ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO, after the Requiem Mass of a well-loved parishioner, someone who was present, herself about to begin the process of becoming a Catholic, remarked to me that if we wanted to attract or interest people in the Catholic faith, we could perhaps simply, as part of doing
Continue reading2020 has been a year of upheaval, anxiety, loss, sorrow, and great challenge. But amidst all of this I hope you are still a people of faith, a people of prayer, and that means of course praying with faith. As you do this, I hope you will pray especially for
Continue readingEARLIER THIS MONTH it was announced that the Italian conductor and composer Ennio Morricone had died. His output of works was prolific (some of us are old enough to remember at least the music of the 1966 film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) but for many he’s indelibly
Continue readingJesus tells us in this Sunday’s Gospel that “whoever acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven”. To confess that Jesus Christ is Lord might not seem like a difficult thing to some of us. We might say ‘I go to Mass’, ‘I say
Continue readingToday’s Sunday gospel from Matthew chapter 11 contains the powerful words of the Lord: ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest
Continue readingSince the end of March, a large part of my time has been taken up with praying for the sick and the dead and doing funerals. I have witnessed families and friends wrestling with the tragic and unexpected deaths of loved ones. This has been the experience of many of
Continue readingFriday was the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – the statue shown here is in St Sulpice in Paris. While it’s an important feast throughout the Church it’s particularly important here because of the ministry in our parish for many years of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart
Continue readingA FEW YEARS AGO I was listening to the writer Malorie Blackman on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. She recounted that when she was a child her family moved to Beckenham, but that when they were being shown round a house by an estate agent a neighbour rang the police,
Continue readingThis Sunday when we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost it seems appropriate to hear the story of what has been described as the birth of Catholic Charismatic renewal. Patti Gallagher Mansfield has never forgotten a retreat she made while at Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1967.
Continue readingTHIS WEEK we have celebrated Ascension Day and this weekend, as we prepare for Pentecost next Sunday, the Church keeps a novena to the Holy Spirit and today keeps World Communications Day. Ordinarily this would be marked by a second collection to support the Catholic Church’s media operation in this
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