Reflections

3rd Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) 11thDecember 2011

2011-12-09T12:02:00.001Z

Pretty in Pink

The introit (entrance antiphon) today begins with the instruction, “Rejoice!” As I said last week, Advent used to be called St Martin’s Lent, a 40 day fast leading up to Christmas. But as during Lent, on one Sunday the organ playing an instrumental, more colourful flowers and the wearing of rose-pink vestments were permitted. Indeed, in Rome the stational Mass of the Bishop takes place in St Peter’s today marking this as the most significant day of the season.

Throughout Advent, the scriptures refer to the Lord’s second coming but today there are additional signs of gladness: not only are we to adore the Lord who is to come but we are called to worship and hail with joy the Lord who is close at hand. St Paul calls us to rejoice too and prepare to meet the Saviour with prayers and thanksgiving. And St John tells us the Lamb of God is now in our midst though we do not know Him. Thus, today penitential exercises are suspended to remind us of the joy in our redemption which should always be in our hearts.

However, that doesn’t mean that it stops being a penitential season. The reminder is still there that we are preparing for the historical coming of Christ and his coming at the end of time. Therefore we need to ensure that we are ready and that is why confessions are offered after all the weekend Masses and will be offered after every Mass celebrated in the week leading up to Christmas. I encourage you to make use of this sacrament and to rejoice in the grace of God freely offered.

On a practical note, it would be very helpful over the coming weeks if you could try and come to get Mass cards signed and Mass intentions booked when I can guarantee that there will be someone more competent than me here to do that for you - on a Monday between 10am and 3pm and a Thursday between 10am and 2pm. Of course I’ll try doing it for you if I’m around but I probably won’t be as I don’t spend all day in the house twiddling my thumbs. Well, not all day anyway!

In the meantime, carry on rejoicing. Fr Kevin

2nd Sunday of Advent – 4h December 2011

2011-12-06T12:21:00.001Z

Minced Words

Football managers are renowned for their loathing of the press. Sir Alex Ferguson refused for many years to even talk to them but he was outdone by Joe Kinnear, a former manager of Newcastle United, who made the headlines for his incredibly colourful comments about the press in a live interview. Now I’m not suggesting for a moment that St John the Baptist would swear, but since he doesn’t mince his words and “tells it like it is,” I suspect we would be tempted to sanitise his message which zeros in on the weak points of our lives.

Bur how is it that he is such a credible preacher? John heard, experienced and lived God’s word in the desert and therefore his life and message were one because there was nothing to distract him. Throughout history, other people have gone into the desert to see more clearly and to listen attentively for God’s voice. But for us, our words and actions are often not coherent because the distractions, temptations and cares of this world lead us into a life of duplicity.

The Hebrew word for wilderness is midvar which contains the root davar meaning “word” or “message.” Therefore, the notion is that the wilderness is a holy place to go where God’s Word is unbound and completely free to be heard, experienced and lived. In so doing, all the prophets who experienced this shared intimately in God’s anger, sorrow, and disappointment but also in His compassion and sensitivity for His people.

I suspect that most of us will not have the luxury of a week’s retreat in the wilderness of Judah or the Sinai desert before Christmas. However, we would do well to carve out some time in the midst of our activity to look at whether or not our lives are the pointing fingers of living witnesses who demonstrate that Jesus is near and that He can be found. While John gave powerful witness to this truth, for the people of His time who had missed this truth he offered an experience of forgiveness and salvation – do we allow others or even ourselves to experience that when we identify that duplicity of life?

Blessed John Paul II said, “When we go down on our knees in the confessional because we have sinned, at that very moment we add to our own dignity. The very act of turning again to God is a manifestation of the special dignity of each person, of their spiritual grandeur, of the personal meeting between each person and God in the inner truth of conscience.”

Why not enter the desert, see how things are and then just tell it like it is?

Fr Kevin

1st Sunday of Advent – 27th November 2011

2011-11-28T08:41:00.000Z

Hybrid Holy Father

My priest friends and I who spend Christmas Day together never have turkey. This is because by the time the day actually comes we’ve had so many Christmas dinners that we’re beginning to look like turkeys. Indeed, last year I was at my first such meal before Advent had even begun.

Before Easter we have the season of Lent during which we pray more, fast and give alms and generally try to get our spiritual lives in good order. Before Christmas we have the season of Advent and generally any sense of fasting (dieting), almsgiving (gym membership) and more physical and spiritual exercises start in the New Year. Thus we can easily miss the point of this holy season because, like children who seem to be growing up faster than ever, Christmas seems to begin earlier and earlier each year. Advent used to be called St Martin’s Lent so it is related to those six weeks in the Church’s calendar which fall before the fullest celebration of the Paschal Mystery. And as such, this season too should be marked by some sense of extra prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Of course, its not as “heavy” a season as Lent as you can tell from the liturgy – we still have Alleluias but the Gloria is omitted. It’s sort of a halfway house, if you like, but is still a valuable time of preparation for the coming of our Saviour in history and at the end of time and we should take the opportunity to make ourselves ready. For example, we might save the greatest delights to our taste buds until Christmas. Or when we are doing our Christmas shopping spare a thought for those who have little and pick up a small gift that we can give to the Catholic Children’s Society or make a donation to Aid to the Church in Need to help Christians in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Above all, we might take a few minutes each day to ask the Lord to make us ready to welcome him through reading the scriptures of the day with My Day by Day, reflecting on them with Bible Alive or praying with the latest Diocesan resource A Foretaste of Heaven. There are also websites with daily reflections such as godzdogz and The Hermeneutic of Continuity has links to many other religious sites. And of course there is the rosary, particularly the Joyful Mysteries which we could use to meditate on the forthcoming Incarnation.

The Archbishop commented recently on the silence and stillness of the Holy Father even in the midst of his busy schedule on his visit here. Indeed, because of seeing that serenity and contemplating it over the past 12 months a man is coming to see me about becoming a Catholic. Our Archbishop likened Pope Benedict to a hybrid car in which the engine cuts out when it comes to a standstill – when the Pope isn’t doing something he seems to have stopped completely. I suspect that’s a tall order for us but it would do us good to try just for a few minutes each day that we may be found ready when the Son of Man comes.

Fr Kevin

OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, UNIVERSAL KING– 20th November 2011

2011-11-28T08:31:00.001Z

At a meeting of the Diocesan clergy, one of the brethren said that some people in his parish were disappointed that the new words to “This is the lamb of God” referred specifically to the soul being healed and thus the concept of physical healing was lost.
“Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”
”Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, But only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
It goes without saying that this is a better translation of the Latin. However, once again, it is also truer to the words of the centurion who begs Christ to heal his servant (Mt8:8). Continuing with the scriptural basis, the previous translation (Happy are those who are called to his supper) allowed us quite easily to consider that we are being called to the Last Supper. While this is true in the sense that that event is re-presented during the Mass, the call by the priest to the people refers rather to the supper of the Lamb which takes place in the new, heavenly Jerusalem which features in the book of the Apocalypse. (Rev 19:9) Thus the healing that is offered is not physical, mental or emotional healing per se but a cleansing from sin so that we might join that banquet with all those who have been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb. Looking at it in this way, we are reminded of the penitential rite at the start of Mass when we ask forgiveness of our sins. We then re-present the entire paschal Mystery – the life, death, resurrection, ascension and glorification of Christ – which happened so that this prayer could be answered. And now, as we prepare to receive our Blessed Lord, our minds and hearts are pointed towards the ultimate fulfillment of that Mystery for humanity.
With that our current catechesis on the new Missal comes to an end. We have looked not just at the way the words have changed but at why they are different and how they will deepen our understanding of the Mass.

I feel that we are all becoming familiar and comfortable with the new texts, and as with the previous words the texts of New Translation will surely become our prayers, in the depths of our bones. We have been given the privilege of being the generation to receive the gift of the new Missal and we should accept it with gratitude, charity and humility. Fr Kevin

33rd Sunday of the Year – 13th November 2011

2011-11-14T09:25:00.000Z

Don’t Nod Off
Over the last few weeks you have been concentrating on the changed responses that you have been making, and there may have been a tendency among some of you to let the words of the Eucharistic Prayer pass over your heads. But this great prayer, where the priest says nearly everything, gives you the opportunity to pre-pare yourselves for the final changes which we will talk about over the next few weeks and so sit back and relax for a few minutes. However, stay alert!
In reference to the bread, the priest says: “Take this, all of you, and eat of it…,” which is a reminder that we are sharing in something that is beyond us individually and even beyond the community gathered for that particular Mass. As St John Vianney says, “the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man.” And rather than “cup,” we will hear the word “chalice,” not to refer to what Jesus literally used at the Last Supper but in order to reflect a specific vocabulary that says something is different here. This is something special, not just a family “meal.”
Previously, we prayed that Christ’s blood “will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.” The new translation reads: “which will be poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins.” The first change, from “shed” to “poured out,” will make for a more poetic connection between the blood of Christ on the cross and the Blood of Christ (consecrated wine) in the Eucharist. It is also the sacrificial language used in the Temple, so making it very obvious that this is Christ’s sacrifice. The second change - the translation of the Latin phrase, pro multis—has received particular attention. This translation does not mean that Christ did not die for everyone—as the Scriptures (Jn 11:52; 2 Cor 5:14-15; Ti 2:11; 1 Jn 2:2), the dogmatic teaching of the church (Catechism of the Catholic Church 624, 629), and the Eucharistic Prayers themselves (in their inclusive prayers for the dead) make clear. Scriptural (Mt 26:28, Mk 14:24), historical, and ecumenical reasons underscore this change, but it is the theological reasoning that is most important pastorally. While salvation is offered to all, not all will accept God’s gift. Hopefully, as we hear these words, we will be reminded of our need to respond to that gift as well as the degree to which God will go to respect our freedom.
That thought links us to these final weeks of the Liturgical Year, when the readings consider death and our judgement. God became man in Christ and ultimately brought our humanity into Heaven. We are called to be Divine in this world and make our lives extraordinary. Hence, this Sacrifice is for many, but for those who reject it out of hand, the offer and promise of sharing fully in it is left open to their own response. Continue to the next page.

Finally, when it comes to the Mystery of Faith, translating the Latin more accurately, the new Missal clarifies the dialogical nature of this exchange: the priest says one thing (“The mystery of faith”) and the rest of us respond in one of three ways. The new translations of the acclamations highlight the fact that we are addressing Christ (in the rest of the Mass, we address the Father) and make the Scriptural roots (1 Cor 11:26, Jn 4:42) easier to grasp.
So, let us stay awake, and listen to what is being said and deepen our own longing to be part of the many. Fr Kevin

32nd Sunday of the Year – 6th November 2011

2011-11-07T11:11:00.000Z

Multiple Choice

When I was in the seminary we practised saying Mass in our liturgy classes towards the end of our formation. One of my fellow deacons was asked by Fr Allen Morris which Eucharistic prayer he was going to choose. Until that moment, he believed that there was a book which instructed us which one to use – he was quickly disavowed of this notion.

But before talking about what can dictate the priest’s choice, we need to understand that the Eucharistic Prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving and sanctification and is the centre and summit of the Mass. We quite literally lift up our hearts in prayer and unite our thoughts with those expressed by the priest who addresses God in the name of the community. And since he acts in the person of Christ we also join ourselves with Him to proclaim the marvellous deeds of God.

However, I have a lot more to say than you! There is a bit of dialogue at the beginning, we all say the Sanctus and the memorial acclamation together and you assent to the prayer with the great Amen. But the rest of the time you listen and pray in silence to a text which demands and rewards a lot of attention.

Many priests know parts of the prayers by heart but with the new texts, it is taking time to learn how to express them in a way which helps everyone to pray. This is because the sentences are longer and more involved and as with the other texts I’ve talked about, the vocabulary is richer. But they are rather beautiful and I hope they will truly lift up your hearts and minds.

As I mentioned at the start, there are a variety of these prayers. Before the Second Vatican Council there was only the Roman Canon or Eucharistic Prayer I as it is also known. It is especially appropriate on Sundays, on days when we celebrate the feast of any saints named in it, and on days when a special phrase denoting the nature of the celebration may be inserted into it such as at Christmas, on Holy Thursday, and during the octave (eight days) of Easter and so on. The three others were added right after that Council. Two is the shortest and is based on a prayer from the third century. Given its length, it is designed particularly for weekday Masses or times when the attention span of the congregation is stretched as on Palm Sunday or when there are lots of children present. Three was newly composed after the Council.

It is especially appropriate for Sundays and feast days of saints who are not mentioned in the first as it allows you to insert a name as you will notice I do with St Mary Magdalen on a Sunday. The one you rarely hear is four which is based on an Eastern prayer from the fourth century. It has its own preface (the prayer before the Sanctus) and therefore can only be used on a weekday that is not a saint’s day.
There are also some special Eucharistic prayers. There are two for reconciliation which are particularly appropriate for use in Lent or in times of conflict in the world. There is also another for Masses for Various Needs and Occasions because there are a range of prayers in the Missal which means the intention of the Mass can range from praying for the civil authorities to asking for good weather! These Masses can only be celebrated on a weekday and this prayer was composed to enhance them. Within it there are four variations which allow it to make a better connection to the intention of the day and each variation has its own preface and a changeable part within the body of prayer.

Finally, there are Eucharistic prayers for children and one for the deaf. The language in the former is so simplistic and bears such little resemblance to the normal ones that they have been dropped altogether. The prayer for the deaf is not so simplistic and seeks to fulfil the ultimate purpose of sign language which is to make visible the words of the priest and hence that will remain.
It really is multiple choice. Fr Kevin

31st Sunday of the Year – 30th October 2011

2011-10-28T09:06:00.000+01:00

Special Offers

The word Eucharist comes from the Greek and means thanksgiving, and we are a Eucharistic community which gives thanks to God for Christ’s self-offering for the salvation of all.
The Mass is thus the ultimate act of worship when united with Christ we lift up our hearts to the Father and give Him thanks and praise. In the Eucharist, Christ’s gift of His life to the Father is made present and we give to God all that He gave to us, all that we are and have, uniting ourselves with Christ in that sacrifice and we are accepted in Him by the Father. Our sharing in the Eucharist should make us a sacrificial people who lift up and lay down their lives in love for God and one another. This understanding is one of the reasons for the changes in the new translation of the Missal at the offertory. Previously the priest spoke of the goodness of God through which we have, “bread to offer.” Now he says, “for through Your goodness we have received the bread we offer You: fruit of the earth and work of human hands it will become for us the bread of life.” This subtle change gives a sense that we are in the act of offering it and that we are offering it to God. The same is true of the prayer over the wine, the implication once again being that this is a dynamic action of the whole community gathered rather than their passivity while the priest does his “thing.” If you think about it like that, then why do we have an offertory procession? That very action expresses that participation of the faithful in the Eucharist and the willingness of all of us to enter into this holy exchange with God. That is why the invitation known as the orate fratres has changed too – “Pray brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.” This implies that more than one sacrifice is being offered. Yes, the Mass is a single sacrifice offered by all present. But as the apostles teach us, all of us are meant to be members of a holy people offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Christ (1 Pet 2:5) Therefore, each baptised member of the assembly is offering a sacrifice in keeping with his or her role within the Church. Hence the response has changed with addition of one word, “for our good and the good of all His holy Church.” It is a more faithful translation of the Latin but it gives a greater depth to the dialogue and echoes the description of the Church in the Creed. In other words, the reason that the Lord will hear the prayer and accept the sacrifice of the humble priest has to do with the holiness of the whole Church which offers and benefits from this great prayer. We all have something to offer and as Blessed John Paul II once wrote, “No gift or talent is too small to be used.” As you attend Mass, don’t see it just as the work of the priest for as St Augustine reflected, “With you I am a Christian, for you I am a shepherd.” Rather, reflect on what you bring and offer with Christ.
Go and play football on Sunday and really have a game of two halves.

Fr Kevin

30th Sunday of the Year – 23rd October 2011

2011-10-21T10:47:00.001+01:00

A Game of Two Halves

Last week I wrote about the new translation of the Creed which completed our catechesis on the new Roman Missal up until the start of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. But before I begin that part of our Mass we need to ensure that the title of this week’s editorial remains firmly in football and doesn’t apply to our daily celebration of the sacrifice of Christ for our salvation.
The Church is nourished in wisdom at the table of God’s Word and in holiness at the table of the Eucharist. The Word announces the new and everlasting Covenant between God and man while the Eucharist sees it physically renewed. The spoken Word of God recalls the history of salvation while the Eucharist makes it present in the sacramental signs of the liturgy. In the Mass, where the Word is heard and the Eucharist is offered there is one single act of the worship of God. As it is October, the month of the Rosary, we would do well to reflect on Mary to help us understand the unity between the two “parts” of the Mass. Mary is blessed because she has faith, because she believed in the words of the angel Gabriel. In this faith and belief she received the Word of God into her womb. But she did this not just as a person who listened and made it her own but in order to give Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to the whole of humanity. The Word is proclaimed to Mary and the Word is made manifest in her by her response. In other words (excuse the pun) the Word of God through the angel brings about a physical action which gives Christ to the whole world. Thus, while the scriptures give guidance on the value of human life from conception to death, the rights and responsibilities of the human person, the search for justice and peace for all, the Eucharistic action which follows requires us to live out these very aspects of the Christian life in our daily comings and goings. Those very words are the words of life, always relevant, always new, with the power to change and renew people’s lives. In the scriptures we do not find dead letters but Christ, the eternal Word of the living and active God. So what we hear at the start of Mass is meant to call us to action. When the homily is finished it is not the moment to think, “In 15 minutes it will all be over.” Rather, it is the moment to consider how we shall put that Word of God into action in our lives during the week when we have celebrated the fulfilment of all those wordy promises made by God so perfectly brought to completion in the sacrifice of Christ for man.
There are not two halves to Mass. When the inspiring Word of God is forgotten for the sake of receiving the Body of Christ and getting on with our lives, we dismiss the truth that the Word who was with God in the beginning and the one who is the Bread of Life, and who gives life to all who eat Him, are one and the same. And when we split this unity into two halves, we might as well go and play football on Sunday and really have a game of two halves.

Fr Kevin

29th Sunday of the Year – 16th October 2011

2011-10-14T11:34:00.001+01:00

The Royal We
The Queen uses “we” to describe herself and we have been doing the same with the previous translation of the Nicene Creed. The Latin is Credo which translates properly as “I believe” and so we are saying that now throughout the new translation. This will also be consistent with the translation used in other countries since the Second Vatican Council. Thus the Creed remains the faith of the entire Church but each of us proclaims it as our personal faith too in company with other believers.
We also say, “of all things visible and invisible.” Thus is so much better than “seen and unseen” because some things that are visible are unseen at certain times and places like our relatives on the other side of the world or the sun at night. “Invisible” includes our souls, the Kingdom of Heaven and its host of angels and saints.
“I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages……begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father…”
The addition of “begotten” reflects one of the changes to the Gloria and more fully translates the Latin. The theological implication is that Jesus did not just appear as the Son of God but that He was intentionally begotten and His presence has always been part of the divine plan. The replacement of “eternally begotten of the Father” with the new word order makes the point more precisely that Jesus dwelt with the Father before time began as in the prologue of St John’s gospel. “Consubstantial” is a mouthful but the question of how Jesus relates to the Father is enormously important. “Of one being” is closer to the original Greek of the text but the Latin translation uses consubstantialis which means “having the same substance.” Thus in the new translation we use a word we do not use for anything else because it describes the unique nature of Jesus Christ – He is unlike anything or anyone else.
In the middle of the text there are a couple of grammatical alterations but they are not particularly significant. Three more important changes occur towards the end. “Worshipped” is replaced with “adored” as it is throughout the Missal because it is a better translation from the Latin as are the other two new phrases. “I confess” replaces we acknowledge as it is a more forceful expression of what we believe in. Finally, “I look forward to the resurrection” resounds with confidence and gives a stronger ending to our profession of belief in God who gives us faith.
Fr Kevin

28th Sunday of the Year – 9th October 2011

2011-10-07T13:20:00.001+01:00

Two Nations, Divided by a Common Language
This is often said of the UK and the USA because of the different use of English – hood for bonnet, trash for rubbish and so on. Of course the British always think they’re right but in one part of the Mass we were wrong. At the end of the first and second readings the Church in America has always said, “The word of the Lord.” Whilst we said, “This is the word of the Lord.” The Latin is Verbum Domini. So in the new translation we have been Americanised in order to be more faithful to the Latin. It is also be closer to the parallel acclamation which accompanies our reception of Holy Communion – “The Body/Blood of Christ.”

You will also have noticed that before a deacon proclaims the Gospel he receives a blessing from the priest. In the absence of a deacon, the priest bows before the altar and says a short prayer quietly. These also have slight changes to them. The former now adds the prayer that the deacon may not just proclaim the Gospel “worthily” but “worthily and well,” and both now refer to the “holy Gospel” not just the “Gospel.” While you will probably never hear these prayers (unless you’re an altar server) there are several times during the Mass when I say prayers in a low voice. These are to help the priest focus his mind and heart on the meaning of the actions that are taking place.

The dialogue at the beginning of the Gospel has also changed. You already know that the different response to, The Lord be with you,” is “And with your spirit.” Your response to the announcement of the Gospel also has a tiny change – it has become, “Glory to you, O Lord.” Throughout the new translation, "O” precedes words like “Lord” and “God” in prayers. While in practical terms it lengthens the form of address to God, just as in the Gloria it also conveys a deeper sense of awe and respect for the Almighty. And, as you have heard, the deacon or priest says at the end, “The Gospel of the Lord,” dropping “This is” for exactly the same reasons as with the other scripture readings. The response you make remains the same so you can breathe a sigh of relief!

The new translation will not alter the scripture readings for the foreseeable future. And for those of you who have missals this will be a little complicated since while they can be used to follow the readings they will have the old responses and priestly prayers in them. Currently we have the Mass sheets that you should use. At the sung Masses we will soon be introducing the new musical settings to the new translation. Incidentally, the perceived wisdom is that singing the texts is a quicker way of learning them and when you consider how we learn at school that makes perfect sense. Fr Kevin

27th Sunday of the Year – 2nd October 2011

2011-09-30T09:39:00.000+01:00

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Yes they do, but they don’t sing, “Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth.” As we have already seen, one of the biggest changes is in the words of the Gloria. Indeed the text has changed so much that composers have written new musical settings and revised existing ones for it. The first change is to the words of the angels - “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will.” As before, the guiding principle is to let the English express more literally the sentiments of the Latin original. Thus we previously referred to whom the people belong while the new one describes their quality. The new translation is more faithful to the original Latin, better connects with Luke 2:14, and challenges us to be of good will if we are to receive God’s peace as opposed to receiving it just because He made us.
The next section is also different – “We bless you, we praise you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory, Lord God, heavenly King, O God, almighty Father.” The shorter text we used previously was abbreviated because the truer translation seemed a bit excessive. Now that all the descriptions for God have been restored, the result does seem a bit excessive – but that is precisely the point. We should be so overcome with awe and wonder in the presence of the Lord that we gush vocally. In the presence of earthly beauty we struggle to find the correct words and so by meeting God in prayer we are bound to search for words to describe the experience. The third section reads, “Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.” The previous version again showed an economy of words although it expressed exactly the same dogma – namely, that Jesus is the only Son of God. The new version has more capital letters because they exist in the Latin – Fili Unigenite. Since the Latin uses only one word for “Only Begotten,” when it is translated into English, both words are capitalised to emphasise the sanctity of this title of Jesus.
Referring to the sins of the world, the phrases appear in a different order to reflect the order in Latin. In addition, we now speak of sins in the plural. This is to help us understand that Jesus did not come just to take away the general principle of sin but he takes away and forgives individuals their personal sins. And, you’ve guessed it; in Latin the word referring to our transgressions is plural. The rest of the Gloria remains the same and the whole prayer is longer than our previous version. By the way, there are 84 shopping days until Christmas.

Fr Kevin

26th Sunday of the Year – 25th Sept 2011

2011-09-23T09:47:00.001+01:00

TRUE GREATNESS
Last week in this newsletter we considered the sign of the cross, and our baptismal promises. This week we shall consider the Confiteor.
Before the Penitential Rite we should consider the place of God in our lives in the previous week and that first call to love Him in those Baptismal promises.
The new translation of the Confiteor (“I confess…”) says that “I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words,” rather than, “I have sinned through my own fault.” Moreover it also says, “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault”. Does this mean we are a lot more sinful now than we used to be? No, because the guiding principle of the translation is a closer adherence to the words in Latin which has been maintained in most other languages.
The new translation allows us to express more grandly the seriousness of our sin and the sincerity of our contrition. It offers us a humbler way to recollect ourselves before moving any further into prayer and ultimately presenting ourselves for Holy Communion. After all, which is more grievous – having had a minor spat with a neighbour or the fact that we have denied God and His Sabbath, and/or His teaching in other ways? The latter, surely. Yet the former is easier to confess. Better to ask pardon of the “great” sins too.
Someone recently observed that so many people come to Holy Communion here that I must hear a lot of confessions. Well, there aren’t that many penitents. Let each of us consider our grievous faults in the face of this extraordinary gift that is given us – the sacrifice of God for man – and embrace that it is my fault, my fault, my most grievous fault that, “I am not worthy that You [the Lamb of God] should enter under my roof.” And yet be convinced of the mercy and glory of God (as I was told in Confession on Thursday), that if He [the Lamb of God], “only say the word…my soul shall be healed.” Having recollected ourselves, and made a good confession at the earliest convenience, may each of us enter the celebration of Mass in a spirit of true thanksgiving. Now that would be a sign of our true greatness in this world, acknowledging that the Eucharist – that greatest of Mysteries – is a privilege we enjoy, not a right we deserve. Fr Kevin

25th Sunday of the Year – 18th Sept 2011

2011-09-19T09:13:00.001+01:00

The Sign of the Cross
How often do we make a sign of the cross and say ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’. But do we really understand the power and significance of this prayer?
This short reflection will explore the biblical roots of the sign of the cross; the better we understand this prayer the better we will be prepared to receive the treasures God has in store for us each time we say this prayer. There are two aspects – the ritual of making the sign, and the words we say.
The sign: This goes back to Old Testament times. The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision of the dreadful sins being committed in Jerusalem and the judgement that would occur (Ezek Ch 8), but then he was told that an angel would mark all the righteous with a mark on their forehead (the Hebrew letter tav – which looks like a cross). And like the blood on the doorpost that protected the Israelite families from God’s punishment on Egypt at the first Passover, this sign would set them apart from the corrupt culture and would serve as a sign of divine protection when God’s judgement fell on the city (Ezek Ch 9). Early Christians soon adopted this sign, now the Cross of Christ, being traced over their bodies. So when we make the sign we are expressing our desire to be set apart from the corrupt ways of the world, and in addition we are invoking God’s protection for our lives, especially in times of temptation or suffering.
The power of God’s name. In the Old Testament we read of many occasions when people call on God’s name. In Scripture, a name is not just a way of identifying or referring to a person, a name mysteriously represents the essence of a person and carried the power of that person. So to call on God’s name is to invoke his presence and his power. So at the very start of Mass we solemnly call on his name, invoking his divine presence and power. It is if we are consecrating the next 40 or so minutes of our lives to the Lord, saying that everything we do in the Mass, we do in his name, asking for his help as we prepare to enter the sacred mysteries.
And finally the words remind us that we were baptised ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’ which made us adopted sons and daughters of God the Father; and so adopted brothers and sisters of Jesus.
So let us make the sign of the cross with careful attention and great reverence. Given all that this ritual means, let us not make the sign of the cross in a hurried or sloppy way.

24th Sunday of the Year – 11th Sept 2011

2011-09-12T09:43:00.001+01:00

Quiet, Please
This is now the second week that we are using the new English translation of the Roman Missal, and you will have noticed the change right at the start of Mass. The priest says, “The Lord be with you,” and the people respond, “And with your spirit.” This is closer to the Latin Et cum spiritu tuo and matches the response in other major languages such as Spanish, French, Italian and German. Our previous translation was adequate but the revised translation is richer because the purpose of this greeting is not simply to say, “Good morning.” Bringing in the spirit alerts us that we are entering a sacramental realm and reminds us of our responsibility to pray the Mass rather than just go through the motions. It also establishes the interdependence of the priest and the people as they take up their roles in the praise of God.
As I said, even these small changes require a degree of concentration and engagement. That can be helped greatly by a period of quiet recollection before Mass begins, which means you will have to arrive early. So as you read this listen to the sounds around you and consider how you contribute to them yourself. Instead, think about why we are here and spend a few moments asking the Holy Spirit to help us pray with Christ and pray with the Church. We could also call to mind the week just gone and think about the week that lies ahead and bring them before the Lord.
The excellent book entitled Celebrating the Mass says, ‘The purpose of the Introductory Rites is to ensure that the faithful, who come together as one, establish communion and dispose themselves to listen properly to God’s Word and to celebrate the Eucharist worthily.’ The fact that we are all having to enter into the Mass with a little more care and concern gives us the opportunity to consider how well disposed we are at Mass and how our behaviour enables other people to prepare. Archbishop Nichols speaks of this in his book Promise of Future Glory – ‘Moments of silence are an important step in creating in ourselves a space, an openness, a receptivity to God, permitting the Holy Spirit to take hold of them. In these moments of silence we stand before the God who forgives, whose Word is about to be proclaimed, whose action we are to celebrate in the sacrament. And we do this not only as individuals, but together as the people called to this moment, this place of truth and life.’ Shhh! Fr Kevin

23rd Sunday of the Year – 4th Sept 2011

2011-09-12T09:39:00.001+01:00

All Change, Please
This weekend sees a couple of changes. To begin with, we will be using the new English translation of the Roman Missal. For so many years we have become used to the prayers and the dialogue between priest and people brought in during the early 1970’s. But becoming used to it generates the possibility of the greatest prayer God gives us, as St John Vianney teaches – the Mass – being celebrated on autopilot. It reminds me of the ancient joke concerning the priest who begins Mass by tapping the microphone and saying, “This microphone is not working.” The people respond, “And also with you.” As they say, familiarity...
Given the changes, we will all need to concentrate a lot harder on our words – it won’t be easy for any of us but we are all in this together. However, I am sure you know that the change is not for change’s’ sake but to make the words we say a truer translation form the original Latin. As many of you from other countries will notice, what we will be saying from today onwards bears a greater resemblance to the prayers and dialogue in your homeland: “And with your spirit” rather than, “And also with you,” and the threefold admission of sin on our own part in the I Confess among many other alterations. Ultimately, all of these changes will not only bring us closer to the original text but encourage us to really think and pray about what we are celebrating.
Not to avoid the elephant in the room, the other major change is in your parish priest. I can understand how sad you must be to lose Fr Hugh, but if it is any consolation, the people of North Harrow are a little upset to be losing me – although I have heard rumours of street parties this weekend. And indeed, it is difficult for us to leave people and places we have come to know and love as parish priests.
Perhaps the words of Blessed Pope John Paul II can help us here: “The times change and with them many things, but man’s heart remains the same – it always needs love. “ May our love for the Eucharist deepen with these changes and lead us to a more profound love for Christ and His Church. And may our love for one another grow as we journey together in faith.
But for the time being, I crave your patience as I slowly unpack in the hope of finding all the things I need to serve you as best I can – the very things which will, no doubt, be at the bottom of the very last box I open. Fr Kevin

DEVELOPING THE MANNER OF RECEIVING HOLY COMMUNION

2011-07-29T14:27:00.001+01:00

17th Sunday of the year – 24th July 2011

This weekend we have a pastoral letter from Archbishop Vincent Nichols on receiving Holy Communion, which follows a recent clarification from Rome concerning the issue in this country. There are copies at the back.

He encourages “reverence” at the moment of receiving Holy Communion and highlights the following points:
• It is the “norm” in this country to receive Holy Communion standing.
• The “prayerful procession” coming up to receive Holy Communion at the front is a sign of being one “people with a mission”
• All individuals have the right to received on the hand or the tongue, standing (expressing our pilgrim nature) or kneeling (expressing humility before God), also recently confirmed by Rome.
• When receiving Holy Communion standing then you should make a sign of reverence before.

In order to facilitate all these things next weekend we intend to introduce a development in the manner in which we receive Holy Communion. That is for all to receive at the front, standing in a horizontal row, at the foot of the sanctuary step. This means peeling off at the front of the communion procession to find a space in the line across the front of the Church. An Extraordinary Minister of Communion will still attempt to facilitate those for whom coming forward is very difficult. From next week we will implement this and have ushers to help.

This is something I, Fr Hugh, have had in mind during my time here – particularly since noticing the increasing amount of parishioners who are caught somewhat napping by having to receive Holy Communion immediately after the person in front has moved away. This can take away from the person’s concentration, whereas standing in a line across the front gives the communicant time to reflect in preparation to receive the Gift of God Himself. It also makes the no doubt accidental practise of walking some way away with the Sacred Host before consuming significantly less likely, along with the associated, if very rare, desecration of the Sacred Host by taking the Host back to the bench and then allowing the Host to drop on the floor and remain there.

I believe this will be a move forward for us all. It is a change I discussed with Extraordinary Ministers of Communion several years ago and since have had numerous individual positive conversations about. It is a change strongly supported by our soon-to-be Parish Priest, Fr Kevin Jordan. He recently introduced this at North Harrow, citing the further good reason that those who wish to exercise their right to kneel, which the Archbishop mentions in his letter, need to have this right facilitated. Such people would be recommended to go to one end of the line where we have altar rails and where kneelers will be available. This move is also fully supported by Fr Kieran and Deacon Michael. It has been the practise in some parishes for some time and seems to be coming in in numerous other parishes. Thanks in advance!

FAMILY FUN – ECONOMICAL IDEAS FOR THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS:

2011-07-29T14:24:00.001+01:00

17th Sunday of the year – 24th July 2011

Go back in time Try a day without electricity, but with a BBQ;
Camp in the garden Tell each other stories by torchlight;
Visit your local tourist attractions In local Tourist Information Office find free local attractions never visited;
Organise your own mini Olympics: Invite friends to an assault course in the garden - Have skipping, Wellington boot throwing jumping or leap-frogging contests and an egg and spoon race;
A movie night with snacks;
Make a water slide: On hot days put up a slide in the garden with a long piece of plastic sheeting at the bottom. Hose down the sheeting with a garden hose and washing up liquid and wait for the fun: Grow sunflowers - each plants a sunflower seed and monitor them to see whose can grow the tallest by the last day of the holidays;
Go on a scavenger hunt in garden, your street, the park. for shells, feathers, sweet wrappers, etc. and team up adults or older children with little ones – with prizes for the most items, the prettiest, the biggest, the smallest etc! Join in! Whenever you can, join in with whatever your kids are playing. If they are dancing to their favourite CD, stop what you’re doing and boogie. If they’re painting, join in and stick your creation to the fridge next to theirs. If they’re always on their bikes, plan a whole-family bike ride for the weekend.

With thanks to careforthefamily.org.uk

COMING SOON: SPECIAL OFFER(ING)! EVEN DEEPER PRAISE OF GOD: MORE SINGING OF THE PARTS OF THE MASS

2011-07-29T14:22:00.000+01:00

16th Sunday of the year – 17th July 2011

Forget the millions with which Camelot's Euro Lottery entices us, the Church is engaging in a new initiative which will help to open us to truly deeper and lasting wealth, the real grace of God – a wealth that will spread through us, especially to the poor. As part of this, it's time for some who have always thought they can't sing to discover it wasn't true after all!

A new deeper, more accurate, more scriptural translation of the Mass is on it’s way from Sept-ember. As part of this the Church is also encouraging us to engage in a subtle musical development. Across the whole of the English speaking there is to be a gradually develop-ing emphasis upon singing the actual "parts" of the Mass. These include the "Alleluia", the "Holy, Holy" (also called the "Sanctus"), the Memorial Acclamation (e.g. "Christ, has died"), the Lamb of God ("Agnus Dei"). The actual words used when singing these need to follow the new translations. Also the actual music used for these pieces is gradually to become more uniform in parishes and in all our schools. The latter is to be achieved primarily by a greater focus upon the Gregorian Chant tones which are actually printed in the official English Missal — which is the universal book of prayers for the Mass.

At a diocesan meeting last week for priests the leader, Fr Gerard Skinner, pointed out that the rhythm of Gregorian is different from the repeated, regular beat of the secular and religious music which is most common today, in that it has a development and a certain irregularity which stretches forward, almost with a hint of going towards eternity. He said that traditionally, the prayers of all major religions has been dominated by such rhythm.

The idea is to introduce these tones between September and Advent, and the diocese have provided helpful resources. This does not necessarily involve a big changes in the use of hymns, just a greater emphasis upon the parts of the mass and, when hymns are used, on hymns, the lyrics of which, affirm more deeply Christian doctrine.

In our parish we are very lucky to have two great, committed, growing choirs. (Thanks for the nine years together guys!). We are used to singing quite a few parts of the Mass. This has included some Gregorian chant (e.g. singing the current Missal tone for the "Christ has died"), especially at Christmas midnight Mass and the Easter Vigil. Still Archbishop Nichols has strongly encouraged us to try hard at developing this even richer, more beautiful, more communal manner of praising our great God.

15th Sunday of the year – 10th July 2011

2011-07-11T09:13:00.001+01:00

As announced last w/e Archbishop Nichols has requested that Fr Hugh move from St Mary Magda-len’s to serve the Church through studying for a doctorate. He has accepted. He is being given 12 months free of other pastoral duties. After that he is likely be given a light job for a few yrs during which he could finish these studies. The place of study is not yet decided. His last Sunday is14th Aug. His replacement is the very fine Fr Kevin Jordan, parish priest of N Harrow. He begins Sept 1st

The sadness of leaving one’s warm spiritual home and hearth invites reflection.

I have experienced the love of God here. It has involved joy and pain, fulfilment and failure, but ultimately the peace of being and loving in a place where one is meant to be and where one gains great gifts of love – in fact, in my experience here, a hundredfold as He promised.

Given the almost inevitable nature of such a break in the life and loves of the diocesan priest and people, there should also be a wisdom here and a great hope for fruitfulness. The accompanying sadness surely has a purpose, it can be a spiritual pruning.

One way, I think, to see this is that the priest is a minister and a mediator of God’s grace. The real human bonds he makes, which are good and important, not infrequently beautiful, and I’m sure, eternal, are meant to lead to bonds with God. With John the Baptist the priest especially says, “He must become more, I must become less”. Ideally priestly loving should be deep, wanting to form and foster that which is our real destiny, dignity and hope, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is a love that wants to be com-passionate, that is to suffer-with. It wants to prune.

The very depth of such loving involves knowing (v. well!) that I am not the final fulfilment of those I serve, but a friend, & a father, along the way. It is a love which leads to He who is Love. It is a love which, through pain and the Cross, in its very depth, should point beyond to He who abides, He Who remains in the Church and its sacraments through all the vicissitudes of life.

Of course such thoughts bring to mind the relationships that were not so strong, as well as one’s failings, lack of generosity, the mistakes one has made, and my need to ask for forgiveness and mercy. Yet even these can be turned to good through cleaving to Christ on the Cross. He is the One to Whom all this points.

I go to do a new type of service: to reflect about the modern undermining of our faith by the misuse of science. I believe and hope it can be such a service and love. It will be done with a strong prayer and love for the parishioners of St Mary Magdalen’s. Fr Kevin is very lucky.

14th Sunday of the year – 3rd July 2011

2011-07-11T09:06:00.002+01:00

Next weekend, a representative from the charity Aid to the Church in Need will speak after each Mass, to introduce a project in Zimbabwe which this parish will be supporting.

Zimbabwe is a country which remains in a permanent crisis. Despite its rich natural resources, it has the lowest life expectancy in the world: an average of just 37 years for women and 34 for men. The state-run healthcare system has collapsed, and countless people are dying of AIDS and cholera. Food production is in crisis following the often violent expulsion of white farmers from their land.

The Catholic Church has been a prophetic voice speaking out against the government. At the beginning of this year, the local Bishops’ Conference issued a letter which said “corruption is a cancer which is destroying our nation”. As a result church leaders have been vilified and harassed. Many priests went into hiding for protesting against the Mugabe regime’s corrupt electoral practices.

In spite of all this, the Catholic Church continues patiently to do what she can for her people: offering the sacraments and caring for the suffering in her clinics, schools and food kitchens.

To undertake all this work, the Church in Zimbabwe needs priests, but it is a struggle for her to fund the training of seminarians. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is a charity which provides material and financial help to the suffering Church in all parts of the world, and has received a request from the Bishop of Hwange to support the training of 24 seminarians in his diocese.

Hwanga is west of the Zimbabwe and does not have a major seminary of its own. Consequently students have to travel to Harare (ten hours driving time) or Bulawayo (six hours) for their studies. Unfortunately the diocese does not have the means to pay the full cost of study and travel for its students.

Next weekend, after each Mass, a representative from ACN will make a brief appeal to our parish to support the training of the 24 seminarians of Hwange diocese as an ongoing project. In return for our support, the diocese will provide us with regular written updates and photographs detailing the progress of the seminarians.

In addition there will be a longer presentation in the annexe after each Mass, giving more details of this project and the situation in Zimbabwe. Please attend this if you can, to hear about the vital work ACN do in supporting the work of the Church in this troubled country.

From Martin Plunkett, Seminarian – Youth Worker at St Mary Magdalen's 2005-2008

2011-06-27T09:02:00.002+01:00

Since leaving Mary Magdalen's I have been training in Allen Hall for the priesthood. I have just finished my third year and look forward to ordination to the deaconate next year and, God willing, to the priesthood in 2 year's time. Having finished the studies for this year I have been able to come back to Willesden for a few days and it has been lovely to see so many happy and familiar faces as they ask me how I am doing.

While I was in Willesden I worked mainly with the Youth clubs and young people and it gave me a good foundation for these seminary years. I do miss the contact with everyone though and it is a surprise to see that the young people I knew are getting older, going off to university and so on! It is great to see that many of them value the place of their faith in their lives and are allowing God to direct the choices they make. This is what we call vocation; that mysterious sense that God has created us absolutely free but calls us and guides us to make the best decisions for our life.

For me the pathway to priestly formation has been long and varied – earlier I wanted to be an actor but then became a teacher, at one time I was in a rock-band and wanted to change the world! Later I realised that God could, and has changed the world, through the gift of his Son. Today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, to remember the gift of Christ's body for us on the Cross and with us in the Eucharist. May he help us all through our celebration to grow in love for him and our different vocations for his service.

CALLING ALL 15-30 YEAR OLDS.
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LOVE? WHY DO WE NEED IT SO MUCH? HOW CAN WE FIND TRUE LOVE? HOW FAR CAN YOU GO WITH A BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND?
This Year’s Summer Faith conference will answer this questions very well! The theme is “Love one another as I have loved you? The Vocation to Love.
Mon 1st August – Fri 5th 2011 Deadline 17TH July. Minibus goes from here
All in the usual holiday atmosphere which has attracted so many over the years.
We already have a\ dozen booked from the parish booked for it.
The full cost of a booking for the 2011 session is £145 with a reduced student/unwaged rate of £120.There are further subsidies for those who really need it. Talk to Fr Hugh
Parents please encourage your young people to go to this great event.

The Most Holy Trinity – 19th June 2011

2011-06-20T08:35:00.000+01:00

Corpus Christi: Procession Today 3:00 p.m. Feast Day Next Sunday

The Catechism states: “In the most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, the body and blood together with the soul and divinity, of Our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really and substantially contained …. It is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present.” (n. 1374)

Cardinal Newman said: “Is there not in all Catholic churches that which goes beyond any written devotion whatever its force or pathos? Do not believe I n a presence in the sacred tbernacel not as a form of words, nor a notion, but as an object as real as we as real.. and … before the presence we need neither profession of faith nor even manual pf devotion.” (Cardianl Newman).

St Thomas Aquians wrote: “Godhead here in hiding who I do adore, masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more.”
From the leaflet for this afternoon’s procession.
“This is a procession in honour of Jesus Christ. May he bless you and your family and friends”.

These latter words will be on a small leaflet that will be available for any interested onlookers of our Corpus Christi procession next weekend. We will be literally, if briefly, bringing God into the community, through some streets and spaces where people live and work. We will be journeying with Christ. We will make Him really present amongst his people, that He may bless them. In fact we will bless the whole area from the top of Roundwood Park.

Over the centuries understanding of the real presence of Our Lord in the form of bread developed. It took on the desire to receive the blessing of Benediction in the thirteenth century and to actually gaze upon Him, through adoration or ‘Exposition” in the monstrance in the fourteenth century.

Juliana of Retiens (1192-1258) an Augustinian abbess in Liege campaigned successfully to have a feast in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. In 1264 Corpus Christi was instituted. The procession through the streets with the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance started at this place about this time. In some countries these processions took on a dramatic character, particularly in England in the fourteenth century. People used their particular crafts to dramatically illustrate a key aspect of our salvation history from Creation onwards. Boat builders did Noah’s ark, goldsmiths the adoration of the magi etc. etc.

Let’s offer our gifts for His use, by being with Him, in our community, for an hour next Sunday, 3:00 p.m.

Pentecost Sunday – 12th June 2011

2011-06-13T09:41:00.001+01:00

“THANK YOU” TO OUR ALTAR SERVERS – SAT 25TH JUNE

In this church there are over forty different groups involved in diverse forms of service to the parish and wider community. Without doubt one of the most important groups – because of their proximity to the Mass, which is the source and summit of the life of our parish – is our altar servers.

Altar servers play a most important part in the church’s liturgy. Good servers enable us all, priests and laity, to celebrate the Mass and other sacraments in a spirit of prayer.

In 2010, addressing a pilgrimage of altar servers to St Peter’s, Pope Benedict XVI said: “Every time that you approach the altar, you have the good fortune to assist in God's great loving gesture as he continues to want to give himself to each one of us, to be close to us, to help us, to give us strength to live in the right way. With consecration, as you know, that little piece of bread becomes Christ's Body, that wine becomes Christ's Blood. You are lucky to be able to live this indescribable Mystery from close at hand! Assisting your priests in service at the altar helps to make Jesus closer, so that people can understand, can realize better: he is here!”

You may be surprised to hear that we have over seventy altar servers in this parish, who work together in ten teams covering each of our Sunday Masses. We also have a group of ten youngsters who are currently taking part in a five-week training programme to become new altar servers later this summer.

In recognition of their service to the parish, we are holding a “Fun Day Out” for our servers on Saturday 25th June. We will celebrate Mass and have a talk on the martyrs at Tyburn Convent, followed by boating, a picnic and games in Hyde Park. If you are a server and haven’t yet signed up for this event, there are forms in the sacristy. Please come if you can – it promises to be a great day!

Sixth Sunday of Easter Year A 29th May 2011

2011-06-06T09:44:00.001+01:00

Little Sisters of the Assumption –
After next Sundays 10:30 Mass, we will say au revoir.
The little Sisters of the Assumption are leaving our Parish after 25 years dedicated service. We wish them and their community health and happiness and extend our grateful appreciation for their invaluable support to the parish over the years.

A Brief history of the Sisters in London
Four Sisters came to London from Liverpool in 1985 as the Administrative House for the Sisters in England and Scotland. Some of you will remember Sister Kay, who was here from 1985 to 1988, who sadly died in 2008. The other Sisters were Sr. Ursula, (now being cared for in their Birmingham House), Sr. Josephine who passed away in 1991, and Sr. Valerie. Sister Winifred came in 1988 and was here for 12 years. She played the guitar at the Family Mass on Sundays. She then spent four years in South Africa – very kindly supported there by this parish - returning to look after elderly sisters in Birmingham where she suddenly passed away in January 2011. Sister Margaret Lonergan was the community archivist until her sad passing away in 2008.

Who are the Little Sisters of the Assumption
They were founded in Paris in 1865 by Fr Stephen Pernet and dedicated woman called Antoinette Fage, to look after sick and needy families. They came to England in 1880 going to anyone, of whatever creed, colour or belief, who needed them. They continued working in this way, and have spread to many parts of the world.

Sisters Valerie and Margaret say Farewell:
As the time has come for us to move, we would like to say how sad we are to be leaving the Parish after more than 25 years. It is a busy, warm and welcoming parish, and all the visitors who have been with us have experienced this welcome from the priests and parishioners. You are welcome to come and visit us in Birmingham. Please keep us all in your prayers, as we will remember you in ours.

Fifth Sunday of Easter Year A 22nd May 2011

2011-06-06T09:34:00.001+01:00

A Conversation in Caritas
meetings this week and sheet available for feedback to diocese.

During his visit last year, Pope Benedict called for solidarity with the poor and needy of society. The Archbishop is aware that much Catholic social action happens in the diocese, usually done quietly and without fuss. However the Archbishop is keen to reinvigorate what we understand by “caritas” - the practical work of love. How can we respond to the Pope's message? How can we best support and encourage each other? One aspect is thinking about how each parish can enrich and enhance its response. But he also recognises that the Diocese could support, encourage and facilitate this work.

To this end he has started A Conversation in Caritas to find out in more detail what parishes already do and how they can be helped further, to serve those in need – not forgetting the most vulnerable and, in some ways those most under threat, the unborn – without whose protection attempts truly harmonious and healing social advance will always be profoundly flawed and hindered.

You can attend an open meeting, this week– see list; give your views online, or by post (pick up leaflet from Clergy House or one of the priests).
Parishioners are encouraged to participate.

London Meetings: 7.30pm-9.30pm with tea and coffee from 7pm
Mon 23rd May: Golders Green: St Edward the Confessor, 700 Finchley Rd, NW11 7NE
Tues 24th May: Westminster Cathedral Hall, Ambrosden Avenue, SW1P 1QJ
Wed 25th May: Ruislip: Most Sacred Heart, 73 Pembrooke Rd, HA4 8NN
Thursday 26th May: Victoria: Vaughan House, 46 Francis Street, SW1P 1QN

Fourth Sunday of Easter Year A 15th May 2011

2011-05-16T09:01:00.001+01:00

GIFTS FOR GOD
Some of our post-Confirmation teenagers will be using their talents to entertain a week on Saturday (28th, 7:30 pm). They will be offering their gifts in gratitude for your gift of money and prayer enabling them to go to meet the Pope in Madrid at World Youth Day this August – and some other Catholic youth events. It is not easy to be a practising Catholic teenager today and your support is very valuable.

So three pounds will enable you to see:

Marc Norris a great Catholic (clean) comedian, proving that to be funny you don’t have to break traditional taboos, or encourage greeds.
Lifehouse Drama: A mime and dance act depicting the battle for the soul between Jesus Christ and various temptations
Rap Dance by Anton, Gerald and Andrew – three of our very own young people who have been exhilarating audiences with their power, speed and grace all over the youth Catholic scene in London
Traditional Sri Lankan dance by young dancers who are in demand for big occasions for the London Sri Lankan community
and instrumental and song pieces by others of our youngsters

Refreshments will also be available. All at the King’s Hall, 150 yards along the Harlesden Road from the Church, starting at 7:30 pm, Saturday 28th May.

OUR WORLD YOUTH DAY
Our young people who are going on World Youth Day have been linking up with some from Ealing Abbey parish once a month for catechetical, prayerful and social preparation. They will be joining with thousands of young people from all over the world who have links with the French-founded Emmanuelle Community. They will meet in Paray de Monial, south East France on August 12th, travelling via Lourdes to be in Madrid for 17th August for more catechesis just before Pope Benedict arrives in Madrid. On the night of 20th August an expected two million young Catholics will gather at a Madrid aerodrome to keep vigil with the Pope, sleep under the stars and celebrate the Mass of World Youth Day on the Sunday morning.

Third Sunday of Easter Year A 8 May 2011

2011-05-09T10:32:00.001+01:00

HAVE YOU GROWN CLOSER TO GOD IN LAST 6 YRS? –Part II

In the Church porch you can find some copies of the Catholic Truth Society leaflet “Contraception and Natural Family Planning”? Why have we made these available at this time?

Blessed Pope John Paul II died six years ago. Last weekend he was beatified. When he died, the media attempted to overview his life. Most of the coverage reflected the widespread senti-ment: “great guy; pity about his crazy opposition to artificial contraception”. The problem with that is that this teaching was not just his. It has been quite explicitly and very formally the teaching of every Pope since it became controversial in the early twentieth century. It has also been part of the Christian moral tradition going back to the beginning of the Church. So either the Church of Christ has made a massive mistake or the world has. The former is not possible if Jesus is truly God and continues to be present in His Church today, as Roman Catholicism believes.

On the Saturday night on which Blessed John Paul II died, the BBC Six O’Clock News gave their own assessment of his life, very much along these lines. At the 6:30 pm Mass that night I preached about these issues, but quickly realised that I was getting into deep water. So I promised to write about it in this space the following weekend.

After penning a piece entitled “The Church’s Teaching on the Marital Act”, I realised I needed to do a follow-up piece entitled “Going against our culture: Is it realistic?” After that, I came to the conclusion that we needed another one on “Difficult Cases”, and a final one after that called “The Practicality of Conversion.” I tried here to show awareness of the difficulty this teaching presents to many modern men and women today as well as trying to present it as the liberating truth. I tried to show the importance today of understanding that the sexual act unifies and forms the married couple as generous parents (whether or not it’s most concrete and beautiful fruit of human conception results). The piece can be seen on-line at www.faith.org.uk /Publications/Magazines /Mar06/Mar06ParishApproachToChurchsTeachingonMaritalAct.html, with some white A4 copies at the back – as well as the colour CTS leaflet mentioned above.

If these teachings affect you, can I urge you to take a copy of the CTS leaflet and to consider some of the deeper issues by reading the longer explanation of six years ago. We owe it to God and to ourselves to listen attentively to the voice of the Church amidst the loud clamour of non-Christian ideas about that deeply human mystery of sex and love.

Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) Year A 01 May 2011

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PARISH EVENTS FOR THE BEATIFICATION OF JOHN PAUL II
During Sunday morning: Beatification ceremonies shown live in the Annexe
2:30 pm onwards: Divine Mercy service – with Confessions, in Church
Monday evening: Cake, wine and screening of the film “John Paul II” with Jon Voight, in Annexe
Next weekend: Issuing of polished versions of our 2005 leaflets: ”Explaining the Church’s teaching concerning the marriage act”

ARE YOU COMING CLOSER TO GOD?
It’s as many as six years since Pope John Paul II died. Today Pope Benedict beatifies his predecessor. He proclaims that the Pope is in heaven. Deo Gratias. We hope to follow him there!

When John Paul II visited Holland, in response to some young people protesting against Church teaching on the maleness of the priesthood and the martial meaning of sex, he said “My dear young people, even if it were in my power to give you these things, do you really think they would bring you closer to God?” Six years since he died we could all ask ourselves a similar question. Over the last years have we become closer to our Lord and friend Jesus Christ? John Paul gave us and gives us some pointers – and as a result we offer the four things listed above to help us.

He was truly prodigious in the amount, range and originality of writing, initiative, travel and personal meetings he engaged in. Yet above all he was a man of prayer and penance, rarely letting, even calls from the President of the United States, interrupt frequent times of contemplation with God. He was a man who knew, experienced deeply the incredible love of God.

He really wanted others to share that experience. To this end, in what was perhaps one of the most important for him of his initiatives, he instituted, today’s universal feast, the day of his beatification. That is Divine Mercy Sunday. On this Sunday, through the inspirations of St Faustina, whom Pope John Paul canonised, he wanted the amazing mercy of God to be proclaimed. On this day we are especially enabled by the Holy Spirit to know how damaging the sin of Adam and our sin has been in knocking us off course, and how incredible God’s faithful live for us still is, through Christ crucified.

So at 2:30 pm onwards today we will have a special service, involving the chance to go to confession. The person availing themselves of this sacrament, with a deep sorrow and love of God, and of Holy Communion, is promised deep healing from God (i.e. a “Plenary Indulgence”). Also, in the annexe we are having large screen showings of the Beatification ceremonies live this morning and of the very well reviewed film “John Paul II” tomorrow night – 7pm for 7:30pm.

Finally, next weekend we plan to reissue slightly simplified versions of the special newsletters on the Church’s teaching on love and sex which we printed immediately after the death of John Paul II six years ago. They were in response to the very prominent media assessments of the Pope as great, except for his upholding of perennial Christian teaching on sex. Blessed John Paul - pray for us

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion Year A 17 April 2011

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HISTORY OF A PROCESSION: Good Friday 1 p.m. v.2
The Good Friday procession of witness this year is replaced with a 1 pm gathering outside St Andrews’ Church. This is because it has been decided that it is too dangerous to pursue our annual Good Friday procession on the High Road without formally closing the road. This decision was made by the police, and supported by the council. No doubt they had genuine safety and work-load concerns in mind. Yet unfortu-nately it was made in such a way as to make it, virtually impossible to arrange the required road closure.

We were told we could use the footpaths. However, relegating hundreds of us to the crowded, narrow pavement would not enable us to have our usual banners, music, atmosphere etc. So we made re-peated pleas to all concerned, but to no avail. Below is a timeline of some relevant communications.

Up to about 2004: Police steward our brief use of one side of the road
Up to 2008: Police are happy to let us steward it, which goes very successfully.
N.B.: No need forseen formally to close the road (by a Traffic Management Order)
2009 & 2010: We do not try to organize it
13th February 2011: As usual we submit the Police's "Notification of Public Procession"
28th February: Police: “it will need to take place on the footpaths … There will be no police provided”
1st March: We request a meeting which is, understandably, not possible.
3rd Mar:Police:“Without a policing presence,…for safety reasons the pavement is the only real option”
14th March: Police: “if you wished to march on the road, you would need to apply for a Traffic Management Order from the council” costing “£3,000”(This cost suggestion turns out to be a mistake)
c. 20th March: Phone conversations confirm this decision.
30th March: We write to some local councillors to ask for flexibility. They apparently pass this on to the Council Traffic Manager who confirms to the councillors, copying us in, that it is too late to get a Traffic Management Order (“about five weeks” are necessary) and therefore we cannot use the road.
15th April: To this date we have not even received an acknowledgement from any of the councillors.

N.B. Despite some press reports we have never intended to “defy” the order, and the Council did not “ban” the march. But they, and the police, have inadvertently made it virtually impossible to stage the march, except as a damp squib. We are very grateful for all the excellent things these great institutions do for us here in multi-cultural Brent. Yet in this case they seem to have subtly highlighted something important, and worrying, about our culture.

For the question remains: what has happened between 2008 and 2011? Up to 2008, from our point of view, causing us hassle never seemed to be dreamt of. We ere acknowledged as Christians wanting, on their big day, briefly to use the public highway in a manageable manner. Now it is a major issue. This is surely not a conspiracy – just a subtle change of attitude. Perhaps it is an aspect of what Pope Benedict lamented, in his profound and acclaimed words to representatives of British society in Westminster Hall, last September:“I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalisation of religion, particularly of Christianity ... [relegating it] to the purely private sphere.”

Fifth Sunday in Lent Year A 10 April 2011 BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY 2ND MAY – WINE, CAKE AND FILM EVENING A LARGE SCREEN SHOWING OF “POPE JOHN PAUL II: THE

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TO CELEBRATE THE BEATIFICATION OF POPE JOHN PAUL THE GREAT
AND THE ROYAL WEDDING

"It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.”

"Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch" – Pope John Paul II

On Sunday 1st May, Pope Benedict XVI will beatify his predecessor on the Seat of St Peter, Pope John Paul II. This ceremony formally recognises the late Pope’s heroic virtue and the miracle which occurred at his intercession, and is the next formal step in the process of becoming a saint.

In this parish we will celebrate this historic event on the evening of Monday 2nd May (May Day Bank Holiday) with a screening of the film “Pope John Paul II: The Movie”, which charts the Pope’s life from his youth in war-torn Poland to his death which moved and transfixed the world.

Pope Benedict said of this film: "Watching this film has renewed in me a sense of profound gratitude to God for having given the Church and the world a Pope of such an exalted human and spiritual nature."

In its review, the secular “Washington Post” said: “The movie is honestly and actually about something... It's the ability to instill joy in human hearts, and the film not only celebrates it but, in its finest moments, even possesses it."

Our celebration will begin at 7.00pm with wine (with which we will also toast the happy royal couple!), coffee and cake, followed by the movie at 7.30pm. The cost will be £3, with all profits going to the work of the Maryvale Institute, which has supported many catechists in this parish.

Fourth Sunday in Lent Year A 3rd April 2011

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NEW TRANSLATION OF THE MASS – begins September 4th
3. The Response to the Greeting: - “AND WITH YOUR SPIRIT”

One of the major changes in the people’s responses this September will be to say “And with your spirit” instead of “And also with you”. Last week we looked at the meaning of “The Lord be with You” –this week we look at the new response.

With the new translation we will be coming closer to the original Latin (in line with the translations for most other languages). This means we will be responding to “The Lord be with you” with “And with your spirit”. This might at first feel less ‘normal’ language. ‘And also with you’ is more obviously carries the easily grasped meaning of a polite: “And may God be with you, too.”

In fact the new, more literal translation, captures some deeper meanings also. The phrase actually comes from the last words of St Paul’s second letter to Timothy: “The Lord be with your Spirit” (2 Tim 4:22, see also Gal 6:18). Timothy was the young bishop that Paul had left in charge of the Church at Ephesus, and Paul explains that he is referring to the Spirit of Christ which, and by which, Bishop Timothy is ministering – that is The Holy Spirit.

Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago and until last year president of the American Catholic Bishops explains this quite forthrightly:

“Our current translation might seem more personal and friendly, but that’s the problem. The spirit referred to in the Latin is the spirit of Christ that comes to a priest when he is ordained, as St Paul explained to Timothy. In other words, the people are saying in their response that Christ as head of the Church is the head of the liturgical assembly, no matter who the particular priest celebrant might be.”

So by returning to the response "And with your spirit" we are acknowledging more explicitly the Holy Spirit's unique activity through the priest during the sacred liturgy by virtue of his ordination – and we are reminding the priest of his need for humility! As a Benedictine monk writes “In effect we are saying ‘Be the priest for us now,’ aware that there is only one priest, Christ Himself, & that this one who represents him now must be finely tuned to perform his sacred duties well."

In conclusion St John Chrysostom (a 4th Century saint) said in a sermon:- “By this cry (‘And with your Spirit’), you are reminded that he who stands at the altar does nothing …” and went on to explain that it was the Holy Spirit acting through the priest who accomplished all, concluding with the words “We indeed see a man, but God it is who acts through him. Nothing human takes place at this holy altar.”

Based on a chapter in a new book ‘A Biblical Walk through the Mass’ (by Edward Sri, Ascension Press).

Third Sunday in Lent Year A 27th March 2011 v.2

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NEW TRANSLATION OF THE MASS – begins September 4th
2. The Greeting - “The Lord be with you” (part 1)

One of the major changes in the people’s responses this September will be to say “And with your spirit” instead of “And also with you”. Below is the 1st part of a reflection upon this.

Have we ever thought that this greeting is little more than a liturgical exchange of ‘Good morn-ing’? But if we understand this greeting from a biblical perspective, then it should change the way we approach Mass. At one level these words convey the reality of Jesus’ presence among us. Jesus said ‘For where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there among them’ (Matt 18:20). At another level it recognises Jesus presence within us by virtue of our Baptism.

But the greeting ‘The Lord be with you’ also recalls to us the words spoken to a host of biblical heroes (Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, Jeremiah and of course the Blessed Virgin Mary). All of these people heard these words at pivotal moments in their lives.

Let us consider two examples. In the Book of Judges we read how the Israelites called out to God because they were being continually attacked by the Midianites, and so an angel appeared to a man called Gideon, and told him that he would lead his people and overcome the enemy. Gideon responded that his clan was the weakest, and he himself was the least important in his family, to which God replied “I will be with you..” (Judges 6:16). Similarly when Moses was told that he was to go to Pharaoh and lead his people from captivity, he tries to tell God that he is not up to this task, God responds, not by sending him on a leadership skills course, but by saying “I shall be with you” (Ex 3:12). We need to realise that these biblical heroes fulfilled their missions, not because they had great human skills or were natural leaders, but because they trusted in God and in his reassurance that He would be with them.

So when we hear the priest say “The Lord be with you” it should have an impact on us. When we hear these words we should realise we are standing in the footsteps of biblical greats and be reminded and greatly encouraged that we have access to a higher power – the power of the Holy Spirit – that can support us through the trials and challenges of life whilst remaining faithful to God – if we let him. The greatest enemy that we face is the devil who will tempt us to do wrong. We can trust that God’s strength will make up for whatever in us is lacking, and so we will be able to carry out the task God has given each one of us.
Shortly we will look at our response which will change from ‘And also with you’ to ‘And with your Spirit’. Based on a chapter in a new book ‘A Biblical Walk through the Mass’ (by Edward Sri, Ascension Press).

THIS FRIDAY 25th March 2011 Feast of the Annunciation

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7.30pm – Refreshments and cake afterwards

This talk, fully illustrated, tells the story of John Henry Newman's life, from his London childhood and Ealing schooldays right through the Oxford years and on to his reception into the Catholic Church and the founding of the Birmingham Oratory. It introduces Newman's key ideas and his continuing influence today.

The talk will be followed by cake and coffee. £3 donation, profits from which will go to the work of the Maryvale Institute.

Dr Andrew Nash read English at Trinity College Cambridge. He taught for over 30 years in Catholic schools including the Oratory School founded by Newman. He gained a PhD in Newman studies and has published a major edition of Newman's Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England.

Quotes from Newman:
• “A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault.”
• “Calculation never made a hero.”
• “Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall ever have a beginning.
• “From the age of fifteen, dogma has been the fundamental principle of my religion: I know no other religion; I cannot enter into the idea of any other sort of religion; religion, as a mere sentiment, is to me a dream and a mockery.”
• “Growth is the only evidence of life.”
• “If we are intended for great ends, we are called to great hazards.”
• “If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable... we must be content to creep along the ground, and never soar.”

THE SIGN OF THE CROSS

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To begin our preparation for the new translation of the prayers of the Mass we print a summary of the first section of A Guide to the New Translation of The Mass by Edward Sri, Ascension Press

How often do we make a sign of the cross and say ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’. But do we really understand the power and significance of this prayer?
This short reflection will explore the biblical roots of the sign of the cross; the better we understand this prayer the better we will be prepared to receive the treasures God has in store for us each time we say this prayer. There are two aspects – the ritual of making the sign, and the words we say.

The sign: This goes back to Old Testament times. The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision of the dreadful sins being committed in Jerusalem and the judgement that would occur (Ezek Ch 8), but then he was told that an angel would mark all the righteous with a mark on their forehead (the Hebrew letter tav – which looks like a cross). And like the blood on the doorpost that protected the Israelite families from God’s punishment on Egypt at the first Passover, this sign would set them apart from the corrupt culture and would serve as a sign of divine protection when God’s judgement fell on the city (Ezek Ch 9).

Early Christians soon adopted this sign, now the Cross of Christ, which was traced over their bodies. So when we make the sign we are expressing our desire to be set apart from the corrupt ways of the world, and in addition we are invoking God’s protection for our lives, especially in times of temptation or suffering.

The power of God’s name. In the Old Testament we read of many occasions when people call on God’s name. In Scripture, a name is not just a way of identifying or referring to a person, a name mysteriously represents the essence of a person and carried the power of that person. So to call on God’s name is to invoke his presence and his power. So at the very start of Mass we solemnly call on his name, invoking his divine presence and power. It is if we are consecrating the next 40 or so minutes of our lives to the Lord, saying that everything we do in the Mass, we do in his name, asking for his help as we prepare to enter the sacred mysteries.

So let us make the sign of the cross with careful attention and great reverence. Given all that this ritual means, let us not make the sign of the cross in a hurried or sloppy way.

Ninth Sunday of the Year A 6th March 2011

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NEXT SUNDAY ALL THE SERMONS WILL BE ‘KICKING OFF’ A DIOCESAN PROCESS CALLED “PRAYING THE MASS”.

This process is to help the Church in Westminster prepare to receive and use fruitfully the new edition of the Roman Missal and its new English translation. We introduced in this space last week the fact that from September we will using new prayers AND NEW RESPONSES during Mass.

There will be sermons every four weeks, accompanied by leaflets, focuses on our understanding of the Mass and how we pray it. Then, from July, Praying the Mass will begin to introduce the new translations and musical settings of the Missal texts. A DVD and other resources will also be made available. A video introduction to the process can be seen on the internet at http://vimeo.com/19384083

Praying the Mass seeks to
• promote worthy celebration of the Roman Rite in the parishes and schools of the Diocese
• provide a very clear explanation of forthcoming changes to the Missal (especially to the Ordinary of the Mass)
• ensure that this clarity of explanation and depth of reasoning is shared with the faithful by way of a gradual process of introduction.

During his recent State Visit to the United Kingdom Pope Benedict said
I encourage you now to seize the opportunity that the new translation offers for in-depth catechesis on the Eucharist and renewed devotion in the manner of its celebration. “The more lively the eucharistic faith of the people of God, the deeper is its sharing in ecclesial life in steadfast commitment to the mission entrusted by Christ to his disciples”(Sacramentum Caritatis, 6). 19th September 2010

Praying the Mass resources can be accessed at www.rcdow.org.uk/liturgy
N.B. If you have interest in resources being provided in a particular language then please contact Fr Allen Morris at 020 7432 1358.

Eighth Sunday of the Year A 27h February 2011

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CHANGES TO THE PRAYERS OF THE MASS:
NEW TRANSLATION OF THE MISSAL FROM SEPT 2011

You may have heard about changes soon to be introduced to the way we celebrate Mass, following the publication of a new translation of the English Missal, later this year.

The Missal contains the texts which are prayed by the priest and congregation during Mass. A new version of the Latin edition of the Missal was published in 2002, and work on the new translation from Latin into English has been ongoing since then.

The translation of the Missal is now complete and the Holy See has given its approval to the text. The bishops of England and Wales have decided that from September 2011 the new Order of Mass (those texts spoken by the priest and congregation, which are unchanged in every Mass) will be used in our parishes. It is expected that the full Missal, including the prayers that are not constant at every Mass, will be introduced in Advent 2011.

In due course we will announce how we will prepare for these changes in this parish. It is bound to be a significant change in the way we experience Holy Mass, but Bishop Arthur Roach of Leeds, the bishop in charge of the translation, has said:

“The new translation is a great gift to the Church. The Mass is at the heart of what the Church is, it is where we deepen our faith in Christ and are nourished by him so that we can glorify the Lord by our lives. In the new translation we find a text that is more faithful to the Latin text and therefore a text which is richer in its theological content and allusions to the scriptures but also a translation which, I believe, will move people’s hearts and minds in prayer.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for the Church in England and Wales to learn about our faith and the Mass… When the completion of the text was first announced Pope Benedict said: ‘I pray that… the change will serve… as a springboard for a renewal and a deepening of Eucharistic devotion all over the English-speaking world.’ I invite people to unite their prayers with those of the Holy Father for the introduction of the new translation.”

Seventh Sunday of the Year A 20th February 2011

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ENCOURAGEMENTS TO SWIM AGAINST THE FLOW
Back in September Pope Benedict spoke explained to the British people that our great traditions and values were being seriously undermined by increasingly powerful anti-God and anti-life ideas and values. This means we all need to take some particular actions to step away from this “post-Christian” flow. In considering this the below two stories from an even more anti-God and anti-life culture, namely Nazi Germany in the 1930s, might help.

ANTI-GOD: An excerpt from an email from the Dominican religious sister, Hildegard Weinrich, a parishioner of ours who was a child in Nazi Germany.

“When I was primary school age, we had to stand with outstretched arm and shout: "Adolf Hitler, battle hail, victory hail!", and then sing the German national anthem: "Germany, germany above all other nations...." and then the Horst Wessel Lied: "SA is marching..." If our arms got slack and fell down, a teacher would come up and shout that we should show proper respect to our Fuehrer. The younger children in Kindergarten were told in the morning: "Fold you hands and bow you head, and always think of the Fuehrer who gives us our daily bread." There was, of course, no crucifix in the room, but a large photo of Hitler.”

ANTI-LIFE: Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen became Bishop of Muenster in 1933, the same year Hitler came to power. He opposed Nazi policies, for instan-ce in education & religious freedom. His most important challenge was to the Act-ion T4 program—the Reich’s effort to eliminate the physically & mentally disabled.
So, in July and August of 1941, he delivered a series of sermons which argued that if the disabled could be killed with impunity, “then the way is open for the murder of all of us, when we become old and weak and thus unproductive.” If a regime could disregard the commandment against murder, it could do away with the other nine commandments as well.
The sermons caused an international sensation: Copies were sent to fighting German soldiers; the BBC read excerpts on the air. Von Galen expected to be martyred. But something extraordinary happened: The Nazis backed down. The sermons had galvanized the public: nurses and orderlies began to obstruct the program. So Hitler issued an order suspending the gassing of disabled adults.
While the Nazis did continue to kill the disabled, especially children, they killed fewer and they took pains to hide it. As Evans has written, but for von Galen’s actions, the Nazis would have continued unhindered in their quest to rid German society of “those they continued to be a burden to it.” from www.breakpoint.org

Sixth Sunday of the Year A 13th February 2011

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A CULTURE OF DECEIT?

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Shortly before Christmas The Daily Telegraph reported that two of its reporters went to the constituency surgeries of Liberal Democrat government ministers trying to get them to say unpleasant things about their Conservative government colleagues. The extent to which they were successful was big news. What was not nearly such big news was the fact that this “respectable” newspaper (which has had and continues to have “practising Catholic” editors) spun a deep and complicated web of deceit about their lives and concerns (and, who knows, their loves) to our legitimate leaders. This, let us note, was without even a suspicion, let alone evidence of, serious wrong doing on the part of their victims.

Now telling lies is wrong. Telling serious lies to legitimate ministers of the Crown is seriously wrong. Publicly boasting of such lies and gaining money from them is also seriously wrong. If one continues to do seriously wrong things in public (without repudiating them) one should not go to Holy Communion. This is not withstanding the fact that Telegraph editors are probably not in mortal sin given the fact that they probably “know not what they do”. This would be so given that the journalistic “sting”, and indeed being “economical with the truth”, has become acceptable in our modern British culture.

Which brings us to another, more recent, exhibition of such culture. Last week a Christian counsellor was due to appear before a Professional Conduct Panel for giving therapy to a “homosexual activist”. The latter performed a “sting” upon the former by spinning a web of intimate lies, which included claiming to be a Christian, to persuade the counsellor that he wanted help in changing his homosexual inclinations.

This led to none less than the influential Radio 4 Today programme presenting an expert, a Professor of Mental Health at University College London, to affirm that “we don’t know why people become hetero-sexual or homosexual” and to imply that our state of knowledge concerning “evolutionary advantage” is on equal terms. He also claimed that there is “absolutely no evidence” concerning a difference in the nature-nurture balance concerning the development of sexual orientation. This latter is not true – there is consid-erable evidence concerning the relationship with a father which, for whatever reason, have been wounded – which evidence has been aired in recent media discussions. Concerning the former “evolutionary” claims these are surely false – however often they are repeated in our culture. Common sense does tell us something significant about why people become heterosexual – namely the ability to reproduce the species. Producing babies is acknowledged by virtually all biologists as one of the most fundamental drives in the evolution of life. Heterosexuality is profoundly natural in a way that same sex attraction is not.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 2357-9) gives a clear and balanced overview of the Church’s position in this delicate area which we will comment upon in this space shortly. We also will mention some other relevant & prominent falsehoods that relate to a current Channel 4 series which has been described by the leading broadcasting watchdog, Mediawatch, as “soft porn”. For the time being one would note that, given what such watchdogs feel is acceptable, this comment makes it immoral for most of us to watch it!

Fifth Sunday of the Year A 6th February 2011

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A CULTURE OF DECEIT? - PART 2
Two weeks ago we wrote in this space about some immoral deceit (see our website), and received quite a bit of feedback. We referred to the so-called “sting” operation when it is applied to people against whom there is little or no evidence of serious malpractice. This telling of serious lies seems to have become a culturally acceptable practice in post-Christian Britain, at least when the results sell lots of newspapers to the British populace. Even when, as in the Daily Telegraph case in question, the victims are our legitimate leaders. Thus we see that the value of truth and of appropriate respect of authority has become profoundly relativised in our agnostic culture. We would also note that prurient interest in other people’s, especially “celebrities”, dirty washing plays a significant part in this dynamic and is another symptom of distance from God.

We then went on to mention an even more recent ‘sting’ by a homosexual “activist” of a Christian psychotherapist, inviting her to counsel in the light of Christian teaching on homosexuality - which is the supposed crime – and then recording her so doing. The Independent proudly published the activist’s own account and the psychotherapists’ Professional Conduct Panel dutifully summoned her. The case is adjourned after claimed intimidation of defence witnesses.

Now, in the last week, we have heard of a second Christian couple, running their own home as a B&B, being prosecuted for having refused to give a double room to a homosexual couple. This follows the case of Mr and Mrs Bull, parents of a young family, who were recently fined £3,600 for refusing to allow a same-sex couple to sleep together in their (the Bull’s) own family home.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, of the Christian Legal Centre, commented appositely: “The level of intolerance against those who wish to live by their faith ... appears to be reaching endemic proportions.” “Gay rights” increasingly trump Christian rights and reason. Actually, as Pope Benedict powerfully pointed out here last year, a coherent concept of “rights” is rooted in God.

It is timely to review the balanced approach of Catholic teaching concerning homosexuality. Here’s some snippets from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can look up the full text yourselves in your family’s copy. It is fairly self-explanatory- though given the massive cultural advance of materialistic philosophy in recent times we will offer a few comments shortly.

2357 [Homosexuality’s] psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." ... Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 ... [The homosexual] inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, & sensitivity...[avoiding] unjust discrimination 2359 ... by the virtues,...friendship, by prayer & ...grace, they can ... gradually... approach...perfection.

Fourth Sunday of the Year A 30th January 2011

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We are very pleased to welcome to the parish
TWO MEMBERS OF THE RELIGIOUS ORDER OF
THE HOLY FAMILY SISTERS OF THE NEEDY

Sr. Chinedum Nwadike and Mary Joseph Ogbuokiri, who are now living in Sherrick Green Rd, will be introducing themselves after Mass next weekend.
The Holy Family Sisters of the Needy was founded on 19th March 1983 by a Holy Ghost priest the Very Rev. Fr. Denis Mary Joseph Ononuju Cssp. This was in respone in response to the outcry and misery of poor and marginalized people following the Nigerian Civil war.Their charism is to care for and give solace to the Poor and the Needy. Though founded in Nigeria, it is a Missionary Religious Order. The spirituality of our Religious Order is modeled on that of St. Therese of Lisieux - the Little Way of St. Therese exemplified in love, simplicity of life and childlike confidence in God. Their motto is “I shall gladly spend and be spent for the poor.” They now run orphanages and residences for the elderly.
On 26th June 2007, Rt. Rev. Monsignor John Armitage, the Vicar General of the Catholic Diocese of Brentwood invited the “Sisters of the Needy” to open up a Mission in Brentwood Diocese. Now they have obtained a house in Sherrick Green Road. If anyone would like to contact them you do so through Clergy House, or email: holyfamilysrs@yahoo.co.uk, or meet them after next Sunday’s Mass, or any other they attend – their distinctive habit is dark blue.
In London they work with homeless girls and children, especially those who find themselves in difficult situations due to unwanted pregnancy. Some of them are being ejected by their boy friend, who would prefer abortion, or by their land lord, because their pregnancy would not allow them work and get money to pay their rent. The sisters also help in the Pastoral work of the Parish that they are attached to.
The final goal of all their work is helping them to experience the love of God, and so to know their great value. For further information about the Order visit the website at: www.hfsistersoftheneedy.org.

Second Sunday of the Year A 16th January 2011

2011-01-18T09:42:00.000Z

This weekend we have the annual white flower collection for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. This group is involved in political battles. In the Pope’s new year message to the diplomatic corps he touched on some relevant aspects of these battles to our country.

Man is a religious animal
The religious dimension is an undeniable and irrepressible feature of man’s being and acting, ... It is indeed the first of human rights, not only because it was historically the first to be recognized but also because it touches the constitutive dimension of man, his relation with his Creator.

Marginalisation of religion in the West [The Pope referred to numerous specific instances where Christians are being violently persecuted, then he turned to the West]
... I think ... of countries which accord great importance to pluralism and tolerance, but where religion is increasingly being marginalized. There is a tendency to consider religion, all religion, as something insignificant, alien or even destabilizing to modern society, and to attempt by different means to prevent it from having any influence on the life of society. Christians are even required at times to act in the exercise of their profession with no reference to their religious and moral convictions, and even in opposition to them, as for example where laws are enforced limiting the right to conscientious objection on the part of health care or legal professionals.
... one can only be gratified by the adoption by the Council of Europe last October of a resolution protecting the right to conscientious objection on the part of medical personnel vis-à-vis certain acts which gravely violate the right to life, such as abortion.

Sex Education
... I exhort all governments to promote educational systems respectful of the primordial right of fam-ilies to make decisions about the education of their children ... I cannot remain silent about another attack on the religious freedom of families in certain European countries which mandate obligatory participation in courses of sexual or civic education which allegedly convey a neutral conception of the person and of life, yet in fact reflect an anthropology opposed to faith and to right reason. …

Religion is at the basis of true civilisation
…. there is a need to reject the dangerous notion of a conflict between the right to religious freedom and other human rights, thus disregarding or denying the central role of respect for religious freedom in the defence and protection of fundamental human dignity.... I would like once more to state forcefully that religion does not represent a problem for society, that it is not a source of discord or conflict. I would repeat that the Church seeks no privileges, nor does she seek to intervene in areas unrelated to her mission, but simply to exercise the latter with freedom. …
The sincere search for God has led to greater respect for human dignity.

Second Sunday of Advent Year A 5th December 2010

2010-12-04T09:45:00.001Z

CENTENARY OF MOTHER TERESA’S BIRTH – EXHIBITION AT BACK OF CHURCH
After some masses this w/e some Missionaries of Charity will be around to answer questions.
See some of Mother Teresa’s great word in bold at the back.
Here are some more:

• Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
• Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.
• Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.
• Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.
• I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.
• I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?
• If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
• The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between... the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
• If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
• Intense love does not measure, it just gives.
• Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
• Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
• Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God - the rest will be given.
• Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.
• Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.
• Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.
• Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action.
• Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home.

First Sunday of Advent 28.11.10

2010-11-27T14:39:00.000Z

CENTENARY OF MOTHER TERESA’S BIRTH - 26.08.1910
EXHIBITION OF HER LIFE AT BACK OF CHURCH
Going from right (near door) to left (near repository). It will be here for two weeks
It has been loaned to this parish by the nuns of the Missionaries of Charity based in Kilburn.
Some profound words which she uttered are in bold on the exhibits.

During her lifetime, Mother Teresa achieved worldwide fame and acclamation for her good works. Our exhibition, however, highlights areas of Mother Teresa’s life which were not known until after she died: the very direct nature of her call to serve the “poorest of the poor”, and the immense spiritual darkness she experienced for many years after she founded her religious congregation.

The biography on the Missionaries of Charity website tells us that Jesus revealed directly to Mother Theresa “the desire of His heart for ‘victims of love’ who would ‘radiate his love for souls’... He revealed His pain at the neglect of the poor, His sorrow at their ignorance of Him and His longing for their love...”

Inspired and strengthened by these revelations, Mother Teresa left the convent school where she was teaching and went, initially alone, into the slums of Calcutta to tend to the many broken bodies and souls she found there.

As the work and the number of nuns supporting her expanded, Mother Teresa started to experience a spiritual darkness from which she would only once, briefly, emerge. “The whole of Mother Teresa’s life bore witness to the joy of loving... But there was another heroic side of this great woman that was revealed only after her death. Hidden from all eyes... was her interior life marked by an experience of a deep, abiding and painful feeling of being separated from God... Through this experience she mystically participated in the thirst of Jesus – His painful and burning longing for love – and shared in the interior desolation of the poor”.

Please take some time to visit and meditate on the exhibition. Let us pray that, through the intercession of Blessed Mother Teresa, we also may radiate that same love for our families, friends, and the poorest of the poor.

CHRIST THE KING Year C 21st November 2010

2010-11-22T09:59:00.001Z

The yearning
for Christ...

of Creation
Friday 26th November – Fr Hugh MacKenzie
“the Son of Man is coming...”- from the Gospel of the 1st Sunday of Advent

...of the human heart
Friday 3rd December – Fr Kevin Douglas
“the Kingdom of God is close...”- from the Gospel of the 2nd Sunday of Advent

...of fallen Man
Friday 10th December – Fr Roger Nesbitt
“the blind see again... the dead are raised to life...” - from the Gospel of the 3rd Sunday of Advent

...of the human body
Friday 17th December –Fr Dominic Rolls
“Joseph son of David... Mary has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit...”- from the Gospel of the 4th Sunday of Advent

You are very welcome to join us for prayer and talks based on the Sunday Gospels of Advent:

7:00pm Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
7.30pm Talk
8:10pm Discussion and light refreshments
9:00pm Finish

November 14th 2010

2010-11-15T09:07:00.000Z

FIVE ANGLICAN BISHOPS TO BECOME ROMAN CATHOLIC
This was announced last week. Three of the Bishops are active and two retired. They are to become part of a special non-geographical diocese (“Ordinariate”) for those Church of England members who would like to become Catholic but retain some of their prayer and organisational traditions. All those doing so will pledge allegiance to the full Catechism of the Catholic Church. They will probably be ordained as Catholic priests but not as Bishops.

A number of complete Anglican parishes are already declared as becoming Catholic, for instance one in Folkestone.

Most of those considering this change already believe in the Mass and quite a lot of Church teaching. It was the Anglican Church’s decision to change traditional teaching of Christ through the Church, such as the reservation of the priesthood to men, and the reservation of sex for heterosexual marriage in openness to children, which has made them recognise that the Church of England is not a full part of the Church of Christ. Please pray for them during what is likely to be a difficult time for them and their families.

NEW PARISH YOUTH CO-ORDINATOR

2010-11-09T12:08:00.001Z

My name is Rachel Kidd, I am 23 years old and I come from Dundee in Scotland. In September I was delighted to take up the position of Youth Co-ordinator for the this Parish, St Mary Magdalen’s. As well as working here 2 days per week, I will also work 2 days in St Benedict’s, Ealing Abbey.

I was raised in a Catholic family. My journey in youth ministry began five years ago when, at the age of 18, I had an experience of a deep encounter with Christ through which I felt a strong call to work in youth evangelisation for the Church. I began working alongside the Diocesan Youth Co-ordinator for over a year and then I was officially employed for a period of seven months. From there I went on to join a Catholic Community in the West Highlands of Scotland called Craig Lodge Community, where I spent one year as a volunteer. There I helped to run retreats each weekend, was involved in chaplaincy work in the local Primary and High School and received a great deal of formation in my own faith, through the prayer life and catechesis in the Community. I then went on to study at the Emmanuel School of Mission in Rome, doing a nine-month course in missionary, spiritual and doctrinal formation, run by the Emmanuel Community under the patronage of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. After completing this course I began a BA in Applied Theology at the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham and I am now in my 2nd year of this degree.

Under the direction of Fr Hugh and Deacon Michael, who is my “line manager”, I will begin by working with the Post-Confirmation Group, which has been running here for several years, the Youth Clubs for years 5-6 and 7-8, and in collaboration with Ealing Abbey, we are starting a Young Adults Group, for parishioners aged 18-30. This latter group will begin on November 28th. We also hope to offer the Young Adults Group and some of the Post Confirmation Group, the opportunity to go to World Youth Day in Madrid in August 2011 will be preparing for this pilgrimage throughout the coming year. With all of the groups we will be looking at how to develop them, to help the young people to continue to grow in their faith and as part of the Parish Community.

I would like to ask you all kindly to keep me and this work in your prayers; it is a great joy and an exciting new challenge for me to work in this lively parish community. I look forward to meeting you all.

God Bless, Rachel Kidd N.B. Rachel will introduce herself after Masses next w/e

ALL SAINTS –Year C – 31st October 2010

2010-11-01T14:16:00.000Z

YET MORE ON HALLOWE’EN
The local shops are full of pumpkins and there are many adverts for children’s ghoulish masks. It may be that some children have asked if they could go as a group knocking on doors saying ‘trick or treat’, and expecting a small gift. Sadly some have experienced that if no treat was given, then an egg may be thrown at the door.

But do we know the ancient Christian tradition of Halloween? Do we know where the name comes from? And why is it that it is now a completely secularised, even pagan, festivity which is promoted to make money for our industries.

The name Halloween is in fact a corruption of ‘All Hallows Eve’. In the Our Father we say ‘Hallowed be thy name’ – so Hallow means to make holy, to sanctify or to honour as holy. So ‘All Hallows Eve’ is the evening before ‘All Hallows’, which we better know as ‘All Saints’. So the true Christian tradition of Halloween is the vigil to mark the feast of All Saints, which we celebrate on the 1st of November, although this year the feast is being moved to the Sunday (31st Oct).

All Saints is the feast in which we as Catholics celebrate the glory of God in His saints; the victory of light over darkness in the lives of God's holy ones in heaven. Jesus is the “Light of the World”. The saints lived by that light, and became a beacon in their own generation. Everyone is called by Jesus to live out this vocation - to be the “Light of the world” for others today.’

As we highlighted last week, in his pastoral letter after the Pope’s visit, Archbishop Vincent Nichols wrote:- “‘Making faith visible is so much a part of the invitation the Holy Father has extended to us all.’ Therefore we have been invited that instead of marking Halloween in its secular form, we should reclaim its Christian roots and celebrate it as a Night of Light. Possibilities include
• Attending a vigil Mass for the Feast of All Saints
• Spending some time before the Blessed Sacrament
• Providing treats and fun for children in celebration of All Saints and the Light of Christ; e.g. a bonfire or dressing up as saints.
• Placing a light in your window (safely) as a sign to passers-by that yours is a Christian household and Christ is your light.
• Some may like to wear a white item of clothing as a symbol of their allegiance to Christ, Our Light.

Twenty Ninth Sunday –Year C – 17thOctober 2010

2010-10-21T09:57:00.000+01:00

TONY THOMAS INTRODUCES HIMSELF

My name is Tony Thomas and I would like to tell you a little about myself. I have just arrived in Willesden Green where I will be spending the next year living and working here in St Mary Magdalen’s parish. Some of you may remember me: I spent a highly enjoyable couple of weeks here in 2008, getting a ‘taster’ of parish life.

Since I was last here my life has changed in ways both exciting and challenging! I left my job in the City at the end of last year to take a sabbatical and have spent much of this year abroad. In particular, I had a wonderful three months in Calcutta, working with the nuns of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Blessed Mother Theresa. The nuns' motto is ‘Only All For Jesus’, and they certainly live up to this calling. Being in Calcutta was a difficult but exhilarating experience. I would definitely recommend it!

Whilst I am working here in the parish I will be applying to Westminster Diocese to join the seminary to train as a priest, some seven years after I became a Catholic. Blessed John Henry Newman said that God has created each of us for some ‘definite purpose’, and it’s an exciting journey for each one of us as we try to discover what His purpose for us is. It can also be daunting at times, as I have found, as following God’s call can mean taking a step of faith towards an unknown destination. However, in doing so we can discover more about ourselves and hopefully draw closer to God, and these are great gifts.

Please pray for me as I continue my discernment here. I will pray for you all, and look forward to getting to know you better.
Tony.

Next two Saturdays: Humane Prayer and Action

2010-10-11T11:56:00.001+01:00

Pope Benedict recently gave his blessing to a prolonged campaign of prayer for unborn children and their expectant mothers. This is called “40 Days for Life” and takes place across the world. It has, in previous years, borne significant fruit in the USA in saving lives and helping mothers, and is already doing so here.

40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life effort that consists of:
• 40 days of prayer and fasting
• 40 days of peaceful vigil
• 40 days of community outreach

We are praying that, with God's help, this groundbreaking effort will mark the beginning of the end of abortion in our city -- and throughout the UK.

While all aspects of 40 Days for Life are crucial in our effort to end abortion, the most visible component is the peaceful prayer vigil outside the local abortion facility. You can help make a life-saving impact by joining our local vigil at: 108 Whitfield Street, Marelybone, London, W1T 5EA. Nearest tube station: Warren Street.

Next Saturday (16th), here in our Church: 2:00 -4:00 pm – Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to pray for unborn children under threat and their mothers.

Following Saturday: (23rd) – Leaving form Church at 12:30 arriving at above address about 1:30 pm. We are going down to pray peacefully near to the abortion clinic (trained counsellors stand a little nearer to listen to anyone who wants to talk about or pray about good options for dealing with their problematic pregnancy). Please do come along.

Week of 3rd October 2010

2010-10-02T09:57:00.001+01:00

RESPONDING TO THE POPE’S VISIT
N.b.: Next Saturday is the first ever official feast-day of Blessed John Henry Newman

This is great time make to do one or all of the below:
 firm up your use of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
 buy and read one of the booklets on the wall rack near the newspaper stand
 buy and read one of the regular publications on our newspaper stand
 think of signing up for a distance learning course with Maryvale
 join our quality Bible study group
 think of becoming a First Holy Communion or Confirmation catechist
 Ask a question and/or read an answer at www.catholic.com or www.faith.org.uk

Why is it a good time for these things? See Pope Benedict’s words below from his Homily for the Mass of the Beatification of John Henry Newman two Sunday’s ago.

Newman’s “insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education were not only of profound importance for Victorian England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten many all over the world.

“… Firmly opposed to any reductive or utilitarian approach, he sought to achieve an educational environment in which intellectual training, moral discipline and religious commitment would come together. … what better goal could teachers of religion set themselves than Blessed John Henry’s famous appeal for an intelligent, well-instructed laity:

‘I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it’ (The Present Position of Catholics in England, ix, 390).

“On this day when the author of those words is raised to the altars, I pray that, through his intercession and example, all who are engaged in the task of teaching and catechesis will be inspired to greater effort by the vision he so clearly sets before us.”

POPE TO BRITISH SOCIETY - in brief

2010-09-25T09:53:00.003+01:00

Last Sunday: PRIME MINISTER TO POPE BENEDICT: You have offered a message not just to the Catholic Church but to each and every one of us of every faith and none ..., the searching questions that you, your Holiness, have posed to us about our society ... have really challenged the whole country to sit up and think.

SO WHAT WAS THE POPE’S KEY POINT TO OUR CULTURAL LEADERS?:
British culture has many virtues. They are fruits of our deeply ingrained Christian tradition.
So don’t drop these Christian foundations - 20th century has shown that to be dangerous

From his first speech, to the Queen, 16th September
Your forefathers’ respect for truth and justice, for mercy and charity come to you from a faith that remains a mighty force for good in your kingdom, to the great benefit of Christians and non-Christians alike. ... Britain intervened directly to stop the international slave trade ... set new standards in healthcare ... stood against a Nazi tyranny ... forg[ed] the post-war international consensus which ... ushered in a hitherto
unknown period of peace and prosperity in Europe ... [and] helped give birth to a peaceful resolution of the conflict [in Northern Ireland] ... Your Government and people are the shapers of ideas that still have an impact far beyond the British Isles ...

May all Britons continue to live by the values of honesty, respect and fair-mindedness that have won them the esteem and admiration of many [...and ] always maintain ... respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate. Let not [the UK] obscure the Christian foundation that underpins its freedoms ...

[... let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life [in communist states] leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society ...]

From his speech to representatives of British society in Westminster Hall, 17th September
Allow me also to express my esteem for [your] Parliament ... your common law tradition [etc., etc.]

Yet .... if the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident ... [e.g. credit crunch lacked] solid ethical foundations ... the [British-inspired] abolition of the slave trade [did not].

... the role of religion [... is] to help purify and shed light upon the application of reason to the discovery of objective moral principles. ... misuse of reason, after all, was what gave rise to the slave trade in the first place and to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century. ...

I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalization of religion, particularly of Christianity ... relegat[ing it] to the purely private sphere ... [such] that Christians in public roles should be required at times to act against their conscience ... and the official teaching of the Church.

Also see over, top right, for some of his Hyde Pk words, especially appropriate to our parishioners.

POPE ON BRITISH SOIL ON BRITISH CULTURE v.2

2010-09-20T09:49:00.001+01:00

On Friday Pope Benedict spoke to representatives of British society in Westminster Hall. This is where Thomas More uttered his famous speech after being condemned to a horrible death, which speech is faithfully recorded in the film A Man for All Seasons. The Pope once again acknowledged the great stable democratic traditions of our country which has led us to support free speech, to a certain “moderation” and, for instance, to abolish the slave trade. He thus went on to suggest that “the central question at issue, then, is this: where is the ethical foundation for political choices to be found?”

He pointed out that “If the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident”. He argued that such rationality without an awareness of God as its foundation has led to the “misuse of reason [which] gave rise to the slave trade [...] and to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century.”

Reason without religion is irrational. It eventually collapses from not being founded properly. A humanity which does not put God ahead of Self is in real danger.

“I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalization of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance. There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere.” I seems that the nation he had mainly in mind was that whose political and cultural leaders were sitting before him – yes that’s us folks.

Ultimately the British people are being faced this weekend with a choice: which comes first: me or God? Do we want to cultivate the traditional Christian practice of saying ‘no’ to self in order to say ‘yes’ to God with greater power?

Pope Benedict is doing what all Popes have done and have to do. Handing on Jesus’s teaching. This happens to resonate with fashionable opinion less in contemporary Britain than at any other time or place in history. Yet the less this message has influence in our country the greater the rage of country’s opinion formers – as if the latter want, as some have said, to wipe it off the very face of the earth, so they can be free to create their Brave New World without the one coherent remaining opposition, the Catholic Church. A world presumably where the population is kept going more by designer babies than naturally born ones.

Thankfully the British politeness has descended upon the media whilst we have a guest on our soil. Let us enjoy it whilst we can. Without wanting to destroy the calm it might be worth briefly pointing out that recent non-Catholic defences of the Pope against numerous one-sided accusations in TV documentaries and ‘news reports’ include the humanist Brendan O’Neill on Spiked.com on the various key ‘myths’ spun especially by Associated Press, the News Agency which has broken many of the “news” stories against Pope Benedict, and Peter Hitchens in the Daily Mail on Peter Tatchell’s campaigns against any fixed age of consent.

POPE ON BRITISH SOIL ON BRITISH CULTURE

2010-09-19T14:40:00.002+01:00

On Friday Pope Benedict spoke to representatives of British society in Westminster Hall. This is where Thomas More uttered his famous speech after being condemned to a horrible death, which speech is faithfully recorded in the film A Man for All Seasons. The Pope once again acknowledged the great stable democratic traditions of our country which has led us to support free speech, to a certain “moderation” and, for instance, to abolish the slave trade. He thus went on to suggest that “the central question at issue, then, is this: where is the ethical foundation for political choices to be found?”

He pointed out that “If the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident”. He argued that such rationality without an awareness of God as its foundation has led to the “misuse of reason [which] gave rise to the slave trade [...] and to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century.”

Reason without religion is irrational. It eventually collapses from not being founded properly. A humanity which does not put God ahead of Self is in real danger.

“I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalization of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance. There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere.” I seems that the nation he had mainly in mind was that whose political and cultural leaders were sitting before him – yes that’s us folks.

Ultimately the British people are being faced this weekend with a choice: which comes first: me or God? Do we want to cultivate the traditional Christian practice of saying ‘no’ to self in order to say ‘yes’ to God with greater power?

Pope Benedict is doing what all Popes have done and have to do. Handing on Jesus’s teaching. This happens to resonate with fashionable opinion less in contemporary Britain than at any other time or place in history. Yet the less this message has influence in our country the greater the rage of our opinion formers – as if the latter want, as some have said, to wipe the Catholic Church off the very face of the earth, so they can be free to create their Brave New World without the one remaining coherent opposition.

BUDDING HOPES AND SUDDEN STORMS

2010-09-11T09:40:00.002+01:00

Next Sunday Pope Benedict will beatify John Henry Cardinal Newman in Birmingham. A unique and significant moment for the Church in these islands as the authority of Peter is invoked to proclaim the heroic virtue of a truly great Englishman and the fruitfulness of devotion to him.

That evening the Pope will have his parting words with the Bishops of England and Wales in the chapel at Oscott College. This is where over 150 years ago Newman celebrated the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in this country with his famous "Second Spring" sermon. The image and hope of a “Second Spring” for the British Church was though not just an image of joyful return, but also a premonition that it might be an

"... English Spring, an uncertain, anxious time of hope and fear, of joy and suffering, - of bright promise and budding hopes, yet withal, of keen blasts, and cold showers, and sudden storms."

He warned that
"... in proportion to God's grace is the fury of His enemies ... [but] the more the enemy rages against us, so much the more will the Saints in Heaven plead for us."

He would have understood from his deep knowledge of history that the most painful persecutions of the Church come from failures and betrayals within, as Pope Benedict pointedly observed in Fatima recently. Newman would also have understood how eagerly the enemies of truth seize on the sins of Christians and use them as a stick to beat the poor Body of Christ. The precise form of attack is different in every generation however, so we are ever unprepared for the dismay & heart-ache caused. Yet the grace given to meet each crisis is equally unexpected & even more powerful.

Let us pray with confidence for great gifts for our own community through the Papal Visit and, not least for humility, wisdom and courage in healing those effected by sins of people in the Church and defending Christ in the Church against the “rages” that are coming our way.

One helpful response to Channel 4 documentary (“The Trouble with the Pope”) by Peter Tatchell (who campaigns against any fixed age of consent) is on the internet here: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100052875/peter-tatchells-channel-4-hatchet-job-on-the-pope-is-so-crude-that-it-misses-its-target/

Watch this space for further responses to further attacks –e.g. the BBC’s upcoming Panorama – as well as to other upcoming documentaries: the BBC's Trials of a pope (BBC2) & ITV1’s Tonight: Keeping the Faith? Questions can also be asked through websites such as Catholic Answers or faith.org.uk

EXPECTATION: September 10th-12th

2010-09-04T11:43:00.000+01:00

EXPECTATION: September 10th-12th

A Mission in anticipation
of the Visit of our Holy Father the Pope,
and of accompanying graces of God.

We are running this mission with the help of some Italian young adults from the Neo-Catechumenal Way, the community of Mother Teresa sisters, and our own Post Confirmation Youth Group and Prayer and Play group. Other parishioners will be, and can volunteer to be, involved with helping.
The purpose of the mission is to reach out to the local community (and to those engaged in the reaching out) in trust that the Holy Spirit will be offering significant graces at the time of the Papal Visit and through our prayers. We hope to make the local community more aware of Christ, the Pope’s visit and the reason for it. They will be invited to an evening of prayer, worship and talks on Saturday 11th September, and to some follow-up talks.

Friday - 6.30pm – Mass (Church)
9.00pm – Night Prayer (Church)

Saturday - 10.00am – Mass – with commissioning of missioners
10.30am – Process to Willesden Green library. Time of prayer, dance music and
witness, inviting people to come to our Church during the evening.
11.30/12.00pm – Move on to Sainsbury’s
2.30pm – Service Project. A soup kitchen at the Annexe.
8.00pm – Main service: Priests and other presenting brief talks between live
music and also available for prayer/confession/chat. Exposition in the Lady
chapel.
10.00pm – 15-30mins of Adoration and Benediction.

Sunday – Witnesses after all Masses.
2.00pm – Open afternoon at Clergy House.

1st Friday Holy hour on 3rd Sep, 7 pm, was to pray for this intention.

A DAY FOR LIFE

2010-07-24T13:58:00.000+01:00

Pope John Paul II wrote in his 1995 encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae that the darkness that took place at the time of Christ’s death on Good Friday, was ‘the symbol of a great cosmic disturbance and massive conflict between the forces of good and evil and between life and death.’ Pope John Paul II then immediately put it into the reality of today and wrote:- ‘Today we too find ourselves in the midst of a dramatic conflict between the "culture of death" and the "culture of life".’

From this grew the idea of a ‘Day for Life’ when we could pray about and meditate on the great Life issues, ranging from abortion through to euthanasia and examine our own lives and see in what way we can help confront these issues. How can we say that we are pro-life if we can’t at the same time do something positive to help those facing difficult pregnancies or problems at the end of life. How do you react when you hear about or meet a young unmarried women who is pregnant, wondering how she will cope; thinking how her dreams for the future are now in jeopardy; thinking that abortion may be her best available option? How supportive are we to such a person? Women who have abortions nearly always say ‘I had no other choice’. Sadly that may partly be because no-one pointed out that there were other choices. Do you know the contact details of local pro-life organisations (LIFE, SPUC, Good Counsel Network) where these women can be counselled and helped? What about giving them practical help? The Good Counsel Network always wants to counsel women knowing that there is someone praying for them in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Can you volunteer to be such a person?

What about lonely, elderly, housebound people? It may be that all that is needed is a regular visit / chat on the phone to alleviate the loneliness. What about those recently bereaved who suddenly find themselves alone? How well do we know each other in the parish to know who needs help. It may be that a housebound person lives near you, but could come to Mass if given a lift. Helping others does involve sacrifice, but little compared with the sacrifice Jesus made for us. You might like to get involved in our Bethany or Visitation groups.

The collection after Mass is for the Anscombe Bioethics Centre; the only Catholic bioethics centre in the UK and set up by the bishops 30 years ago. It is staffed by experts in the field and as well as giving advice to the bishops and healthcare professionals, it engages with the academics of the secular world, seeking to show them the true path of ethics. Our own deacon Michael is currently chairman of the Board of Governors of the Anscombe Centre.

HEY KIDS, IT’S THE HOLIDAYS! (Almost)

2010-07-24T12:57:00.000+01:00

It’s day 3 of the holidays and the weather is not looking promising .. your toddler is whining for something to eat ... your eldest has decided to make it his mission to annoy his siblings in any shape or form ... The house, which vaguely resembled some sense of order just a couple of hours ago, is now descending at break-neck speed into utter chaos. …
• Devise a plan Just like at school – divide the day up into sessions. ... A great idea is to list all the various possible activities for indoor or outdoor play. ... e.g. make a poster, have a music/singing session, go for a long hike, and have a water pistol fight.
• Boredom Busters Save a couple of surplus toys ... for rainy days – e.g. play-dough kit, pack of cards, jigsaws. ... ask the grandparents to bring such items instead of sweets when they visit ... go to the pound store one day and stock up on funky crayons, colouring books and plasticine....
• Sure-fire hits (for free) I’ve never met a child that doesn’t enjoy hide & seek or a good old tickle fight. You will be one popular parent if you’re willing to do some silly stuff with yr kids occasionally. Just remind them that this is a special activity ... get older ones to set up an assault course in the garden and have fun with a stopwatch ... Dressing up & role play can also be fun for all ages up to 10 ...set up “camp” in the living room or under the dining table!
• Always go out ... The day will go much quicker if you get out even for only half an hour. ...
• Go on a picnic You get fresh air, a chance for running off beans and all the crumbs cleared up in one easy move. Phone a friend to join you ...
• Bargain with the older ones... please put away XYZ first, or play with the baby for 15 mins first. Oh, you’d like an ice-lolly? ... first you need to clear up all those crayons &cut up piec-es of paper. Don’t just give them something for nothing all the time (apart from love that is)
• Make a ‘Play date’ with other families ... [discover] your kids are not the naughtiest
• Save the TV or DVDs For when you desperately need some peace and quiet or when a young one really needs to calm down from a busy day ... [or] 30 minutes before you go out ... – use TV time to suit YOU and your plans ...
• Say yes to offers of help that come your way And [... consider] holiday clubs
• ... AND at the end of each day make sure you reserve some time and energy for some child-free pursuit that you enjoy.
This is from Care for the Family website. Check out this website for some really good intuitive games, mainly for younger children but actually for all ages:http://www.poissonrouge.com/
OH, and COME TO A WEEKDAY MASS -- & FOLLOW FEAST DAYS ETC ...

Historic Change to a Brent Borough School

2010-07-05T09:41:00.002+01:00

The Diocese of Westminster and the Governors have decided to re-launch Cardinal Hinsley Mathematics and Computing College with a new name, Newman Catholic College. Cardinal John Henry Newman was a very distinguished and wonderful Catholic Leader who wrote many important books and documents that had a huge impact in the Church. He was an inspiring person who did a large number of important things to improve education in the poorer parts of Birmingham in the nineteenth century. During Pope Benedict’s visit to England this September he will beatify Cardinal Newman, the first stage towards him becoming a saint. A very appropriate person as the main patron of our “new” college.

Report from our recent Finance and Premises meeting
We are now moving ahead with replacing the central heating in Clergy House. Many thanks to those who have supported the on-going fundraising for this project. Recently the diocesan head of finance joined our committee to look at the financial side of this project. He was very impressed with the fundraising of this parish over the last ten years in terms of the refurbishment and rebuilding of church and schools.

Notwithstanding your generous increase in giving in March 2009, and our higher gift-aid receipts, which have kept our cash flow in the black we have not been able to save in appropriate amounts. This partly follows from the recent upgrade to the Church boilers and now the house heating, as well our lack of a hall to rent out, and the fact that we have not been able to keep our per capita Sunday giving at a high enough level.

Whilst the Financial Secretary at Westminster appreciates that whilst we are still collecting for the School Fund it would not be feasible to ask for more from parishioners at this time. He does however feel that when the School Fund finishes early next year we will need to increase our income to build up a reserve for the future upkeep of the parish and its buildings.

See porch for Gift Aid Declaration Forms (for taxpayers who give regularly) and leaflets to remember the Church in your Will. Your legacies will help towards the parish, sick& retired priests, priests training programme and the Trinity Fund, or call 0207 798 9375.

Newman's vision in a nutshell v.2

2010-06-28T11:04:00.002+01:00

John Henry Newman (1801 – 1890) is to be beatified by the Pope this September in Birmingham. Here a little overview of the major theme of his thought, namely the importance of God’s communication to man – that is God’s “Revelation” in Jesus Christ in his Church.

In 1816 at the age of 15 Newman began to experience an inner conviction which stayed with him all his life. As he put it at the beginning of his Apologia, he began “to rest in the thought of two and two only absolute and luminously self-evident beings, myself and my creator.”

For Newman all human knowledge is based upon trusting relationship, ultimately with our revealing God – which friendship and knowledge we call “faith”. He wrote in 1870
“… to act you must assume, and that assumption is faith ... [Religion] has ever been synonymous with revelation … it has ever been an assertion of what we are to believe. … it has ever been a message, a history, or a vision.” (Grammar of Assent, c.4)

God’s intention to reveal to us, means that the Church "must be decided and plain spoken in its doctrine" (The Arians of the 4th Century,1833). In 1870 he wrote "That the Church is the infallible oracle of truth is the fundamental dogma of the Catholic religion." (Grammar of Assent, end of Part I)

Thus it is that Our Lord Jesus clearly instituted the office of the Pope.
“The supremacy of conscience is the essence of natural religion; the supremacy of the Apostle, or Pope, or Church, or Bishop is the essence of revealed religion. (Development of Doctrine, 1846)

Six years later Newman went further:

“Deeply do I feel, ever will I protest, … [that] the voice of Peter [in the Pope] is now, as it ever has been, a real authority, infallible when it teaches, … Before it speaks, the most saintly may mistake; and after it has spoken, the most gifted must obey. ... (Cathedra Sempiterna 1852).

Newman, a convert from the Church of England, saw that the 16th century Reformation in our country started a cultural denial of the definite presence of clear divine revelation, this is turn had, by his time, led to “Liberalism”, namely
“the doctrine that there is no positive truth in religion, but that one creed is as good as another … It is inconsistent with any recognition of any religion, as true … In my own country … it threatens to have a formidable success”
This is from his 1879 “Biglietto” speech on receiving the Cardinal’s hat. He confirmed that:
“For 30, 40, 50 years I have resisted to the best of my powers the spirit of Liberalism in religion. [… this erroneous] spirit [is] sweeping into its own ranks great numbers of able, earnest, virtuous men”

In his famous “Second spring” sermon of 1852 on the restoration of Catholic Bishops to our land he predicted that we might now be entering an all too:
“English Spring, an uncertain, anxious time of hope and fear, of joy and suffering,—of bright promise and budding hopes, yet withal, of keen blasts, and cold showers, and sudden storms.”

He added that: “in proportion to God's grace is the fury of His enemies … [but] the more the enemy rages against us, so much the more will the Saints in Heaven plead for us.”

WANT TO SEE THE POPE IN BRITAIN? - ACT TODAY!

2010-06-21T09:48:00.000+01:00

Organization for the Papal visit is moving forward. It is possible for us to nominate two people for each English event. If you would like be nominated please fill in a white A5 slip from the back and give to priest or Clergy House. For any lists which get over two names we ourselves will have a ballot and inform successful applicants. it is necessary to do this TODAY, SUNDAY 19TH. It seems that security and cost considerations have meant a severe limitation upon numbers and notice. We must have names and addresses by today.

Each individual person may choose only one of the below events. Please fill in one of the slips and at the back of Church and give in to Clergy House TODAY (19th) making clear which event, and, if it is the Cathedral Mass below, which of the six categories you fall under.

Here are the events for which we can allocate two possible places out of those who sign up today
• Westminster Hall, Friday 17 September. ‘Theme’ – service the Church gives to the culture and shared life of our countries and to the wider world. The Pope will address parliamentarians and others involved with political and civic life.
• Westminster Abbey, Friday 17 September. ‘Theme’ – the common Christian search for God through prayer, contemplation and beauty.
• Westminster Cathedral, Sat 18 Sept, Mass, morning. ‘Theme’ – the life-giving power of the blood of Christ, reflecting the dedication of the Cathedral to the Precious Blood.
We can nominate 2 people for each of the below 6 categories, which will then go into a ballot:
 Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion,
 Parishioners who care for vulnerable people
 Married couples marking significant anniversaries this year
 Catholics received into the Church this year – and their sponsors
 Young people Confirmed this year – with their sponsors
 Other parishioners.
• Vigil, Hyde Park, Saturday 18 September, late morning ‘Theme’ – prayer, especially prayer before the Blessed Sacrament - anticipating the Beatification.
• Beatification, Coventry, Sunday 19 September. At Mass, Pope Benedict XVI will Beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman, a man renowned for his emphasis upon our need for God’s revelation through the Church, his commitment to education, the hymns he wrote and his dedicated and faithful service as a Parish Priest. The whole diocese has only 110 places for this event! Likely to be leaving extremely early in the morning of that Sunday.
In addition we hope to provide the opportunity to some of these on a big screen at parish events.

From FR ROHITHA RODRIGO

2010-06-12T13:19:00.001+01:00

I left the familiar surroundings and people with a heavy heart. But I was overwhelmed by the welcome received from the moment I stepped out of the airport. I haven’t felt that I am in a foreign land. There were members from the Sri Lankan community along with Fr David Irwin, co-ordinator of the Ethnic Chaplains, to greet me. Fr Hugh welcomed me with open arms and did not even for a moment allow me to feel that I am away from home. I met a few of those who are actively involved in Church activities and they were all very friendly and their encouraging words meant a lot to me. I would also like to mention the amiable Fr Kieran who helped me to feel more homely and relaxed.

I come from a beautiful island called Sri Lanka hailing from a family of seven members. My full name is Anslem Norman Rohitha Rodrigo. I joined the seminary when I was 13 years old and was ordained in 1997. After my ordination I served in two parishes as the assistant parish priest where I really enjoyed my priestly life as a pastor. After two years I was asked to serve in a catholic school in Colombo namely St Joseph’s College where about 4000 students are being educated. After serving there for four and a half years I was sent to another catholic school where 4500 students study, namely St Peter’s College. I was the Principal of the Primary section for six and a half years until the day I left my country to come over here.

I am here as the Chaplain for the Sri Lankan community where I will try my best to look into their spiritual needs and to build up the community. At the same time I wish to help the parish in whatever way I can and also study for my Masters Degree in Education.

With God’s blessings and your prayers I hope my stay here in Willesden Green will be a fruitful one for you as well as for me.

May God bless you all !
Fr Rohitha

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE MASS No. 13 THE COMMUNION RITE CONTINUED

2010-05-29T11:53:00.000+01:00

Why is the moment of Holy Communion so important?
This physical, public meeting of union and communion symbolizes, makes profoundly real, and pushes forward the union and communion of Heaven and Earth.
So why doesn’t the Church invite everyone to come to Holy Communion?
Because in this life we are all on different journeys to the same destination of Communion with God. We are all called to reach the moment of going to Holy Communion at the appropriate stage of our particular journey – and not before we are ready to manifest, in our public lives (even though we be far from saints) the Communion of Christ’s family. This is not a measure of our holiness but of our public belief and witness to Christ in the Church.
Why should some people not come to Holy Communion?
The main category is someone who, in the public forum, has an impaired Communion with the Catholic Church. This is because if such a person is not yet able to support that aspect of the Mass which is the symbolic and actual forming of the public family of Jesus. For example if someone is not a Catholic. Or it could include a Catholic who is clearly doing something seriously against the full familial Christian life. This includes living as if married with someone to whom they are not married (in the eyes of the Church) or having been away from Mass for more than a period easily explained by travel or illness.
Isn’t this harsh against people who might be victims of difficult, modern circumstances?
No, it is just a recognition that a particular person’s journey is at the stage of not, yet, being able to go to Holy Communion. It is a way of recognizing the difficulty of some modern circumstances and the need for healing. The pain of staying in one’s bench or coming up for a blessing (by crossing one’s hands across one’s chest) will bear fruits of healing (in God’s time), particularly for others in similarly difficult situations. To ignore this Church teaching is to lose the opportunity for healing and to damage the communion of us all.
Isn’t that judging that state of someone’s soul before God? No, it’s simply to do with the public, social, dimension of union and communion which is being formed by God – because the social dimension is crucial to us humans.
Does that mean someone who is privately, in their heart, far from God can go to Communion?
No. Another category of people who should not go to Holy Communion are those who are privately conscious of being in “mortal sin” (having done something seriously wrong knowingly and deliberately) They should refrain from going to Holy Communion until they have been able to go to confession first. But only they, with a spiritual direction or confessor, can make that judgment. Another reason for not going is if you have eaten within the hour before Communion. One can make a “spiritual communion”.
Going to Mass, even if not Communion, is very fruitful for all.

Pentecost 23rd May 2010 Year C

2010-05-21T20:58:00.001+01:00

PAPAL VISIT 16-19 Sept - retiring collection today, & see prayer cards at the back
Unlike Pope John Paul’s “pastoral” visit in 1982 this is, primarily, a State Visit and will have a missionary character. Access to these events will be limited though all will be live on the internet. We hope to take at least a coach load to Coventry on the Sunday. Watch this space. Because there is also a pastoral dimension the Catholic church is expected to pay about 1/3 of the £18m it is costing. Hence today’s retiring collection.

Thursday 16 September - Scotland
He will go firstly to Edinburgh where he will be received by Her Majesty The Queen, and people representing British society. He will then travel to Glasgow where he will celebrate an open-air Mass

Friday 17 September - London
On the second day of the visit, Pope Benedict is going to St Mary's University College, Twickenham. He begins the day praying with representatives of religious congregations - particularly those who have a charism for education, then meeting leaders of education and enterprise, who also are people of faith, in the newly refurbished Walpole house.

He will then go and meet about 3,000 young people - schoolchildren, students - to celebrate Catholic education. From there he will then meet and discuss with religious leaders and others.

Later in the day, the Pope is scheduled to meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury to speak and the Anglican diocesan bishops and the Catholic diocesan bishops of England and Wales.

He has then been invited, as part of the State visit, to address British society. Representatives of British society will be invited to Westminster Hall to hear the Pope's address. He will finish off the day with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Christian leaders at Westminster Abbey with Evening Prayer.

Saturday 18 September -London
Pope Benedict will celebrate Mass in Westminster Cathedral where he will also, from there, greet the people of Wales. Later in the day he will visit a home for older people, giving the Pope an opportunity to go to those who cannot meet with him. In the evening he will lead a prayer vigil in Hyde Park.

Sunday 19 September -West Midlands
The Pope will beatify Cardianl John Henry Newman at Coventry airport. He will conclude the day by meeting with the bishops of England, Scotland and Wales in Oscott College, in the chapel where John Henry Newman preached his “Second Spring” sermon.

There will be a special missal and a question and answer booklet produced. This latter will be able to be given to anyone interested in our faith.

Ascension Sunday–Year C – 16th May 2010

2010-05-15T10:16:00.001+01:00

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE MASS No. 12.

As this is the first of our two First Holy Communion weekends we are continuing the series from where we left off exactly two years ago!

THE COMMUNION RITE continued

What is Holy Communion? Jesus. That which was bread, has become, at the consecration, the Body, Blood, soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.

Why? To feed us with his divine life in a human manner. The Son of God is the means of becoming sons of God for all creatures, including all angels and humans. For humans this means the Son of God becoming human, with a physical body. His physical body participates in enabling us, soul and body, to become sons of God. We need to touch and feed upon this Body, as a baby needs the mother’s milk, for sustenance in body and soul.

Did Jesus teach this? Yes, see John chapter six, where he repeated that we must really “chew upon” his actual flesh and drink his actual blood, if we are to have life in him. It is the one place in the Bible where his repeated teaching, sadly, made lots of his followers walk away from him.

So when we touch the white Host (after the consecration at Mass) are we really touching Jesus? Yes. If you shake hands with Fred Bloggs you are literally touching the person of Fred. In Holy Communion we are literally being fed by Jesus’ Body and so intimately, humanly, encountering the person of Jesus, our true Bread of Life, the One who took on a Body to nourish us with himself to give us life and life to the full, eternal life.

How does Holy communion fit into the Sacrifice of Christ in the Mass?
The gift of Holy Communion is a fruit of Jesus’s eternal Self-Gift, through His life and death on earth.

Should we make a sign of reverence before going to Holy communion?
Yes, the Church strongly recommends a bow, sign of the Cross or genuflection, as the previous person is receiving. One can receive Jesus on the tongue or the hand, kneeling or standing.

Why do we say ‘Amen’?
As we together received Holy Communion at the meeting point between the Sanctuary and the Nave, The Bridegroom, commits to His Bride the Church, and we say ‘Amen’ – ‘so be it’.

COLLECTION FOR “WEEF” FUND, TRAINING SEMINARIANS FOR THE PRIESTHOOD

2010-05-08T12:40:00.001+01:00

NEXT WEEKEND
COLLECTION FOR “WEEF” FUND, TRAINING SEMINARIANS FOR THE PRIESTHOOD

Martin Plunkett, who was with us for three years as a youth worker, will be back at the Sunday Masses (not Sat 6:30) to explain a bit about this appeal. He is now in his second year of training, and has recently received the “ministry” of Reader. This is to be formally instituted to minister at the lectern, that is to read during the Liturgy of the Word at Mass. It is a traditional step towards becoming a priest. The next step, next year, is to become an “Acolyte”, to minister at the altar, that is as a server during the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

About a year after that Martin would then be formally called by God through the Bishop to become a priest by becoming a “candidate”. About a year after that he would, God-willing, be ordained a Deacon, and take his vows of celibacy and obedience and respect towards the Bishop. A year later he would become a priest!

It costs 50p a day to prepare someone for priesthood.

LOURDES PILGRIMAGE – DEADLINE APPROACHING
Also next weekend is the deadline for giving saying that you would like to join our parish group on the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes – cost £595 including Eurostar trip.

The theme for 2010 is, 'With Bernadette, Let us make the sign of the Cross' - nothing less than an invitation to enter into the life of the Trinity itself, by following the way of Christ.

Lourdes is ‘a place apart’. Without doubt a place of prayer but also of peace and consolation, where the pilgrim can pour out their troubles, worries, anxieties in wordless conversation with Our Lady. A place, in the first instance of Our Lady, quietly showing the way to her Son.

Lourdes is situated in the foothills of the Pyrenees in S W France. The story begins with a young girl, Bernadette Soubirous, the eldest of nine children. In 1858, Our Lady first appeared to Bernadette in the cave of Massabielle on February 11th of that year. She was to appear a further 17 times. Each year the Sanctuary chooses a theme to help us focus on the Lourdes message and what it can mean for our lives.

GENERAL ELECTION THIS THURSDAY

2010-05-04T09:06:00.000+01:00

It is good to vote. The basic dynamic of democracy is good, flowing as it does from the recognition of the dignity of every human being. Aspects of this insight were in the classical tradition and developed by Enlightenment thinkers in the 18th century. The high point of the classical tradition and the firm foundation of the modern tradition has been the historical fact of God becoming Man. Please see the special yellow A5 leaflet “Relevant Information on local candidates”.

FACE OF THE SHROUD OF TURIN
What adjectives would you use to describe the large face that is on display front right of our Church? It may well speak to you. It may be the fairly miraculously produced “death mask” of Our Lord. If so it may well speak of unspeakable sadness at the tragic reality of your sin and your suffering, as well as of healing hope for you and love of you.

It is a photographic negative of the face on the Shroud of Turin, which is a linen cloth bearing the image of a man who appears to have suffered physical trauma in a manner consistent with crucifixion. This is now on display in Turin Cathedral for the first time in decades.

The image on the shroud is much clearer in black-and-white negative than in its natural colour. The Catholic Church has neither formally endorsed nor rejected the shroud, though Popes have venerated it and commented on its mysterious beauty.

The Shroud of Turin is one of, if not the, most studied artifacts in human history. There is evidence that the shroud is the cloth placed on the body of Jesus Christ at the time of his burial, and that the face image is the Holy Face of Jesus. This concerns the origins of the material and details of the image which are accurate in the light of modern historical knowledge. In 1978 a detailed examination was carried out by a team of American scientists called STURP. It found no reliable evidences of forgery. STURP called the question of how the image was formed "a mystery".

In 1988 a radiocarbon dating test was performed on small samples of the shroud. It gave a strongly probable verdict that the cloth dated from the Middle Ages, between 1260 and 1390. However since then two peer reviewed papers in scientific journals have questioned the tests, for instance whether the material used was from medieval repair work after a fire which damaged the cloth.

Concert on Friday

2010-04-24T15:06:00.001+01:00

"Cloths of Heaven": ANNUAL CONCERT Fri 30th April 2010, 7:30 pm

in the Church

Tickets £7 in advance, £10 on the door, including a glass of wine. Call 020.8451.4677

Patricia Rozario - Soprano Mark Troop - Piano Fr Jim Brand- Piano

St Joseph’s Hendon Pastoral Choir St Mary Magdalen’s Acclaimed School Choir

Accompanied under 16’s free (no under 7’s permitted) In aid of Church Organ restoration

4th Sunday of Easter–Year C – 25th April 2010

2010-04-24T10:41:00.003+01:00

MAY FRIDAYS 7 PM Four Holy Hours in reparation for the sins of clergy which have deeply betrayed the significant trust of innocent children and deeply wounded them.

This has been requested by our Bishops in their recent statement, which is available in the porch on yellow A4 sheets. They make this important point concerning our shared responsibility: “Catholics are members of a single universal body. These terrible crimes, and the inadequate response by some church leaders […] are the personal sins of only a very few. But we are bound together in the Body of Christ and, therefore, their sins touch us all.”

Also in the porch is the latest version of our white A4 comment “Putting the media reports of ‘Cover-up’ in context.” Here are some recent comments by, sadly, a small minority of prominent writers.

Brendan O'Neill, the humanist, atheistic editor of Spiked Online, described the campaign against the Pope as "a secular Inquisition". He said it had acquired "a powerfully pathological, obsessive" character in which "scaremongering supersedes facts".

Mayor of New York, Ed Koch (who disagrees with Christian moral teaching), in Jerusalem Times: "I believe the continuing attacks by the media on the Roman Catholic Church and Pope Benedict XVI have become manifestations of anti-Catholicism. The procession of articles on the same events are, in my opinion, no longer intended to inform, but simply to castigate."

Peter Hitchens, Daily Mail columnist: “Nothing – especially facts and logic – seems to be able to stop the ill-informed frenzy of rage against the Roman Catholic Church (to which I don’t be-long) […] is this all just a pretext to attack one of the last remaining strongholds of Christianity?”

Atheistic Dominic Lawson in Daily Mail: “Why is the unashamed child abuser Polanski lauded while the repentant Pope is vilified?”

David Quinn in the Irish Independent: If this was “about uncovering child abuse [...] then every organisation with a history of child abuse in its ranks would be pursued with equal vigour. [...]
A more honest media would relentlessly hunt down child abuse wherever it is to be found. “

George Weigel, an American Catholic author, claimed that the "scandal-mongering had now metastasised into a full-scale assault on Catholicism itself".

Austen Ivereigh, co-ordinator of Catholic Voices, “The media have merged with the mob.”
Please also fast for this intention on May Fridays.

PLACING THE REPORT OF COVER-UP IN CONTEXT

2010-04-17T09:24:00.006+01:00

PLACING THE REPORTS OF “COVER-UP” IN CONTEXT
BBC Radio 4 planned to interview Deacon Michael and some parishioners on the media coverage of the “abuse scandal” for broadcast today. But in the end the BBC decided not to. We have produced a white triple A4 sheet explaining what we could have emphasised, copies of which are in the porch, including Archbishop Nichols Chrism Mass statement. Below are some key extracts from it.

Any case of priestly sex abuse and episcopal cover-up is indeed shameful [...] We accept the role of the media in calling us to account concerning our protection and care for innocent children, [and] episcopal dereliction of duty [...] We need repentance and renewal.

However, the media have avoided presenting the fact that child sex abuse and the mismanagement of its perpetrators is and has been a society-wide phenomenon. Rather they have been happy to create the impression that:
(i) the priesthood is fairly riddled with abusers,
(ii) there is an international culture of cover-up in the Church
(iii) which goes right to the top of the Church, and
(iv) that Catholic institutions such as celibacy and hierarchy are to blame – even that Catholic teaching of children about its sexual morality is a form of intellectual abuse of many children.
We would suggest that these latter four implications are ideologically-inspired calumny:
(i) In the first national research of its kind the Irish College of Surgeons 2002 SAVI report, widely acknowledged as authoritative, found that the gigantic number of 27% of under-17 year olds allege having been victims of sex abuse. 3.2 % of these allegations concerned priests. [...]In England & Wales over the last 40 years 0.4% of all priests have had allegations of such abuse against them.
(ii) In all the recent reporting there are no new proved cases of paedophilia (or of abuse in general). The “news” is of a greater specificity to what actually happened concerning Irish clerical abuse, but mainly of the bad management, in Ireland, of some proven or suspected abusers. [...] The evidence suggests that [this] is widespread in society [...] The Church, in its Canon Law, has always made clear that abuse of minors is a serious sin. [... whereas] prominent contemporary political figures such as Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt were leaders of the 1970s Civil Liberties Union which was affiliated to the Pedophile Information Exchange.
(iii) [...] The attempts to implicate the Pope and Archbishop Nichols have shown the media at its most blatantly unprofessional and irresponsible- and reveal the deeper agenda at work.
(iv) No objective evidence has been adduced to suggest that celibacy is the problem [...] The claims that our teaching of the truth about sex and love is an “intellectual abuse” are in one sense the extreme of the attacks. From another point of view they would seem to be a key motivation behind the unprofessional nature of the frenzied accusations, amidst what, in its foundations at least, was reasonable reporting about real Church failures.

Divine Mercy Sunday 2nd Sunday of Easter–Year C – 11th April 2010

2010-04-10T09:26:00.000+01:00

Divine Mercy Sunday
Today we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. A Feast Day bequeathed to the Church by Pope John Paul II, and requested by Our Lord through a Polish Nun, Sr Faustina. Pope John Paul write:- “It was as if Christ wanted to reveal (through St Faustina) that the limit imposed on evil, of which man is both perpetrator and victim, is ultimately Divine Mercy. Christ crucified and risen is the supreme revelation of this truth. The Paschal Mystery confirms that good is ultimately victorious; that life conquers death and the love triumphs over hate.” There is a programme of prayer and adoration at 3:00pm this afternoon.

Forthcoming Events
Parish Pilgrimage to Lourdes
We are planning to join the Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes 25th – 31st July, with Archbishop Vincent Nichols. If you are in any way interested then do come to a meeting next Saturday (17th April) at 11:00 am, here in the Annexe, at which the diocesan organiser (Gerald Daly) will talk to us and answer any questions that you may have. At this stage there is no commitment – just come and see.

Parish Concert: - Friday 30th April 7:30 pm – here in the Church
For the sixth year running Patricia Rozario OBE will, once again, head up a list of performers which will include other professional musicians, and our the Junior School choir and St Joseph’s Pastoral choir. The theme this year will be “Cloths of heaven’ from WB Yates poem.
Tickets are £7 in advance, £10 on the night, including a glass of wine with proceeds going towards the restoration of our ailing organ.

The Pioneer Annual Dance – Friday 7th May, 8pm to 11.30pm.
This is to help raise funds for St Mary Magdalen Special Needs Group. Tickets £ 5.00 will be on sale after all Masses this weekend and next.

This parish has a great reputation for supporting our functions. Even though we have two functions so close together, we hope that you can support both.

Fifth Sunday of Lent 21.03.10

2010-03-22T10:04:00.001Z

The UK Government and the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Scotland, England and Wales announced last week the visit to the United Kingdom of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. At a joint press conference, they said that the Papal Visit represents an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen ties between the UK and the Holy See on global initiatives, as well as the important role of faith in creating strong communities.
The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholics Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said:

“As Catholics we are delighted to welcome Pope Benedict. We thank Her Majesty The Queen and her government for extending this historic invitation to His Holiness. “We are confident that the presence and message of Pope Benedict will encourage everyone to aspire again to a vision of life in our society marked by mutual trust, compassion and truth. The great Christian tradition of faith and life, which has so shaped our culture, has so much more to offer. This gentle yet profound teacher of his faith will encourage and strengthen all who receive his words.”

The Pope will be received at the Palace of Holyrood House by Her Majesty The Queen. His Holiness will give a major speech to British civil society at Westminster Hall, where the trial of St Thomas More took place. He will also visit the West Midlands to beatify the nineteenth century theologian and educationalist Cardinal John Henry Newman at a public mass in Coventry.

Other key elements of the visit will include a public mass in Glasgow, a prayer vigil in London and an event focusing on education. Relations between the Christian Churches will be a theme of the visit as will the relations between the major faiths. The Pope will visit the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace and pray with other Church leaders at Westminster Abbey.
Full details of the visit are available on the Westminster web site – www.rcdow.org.uk

HOLY SEE ISSUES AN IMPORTANT STATEMENT

2010-03-13T12:06:00.000Z

Last week the Vatican press spokesman affirmed that sexual abuse of minors by authorities in the Church is "particularly reprehensible." He also cautioned against seeing the problem as only a Church issue, since the reality of abuse "is much broader" and extends to society as a whole.

Father Lombardi noted that, concerning the recent Irish crisis, the Holy Father has met the Bishops and is currently preparing a special letter. Now the scandal has involved the Church in central Europe. The local Churches there have "faced the emergence of [the] problem with timely and decisive action." He said they have "demonstrated their desire for transparency and, in a certain sense, accelerated the emergence of the problem by inviting victims to speak out, even when the cases involved date from many years ago”. Indeed the "correct starting point is recognition of what happened and concern for the victims and the consequences of the acts committed against them." The Church is identifying a "prevention strategy, so that everything possible may be done to ensure that similar cases are not repeated in the future,"

Father Lombardi said the scandals should be "placed in a more wide-ranging context that concerns the protection of children and young people from sexual abuse in society as a whole."

He explained: "Certainly, the errors committed in ecclesiastical institutions and by Church figures are particularly reprehensible because of the Church's educational and moral responsibility, but all objective and well-informed people know that the question is much broader, and concentrating accusations against the Church alone gives a false perspective. By way of example, recent data supplied by the competent authorities in Austria shows that, over the same period of time, the number of proven cases in Church institutions was 17, while there were 510 other cases in other areas. It would be as well to concern ourselves also with them." The spokesman lauded widely supported initiatives in Germany to "consider the question from an appropriate and comprehensive viewpoint."

The press officer added that, concerning the Church’s “canon law, the crime of the sexual abuse of minors has always been considered as one of the most serious of all, and canonical norms have constantly reaffirmed this." Other commentators have pointed out how a certain disregard for Canon Law had developed in the Church in recent decades which meant that, as the Irish Inquiries have pointed out, appropriate punishments were not applied.

Finally, Father Lombardi concluded by saying that the "seriousness of the difficulties" facing the Church "cannot be denied.” She must “ensure that, in the end, they bring positive results, of better protection for infancy and youth in the Church and in society, and the purification of the Church herself." [adjusted from a zenit.org report]

Third Sunday of Lent –Year C – 7th March 2010

2010-03-06T11:32:00.001Z

IN OUR REPOSITORY THE FOLLOWING MEDALS ARE AVAILABLE
This is in addition to the patron saints medals we explained on front of 4th Sunday of the Year, 30TH January 2010- see our website, under “Reflections”

Our Lady of Mount Carmel (also known as Scapula feast) is associated with the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel; whoever dies wearing the scapular would be saved a promise by Our Lady. The liturgical feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is celebrated on 16th July
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal – feast day 28th November “all those who carry this will receive Grace in abundance, especially those who wear it around their neck and say their prayer confidently, they will receive special protection from the Mother of God and abundant graces” message to St Catherine Laboure to the wearers of the medal.
St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) – feast 23rd September, patron saint of the unborn
Solemnity of Mary Mother of God (Holy Day of Obligation) – feast day 1st January. Mary the mother Jesus Christ
Solemnity of Our Lady of Walsingham – feast day 24th September (England); Patroness of England.
Infant of Prague – feast day 1st Sunday in May - Infant Jesus Patron of those in poverty, danger, sorrow, anxiety, spiritual darkness, despair & illness.
Divine Mercy – feast day 2nd Sunday of Easter – “I demand from you deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for me. You are to show mercy to your neighbours always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse yourself from it” message to Sister Faustina
Holy Guardian Angel – feast day 2nd October
Holy Spirit – feast day is Pentecost Sunday – The arrival of the “Comforter” (the Holy Spirit) as promised by Jesus Christ before his ascension into heaven
The Sacred Heart of Jesus – feast day 19 days after Pentecost - is also a special Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests

“CATHOLIC SCHOOLS MUST TEACH PUPILS WHERE TO ACCESS ABORTION”

2010-02-27T10:44:00.005Z

(This week’s front page headline in The Catholic Herald)

1. On 23rd February last Ed Balls, the Minister for Children Schools and Families, said that from September 2011 Catholic schools will by law need to teach pupils “how to access contraception, [and] how to use contraception. [...] they must explain how to access an abortion". Also, incredibly, Mr Balls implied that the Catholic Church was supporting such measures.

2. Actually it is impossible for Catholic schools to do this without contradicting their very nature as Catholic. This is because it would be “formal” cooperation with a very wrong act, e.g. ending the life of an unborn baby. It’s wrong to give boxing gloves to bullies or to inform an intent robber about quick lock-picking, in the (forlorn) hope that they’d do less damage. This is because you become an accomplice. It is a principle basic to the Catholic moral tradition and, therefore, enshrined in western legal traditions under "aiding, abetting and encouraging crime". It flows from Christ's revelation and right reason.

So how did it come to this? Well, at the very least there seem to be two opposed interpretations of the understanding reached between the government and the Catholic Church concerning relevant aspects of the government's Bill. In Church circles the understanding might possibly be interpreted as ruling out co-operation with abortion. Interpeted legally - which is what matters in this situation - it clearly does not.

3. What is this 'understanding'? On the same day as Balls' comments the Government passed an amendment permitting faith schools to teach Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) “in a way that reflects the school’s religious character”. The Church, through our Catholic Education Service (CES - see their website), seems to have agreed with the government that this means that “the SRE in Catholic schools will be rooted in the Catholic Church’s teaching of the profound respect for the dignity of all human persons.”

4. The government clearly believes that the emphasises of 1. and 3. above are compatible, and that their Bill assumes this. Whilst co-operating in an abortion is not compatible with Catholic moral teaching (or right reason), tragically it seems that such co-operation is compatible with a legal interpretation of the terms of 3. That is, legally speaking, enabling an abortion doesn't necessarily fail to “reflect ... the school's religious character", or to be ”rooted in" Church teaching of "profound respect for" human life. So enabling access to abortion will be legally mandated whilst at the same time teaching it's wrong will be legally permitted.

Balls, and presumably Government legal experts, seem to think that a Catholic school teaching that ‘abortion is wrong’ is enough to ensure that its SRE is "rooted in the Catholic Church's teaching", irrespective of what other enabling or encouraging is done in the opposite direction. Maybe legally, certainly not theologically.

The government may have been misinformed. Many people on both sides of this debate have recognized the illogicality of this situation. For even today most people in the traditionally Christian West accept that it’s wrong to cooperate with wrong. It is crazy and corrupting to cooperate with what you have just taught is wrong.

5. Balls well clarifies his government’s interpretation of how this law should play out with the example of St Thomas More Catholic school in Bedford, who have found the way to satisfy both 3. and 1. (but not to satisfy our faith, or right reason). That is, in the schools’ own words, also on 23rd, it is “placing [SRE] in the context of the Catholic faith [...] resting on the profound respect found in the Catholic faith for the sanctity of all human life”. And yet, at the same time, according to Balls’ unchallenged claims, "The school nurse provides students with clear accurate information about the full range of contraception and STIs and details of local services. [...] Pregnancy options, including abortion, are also discussed in a non-judgemental way.”

This is clearly what the government want and what the law will require, from all our secondary schools. From Sept 2011 local Catholic schools will be required to have classes, for 11-14 yr olds, saying, in effect: “what we are about to do is immoral according to our Church but we have to, so here goes: here’s how you/girlfriend can confidentially get an abortion in Brent ...”.

SECULAR “RELATIONSHIPS EDUCATION”–COMING TO A SCHOOL NEAR YOU

2010-02-23T10:24:00.000Z

This Tuesday the Government’s “Children, Schools and Families Bill” reaches the advance “report” stage. The Bill would make sex and relationships education (within Personal, Social, Health and Economic education) a statutory part of the national curriculum. The bill currently states that children must “learn the nature of Civil Partnership” - the legal definition of which includes a sexual relationship – “and the importance of strong and stable relationships”. It intends to remove from the current statute book a rejection of ‘teaching and materials which are inapprop-riate, having regard to the age and the religious and cultural background of the pupils concerned’.
The specific implications of all this are to be worked out by later government “guidance”, for Sept 2011 implementation. The government has assured us that faith schools will still be able to present their moral teachings. However in their draft guidance - which is now being consulted upon until 19th April, cf. www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/ - there are elements at Key Stage 2 which are in serious tension with Catholic teaching and at Key Stage 3 which directly contradict it.
At Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11) children are to be introduced to sexual intercourse, contraception and homosexuality – the latter in the context of the wrongness of bullying. For the school to deal with such subjects at Primary age, unless in some form of urgently needed rectification, is against formal Church guidance. If it happens the Catholic school would obviously have, at the very least, to contextualize such teaching by giving its own teaching, e.g. about sex being only for marriage, and its teaching on the reality of “disordered desire” from Original Sin.
At Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14), pupils will be taught about abortion, told where they can obtain (without parental consent) contraception and the morning-after pill – which latter causes an early abortion. Again the school might contextualize this by Church teaching. However the process of proactively providing this information would be to enable, and thus technically to become party to, teenage promiscuous behaviour.
For instance to insist that all pupils be told where they can confidentially get boxing gloves for free to reduce the adverse effect of any bullying they might engage in, even if it is contextual-lized by the teaching that bullying is morally wrong, would be to cooperate with the bullying. This indeed is the actual dynamic of the government’s past sex education approach which has led to relentlessly increasing STDs, pregnancies and abortion amongst teenagers in this country.
It is not too late to send a first class letter, email or phone call to our M.P. Sarah Teather, especially, to take part in the above-mentioned consultation. There are numerous other very worrying aspects to this legislation. Cf. the Family Education Trust: Jubilee House, 19-21 High Street, Whitton, Twickenham TW2 7LB Tel: 8894 2525 , www.famyouth.org.uk

POPE TO BRITISH BISHOPS

2010-02-13T11:04:00.003Z

EXTRACTS FROM POPE BENEDICT XVI'S ADDRESS TO BISHOPS OF ENGLAND & WALES ON THEIR RECENT “AD LIMINA” VISIT TO HIM – MONDAY 1ST FEBRUARY

[…] Even amid the pressures of a secular age, there are many signs of living faith and devotion among the Catholics of England and Wales. I am thinking, for example, of the enthusiasm generated by the visit of the relics of Saint Therese, the interest aroused by the prospect of Cardinal Newman's beatification, and the eagerness of young people to take part in pilgrimages and World Youth Days. On the occasion of my forthcoming Apos-tolic Visit to Great Britain, I shall be able to witness that faith for myself and, as Successor of Peter, to strengthen and confirm it. During the months of preparation that lie ahead, be sure to encourage the Catholics of England and Wales in their devotion, and assure them that the Pope constantly remembers them in his prayers and holds them in his heart.

[…] I urge you as Pastors to ensure that the Church's moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended. Fidelity to the Gospel in no way restricts the freedom of others, on the contrary, it serves their freedom by offering them the truth. Continue to insist upon your right to participate in national debate through respectful dialogue with other elements in society. In doing so, you are not only maintaining long-standing British traditions of freedom of expression and honest exchange of opinion, but you are actually giving voice to the convictions of many people who lack the means to express them […]

If the full saving message of Christ is to be presented effectively and convincingly to the world, the Catholic community in your country needs to speak with a united voice. […] Make it your concern, then, to draw on the considerable gifts of the lay faithful in England and Wales and see that they are equipped to hand on the faith to new generations comprehensively, accurately, and with a keen awareness that in so doing they are playing their part in the Church's mission. In a social milieu that encourages the expression of a variety of opinions on every question that arises, it is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate. It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church's Magisterium that sets us free.

POPE ON EQUALITY

2010-02-08T09:00:00.001Z

POPE LIKE JESUS IN LAST SUN’S GOSPEL: “The People suddenly became enraged”
Last Monday Pope Benedict said that the measures enshrined in the government’s Equality legislation partly go against the “natural law”. For saying this he has received much criticism and ‘gay rights’ campaigners along with ‘humanists’ have said that they intend to mount pro-tests when Pope Benedict comes to England later this year. The Chief Rabbi & others have supported him, and the government has pulled back, probably with an eye to the Papal visit.

THE CURRENT SITUATION
The position of the government and of such campaigners and many other cultural icons in our society is that the rights of active homosexuals to be unimpeded in having their relationship treated as normal trump the rights of Christians not to so cooperate. Hence Catholic adoption agencies have been closed down, individuals such as Gary McFarlane (who refused to give relationship counselling to same-sex couples) and Lillian Ladele (who refused to register civil partnerships) both recently lost their jobs and their appeals, Catholic schools are being forced to make children aware that, without their parents consent, they can access medical contraception and abortion services, and now, in the latest Equality legislation, religious organizations were to be forced to be open to employing people who are publicly living lives that contradict our vision of love e.g. actively ‘gay’ ‘partners’. (Though on this latter point the government backed down on forcing us to employ such people as leaders, and since the Pope’s remarks, to employ such people in any capacity.)

THE CONTRADICTION
The Pope has, in recent years, quite often pointed out the perversity of this drift concerning human rights: - it is cutting off the branch upon which it is sitting. The very concept of “rights” flows precisely from the Christian vision concerning the dignity of the human person, which was at the roots of western civilization. However because this very civilization, at least in England, is removing its Christian foundation, it is removing the coherence of its vision of rights. Thus, with an extreme irony, and arrogant inconsistency, an exaggerated version of ‘gay rights’ is being used against the right to religious freedom, which latter concept is at the very heart of any coherent concept of rights at all. The Pope has repeatedly pointed out that this is a dangerous situation. Whose rights will be next to go in the headlong march to make sexual gratification an absolute right? For this is surely driving so much of the secularization

MEDALS OF PATRON SAINTS IN REPOSITORY

2010-01-30T14:04:00.002Z

IN OUR REPOSITORY THE FOLLOWING MEDALS ARE AVAILABLE
Here is what they are Patron Saints of:

St Andrew – feast day 30th November - of Scotland
St Anthony of Padua - feast day 13th June - of the poor, the oppressed, elderly, amputees, starvation, expectant mothers, fisherman, harvest, sea travels, travel hostesses, boatman, waterman, mariners, sailors and shipwreck
St Benedict – feast day 11th July of kidney disease, poison sufferers, dying people, fever sufferers, farmers, Europe, civil engineers, people in religious order, and students
St Bernadette – feast day 16th April – of the sick people, poverty and family
St Christopher (meaning Christ Carrier) – feast day 25th July - of safe travel
St Dympna – feast day 15th May – of those who suffer mental, mental health professionals, nervous system disorders, epileptics, incest victims, and runaways.
St Gerald Majella – feast day 16th October – of motherhood, &women trying to conceive
St Joseph – feast day 19th March & May 1st – of the universal church and workers
St Jude Thaddeus – feast day 28th October – of hopeless and desperate cases
St Francis of Assisi - feast day 4th October – of Animals and the environment
St Francis Xavier – feast day 3rd December – of missionaries and sailors
St Martha – feast day 29th July - of cooks and servants
St Martin – feast day 12th November – of vintners and alcoholics
St Michael the Archangel – feast day 29th September – of the Christian church
St Paul – feast day 29th June – for us all and for catholic for truth
St Patrick – feast day 17th March – of Ireland
St Peregrine – feast day 1st May - of cancer patients.
St Peter – feast day feast day 29th June – of popes, fishermen, for all of us.
St Rita – feast day 22nd May – of impossible cases
St Theresa of Lisieux– feast day 1st October – of Aids sufferers, aviators, bodily ills, florists, illness, loss of parents, missionaries and tuberculosis
St Teresa of Avila – feast day 15th October – of headache sufferers

TODAY: EMERGENCY RETIRING COLLECTION FOR HAITI EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

2010-01-25T09:00:00.000Z

A few days ago, through their partners Caritas, CAFOD had some significant success in trying to distribute food and water. Here’s their on the ground report:

Caritas had its first major aid distribution on Tuesday 19 January. So far distributions have been on a small scale because of security. But if you can secure an area you can scale up. […] in the end seven trucks arrive on the site. Two trucks come straight from the Dominican Republic, the other five from the Catholic Relief Services (Caritas USA) warehouse.

The distribution is at […] the golf club in Port-au-Prince […] There are about 25,000 people there who have lost their homes and are surviving under plastic sheeting. When we arrive, there are about 1,000 people […] They are behind a line of US soldiers. […] and soon there are about 5,000 people […]

The seven trucks bring about 1,000 family food kits in large buckets, each good for one family for two days, packages of water, and other items including plastic sheets. All the items are handed over by the Caritas volunteers to women only. It may not be enough for everyone present, but it’s a good start.

ANSWERING THE TODAY PROGRAMME’S ATTACK ON THE CHRISTIAN GOD
Last week we outlined the inappropriate argument put by one of the BBC’s most prominent journalists on prime time radio against the all-powerful and good God. He made clear that perennial Christian answers to these perennial natural tragedies were woefully inadequate (to him at least, that is). He went on, as if on a political issue, against the Anglican Bishop he was ‘interviewing’, “What you seem to be arguing for is the slot machine God ... the suffering that has been imposed upon the people of Haiti, many of them clearly innocent, is random.” The morning after the earthquake he made the centuries old point that, in the light of serious suffering, God cannot be both all-powerful and merciful.
And the perennial answer is: He is both, but not in the pre-conceived way that such secularists imagine. Not in the way that He would stop them, for instance, being relativists, or libertarian in their moral life. And they presumably would hate it if He did. Even God cannot stop us the results of human mistakes In belief and sin in action over the ages, which would be a contradiction of man’s defining freedom to love. And the poverty of Haiti which is rooted in the founding of the nation as a place of escape from the horrific Slave Trade (which, incidentally, the Church condemned from its beginning) is rooted in sin. Also humans’ lack of being in tune with the natural movement of our environment and the primitive state of our early warning systems are also probably linked with the fallen, wounded state of man. The wounded radio-receivers of our conscience and environmental sense has resulted from the first spiritual earthquake, and its fall-out across the generations, of the first human sin, and the after-tremors that follow subsequent sin.
Human freedom gives the opportunity to love, at the awful price of sin and some terrible suffering. We are fragile creatures loved by our creator. Even God cannot change that, but, through Christ on the Cross he is with us in it, and ensures that, in the end, it will have been worth it all.

ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE- 17th January 2010

2010-01-18T09:17:00.000Z

Today we pray for the souls of those killed in the appalling Haiti earthquake, and for the comfort and healing in mind and body of the survivors. Next weekend we will have the chance to give monies towards these newly needy in an “Emergency Retiring collection” through the auspices of CAFOD.

“But who do we pray to? The God who allowed all these people to die?“ rang out the first question of the prominent BBC journalist’s prime time question on the popular Radio 4 Today programme, the very morning after the horrific earthquake. A gallant Anglican Bishop had gone into the lion’s den to witness to our loving, all powerful, God against an apparently incredulous BBC. “Why did God allow this to happen?” was the next of a series of unrelenting and morally outraged questions from the BBC’s link man of their main news discussion programme.

A less charitable Christian leader might have alluded to the inappropriateness of such unsympathetic taking sides. For this is a truly delicate and painful issue which has been much discussed and struggled with over the course of the many natural disasters which have publicly afflicted human communities, over the centuries – as well as those much more private freak tragedies and accidents that have so wounded particular families and individuals. We do have things to say on this, and a Saviour who has died upon the Cross in tragic, painful, apparently hopeless circumstances. Is this long-term reflection to be regarded as of little value in order to make an exciting, hard-hitting interview?

Even if the Today programme’s anger at the good God is truly the righteous indignation they seem to present it as, this wouldn’t disprove the existence of an absolute, all powerful intelligence behind the cosmos – just his goodness. Moreover if the materialists view that there is no final meaning in the universe is right then on what basis do they have any “righteousness” or outrage at us believers or our God at all, why should suffering matter, on what basis do they propose any right and wrong, except in a purely relativist manner?

Then the questioner argued that this “imposition” of suffering in Haiti is clearly “random”. The journalist argued against the traditional God of monotheism as both good and all-powerful. As mentioned above this issue has been much discussed over the centuries, in sermons here and in this space (see our website!) Given the relentless nature of the incredulous secularism that engulfs us we’ll probably try again next week. Meanwhile, let us pray, hope & be compassionate.

TWO GREAT TALKS

2010-01-09T10:58:00.001Z

TWO GREAT TALKS HERE: On the basics of our faith explained for today

Come and gain a fresh vision of our beloved faith.

By speakers from the catechetical FAITH movement, which Fr Hugh is involved with, and through which he gained his vocation to the priesthood. The first time priests from that movement have spoken here!!!

Two Tuesdays, 7:30 pm, the Annexe

26th January: 'Jesus - Is He the meaning of creation?'
Fr Roger Nesbitt, Dean of Dover and Chairman of FAITH Movement.

2nd February: 'God - Can we know that the universe is created?'
Fr Stephen Dingley, Professor of Theology at Wonersh seminary, Guildford, and Publications Editor of FAITH Movement

From the Faith website: www.faith.org.uk
The Universe was spawned from his royal decree, in the first seconds of the 'Big Bang' . This makes Christ the King of Science, as well as of Religion.

In his image as Son of God, the Father's contemplation of Himself, the Angels were made. He is Lord of the realm that is Invisible.

In his image as Son of Man we creatures of body and soul, flesh and blood are made. This flows from God's intention to make us men and women to His likeness in Jesus Christ. Christ is Lord of the visible... in all its beauty.

2010: CONVERTING ENGLAND AND OUR HEARTS

2010-01-09T10:55:00.001Z

2010: CONVERTING ENGLAND AND OUR HEARTS
The Catholic Church in Britain has some interesting things to look forward to this year. The below are all very likely to happen, though dates, in most cases, are not firmed up:

• The first ever State Visit of a Pope (likely to be in the Autumn)
• The Beatification of Cardinal Newman (likely to be at Coventry airport).
• A new English translation of the Mass, which will be both more faithful to the official Latin prayers as more beautiful and dignified than the words we use at present.
• The vast majority (probably hundreds of thousands) of the worldwide “Traditional Anglican Communion” (which is not the C of E) publicly to state their intentions to become Roman Catholic, along with numerous English and Welsh Anglican groups.(The first deadline for them to declare their intentions is 22nd Feb next).

We should have confidence that one day the oft said “Prayer for England” for the “Conversion of England”, “Mary’s Dowry”, will be answered. We should indeed expect for special fruit from the seed sown by the blood poured upon our soil by the many Reformation martyrs. Each of the above, in its own way, might appear to be a partial fulfilment of the below beautiful prayer of Cardinal Newman, written concerning those friends he painfully left behind in the Anglican Church after his own conversion.

“I gather up and bear in memory those familiar affectionate companions and counsellors, who in Oxford were given to me, one after another, to be my daily solace and relief; and all those others, of great name and high example, who were my thorough friends, and showed me true attachment in times long past. ... And I earnestly pray for this whole company, with a hope against hope, that all of us, who once were so united, and so happy in our union, may even now be brought at length, by the Power of the Divine Will, into One Fold and under One Shepherd”

The fulfilment of all these prayers of course depends particularly upon our own conversion of heart this year. Let us base all our New Year Resolutions upon a yearning for the Grace of God to enable us to keep them.
P.S.: see the very relevant, very good new resources below:
 DVD Reviving Catholic Britain www.saintant.com Telephone 01834 812643
 EWTN Interview with Raymond de Souza, www.ewtn.com/audiovideo/index.asp#VOD then, click on ‘Archive video’ column, ‘EWTN Live’, click on either 100k or 300k Mr de Souza spoke here last yr

4th Sunday of Advent - 20/12/09 - Next Sun (27th): A Special Chance To Show Our Love For The Baby Jesus

2009-12-22T13:57:00.001Z

“Next Sunday, Holy Family Sunday, the Devil is likely gently to invite many of us

not to be present at Mass!”

1. What does that mean?! Next Sunday, 27^th, is just two days after Christmas day, when many of us will have “already” been to Mass. There will be many “reasons” not to go to Mass.

2. Isn’t it a bit dramatic to talk above about the “Devil tempting” us not to go, there are indeed many things from the weather to family that can stop us. Christ in the Church calls all Catholics to go to Mass every Sunday. Because the call is spoken to us very clearly by Christ we know that any temptation to refuse the call is definitely not from the Spirit of God, and is ultimately linked, to some degree, to the Father of Lies., that is the Devil.

3.Does it really, really matter if we don’t? Jesus wouldn’t ask us if it didn’t. Centring our week upon God is very important. At Sunday Mass we humbly offer our week to the Father through His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit on the Day of the Lord, with his whole Body, His family. This is the basis of all true fruitfulness. Unless we have a “grave” reason not to (e.g. illness, 24/7 care of others, etc), we should ‘drag ourselves out’ to be with Jesus.

4. But surely we are grown up, and can make reasonable decisions not to go. Christ speaks through his Body the Church - otherwise he doesn’t speak clearly at all. He doesn’t have a secret police physically to enforce it – He just requests.

5. But if the pressure not to go is so great surely God is merciful? If we fail to go (apart from a grave reason) it is definitely wrong, but our culpability can be very much reduced. And if we are repentant God will forgive.

6. Will it be worth it? Precisely because of the above reasons:

I.e.: 1. It’s only two days after Christmas

2. The Church is out of fashion, not least due to recent scandals; 3. Obedience is out of fashion

4. Belief in the Devil is out of fashion; 5. We can easily convince ourselves it’s not our fault

… getting ourselves to Mass next Sunday (27^th), especially if it’s through snow, will be a great act of love for & faith in and sacrifice to Jesus. It’s a great chance to do something definitely right truly loving, but which we’re likely definitely to be tempted against. It will definitely bear fruit for us all.

Mass times will be as normal.

2nd Sunday of Advent-06/12/09 - Humanists Get Children Profoundly Confused

2009-12-22T13:55:00.001Z

From The Times 21.11.09: The two children chosen to front Richard Dawkins’s latest assault on God could not look more free of the misery he associates with religious baggage. With the slogan “Please don’t label me. Let me grow up and choose for myself”, the youngsters with broad grins seem to be the perfect adver-tisement for the new atheism being promoted by Professor Dawkins and the British Humanist Association.

Except that they are about as far from atheism as it is possible to be. The Times can reveal that Charlotte, 8, and Ollie, 7, are from one of the country’s most devout Christian families. Their father, Brad Mason, is [a popular evangelical drummer, who has been …] providing photographs to agencies who sell them on […]. He said: “It is quite funny, because obviously they were searching for images of children that looked happy and free. [….]” He said that the children’s Christianity had shone through. “Obviously there is something in their faces which is different. So they judged that they were happy and free […] I reckon it shows we have brought up our children in a good way and that they are happy.” […]

The British Humanist Association said that it did not matter whether the children were Christians. […] “The message is that the labelling of children by their parents’ religion fails to respect the rights of the child and their autonomy. We are saying that religions and philosophies — and ‘humanist’ is one of the labels we use on our poster — should not be foisted on or assumed of young children.”

Children, in a child-like way do tend to follow their parents in regard to belief. It is natural and good. If we acknowledge this and the fact that they are their same religion as their parents, is that “foisting” beliefs upon children, disrespecting their rights? Surely only those parents and guardians, and indeed opinion formers, who are less than at peace with their own values are not at peace with them being handed on to those who love them, respect them, need them, look to them for answers & to those they have given life.

This campaign is another example of humanists and their fellow-travellers very effectively pushing their belief that children have “rights” enabling them to be “autonomous” of parents and their Creator in learning about important truths and values. Presumably they approve of the obvious fact that children today are indeed picking up on this sense of autonomy, on the supposed lack of need to respect or obey elders, let alone to listen out for divine revelation. The children who will read their poster are just receiving one more reinforcement of the fashionable materialism being powerfully taught to them. They are being encouraged to disrespect the wisdom of ages and of the aged, and to despair of being made for the gift of true life.

Teaching that children should not receive information about life, the universe and everything is not just contradictory, it is inhuman. Children ask questions and naturally imbibe values, beliefs and priorities from their elders. In today’s increasingly post-Christian society an increasing amount of children imbibe the crazy conviction that they shouldn’t have to imbibe any conviction – especially about important things. We are becoming a society of confused and self-contradictory individualists intent on producing more.

1st Sunday of Advent-29/11/09 - Having Your Say On 'Assisting Suicide'

2009-12-22T13:53:00.001Z

There is an important consultation now taking place about when cases of 'assisted suicide' will be prosecuted. The law on 'assisting suicide' has not changed but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has issued 'interim guidelines' about when to prosecute people who do it. We have until 16 December 2009 to respond. It is essential that as many people as possible concerned about safeguarding the value of life should respond. The guidelines are defective. If left unchanged, they are likely to encourage attitudes and practices that will greatly increase the pressures on vulnerable people to kill themselves. Suicide is a terrible act and typically the act of a desperate person. Those contemplating suicide should be treated with compassion, but suicide should never be promoted or assisted. Promoting or assisting suicide is a serious offence, not a 'victimless crime'. It leaves someone dead.

What are the most important defects in the guidelines?
First, that the guidelines give the impression that a person with a disability (or a serious illness or a history of suicide attempts) has less protection under the law than the rest of us. Second, they may well encourage people in certain categories (spouses and carers) to think they are immune from prosecution for advising or assisting suicide. Sadly, not all spouses and carers are caring people, and vulnerable people need the law's protection here. Third, the guidelines fail to give enough weight to preventing systematic promotion of suicide by pro-suicide and pro-euthanasia groups or individuals.

What can we do?
You can respond to the consultation and make your views known. Unfortunately the consultation document produced by the Crown Prosecution Service is confusing and not easy to follow. Advice on how to respond is on the Bishops' Conference website. (www.catholicchurch.org.uk). If you write a response the key point to make in your reply is that the factors "against prosecution" should not include: (1) that the victim had a terminal illness, severe disability or chronic illness, or (2) that the suspect was a spouse, partner or close relative. It is right that there should be some discretion for the DPP when there are exceptional circumstances which mean prosecution would not be in the public interest. But including these key categories in guidelines could allow the practice of assisted suicide to quickly become very common.

To make your response go to www.cps.gov.uk/consultations/as_policy.html or phone the Crown Prosecution Service (020 7796 8000) and ask for a copy of the consultation document.

34th Sunday-22/11/09 - Farewell from Niamh - Our Parish Youth Worker

2009-12-21T12:49:00.005Z

I've been working here in St Mary Magdalen's for just over a year now and I have to announce that sadly I will be moving onto a new job in Birmingham. I have had a wonderful year here in Willesden Green and I feel like I'm part of the parish family. I have loved getting to know the young people and working with them. I have had the opportunity to work with individuals in the post-confirmation youth group and I must say that they are a remarkable bunch of young people who have a great generosity of heart about them. They have taken me into their hearts and I care a great deal about each one of them.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the adult volunteers and catechists who have supported me over this past year, without them we would not be able to run the youth clubs or catechesis programmes and I am so grateful to them for their support and friendship during this year. I'd like to thank some people in the parish who have been real friends to me, fed me and supported me during this year (you know who you are). I'd like to give a special thanks to Fr Hugh, he is truly very devoted to work with young people and I could not have got through this year without his support and advice.

I am very sad to be going and hope that you will keep me in your prayers and I will continue to make regular trips to my second home here in Willesden Green.

Next weekend we are having a “youth Mass” on Saturday at 6:30pm with some "youth-friendly" music for all ages followed by a social for young people in year 7+. Please try and dig out those recently Confirmed and members of youth clubs from previous years and get them along- I'd just love to see them again. This will be my last event as parish youth worker so I'd like to invite all volunteers and parishioners who have been involved in the past year to come along and enjoy some games and cake and say goodbye.

I'll be outside most of the masses this weekend so please come over and say hello and goodbye!
Thanks so much for everything and I will keep you all in my prayers.

33rd Sunday-15/11/09 - What’s This About Anglicans Becoming Catholics?

2009-11-18T21:17:00.003Z

Two big Anglican groups representing large numbers from across the globe, mainly outside Britain, have asked the Catholic Church if they could become Catholic but keep some of the their traditions, particularly the way they are used to praying, and some of the ways they organize themselves. The Pope has given v. positive responses, saying for instance that they could have their own non-geographical dioceses.

Why do they want to become Catholic? Presumably they believe Catholicism is the true Church.

Why so many at this time considering becoming Catholic? To them the Anglican Church has more clearly lost its claim seems to be faithfully Christian. The Church of England has continued to try to change traditional Christian doctrine to make it harmonious with modern fashions– for instance in allowing women Bishops and seeing less and less problem with sex outside heterosexual marriage.

Isn’t it a bit strange to make it so easy for them? It’s good to be generous - and it’s never easy to change your community and to acknowledge, that, to some extent, one has been wrong.

Isn’t it a bit unfair on the Anglican Communion – even a bit anti-ecumenical? It may be possible that there had not been enough dialogue and consultation – however ecumenism is about the humble search for truth, and should not discourage people from searching for and following the truth wherever they sincerely and responsibly believe it to be found.

What about this Times editorial worry: “The Church of England is a valued, historic, civic resource. Its position has been dangerously weakened”? Fostering the truth about Man is the way to peace and love in the world. Maintaining institutions irrespective of their validity is irrational.

Will “hundreds of thousands” become Catholics? Probably not given practical, political & remaining doctrinal difficulties. But we are entitled to hope and pray for a fulfilment of all those prayers for the so needed “conversion of England”. The secretary of the Forward in Faith Group (of which our own St Andrews is a member) has already said he would like to become Catholic with his London parish.

What about the Catholic comedian Frank Skinner’s worry that the prospective newcomers might be “reactionary bigots who want to reinforce my Church’s most unpalatable aspects: its antipathy to women and openly gay men as priests”? This would seem paradoxically to combine a judgmental attitude about personal motives with the very secular opinion that Catholic teaching about priesthood and sexuality is “judgemental”. A very fashionable position, but actually upside down. Catholics should not make such personal judgements about bigotry. And although we believe, against the flow, that there is a specific complementarily to male and female we are not anti-pathetic to sections of humanity. In short Mr Skinner has doubly forgotten the Catholic principle: hate the sin, love the sinner.

Will it mean more married priests? As with the big 1990’s conversions there will likely be individual consideration for each married convert who has already ministered a priest, without them being allowed to become Parish Priests, given their other significant practical and spiritual commitments.

GAINING HELP FROM THE BIBLE 18th October 2009

2009-10-17T09:24:00.000+01:00

As Catholics we don’t use the bible as a manual, something that might be expected to give clear needed answers to any relevant question of the day. That is more the job of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the collection of teachings of Christ in His Church which have developed down the ages in response to cultural needs.

Nor do Catholics place great store by short “proof texts” to win arguments. The history of large, tragic, scandalous division in British Christianity since the Reformation has proved beyond reasonable doubt that both sides of most issues can fairly easily quote the Bible in their defence. The Bible which was written by the Church compiled by the Church, declared inspired by the Church, needs to be interpreted by the Church. Again the Catechism provides this need.

We certainly can and do use the Bible to support the tradition of Catholic teaching. But primarily we use the inspired word to inspire us, to guide our relationship with God and others – and in the daily challenges that life throws up. Here are some inspiring parts of the inspired Word, on various themes.

Comfort: John 14:1-3; Revelation 21:4; Psalm 23:4

Worry: Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:6-7; Psalm 46

Guidance: Romans 12:1-2; Psalm 32:8-10; Philippians 4:4-7

Illness/Pain: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10; Mark 4:37-41; Psalm 103:1-4

New Life: Romans 10:9-11; Ephesians 2:4-9; Titus 2:11-14

Prayer: Luke 11:1-13; John 14:12-14; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Jealousy: Luke 15:25-32; Galatians 5:19-26; James 3:13-18

Failure: Hebrews 4:14-16; Jude 1:24-25; Psalm 73:26

THE GUARDIAN’S ATTACK UPON THE POPE

2009-10-10T12:24:00.001+01:00

The broadsheet newspaper The Guardian recently published an article, by Tanya Gold, with the headline:

“Ignore the bells and the smells and the lovely Raphaels, the Pope's visit to Britain is nothing to celebrate. Gordon Brown is 'delighted', David Cameron is 'delighted'. I am 'repelled'.”

Among other things she states of the Pope, "Joseph Ratzinger has colluded in the protection of paedophiles and the deaths of millions of Africans".

The editor of the Daily Telegraph’s internet blog, Damian Thompson, wrote an article upon this piece on his blog headlined “The Guardian's repulsive attack on Pope Benedict XVI”. Fr Tim Finigan on his internet blog makes the following points which respond to the specific accusations the Guardian makes. He writes:

1. Pope Benedict did not attempt to cover up child abuse allegations while Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He ensured that the proper canonical process was instituted, not excluding the involvement of the civil authorities. The Church has unambiguously recognised the importance of handing cases over to the police. Anti-Catholics might remember this from their anti-inquisition propaganda as "handing over to the secular arm": the right and proper procedure in such cases.

2. The Pope is not responsible for millions of deaths in Africa. The evidence shows that countries showered with condoms have the greater problem with HIV/AIDS.

3. One of the first things that Pope Benedict did was to institute the removal of Marciel Maciel.

4. Under Pope Benedict, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been tasked with dismissing from the clerical state any priest guilty of any sexual offences against anyone U-18

5. The Catholic Church is currently rather more vigilant on these matters than many other organisations. See for example the pathetic excuses that have been made for the behaviour of Roman Polanski. Had he been a priest, no doubt the Guardian would have had an article complaining about those who have excused his behaviour.

When the Pope went to Australia in the summer of 2008 secularists used the occasion to attack the Catholic Church and attempt to relate every possible story to the scandalous behaviour of priests who have abused children. It seems the process has started here. Watch this space.

YEAR FOR PRIESTS JULY 2009-2010(4th October 2009)

2009-10-03T09:34:00.000+01:00

Archbishop Vincent Nichols writes:

The Year for Priests, called for by Pope Benedict XVI, is to be a year, in which, as a Church, we say that we are proud of our priests, that we love them, honour them and recognise with gratitude the witness of their lives and the generosity of their pastoral work.

During this Year of the Priests, as a Diocese, we will centre our effort around a renewed practice of prayer. In every parish we will centre this effort around prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and the Rosary. I hope that every parish will devote an hour each week to prayer for priests before the Blessed Sacrament and that a rhythm of Forty Hours devotion can be established around the Deaneries. I hope that this renewal will reach to our schools too.

This practice of prayer, as well as study, will sustain us in our life together, it will enable us to thank God whole-heartedly for the gift of our priests and, I believe, it will be the source from which new vocations to the priesthood will spring.

Watch out for a special Holy Hour on some Tuesday mornings. Also our Rosary group is praying for vocations after morning weekday Masses.

Please see the Prayer cards at the back. The American iconographer, Marek Czarnecki, has written of the icon on this card that it is "based on a fifteenth century Greek prototype; here Christ is shown in Latin Rite vestments with a gold pelican over His heart, the ancient symbol of self-sacrifice. The borders contain a winding grapevine and altar prepared for the celebration of the liturgy of the Mass; in the borders are smaller icons of Melchizedek and St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney."

Melchizedek was a mysterious priestly figure of the Old Testament who prefigures Christ in his offering of bread and wine. St Jean-Baptiste Vianney is currently the patron of priests involved in the parochial ministry but during the coming year Pope Benedict XVI will proclaim him patron saint of all priests.

WE VISIT RELICS OF ST THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX AT WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL

2009-09-28T10:54:00.000+01:00

, Monday 12^th October 7:15pm at Library 52 southbound bus stop

(let Clergy House know if you can’t take the bus and NEED a lift down.)

Being close to the remains of someone who has died is a real physical way of being close to them. Although they are not now one with that person, they were, and so are still closely related to that person.

The relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux arrived in England via Eurotunnel on Tuesday 15 September 2009 in a specially adapted hearse for an historic first visit to England and Wales. The relics of the beloved, Catholic Saint are in the middle of visiting 28 different venues, including many Catholic cathedrals and parishes, an Anglican cathedral, a university chaplaincy, a prison and a hospice for the dying.

As a child Thérèse drew a map of England and on this map she named two cities, the cities where the official tour begins and ends; Portsmouth and London. Huge crowds have flocked to St. Thérèse in every country her relics have visited – over 42 to date. Wherever they have gone, many people have experienced conversion, healing, a renewed sense of vocation, and answers to their prayers. All are welcome and there is a special invitation to the sick, young people seeking their way in life and those from any faith or none.

One of St. Thérèse’s sayings was that she would “let fall a shower of roses on earth” after her death. Consequently, many people will be bringing roses to the venues and asking for them to be blessed and to touch the reliquary.

We hope to have copies of her best selling autobiography Story of a Soul in our repository soon. To receive daily updates from each venue, visit www.catholicrelics.wordpress.com

06/09/2009

2009-09-07T11:05:00.001+01:00

FROM POPE BENEDICT’S RECENT ENCYCLICAL LETTER TO US ALL:
Caritas in Veritate, on human development today: The Beginning of Chapter Three “Fraternity, Economic Development And Civil Society”

Charity in truth places man before the astonishing experience of gift. Gratuitousness is present in our lives in many different forms, which often go unrecognized because of a purely consumerist and utilitarian view of life. The human being is made for gift, which expresses and makes present his transcendent dimension. Sometimes modern man is wrongly convinced that he is the sole author of himself, his life and society. This is a presumption that follows from being selfishly closed in upon himself, and it is a consequence — to express it in faith terms — of original sin. The Church's wisdom has always pointed to the presence of original sin in social conditions and in the structure of society: “Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals” [Catechism407]

In the list of areas where the pernicious effects of sin are evident, the economy has been included for some time now. We have a clear proof of this at the present time. The conviction that man is self-sufficient and can successfully eliminate the evil present in history by his own action alone has led him to confuse happiness and salvation with immanent forms of material prosperity and social action. Then, the conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from “influences” of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way. In the long term, these convictions have led to economic, social and political systems that trample upon personal and social freedom, and are therefore unable to deliver the justice that they promise.

As I said in my Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi, history is thereby deprived of Christian hope, deprived of a powerful social resource at the service of integral human develop-ment, sought in freedom and in justice. Hope encourages reason and gives it the strength to direct the will. It is already present in faith, indeed it is called forth by faith.

26/07/2009

2009-08-03T12:18:00.001+01:00

5 WAYS TO KEEP YOUR CHILDREN ENTERTAINED ON A RAINY DAY

Do you ever get stuck for ideas of what to do with your children when it’s raining? Here are 5 fun things to try with your family on a rainy day:
1. Hair styling: Buy some hair gel and have fun styling each other’s hair. See who can come up with the most funny or outrageous hairstyle, then take photos as keepsakes or use them to make Christmas cards.
2. Play together: When was the last time you all played a board game? This is a fantastic way to have fun together and teach younger children about winning and losing. If your children are older, you could challenge them at their favourite computer game. It’s also a great way to learn and supervise the content of their games …
3. Listen to music together: Another great way for parents to spend time with their children. If you have toddlers or preschool children, dance around the living room together to their favorite songs. If you have older children or teens, take time to find out what music they’re into and why they enjoy it – this can help you understand their world a little better. We tend to like music that speaks to our emotions, so listening to each other’s music is a great way to learn more about where they’re at.
4. Create your own spa at home: When the children are young, bath time is a great opportun-ity to share bubbles, laughter and fun. If you have children who are a little older, or teenag-ers, take time to do your nails together or have your own ‘spa day’ at home – soak your feet and then take turns massaging moisturiser into your feet once they are dry. It’s great fun, especially for teenagers, and you never know, they may even communicate more as they relax.
5. Cook and eat together: Preparing dinner together offers another way to have fun with your children. Try at least three nights a week to include your children in the effort to make dinner, from start to finish, and eat it together around the kitchen table. During this time, turn off the TV and any other distractions, so that you can really sit down and talk while you eat. You could even have dinner by candlelight with older children (not advisable with young children).
Remember – you don’t have to wait for a rainy day to try out these ideas. And be creative – look for more fun ways to spend time with your children. These suggestions could be the start of a family tradition for you and your children – which they will remember forever.
(from Care For The Family website)

19/07/2009

2009-07-20T11:14:00.002+01:00

ENGLISH CONVERT TO BE BEATIFIED

Last week Pope Benedict approved the beatification of a nineteenth century English priest and Cardinal, John Henry Newman. Beatification is the ceremony in which Christ in the Church pro-claims that someone is in heaven, and can be fruitfully, publically prayed to, and learnt from. It is half-way to being declared a ‘Saint’. The ceremony is likely to take place in St Peter’s Square, Rome, early next year.

John Henry Newman was born in 1801. At the age of 15 he was converted from scepticism to Evangelical Christianity becoming an Anglican minister and Oxford University academic in his early 20’s. In his 30’s, partly through his reading of the Fathers (the first generation of disciples of the Apostles) he became more ‘High Church’ acknowledging the importance of the seven sacraments, the institutional Church and Church Tradition. He became a leader of the influential ‘Oxford Movement’ which brought a section of Anglicanism much closer to Catholicism.

Our own neighbour Church of St Andrews is a ‘high’, ‘Anglo-Catholic’, establishment. So much so that visitors easily mistake it for Roman Catholic – it is though Anglican and not in communion with the Pope and Roman Catholicism. Many, if not all of those Anglican ministers who became Catholic in the 1990’s, after the Anglican Church had claimed the authority to overturn Christian authoritative traditions such as keeping the priesthood for men (& motherhood for women!), were ‘High Church’.

These years began slowly to unravel Newman’s deep-seated distrust of Roman Catholicism, which he had seen as “idolatrous”, with the Pope as the ‘anti-Christ’. In 1845, to the great shock of Victori-an England, he became a Roman Catholic, a priest the following year and a member of the ‘Ora-torian’ congregation the following year, setting up an Oratory in Birmingham and then in London.

He then went into a couple of decades of struggles with former friends, secularist enemies who saw his intellect as a threat, and his own weaknesses: e.g. concerning the practical organization of a Dublin College. This period also saw some of his greatest writing, for instance The Development of Christian Doctrine, Idea of a University, Dream of Gerontius and Apologia Pro Vita Sua.

His approach was to defend the Church and its traditional teaching, as well as calling for an urgent development in the way it explained them. He got a somewhat belated recognition from Rome by being made a Cardinal in his late 70’s. He died in 1890. John Henry Newman, Pray for us.

12/07/2009

2009-07-13T10:59:00.001+01:00

LOOKING AT LOCAL SCHOOLS FOR NEXT YEAR?

As you may know both our local Catholic secondary schools had OFSTED inspections last May. Both got very good reports. Below are some phrases from the reports. Full copies can be obtained from the schools’ themselves and from the internet.

For your information, especially for parents who might be making school applications over the coming year, the diocesan website has a very good facility for finding relevant schools at http://www.rcdow.org.uk/education/findaschool/ .Also the Westminster Diocesan directory has a very useful full list of Catholic primary and secondary schools and their contact details by borough. This is sold in our repository, each December and January. It may well be still availble in the Victoria and Kensington Catholoc book shops.

Cardinal Hinsley Mathematics and Computing College
· “the school’s outstanding strengths lie in the care, guidance and support it unstintingly provides, within a strong Christian ethos”.
· “Students enjoy school, feel safe and treat each other with cheerful goodwill and consideration, morale is high”.
· “The school’s care and guidance for students is exemplary”.
· “Students make good progress and there is an upward trend in levels of attainment in all key stages”.

The Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College
“The Convent of Jesus and Mary is an outstanding school where students reach exceptionally high academic standards and develop into confident and articulate young women. […] It is incredibly successful at raising aspirations and increasing students’ motivation to learn. The strong Catholic ethos instils a sense of purpose and self-belief which underpins their outstanding spiritual, moral social and cultural development. Students enjoy living, working and learning together in a well-ordered, purposeful community”

05/07/2009

2009-07-06T11:43:00.001+01:00

BEING CATHOLIC WHEN OTHERS DO WRONG

Bankers and Members of parliament are not the flavour of the month at present. It is said that greed has got the better of some prominent members of these professions.
As Christians we shouldn’t be very shocked by sin. We are accustomed to it. As humans to doing it, and as Christians to understanding a certain tendency, seemingly ‘part of’ human nature, to do it (this comes from Original Sin and disordered desire, or ‘concupiscence’, which we sadly receive at conception). This is sad, even tragic. We cannot settle for it, least of all in ourselves. But it's not a shock. What we are hopefully even more accustomed to as Catholics is the wonder and joy of sincere repentance, forgiveness and amendment. This joy is really why Catholics are accustomed to sin.
This awareness makes it quite a bit easier to recognize the pressure upon us all to sin, those slings and arrows which can reduce our culpability and guilt when we do wrong things. So we make the distinction between sin and sinner. We are called to be very cautious about judging the person.
This is turn helps us to be just about judging behaviour. On the one hand taking care to judge the nature of an actual act that might appear wrong before determining its rectitude, and on the other had calling a spade a spade when things are done wrong, calmly and coolly recognizing the bad, even horrific, effects of sin, working for their and its eradication.
Such justice is crucial. On the one hand we recognize that false accusations, ‘calumny’ and a witch-hunt culture can do untold damage to the innocent (it’s worth remember that even true accusations bandied about for fun are also a sin, the sin of ‘detraction’). On the other hand, given that wrong behaviour of its very nature wounds individual humans and their communities we need to be able to name it for what it is. The alternative to being thus accustomed to sin is being so shocked by it in others that it makes us feel superior and makes it harder for us to show the love and forgiveness needed, or being so shocked by it in ourselves that we are not so open to receiving love and forgiveness. We can respectively become part of a metaphorical lynch mob towards others or go into psychological denial about ourselves. This is not the right reaction to sin. Let us pray that Catholic accustomization may greet our lost leaders

28/06/2009

2009-06-29T12:22:00.001+01:00

YEAR OF PAUL BECOMES YEAR OF PRIESTS
The Year of St Paul, celebrating the 2,000th anniversary of his birth, closes over the next 24 hours wtih ceremonies in Rome, ending at 17:30 tomorrow.. Did you manage to read a letter of his cover to cover? – there’s still time, and Philemon is very short!

We are now just into The Year for Priests to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the death of the Curé d'Ars, St John Mary Vianney. Our new Archbishop Nichols made the following introduction to the Year:

“The Year for Priests, called for by Pope Benedict XVI, is to be a year, in which, as a Church, we say that we are proud of our priests, that we love them, honour them and recognise with gratitude the witness of their lives and the generosity of their pastoral work.
During this Year of the Priests, as a Diocese, we will centre our effort around a renewed practice of prayer. In every parish we will centre this effort around prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and the Rosary. I hope that every parish will devote an hour each week to prayer for priests before the Blessed Sacrament and that a rhythm of Forty Hours devotion can be established around the Deaneries. I hope that this renewal will reach to our schools too.
This practice of prayer, as well as study, will sustain us in our life together […]

The Diocese has proposed ST JOHN SOUTHWORTH as a further patron for the year. He was a 17th century priest whose body is in our Cathedral near to where he ministered as a further patron for the Year. During the plague of 1636, he tended the sick with outstanding devotion and courage.
After a series of imprisonments for ministering as a Catholic priest, Southworth was apprehended for the final time and sent to be tried at the Old Bailey in 1654. Although encouraged to do so, he would not deny that he was a Catholic priest.
On 28 June 1654 Southworth was dragged on a hurdle to Tyburn where he was to be hung, drawn and quartered. Unusually Southworth was allowed to wear his vestments at the place of execution and, the executioner having pity for him, he was allowed to hang to death, rather than having to endure the yet more terrible ordeal of being quartered whilst still alive. His last recorded words which he spoke from the gallows were, "My faith and obedience to my superiors is all the treason charged against me; nay, I die for Christ’s law, which no human law, by whomsoever made, ought to withstand or contradict . . . To follow His holy doctrine and imitate His holy death, I willingly suffer at present; this gallows I look upon as His Cross, which I gladly take to follow my Dear Sav-iour . . I plead not for myself . . . but for you poor persecuted Catholics whom I leave behind me."

21/06/2009

2009-06-22T12:14:00.001+01:00

ARCHBISHOP NICHOLS POWERFULLY DEFENDS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
AS KEY PROTECTORS OF COMMUNITY COHESION
We have been honoured to have our new Archbishop amongst us this weekend. Let us reflect upon some of his very recently published and spoken thoughts concerning modern society, especially with regard to the developing attack upon Catholic education as being anti-social.
In a recently published essay “Community Cohesion and Catholic Education” in The Nation that Forgot God Archbishop Nichols points out that to get people of different religions and cultures to work well together it is not necessary nor sufficient to mix them at an early age. Rather it is necessary to educate the young coherently in appropriate values.
Yet the former approach seems to trump the latter in modern discourse. The open teaching of clear moral principles, which is sometimes even attacked as ‘indoctrination’, is rejected in favour what is termed ‘toleration’. In a 3rd June lecture at London University Nichols pointed out that in fact this is just the teaching of a different set of values, but in a less open and in fact less rational manner than is done in Catholic schools.
He argues that in fact the most rational foundation of moral values is the Creator of all. Religion then is indispensable to man’s happiness and his rational and moral operation, and so to fostering the values which are essential to multi-cultural community cohesion. “Shared moral reasoning as a basis for community cohesion is the alternative to radical individualism which has led us so far on a path that is clearly divisive and inimical to a cohesive society.”
In his London University lecture the Archbishop uses the concept of “human ecology” employed by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The human person needs the right environment, in John Paul’s words, “to develop every aspect of the individual: social, intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual.”
Archbishop Nichols goes on: “When looked at more closely, this ‘human ecology’ is in fact a series of interlocking ecologies, as indeed is the complex of ecological systems which make up our natural environment.” Catholic schools foster an environment in which all are welcome, through, firstly, respecting each person who is “created by God and has an inner dignity, or spiritual dimension, that comes from God alone.” Secondly comes an “atmosphere of justice” and thirdly recognition of the “faith and religious experience which is innate in human beings”.
He goes on: “We recognize that just as all truth rests in the Word of God, through whom all things were made and through Whom all thing will come to their completion, so too the construction of a true human ecology can only be achieved in relationship to the Word [...] the centre of true human ecology is the person of Christ.”

14/06/2009

2009-06-22T11:43:00.001+01:00

FR NIMAL PONWEERA TO PLOUGH A NEW FIELD

We have recently had formal confirmation that, very sadly, after four years here, Fr Nimal, having enjoyed a holiday in his native Sri Lanka, will now not be returning to our parish. He has been having problems with his visa, our diocese has released him from his roles here, and his Archbishop we believe is giving him a new mission. It is particularly sad that we won’t be able personally to thank him for his warmth and committed work among us, not least with the sick, and to wish him well for the future. We will have a retiring collection for him next weekend. We will of course forward on any cards etc. Please pray for him and his new work

Novena to St Lawrence – for last nine days before Ordination
Novenas (derived from the Latin novem, meaning nine) – are an ancient tradition of praying over a period of nine days. This practice originated from the fact that at his ascension Jesus told his apostles to wait in Jerusalem and then he would send the Holy Spirit. They all stayed together in Jerusalem praying and nine days later, at Pentecost, they received the Holy Spirit.

We are offering a novena of prayers to St Lawrence, during these last nine days before Michael Jarmulowicz’s ordination, (which takes place of the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Mary, the day after the Year of the Priest begins, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, the 150th anniversary of the death of the Cure of Ars). Our intention will be that the parish may gain great fruit through Michael’s “conformation to Christ the Servant. Particularly during his first year, the Year of the Priest, may his service of priests and people be blessed with joy and peace, through St Lawrence’s intercession.
St Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of the Church of Rome who was martyred during the persecution of the Emperor Valerian on the 10th of August 258, four days after Pope Sixtus II. St Lawrence was asked by the emperor to bring the riches of the Church to him; his response was to bring the poor of Rome