CATHOLIC WOMEN...

... from across Britain will gather on November 6th at London's Farm Street church, to pray for our young people.

 Knife crime, internet "sexting", social media addiction, drugs, family break-up...our young people are crushed and confused by so many pressures. We need to pray.

For half a century, the annual Catholic Women of the Year event brought Britain's Catholic women together to celebrate their commitment to the Faith.Last year, marking this golden jubilee, it was agreed that it was time to change the approach, while keeping the commitment and the tradition. So we are now Catholic Women Praying Together and we will gather for Mass to pray each year. The 2019 theme virtually chose itself: we need to pray for our young people.

The Mass will be followed by a buffet lunch. More info follows.

Save the date in your diary now!

...and earlier...

...a diaconate ordination at Westminster Cathedral. Among those being ordained was Joseph Estorninho, who for some years ran music workshops at the Towards Advent Festival, following in the footsteps of his friend and colleague Jeremy de Satge.  Joseph is a fine musician, teacher, and composer. It was so moving to see the men prostrate in the sanctuary as the litany was chanted. begging the saints to pray for them....then the Cardinal preached, reminding us of the solemnity and importance of what was happening...and then came the promieses, and the  laying-on-of hands...

Afterwards, a cheery glass of prosecco, and speeches, in the Cathedral House library...and then for the new deacons, a new life and new resonsibilities ahead...

If you've been wondering why Auntie J. has not been blogging....

....it's because I've been in a monastery.

Spent some lovely days at Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight.  Lauds - Morning Prayer - at 7am...but the monks get up earlier, to sing Vigils at 5am. Breakfast (in silence). Time for a walk before Mass....gardens, pigs, glorious countryside, woods, ruins of the ancient abbey (destroyed under Henry, 1536), and the sea.  Mass and then some coffee (gift shop, proper bikkies, local wines and honey and  home-made toffee and things, fresh eggs from monastery hens)...and then on with the business of the day.

Which was a colloquium led by Fr Ian Ker, on GK Chesteron. A pleasant, friendly,  scholarly feel with lively discussion - excellent mix of  serious content and shared sense of sheer enjoyment in Chesterton's prose.

One evening we all decamped to St Cecilia's Abbey so the sisters there could also enjoy the conference. Topic for this session was John Henry Newman's influence on Chesterton and it was the best one of all. The sisters combine scholarship with charm, good humour and a sort of easy informal dignity that I wish we could all try to acquire....

As in all monsteries, Compline concludes each night with the Abbot blessing us all with holy water...on the first night this brought such a cosy and restful feel that I just wanted to go straight to sleep even though it was still light. Another evening I went with a friend down to the seashore and as we paddled happily in the shallows of the Solent, the sun went gently down acoss the bay in a glow of enchanting pink and gold...

In spare moments, I read (found this book on the guest rooms shelves and much enoyed it), visited the bookshop - where they are stocking this book on Newman, and others by the same author - walked in the woods,  talked to a team of  (excellent) seminarians from Oscott and other guests at the Colloquium....

Then home across the sea, the sun sparkling on the water, and a busy train ride up to London catching up on emails....

IMPORTANT:

You really need to order this now, hot from Rome and essential for your information. Your local school needs to know what the Church is saying. Your friends and, especially, your family, your parish priest, your Catholic organisations and groups, need to know. Order here...

AT TYBURN CONVENT...

...the funeral Mass for Ruth Rees, writer, broadcaster, a convert from the Jewish faith to the Catholic church, a valued friend.

Ruth's Jewish family arranged and attended the Mass, and took part in the readings. It was a most beautiful sung Mass with a fine choir, and afterwards there were lovely tributes to Ruth with stories about her long life. The Order of Service included extracts from her book on the Rosary  and at the reception afterwards we listened to a brief recording of  a talk she once gave about Tyburn, a place she particularly cherished.

A splendid church...

...and a Newman celebration. Evensong and Mass here  with the most beautiful singing from the children's choir...then a v. enjoyable gathering to launch  Newman's London .  Lots of friends old and new...prosecco...delicious snacks...a great buzz of talk...a happy, happy evening.
It was a joy to present copies of the book to people who have given particular help and support in its production.

If you want a  signed copy of the book, you can get one from the aiuthor by joining one of the History Walks over the next weeks...info here

...And my book...

...on John Henry Newman is officially launched tomorrow, with what promises to be a rather good party.

Then at the weekend I will be at Westminster Cathedral for the ordination of a friend to the diaconate. And on Sunday, after the Martyrs' Walk, I'll hop over to Soho to be part of the Corpus Christi Pprocessiion from St Patrick's...

Been reading and enjoying this hefty tome on Newman: heavy to carry about, but a wonderful read, bringing one deep into the events of the 19th century and deeper still into continuing important issues in the Church, pointing to the future...

And after a satisfying but longish day at the University, a walk along the river to Kingston.  The Thames flows along as it has done for century after century...

A delightful afternoon...

...at Morden Hall Park, a glorious swathe of countryside only a few miles from London. It's near Wimbledon, Tooting, and Merton...but you wouldn't know it. Rose gardens, wide green lawns, the river Wandle wandling along with baby moorhens squeaking enchantingly, a wooden walkway among the rushes specially created so we can all enjoy it, including people in wheelchairs and young mums with prams...and then a proper Tea with china cups and plates, and scones with strawberry jam and cream...

Hugely recommended. We had a fabulous afternoon. Greatly restorative. Well be back.

Surely a daft idea?

There are big headlines today across the internet announcing that the Church may introduce the idea of married men being ordained, specifically for work in the deeply remote areas of the Amazon forest. Reports emphasise that some villages only see a priest once or twice a year, so any priest would have to be permanently on the move, and living in unusually difficult conditions.

Am I alone in thinking this an absolutely daft idea?

Surely the life of a travelling missionary deep in the Amazaon forests is ideally suited to a celibate, and absolutely the last job on eath to offer to a married man trying to raise a famiily?  Imagine - or perhaps the daft people who are offering this idea simply are incapable of imagining - a man struggling  to care for his wife and a bunch of  children,  facing  hunger, lack of everyday comforts, no settled home, inadquate supplies of everything from medical  supplies to sanitation, clothing and educational opportunities....the tough life of a missionary, Think of the children, hostages to an ecclesial whim, denied a proper home or education, or the normal networks of family and friends, as they travel from place to place so that their father can work in remote villages offering Mass and the sacraments?  Or...no...I suppose the plan is that some decent man in one small village is expected to leave his family for long periods, neglecting them for days, weeks, months at a time as other villagers  and relatives try to rally round to  cope with the usual and inevitable challenges and tragedies of daily life...childbirth and illness and  care for the infirm and elderly, and teaching the children and helping them train for work and for adult life...

Or perhaps the priest's family is to be specially favoured...extra help with family finances, funds and status for in-laws and other helpers, scholarships for the children at good schools and  a chance at university? With hard-working impoverished people in remote villages taxed to pay for this...

My guess is that the Amazon-ditch-celibacy plan is the dream of some ageing western clerics, seeking to change the Church's rich and valued pastoral practice to satisfy a conviction formed in about 1968 on no pastoral basis whatever.

Message to the Synod: drop this idea  immediately, and get on with some real pastoral planning.

In response to enquiries...

...the Martyrs' Walk is this coming Sunday, June 23rd, starts 1.30pm from the churchyard of St Sepulcre-without-Newgate, near the Old Bailey.

More info from the Catholic History Walks website here.

The Walk was booked for the same day as the annual Corpus Christi Procession through London - a stupid mistake on our part. I am urging people to make their own choice between the two...I won't be disappointed if the Martyrs' Walk is smaller this year, and we'll check to avoid clashes on future dates.

The conference on THE GENDER AGENDA....

....organised by the Association of Catholic Women was packed out and was a superb day. Excellent speakers: Kerri Christopher from The Humanum Institute and Louise Kirk from Alive to the World.

This whole question of being male or female, of the importance of the truth about our human identity, is a major issue.  A grim aspect of it all is the pressure on children to "trans" and the way in which lobbying for this is financed out of our taxes.  There are some cruel and tragic things happening.  I found this website helpful.

Researching...

...London's history for forthcoming History Walks I came across this fascinating piece. Note the author...

Catholic women...

...have issued a statement re the new Vatican document on gender ideology....

CATHOLIC WOMEN HAIL NEW DOCUMENT

The Association of Catholic Women expresses its warmest gratitude to the Congregation for Catholic Education for its  statement on the question of gender ideology, Male and Female he created them:towards a path of dialogue on gender theory in education (issued June 10th 2019). https://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2019/gender-ideology-is-opposed-to-faith-reason-vatican-office-says.cfm

The document, which offers a practical and well-grounded approach, is timely and important. Catholic families and schools will welcome this insightful message,  which offers a genuinely helpful intervention in the confusion that surrounds this delicate subject, and shows a way forward. The topic is discussed with charity and an emphasis on human values and human dignity.

We look forward to co-operating with other Catholic organisations in furthering the Church's mission of teaching the truth and meaning of our humanity, created male and female.

Association of Catholic Women  (UK)  June 10th  2019

NEW VATICAN DOCUMENT CHALLENGES GENDER IDEOLOGY....

...and it's a good read.  Info here...

And the BBC has become the spokesman for lesbian and homosexual activists who are angry and appalled...

without even a pretence at getting a balance on the subject.

On President Trump and D-Day and so on...

...read Auntie's analysis and discussion...

Here...

And then...

...invited by friends to a lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine. It was on a topic of particular interest to me, concerning health issues at the original London Airport: Croydon Airport.  Over forty years ago, with two colleagues, I began what was to become a four-volume history of Croydon Airport and  the books are still available: you can find them here   and here  and here...

Croydon Airport began as a small airfield in WWI with heroic pilots learning to fly before being despatched to the battle fields of Flanders...it went on to beome the cradle of British aviation.  From here the air routes across the world were carved out....and then it played a central role  in the Battle of Britain...

Working on this, over many years starting with my election as a local borough councillor in the London Borough of Sutton in 1974, was a big part of my life, and the lecture at the RSM brought it all back.  It was touching to be greeted at the start of the lecture, and Iwas suddenly deeply moved...warm memories...my father was an early member of the Croydon Airport Society, ran its newsletter for many years, and helped to bring to birth the fine Museum which now stands there...

With LOGS...

...the Ladies Ordinariate Group,  at The Borough, London Bridge, - a very happy evening, celebrating the life and work of Bl John Henry Newman, with Sarah de Nordwall giving readings from his work. Wine, delicious food, and great sense of conviviality...and we finished by walking across the Thames to his birthplace in the City.

It had been a busy day...I  had spent the afternoon very agreeably with residents from the nursing home where my mother lived for some years - they have regular outings to pleasant places and a number of us help out with the wheelchairs etc. We explored Morden Hall Park - the sparking river Wandle, tumbling over little waterfalls, great horse-chestnut trees in their summer glory, baby moorhens squeaking fluffily on the ponds among the reeds...and a delicious Cream Tea to complete the pleasure...

Travelling home late after all this,  trundling a suitcase, I was helped s by a kind Polish gentleman, who briskly took the heavy case up the stairs. I thanked him and held out my hand, which he took and gallantly lightly kissed.

...and a personal note on Newman from Auntie...

...about Richmond, and the Thames, and the Newman house at Ham....

Auntie J's first job as a journalist was in Richmond...

Read here...