Monday, December 31, 2018

...and on to the duties and challenges of 2019...

...with three major writing projects and a rising number of Catholic History Walks, and lots of new ventures along the way...

over Christmastide...

...I've been enjoying  some of Dorothy L. Sayers' splendid detective stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. Pure enjoyment.

...and if you want areally delightful play to which to take the family, go to this one, which  comes HIGHLY recommended...

...after a very enjoyable History Walk...

...around Westminster, with young men from Rome's North American College, we finished in the Red Lion in Whtehall. I am impressed with these students for the priesthood - they give hope for the future of the Church in the West.

They were also kind and helpful: I had lost my mobile phone and was anxious.  The next morning, panicking, I bought a new one, and only when I had gone through all the trouble thus associated (sim card, transfer of number, etc etc etc) did an email bring the news of the discovery of my phone, harmlessly waiting for me in the church hall where I had left it...

It's old age arriving, I suppose...something to ponder for this New Year's Eve...


Friday, December 28, 2018

Auntie Joanna invites you...

...to start the New Year with a walk through London parks to see places of history as 2019 opens...

Meet 3pm Wednesday January 2nd, steps of Westminster Cathedral. Nearest station: VICTORIA or ST JAMES PARK.

More info here

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Sunday, December 23, 2018

Across London, from Marylebone to Charing Cross...

...we went on a Catholic History Walk, a crowd of young people, starting at St James' in Spanish Place with a cheery fish-and-chip supper after Mass. It was great fun, and a splendid way to finish the term's work, as it were...for at Charing Cross, with luggage all trundled along on the History Walk, I took my leave after a non-stop series of talks at every stopping point, and with mutual Christmas greetings and much goodwill headed off for the train.

And now  it's Chrisms, and holiday time. May this be blessed season for us all.









Thursday, December 20, 2018

The choristers...

...at Precious Blood Church were just finishing their celebration Christmas Tea and as I walked down the road the sound of their singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" wafted cheerily out from the Parish Room.  Later a more sedate group of us, mostly older parishioners, gathered for mulled wine and snacks after Evensong.

It's been carols all week....on Monday the LOGS sang in Flat Iron Square. Yesterday I was at Victoria station singing with a group organised by a friend with support from her local church, St Joseph's, Roehampton. 

With the year drawing to its close, a time to look back.  Asked by Catholic World Report for books I enjoyed during 2018, I produced this .

Monday, December 17, 2018

....and very cheering morning...

...with carol-singing organised by a friend, who gets a group of us every year to sing in all the wards of a big hospital where she sits on the governing committee. I had been reluctant to go, as yesterday evening I felt tired but, given n an early night with an excellent audio-book (Dorothy L. Sayers' minor Lord Peter Wimsey stories - recommended),  in the morning freshness it was suddenly fun. We went from ward to ward singing all the old favourites - Hark the herald, The first Nowell, shepherds and socks and Wenceslas and all....
Then a chatty lunch, and on to London for the annual Dinner of LOGS.

Sunday, December 16, 2018

Decorating the Christmas trees....

...after Mass, on this Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday.

Two tall trees, one of either side of the sanctuary. They look superb, gleaming with lights and golden and silver baubles. The trunks, wide and thick. were hard to fit into the metal stands, and a strong parishioner chopped away at them with an axe to trim them. A rather notable sight to anyone passing in the street  as he swung the axe with vigour and wide-eyed children watched from a safe distance across the aisle.

A dropped bauble was found to have a neat hole - so with the assistance of an enthusiastic member of the Sunday School I wrote a note to put inside, and we hung the bauble on the tree...for the note to be discovered next year, or maybe in 10 or 100 years time, a secret hanging there amid the glitter...

On to Westminster, where I was leading another History Walk. Stopped briefly in the gardens by St James' Park tube station to eat a sandwich made at home earlier. The Walk went well - a good attendance and a cheery atmosphere. They were particularly interested in why and how we date Christmas and how it fits into the rest of the calendar - Lady Day, Midsummer etc - and we had a great time with fun and friendship and a sense pof the joy of the season...

Then afterwards, on arrival at the station to go home, I suddenly felt exhausted, and drooped. . The kind people at the Pret a Manger gave me a cup of tea for free and added a bar of chocolate. I nearly wept with the sudden feeling of being rescued. I needed it and, rested and fortoified, made it home...where I plan an early night.

Saturday, December 15, 2018

...and carols...

...at St Mary's University, with a group standing manfully in the main concourse  as people hurried in the cold to and from the library and refectory.  I had baked some mince pies and we handed these out too as a goodwill gesture. The singing was good and  when we felt we had done our bit we repaired to the chaplaincy and finished off the last of the pies with mugs of tea...

I'll be singing more carols on Monday, in Flat Iron Square near London Bridge, with the LOGS group.  We have previous sung in London Bridge station, but Flat Iron Square is the new trendy place with pubs and clubs so we wanted to be there.  There are all sorts of trendy places set into the arches of the railway: we will be singing in one of these and the accoustics are excellent.  The night-club opposite Precious Blood Church has been a good friend to us all in recent months as we have had Mass there when the church floor was being relaid.

A GLORIOUS CONCERT...

...at St Clement Danes Church in London. It stands at the end of The Strand, opposite Australia House and near the Law Courts. It's a beautiful church, originally established shortly after the Norman Conquest, and rebuilt a couple of times, most recently following the WWII Blitz.

The concert was by a superb chamber choir,  Vivamus. Among the works presented was a most beautiful setting by Mendeslssohn of the Magnificat.  The words sound rather fine in German:"Mein Herz Got/ den Herrn, und es freut sich/Mein Geist Gottes/Meines Heilands..."  We also had a pleasing setting of "O Holy Night", a modern carol "My Lord has come", and lots  more, including some of good hearty traditional stuff in which we were all encouraged to join, which we did with great enthusiasm. A most inspiring and uplifting evening.

A young relative was singing in the choir and, this being the Royal Air Force church, her great-uncle's name is among those commemorated in one of the  glass-fronted memorial stands along the walls. He was shot down somewhere over the North Sea 75 years ago.  As it happens, he had a particular link to this part of London, as he worked for a while near Fleet Street and was married at St Bride's church.  As the music soared, I pondered that, and the story of our family that it represents, binding us to the story of London and of our country...

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Cardinal George Pell is innocent...

...and I make this statement clearly and publicly. Truth matters.

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

The young prizewinners...

for the 2018 School Bible Project came to Parliament today to receive their prizes from our Trustee Baroness Cox. This is always a very delightful occasion and it is a joy to meet the young people and their families. It gives one new heart :a mix of religious and racial backgrounds, a great sense of goodwill and good cheer, a sharing in a celebration in the magnificent setting of the most famous Parliament in the world.

Friday, December 07, 2018

To St Martin-in-the-Fields...

...which now stands not in fields ploughed by Westminster's monks, but in a busy street adjoining the great Square laid out to mark the great British naval victory off the coast of Traf-al-gah in 1805...

Some weeks ago I found a tiny inexpensive gift in the very attractive shop in the church's basement, and sent it to a friend to be opened at Christmas. It occurred to me that the gift would also amuse my great-nephews and nieces soyesterday went to get another one. Then I sat in the very agreeable cafe and wrote my Christmas cards. It occurred to me that I was supremely happy sitting there. How rarely we give thanks.

Wednesday, December 05, 2018

The CATHSOC...

....at St Mary's University invited me to give a talk about St John Paul...we met first at the old chapel-in-the-woods  for the Angelus - the students gather there and ring the Angelus bell three times, and  pray together.  Then on to a lecture room in the Shannon suite - named after a former Principal of the College - where there was a pasta supper. A friendly group, and we were joined by some Sisters of the Assumption who have a small convent at the University to be a praying presence there.

If you would like  a copy of John Paul II - Man of Prayer just send a Comment to this blog - which I will not pubsh - with your name and address and I'll send it to you, and you can post me back £5.00 (This also applies to the USA, but make it $10).

John Paul is particularly interesting on the subject of authentic religious freedom - some insights here....

We will be singing carols...

...in the trendy hot-spot of Flat Iron Square, near the Borough Market, on Monday Dec 17th. Come and hear us!

Tuesday, December 04, 2018

To Sussex...

...for a meeting with the team that runs the Catholic History Walks.  The programme of Walks for the firstweeks of 2019 is now available: read here...

Earlier, on Friday, I took a group of young Australians on a walk around the Tower of London and a visit to Tyburn.   Starting at the gateway to the Tower, one can walk around the moat, pausing at Traitors' Gate and then continuing towards Tower Bridge  and going along the road to rejoin the moat path and thence into the Memorial Gardens where the young men and boys who lost their lives at sea in the Merchant Navy in two world wars are commemorated...and finishing at the site of execution where among many others John Fisher, Thomas More Archbiship Laud, and Lord Derwenwater were beheaded...

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Explorations...

...with the Catholic History Walks, of WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL yesterday and ST GEORGE'S CATHEDRAL SOUTHWARK today.

The latter - a fine Pugin gothic church, badly damaged in an air raid in WWII but beautifully repaired - is disappointing in some of its recent additions. A ghastly, unsightly enormous yellow cross with ugly decorations stands several feet high in a side-chapel.Apparently it honours St Oscar Romero, but it is hard to see how or indeed why. He is not a local saint, and there is much important local culture that is ignored. The cathedral's regular congregation includes Londoners whose family origins are from Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas, and many European countries...and the story ofthe Church in Southwark  also includes heroes and martyrs from Saxon times (St Elphege was martyred by the Vikings, nearby) to the Gordon Riots (which were started on this site, when it was St George's Fields). And how about a bit more about St George, and his links with this loop of the Thames?

There is just one newish addition of real merit - a fine stained glass window near the Blessed Sacrament chapel, , honouring St John Paul's visit to the Cathedral in 1982. This is probably the cathedral's best item: it depicts the Holy Father anointing the sick, who were gathered in the cathedral for this historic visit...the whole scene was powerful and moving.

FOR CHRISTMAS...

...or for Advent, with ideas for Christmas activities, recipes etc...

Why not try my "Books of Seasons and Celebrations" ?

Send me a Comment with your EMAIL ADDRESS and your POSTAL ADDRESS - which I will not publish - and I'll send you the book: send me £5.00p when you've received it..

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Kingstanding, on the outskirts of Birmingham...

...presumably takes its name because the Royalist Army massed there during the Civil War.  Today, the inhabitants seem to eat many of their meals out of doors, leaving the chip wrappers, beer cans and expanded polystrene burger-boxes around the Kingstanding roundabout.It's a depressing place in which to shop, but I often go there to get extra coffee because halfway through a Maryvale weekend I tend to run out...pleasant coffee-breaks in the Redford Room with a cafetiere and chat.

Maryvale is  some distance away on Old Oscott Hill...all Catholic territory as a recusant family long owned the land. There is a busy Catholic parish, big Catholic secondary school, convent (now home to the Sisters of the BVM, formerly of Wantage), the Maryvale primary school, and the Institute itself, once home to Bl John Henry Newman and now welcoming students who obtain diplomas in catechetics or missionary work, or degrees or doctorates  in theology or philosophy...

Maryvale is a wonderful oasis...Birmingham with its swirl of motorways, the noise and the traffic...and then the  cheery sense of welcome as you turn in at the drive...

"How charming!" I thought...

... last week,when I bought the gloves, and saw that they had a tiny heart, in reinforced material, on the tips of the thumb, forefinger, and next finger.

No. These are 21st-century gloves and the reinforcement is neccessary because most people spend so much of their time using the those fingertips to tap on their wretched mobile phones.

ADVANCE NOTICE...

...of the John Paul Walk for the New Evangelisation, next August (1st-4th).  This annual Walk to Walsingham is organised by the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph and is glorious.  We walk through the most wonderful countryside, we pray, we sing, we listen to superb talks on aspects of the Faith.  We are given overnight accomodation in halls and schools, and there is a hot meal when we arrive at each pilgrim destination...and a splendid welcome at Sunday Mass in Walsingham.

Book the dateds in the diary now, and note that link for further information, booking forms etc.

Friday, November 23, 2018

A relief...

...to discover the actual statement of the Bishops of England and Wales on the "transgenmder" issue. You can read it here...





Wednesday, November 21, 2018

I don't want to be rude, but...do our bishops know what they are doing?

...in fact I sometimes wonder if they are in charge at all...

What bureaucrat put out that ridiculous Tweet,and why?



On the wretched "trans gender" question...

...it is time to speak out in defence of children who are being treated with drugs and surgical mutilation.

The Catholic World Report has published this on the subejct. Please read.


Anti-Americanism...



...is ubiquitous  in some quarters. Read ...here...






and on a more cheery note, please put these dates in your diary for December and for 2019......

...London at Christmas
Sunday 16th December, 3pm. A walk through St James' Park and on to the Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square. Meet at Westminster Cathedral. Nearest Tube: Victoria.

2019
London in the New Year
Wednesday 2nd January, 3pm. Enjoy London in the New Year, as we walk to Whitehall and Trafalgar Square, visiting crib-scenes along the way. Meet on the steps of Westminster Cathedral. Nearest Tube: Victoria.

The City and Tower of London
Sunday 13th January, 3pm. A walk through the city with its turbulent history, as we hear the story of brave heroes such as St Thomas More and St John Fisher, walking towards the Tower of London. Meet at Monument Tube Station.

The City and Tower of London
Sunday 20th January, 3pm. A walk through the city with its turbulent history, as we hear the story of brave heroes such as St Thomas More and St John Fisher, walking towards the Tower of London. Meet at Monument Tube Station.

A Royal Walk
Sunday 27th January, 3pm. A walk exploring the history of the Royal Family and Catholicism, through St James' Park and on to Buckingham Palace. Meet on the steps of Westminster Cathedral. Nearest Tube: Victoria.

Richmond-upon-Thames
Sunday 10th February, 3.30pm. Discover the history of this river-side town, with its pre-Empancipation Catholic Church and ancient royal history. Meet at St Elizabeth's Church, The Vineyard, Richmond, TW10 6AQ. Nearest station, tube, and overground: Richmond.

A recent gathering in Parliament...

...with a Cardinal: read about it here....

And meanwhile the ghastly fall-out from the sexual-abuse scandals in the USA grinds relentlessly onwards, with the Pope's recent actions showing a tragic failure to understand how people are feeling and reacting in the USA...

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

In pouring rain, to Maryvale...

...where there is now always a sense of coming home, of things feeling comfortable and familiar as one turns in at the drive.

Funeral Mass for Mgr Paul Watson in Maryvale's chapel, known and used by Bl JH Newman: like so many Maryvale graduates, I owe Mgr Paul a lot...

Refreshments and lots of chat...

Then the Redford Lecture, given this year by the Bishop of Northampton.

And now today, I've just been in the laundry, pressing my gown for the graduation ceremonies which will take place in St Chad's Cathedral. I enjoy wearing my St Mary's (Twickenham) MA gown, with its special lining of Challoner rose-coloured silk.

I return to Maryvale next weekend to lecture to the BA students on apologetics...

Monday, November 19, 2018

PRAY FOR THE POPE:...

...he's been getting this whole McCarrick business mostly wrong so far. Read here...and pray for the Pope. I wouldn't like to have his job. He merits and deserves our prayers.

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Young nuns...

...were busy at St Elizabeth's Church in Richmond, raising funds which they badly need - because they have good numbers of young women expressing interest in joining them...but have insufficient space to ccomodate them! PLEASE HELP these wonderful sisters.They are the Sisters of  Mary Morning Star and you can find out about them here...

And you can help them by sending a donation :Sisters of Maria Stella Natutina, Harvey House,Headley Road, Grayshott GU26 6DP

I was at the church to talk to Fr Stephen the parish priest about CATHOLIC HISTORY WALKS in this beautiful riverside town in the spring. There is rich Catholic history here...evidenced by names like Friars Stile Road and indeed The Vineyard in which St Elizabeth's stands...and there is Bl John Henry Newman's childhood home at Ham...watch for info in due course on the Catholic History Walks website...

I stopped to chat to the Sisters - we met at Youth 2000 a couple of summers back. These are young nuns, and it is somehow fun to have that mix of youth -  the way they talk ("It's, like. amazing, like, to be, like, praying" etc) -  along with traditional nuns' robes...

I bought some of the sisters home-made produce (bikkies, cake, some Christmas gifts) , enjoyed a cup of tea with them...

Home on the bus with lots of cheery Twickenham  Rugby crowds...

Saturday, November 17, 2018

WISDOM...

...on Church/State relations...an important matter: read here...

The sound of...

...a roomful of young men saying the Creed together. Rather impressive. I was at the Faith Club at the John Fisher School. It meets every Friday, in a room marked with pictures of St John Paul. An enjoyable meeting, good questions and a lively atmosphere. The boys relish buttered toast after the talk, a tradition established by my mother some 40 years ago.  The school's chaplain, Father James Clark, is a former Fisher boy. The chapel has recently been repainted, in cream and white, much lighter than before, with  pictures of the patrons  of the various Houses, done in stained-glass style on the arches leading up the aisle. The great Pilgrim Cross, which founder members of Faith carried annually to Aylesford on pilgrimage, hangs on the wall at the back, with the date of each pilgrimage hammered into it in nails...

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Been busy working on issues of "gender ideology"...

..and realised that we must see this wretched thing as part of the crude damage that is being done in so many ways to the natural world.  We understand the horrible mess that is being made in our oceans with the dumping of plastic waste and so on. The horrible mess that is happening to human beings with this wetched gender-rubbish also needs to be addressed.

 "Valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment. It is not a healthy attitude which would seek to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it". Pope Francis, in Laudato Si.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Useful analysis...

...of the situation in which the American bishops have now been placed...here...

Difficult days for the Church. Pray...

The work of the Church goes on. Today, a gathering in Parliament organised by Catholic MPs and peers, at which Cardinal Peter Turkson spoke, tackling issues of human dignity and human trafficking. There is some good work being done by Catholic groups on this...including nuns who run places of refuge for young women caught up in this ghastly life of prostitution...

The recent Catholic Women of the Year lunch raised funds for Bakhita House...

Today's meeting was in the Speaker's House, approached via a rather grand staircase and entrance just off New Palace Yard. We gathered in rooms lined with enormous portraits of bewigged former Speakers. A gentle reflective  moment of history before the talk turned to the matters in hand:  Cardinal Turkson recalled singing "God Save the Queen  at school as a child in Ghana...

...and this is what it is like...

...going on a Catholic History Walk with some of Mother Theresa's nuns...read here...

Monday, November 12, 2018

The Glasgow Herald newspaper...

...has printed a short feature about the FAITH Movement, written by the Editor of the magazine. Might be of interest: read here...

Sunday, November 11, 2018

REMEMBRANCE DAY..and ONE HUNDRED YEARS...

...since the Armistice of 1918 was signed.

J. joined his regiment for the march-past in Whitehall. I went to the local ceremonies at London Bridge. Later, to Westminster Abbey to hear the great pealing out of bells and to see the beacon lit, one of a great number across the whole country.

The bond that unites people in Britain for a short while each November is something quite extraordinary - and ordinary. People feel somehow normal: there is a sense of neighbourliness. In a packed pub, a kilted piper started to play and everyone applauded and called for more. Older men wearing medals - and especially really elderly men wearing  a row of medals - were greeted everywhere with respect. At Waterloo, taxi drivers wearing special "poppy rides" jackets offered free transport to Remembrance events to any Forces chaps, serving or retired.

People chatted, spoke of family members who had served in the Great War for the Second World War.. I thought of my grandfather, wounded twice on the Western Front...he reurned home finally to his wife and baby son...my Uncle John who in turn went on to serve twenty years later with the RAF in the Second World War and was killed, shot down over the North Sea...

As I write this, the beacons are still burning. When I am very old, I will remember that I was in London to mark the centenary of the Armistice, and that I remembered conversations with my grandfather who fought in that war.



Thursday, November 08, 2018

NEXT CATHOLIC HISTORY WALKS...

...will be:


SUNDAY 18th November, 3pm:  on a ROYAL theme, starting 3pm Westminster Cathedral, finishing at BUCKINGHAM PALACE



Monday Nov 26th   A tour INSIDE Westminster Cathdral: meet at the main doors 3pm



Tuesday Nov 27th  INSIDE St George's Cathedral Southwark:  meet at the main doors, 3pm


NO NEED TO BOOK: just turn up!

On the USA Bishops' crisis...

...read this comment 

Thursday, November 01, 2018

ALL SAINTS DAY...

...and  evening Mass at Precious Blood Church at London Bridge - not as crowded as the lunchtime Mass, but beautiful  with music (Merbecke - the Mass was in Ordinariate Form) and a cheery gathering afrerwards for anyone who wanted, with prosecco and chat before going out into the rainy night...

Come and hear the LOGS group sing carols:  Flat Iron Square, Dec 17th, from 5.30pm.

Sunday, October 28, 2018

And a meeting...

...with a longstanding colleague from Christian Projects. Over 25 years ago, we established what is now the annual Schools Bible Project. The young winners of the 2018 project will be coming to London in December to receive their prizes at the House of Lords. There is a sense of achievement about this, but the whole venture is always a work-in-progress. The internet has changed things, not least with the publicity. Local newspapers, radio etc used to report on the project and the prizewinners etc....but it is one thing to have a cheery report in a local newspaper, and another to plaster a child's name and school over a worldwide massive system.  And - more importantly - we have to check for plagiarism in the children's work. In the days when all the entries were hand-written, very few children simply copied out something from a textbook, and it was easy to detect it when they did...today the internet offers massive scope for cut-n-past jobs. In a sense, I think that, in all this as in much else, there has been a sort of loss of innocence...

A day...

...at Aylesford Priory, established by Carmelite monks by the Medway  over 800 years ago, destroyed under Henry VIII, revived in the 20th century...and glorious on a golden Autumn day, with bright leaves fluttering down beneath a blue sky in crisp fresh air...

After Mass we lunched in the ancient, thick-walled Pilgrim Hall, and then enjoyed the library in its gallery...much to discuss, given the state of the Church and so on...

Monday, October 22, 2018

...and pondering...

...the need for prayer for the Pope, that he may do what is right and stand firm for the Church's teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual acts, and take action as required... read here...

Celebrating St John Paul's FEAST DAY

...and praying very much for the Church today....

Confession and then MASS at Westminster Cathedral where, as Canon  Christoher Tuckwell reminded us with a sweeping gesture of his arm to point it out, a great stone set into the floor before the sanctuary commemorates, with a Latin inscription, the fact that Saint John Paul  - many of us remember it - came to the Cathedral  and celebrated Mass there in 1982.

Then, with colleague Sarah de Nordwall, a visit to the superb celebration of Anglo-Saxon life and literature - glorious  illuminated books of the Gospels, psalters, and more - in the British Library. A working lunch there, planning joint history/poetry/cultural events for 2019 with the Catholic History Walks and the Bard School....

...and then, a celebration Tea to honour St John Paul and talk about what he taught us, with sharing of books by and about him...

And may St John Paul the Great intercede for us all in the Church today...we need his prayers badly...

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Approaching the 40th anniversary of the election of the great JOHN PAUL...

...and hence his FEAST DAY, Oct.22nd.

And a message from his life, for the current Synod...read here...

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

WORKING ON...

...the history of this university  offers days in the library, adjacent coffee-shop, and lovely grounds.  Then, for the train journey home, I can choose something good from the library - currently Ian Ker on Bl John Henry Newman...

Been pondering and reading, too, about good St Paul VI...this week, following his canonisation, there are vicious attacks on him in the com-boxes of  some Catholic websites.  Some are astonishingly ignorant, and reveal a truly horrible mentality - showing the truth  his own sad comment about the "smoke of Satan" issuing into the Church. Such smoke has truly got in via these nasty attackers, who claim to be devout Catholics but are spreading anger and poison. Ugh. However, it has all prompted me to read more by and about him: his call to missionary endeavour and his Credo of the People of God...

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

...and to the Mansion House...

...home of the Lord Mayor of the City of London,  for the launch of the new School of Business and Society at St Mary's University.  The idea is to educate  "the whole person, not just from a business and technical perspective, but to provide ethical formation". Very well attended and done in grand style - my it all flourish and foster great and good things...

Monday, October 15, 2018

And in a private conference...

...a most useful series of talks on this ghastly promotion of propaganda - in our schools and with complete disregard for the truth - about how people can "transition" from being male to being female, and vice versa, simply because they have a feeling that they should.

Excellent input from medical experts, explaining how wrong this all is...but the most worrying aspect  is that there is no possibility of a serious discussion of this subject in medical journals as there is so much fear surrounding it. When a distinguished doctor wrote an important analysis in a major publication he was denounced by "trans" and homosexual/lesbian lobby groups because he did not share their ideas...and the journal formally apologised for oublishing his work.

It's horrible...like the ghastly staged trials in Eastern Europe in the 1950s with people bullied into denouncing their friends and colleagues, and retracting their own ideas on freedom and democracy.  What on earth is going on?

On the way home, I picked up an Evening Standard...a chatty feature by a young columnist described how she was "having a baby with a friend" with sperm from a donor, and was wondering how many unknown siblings the child might have.

The Britain of the near future is going to be a frightening place.

A visit...

...from Bishop Lopes, of the North American Ordinariate, who celebrated Mass at the Church of the Most Precious Blood at London Bridge this morning...all this week the three Ordinaries are meeting, so this was a chance for him to see this parish. Opportunity for a celebration...a glass of fizz afterwards along w. the usual coffee etc. For after-Mass gatherings, the parish now uses space at The Sidings, the nightclub under the railway arches where we had Mass during the summer when the church's new floor was being laid...

Meanwhile in Rome, St Paul VI canonised, along with St Oscar Romero and others...saints whose help from Heaven we can now invoke...orate pro nobis...

Paul VI was a man of courage. He was savagely attacked in his lifetime by critics who tried to spread calumnies against him, and now even when his holiness has been recognised by the Church for all time, there are crude voices raised against him. He is a saint for all who are maligned and villified for upholding the truth of the moral law and for loving and serving the Church...read here...










Saturday, October 13, 2018

To Richmond...

...and to this church, which has seen a substantial rise in numbers over the past couple of years...it is across the river from St Mary's University, where I am often to be found busy with my research work.  Lovely to be in Richmond - a place with strong family asociations for me - on an Autumn evening.

Long ago, a young man made a film - in the early days of home cinematopgraphy in the 30s - about the Autumn tide along the Thames, bringing the Autumn to this roverside town. It  featured his parents and siblings: Autumn walks, his schoolgirl sister crunching into a ripe apple, the first leaves scattering down along the paths... and it won an award, and is now of course a period piece. If he had lived, I think he might have been a successful director/producer/writer...  But he did not live to do that. When war broke out, he volunteered for the Royal Air Force and was shot down somewhere over the North Sea.....he was my uncle and his name is on the big RAF memorial overlooking the Thames at Runnymede. And  you and I owe to him, and others like him, the duty of keeping our country a good and happy one, where truth and freedom are upheld and where we can worship God on an Auytumn evening and practise our faith without fear...

To Bexleyheath...

...in Kent, for a morning assembly, tp present prizes gained by pupils at St Columba'sCatholic  Boys School in the 2018 Schools Bible Project.  One pupil has won a major prize and will come to the House of Lords in December to receive it from our Trustee Baroness Cox. Full list of schools that have gained main prizes here...in addition, pupils at a number of schools across Britain gained runner-up prizes.

It was a pleasure to be at this school. The boys were smart in their uniforms, friendly and courteous to a visitor, and attentive to the Scripture reading and prayers led by their teacher. At the prayer "St Colmba. pray for us" they rather touchingly put their hands on their hearts as they echoed the response. Distributing the prizes  for the Bible Project is always enjoyable and maes all the work of organisation etc worthwhile...

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

And the latest FAITH magazine...

...can now be read on-line here...

Bl John Henry Newman...

...is commemorated annually on  the eve of his Feast Day with a Night Walk through Oxford, marking the night when he was received into full communion with the Catholic Church by Bl Dominic Barberi.  This year's Walk was  particularly splendid - a glorious Autumn evening, Oxford glowing in lamplight,  leaves russet and brown beneath our feet, and  a large crowd of walkers - including many young as this is Oxford.  The Walk begins at the Oxford Oratory and among the prayer-intentions was one for more vocations for the Oratorians - an apparently unnecessary prayer as there are a good number of young ones and it is all thriving...

I'm doing a good deal of walking at present. The next day, back in London, there was a Westminster History Walk. Again, large numbers. We start at Westminster Cathedral, walk down Ambrosden Avenue, learn about the Choir School and the Archbishops of Westminster from 1850 to the present, and head  down towards the Horseferry Road via the pubs and streets named after charity-schools (Green Coat Boy, Grey Coat Hospital etc), and on to Parliament...

Sunday, October 07, 2018

WALKING....

...and walking....

After Mass this morning I walked around  Southwark and The Borough  to check the route for the afternoon's History Walk. Then lunched, and met the batch of walkers waiting at Precious Blood Church - a lovely friendly group - and off we set.  On every walk I learn new things...this time about St Olaf, of whom there is an unexpected statue in this church which I attended recently when weekday Masses were not possible at Precious Blood because of the renovation work.  St Olaf was the great Viking king who teamed up with Saxons to fight pagan Viking invaders and saved the city of London... I knew the story but until today I had not fully explored the memorial on the rather pleasing Art Deco office block that bears his name...

Friday, October 05, 2018

THE SYNOD...

...has opened in Rome, and THIS contribution by Archbishop  charles Chaput is of great importance. NOTE IT, ask your Bishops to follow it up: the issue is a central one, concerning truth, integrity, and the value of the human person.

Thursday, October 04, 2018

Rose hips at Walsingham...

...and plenty of serious things in our hearts as we gathered to pray.

I gathered the rose hips along the Holy Mile, and am taking them home to turn into rose hip syrop for the winter. We of the LOGS group  had gathered at Precious Blood church at London Bridge and  were sent off for Walsingham with a pilgrim blessing after Mass. As we approached Walsingham we  stopped for tea with an Ordinariate family who have recently settled there and our pilgrimage began with a cheery catching-up of news and a real sense of welcome...and of course we met them again the next morning for Mass at the Church of the Annunciation where there is a good-sized congregation for week day Mass...

Our days of pilgrimage included a Rosary Walk along the Mile, a priviledged visit to the ruined Francican friary - the Franciscans are now back in Walsingham and much in evidence at the Shrine - and a most useful afternoon meeting for planning our future activities for 2019 and beyond...

There was also the unexpected pleasure of a splendid Pilgrimage Mass celebrated with pilgrims - and their Bishop - from the diocese of Lancaster, plus pleasant evenings one of which included a glorious long walk along by the coast at Wells.  The sun was setting in rose-ink glory beyond the sands, and the halyards  of the dozens of little  boats in the harbour were making that faint bell-like sound against the masts in the evening breeze. Kathie said "I'd like to sing 'The day thou gavest Lord...'"  and so we did, turning for home with the cheery lights of the town promising a welcome and a good meal.

A happy time, and a good pilgrimage. We had carried ourpetitions in prayer to the shrine of Our Lady and left them there. Plenty of concerns, and mostly not trivial ones: these are not easy times for the Church and the world.and a pilgrimage isn't an escape from reality but a way of connecting our own duties and responsibilities with reminders of God's providence...

Sunday, September 30, 2018

THE GREAT RETURN...

...to church this mornng, as the Church of the Precious Blood at London Bridge opened its doors wide  to reveal its gleaming new marble floor and sanctuary and the congregation poured in.  Candles glowed and incense wafted up. The children's choir sang from the gallery, the  September sunshine streamed in through the windows, and Father C. blessed the new font and we renewed our baptismal promises with great vigour and were splashed with the newly blessed water. It was glorious and solemn and joyful and a new chapter of the Church's long and splendid mission in London.  I hadn't expected to find it so moving...

Tomorrow members of LOGS, the ladies group based at Precious Blood, will  set off on pilgrimage to Walsingham, where we will place our plans and our hopes - and our concerns and worries and personal prayers and more - into the hands of Christ's mother at the shrine where people have been doing the same for a thousand years.

The Catholic Women's League...

...in the diocese of Southwark invited me to speak at their conference, held today at St Joseph's, Roehampton,  and I was given a warm welcome. I spoke about the recent  ADOREMUS Eucharistic Congress, and it was great to share memories of this splendid history-making event, and especially of that grand Eucharistic procession, the crowds, the atmosphere...

Today was a golden September day, and simply travelling by bus along by the Common was glorious.

My only regret about speaking at the conference was that I missed the annual "Two Cathedrals" Blessed Sacrament Procession, held each September to mark the anniversary of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain...but I looked up the pics afterwards and it went well, as always...beginning at Westminster Cathedral, crossing the Thames  to Southwark and finishing with Benediction at St George's Cathedral...


Friday, September 28, 2018

Mass in a nightclub....

...has been (sort of ) fun for the past few weeks...but it will be good to be back in church again.

The parish of the Most Precious Blood moved across the street to The Sidings, a nightclub created in, well, the sidings of the great railway network that  is gathered at London Bridge where lines meet from across Kent and South East London. Beneath the great solid railway arches there are cavernous rooms that are now packed with people and  talk and laughter and drink and food in the evenings...and packed even more tightly by Catholics on Sunday mornings as the parishioners seek to squeeze into every corner as Father C celebrates Mass at a makeshift altar.

Meanwhile, in our fine Victorian church, workmen have been labouring to create the new marble floor which will welcome us back again this Sunday.

We've all been peering in to see how things have been going. It now looks superb. A line of red marble leads up the aisle from the font (brand-new, an exact relica of the original design, and due to be blessed and consecrated shortly, with all of us renewing our baptismal vows)  to the sanctuary, where a pattern of further red mingles with  shining silver-grey and creamy white.

Choir stalls have been installed for the children's choir in the choir-loft. For the main part of the church, all pews have been removed for cleaning - at present the church looks like a great Roman basilica - and they will be back once the floor is ready for them. The new altar-rails won't be in place for a while, and work on the Lady Altar and the Newman shrine will wait for a while, too....first comes a massive cleaning operation because of all the dust created by the creation of the marble floor.

It's going to be superb, and the project has been/is being a sort of shared adventure with a feeling that we are all seeing the writing of a new chapter of local history. Watch this Blog for news of further developments, celebratory  events etc.

Thursday, September 27, 2018

The forthcoming Synod on Youth...

...looks set to be ghastly, with the initial paperwork a groaning wodge of cliches. Poor Papa Francis seems unable ever to admit that any of his projects might be wrong-headed, so the thing will grind miserably on...

At Vatican II the Bishops courageously ditched some of the initial documentation and verbiage and opted for real debates. Could not something similar happen now?


Wednesday, September 26, 2018

To THE KEYS...

...which is the name of the Catholic Writers Guild of England and Wales, meeting in London. It was a hassle to get there - tube strike on the Piccadilly Line etc - but so good to arrive and be immediately among friends and colleagues. It really is a Guild - something more than a fellowship, more than a meeting of friends, more than gathering of like-minded people engagedin common endeavours...we are friendly, useful, and helpful to one another in the way that members of a Guild should be, but there's a lot more...this evening's chat included discussion of illustrations for a new book, exchange of ideas on recent projects, plus discussion of the splendid recent Liverpool Eucharistic Congress...

We currently meet at Farm Street church for our monthly Mass, going on afterwards to a nearby restaurant where a room is booked for supper, and then back to the  panelled Hall at Farm Street for the lecture. This evening's was about Hilaire Belloc - specifically, his love of Sussex, and finishing with that haunting poem -  and was excellent. A good discussion afterwards, tackling his horrid anti-semitism, his talents, his undoubted pariotism, his loathing of all things German including Nazism,  and the sorrows of his life (two sons killed, one in the First World War, one in the Second...) and more...

The new Master of the Guild is to be Kevin Turley, an excellent choice.  You can read some of his work here  and here...


Tuesday, September 25, 2018

On Saturday...

...there will be the annual "Two Cathedrals" procession in which the Blessed Sacrament is carried across the Thames.  The Orocession was started in 2009 to mark the first anniversary of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain.  I am unable to attnd this year as I am speaking at a big gathering of the Catholic Women's League  in Roehampton.

The Procession starts at 1.30pm at WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL and finishes with Benediction at St George's Cathedral, Southwark.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

The government is to choose our next bishops...

....a very, very bad plan.

That's the plan for China, if the stupid and cruel arrangement that seems to have been agreed by the Chinese govt and the Vatican goes ahead.

It's contrary to wisdom and right justice: Christ did not seek that powerful worldly rulers shuld choose who would be the fathers for his flock. He didn't invite Peter to negotiate wth rulers in Rome or Palestine to choose colleagues.

We don't want government - not the Queen, not the Prime Minister, not President Trump, not the European Union rulers, not Vladmimir Putin, not the current head of the People's Republic of China, not any government - choosing Christ's bishops. It has been tried in the past and had mixed results - it's not a mistake that needs to be repeated.

On this blog, I placed a picture of the Pope when he was elected: the idea is to remind us all to pray for him. He needs wisdom, humility, and the courage to do what is right.  He is not popular and is at the core of much controversy: is he being wise and humble, and is he doing what is right? Are you praying?

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

To Portsmouth...

...for a beautiful Mass at the Cathedral, of which more in due course.

But there is something that is somehow sad about this great city - once a glorious name in the story of our Royal Navy. Deo gratias, we do still have some fine ships, and there is an instintive sense of pride that wells up when one thinks of all that the Royal Navy has meant in our country's story... but...

Somehow, so many things in Britain now have a strange, uncomfortable overlay of sloganising, that makes for a sense of things-aren't-what-they-should be. 

The last time I saw an official picture of anyone in naval uniform it was a lesbian lady on a poster in London emphasising that the Navy supported a homosexual and lesbian celebratory event.

Pray for our country.


Tuesday, September 18, 2018

And on the forthcoming Synod...

do read this...


DO READ....

...and enjoy, this excellent presentation made at the Eucharistic Congress, on how to prepare children for first Communion...

...and there are lots of other reports, and a good DVD of the Procession, here...

Monday, September 17, 2018

Been busy with...

...an Editorial Board meeting for FAITH magazine, in Scotland. Travelled by Caledonian sleeper - my favourite train journey. I had had a very full day in London, and it was a joy to eat supper at Euston and then sit doing some sewing (cross-stitch kneelers, since you ask) quietly and then to get on to the train when it was ready, and snuggle down cosily after a wash and some time to read...

A few days later another journey took me to Southend, where there is a thriving new branch of LOGS, meeting at this church...

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Discussion on...

REGISTER RADIO in the USA this evening, about the Liverpool Congress and procession.

And the National Catholic Register has also published this feature about the Walk to Walsingham this summer.

Monday, September 10, 2018

...and don't take my word for it...

...the Eucharistic Congress really was a most remarkable event and even the BBC acknowledged it


.

Sunday, September 09, 2018

So much happening...

...and I went off to Liverpool for what turned out to be a wonderful couple of days....see my first posting about it here....and more follows.

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

...and...

...further to the blog post below, George Weigel's older comment on Archbishop Vigano is also worth a perusal: read here...

And in these worrying days for the Church...

...it has happened that I have been in Walsingham, a good place in which to pray....

It is worth reading this, which has personal insights into the latest developments.


Wednesday, August 15, 2018

A visit...

...to Littlemore, in pursuit of research on Bl John Henry Newman. A wonderful afternoon with the delightful Sisters of The Work, who run the Newman study centre and offer retreats and hospitality...

Now that the hideous heat of a few weeks ago has dissipated, the English countryside shows inits summer beauty. The Thames running along at Henley...the thick wooded lanes of Oxfordshire...a pub lunch by the river...tea at Littlemore with lively chat and a sense of welcome...a happy day...

Come on the next London Catholic History Walks!

The King's Good Servant
Monday 10th September, 6pm. The story of heroic St Thomas More, as we walk around his Chelsea estate. Meet at the Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer and St Thomas More, Cheyenne Row. SW3 5HS. Nearest Tube: Sloane Square or South Kensington.

The City and its Wall
Sunday, 16th September, 6pm. Meet at St Etheldreda's Church, Ely Place, London. EC1N 6RY. Nearest Tube: Farringdon.

For King and Country!
Sunday 23rd September, 4pm. Catholics and Politics: St Thomas More, Guy Fawkes, Pugin, Parliament and the Abbey. Meet on the steps of Westminster Cathedral. Nearest Tube: Victoria.

Southwark and the Borough
Sunday 7th October, 4pm. See the 'other side' of London, including St George's, the capital's first post-Reformation Cathedral. Meet at the Church of the Most Precious Blood, O'Meara Street. SE1 1TD.

For King and Country!
Tuesday 9th October, 6.30pm. Catholics and Politics: St Thomas More, Guy Fawkes, Pugin, Parliament and the Abbey. Meet on the steps of Westminster Cathedral. Nearest Tube: Victoria.

The King's Good Servant
Sunday 21st October, 4pm. The story of heroic St Thomas More, as we walk around his Chelsea estate. Meet at the Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer and St Thomas More, Cheyenne Row. SW3 5HS. Nearest Tube: Sloane Square or South Kensington.

Friday, August 10, 2018

To get a flavour...

...of the message we'll be receiving and spreading at the forthcoming Eucharistic Congress in Liverpool, read this feature by one of the speakers....

Religious Freedom...

...is the basis of all our other freedoms. This is explored in the latest issue of FAITH magazine, now online here...

Monday, August 06, 2018

The NEW DAWN gathering....

...at Walsingham. This is a vast gathering of young Catholic families - lots of children and teenagers - in a meadow at the shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham. In a giant tent, a sort of temporary cathedral,  Mass is celebrated and talks are given - and around the meadow are various other substantial marquees in which there are talks and workshops, with  music, activities for children and more...it has been held annually for just over 30 years and has played a major role in the great revival of Walsingham which began in the first years of the 20th century and is continuing at an expanded rate in these first decades of the 21st.

A great highlight of the week - held on Wednesday at the mid-point of things - is a pilgrimage down the Holy Mile, singing and praying the Rosary, to the ruined Priory where Mass is celebrated. It is a powerful experience to be part of a crowd of more than a thousand people singing "Ave Ave Maria", many walking barefoot in accordance with tradition, walking along the lane in the way that pilgrims have done for centuries.

Auntie Joanna's involvement in New Dawn included a talk on the significance of Mary in the plan of salvation and in the life of the Church: the New Eve, and Daughter of Sion...and part of this is the significance of male/female roles...

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

A pilgrimage by boat...

...with LOGS. Read here

Sunday, July 29, 2018

An important read....

...for an important anniversary. Read here....

Friday, July 27, 2018

On Monday....

...I will be off to Walsingham for the NEW DAWN gathering. Then, after a visit home to sort things out and reorganise....I'll be going back to Walsingham, this time on foot with a group led by the Dominican Sisters 

Other summer events for Auntie include a pilgrimage by boat, and two very important family gatherings, one of which is also on water...

St Teresa's Home...

...in Wimbledon is a most wonderful residence for elderly people, offering superb care and always in an atmosphere of great goodwill, joy, and peace. In this Blog, I have frequently written of a believed elderly relative who spent her last years there....it became also a sort of home-from-home for me too, where I was always welcome.

Recently, this wonderful Home marked its 30th anniversary, and we all gathered for a beautiful Mass, celebrated by Bishop Howard Tripp, and a delicious Tea, with scones with lavish jam and cream, magnificent cakes, lots of prosecco, and the joy of being among so many people with a shared affection for this lovely place.

I mention all this because I'll be back again shortly with some home-made blackberry jam...and will also (if only this hot weather breaks for a while) be joining the group taking some of the residents out for a visit to Richmond or one of the other pleasant local places where we enjoy a wander through parks and gardens, a lovely tea. and lots of chat and laughter...I love St Tetresa's.




Gratitude....

...to God for the glorious rain this evening. London has been parched and ghastly, lawns scorched and grey, great cracks appearing in flower-beds.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

...and the family...

...gathered for the beautiful and moving traditional funeral of a beloved mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother,

SUSAN GOWAN BOGLE

in the village church, with lovely music and tender memories....  The family crest stood in the sanctuary, and flowers covered the coffin, and the Rector led the service before a congregation of family and friends, and then we walked in procession to the grave, the church's flag at half-mast in the still air of the summer afternoon,  It was fitting and solemn and beautiful, and difficult to write about, because days like this are the essence of the story of our lives...

An Army wife, the creator of a happy home for her husband and sons, a dear mother-in-law and grandmother,  a wonderful  hostess, a much-loved woman, with a joyful spirit and a welcoming heart. May she rest in peace.




Tuesday, July 24, 2018

...and the blackberries...

...are just astonishing this year.  Two shelves in the Bogle kitchen are already stacked with jars of Blackberry Jam and Bramble Cheese, and as I write another vast batch of berries is gently stewing ready to be made into jam tomorrow...

Bramble Cheese? It's a creamed mixture of blackberry-and-apple, created through careful cooking and then pushing through a sieve. The "cheese" refers to the texture rather than to any link with dairy food. It's delicious on scones or buttered toast, and popular with people who don't like pips in jam. Also goes nicely with pancakes.

Signing a book contract...

...seemed a serious and exciting thing the first time.And in due course  we took a photograph in the kitchen where I posed with my completed manuscript, all wrapped up in a big envelope  and ready to be posted  Many years and many books later...well...it's still somehow exciting.  In the steady, scorching heat of this torrid summer of 2018 the post brought my latest contract, and the quickened heartbeat was just the same as thirty years ago.  Then, happy and excited, I set off to pick blackberries and ponder the work ahead.

No, I'm not going to tell about the book yet. Wait and see. There are in fact two books now in the offing. Plenty of work ahead.

Monday, July 23, 2018

The passing of...

...a great lady from the finest days of the BBC World Service. Dora Lavrencic had a remarkable life. She was brought up in Maribor, Slovenia, and was studying law, planning to be her country's first female judge. Her father was acting Mayor of  Maribor when the Nazis invaded. He refused to fly the swastika flag and was arrested. He died in Dachau. Dora and her mother later escaped over the mountains to Austria  where in due course  she worked for the British Army as a translator. She married Karl Lavrencic, lawyer, linguist, and author and together they worked for the BBC World Service and were leading figures in Britain's Slovenian community, and a voice for freedom in the dark days of Communism.. Read more about it all here: it's inspiring.  Their daughter Alenka, herself a distinguished journalist and author, is one of my greatest friends. It was a privilege to be at the funeral Mass held in the church at Cobham in Surrey.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

It was a real pleasure...

...at Westminster Cathedral the other day, to meet the Vatican Cricket team, enjoying a most successful visit to Britain. They have played the Royal Household, and a team from the Houses of |Parliament, plus an inter-faith game in which they joined with the Archbishop of Canterbury's XI plus cricketers from the Sikh, Hindu and Moslem religions...

On Sunday J and I  had the pleasure of  spending the evening with John McCarthy, former Australian Ambassador to the Holy See, who initiated this whole venture. It is superb to see it all flourishing: the Queen attended the Royal Household match.





Tuesday, July 17, 2018

In scorching heat...

...London's lawns are turning white, grass is dying, and feet  are pounding dry baked earth.At St Mary's University  the traces of the underground WWII air-raid shelter can be seen  as the drought reveals the pattern beneath the scorched grass.

You can read Auntie's take on it all here...

Monday, July 09, 2018

Recent news...

...a glorious First Mass for newly-ordained Fr Jonathan Creer at the Church of the Most Precious Blood on Sunday July 1st. He had been ordained the previous day at the Birmingham Oratory.

The Mass at Pr Blood was packed and was the last to take place in the church before big renovations begin with the laying of a new floor.

Afterwards, celebrations over fizz in the Redcross Gardens nearby: scorching sunshine across all of London so it was good to be in a place with some trees and greenery.The Gardens were initiated by Octavia Hill, founder of the National Trust and much more...as she was a fervent High Anglican, it is somehow appropriate that the Gardens she created are now in regular use by the Ordinariate with that special heritage.

As the afternoon drew on, I made my way to London Bridge station where after a badly-needed cup of tea I  travelled to Tunbridge Wells, and thence to Pembury for Evensong and the blessing of a beautiful stained glass window which completes the transformation of what was once a dreary hall on the village green into a charming little church, St Anselm's.  A beautiful traditional Evensong with splendid singing, and then out into the gardens for more fizz and talk and celebrations...

An Ordinariate day...


Wednesday, July 04, 2018

THIS BLOG...

...has been silent for the past two weeks.

Pray for the beloved soul of

Mrs Susan Gowan Bogle, much-loved wife, mother, grandmother and mother-in-law. "Far above rubies" (Prov.31:10).

This Blog will recommence shortly.

Monday, June 18, 2018

The Eucharistic Congress...

...takes place in Liverpool in September and I'll be there...the ticketing seems unecessarily complex - there are meant to be 2 delegates from each parish, but of course that means lots of discussion and checking and fuss... Why don't they just say:"All welcome! Buy a ticket!"

Anyway, my ticket is all organised, and I'm looking forward to it all, especially as Bishop Robert Barron is to be a keynote speaker.

MASSIVE History Walk on Thursday...something like 100 people. We began at Westminster Cathedral and although we had a formal completion at the gardens alongside the Houses of  Parliament,  a large crowd wanted to continue down along the Thames to the Tower. A great atmosphere and a wonderful afternoon. Some of us peeled off at London Bridge for Evensong and Mass at Precious Blood church...and then afterwards I hurried across the river to the the pub near the Tower where the final group had agreed to meet for supper....and things finished at a very late hour...a hearty meal, prosecco,  lots of lively talk...and then out into the summer night and I caught almost the last Tube trundling out to the suburbs...

It was a busy week...a LOGS meeting at Norwood on Monday evening...excellent talk from Fr James Clark, chaplain at the John Fisher School.  A family connection with the school goes back a good many years...and in the chapel there are some altar-kneelers worked by Auntie Joanna...

LOGS has some good plans for the Autumn, starting with a three-day pilgrimage to Walsingham, staying at Dowry House.

At the weekend, a wonderful Silver Wedding party given by a couple whose wedding J and I attended...golly, it just doesn't seem 25 years ago...Saturday's gathering was joyful and full of friends and fun...

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Meanwhile in Ireland...

...what on earth do the organisers of the World Meeting of Families think they are doing by inviting  this priest to be among the speakers?

Ireland badly needs a large-hearted, open and joyful gathering to celebrate God's plan for love and life. For far too long in the last century,  there was more than a hint of Jansenism in the approach to married life and to sexual communion. It created a whole sort of myth about the true nature of the Church's message, that bore sour and poisonous fruit in more recent years, with this ghastly result in the referendum on abortion.  It's time for a fresh new approach...not stale rubbish from an American talking about lesbianism.

FOR GOODNESS' SAKE, IRELAND!  Wake up! Look to the truth and beauty of the Christian teaching - and give it a fair hearing with open hearts!

Wednesday, June 06, 2018

and for more on that Arundel procession...

...read Auntie Joanna here...


Tuesday, June 05, 2018

"Why haven't you written up your blog recently, Auntie Joanna?"

I am flattered that people have been asking. It's only been a few days.  But they have been busy days.

Minor adventure in Arundel. After a glorious Corpus Christi procession - packed cathedral, wonderful music, excellent sermon from the Bishop, fabulous procession across the moat and through the castle grounds, glorious gardens and meadowland, Benediction there and then again in the Cathedral - I took a lingering walk through this lovely Sussex town, dallied over a glass of wine, tackled some emails. Then went on to the station - and found there were no trains!  A substitute bus would take me to Billingshurst, and the driver was kind and went on to Horsham for me. But the station there was also bereft -  must have been engineering works, or something. Another stranded passenger said a mate ran a good hotel not far away and gave me the number...I phoned, got a room, and spent a very comfortable night with an excellent breakfast in the morning.

Trains were running by then, so on to London to meet a colleague to map out some more History Walks.Pub lunch at the Mitre, after Mass at  St Etheldreda's...it was good to be back there, a favourite haunt when St E's was the Guild church for the Catholic Writers' Guild...

The weekend saw the regular First Saturday Mass at this church, honiuring Our Lady of Walsingham: I had invited a friend and we had an agreeable chatty lunch afterwards near the river. Then on to Night Fever at St Patrick's, Soho.Sunday saw another History Walk, and then the Procession from St Patrick's through Soho with the Blessed Sacrament, and giving out devotional cards to all the crowds...Benediction in the churchyard at St Giles-in-the-Fields and then, chatting afterwards, a sudden late-night and enjoyable Chinese meal nearby.

There's more. But that's roughly why I didn't have much time to blog.