A couple of reports..

...from young members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, telling of their impressions of the InVocation Festival. Worth reading: here.

Recently watched...

...a film version of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Chilling. This was the first really grown-up book that I ever read to review: we were in the VI form and studying English Literature and exploring the whole concept of book reviews and how to write one. I remember reading Huxley and also George Orwell's 1984 and writing a review comparing the two. I found Huxley more chilling because, as I remember writing then "we seem a lot nearer to Huxley's world of artificially-created life, and "feelies" now than when he wrote this book back in the 1930s". And if that was true in 1969, golly, it's much more true now. And there are whole aspects of the book that I had forgotten and which ring horribly accurately in modern Britain: the cult of physical pleasure, the utter obsession with sexual activity as recreational ("erotic play" sessions for children, endless sexual "engagements" among the adults), the absence of anything approaching a lifelong binding selfless love. And the things I remembered from that first reading back in my schooldays - the banks of embryos, the 3-dimensional "feely" TV/films which could be "felt" as well as watched. Huxley's book was what propelled me into activity with groups defending marriage and family life and, in particular, opposing abortion and related evils...

Religious freedom...

...and Catholic schools. Read some thoughts here.

Allies...

..in defence of marriage. A news report - the Chief Rabbi has announced his opposition to the Govt's plans for same-sex marriage: "In a submission to a Home Office consultation, the London Beth Din (the Chief Rabbi’s court), and the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue (RCUS), stated that same-sex unions were “against Jewish law”. “Marriage by definition in Jewish (biblical) law is the union of a male and a female. While Judaism teaches respect for others and condemns all types of discrimination, we oppose a change to the definition of marriage that includes same-sex relationships. Jewish (biblical) law prohibits the practice of homosexuality.” Civil marriage for same-sex couples should be rejected because, they said, “any attempt to redefine this sacred institution would be to undermine the concept of marriage”.They also voiced concern that “if the government were to introduce same-sex marriage through a civil ceremony, any attempt to exclude the possibility of a religious ceremony for such couples would be subject to challenge to the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds of discrimination”.

I have just...

..comes across this small feature on a Catholic news website, and was touched by it.

You might enjoy...

The Evangelium conference...even though Auntie is one of the speakers. Always crowded - both the programme and the numbers of young people. Hugely attractive setting at The Oratory School near Reading. It's Catholic, young, welcoming and frankly fun. Talks on a range of topics all related to the Faith, socialising, a daily Mass (dignified liturgy, fine singing), making friends. Exhausting - people tend to enjoy themselves until a late hour - but agreeable, strong sense of friendship and solidarity. Come!

Back to school...

...to St Philomena's, in Carshalton, Surrey. I was there for 13 years from the age of four, and here we were, members of the Catholic Union, meeting there for the Summer Gathering. Mass in the beautiful chapel - filled with memories. Lunch in the old panelled library. Rain splashing down on to the green lawns...but, goodness, the things we needed to tackle were not there in the vanished Britain of my childhood and teenage years. Same-sex marriage.Infringements of the rights of Christians in Britain. A host of petty bits of bureaucracy that make running Catholic schools - or any schools - increasingly difficult. Euthanasia - and the creeping advance of it in British hospitals with misuse of the 'Liverpool Care Pathway'. The next years are going to require courage and good leadership in the Catholic Church in Britain.

Pope Paul VI...

...may be beatified during this forthcoming Year of Faith, according to news reports. I am glad. I had always been given the impression that he was a weak and uninteresting character and then it became very fashionable - still is - for people to denigrate him, especially people with scant wisdom but strong opinions. But it is worth finding out more about this servant of God. A short while back, without knowing that he was going to be beatified, and simply because I was doing some research into the role of Pius XII in World War II and the help given to refugees and Jewish people, I started to find out a great deal more about him. Did you know that the future Paul VI was the man who organised safe places for numbers of Jewish people in Rome during those years? That he was tasked with ensuring that the Papal accomodation at Castel Gandolfo - among other places - was turned over to refugees and that and were safe and fed? That he initiated the huge system for helping people of all nations to trace missing relatives in war-torn Europe? He was of course a very close associate of Pius XII and they worked together every day. He suffered from the cruel untruths (now, thanksfully, being corrected) that were put about concerning Pius XII's wartime efforts After the war, the organisation they had established for refugees became the Italian Caritas. Many years later he had the unenviable burden of the Papacy during the final sessions of the Second Vatican Council and in its aftermath. He was bitterly attacked by all sorts of people, gave us the courageous and prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae - among much else that was good - and served both the Church and humanity well. And yes, I do know quite a lot about the liturgical issues initiated during his Papacy.

We gathered...

...under darkening skies, on the Cathedral steps after the 5.3pm sung High Mass. The Catholic History Walks, begun a couple of years ago, keep attracting more and more enthusiasts. As the rain began to fall, I explained that, by Tradition, it makes no difference whatever to us - our brochures proclaim "Wear suitable clothing and shoes - we'll be walking whatever the weather" - and we moved into the blustery piazza and gazed up at the glorious frontage of the Cathedral as I told something of its story, the visits of Blessed John Paul (30 years ago this year) and of the current Holy Father, the visit of HM the Queen for its centenary and more...On down Ambrosden Avenue to Archbishop's House and the story of Cardinals Wiseman, Manning, Vaughan, Bourne, etc etc...then, by now extremely wet but very cheerful and undeterred, to Westminster City Hall, where we examined the City's crest, which features Our Lady (yes it does - look and check) commemorating Our Lady of Westminster, and we said a Hail Mary. On to St James Park with various stops for thoughts on London's history - names of pub signs, Catholic saints and martyrs, monarchs and wars and events, events, events...and finally to Buckingham Palace where, in keeping with the Tradition established on the very first History Walks, we ended with a rousing three cheers for our Sovreign, and prayers for our country. No one had left the group, people to lingered to chat beneath dripping umbrellas, all were cheerful, and it was a grand evening.

Note this date now...

...OCTOBER 20th, Westminster Cathedral. Blessed Sacrament procession through London to St George's Cathedral, Southwark.The first such event was held last year and drew large crowds.Don't miss this year's Procession! Be there! Starts 1.30pm Westminster Cathedral.

The Catholic Writers' Guild, THE KEYS...

...met this evening. Mass at St Mary Moorfields, drinks, supper. Guest speaker: Baroness (Julia) Neuberger. Amusing, articulate, good company. V. interesting on House of Lords reform - had just come from the House. Definitely a bit muddled on some aspects of social policy and medical ethics, but declared herself against the Govt's same-sex marriage proposals, DG. The Guild now takes its summer break. The Autumn programme of speakers includes Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury. Which brings me on conveniently to the new episcopal appt in PORTSMOUTH,which has caused general joy. A very good appointment, and just in time for the start of the Year of Faith. Here comes the New Evangelisation, slowly but surely...

for more on...

...InVocation, including some lovely pix, see here.... And for more from Auntie on the subject, read here...

On Saturday night...

...in weather that could only honestly be described as Extremely Cold, a great crowd of young people carrying candles followed the Blessed Sacrament round the lanes and lawns and woods of Oscott College, singing gloriously and apparently oblivious to any discomfort. At the front of the College, all sank to their knees on the gravel for Benediction. The silence was profound, the young faces glowed in the candlelight, the College's noble facade made a dramatic backdrop to the scene beneath the dark and starless sky. Next morning, an overflowing chapel for Mass, and I squeezed in next to a young Benedictine novice, all crisp white veil and sunny smile, alongside some young Franciscan sisters who grinned a welcome. Around us were seminarians and sisters, students and school-leavers. At the Sign of Peace, the sight and sound of all these young people greeting one another with quiet dignity was extraordinarily moving - no gimmicks, no false displays of bogus friendship, just genuine solidarity and a sense of values shared and forged. After Mass, everyone spilling out on to the lawns where packed lunches were being distributed for the journey home as the InVocation 2012 event slowly and reluctantly drew to its close. Lots and lots of talk and much swapping of emails and contact details, much talk of "next year" and many promises of prayers. Two of the young people with whom I spent time this weekend will be in Religious Orders by next year, another will have completed his first year in seminary, another will be a deacon. InVocation 2012 has been a memorable and inspiring experience.

I wish I could have painted...

...the extraordinary scene at Oscott, with young people streaming out of the chapel and waiting quietly on the wide green lawn as, dotted all around, priests (and bishops) quietly heard confessions, seated along the terrace or in the big marquee. Apart from World Youth Day in Madrid - where there were similar scenes at the big Festival of Forgiveness beneath the trees in the city's central park - I have never seen anything quite like it. And if John Henry Newman had wandered along, he would indeed have seen something of an early English rain-sprinkled summer following his "Second Spring". He once wrote about an English summer - in the context of writing about honouring Mary in May - and noted that it was often chill and damp, and yet that it holds the promise of warmth and fruitfulness...

Newman's "Second Spring" sermon...

...was preached at Oscott, the seminary on the outskirts of Birmingham. And now a new generation gathers here, young people camping in tents on the wide lawns and packing into Pugin's glorious chapel for Morning and Evening Prayer and for Mass. This in InVocation, a festival which draws together members of religious orders from all over England, together with crowds of young people, keen to explore what the future might hold for them. Last night there was a superb talk by Canon Luiz Ruscillo, drawing on St John's Gospel, and the miraculous catch of fish, and Christ on the shore...today, an inspirational address from a young Sister - former Olympic speed-skating star - from the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal. This afternoon I walked over to Maryvale, where I am writing this. But I plan to be back to take part in the Candlelit Procession around the beautiful grounds of Oscott this evening. Like last year, the InVocation weekend has been gently drenched in rain. But no one seems to mind, and as there is a large marquee for all the talks, with other adjoining marquees complete with armchairs and coffee-tables for chats, it's all extremely pleasant and comfortable. There is a terrific atmosphere - lots and lots of young people, talk and laughter over delicious meals. In chapel, the deep roar of young men's voices leading the Offices. This afternoon, as I left for Maryvale, a priest wasinviting anyone who wanted to meet by the big statue of Our Lady to say the Rosary...

For my generation...

...religious freedom meant smuggling booklets and pamphlets to hard-pressed Catholic groups in Eastern Europe,heart-thumping moments at Customs, an address of a contact on a tiny scrap of paper, pinned carefully into deep recesses of clothing (I was given the useful advice "wrap the address in plastic cut from a plastic bag - you'll sweat, especially when you're scared, and the paper will disintegrate, so wrap it to keep it dry"). It meant trying to help people who were struggling under a Communist system which prattled about peace while persecuting people who just wanted to publish religious poetry or organise a pilgrimage to a shrine. It meant praying at the grave of the heroic Fr Jerzy Popiełuszko in Poland, and telling people back in London about the courageous Warsaw students who were carrying on his message. It meant vigils outside the Soviet Embassy, and fasting and praying for people who suffered in far-away labour camps and prisons beyond the Arctic Circle. We did talk, of course, about the possibility of persecution happening in our own country - we knew about the martyrs of times past and we were only too well aware of the battles we were already fighting against abortion and looming euthanasia...but...thirty years later, here I am, seriously pondering on the likelihood of horrible clashes with the law, here in my own Britain, if the Govt forces through the ghastly same-sex "marriage" plan, and schools are told that they must teach children untruths and openly attack the most everyday realities of human relationships and family life. And there is new pressure to legalise forms of euthanasia. And opposing abortion can mean, for anyone working in the Health Service, the end of a career. And so on. How ironic it will be if my earlier experiences of assisting Catholics in Eastern Europe turn out to be of raw practical value in keeping alive faith and freedom in my own native city, the London once hailed as a rallying-place for freedom in a dark world...

On the feast of St Thomas the Apostle...

...a great gathering in Westminster Cathedral. A mass for the repose of the soul of Phyllis Bowman, tireless pro-life campaigner. The celebrant was Archbishop Vincent Nicholas, with a great number of other priests, and all the Canons of the Cathedral (who sung their Office beforehand in the sanctuary - rather a splendid sight as they trooped in, red-robed, and took their places in the stalls). The music was by James MacMillan - rather a fine English Mass - with a Purcell motet at Holy Communion...the cathedral was full, and I saw many old friends. Memories came flooding in - of the early 1970s when as a recent school-leaver I'd be helping to put leaflets in envelopes and roll off letters on a Gestetner (remember gestetners? before photocopiers? all that ink and the hassle of typing things out on to a 'skin'...)in a house in Eaton Place where Society for the Protection of Unborn Children had first come into being. Memories of a later, cramped, office in Chiswick and the electricity occasionally running out because it came via a meter and we had to keep putting in 10p coins...Memories of big London rallies and lobbying of Parliament, of learning how to write Press Releases and of a sense of "We're winning! We're winning!" which we weren't, but back then it felt as if we might be. In the 1970s and 80s most people in Britain still thought abortion was horrible and wrong, and a number of Parliamentary initiatives to restrict the 1967 Abortion Act were introduced, some only narrowly failing to become law...today only the Catholic Church and some Evangelical bodies still firmly assert what was once commonly held as normal and reasonable, ie that the child in the womb should be protected. It is horrid living in a country where both law and common practice regard the killing of children as normal: it's a country which is killing off its own future. After the Mass, tributes to Phyllis were paid by, among others, David Alton and Ann Widdecombe. Several speakrs quoted John Paul apt description of our culture as a "culture of death". Pray that we may have a future, that God may in great mercy restore to us a culture of life...

Memo to...

...the chap from America who sent me the nasty anti-Jewish rant. It went straight into the Trash section along with other rubbish. Why do you think it useful to send such stuff? How do you think it could possibly be pleasing to God to reproduce this horrid material?

Off to St Pancras...

...Station in London, to catch the train to Luton. The vast majority of people at St Pancras are not doing anything of the kind - they are all heading for Lille or Brussels or Paris, via the Eurotunnel. So finding the ordinary local trains is quite difficult. One potters about bleating "Where is Platform B?" rather bleakly. And what was once the Ticket Hall - the name still carved into the brickwork - is now a v.v.grand dining-place with expensive breakfasts and important-looking waiters. I found Pl.B and had coffee and a bacon roll in a nice little cafe-bar, and arrived at Luton having read Ratzinger and De Lubac all the way (exams at the end of the month - Ecclesiology). St Margaret of Scotland primary school is a delightful and welcoming place and I was there to present prizes won in the ACW Schools RE Project - the 1st prizewinner a lovely girl whose parents had come along to enjoy the ceremony, an absolutely super family. Somehow, the whole day had a glow about it - the children trooping into the school hall, hands clasped ready for prayers, the sound of young voices chorusing together the beautiful words asking God's blessing on the day...the rousing sound when I called for three cheers for the prizewinners - and the absolutely terrific roar when I called for a final cheer for the school itself and its Patron, St Margaret! Every classroom had a traditional Epiphany Blessing (C+M+B) on its door, there were crucifixes and beautiful images of Our Lady etc, the Staff Room had a prayer corner with a big rosary and holy images...and the whole school exuded a sense of welcome and of being at the service of children and families.

Rural Kent...

...and the little church of St Anselm in Pembury, where Augustine Michael, the baby son of Ordinariate priest Fr Ed Tomlinson and his wife Hayley was being baptised by Mgr Keith Newton. A packed church, a glorious Mass, the clear voices of the parents and godparents making those powerful baptismal promises - and baby Gus yelled properly, in traditional style, when the water was poured... Afterwards, a big buffet lunch in marquees in the paddock next to the church, quantities of children running about, lots and lots of talk, a beautiful iced cake, sunshine dappling the scene and then giving way to fizzy rain in true English style...an English Sunday.