Terry Wogan used to make me laugh with his exclamation “a letter has flooded in!” and this week a letter flooded in to The Catholic Herald.  However, this letter was signed by 461 priests. It urged all those taking part in the second synod to uphold the Church’s sound teaching on marriage and human sexuality.

In a casual conversation about the letter with another deacon I started to hear all sorts of individual back stories of why it was “only 461” stories of pressure put on priests to sign or not sign, various different stories relating to the signatories.

Among the signatories are five men with whom I am in regular contact, in some cases almost daily.  I asked each of them why they signed the letter, the general consensus went along the lines of  ‘because it’s true’ or ‘I saw no reason not to’ and ‘having read it I could not in all conscience have not signed’.

I spoke with each of these priests on a matter raised by a very small group of people with whom I spoke “where’s the faith in the Holy Spirit’.  One of them made me jump out of my skin when he said he did not have faith in the Holy Spirit to see that all was well.  Another told me the letter was designed to affirm to the faithful that the priests were being led by the Spirit and another pointed out, quite correctly, you cannot simply leave things to the Holy Spirit.  If it were not so we would not need the oil of Catechumens at Baptism.

The sad thing that has arisen out of it all is the hyperbole in social media and the press.  I was looking at the front page of one of the Catholic publications with one of the signatories, he was dismayed at what we saw, but he agreed with my assertion that the Catholic press is still the press.

I have looked at social media on this matter and it’s interesting what you see and the quarters from which it comes.  There’s tales of priests being warned not to sign, but one signatory told me to speak to another with whom I am reasonably friendly, I did, he told me he was told “you ought to sign this” in a manner with which one does not argue, i hear of another who has upset his mother by not signing and wishes he has for the sake of peace.

Another reason given for so few signatories is that the letter was addressed to ‘the parish priest’, but of the five I know well, only two are parish priests and there’s a lot of retired priests names on the list.    Cardinal Nichols has also been attacked (dead sheep stylie) in social media for saying that the “dialogue between a priest and his bishop, is not best conducted through the press.” and again, four out of five signatories agree with him.  Sadly the article tries to make more of his words than there were, and they named a retired priest as parish priests of the Church where I most regularly attend TLM. But I am afraid I really did laugh out loud reading at the end of one “I’ll make the bullets you fire ‘em” blog that the medium used was “the discreet forum of the Catholic Herald”

The other issue that concerns me is the letter was accompanied by a press release from ‘the co-ordinator of the letter’, no name there, or even names apparently there were twelve.  The press release finishes with “Theologians, philosophers, canon lawyers, well-known educators and evangelists are among the priests who have signed the appeal”.  Why would this add weight to the argument of what is a very good letter?   There is also theologians, philosophers, canon lawyers, well-known educators and evangelists who did not sign the letter.  461 faithful priests did, that’s all we need to know, it’s all I’d want to know, as Mother Teresa reminded us, the Lord does not ask us to be successful, he asks us to be faithful.  I pray that any further initiatives are handled with a tad more grace from both sides.

It was announced today that Bishop Richard Moth is to be translated from the Bishopric of the Forces to the diocese of Arundel and Brighton and I could not be more thrilled.  Having endured the pain of losing such a much loved bishop the way they did, A&B deserved a genuine man of God.  And as ever, the Holy Spirit has coughed up.

I first encountered the newly ordained Father Moth when he was Father Salmon’s curate at St Bede’s, Clapham Park and he officiated at the wedding of a friend of ours back in 1982.  It was a wedding my wife and I looked forward to as it was the first we attended after our own.  The bride’s dad was rather negative about his daughter getting married to a ‘left footer on their turf’ but he was won over by Fr Richard’s attitude on the day.

The next time I came across him was when he was on supply at my own parish.  I can remember the homily he gave on the one occasion he said a Mass that I attended.  I cannot remember the readings but his homily told us what our faith was not.  It was not judgementality, it was not exclusive, he went on to tell us what our faith was and  finished with the words “that’s what our faith is, let’s stand and profess it”.  The words “We believe…..” nearly took the roof off.

The first time we spoke was in the autumn of 2003, it was the day of the rugby world cup final in which England beat Australia.  We were both attending the silver jubilee of priesthood of a mutual friend.  Mgr Moth, as he was by then,  was upstairs in the presbytery watching the final. when he joined the rest of downstairs he waxed lyrical on how Jonny Wilkinson had played so diligently against David Campese’s rather arrogant team.  I confessed he was speaking way over my head and he told me I was a disappointment.  Later that day when talking about horse riding (he’s an accomplished horseman) I said that although my father was a qualified horse breaker, I had never mounted, “could you be any more disappointing?” he asked, which I replied, “oh yes, you have no idea.”

We have met several times since, we have mutual friends in a family who are very active in our parish.  There is a lovely story of his tact from that quarter when, as Vicar General of Southwark, he visited my old school, which the children of said family attended.  Having been spotted by the younger daughter in the family, she walked up to him, arms outstretched to greet him in the familiar way one would a friend of the family.  The teacher with him was aghast and berated the child, he took the child’s hands and sent love to her parents and her two older sisters.  No one was embarrassed and all enjoyed what could have been a very awkward situation.

We bumped into each other in Lourdes last year and spent a jolly hour, he, I and his predecessor chatting one evening.  The last time I saw him was in January on a Diaconate Formation Day at St John’s seminary, Wonersh, where he was visiting.  I had with me some copies of the updated prayer book from a school where I work to give to two old boy priests who are on the staff at Wonersh.  He was with one of them as I handed the books over and gave him a copy also.  He said he could not take it as he was not an alumni .  As the then child I spoke of above now has a son at the school I instituted him on the spot as an honorary old boy “in spite the fact we whip your alma mater’s butt at rugger” which he enjoyed.

I believe Bishop Moth going to A&B is just what the doctor ordered.  I am glad also the appointment went to someone who is already a bishop and who understands how a Bishops’ Conference works, the last thing the diocese needs right now is an empire builder with their own tastes and sensitivities high on their personal agenda.

People have prayed hard for the next bishop for A&B, I have the diocesan prayer card in my jacket pocket and those prayers have paid off.  No doubt there will be some snidy anonymous comments but who values the anonymous?  On top of all this, Bishop Moth’s installation is during May half term, I feel as if all my Easter’s have come at once.

Yesterday I went to the most delightful priestly ordination.  It was the ordination of a man who was previously an Anglican priest at a church within the geographical area of my deanery.  Having been received into the Catholic Church in my own parish, Fr Keith moved to a neighbouring parish where he threw himself into serving his new community.

He was soon adored by all who came across him, I can say with my hand on my heart I have heard not one bad word about him.  His self giving is noted by all who come across him.  The ordination yesterday was a triumph for the parish. It was delightful how his new community pulled together to provide the best for him, what a delight to see the children of the local primary school turn out on a Saturday, in school uniform, to sing.  He has been exceedingly supportive of the school and they were delighted to pay back something to him.

Archbishop Peter was the celebrant and his homily, as ever, was a triumph.  He reminded all the clergy there how we are to serve, not be served, and that a ‘grumpy shepherd’ is no use to anyone.  This reminded me of a priest who came to my home parish to supply when I was an altar server.  He was annoyed there were no delicious brocade chasubles to be had and he had to say Mass in a very basic vestment.  Our sacristan, who was no-nonsense personified, asked him, quite gently, “in which Gospel, canonical or apocryphal does Jesus say ‘wear finery?’”

This comment of Archbishop Peter’s also made me sit up and think on. (mea maxima culpa)

Later in the hall talking to parishioners it was clear that Fr Keith and his family, who have quietly yet effectively supported him and the parish, were all much loved by their community.  It was also very nice that in spite of having his friends and family deacon and sing at the Mass, as they should, the community were central to the celebrations, and they were out in force in not the jolliest of weathers.

It was clear from the family the parish are to be served, not serve, and the parish will relish supporting and serving where possible in return.  It was a privilege and a joy to see.

Where to begin, there is so much good stuff.

Yesterday I attended, with a group of chaps from school, Flame2.  The original Flame happened in 2012 to reflect on the success of the papal visit while looking forward to the use of God-given gifts and talents in the London Olympics.  It had it’s detractors, many of them apparently, although the vast majority of negative commentators were anonymous (would y’ever b’lievit!).  I understand that after knocking the Church’s initiative there was not one single solitary offer of help from any of murmurers. But then, Satan would not have wanted Flame2 to be a success.

His messengers tried it again this time with comments about some of the speakers, I am afraid all I can say is ‘hah!’.

I had told the chaps in my party that one thing they’d enjoy about the day was meeting other people whom they know, but wouldn’t expect to see.  This started when we got to East Croydon Station.  There were people from their primary schools, friends who had moved away,  people they met at Confirmation classes who go to different Masses, it really was like Platform 9 ¾.

As we got off the train at Wembley Central one of the lads was surrounded by friends from the Vocations Centre in Whitstable, the day was a joy before we even got to Wembley.  When we got in, there was pre-show fun happening on stage  but then the show began in earnest.

Double Grammy winning Matt Redman started the show with a bang. Our hosts for the day were Alfie and Gilly who work for the BBC in the North East of England.  Our first speaker was Cardinal Tagle of the Philippines.  He took our breath away. At one point he had us take our phones out and text “blessed are the merciful” to two people we know.  I admit I copped out and sent it two two people in the arena, but then I received similar from others there too.

David Wells is a sublime speaker, the love of Christ oozes from him, he really is the one and only person I have ever met who has left me starstruck, he popped in and out often, each time leaving us with a reminder of Christ’s love and a smile.

Lunch was just a big party, we all had so many people there that we knew we could still be there now, 18 hours later.  After lunch we had a chat show style sofa moment, Baroness Hollins, Matt Redman and three Cafod gap year students were all interviewed by Alfie and Jilly.  But the best speakers from the sofas were Father Dan Fitzpatrick and Fr Marc Lyden Smith.  The priests spoke about their time on the programme Pointless, their Podfather podcasts and their mission taking the Church to where the ordinary folk go, to the pub.

More music was followed by a break (I’m not a Pharrell Williams fan so I shall gloss over) and more socialising but then came the important part of the day, a focus on we as Catholics are all about.  Fr Timothy Radcliffe bought us all back to our focus, Christ and his Church

I wish I had counted how many bishops processed to the stage but I can say the vast majority of the conference were there.  Cardinal Nichols presided at Adoration, there were some beautiful readings, among them one of my favourites, Newman’s Some Definite Service.

I cannot remember if it was Cardinal Tagle or David Wells but during the day we were set a task, ask ourselves at bedtime “what did God say to me today?” and “How will I respond”  God said so much to me yesterday, and he sent a few people in the arena to say it too, not least the Faith Society priest who lauded my stance on the Catholic press and pornography, and the lady who berated me for not looking where I was going and falling down the stairs.  I was lucky I didn’t hurt anyone.

On the way home I asked the boys what their highlights were, being part of a community of 8,000 people, many of whom they knew,  and adoration were the two answers.  Is that not a bit like what Church is all about?

One last thing, at lunch I heard a lad say to an adult “Maria, I want to be a cardinal” she replied “I want you to be one too Ryan.”  Ryan; remember that name.

(H/T to Kathleen for pointing out the bad punctuation)

The following email was received from a colleague yesterday: –

“Just wanted to share a nice scene that happened with my year elevens recently. In the middle of a lesson I mentioned that my father had passed away and after a hushed silence, A—- O——— says, “Boys, let’s say a prayer for Mr Beckmann.” Without missing a beat, as one, the boys put their hands together, with A—- making up a prayer on the spot, asking God to look after me, my mother and the rest of my family. Wow!”

Today I had the privilege of baptising 6 children.  It was very poignant for me to do this today for several reasons.  Firstly, 23 years ago today my youngest daughter was baptised in the same church, secondly she is the Godmother of one of the children, and thirdly, her Godmother, my eldest sister, who was also my Godmother,  died just a week ago.

It’s been noted a few times that asking your own Godmother to repeat the job must have been a great endorsement in her competence in the role, and it was.  She was 18 when I was born, an age gap where many could find such a young sibling a nuisance, but when it came to being a Godmother, she was there.

I still treasure the missal she bought me for my first communion.

I recall her coming straight from work one Friday evening to be at my Confirmation, she looked stunningly stylish  in a rich red jump suit and black hat at my wedding (it was the early 80s) and she did the first reading when I was ordained.  On that day I was given my dad’s rosary, she gave me a beautiful box to keep it in.

I spent a lot of time with her and her family during school holidays and she was utterly pivotal to me when we lost a teenage brother in 1971.  My daughters got similar treatment with cards from her travels to Iona, rosaries bought at Notre Dame Paris, as well as fun days out, the most memorable being the day the three of them spent in the Millennium Dome.

She died at 74 with, in spite of chemotherapy, a full head of naturally dark hair.  We will travel north on Thursday to say our goodbyes in the heart of Sherwood Forest, and then raise a small glass in her honour.  This is the second time in seven months we will gather as a family to do so, our eldest brother, who was 16 months the younger (and also my Godfather) died last July.  She helped pass on a legacy of faith to me, and to my girls, I hope we are able to do a worthy job of carrying on that legacy.

A while back I was shocked to see a weekly Catholic publication referencing the title of a pornographic book on it’s front page. The editor explained they had used the reference as a selling point, which is all well and good, and a reasonable explanation, but it’s still a pornographic book that was being referenced, and as such has no place in Catholic publications.

I spoke about it while on a study weekend, I reported that I had been told the expression ‘50 Shades of Grey’ was a well known expression. I could not find one person, including people who had worked their whole lives in the field of using English as a (for want of a better expression) professional tool.

Having asked on Twitter if anyone knew the expression, I was pointed to ‘shades of grey’ as a phrase, which, while new to me, I am made aware is not unknown, so I stand corrected.

However, should a Catholic publication be using pornography to sell? The expression might be one that’s used, but at this time in history, anyone hearing it will think of the book, and after the past weekend, the film also. Should the Catholic press be leading us to even remotely think of this book as part of its sales pitch, well call me old fashioned but I think not.

In the mid 1940s two books, No Orchids For Miss Blandish and Forever Amber, were also seen in a similar light to that of ‘50 shades’ today. There is no question the Catholic church would have seen a single agent use a similar expression to one of these book titles in order to make a point (or a sale), imagine the wrong person saying “No incense for Bishop Amigo” or “Forever Advent”, it would not happen, and it should not happen now.

I know in some spheres my whinge is seen as trifling, but it’s still a complaint. My complaint has been ridiculed on social media by some, but this heartens me, they are using the old principle of denigrating the point when you can’t answer it with intellect.

Trivialising my issue worries me somewhat, not for myself as I have shown above, but the trivialising of a zygote as the byproduct of sex, or a embryo as a clump of cells is a strategy used by pro choicers, whereas the Catholic view is, no matter how small, it’s still a self directing human being. One would assume the same principle would be used here. My issue with this headline is still an issue, even if only for me. I hope it is not one that revisits us at any time.

On Tuesday I went to the funeral of the man who was parish priest of my home parish, the church in the picture above, in the early 80s.  He was a man for whom I had great personal respect.  Very often when a new parish priest comes there is ‘murmuring’ in the parish, when Father Anthony came to us there was a small amount of it but it did not faze him, “they’ll get used to me” or  “they’ll see I’m not a threat” he would say, and he was right.

There are two things for which I have undying gratitude to him.  Firstly, because she had been a stalwart in the parish for over 20 years Fr Anthony arranged for my mum to receive a Bene Merenti medal from The Pope.  Mum was not a lady to mince her words “I can’t have that!!!” she cried.  She felt she had her reward beforehand when the parish were so supportive after the loss of my dad, and then five years later, my brother.  Fr Anthony’s reply was “that’s our job, in your case, the worker deserves a just wage”, and she was presented with her medal by Bishop Tripp (who later ordained me).

The second thing was when mum died in 1986.  On hearing she’d died Fr Anthony asked to be told with all speed when the funeral would be as he was due to be away in two weeks, and he was going to postpone it in order to preside at the funeral Mass.  Think about that for a minute.  Fortunately he didn’t have to, the funeral was within a week.  I remember him telling me a year or so later that 28 was ridiculously young to have lost both parents, I felt a little patronised at the time, with eight older siblings and a wife I hardly felt orphaned, but age has made me appreciate the wisdom of his words.

At Fr Anthony’s requiem the homily was delivered by a priest who had been one of his pupils in the 1970s.  A priest I have known for over 10 years.  I spoke to him afterwards saying what a sublime job he had done with his homily and told him Fr Anthony had been my parish priest, his reply took the wind right out of my sails.  He told me he had been in playing the organ at our church when Fr Anthony was the parish priest and that he remembered my brother Stephen and my mum! Continue reading →

I was shown an article on Monday from the Daily Mail of Saturday. The story in question was of a family taken to court for neglecting their son when they went away on business. The whole matter was rather confused but the case was thrown out by the judge. The reason for sharing the article was the author of the piece referred to the school’s Safeguarding Officer as the “safeguarding” officer. The inverted commas indicate that the author is questioning the Safeguarding Officer’s role.

This is so often the case when you work in the public sector. It makes truth of the Yiddish Proverb below. Everyone thinks they can run school/hospital/council/church/country/football teams but in most cases the more vocal critics of an establishment are those that are not associated with it.

I’ve read a thousand times what schools should do. There is always someone with an opinion that the curriculum should contain this module, or that book should be studied, a specific topic needs to be covered and in some cases, the promoting of a matter is simply common sense.

Religious Education departments in particular get hit from all sides. One side will say they are not required while the other will say they are not doing enough. This is not something I have heard from anyone who works in an RE department.

Hospitals get the same treatment. Pope Francis’ comment about priests being like planes “they make news only when they fall. Yet most fly” made me think of this. How often does a hospital get in the news for doing something good? It’s the same for the police, tales of police corruption are lapped up by the Great British public, opinions starting “the police should…..” are rife, but no one chooses not to ring them when they need to.

I am guessing we all have a story of when we have been unhappy as a parent with our child’s school. I am guessing we all have a story of being upset by a member of a hospital’s staff and I suspect someone at the local council has annoyed us all (not the same person, you understand). Life is like that, and journalists, or should that be ‘journalists’, are prone to seeking out the bad news stories, as good news doesn’t sell papers.

I find it really interesting that the Freedom of Speech debate sparked by the shootings in the office of a French magazine is still rumbling on. What I have observed is the discussion between those who believe they have the right to offend and those who feel offence for offence sake is not freedom of expression. I fall into the latter group.

I wonder how many of those who marched, or would have marched if they could, in Paris last Sunday would also have marched if those who had protested against same sex marriage had been shot at, and there had been deaths.

I wonder how many of them uphold Frankie Boyle’s right to make crass comments about children with Down’s Syndrome. How many of them champion Katie Hopkins, and her comments about nurse Pauline Cafferkey being a “sweaty jock ebola bomb”.

This week we have found the same people berating the Pope for, as they represent it, advocating violence. I am astounded that such intelligent commentators cannot discern between the words ‘would’ and ‘should’, the alternative is that they are deliberately misrepresenting, well perish the thought!

Freedom of speech is correct, there is no doubt about that but if you accept the freedom to offend, which is quite different, you have to accept responsibility for the reaction it causes. Obviously murder is not acceptable under any circumstance and while I would deplore the French magazine’s blatant offending, this does not mean I side with the killers, I do not.(before you start)

My observation is that people uphold their own freedom of expression, but not those of others. It’s not uncommon for such people to tell someone their opinions/experience/tastes are wrong. I was once told my liking for the overture of The Magic Flute was simply because I did not understand Schumann. No, I’ve never understood that comment either. When critic Roy Proctor likened baritone Matthew Worth’s portrayal of Don Giovanni to a used car salesman I said I could see why and how Worth would do this,using traits imposed on such characters on TV. I spent half an hour being told I could not see this. When after all this time I would not acquiesce I was told I was being obtuse “which is offensive”. My apology for the perceived offence was not received with grace, which was very possibly my fault.

Those who say they have the right to offend are often the ones who say “I didn’t cause offence, you chose to take it”. Perhaps they might believe this, but they have a duty to take responsibility for their actions and the consequences that arise. When they can do that, they’ll understand freedom of speech.