In the midst of a crowd of children and adults, a young boy was being encouraged to ask a question of Pope Francis but he couldn’t bring himself to utter the words. Despite much prompting he remained silent. It was too much of an ordeal and eventually he covered his
Continue readingThis Saturday is the feast of St Joseph the Worker, a special observance established by Pope Pius XII some years ago to coincide with ‘May Day’, associated with the struggle for workers’ rights throughout the world (and the reason why Monday is a bank holiday) – it’s particularly important this
Continue readingAs you all know, a little more than a year ago the pews were moved and replaced with chairs to maintain hygiene and safety. Furthermore, not too long ago the only option was to attend Mass virtually via live streamed services. We now have the pews back in place and
Continue readingIt’s some time now since a bishop last came to St Edmund’s to celebrate Mass, but something to notice at such a Mass is that at the beginning, instead of saying The Lord be with you a bishop says Peace be with you. This seemingly unimportant act joins the bishop,
Continue readingOn behalf of the clergy, I wish you all a very blessed Easter. We are immensely grateful for your prayers, good wishes, and Easter cards. Fr Ashley, Fr David and I of course thank you for your generous Easter offerings. Sometimes amidst all the backlog and drudgery of work, something
Continue readingLAST SUNDAY JESUS said these words in the gospel reading, to the background of what on-lookers thought was a thunderclap: ‘Now is the judgment of this world, now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all
Continue readingON FRIDAY Pope Francis began the first ever visit of a pope to Iraq. You can follow his itinerary from the website of our Bishops Conference – Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales (cbcew.org.uk). The pandemic has taught us many things in the last year – provided we’re prepared
Continue readingEvery year in Lent the gospel reading for the second Sunday is always one of the accounts of the Transfiguration of Jesus, depicted here from the church of Belmont Abbey in Herefordshire. This year the account is from the ninth chapter of the gospel of Mark. This event is one
Continue readingI emailed Fr Steve and asked whether I could write a piece for this week’s Newsletter and he enquired what the topic would be. I replied with three words: Lent, Choco-late and Slavery and Fr Steve then replied ‘I have given one of them up – guess which one!’ Two
Continue readingThe words Repent and believe in the Gospel or Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return will be familiar to you. You may consider these refrains used in the liturgy of Ash Wednesday somewhat dispiriting, particularly in the current climate when many of us are almost
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