From Friday evening public liturgies in the Catholic Church ceased. This decision was made by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in consultation with the Ordinaries of the Dioceses. The reason for this decision is to protect as many people as possible from COVID-19 pandemic and to limit
Continue readingARCHBISHOP PETER SMITH was Archbishop of Southwark until his retirement last June, having passed the statutory age of 75. As you know it was announced last weekend that he died peacefully. Archbishop Michael Bowen died in the autumn, and had ceased to be our pastor many years ago; but this
Continue readingThere is a book which has been in my possession and gathering dust on my bookshelf for a good many years entitled The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith. The book may well be an enjoyable read but it has always struck me as a rather sad
Continue readingWhen we come to Mass on Ash Wednesday among the very first words we hear are these from the book of Joel: ‘Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks – come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning.’ The first call to the Christian community
Continue readingYears ago I watched one of the standout films of my childhood, The Song of Bernadette, based on the book of the same title by Franz Werfel. It is the story of Bernadette Soubirous, a poor girl and her encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary in a grotto outside her
Continue readingIN MY RECENT TALK ABOUT CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING (available here) I mentioned that in a recent newspaper article the journalist Andrew Rawnsley had referred to some of the achievements of the United Kingdom within Europe between joining the EEC in 1973 and the end of last month. One of these
Continue readingSeveral years ago, during the New Dawn Charismatic Conference at Walsingham, I was asked to visit a travelling community’s campsite just outside the village. There had been some tension between the owner of the field and the visitors. It was thought that if a priest took the time to say
Continue readingCANDLEMAS is one of the loveliest festivals of the Christian year; but as it only comes round on a Sunday every six years, comparatively few Catholics experience it. We have an account of it being celebrated in Jerusalem from the earliest centuries of the Church; what the old man Simeon
Continue readingIn the Acts of the Apostles we read how the Apostles and those dedicated to Christ and his teaching, would seek to bring others to the Lord and help them become faithful followers. Through Baptism each generation have been called by God to do the same and bring about his
Continue readingThe picture in our Newsletter shows Pope Francis celebrating Mass in St Peter’s Basilica on 1 January, the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. Since the late 1960s the Catholic Church has kept New Year’s Day also as the Day of Prayer for Peace in the World. In England
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