Talking to a friend on the phone about...

 

....the current plight of the Church in Germany.    It's daft and tragic....

Read here...

STAYING SANE IN LOCKDOWN...

 

...has been made easier by being able to volunteer to serve breakfasts and lunches  to homeless people in central London. It has made some sort of sense in a dreary and difficult time. 

Walking across London on dark mornings, a silent, strange city...the grey Thames just the same as always, but the buildings along the banks grey and silent too. And in the afternoons, worrying to see all the Govt offices abandoned - grey grubby nylon curtains hanging limply at the Foreign Office in the lamplight. Somehow there is a sense that a confidence has been lost that won't return in any hurry. All this, plus the planned destruction of reminders of our history - the Mayor  of London is Drawing Up a List of statues etc that he wants banned - make for a ghastly sense of impending nastiness. Our poor country...

Working at home - a couple of good writing projects on hand - has been enlivened by finding good material on the internet to enjoy over a tea-break. Bishop Robert Barron is excellent - listen in here...there are lots of options and I tend just to click on to "latest".

An unforgettable Ash Wednesday...

 

...the team serving lunches to homeless people in London met as usual at Farm Street...and after the fish pie (the meals are provided by local hotels, in generous quantities, and of a very high standard) we did the usual extensive  cleaning and washing-up etc ...and then, socially spaced as required by the regulations, gathered  and Fr Dominic, in alb and stole, blessed and distributed the ashes, sprinkling them on our assorted heads, with all the traditional Scripture readings and prayers...in union with all the Ash Wednesdays down the years and across the world....and it was one of the most moving and powerful I've known.

DO TUNE IN TO RADIO MARIA ENGLAND...

 ...there's a lot of good material.

Try this...

Auntie Joanna also has a weekly series, talking about upcoming feasts and seasons. Lots of material on Lent...did you know that the word simply reminds us that the days are lengthening as Spring arrives? 

...and listen to this American Bishop...

 

....it's important. Listen in here...

It was Pope Francis...and he has also said some very good things on Italy's Day for Life

 

...read here

WHO SAID THIS?

 

.....a couple of days ago? A speaker appealing for catechists to stick with the truths of the Church, and not to stray:

 It makes me think of a group of bishops who, after Vatican I, left, a group of lay people, groups, to continue the “true doctrine” that was not that of Vatican I: “We are the true Catholics”. Today they ordain women. The strictest attitude, to guard the faith without the Magisterium of the Church, leads you to ruin. Please, no concessions to those who try to present a catechesis that does not agree with the Magisterium of the Church.

And the American Bishops have spoken well....

 

...and it's worth reading about that here

THE PLANS OF THE NEW ADMINISTRATION IN AMERICA ARE GHASTLY...

 

...and sentimental talk about President Biden's religious devotion is silly and embarrassing.

Read here for a wise assessment of some of the silliest Catholic comment