To Somerset...

...on a family visit.Terribly crowded train on the way back, because some of the railway staff were on strike, so some trains were cancelled....but although the passengers were packed rather tightly, everyone was in good humour, and the journey as actually rather fun...a tired child was given safe refuge on a stranger's lap, some one shared out bottles of water and packets of shortbread, we all chatted and swapped jokes...the staff were all helpful, there was a good atmosphere. I think it was partly because the train was not too hot, and there was somehow a gently Autumnal end-of-holidays mood. At Reading people even squeezed up a bit to let on even more passengers. At Paddington people helped one another with luggage. Sometimes it really does feel as though we do share a common home in Britain and can cope together.

Coffee...

 after  Sunday Mass at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge,  saw us busy discussing various arrangements for the Ordinariate Festival (see links below). One of the  (many) things that I enjoy about the Ordinariate is that the refreshments include real coffee...and before you sneer, just think about it: why have so many Catholic parishes, groups, associations, and schools, come to assume that it should be standard to offer orange/brown powder topped up with hot water to form a nasty brown liquid?  Why not big pots of tea and coffee, jugs of milk, and volunteers serving and pouring and handing-round and washing-up?   An informal working group tackling refreshments for this year's Ordinariate Festival has organised the transfer across London of the neccessary jugs and equipment to serve decent coffee to 200-300 people at Westminster Cathedral Hall. It can be done. We did it last year and people arrived from across Britain to be greeted by fresh coffee and tea and doughnuts..

The annual FESTIVAL...

...of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham will take place shortly .

Top speaker is  Archbishop di Noia from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Saturday September 19th, Westminster Cathedral Hall

A London day...history, heritage, and the happiness of a wedding...

...of the most delightful sort.

It began on the steps of Westminster Cathedral where I met the group of Americans who had asked me to take them on a Catholic History Walk.  They were delightful, and we set off for a couple of hours to walk through centuries and centuries. We started  w. the Cathedral itself with its joyful recent memories of  visits by St John Paul the Great and  beloved Papa Benedict, and then off down Ambrosden Avenue  and some history of Archbishops from Wiseman and Manning through to Heenan and Hume and so on...and thence along past the Horseferry Road and some history of London's bridges and the revenue from the ferry which went to the Archbishops of Cantrerbury for hundreds aof years.

And so down to Parliament, with a glimpse at the coat-of-arms of the Westminster City Council which shows Our Lady cradling the Christ-child, and down past Abbey Orchard Street and along Great Peter Street...and we finished along  by Richard Coeur de Lion and then Big Ben.

The organiser of the group had asked me in a phone call if she could bring me anything from New York and on a sudden whim I siad Ooooh yes, how very kind.,.perhaps some of those lovely chocolates with peanut-butter inside?  And she brought packets and packets and I'm enjoying a delicious nibble as I write this...

All the time we were walking, members of the group had taken charge of the big plastic  bag containing my Hat and the suitcase containing my Wedding Gift - because immediately the walk ended, I had to dive into a cafe cloakroom and scramble into Best Clothes and hurry to Brompton Oratory, for the marriage of William Jolliffe to Pia Vogler...

It was a lovely traditional wedding, with bridesmaids in floaty apicot chiffon, and the Prince of Denmark's March, and assorted friends-and relations with some squeaking babies and some pretty hats ,  The bridegroom's father, Lord Hylton, did the  Old Testament reading, and the Psalm was a most beautifully sung The Lord's my Shepherd. I love the wedding prayers, with the lovely bit about marriage being the one blessing not destroyed by Original Sin or washed away in the flood... Afterwards, lots of champagne and nice things to eat and old friends to greet and lots of lively chatter and a great sense of joy...

An unusual...

...but in its way rather wonderful, week.  With a small team of loyal friends - including one who came to London specially and stayed in a b-and-b specifically to help with this project - I've spent all day, every day, into the evening, wrapping and packing and posting books to young people across Britain who gained prizes in the annual Schools Bible Project. Father Peter at the  excellent parish here, allowed us to use the large St John Paul Room in the beautiful Parish Centre, and we made ourselves at home, arriving in time for Mass each morning (very well attended, with a substantial congregation) and working with wrapping paper and jiffy-bags and cardboard boxes and sticky tape, with relays of us trundling a suitcase-on-wheels down to the Post Office in the High Street laden with parcels...

We brewed tea and coffee and made lunch in the well-equipped kitchen, talked and laughed and worked hard...it has been a happy week.

Been reading...

...this and it is an important concern...

Sunday...

...and a long talkative lunch after Mass...

A sense of things reconnecting after the summer break. The Ladies Ordinariate Group meets again in Oct...speaker (Mon Oct 5th, Precious Blood Church, London Bridge) is one of our members telling of her adventures in walking the Camino to the shrine of St James in Spain...

It was the feast of St Pius X during the week...at Mass that day of course we heard about him...I read up a lot about him a while back when studying the 1900s and events in Europe and the Church in that era...he died deeply saddened - really broken-hearted - shortly after the outbreak of  WWI, a war he and others had tried so desperately to avert and which in retrospect seems even more tragic than was envisaged at the time...

He was responsible for a number of good things in the Church, notably inviting children to Holy Communion at a younger age: at the time First Communion had become something normally only approached in mid- or late-teens, and Pope St Pius instead linked reception of this Sacrament with an age at which chidren were able to recognise its truth, and differentiate between Holy Communion and ordinary bread...

It seems rather terrible that his name has been besmirched long years later by association with a breakaway group from the Church headed by Archbishop Lefebvre...although there are insider-rumours that the Lefebvrists - who split a while back, ridding themselves of their more extreme faction - might be ready to repent and return...

if you want to enjoy...

...my Blackerry Jam, or the Apple Cheese I made from a Somerset recipe last weekend, you will have to come to the

TOWARDS ADVENT
Festival at Westminster Cathedral Hall on sat Nov 28th.

Picking blackberries and making a blackberry-and-apple crumble makes the grace before meals have a real meaning, giving thanks to God for this food "which we receive from Thy bounty..."

PLANS...

...for the Blessed Sacrament Procession in London on Sat October 3rd. Starts 1.30pm WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL, crosses the Thames at Lambeth Bridge, finishes 3.15pm with Benediction at St George's  Cathedral, Southwark. ALL WELCOME!!! Just turn up. Bring your family/parish/friends...this Procession started just a few years ago and has grown and grown in size...makes a fine sight as it crosses the river with the Houses of Parliament as a backdrop...

A meeting at St George's Cathedral to make arrangements. This building is one of London's hidden gems. It is Pugin's gothic, 1840s, much older than Westminster Cathedral.  Fascinating history - the high altar stands on the spot where the Gordon Riots began. Some fine chantry chapels, a great sweep of gothic glory as you walk up the main aisle. Pugin himself, brilliant but troubled,  ended up in the Bethlehem Royal Hospital - Bedlam - which stands opposite and is now the Imperial War Museum.

The cathedral was bombed in WWII and rebuilt afterwards - older people remember attending Mass in the ruins.  St John Paul visited it in 1982 - all the pews were taken out and beds installed, and sick people were brought there to receive the Sacrament of Anointing at his hands...a rather fine stained glass window now recalls the scene,

I'll be leading a tour of St George's Cathedral on  TUESDAY OCTOBER 6th. Starts after the 12.30pm lunchtime Mass. ALL WELCOME - just come to the Mass and we gather afterwards. 

Waffles, glorious medieval churches, and an icon of St John Paul the Great...

...read more here, and enjoy...

and there's a brief report...

...on that procession and barbeque here...

At the weekend...

A Procession from the  Ordinariate Church of the Most Precious Blood  through the streets of The Borough, London Bridge, to celebrate Our Lady's arrival in Heaven...the feast of the Assumption. Here we are, just setting off, under the railway arch. We sang "Ave Ave Ave Maria" all along Southwark Street and into the Borough High Street, children scattering flower petals, and a team of us handing out small cards to explain to people what was going on.  Things finished with a barbeque in the CrossBones garden opposite the back of the church...

Summer drawing to an end...apples ripening on the trees in suburban gardens, late roses blooming...I've been picking blackberries to make Blackberry Jam and Bramble Cheese, to sell at the Festival at Westminster Cathedral Hall in November...

I've had...

...a reassuring reply from my Member of Parliament, to whom I wrote about the planned change in the law to permit people to assist in the killing of gravely ill friends and relatives.

He plans to vote against the law. Have you written to your MP to be asurred that he or she will do the same?

My letter said, in part:

 

When some one dies there are all sorts of consequences - including, sometimes, considerable financial advantages for relatives, and the removal of all sorts of inconveniences that have resulted from the person's illness. The reasons for our laws against encouraging people to kill themselves are not only moral (reflecting our Judeo-Christian heritage) but also practical - society needs to protect itself against the nasty side of human nature.

 

Most of us at some stage will have to care for some one who is gravely ill, or thoroughly miserable, or both. Old age in itself produces much in the way of suffering and discomfort. It is extremely important that we are not encouraged to help such people to kill themselves. Care, love, and a recognition of the inherent value of human beings have hall marked our official and personal  attitudes to illness and suffering and Britain will become a very frightening place if this ceases.

 

Of course all sorts of apparently humanitarian arguments will be presented in favour of the planned change in the law, but I do very much hope that as a responsible Member of Parliament you will take the longer view and vote against this.

 

OVER 500....

...people came to NIGHTFEVER at St Patrick's. Soho, last night, welcomed in from the street by young missionaries going out into Soho with glowing lanterns and asking "Would you like to come in and light a candle in the church?"  Lovely gentle music wafted out across Soho Square - a team of singers and instrumentalists led by a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal...and the Blessed Sacrament was exposed on the altar, surrounded by banks of  glowing candles, while people knelt - in the pews, on the floor, up by the altar-rails - in prayer. Around the back, and in the confessionals, priests heard confessions. And one by one, or in couples or small groups, people came in, lantern-led, to light a tiny votive candle, and sit or kneel for a while...

So many stories, and most of them I can't share. A man weeping - he's got my hankie and I am so glad I had a large clean one to give away. Two girls with sudden glad news about a sick relative and thrilled to be invited in to give thanks. People who wanted to talk a bit, and people who just wanted to drift away afterwards on their own. People who  said they could only come in for a brief moment - and stayed for a long time. And then the people who said "No thanks - the Church hates people like us" or "No. I'm too drunk". But some who said "No" came in later anyway...and all who went away were caught up in the prayers of those keeping vigil all the time in the church...

The young volunteers who make NIGHTFEVER happen come from a variety of groups. Some are from Soulfood, some from Youth 2000.Some had been to the New Dawn festival at Walsingham (see my earlier blog posts) and some came from a big prayer group in Birmingham. Some had been at Evangelium in July, and others on the recent John Paul Walk to Walsingham.

I learned from my young team-mate that NIGHTFEVER began in Germany, an  initiative following the 2005 World Youth Day with Papa Benedict...so this summer sees its 10th anniversary, and it's evidence of further fruit of Papa B's pontificate.

At the end of the evening, we gathered for Evening Prayer - extraordinarily beautiful and moving in the candlelit church -  and Benediction, and then a brief time of reporting back: which was when we learned that the grand total of candles lit was over 500 (517 to be precise), not counting those lit at side-altars and by the pieta etc.

Being part of NIGHTFEVER is an enormous privilege and an unforgettable one.

COME AND HEAR about the courage...

...of  Brigettine nuns who hid a Jewish family in their convent in Rome in WWII.

A talk, based on the book Courage and Conviction, at Friday September 4th, 7pm, at the Brigettine Convent Guest House , Iver Heath. 

All welcome - no need to book, just come!

and there's a bit more...

...about the John Paul Walk to Walsingham here...

THE CATHOLIC WOMEN OF THE YEAR...

...for 2015 have been chosen, and you can read about them here...

Heavenly days...

...in Norfolk, walking the pilgrim way to Walsingham.  After a wonderful time at the New Dawn gathering, I came briefly home to London, tackled housework and various crucial bits of writing, re-packed, and set off for Bury St Edmunds, to join the John Paul Walk, back to Walsingham!

The Walk is always joyful - this year perhaps especially so....a beautiful Mass for St Dominic's day in a Medieval church, the sight and sound of young pilgrims singing along the country lanes,  the glorious splashing across a ford as we approached the Abbey ruins and fine old parish church at Castle Acre...

Sleeping on the floor in schools and church halls, talking and laughing together...the joy of cool water to drink...

And after the days of walking, the welcome at Walsingham, and the enchantment of an evening there, with the cool air and the silence as night fell.  I stayed on after the other JP pilgrims had departed, as I needed to do some work with the team from EWTN. Booked into the Pilgrim Bureau for a delicious refreshing wash, then a fish-and-chips supper next door at the pub with the EWTN team...

A night's rest with crisp clean sheets, and a cooked breakfast, and then the bus to Kings Lynn. Norfolk buses have their own odd systems. No apparent bus-stop in Walsingham, you just wait at the village pump...and although a timetable at the Pilgrim Bureau gives information about bus times to Wells or Fakenham, the bus actually goes all the way to Kings Lynn, with the main stop being Hunstanton. Holidaymakers on the bus but also locals greeting the driver: "Morning Joe" "Morning Pauline"   "See tall Andy this week?" "No, he's off work till next Monday"  and so on. A long  but delightful ride through the glorious countryside...one notices the changes of the years....old Methodist chapels now turned into shops or homes, villages and small towns with trendy craft-shops and coffee-shops, some closed pubs (a tragedy!), signs in Polish or Lithuanian advertising delicacies from home.

London warm and sticky, the Tube almost unbearable...

NEW DAWN IN THE CHURCH...

...is the name of a vast annual gathering at Walsingham.   This year I was invited to take part, doing a workshop on "Celebrating the Church's Feasts and Seasons" and also giving a talk to the whole gathering.

Highlights of these golden days in Walsinghanm were a candlelit vigil of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the gardens around the big barn church, and a glorious morning procession (most pilgrims walking barefoot, as is traditional) down to the old Priory for a vast open-air Mass. These were memorable days, in which I found myself remembering dear Pope Benedict's words "The Church is alive, and the Church is young!"  There were something like 2,000 people at New Dawn, families camping in the great fields around the shrine, young people gathering for their own activities, everyone joining together for Masses, talks, times of prayer.

Speakers during the week included Bishops, missionaries, leaders of various groups...the big Mass in the great priry ruins was celebrated by Archbishop Kevin McDonald.  Walking down the lane in a vast, slow-moving procession, saying the Rosary, with much singing of "Ave Ave Ave Maria " in between the verses, was wonderful - the river gently lapping by alongside, the wide Norfolk sky above us, the sunshine dappling through the trees...

New Dawn continues for a week, but I left on Wednesday, for the rather delightful reason that I was about to take part in another great Walsingham event...the annual John Paul Walk, which starts at Bury St Edmunds! So I took the train home from Kings Lynn, spent one night at home, then packed and organised myself for this great annual Walk, which would return me to Walsingham!  

 And set off...and I'll be telling you my adventures shortly...

...after a lovely weekend in the Thames Valley...

....train to Paddington, with a group from the Evangelium conference, still talking about St John Paul the Great, and various current evangelistic efforts in Britain, and more...and more...

Vast crowds  at Paddington, pouring off the trains and into the Tube etc, so I decided to walk instead. Hyde Park used to be famous for Speakers' Corner, where anyone could stand and excercise the right of free speech....long ago I used to be a regular speaker there, That was back in the 1970s.  It's all so different now. It felt strange as an English woman walking across, wearing a casual summer outfit,  the evening breeze in my hair...I was an oddity. All around and across the stretches of the lawns were groups  and groups of Islamic ladies all havily veiled  and in black, drinking tea and chatting, the younger ones all on mobile phones...most were fully masked although a few had their faces showing and wore full islamic dress but with coloured veils or scarves. Children ran about and further over were groups of Islamic men chatting. London, 2015.

...and for summer reading...

...here is the latest issue of The Portal magazine, with some verses by Auntie in it...

Archbishop Bernard Longley......

... Archbishop of Birmingham, was a special guest at the Evangelium Conference in the glorious surroundings of the Oratory School, Woodcote, this weekend. There was a big concelebrated Mass in the chapel with beautiful singing, and then he joined us all for lunch...

It was a great pleasure to chat to him - we first met years ago when he was a seminarian, studying at St John's seminary, Wonersh, where a friend took me for lunch. It was Eastertide, and I remember the three of us singing the Regina Caeli, walking in the seminary grounds....

The Evangelium conference was a triumph: among the highlights a splendid lecture by Dr Roger Scruton, and a lively panel discussing apologetics, with Fathers Marcus Holden and Andrew Pinsent, and Sister Hyacinthe DeFos du Rau of the Dominican Sisters.

Being part of all this was a great privilege, and especially to be invited to give the final lecture on St John Paul and the Theology of the Body.  This was an attentive and receptive audience, a real joy to engage with them all.

As the weekend finally drew to its close, and lots of thanks-yous were being said, the finale was three hearty cheers for Frs Andrew and Marcus, all done with enormous enthusiasm, the Belloc Theatre reverberating with the noise. Then a joyful thanksgiving Benediction in the school chapel....