ON SATURDAY ....

...April 3rd, there is a special event connected with the Divine Mercy.

Have you ever felt that the famous Divine Mercy image was a bit sentimental and sugary?

It came as a revelation when a friend mentioned to me, almost casually, that this was not the original Divine Mercy image. The original picture was rather more formal, dignified and serious - and easier to study and gaze at...

Come and hear the full story, in this Year of Mercy. St Patrick's, Soho, this coming Saturday...more info here from  evangelisation@stpatricksoho.org

Starting a new...

...series of the popular Evenings of Faith. in LONDON. These will be held alternately at St Wilfrid's Hall, Brompton Oratory (nearest Tube: South Kensington)  and at St Mary of the Angels, Bayswater (nearest tube: Notting Hill Gate).

Meetings start at 7.30pm. All are welcome. Things usually finish with some wine and pizza...and discussions often continue in a pub until a late hour...


Tuesday 5 April 2016 (St Mary of the Angels)
Baptism: Is it necessary for salvation? Sr Andrea Fraile

Tuesday 19 April 2016 (Brompton Oratory)
Confession: How to make use of the sacrament Fr Dylan James

Tuesday 3 May 2016 (St Mary of the Angels)
The Eucharist: Source and summit of Christian life Fr Mark Higgins

Tuesday 17 May 2016 (Brompton Oratory)
Confirmation: How to retain our young people? Joanna Bogle

Tuesday 31 May 2016 (St Mary of the Angels)
Marriage: Why is long term preparation important? Emma Findlay-Wilson

Tuesday 14 June 2016 (St Mary of the Angels)
Priesthood: A counter-cultural vocation Fr Roger Nesbitt

...on the edge...

...of Exmoor, and in the intervals of attending various  Eastertide gatherings of family and friends, I am contacted by EWTN and other associated media for interviews about Mother Angelica. A mobile phone makes all this possible...it is somewhat surreal making contact with an American radio show while on a country bus working its way slowly down winding village lanes and past meadows where enchanting lambs with their wobby black-stockinged legs are frolicking, and pale primroses lie damply against the hedgerows...

On the passing...

...of Mother Angelica... so many of us have wonderful memories of her, and she played a massively important part in the renewal of the Church in the USA...read here...

Being part of EWTN is an an enormous priviledge and makes me grateful again and again for all that Mother Angelica achieved, and the great legacy she has left us...

...and...

...the writer of this Blog sends Easter greetings to all her faithful readers...

Good Friday...

...is not really a day for blogging, but  I had promised myself  a London day, and describing our crowded London with people teeming along the wide walkways by the river in brilliant Spring sunshine under a blue sky is irresistible...

Good Friday began for me in Soho (oh, all right, it began  at home in the suburbs with a mug of tea and hot cross bun, and then a bus/tube journey to Soho). We prayed the Stations of the Cross around the streets, led by Fr Alexander Sherbrook and a team of young people carrying a large wooden cross. We gave out holy cards and medals to anyone we met. Most said "thank you", a few refused the gift, one nice girl offered a donation, one chap wanted to know the way to the Catholic Church, another quietly joined our group and knelt in the street with us to pray.

When handing out the cards, I tend to say just "It's Good Friday - here's your holy card", but sometimes when there are a lot of people it's quicker just to say "Good Friday"  and a couple of people said pleasantly "Er...hope you have a good Friday too"...

The last Station was in the church itself, where we pondered the Lord's body being laid in the sepulchre. The church was bleak, all the statues and pictures swathed in purple cloth for this Holy Week, the young voices solemn as they prayed together.

Then on to Trafalgar Square. A couple of weeks ago I had a most useful meeting with the wonderful Wintershall team who produce the beautiful outdoor Life of Christ each summer, the Nativity in winter....and for the past six years  a magnificent Passion Play in one of the most public places in the world. We were able to give them a modest donation from Christian Projects and they urged me to attend the Play and said they'd reserve a place on the Square's steps, where various guests are always accomodated in modest discomfort but with a chance to talk to one another afterwards and establish contact. I wasn't in time to take up the offer of a place on the steps - but it is in any case much more interestng simply to squeeze into the vast crowd that fills the Square and all the areas around...The Passion Play is superb, powerful and moving, beginning with Christ arriving to shouts and the waving of massive green branches by a Jerusalem crowd, and incorporating some healing miracles and some preaching (Beatitudes) and moving on through a Last Supper scene, and then the trial and crucifixion, gripping and realistic (they put a warning up on the screen to alert parents)...and on to the Resurrection.

It's all magnificently done: giant screen, superb sound, Christ portrayed by a fine actor with a good voice, Pontius Pilate arriving on a splendid horse and talking with a no-nonsense-let's-just-cope-with-this-spot-of-bother-with-the-natives heartiness that moves into awkward and embarrassed hopelessness in the face of the mob.

At the end Cardinal Vincent Nichols led us all in the Lord's Prayer. It is something to stand in your capital city with a vast crowd praying that prayer aloud together.

I finished Good Friday by catching a number 15 bus along the Strand and up Ludgate Hill, and then crossed by the "wobbly bridge" to the 3pm service at The Borough. On entering the church I was struck by  its silence after the noisy Borough Market and surrounding streets. Then,silently and completely, it filled up - every pew - and we were a great crowd listening to the account of the Passion and forming long lines to venerate the Cross...we sang "When I survey" and  the church's huge cruciifix was hauled back up into its place behind the high altar...and after the final prayers and blessing we poured out into the street...and my London Good Friday was over and I walked slowly back along the river...

Sacred time, holy things...

...beginning with the Maundy Mass, the final clashing of bells before their silencing for Good Friday,  a pastor washing the feet of members of his flock, the deep memorial of the first Eucharist,  A time of prayerful watching with the Lord in the garden...

A crisp, bright morning...

...and Spring sunshine in Westminster Cathedral piazza as a long procession of  white-robed priests from across the diocese  made its way up Ambrosden Avenue, and made a wide sweep acros the front of the Cathedral before entering through the main door. A rather fine sight, and tourists standing next to me asked "What's it all about?" and  were rather moved when I explained that each of these priests would given the sacred oils, blessed in the ceremony they were about to attend, to take to anoint the sick, and use in baptisms, in the parishes, hospitals, and prisons where they minister...

Every year, I find the Chrism Masses I attend more impressive and touching. Westminster Cathedral was full to overflowing - seats in every side-chapel full, people crammed at the back, pressed against the walls and door to allow the procession space to make its way round.

We had our usual "THANK YOU TO OUR PRIESTS" placard, and Patti Fordyce, chaiman of the Association of Catholic Women, had produced some exceptionally attractive "thank you" cards with a picture of the Last Supper and some words (from St Maximilliam Kolbe) about Holy Communion.

And you can read more about it all here...

Take a look...

...at this Palm Sunday procession going through a corner of South London, under the railway arch. No, it's not going past any notable landmarks, and there's nothing specially grand about it. Just enjoy.

THE ORDINARIATE CHRISM MASS...

...took place today with Archbishop Mennini, the Nuncio, presiding.  at the Ordinariate church in Warwick Street, just off Piccadilly Circus. This is, of course, a church with a notable history, and now the Ordinariate is adding a new chapter.     People had come from across Britain and it was a fine sight to see all the clergy gathered in white vestments, and with glorious music surging...I think it would be even better if they walked in procession, from through the street, from  Golden Square round to the church - it would add to those layers of tradition and history...

Afterwards, some of us got together for a chatty lunch, and then walked back along to the Strand and across the river. We stopped to discuss the skyline - the tall cranes with their nasty reminder that they are there to create ugly slabs that threaten the view of St Paul's...in misty Spring sunshine the horrible giant walk-talkie has a sinister air, and it will be nastier still when the hot weather comes and its glaring windows burn oppressive heat on to the streets below. They have tried to screen off some of the glare as cars were melting and the local shops had to close as it was impossible to work in them...





 

Palm Sunday and a London Procession...

...a great crowd of us, led by a children's choir, surging down along Southwark Street, with incense and blessed palms, and much singing.  I took handfuls of extra palms (they were already folded into crosses)  to hand out to passers-by...all of whom were pleasant and friendly and took them graciously...

Thjis meant that I was at the back of the procession and thus the church was already full when I arrived..but people squeezed up along the pew and I got a place...and found myself thinking how very satisfying it is when a church is properly full like that.

A message for ...

...Brid, who wrote to me at this Blog: lovely to be in touch, but please WRITE TO ME AGAIN WITH AN EMAIL ADDRESS AT WHICH I CAN REACH YOU!!!  I cannot reply directly  to a Comment on this Blog...the system is deliberately arranged to make this impossible.  I'd love to be in contact so pleas, please send me another Comment - which I will not print - with an address at whih I can reach you!

At Paddington station...

...a long talkative useful meeting with colleague Clare Anderson, my co-author on this book, and co-presenter of various TV programmes. We're working on the next one of these, which will take us to Rome in May...

Clare is a wonderful supporter of Christian Projects, running Scripture-based projects for schools across Britain. (If you are a teacher at a secondary school in the UK, click on here to find out how your pupils can participate in the nationwide Schools Bible Project). We laughed at memories of last Autumn, wrapping and packing prizes and trundling them to the Post Office...and there'll be another such session this year, and I'm so grateful to C. and all the other wonderful volunteers.

Clare and I meet at Paddington, because she lives in the Thames Valley and I in London, and the excellent Mad Bishop and Bear  pub at the  station is comfortable, welcoming, and serves good meals at a modest price...and we can sit with a laptop and work. Next meeting is at Clare's house next week, and I'll stay over as the next morning we'll both be going to the Chrism Mass at Westminster Cathedral. Every year, a group of us welcome the priests as they walk in procession to the Cathedral. We hold up a placard saying "THANK YOU TO OUR PRIESTS" and we hand out small holy cards...

...and if you want to read...

...Auntie on the subject of a courageous Bishop,  and a powerful account of the good work done by the hospice movement, and an interview with St John Paul's biographer, read here...

Busy with...

...admininstrative work for the Schools Bible Project. It's run by an ecumenical group and you can read about it here... pupils at schools from across Britain take part, writing essays  after studying the New Testament.  If you are teaching at a secondary school in the UK, send a Comment to this Blog WITH THE SCHOOL'S FULL POSTAL ADDRESS incoporated into it, and I will send you a brochure. Mark the Comment NOT FOR PUBLICATION.

Family time...

...as a dear young relative  had kindly agreed to tackle some computer problems for me. Children running about, Auntie soon busy with  small girl, getting dolls dressed and fed...small girl then announced one of the dollies was ill and we needed a  hospital, so briskly changed into nurse's uniform and transformed the play room into a ward with dolls in beds...small brother eagerly brought various fluffy toys: "This one has has a bad back and is feeling poorly". "I think this one has an enormous thorn in his foot". Hospital occasionally interrupted by arrival of model helicopter flown by older brother. The latter agreed to be a temporary patient too and had foot swathed in lengths of bandage. Also Unc J,  who recuperated sufficiently to  relax reading The very hungry Caterpillar to smallest child.  Talkative and delicious family supper. Prayers: children snuggled on cushions with their mother, all saying the Rosary.

Home late. House still in chaos due to building work - all done by Poles who not use definite article when speaking so Auntie discover she not use it either, also not bother conjugate verbs.

Building work, and everything dusty and noisy...

...in the kitchen at home, but also and on a vast scale, in London. A bright, golden day with crisp fresh  wintry air combined with Spring sunshine...but as I walk  along by the Thames the whole of London's skyline  is dominated by cranes, and every loved landmark is about to be hidden, if it isn't already, by a vast monstrous slab of glittering steel and harsh white concrete. Ugly, ugly, ugly...

Crossing Blackfriars Bridge all is noise and dust and dirt.  I used to walk this route so often, from my father's office (which had been his father's before him) in Hopton Street across the river to where the plane trees and the gardens of the Middle Temple made a green welcome, and then along the Embankment  with its busy traffic and sudden bits of history...Joseph Bazlegette's monument, and Cleopatra's needle and more...

I know, I know... many of London's changes have been for the better.   No one needs to tell me that. A few years back,  we had an unforgettable and  talkative dinner with the architect of the superb Battle of Britain monument where the young pilots rush out towards you from the dramatic wall - a magnificent piece of work.  I relish the new walkways along the Thames where once  warehouses blocked the way. Docklands is a success-story with shops and cafes fronting marinas. Crossrail will be a most useful addition to London's transport...

But... vast crude  anonymous slabs, out of proportion to every human thing, and ugly in their distorted shapes...horrible, horrible...and the noise and the dirt...

I absolutely MUST see....

...this film, newly out. Watch the TRAILER...stunning scenes of one of the most astonishing and thrilling series of events in history.  And at the centre of it is a man I met, and whose picture, taken when he was talking to my husband and reaching out to hand him a gift for me, stands beside me as I write this...

Find out what some of us are doing...

...to help evangelise Britain...

Read here...

Daffodils, bound up with golden ribbon...

...were blessed and distributed  at the end of Mass today, to be given to mothers. Lots of children enthusiastically presenting them to their mothers with hugs...

 It was suggested that older people whose mothers had already gone to their reward might like to put their flowers at the Lady Altar, and it was rather touching to see  this...

Later, over Laetare drinks in the pub, I was greeted with "saw your piece in the American whatsit thingummy..." and it turned out to be this piece in the Catholic World Report, an update on the Ordinariate...

Benedict XVI...

...is much  honoured at St Mary's University, where he addressed a great gathering of school pupils during his State Visit in 2010. Now a new Benedict XVI Centre has been launched at the U niversity, speciifically connecting theology and the social sciences, with an eye to fostering sound teaching on Catholic social ethics.

Pope Benedict's speech at Westminster Hall - where St Thomas More was tried - is of  importance and bears re-reading.  Its message will form the basis of much that is taught and discussed in the years ahead...

Mothering Sunday....

...the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Laetare Sunday, "Let Up" Sunday. Take a break from Lenten fasting. Go home and celebrate with your mother. Thank God for Mother Church.

"Rejoice, Jerusalem..."

The traditional thing to make is a simnel cake - so called because it has a layer of marzipan baked into the middle of it. Its name comes from  the Latin similia  - the ancient Romans made cakes of this for their feast of Matronalia at this time of year. Marzipan is made of ground almonds - the grains are similar to one another. The Italian semolina - referring to small grains of pasta - has the same root. It's all about the idea of  small grains and seed as being the source of fruitfulness - like throwing rice at weddings...

The ancients saw maternity as being connected with fruitfulness but they didn't get the whole spiritual truth of motherhood. It took Mary and the whole idea of Mother Church to teach that - preceded by the great women of the Old Covenant who taught  it all too, and the Old Testament sings the praises of the good woman whose price is beyond rubies...

My mother is now well beyond her 90th year and we'll be spending a quiet but pleasant afternoon together. She'll have had flowers delivered and there'll be sherry and chocolates and cards and affection. We'll reminisce a bit and we'll talk about family things - there's a granddaughter's wedding coming up. Sometimes we finish by saying prayers together: the Our Father and the Hail Mary, the prayers she taught me and my brother and sister, so long ago that it is simply impossible to remember a time when the words weren't  absolutely part of our liiving and breathing...our introduction to the great spiritual things...

Laetare...

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN...

...and read Auntie on the subject of the forthoming celebrations...

In view of...

...the mild chaos at home (see previous post, below) it was a relief to get on the train to Norwood and to bask in the warm hospitality of the Ladies Ordinariate Group meeting at Virgo Fidelis church, Central Hill.  Jackie and Rebecca were waiting with delicious scones and cakes and freshly-brewed coffee, in the large comfortable and agreeably named Upper Room given over to Ordinariate use with its kitchen and offices and pleasant sense of welcome. We gathered round the table and said our traditional prayer to Our Lady of Walsingham and everything felt cheery and full of good possibilities.

Plans for the year ahead include a meeting in June to look at "The Ordinariate - the story so far", with Mgr John Broadhurst. (Precious Blood Church, the Borough, London Bridge,  Monday June 6th, all welcome). We will be very busy with our London-wide Children's Handwriting and Artwork project for schools, which is sponsored by an ecumenical group - entries are already coming in. We also enjoy just relaxing together.  Our programme of events for LOGS members includes a "Father Brown" evening: Ian Fordyce, husband of LOGS member Patti, was the producer of the original TV series starring Kenneth More and we are going to hear all about that (of Reach for the Sky, The Forsyte Saga, etc...) and enjoy a couple of the early episodes...and we are having a pilgrimage to Chilworth Priory in Surrey, and plan a Walsingham visit...

We will join the Ordinariate pilgrimage to Birmingham in the summer, and there's the Ordinariate Festival...

We want to help the Sisters of the Reconciliation in Walsingham with some fund-raising...their accomodation is much too small and they have young women who want to join them.

Life at Bogle Towers...

...is slightly uncomfortable at the moment, as the kitchen is being completely rebuilt - a long overdue piece of work that means that everything in it has had to be stacked elsewhere, while workmen tackle the walls, ceiling, floor, and electricity cables. Everything is covered in dust and  every room is stacked with the contents of 35 years of kitchen life - saucepans and cake-tins and trays and the ironing-board, and and my old doll from childhood, and  drying-up cloths and napkins and soap powder, tinned tomatoes and packets of pasta, random forgotten small bottles of vanilla essence and packets of peppercorns,  knives and forks and jugs and tin-openers and frying pans and old-Christmas-cards-waiting-to-be-turned-into-gift-tags, and more, and more...

Posh unread cookery books and some vases and dishes have gone to charity shops. We have thrown away the toasted sandwich-maker, and the ossified jars of obscure spices, but are still left with the things that can't be easily discarded -  the first joined-up-writing birthday cards from beloved young relatives now grown-up, the  wedding anniversary greetings and Valentine cards, the carefully embroidered traycloth that I worked on our honeymoon but has never really proved useful...

The fridge is in the bedroom along with the jugs and mixing-bowls and laundry basket and coffee-grinder and the thingummy from which you hang the muslin bag when you make jam. The bed is covered in glassware and crockery nestly safely on the duvet. J. has been despatched to his London club and I am camping out in the study accompanied by the electric kettle. and the picnic set and  a great deal of other stuff. Getting into bed is difficult, and kneeling beside it  to say prayers impossble - I kneel on the bed itself but it's a bit tricky  in case it suddenly folds up with me inside...

Tadek and Jerzy are efficient and cheerful at their tasks and I find I am starting to speak with no definite article as we discuss where put new sink unit and how electric point work best and what shelf be most useful, maybe hooks for mugs?

OREMUS....

...is the name of the magazine of Westminster Cathedral. You can pick up a copy (it's free!) of the latest issue  at the Cathedral...or you can download it  here...

Auntie has a feature about the great Jesuit Henri de Lubac. Read and enjoy...

For those who have recently sent Comments to this Blog about visiting London and wanting to know about Catholic sites of interest: if you write to me giving an email address to which I can reply I will do my best to give you some information.  But there is so much to see!! Ideally, invite me to lead you on a Catholic History Walk!!  I am particularly happy to lead groups...just contact me BUT I DO NEED AN EMAIL ADDRESS AT WHICH I CAN REACH YOU!!! Obviously I will not publish the address - just head your Comment NOT FOR PUBLICATION and then send me a message including your email (or postal, if you prefer) address.

As a rough guide to places of interest (nearest Tube stations listed alongside):
Westminster Cathedral (VICTORIA or ST JAMES PARK)
Tower of London (Tower Hill)
Site of SS Thomas More and John Fisher's execution (Tower Hill)
Tyburn Convent (Marble Arch)
St George's Cathedral Southwark (Waterloo or Lambeth North)
Westminster Abbey (WESTMINSTER) - be prepared to queue up, there are great crowds. (There is a neccessary  modest fee for viewing the ancient tombs etc).  And, before you ask: yes, this is where Prince William was married.

And in answer to frequent questions: it is not possible to visit St Thomas More's cell in the Tower and this is NOT because "Catholics are banned from there" or anything like that. It is simply because it is part of the Governor's House and the only way to get a flow of regular visitors would be to knock down parts of the various walls and staicases and install a new entrance etc...which would mean it was no longer St Thomas More's cell. Mass has been celebrated there on special occasions.  At the Tower, you should visit the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, and also the cells where John Gerard, Edmund Campion, etc were imprisoned and tortured. There are detailed displays about these and other heroic  Catholic martyrs.  The site of More's martyrdom is outside the Tower, in what is now a garden/park area adjoining the big memorial gardens to the men of the Merchant Navy who died at sea in WWI and WWII: take time to ponder the long lists of names, and honour the memory of these brave men.

Read Auntie in...

...The Portal magazine, here...