Blogging the Catholic Church in the British Isles

My last post...

2007-03-03T13:28:00.000-08:00

...yes, it is.

I want to get away from relying on other people's servers, or at least, to have my own server space paid for.

Does anyone know a good way to get cheap hosting (and preferably ready-made website and blog facilities)?

This bleg will be the last one for me because I want to focus more on quality.

Civil Christianity

2007-02-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

I just finished a long break in blogging, so I doubt that anyone is reading this thing anymore.

However, the one thing that has struck me recently is the almost total lack of Christianity from our public life in the UK.

If it hadn't been for the particularly amazing education that my parents gave me growing up, I never could have searched so long and hard (and even that was not so impressive!) for meaning and finally been lucky enough to meet someone who lived Christianity simply and humanly enough for me to recognise Christ in my life.

I think this must be a rare phenomenon.

Christians today hardly say anything positive, realistic or concrete at all; at most we appear to the world utterly negative.

Let us look into our experience and re-discover the fact that someone had the courage to propose a fact to us; the fact of Christ.

O'Connor goes National At Christmass!

2006-12-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Christmass day, and the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster is going on BBC Radio 3 at 9.30pm to explain, as the first of a series of relatively famous people, "the influences that have shaped them, the ideas they have about life's big questions and how what they believe affects both their personal and working lives".

Well, the show has got one thing right straight away: "the arena of belief has become increasingly personal and subjective...". That's true, very true. Personally, I look forward to what he has to say.

Happy Christmass, to both of our readers!

News from Norwich

2006-12-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

Norwich is one place in Britain I have never been to, and it looks like I have even less of an incentive to pay a visit:

A ROW has broken out after a primary school decided not to hold a Nativity play this Christmas - preferring instead to replace it with a multicultural performance.

Knowland Grove Community First School has defended its stance saying the show will explore different religions and help youngsters understand other cultures while still learning about Christmas, but some parents with children at the school have been enraged by the decision.

Full story here.

Much ado in St. Blog's UK

2006-12-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

There seems to be a burgeoning crop of UK Catholic Blogs about now. A lot of them are priests, who are, I suppose, realising that we can use the internet for the New Evangelisation and all that (remember that? yes, it's still a good idea!!!).

So I think I'll have to start using Blogrolling to keep track of them all, or just give up on this whole project!

Watch this space.

New Year is fast approaching. I suggest you join this Blogger in Balham for the Youth 2000 New Year's retreat. A whole smorgasbord of chaotic Catholic Youth Work!!! Just as little sleep and organisation as a real World Youth Day. But worth it. Nice people. And really cool music.

See the video of last year! (Watch out for the Usual Youth 2000 Suspects appearing in this holy yet cheesy production!).

Get the details here!

As much as I love St. Blog's UK, it's really become a bit boring.

The fact is that we have lost sight of the Faith as our life; instead it becomes theory (e.g. "Why Protestants Are Wrong and We Are Not" and "Which Mass is Best" etc) or a morality ("Sex etc" or a hundred other protesting groups you can easily meet in London).

Thank God for the new movements, especially CL, I am totally unashamed to say that it has enabled Christ to save my faith and maybe even my life!

A poor, timid and bookish convert like me has little or no influence in "The Church", but I am just utterly thankful that Christ has had, frankly, the humility, the affection for me, that made Him lead me down these strange paths to my own heart, to the point where I can recognise that He is God and man, and that He is alive here and now!

Just to live the nothing that I am, knowing that He loves me, that He likes me, that is a real miracle.

Personal news: I got accepted to do a Library Studies Masters next year (September).

This is another miracle: one year ago I was one my way up to London with very little concept of a career plan except that I had to work, and that a friend had helped me find a vacancy. Hmmm, big plan!

I'm not totally content with this plan, still, but beleive me, it's fantastic! I can't wait to see what can be made of it, rather, what He can make of it. It becomes very clear that Christ is the one who "re-creates" me, in the concrete circumstances of life. It was a friend from the Movement who suggested me to look at library work in the first place (though I'd thought about it before) and now: it's happening!

I've been wondering: what would a Catholic political party look like?

I suppose it would support pro-life policies (although to get my vote it wouldn't criminalise desparate women, only the doctors who carry out certain "operations" - how would this actually work in practice, given the huge emotional impact of such a policy reversal? Could there be a kind of amnesty for doctors to change their practice within a certain time?). It would also have to go beyond legislating against "pro-choice" and "euthanasia"; it would have to pro-actively support hospices for the dying and for unsupported mothers and children. Perhaps it would have to introduce rather large taxes, or give priveledges to charitable groups to do this?

It would also have a "strange" stance in other areas: "just war" is not just a nice idea for a serious Catholic: and in recent years (actually, over the last century, but who's paid attention?!) the Church has developed a huge body of political theory and international law ideas. We would have to start seriously educating people about the UN Convention, perhaps, instead of just giving it lip service.

Education would be another area (the Church, as far as I can see, concurrs quite well with the UN Declaration on this point): the hypothetical party would encourage educating children in the tradition of their parents and community of origin.

Given this pluralistic education, it would have to actively promote open dialogue between all traditions present in a country: this could impact heavily on the use of mass media like TV and newspapers (does anyone actually read papers anymore?).

There is also the issue of property. Now, I really don't think that those neo-traditionalist "Catholic" organisations represent the Tradition of the Church on this point. I shan't name any names... however, there are quite big names like Chesterton and Belloc (and a few Popes, I would think) who might advocate redistribution land through democratic and peaceful means. This could potentially form another policy for the Hypothetical Catholic Social Teaching Party.

There are already Christian parties and other political bodies active in the UK; there would have to be a circumspect collaboration with them, and of course respect for, and working together with, the other religious traditions represented in our remarkably free country. This would be quite a challenge for a fledgling party.

Possibly the biggest challenge would be the fact that a lot of Catholics probably don't know about the Church's Social Teaching, and some might even actively oppose it, knowingly or not.

What do readers and other Catholic UK bloggers think? You know where the comments box is.

Live Nativity Play

2006-12-06T09:41:00.000-08:00

I beleive there should be real animals (treated with respect of course).

Date: Saturday, 09 December 2006

Where: Lady of Compassion Catholic Church, Upton Park

When: Starts at 09:00 with Mass
Ends at 17:00
Live Nativity: 16:00 – 17:00

How to get there:

Tube:Take the Hammersmith & City or District Line to Upton Park Tube Station.At the station turn right on Green Street.
On the left you will see St Edwards Catholic School.
You’ll then see Westham Football Stadium.
Our Lady of Compassion Catholic Church is on the left where the stadium...
If you hit Barking Road you have gone to far!

By Car:
Our Lady of CompassionThe Presbytery
Green Street
E13 9AX

(does every driver have sat-nav these days??)

Anyhow, thanks to Jimbob for this invitation!

I won't be there because of a CL thing.

Real UK Catholics

2006-11-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

Since I have 7 mins of Internet time left, I'll make it a quick post!

It seems to me that what is lacking on this blog, which is why I've left it fallow for so long, is a cultural activity among UK Catholics.

As I was remarking to a friend an hour or two ago, suddenly - in Church history, a hundred years is pretty quick! - suddenly no-one is persecuting or publically ridiculing us any more... and we don't know what to do.

Suddenly we have all this freedom of religion, when you think of how it is in many other countries, really a lot of freedom, but what do we use it for? The Catholic Church in the UK is really numerically pretty big and could influence people a lot for the good, but the fact is we don't manifest much unity.

I don't mean that we are not all "trads" or into new kinds of liturgy, or that some of us have more moral probity, education or even dress sense (!) than others. Unity is the characteristic of life that we live, in fact the problem is that the unity exists already, Christ hasn't deserted us for a second, but we have forgotten Christ.

We don't live the unity which already exists among us; instead we reduce our experience to political or cultural or aesthetic or (oh, boy!) some obscure philosophical or textual argument. But it is none of these (primarily, not primarily, though they are all important), it's the truth. We don't acknowledge the fact before our eyes.

That's my experience; the lack of a common Catholic culture in the UK, which would enhance and enliven and help to unite all the extant cultures, is just because we don't acknowledge and live our unity in Christ. That's why Catholic blogs can be (for me at least) a bit boring; we don't speak each other's language.

So, let's pray "Veni Sancte Spiritus, veni per Mariam" some more... and look for and acknowledge the signs of His presence.

Events around London coming soon

2006-11-11T02:52:00.000-08:00

Hello to all our readers...

There are a few events in and around London that I've been told of.

I know there is much more to the UK than London, but that's where I'm based, so I am neccessarily biased.

The first and most important for me is the national Assembly of Communion and Liberation:

Sunday, 19 November 2006, Pinner

"All things have a vanishing point toward the infinite, the eternal, and that is what attracts us, because it is according to the measure of the heart." (Luigi Giussani)

To recognise this vanishing point we need a loyalty to our experience and the courage to risk a judgement on everything we live. This is what makes an experience truly human.

So, all our readers are invited! It's the most important for me because I will be there! Email me if you want to come along.

Secondly, there is this:

C.T.S and Luton Good Counsel are proudly launching a new DVD and guide book on The Joy of God's Plan- Natural Fertility Awareness in Church's Teaching.

The DVD launch will take place on Wednesday 31st January 2007 in Westminster Cathedral Hall.

It sounds interesting, especially for married people or those who prepare them for this sacrament. Again, I know someone who's involved, so just email me if you're interested.

Youth 2000 and Glastonbury

2006-11-05T03:16:00.000-08:00

The papers have been giving Youth 2000 a surprising amount of coverage. Sadly, it's due to the bizarre actions of some people who let rip with blessed salt at the "pagans" who populate Glastonbury.

In the Times...

...and the Guardian...

...and of course the Sun!

It reminds me of the Chestertonian dictum that the most pagan pagans are mainly to be found inside the Catholic Church.

Finally, here's the official response of Youth 2000.

Best of St. Blog's UK 2006!

2006-10-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

A short while ago, while plodding my self-appointed "beat" of St. Blog's "Parish" UK, I came across this post and took it for a sort of auspice.

So, now that the ball is rolling, as it were, let's see what kind of moss it picks up!

Ahhh... mixed metaphors. Gotta love 'em. Or I'd cry. Or something.

I may even put together a list once the meme starts Petering out :D

As I am fond of mentioning, my brother was named for a saint, and I for a politician!

So in the same spirit, here are some New Blogs! (TM) but this time, from two somewhat well-know UK politicians:

The Blair Blog!

The WebCameron!

Well, politics there must be, whether you like it or not. So, we should all keep in touch with it. I think you'll find if you look in Vatican II or the Catechism, you'll find it's a duty for all Catholics to be actively involved in improving politics and the common life of society.

Finally, Cardinal O'Connor invites doctors and medical students to discuss Catholic medical ethics. Brilliant idea, let's pray that it brings much fruit.

So who will be next Archbishop of Westminster?

2006-10-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

Today's issue of the Racing Post gives half a page to an article about the "contest" to succeed Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. The article is written by Simon Caldwell. They have a website, but articles are not available online unless you register.

Apparently a leading Irish firm of bookmakers have opened a book on this market; since firms of bookmakers are major advertisers with the Racing Post, the paper is never shy of rewarding them with publicity.

ARCHBISHOP Kevin McDonald of Southwark is a 7-2 favourite with Paddy Power to be the next Archbishop of Westminster following mounting speculation that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor could retire before Christmas.

Murphy-O'Connor, Britain's most senior Catholic cleric, is obliged to offer his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI when he turns 75 on August 24 next year.

Some reckon the Pope may ask him to serve another year, but rumours are also circulating that health problems could mean that Murphy-O'Connor may be asked to retire before the end of December.

The piece quotes Dr William Oddie, whom they describe as "former editor of The Catholic Herald": "(Peter) Smith should be shorter than 10-1. He is orthodox in his beliefs and has a better manner than most of the others. He is excellent at dealing with the media".

The bookies' own list of "candidates" reads:

7-2 Kevin McDonald (Archbishop of Southwark)
9-2 Alan Hopes (Aux Bishop of Westminster)
9-2 Aidan Nichols OP
5 Vincent Nichols (Archbishop of Birmingham)
7 Michael Fitzgerald (Papal Nuncio in Egypt)
8 Patrick Kelly (Archbishop of Liverpool)
8 Arthur Roche (Bishop of Leeds)
10 Peter Smith (Archbishop of Cardiff)
12 Bernard Longley (Aux Bishop of Westminster)
14 Michael Evans (Bishop of East Anglia)
14 Timothy Radcliffe OP
16 Patrick O'Donoghue (Bishop of Lancaster)
20 John Rawsthorne (Bishop of Hallam)
25 John Crowley (Bishop of Middlesborough)

More playing the numbers game...

2006-10-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

Churches Face a Continuing Fall in Attendance at Zenit news service.

A nice story about the statistics of the Church in the British Isles. Hmmm.

What has changed about Christianity? Nothing. We have changed, but Christ remains the most attractive thing in life.

It reminds me of what Rich Mullins said; you don't need to "make Christianity relevant", it is relevant, always, but we don't get Christianity. If God became man, and meets us still in this company of men, it changes everything. This is all we have to verify, every day.

Dorothy L. Sayers on Education

2006-09-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post today, because I really can't say much better than others have said it. My long-standing interest in education was awoken once more when I read this old speech by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Some teachers may find it familiar:

What use is it to pile task on task and prolong the days of labor, if at the close the chief object is left unattained? It is not the fault of the teachers--they work only too hard already. The combined folly of a civilization that has forgotten its own roots is forcing them to shore up the tottering weight of an educational structure that is built upon sand. They are doing for their pupils the work which the pupils themselves ought to do. For the sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain.

It seemed a timely reminder of some of the traditions we might need to revive here in the British Isles and mainland Europe to help us live what one of the Cardinals was saying recently:

Today a letter written by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone was made public. This message was sent to the participants of the V European Symposium of university professors, which is being held in Rome from September 28 to October 1, on the theme: "Where is culture going? Culture, people and institutions".

He writes that in continuation of what was proposed in the speech at the University of Regensburg last September 12, the Pope indicates the "objective of a full rationality, faithful to the integral human experience, as a duty of Christian university teachers and students, an objective to be achieved through constructive dialogue with all those sharing the same passion for truth and with mutual respect for the diversities".

Cardinal Bertone states that "Based on this cultural foundation, one can work realistically towards the construction of a renewed European identity, apt to offer the world, faced with epochal challenges, a contribution of inestimable spiritual and cultural inheritance, able to forge a humanism that is rational and open to the revelation of Jesus Christ, tolerant but steadfast in its ethical principles".

VIS 060929 (200)

Source:Vatican Information Service

The Catholic Carnival is Up!

2006-09-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't seen one before, it's a chance to shamelessly self-promote your blog, while also giving a little glory to other Catholic Bloggers - and, we hope, to Christ.

See it here, at the "Luminous Miseries" blog (US).

I think that we should have a St. Blog's UK Carnival... I'll host it, you post it!

Send me an email at the address on my Blogger profile and we'll get down to it.

Let's start sometime in October (we can post about the Rosary maybe).

What is Europe?

2006-09-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

Rather than getting bogged down in endless cycles of PC enthusiasm and reactionary lashing out at (our image of) Islam, perhaps a better course for modern citizens would be to put our own house in order?

Please permit me to quote at length from a recent address by the Pope:

...the faith of the Church has always insisted that between God and us, between his eternal Creator Spirit and our created reason there exists a real analogy, in which unlikeness remains infinitely greater than likeness, yet not to the point of abolishing analogy and its language (cf. Lateran IV). God does not become more divine when we push him away from us in a sheer, impenetrable voluntarism; rather, the truly divine God is the God who has revealed himself as logos and, as logos, has acted and continues to act lovingly on our behalf. Certainly, love transcends knowledge and is thereby capable of perceiving more than thought alone (cf. Eph 3:19); nonetheless it continues to be love of the God who is logos. Consequently, Christian worship is λογικὴ λατρεία - worship in harmony with the eternal Word and with our reason (cf. Rom 12:1).

This inner rapprochement between Biblical faith and Greek philosophical inquiry was an event of decisive importance not only from the standpoint of the history of religions, but also from that of world history – it is an event which concerns us even today. Given this convergence, it is not surprising that Christianity, despite its origins and some significant developments in the East, finally took on its historically decisive character in Europe. We can also express this the other way around: this convergence, with the subsequent addition of the Roman heritage, created Europe and remains the foundation of what can rightly be called Europe.

SOURCE (Radio Vaticana)

Here is the part which should have been gracing our many television hours and column inches!

In these words, the Pope explains that God, who comes to us in Christ, is both reason and love (one of the biggest false dichotomies of the modern West). You may notice it's the same basic positive message as in Deus Caritas Est, expressed in another context.

The other side of this fairly philosophical point is that this insight is not just for philosophers, but is expressed through a concrete history, something we can experience.

This fact was brought home to me recently, when, after seeing the protesters outside Westminster last week, then studying the CL press release on the Regensburg address with some friends, I took the chance of speaking to some Muslims giving out free literature in our high street. OK, the literature was sub-Evangelical-"outreach" standard - except for one website they pointed me to, Muslim Heritage - but some interesting points came out.

Firstly I was happy to feel so embraced by the life of the Church that I could quite openly approach these people and have a frank and courteous dialogue with them on, let's face it, quite tough issues (theology, politics/religion, etc). Secondly, I was struck again that they seemed to understand many things which form the core of Fr. Giussani's teachings in The Religious Sense - I was especially happy because that book should hopefully appear soon in Arabic!

It's true that the point about violence and religion being utterly incompatible is... true, and upmost in many, maybe most people's minds today, but we cannot afford to be superficial, especially if we acknowledge that our fears are only the "outer crust" on our deeper affection for poor Europe.

Islam is very scary for Christians who take history serious, and in a way, it's more dangerous for us Christians. Islam really does seem to define itself over against Christianity (in an astonishing passage one of the book-stand staff showed me, Jesus is portayed giving a very different explanation of the Eucharist, even echoing passage of John's Gospel). However, a mere cultural expression is not as true as an experience.

We Christians should realise this more than anyone; our "Qur'an" is not a book (though we venerate and follow the Bible) - our "Law" is a person, Jesus Christ, who calls us and all human beings back to our "elementary experience" - something that anyone can relate to, unless one denies one's own experience. Anyone. Our God is reason and love, and we can seek Him in confidence, where he is hidden in the heart of every man and woman.

Wouldn't all European citizens be better off if we tried to invest more into propagating those things - that is, making them a conscious event in our lives - which are the foundation of Europe?

2006-09-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

New play on St Maximilian Kolbe

Kolbe's Gift a new play by David Gooderson is being presented by the New Farham Repertory Actor's Company at the POSK Theatre in Hammersmith from 19 21 September.

Auschwitz 1941. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest, volunteers to take the place of another prisoner in the starvation cell... What motivates such extraordinary self-sacrifice? And what are the consequences for the survivor? This important new play explores the heights and depths of human experience. Since 9/11 and the 2005 London bombings the themes of martyrdom, sacrifice and survival have an urgent topicality.

For more information see: http://www.polishculture.org.uk/

Kolbe's Gift is being performed on 19 - 21 September 2006 at 7.30pm. Matinee: Thursday 21st at 2.30pm. POSK Theatre, 238-246 King Street, Hammersmith, London W6
Tickets: £13, £14, £15 conc. £10. Box Office 020 8741 0398 and 020 8741 1887 (24 hrs)

Hat tip to Fr Ray Blake at MaryMagdalen.

Icon of Our Lady on tour

2006-08-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how the Internet can lead you from one place to another! I had been reading in a transport union workers magazine about the work of an Anglican chaplain to seafarers and sailors who is based in Dubai; this led me to check the Catholic equivalent, called the Apostleship of the Sea.

They had an icon of Our Lady specially painted, and this icon is currently on tour around Great Britain; the tour started last April, and continues until next May. More details here.

Hello from Dublin

2006-08-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

Your friendly Blogmeister has kindly invited me to join this blog, an invitation which I am happy to accept.

Young people and sex

2006-08-15T02:00:00.000-07:00

Yahoo news on "unprotected" sex

This week there was a report from the "BareAll" campaign on sexual behaviour in young people. This project was promoted by the BBC and MTV, as well as presumably funded by Durex, as you can see from this link to the BBC site.

On the Yahoo article, a spokesman from Durex says:

...a condom is the only method of stopping the spread of sexually transmitted infection and preventing unplanned pregnancy.

It's understandable why people say things like this in our politically sensitive times; the option of sexual abstinence until marriage is seen as an imposition. But from a moral, practical and psychological point of view, this can't be an acceptable view.

Abstinence from sexual intercourse is the only 100% effective contraceptive, and the only "safe" way to avoid STD's. A condom is not 100% effective at what it does - it could break, or it could be misused, especially if the people using it are immature, possibly intoxicated (as mentioned in the BareAll survey) and quite possibly furtively hiding their behaviour from the adult world.

On the other hand, if our society clearly recommended that "safe sex" = marriage, in other words, a life-long personal committment to one person only, entered into after preparation, and with the support of one's family and wider community, it would be acting responsibly and in keeping with basic science and common sense philosophical principles. Even marriage has its risks, but on balance it is the most stable and supportive option, as long as we accept that it is not a "private" affair, it happens in a wider social context .

In no way is a gamble with your own and another person's health, relationships and possibly a new human life to be called "safe", from a purely scientific and philosophical point of view.

Due to a sad cultural collapse in all Western countries, it's not possible to frame the discussion in terms of the fundamentals of society - person, family, friendship and community, association and finally business and government. Financial costs seem to dominate.

It's possibly more profitable in the short term (in purely financial terms) to mass-produce chemical and physical gambling devices than to properly educate and train midwives, social workers, counsellors and teachers. However, we need to learn to invest in people as a society and get back behind the secondary interests that drive our policies. Isn't that the meaning of the finding that most of the young people surveyed said their biggest fear was pregnancy? A normal young person should see pregnancy as part of married life, which should appear to be an attractive and demanding, but eminently possible and well-supported option.

As the Pope said in a recent interview, "it's not a Catholic invention that man and woman are made for each other, so that humanity can go on living: All cultures know this."

We don't even follow what I presume is the guidance of the Anglican Church (can anyone verify this?) that contraception should only be allowed to stable married couples, and only with consideration and support. That's a compromise, of course, but closer to the reality of the matter than contraception for all.

More than ever, we need to "form communities of faith" ( as Pope Benedict exhorted us at World Youth day 2005 ) where this realism can exist with the optimism of faith, hope for a better future (because we are offering a realistic proposal!) and charity towards all our human frailty.

I trust the Church

2006-08-14T03:24:00.000-07:00

There's been a recent story (unique in my rather thin reading of UK newspapers so far!) in the Telegraph about the Catholic Church in the UK, which as prompted me to blog.

Here's the story...

...and here's (I hope) a representative quote:

Loyal priests and lay people, by no means all traditionalists, are furious at this impoverishment of the liturgy. It is finally dawning on them that it is time for root-and-branch reform.

Only one man can set that process in motion: Benedict XVI, the greatest theologian to hold the papal office for centuries.

Hmmm... I would say that I'm a loyal layperson, but I'm not too bothered about all the liturgical shenanigans. As long as the priest follows the rubrics set out by the Holy Mother of us all, he is on firm ground. The Church is not a once-a-week event, it should happen every day. And it doesn't depend on a heap of documents, but on Christ present.

This is just more comment typical of many people's attitude to the Church; it's an "issue". The Church is not an "issue", it's a life that meets our life, not in a Bishop's conference, but in our daily lives too. And that is where we must begin to meet it.

Some of my old "poems"...!

2006-08-07T00:43:00.000-07:00

manifesto
only truth can survive

only love can succeed

and i say this in faith
i am blessed

beyond my wildest dreams

the miracle is

this is just what it seems

shibboleth
"shibboleth" i said, and immediately regretted it.

what did i care whether i passed some test or not?

wasn't it enough to do what i was told and see what i was promised?

tired of being a hopeful Jew but spurred on by a glowing horizon

i made my way into the house

with thanks to J.R.R. Tolkien... RIP
The road goes ever on and on
down from the door where it began

And I pray as I walk
that I can walk away from sin

And all the bad beginnings
I a made outside of Him.

I pray the things I leave
may be replaced
when He say it's right,
by his grace

i pray I'll walk be faith
and not by sight

that i can do the works,

for soon it will be night.

the road goes ever on and on

only this I do; forgetting

what is behind and moving on!

He is the door where it began.

he is my God

he is my Friend

he is The Man.

goodbyes to friends

goodbyes to friends

i'll see you where the seconds have no end.

God of the little things
dear god,

i've come to talk to you here, where no one can see,
'cause you said that's where you would be.

there's so many things i want answers to
and so many things i regret

things that died years ago
i wish i could hold onto

and things from this morning
i'd love to forget

god let me be silent here
let none of these things keep me from you

though they all are very much here
i won't deny that they are so real

that it seems to me they are all i have
they are all i am

i will wait

every passing moment

every second of stillness

becoming a victory,

open myself so slowly

to

you

father in heaven...

down the road
yeah, the road goes on

thank God for the road.

i know the way to get there

i know the one who is the way.

today you see me struggling

falling over and walking in circles

watch my heart

i'm walking in my heart

and all i need is the strength to take one more step

and i'll be there with him

i'm forever saying goodbye and cleaning out my room,

giving away my old books and things

packing my bags for tomorrow and tomorrow will bring whatever it brings

just give me the bread that i need for today

and just enough truth for whatever i say

and a couple of angels and friendly saints

to light the way.

just keep me on the road and i'll be okay

spirit and life
how can my words be life to those who hear?

i want my words to feed the hungry and quench the thirst,

to draw the lonely into God's light, to bring Jesus near

to them

i want my words to be spirit and life

no empty promises or vagueness or lies

i want to prove that God is true

in all i say and all i do.

christ have mercy.

lord have mercy.

amen.

god writes straight...

...with crooked lines

i make it complicated
9 out of your 10 times

i've been down so many one way streets and blind alleys
I've walked into this exhibition with firmly closed eyes

but you showed what i could only see with my heart
so much i spend a year explaining, extracting the treasures you hid

my glorious king, explain the mystery
my almighty God, keep the mystery hid

and Van Morrison pushing ninety, "talking about you",
singing the praise of ordinary life
talking bout ordinary endless days
talking bout running across a field, falling into a trance

oh, my idols, my references, my actions, my thoughts, my contacts in this world
catching fire on the altar, catching fire in the Autumn twilight

everything i touch turns to dust
everything you touch comes alive

touch my life again

a poet spins a line for me to walk
couldn't explain it if i had a hundred years
i'm too busy pondering this in my heart - all ears!

do my words condemn me as i speak?
then i'll keep it shut. keep it simple.

teach me, teach me life, teach me like in the old days, teach like you did with your Holy Wisdom, Hagia Sophia...

...teach me to go beyond presumption, to reach the heights of humbleness and touch the seam of the garment of love as he passes by, to give my life and all my efforts just to be in touch with him

remembering the heart is beyond my understanding

beyond me

so far beyond

but you come close

come close again

let's be together, let's go this way together

parallel

alongside

in common

in unity

in love

just

together

relentless
in the morning
in the morning freshness

when we made the first man
when we made him whole
when we made him in our image

you know you could listen to the breeze and hear it then

the eternal prayer
the voice of silence

relentless grace

giving itself up
fully and completely

before the foundation of the world
before the words were written in the sand
while the things up in heaven
had never been used
never been needed

that's when i did it
that's when i went in
that's when it was done

no-one else could go there
no i went in there alone
but i want to take you with me
i want to take you home
so i went

and here on earth
you know they saw me with their eyes
and they touched me with their hands
don't you know i let them touch me with their hands

don't you know i took the bread and broke it
like the man did for Abraham
don't you know i passed the wine around
and it will go round again

today, today, just like before
it's my today, just like in the beginning
just like the first time

it's the same time, for all time

it's the same time, one time for all time.

because it's my time.
come and share this time with me
stay with me, watch with me, pray with me
come and go in with me
come on home with me.

poem
my dreams are dreaming me

my blindness all i see

my strength has made me powerless

fall down when i break free

and all i say is water

flows around the crystal shapes

transparent but revealed

in the drip and splash of faith

Back to Work

2006-08-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

After the Holidays, the Work.

Here you can see me with a Sicilian on the lovely beaches of South West England. No prizes for guessing who is who...

Thanks be to God, after just one interview I found a graduate trainee position in a library!

I have found that the more I try to take the "lowest place" in life, the closer to peace and happiness I get. It doesn't mean having no self-respect, but rather trying to be honest and genuinely useful; reasonable, in the sense that Fr. Giussani has taught us, paying attention to reality according to all its factors.

Well, now I feel, at the same time, rather "dry" and "empty", but at the same time immensely happy and expectant. I want to do all that I can to follow Christ in this reality, this life, and not some other life that I imagine.

And I wish the same for you.

Here is a useful resourse I wanted to share:

A simple plan for reading the whole Bible and Catechism of the Catholic Church in one year, with just 30 mins per day.

There's also a Canadian "revert" to Catholicism who keeps a Blog for Bible and Catechism readers, where you can "jump aboard" the identical same plan with others all over the (Internet-accessing) world.

Personally, I already read the Bible, the Catechism and Vatican II right through a few years ago... but then that's my style. "Just give me the manual!"

Peace, pax and shalom.

Middle of the Road

2006-07-30T06:19:00.000-07:00

All About Me

Hello, I'm back from the CL holiday. Thanks be to God, I have 3 interviews coming up. Thank you for any prayers you offered for me; please pray now that I'll do myself justice and get a good Graduate Trainee Libary Assistant position!

One thing that struck me about the CL holiday is that it's the realisation of the "Church of the Centre".

Not that we are all perfect Christians and more Catholic than the Pope, but there we were, a mixture of people from Oxbridge graduates and professors, through engineers, students and porters (and little unemployed me!) - Italians, Portugese, Germans, English and Scots...

...all very different, but united only for the reason that Christ is risen and alive today in the Church. Probably we all tend a bit to the "right" or to the "left", but somehow we tolerate each others' failings and differences. This is the amazing unity of the Church!

Education in The Family

Another important factor was that it was really a family holiday. We had children and young adults present most of the time (often looked after in a separate children's liturgy which was presented at the end). This makes me want to share with everyone what Don Giussani said in The Risk of Education:

What can the family do against a society that dominates its children through television? ...in a school system where the teachers have the freedom to do and say whatever they want, manipulating the conscience of a child, even systmatically? ...to counteract the barrage of advertising?

How can it stem the influence of what we hear on all sides, the trite repetition of the same arguments, some of whose tragic aspects are the lack of respect for the unborn child, and the casualness of sex, marriage and divorce? By itself, the family is powerless!

An intelligent family will come out of its complacent, comfortable position and create relationships, a social fabric, in opposition to the dominant social fabric.

It's clear to me that in this quotation he is talking about all the problems that we British and Irish Catholics (maybe the British ones more?) complain about all the time, but seem to more or less dispair of solving.

In case it seems that it's an abstract hope, he goes on to quote the encyclical of John XXIII - if a Pope can point out free (mature) association as a human right, we should take notice! Are we using this right?

The other thing he points out is that we can gain a lot from educating our children - we need to let ourselves be educated too, going beyond easy platitudes about how we are right and the world is wrong, and beginning to offer an alternative direction, converting ourselves towards the Lord.

That's why I love CL, not that it's already perfect, but that here, I can always begin to begin again.

The British Disregard for Family

Zenit has an article on Abortion in the UK.

It makes for sad reading. Oremus.

And if you know a Catholic doctor or other medical professional, why not suggest starting a movement to open pro-life practises?

I visited a synagogue yesterday. It was a bit confusing (99.9% was in Hebrew, and about all I clocked was Biblical place-names and people's names, as well as the odd "halleluyah", "amen" and "eretz" - "Land"). It was very beautiful and I felt honoured to be present, and warmly welcomed by the people and the Rabbi.

It was very poingnant since apparently, this time of year they remember the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70AD.

I remember studying that event in Roman History class at university (I wrote an essay on Judaia as a Roman province). It is referred to in the Gospels - Jesus warns people to flee the city. It marked the end of "Jewish Christianity" as such, although it's a moot point whether Jewish influence remained in the Church.

I would say that the Jewish influence did remain, in fact it's essential to our self-understanding as Christians and Catholics (correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Paul say that we are somehow "grafted onto" Israel through faith and baptism?).

In his book Radical Then, Radical Now, the current Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, suggests that acutally, Jewish influence on the Christian Church ended at about 70AD, and it's been purely Gentile ever since.

But is that true? I'm fairly sure that the Apostles evangelised "diaspora" Jews living in the Roman provinces, St. Paul was, or at least claimed to be a trained Rabbi, and at the very least, since Judaism is (technically!) hereditary via the mother, even if one or two early Jewish Christians survived, they could represent the beginning of a substantial Jewish element...?

I'm not an expert on modern politics and the current crisis, so all I can say is to echo Sir Jonathan Sacks
when he says "pray for the peace of Israel and Lebanon".

Lord help us!

Stuck in the Middle with You

One last quotation from our Popus Maximus:

It is of the very essence of the Church that she should be aware of her unbroken continuity throughout the history of faith, expressed in an ever-present unity of prayer.

This awareness of continuity is destroyed just as much by those who "opt" for a book supposed to have been produced four hundred years ago as by those who would like to be forever drawing up new liturgies.

At bottom, these two attitudes are identical... The fundamental issue is whether faith comes about through regulations and learned research or through the living history of a Church which retains her identity throughout the centuries.

(From Feast of Faith by Benedict XVI)

Wow! How different, how much more alive and refreshing are the actual words of Joseph Ratzinger than the second-hand cliches that we get from the media or even from Catholics on both "sides"!

How true it is that people tend to split into "progressives" and "conservatives" on all the "issues", not just liturgy (although it's one of the clearest and most important).

And how true it is, as Papa Ratzi has said in Deus Caritas Est, that Christianity is none of these, not an "issue" but an event, the event of a Person who meets us and transforms our lives, like a sudden glimpse of solid reality and a slow dawning of light and warmth.

I heartily recommend this book, being one of the recommended texts of CL (many of which I'm sure our readers and contributors would already recommend!).

A full list of the recommended books can be found on the splendid Nouvelle Theologie blog. They include theology, spirituality, poetic classics and novels. They all serve to remind us that Christianity is fact, not just a theory.

Today's Gospel

Our Lord wants to make us co-redeemers with Him.

That is why to help us understand this marvel, he moves the evangelists to tell us of so many great wonders.

He could have produced bread from anything... but he doesn't! He looks for human cooperation: he "needs" a child, a boy, a few peices of bread and some fish.

He needs you and me: and he is God!

This should move us to be generous in our corresponding with his grace.

If you did help him, even with a trifle, as the Apostles did, he is ready to work miracles; to multiply the bread, to refom wills, to give light to the most benighted minds, to enable those who have never been upright to be so, with an extraordinary grace.

All this he will do and more... if you will help him with what you have.

(From The Forge by St. Josemaria Escriva)

OK, that's it from me for another week. Take care, and God bless.

Day of Prayer and Penance this Sunday

2006-07-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

The President and Vice-President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales have written to Cardinal Sfeir of Lebanon to assure him that the Catholic community in England and Wales will respond with generosity to the appeal of the Holy Father to keep this Sunday, 23rd July 2006, as a special day of prayer and penance.

The letter can be seen here.

"With confidence, we write to assure you that the Catholic community in England and Wales will respond with generosity to the appeal of the Holy Father to keep this Sunday, 23rd July 2006, as a special day of prayer and penance."

"A holiday, a holiday!"

2006-07-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Can you tell me which song begins with those words, and who's the band who recorded it...?

OK, sorry for the frivolity.

I am going away with the community of CL for the annual vacation... please join me in reading this text about the meaning of holidays and free time... if you like! It's your freedom you need to use.

I notice that this blog has been visited at least 40 times since I installed a "hit-counter" - that's amazing! I hope it's not just some computer program randomly hitting it. If you drop by, leave a comment!!!

Well, I finally got some more work - one day's temporary assignment to a technical library in central London. It was enjoyable work, I think I've learned a lot of things since my last position, and I hope I'll get better than this too. I want to focus down on one thing, to go in only one direction, library & information studies, and put all my efforts into this; I want to be "pure in heart", as Kierkegaard defined it, "to will one thing". Perhaps Blogging can help, then, you see! Library studies is more and more about IT these days.

I just bought a little book by St. Josemaria Escriva, "The Forge" - I recommend it.

Happy and holy holidays to all!

The Future of the Catholic Church in England and Wales

2006-07-18T03:37:00.000-07:00

There's a new report out looking at the problems we are facing and some suggestions for the future.

The author is a former long-standing Bishops' aide in E&W. From the summary, it sounds a bit management-speaky and over-optimistic, but it could have some good points too.

"Hat-tip" to the great ICN.

Tyburn Tree

2006-07-17T06:06:00.000-07:00

I was lucky to be invited by another member of this blog to visit the Tyburn Convent last week. What a beautiful place! I hope I get the chance to attend their annual lecture one day. It seems to cover lots of essential issues in the Church and the world.

It was one stop on a little tour of London's more touristy and more pious sites of interest that "Joee" was organising for some newly-ordained priests. It was our first meeting in "real life" (we swapped some emails beforehand and identified some common friends before meeting up). This is a good sign for me that this blog has a positive effect. I know about half the blog members personally now.

I think it's good to be part of an internet community that actually lives something wholesome "offline" when there are many fears about the safety of this medium. We are Catholics, so we have "optimism of the Baptised" (as JPII said) but we are also "realists" (as Don Giussani would exort us!)... How can we help to spread "good practise" to other areas of the net? Comments welcome!

Have you seen the news today? Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

I woke up this mornin' and none of the news was good
And death machines were rumblin' 'cross the ground where Jesus stood
And the man on my TV told me that it had always been that way
And there was nothin' anyone could do or say

And I almost listened to him
Yeah, I almost lost my mind
Then I regained my senses again
And looked into my heart to find

That I believe that one fine day all the children of Abraham
Will lay down their swords forever in Jerusalem

- Steve Earle, "Jerusalem".

I like this album (his later ones seem to get more and more angry and pessimistic). In this song he seems to have captured a childlike trust for a few instants amidst an album full of grief and irony about the state of America's home and foreign affairs. Anyhow, he has a beautiful voice and I like the "grunge-country" style!

Here is the Vatican comment on the Middle East situation.

I returned from the School of Community Assembly of CL yesterday and, invited by some South London friends, attended a kind of crazy pseudo-Bohemian arts festival called Spirit in the City! I only caught the final acts - a bit of poetry (interestingly about peace in Israel!) and some fantastic South American music. I met some of the West End Youth 2000 crowd there, a nice surprise; I hadn't seen them for about 3 years, since my University days.

The stuff which Westminster diocese is doing at the moment, with all these "open doors" days and initiatives like this is very impressive. Not only because we got free wine (!) but I think a little start like this is worthwhile, if we offer it Christ. It seems very little, but at least we are doing something for Him. The poetry and music were very beautiful. I hope through real friendships that many more Londoners can experience this.

Joyous News!

2006-07-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

What Joyous news!

Please pray for
Br Lawrence Lew and Br Paul Mills
who will make Simple Profession in the Order of Friars Preachers
on 20 September 2006 in Blackfriars, Cambridge

So many wonderful things happening in the Church in the UK, what joyous news this is! Br Lawrence has a great blog which can be seen here.

Verification of the Presence of the Divine: Unity and Freedom

2006-07-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

This is an invitation to all readers of this blog from the community of CL in London. We are having our monthly "assembly" on the 16th at Ealing Abbey Parish Centre.

It's a meeting to share experience and judgements on experience in the light of a theme from the teaching of Fr. Giussani and the Church as a whole. It's open to everyone, there is no cost, and you can take part as much or as little as you like.

The theme and program are detailed below. If you'd like to come or have more info, just send me an email at the address on my profile (you can find this at the top of the sidebar on the right of the screen: click on "1DAYIN7").

Ealing
Sunday 16 July 2006

“The Christian’s unitary criterion for interpreting reality is not some intellectual principle. It is a person.” (L. Giussani)

For this, “true freedom is demonstrated in responsibility, in a way of behaving in which one takes upon oneself a shared responsibility for the world, for oneself and for others.” (Pope Benedict XVI)

And

“it is only in giving life that it is found; life is not found by seeking to possess it. […] The more one gives one’s life for others, for goodness itself, the more abundantly the river of life flows.” (Pope Benedict XVI)

Mass
10.15 (family Mass in Parish Centre)
10.30 (Sung)
12.00

Program

1 pm Lunch
2:30 pm Assembly

Recovery

2006-07-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

This could pompously be called a "vigil post", since I'm not quite into Sunday yet...!

Anyhow, I wanted to share a few things that have struck me throughout this week.

Although I have still remained unemployed since 3 weeks ago, and been feeling quite low, I have been helped a great deal by reading some good books from my local library.

One was Milestones, a memoir of the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, of whom I am a big fan (one thing which played a big part in convincing me to become a Catholic was reading "Dominus Iesus", for instance).

This book is beautiful, for its simplicity, its honesty and, I think, its usefulness. It's really hilarious; one of the things that came up when I googled it was this article from *the* traditionalist website (the Society of Saint Pius X). Put simply, they think he's crazy (I'm trying to be charitable).

I don't know if the review I link to above was written before he became Pope. But it seems to show very simply and elegantly how a mistrust of anything secular can crystalise almost into dogma.

I can't think of any clearer example of Tradition seen merely as a collection of documents and tightly formulated opinions; or any better snap-shot of a "Church" which exists "in theory".

That Ratzinger became Pope. This is for me the vindication of everything I felt about the Church! The "liberals", of course, shook their heads sadly - but surely the "traditionals" or the "conservatives", as I'm sure SSPX see themselves, were *equally* disappointed.

Why?

I guess I'm a happy man, a lucky man. I came to the Church like a nearly-drowned man being dragged on board with one last breath in him. I have tasted that "salt water" that Benedict XVI spoke of in one of his first homilies, and I can taste very clearly what is the fresh water of the living springs of the Church.

As Benedict has said in a recent catechesis, Tradition is a life which is "handed down" (Latin = traditus) to us in the Apostolic Church, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit.

It is not merely a collection of texts, as the SSPX seems to imagine:

The three functions of the Catholic Church have now finally all been "codified" by the Conciliar Church with the publication of this new Catechism. For the sanctification of souls we have the novus ordo missae; for the governance of souls we have the New Code of Canon Law; for the teaching of souls we have the New Catechism. We can expect that this Catechism is in the same line as the Second Vatican Council, and it is.

(Source)

Yes, they are all in accord, because they express the conscience of one "personality". That of the Church, which is one, not "concilliar", or "pre-concilliar"; one.

It's a life!!!

More on this next week, especially my thoughts on the Mass.

The title of this post I took from a short book (more of an essay plus example) by J R R Tolkien (who should really be added to "Giants of the Isles" at some point!).

It explains (in a nutshell) what fairy-stories are, and why they are "useful". Let me just say that I think they are more than usueful; let's say "essential" for today's modern human being! And JRR's are some of the best for soothing tired minds and strengthening weakened knees.

Buy it!

Another one I read was Tales of Body and Soul by Lionel Blue. So sue me. I'm a Rabbi fan.

Quiz for people who claim to know their Popes: which one said "we are Jews"? Click the quote for the answer!

But anyhow, it had some good jokes, and a whole section about coping with unemployment!

I also watched a movie called Everything Is Illuminated - interestingly stars the guy who played Frodo Baggins in a recent 9-hour epic! I cried when they talked about spitting on the Holy Torah.

OK, that's my post (a very poor effort, I know!) for this week. Please just pray for me to find employment, God knows that's my main need, I have to do something to stop me reading all these books!!!

Thank you to everyone who posted and commented so far. You are all far more than I could have hoped for when I opened up the Blog-Doors.

Cheers.

GK Chesterton on your IPod

2006-07-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

I have just been listening to audio books more recently and just been chatting to yet another person for whom Chesterton played a part in them coming to the faith.

Exciting free audio book of Chesterton's Orthodoxy

Also The Man who was Thursday

"Pope-hating Spaniards"

2006-07-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

Although not strictly within the bounds of "blogging the Catholic Church in England and Wales", many Catholics from the UK have travelled out to Valencia, Spain for the fifth World Meeting of Families at which Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass and meet pilgrims from around the world including the UK. Also there was an article on this blog (click here) about the "alternative" meetings happening in response to the Pope's visit. Thus it seems appropriate to link this article entitled "Pope-hating Spaniards" (click here), taken from The Cafeteria is Closed, about the hostile response from some Spaniards to Our Holy Father's visit (see pic below).

One comment from this post read:

"Because "tolerance" means tolerating only minority religions, while despising the majority ones. Can you imagine the uproar this would have caused if there were these kinds of protests against a Muslim leader?"

Hmm... I wonder if there's sadly something in that?

"If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first."
- John 15:18

More on the Fall and Rise in the UK...

2006-07-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

Catholic Decline in England a “pastoral and demographic catastrophe” says New Report

By Hilary White

LONDON, July 5, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A 260 page study has been released by the English Catholic bishops that shows a Church that has come to a point of near complete melt-down since the closing of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. According to the report, Mass attendance has slumped by 40 per cent and Catholic marriages by 60 per cent over the last 30 years.

The report by Anthony Spencer of the Pastoral Research Centre covers the period from 1963 to 1991 and also shows the number of adult converts fell by 55 per cent and first Communions by nearly 40 per cent. More recent statistics from 2001 show little improvement. In 1991 Mass attendance in England and Wales stood at 1.3 million, compared with 960,000 in 2004.

The report describes the crisis as the “greatest pastoral and demographic catastrophe” since the 16th century Reformation.

The British statistics, however, only confirm what is happening in every country that has embraced post-Christian secularist values and the so-called “sexual revolution.” The Associated Press reports today that the loss of the Catholic moral and social identity in Spain is of grave concern to the Vatican as Pope Benedict XVI prepares for a visit there. According to AP, while 80 per cent of Spaniards consider themselves Catholics, only 42 per cent believe in God and 50 per cent never attend church except for social occasions.

In his 2002 book, Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II, Kenneth C. Jones revealed the disastrous decline in every numeric indicator in the Catholic Church in the US.

After a hundred years of steady growth to an unprecedented peak of statistical health in 1965, Jones showed that numbers of priestly ordinations, women entering convents, adult baptisms and the number of children in Catholic schools had abruptly plummeted, sometimes by as much as 99%, to catastrophic lows by 2002.

The collapse of the Catholic Church around the world coincides precisely with the period following Vatican II when bishops, clergy and religious decided to re-orient the Church to conform to secular values. Declining Catholic numbers can be correlated closely to decline in orthodox practice and preaching. The grim national statistics are often reversed in those areas and communities where traditional moral teaching, styles of worship and adherence to otherworldly values are prominent.

A case in point is the order of sisters founded by Mother Theresa, the Missionaries of Charity, who have grown rapidly especially in countries suffering severe material poverty. Traditional communities of priests such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter are also refuting the trend with their biggest problem being finding funding to build larger seminaries to accommodate the number of applicants.

In the US, those dioceses known for close adherence to Catholic moral teaching and loyalty to the Pope are also producing the greatest number of priests and women religious.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest and most influential diocese in the US and known as a centre of vocal dissent from Catholic teaching, particularly on sexual matters, ordained four men in 2006. The much smaller Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, on the other hand, whose Archbishop John Myers placed the attacks on life and family as the most important issue in the 2004 presidential election, ordained 17 men to the priesthood this spring.

Faithful Catholics in the US and elsewhere have long refuted the existence of the so-called ‘vocation crisis’ in the Catholic Church, arguing that as many young people as ever want to dedicate their lives to service in the Church but cannot find orthodox dioceses, seminaries and convents.

- Highlighting added by Joee Blogs, in response to previous comments, which might be of interest to note.

"UK Church In Decline" - NY Times

2006-07-06T04:16:00.000-07:00

This article from the New York Times first appeared on The Cafeteria Is Closed, hat tip to Gerald Augustinus for this.

THE Roman Catholic Church in Britain is facing its greatest threat since the Reformation, according to research.

Over three decades Mass attendance has slumped by 40 per cent, baptisms by 50 per cent, Catholic marriages by 60 per cent and confirmations by 60 per cent.

The 260-page study of the Church indicates that the number of adult converts fell by 55 per cent and first communions by nearly 40 per cent, described as the “greatest pastoral and demographic catastrophe” since the Reformation of the 16th century.

The study covers the period from 1963 to 1991. But more recent figures, from 2004, indicate little improvement.

In 1991 Mass attendance in England and Wales stood at 1.3 million, compared with 960,000 in 2004. Deaths among congregations rose by nearly 40 per cent between 1963 and 1991, reflecting the growing elderly profile. However, the Catholic population of England and Wales increased by 6 per cent.

According to the study, carried out by Anthony Spencer of the Pastoral Research Centre, the number of “late baptisms”, of children aged 1 to 14, also increased.

The only comment I could make is that whilst it may be true that numbers going to Church are decreasing, there are pockets of hope as the old liberals grow old and die, and the sound young people enter orders that haven't been corrupted by liberalism. In many ways there's a dying Church within the Church - that's to say the liberals are dying out, but there is growth. For instance, the Faith Winter Conference - a series of talks and socials organised by the Faith Movement - was the biggest ever this year with over 200 young people attending!

There are many thriving houses of monks, nuns, religious sisters etc... here's a list I've compliled of one's I can think of, to prove the Church is very much alive! This list is by no means exhaustive:

Pluscarden Abbey, Elgin, Scotland;
St Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde, Isle of Wight;
Quarr Abbey, Isle of Wight;
St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough, England;
The Bridgittines in Manchester, England;
Norbertines in Miles Platting, Manchester, England;
St Hugh's Charterhouse, Parkminster England;
Missionaries of Charity of Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Bravington Road, London, England;
Tyburn Convent, Marble Arch, London, England;
The Poor Clare Colettines, Hawarden, Wales;
The Brompton Oratory, London England;

And finally...

The Blessed Sacrament Fathers (in Manchester) hadn't had any vocations for 15 years... until now! This September three young men are beginning their novitiate in Dublin!

If you open a secular paper, I bet you won't see articles on the wonderful things happening in the Church. So perhaps I'll have to write a little about these exciting houses of monks and nuns on this blog!

Photo I took a couple of weeks ago on the Feast of St John Southworth at whose Coffin this young Mother T nun prays with others.

World Meeting of Families

2006-07-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

Well underway in Valencia is the 5th World Meeting of Families.

Put simply, it's the World Youth Day but Mum & Dad are invited too. Whole families from all over the World have been arriving for the week of activities which will culminate on Saturday night and Sunday morning, when the Pope will pop along to lead the vigil and preside at Mass in the spectacular City of Arts & Sciences.

There are dozens of families from England making the pilgrimage, for which the Pope has granted a plenary indulgence, not just for those lucky enough to be there, but for anyone who joins them in spirit from anywhere in the World, fulfilling the usual conditions.

One person who probably won't be fulfilling the said conditions this Sunday is Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the president of Spain, who is snubbing the whole event on the grounds that 'it's got nothing to do with me'. Fair enough, I suppose, he's not exactly a loyal son of the Church, but I'm afraid he's taking it a step further: the government is funding in Valencia during the same week a conference for the 'gay' and lesbian community, which will include a demonstration outside the Cathedral the day before the Pope arrives there. Presumably we can expect to see more of the sort of hilarity that took place in London last Saturday. Zapatero's government, you may recall, was one of the first in Europe to 'legalise' that bizarre contract known as 'same-sex marriage', not to mention making it easier to get divorced or procure an abortion.

The upshot of it all is that this meeting of families is not simply a chummy get-together with His H, but is an occasion for the Church to bear witness to the beauty and dignity of family life - to be a sign of contradiction. In England, Spain and in the whole of Europe, the family is under sustained attack from people and institutions who, often with the very best intentions, don't understand it's importance. Speaking about the situation in which this meeting is taking place, the President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Bishop Ricardo Blázquez says "there is an enormous difference between the basic and irreplaceable meaning of the family for persons and society, on one hand, and the treatment it receives from society and the state, on the other." Quite.

Brentwood Youth 2000

2006-07-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

This post in addition to the fuller posts made onY2K Bristol Blog

I just wanted to make a couple of comments, as I was asked to write something, and feel it is rude (!) to refuse such a request.

This is not really a deep or profound insight, but the workshop on work really struck me. It simply rammed home that you cannot "cut out" of life the 9-5pm part and just live for the weekend and going out. It is not what being a Christian is about.

That is not what God means by "living life to the full". To use Gianlucas example, it is like having a Ferrari (analogy to gift of life) and driving it is first gear.

For those not in work, I think the same principle applies to any part of life that we somehow try to discard, day dream through or ignore, rather than engage with and live, even when it is living that scary dynamic of the cross, which is brought forward to resurrection. By that I mean practical day to day unpleasant and difficult circumstances, whether that is at work, illness or elsewhere, that put into God's hands is turned to a greater good. It does sound "too much" but that is what the cross is about. One girl described such a difficult work circumstance, how she had prayed about it and in the end how some good had come of it. Gianluca commented that in the end, her trouble with a colleague had turned to something positive...and that is the dynamic of the cross.

My first entry!

2006-07-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

I'm very grateful to "1dayin7" for giving me the privelege of being able to post on this blog. This blog has a brilliant charism so all credit to him for coming up with the idea and setting it up! It was a great idea to found a blog in which Catholic lay people write and comment on the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Indeed this is the first and only blog to claim to do this.

I'm very excited about posting on this blog in addition to my own. In the same way my blog has a charism, this blog has a specific charism, in which I will write things that wouldn't necessarily fit the intention of my blog.

There's so many things going on in the Catholic blogosphere covering a plethora of issues, and I can't claim to be an expert on the most of these issues. So I wish to use this marvelous opportunity to write about and comment on the wonderful and exciting things going on in the Church in England, especially the London and South East.

Now... what to write... hmmm

1dayin7

2006-07-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

It was originally my intention to only blog once a week (1dayin7).

After stirring up so much disquiet in the Land of Blog, I decided I shall try to do just that from now on, so as to have time to ruminate on topics of import and weigh in with a decent piece of prose at the right moment.

So, catch you in a week!

Let's see if this text is "sacral"

2006-07-01T04:03:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd post a quick resume of any remaining elements of "sacral language" in the text of the New Rite of Mass, to see if it's really true that they are all gone and the Church is thus doomed.

The full text is here.

OK, let's go:

Priest: Lord God, we ask you to receive us and be pleased with the sacrifice we offer you with humble and contrite hearts.

Priest (aloud): Pray, brethren, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.

People: May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good, and the good of all his Church.

Priest: We come to your, Father, with praise and thanksgiving, through Jesus Christ your Son. Through him we ask you to accept and bless these gifts we offer you in sacrifice.

We offer you this sacrifice of praise for ourselves and those who are dear to us.

This could take all week! I haven't even got to the Consecration!!!

Catholic Worker

2006-06-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

I can relate to This recent article in the CL magazine, Traces.

(> France
Life Is Uncertain:
The “No” Generation
by Davide Perillo)

I've felt pretty much the whole gamut of emotions, since leaving uni, from confidence and suprise at my academic success, to confusion and sorrow at my failure to get work, depression and despair at the subsequent struggle, and the first glimmers of hope that are still just beginning...

What happened to "work"? It was everywhere, and now it seems to have become a 4-letter word.

A friend from CL gave a talk / workshop on work at a recent Youth 2000 retreat. The main points I can remember:

- obedience to your boss comes first, understanding follows
- judging daily my experience, in order to keep what is good
- asking Christ daily to reveal Himself in work and the encounter with others
- recognising that what I always seek is a relationship ("fatherhood")
- praying "Veni Sancte Spiritus, veni per Mariam" as often as possible to stay "awake" to reality

I put these on a post-it on my desk and I hope to use them in my "work" as a job-seeker!

It would be lazy...

2006-06-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

...just post that blank denial of the current fuss about a new ICEL translation.

To me, yes, it did seem a bit similar to all the hopes (on the other "side") that JPII's successor would be a "great liberal" and announce female priests, universal contraception and good times for all. I laughed and cried at the TV last year, with irony and the rather great hope of B-XVI's election!

So I suppose I should also put something positive:

I dodn't have anything at all against florid and self-deprecating liturgy.

I also don't have much against minimal liturgy.

I'm more or less a run-of-the-mill modern nihilist in practical terms, and I'm ****ed grateful for any hint of liturgy in my life!

I happen to love Latin and have an ambition to learn all kinds of prayers in that solid and refreshing speach (see the sidebar for a Latin-English prayer primer!).

But as far as I can see the main need is for catechesis, not more "reforms". If the Council is anything, I think it's more a project than a "blueprint", telling us strict lines to arrange the furniture by.

It's a work that we are called to, namely re-focussing on the fundamental aspects of Christianity, making them present in every modern context, re-infusing modern culture with Christian conscience and hope, and building cooperation with all men of good will.

Trent, like all the Councils of the Church, was a new Pentecost. It's just that until Vat II we didn't realise it could be expressed that way (hmmm... development).

The "traditionalists" deny that any Council was a new Pentecost, the "progressives" almost deny the original Pentecost, but they both seem to be denials. Academically fascinating, but unsatisfying.

Whereas Christianity is a fact, an event in one's life. Like in "The End of the Affair" (by Graeme Greene) which I finished reading today; you can love this fact, you can hate it, but in the end you can't deny it.

Amidst the horrific and omnipresent "cataract of culture" in which we all flounder these days, from the best to the worst, the clever and the clueless, only the liturgy says clearly and simply to each one: "Christ is risen, present among us {i.e. the Catholic Church} here and now" -JPII... yes, that's "The Heart of the Matter"!

Why...

2006-06-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

...is there so much fuss in the Blogosphere about the new ICEL translation of the Mass?

The "problems" with the current one seem pretty trivial to me.

And those who take it even further, and say there are serious mistakes, like pro multis -> for all seem to be barking up the wrong tree (St. John says in one of the Epistles that Christ is the atonement not only for our sins, but for everyone's (or words to that effect), and St. Faustina gave us a prayer offering Christ "for our sins and those of the whole world"... hello? Literalism anyone? I can get that in a Protestant Church!

I hope the new translation will be even better, but I won't be complaining about the one we have now.

Can anyone supply a meeting place?

2006-06-26T02:39:00.000-07:00

My movement, CL, needs a place to hold our monthly meeting - "Assembly" - on the 16th June. Maybe a parish hall, retreat centre or something?

Let me know if you can help ASAP!

I wanted to ask you if you knew of another place where we could meet
on that day in London that has similar characteristics.

It should:
- hold around 100 people;
- have a separate room for kids;
- be easily accessible for people driving;
- possibly be close to a Church where we could have Mass together;
- a benefit if it has tables to have lunch together.

Email should be on my profile :)

The loophole of life

2006-06-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

The Cardinal (our one and only Cardinal here in the tiny UK!) has been talking to the Health Secretary about bioethics. This, as well as the fact that I discovered how to put lines across my blog posts, has prompted me to do a proper, substantial post! Enjoy.

It's interesting to consider that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a wonderful document and basically in tune with Catholic teaching and feeling about the sanctity of human life, doesn't explicitly protect "unborn" people.

For example, here are the first three, rather fundamental, articles:

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

You will notice that it says "born", not "conceived"... and "age" is not one of the "distinctions" mentioned. I suppose it could be possible to slip "biological age" or "developmental stage" into the category of "other status". But that is not a popular suggestion!

I defy anyone, anyone in the UK, in the universe or in The Universe, to find me a GCSE or A-Level Biology textbook, in which it is denied that a human embryo, the product of the fertilisation of the human ovum by a human sperm, is a potential human organism, capable of becoming a "person" with all those moral and legal rights, given normal conditions.

"Normal" in this case involves a bit of "self-observation" - giving other embryos the same chance we had as ex-embryos ourselves, and having a bit of tenderness towards the other, the one who resembles us. But our society censors precisely this, this "loving knowledge". It pretends that science suports our nihilistic conclusions (philosophical ones, arrived at independently of the scientific evidence).

We wouldn't put anything like this in our textbooks or classroom resources because it would seem like those awful fundamentalist "Creationist" textbooks, or possibly a return to Nazism. If you don't beleive me, try it - as an excercise, write a short justification of the current relativist attitude to abortion and euthanasia, in the light of GCSE human biology and the UDHR. I promise you, it won't sound convincing to a normal 17-year-old.

So instead, this incredible scientific whitewash happens at the level of popular culture, politics, implicit assumptions and newspaper rhetoric. It's still an affront to reason though, also to law, I suppose (I'm not an expert) and an affront to good science.

But this is rather interesting, isn't it? Try to guess who wrote it:

...surely it would be far more useful for everyone if women were taught to read signs of their own fertility. This would attune them with their bodies and help them notice changes, and they could then, in certain cases, get help well in advance of actually wanting to have children. Such insight into your own fertility can be found by charting your monthly period, temperature, cervical fluid and cervix position. Easy, quick and empowering when you know how. It's not fashionable to do this, but it can help determine if you have a short luteal phase (which may deter successful implantation of a fertilised egg), and can even help you see the menopause coming.

It costs nothing, yet doctors rarely explain it, preferring to prescribe fertility drugs and send a woman for tests that she may not need. But then drugs and IVF treatment make money for someone, somewhere. Perhaps scaring women is easier, and more profitable.

Nope, it's not from a Catholic paper, destined to be read with righteous but vague disgruntlement and then forgotten, it's from Guardian journalist Annalisa Barbieri!

Leaving asside all the to-do about women's career vs. family priorities, which is a question threatening to go way above my non-economist head, isn't it amazing that a Guardian journalist is advocating a universal education in the latest NFP techniques, something which the Catholic Church could wholeheartedly advocate!

I've been a dyed-in-the-wool feminist since reading Germaine Greer at age 18, and I'd much rather consider paying women better for the more fundamental work they have always done, and still do: producing the next generation of society through childbirth, motherhood and a thousand other unnoticed "works".

I don't know if Barbieri would agree with this "Chestertonian Feminist" side, but it's amazing that there is support for NFP.

Lost in the Cosmos

2006-06-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

That's a little bit how I feel (but perhaps replace "cosmos" with "job market") at the moment, and also the title of the book I got from Amazon today, at the recommendation of a CL email-pal from the States.

Ironically, I started flicking through it today, a Wednesday afternoon, and only just noticed that I had indeed been reading this hugely appropriate "caustic, witty, existential, and profoundly moving revelation about why we'd rather see our neighbor's house burn down than live through another Wednesday afternoon..." (quote from the Amazon readers' reviews).

I was struck again by the feeling I got when I finished my flicking, of how I seem to have an unerring knack of finding all the books I wish I'd written myself, and meeting all the people doing things I'd imagined myself doing. I feel strangely redundant (apart from the fact that I am literally between jobs). I wonder if I'll ever reach the "other side" of this feeling...?

I know I shouldn't say this, but...

2006-06-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

NEW BLOG!

And it's by a priest in the UK!

Enjoy.

The Timekept City

2006-06-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

Haha, writing that last post reminded me of an experience I had about 3 years ago in my last year of University...

..I was attending the London Environment and Futures conference, and the Major was there. In one of the breaks, I spoke to a guardian journalist, who wanted to hear what people suggested he should ask the Major about London. I chimed in with a typical "what is London for?"... and during the panel at the end of the show, the Major was asked and answered this question!

But I wish that every Major of London and every British MP had been meditating on the words of Elliot since they were written last century:

When the Stranger says: "What is the meaning of this city ?
Do you huddle close together because you love each other?"
What will you answer? "We all dwell together
To make money from each other"? or "This is a community"?

Hope in the UK

2006-06-16T08:06:00.000-07:00

The Alive and Kicking Campaign has been launched, a coalition of pro-lifers, aiming to at least reduce the number of children aborted in the UK.

Tip of the hat to XT3 for this news.

The early Church rescued children who had been abandonned outside the city walls.

Now we have the duty to speak for children who don't even make it this far.

For me, it recalls the words of T. S. Elliot, in Choruses from The Rock : thinking that everything has been accomplished, we don't even guard the most basic foundations of our society, when really, unless we are vigilant, this country will collapse beneath us.

Belong to CL has shown me another meaning for the words "pro-life": how much value do I really attach to my own life? Do I realise that there is only one life, really, which I am priveledged to be able to share in, which I have the gift of sharing in, and does it make me grateful?

I don't want to be only "anti-death" but "pro-life"!

Second to Nun

2006-06-15T03:23:00.000-07:00

Happy feast of Corpus et Sanguinis Christi!

I always love to hear the traditional hymns for this feast, with their use of the expression "faith alone":

Verbum caro panem verum
Verbo carnem efficit;
Fitque sanguis Christi merum;
Et si sensus deficit,
Ad firmandum cor sincerum
Sola fides sufficit.

...thus showing that even the formulas used by those who attacked the Church in certain periods of her history find a place when put in the correct context; the faith is Catholic, universal. In the context of totality, even the "sola" has its place.

As a convert to the Church, I remember feeling that the more sincere Protestants tended to make the Bible a "mystery"; it couldn't be put into context without a lot of trouble, "sola Biblia" made it a kind of monolith.

Well, the same could be said of the Eucharist, except that for us the Mystery is a joy! We gladly acknowledge that it's an ultimate mystery, and that faith alone can grasp it. But the difference is that this Mystery makes sense of everything, really everything we experience, whereas you can only take Bible-centricism so far (admittedly quite far!) because the Bible is not the whole mystery (though it is also essential).

Anyhow, the Beeb has kicked off a second Religious Reality show!

The Convent (it's second to Nun).

I watched with great enjoyment last night. I thought the use of a typical modern phrase like "de-tox for the soul" is really perfect. It shows, to me, the fact that even the most mundane of modern yearnings, the self-help mentality with which we approach our problems, can be fulfilled (though in a new and unexpected way) in Christ; it was a joy to hear all those nuns talking about all the usual self-help-type issues (I won't knock them, we all have them!) but in reference to an experience of community and prayer. Who would expect it?

It beats Big Brother (more on that later!) hands down...

New Blogs!

2006-05-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

Please see the links list on the right hand side of the page to see a lot of new links from the UK / ROI Church, and worldwide.

Enjoy!

G. K. Chesterton's Anniversary

2006-05-29T06:17:00.000-07:00

A post commemorating the English genius G. K. Chesterton over at the Distributist Review blog (US)

Perhaps it puts us to shame that the English people don't have a national day to mark one of our greatest thinkers, writers, and bon-viveurs (in the truest sense), and the most active G. K. C. societies are in the U.S. or Australia.

Maybe it's time to start appreciating him more here in the country he loved, even through it's hard times.

I've been working my way through his novels ("The Man who was Thursday", "Manalive" and lots of Fr. Brown stories). They are amazing not only for their bold, beautiful and often even tender style, but also for the freshness they bring to our gaze on this life God gives us new every day.

The English GKC Society

Ascension Day

2006-05-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

In my next essay, I am going to try to explain the Pascal Mystery in the light of the Trinity and the Jesus Christ.

Today I remembered that I had asked my tutor whether or not I could "leave out" the Ascension from the Pascal Mystery, in order to just think about the Cross and Resurrection. Having a big feast day is enough to make me realise something was very wrong with my understanding to ask such a question.....

At CU it was fortunate to have an opportunity to reflect on this feast and find out the Protestants recognise it too...well some of them anyway.

We just spoke about the Ascension as the culmination of the incarnation. Jesus took on our flesh thereby sanctifying the most mundane of our daily tasks. He did the washing up. (Fr Tom's favourite example) To be able to do what God does is an amazing thing. God did the washing up. God elevated our humanity to a great height. A couple of CU asked whether this means they shouldnt have bought dish washers....!!!!!! The smallest of daily tasks take on a great dignity because Jesus has given them this dignity.

The Ascension is the fulfillment...because it trounces the Gnostic notions that only the Spiritual counts and that matter is evil. Jesus rose body and soul into heaven. No mere spiritual resurrection. Finding myself a practical Gnostic in day to day, ignoring my admin considering it as less important than the spiritual side of life, this is a significant discovery.

What I have said is not quite right (perhaps it's the Nestorian heresy, the idea of duality Divine and Human side by side by not "one") because of Jesus we can and should find the spiritual in the physical ordinary side of life. The human and the Divine are united in Him and both now in heaven.

As the chaplain commented, the Ascension is not just about the fact He is body and soul in heaven, but it speak volumes of what it means to be following Christ as spiritual corporal beings. Gaudium et Spes 24...only in Christ does the mystery of man become clear

On Social Communication

2006-05-22T04:08:00.000-07:00

On the feast of the Ascension we also celebrate World Communications Day, and we seek to make ever greater use of the resources placed at our disposal by the media in order to promote communication, communion and cooperation between people everywhere.

the address Benedict XVI gave today before praying the midday Regina Caeli (at Zenit.org)

Blogging the Catholic Church in England and Wales

2006-05-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

This blog is now dedicated to "Blogging the Catholic Church in England and Wales".

The aim is to provide a comprehensive and up-to-the-minute web resourse on Catholic life and culture in the UK.

Editorial, news and comments are asked from all Catholic readers, but they will be vetted by a central editor.

You are also invited to join the blog as a team member.