I am always hoping and praying for more young people to be engaged with their faith and involved in parish life. I know I am not alone in this. Equally, I am well aware of my inadequacy, my inability to make this happen. Again, this frustration may well be the
Continue readingIN 2015 the Holy Father, following the example of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, designated today as a special Day of Prayer for Creation, in his encyclical Laudato Si’. One of the rather facile criticisms made of that letter at the time was that the pope was too pessimistic in his
Continue readingA FEW WEEKS AGO we celebrated at school our Year 6 Leavers’ Mass. This is always a poignant and emotional occasion, for parents as much as for children (possibly more so). For many, a ‘tear-jerker’ is this contemporary hymn, written by Eugene O’Reilly, which has been sung on this occasion
Continue readingTHIS is the great east window in St George’s Cathedral, the mother church of our diocese of Catholics in South London and Kent. Later this month it will be the place of the installation of our new archbishop, John Wilson. However it is on the page because in the cathedral,
Continue readingSOME OF YOU will recognise this picture. The large piece of rock in front of the altar is the traditional rock of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, where Our Lord prayed after the Last Supper before his arrest. Because of the importance of this site, the church built
Continue readingSOMETIMES AT CLERGY DEANERY MEETINGS priests are apt to complain about second collections, arguing that people complain to them about them, that there are too many of them, and so on. As it happens people don’t complain here about them, at least not to me; in Beckenham you give very
Continue readingDURING THE REIGN OF KING CHARLES II, in year 1672, the English Parliament passed what became known as the Test Act (replicated shortly afterwards by the parliaments of Scotland and Ireland). It happened because the king’s brother, the Duke of York (subsequently King James II and VII) had converted to
Continue readingON MONDAY, the ninth anniversary of the installation of Archbishop Peter Smith, it was announced that Pope Francis had appointed Bishop John Wilson to succeed him as Archbishop of Southwark, as Archbishop Peter has passed the statutory retirement age for clergy of 75 years. The present-day Archdiocese of Southwark covers
Continue readingThe solemnity of the Pentecost is an opportunity to reflect upon what it means to be a Christian. So often, we take our Christianess for granted and go about our life in such a secular fashion that it could conceal our Christian calling. We could be faithfully fulfilling our religious
Continue readingEVERY YEAR in the Catholic Church worldwide we keep the Sunday before Pentecost (which is either the Sunday after Ascension, as it is now again in this country, or Ascension Day itself) as World Communications Day, linked to the Lord’s commandment to his disciples as he left their sight that
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