28th Sunday of the Year 14th October 2012

Our Manifesto The newly ordained Bishop Of Portsmouth, Philip Egan gave a rather magnificent inaugural address. He said, “We inhabit a remarkable century which...is witnessing momentous advances in every domain of human knowledge and endeavour...all of which manifest the limitless self-transcending reach of human experience, understanding and judgement and the cloud of burgeoning possibilities for human deciding, undreamt of by those who’ve gone before. With all these exhilarating developments, the Catholic Tradition must engage, the old with the new, in a mutually enriching critical conversation.” He went on to observe that despite all these advances human needs remain essentially the same: “the need to love and be loved, the need for a purpose and vocation in life” and to belong, find mercy and forgiveness, strive for peace and justice, freedom and happiness and, “most profoundly , the need for immortality and for the Divine.” Observing that these desires are met through “salvation” which is found by following the Way of Jesus of Nazareth he commented that , “He alone can save us.” He concluded, “The message of Good News, and the civilisation of love it occasions, we Catholics must now communicate imaginatively, with confidence and clarity...to the people of England. We must offer this salvific message to a people , sorely in need of hope and direction, disenfranchised by the desert of modern British politics, wearied by the cycle of work, shopping, entertainment, and betrayed by educational, legal, medical and social policymakers who, in the relativistic world they’re creating, however well-intentioned, are sowing the seeds of a strangling counterculture of death.” But if that sounds a bit negative, he finally called us to action: “Let us go forth with joyful vigour, resolved in the Holy Spirit, to bring about the conversions needed—intellectual, moral and spiritual—for everyone we meet to receive Jesus Christ, the Gospel of life.” What an extraordinarily prophetic voice and what a great challenge and plan for each of us as we begin this Year of Faith. Fr Kevin