...on post-graduate studies.
Intriguing the questions one is now asked on official forms.(Nothing to do with the actual college where I will be studying, btw,which is excellent) My ethnicity? I'm honestly not really sure...perhaps some Saxon, maybe a bit of Viking, who knows? Never thought about it. I meekly agree that I'm just "white" which seems a bit bleak, but all they want is a category...did my parents complete any further education after leaving school? Well, no - a bit busy defending our country in a world war. But being able to put a confident negative to that question will, I now realise, put me into the category of Underprivileged Person, which is both amusing and inaccurate. Oddly, however, there is a lack of questions which would give useful information about me: about my marital status, for example, or my relationship to the person I list as Next of Kin.
But of course the idea isn't to obtain information in order to assist me in my studies, but to announce commitment to the correct ideological perspective. Marriage is a no-no topic, but thinking in social class categories might help to make the right sort of noise. All officialdom feels obliged to do this now. I can live with it. But it has a lunatic quality that adds a spooky feeling to everyday living. And at least they didn't ask the question a colleague had to answer the other day when completing some obligatory form for officialdom: is the gender to which you now wish to be assigned the same one as on your birth certificate?
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
A Festival...
...celebrating the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham...held at Westminster Cathedral. Auntie was invited to speak about LOGS (and if you don't know about LOGS, you can find out by reading this) and there were reports from Ordinariate groups including Torbay and Darlington...
The Hall was packed - people had to find extra seats in the gallery - and there was a great atmosphere. Cardinal Vincent Nichols came and gave a good and thoughtful address...you can read this and other major addressees at the conference here ... and there was a glorious Mass in the Cathedral concelebrated by vast numbers of Ordinariate priests...and then in the evening LOGS held a Reception at Precious Blood Church which was great fun, and included delicious food and a formal gathering of LOGS with a Magnificent Album reporting on our work, about which I will be writing in detail another time...
The Hall was packed - people had to find extra seats in the gallery - and there was a great atmosphere. Cardinal Vincent Nichols came and gave a good and thoughtful address...you can read this and other major addressees at the conference here ... and there was a glorious Mass in the Cathedral concelebrated by vast numbers of Ordinariate priests...and then in the evening LOGS held a Reception at Precious Blood Church which was great fun, and included delicious food and a formal gathering of LOGS with a Magnificent Album reporting on our work, about which I will be writing in detail another time...
A golden evening...
...at the Kent Country cricket ground...where the St Peter's eleven met the Archbishop of Canterbury's eleven for a superb match. Among those gathered to watch were the Papal Nuncio Archbishop Mennini - who hugely enjoyed it all despite being somewhat baffled about the intricacies of the game! - Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark, the British Ambassador to the Holy See Nigel Baker, and of course the Australian ambassador to the H. See, John McCarthy whose enthusiasm had initiated the whole project.
As the warm afternoon slipped into a mellow evening with the sky a rosy glow, the close-run match finished with a win for the Archbishop of Canterbury's team amid a roar of well-deserved applause, and the two teams were shaking hands and there were speeches and medals and the presentation of a cup and promises of a return match next year...and then there was a glorious dinner in the Pavilion., speeches, laughter, delicious food...
This was Britain at its best and I loved it.
As the warm afternoon slipped into a mellow evening with the sky a rosy glow, the close-run match finished with a win for the Archbishop of Canterbury's team amid a roar of well-deserved applause, and the two teams were shaking hands and there were speeches and medals and the presentation of a cup and promises of a return match next year...and then there was a glorious dinner in the Pavilion., speeches, laughter, delicious food...
This was Britain at its best and I loved it.
....and here is Auntie with the team, pictured when we met at Westminster Cathedral the other day....
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Paddington, Westminster, and cricket...
...and a warm September day. Spent the day at the Mad Bishop and Bear at Paddington station, which is a convenient and pleasant place to meet my co-author Clare Anderson. We start with coffee and open up the computer and get to work, and then move on in a talkative way via lunch to more coffee and then finally Tea...the team at the MBB know us and ask how the book/TV work/etc is going and the whole thing has a cheery we-feel-at-home-here mood.
On to Westminster Cathedral for the sung 5.30pm Mass - the choir is now back after the summer break - and there was a mild stir and heads swivelling to look as a team of young men in clerical dress and smart blazers arrived. The Vatican cricket team! They are all young priests, deacons or seminarians, and they are a simply wonderful group, and afterwards I had my photograph taken with them on the cathedral steps...and in due course, yes, I'll post it on this Blog.
Auntie feels a special link with the St Peter's team - their blazers are a glorious mellow gold and feature the crossed keys badge - as this whole venture was the brainchild of HE John McCarthy, the Australian ambassador to the Holy See, and a longstanding friends of the Bogles. John and Christine McCarthy - he is a distinguished lawyer and she is a concert pianist - have a wonderful family and have often welcomed us to their home in Sydney and, more recently, to the Embassy residence in Rome. The cricket team is just one of a number of goodwill initiatives launched by John McCarthy, and among much else the matches will raise funds for the Vatican's work in supporting international efforts to ban child slavery and human trafficking.
Big match on Friday: St Peter's v. C of E....
On to Westminster Cathedral for the sung 5.30pm Mass - the choir is now back after the summer break - and there was a mild stir and heads swivelling to look as a team of young men in clerical dress and smart blazers arrived. The Vatican cricket team! They are all young priests, deacons or seminarians, and they are a simply wonderful group, and afterwards I had my photograph taken with them on the cathedral steps...and in due course, yes, I'll post it on this Blog.
Auntie feels a special link with the St Peter's team - their blazers are a glorious mellow gold and feature the crossed keys badge - as this whole venture was the brainchild of HE John McCarthy, the Australian ambassador to the Holy See, and a longstanding friends of the Bogles. John and Christine McCarthy - he is a distinguished lawyer and she is a concert pianist - have a wonderful family and have often welcomed us to their home in Sydney and, more recently, to the Embassy residence in Rome. The cricket team is just one of a number of goodwill initiatives launched by John McCarthy, and among much else the matches will raise funds for the Vatican's work in supporting international efforts to ban child slavery and human trafficking.
Big match on Friday: St Peter's v. C of E....
Monday, September 15, 2014
St John Paul II...
...and a symposium in Austria, at the gloriously restored monastery at Gaming, which is now the European campus of America's Franciscan University of Steubenville. This English-language symposium examined the life and legacy of St John Paul and it was an enormous privilege to take part.
Among those attending were bishops and senior clergy from across Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, and the keynote speaker was Dr Hannah Suchoka, Prime Minister of Poland under Lech Walesa's presidency. 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the destruction of the Berlin Wall...much to discuss and it was a time to look forward rather than back: new problems, new challenges, new issues, and the theme of the symposium was the New Evangelisation. Among many interesting lectures was one on JP's philosophy and his emphasis on the absolute value of the human person, and his work exploring Max Scheler's ideas...
Austria badly - very badly - needs the New Evangelisation. People have become used to the notion of Catholicism as a tradition, something that simply keeps going but doesn't require any real assent and certainly not personal prayer and regular attendance at Mass...so vocations to the priesthood are small in number, and there is general acceptance of ideas such as voluntary euthanasia and same-sex unions...a sort of passive inert form of agnosticism beneath an acquaintance with traditional Catholic ceremonies and calendar...
A great source of hope is the magnificent monastery of Heiligenkreuz, about an hour or so from Gaming, on the road to Vienna. There are some 85 monks there, living the Benedictine rule...we joined them for midday prayer, and the glorious chanting filled the vast ancient abbey church...they are kept busy and run a large number of nearby parishes.
Among those attending were bishops and senior clergy from across Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, and the keynote speaker was Dr Hannah Suchoka, Prime Minister of Poland under Lech Walesa's presidency. 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the destruction of the Berlin Wall...much to discuss and it was a time to look forward rather than back: new problems, new challenges, new issues, and the theme of the symposium was the New Evangelisation. Among many interesting lectures was one on JP's philosophy and his emphasis on the absolute value of the human person, and his work exploring Max Scheler's ideas...
Austria badly - very badly - needs the New Evangelisation. People have become used to the notion of Catholicism as a tradition, something that simply keeps going but doesn't require any real assent and certainly not personal prayer and regular attendance at Mass...so vocations to the priesthood are small in number, and there is general acceptance of ideas such as voluntary euthanasia and same-sex unions...a sort of passive inert form of agnosticism beneath an acquaintance with traditional Catholic ceremonies and calendar...
A great source of hope is the magnificent monastery of Heiligenkreuz, about an hour or so from Gaming, on the road to Vienna. There are some 85 monks there, living the Benedictine rule...we joined them for midday prayer, and the glorious chanting filled the vast ancient abbey church...they are kept busy and run a large number of nearby parishes.
Friday, September 12, 2014
I'm having problems...
...with Comments to my Blog - they are all going into my "spam" folder so I am unable to publish them...I'm hoping to sort this out! Don't give up!
Thursday, September 11, 2014
I enjoyed...
...my time in the West Country, but there is something sad about modern British towns on a warm late-summer evening. Teenage children stand about shouting obscenities in the dreary corners of a shopping centre in Taunton, unhappy, and with bored, sullen faces. Even those twirling their bicycles were not having any fun, but just aimlessly going round in bleak circles, muttering 4-letter words amid the litter. I enjoyed a wander by the riverside park, which was empty - why do the children prefer ugliness?
Taunton has always had a solid, family sort of feel to it in a square-windowed, vaguely Georgian, way, with good shops and a sense of bustle because of the railway and the canal and connections across the West country. There are some fine churches, and an extraordinary history...Civil war...Monmouth...
The riverside walk putters out into a car park/bridge/main road/supermarket-ish sort of area and I turned back towards the Castle and the Apple and Parrot...and thence back to the hotel and my computer and some work...
Taunton has always had a solid, family sort of feel to it in a square-windowed, vaguely Georgian, way, with good shops and a sense of bustle because of the railway and the canal and connections across the West country. There are some fine churches, and an extraordinary history...Civil war...Monmouth...
The riverside walk putters out into a car park/bridge/main road/supermarket-ish sort of area and I turned back towards the Castle and the Apple and Parrot...and thence back to the hotel and my computer and some work...
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
The Vatican cricket team...
...visits Britain next week. Founder of the project is the Australian ambassador to the Holy See, HE John McCarthy. The team recently met Pope Francis, who signed a cricket bat for them.
Auntie will be at the match next Friday in Kent when the Vatican team takes on a Church of England team. You can read more about it here and here...
I first heard about this venture while in Rome, talking to the McCarthys, and it has been fun watching the project take shape. It's a good initiative and in addition to spreading ecumenical goodwill, it will raise funds for an international charity working to end slavery.
Auntie will be at the match next Friday in Kent when the Vatican team takes on a Church of England team. You can read more about it here and here...
I first heard about this venture while in Rome, talking to the McCarthys, and it has been fun watching the project take shape. It's a good initiative and in addition to spreading ecumenical goodwill, it will raise funds for an international charity working to end slavery.
Tuesday, September 09, 2014
Cardinal George Pell...
...came to Britain from Rome on Our Lady's Birthday to launch the new School of the Annunciation at Buckfast Abbey. It was a glorious day...read about it all here...
Monday, September 08, 2014
At the weekend...
...Saturday saw the "Called to be One" events in various parts of Britain organised by the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. You can read a general round-up here, and there is an informative and useful interview with Mgr Keith Newton, which you can view here...
The event arranged in South London went well and was held at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge. There was a good gathering, with people from various local churches including St George’s Cathedral, Southwark. The DVD featuring Mgr Keith Newton and Catherine Utley proved an excellent opening, and was followed by Father Scott Anderson presenting “Part Two” which told the story of the Anglican /Catholic ventures for unity over the past two centuries, finishing with the formation of the Ordinariate . This led on perfectly to the question-and-answer session with a panel on which he was joined by the two churchwardens of the parish, Bernadette Josiah-John and Christopher Smith. Questions covered topics ranging from Evensong, married clergy, and liturgy, to parish life and the nature of “Anglican patrimony”. No one seemed to feel shy about raising any topic, and the mood was open, friendly, and frank – and all accepted with similar enthusiasm the invitation to Tea in the Long Room in the Rectory: a magnificent spread in the best tradition, with sandwiches and lavish cakes. Then followed sung Evensong in the church, possibly the most memorable part of the day: glowing candles, fine singing, and the golden light of a September evening, gently rounded off with a meditation by Antonia Lynn, before the final Blessing.
The event arranged in South London went well and was held at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge. There was a good gathering, with people from various local churches including St George’s Cathedral, Southwark. The DVD featuring Mgr Keith Newton and Catherine Utley proved an excellent opening, and was followed by Father Scott Anderson presenting “Part Two” which told the story of the Anglican /Catholic ventures for unity over the past two centuries, finishing with the formation of the Ordinariate . This led on perfectly to the question-and-answer session with a panel on which he was joined by the two churchwardens of the parish, Bernadette Josiah-John and Christopher Smith. Questions covered topics ranging from Evensong, married clergy, and liturgy, to parish life and the nature of “Anglican patrimony”. No one seemed to feel shy about raising any topic, and the mood was open, friendly, and frank – and all accepted with similar enthusiasm the invitation to Tea in the Long Room in the Rectory: a magnificent spread in the best tradition, with sandwiches and lavish cakes. Then followed sung Evensong in the church, possibly the most memorable part of the day: glowing candles, fine singing, and the golden light of a September evening, gently rounded off with a meditation by Antonia Lynn, before the final Blessing.
A good day, and one
which blended information, hospitality and prayer – and perhaps enabled a number of Londoners to understand something
of what the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham seeks to offer.
Sunday, September 07, 2014
Autumn...
..and the misty look of suburban gardens in the very early morning, as I gathered apples and sought out the last blackberries... faint spider webs looping across from straggling bramble to battered fence, and surprisingly tangly and sticky when one walks into them...
More people at church than we have seen all summer, people moving up to make room: it's weird, some families do seem to see Sunday Mass as optional during the holiday season, and reappear when September signals the start of the routine of work and normal life...
Off to the West Country for a round of visits. I settled with a newspaper and a copy of Standpoint and was soon absorbed but, looking up at one point, I was struck by the utterly glorious beauty of the scene rushing past outside the window ...the countryside in golden harvest, glowing in evening light, fabulous, almost heartbreakingly so, and curiously, somehow, also vulnerable-looking...
And thoughts blended this with the relentless fearsome reality of what is unfolding in the world and in our country.
It is my birthday.
More people at church than we have seen all summer, people moving up to make room: it's weird, some families do seem to see Sunday Mass as optional during the holiday season, and reappear when September signals the start of the routine of work and normal life...
Off to the West Country for a round of visits. I settled with a newspaper and a copy of Standpoint and was soon absorbed but, looking up at one point, I was struck by the utterly glorious beauty of the scene rushing past outside the window ...the countryside in golden harvest, glowing in evening light, fabulous, almost heartbreakingly so, and curiously, somehow, also vulnerable-looking...
And thoughts blended this with the relentless fearsome reality of what is unfolding in the world and in our country.
It is my birthday.
Saturday, September 06, 2014
Walsingham water...
... from England's Nazareth.
Recent pilgrims to Walsingham brought back a big bucket of water from the well there. The well was discovered in the early years of the 20th century, and is thought to date back to Saxon times...perhaps to the very foundation of the shrine in the years immediately before the Norman Conquest.
It was a time of fear and uncertainty in the Middle East, with militant Moslem armies asserting control and gaining territory. And in an English village, six miles from the North Sea and a world away from the Holy Land, the lady of the manor, who was related to the Saxon royal house that would shortly be overthrown by the Conquest, had a vision...
The Walsingham water brought back from this summer's pilgrimage has been placed in a covered container in this church which is in the care of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and we have been urged to take some home...not to drink, but to sprinkle prayerfully, especially if some one is ill and in need of prayer and consolation...
So the other evening, I was travelling home on the Tube with (a) a big basket of jam jars donated so that I can fill them with apple jelly and damson cheese for the Towards Advent Festival and (b) a couple of jars of water but (c) no train ticket as I had left the wretched thing (OYSTER pass) back at the church. Forunately it was late, and people were kind. Fellow-passengers rallied round - initially amused at my frantic efforts to search through my backpack for the ticket, and then helpful when these proved hopeless and truth dawned. On the Tube trundling through the southern suburbs, conversation flowed. One chap kindly gave me complementary tickets for a play in which he was performing in Leicester Square this weekend (alas, I am unable to attend). Another, befriending me at a bus-stop, got chatting about books and turned out to be a fellow-writer and saw me safely to my destination. People are kind. No one asked about the water: I hope Our Lady of Walsingham blesses them all...
Recent pilgrims to Walsingham brought back a big bucket of water from the well there. The well was discovered in the early years of the 20th century, and is thought to date back to Saxon times...perhaps to the very foundation of the shrine in the years immediately before the Norman Conquest.
It was a time of fear and uncertainty in the Middle East, with militant Moslem armies asserting control and gaining territory. And in an English village, six miles from the North Sea and a world away from the Holy Land, the lady of the manor, who was related to the Saxon royal house that would shortly be overthrown by the Conquest, had a vision...
The Walsingham water brought back from this summer's pilgrimage has been placed in a covered container in this church which is in the care of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and we have been urged to take some home...not to drink, but to sprinkle prayerfully, especially if some one is ill and in need of prayer and consolation...
So the other evening, I was travelling home on the Tube with (a) a big basket of jam jars donated so that I can fill them with apple jelly and damson cheese for the Towards Advent Festival and (b) a couple of jars of water but (c) no train ticket as I had left the wretched thing (OYSTER pass) back at the church. Forunately it was late, and people were kind. Fellow-passengers rallied round - initially amused at my frantic efforts to search through my backpack for the ticket, and then helpful when these proved hopeless and truth dawned. On the Tube trundling through the southern suburbs, conversation flowed. One chap kindly gave me complementary tickets for a play in which he was performing in Leicester Square this weekend (alas, I am unable to attend). Another, befriending me at a bus-stop, got chatting about books and turned out to be a fellow-writer and saw me safely to my destination. People are kind. No one asked about the water: I hope Our Lady of Walsingham blesses them all...
The Autumn term...
...and children are back at school, hurrying around and shouting at bus-stops in their school uniforms. The thing I notice most these days is the girls in their thick Moslem veils along with their school blazers. For many, many young people in Britain who are not Moslems, the Moslem religion is nevertheless not something odd or foreign, it's schoolfriends and colleagues, and a dominant feature of everyday life. Whereas Christianity...
Thursday, September 04, 2014
IN YOUR DIARY...
...mark Saturday November 22nd. The TOWARDS ADVENT Festival, Westminster Cathedral Hall...it looks set to be really excellent this year. Musical opening, with the choir of the John Fisher school. Talks by Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and Canon Luis Ruscillo (diocese of Lancaster). And learn how to sing Latin chant, with Joseph Estorninho, who is head of music at St James school in Twickenham
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
The School of the Annunciation...
...at Buckfast Abbey in Devon has a big celebration planned for September 8th, the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary...
Auntie plans to be among those attending - Jamie alas unable to join me as he has work commitments - and it promises to be a wonderful day. Cardinal George Pell will be celebrating the Mass in the Abbey church and there is a reception afterwards.
Buckfast Abbey is a glorious place to visit and this initiative for the New Evangelisation adds an exciting chapter to the long Christian history of this corner of Devon...
Auntie plans to be among those attending - Jamie alas unable to join me as he has work commitments - and it promises to be a wonderful day. Cardinal George Pell will be celebrating the Mass in the Abbey church and there is a reception afterwards.
Buckfast Abbey is a glorious place to visit and this initiative for the New Evangelisation adds an exciting chapter to the long Christian history of this corner of Devon...
There is no doubt...
...that one reason why confused young men from Moslem backgrounds are becoming vicious fanatics is that crude ranters in mosques are able to point to the ugly sexual confusion and social problems of the West...and to try to claim that Islam is the answer.
Successful campaigners for same-sex "marriage" and for the normalising of teenage sexual activity have given the most ghastly and horrible message about Britain to young people across the Middle East and elsewhere...young people whose parents and grandparents used to admire and honour our country and its achievements and to see Christianity from that perspective.
There is a useful analysis of this here.,..
Successful campaigners for same-sex "marriage" and for the normalising of teenage sexual activity have given the most ghastly and horrible message about Britain to young people across the Middle East and elsewhere...young people whose parents and grandparents used to admire and honour our country and its achievements and to see Christianity from that perspective.
There is a useful analysis of this here.,..
With co-author...
A happy and useful time...
...organising the Autumn series of Evenings of Faith...all are welcome, so catch the Tube to Piccadilly Circus on September 23rd and join us for the first of them. We met to plan and arrange things, had a lively talkative supper and came up with some good names for speakers for the next series in Jan 2015 too...the Faith Movement has grown from its beginnings back in 1972 and there is lots going on...
Monday, September 01, 2014
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Jam and...
...prayers for peace.
If young men from Britain join an army and announce their allegiance to a state that seeks to attack us, surely the right thing to do is relieve them of their British citizenship?
And all sane people must pray for peace...
This past week, Auntie's main work has been mailing out prizes for a major ecumenical Christian project for schools.
This weekend: gathering apples and blackberries to make Bramble Jelly, and plums for Damson Cheese...and if you want to sample some of these, come to the Towards Advent Festival, Sat November 22nd, Westminster Cathedral Hall, any time from 10am.
On Saturday I took a cake in to the local Fire Brigade, to thank the firemen for rescuing me when I was stuck in the lift on Thursday.
On Sunday, after Mass a long and enjoyable lunch...a sense of reconnecting after the summer. On the way home, I saw with pleasure that the crab apple tree in the garden of an empty house along the route is, as always, laden with fruit. I went along to gather some...the house is odd and neglected, ancient faded grubby curtains at grimy windows, the garden tangled and overgrown. I didn't venture in - crab apples cover the ground outside the gate and fence, and I gathered a great boxful leaving masses still to lie beside the silent neglected property. Back at home, fresh gleaming jars await the golden apple jelly that will be fun to make and good to enjoy...
My diary is filling up with Autumn events, of which the first is the launch of the new School of the Annunciation at Buckfast Abbey...September, the month of harvest, is also always a month of new beginnings...
If young men from Britain join an army and announce their allegiance to a state that seeks to attack us, surely the right thing to do is relieve them of their British citizenship?
And all sane people must pray for peace...
This past week, Auntie's main work has been mailing out prizes for a major ecumenical Christian project for schools.
This weekend: gathering apples and blackberries to make Bramble Jelly, and plums for Damson Cheese...and if you want to sample some of these, come to the Towards Advent Festival, Sat November 22nd, Westminster Cathedral Hall, any time from 10am.
On Saturday I took a cake in to the local Fire Brigade, to thank the firemen for rescuing me when I was stuck in the lift on Thursday.
On Sunday, after Mass a long and enjoyable lunch...a sense of reconnecting after the summer. On the way home, I saw with pleasure that the crab apple tree in the garden of an empty house along the route is, as always, laden with fruit. I went along to gather some...the house is odd and neglected, ancient faded grubby curtains at grimy windows, the garden tangled and overgrown. I didn't venture in - crab apples cover the ground outside the gate and fence, and I gathered a great boxful leaving masses still to lie beside the silent neglected property. Back at home, fresh gleaming jars await the golden apple jelly that will be fun to make and good to enjoy...
My diary is filling up with Autumn events, of which the first is the launch of the new School of the Annunciation at Buckfast Abbey...September, the month of harvest, is also always a month of new beginnings...
Friday, August 29, 2014
WORLD YOUTH DAY...
...in London, 2022? Read here...
Oh I know, I know...years and years ahead. Auntie will be v. old by then etc etc etc. But think about it: WYD is going to grow and thrive, and it's worth thinking ahead from time to time and having large ideas.
Oh I know, I know...years and years ahead. Auntie will be v. old by then etc etc etc. But think about it: WYD is going to grow and thrive, and it's worth thinking ahead from time to time and having large ideas.
St Clare Media...
...is the British branch of EWTN, the international Catholic TV network. A meeting today of the directing committee. Funds are coming in, there is no shortage of good ideas for features and projects, the whole thing is humming with creativity...but the harder thing is getting the message across that this is all available. It is tough persuading people to watch something specific when there is such a vast range of stuff on the internet, from all over the world, all the time, and all available on a mobile phone...some years back, when we were a TV channel among TV channels, it was easy to say "Try this one!" but it's much messier now...
However, the EWTN news is general is good, and in America is superb - high viewing figures, and the whole EWTN project is embedded into the growing ventures of the Church in the USA... read about Christ Cathedral in Orange, California: EWTN will have a media centre there. And there is also an EWTN news studio and office in Washington with its own chapel, overlooking the Capitol...and at the headquarters in Alabama, new studios (badly needed - we were back-to-back in a crammed timetable when I was working there last Jan, huge pressure on workspace) and everything humming with hard work and prayer.
The Church in America has a sense of hope and confidence now that is tangible.
However, the EWTN news is general is good, and in America is superb - high viewing figures, and the whole EWTN project is embedded into the growing ventures of the Church in the USA... read about Christ Cathedral in Orange, California: EWTN will have a media centre there. And there is also an EWTN news studio and office in Washington with its own chapel, overlooking the Capitol...and at the headquarters in Alabama, new studios (badly needed - we were back-to-back in a crammed timetable when I was working there last Jan, huge pressure on workspace) and everything humming with hard work and prayer.
The Church in America has a sense of hope and confidence now that is tangible.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
If you want an adventure...
...I don't recommend getting stuck in a lift. It's v. disagreeable. We'd spent a very busy day in the parish centre, packing and posting the prizes for a big schools project, and finally, hot and tired but pleased that the work was done, we tidied the room. Amanda set off to pack the car. I collected various things and headed for the lift...I was hot and thirsty and thought of getting a quick gulp of water but, - well - why not wait until the kitchen on the lower floor?
We'd used the lift several times before, and it always worked normally. Dunno why it suddenly refused lateish on a hot afternoon, with Auntie, a suitcase full of children's essays, and no water.
The worst thing about setting off an alarm and hearing it ringing and ringing is the recognition that it sounds like dozens of other alarms and might be ignored. I shouted and shouted "Help me! HELP ME!".
A blessing: it was Thursday. So there were people in the church, praying silently before the Blessed Sacrament. And one of them decided that the siren alarm didn't seem to be coming from the road outside...seeing his face through the glass door of the lift, part of which was visible to me, was SUCH A RELIEF! And then things began to happen... he reassured me, had a mobile in his hand...made telephone calls...the Fire Brigade...
They were able to remove some panelling and start a hand-cranking mechanism which slowly, slowly, drew the lift down to the ground floor. And then I was walking out into the cool air, and there were big firemen, and Amanda with a bottle of water...handshakes and thanks all round...
Firemen in their clumpy boots and read teeshirts and carrying equipment are a very, very reassuring sight.
We'd used the lift several times before, and it always worked normally. Dunno why it suddenly refused lateish on a hot afternoon, with Auntie, a suitcase full of children's essays, and no water.
The worst thing about setting off an alarm and hearing it ringing and ringing is the recognition that it sounds like dozens of other alarms and might be ignored. I shouted and shouted "Help me! HELP ME!".
A blessing: it was Thursday. So there were people in the church, praying silently before the Blessed Sacrament. And one of them decided that the siren alarm didn't seem to be coming from the road outside...seeing his face through the glass door of the lift, part of which was visible to me, was SUCH A RELIEF! And then things began to happen... he reassured me, had a mobile in his hand...made telephone calls...the Fire Brigade...
They were able to remove some panelling and start a hand-cranking mechanism which slowly, slowly, drew the lift down to the ground floor. And then I was walking out into the cool air, and there were big firemen, and Amanda with a bottle of water...handshakes and thanks all round...
Firemen in their clumpy boots and read teeshirts and carrying equipment are a very, very reassuring sight.
Leonie Caldecott...
...Catholic writer, co-editor of Magnificat, is a Catholic Woman of the Year for 2014. Read more about it here...
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Calling all JOHN PAUL WALKERS...
...and anyone and everyone who enjoys a Sunday walk along the Thames in the heart of London...
Come to the John Paul II Reunion Walk on Sunday October 26th. This is a reunion walk for all who have taken part in the John Paul II Walk to Walsingham in recent years. The Reunion Walk will start with 11 am MASS at the Church of the Most Precious Blood at London Bridge, and then after a sandwich lunch (BRING SANDWICHES - fresh coffee and biccies etc provided) we will walk along the Thames, arriving back at Pr Bl for Benediction and TEA (with lovely cakes...all provided) at about 3.15pm.
Come and join in! For pictures of the 2014 John Paul Walk to Walsingham see here (scroll down)...the pic of everyone arriving at the shrine in pouring rain is too good to miss, and there are also some pics of the sunshine and the fun and the joy of it all...
Come to the John Paul II Reunion Walk on Sunday October 26th. This is a reunion walk for all who have taken part in the John Paul II Walk to Walsingham in recent years. The Reunion Walk will start with 11 am MASS at the Church of the Most Precious Blood at London Bridge, and then after a sandwich lunch (BRING SANDWICHES - fresh coffee and biccies etc provided) we will walk along the Thames, arriving back at Pr Bl for Benediction and TEA (with lovely cakes...all provided) at about 3.15pm.
Come and join in! For pictures of the 2014 John Paul Walk to Walsingham see here (scroll down)...the pic of everyone arriving at the shrine in pouring rain is too good to miss, and there are also some pics of the sunshine and the fun and the joy of it all...
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Peaceful countryside...
...on a glorious day with just a hint of Autumn in the cool air. A long and enjoyable walk with friends in Oxfordshire, dipping into a fine old church, sipping tea while enjoying a particularly lovely view, mooing in a friendly way at cattle, picking blackberries, and talking over many things...
To have a sense of place is an interesting thing. John Paul II, for instance, was a man of place: he loved Poland and above all Krakow "where every stone and brick is dear to me". This did not prevent him from seeing things from a much, much wider perspective, and being able to communicate deep things to men and women of quite different places and with worldviews centred on a vastly different sense of geography and history.
A sense of place can help, rather than hinder, a sense of fellowship with one's fellowmen.
Can a young man reared on computer-screens and TV and hanging-out-with-friends and some football have a sense of place? Of identification with some bits of cityscape or townscape or countryside that evoke affection and loyalty and a desire to know more of the wider world? If not, would a passionate ideology perhaps replace it?
If a sense of place is useful and important, how can we help to foster it? Do local loyalties matter? How can, for example, our schools, help to foster such loyalty?
To have a sense of place is an interesting thing. John Paul II, for instance, was a man of place: he loved Poland and above all Krakow "where every stone and brick is dear to me". This did not prevent him from seeing things from a much, much wider perspective, and being able to communicate deep things to men and women of quite different places and with worldviews centred on a vastly different sense of geography and history.
A sense of place can help, rather than hinder, a sense of fellowship with one's fellowmen.
Can a young man reared on computer-screens and TV and hanging-out-with-friends and some football have a sense of place? Of identification with some bits of cityscape or townscape or countryside that evoke affection and loyalty and a desire to know more of the wider world? If not, would a passionate ideology perhaps replace it?
If a sense of place is useful and important, how can we help to foster it? Do local loyalties matter? How can, for example, our schools, help to foster such loyalty?
Friday, August 22, 2014
I'm reading...
...JPII: access all areas, a good read, with contributions from a range of good writers of the John Paul generation. I was intrigued by the title, then worried that I might be disappointed. I'm not. Writers include Dr William Newton of the International Theological Institute and Hannah Vaughan Spruce of the diocese of Portsmouth...there are sections on Veritatis Splendor, World Youth Day, John Paul's poetry, his vision for Europe...and more...and more...
CALLED TO BE ONE...
...an exploration of the possibilities for the reunion of Christians in Britain...
Come to CALLED TO BE ONE at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge, London SEI, on Saturday September 6th. Starts 2.30pm with an illustrated presentation from the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Questions-and-answers with a panel. Then Tea, cakes, sandwiches, in the Rectory, followed by Evensong.
Pope Francis has sent his special blessing, and his "good wishes and prayers for a successful and inspiring event". Come and be part of it...
Come to CALLED TO BE ONE at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge, London SEI, on Saturday September 6th. Starts 2.30pm with an illustrated presentation from the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Questions-and-answers with a panel. Then Tea, cakes, sandwiches, in the Rectory, followed by Evensong.
Pope Francis has sent his special blessing, and his "good wishes and prayers for a successful and inspiring event". Come and be part of it...
After leaving the prison...
...where I visit, I was still thinking about the young man to whom I had been talking, who is preparing for baptism (prayers for him, please). The one common factor with the men is that they come from homes without fathers...
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
...and still with thoughts of America...
...I came across this feature and this one, both giving different insights into the Church in the USA at the present time.
Hurrying around on errands...
...including a visit to the office of Aid to the Church in Need in Sutton, Surrey. A slightly nostalgic trip for me, because I was chairman of the organisation in Britain for some years, and sat on the Board for over three decades...
A warm welcome at the office: I had gone there to collect some copies of YOUCAT which ACN is generously giving for a Catholic youth venture sponsored by the Catholic Union and The Keys, the Catholic Writers Guild. But I didn't want to take up people's time...there was an air of quiet urgency, as plans for rushing aid to the beleaguered Christians and refugees from Iraq were going ahead, and more news was coming in all the time...so a quick chat, an assurance of prayers, and as we stacked the books and packed them for transport, an awareness that at least through the work of this organisation, people here in Britain can give some help and show solidarity...
A warm welcome at the office: I had gone there to collect some copies of YOUCAT which ACN is generously giving for a Catholic youth venture sponsored by the Catholic Union and The Keys, the Catholic Writers Guild. But I didn't want to take up people's time...there was an air of quiet urgency, as plans for rushing aid to the beleaguered Christians and refugees from Iraq were going ahead, and more news was coming in all the time...so a quick chat, an assurance of prayers, and as we stacked the books and packed them for transport, an awareness that at least through the work of this organisation, people here in Britain can give some help and show solidarity...
Best one-liner...
...at the EWTN conference came from Fr Mitch Pacwa during the evening televised discussion, with a packed conference hall. Anyone could ask a question, and one young woman, citing the events in the Middle East, and mentioning various visions and prophecies asked if we knew when the End Times would come. Fr Mitch :"That's for management. I'm in sales."
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
At Heathrow airport...
...a multi-faith prayer room. Used to be called a chapel. No cross marks it now. It is divided into three: two rooms (male and females) for Muslims, one for Christians. I went in. The Christian space had a table, with a cloth on it and a couple of Bibles, and some Christian leaflets. No cross. I prayed the Lord's Prayer aloud, and could sense the silence descending in the adjoining rooms where there had been voices. I took up one of the Bibles (attractive, a gift from the Gideons) and read aloud from St Paul's letter to the Corinthians. I prayed silently for a while, made the Sign of the Cross aloud, and left.
Now: let's all make a commitment. Next time you are in an airport, find the prayer-room and go there and pray aloud. Alone or with others. It is good to pray before you travel, it is an opportunity to praise God and ask his blessing, and it is an act of witness. Claim the space for Christ.
LATER NOTE:
I've been corrected - see COMMENT to this blog. There is indeed a proper chapel at Heathrow. The one I encountered was simply a Prayer Room at terminal 4. Thank God for the work and witness of all involved with St George's Chapel at Heathrow, where a Cross stands tall, and where Mass is regularly celebrated.
Now: let's all make a commitment. Next time you are in an airport, find the prayer-room and go there and pray aloud. Alone or with others. It is good to pray before you travel, it is an opportunity to praise God and ask his blessing, and it is an act of witness. Claim the space for Christ.
LATER NOTE:
I've been corrected - see COMMENT to this blog. There is indeed a proper chapel at Heathrow. The one I encountered was simply a Prayer Room at terminal 4. Thank God for the work and witness of all involved with St George's Chapel at Heathrow, where a Cross stands tall, and where Mass is regularly celebrated.
grim news...
...continues from Iraq.
And if you want to help send some aid, you can do so via this charity...
What will happen to the young Islamic jihadists from Britain who have gone out to join in the slaughter? They have been bragging on the internet about their exploits, posing with the bodies of their victims and so on. If, on their return to Britain, they are arrested and sent to prison, they will start to recruit other young men to their cause. Islam is very strong on British prisons, and declaring oneself a Moslem brings a number of advantages, from special arrangements for meals and times of prayer-chanting, to a strong sense of mission and identity, bonding with a group, feeling strong and important, etc...
And if you want to help send some aid, you can do so via this charity...
What will happen to the young Islamic jihadists from Britain who have gone out to join in the slaughter? They have been bragging on the internet about their exploits, posing with the bodies of their victims and so on. If, on their return to Britain, they are arrested and sent to prison, they will start to recruit other young men to their cause. Islam is very strong on British prisons, and declaring oneself a Moslem brings a number of advantages, from special arrangements for meals and times of prayer-chanting, to a strong sense of mission and identity, bonding with a group, feeling strong and important, etc...
...and one of the topics...
...that came up, inevitably in our discussions during the EWTN weekend, was the ghastly imposition of same-sex marriage laws and the way this is all being used to restrict our freedom to speak publicly about the Christian teaching on marriage. On same-sex marriage, this is a good read.
In Birmingham, Alabama...
...at the conference hotel where I was staying, there was also a large group of lovely people from one of the big Black Churches, the ladies all looking absolutely superb in the most beautiful outfits, of a sort I've only ever seen at Buckingham Palace garden parties, elegant suits and the most glorious hats. They were extremely friendly and so delightful to meet, and they were Primitive Baptists, and faith-filled and joyful. When I asked about what made them different from other Baptists they explained that they wash each other's feet, like Our Lord at the Last Supper...talking to them was a joy and we promised to pray for each other and for a great revival of Christianity in both America and Britain...
Monday, August 18, 2014
Magnificent...
...great gathering in Birmingham, Alabama,: EWTN's annual Family Festival. Large crowds, daily Mass celebrated with glorious music and great dignity, some fabulous talks, a feast of good books and DVDs on sale, children romping about in a lovely play area, long interesting discussions over meals...
Father Robert Barron gave a superb lecture, taking in Irenaeus, Augustine, and Aquinas, explaining about the Gnostics and how this heresy is a major problem today... how to counter it...St John Paul ...Benedict XVI....it was a feast for the mind and heart.
It was a delight to meet so many enthusiastic EWTN viewers...and indeed readers of this Blog. You can find out a lot more about the Festival - including something about Auntie's talk. on this link...
Father Robert Barron gave a superb lecture, taking in Irenaeus, Augustine, and Aquinas, explaining about the Gnostics and how this heresy is a major problem today... how to counter it...St John Paul ...Benedict XVI....it was a feast for the mind and heart.
It was a delight to meet so many enthusiastic EWTN viewers...and indeed readers of this Blog. You can find out a lot more about the Festival - including something about Auntie's talk. on this link...
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
A Bishop speaks...
...read here for a fine, uplifting, and important piece of teaching, from a shepherd who is unafraid.
And here is the programme...
of talks for the Evenings of Faith, starting in September. All held in the parish room, 24 Golden Square, London WI, at 7.30pm. Nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus. Drinks and nibbles. No need to book - just turn up.
Tuesday 23rd September 2014
Tuesday 23rd September 2014
Dealing with our wound of original sin. Mary Gray
Tuesday 7th October 2014
The Old Testament: Preparation for a Saviour. Fr Ian Vane
Tuesday 21st October 2014
Jesus Christ: Saviour and Redeemer. Fr Michael Dolman
Tuesday 4th November 2014
The synod on marriage: The deeper issues. David Kerr
Tuesday 18th November 2014
The mission of the Church in secular Britain. Speaker TBC
Tuesday 2nd December 2014
Loving life in a culture of death. Sr Roseann Reddy
On Sept 10th...
...the new season of CATHOLIC HISTORY WALKS begins. Meet at 6.30pm on the steps of Westminster Cathedral - we'll be walking to Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
See these pix...
...of the FAITH Movement Summer Session - and have a good roam around that site, which has lots and LOTS of good things....
As the grim news...
...from Iraq and Syria continues...this organisation is doing good work. It was a privilege to meet one of its leaders, Benedict Rogers, at the Evangelium conference a couple of weeks ago and I'll be visiting their London HQ in September...
Monday, August 11, 2014
A useful meeting...
...of the Ladies Ordinariate Group (LOGS) at Walsingham, held in an atmosphere of great goodwill and sealed with prayer...we had major decisions to make about some long-term projects and also the next year's programme to plan, and all this at a time when we are aware of the rather urgent need to foster, cherish and pass on the truths of our Christian faith in an increasingly uncertain world...
After our talking, planning, and organising, we went to the shrine of Mary, and prayed together there, putting our hopes and our work, our plans and our personal commitment, to God through the intercession of Mary and under her special protection...
On Sunday morning, a pilgrim walk along the Holy Mile, splashing barefoot through puddles...it was like being a child on the seashore and I loved it. Cars stopped to offer me a lift and at one point I thought it rude not to accept, so tentatively got into the car. But on enquiring about the time, it emerged that I still had a clear half-hour before Mass began, so I gently excused myself, and returned to the splashy road and the green hedgerows and my Rosary.
After our talking, planning, and organising, we went to the shrine of Mary, and prayed together there, putting our hopes and our work, our plans and our personal commitment, to God through the intercession of Mary and under her special protection...
On Sunday morning, a pilgrim walk along the Holy Mile, splashing barefoot through puddles...it was like being a child on the seashore and I loved it. Cars stopped to offer me a lift and at one point I thought it rude not to accept, so tentatively got into the car. But on enquiring about the time, it emerged that I still had a clear half-hour before Mass began, so I gently excused myself, and returned to the splashy road and the green hedgerows and my Rosary.
Saturday, August 09, 2014
...and sunshine and storm...
...and prayer and singing and fun. Along the pilgrim way to Walsingham, Auntie was invited to give a talk about St John Paul, and it was an extraordinary experience to be doing this to the line of pilgrims as we made our way along by great fields of sugar beet and banks of fern and bramble. People picked the lovely blackberries - they are so huge and juicy this year, and have arrived so early - as we walked along.
A good number of seminarians among the pilgrims - some for various English dioceses, some for France, one already in the white robes of a Dominican friar. The pilgrim walk on this first day is 20 miles, and finishes at Swaffham. Here, we rested at the convent school in the town centre - buckets of cold water for sore feet, a young Dominican sister opening a great box of ice-creams for us all, much talk and laughter. Evening Prayer, and then a hearty supper of pasta-n-cheese. One of the pilgrims was marking a birthday, and we sang "Happy Birthday" to her, and then the French pilgrims struck up again in French, and then followed Polish, Czech...
As we finished singing, the rain fell. Then it came in torrents, and TORRENTS. We had been sitting under the wide porch of the school sports hall, and fled inside as the storm arrived. I was due to be taken on to Walsingham, for a meeting of the Ladies Ordinariate Group (LOGS), and the indefatigable Wayne, organiser of the travel/maps/etc for the pilgrim group, saw no reason to change the plan, so off we set in his jeep, water bucketing from the sky. A jeep is a great vehicle for weather like this. I arrived as the rain was lessening, and the LOGS were there, in the lovely peaceful shrine, with wine and a welcome.
A good number of seminarians among the pilgrims - some for various English dioceses, some for France, one already in the white robes of a Dominican friar. The pilgrim walk on this first day is 20 miles, and finishes at Swaffham. Here, we rested at the convent school in the town centre - buckets of cold water for sore feet, a young Dominican sister opening a great box of ice-creams for us all, much talk and laughter. Evening Prayer, and then a hearty supper of pasta-n-cheese. One of the pilgrims was marking a birthday, and we sang "Happy Birthday" to her, and then the French pilgrims struck up again in French, and then followed Polish, Czech...
As we finished singing, the rain fell. Then it came in torrents, and TORRENTS. We had been sitting under the wide porch of the school sports hall, and fled inside as the storm arrived. I was due to be taken on to Walsingham, for a meeting of the Ladies Ordinariate Group (LOGS), and the indefatigable Wayne, organiser of the travel/maps/etc for the pilgrim group, saw no reason to change the plan, so off we set in his jeep, water bucketing from the sky. A jeep is a great vehicle for weather like this. I arrived as the rain was lessening, and the LOGS were there, in the lovely peaceful shrine, with wine and a welcome.
The English countryside...
...so enchanting, so glorious, and with so many layers of history there...
Mass in the ruins of Bury St Edmunds Abbey, people kneeling on the grass, strong young voices singing, reverent lines of communicants...
Then the pilgrim walkers of the John Paul II Pilgrimage for the New Evangelisation gathered in the church hall of St Edmund's church, for a good supper and introductions and instructions for the journey. Sister Hyacinthe is a splendid leader and this is the 9th annual pilgrimage - but the first to be able to carry the word SAINT attached to the name of John Paul...
Night prayer in St Edmund's church, everyone singing the Dominican Office, turn and turn about with the verses of the psalms, already sounding a united group, voices blending together. As we knelt to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, we pulled out kneelers, and I pondered the fact that I hadn't brought a pillow for the night...so...
We made up our beds on the floor of the big hall of the parish school. The church kneeler made an adequate pillow, but a kind young sister, already seeing my plight, had come forward with her soft woollen shawl - not needed in this warm weather, urging me to use it. So with this, and the kneeler, I was perfectly comfortable.
We rose the next day at 5.45, sang Morning Prayer, then were driven in a convoy of minibuses and cars to Brandon, for Mass. The local parishioners there welcome the pilgrims every year and provide a splendid breakfast. It was the feast of St Dominic. Our chaplain, Father Simon Heans (Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham) said Mass, there was splendid singing, and he preached about St Dominic and read from an account of the latter's adventures walking and preaching...and staying in horrid places among the poor and unwashed with the smells and the fleas...
We were in luxury, with a delicious breakfast of fresh hot waffles and fruit and cream, and brioch and croissants, all served with such a joyful sense of welcome...and then we set off, with a processional cross held high, an a great Papal flag, and our banner of Our Lady of Walsingham, and everyone praying the rosary as we rounded our way down the lane and out through the pig farms and I nto the open country...
Mass in the ruins of Bury St Edmunds Abbey, people kneeling on the grass, strong young voices singing, reverent lines of communicants...
Then the pilgrim walkers of the John Paul II Pilgrimage for the New Evangelisation gathered in the church hall of St Edmund's church, for a good supper and introductions and instructions for the journey. Sister Hyacinthe is a splendid leader and this is the 9th annual pilgrimage - but the first to be able to carry the word SAINT attached to the name of John Paul...
Night prayer in St Edmund's church, everyone singing the Dominican Office, turn and turn about with the verses of the psalms, already sounding a united group, voices blending together. As we knelt to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, we pulled out kneelers, and I pondered the fact that I hadn't brought a pillow for the night...so...
We made up our beds on the floor of the big hall of the parish school. The church kneeler made an adequate pillow, but a kind young sister, already seeing my plight, had come forward with her soft woollen shawl - not needed in this warm weather, urging me to use it. So with this, and the kneeler, I was perfectly comfortable.
We rose the next day at 5.45, sang Morning Prayer, then were driven in a convoy of minibuses and cars to Brandon, for Mass. The local parishioners there welcome the pilgrims every year and provide a splendid breakfast. It was the feast of St Dominic. Our chaplain, Father Simon Heans (Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham) said Mass, there was splendid singing, and he preached about St Dominic and read from an account of the latter's adventures walking and preaching...and staying in horrid places among the poor and unwashed with the smells and the fleas...
We were in luxury, with a delicious breakfast of fresh hot waffles and fruit and cream, and brioch and croissants, all served with such a joyful sense of welcome...and then we set off, with a processional cross held high, an a great Papal flag, and our banner of Our Lady of Walsingham, and everyone praying the rosary as we rounded our way down the lane and out through the pig farms and I nto the open country...
Thursday, August 07, 2014
The FAITH Movement...
...has been holding its Summer Session this week. You can follow it here...
Today Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury gave us a superb talk, looking at the issues facing the Church in 1914 and in 2014...it was profound, thoughtful, wise and challenging. He himself attended FAITH Summer Sessions back in the 1970s, and is a strong supporter of the movement.
Crowds of young people, lots of talk, Benediction with a young newly-ordained deacon, an evening of laughter with a Talent Show that was in full vigour as I left...the day had been filled with discussions, lectures, prayer, and sports, and more...
Today Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury gave us a superb talk, looking at the issues facing the Church in 1914 and in 2014...it was profound, thoughtful, wise and challenging. He himself attended FAITH Summer Sessions back in the 1970s, and is a strong supporter of the movement.
Crowds of young people, lots of talk, Benediction with a young newly-ordained deacon, an evening of laughter with a Talent Show that was in full vigour as I left...the day had been filled with discussions, lectures, prayer, and sports, and more...
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
Mass at the Magna Carta Abbey...
...on Thursday. The abbey at Bury St Edmunds is the place where the abbots of England gathered to plan the drawing up of Magna Carta, the greater charter of our land, which centres on its opening statement "that the Church in England shall be free." The abbey was destroyed under Henry VIII - a man not known for his commitment to the freedom of the Church - and its ruins still stand, surrounded by lovely gardens, in the centre of the town. Mass in such a place, in the open air, the voices of the congregation raised in song as the afternoon sun begins its descent into evening, is simply glorious. Each year, this Mass marks the start of the John Paul II Walking Pilgrimage, which continues through the lanes and meadows of Norfolk and finishes at Walsingham, with the big midday Mass at the barn church at the shrine. The Pilgrimage is organised by the splendid Dominican Sisters of St Joseph, some of the jolliest nuns in England (do click on that site and see the pic of Cream Teas).
Plenty to pray about on the Pilgrimage this year. Peace in the Middle East...help for the exiled Christians of Iraq...an end to the crisis in Ukraine...and we also need to pray for the Church, and for the Synod taking place this Autumn...
I've been sent some panicky comments about this Synod...the media will be trying to spin things in all sorts of ways. But the Synod will conclude with the beatification of the saintly Pope who gave us Humanae Vitae, the courageous re-stating of the Church's message on the transmission of human life and the wrongfulness of contraception. Paul VI came under such horrible attack for that encyclical, and I remember a letter from a faithful priest, writing towards the end of the pontificate: "Pray for the Pope in his gethsemane". The Church cannot and will not change God's plan for marriage, and the transmission of life. Pray that the Synod will be fruitful and useful and a tool in the hands of all who are working for the New Evangelisation...
Plenty to pray about on the Pilgrimage this year. Peace in the Middle East...help for the exiled Christians of Iraq...an end to the crisis in Ukraine...and we also need to pray for the Church, and for the Synod taking place this Autumn...
I've been sent some panicky comments about this Synod...the media will be trying to spin things in all sorts of ways. But the Synod will conclude with the beatification of the saintly Pope who gave us Humanae Vitae, the courageous re-stating of the Church's message on the transmission of human life and the wrongfulness of contraception. Paul VI came under such horrible attack for that encyclical, and I remember a letter from a faithful priest, writing towards the end of the pontificate: "Pray for the Pope in his gethsemane". The Church cannot and will not change God's plan for marriage, and the transmission of life. Pray that the Synod will be fruitful and useful and a tool in the hands of all who are working for the New Evangelisation...
Monday, August 04, 2014
A single candle...
...stands in our window, and for the past hour the house has been dark.
We were, I think, the only house in the street to do this. I went outside to look, and up and down the road, windows were blazing as usual. Then I got chatting to a neighbour who hadn't known about the initiative, and she went back inside at once and put out all the lights and lit a candle...
Lunchtime Mass at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge, and in place of a sermon we stood for minute in silence to remember the dead of World War I, and then the priest led us in a prayer for them...
Across the river at the Tower of London, the moat is filling with blood-red poppies in commemoration.
Its been a day of intense heat and piercing sunlight. In the sticky evening warmth I pushed my way along the rather mucky lane at the back of the houses, to gather blackberries. When these houses were built in the inter-war years, there were small fenced gardens for each, and the lane was designed for the dustmen to come and empty all the kitchen bins of household rubbish. Today, most of the gardens are overgrown and some fences are broken, and a lot of junk and rubbish gets dumped there...in a strange way, the brambles link us right back to the days before all that, when this was open countryside. Picking the plump fruit and scrambling back with a brimming bowl to turn into jam was a link with that vanished England before 1914...
And the sun went down and I lit a candle in the window...
We were, I think, the only house in the street to do this. I went outside to look, and up and down the road, windows were blazing as usual. Then I got chatting to a neighbour who hadn't known about the initiative, and she went back inside at once and put out all the lights and lit a candle...
Lunchtime Mass at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge, and in place of a sermon we stood for minute in silence to remember the dead of World War I, and then the priest led us in a prayer for them...
Across the river at the Tower of London, the moat is filling with blood-red poppies in commemoration.
Its been a day of intense heat and piercing sunlight. In the sticky evening warmth I pushed my way along the rather mucky lane at the back of the houses, to gather blackberries. When these houses were built in the inter-war years, there were small fenced gardens for each, and the lane was designed for the dustmen to come and empty all the kitchen bins of household rubbish. Today, most of the gardens are overgrown and some fences are broken, and a lot of junk and rubbish gets dumped there...in a strange way, the brambles link us right back to the days before all that, when this was open countryside. Picking the plump fruit and scrambling back with a brimming bowl to turn into jam was a link with that vanished England before 1914...
And the sun went down and I lit a candle in the window...
Sunday, August 03, 2014
The Oratory School....
...near Reading, is a superb place for a conference, and young Catholics from across Britain gathered there this weekend for the annual EVANGELIUM event, organised by the splendid Fathers Marcus Holden and Andrew Pinsent. Bishop Philip Egan came on Sunday to celebrate Mass and preach, there were talks and workshops on a wide range of topics, the splendid Dominican Sisters of St Joseph were there, we had beautiful Masses in the school chapel...
Auntie spoke on Saint John Paul: to young people he is a sort of magnificent legend, and they love to hear about him. It feels strange now to remember what it was all actually like, in the Europe of pre-1989, when the Iron Curtain was a reality...and to realise that they have all grown up with World Youth Day as a great part of Catholic life, and images of Popes flying to all corners of the globe as quite normal...
The weekend finished with a rallying-call to evangelise, by Father Ed Tomlinson: in a lively address he urged that we study the Faith, be active missionaries, show our beliefs by the way we live, attract people to Christ through friendship and example, recognise that it is God who does the work and that we are simply called to help lead people towards truth.
The school grounds lush and green, great banks of gloriously scented lavender along the terrace, sunshine dappling the Georgian manor house which forms the core of the school, lively talk and laughter as groups of young people gathered on Saturday evening after evening prayers for drinks and music.
In the school chapel there are of course War memorials to the boys of the Oratory School who were killed in the two great World Wars. Long lists of names. Especially poignant to look at these as the centenary of the First War is marked tomorrow. We are all being urged to put the lights out at 10pm and light a candle in the window...
Auntie spoke on Saint John Paul: to young people he is a sort of magnificent legend, and they love to hear about him. It feels strange now to remember what it was all actually like, in the Europe of pre-1989, when the Iron Curtain was a reality...and to realise that they have all grown up with World Youth Day as a great part of Catholic life, and images of Popes flying to all corners of the globe as quite normal...
The weekend finished with a rallying-call to evangelise, by Father Ed Tomlinson: in a lively address he urged that we study the Faith, be active missionaries, show our beliefs by the way we live, attract people to Christ through friendship and example, recognise that it is God who does the work and that we are simply called to help lead people towards truth.
The school grounds lush and green, great banks of gloriously scented lavender along the terrace, sunshine dappling the Georgian manor house which forms the core of the school, lively talk and laughter as groups of young people gathered on Saturday evening after evening prayers for drinks and music.
In the school chapel there are of course War memorials to the boys of the Oratory School who were killed in the two great World Wars. Long lists of names. Especially poignant to look at these as the centenary of the First War is marked tomorrow. We are all being urged to put the lights out at 10pm and light a candle in the window...
Friday, August 01, 2014
Read about...
...Walsingham and a forthcoming Pilgrimage, in The Portal, August edition just published...
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
A bookshop window...
2nd shelf down, "John Paul II:Man of Prayer". And we've started to get some nice reviews on Amazon too...
And shortly...
...I will be off to Walsingham, staying at the Anglican Shrine, with this group...
We are having a study weekend, and most will be arriving by train and car...but I will be walking part of the way, as I'll start my trip by meeting fellow-members of the John Paul II Walking Pilgrimage, gathering at Bury St Edmunds for Mass (4.30pm - come and join us!) in the Abbey Ruins. This is where Magna Carta was first drawn up. All are welcome at the Mass, and you cannot imagine how beautiful it is to pray there, in this place of peace and of such huge significance...
After the Mass, we John Paul Walkers will stay the night at Bury St Edmunds (sleeping on the floor in the Catholic parish school) and the next day after morning prayer in the church will be taken into Norfolk to start our Walk to Walsingham. The first day's walking will take us as far as Swaffham. From there, the Walkers will go, over the next two days, along the lanes and meadows, and via a Mass in the ruined abbey at Castleacre, to Walsingham. But I am unable to join them for the full Walk this year, as I am committed to this Study Weekend. So I will be given a lift straight to Walsingham...
There's still time to join the John Paul II Walking Pilgrimage - just click on that link. It has a special significance this year, as we are celebrating his canonisation...
We are having a study weekend, and most will be arriving by train and car...but I will be walking part of the way, as I'll start my trip by meeting fellow-members of the John Paul II Walking Pilgrimage, gathering at Bury St Edmunds for Mass (4.30pm - come and join us!) in the Abbey Ruins. This is where Magna Carta was first drawn up. All are welcome at the Mass, and you cannot imagine how beautiful it is to pray there, in this place of peace and of such huge significance...
After the Mass, we John Paul Walkers will stay the night at Bury St Edmunds (sleeping on the floor in the Catholic parish school) and the next day after morning prayer in the church will be taken into Norfolk to start our Walk to Walsingham. The first day's walking will take us as far as Swaffham. From there, the Walkers will go, over the next two days, along the lanes and meadows, and via a Mass in the ruined abbey at Castleacre, to Walsingham. But I am unable to join them for the full Walk this year, as I am committed to this Study Weekend. So I will be given a lift straight to Walsingham...
There's still time to join the John Paul II Walking Pilgrimage - just click on that link. It has a special significance this year, as we are celebrating his canonisation...
Heat...
...London sizzling in harsh summer sun, everything sticky and uncomfortable. Grim news from the Middle East, harsh headlines.
The cool peace of Westminster Cathedral as I lead a pilgrim group around, telling the story of the various chapels and mosaics. Earlier, Canon Christopher Tuckwell was amused to find me barefoot and carrying my shoes, by the Lady Chapel, enjoying for a moment the deliciously cold marble of the cathedral floor...
Dinner and an overnight stay with a kind friend in her beautiful flat overlooking the Cathedral, sitting with a cold drink and my sewing, out on the balcony.
The cool peace of Westminster Cathedral as I lead a pilgrim group around, telling the story of the various chapels and mosaics. Earlier, Canon Christopher Tuckwell was amused to find me barefoot and carrying my shoes, by the Lady Chapel, enjoying for a moment the deliciously cold marble of the cathedral floor...
Dinner and an overnight stay with a kind friend in her beautiful flat overlooking the Cathedral, sitting with a cold drink and my sewing, out on the balcony.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Horror...
..was expressed by a Sunday newspaper last weekend. The newspaper revealed that a Member of Parliament had links with a group that sought to uphold marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Outrage was expressed. The Christian group involved has apparently been quite blatant about its opinions, acting as though it had a right to speak openly on this and related subjects.
I wrote to the newspaper, but the letter hasn't been printed. Here it is:
Your reporter (Sunday Tel. July 20th 2014) writing about the Member of Parliament linked to a Christian group that "actively supports and encourages marriage between a man and a woman" seems appalled that politicians should uphold such support, especially as it is opposed to current official policy.
There are precedents for taking firm action. A former prominent Member of Parliament was deemed to have committed treason for refusing to adapt his views on marriage: his last words were before execution were that he remained "the king's good servant, but God's first".
What punishment is the Sunday Telegraph proposing for the current Member of Parliament, denounced by this newspaper for having "failed to distance" himself from Christian teachings on marriage?
Incidentally, I think you should also know that there are a number of centres around Britain where "marriage between a man and a woman" is frequently publicly taught and affirmed. There is one near me attended by over 1,000 people each week. Should politicians be penalised for attending such places? Should the ban be extended to others who hold public office? Should such places be subjected to police investigation, or simply closed down? I really would be most interested to know your newspaper's stance on this.
I wrote to the newspaper, but the letter hasn't been printed. Here it is:
Dear Sir
Your reporter (Sunday Tel. July 20th 2014) writing about the Member of Parliament linked to a Christian group that "actively supports and encourages marriage between a man and a woman" seems appalled that politicians should uphold such support, especially as it is opposed to current official policy.
There are precedents for taking firm action. A former prominent Member of Parliament was deemed to have committed treason for refusing to adapt his views on marriage: his last words were before execution were that he remained "the king's good servant, but God's first".
What punishment is the Sunday Telegraph proposing for the current Member of Parliament, denounced by this newspaper for having "failed to distance" himself from Christian teachings on marriage?
Incidentally, I think you should also know that there are a number of centres around Britain where "marriage between a man and a woman" is frequently publicly taught and affirmed. There is one near me attended by over 1,000 people each week. Should politicians be penalised for attending such places? Should the ban be extended to others who hold public office? Should such places be subjected to police investigation, or simply closed down? I really would be most interested to know your newspaper's stance on this.
Filling the shelves...
...through God's bountiful generosity at this time of year.
While in the kitchen on such tasks, it's useful to think about large things, otherwise one finds the brain is asking "Why am I standing in the kitchen washing rose petals?"
The shelves are filling up with jams and jellies that will go to various fetes and fairs and Harvest Festival gift tables and so on...and the prayers are for peace in the Middle East, in line with Papa Francis' anguished plea at his Sunday Angelus...
Incidentally, I came across this website, which I found of interest...
While in the kitchen on such tasks, it's useful to think about large things, otherwise one finds the brain is asking "Why am I standing in the kitchen washing rose petals?"
The shelves are filling up with jams and jellies that will go to various fetes and fairs and Harvest Festival gift tables and so on...and the prayers are for peace in the Middle East, in line with Papa Francis' anguished plea at his Sunday Angelus...
Incidentally, I came across this website, which I found of interest...
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Prayers for the persecuted Christians in Iraq...
...at Mass this evening (Oxford Oratory). Today people were gathering in London to stand in solidarity with the Christians suffering under militant Moslem-Caliphate rule. How fearsome it is to write those words.
I am in Oxford to lead a group of visiting Americans to places associated with Bl John Henry Newman. Oriel College, and the University Church...history, beauty...packed streets, noise, searing heat... and then calm prayers of a parish Mass, and supper by the river, and much to talk about...
I am in Oxford to lead a group of visiting Americans to places associated with Bl John Henry Newman. Oriel College, and the University Church...history, beauty...packed streets, noise, searing heat... and then calm prayers of a parish Mass, and supper by the river, and much to talk about...
Do read this...
...review about the plight of the Jews in Rome in World War II in L'Osservatore Romano.
The Australian ambassador to the Holy See has written a review of Auntie's book Courage and Conviction.
The Australian ambassador to the Holy See has written a review of Auntie's book Courage and Conviction.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Auntie on travels...
...to America, as part of the EWTN FAMILY FESTIVAL later this month. Info here...
American readers of this blog...I look forward to seeing you there!
American readers of this blog...I look forward to seeing you there!
BERRIES AND PLANS...
...always the stuff of summer. Picking blackberries in the summer heat, the great thick fruit making the brambles hang down with their weight. And blackcurrants in a generous friend's garden, plump and juicy and ready to turn into fabulous jam. And - for the most delicate and lovely jam of all - rose petals, fresh and enchanting, gathered swiftly and hurried into the kitchen, to cook up gently and very very slowly with water and lots of sugar and then - magic moment - a tablespoon of lemon juice added and the sudden transformation of greyish mush into beautiful rose-coloured syrup to be poured into jars...
And plans. Busy with plans. The TOWARDS ADVENT Festival, Saturday November 22nd. PUT THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY NOW!! Westminster Cathedral Hall: stalls and displays from a great range of Catholic groups and organisations from across Britain, books, DVDs, music, craft goods and more on sale. Glorious music, top speakers: it is not to be missed. Summer sees the posters arriving from the printer and much emailing back and forth making plans for the great day...
And the "TWO CATHEDRALS" great Blessed Sacrament Procession through London. DON'T MISS THIS DATE!!! Saturday October 18th, starts 1pm for 1.30pm at Westminster Cathedral. Come and swell the crowd to make this a great procession of witness as it crosses the Thames...
And plans. Busy with plans. The TOWARDS ADVENT Festival, Saturday November 22nd. PUT THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY NOW!! Westminster Cathedral Hall: stalls and displays from a great range of Catholic groups and organisations from across Britain, books, DVDs, music, craft goods and more on sale. Glorious music, top speakers: it is not to be missed. Summer sees the posters arriving from the printer and much emailing back and forth making plans for the great day...
And the "TWO CATHEDRALS" great Blessed Sacrament Procession through London. DON'T MISS THIS DATE!!! Saturday October 18th, starts 1pm for 1.30pm at Westminster Cathedral. Come and swell the crowd to make this a great procession of witness as it crosses the Thames...
In this hot and stifling weather...
...spare a prayer for prisoners. If you are a prison-visitor, you will know what it is like in a heatwave, even in a modern, clean and well organised establishment.
Monday, July 21, 2014
What's London like...
...at the moment? For a snapshot of it all, with a Catholic slant, try here...
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Tea...
..an absolutely glorious Tea, with sandwiches-with-the-crusts-cut-off, and scones with jam and cream, and a towering four-layered lemon drizzle cake...all organised and hosted by Frances Scarr and a team of Catholic ladies to welcome ladies from the Ordinariate. A wonderful and happy afternoon - and a useful one, as we sat overlooking Westminster Cathedral and talked of a great many things, ranging from the recent "Our Father" prayer project for schools (entries from children across Greater London), to pilgrimages and processions and prison work, and craftwork and confession, and Sunday Schools, and singing at stations, and enthusiasm and evangelisation.
We drank cups and cups of fragrant tea, we planned activities and pilgrimages, we swapped jokes and stories: the perils of a procession ducking under railway arches and trailing down The Borough High Street, the howlers in children's careful writing out of prayers ("MY will be done on earth..."). The Cathedral Bell rang for the Angelus and we stopped to pray it all together. Teatime morphed gently into evening, and we finished with glasses of cold white wine, and then goodbyes and lots of good plans for the future.
We drank cups and cups of fragrant tea, we planned activities and pilgrimages, we swapped jokes and stories: the perils of a procession ducking under railway arches and trailing down The Borough High Street, the howlers in children's careful writing out of prayers ("MY will be done on earth..."). The Cathedral Bell rang for the Angelus and we stopped to pray it all together. Teatime morphed gently into evening, and we finished with glasses of cold white wine, and then goodbyes and lots of good plans for the future.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
..and in the stifling summer heat...
...our Parliament is debating whether or not we should make it possible for sad and gravely ill people to be killed...and the Church of England has slammed the door on ecumenical possibilities and invented female bishops...and there is turmoil in the Holy Land, and death in the skies over Ukraine...
...and a sense of things ending, and a tired feeling, and now the Government is going to penalise people for having proper families - they've apparently announced that anyone with more than four children will be denied taxation benefits. It sometimes seems as though our officialdom doesn't really want our country to have a future, and believes that in a dark and worrying world we should try to encourage as little hope as possible.
And so to Sunday...and Mass, and there is hope for all.
...
...and a sense of things ending, and a tired feeling, and now the Government is going to penalise people for having proper families - they've apparently announced that anyone with more than four children will be denied taxation benefits. It sometimes seems as though our officialdom doesn't really want our country to have a future, and believes that in a dark and worrying world we should try to encourage as little hope as possible.
And so to Sunday...and Mass, and there is hope for all.
...
A sad day...
A fine Catholic writer and a good friend, Stratford Caldecott, has died. He will be hugely missed: he leaves a lovely family, and a legacy of good work done with great love. All who use the beautiful monthly Magnificat journal are in his debt. God will reward him...pray for his soul and for the consolation of his dear family.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
YOU SIMPLY MUST READ....
...this excellent and inspiring call to us all on the subject of the gruesome legislation being planned for our Parliament this week.
Please read. Please pray.
Please read. Please pray.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
On Wednesday July 16th...
...at 7.30pm, at the church hall of Warwick St Church, I am giving a talk about St John Paul the Great. ALL WELCOME. Light refreshments.
Entrance to the hall is at 24 Golden Square, London Wi. Large notice - easy to see.
Nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus.
Entrance to the hall is at 24 Golden Square, London Wi. Large notice - easy to see.
Nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus.
Visiting...
...an elderly relative...Somerset in enchanting summer greenery, a tasty meal in a village restaurant where they quickly helped us with the wheelchair, made everything pleasant and comfortable, chatted as drinks were poured...
Sadness as we were joined by a dear Anglican clergyman, unhappy at today's dreary decision by the CofE to invent lady bishops and thus drive the final hammer-blows into the heritage he had valued...
Prayers, led by the above, at a family grave, a sudden moment of calm and sweetness. Scent of mown grass.
Squeaks and cheers of children at the village school having Sports Day nearby.Fabulous, fabulous views across Exmoor and down to the sea.
Sadness as we were joined by a dear Anglican clergyman, unhappy at today's dreary decision by the CofE to invent lady bishops and thus drive the final hammer-blows into the heritage he had valued...
Prayers, led by the above, at a family grave, a sudden moment of calm and sweetness. Scent of mown grass.
Squeaks and cheers of children at the village school having Sports Day nearby.Fabulous, fabulous views across Exmoor and down to the sea.
Friday, July 11, 2014
A glorious Thanksgiving Service...
...with pupils from a range of schools in different parts of Britain gathering at St Margaret's Westminster, to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Schools Bible Project.
The choirs of Ripley St Thomas CofE Academy, and Our Lady's Convent School, Loughborough, led the singing: we began with a rousing "Guide me, O Thou Great Redeemer" and then during the service each choir sang a most beautiful anthem...pupils from various schools did the Scripture readings, and read prayers, as did our Trustee, Baroness Cox. The Dean of Westminster Abbey led the service and preached. There was a beautiful message from Archbishop Vincent Nichols. It was a united Christian celebration, soaked in lovely music and with the young people attentive, reverent, and involved.
In the Schools Bible Project, of which Auntie is Chairman, pupils have to imagine themselves present at an event in the life of Christ - they are given six from which to choose - and then write about it. Every year, we receive hundreds and hundreds of essays from schools across Britain. There are prizes for those who write essays of fine quality. The whole project is, as Dean John Hall noted, very Ignatian. You place yourself in the scene described in the Scriptures, and get right into it. It is an encounter with Christ.
The service ended with a blessing, and "Amazing Grace" and the choir sang Rutter's "The Lord bless you and keep you..." The sound of the young voices filling that great church sent a message of hope...
The choirs of Ripley St Thomas CofE Academy, and Our Lady's Convent School, Loughborough, led the singing: we began with a rousing "Guide me, O Thou Great Redeemer" and then during the service each choir sang a most beautiful anthem...pupils from various schools did the Scripture readings, and read prayers, as did our Trustee, Baroness Cox. The Dean of Westminster Abbey led the service and preached. There was a beautiful message from Archbishop Vincent Nichols. It was a united Christian celebration, soaked in lovely music and with the young people attentive, reverent, and involved.
In the Schools Bible Project, of which Auntie is Chairman, pupils have to imagine themselves present at an event in the life of Christ - they are given six from which to choose - and then write about it. Every year, we receive hundreds and hundreds of essays from schools across Britain. There are prizes for those who write essays of fine quality. The whole project is, as Dean John Hall noted, very Ignatian. You place yourself in the scene described in the Scriptures, and get right into it. It is an encounter with Christ.
The service ended with a blessing, and "Amazing Grace" and the choir sang Rutter's "The Lord bless you and keep you..." The sound of the young voices filling that great church sent a message of hope...
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Monday, July 07, 2014
Don't give some one poison...
...and then claim that you are simply "assisting him to die". It's a gross and vile idea. Killing some one who is ill and frightened and in pain is wicked, and the plans to legalise such killing must be blocked. There is planned legislation in the House of Lords: the Bill comes up on July 18th. Read here, and write to a couple of members of the House of Lords, as a matter or urgency. (That link will give you info on how to do so).
Walsingham...
..and the glorious beauty of the Norfolk countryside: a fabulous weekend. Have you thought about joining in the John Paul II Walk for the New Evangelisation? It will be exceptionally good this year. More info here
At a Catholic secondary school...
...a warm welcome, and everyone v. friendly and courteous, pupils smart in their uniforms, a pleasant sense of purpose around the place. But...a rather depressing experience in the RE group I addressed: the only thing, really virtually the ONLY thing the pupils seem to know or understand about the Catholic faith is that the Church opposes abortion, contraception, and IVF! A glance at the RE work on display revealed that they had been studying something of the Trinity, and the Incarnation, and the Mass, and there were some posters showing glowing candles, altars, incense...but none of this seems to have stuck. Nor did they seem to know much about the Church's work for the poor, for the imprisoned, the hungry, refugees. They just get one shouted message from the mainstream mass media, and from the sub-culture of their lives, and from speakers and campaigners: that the Church opposes abortion, contraception, IVF, and same-sex unions.
I was giving a talk about St John Paul II. It is a life-story of courage and adventure, of responding to the glory of God's call and the thrill of being part of his great mission of love and hope. Good response from the pupils: they were rapt and interested throughout. But when it came to questions, they were awkward, shy, didn't know what to say. Then one boy raised his hand "What do you think about IVF?" It took a moment to register. I hadn't mentioned sexual ethics particularly in the talk, which had ranged from the wartime occupation of Poland through Stalin's grip on Eastern Europe, the Mass, poetry and theatre, Rome, the drama of John Paul I's sudden death, the events of 1978 and 79, and on through the assassination attempt, missionary journeys, World Youth Day, the Rosary, mysticism, healings, 2005, and more...
So I answered the question on in-vitro-fertilisation and gave a brief, vigorous, and I hope useful explanation of why it is wrong...but I don't think he was convinced, and then another pupil asked "But isn't the Church unfair on couples who long to have children?" and another asked "What about abortion in cases of rape?" And then when the lesson had finished a lad came to complain about "girls who get pregnant and then get a flat and all that money from the Government"...
Oh dear. OH DEAR.
In fairness, some of the boys afterwards asked for a booklet about St JP and wanted to know more about him. So I think there is a lot of interest...but... it is tragic that young people's view of the Church is conditioned solely by one main message: that the Church opposes abortion and contraception. They just get propaganda about this the whole time. The Church's great "yes" to God's offer of life is glorious, and needs to be presented with vigour...but it's clear that we can't teach it by simply joining in the general din on the subject in the current porn-saturated and ugly culture of our country.
Saint John Paul and Pope Benedict XVI showed us another way: at World Youth Day they did not moralise, did not get gloomy, but instead lifted young hearts and minds to great, noble, glorious things, focusing on Christ, on the splendour of unchanging truth, on the Eucharist, God's great mercy, on the joy of it all. And Pope Francis is doing this too. This is the way ahead.
I get a bit tired of people saying "Our bishops should speak out more about abortion". Actually, being anti-abortion is the one thing that people do know about the Catholic Church. BUT THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH THAN THAT!
I think we should focus strongly on sending in to Catholic schools faith-filled troops with strong lively presentations of the Catholic Faith in its truth and its glory: God taking human flesh and living among us, our salvation, the Cross, the Resurrection, the magnificence of it...facts, beauty, inspiration, a message of hope. Barron's CATHOLICISM, the DVDs from St Anthony Communications, the New Movements, EVANGELIUM, materials from the CTS and more, and more...
I was giving a talk about St John Paul II. It is a life-story of courage and adventure, of responding to the glory of God's call and the thrill of being part of his great mission of love and hope. Good response from the pupils: they were rapt and interested throughout. But when it came to questions, they were awkward, shy, didn't know what to say. Then one boy raised his hand "What do you think about IVF?" It took a moment to register. I hadn't mentioned sexual ethics particularly in the talk, which had ranged from the wartime occupation of Poland through Stalin's grip on Eastern Europe, the Mass, poetry and theatre, Rome, the drama of John Paul I's sudden death, the events of 1978 and 79, and on through the assassination attempt, missionary journeys, World Youth Day, the Rosary, mysticism, healings, 2005, and more...
So I answered the question on in-vitro-fertilisation and gave a brief, vigorous, and I hope useful explanation of why it is wrong...but I don't think he was convinced, and then another pupil asked "But isn't the Church unfair on couples who long to have children?" and another asked "What about abortion in cases of rape?" And then when the lesson had finished a lad came to complain about "girls who get pregnant and then get a flat and all that money from the Government"...
Oh dear. OH DEAR.
In fairness, some of the boys afterwards asked for a booklet about St JP and wanted to know more about him. So I think there is a lot of interest...but... it is tragic that young people's view of the Church is conditioned solely by one main message: that the Church opposes abortion and contraception. They just get propaganda about this the whole time. The Church's great "yes" to God's offer of life is glorious, and needs to be presented with vigour...but it's clear that we can't teach it by simply joining in the general din on the subject in the current porn-saturated and ugly culture of our country.
Saint John Paul and Pope Benedict XVI showed us another way: at World Youth Day they did not moralise, did not get gloomy, but instead lifted young hearts and minds to great, noble, glorious things, focusing on Christ, on the splendour of unchanging truth, on the Eucharist, God's great mercy, on the joy of it all. And Pope Francis is doing this too. This is the way ahead.
I get a bit tired of people saying "Our bishops should speak out more about abortion". Actually, being anti-abortion is the one thing that people do know about the Catholic Church. BUT THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH THAN THAT!
I think we should focus strongly on sending in to Catholic schools faith-filled troops with strong lively presentations of the Catholic Faith in its truth and its glory: God taking human flesh and living among us, our salvation, the Cross, the Resurrection, the magnificence of it...facts, beauty, inspiration, a message of hope. Barron's CATHOLICISM, the DVDs from St Anthony Communications, the New Movements, EVANGELIUM, materials from the CTS and more, and more...
Thursday, July 03, 2014
...and in the evening light...
...of a warm July day, a group of History Walkers making their way from Westminster Cathedral (which is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Christ) to the Church of the Precious Blood at London Bridge. The image of Mary and the Christ-child on the Westminster City Hall's coat-of-arms, the streets around Westminster Abbey (St Ann's, St Matthew's...Abbey Orchard Street...) echoing with memories of the long-ago monks...the glorious spires of Parliament matching, by intent and design and with a profound sense of the meaning of things, the spires of the adjoining Abbey...and down along the teeming South Bank of the Thames, crowds, restaurants, cafes, street-theatre...stunning views of St Paul's and hideous ones of the ghastly giant "walkie-talkie" and associated tower-blocks which are wrecking our city...
---and so to London Bridge, via the Globe Theatre and the Bishop of Winchester's old palace and more...and then through the Borough Market, and to Mass at Precious Blood Church, the steady peaceful message of the liturgy, a sense of coming home...
It's a longish walk along the river, took us a couple of hours partly because of the crowds...but it was a beautiful evening, and the cheery supper provided by the welcoming Ordinariate team at PrBl Church was a joyful conclusion to a happy day...
---and so to London Bridge, via the Globe Theatre and the Bishop of Winchester's old palace and more...and then through the Borough Market, and to Mass at Precious Blood Church, the steady peaceful message of the liturgy, a sense of coming home...
It's a longish walk along the river, took us a couple of hours partly because of the crowds...but it was a beautiful evening, and the cheery supper provided by the welcoming Ordinariate team at PrBl Church was a joyful conclusion to a happy day...
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
Walsingham...
...and at the weekend a glorious pilgrimage there. We gathered at the Anglican shrine and a service of blessing and sprinkling with water from the well...this was very beautiful. The message was one of healing and hope, and also of placing trust in God, of just wanting to be with him. He made everything, and he made and loves us, and we are his children. There was a timeless quality to the day, a sense of a link with all the pilgrims down the centuries and with the origins of the shrine... "The water was there before you were".
A procession, led by the Cross and acolytes, to the Catholic shrine, a picnic lunch, meeting friends and lots of talk...time for a visit to the beautiful Slipper Chapel, and then Mass in the barn church. The Mass was concelebrated by lots of priests from the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and was in the Ordinariate form. A good day.
You can read about this and also read Auntie's page in the latest issue of The Portal...
A procession, led by the Cross and acolytes, to the Catholic shrine, a picnic lunch, meeting friends and lots of talk...time for a visit to the beautiful Slipper Chapel, and then Mass in the barn church. The Mass was concelebrated by lots of priests from the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and was in the Ordinariate form. A good day.
You can read about this and also read Auntie's page in the latest issue of The Portal...
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Along by the river Thames...
...on a June morning...the tide was out, revealing wide stretches of foreshore, sandy and inviting, and with more than a thousand years of well recorded history all tossed around in there...the flotsam and jetsam of a great city, with so much happening along its banks down the centuries...
I stayed on the Embankment high above, relishing the walk and the breeze and the sudden bonus of some free spare time. I had set off for Mass early, but the Sunday buses and trains were unexpectedly efficient, and I had half an hour in which to enjoy the riverside. I'll be bring a group along this way soon... History Walk later this week...there's always more to explore and ponder...but this wasn't a research-and-study time, just a Sunday morning, and the riverside, and me.
The great reassuring dome of St Paul's is still a landmark as you look across the river from the south bank, but there are horrors as the gaze moves further east, with the vile "walkie-talkie" hideous giant block dominating all the other concrete slabs, and all beauty vanishing. You have to look at smaller things, in the immediate front-space before you, to get a sense of a living city again: the Millenium Bridge which any and every real London actually always calls the wobbly bridge, even though it honestly doesn't wobble any more...the Globe Theatre, new posh flats and restaurants, an old wooden jetty, people milling everywhere, some earnest joggers in hot tight lycra suits. Children running about and climbing on things. A jabber of different languages, lots of tourists. Islamic ladies swathed in dark face-covering robes. And then, as I neared London Bridge, the bells of the Anglican cathedral ringing out and slowly changing to a tolling announcing that a service was about to start....which meant that Mass was starting at the nearby Catholic church, too, so I hurried, skirted the Borough Market with quickened steps, and got there just in time.
I stayed on the Embankment high above, relishing the walk and the breeze and the sudden bonus of some free spare time. I had set off for Mass early, but the Sunday buses and trains were unexpectedly efficient, and I had half an hour in which to enjoy the riverside. I'll be bring a group along this way soon... History Walk later this week...there's always more to explore and ponder...but this wasn't a research-and-study time, just a Sunday morning, and the riverside, and me.
The great reassuring dome of St Paul's is still a landmark as you look across the river from the south bank, but there are horrors as the gaze moves further east, with the vile "walkie-talkie" hideous giant block dominating all the other concrete slabs, and all beauty vanishing. You have to look at smaller things, in the immediate front-space before you, to get a sense of a living city again: the Millenium Bridge which any and every real London actually always calls the wobbly bridge, even though it honestly doesn't wobble any more...the Globe Theatre, new posh flats and restaurants, an old wooden jetty, people milling everywhere, some earnest joggers in hot tight lycra suits. Children running about and climbing on things. A jabber of different languages, lots of tourists. Islamic ladies swathed in dark face-covering robes. And then, as I neared London Bridge, the bells of the Anglican cathedral ringing out and slowly changing to a tolling announcing that a service was about to start....which meant that Mass was starting at the nearby Catholic church, too, so I hurried, skirted the Borough Market with quickened steps, and got there just in time.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Come and be inspired and challenged...
...for the New Evangelisation.
A great day in London. July 5th. the new School of the Annunciation. details here: don't miss it, this will be something really special.
A great day in London. July 5th. the new School of the Annunciation. details here: don't miss it, this will be something really special.
You simply MUST...
...look up the new FAITH MOVEMENT website. It's superb. Do click on to it now.
I've just returned from speaking at the HULL Faith Forum (see link on the FAITH website). A good crowd, and a great atmosphere. I spoke about St John Paul, his life, his message, his significance...the towering figure of our era, with a message of hope for the era ahead of us...
I'm repeating the talk at the London Evening of Faith on July 16th. 7.30pm at the Church of Our Lady and St Gregory, Warwick St (entrance in Golden Square. Nearest tube: PICCADILLY CIRCUS). Be there!
I've just returned from speaking at the HULL Faith Forum (see link on the FAITH website). A good crowd, and a great atmosphere. I spoke about St John Paul, his life, his message, his significance...the towering figure of our era, with a message of hope for the era ahead of us...
I'm repeating the talk at the London Evening of Faith on July 16th. 7.30pm at the Church of Our Lady and St Gregory, Warwick St (entrance in Golden Square. Nearest tube: PICCADILLY CIRCUS). Be there!
Nightmare...
...my email address was hacked by thieves yesterday. So I spent this morning answering phone calls from friends and explaining, over and over and over and OVER again that no, I hadn't sent them an emergency message and, no, I didn't need help...
Horrible experience, and it has taken much of today to sort it out. It all happened while I was in Yorkshire, so the sorting-out had to be done - with difficulty - using my mobile phone on the train...then when I got Kings Cross, and searched in a panicky way for my ticket, the wallet flew out and down into the gap between the train and the platform...quite bizarre...the railway team, were v..v. kind and a man was summoned who squeezed down into the gap and retrieved it. I've never hugged a railway official before: I think he was quite pleased.
Hurrying - a mistake, it was morning to take things slowly but surely - out from a bank a bit later, I slipped and fell. "Are you all right?" asked lots of kind people, coming to my aid. "Not completely" I said "But I will be in a minute." And they all helped me to my feet, and I was being offered a glass of water, opportunity to rest etc.
And now I'm at my computer, sorting out the hacking problem.
PLEASE don't telephone me or email me to say you have received an odd message and my email seems to have been hacked. I know. I am dealing with it.
Horrible experience, and it has taken much of today to sort it out. It all happened while I was in Yorkshire, so the sorting-out had to be done - with difficulty - using my mobile phone on the train...then when I got Kings Cross, and searched in a panicky way for my ticket, the wallet flew out and down into the gap between the train and the platform...quite bizarre...the railway team, were v..v. kind and a man was summoned who squeezed down into the gap and retrieved it. I've never hugged a railway official before: I think he was quite pleased.
Hurrying - a mistake, it was morning to take things slowly but surely - out from a bank a bit later, I slipped and fell. "Are you all right?" asked lots of kind people, coming to my aid. "Not completely" I said "But I will be in a minute." And they all helped me to my feet, and I was being offered a glass of water, opportunity to rest etc.
And now I'm at my computer, sorting out the hacking problem.
PLEASE don't telephone me or email me to say you have received an odd message and my email seems to have been hacked. I know. I am dealing with it.
Monday, June 23, 2014
...and all over Britain...
...Processions of the Blessed Sacrament were taking place on Sunday. The tradition slumped for a while but has now been revived on a wide scale and there are processions in hundreds of parishes...
I missed the opportunity of taking part in a Procession in the morning, as I was busy with the Martyrs' walk (see below). But the splendid Fr Alexander and team at St Patrick's in Soho always organise an evening one, preceded by an International Mass. And so I hurried there and at 7pm, with groups from Brazil and from China and so on, we set off through Soho, an acolyte bearing a great Cross and attended by servers with tall candles, then a long train of us all, and then Fr Alexander, holding the Blessed Sacrament aloft in its monstrance, beneath a great canopy. Lots of singing, wafts of incense...
But in the packed and noisy streets of Soho, no one seemed to notice or care! When I first went on this procession, 6 or 7 years ago, we got quite a few people crossing themselves, bowing in respect, or simply standing still and looking interested. This year...nothing - just the talking and shouting, the rock music blaring out, the noise of Soho...and Christ unnoticed by the crowds despite the bells and incense and singing and praying of the faithful walking along with Him...
We finished with Benediction in the churchyard of St Giles, where the Rector always makes us welcome. We had Benediction - the Tantum Ergo wafting up above the noise of Soho and traffic - and then the Rector and members of the parish served wine and fruit juices and there was friendly chat and it was good to be there...
I missed the opportunity of taking part in a Procession in the morning, as I was busy with the Martyrs' walk (see below). But the splendid Fr Alexander and team at St Patrick's in Soho always organise an evening one, preceded by an International Mass. And so I hurried there and at 7pm, with groups from Brazil and from China and so on, we set off through Soho, an acolyte bearing a great Cross and attended by servers with tall candles, then a long train of us all, and then Fr Alexander, holding the Blessed Sacrament aloft in its monstrance, beneath a great canopy. Lots of singing, wafts of incense...
But in the packed and noisy streets of Soho, no one seemed to notice or care! When I first went on this procession, 6 or 7 years ago, we got quite a few people crossing themselves, bowing in respect, or simply standing still and looking interested. This year...nothing - just the talking and shouting, the rock music blaring out, the noise of Soho...and Christ unnoticed by the crowds despite the bells and incense and singing and praying of the faithful walking along with Him...
We finished with Benediction in the churchyard of St Giles, where the Rector always makes us welcome. We had Benediction - the Tantum Ergo wafting up above the noise of Soho and traffic - and then the Rector and members of the parish served wine and fruit juices and there was friendly chat and it was good to be there...
...and in a sizzling, uncomfortable London...
...the annual Martyrs Walk, commemorating those who died in the grim years of the 16th and 17th centuries...and we prayed for religious freedom and a great revival of the Christian Faith in our poor country today.
The Walk takes us from Newgate to Tyburn, and we stop at the church of St Anselm and St Cecilia, thinking of Catholic martyrs who suffered at nearby Lincoln's Inn Fields...and at St-Giles-in-the-Fields (Anglican) where we commend to God all, Catholic and Protestant, who suffered in the tumultuous Reformation years...and at St Patrick's, Soho, where we completed the main part of our pilgrimage, dividing into smaller groups to make our way to Tyburn (impossible for a large group to go down Oxford Street with all the shoppers...)
At Tyburn Convent, we are always given a wonderful welcome by the nuns. We had a beautiful Benediction and then Tea.
Tyburn - at Marble Arch - is now a very Moslem part of London. The part of Hyde Park that adjoins the Bayswater Road and Edgware Road, is now packed with ladies in long dark robes, many with their faces covered, and all with children and large extended-family groups. I cannot imagine that any of them know of the history of the place: Speakers' Corner, the Tyburn Tree...
Speakers' Corner was established long years ago as a place where free speech is allowed - anyone can get up on a soapbox and say anything they like, at least in principle. The tradition goes back to the ghastly days when a man was allowed one last speech from the scaffold here at Tyburn, and could, if he wished, finally speak his mind - after all, he was about to die a grim and painful death, so he had nothing to lose...
The grim history gave way to something rather splendid. For much of the 20th century it was a rather jolly place, with lots of lively debates and some well-known speakers. It doesn't have quite the same feel now, and I felt that its heyday has somehow passed. But I would like to think that freedom of speech is still a cherished tradition in our country. We must pray that this freedom, hard-won, is kept alive...
The Walk takes us from Newgate to Tyburn, and we stop at the church of St Anselm and St Cecilia, thinking of Catholic martyrs who suffered at nearby Lincoln's Inn Fields...and at St-Giles-in-the-Fields (Anglican) where we commend to God all, Catholic and Protestant, who suffered in the tumultuous Reformation years...and at St Patrick's, Soho, where we completed the main part of our pilgrimage, dividing into smaller groups to make our way to Tyburn (impossible for a large group to go down Oxford Street with all the shoppers...)
At Tyburn Convent, we are always given a wonderful welcome by the nuns. We had a beautiful Benediction and then Tea.
Tyburn - at Marble Arch - is now a very Moslem part of London. The part of Hyde Park that adjoins the Bayswater Road and Edgware Road, is now packed with ladies in long dark robes, many with their faces covered, and all with children and large extended-family groups. I cannot imagine that any of them know of the history of the place: Speakers' Corner, the Tyburn Tree...
Speakers' Corner was established long years ago as a place where free speech is allowed - anyone can get up on a soapbox and say anything they like, at least in principle. The tradition goes back to the ghastly days when a man was allowed one last speech from the scaffold here at Tyburn, and could, if he wished, finally speak his mind - after all, he was about to die a grim and painful death, so he had nothing to lose...
The grim history gave way to something rather splendid. For much of the 20th century it was a rather jolly place, with lots of lively debates and some well-known speakers. It doesn't have quite the same feel now, and I felt that its heyday has somehow passed. But I would like to think that freedom of speech is still a cherished tradition in our country. We must pray that this freedom, hard-won, is kept alive...
Sunday, June 22, 2014
By the sea...
...at Whitstable in Kent. Seagulls calling, and sunshine and a seabreeze, and crowds and crowds of friends converging on the local church, where Fr Stephen Langridge was celebrating his Silver Jubilee with a glorious Mass and a most wonderful party. Great numbers of young people...and many of the young who buzzed around Balham when his parish was the home-base of Youth 2000 are now young-marrieds with babies of their own, so there was a wonderfully happy family-feel to the day. Baby noises of chirruping and gurgling and a bit of wailing during the Mass, but older children were beautifully behaved...and see note below about Communion.
And numbers of young men in training for the priesthod. Fr Stephen's work as Vocations Director is important, and it is so encouraging to meet the young men who will be tomorrow's priests. The whole day was fun. There was lots of delicious food - a hog roast,vast salads, great ice-buckets of chilled wine. There were bowls of strawberries served with jugs of cream. There were old friends to greet... priests who had taught Fr Stephen long ago, or trained with him at the seminary, or worked with him...and people from Balham whose weddings he had celebrated, or whose children he baptised, or to whom he had simply been a popular and hard-working parish priest.
The Vocations Centre at Whitstable adjoins the church and forms part of a square around a wide lawn, with the parish school. It was all delightful with roses in bloom and bunting strung all around the garden, and so much happy talk and laughter...
Later, instead of going straight to the train, I walked along by the sea, and was hailed by two young friends from the party who with their baby were enjoying the late summer evening too...and we had ice-creams and warm doughnuts, and paddled in the sea and it was all perfect...
Whitstable is the seaside as England best offers seaside, with the special addition of its famous oysters: pebbles and sand and families, a harbour with lots of boats, real activity with fishing and nets in proper muddly sheds and shelters, and with oysters and fish-and-chips on sale, and real pubs with noise and beery men and nothing too posh or pretentious. As one chap said, stopping to admire the baby while carefully handing over a brimming plate of oysters to his own family "Who needs to go Abroad? This is marvellous, innit?"
On Communion: I've noticed that today's small Catholics automaticaly fold their arms in the form of a cross and bow their heads for a blessing as their parents recieve Communion - this was not done at all when I was small, and instead we were left stranded in the pew. The young Catholic children of today walk up with their parents, and can see what happens at the reception of Holy Communion and so have some knowledge when their First Communion classes begin. In my long-ago First Communion lessons, we had a "This-is-what-to-do" session, but in our parish we had a rather awkward handing of the plate from one communicant to another, instead of a server holding it. My well-founded fear of dropping the plate - I have always been clumsy - lingers in the memory...
And numbers of young men in training for the priesthod. Fr Stephen's work as Vocations Director is important, and it is so encouraging to meet the young men who will be tomorrow's priests. The whole day was fun. There was lots of delicious food - a hog roast,vast salads, great ice-buckets of chilled wine. There were bowls of strawberries served with jugs of cream. There were old friends to greet... priests who had taught Fr Stephen long ago, or trained with him at the seminary, or worked with him...and people from Balham whose weddings he had celebrated, or whose children he baptised, or to whom he had simply been a popular and hard-working parish priest.
The Vocations Centre at Whitstable adjoins the church and forms part of a square around a wide lawn, with the parish school. It was all delightful with roses in bloom and bunting strung all around the garden, and so much happy talk and laughter...
Later, instead of going straight to the train, I walked along by the sea, and was hailed by two young friends from the party who with their baby were enjoying the late summer evening too...and we had ice-creams and warm doughnuts, and paddled in the sea and it was all perfect...
Whitstable is the seaside as England best offers seaside, with the special addition of its famous oysters: pebbles and sand and families, a harbour with lots of boats, real activity with fishing and nets in proper muddly sheds and shelters, and with oysters and fish-and-chips on sale, and real pubs with noise and beery men and nothing too posh or pretentious. As one chap said, stopping to admire the baby while carefully handing over a brimming plate of oysters to his own family "Who needs to go Abroad? This is marvellous, innit?"
On Communion: I've noticed that today's small Catholics automaticaly fold their arms in the form of a cross and bow their heads for a blessing as their parents recieve Communion - this was not done at all when I was small, and instead we were left stranded in the pew. The young Catholic children of today walk up with their parents, and can see what happens at the reception of Holy Communion and so have some knowledge when their First Communion classes begin. In my long-ago First Communion lessons, we had a "This-is-what-to-do" session, but in our parish we had a rather awkward handing of the plate from one communicant to another, instead of a server holding it. My well-founded fear of dropping the plate - I have always been clumsy - lingers in the memory...
Excellent...
...and haunting drama presented by the TenTen Theatre, on the theme of the misery of the sex-trade, or what is fashionably but accurately called "human trafficking". Well worth watching. It was presented on Friday in North London, at a hall near Arnos Grove tube station. A warm night, and the hall was packed. As the drama unfolded, there was a great tension, a tremendous engagement with the audience. Gripping, challenging, and thought-provoking - this is drama at its best. Go to see this play if you get the chance. And get TenTen into your local school. They are professional and superb. And this all costs money - so a donation would help. Like all top-quality arts work, this needs support and sponsorship. Go for it.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Graduation and hope...
...at St Patrick's, Soho. This year's students from SPES, the St Patrick's School of Evangelisation, graduated at a beautiful Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska, who came to Britain specially for the event. As I have been among the lecturer for the students, and have also taken them on History Walks around London, and joined in pilgrimages and other activities with them, it was a joy to be with them at their graduation. Afterwards, a reception with delicious food and wine, and a great mingling of many friends...all a delight.
BTW, excellent feature by the Bishop here, reflecting on St John Paul....
BTW, excellent feature by the Bishop here, reflecting on St John Paul....
Saturday, June 14, 2014
In an uncertain and frequently frightening world...
...Britain is having a rather panicky discussion about what "British values" are and how we can teach them. This latest chapter in our identity crisis emerged after revelations about the schools in the city of Birmingham. A good number of them are now exclusively Moslem. It is logical, indeed inevitable, that they teach Islam and are Islamic in culture and message. This is not something artificially imposed: it comes with the Islamic families who populate the city and therefore the schools.
If this is the reality in some of our cities, how can we foster some sort of unifying set of values that will enable the young people who inhabit Britain to live together in peace, Islamic and non-Islamic creating some sort of common community?
So the debate is on. The Prime Minister makes noises about values and culture. There are letters in the newspapers. But there are things that people find difficult to say. Here are some of them:
- Our British traditions and culture rest entirely and specifically on the family unit of a man and a woman united in marriage. We have no other family tradition, and this understanding of family is one that can unite people across the divisions of race, religion, and class.
- For well over a thousand years - in fact, for almost two thousand - our laws and culture have been based on the Christian religion and the Ten Commandments. Ignorance of Christianity and the Ten Commandments means ignorance of the driving force of our history, traditions, speech, music, literature and customs, the names of our towns and cities, our annual calendar, and hundreds of every things ranging from pub signs to nursery rhymes.
- Children in schools in Britain today are not taught history. They are blocked from studying the time-line that takes the history of these islands from the Roman Empire, via the arrival of the Angles and Saxons, to the Norman conquest, the Medieval era, the Reformation, the Tudors and Stuarts and on to the Civil War, and then the 18th and 19th centuries. They do not know why people speak English in India, Africa, Australia, and North America. They do not know why there are places in London named Waterloo and Trafalgar. They are only allowed to study certain events of the 20th century, repeatedly and without any background information.
- Moslems increasingly see British society as vulgar, gross, and nasty and our young people as drunken and sexually immoral. This perception discourages Moslems from wanting to associate themselves with the traditions and heritage of the country where they now form a majority in parts of several cities.
- It is possible - difficult, but possible - to create some sort of community together over the next years. It will require considerable courage and goodwill especially from Christians. Things are going to be difficult. The chief contribution from the public authorities should be to cease encouraging sexual activity among teenagers, and to promote male-female marriage and the birth of children.
If this is the reality in some of our cities, how can we foster some sort of unifying set of values that will enable the young people who inhabit Britain to live together in peace, Islamic and non-Islamic creating some sort of common community?
So the debate is on. The Prime Minister makes noises about values and culture. There are letters in the newspapers. But there are things that people find difficult to say. Here are some of them:
- Our British traditions and culture rest entirely and specifically on the family unit of a man and a woman united in marriage. We have no other family tradition, and this understanding of family is one that can unite people across the divisions of race, religion, and class.
- For well over a thousand years - in fact, for almost two thousand - our laws and culture have been based on the Christian religion and the Ten Commandments. Ignorance of Christianity and the Ten Commandments means ignorance of the driving force of our history, traditions, speech, music, literature and customs, the names of our towns and cities, our annual calendar, and hundreds of every things ranging from pub signs to nursery rhymes.
- Children in schools in Britain today are not taught history. They are blocked from studying the time-line that takes the history of these islands from the Roman Empire, via the arrival of the Angles and Saxons, to the Norman conquest, the Medieval era, the Reformation, the Tudors and Stuarts and on to the Civil War, and then the 18th and 19th centuries. They do not know why people speak English in India, Africa, Australia, and North America. They do not know why there are places in London named Waterloo and Trafalgar. They are only allowed to study certain events of the 20th century, repeatedly and without any background information.
- Moslems increasingly see British society as vulgar, gross, and nasty and our young people as drunken and sexually immoral. This perception discourages Moslems from wanting to associate themselves with the traditions and heritage of the country where they now form a majority in parts of several cities.
- It is possible - difficult, but possible - to create some sort of community together over the next years. It will require considerable courage and goodwill especially from Christians. Things are going to be difficult. The chief contribution from the public authorities should be to cease encouraging sexual activity among teenagers, and to promote male-female marriage and the birth of children.
Planning the...
....2014 Towards Advent Festival. It always seems odd to be hurrying off in summer heat to a meeting to organise brochures, check on speakers etc for this big November event. But it takes a lot of planning - and this year's looks set to be one of the best yet. We are unable to take any more bookings for stalls - the hall is now full. More info here
Friday, June 13, 2014
Summer events...
...to be noted include:
June 22nd, at Westerham in Kent, a grand CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION with the Guildford friary Brass Band. All welcome. Info here
The ORDINARIATE Pilgrimage to Walsingham, June 28th. Travelling from London? Contact this parish and travel in comfort on the coach.
Join in a really special History Walk on Wednesday July 2nd, starting at Westminster Cathedral (which is dedicated to the Precious Blood), and walking along the banks of the Thames to the Church of the Most Precious Blood at London Bridge. Meet 5.30pm (NOTE TIME) on the Cathedral steps. Mass at Precious Blood Church at 7pm. No need to book - just turn up at the Cathedral, and walk with us...
June 22nd, at Westerham in Kent, a grand CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION with the Guildford friary Brass Band. All welcome. Info here
The ORDINARIATE Pilgrimage to Walsingham, June 28th. Travelling from London? Contact this parish and travel in comfort on the coach.
Join in a really special History Walk on Wednesday July 2nd, starting at Westminster Cathedral (which is dedicated to the Precious Blood), and walking along the banks of the Thames to the Church of the Most Precious Blood at London Bridge. Meet 5.30pm (NOTE TIME) on the Cathedral steps. Mass at Precious Blood Church at 7pm. No need to book - just turn up at the Cathedral, and walk with us...
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Rome...
...and some unforgettable days in hot summer sunshine.
Sunday Mass at the Venerable English College, with a liturgy of great dignity and beauty with magnificent singing from the young men who are training to be our future priests, serving the English mission in the footsteps of the English Martyrs...
A conference in the Vatican, with representatives of Eastern European countries, including Poland's Lech Walesa, marking 25th anniversary of the extraordinary events of 1989.
A magnificent concert at the residence of the Australian ambassador to the Holy See - his wife is an accomplished concert pianist.
And much more, including a final evening with helicopters clattering overhead while an extraordinary gathering for prayer was taking place at the Vatican...
Sunday Mass at the Venerable English College, with a liturgy of great dignity and beauty with magnificent singing from the young men who are training to be our future priests, serving the English mission in the footsteps of the English Martyrs...
A conference in the Vatican, with representatives of Eastern European countries, including Poland's Lech Walesa, marking 25th anniversary of the extraordinary events of 1989.
A magnificent concert at the residence of the Australian ambassador to the Holy See - his wife is an accomplished concert pianist.
And much more, including a final evening with helicopters clattering overhead while an extraordinary gathering for prayer was taking place at the Vatican...
Wednesday, June 04, 2014
"Our Father..."
Do children in today's Britain know this prayer? Are they taught it in school? How can we help children to know it and to pray it?
Read a bit more here...
Read a bit more here...
A report on...
...the recent visit of the LOGS to the Vocations Centre is here with a rather charming formal pic of us by the shrine...
London is getting uglier...
...and uglier.
Leading some young people from SPES on a Catholic History Walk along the Thames from London Bridge to Tower Bridge, I noticed the large grey shields on the vast sheets of glass of the viciously ugly giant "mobile phone" block which now dominates the City skyline. These square grey shields are there because the fierce light blistering through the glass on this vast curved monstrosity had melted the cars in the street below and made it impossible for anyone to work in the shops or approach the area on foot. The shields are an attempt to mitigate the horror of the heat, but they won't work very well, and the whole street below has been blighted.
The ugly tower is just one of the horrible, huge, dominating chunks of masonry to wreck our city. The towers are not owned by Londoners, and do not contribute to the city's life. Across the river, great blocks of flats are being built, which are not offered for sale in Britain, but advertised overseas, and will not be family homes but simply used for overnight stays by rich potentates from far away.
The rich mix of people who felt that London was their home, and who knew and loved their own special corner of it, and who identified with London's history...all this is disappearing.
Some day, the ugly towers may come down, and the city be allowed to operate on a human scale again. Meanwhile, it is sad to walk along by the river and to know that the rich history...Saxons and Viking battles, and kings and saints and soldiers and heroes and families...is being crushed by concrete and by the loss of ordinary homes in which Londoners can afford to live..
Leading some young people from SPES on a Catholic History Walk along the Thames from London Bridge to Tower Bridge, I noticed the large grey shields on the vast sheets of glass of the viciously ugly giant "mobile phone" block which now dominates the City skyline. These square grey shields are there because the fierce light blistering through the glass on this vast curved monstrosity had melted the cars in the street below and made it impossible for anyone to work in the shops or approach the area on foot. The shields are an attempt to mitigate the horror of the heat, but they won't work very well, and the whole street below has been blighted.
The ugly tower is just one of the horrible, huge, dominating chunks of masonry to wreck our city. The towers are not owned by Londoners, and do not contribute to the city's life. Across the river, great blocks of flats are being built, which are not offered for sale in Britain, but advertised overseas, and will not be family homes but simply used for overnight stays by rich potentates from far away.
The rich mix of people who felt that London was their home, and who knew and loved their own special corner of it, and who identified with London's history...all this is disappearing.
Some day, the ugly towers may come down, and the city be allowed to operate on a human scale again. Meanwhile, it is sad to walk along by the river and to know that the rich history...Saxons and Viking battles, and kings and saints and soldiers and heroes and families...is being crushed by concrete and by the loss of ordinary homes in which Londoners can afford to live..
Sunday, June 01, 2014
...and...
...after a beautiful day at the Vocations Centre in Whitstable, I've come to understand more and more the urgency with which we must pray for more priests, young men of faith, courage, piety and zeal, committed to the New Evangelisation and inspired by Saint John Paul the Great to do great and holy things in this new Millenium...
Dear Bishops: WE WANT OUR FEAST-DAYS BACK!!!
PLEASE!!!
Today we had to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. But the message got a bit lost: this is a wonderful Feast and it just melted away as it all just felt like an ordinary Sunday.
It just isn't working out. The idea of "moving a feast-day to the nearest Sunday" has muddled everyone. It means that Catholic schools miss out: they can't celebrate the feast with the children. And it's no use saying that the children will celebrate on the Sunday because in too many cases THEIR PARENTS DON'T TAKE THEM TO MASS ON SUNDAYS. So a Catholic school must evangelise them. Why rob the school of this task?
And how do you teach about what a "Novena" is? It's all based on the Scriptural account of the days between the Ascension and Pentecost - and we've been robbed of those days.
Please, dear Bishops of England and Wales: GIVE US BACK OUR FEAST-DAYS.
Today we had to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. But the message got a bit lost: this is a wonderful Feast and it just melted away as it all just felt like an ordinary Sunday.
It just isn't working out. The idea of "moving a feast-day to the nearest Sunday" has muddled everyone. It means that Catholic schools miss out: they can't celebrate the feast with the children. And it's no use saying that the children will celebrate on the Sunday because in too many cases THEIR PARENTS DON'T TAKE THEM TO MASS ON SUNDAYS. So a Catholic school must evangelise them. Why rob the school of this task?
And how do you teach about what a "Novena" is? It's all based on the Scriptural account of the days between the Ascension and Pentecost - and we've been robbed of those days.
Please, dear Bishops of England and Wales: GIVE US BACK OUR FEAST-DAYS.
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