Catholic and Loving it!

Of all the Sacraments, Confirmation can be the hardest to get my head around. It's almost a part of baptism, But it isn't. Or is it? Along with Baptism it's one of the Sacraments of Initiation by which we enter the Church, only Baptised people are already members of the Church. It's like Baptism for grown ups... but it isn't Baptism. It perfects the work started at Baptism. But it isn't a part of Baptism. I think that's right anyway...

What I do find helpful is to look at the guys (and Mary) who followed Christ before and after Pentecost. Something happened in that upper room. Something significant. Before then, they followed Christ like a child follows a parent. They take a share in the life of Christ and they try to do what he says but, when the shepherd is struck down the sheep are scattered. After Pentecost they go out to work on Christ's behalf. It's not just a change in job description, there is a spiritual change as well. At Pentecost the Church received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit which is necessary if we are to do Christ's work which we cannot do on our own. An important spiritual event that we cannot see but need to experience... sounds like a job for a Sacrament to me.

Just like the disciples. We follow Christ at first in a passive childlike role (usually because we start out as children). What is interesting is that Church recognises that the move from childlike listening to active participation in the life of the Church is not simply a matter of personal development. It's not a coming of age thing, where we gradually change from child to adult and then the Bishop comes for a big party when we are fourteen. No. It's a hidden internal spiritual change, like at our baptism. It's a change that can't and won't happen without the work of the Holy Spirit.

So when the Bishop anoints you with oil and says "N... be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit" N actually is sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. N needs the gift of the Holy Spirit because without the gift of the Holy Spirit N is going to find the Christian life not just very difficult, but impossible.

Anyways, tuesday last (I'm behind on my blogging) that all happened to Ella's brother...

I thought it a bit of a shame that the confirmations took place at St. Charles. I think it's a lot nicer when the Bishop visits an individual parish and confirms a smaller number of people. It's closer, more personal and less like one of those giant Moonie weddings. The Bishop confirmed over seventy people which took a while. It would have made a huge difference to break that down in to three groups. Maybe a Polish group, a West Hull (Inc. Hessle) group and a North Hull group. I can understand how that's difficult to do with the current crisis in vocations, I mean, back when the Diocese had as many as one Bishop that sort of thing was possible. These days that number has plummeted to only one Bishop and there's no way we can expect him to get around as much.

Joking aside, our Diocese has been without a Bishop for a while and there's probably a lot to catch up on. In spite of all that, Bishop Drainey has already been around a lot more than I thought any Bishop ever would. He's definitely putting in overtime. Unfortunately when you confirm over seventy people there is no time for a mass (actually, I think there bloody well is time for a mass, but the general populace says two hours is long enough already).It was a real source of sadness to many people present and I overheard more than a few poignant remarks. I'm really hoping it's a temporary situation.

At the end of the day, confirmation is a very good thing no matter how you celebrate it. Thanks be to God that we had so many young people to celebrate it with.

Any wayward youths looking for Fr Tim Finigan's blog can find it by clicking here.

The person who told Fr Tim Finigan that they would give him some links (I can't possibly say who it was here for reasons of national security) could also click there and leave some links in the comments box (under a pseudonym perhaps) then the wayward youths will find what they are looking for (because it isn't there yet).

If anybody wants to send me some links I will put them here.

Hi and thanks for using WP-CMS!

We've all missed monthly events, it's easily done. Often they are planned on dates like the "3rd Tuesday of the Month". It's easy to miss the 3rd Tuesday of the Month, very few calendars have "3rd Sunday of the Month" written on them and I scarcely look at my calendar anyway. Calendars, it has to be said, are not as good as wives.

Fr Peter Haverty kindly comes and runs recollections for us here at St Joseph's. He's a busy man, so his 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Sundays of the month are already spoken for. He comes to St. Joseph's every the 5th Sunday of the Month (if you think this is confusing, try going to the Synod of Whitby sometime). Not many months have a 5th Sunday so if you miss one it's a while until the next one comes around. Add that to the fact that the recollections alternate between men's and women's recollections every other other 5th Sunday and you're looking at a rare event indeed (the next mens recollection won't be until October).

Fortunately, this month, I made it.

A men's day of recollection for men. Not very PC. You know those drippy woman courses, the ones with an atmosphere of faith being shared by equals, of a conversation among fellow disciples, not the atmosphere of the classroom or lecture hall. This is the opposite. Because we are manly men. Grr.

Fr Haverty talks, we listen. He has wisdom to offer. We learn from him. The guy sat to my right might be thinking something really stupid, but I don't hear that. I don't hear the guy on my left either. Except when he laughs, because Fr Haverty says some very funny things. He also says some very serious things. Listening to him I went through the full rainbow of emotions from "Ha! I'm right! I knew it all along!" through to "Oh... he's right, I got that one wrong. I hope Fr Massie hasn't noticed or he'll be rubbing that in later... I'd better change my ways..."

It's all so quaint and simple... we go in to Church and an old man tells us stuff.

It's great.

As Mark Shea said when he was here. We live in England.

England is full of history, back in the day (before the reformation) we had monks. Loads and loads of monks. Here in the North of England was particularly monk heavy because after the Norman conquest William the Bastard basically had his guys trash everything and kill everybody so that in the Domesday Book all the villages are described as wasta est (wasted).

William (aka the Conqueror) gave his favourite lords great swathes of land in the north and those guys carried on living down south because the land up north was basically useless (with no peasants, cows or anything). The lords lead lives of debauchery and then pooped themselves about what would happen to them when after they died. They struck deals with various monks from France saying "If you can get me in to heaven I will give you huge tracts of wilderness to build monasteries on" and since monks love huge tracts of wilderness (it's quiet) they said "it's a deal". Over the years house prices rose and the monks grew very wealthy until Henry VIII said "Hey, that looks valuable, I'll have that..."

The land in Hull was pretty much all owned by two groups of monks. The Cistercians at Meaux and the Augustinian Canons at Haltemprice. Michelle thought it would be a cool idea to take the Youth Group to visit the latter for night prayer at the end of this, um, whatever Youth Groups have... terms? Anyway, we took a walk up there this evening to do a bit of reccy and risk assess it check it's all safe.

We took a look online before going and found a great site about the priory here, so we knew that there was nothing of the priory to actually see. What there is, is a farmhouse which is pretty damn old and has some parts that may be contemporary to the priory itself. Better than Skipsea Castle.

The recent updates are a bit of a concern, it's the usual tale. A listed building that's too historically significant let somebody do something useful with it (like do it up) and not historically significant enough to take care of properly (build a visitor centre etc). So it stands there, crumbling. I can see why English Heritage hesitate to allow somebody to turn it in to a house, I've seen some lovely historic buildings trashed by people turning them in to houses. On the other hand, if English Heritage can't afford to look after it, surely it's better to let somebody do it up and live in it and hope for the best. The current state of affairs is going to leave us with a field.

You can see a picture of the farmhouse in 1998 here. Here's my pictures today, ten years later...

As you can see, quite a lot of the building has been lost in only ten years. Fortunately, quite a bit remains (for now). I trespassed a little bit through a rather large gap in the fence (you could drive a car through it) to get this photo of the other side. From this side you can see the stonework (at the bottom) which may have been contemporary with (and maybe even part of) the abbey.

Older OS maps also show a "Lady Well" to the north. We decided to go and check it out but we couldn't find anything, the field was too overgrown to really look for it and you're not really supposed walk around people's fields.

I really hope something can be done to save what remains of this site for future generations. It's not Buckingham Palace, but the site has great significance for the history of our local area. What would be ideal is for a millionaire to come and buy it and convert it in to some kind of Catholic retreat centre with visitor centre and resident monks. They could mark out the location of the old abbey and people could worship there once more. That would be amazing. But I'd be well happy just to find the next time I walk up there that somebody has fixed the walls, put a roof on top and is living there and occasionally checking the more ancient stonework hasn't crumbled too much.

As we left, I hoped that when Leona is old enough to look at these things, there will be something left for her to look at...

Come on English Heritage. We're members and we even visited Thornton Abbey. Get this farm sorted out.

My secret contact has been in touch. I hope you people reading this appreciate the grave risks people have to go to in order to make this sort of information public. While the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding contraception and chastity is clear, you won't find anything about NFP here (try here instead) and you won't find much emphasis on abstinence here.

My contact provides the following links ...

Pure Love Club (check out the teeth)
Faith Team Ministries
Silver Ring Thing
Pure in Heart
FamilyLife.org or was it FamilyLife.com [Edit: Actually, I think they might have mean't Familyland]

While my contact provides good links, I would like to add the following...

Humanae Vitae - Honestly, if you're old enough to have sex, you're old enough to read this. It's really not that hard to understand though you might struggle in parts. When middle aged people (your parents) say it's hard they mean it's hard to talk your way out of. If you're a Catholic teenager, reading this is a great way to rebel against your parents because your parents probably hate what this says.

Christian Sexuality at Phatmass - The Phatmass site is a great resource because instead of being written by well meaning parents who are trying to be cool, it's mostly put together by actual youths who are actually cool. This link points to a page full of great links.

Finally, Fr Tim Finigan provided the following videos...

She doesn't sound anything like Fr Tim Finigan's impersonation...

One of the things that always strikes me whenever I read or think about the reformation in England is the spectacular failure of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. How many Bishops stood up to the King? One. Only one. St John Fisher. My hero. He was from Beverley, not ten miles from here.

Don't say I never praise anything that comes out of our diocese.

If St John Fisher was one of the first Martyrs of the reformation (he died in 1535 before St Thomas More) , Blessed Nicholas Postgate was one of the last. Fr Nicholas Postgate wasn't killed until 1679. Over a hundred and forty years passed between the two events and while all the events of the reformation can seem to blur in to one they really took quite some time. When Nicholas Postgate was born it was sixty years since St John Fisher died. Sixty Years! Sixty years before I was born it was 1921. The year Henry Dobson died. Who?

Between them the two saints give an interesting perspective on my life in the modern Church. St John Fisher reassures me that it is quite possible to find yourself in disagreement with Bishops. As my CTS pamphlet on him reads: "Henry sent bishops, in fives and sixes, to see Fisher, and try to turn him from his course. We should not underestimate the depth of the crisis into which this would have flung him".. Meanwhile, Blessed Nicholas Postgate teaches us how to get on with life in a secular world. How to carry out our work as Christians even when those around us are hostile to the faith.

The Nicholas Postgate story begins at Egton Bridge, a tiny village deep in the North York Moors beside the River Esk. Records of his young life are inconclusive, but he was born around 1599-1600 in Kirkdale House which stood close to the new bridge which spans the Esk; his father was James and his mother Margaret, nee Watson.

He was renowned for his humanity, his simple faith, his care of the poor and his holiness, becoming a friend of Catholic and Protestant alike, and for the next 20 years he walked the moors and Eskdale, living in a humble home now called The Hermitage at Ugthorpe. It is said he planted the daffodils which flourish in the Esk valley but, throughout his work, he was at constant risk from the authorities.

Although anti-Catholic feeling had subsided a good deal, it flared up again due to the fake Popish Plot of 1678; this followed a false testimony from Titus Oates in which he claimed there was a conspiracy to instal a Catholic king, and he managed to ferment a renewed and fierce persecution of English Catholics. It was to be the last time that Catholics were put to death in England for their faith; one of the last victims - but not the very last - was Nicholas Postgate.

Between December 1678 and March 1679, he was locked in York Castle where he wrote a hymn, still sung at Egton Bridge and elsewhere. The trial was something of a sham in which the judge appeared to want the prisoner freed through lack of evidence, but the priest was convicted by the jury, chiefly through the evidence of one of his own converts, a woman who testified against him.

Between July and August that year, judges of assize toured the country to impose the penalty for treason upon other Catholic priests but, on August 7, 1679, Father Postgate, a priest for 51 years, was strapped to a wooden sledge and dragged through the streets of York via Micklegate Bar to the Knavesmire.

Catholics and Protestants accompanied the sledge, all mourning his fate, but in his final speech, Father Postgate said, "I die not for the plot, but for my faith", and forgave those who had wronged him. He was hanged, disembowelled and quartered, and his remains were taken away by his friends - Catholic and Protestant - for burial. His grave is unknown but the crucifix he wore at his death is now in Ampleforth Abbey.

[link]

Nicholas Postgate was hung drawn and quartered when he was nearly eighty!

Every year we commemorate the life of Blessed Nicholas Postgate by gathering in the North Yorkshire Moors for the Postgate Rally. This year, the rally was at Ugthorpe, the village he lived in for many years. We had a bit of an illness situation on our hands so Ella stayed at home and despite feeling quite unwell (I ended up being off work the next day) I made the trip. Leona and I took a map along which was handy because when Michelle's Sat Nav decide announced "You have reached your destination..." we were over two miles away. Stupid Sat Nav things. James with a map wins every time. We arrived on time and met up with Fr Massie and a load of Youth from the West Hull Parishes.

Last time I was in Ugthorpe we had the mass outdoors and hundreds of people came to hear a beautiful homily by Fr Tony Storey. Obviously I would never condone the recording and publishing of audio clips of priest giving homilies. I did this once and it was made very clear that it is not acceptable. The rules must have changed since then because the diocese have published a recording of the 2006 homily by Fr Tony Storey at the Postgate Rally on the diocesan website. Does that mean I can dust off my Digital Voice Recorder once more?

This year the mass was indoors because it rained and rained and rained. It's quite a nice little Church and it was a good celebration with an excellent homily from Fr Stephen Maughan who never fails to come up with something good. He should start a blog. I don't have a recording of Fr Stephen's homily (it's not allowed you see) but I can point you in the direction of something else he wrote about music in the mass. Yeah, he does look stupid in that photo, if I posted photos of priests looking stupid I'd be in trouble.

The chalice used during the mass was one used by Blessed Nicholas Postgate himself but also featured earthenware communion bowls. Just like the Church recommends... "Reprobated, therefore, is any practice of using for the celebration of Mass common vessels, or others lacking in quality, or devoid of all artistic merit or which are mere containers, as also other vessels made from glass, earthenware, clay, or other materials that break easily" - Redemptionis Sacramentum 117

After the mass we had the opportunity to venerate the hand of Blessed Nicholas Postgate. Oops. Sorry. The alleged hand. What an odd thing for Msgr Dasey to say... "there will be the opportunity to venerate the alleged hand of Nicholas Postgate". I find it quite a stretch of the imagination to visualise a person cutting off somebody else's hand and then pretending it was Nicholas Postgate's hand for what? To make friends and influence people? I can't imagine there was much profit to be made faking relics in post-reformation England. Anyway, Michelle says she had one of her 'religious moments' while venerating the hand so that settles it.

Speaking of dead people's hands. If anybody understood anything about young people you'd see great potential for a youth event there. Your average teenager thinks an actual dismembered hand is way more awesome than any number of people with guitars.

After the mass we went to Whitby which is one of the best places in the world and had the best fish and chips in the world where I overheard one of the Indian kids ask "Is vinegar any good then?". What's the point in living in a multi-cultural society if Indian kids don't know about vinegar? Then we walked up the 199 steps to Whitby Abbey. Then we walked down again.

On the way home we stopped off at Malton Priory and most appropriately at St Nicholas' Church in North Grimston. St. Nicholas Church was totally empty but we felt the need to whisper because, remarkably, it feels like a sacred place. Almost as if, you know, you can design somewhere to feel that way. I wonder if we will ever build Churches like that again.

There was some other event on today that clashed with the Postgate Rally. Some youth event. Die Bored or Diveboard or something like that... I hope they had a nice time living simply or having mass in a sports hall or whatever. Not a dead hand in sight I'll wager.

Me, I'm left trying to follow the path of two men who lived in difficult times and did what they thought was right even when it seemed hopeless.

It's anything but simple.

When analysis of a small piece of cedar wood from a dig indicates that it is 2,000 years old and originates from the Holy Land, Dr Gillian Magwilde and her team race to uncover the truth. While Magwilde surveys the site, however, a religious extremist acquires the land and declares it Holy Ground. Believing Britain is at war for its Christian soul, the fanatical Christian reawakens a force of violent modern-day crusaders.

Of course... Violent modern-day crusaders. Happens all the time.

Oh, and Britain is at war for it's Christian soul. We're losing the battle right now, but I have it on good authority that we win the war.

Watch it here until tuesday.

This is the best thing I've seen in ages....

"The icky sticky sound of the dessert, known as jello in north America, was recorded at University College London for a soundtrack that will be used at the end of the week in a bizarre "architectural jelly banquet" where leading firms of architects will compete for recognition of their creative skills with this unusual medium." [link]

(as long as they keep quiet and don't complain)

I note, with some curiosity, that the Diocese of Middlesbrough is recruiting for a 'Celebrating Family' Project Worker.

The Diocese of Middlesbrough wishes to appoint a 'Celebrating Family' Project Worker to promote awareness of the marriage and Family Life initiative 'Celebrating Family' throught the Diocese, and to facilitate workshops with parishes and groups based upon 'Everybody's Welcome' and 'home is a Holy Place'.

The post is part-time, 21 hours per week, subject to a 3-year contract. Some evening and weekend work required. Essential car user allowance.

£23,330 pro rata per annum, actual salary £14,000.

Closing date: 1st September 2008

Most readers of this blog won't have heard of 'Listening 2004' or the subsequent 'Celebrating Family' initiative which is a real shame. Many of our bishops live in little bubbles (I think our Bishop is a happy exception to this rule), if the small group of priests you trust to help you lead the diocese tell you that young people want discos and football, you're going to believe them. Listening 2004 was a real opportunity to break through that bubble and let the Bishops know how things really are.

Listening 2004

It started with a survey. There are two kinds of survey questions, quantitative and qualitative. A quantitative question is one that goes "Do you believe in God? Yes/No/Maybe" and at the end we can state quantities like "30% of Catholics said they believe in God". Combine it with other questions like "How old are you?" and we can put together interesting graphs showing what percentages of people believe in God by age. Quantitative survey questions are, naturally, favoured by scientific types such as my self because they are the best. You know this, of course, because they told you in GCSE maths.

A qualitative question on the other hand, is one that goes like this: "What do you think the Church can do to help families?". Get a few thousand people to answer that and you get a few thousand answers. It's real hard to figure out which answers are the most popular and impossible to figure out which answers are most popular with which kind of people. Qualitative survey questions are crap. So. Have a guess what kind of questions the Listening 2004 survey mostly contained...

The survey didn't stand alone though. The main event of Listening 2004 in our diocese at least was an open forum in York. On September 11th 2004 nearly 100 people gathered for what turned out to be a "lively and free-flowing conversation". Peter and Gwen O'Reilly gave a great presentation about the experience of familes in parish life. Sadly, the Church is turned upside down regarding families at the moment, the dominant community in most parishes is retired old people with no children. Families are often talked about like people walking in to a shop, as if the parish is a service that families make use of. If we view families in that way then we do ourselves and the wider church a great disservice. "The Christian family constitutes a specific revelation and realization of ecclesial communion, and for this reason it can and should be called a domestic church. It is a community of faith, hope, and charity; it assumes singular importance in the Church, as is evident in the New Testament.". We should be inviting families to fulfill their role as the basic building blocks of the Church, not trying to find ways to 'welcome' them... 'welcome' is often a code word for 'find ways for them to come to mass without getting in our way'.

Part two of the Listening 2004 meeting was a discussion about young people. Fr John Paul Leonard the Diocesan Youth Officer had prepared a presentation about what young people want but pleasantly suprised to find a couple of young people had actually turned up in person he invited them to present their thoughts for themselves. That's a bit frightening that, turning up to a meeting of nearly 100 people and then being asked if you would like to give a presentation about what young people want with about five minutes notice...

The second stage of the conversation turned to the question of young people in the parish. This was animated by Ella Haswell and James Preece from Holy Cross Parish, Cottingham, who spoke of their own experience and that of other young people in their local church. They mentioned the gap between confirmation and marriage when very little seemed to exist for young people. When it was provided they often felt it was more of an effort to entertain, to attract and retain the young, rather than to simply help them face the real challenges of living lives fully integrated with faith in God. As young people in church they sometimes had a sense of almost being a curiosity. They suggested that adults were possibly afraid to present young people with the full facts of the Catholic faith in case it was rejected.

You can read the full report of what happened here. It was at that meeting that we met Fr Massie and Fr John Paul Leonard for the first time. After meetings had been held in diocese across the country the results of the surveys and meetings were collated in to one big report which was published in 2005 under the title Not Easy But Full of Meaning. A big dose of respect to the unsung heroes that put that report together (Elizabeth Davies in particular comes to mind), it must have been an arduous task going through a few thousand qualitative survey answers and coming up with something meaningful.

You can read the finished report here. It's 93 pages long, so you probably don't have time to read it all, but it paints a vivid picture of the Catholic Church in England. It's half full of people saying infuriatingly short sighted things, but then so is the Church. It's also got a lot of good. Our contribution is on page 44...

In Middlesbrough two young adults addressed the diocesan gathering. These young people were university age and very involved in parish life; one of them was a catechist working with confirmation groups. They expressed a sense of frustration that the church sometimes tried too hard to engage young people and to be 'cool'. They preferred that the church be a place of teaching and learning, where the difficult moral questions they faced could be answered. There was too much segregation of young people from the rest of the congregation and too much of a gap between confirmation and adulthood.

But the response of teenagers in Shrewsbury diocese seemed to echo the experiences of their parents. A large number said they didn't go to church, that it was boring and they didn't know why they had to go to Mass in order to believe in God:
"It's a waste of time; I could be doing more useful things."

Somebody else from Middlesbrough (not us) said on page 76... "If nothing comes back from all this then it will harm the Church, though we know that to some extent we have to do our part."

You can't hold an event like Listening 2004 and then ignore it. That would be Not Listening 2004. If two young people stand up and say there is too much segregation of young people from the rest of the congregation then don't be surprised if they are a tad upset two years later when you pitch up in Hull and announce that "Youth" means people up to age thirty (that's a fair gap between confirmation and adulthood) and you are going to organise some events for them to meet, um, segregated from the rest of the congregation.

Fortunately on a national level things were different. The Bishops Conference took action to put the findings of Listening 2004 in to practice with the 'Celebrating Family' initiative.

Celebrating Family

'Celebrating Family' was set up to run in three parts over three years.

This leads to two interesting questions...

Firstly, given that 'Celebrating Family' consists of 'Everybody's Welcome', 'Home is a Holy Place' and 'Passing on the Faith'. Why is the Middlesbrough Diocese project worker only going to facilitate workshops with parishes and groups based upon 'Everybody's Welcome' and 'home is a Holy Place'. Why not Passing on the Faith?

Secondly, the project was from 2006 to 2008 meaning it is practically over. Why is the diocese recruiting for a project worker on a project that has nearly finished? The closing date for applications is September 2008. That gives them three months at best. Also, why is it subject to a 3-year contract? It's going to seem a bit absurd to have a project worker in September 2011 for a project that ended in 2008.

We attended the 'Everybody's Welcome' conference in 2006. It cost a lot of money to get to it (a few hundred pounds for the weekend) and we were only able to do it because of generous financial assistance from three priests in Hull. Sadly, one of those priests would later use the fact that they paid towards us getting to the conference to pressure us in to speaking during a homily even though we felt it was wrong. Frankly, that sort of thing really hacks me off. When the 'Home is a Holy Place' conference rolled around in 2007 we simply couldn't afford to go and we didn't feel we could justify asking the parish to cover the cost. These conferences are good, but they arn't that good. So, like the housing market, we're priced out. If the Church is genuinely interested in including young families it needs to hold these conferences on the cheap and not in posh conference centres.

Beyond Parody

Listening 2004 was set up so that laypeople could express their needs and clergy could listen (hence the name). Often, if somebody is listening, they do something. For instance, if I am listening to my baby crying, I go and feed her. What I don't do is hear that she is crying, listen to her crying, and then employ somebody to do a workshop with her in which they explain to her what I heard when she was crying.

We've have had several years now of 'listening' and 'projects'. It is done. It has all recorded and documented and bundled together in to hundreds of pages of booklets and leaflets. It is ludicrous to have a project in which you listen to laypeople followed by three years of projects in which you listen to laypeople and then employ a layperson to do workshops with laypeople to explain what the laypeople said. The laypeople know what they said.

When somebody talks, if you are listening, you respond. That's how it works, it's called a "conversation". The laypeople have said their piece, what happens next is that Church responds. Or not.

There are only really three possible responses...

Change - They say something like "that's a good point" and they act on it. They do things differently. For instance, if it is pointed out to you that young people feel there is too much segregation between young people and the wider Church they don't call thirty year olds youth and organise separate events for them.

Explain - If they can't change (people are asking for women priests) or there are multiple contradicting requests (some people want funky music, some people don't) then they explain their reasons. They explain why they are doing whatever they are doing. The laity provided 93 pages of information in 'Not Easy but Full of Meaning'. The clergy could respect that contribution by putting together a response document explaining what they plan to change, what they don't and why. An explanation is the least we deserve.

Ignore - There's always the option where they don't change and they don't explain why. They just tell people to have more trust in their parish priest. Who do these lay people think they are anyway? Screw 'em.

So what's the plan?

In our diocese? My guess is Ignore. I highly doubt the Bishop or anybody in the curial office is going to respond to this project in any meaningful way. They will employ the project worker and instead of causing actual recognisable change, the project worker will run workshops with laypeople and assure them that the Church is "listening". The 'Celebrating Family' project box will be ticked, if anybody asks they will say "look, we have a project worker..." and the poor project worker who wants to hold on to their job will say "everything is wonderful".

Personally, I'm a bit peeved by the whole thing. We went to the listening day, attended the conference, subscribed to the newsletter. We also took part in the consultation process before the diocese employed an Adult Formation Advisor (which involved trips to York as well as meetings in Hull), went to several meetings about the "Pastoral Plan" and have written letters to the Department for Adult Formation and the Youth Department (including a seven page document to the Youth Department to which we received no response).

We're a young family doing the best we can to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church. We're not malicious and we haven't set out to cause problems. We just want the Church to do what they said they would and what the documents of the Church say they should. This is the equivalent of walking in to McDonald's and asking for a burger. We're not being unreasonable.

Happy Bastille Day to you!

Happy Birthday to me...

There are many responsibilities for a parent. Bottoms to be wiped, food to be fed, games to be played.

I'm fairly sure that of the three, the latter is the most important. A clean bottom will soon be soiled and a fully tummy will soon be rumbling, but the lessons learned on the living room floor will stay with Leona for a lifetime. I think it's a great shame that playing is viewed by so many as simply something to entertain children until they are old enough to work. There are "learning toys" like shape sorters and the like, but on the whole I think learning toys are a bit like free range eggs. Everybody agrees kids should have educational toys but it's not that important to most people. People go out to buy a toy and then when they find one they like they exclaim and it's educational!

I've been making an effort to play with Leona and in the early days it was difficult. She would lay there and giggle if you were funny (peekaboo generally did the trick). As Leona developed the games needed to be more complicated to keep her entertained, my favourite is when you hide and jump out on the left then hide and jump out on the right. Then left, then right and so on. Leona soon gets the rhythm and soon she's looking at the place where you are going to jump out before you get there. Then you don't. You jump out on the left a second time in a row. Hilarious. She loves it because unlike simply jumping out (which is predictable) it's a great surprise.

Anyway, Leona is at an age she learns by copying. She has a little musical box thing that makes noises when you push a button. At first we had to push the button for her but pretty soon she copied and figured out how to push buttons. It wasn't long until she figured out that different buttons do different things and very soon she had a favourite button (the one that plays music). She now pushes buttons on everything so when she found the TV remote she pushed the buttons. One of the buttons turns the TV on and off... that's her favourite one. It's pretty annoying when she locates the remote in the middle of Dr Who.

The learning by copying thing makes playing great fun, because you can do a simple task (like throwing a plastic shape in the toy box) and Leona will copy (if she feels like it). It's really exciting finding out what she can do and what she can't - for instance, she just can't sort the shapes yet. If you pick up a cube and put it in the square hole, she picks up the cube and just rams it in any old hole (which doesn't work, though occasionally she gets lucky).

The really special moments are when Leona tries to copy and nearly get it and then tries again and finally succeeds.. often with a clap and a giggle. Leona has a little set of wooden ring things that form a caterpillar and if you stack the ring things in a small tower she copies and stacks her own tower. It's been really exciting because at first she could only stack one or two rings before the tower fell down but now she can take it all the way.

Leona can now stack all eight rings and then knock them over, then stack them, then knock them over. Good fun. But it's lead to a problem. In all the toys Leona has (and she has loads) she has very little that can be stacked. She has a huge tub of Duplo, but she's nowhere near understanding how to click the bricks together (though she loves to pull them apart) and even I struggle to stack Duplo bricks without clicking them together. No... What this girl needs is a proper set of wooden building blocks. Blocks she can bash together and put on top of each other without little bumps on them getting in the way.

So what does a 21st century dad do? I go on the web and type "Wooden Building Blocks" of course (we don't want none of that plastic rubbish) and up come a load of building blocks and I buy some. Simply right?

Wrong.

You have no idea how complicated building blocks can be.

Cheap Modern Blocks

My first instinct was to get as many blocks as I could for as cheap as possible (makes a lot of sense right?) so I found this lovely set of 50 building blocks from Brio. Brio are more famous for those exciting (expensive) wooden train sets so I thought 50 blocks for only £12.99 - bargain. Only 25p a block.

Only, I originally found them on Amazon.com where they had less than favourable reviews...

These look like the standard wooden blocks we all grew up with in the online picture, but they are not. These are in fact a miniature version of our old standard blocks - maybe a quarter of the size. Perfect for losing all over the house, and not at all what I had in mind for my little boy.

Standard Unit Blocks

Now there's no way we want tiny blocks for Leona. She needs proper building blocks like real children had in the olden days. None of this miniscule modern tripe. Which got me wondering: How big should a building block be? I tried to holding my hand as if I had an invisible block in it and guestimated about two inches. Is that right? I decided to see if Wikipedia had an entry on children's building blocks.. it doesn't. At least, that's how it seemed, until I stumbled on an entry for something called a Unit Block.

A unit block is a type of standardized wooden toy block for children. Known also as standard unit blocks or Kindergarten blocks, these building blocks are common in preschools and some Kindergarten classrooms in the United States.

Jackpot! I thought... standardized wooden toy block. I mean, I don't really mind if Leona has the exact size, but at least this will give me an idea of how big building blocks are...

A unit block is 5.5 inches long, 2.75 inches wide, and 1.375 inches thick[1]. Larger pieces include the double (11 inches long) and quadruple (22 inches long) sizes. Smaller sizes are made in various fractions of the standard unit.

Hold on a moment... this isn't right. Different lengths, widths and heights. This isn't what I expected. I thought a standard building block would be a cube surely. Like you see in clipart of childrens toys. Little cubes with letters on. No? It would seem not. If you are so foolhardy as to type the words "standard unit blocks" in to everybody's favourite search engine you find hundreds of pages extolling the virtues of these oversized none-cube blocks.

(photo taken from www.oldfashionedblocks.com)

The unit block is enormous. 5.5 inches long. That's almost exactly 140mm (14cm for idiots). It's almost the distance from your wrist to your middle finger, a Standard Unit Block would fill my adult hand. Surely too big for babies? Having said that, it's easier to balance a big block on a big block and when she's older the "let's build a tower as high as we can" games will be more exciting.

Too big or not, the important part is the proportions. The width is half the length, the thickness is half the width. 1 x 2 x 4. What that means, is that that whether Leona knows it or not, her blocks would have mathematical properties. It means that if you stack four blocks like sheets of paper, they have the height of one block on it's end. Sounds like an obvious feature for oblong building blocks but it's a feature many of the non-standard cheaper sets are sorely lacking.

Which got me thinking. If Leona is going to be playing with blocks, are there any other properties the blocks should exhibit. If my bog standard cube was so sorely lacking, what else might I be missing.

Back at the Unit Block wikipedia page I couldn't help but notice a reference to something called a Froebel gift...

Froebel Gifts

Never heard of Froebel Gifts? No? Neither had I. Turns out Froebel practically single handedly invented the concept of nursery schools for kids (kindergarten) and as part of all that he invented a series of 'gifts' to be given to children as they grow up. The first gift is a soft ball on a piece of yarn and the latter gifts get a bit overtly educational (coloured beads on a grid) but gifts 3, 4, 5 and 6 present some pretty neat little sets of building blocks.

(photo taken from ozpod.com)

91 beechwood building blocks in four wooden boxes with sliding lids.

8 one inch cubes, 8 blocks 2 x 1 x .5 inches
21 one inch cubes,6 half blocks, 12 quarter blocks.
18 blocks 2 x 1 x .5 inches, 12 blocks 1 x 1 x .5 inches, 6 blocks 2 x .5 x 5 inches

These Froebel gifts are each presented to the child as a cube. The first (3rd) is a cube made up of eight cubes. It can be split in half along the vertical (in two directions) or the horizontal. The cubes can be placed alongside each other in a row or stacked in a tower. The cubes can show fractions (eight cubes can be halved and halved again).

Maybe I'm getting carried away, maybe Leona just wants some wooden things to bang together. But it seems to be the blocks we should buy should have the potential to be used in these interesting ways. Clearly not now, when she is not even 1 and a half (she won't get it), but later when she is four or five she can gain an appreciation for symmetry.

The problem with Froebel's gifts is that they are wholly incompatible with Unit Blocks. The Froebel gifts are cube based and while one of them is made up of 1 x 2 x 4 oblong blocks these blocks are not Unit Block sized. Unit blocks are 5+1/2 x 2+3/4 x 1+3/8 inches. To be compatible, Froebel's cubes would need to be 2+3/4 inches. They are 1 inch. Bummer.

The ideal solution for me would be to find a set of Froebel gifts made from a basis of 2+3/4 cubes. That way, the oblong blocks in the Froebel gifts would match the Standard Unit Block size. If anybody can find some online that I can afford to have shipped to England that would be great. I might have to try making my own, though I expect making building blocks that stack well is not as easy as it seems. Maybe it's misguided anyway, 2 and 3/4 inch cubes would be huge!

Castle Blocks

With all this talk of mathematical blocks, I've totally neglected the most amazing blocks of all...

These Castle Building Blocks (and only these ones hand made by this one guy) are awesome. The other Castle Building Blocks I have seen to not compare.

Conclusion

Oh my goodness. I've just lost most of an evening to writing about small pieces of wood. I need help. I've found an excellent blog about building blocks but am no closer to buying any.

So far.. I'm leaning in this direction, though I may give up and get these.

Ultimately. I think I need to get out more...

Coming soon, to a parish near me...

Everyone is warmly welcome to attend either one or both of two workshops based on "Celebrating Family - blessed, broken, living love" , a project of the Bishops' Conference for England and Wales. These will be held in the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes, Hessle, on the evenings of Tuesday 14th and Tuesday 21st October.

The first workshop is "Everybody's Welcome" which focusses upon developing friendly, family-sensitive, parish communties.

The second week will explore "Home is a Holy Place" which celebrates a broad understanding of marital and family spirituality, and the holiness of our everyday lives.

Both workshops will be led by Jane Cook.

The last time I sent an email to Jane Cook, Fr John Lumley replied on her behalf and said "It saddens me that after my homily, you did not find the grace to make one positive comment on the content of the homily. Fortunately, your fellow parishioners were more appreciative."

Fortunately?

What terrible calamity might have befallen us if my fellow parishioners had not been more appreciative?

"Why do they call it World Youth Day?" Ella asked, "When it lasts for several days... they should call it World Youth Week"

World Youth Day is one of those events you hear about for months, it takes a while to raise the kind of cash required to get to Sydney and we've had kids in the parish fundraising for months. I'm sure some of them will have been heavily subsidised by their parents, huge respect to those parents, if Leona asked me to drop £1000 for a flight to Sydney I might politely suggest she change her own nappy from now on.

I was first aware that World Youth Day was here and happening on 6th July at the Postgate Rally when it was announced that Bishop Terry couldn't join us because he had gone to Australia to prepare to join the Pope and thousands of Young People for World Youth Day. I think he went so early because as a Bishop he has no small part to play in the Catechesis sessions that take place throughout the week.

I'm a man who grew up going to St Wilfrid's Church in Hull, My idea of a fun day out is to take my wife to Whitby Abbey and read out loud from Bede's Ecclesiastical History. It's difficult (if not impossible) for me to hear that Bishop Terry is going to spend time with the Pope without getting very excited. Patron of our Diocese, St Wilfrid was the Archbishop of York (a part of our Diocese). He wanted to know what was right and true, so he went to Rome. He returned to England and his loyalty to the teaching of Rome proved so popular that Bede says he "was driven from his see, and two bishops substituted in his stead".

After his ordination when Bishop Terry came to Hull he said:

All my priestly life so far I have believed that the will of God is most often expressed to me in and through my superiors, especially my bishop and the teachings of the Church, proposed and proclaimed by our Holy Father, the Pope. So when the letter goes something like this, you have to listen, take notice and believe that it is the will of God for you...

[link]

At the Synod of Whitby St Wilfrid said:

"But as for you and your companions, you certainly sin, if, having heard the decrees of the Apostolic See, and of the universal church, and that the same is confirmed by holy writ, you refuse to follow them; for, though your fathers were holy, do you think that their small number, in a corner of the remotest island, is to be preferred before the universal church of Christ throughout the world?"

[link]

History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes... Furthermore, a couple of weeks earlier Fr John Paul Leonard of the Diocesan Youth Service joined us at the Hull Faith Forum to give a talk entitled The Pope speaks to the young: The Message from the World Youth Days. Fr John Paul said that one of the things he likes about Pope Benedict is that while Pope John Paul had great charisma, it wasn't easy for a parish priest to take that home and apply it to his own parish but Pope Benedict does things that any Parish Priest can learn from and apply home.

"There is" (to steal another phrase from Bishop Terry) "no mistaking what is being said to me and to you, is there?" Bishop Terry believes the will of God is most often "proposed and proclaimed by our Holy Father, the Pope" and Fr John Paul Leonard, the Diocesan Youth Officer, says he is looking to Benedict as an example.

Benedict leads, we follow. Right?

World Youth Day Live

One of the questions Ella asked at Fr John Paul Leonard's talk on The Message from the World Youth Days was this: How can those of us unable to make the journey to Sydney take part in World Youth Day this year? Fr Massie had an excellent response to that question... let's watch the EWTN live World Youth Day coverage on a big screen. Alas, Australia is 12 hours out of sync with Britain so events timed at reasonable hours of the Australian day were at stupid-o-clock over here. We watched the Prayer Vigil at 9am on Saturday morning. The Closing Mass was at 1am on Sunday morning... we decided to watch the slightly less live replay on Sunday evening.

Unfortunately (and this is partly my fault) it was all a bit last minute in preparation. That meant we could just about round up most of the kids from the West Hull Parishes youth group, but we didn't manage to invite many from other parishes (though a family made it from St Charles). Hopefully, if EWTN cover it, we can try again when the Pope hits Lourdes this September. All in all we had a great time and there were moments (especially during the closing mass) when we were able to feel very close to events happening thousands of miles away.

We also got our five minutes of fame... Fr Massie and Phil sent an email to EWTN telling them about the big screen linkup and it was read out on EWTN so now we are an internationally famous parish, a household name in every corner of the globe. Ish.

A pertinent question there... "How can the young people back home share in the spirit of WYD?" Watching the Prayer Vigil and the Closing Mass we caught only a small fraction of several days of World Youth Day events, but it was immensely interesting all the same. What does the Pope do, when faced with a crowd of 600,000 young people. How does he pray? How does he celebrate mass? What does he do, as Fr John Paul Leonard noted, that we can take back and do in our parishes at home?

Eucharistic Adoration

As one of the commentators on EWTN noted. If you look at any of the movements that are really flourishing in the Church there's on clear factor they all have in common: Eucharistic Adoration. I remember when I first asked a priest if we could "try" Eucharistic Adoration. I was at university. After seven years at a Catholic Secondary School nobody had told me about the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. Nobody had ever invited or encouraged me to spend time with Him. I found out about Eucharistic Adoration on the internet and when I asked a priest if we could try it he told me some people think it's "a bit trad" (though in fairness, he did do it).

The Pope, apparently, thinks differently.

Faced with a group of young people, be doesn't set out to entertain or to innovate but simply to bring them face to face with Christ in the most direct way he knows how. It looks like Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament should be at the heart of prayer with young people. Locally, I am pleased to say, it often is. Michelle and Cannon Loughlin organise Benediction for the young people once a month at St. Charles. It's an excellent achievement but it's not mainstream. Benedict didn't arrange for Adoration to be available for those who seek it out. He presented it to all. Centre stage.

The celebration of National Youth Sunday (Feast of Christ the King) in Hull last year culminated in Adoration and Benediction which was excellent and proves it can be done (though I didn't think much to the guitar playing). I for one hope to see it again next year, but again, it's a bubble. It happened only because a small minority pushed for it in the right place at the right time.

So the question is this: When Bishop Drainey and Fr John Paul Leonard return from Sydney, are they going to follow the Pope's example? Are they going to take Benediction to the mainstream? I would be wonderful at the next National Youth Sunday (which is rapidly approaching) to find Adoration openly encouraged by the clergy. It would be more wonderful still, to see Benediction happening in our Schools and at Springboard.

Singing

It was something that first struck me a couple of years ago when Ella and I went to Rome as Sposi Novelli and went to a General Audience in our wedding clothes. The Pope sings. It's not something you expect when you see photos of an old man and read his books. He's not exactly Pavarotti, but that's the beauty of the thing. Despite his croaking, wavering, elderly voice - when the Pope says mass, he sings. It's a really pleasant joyful surprise. This leads to an interesting question... when I go to mass at my local parish, why Fr Massie not sing the mass? He sings "Through Him, with Him, in Him" on occasion but the Pope sings loads more than that.

Fr Stephen Maughan recently wrote "One of the targets of the Diocesan Pastoral Plan was to encourage the singing of the Mass, especially on Sundays" he also reminded us that the General Instruction on the Roman Missal states "In choosing the parts to be sung, preference should be given to those to be sung by the priest with the congregation responding…" and continues that "Therefore, it is the acclamations and responses which should be given priority in our musical repertoires."

Musicam Sacram says...

Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when it is celebrated in song, with the ministers of each degree fulfilling their ministry and the people participating in it.

Indeed, through this form, prayer is expressed in a more attractive way, the mystery of the liturgy, with its hierarchical and community nature, is more openly shown, the unity of hearts is more profoundly achieved by the union of voices, minds are more easily raised to heavenly things by the beauty of the sacred rites, and the whole celebration more clearly prefigures that heavenly liturgy which is enacted in the holy city of Jerusalem.

Pastors of souls will therefore do all they can to achieve this form of celebration.

[...]

There is no reason why some of the Proper or Ordinary should not be sung in said Masses.

[link]

As far as I can see, it's this simple: Is singing better than not singing? Yes. Should we do what is better over what is not? Yes. Does the Pope do it? Yes. So what's the problem?

I wonder... When Bishop Drainey returns from Sydney, is he going to follow the Pope's example? Is Bishop Drainey going to encourage priests to sing those parts of the mass that can be sung? That the celebration "more clearly prefigures that heavenly liturgy which is ennacted in the holy city of Jerusalem"

Latin

Another thing that I first noticed in Rome as a Sposi Novelli was the use of Latin. It wasn't just that the Pope spoke in Latin, it was the way many others in the room seemed to know how to join him. Why? I wondered. Why do people in other countries still speak Latin. Then I did some reading, turns out it's because we're supposed to...

Sacrosanctum Concilium says "the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites" and "steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them."

It's not so very long ago a priest pointed out to me "You can generously interpret [...] You can also decide not to be generous in your interpretation". Again I have to ask Bishop Drainey and all the Priests of our Diocese. How obvious a hint does the Pope have to give? It's World Youth Day. Hundreds of thousands of young people are present along with hundreds of Bishops and many Cardinals. The Pope knows you are watching and what does the Pope do? The Pope sings the Tantum Ergo in Latin. The Pope sings the Lord's Prayer in Latin. The Pope sings his final blessing in Latin. There is no mistaking what is being said to me and to you, is there? The Pope wants us to sing parts of the mass in Latin.

So are we going to be generous in our interpretation or not? Are we the kind of Diocese that follows generously the example of the Holy Father or do we only begrudgingly do what the Pope wants if he writes a document spelling it out and even then we look for loopholes and exceptions?

Kneeling to Receive Communion

Not so very long ago Francis Cardinal Arinze was seen on YouTube saying "even if the Bishops decide that the people will receive in the hand standing, as in the United States. Our congregation in Rome has said: "Yes, provided that those who want to receive kneeling, you leave them full freedom and those who want to receive on the tongue, you leave them in peace and not in pieces."

At World Youth Day the Pope took it another step. Across the massive crowds people were free to receive communion in many ways with many receiving in the hand while standing and others opting for Intinction. The Pope however, gave communion only on the tongue and only to people who where kneeling. Which is exactly how I used to receive communion as a child, so it's hardly a practice lost in the mists of time.

Again, the question must be asked. Why does the Pope do this? Why give communion this way? Why not in the hand? Does the Pope think this way of giving communion is to be preferred. If so, should we prefer it? Pope Benedict left the priests in the crowd free to distribute communion however they saw fit, but set his own clear example. When Bishop Drainey returns from World Youth Day I wonder if he will follow the example of the Pope and encourage people to receive communion on the tongue while kneeling?

In Spirit of the Liturgy Pope Benedict (then a Cardinal) wrote...

It may well be that kneeling is alien to modern culture - insofar as it is a culture, for this culture has turned away from the faith and no longer knows the One before whom kneeling is the right, indeed the intrinsically necessary gesture. The man who learns to believe also learns to kneel, and a faith or a liturgy no longer familiar with kneeling would be sick at the core. Where it as been lost, kneeling must be rediscovered, so that, in our prayer, we remain in fellowship with the apostles and martyrs, in fellowship with the whole cosmos, indeed in union with Jesus Christ Himself.

Remember that, next time some 'trendy' priest in his sixties invites you to sit for the Eucharistic prayer.

Ad Orientem (ish)

The Pope also made prominent use of what some are calling the "Benedictine" altar arrangement. The candles are on the altar (instead of behind) and a huge cross is facing the celebrant as he says mass. As seen in Spirit of the Liturgy and discussed on this very blog here and here.

Again, is this a hint?

Saint Wilfrid - Pray For Us!

Hows that for constructive? Hints and suggestions straight from the successor of St Peter himself. Emphasise Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction. Sing the Mass. Sing/say the more well known prayers in Latin. Encourage kneeling for communion on the tongue. Put the candles on the Altar. Get one of those altar cross thingies.

Oh, and remember. The Pope didn't do all that with a group of stuffy traditionalists. He did it with young people and they loved it.

Don't forget to read Pope Benedict's address at the Prayer Vigil and his Homily at the Closing Mass

All in all, I've got a lot out of this World Youth Day considering I never went. I look forward to seeing Bishop Drainey and the Youth Department bring the spirit of WYD back home to Middlesbrough.

Bishop Drainey once said...

“If a household is divided against itself, that household can never stand.” If the people of God are divided, they will not stand. Unity is such a powerful sacrament with which we can show the world that it is by the power of God - through Christ Jesus, bound together in the Holy Spirit. All disunity weakens and disintegrates the body, but in our case, because our life is given to us by God who is three persons in one God, and we are called to be witness to the unity of that divine community, in our case, disunity is blasphemy. This is very strong language indeed. In unity lies our strength; in unity lies our most powerful witness to the world.

[link]

How then, can we not bring the example of the Pope in to our Parishes and Youth Events at home?

Deus Caritas Est...

Married love particularly reveals its true nature and nobility when we realize that it takes its origin from God, who "is love," the Father "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named."

Marriage, then, is far from being the effect of chance or the result of the blind evolution of natural forces. It is in reality the wise and provident institution of God the Creator, whose purpose was to effect in man His loving design. As a consequence, husband and wife, through that mutual gift of themselves, which is specific and exclusive to them alone, develop that union of two persons in which they perfect one another, cooperating with God in the generation and rearing of new lives.

The marriage of those who have been baptized is, in addition, invested with the dignity of a sacramental sign of grace, for it represents the union of Christ and His Church.

What Marriage Is...

This love is above all fully human, a compound of sense and spirit. It is not, then, merely a question of natural instinct or emotional drive. It is also, and above all, an act of the free will, whose trust is such that it is meant not only to survive the joys and sorrows of daily life, but also to grow, so that husband and wife become in a way one heart and one soul, and together attain their human fulfillment.

It is a love which is total—that very special form of personal friendship in which husband and wife generously share everything, allowing no unreasonable exceptions and not thinking solely of their own convenience. Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner's own sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of himself.

Married love is also faithful and exclusive of all other, and this until death. This is how husband and wife understood it on the day on which, fully aware of what they were doing, they freely vowed themselves to one another in marriage. Though this fidelity of husband and wife sometimes presents difficulties, no one has the right to assert that it is impossible; it is, on the contrary, always honorable and meritorious. The example of countless married couples proves not only that fidelity is in accord with the nature of marriage, but also that it is the source of profound and enduring happiness.

Finally, this love is fecund. It is not confined wholly to the loving interchange of husband and wife; it also contrives to go beyond this to bring new life into being. "Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the procreation and education of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute in the highest degree to their parents' welfare."

What Marriage Isn't...

The Church, nevertheless, in urging men to the observance of the precepts of the natural law, which it interprets by its constant doctrine, teaches that each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.

This particular doctrine, often expounded by the magisterium of the Church, is based on the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act.

The reason is that the fundamental nature of the marriage act, while uniting husband and wife in the closest intimacy, also renders them capable of generating new life—and this as a result of laws written into the actual nature of man and of woman. And if each of these essential qualities, the unitive and the procreative, is preserved, the use of marriage fully retains its sense of true mutual love and its ordination to the supreme responsibility of parenthood to which man is called. We believe that our contemporaries are particularly capable of seeing that this teaching is in harmony with human reason.

[...]

Therefore We base Our words on the first principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage when We are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children. Equally to be condemned, as the magisterium of the Church has affirmed on many occasions, is direct sterilization, whether of the man or of the woman, whether permanent or temporary.

Similarly excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means.

Neither is it valid to argue, as a justification for sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive, that a lesser evil is to be preferred to a greater one, or that such intercourse would merge with procreative acts of past and future to form a single entity, and so be qualified by exactly the same moral goodness as these. Though it is true that sometimes it is lawful to tolerate a lesser moral evil in order to avoid a greater evil or in order to promote a greater good," it is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil that good may come of it —in other words, to intend directly something which of its very nature contradicts the moral order, and which must therefore be judged unworthy of man, even though the intention is to protect or promote the welfare of an individual, of a family or of society in general. Consequently, it is a serious error to think that a whole married life of otherwise normal relations can justify sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive and so intrinsically wrong.

Natural Family Planning...

If therefore there are well-grounded reasons for spacing births, arising from the physical or psychological condition of husband or wife, or from external circumstances, the Church teaches that married people may then take advantage of the natural cycles immanent in the reproductive system and engage in marital intercourse only during those times that are infertile, thus controlling birth in a way which does not in the least offend the moral principles which We have just explained.

Neither the Church nor her doctrine is inconsistent when she considers it lawful for married people to take advantage of the infertile period but condemns as always unlawful the use of means which directly prevent conception, even when the reasons given for the later practice may appear to be upright and serious. In reality, these two cases are completely different. In the former the married couple rightly use a faculty provided them by nature. In the later they obstruct the natural development of the generative process. It cannot be denied that in each case the married couple, for acceptable reasons, are both perfectly clear in their intention to avoid children and wish to make sure that none will result. But it is equally true that it is exclusively in the former case that husband and wife are ready to abstain from intercourse during the fertile period as often as for reasonable motives the birth of another child is not desirable. And when the infertile period recurs, they use their married intimacy to express their mutual love and safeguard their fidelity toward one another. In doing this they certainly give proof of a true and authentic love.

Consequences of Contraception...

Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.

Sign of Contradiction...

It is to be anticipated that perhaps not everyone will easily accept this particular teaching. There is too much clamorous outcry against the voice of the Church, and this is intensified by modern means of communication. But it comes as no surprise to the Church that she, no less than her divine Founder, is destined to be a "sign of contradiction." She does not, because of this, evade the duty imposed on her of proclaiming humbly but firmly the entire moral law, both natural and evangelical.

Since the Church did not make either of these laws, she cannot be their arbiter—only their guardian and interpreter. It could never be right for her to declare lawful what is in fact unlawful, since that, by its very nature, is always opposed to the true good of man.

Spell It Out...

And now, beloved sons, you who are priests, you who in virtue of your sacred office act as counselors and spiritual leaders both of individual men and women and of families—We turn to you filled with great confidence. For it is your principal duty—We are speaking especially to you who teach moral theology—to spell out clearly and completely the Church's teaching on marriage.

By Cardinal James Francis Stafford

In Baltimore in early August, 1968, a few days after the encyclical’s issuance, I received an invitation by telephone from a recently ordained assistant pastor to attend a gathering of some Baltimore priests at the rectory of St. William of York parish in southwest Baltimore to discuss the encyclical. The meeting was set for Sunday evening, August 4. I agreed to come. Eventually a large number of priests were gathered in the rectory’s basement. I knew them all.

My expectations of the meeting proved unrealistic. I had hoped that we had been called together to receive copies of the encyclical and to discuss it. I was mistaken. Neither happened.

[...]

Before our arrival, the conveners had decided that the Baltimore priests’ rejection of the papal encyclical would be published the following morning in The Baltimore Sun, one of the daily newspapers.

The Washington statement was read aloud. Then the leader asked each of us to agree to have our names attached to it. No time was allowed for discussion, reflection, or prayer. Each priest was required individually to give a verbal “yes” or “no.”

I could not sign it. My earlier letter to Cardinal Shehan came to mind. I remained convinced of the truth of my judgement and conclusions. Noting that my seat was last in the packed basement, I listened to each priest’s response, hoping for support. It didn’t materialize. Everyone agreed to sign. There were no abstentions. As the last called upon, I felt isolated. The basement became suffocating.

By now it was night. The room was charged with tension. Something epochal was taking place. It became clear that the leaders’ strategy had been carefully mapped out beforehand. It was moving along without a hitch. Their rhetorical skills were having their anticipated effect. They had planned carefully how to exert what amounted to emotional and intellectual coercion. Violence by overt manipulation was new to the Baltimore presbyterate.

The leader’s reaction to my refusal was predictable and awful. The whole process now became a grueling struggle, a terrible test, a Πειρασμος. The priest/leader, drawing upon some scatological language from his Marine Corp past in the II World War responded contemptuously to my decision. He tried to force me to change. He became visibly angry and verbally abusive. The underlying, ‘fraternal’ violence became more evident. He questioned and then derided my integrity. He taunted me to risk my ecclesiastical ‘future,’ although his reference was more anatomically specific. The abuse went on.

With surprising coherence I was eventually able to respond that the Pope’s encyclical deserved the courtesy of a reading. None of us had read it. I continued that, as a matter of fact, I agreed with and accepted the Pope’s teaching as it had been reported in the public media. That response elicited more ridicule. Otherwise there was silence. Finally, seeing that I would remain firm, the ex-Marine moved on to complete the business and adjourn the meeting. The leaders then prepared a statement for the next morning’s daily paper.

The meeting ended. I sped out of there, free but disoriented. Once outside the darkness encompassed me. We all had been subjected to a new thing in the Church, something unexpected. A pastor and several seminary professors had abused rhetoric to undermine the truth within the evangelical community. When opposed, they assumed the role of Job’s friends. Their contempt became a nightmare. In the night it seemed that God’s blind hand was reaching out to touch my face.

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Logic Gates made out of Dominoes!

Population scaremongery is back...

The Optimum Population Trust calculates that “each new UK birth will be responsible for 160 times more greenhouse gas emissions . . . than a new birth in Ethiopia." Should UK doctors break a deafening silence here? “Population” and “family planning” seem taboo words ... isn’t contraception the medical profession’s prime contribution for all countries?

Unplanned pregnancy, especially in teenagers, is a problem for the planet, as well as the individual concerned. But what about planned pregnancies? Should we now explain to UK couples who plan a family that stopping at two children, or at least having one less child than first intended, is the simplest and biggest contribution anyone can make to leaving a habitable planet for our grandchildren? We must not put pressure on people, but by providing information on the population and the environment, and appropriate contraception for everyone (and by their own example), doctors should help to bring family size into the arena of environmental ethics, analogous to avoiding patio heaters and high carbon cars.

[link]

What these idiots fail to realise is that having a child pretty much writes off ever being able to buy a patio heater or a high carbon car.

The Catholic Church has long been striving to reduce the carbon footprint of the human race by famously refusing to allow it's priests to procreate.

If the Optimum Population Trust really want to reduce the carbon footprint of the human race, then I will gladly write to them every time I have a child and one of them can heroically save the planet by jumping out of a window.

We had a marvellous time at archery this Saturday. With beautiful weather I waited in eager anticipation for my dad to pick me up, I grabbed my stuff and we were off. I strung my bow put on all manor of protective devices went to the line prepared my self and went to my quiver... um where were my arrows! That is right, I left them at home! what a fool!

I tried to see if James could bring me them but Leona had already gone to bed - Dash it all!

It looked like I was not going to be able to take part in "darts"... but Connor kindly said I could use his bow. It was an experience! With my draw length I was drawing about 16lbs which was, shall we say less than the 36lbs I usually shoot. Needless to say that by the time I worked out where I wanted to aim etc I was not about to win by a long shot. Scot naturally won :o) and many people went bust. Simon went over by one point, pretty good for someone who has only been shooting a few weeks. As we had to head off I never got to see if I would end on an exact number but I left happy in the knowledge I would not have.

I look forward to next week when I hope to remember my arrows!

Women in the Old Testament "An introduction to some of the inspirational women found in the Hebrew Scriptures" When we saw that talk in the Handbook of Short Courses, Ella was interested. Do they want us to be inspired by Judith?

Judith, you may remember, is the Woman in the Old Testament who gets herself close to the enemy king and then chops his head off in the night. It's been beautifully portrayed in this lovely painting by Botticelli...

...and in one of Ella's favourite statues, this rendition by Donatello which we saw in Florence...

[photo source]

We should really have a replica of that in the garden. Anyway, what Ella doesn't know (and she's gonna love it) is that the Internet has revealed what the top minds of the renaissance could never imagine. A taxidermist, well, an entomologist to be precise (no, they don't stuff dead talking trees, they stuff dead insects by the look of things) has taken dead Mantises and, inspired by the Mantis females habit of biting off the head of her mate, has stuffed them and posed them in Ella's favourite Biblical scene...

Ella will be pleased!

Actually, there's a whole series of famous mantis beheadings.

Gotta catch'em all!

FURIOUS parishioners chained themselves to railings in protest at the planned closure of their 100-year-old village church. St John's in Allerton Bywater is set for the axe under controversial restructuring plans announced by Catholic Bishop of Leeds, Arthur Roche.

The 70-strong congregation has vowed to fight the plans and on Friday, as officials were due to visit to value the site, members staged a dramatic demonstration.

Worshippers, some in their 80s, chained themselves to the building's gates, while others gathered with placards, lit candles and offered up prayers and hymns.

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I just love the way they cropped the photo...