Happy Easter!

...to all my readers, I wish you a happy and Holy Easter!

The Triduum was...well, let's be charitable and say "interesting"! The singing at the Mass of Lords Supper was good, for what it was, and what it was, was largely out of key! I took this out on my knees afterwards before the Altar of Repose!

Good Friday was, quiet. But even then they managed to have some happy clappy-ness! And then the journey to Bexhill began!

The triduum for me, concluded at the church of St Mary Magdalene, Bexhill. My plan to go to Brighton to Fr. Ray Blake's parish fell through, and I went here instead. Three hours, so I can't really complain!

My main problem came the next morning...I was in the church of St Martha, Bexhill. And it was fine, until the priest lit the Paschal Candle and intoned "Light of Christ" i cringed, but cringed further when the congregation replied "Thanks be to God" - what's wrong with "Lumen Christi"?? Hopefully next year i'll be in Cardiff!

Apart from that, my Easter was quite peaceful, and joyful! We celebrated it with a fine dinner and a wonderful bottle of Rioja!

That'll be me signing out, until tomorrow dear friends!

In Domino

It's here!!

It's here! The Sacred Triduum begins this evening with the Mass of the Lord's Supper and concludes Saturday/Sunday with the Easter Vigil. This really is my favourite time of year!

Unlike last year when i had to rush off after the Mass of the Lord's Supper, I shall be spending a few minutes in silent prayer at the Altar of Repose, something i must confess, I have never done before! I may stay for Compline, or I may pray it on my own and have an early night ready for the 'Big Move' tomorrow.

The 'Big Move' involved me moving home! Not straight home, we're going to the south coast first for the weekend which will be nice, and will mean I will participate in the Triduum in two different Catholic churches...which will be interesting (I'm used to the Cathedral back home!)

Over the next few days I will not be blogging, but will resume the blogging when i get home, on Monday!

Well I think that's all for now. I would ask you for prayers for myself and my dear friends over the next few days but especially tonight! You can be assured of mine for you.

I wish you all a Happy Triduum, and a Holy Easter!

In Domino

The Queen at Christmas.

A dear friend and I recently had a discussion about all things Catholic (and Christian). And the conversation turned to Her Majesty, the Queen and her Christmas Message 2008. Too often I feel we are quick to criticise Her Majesty and her family, but what we fail to realise is that they, like us are ordinary people, trying to living ordinary lives (when not being in front of the cameras).

Whilst the royal family is not Catholic they are Christian, and whilst some may scoff at them being Anglican i say to you "at least they try" they are holding up one of Britain's greatest institutions and if they all converted to Roman Catholicism then it'd cease to exist, or at least cease to be an English queen/king, and then we'd have to resort to a foreign ruler...or dare i say, a Republic.

What i'm trying to say is, the Queen, for all her faults, was bold this Christmas and, when her Government is turning away from the Truth and when her 'Bishops' are spouting un-Christian drivel she remains the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and as such tries her hardest to be a Christian, even taking the bold step of mentioning Jesus of Nazareth in her televised address to the nation!

So next time you think ill of the Royal Family, remember, that when her Government is making abortions easier, and pseudo-Bishops are advocating certain elements of Shari'ah law being embedded in the UK legal system, she in her role as Defender of the Faith promotes strong Christian ideals.

Rant over.


God Bless the Queen!
Long live the Pope!

Church teaching to change?

Me thinks...NOT!

Radio 4's Decision Time, was interesting last night. Ruth Gledhill, the Time's newspapers Religious correspondent seems to be under the impression that, like the Anglican *Ecclesial community* Communion, significant theological matters are up for discussion in the Catholic Church.

I assume she means (she doesn't actually reveal what she means) the matters of faith surrounding, Anglicans receiving Communion in a Catholic Church and I assume the *true* claim of the Church of Rome that it is THE Church founded by Christ, as such is the ONLY Church.

Does she not realise that these matters are not up for discussion? Or at least change? The theology behind the ban on Anglicans receiving communion is because of their 'beliefs' not ours.

The former Bishop of St Albans, makes an odd point. About the monarchs children having to be Catholic...yes this is true, it is part of the marriage vows, a vow made with GOD.

Ah well. Let us *Catholics* hope and pray that one day Christians will be united under one banner, that of Catholicism...

...I appear to be rambling.

Jesus Christ, Your Are My Life.

I think it's pretty safe to assume that some of the readers of the this blog will not have heard that song before. Traditionally it is played at World Youth Day. Well, it was at Toronto and Cologne, so I imagine it was played in Sydney as well. It was played as the Pope entered the area where the Vigil and Mass were to be held, and he was met with cheers and shouts of joy! To see the look on his face was something that lit a fire in everyones heart! Young Catholics love the Pope and the Pope loves us!

It is through the Church (headed by the Pope, on earth) that we encounter the Love of Christ, the same Christ who gave himself up for our sins.

"Yes, God loved the world so much
that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
but may have eternal life"
(John 3:16 New Jerusalem Bible)

As Catholics we remember that sacrifice every time we attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it is a constant reminder to us of the ultimate price paid so that we can live for eternity with the Father.

Love is fundamental to Christianity. In this week that is Most Holy, let us remember that.

Another new layout?

Yes, yet another new layout. I thought, with the fact we're coming to the end of Lent i'd change the layout so it at least look a bit Lenten before the great Feast of Easter. I still have yet to decide what layout to do for that...but that one will remain until Pentecost.

I'm going to post soon on the Westminster announcement and numerous other things...

Letter from HH Pope Benedict XVI to HE the Right Hon. Gordon Brown

His Excellency
The Right Honourable Mr. Gordon Brown
Prime Minister

Dear Prime Minister,

During your recent visit to the Vatican, you kindly briefed me on the Summit taking place in London from 2 to 3 April 2009 with the participation of representatives from the world’s twenty largest economies. As you explained, the aim of this meeting is to coordinate, with urgency, measures necessary to stabilize financial markets and to enable companies and families to weather this period of deep recession, in order to restore sustainable growth in the world economy and to reform and substantially strengthen systems of global governance, in order to ensure that such a crisis is not repeated in the future.

It is my intention with this letter to express to you and to the Heads of State and Heads of Government participating in the Summit the Catholic Church’s appreciation, as well as my own, for the meeting’s noble objectives based on the conviction, shared by all the participating Governments and international organizations, that the way out of the current global crisis can only be reached together, avoiding solutions marked by any nationalistic selfishness or protectionism.

I am writing this message having just returned from Africa, where I had the opportunity to see at first hand the reality of severe poverty and marginalization, which the crisis risks aggravating dramatically. I was also able to witness the extraordinary human resources with which that Continent is blessed and which can be offered to the whole world.

The London Summit, just like the one in Washington in 2008, for practical and pressing reasons is limited to the convocation of those States who represent 90% of the world’s gross production and 80% of world trade. In this framework, sub-Saharan Africa is represented by just one State and some regional organizations. This situation must prompt a profound reflection among the Summit participants, since those whose voice has least force in the political scene are precisely the ones who suffer most from the harmful effects of a crisis for which they do not bear responsibility. Furthermore, in the long run, it is they who have the most potential to contribute to the progress of everyone.

It is necessary, therefore, to turn to the multilateral mechanisms and structures which form part of the United Nations and its associated organizations, in order to hear the voices of all countries and to ensure that measures and steps taken at G20 meetings are supported by all.

At the same time, I would like to note a further reason for the need for reflection at the Summit. Financial crises are triggered when – partially due to the decline of correct ethical conduct – those working in the economic sector lose trust in its modes of operating and in its financial systems. Nevertheless, finance, commerce and production systems are contingent human creations which, if they become objects of blind faith, bear within themselves the roots of their own downfall. The only true and solid foundation is faith in the human person. For this reason all the measures proposed to rein in this crisis must seek, ultimately, to offer security to families and stability to workers and, through appropriate regulations and controls, to restore ethics to the financial world.

The current crisis has raised the spectre of the cancellation or drastic reduction of external assistance programmes, especially for Africa and for less developed countries elsewhere. Development aid, including the commercial and financial conditions favourable to less developed countries and the cancellation of the external debt of the poorest and most indebted countries, has not been the cause of the crisis and, out of fundamental justice, must not be its victim.

If a key element of the crisis is a deficit of ethics in economic structures, the same crisis teaches us that ethics is not "external" to the economy but "internal" and that the economy cannot function if it does not bear within it an ethical component.

Accordingly, renewed faith in the human person, which must shape every step towards the solution of the crisis, will be best put into practice through a courageous and generous strengthening of international cooperation, capable of promoting a truly humane and integral development. Positive faith in the human person, and above all faith in the poorest men and women – of Africa and other regions of the world affected by extreme poverty – is what is needed if we are truly to come through the crisis once and for all, without turning our back on any region, and if we are definitively to prevent any recurrence of a situation similar to that in which we find ourselves today.

I would also like to add my voice to those of the adherents of various religions and cultures who share the conviction that the elimination of extreme poverty by 2015, to which Leaders at the UN Millennium Summit committed themselves, remains one of the most important tasks of our time.

Right Honourable Prime Minister, I invoke Almighty God’s abundant blessings upon the London Summit and upon all the multilateral meetings currently searching for ways to resolve the financial crisis and I take this opportunity once again to offer you warm greetings and to express my sentiments of esteem.

From the Vatican, 30 March 2009

© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

You can find the reply from our PM here.