The other day I mentioned that getting to Osmotherley for the Pilgrimage to Mount Grace depended on me getting stuff done. That wasn't entirely true. What it depended on really was Michelle. Michelle who kindly drove us to Osmotherley. It was heaving it down when Michelle turned up at our house and she kindly humoured us when we insisted on going to Sainsburys for some waterproof clothing for Leona. Waterproof clothes for Babies are very sexist. We ended up buying boy ones because the girl ones seem to be designed on the principle that baby girls don't go out in the rain.

Unfortunately, we neglected to take a map. Our knowledge of the roads in the North Yorkshire Moors is not bad but, well, not good enough. Fortunately the owners manual for Michelle's car had a map showing the location of the various dealerships and we were able to use that map to get as far as Helmsley. After Helmsley, things went a bit wrong. The dealership map only showed major roads and Osmotherley isn't on any major roads. I took my best guess at it's approximate location and got it wrong, not far wrong, but far enough that we ended up driving all the way over the moors and out of the North end to the Stokesley roundabout from where we had to head back on ourselves to get to Osmotherley which was happily signposted from the A19.

Oh well... we arrived in good time and glorious sunshine and had a walk down in to the village where we had the pleasure to use the Toilet of the Year 2004 (they had a certificate on the wall and everything). After that, we sat on a park bench and had sandwiches and watched some chickens. This was an ideal opportunity to try out Leona's brand new wellington boots as the ground was still a little wet after the morning downpour.

After sandwiches we couldn't resist having a cup of tea and slice of cake in Church House. The ladies there had made an overwhelming array of cakes to choose from! I had carrot cake which is my all time favourite cake, Ella had walnut cake and Michelle had some kind of Pavlova. Leona had a bit of everybody's and became better acquainted with a hen. All caked up we set off through the village and stopped off at the Catholic Church, the Church in Osmotherley is interesting because it doesn't look like a Church. It was built at a time when anti-Catholic feeling was running high and there was a need to keep a low profile. From the outside it looks like any other house in the village, you can see in this photo of the interior how the Church is practically hidden in the roof with sash windows to match the rest of the village...

We hoofed it up through the village to the Lady chapel for to say the rosary before Mass, we were just saying hello to Bishop Drainey who always makes an effort to get around and talk to people when we were approached by photographer Mike Morrisey who took our photo with the Bishop for the Catholic Times so now we are famous at last. We also unexpectedly bumped in to our parish priest Fr Massie who is away on holiday. We asked why he was working when he is on holiday and he said "this isn't work, this is pleasure".

It was a lovely sunny day, too sunny perhaps. We sat on our coats on the wet grass and when I put the camera down it steamed up. I put another layer of factor 40 on the babe as mass began. I thought the liturgical setup was a great improvement on the last time, as temporary altars go it was really quite tasteful with wind proof candles and everything. I still don't entirely understand why Bishop Terence hasn't started using the Benedictine Altar Arrangement. I know Pope Benedict hasn't mandated it, but he has set a clear example even using it at the closing mass at World Youth Day in Sydney. Do we generously follow the Pope's example or do we only follow him when he spells it out?

Another complaint... earthenware bowls. 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 I wonder if these are the same earthenware bowls that featured at the Postgate Rally.

The pluses however far outweighed the negative... We actually sang some actual latin. That's right, and nobody died or anything. So it turns out it can be done! And Bishop Terence gave a beautiful and deeply personal homily, I'm going to steal some of it from Bashing Secularism who is a proper journalist and therefore wrote some of it down.

Over the last month I've taken the opportunity to have a break - a holiday. It was an important moment for me because of what happened to me over the last six months. I've not really had the time or the opportunity to reflect and ponder on everything that's happened. The strange thing though is that I began to go through my thoughts and feelings right back to the time when I was asked to be your bishop. The only way I could express them to myself was in terms of a dying, of a grieving and a mourning for something which apparently was being suddenly taken away from me.

I expect it's the fact that the position and life of a bishop is so public and to a certain extent it was the end of me as a private person - and there's a lot of private person within me. It was a genuine process of grieving and mourning. A wave of emotion would cut through me at the most unexpected moments and I could do nothing about it until it had literally taken it's course.

At times like that you need people around you who have experienced something similar who can not only sympathise but can empathise.

I've no doubt that there are people here who are going through periods of grief or mourning. Perhaps someone close has died - a husband, a wife, a family member, a close friend. Perhaps it's another type of grieving over a relationship, a change in your life where you've had to leave something of great value behind you. The last thing you want to hear in these types of situations is 'For goodness sake, pull yourself together. Get on with life.'

Yes there's a time to hear that and a time to respond to it. But we have to mourn, we have to grieve, it's a very basic human thing to do. We literally need a shoulder to cry on, someone to support us and stand by us, someone who has been there, who has passed through that door as well.

..."Mary followed Jesus on the way of the cross. For her it was not a devotional prayer but the reality of her son's final hours on this earth with a painful, shameful death. She knew what grieving and mourning were all about.

..."Refuge in grief, star of the sea pray for the mourner pray for me.

..."At the foot of the cross, Mary was given to us in the person of John as Our Mother too.

..."Where she has gone, we too, by God's grace, should also aspire to go."

[link]

Bishop Drainey exhorted everybody to spread the word about the shrine to Our Lady at Mount Grace and described it as the diocesan shrine to Our Lady. He used her title "Our Lady of Mount Grace" and said that this pilgrimage to Mount Grace is the most important diocesan pilgrimage after Lourdes. I remember he used equally strong language about Nicholas Postgate at the Postgate Rally (he couldn't attend but he sent a letter). He is clearly a man who highly values what he described as "local patrimony" and that's a really good thing.

Leona kicked off a bit during the Eucharistic Prayer so I had to take her to the back where some kind people offered to let us go and sit in the house but Leona was having none of it, she kicked until I put her down on the muddy floor (in her wellies of course) and then she walked all the way through the crowd back to where mummy was sitting.

After the beautiful sunshine it started to rain almost as soon as the mass was ended. We had a cup of tea and a piece of cake in the rain. A lady introduced herself who reads this very blog and knows all about Fr Tim Finigan, Bashing Secularism and ourselves. She told a beautiful story about her husband who having been diagnosed with a terminal illness and only a short time to live was asked if there was anywhere he would like to go. He chose the shrine to our Lady at Mount Grace and so it was on Mount Grace that he spent his last day before he died. It really is a special place to so many people in so many ways.

The rain gave Leona an opportunity to try on her new raincoat and wellies in proper rain. Fr Massie said she didn't look very happy but I think she was loving it. She had that focussed look of a baby really concentrating on experiencing something. Of course, in the photo she looks like she's about to cry but it wasn't like that......

You can decide for yourself whether that constitutes child abuse or an important character building experience. We didn't leave her standing in the rain for very long and when I picked her up she wanted down again but I took her inside anyway. We visited the little shop and looked for children's books but were disappointed. They had a couple of really wordy ones but nothing for Leona aged kiddies, if anybody has any tips for good "I can't read but I like to turn sturdy pages and look at colourful pictures" religious books for toddlers then I'm all ears. We'd like something for her to do in mass but not too distracting.

We bumped in to Jane Cook, the Diocesan Adult Formation Advisor. That was really good because I've found things a little awkward there, I sent her an email earlier this year that caused more bad feeling than I had anticipated (it wasn't supposed to cause any bad feeling, it was just supposed to draw attention to something). I didn't want to fall out with Jane but I was (and still am) hurt by the way Fr John Lumley responded. If I spoke to anybody like that at work I'd be sacked immediately. I now know what people mean when say they were treated as though they were doing something wrong by complaining. I was told I was not being generous and should simply trust my parish priest. My reply to that letter was ignored.

Anyway, I am grateful to Jane because it was she who started speaking to me, something I would have found difficult with the awkwardness I was feeling between us. My thanks to Jane for taking that step. It turns out Osmotherley is her home parish which must be amazing. We left Jane stranded at the top of the mountain, their car was blocked in and they couldn't leave until all the other cars had left. We walked down the hill to the car and Michelle took us home by a far more sensible route of Michelle's design.

Poor Michelle, something went wrong in her car and the battery light came on and the power steering stopped working... she had to keep the engine running for fear the car wouldn't start again and use all her muscles to get the car around roundabouts. She dropped us off without stopping the engine. Thanks again to Michelle for the lift, it was a great day.

"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?

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.

Ella and I went to York today to be commissioned as Ministers of the Word

It's always been a concern to me that reading isn't taken very seriously. Reading and singing. You only have to mention reading and singing and people say things like "wouldn't it be lovely to have the children do it?". There's this idea that reading and singing are mickey mouse jobs for getting as many people participating as possible. No. They are not. As it says in the General Introduction to the Lectionary: The ministry of reader, conferred through a liturgical rite, must be held in respect.

So, while many people were wailing and gnashing their teeth and saying things like "Why does the silly Church want to train me to read? I know how to read? I've been reading for years!" I was thinking "Thank goodness they are taking reading seriously."

All in all it was a good day. In the morning session Caroline and Kit Dollard did a fantastic exposition of what "ministry" means. They focussed on the spiritual preparation side of things talking about things like how to pray with the scriptures. Then Fr John Wood... I owe Fr John Wood an apology. I've only ever encountered him in the context of "listening" type events where he chaired and had to be seen to "listen". I kept thinking "why doesn't this silly priest tell these silly people how silly they are being". Well, it turns out Fr John Wood isn't a silly priest at all. His talk on the practical side of reading during mass was frank, engaging, illuminating and educational. We were impressed.

We stopped for lunch and after lunch we had a reflection to make sure there was a suitable gap between lunch and mass. I thought the altar arrangements were, well, poor...

Maybe I have ridiculously high expectations, but it surely wouldn't have been hard to have put a bit of effort in. I mean, two tea-light candles? Somebody needs to put together a diocesan mobile mass kit with a decent cloth that makes the altar look a bit more special and some decent candles. It would have been good to have had a cross for us to focus on... That said, I was very impressed to see Bishop Drainey saying mass with an altar cross...

Perhaps he's been reading "Spirit of the Liturgy"?

When Terrence Drainey became Bishop Terence Drainey many of us were quite concerned and there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth across the blogs. This is the man, remember, who famously said "Some foreign priests working in Britain tend to be too dogmatic about the church's moral rightness on just about everything", "That's not how we do things here".

Well, I have to say a big well done to the man at the top because his letter this Vocations Sunday was excellent...

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It is time for us to turn our minds to the topic of "Vocations". This year the Holy Father has chosen as his theme for Good Shepherd Sunday: Vocations at the service of the Church on mission. Each one of us is called to bear witness and to announce the Gospel, but this missionary dimension is associated in a special way with the priestly vocation. In his letter on vocations Pope Benedict says: Among those totally dedicated to the service of the Gospel, are priests, called to preach the word of God, administer the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, committed to helping the lowly, the sick, the suffering, the poor, and those who experience hardship in areas of the world where there are, at times, many who still have not had a real encounter with Jesus Christ.

We often think of "mission" and "missionaries" in terms of other countries and other people. A Church without a missionary dimension is no Church at all. If our Church in the Diocese of Middlesbrough is to be genuinely the Church of Jesus Christ, then it has to have missionary outreach both at home and further afield.

Every priest, just as every Christian, has to be a missionary, whether he is working in Middlesbrough, Hull, York or even Africa, the Far East or South America. However, these vocations do not appear out of thin air. We have been told that we must 'pray to the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest' ((Mt. 9:38). We must also do all we can to create favourable conditions for vocations to grow and develop. 'Vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life can only flourish in a spiritual soil that is well cultivated. Christian communities that live the missionary dimension of the mystery of the Church in a profound way will never be inward looking.' (The Pope's Letter for Vocation Sunday)

Since the last letter on vocations we have celebrated the funeral of Bishop Augustine Harris, emeritus bishop of our diocese. Also Mgr Pat Lannen and Fr Tony Storey have gone to God. May the Lord grant them eternal rest.

At the moment we have four students studying for the priesthood, two in Rome and two at Ushaw. Please keep them in your prayers. Remember all those who are trying to discern their vocation and those who help them.

Like everything in our world, the cost of training men for the priesthood continues to rise. Please be as generous as you can in contributing to the priests' training fund, and perhaps there are some who might consider this particular cause when making a will.

Yours in joyful hope

+Terence Patrick

Bishop of Middlesbrough

He quotes the Pope. He uses the phrase "Each one of us is called to bear witness and to announce the Gospel", but this is the part that gives me real joy and hope for our diocese (emphasis mine):

A Church without a missionary dimension is no Church at all. If our Church in the Diocese of Middlesbrough is to be genuinely the Church of Jesus Christ, then it has to have missionary outreach both at home and further afield.

On first glance it might not seem like a big deal, but these are seriously strong words. Bishop Drainey speaks the unspeakable: The very serious possiblity that we, as a diocese, could actually fail to be genuinely the Church of Jesus Christ. Bishop Drainey doesn't say "Our Church in the Diocese of Middlesbrough is genuinely the Church of Jesus Christ". He says "If". If we are to be genuinely the Church of Jesus Christ, then.... This is a very serious if.

These words remind me in no small way of the "Fit For Mission" review in the Lancaster diocese. Bishop Donohoue started by writing "Our parishes, too, must look to what encourages or impedes mission "How can we make ourselves fit for mission?". In the Fit For Mission guide it says: "It is vital to the life of the diocese that we all realise that mission is essential to the nature of the Church.".

Vital to the life of the diocese

Essential to the nature of the Church

A Church without a missionary dimension is no Church at all

Go go English Bishops. You've got it! It's not married women priests and general absolutions we need. It's Evangelisation.

Thanks to Bishop Drainey for a great letter, I look forward to the next...

Reading in the Holy Cross newsletter (here) I came across the following factoid about our new Bishop...

Bishop Terry says: "Gardening is not only a hobby, it is at the base of my spirituality and the root of my pastoral methodology!!"

The root... Get it?

They don't call him Terrence the Punmaster Drainey for nothing you know.

December 14th 2007 Bishop John Crowley's farewell mass. Coaches are booked and people are encouraged to go in vast numbers. By all accounts a wonderful service for a much loved Bishop.

January 25th 2008 Bishop Terrence Drainey's ordination mass. Tickets are issued. Two per parish.

What's that all about then?

Perhaps Bishop Drainey wants to keep the numbers down so that his first act as Bishop can be to immediately evacuate the building and have it demolished?

Apparently my first blog entry about our new bishop was "too negative". Sheesh! If you want negative try Berenike or Fr Ray Blake. I just thought it might be funny to offer him a cup of tea sometime...

I am honestly, genuinely, I promise, without reservation, happy to have a Bishop at last. Also (let my yes be yes and my no be no) I have not decided anything along the lines of "this guy is a bad/good bishop". I'm not in the business of judging who is good and who is bad - Bishops or otherwise. Who do you think I am? Fr. Christmas?

So, what's this Digital Teacher stuff all about then?

I'm glad you asked.

I'm quite excited to read this, while president of Ushaw, Bishop Drainey was involved with a programme of web based study for the permanent diaconate... he said:

"This is an online course, which is as interactive as a classroom full of students. It isn't 'distance learning' which is a one-to-one course, but is extremely interactive,"

Sound's fantastic.

The age old problem when it comes to Adult Formation has always been, too many people, not enought time. The department for Adult Formation are brilliant and yet they have their limits. Fr Lumley and Jane cannot possibly visit every parish even once a month. So you wait a month and get your hour long session most of which is spent drinking tea and being congratulated for turning up.

Imagine interactive online catechesis (chat-echesis?). You log on, you read the materials (at your own pace) you can leave comments and read other's comments (interactive) and you can get to know people hundreds of miles away. People from parishes across the Diocese can get to know each other. You get tea just the way you like it (you make it yourself) and you can do it in your own time (if you work nights, or are housebound, or just can't stand the kind of people you meet in Churches). The opportunities for evangelisation are tremendous. You could run courses for people interested in the Catholic faith who might not feel comfortable entering a Church but might be happy to log on during their lunch break. You don't need a babysitter. It would also be ideal for people like myself who always think of a question the next morning.

Hows that for positive...

If you can't wait for that, the good folks at the Catholic Home Study Service do offer free distance learning. They lack the interactive element that Bishop Drainey spoke about above but they will send you a free textbook and workbook and then you send your answers in online. It's better than nothing. Also, don't forget that, the Department for Adult Formation does have courses available and Jane Cook is already writing online.

That was quick...

Our new Bishop is Mgr Terrence Drainey.

I give thanks to Almighty God for all his gifts and blessing, especially the gift of priestly ministry. I personally thank the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, for appointing me to Middlesbrough and for allowing me to serve the Church as a bishop here. All my life as a priest I have only wanted to be a pastor serving the Lord and his people wherever the Church has sent me. So I sincerely rejoice to be given the ministry of pastor of this great diocese rich in lives faithful to the Gospel throughout history and to this present day.

As your bishop elect, I come among you as a brother who, from personal experience, knows the need we all have of God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness. The Gospel that we bring must proclaim God’s infinite love and pardon. Even in darkness we trust that Christ will be our light and as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, we can face all disappointments, broken promises and even overcome despair. It is in this joyful hope that I look forward to serving the people of the Diocese of Middlesbrough as soon as I can. Particularly I would like to meet with the clergy of the diocese at the earliest opportunity for they are my helpers and counsellors.

I realise that I tread on holy ground here where many great and saintly ones have gone before me. How could I not remember that especially today, the feast of St Hilda of Whitby? I am very proud and privileged to follow a good and kindly pastor like Bishop John Crowley. In my present position as President of Ushaw College I worked closely with him and was a frequent recipient of his patient, generous wisdom.

The work in which I am at present engaged in the Seminary at Ushaw College demands that I remain there for a little while longer before being ordained as Bishop of Middlesbrough. I will finish this academic term and then will receive episcopal ordination on 25 January at 12.00 noon.

In the meantime, I ask for prayers: prayers for your former Bishop, John Crowley and those who have undertaken the task of running the diocese since his resignation was accepted; prayers for the good of all the people of this Church, and finally prayers that I might be a good and effective pastor for the diocese of Middlesbrough.

It's really great news that we have a bishop at last! We are headless chickens no more.

So what do we know about our new Bishop?

Firstly, I know that I've already been given three separate dire warnings not to try and write anything funny about him. Maybe he doesn't have a sense of humour or maybe the people warning me would have said that no matter who was made Bishop.

Secondly, Don't mention the Tea! - As president of Ushaw College he presided over a course called How to be a good priest in England which aimed "to dispel unhelpful notions of Britishness, such as maids cycling across village greens, warm beer and drinking tea".

Finally, I know that Benedict XVI says he's the right man for the job. That's good enough for me.

Welcome to Middlesbrough Mgr Drainey (don't forget to come to Hull sometime...)