Years 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
Continue readingThere is a lot that we can learn from a saint whose feast day it is this Friday; a man who at the age of twenty sold all of his possessions. St. Antony lived in solitude in a deserted fort for twenty years from the age of 35 to 55,
Continue readingMost of us think, probably accurately, that popes tend to write letters or special messages about important theological topics or world events. But this Advent Pope Francis has written a special message about something very simple and straightforward – the Christmas Crib. This letter, known by its Latin title Admirabile
Continue readingAs many of you will know by now, Time Magazine has named Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate change activist, as its person of the year. This would seem to me well deserved and a great boost, not only for those who seek to draw our attention to saving our planet
Continue readingWE KEEP THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT AS BIBLE SUNDAY, borrowing a tradition from the Church of England. It is particularly important that we reflect about the Bible this Advent, as we are well into a special Year of the Word. A lot of people who seldom darken the doors
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