150th anniversary.

Golden leaves fluttered down  from the Autumn trees. We walked along the Tyburn route where martyrs including St Edmund Campion were hauled to their deaths, we visited the beautiful churches of St Etheldreda in Ely Place, SS Anselm and Cecilia in Kingsway, and St Patrick's Soho,  we prayed at the site of Tyburn Tree, and we finished with Mass at Tyburn Convent.  We remembered Bishop Richard Challoner, and visited the pub where he preached  in penal times.

It was a perfect day on which to lead a Catholic History Walk, and good to be with this parish group - "OLEM"  has been important to our family and a  beloved great-nephew was baptised there a few years back...

And as we walked today,  the Synod in Rome was completing its work ....we must pray that over the next years, we are as brave in defending and upholding true marriage as our spiritual ancestors were in our country...the Church continues to teach what Christ taught, and to do so with love and goodwill...

Catholic women...

...gathered in London for the 43rd annual Catholic Women of the Year Lunch. Guest speaker was Fr Alexander Sherbrook,giving a challenging and inspiring message focusing on the New Evangelisation and describing - rather grippingly - the candelit drama of Nightfever in St Patrick's, Soho.

A speaker from Let the Children Live stirred us with a description of the homes established for street-children in Colombia. This is a charity well worth supporting.

Lots of useful meetings and networking at what is always a packed and talkative gathering. Afterwards, some of us went for some coffee and further chat,  For a couple of us, the route home took us past the site of Tyburn tree, so we stopped there to pray. We said the Rosary, remembering especially the Synod in Rome, and praying for the H. Father, and for the unity of the Church.

News  etc from the Synod here.

Singing at the railway station...

...read here...

THE MAN WHO GAVE US NARNIA...

...come and hear about CS Lewis. 6.30pm,  Tuesday Nov 3rd, Precious Blood Church 22 Redcross Way SE1 (nearest Tube: Borough or LONDON BRIDGE). All welcome: light refreshments. Speaker is author Philip vander Elst, who has written a biography of Lewis.

Been reading...

...the reports of the various working groups of the Synod in Rome. Lots of cautious language. In some cases this seems to mask a definite message of lobbying, especially about Holy Communion for those who have left one marriage and emarked on something new...the result conveys somehow a sense of tiredness, as if the zeal has gone out of the mission. In others there is a much greater sense of trust in the truth of the Church's unchangeable teachings on marriage.

Gleeful commentators are now announcing that the Pope will have to make a decision and the Church will split. But a Pope can't make a decision about the Eucharist and the nuptial bond that it signifies between Christ and His Bride the Church: the decision has already been mde - Christ's teaching on marriage is clear.

What is rather dreary is the evidence of bishops losing their zeal and thinking that people don't really want the fullness of the Church's teaching any more. The task of St Peter's successor is to strengthen the brethren - if he fails to do that with vigour, it won't change anything.  And what needs to be changed is not the Church's teaching or the way in which it is lived out in its disciplines, but the missionary zeal among the bishops. Pope Francis talks about mission, and about teaching out to people, and about the joy of the Gospel...now he needs to take time to pray, to gather strength, and then to affirm the fullness of the Gospel message and connfirm and strengthen the brethren in it...

...and, overall, the world's bishops are open to being strengthened and encouraged. Read here  for a general round-up from the Synod which takes an upbeat approach and sees  good things...

The Pope of the Family...

....St John Paul the Great, has his feast-day tomorrow, Oct 22nd. Today, with co-author Clare Anderson, I was giving a lecture about him at the CTS bookshop in Westminster.  This was part of the Lunchtime Lecture series, and despite the fact that it was a rainy day, and that all attending the lectures have to stand as there is no room in the shop for chairs, we got a good audience.

Afterwards, mugs of tea and chat with the CTS team, great fun.  And then a late lunch and catch-up session with Clare. Our EWTN programme on St John Paul is broadcast tomorrow.  Our working sessions are always an agreeable tangle of  swapping family news, organising research for the next TV/book project, checking and correcting material...plus ideas about books we're reading and current events in the Church and the world... This time there was lots of happy family stuff to share about forthcoming weddings of daughters and nieces, plus lots of discussion about the Synod in Rome, plus enthusiasm for various books.( I've ordered this one).

And we finished our discussions with a prayer invoking the intercession of St John Paul for all those at the Synod in Rome, and especially for Pope Francis...

and meanwhile in Rome...

...the Synod continues, and this is a good read.  Do make sure you scroll down and read the analysis of a recent TIMES leader.

Been busy handing out prizes...

...to pupils at various schools who produced high-standard work in the 2015 Schools Bible Project. So to Lancaster: always a pleasure to visit the  splendid Ripley St Thomas Academy, where I was made welcome, and spoke to the school assembly in the magnificent chapel. Candles glowed on the altar, a young pupil played the organ beautifully, and the young prizewinners came up one by one for a handshake and a prize...

Come to the TOWARDS ADVENT Festival...

at Westminster Cathedral hall, Sat Nov 28th. Doors open 10am. Learn Gregorian chant, meet the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and discover Catholic groups and organisations from the Catenians and the Knights of St Columba to Youth 2000, the Ladies Ordinariate Group, and the Catholic Herald newspaper! Get a first-hand report of the current plight of Christians in the Middle East. Enjoy delicious home-made refreshments and fresly brewed coffee.  Grand Opening Ceremony with Cardinal Vincent Nichols and music from the choir of St James School Twickenham. Be there!

The SYNOD...

...read here...

One of the things that just doesn't make sense is the idea that an - actually rather arbitrary - national grouping of bishops can announce new "rules" about the Holy Eucharist. The Church's teaching on the Eucharist isn't essentially about rules but about the nature and essence of the Sacrament. National boundaries don't apply here. In  the British Isles we have three national conferences of Bishops. It is a matter of national feeling and the convenience of administrative decision-making...and from the Church's point of view that has nothing to do with deciding doctrine.

And the discussion that is taking place about the Eucharist and Matrimony is most definitely about doctrine. It's not about "rules" in the sense that rules are generally understood., eg the rules of a cricket club or ice-skating championship. The link between the Eucharist and faithfulness to God's commandments is central to Catholic doctrine. It can't be regarded as an administrative matter that operates under one set of "rules" in Glasgow and another in Newcastle.

Cardinal Kasper seems to be the person chiefly promoting the idea that local bishops can, in effect, make decisions on doctrine, based on national boundaries. But God's message is the same in Nairobi and in Wimbledon, in Chicago and Buenos Aires and Calcutta and Frankfurt and the Isle of Wight. His Church is a Catholic Church.  Local variations in liturgy, hymnology,custons, traditions, architecture  make up a rich Christian culture and are to be cherished. Doctrine has no variations and is the truth at the core - literally the  heart -  of all.

To the John Fisher School...

...in Purley, to talk to the FAITH Club on the subject of St John Paul the Great. A very good attendance, and an excellent atmosphere. We began with prayers led by one of the boys, who then took the chair and introduced me. The school chaplain, Fr James Clark (a former pupil of the school)  was present,  along with  Deacon Tony Flavin.   We were also joined by another former pupil, Father Mark Higgins, who was ordained this summer and is now working in a local parish.  This is a school which has a magnificent tradition of service to the Church in many fields, and the FAITH Club is a major part of this. The driving force is the splendid Mr Daniel Cooper.

 I enjoyed talking to the FAITH Club,  and the boys showed great interest in the life and message of St John Paul. At the end of the meeting the chairman - who is Polish - led the final prayers in his own langauge, a touching moment.

By long tradition, the boys enjoy stacks of buttered toast after the meeting ends, and there is a general social time, a game  or two of snooker, general talk and laughter...

More from Rome ...

...Under the name Xavier Rynne there is an excellent daily letter from the Synod.  Analytical, well-informed.

Don't get panicky about the Synod.  Keep the Synod Fathers in your prayers.  LETTER NUMBER 16 here...

What will Auntie be doing at the end of November?

Read here...

...and more on that Synod...

....read here...

...on on the subject of...

...John Pontifex and Aid to the Church in Need (see blog post of early yesterday):  he has just been on VATICAN RADIO. Read all about it, and listen in here

An early start...

...to the day as I caught a train in the dark into London and thence across to Chelmsford, to visit  the excellent St John Payne Catholic School  where a large number of pupils had won prizes in the 2015 Schools Bible Project. The Morning Assembly was a dignified gathering with pupils  reading from the Scriptures and praying together, led by the Headmaster. Impressive. And it was, as always, a joy to greet the prizewinners and hand each one his or her prize.

The feast of St Edward the Confessor...

...and I went to the morning Mass at Westminster Cathedral, as I was due to meet ladies from the Tolworth branch of the Union of Catholic Mothers to take them on a Catholic History Walk. It was a golden October morning with a fresh winter-is-coming zest to the air, a perfect day for walking.  After Mass we enjoyed a good look at the Cathedral and discussed its history and that of its Archbishops from the present down down through Bourne and Vaughan etc to Wiseman...and then we went off down towards the Horseferry Road and along Great Peter Street, noting the names of streets that date back to the Westminster monks of old...St Matthew Street...St Ann Street...and so to the Abbey and Parliament...

We stopped outside St Matthew's Church   and had a notable encounter:  John Pontifex of Aid to the Church in Need, and the Archbishop of Aleppo in Syria who is visiting Britain to talk about the plight of his people, suffering under fanatical Moslem fighters...the Archbishop was on his way to Parliament to talk to MPs, and had just given a press conference...

As the morning ended, and I made my way to my next meeting, the glorious bells of Westminster Abbey were creashing and pealing out in celebration of St Edward.

Our last Saxon king, a saint, and one of the great names that echo through our long history. St Edward, pray for England!

latest from the Synod...

...just published...

Read it here

Procession of the Blessed Sacrament goes through London...

The Synod in Rome...

...cannot change God's plan for marriage and family or the Church's duty to live and teach it.  So I share the frustratiion of Synod Fathers at the antics of those who are trying to campaign for such changes or who are posturing about such changes by talking about "pastoral care" or schemes to pretend that one group of bishops in a particular place can make arrangements that run counter to Church teaching. 

Among courageous and forthroight speakers at the Synod are some notable Americans including Archbishop Charles Chaput and Bishop Robert Barron. Thank God for them.  A good analysis and comment on the latest events at the Synod can be found here.

The European church-and-state model that still lingers in the financial arrangements made for the Church in Germany is proving to be a weakness: the American experience seems to have been productive of more robust teaching, more freedom to be wholly and unreservedly devoted to Christ's call...

...and on the subject of Bl John Henry Newman...

...here's an American newspaper with an account of that Eucharistic procession through London...

Narnia...

...and CS Lewis.  Come and hear about the man who gave us Narnia. Tuesday Nov 3rd, in London. Info here:

Blessed John Henry Newman...

...is honoured today...it was on the night of Oct 8th/9th that he came into full communion with the Catholic Church, after years of work and ministry in the Church of England and with years ahead of him for greater, more effective, and more profound evangelisation of souls.

 This evening, I met a friend in church - she is one of the heroic team on the cleaning-rota and was busy dusting and brushing at the John Henry Newman shrine to the left of the main sanctuary here. We had one of those whispering-because-we-are-in-church-but-there-are-a-couple-of-things-I-wanted-to-discuss conversations that often turn out to be deeper and more useful than many at a formal meeting.  The LOGS ladies met earlier this week, and meet again tomorrow, when we are off to Birmingham to spend time with the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  When we planned the pilgrimage, we simply picked a day that suited most of us and suited the Sisters...but it turns out to be in the week of Bl John Henry's feast day. God's timing, not ours...

CATHOLIC LADIES...

...might like to sign this letter  to the Synod in Rome.

If you wanted...

...a free sample copy of FAITH magazine, and contacted this Blog, and failed to get one, can you contact me again?  I think that one Comment got lost somewhere.

And to every reader of this Blog: if you want to sample FAITH magazine, just send me a Comment, WHICH I WILL NOT PRINT  with your full name and postal address, and I'll post a magazine to you...

A talk at...

...the CTS bookshop in Westminster Cathedral piazza. They have organised a series of lunchtime talks, timed for 1.05pm, when people come out of the  Cathedral's 12.30pm Mass.

My talk was on "London's Catholic History"  so we swept through the Romans, Saxons, Normans, Middle Ages, Tudors, and onwards...with the river as a sort of theme, the Romans building a fort at Londinium, and much much later our last Saxon king, Edward, building a Minster to the West of London, giving that area a name that echoes around the world...

There's a pace to these lunchtime talks - quite different from the more leisurely feel of people settling down for an evening gathering. We aren't even sitting down - we all just crowd into the bookshop and take it from there. But this gives a slightly "edgy" feel to the whole thing, and I think it all works.

Note: Wednesdays, after the 12.30pm Mass. I'm back on Oct 21st, with colleague Clare Anderson, talking about St John Paul the Great.   BTW, if you want to see the special TV feature on him, watch EWTN on his feast-day, Oct 22nd...

BRAVO!!! Well said...

...over 100 prominent converts to the Catholic Church have sent a major appeal to the Synod in Rome to uphold the clear teaching of the Church on marriage.

It says, in part:

"We are keenly aware of the difficult pastoral situations that you will be confronting at the Synod, especially those concerning divorced Catholics. We also share something of the burden you carry in confronting them. Some of us have experienced the pain of divorce in our own lives; and virtually all of us have friends or close relatives who have been so afflicted. We are therefore grateful that attention is being paid to a problem that causes such grievous harm to husbands and wives, their children, and indeed the culture at large.

We are writing you, however, because of our concerns about certain proposals to change the church’s discipline regarding communion for Catholics who are divorced and civilly remarried. We are frankly surprised by the opinion of some who are proposing a “way of penance” that would tolerate what the Church has never allowed. In our judgment such proposals fail to do justice to the irrevocability of the marriage bond, either by writing off the “first” marriage as if it were somehow “dead,” or, worse, by recognizing its continued existence but then doing violence to it. We do not see how these proposals can do anything other than contradict the Christian doctrine of marriage itself. But we also fail to see how such innovations can be, as they claim, either pastoral or merciful. However well meaning, pastoral responses that do not respect the truth of things can only aggravate the very suffering that they seek to alleviate. We cannot help but think of the abandoned spouses and their children. Thinking of the next generation, how can such changes possibly foster in young people an appreciation of the beauty of the indissolubility of marriage?

Above all, we think that the proposals in question fail to take to heart the real crisis of the family underlying the problem of divorce, contraception, cohabitation and same-sex attraction. That crisis, as Benedict XVI observed, is “a false understanding of the nature of human freedom.” Still worse, as he continued, we now have to confront an outlook that “calls into question the very notion of being − of what being human really means” (“Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI on the Occasion of Christmas Greetings to the Roman Curia,” 2012). Not only are the changes in the Church’s discipline called for by some far from adequate to the challenge before us, they seem to us to capitulate to the problem they purport to address.

As has everyone else, we have witnessed the human wreckage brought about by the culture of divorce. But as converts we have also witnessed Christian complicity in that culture. We have watched our own communities abandon the original radical Christian witness to the truth about man and woman, together with the pastoral accompaniment that might have helped them live it.

And so we turn to you. We look to you to uphold Christ’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage with the same fidelity, the same joyful and courageous witness the Catholic Church has displayed throughout her entire history. Against the worldly-wise who counsel resignation and concede defeat, let the Church once again remind the world of the beauty of spousal fidelity, when lived in unity with Christ. Who is left who can offer the world something other than an echo of its own cynicism? Who is left who can lead it toward a real experience of love? Now more than ever the world needs the Church’s prophetic witness! As Pope Francis said to the thousands of young people at World Youth Day in Brazil:

Today, there are those who say that marriage is out of fashion….They say that it is not worth making a life-long commitment, making a definitive decision, ‘forever,’ because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. I ask you, instead, to be revolutionaries, I ask you to swim against the time; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes you are incapable of responsibility, that believes you are incapable of true love. World Youth Day, 2013)

As you gather in Rome for the Synod on the Family, we want to offer you the witness of our conversion, which testifies to the attractiveness of the truth about man and woman as it has been “made clear” by Christ through His Church. It is our hope that our witness will strengthen yours so that the Church may continue to be the answer to what the human heart most deeply desires".

You can read more, plus all the names of the signatories, here

The internet is buzzing...

...with gossip/news/opinions/theories/hopes/  about the Synod on the Family.

You can get a good flavour of things here...  and here...

and, v. relevant...here...

Hmmmm....

The Autumn series...

...of Catholic History walks is now iunder way...

CATHOLIC HISTORY WALKS:


 Autumn 2015

Come and enjoy discovering the history of the Church in Britain, in good company and in a great city. All welcome and the walks are free. Wear suitable clothing and shoes, we’ll be walking whatever the weather. Each walk last about an hour and a half, obviously you can leave at any time.

TUESDAY October 27^th – Meet 5.30pm Church of the Most Precious Blood, O’Meara Street, London SEI. Come and discover a ruined episcopal palace, a prison, and the house where Catherine of Aragon stayed. Precious Blood Church is in O’Meara Street, just off Southwark Street. Nearest tube: London Bridge or The Borough

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 6th – Meet 6.30pm (after the 5.30pm Mass) on the steps of Westminster Cathedral. Was there a Gunpowder Plot? What’s the story? We’ll walk down to the Houses of Parliament, discovering lots of intriguing history on the way. Nearest Tube for Westminster Cathedral: Victoria or St James’ Park

MONDAY November 16th – Meet 1.30pm (after the 1.05pm Mass) at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge. We’ll explore The Borough and walk along the river to the Tower of London. Precious Blood Church is in O’Meara Street, just off Southwark Street. Nearest tube: London Bridge or The Borough

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SATURDAY NOVEMBER 28^th: TOWARDS ADVENT Festival of Catholic Culture. ALL DAY from 10am, Westminster Cathedral Hall, Ambrosden Avenue. ADMISSION FREE: all welcome. Discover life with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Music workshop: come and learn Gregorian chant! Stalls and displays by Catholic groups and organisations: gifts, Christmas cards, books, DVDs, rosaries, craft goods and much more on sale. Freshly brewed coffee and delicious refreshments available all day.

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MONDAY November 30th – Meet 1pm at St George’s Cathedral, Southwark.

We’ll discover the history of this Cathedral and the surrounding area. St George’s Cathedral is opposite the Imperial War Museum. Nearest tube: Lambeth North or Waterloo

MONDAY December 7th – Meet 2pm Westminster Cathedral. Come and learn about this great Cathedral and the City of Westminster. Nearest Tube: Victoria or St James’ Park