It’s been raining bishops in England and Wales lately. Scotland had a episcopal appointment recently too with John Keenan going to Paisley, but since last July when Bishop Hopes was translated to East Anglia we’ve had three new bishops and a new Archbishop.

Firstly Mgr Mark O’Toole went to Plymouth, then Fr Robert Byrne was appointed as an auxiliary in Birmingham, this was followed by the excitement of Bishop McMahon being translated to Liverpool as Archbishop and today Mgr Nick Hudson was appointed as an auxiliary bishop for Westminster.

We have lots to pray about here; we must pray that the Holy Spirit, who has worked well in these men to lead them where they are continues his work to strengthen them. We must pray in gratitude for their ministries, we must pray for those they leave behind as they move on and we must pray in thanks to God that we are in such safe hands.

And they will be safe hands too, as the Holy Spirit guides them and works through them.

I have every faith.

PS: in all the excitement I forgot about Cardinal Nichols getting his red hat.

The past couple of days have seen lots of opining,  preening,  name calling and condescending comments  on the matter of same sex couples being allowed to marry. Catholic Voices has represented the argument beautifully with Fr Edmund Montgomery of the diocese of Shrewsbury and Fiona O’Reilly giving a factual, messured, polite response to those in favour of single sex marriage.  And I’ve not noticed either of them turning to social media to make the argument about themselves either. Their focus has remained the teaching of the Church throughout

This morning I’ve seen Christians of many traditions ripping into each other. I was heartened to see Peter D Williams conversing with Fr Andrew Cain, both at odds with each other, but both putting their points respectfully. Mind you, having met both these chaps, I would not expect anything less.

I was not surprised to see some silly Catholics asking where the bishops were in all this, as if Archbishop Smith had not been in the middle of it all last year.  But Catholic Voices were out there. As I said, Fr Montgomery and Ms O’Reilly had both done an unsurpassable job, and unless I am mistaken, the bishops fully endorse the work of Catholic Voices, complete with spondoolics (at this point I want to say ‘you don’t have a dog and bark yourself but one bunch of, shall we say bloggers, would pounce on it, so I shall not)

But there is one thing I have not seen, and it surprises me; a call to constant prayer. I saw a tweet from Peter Ould, who I knew would be very measured in his response to the brouhaha, and I knew I would agree with him too,  he said “Oh good grief. We don’t need a day of prayer tomorrow,we need a year of careful contemplation about witness in the new paradigm”.

The witness stuff really works, but so does the prayer. Think of only last year when Pope Francis called us to pray for Syria, and look what happened, on the day this new initiative from a modern day pope occurred, the empass was passed. Now, that would not have happened here, the law would not have been revoked, but cast your mind back old folk when at Benediction we would pray The Prayer for England for the conversion of Russia (I was a child, why would it not make sense) and look what happened.

As we’ve seen some high profile gay people also agree that marriage should not be redefined and 20% of Brits would not go to a same sex wedding. I won’t be looking at this as a victory,  I’ll be looking at it as hope. I’ll be praying for a re-redefinition, it will take time, possibly not something I will see in my lifetime, but our prayer, our witness and our love are what makes us Christians, so let’s do that.

I was at Aylesford Priory today with 26 Year Ten chaps and two staff,  These Aylesford days never cease to amaze me. No matter how tricky a cohort may seem to be, they always rise to the occasion.

We usually have the place to ourselves but today by coincidence, the John Fisher School was joined by a St Thomas More school.  I found this out when I bumped into an acquaintance of mine who works there (Not that I know him that well, I didn’t know he worked there)

We start with a tour of the priory from one of the friars, who gives us a potted history of the place,and the relationship the Carmelite friars have with it.  We then have a half hour talk from a priest.  This is usually a priest who is a member of the Faith Society and the theme will be something to help the boys understand they have a relationship with God even if he’s not on their Facebook.

We move on to Confession then. There is always a second priest who generously joins us and half the boys will go off to confess while the other half stay and talk about Christian life in the third millennium. Then we swap.  I stay with the boys talking about Christian life, no two chats are the same and no questions are shied from being asked, although I gently explain why it’s not appropriate for me to answer the more personal ones.

Today we had something amazing happen. It was cold and the boys chose to sit on the minibuses to have their lunch.  Parked next to us was a minibus full of the Sisters of Charity, the most steely serene people you will ever meet in your life. They were all eating outside their minibus.  I popped off for 10 minutes, leaving the lads in the care of their form tutor. My 10 minutes became 20 as I bumped into newly revved up Carmelite Deacon Paul, I was chatting with him and he told me he’d just deaconed Mass in the Relic Chapel. I came back to the minibuses to find one of the sisters on the minibus, another was on the other bus and the form tutor was chatting to some of the others.  They had gone on to the buses to give each lad a miraculous medal.  I poked my head round both buses and one lot of chaps were listening intently as  sister told them about her chosen lifestyle. The chaps lapped it up. As I got to the other bus they burst into song
“Ave Maria,
Gracia plena,
Dominus,
Tecum,
Benedicta tu”
Sister had taught them this song, it’s not one we sing at that school.  All the boys left the buses with their medals round their necks.

Immediately after Confession the boys write down questions for our guest priests speaker to answer. At one time this used to be known by the boys as “The dirty questions session” as so many of the questions related to matters sexual, but not now, there is a wide ranging selection of questions from ‘Does God love some more than others? to questions of race and gender and, of  course, the ones known these days as “the trouser questions”. (which always makes me laugh for its Victoria Woodness)

We finished with Mass and back we came, with 26 young chaps who were less fuzzy about their faith than when we arrived.

But an idiot who knows the true identity of th’ eccles author. Message me. Thanks for the gig Eccles

Some people are such devils.

By that I mean they try to lead me into temptation.  I’m Twitter fasting for Lent and I’ve been very disciplined about it.  I’ve deleted the app from my phone and I only use a computer when I am working, where I cannot access Twitter.    I’ve also given up alcohol, which seeing as I only have a snifter at the weekends has not been too gruelling.  It’s Twitter I have missed.

Sometimes something happens on Twitter and I am advised ‘you need to see this’.  the sort of thing I am talking about is when someone who I have suggested  several  times should leave me in peace as I do them decides to join in poking fun at me  in a “let’s ignore Bishop Egan’s words for myself yet expect it from others” sort of way, or someone tweets a blog post full of contradictions.

But no!  I hold hard and settle for the screen caps and links they send me.  Even then, the links get ignored.

But today the temptation to log on and favourite one particular tweet where someone else has learned what so many of us have been saying for so long was so great I had to shut down my computer and pray.  I prayed in adoration and thanksgiving at how good God is.

It worked, but then, prayer is like that

Seems a few people are searching Tony Flavin-Siberia-blog or such derivations.

You won’t find anything there.

Last April when Archbishop Nichols said this: –

http://rcdow.org.uk/cardinal/homilies/diocese-of-westminster-mass-for-pope-francis/

there was uproar.

Today Bishop Egan said this: –

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2014/03/20/bishop-egan-says-uncharitable-use-of-social-media-a-grave-matter/

The right wingers will have a meltdown (pulls up chair, gets popcorn and waits…………)

For myself; I promoted Archbishop Nichols’ words last year, I shall promote Bishop Egan’s words this year.  I don’t think anyone can say I have not made every attempt to correct my uncharitable moments.  I have had to take steps via this blog to fight false witness.  I hope I can fully live up to BIshop Egan’s words.

If I don’t, shout me.

Update: Terribly upset to see someone blog eloquently on the same matter but then show their true colours in their comment box. It’s all been passively aggressively consigned to my ‘Siberia’ blog as proof that

1- I had to start blogging to protect my reputation from such vicious frustration.

2 – Some of us cannot walk the talk. It leaves us wondering if some blogs have more than one author, which is unkind when they really need our prayers.

It’s just been announced that Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham is the new Archbishop of Liverpool.

Last night in a conversation I mooted that three people would have to prove their untrustworthiness by Tweeting at approximately 11.00.01 their congratulations to the new archbishop elect.  My phone has just gone ‘ping’ with the following three texts

“It is McMahon, you were right about the tweeters”

“all three, inc the blog”

“Are you psychic?  all three did it, one of them before an official announcement got out”

As Church we should be able to know who to trust with information.  If you want to show off your knowledge, there’s always a pub quiz somewhere.

Flashback to Thessally Road SW8, Fourbouy’s sweet shop / newsagents / tobacconist / general gossip shop in approximately 1972.  Anne who lived in the flats opposite was engaged and chatting with the women in the shop while purchasing 20 Kensitas.  I was somewhat engaged in the spending of 10p on sweets but I heard some of the conversation.

Anne was saying how she had fallen out with her future mother-in-law in The British Lion the night before. Future mother-in-law was beside herself as Anne had mentioned she had no intention of saying ‘obey’ in her marriage vows.  There were a lot of tuts, hmms, wells and oh I knows going on, when finally the conversation was bought to an end by Miss Stride who lived one floor below Anne;  “If only I’d have the privilege of being able to say obey” she said.  The conversation had turned to ages of bridesmaids by the time I left the shop with my Caramac.

So now come forward a bit, not all the way, but to 27 June 2003, St Andrew’s Church Thornton Heath, at approximately 8.10 in the evening I was kneeling on the floor in front of Bishop Tripp, who, with my hands in his asked me “Do you promise respect and obedience to your Ordinary?” to which I replied “I do”.  This was obviously at my ordination.  having made this promise I then prostrated myself on the floor for the Litany of Saints.  While doing so I recalled the conversation between Anne, Miss Stride and the other ladies and considered what a privilege it was to have been chosen to make that promise of obedience.

Now come forward to 16 February this year.  For the second time I was asked to be the assistant director of diaconate formation for south west London.  Four years ago when I was asked I had to say no.  My work life was rather precarious; I could have found myself unable to fulfil my commitments six months down the line.  This time it was not the case.  I asked for time to think and discuss this appointment further and after some reflection, and a brother deacon pointing out that the request came on behalf of my ordinary, I accepted the privilege of taking on this role, and the immense trust handed to me by my brother formators, my Ordinary and my diocese. I also remember Archbishop McDonald’s words at his installation at St George’s Cathedral “priests go where they are sent” with its echoes of John 21:18. I am not a priest but the parallel is there .

In an on-line discussion recently where a member of the clergy was presenting issues that were at odds with his own bishop, I gently and privately reminded him of the promise of obedience we make and how privileged we are to be able to do so.  He did not respond.  However, he obviously shared this with someone else who asked me about the point I had made.  I said I was a little uneasy to see public discord from a member of the clergy to his own bishop  and that we promise respect and obedience to our bishop when we receive the sacrament of Holy Orders “Oh that’s not what it means” he said “what it means is….” and here dear reader I will apologise, I cannot remember what trite definition of obedience he gave, but my response was short and to the point “obedience is obedience, there’s no ambiguity here”  I was told I was closed minded and infantile (always a bonus) for not wanting to accept what he said.  I though ‘oh well, Matthew 18:3’ (unless you become….) and left him to play New Definitions/

Our Ordinary is our Ordinary for a reason.  We might not like what he does, or what he asks us to do at times but orthodox clergy will always remember that promise made at their ordination.    Our Ordinary is our shepherd, like it or lump it, and not only ours, but shepherd to all those in our diocese and beyond that we have been called and ordained to serve.    If you ever get the chance, watch the sheep with a shepherd, they don’t go running to him as if he was Snow White, or if they were puppies and he had a whole bag of doggie treats for them, he has to coax them and entice them to where they need to be.

And if we find we are getting that treatment from our Ordinary, how privileged are we!

We’ve been listening to the Letter of James in Mass this week.  The beautiful Catholic Letter that Martin Luther described as a Letter of Straw (No wonder I didn’t like the clergyman in Så som i himmelen).

Yesterday’s reading focused on the theme of faith being meaningless without works.  This is so true, and after the week I had had, it came as a timely reminder.

There is a marvellous part in Friday’s reading where James is explaining that if someone is in need of food and clothes and you say to them ‘”I wish you well; keep yourself warm and eat plenty” without giving them the bare necessities of life, then what good is that?’  This particular line was read beautifully at the Mass I attended, one could almost feel James in the church with us the message came home so clearly.

The idea of faith without works was driven home at that Mass, but what is work? It’s not for me to mind how badly people treat me.  Yes it’s one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy to admonish sinners, but another is to bear wrongs patiently.  And this is what I have to do.

The Lord’s work is hard and considering the pay, it should be.  We are working for a such a great reward that hard work we must do.  If we take on the hard task of speaking to someone to make peace and they don’t let us, they just speak over us, avoid our questions and eventually  just walk away or put the phone down, that’s really not for us to judge, although we do. If someone calls me ‘the demented deacon’ it’s not for me to judge their lifestyle as lesser, I am called to pray for them, which at times I have done with a burning heart (and not in a good way) with resentment rushing through my veins and a head full of prayerless subtexts, just hoping that God will hear what is needed.

Faith without work is meaningless, boasting worthily of our love of the Church and her tradition, spouting that we truly understand the meaning of heavenly joy via the sound of a tambourine, feeling smug that ‘those vestments aren’t used in our church’ may define your faith and your belief in God, but does it define your love and your work.

After all, as James tells us, the demons have the same belief.

‘