Catholic and Loving it!

I think most people are familiar with the "legend" of St. Francis of Assisi. He was the saint who could speak to animals, for this reason he is often portrayed conversing with birds or beasts.

But if people are incredulous when it comes to a man who can speak the gospel to animals, then they will be shocked to hear the other claim...

He could speak the gospel to Children.

It is only fitting then, that Fr. Massie took the opportunity to take the youth of his parish(es) to the Franciscans Friars of the Renewal in Bradford. The Fransiscan Friars of the Renewal may not speak to animals (at least, not in public) but they speak the Gospel to me, and I hope, to the kids Fr Massie brought from West Hull.

Before we could begin our journey however, Della (who we were giving a lift), Ella and I had to call in to P. Immison butchers on Boothferry Road to book a Goose (our Goose is Booked) for next week's Michaelmas celebraitons. That done, we were on our way. The journey to Bradford wasn't a race (that would have been dangerous) but everybody was trying to get there first. We nearly got lost in Bradford but had a jammy moment when I recognised the positioning of a couple of fields from a google maps aerial photo and knew the way. We got there second. Michelle foolishly tried to follow Fr Massie.

We arrived early and had our lunch in the street outside the St. Pio friary. Then we wandered in for orange juice and biscuits and to meet a couple of friars. It was like guess the accent. There was a very Italian sounding monk from Brooklyn and then a monk who looked very Eastern European but then said "hello chief" in a northern accent.

We kicked off with a talk about holiness and were told "it's not enough to pray while your driving to work or in the shower, you need to set aside time for prayer". It's a little sad to think that it's radical to talk about working your life around prayer (rather than fitting prayer in to your life) but it is radical and certainly something Ella and I need to work on. He also talked about love as being about giving yourself and not about feelings which again, is radical but sound.

We had a short break and then piled back in to the church for mass. We celebrated the feast of St. Padre Pio (another fransiscan). The guy with the Italian accent gave the homily which was all about sainthood and how it's about personal holiness and not working miracles or supernatural phenomena. He talked about the universal call to holiness. He talked, like the guy before the mass, about the importance of making time for prayer.

Then we wandered over the road so the male youths could get their football fix, Leona liked watching the football flying high in to the air and coming down again. Because things had been running a little late the football lasted all of three minutes and then it was back to the church for Holy Hour.

For those who don't know, a Holy Hour is an hour of Eucharistic adoration. We began with evening prayer (sung in the Gregorian style) and then knelt and prayed in silence (occasionally interrupted by the singing of songs from the youth200uk songbook). All the while confession was available and a steady stream of young people went to confession. A surprising number actually. To spend an hour in front of the blessed sacrament is a wonderful thing to do.

The day ended with food. Chilli con carne, soup, cakes, all good. Leona made lots of friends and Fr Massie asked me what I thought of the day... I said it was a good thing. It's difficult not to make the following paragraph controversial, because Fr Massie asked me why I thought it was so good when I often do not think things back home are good.

To understand why it's good you have to get away from the aesthetics of the thing. Forget whether it's traditional (monks in habits) or modern (youth200uk song book) or even if it's conservative or liberal. The reason this is good and so much else is pap is simple. Jesus Christ. The whole point of the Church is to meet Christ. It's an icon, a window, a painting, a lens. That's why these faith sharing things are so poor, because the window has become a mirror and Christ is left out of the picture. With the Fransicans in Bradford the window is open and the light is so bright you have to shield your eyes. This is why I call this and this good religious art and this bad. Because the former are windows to God and the latter is puke on a wall.

Anyways, a great day was had by all and I think the kids got a lot out of it. I hope we can go again next month.