...beating down on the city streets. I greatly dislike hot weather, and when people say "What a glorious day!" I can only answer "Mmmm. It's hot" or talk about something else as in " Mmmm. I'm just on my way to..." whatever.
The grass turns white and grey. Rooms get stuffy and open windows admit traffic noise and dust rather than cool air. Trains become like ovens. Everyday tasks become less pleasant, but of course still remain to be done. Walking becomes less enjoyable. Small treats like a decision to choose a pleasant route become less possible: the priority has to be on not arriving looking hot and sticky. Heavy luggage becomes a real burden instead of a bearable nuisance.
The rule is to pretend that none of this matters, so I bought some new sandals and walked with a spring in my step. The sandals broke. I've now got another pair. Apart from writing this blog, I am not allowing myself to whinge about the heat and am pretending that it's all hugely delightful. I've got a delicious cool drink and the roses outside the window are lovely if rather tired. The washing has dried quickly on the line. It's nice chatting to neighbours as people are out and about instead of shut indoors. Lots of people all over the world live with searingly hot weather all the time.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
In a London heatwave...
...I took a group of Spanish students, led by a young Legionary priest, along the Thames to tell them some of London's history. The river was at low tide revealing sandy beaches, rocks and intriguing bits of old jetty, plus chunks of wood but little if any rubbish or litter, which was pleasing. I told them about Henry VII and the victory at Bosworth, and the betrothal of young Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon, and then Arthur's death and Henry VIII.... They more or less knew the story, of course - and ...er...certainly the bit later on about Philip and the Armada...
We finished at the Tower. A much-needed drink - on hot days mine is always a shandy - at the pleasant bar/restaurant up alongsiside Tower Bridge. Then I left them and crossed the by bridge - always a satisfying walk across one of the world's best-known landmarks - and once on the Southwark side I abandoned my original plan of heading straight for Waterloo and decided to tackle some of the history in the hinterland. I know the riverside well - London Bridge and the little house where Catherine of Aragon first stayed on arrival in Britain, and The Globe, and Blackfriars, and the replica Golden Hinde, and more - but on Wednesday I am leading another History Walk around The Borough, so needed to look at the connections with the Marshalsea, and Dickens, and St George the Martyr church, and so on. The area around Southwark Street and Hopton Street is familiar to me as my late father's office - where his father worked before him - was in Hopton Street, overlooking the Thames...it was he who introduced me to this corner of London. A sudden sense of his dear presence and happy memories as I walked in the cool evening...
We finished at the Tower. A much-needed drink - on hot days mine is always a shandy - at the pleasant bar/restaurant up alongsiside Tower Bridge. Then I left them and crossed the by bridge - always a satisfying walk across one of the world's best-known landmarks - and once on the Southwark side I abandoned my original plan of heading straight for Waterloo and decided to tackle some of the history in the hinterland. I know the riverside well - London Bridge and the little house where Catherine of Aragon first stayed on arrival in Britain, and The Globe, and Blackfriars, and the replica Golden Hinde, and more - but on Wednesday I am leading another History Walk around The Borough, so needed to look at the connections with the Marshalsea, and Dickens, and St George the Martyr church, and so on. The area around Southwark Street and Hopton Street is familiar to me as my late father's office - where his father worked before him - was in Hopton Street, overlooking the Thames...it was he who introduced me to this corner of London. A sudden sense of his dear presence and happy memories as I walked in the cool evening...
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Wonderful weekend...
...at Buckfast Abbey, studying with other catechists from parishes around Britain at the School of the Annunciation. Some really good lectures, tackling how to teach the Trinity, emphasising Scripture and the use of the Catechism of the Catholic Church...
A bonus was the glorious sung Mass this morning. There is a really excellent choir, with young singers from across Devon. Afterwards I met several over coffee and snacks in the South Gate lodge, while the Abbey bells poured glorious peals out across the countryside. We were staying at NorthGate...the the Abbey has a good deal of property and attrracts great numbers of visitors, and the accomodation and meals were extremely good. As we sat at lectures in the modern Conference Centre, tourists arrived to enjoy the Abbey grounds, children scampering across the lawns, and people pottering around the various gardens.
Useful conversations with fellow-catechists...discussing First Communion classes, after-school groups, etc. A major issue is that parents often resist the idea of weekly attendance at Mass: they want their child to have a lovely First Communion day (white dress, pics, all the trimmings), and are happy to send them along to classes on a Saturday afternoon or a weekday evening, but Sunday Mass too often clashes with sports or other "can't miss" activities. They will sometimes express resentment at a priest expecting them to make Sunday Mass a priority for the family. On the other hand, if they as parents happen to sit in on a First Communion class, they generally enjoy it and exclaim with pleasure "Oh, I didn't know all that! Oh, it's all so interesting..." and often decide to come again to learn more...
A bonus was the glorious sung Mass this morning. There is a really excellent choir, with young singers from across Devon. Afterwards I met several over coffee and snacks in the South Gate lodge, while the Abbey bells poured glorious peals out across the countryside. We were staying at NorthGate...the the Abbey has a good deal of property and attrracts great numbers of visitors, and the accomodation and meals were extremely good. As we sat at lectures in the modern Conference Centre, tourists arrived to enjoy the Abbey grounds, children scampering across the lawns, and people pottering around the various gardens.
Useful conversations with fellow-catechists...discussing First Communion classes, after-school groups, etc. A major issue is that parents often resist the idea of weekly attendance at Mass: they want their child to have a lovely First Communion day (white dress, pics, all the trimmings), and are happy to send them along to classes on a Saturday afternoon or a weekday evening, but Sunday Mass too often clashes with sports or other "can't miss" activities. They will sometimes express resentment at a priest expecting them to make Sunday Mass a priority for the family. On the other hand, if they as parents happen to sit in on a First Communion class, they generally enjoy it and exclaim with pleasure "Oh, I didn't know all that! Oh, it's all so interesting..." and often decide to come again to learn more...
Friday, June 26, 2015
A warm June evening...
...and the great tower of Buckfast Abbey, with the rounded Devon hills all green beyond, set against a wide blue sky with feathered clouds swept gently across it in the evening sunlight. A delicious fish-pie supper in good company - greeting friends, exchanging news and ideas - and then an excellent first lecture of this weekend Catechetics course, opening wide the mind and heart for good things...
Compline in the Abbey church, and dusk falling as we make our way back across the lawn to our guest house.
Ghastly news from America and a sudden sense of sadness: a great nation failing and falling.
Compline in the Abbey church, and dusk falling as we make our way back across the lawn to our guest house.
Ghastly news from America and a sudden sense of sadness: a great nation failing and falling.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
George Weigel...
...American writer, spoke to The Keys, the Catholic Writers' Guild, yesterday at St Mary Moorfields. Guild meetings start with Mass, then drinks and chat in the crypt, followed by dinner. George Weigel's talk was excellent - rich in history, well argued, faith-filled, stimulating. He makes a good case for the current and coming era in the Church to be that of Evangelical Catholicism, a Church on mission, calling men and women to be disciples of Christ: we are not living in times where anyone can soak up Christianity from the surrounding culture or from a family tradition that does not need to offer explicit teaching. It's a vision of the Church offered by St John Paul and, perhaps even more strongly, by Benedict XVI who spoke so powerfully about the grim "dictatorship of relativism" under which we are already starting to labour...and it chimes with Pope Francis' repeated calls to evangelise, teach, and serve...
Cardinal Manning...
...has been the subject of an excellent exhibition in Westminster Cathedral for the past few weeks, organised by the diocesan archivist Fr Nicholas Schofield. The exhibition is now touring some other churches in the diocese. Manning's brilliance shone at Oxford and people spoke of him as a future Prime Minister: instead he took Orders in the Church of England and dedicated his life to the message of the Gospel with great seriousness. The early death of his young wife increased that seriousness, and when he became a Catholic it was with a deep sense of solmen commitment which is revealed in all the subsequent photographs. As an old man he looks gaunt, and there seem to be no pictures of him smiling...but he was not a grim figure and his trach record of service to the London poor, of establishing schools (over 40 of them), of public duty (a leading figure in the campagn to build decent homes to replace hideous slums) is extraordinary.
I went to Westminster catheral to meet Fr Nicholas and helped to take down the exhibition and pack it away for its next destination. The Cathedral looks particularly impressive at the moment, because this coming weekend marks the feast of St John Southworth, the heroic London priest whose body lies in the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs. Each year it is brought out to the central aisle and surrounded by candles, and people come to venerate it and to pray. He ministered to the dying poor in the years of the London plague in the 17th century - but it was illegal to be a Catholic priest at that time, and he was arrested and executed.
On Saturday young men will be ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral, a new generation...
I went to Westminster catheral to meet Fr Nicholas and helped to take down the exhibition and pack it away for its next destination. The Cathedral looks particularly impressive at the moment, because this coming weekend marks the feast of St John Southworth, the heroic London priest whose body lies in the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs. Each year it is brought out to the central aisle and surrounded by candles, and people come to venerate it and to pray. He ministered to the dying poor in the years of the London plague in the 17th century - but it was illegal to be a Catholic priest at that time, and he was arrested and executed.
On Saturday young men will be ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral, a new generation...
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
London...
...and a very cheery dinner last night with a grand group of pilgrims from this parish in the USA, led by Fr Doug Grandon. They wanted to talk about St Thomas More, the Tudors, the events of Elizabeth I's reign, and then the Ordinariate, news of the church in |Britain today... We dined on fish-and-chips at the Marquess of Anglesey in Covent Garden...it was only as we were leaving that I realised this was a most suitable place at which to be dining at this time of the Waterloo anniversary....
Afterwards, a walk down to the Strand and across the river to...well....Waterloo. The river glittered in the lamplight, and the tide was partly out, revealing stretches of beach....
Today, lunch with a friend at the National Gallery, and then later I walked across St James' Park to Westminster Cathedral, for the sung Mass marking the eve of the Birthday of St John the Baptist. Canon Tuckwell reminded us of the significance of it all: midsummer and the solstice: John the Baptist heralding Christ...
On to dinner in Marylebone to discuss various plans for future Catholic activities. Midsummer in London.
Afterwards, a walk down to the Strand and across the river to...well....Waterloo. The river glittered in the lamplight, and the tide was partly out, revealing stretches of beach....
Today, lunch with a friend at the National Gallery, and then later I walked across St James' Park to Westminster Cathedral, for the sung Mass marking the eve of the Birthday of St John the Baptist. Canon Tuckwell reminded us of the significance of it all: midsummer and the solstice: John the Baptist heralding Christ...
On to dinner in Marylebone to discuss various plans for future Catholic activities. Midsummer in London.
Sunday, June 21, 2015
The Martyrs' Walk...
...takes place each year on the Sunday nearest the feast of SS John Fisher and Thomas More. We start in the churchyard of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, and walk the route along which Catholic martyrs were dragged in the 16th and 17th centuries to brutal death at Tyburn. We stop at St Etheldreda's, Ely Place, SS Anselm and Cecilia in Holborn, St Giles-in-the-Fields, (CofE, goodwill visit) and St Patrick's Soho. We pray the Rosary and other prayers, and at each church we have a short history-talk.
This year we had a large crowd - but we were well-prepared with microphone and leaflets etc and it all worked well.
St Sepulchre's (CofE) was having a parish lunch...it is a freshly-evangelical parish and they couldn't have been more friendly, offered food, chatted, and we gave them a hearty round of applause by way of thanks and greetings as we started our Walk...
We began with a look at the result of the Battle of Bosworth and the rise to power of the Tudors, then tackle the heroism of More and Fisher, then the years that followed, with the ghastly cruelties of Elizabeth's reign,and the long centuries of unjust laws...There is so much of history and heroism to ponder on this Walk, from the Doleful Vespers - many of the victims were buried at St Etheldreda's - to the noble Richard Challoner at Holborn...
At Tyburn we were uncomfortably squashed in the chapel, although things were eased as some of the pilgrims had finished the Walk at St Patrick's,..we were running late simply because the large numbers made for delays at the various stopping-places. Benediction with glorious singing, and then a splendid Tea with sandwiches and cakes and apparently bottomless teapots offering much-needed refreshment after the long afternoon's walk...
This year we had a large crowd - but we were well-prepared with microphone and leaflets etc and it all worked well.
St Sepulchre's (CofE) was having a parish lunch...it is a freshly-evangelical parish and they couldn't have been more friendly, offered food, chatted, and we gave them a hearty round of applause by way of thanks and greetings as we started our Walk...
We began with a look at the result of the Battle of Bosworth and the rise to power of the Tudors, then tackle the heroism of More and Fisher, then the years that followed, with the ghastly cruelties of Elizabeth's reign,and the long centuries of unjust laws...There is so much of history and heroism to ponder on this Walk, from the Doleful Vespers - many of the victims were buried at St Etheldreda's - to the noble Richard Challoner at Holborn...
At Tyburn we were uncomfortably squashed in the chapel, although things were eased as some of the pilgrims had finished the Walk at St Patrick's,..we were running late simply because the large numbers made for delays at the various stopping-places. Benediction with glorious singing, and then a splendid Tea with sandwiches and cakes and apparently bottomless teapots offering much-needed refreshment after the long afternoon's walk...
...and home...
...There's a lot more to write about Papa BXVI, and our time in Munich...but it won't be on this Blog: watch out for TV and newspaper features in due course...
Home after a happy final evening in Munich, beer in an open-air market with all the team, and then hopping to a pleasant restaurant for a cheery meal, talk and laughter.
And then today, a change of pace...Sunday in London, Mass at Westminster Cathedral, and on to the annual Martyrs' Walk, which starts near the Old Bailey and finishes at Tyburn with Benediction, and a splendid Tea produced by the good Tyburn sisters.
We caught the number 11 bus from Westminster after Mass, and when we arrived at St Paul's, we were just in time to catch a moment of history...the Honourable Artillery Company with a coach and horses, bringing the Waterloo Despatches. All part of the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of this important battle...they have brought the despatches all the way from Belgium, and it was a delight to catch this sight, right in the heart of London and on the final lap of the journey...
History is taught so shockingly badly in Britain's schools today - not the teachers' fault, but the clumsy compulsory National Curriculum plus general ignorance, political-correctness, inertia, etc - and when I give talks on Journalism to young people I explain the crucial neccessity of a reasonable knowledge of modern history. To get them started, I ask "When was the battle of Waterloo?" They usually don't know. I offer some thoughts to get things into some sort of historical time-line: armour and longbows, or tin helmets and tanks? 13th century? 17th? 20th? Blank. They also don't know who won. So we have to work it all through, starting with the date, then the victory and its implications. We tackle Waterloo in context, and look at the sea battle ten years earlier at Traf - al Gahar...and when they work out that this is Trafalgar they usually light up: "Trafalgar Square!" So then we talk about Waterloo Station too, and from there we get to the whole question of the Napoleonic Wars and who won and with what results...What language do people speak in Australia? Why? They like sudden questions that open wide doors of thought, and then following through...
Home after a happy final evening in Munich, beer in an open-air market with all the team, and then hopping to a pleasant restaurant for a cheery meal, talk and laughter.
And then today, a change of pace...Sunday in London, Mass at Westminster Cathedral, and on to the annual Martyrs' Walk, which starts near the Old Bailey and finishes at Tyburn with Benediction, and a splendid Tea produced by the good Tyburn sisters.
We caught the number 11 bus from Westminster after Mass, and when we arrived at St Paul's, we were just in time to catch a moment of history...the Honourable Artillery Company with a coach and horses, bringing the Waterloo Despatches. All part of the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of this important battle...they have brought the despatches all the way from Belgium, and it was a delight to catch this sight, right in the heart of London and on the final lap of the journey...
History is taught so shockingly badly in Britain's schools today - not the teachers' fault, but the clumsy compulsory National Curriculum plus general ignorance, political-correctness, inertia, etc - and when I give talks on Journalism to young people I explain the crucial neccessity of a reasonable knowledge of modern history. To get them started, I ask "When was the battle of Waterloo?" They usually don't know. I offer some thoughts to get things into some sort of historical time-line: armour and longbows, or tin helmets and tanks? 13th century? 17th? 20th? Blank. They also don't know who won. So we have to work it all through, starting with the date, then the victory and its implications. We tackle Waterloo in context, and look at the sea battle ten years earlier at Traf - al Gahar...and when they work out that this is Trafalgar they usually light up: "Trafalgar Square!" So then we talk about Waterloo Station too, and from there we get to the whole question of the Napoleonic Wars and who won and with what results...What language do people speak in Australia? Why? They like sudden questions that open wide doors of thought, and then following through...
Friday, June 19, 2015
When we went to Marktl...
...the little village where Benedict XVI was born, we were the only visitors. The one shop was not open, but provided coffee for us when our kind German guide knocked on the door and got chatting. There is a museum in the house where the future Pope was born, but it was not open. The whole village was silent...just one or two visitors in the church while we were there. However, the townsfolk seem to be quite proud of Benedict XVI: there is an annual festival marking the life of their most famous son , a commemorative column in the village square in the form of a rolled-up scroll with events of BXVI's life, a tourism centre with a film and various displays...you can get your postcards marked with a special stamp, and there is lots of literature included a mapped out "Benediktweg" for cyclists which takes you to all sorts of local places associated with him...
Bavaria is of course extremely beautiful, and we've been enjoying mountains and lakes and glorious barque churches and delicious food, visited Tittmoning where BXVI spent part of his childhood, and Traunstein ditto...
The Bavarian tourist industry, which is thriving, offers beers, sausages, local costumes etc in great abundance. Apparenly when BXVI was first elected there was "Benedict beer" and shops sold BXVI teddy bears and cakes and so on, but there's nothing of that now. However, every church and village and institution with which he has ever been associated marks him with plaques, statues etc.
Bavaria is of course extremely beautiful, and we've been enjoying mountains and lakes and glorious barque churches and delicious food, visited Tittmoning where BXVI spent part of his childhood, and Traunstein ditto...
The Bavarian tourist industry, which is thriving, offers beers, sausages, local costumes etc in great abundance. Apparenly when BXVI was first elected there was "Benedict beer" and shops sold BXVI teddy bears and cakes and so on, but there's nothing of that now. However, every church and village and institution with which he has ever been associated marks him with plaques, statues etc.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
On the whole...
...I think the Church/taxpayers relationship in Germany is a bad one...of course it does mean that the German Church is able to fund all sorts of projects in poor countries. But it also means that the Church has lavish funds fotr all sorts of offices and staff it doesn't really need...and it looks bloated, too rich, bureaucratic and lacking in energy and zeal...
There are some fine Catholics in Germany, and I'm enjoying meeting them. But they don't much care for the Church/State bond as it has been established by history, and it's probably time for a fresh approach...
There are some fine Catholics in Germany, and I'm enjoying meeting them. But they don't much care for the Church/State bond as it has been established by history, and it's probably time for a fresh approach...
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
On Sunday, June 21st...
...meet at St Sepulchre's churchyard, near the Old Bailey at 1.30pm for a 2pm start ...it's the annual Martyrs' Walk through London. We'll be stopping at the Church of SS Anselm and Cecilia,, at St Giles-in-the-Fields and at St Patrick's, Soho. - where they are holding their annual Bazaar in the Garden Square, in aid of their work for the homeless - and will then go on to Tyburn. At Tyburn we have Benediction, and then the sisters give us a splendid Tea.
All are welcome to join us. We will be praying the Rosary, and will have a short historical talk at some places of interest alonmg the way...
All are welcome to join us. We will be praying the Rosary, and will have a short historical talk at some places of interest alonmg the way...
Monday, June 15, 2015
Munich...
...and Sunday Mass at Heilig Blut church, where the young Fr Ratzinger was once a curate.... Then busy days, working on a project for EWTN in this glorious cathedral and in various parts of the city, and I'm writing this late at night in the hotel after a tasty wurstl supper...
Saturday, June 13, 2015
...and a happy evening at the Church of Our Lady and St Michael...
...in Uxbridge, with parish priest Fr Nicholas Schofield, some lovely Brigettine sisters from Iver Heath, and a wonderful team of friendly parishioners!
This really is a super parish...just had a Bl. Sacrament Procession with the parish school, children strewing flowers etc...the parish hall had a big display of pics of a pilgrimage to Rome...and pics of all the chldren making their First Communion this year...and there was freshly-brewed coffee and a lovely cake, and a wonderful welcome...
Topic for the evening was "Celebrating feasts and seasons" and we had a good time exploring saints and festivities, ending up with a discussion on celebrating the feast-days of our patron saints, and honouring our baptism anniversaries, and more...
And then after a delicious supper, I was driven to Heathrow, where I am writing this, ready for the flight to Munich tomorrow (Sat) to work on a big project about beloved Pope Benedict XVI in Bavaria...
This really is a super parish...just had a Bl. Sacrament Procession with the parish school, children strewing flowers etc...the parish hall had a big display of pics of a pilgrimage to Rome...and pics of all the chldren making their First Communion this year...and there was freshly-brewed coffee and a lovely cake, and a wonderful welcome...
Topic for the evening was "Celebrating feasts and seasons" and we had a good time exploring saints and festivities, ending up with a discussion on celebrating the feast-days of our patron saints, and honouring our baptism anniversaries, and more...
And then after a delicious supper, I was driven to Heathrow, where I am writing this, ready for the flight to Munich tomorrow (Sat) to work on a big project about beloved Pope Benedict XVI in Bavaria...
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
At a recent meeting of the LOGS...
Fr Nicholas' book on Fr Lockhart, which he's holding in this pic, is a good read, and brings alive the events and activities of the Catholic Church in mid-Victorian London.
Incidentally, Fr Lockhart is a distant relative of the Bogles...
St Etheldreda's is a popular church, which served for many years as the Guild Church of The Keys, the Catholic Writers' Guild...a plaque in the crypt commemorates this.
On Friday, I am speaking at Fr Nicholas' parish in Uxbridge, on "Celebrating Feasts and Seasons". All welcome - come and join in!
Tuesday, June 09, 2015
MEN AND WOMEN ARE DIFFERENT AND COMPLEMENTARY...
...and this is central to our dignity as human beings.
And Papa Francis has just emphasised this again...and we must teach this truth, and challenge the ghastly gender ideology which campaigners are trying to impose on us.
Thank God for Papa Francis speaking out...
And Papa Francis has just emphasised this again...and we must teach this truth, and challenge the ghastly gender ideology which campaigners are trying to impose on us.
Thank God for Papa Francis speaking out...
Many good people will be hurt...
...when the Church gives its definitive statement on the alleged visions at Medugorge.
Like so many other Catholic writers, I've met numbers of good people who have had profound experiences of spiritual renewal at Medugorge. And I've been told dozens of times that I "ought to go" and so on, and so on... But I've never had any desire to go there, and have always assumed that the Church would eventually say something along the lines of "This is a place where many good people have prayed and found help, where many good confessions have been heard and much good has been done...but we cannot state that the alleged visions are authentic." The sheer volume and vagueness of the "messages" together with the seemingly unending saga of the thing as it has expanded over decades made it seem unlikely that there were actual, literal, visions of Our Lady involved.
When the decision is announced, it will be horrible to see and hear the gloating of people who have long sneered at "mega-forgery" and who will delight in the discomfort of those who have been pilgrims and who have believed in the alleged visions.
I won't be among those gloating. Most - indeed virtually all - the pilgrims and fans of Medugorge that I have ever met have been good and sincere people whose activities, manner and commitment to the Church have been worthier and humbler than some of those who attack the alleged visions.
The Medugorge enthusiasts are going to need help and spiritual support, and the Church will need unity and goodwill...
Like so many other Catholic writers, I've met numbers of good people who have had profound experiences of spiritual renewal at Medugorge. And I've been told dozens of times that I "ought to go" and so on, and so on... But I've never had any desire to go there, and have always assumed that the Church would eventually say something along the lines of "This is a place where many good people have prayed and found help, where many good confessions have been heard and much good has been done...but we cannot state that the alleged visions are authentic." The sheer volume and vagueness of the "messages" together with the seemingly unending saga of the thing as it has expanded over decades made it seem unlikely that there were actual, literal, visions of Our Lady involved.
When the decision is announced, it will be horrible to see and hear the gloating of people who have long sneered at "mega-forgery" and who will delight in the discomfort of those who have been pilgrims and who have believed in the alleged visions.
I won't be among those gloating. Most - indeed virtually all - the pilgrims and fans of Medugorge that I have ever met have been good and sincere people whose activities, manner and commitment to the Church have been worthier and humbler than some of those who attack the alleged visions.
The Medugorge enthusiasts are going to need help and spiritual support, and the Church will need unity and goodwill...
Monday, June 08, 2015
"When are you next on EWTN?"
...people ask. And I honestly don't know...I don't keep a copy of the current schedule with me all the time...best to look at the EWTN website or contact St Clare Media in UK...
Missed the programme on St John Paul? You can get it on DVD here... or ask St Clare Media...
Want to know more about what it's like working for EWTN/ walking in the footsteps of St John Paul/organising, interviewing, planning such programmes, having odd adventures??? Send a Comment to this Blog (WITH AN EMAIL ADDRESS AT WHICH I CAN CONTACT YOU), and invite me to speak to your parish or school or Catholic organisation...if it's feasible, I'll do it.
and here are some pix...
...of the Corpus Christi Procession in the parish of the Most Precious Blood at The Borough, London Bridge...
CORPUS CHRISTI, and walking...walking...
...starting with a splendid Blessed Sacrament Procession from Precious Blood Church around The Borough, London Bridge. This was led by the Sunday School children carrying bunches of flowers tied up with white ribbons, and the Rector carried the Blessed Sacrament aloft beneath a great canopy, flanked by candles and incense, and followed by a good crowd of parishioners singing hymns...things finished with Benediction in the church and, finally, with the Angelus...
Then I had to hurry to Chelsea, where I had - weeks ago, without realising that the day would mean I was already busy - organised a great History Walk in the footsteps of St Thomas More. It went well, we gathered at this church, and went along the Thames to More's statue and Roper's Orchard and so on...we finished with prayers at the plaque commemorating More on the wall at Allen Hall...
I had just enough time to enjoy twenty minutes with a cold drink and a snack in the Kings Road, then caught the bus to Oxford Street and the great Blessed Sacrament Procession organised from St Patrick's Church, Soho. A packed church, and magnificent singing as all surged out into Soho Square and through the streets. Distribution of Miraculous Medals and small folded Scripture verses as we made our way through the streets, and a final Benediction in the churchyard of St-Giles-in-the-Fields, The vicar and a team of his parishioners always welcome the procession, and kindly give us wine and fruit juice aftewards, and it was good to stand around chatting in the cool evening after a looooong day...
Home late, and swapping stories with J., who had had a similarly walking day, with an afternoon of cricket, and then a dash to London to take part in the Procession led by Cardinal Vincent Nichols from Farm Street Church to St James', Spanish Place...again large crowds, a packed Benediction...
A good day.
Then I had to hurry to Chelsea, where I had - weeks ago, without realising that the day would mean I was already busy - organised a great History Walk in the footsteps of St Thomas More. It went well, we gathered at this church, and went along the Thames to More's statue and Roper's Orchard and so on...we finished with prayers at the plaque commemorating More on the wall at Allen Hall...
I had just enough time to enjoy twenty minutes with a cold drink and a snack in the Kings Road, then caught the bus to Oxford Street and the great Blessed Sacrament Procession organised from St Patrick's Church, Soho. A packed church, and magnificent singing as all surged out into Soho Square and through the streets. Distribution of Miraculous Medals and small folded Scripture verses as we made our way through the streets, and a final Benediction in the churchyard of St-Giles-in-the-Fields, The vicar and a team of his parishioners always welcome the procession, and kindly give us wine and fruit juice aftewards, and it was good to stand around chatting in the cool evening after a looooong day...
Home late, and swapping stories with J., who had had a similarly walking day, with an afternoon of cricket, and then a dash to London to take part in the Procession led by Cardinal Vincent Nichols from Farm Street Church to St James', Spanish Place...again large crowds, a packed Benediction...
A good day.
Saturday, June 06, 2015
Pope Benedict XVI...
...is the subject of the current project on which I am working with co-writer and TV presenter Clare Anderson. We meet alternately in London and the country to work...so Saturday saw us sitting in the sunny garden of the Anderson home deep in the English countryside, with books about Benedict XVI and Bavaria, while birds chirrupted and the family dogs scurried about...
Clare and I have known each other for something like 30 years, working on various projects - when we first met I had just returned with my husband from an Army base in Germany, and Clare with her husband and bunch of small children from some years in America. Over the next years we would meet very occasionally - both busy with family commitments - as we wrote for different magazines and sent feature articles back and forth. It seems funny now to realise how much could be accomplished with typewriters and scribbled corrections - computers have made things so different from the days of re-typing and Tippex and carbon paper and visits to libraries to pay 20p for a photocopy...
After our book on St John Paul the Great was published last year we had a splendid celebration at Warwick St by kind invitation of Mgr and Mrs Keith Newton,, with our wonderful publisher Tom Longford of Gracewing , and with Neville Kyrke-Smith of Aid to the Church in Need who wrote the Foreword, with lots of friends and a lot of talk and laughter and toasts and fun.... Then later, we had a family dinner for just the four of us - the Andersons and the Bogles - and the two husbands, who get on well, discovered to their amusmenent that they are in fact very distant cousins...both have an interest in family history, and a chance remark got them checking over some books and family trees and the link was found...
Clare and I have known each other for something like 30 years, working on various projects - when we first met I had just returned with my husband from an Army base in Germany, and Clare with her husband and bunch of small children from some years in America. Over the next years we would meet very occasionally - both busy with family commitments - as we wrote for different magazines and sent feature articles back and forth. It seems funny now to realise how much could be accomplished with typewriters and scribbled corrections - computers have made things so different from the days of re-typing and Tippex and carbon paper and visits to libraries to pay 20p for a photocopy...
After our book on St John Paul the Great was published last year we had a splendid celebration at Warwick St by kind invitation of Mgr and Mrs Keith Newton,, with our wonderful publisher Tom Longford of Gracewing , and with Neville Kyrke-Smith of Aid to the Church in Need who wrote the Foreword, with lots of friends and a lot of talk and laughter and toasts and fun.... Then later, we had a family dinner for just the four of us - the Andersons and the Bogles - and the two husbands, who get on well, discovered to their amusmenent that they are in fact very distant cousins...both have an interest in family history, and a chance remark got them checking over some books and family trees and the link was found...
Friday, June 05, 2015
The annual CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION THROUGH SOHO...
...is this Sunday, starts after the 6pm Mass at St Patrick's. Goes through the streets of Soho, with the Blessed Sacrament carried under a canopy, with singing, incense, prayer...finishes at the churchyard of St Giles-in-the-Fields with Benediction.
We need a good crowd, so if you are reading this and will be in or near London, come and join in!
This is a powerful witness to the Faith in the heart of a vibrant but often sleazy part of London. But it is only really powerful if it has lots of people praying together, so good numbers are needed.
People in the streets and restaurants stare, a few cross themselves, most accept the small medals they are given, Outdoor Benediction in the ancient churchyard at St Giles on a summer evening is an unforgettable experience...there has been Christian worship on that site for over a thousand years...
Come and join in!
More info here...
We need a good crowd, so if you are reading this and will be in or near London, come and join in!
This is a powerful witness to the Faith in the heart of a vibrant but often sleazy part of London. But it is only really powerful if it has lots of people praying together, so good numbers are needed.
People in the streets and restaurants stare, a few cross themselves, most accept the small medals they are given, Outdoor Benediction in the ancient churchyard at St Giles on a summer evening is an unforgettable experience...there has been Christian worship on that site for over a thousand years...
Come and join in!
More info here...
Wednesday, June 03, 2015
Anyone in London...
is invited to take part in this event with theatre, music, prayer, and a sense of community coming alive...find out more here...
Cardinal George Pell...
... one of the very best: a good man, a fine priest, a great Australian. Currently being subjected to a vile attack, and deserves our full support.
Read here..
Read here..
Interested in St Thomas More?
Then come and join us on the HISTORY WALK this Sunday (June 7th). Meet 2.30pm at the Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer in Cheyne Row, Chelsea.
Monday, June 01, 2015
Auntie and prison...
...read about the work of the Church in prisons in the latest issue of The Portal. Here...
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