and more info here...
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
...and...
...the diocese of WESTMINSTER has its traditional Chrism Mass tomorrow (Tuesday) and the diocese of SOUTHWARK on Wednesday. And at both of these, there will be groups of us welcoming the priests and thanking them for their dedication and service to the Church. We have a big placard that says:
THANK YOU TO OUR PRIESTS
and we give them small holy cards with our thanks....
We began this some years ago and it is has flourished and flourished, with new people joining in each year and a sense of a strong tradition having been established. And a particular pleasure is being able to greet so many priest friends and exchange greetings and good wishes...
Attending the different Chrism Masses is also a good introduction to Holy Week. Somehow, it sets the tone - the reality of the Church and an ability to "see" the events of two thousand years ago, and the hugeness of it all...
THANK YOU TO OUR PRIESTS
and we give them small holy cards with our thanks....
We began this some years ago and it is has flourished and flourished, with new people joining in each year and a sense of a strong tradition having been established. And a particular pleasure is being able to greet so many priest friends and exchange greetings and good wishes...
Attending the different Chrism Masses is also a good introduction to Holy Week. Somehow, it sets the tone - the reality of the Church and an ability to "see" the events of two thousand years ago, and the hugeness of it all...
Warwick Street...
...is the home of this church, in the care of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Today, Ordinariate priests from across Britain came there to concelebrate the Chrism Mass. The chief celebrant was the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Mennini. It was all very splendid, and the large crowd of priests just about fitted in to the church, using up both the side sections and all around the back. The congregation was in the main seating area in the middle...and when the priests made their public re-affirmation of theirvows, it was rather splendid to hear the voices in a deep roar all around us...
The oils were brought up to the altar for hallowing with great solemnity, there was glorious music, and the prayers of the Chrism Mass are so beautiful,..
"...For in the beginning you commanded the earth
to produce fruit-bearing plants,
and among them the olive tree,
to bring forth the great richness of this Oil,
that its fruit might serve
for the making of sacred Chrism.
David, too, foreseeing by the spirit of prophecy
the sacraments of your grace,
sang of oil making our faces radiant with joy;
and when in former days
the world's sins were washed away in the Great Flood,
the dove, showing forth by an olive branch
a figure of the gift to come,
announced that peace had been restored to the earth..."
The oils were brought up to the altar for hallowing with great solemnity, there was glorious music, and the prayers of the Chrism Mass are so beautiful,..
"...For in the beginning you commanded the earth
to produce fruit-bearing plants,
and among them the olive tree,
to bring forth the great richness of this Oil,
that its fruit might serve
for the making of sacred Chrism.
David, too, foreseeing by the spirit of prophecy
the sacraments of your grace,
sang of oil making our faces radiant with joy;
and when in former days
the world's sins were washed away in the Great Flood,
the dove, showing forth by an olive branch
a figure of the gift to come,
announced that peace had been restored to the earth..."
Sunday, March 29, 2015
...Palm Sunday...
...and we gathered on the London street for the liturgy, much blessing of palms with holy water, and a sudden sense of unity across the centuries with all those who have commemorated Christ's entry into Jerusalem this way...and then we set off, the crowd surging along the street and under the railway arch (great accoustics), incense wafting from the front, rain clouds gathering overhead...inevitably some were singing one verse of the hymn, and others another, but it was all a grand surge...and so into church and the solemn reading of the Passion....
I had spent the previous afternoon with young relatives, making Easter cards for great-grandparents, and enjoying a ramble through local woodland and plans for the Spring and summer. A local ice-cream van was being mended and attracted much interest as sparks flew up from the welding and the workmen were amused to explain the technicalities of the door and wheels to two small boys. We explored along a local muddy stream, planned picnics and summer trips. Tangle brambles promised blackberry-picking much later in the year. Trees were climbed. Clumps of daffodils splashed yellow on the landscape. Spring is here.
I had spent the previous afternoon with young relatives, making Easter cards for great-grandparents, and enjoying a ramble through local woodland and plans for the Spring and summer. A local ice-cream van was being mended and attracted much interest as sparks flew up from the welding and the workmen were amused to explain the technicalities of the door and wheels to two small boys. We explored along a local muddy stream, planned picnics and summer trips. Tangle brambles promised blackberry-picking much later in the year. Trees were climbed. Clumps of daffodils splashed yellow on the landscape. Spring is here.
Awesome...
...an overworked adjective today..
But it was truly awesome. Nightfever. A church glittering with candlelight, with some lovely gentle singing and teams of young people, bearing lanterns, fanning out across Soho, inviting people in to pray. The young people each had a few unlit candles in their pockets - those small tea-lights that work well as votive candles - and simply asked "Would you like to come in and light a candle?"
We gathered beforehand in the crypt at St Patrick's, Soho - you guessed that was the church, didn't you? Where so many good things happen - for a briefing, and I wondered if I wasn't too old to be taking part in such a venture. Nightfever was created by young people, and there was a great crowd of them there, filling the church for Mass, and gathering with a sense of seriousness for the evening of mission. But I was welcomed. A brief explanation...some guidelines and intsructions...some tea and sandwiches on offer...and we were off on the project.
Prayer is the most important thing., You spend part of the night in prayer before the Blessed sacrament, and then go out in shifts into the street...and then as you bring people in to pray (yes, they do come, and in great numbers) you stay briefly to pray again...and so on...
"I'm an atheist" was a response I got more than once to my offer of a candle and dropping in to pray "That makes no difference, does it?" I pointed out, and she, shrugged, laughed, accepted a candle and came in. Mostly, they gasp a bit on entrance - the lanterns line the main aisle, on the sanctuary is stands the great Monstrance where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for adoration, there are lots of silent kneeling figures, and some quietly coming-and-going. Having accompanied the new arrival slowly up towards the altar, there is no need to do anyting more. They can find a place for the candle, kneel, write a prayer on one of the slips of paper if they wish, maybe pick up a lttle folded gift of Scripture verse from the basket...one just finds one's own place to pray, and leaves them to it.
"I'm gay - your lot think I will burn in hell". We don't argue...the offer to pray is for everyone and we've already made that clear. Some that start by being a bit antagonistic do then come in. Mostly, people stay for longer than expected.
Many people are hurrying to meet a friend and haven't time to stop.Some want to chat. Some say "I haven't been into a church in years..." Several ask why we are doing this - most accept that the idea is attractive. No one seems offended by the offer of a chance to pray.
We finished on the dot of 10.30, strictly to timetable. Compline - sung most beaiutifully - and then Benediction. It was absolutely unforgettable
I loved Nightfever. I'll be volunteering again.
But it was truly awesome. Nightfever. A church glittering with candlelight, with some lovely gentle singing and teams of young people, bearing lanterns, fanning out across Soho, inviting people in to pray. The young people each had a few unlit candles in their pockets - those small tea-lights that work well as votive candles - and simply asked "Would you like to come in and light a candle?"
We gathered beforehand in the crypt at St Patrick's, Soho - you guessed that was the church, didn't you? Where so many good things happen - for a briefing, and I wondered if I wasn't too old to be taking part in such a venture. Nightfever was created by young people, and there was a great crowd of them there, filling the church for Mass, and gathering with a sense of seriousness for the evening of mission. But I was welcomed. A brief explanation...some guidelines and intsructions...some tea and sandwiches on offer...and we were off on the project.
Prayer is the most important thing., You spend part of the night in prayer before the Blessed sacrament, and then go out in shifts into the street...and then as you bring people in to pray (yes, they do come, and in great numbers) you stay briefly to pray again...and so on...
"I'm an atheist" was a response I got more than once to my offer of a candle and dropping in to pray "That makes no difference, does it?" I pointed out, and she, shrugged, laughed, accepted a candle and came in. Mostly, they gasp a bit on entrance - the lanterns line the main aisle, on the sanctuary is stands the great Monstrance where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for adoration, there are lots of silent kneeling figures, and some quietly coming-and-going. Having accompanied the new arrival slowly up towards the altar, there is no need to do anyting more. They can find a place for the candle, kneel, write a prayer on one of the slips of paper if they wish, maybe pick up a lttle folded gift of Scripture verse from the basket...one just finds one's own place to pray, and leaves them to it.
"I'm gay - your lot think I will burn in hell". We don't argue...the offer to pray is for everyone and we've already made that clear. Some that start by being a bit antagonistic do then come in. Mostly, people stay for longer than expected.
Many people are hurrying to meet a friend and haven't time to stop.Some want to chat. Some say "I haven't been into a church in years..." Several ask why we are doing this - most accept that the idea is attractive. No one seems offended by the offer of a chance to pray.
We finished on the dot of 10.30, strictly to timetable. Compline - sung most beaiutifully - and then Benediction. It was absolutely unforgettable
I loved Nightfever. I'll be volunteering again.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Cherishing life...
...or do we think we can't and shouldn't? Was St John Paul right when he warned of a "culture of death"? Some good reading on this here...
Nightfever...
...at St Patrick's, Soho, tomorrow. I thought I might go along and see what it's like. Some info here
Pope Francis...
...on the Feast of the Annunciation, highlighted the importance of St John Paul's Evangelium Vitae, given to the world on this day in 1995. I recently studied this document anew as part of some academic work, and recognised all over again its foresight, wisdom, and truth. And how he was denounced for it at the time - it was commonplace to sneer at him as a "Polish peasant" who was "trying to impose his morality" on everyone. Today, we can see how things have developed, with a horrible sense of doom hanging over Europe as families disintegrate and the normality of marriage and children gives way to a muddle ofshould-gay-parents-buy-babies-from-surrogate-mothers and similar debates.
The Church is today's great defender of human beings, human dignity, and the common good, in the face of a sense of self-destructiive moral relativism. Through marriage and family life, human beings have always the hope of renewal and "The Church as a mother never abandons the family, even when it is disheartened, wounded, and mortified in so many ways: it will always do everything tosee to cure and heal it, to call it to conversion and to reconcile it to the Lord" (St Peter.s Wednesday)
The Church is today's great defender of human beings, human dignity, and the common good, in the face of a sense of self-destructiive moral relativism. Through marriage and family life, human beings have always the hope of renewal and "The Church as a mother never abandons the family, even when it is disheartened, wounded, and mortified in so many ways: it will always do everything tosee to cure and heal it, to call it to conversion and to reconcile it to the Lord" (St Peter.s Wednesday)
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
A splendid academic Mass...
...for the School of the Annunciation, at Buckfast Abbey in Devon.The academic staff,in an impressive array of robes, walked in procession, there was glorious singing, and a good attendance of people from across Britain...and afterwards there was a delicious lunch and lots of lively talk...a most enjoyable day.
Sadly, Archbishop Fisichella from Rome was ill and unable to attend, but his lecture was read by the Rector, and there';ll be a copy on the School's website in due course.
During the afternoon I took along some books for the Library - we've all been invited to make donations. I brought a selection from home, hoping this might relieve the pressure on the groaning bookshelves of the Bogle family...which it has, but only marginally...
The School is flourishing and looks set to play an important role in the Church and in the world of education over the next years. Events in the next months include short courses on Foundations of Philiosophy for Faith, Sacred Art and the New Evangelisation, Media and the New Evangelisation, and Ecclesiastical Latin...and there are Summer Schools on Scripture, Liturgy, and Apologetics, among other topics. Further courses in catechetics start in the Autumn, together with a Diploma course in the New Evangelisation...
Sadly, Archbishop Fisichella from Rome was ill and unable to attend, but his lecture was read by the Rector, and there';ll be a copy on the School's website in due course.
During the afternoon I took along some books for the Library - we've all been invited to make donations. I brought a selection from home, hoping this might relieve the pressure on the groaning bookshelves of the Bogle family...which it has, but only marginally...
The School is flourishing and looks set to play an important role in the Church and in the world of education over the next years. Events in the next months include short courses on Foundations of Philiosophy for Faith, Sacred Art and the New Evangelisation, Media and the New Evangelisation, and Ecclesiastical Latin...and there are Summer Schools on Scripture, Liturgy, and Apologetics, among other topics. Further courses in catechetics start in the Autumn, together with a Diploma course in the New Evangelisation...
Richard III...
...and Auntie was invited to write about him for a Catholic newspaper in the USA...read here...
Monday, March 23, 2015
....HISTORY WALKS....
...the next one is Monday April 13th, starts 6.30pm Westminster Cathedral. All welcome - just turn up, no need to book.
And note the date of the 2015 MARTYRS' WALK: Sunday June 21st, meet 1.30pm for 2pm departure, St Sepulchre's churchyard, near the OLD BAILEY (nearest tube: St Paul's). Come - no need to book. Bring your family, your friends, a group from your parish. We'll be walking the route to Tyburn, and stopping to pray at, among other places, SS Anselm and Cecilia in Holborn, and St Patrick's in Soho.
And note the date of the 2015 MARTYRS' WALK: Sunday June 21st, meet 1.30pm for 2pm departure, St Sepulchre's churchyard, near the OLD BAILEY (nearest tube: St Paul's). Come - no need to book. Bring your family, your friends, a group from your parish. We'll be walking the route to Tyburn, and stopping to pray at, among other places, SS Anselm and Cecilia in Holborn, and St Patrick's in Soho.
Encouraging....
....morning at the John Fisher School, Purley. The young chaplain, Fr James Clark, organises guest speakers for the VI form on Mondays. The boys looked smart in their blazers with the golden school emblem, there was a warm and friendly welcome, and it was rather moving to be speaking in the school hall where I have attended receptions following the ordinations of former pupils. May there be many more...
Topic was communication, writing, lnguage, truth...told them about smuggling in Christian books, history, social comment, Catholic doctrine, into Eastern Europe under Communism, about St John Paul's emphasis on truth, about how truth and freedom go together. Talked about today's Britain, need to seek and defend truth. Find out what the Church teaches, and what is really happening: don't rely on the BBC's version. And how how do we make good use of the internet? The biggest single use is people wasting their lives in porn...
This is a school I have known for over 40 years: there is now a Fawcett Building, named after Fr Fawcett who I remember so well and who taught at the school for so many years...
Chatting in the sunshine with Fr James, we were joined by a number of other priests, who had come to help with hearing confessions (the whole school goes, form by form). They included Fr Ian Vane, at whose church in Sussex I recently took part in a women's prayer event with a crowd of some 80/90 people on a midweek afternoon, impressive...
At John Fisher, the sunshine dappled on the lawn by the chapel, , the sky was clear, boys hurried here and there, a VI-former stopping to chat...everything somehow held promise and hope. Pray for this fine school and its future: it's just marked its 85th anniversary, celebrating a noble heritage.
Topic was communication, writing, lnguage, truth...told them about smuggling in Christian books, history, social comment, Catholic doctrine, into Eastern Europe under Communism, about St John Paul's emphasis on truth, about how truth and freedom go together. Talked about today's Britain, need to seek and defend truth. Find out what the Church teaches, and what is really happening: don't rely on the BBC's version. And how how do we make good use of the internet? The biggest single use is people wasting their lives in porn...
This is a school I have known for over 40 years: there is now a Fawcett Building, named after Fr Fawcett who I remember so well and who taught at the school for so many years...
Chatting in the sunshine with Fr James, we were joined by a number of other priests, who had come to help with hearing confessions (the whole school goes, form by form). They included Fr Ian Vane, at whose church in Sussex I recently took part in a women's prayer event with a crowd of some 80/90 people on a midweek afternoon, impressive...
At John Fisher, the sunshine dappled on the lawn by the chapel, , the sky was clear, boys hurried here and there, a VI-former stopping to chat...everything somehow held promise and hope. Pray for this fine school and its future: it's just marked its 85th anniversary, celebrating a noble heritage.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Depressing...
....discussion with an academic, about how history is no longer taught in schools. Having had a number of similar discussions with teenagers and with teachers on the same subject, I find the scene deeply depressing.
The standard secondary school system now teaches chiefly (1) the Tudors in England and (2) the rise of the Nazis in Germany, and the Second World War, I started to realise this a few years ago, when a bright teenager told me of her weariness in being made to "do" the Second World War and the Nazis for the fourth time..."I'm so tired of it. I want to find out about the Medieval period. I love history, and I always get good marks - but I'm just so sick of learning about the Nazis again and again and again." Another said they had been given the opportunity to study Martin Luther King and the American Civil Rights Movement as an extra. "And I thhink we might be doing Margaret Thatchjer and the Miners' Strike". But that was all.
In primary school children do "themes" such as the Atlantic slave trade, Norman castles, the Roman empire, the Victorian era and the children in factories, and Suffragettes. Darting about from one era to another across the centuries, with random scrapbook and colouring-in projects. There is no essential time-line and little attempt to connect anything. No wonder children are confused and bored. I have seen some very attractive work produced by children in schools, and they get them dressing up in Victorian costumes, and imagining what it would have been like to be in a Victorian school, and so on...but they are not given the essential tools for studying history, or much motive for doing so.
In tomorrow's Britain, society will have a very strong Mohammedan input. British history will not be something that is communicated in everyday culture - stories, and nursery rhymes and jokes and well-known bits of folklore. That sort of culture is being crushed by the overwhelming pressures of the computer/mobile phone/facebook/texting/sexting/soap opera world where history and family traditions and local community events play no part. Children won't 'absorb' the history and traditions of the country into which they have been born and which in a sense is their heritage...if they are to understand such things, it will have to be through conscious teaching. Will there be teachers willing and able to do it?
At present, teachers tend to emphasise only what is "needed" for exams. "You don't need to look at the section on the 18th century - it's not part of your exam work" etc etc. There is pressure to gain the required number of "passes" for the statistics.
And so we are being robbed of our sense of identity, of belonging, of community. And then we wonder why the young feel alienated, hurt, and cynical.
The standard secondary school system now teaches chiefly (1) the Tudors in England and (2) the rise of the Nazis in Germany, and the Second World War, I started to realise this a few years ago, when a bright teenager told me of her weariness in being made to "do" the Second World War and the Nazis for the fourth time..."I'm so tired of it. I want to find out about the Medieval period. I love history, and I always get good marks - but I'm just so sick of learning about the Nazis again and again and again." Another said they had been given the opportunity to study Martin Luther King and the American Civil Rights Movement as an extra. "And I thhink we might be doing Margaret Thatchjer and the Miners' Strike". But that was all.
In primary school children do "themes" such as the Atlantic slave trade, Norman castles, the Roman empire, the Victorian era and the children in factories, and Suffragettes. Darting about from one era to another across the centuries, with random scrapbook and colouring-in projects. There is no essential time-line and little attempt to connect anything. No wonder children are confused and bored. I have seen some very attractive work produced by children in schools, and they get them dressing up in Victorian costumes, and imagining what it would have been like to be in a Victorian school, and so on...but they are not given the essential tools for studying history, or much motive for doing so.
In tomorrow's Britain, society will have a very strong Mohammedan input. British history will not be something that is communicated in everyday culture - stories, and nursery rhymes and jokes and well-known bits of folklore. That sort of culture is being crushed by the overwhelming pressures of the computer/mobile phone/facebook/texting/sexting/soap opera world where history and family traditions and local community events play no part. Children won't 'absorb' the history and traditions of the country into which they have been born and which in a sense is their heritage...if they are to understand such things, it will have to be through conscious teaching. Will there be teachers willing and able to do it?
At present, teachers tend to emphasise only what is "needed" for exams. "You don't need to look at the section on the 18th century - it's not part of your exam work" etc etc. There is pressure to gain the required number of "passes" for the statistics.
And so we are being robbed of our sense of identity, of belonging, of community. And then we wonder why the young feel alienated, hurt, and cynical.
Saturday, March 21, 2015
...and from St John Paul:
...on March 25th it will be the anniversary of his magnificent document Evangelium Vitae. There will be a special vigil of prayer in Rome and we are all invited to pray, too...the threats to the sanctity of human life have grown horribly in recent years, along with the destruction of children's dignity and innocence, and the violation of the truth about marriage: "sexuality too is depersonalized and exploited: from being the sign, place and language of love, that is, of the gift of self and acceptance of another, in all the other's richness as a person, it increasingly becomes the occasion and instrument for self-assertion and the selfish satisfaction of personal desires and instincts".
A morning...
...with parents of First Communicants at the parish of Our Lady and St George, Walthamstow. I was invited to speak about the Church and women: it's a subject on which it is important to explain about Mother Church, the women saints and heroines, and the deep truth at the core of it all - the Bridegroom and His Bride, the nuptial meaning of the Eucharist...and more...
It's actually men who are too often marginalised in the Church, and this is something that needs to be addressed. An understanding of the essential complementarity of men and women is of central importance, and this document is useful in grasping this...as is the material produced at this conference...
It's actually men who are too often marginalised in the Church, and this is something that needs to be addressed. An understanding of the essential complementarity of men and women is of central importance, and this document is useful in grasping this...as is the material produced at this conference...
Friday, March 20, 2015
Discussion...
...should the Pope have gone to confession in public? Lent last year...see here). Was it showing off? Or trying to give an authentic example to others, to get people to go to confession, to show there is nothing embarrassing about it?
The Pope is popular with the media, but some people are disturbed by what they see as his displays of false humility.
It certainly got people thinking about confession, didn't it?
The Pope is popular with the media, but some people are disturbed by what they see as his displays of false humility.
It certainly got people thinking about confession, didn't it?
...and on the Feast of the Annunciation...
...March 25th, I will be in Devon, celebrating this importrant anniversary...
Theology of the Body...
...and this evening I'll be attending this lecture in London by Dr peter Kahn. All are welcome.
St John Pauls Theology of the Body offers answers to the muddle, misery and heartache that has permeated through people's lives following the sexual confusion of recent years. It's important to be informed on all of this - and this great Pope offers inspiration, hope and a sense of joy in life too.
Come along this evening: 6.45pm, Vaughan House, Francis St, Westminster - nearest tube VICTORIA.
St John Pauls Theology of the Body offers answers to the muddle, misery and heartache that has permeated through people's lives following the sexual confusion of recent years. It's important to be informed on all of this - and this great Pope offers inspiration, hope and a sense of joy in life too.
Come along this evening: 6.45pm, Vaughan House, Francis St, Westminster - nearest tube VICTORIA.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
On St Joseph's Day...
special greetings to this wonderful parish...
The Mary Garden at this parish recently featured on an EWTN programme tracing London's history along the Thames. The parish priest, and the wonderful family team who created and now maintain the Garden, were interviewed, and it was a delight.
I personally owe a lot to this parish, and whenever I am in the church there is a sense of somehow being at home.
The Mary Garden at this parish recently featured on an EWTN programme tracing London's history along the Thames. The parish priest, and the wonderful family team who created and now maintain the Garden, were interviewed, and it was a delight.
I personally owe a lot to this parish, and whenever I am in the church there is a sense of somehow being at home.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Prison...
...and the Catholic chaplain had led a well-attended teaching session this morning, and I was busy doing some follow-up this afternoon. Using the ANCHOR programme, and it works well...it has some of the most glorious art and explores Catholic teachings by using this, and opening up the truths revealed, backed by Scripture and the Catechism...
While all this was going on, the Moslems were having a session in a neighbouring room. They have a place for ritual washing and an arrow sign pointing to Mecca. The chaplaincy area offers space to the various groups, all the chaplains have good facilities, and prisoners help with running it all. Mass is celebrated in a large room where the Chaplain has placed a fine large picture of the Divine Mercy - a print of the original Lthuanian picture, not the later one from Krakow - Stations of the Cross, a good cruciifix etc. There is a proper and well-equipped sacristy: for Mass, an altar is erected and everything is brought out, candles, altar cloths, missal, chalice and paten etc etc...there are also vestments and everything neccessary, all of good quality. The room is large (needed, because numbers for Mass are substantial here) and doesn't feel prison-like...this is a modern prison and although there is a lot of security and locking and unlocking of doors etc, the place isn't as oppressive as older prisons are, and it's clean.
Religion is a big thing in prison. Catholic prisoners - and others - wear rosaries round their necks (often three or more of them). They like to have a Bible because the Moslem prisoners set great store by talking about the Koran, so Christians want to show that they know all about having a sacred book too. They like prayer cards and pictures, and Novenas and prayers to learn by heart.
The Moslem presence is strong and confident: it offers a forthright, apparently simple, gutsy sort of solution to the why-am-I-here-everything-is-horrible feeling which must be overwhelming in prison. The Christian message soaks through at a different - deeper? - level. Certainly for some Catholic prisoners, meeting the chaplain is an opportunity to reconnect with a faith abandoned or forgotten, and some speak movingly about what it means to rediscover the Church, to go to confession, to learn or re-learn prayers, to study the Faith.
Not sure if my efforts at helping with the programme are useful...but at least a visitor shows that the world of prison hasn't been forgotten by those on the "outside". And I can keep the prisoners in my prayers and would like to think that some readers of this Blog might now do so too...
While all this was going on, the Moslems were having a session in a neighbouring room. They have a place for ritual washing and an arrow sign pointing to Mecca. The chaplaincy area offers space to the various groups, all the chaplains have good facilities, and prisoners help with running it all. Mass is celebrated in a large room where the Chaplain has placed a fine large picture of the Divine Mercy - a print of the original Lthuanian picture, not the later one from Krakow - Stations of the Cross, a good cruciifix etc. There is a proper and well-equipped sacristy: for Mass, an altar is erected and everything is brought out, candles, altar cloths, missal, chalice and paten etc etc...there are also vestments and everything neccessary, all of good quality. The room is large (needed, because numbers for Mass are substantial here) and doesn't feel prison-like...this is a modern prison and although there is a lot of security and locking and unlocking of doors etc, the place isn't as oppressive as older prisons are, and it's clean.
Religion is a big thing in prison. Catholic prisoners - and others - wear rosaries round their necks (often three or more of them). They like to have a Bible because the Moslem prisoners set great store by talking about the Koran, so Christians want to show that they know all about having a sacred book too. They like prayer cards and pictures, and Novenas and prayers to learn by heart.
The Moslem presence is strong and confident: it offers a forthright, apparently simple, gutsy sort of solution to the why-am-I-here-everything-is-horrible feeling which must be overwhelming in prison. The Christian message soaks through at a different - deeper? - level. Certainly for some Catholic prisoners, meeting the chaplain is an opportunity to reconnect with a faith abandoned or forgotten, and some speak movingly about what it means to rediscover the Church, to go to confession, to learn or re-learn prayers, to study the Faith.
Not sure if my efforts at helping with the programme are useful...but at least a visitor shows that the world of prison hasn't been forgotten by those on the "outside". And I can keep the prisoners in my prayers and would like to think that some readers of this Blog might now do so too...
The Church: defending marriage and family...
...the World Meeting of Families in September, whi ch the Pope will attend, will be of great importance. A bit of preparatory reading here...
To Pembury...
...in Kent, where Fr Ed Tomlinson of the Ordinariate and his team are transforming a rather bleak hall into a real church. It's a busy place now, with well-attended Sunday Masses. But at present the Sunday school meets in the sacristy, the children jammed in on the floor, under and on the tables, and on any available ledge or worktop. Fun, but sort of impracticable in the long-term as numbers continue to grow. The tiny weekday chapel - we had a beautiful Mass there - has stacks of the embroidered kneelers that some of us are making, and which on Sundays are used for Mass in the main hall. I had brought a further kneeler, just completed: I wanted to deliver it in person as I had dedicated it in memory of a young relative and wanted to hand it over personally: Fr Ed blessed it and we used it as a kneeler for Communion, and now it takes its place with the others...
It was good to be at Mass in this little village on a Spring weekday,and afterwards to talk over news and ideas with Fr Ed. Outside, the land hs been cleared for the new extension that will enable a proper use of the church and halls and include a garden and a shrine. There will be a good entrance and the church, already a local landmark, will be a real presence in the area. There is a large Crucifix with its own roof that will stand as part of the new scheme. It will all have the look and feel of "a little English village church".
But much to ponder. While things are going well at Pembury, there is a general feeling of worry in the Church: the Synod this Autumn (prayers needed),the rising official pressures on Church schools with attempts to impose gross forms of propaganda under the guise of "sex education"....
Pray for the Pope. Pray for our Bishops.
It was good to be at Mass in this little village on a Spring weekday,and afterwards to talk over news and ideas with Fr Ed. Outside, the land hs been cleared for the new extension that will enable a proper use of the church and halls and include a garden and a shrine. There will be a good entrance and the church, already a local landmark, will be a real presence in the area. There is a large Crucifix with its own roof that will stand as part of the new scheme. It will all have the look and feel of "a little English village church".
But much to ponder. While things are going well at Pembury, there is a general feeling of worry in the Church: the Synod this Autumn (prayers needed),the rising official pressures on Church schools with attempts to impose gross forms of propaganda under the guise of "sex education"....
Pray for the Pope. Pray for our Bishops.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Church shools...
...Sir Edward leigh MP has made an excellent intervention in the House of Commons. read here...
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Rorate Caeli...
..."Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above..."
I was remembering those words today when reading about Ukraine.
In the last years of Communism, and especially in the last months, it became possible to make Christian radio broadcasts, and to send Christian literature, into countries which had been starved of good reading material for decades. Prayer books, explanations of Church teachings, devotional materials of all kinds poured into Ukraine and, later, into Russia. It wasn't random stuff. People who listened to various radio broadcasts could write to Aid to the Church in Need, and get a package of materials, and, where possible, specific answers to various questions etc.
ACN's founder, Fr Werenfried van Straaten, the "bacon priest" who had championed the cause of Catholics behind what was then called the Iron Curtain for decades, was in his element. The project was called "Rorate Caeli". He and the team running it were hugely moved by the letters can came pouring in, especially from the young - asking questions about Christian teachings, wanting Catholic books, hungry for information Many were unhappy, with lives that had been damaged by abortion or alcoholism....the same problems that were then (and now) affecting the young in the West. Many were simply confused, with a limited understanding of the Church but a great desire to know more.
Well, the project flourished, and meanwhile history was rolling on...the collapse of Communism...the end of the USSR... new independence of Ukraine...
I remember Fr Werenfried warning that the collapse of Communism didn't mean that everything would be glorious. There was going to be an ideological void - not a sudden ability to flourish with bright new hopes, but a confused what-comes-after-communism ugliness in which over-optimism and unrealistic expectations could jostle with weariness and cyncism, and in which old animosities could flourish and new ones emerge,..
And now it's 2015, and a new era and Russia and Ukraine are fighting and it seems as though the suffering or the Soviet years, with the starvation famines and the Gulag and the KGB and the horror were not enough, and now a new generation is barking out nationalistic slogans and the death toll rises.
Back in the 1960s and 70s and 80s, many of us prayed regularly for the people "behind the Iron Ciurtain" who were not free to practice their Christian faith: Communism was a big blanket-style ideological Enemy. Now, in the more confused era, it's harder to know how to direct our prayers. But it feels all wrong that we should ignore it all.
Reminder: let's pray for peace. "Drop dew, yea heavens..."
I was remembering those words today when reading about Ukraine.
In the last years of Communism, and especially in the last months, it became possible to make Christian radio broadcasts, and to send Christian literature, into countries which had been starved of good reading material for decades. Prayer books, explanations of Church teachings, devotional materials of all kinds poured into Ukraine and, later, into Russia. It wasn't random stuff. People who listened to various radio broadcasts could write to Aid to the Church in Need, and get a package of materials, and, where possible, specific answers to various questions etc.
ACN's founder, Fr Werenfried van Straaten, the "bacon priest" who had championed the cause of Catholics behind what was then called the Iron Curtain for decades, was in his element. The project was called "Rorate Caeli". He and the team running it were hugely moved by the letters can came pouring in, especially from the young - asking questions about Christian teachings, wanting Catholic books, hungry for information Many were unhappy, with lives that had been damaged by abortion or alcoholism....the same problems that were then (and now) affecting the young in the West. Many were simply confused, with a limited understanding of the Church but a great desire to know more.
Well, the project flourished, and meanwhile history was rolling on...the collapse of Communism...the end of the USSR... new independence of Ukraine...
I remember Fr Werenfried warning that the collapse of Communism didn't mean that everything would be glorious. There was going to be an ideological void - not a sudden ability to flourish with bright new hopes, but a confused what-comes-after-communism ugliness in which over-optimism and unrealistic expectations could jostle with weariness and cyncism, and in which old animosities could flourish and new ones emerge,..
And now it's 2015, and a new era and Russia and Ukraine are fighting and it seems as though the suffering or the Soviet years, with the starvation famines and the Gulag and the KGB and the horror were not enough, and now a new generation is barking out nationalistic slogans and the death toll rises.
Back in the 1960s and 70s and 80s, many of us prayed regularly for the people "behind the Iron Ciurtain" who were not free to practice their Christian faith: Communism was a big blanket-style ideological Enemy. Now, in the more confused era, it's harder to know how to direct our prayers. But it feels all wrong that we should ignore it all.
Reminder: let's pray for peace. "Drop dew, yea heavens..."
Friday, March 13, 2015
...and you will also enjoy....
...this description of how things are going. in the Ordinariate parish along by the Thames..
You might enjoy...
this, which updates you on a good project that will be a morale-boost for all who value Christianity in Britain...
Celebration...
...this weekend (mid-Lent, Laetare, opportunity to take a break and rejoice) with co-author Clare Anderson and her family. This is a long overdue celebration. When Clare and I produced our book about St John Paul the Great, we dedicated it to our husbands, grateful for their patience and good humour throughout the project. And we told each other that we'd have a lovely just-the-four-of-us dinner party...and meanwhile there were other commitments, with family and (in Clare's case) a house-move and two family weddings, and (in mine) a new academic venture with some post-graduate study, and (for us both) travelling, and work, and more...and finally, some six months after the book's appearance, here we are! So, armed with chox and wine, Jamie and I are off to the Andersons and a happy time...
Thursday, March 12, 2015
St Mary's University...
...at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, has an atmosphere of great friendliness. Tonight the lively Cathsoc met, over freshly-brewed coffee in the comfortable coffee-room...lots of pleasant chat as people gathered and were joined by the young chaplain in his Dominican robes...
It was a real delight and pleasure to be their speaker for the evening. Topic was St John Paul - a figure known to them only from their childhood memories, honoured and venerated but somewhat mistily, covered by the decade that has passed since his death and by the enormous changes that occurred in and through his pontificate...
Where to start? I began by explaining to them something of what Poland was like under Communism - and as I spoke the memories were suddenly back: the shortages of everyday items, the shop windows with displays of dusty paper flowers because the proper goods weren't available...it's strange what details one remembers. I first visited Warsaw in the 1980s under martial law, with a thumping heart, a suitcase crammed wth books and other materials for the then-banned Solidarity movement, some names and addresses hidden on my person, and detailed instructions about how to circumvent the secret police surveillance and ensure that the whole operation went well. Golly, it's all so long ago...
But St John Paul the Great was - is - about more, much, much more than just the collapse of Communism. More than just World Youth Day, more than just the radical Theology of the Body and the magnificent teaching of the Divine Mercy, more than just a great revival of Eucharistic devotion, more than just the fresh presentation of the Rosary, more than just great missionary journeys, more than just magnificent teaching and leadership . He was a hero was survived an assaination attempt - and forgave his would-be murderer, from his heart - he was a poet, a playwright, a great preacher,a philosopher, a mystic. He was a sportsman, a man of the mountains, a man of prayer, a priest whose celebration of Mass took him into such deep Communion with the Lord that he seemed oblivious to everything else even when he was with a crowd of millions.
When John Paul gave his first inspiring calls to the young, I was young. But his message still rings true for today's generation in the Church:"Young people: Christ calls you, the Church needs you, and the Pope believes in you, and expects great things of you."
This was a happy and very special evening.
It was a real delight and pleasure to be their speaker for the evening. Topic was St John Paul - a figure known to them only from their childhood memories, honoured and venerated but somewhat mistily, covered by the decade that has passed since his death and by the enormous changes that occurred in and through his pontificate...
Where to start? I began by explaining to them something of what Poland was like under Communism - and as I spoke the memories were suddenly back: the shortages of everyday items, the shop windows with displays of dusty paper flowers because the proper goods weren't available...it's strange what details one remembers. I first visited Warsaw in the 1980s under martial law, with a thumping heart, a suitcase crammed wth books and other materials for the then-banned Solidarity movement, some names and addresses hidden on my person, and detailed instructions about how to circumvent the secret police surveillance and ensure that the whole operation went well. Golly, it's all so long ago...
But St John Paul the Great was - is - about more, much, much more than just the collapse of Communism. More than just World Youth Day, more than just the radical Theology of the Body and the magnificent teaching of the Divine Mercy, more than just a great revival of Eucharistic devotion, more than just the fresh presentation of the Rosary, more than just great missionary journeys, more than just magnificent teaching and leadership . He was a hero was survived an assaination attempt - and forgave his would-be murderer, from his heart - he was a poet, a playwright, a great preacher,a philosopher, a mystic. He was a sportsman, a man of the mountains, a man of prayer, a priest whose celebration of Mass took him into such deep Communion with the Lord that he seemed oblivious to everything else even when he was with a crowd of millions.
When John Paul gave his first inspiring calls to the young, I was young. But his message still rings true for today's generation in the Church:"Young people: Christ calls you, the Church needs you, and the Pope believes in you, and expects great things of you."
This was a happy and very special evening.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
To Whitstable...
...via a lovely train ride through Kent and along by the sea. Whitstable has a PROPER seaside, with a greensward and beach-huts, as well as a little harbour and fish-and-chips and of course oysters...
I lunched with the team that are producing the Made for Glory Youtube films...
I lunched with the team that are producing the Made for Glory Youtube films...
Sunday, March 08, 2015
Sunday...
...and as I arrived at London Bridge with half an hour to spare before Mass, I walked along by the river.,...the tide was out, and the wide beach revealed so many hints of history, fragments of this and that, an old jetty long soaked in mud, some chunks of masonry that were once part of some dockside structure. A pleasure boat chugged by, with the announcer's voice coming across the water, telling people about Blackfriars and the Oxo Tower, and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre...
On to the Church of the Most Precious Blood for Mass.Afterwards, we had the parish Annual Meeting - as per Anglican Patrimony and the Ordinariate and all that...the news is good, the parish is on track for mission, numbers at Mass are rising (an extra Mass has had to be added during the past year), there was talk of how we'll celebrate the feast of the Precious Blood in July...discussion about encouraging people to come to Adoration on the First Friday of every month and, more prosaically, about the new floor now that the heating has been installed...
Later, over a pub lunch, much talk and other ideas about what could and should be done: Papa Benedict gave the Ordinariate a mission, and there is a great deal of love and enthusiasm in response...
Spent the rest of the afternoon with a beloved elderly relative, comfortably settled back in the (Catholic) care home where she lives, and where her family feel absolutely at home too. I sat sewing and chatting, my elderly relative enjoyed buttered toast and freshly-made soup, and there was a buzz of friendly talk and swapping of news.
On the bus home I finished the cross-stitch work on hassock I've been making, which will join others at this church.
On to the Church of the Most Precious Blood for Mass.Afterwards, we had the parish Annual Meeting - as per Anglican Patrimony and the Ordinariate and all that...the news is good, the parish is on track for mission, numbers at Mass are rising (an extra Mass has had to be added during the past year), there was talk of how we'll celebrate the feast of the Precious Blood in July...discussion about encouraging people to come to Adoration on the First Friday of every month and, more prosaically, about the new floor now that the heating has been installed...
Later, over a pub lunch, much talk and other ideas about what could and should be done: Papa Benedict gave the Ordinariate a mission, and there is a great deal of love and enthusiasm in response...
Spent the rest of the afternoon with a beloved elderly relative, comfortably settled back in the (Catholic) care home where she lives, and where her family feel absolutely at home too. I sat sewing and chatting, my elderly relative enjoyed buttered toast and freshly-made soup, and there was a buzz of friendly talk and swapping of news.
On the bus home I finished the cross-stitch work on hassock I've been making, which will join others at this church.
I looked at...
...the website of the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph to catch up with their news, and learned that Sister Hyacinthe and Sister Michelle had been leading a retreat in the UAE. "How suitable" I thought "A University...perhaps they mean UEA (University of East Anglia)". But no. They've been in the United Arab Emirates...where by all accounts the Church is growing rapidly. And it looked so joyful, and somehow exciting and invigorating: lots of young people, lots of joy - and, yes, the obligatory posing with camels...
It's so strange pondering the future: Mohammedans gleefully growing stronger and stronger in Europe, and Christianity on the march in what were once the desert heartlands of the Mohammedan faith.
But the Sisters are renewing the Faith here in England too - there's no stopping them. Want to be part of it? Prepared to do a lot of praying and walking? Click here for getting on to the St John Paul II PIlgrimage for the New Evangelisation. Book yourself in: remember John Paul 's call:"Young people: Christ calls you, the Church needs you, and the Pope believes in you and expects great things of you." For those who were young when the great JPII made that call - come and show the way to the next generation. And for those who are young today:come, come - there are great things ahead...
It's so strange pondering the future: Mohammedans gleefully growing stronger and stronger in Europe, and Christianity on the march in what were once the desert heartlands of the Mohammedan faith.
But the Sisters are renewing the Faith here in England too - there's no stopping them. Want to be part of it? Prepared to do a lot of praying and walking? Click here for getting on to the St John Paul II PIlgrimage for the New Evangelisation. Book yourself in: remember John Paul 's call:"Young people: Christ calls you, the Church needs you, and the Pope believes in you and expects great things of you." For those who were young when the great JPII made that call - come and show the way to the next generation. And for those who are young today:come, come - there are great things ahead...
Friday, March 06, 2015
Dietrich von Hildebrand...
...and his facinating diaries of life in Germany and Austria in the 1930s...read Auntie's review here...
I'm impressed by...
...our big local hospital.
I spent the day at one of HM prisons, using the catechetical skills taught me here. The young men were v. kind and took part w. apparent interest - though this may have been because the Chaplain told them that I was doing this as part of a training test, and would be marked on it (which was true: we have to send in a report and account of how each lessons goes, ideas for improvement etc...). This appealed to the innate sense of let's-help-this-poor--thing-out...
Then after mugs of tea and good conversation, I went on to church for Evesong and Mass...and while there recieved a telephone message saying that an elderly relatives had been taken to hospital....by Providence, I was virtually on top of a major tube station, so hurried along on the Northern Line and was soon at the hospital. I cannot speak too highly of the care and attention that this beloved elderly relative received, all carried out with great goodwill and gentleness. There was also much kindness and a freshly-made cups of tea for me, and all of this in a busy department with people being rushed in for emergency care etc...
When my elderly relative was comfortably settled for the night - crisp fresh sheets, a calm atmosphere, great care taken to check all sorts of small details even down to her watch and specs being put just where she wanted them to be etc - we said prayers together as we always do, and I looked up to see the nurse quietly joining in in with the "Hail Mary", and crossing herself at the end...
Sometimes, just sometinmes, modern London surprises with its goodness...
I spent the day at one of HM prisons, using the catechetical skills taught me here. The young men were v. kind and took part w. apparent interest - though this may have been because the Chaplain told them that I was doing this as part of a training test, and would be marked on it (which was true: we have to send in a report and account of how each lessons goes, ideas for improvement etc...). This appealed to the innate sense of let's-help-this-poor--thing-out...
Then after mugs of tea and good conversation, I went on to church for Evesong and Mass...and while there recieved a telephone message saying that an elderly relatives had been taken to hospital....by Providence, I was virtually on top of a major tube station, so hurried along on the Northern Line and was soon at the hospital. I cannot speak too highly of the care and attention that this beloved elderly relative received, all carried out with great goodwill and gentleness. There was also much kindness and a freshly-made cups of tea for me, and all of this in a busy department with people being rushed in for emergency care etc...
When my elderly relative was comfortably settled for the night - crisp fresh sheets, a calm atmosphere, great care taken to check all sorts of small details even down to her watch and specs being put just where she wanted them to be etc - we said prayers together as we always do, and I looked up to see the nurse quietly joining in in with the "Hail Mary", and crossing herself at the end...
Sometimes, just sometinmes, modern London surprises with its goodness...
Thursday, March 05, 2015
Watched...
...the new film version of Testament of Youth.
Do watch it.
The walk home took me along by the Common, silent and dark, the trees still wintry. This morning: hurrying to work, the reality of modern Britain.
Do watch it.
The walk home took me along by the Common, silent and dark, the trees still wintry. This morning: hurrying to work, the reality of modern Britain.
Wednesday, March 04, 2015
It was disconcerting....
...and not a little scary. Working busily in a library on my laptop, a figure hurried in, black-clad and masked. It is rather horrible to be suddenlyconfronted with some one who will not reveal his or her face. I jumped for a moment.
My next thought: I must not, I dare not, show any fear. Even a slight expression of concern might get me into serious trouble.
She used computer next to mine and, without any of the usual exchange of smiles - absolutely impossible when masked - speedily clicked on to whatever she wanted, and then left. No face visible, only eyes in a slit above the fully masked face, and a vast black robe cloaking her to the floor.
In everyday life, a masked face sends a message of hostility: in present circumstances it is particularly unpleasant. Probably the most fearsome thing, however, was my immediate realisation that if I were to show any normal fear or worry in the face of such hostility I could be punished. In theory at least, there is a possibility of the masked figure denouncing me for having shown an emotion she regarded as offensive and to demand that some form of official actio be taken against me.
I am rather glad that the tradition in whch I was brought up encouraged me not to give way to fear and not to make a fuss when something unpleasant suddenly came my way. This has stood me in good stead over the years and will continue to do so.
The Britain in which I learned these things was one in which no one could have imagined my need of it in these circumstances.
My next thought: I must not, I dare not, show any fear. Even a slight expression of concern might get me into serious trouble.
She used computer next to mine and, without any of the usual exchange of smiles - absolutely impossible when masked - speedily clicked on to whatever she wanted, and then left. No face visible, only eyes in a slit above the fully masked face, and a vast black robe cloaking her to the floor.
In everyday life, a masked face sends a message of hostility: in present circumstances it is particularly unpleasant. Probably the most fearsome thing, however, was my immediate realisation that if I were to show any normal fear or worry in the face of such hostility I could be punished. In theory at least, there is a possibility of the masked figure denouncing me for having shown an emotion she regarded as offensive and to demand that some form of official actio be taken against me.
I am rather glad that the tradition in whch I was brought up encouraged me not to give way to fear and not to make a fuss when something unpleasant suddenly came my way. This has stood me in good stead over the years and will continue to do so.
The Britain in which I learned these things was one in which no one could have imagined my need of it in these circumstances.
Sunday, March 01, 2015
Read Auntie in....
The Portal, the on-line magazine of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Latest issue here...
Devon...
...and a wonderful weekend at Buckfast Abbey, attending a study course run by the new School of the Annunciation. This course is for catechists, and the theme is the New Evangelisation - the aim of the school is to train up catechists who bring the message of Christ, as the Angel brought Christ to Mary...
We were a mixed group of students, from varius parishes and groups, and we all found that it was rather powerful to be studying in the Benedictine atmosphere of the great Abbey: we joined the monks for the main offices of the day (although not the one at 5.45 in the morning!) and especially loved being in the great Abbey Church each night for Compline, and being blessed with holy water by the Abbot before we all retired for the night...
We were staying in the extremely comfortable Guest House, and there was delicious food in The Grange, which welcomes vast numbers of tourists every year. The Abbey is extremely popular and seems to be on the Devon tourist trail - even on a cold wet February weekend there were a good many people there, and in summer they get vast crowds enjoying the various gardens (one dedicated to medicinal herbs, another to lavender, etc). The setting of the Abbey is just superb, and each night I was lulled to sleep by the rushing waters of the river that was first channelled by the monks who arrived almost a thousand years ago...
The School of the Annunciation is well organised, and the course was excellent - hard work, but immensely interesting. The days are long gone when it could be assumed that children can simply "pick up" the Faith and be happily at Mass in their teens through a combination of family tradition and school RE. The School of the Annunciation will be playing a majr role in many people's lives over the next few years. BTW, is is running various Summer Schools that sound rather good - and the experience of staying at the Abbey in this most glorious part of Devon is simply wonderful.
After our final session on Sunday morning I thought I'd go for a wander around the grounds before Mass - I was enjoying this as the Abbey bell started to peal, and the crowds at Mass were such that I only found a seat with some difficulty. A fine choir and absolutely superb music. Then a final lunch and farewells...
We were a mixed group of students, from varius parishes and groups, and we all found that it was rather powerful to be studying in the Benedictine atmosphere of the great Abbey: we joined the monks for the main offices of the day (although not the one at 5.45 in the morning!) and especially loved being in the great Abbey Church each night for Compline, and being blessed with holy water by the Abbot before we all retired for the night...
We were staying in the extremely comfortable Guest House, and there was delicious food in The Grange, which welcomes vast numbers of tourists every year. The Abbey is extremely popular and seems to be on the Devon tourist trail - even on a cold wet February weekend there were a good many people there, and in summer they get vast crowds enjoying the various gardens (one dedicated to medicinal herbs, another to lavender, etc). The setting of the Abbey is just superb, and each night I was lulled to sleep by the rushing waters of the river that was first channelled by the monks who arrived almost a thousand years ago...
The School of the Annunciation is well organised, and the course was excellent - hard work, but immensely interesting. The days are long gone when it could be assumed that children can simply "pick up" the Faith and be happily at Mass in their teens through a combination of family tradition and school RE. The School of the Annunciation will be playing a majr role in many people's lives over the next few years. BTW, is is running various Summer Schools that sound rather good - and the experience of staying at the Abbey in this most glorious part of Devon is simply wonderful.
After our final session on Sunday morning I thought I'd go for a wander around the grounds before Mass - I was enjoying this as the Abbey bell started to peal, and the crowds at Mass were such that I only found a seat with some difficulty. A fine choir and absolutely superb music. Then a final lunch and farewells...
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