For only £2.50 you can attend a guided tour where you can "find out more" about the history of the Oratory. Including:

...the ongoing campaign to "Free The Birmingham Oratory Three” (two priests and a lay brother who were exhiled from the Oratory in 2010).

Come and find out more about this charming building and it’s history on our private guided tour.

[link]

Unfortunately I found out about this event too late... it was last Sunday. So my questions about The Birmingham Three remain unanswered.

Here we go again...

From the Birmingham Post (click here for bigger)

It's been just over 750 days since three "entirely guiltless of any wrong-doing whatsoever" members of the Birmingham Oratory were "ordered to go on retreat". We were told it was "just a time away to cool down" and they would "come back soon" though that turned out not to be the case.

The Birmingham Oratory is a dead parrot. It is deceased. It is no more. Yes, of course, there is still a big building in Birmingham with a sign outside saying "Oratory" but it is in no meaningful sense an Oratory. You see, each Oratory is an independent community which elects it's own provost from among it's own members. The Birmingham Oratory is not independent, it is ruled from afar and it's community has been scattered across the continents.

My advice to the puppeteers in London and Cardiff is this: We would all find it a lot easier to believe that the whole "Birmingham Three" thing was entirely above board, if you could perhaps refrain from unfairly dismissing your lay staff.

I don't know if you watch Doctor Who but the latest series included a human sized robot filled with tiny people. The robot had the ability to kill an individual and then take on it's form so that people would think they were speaking with the deceased when in reality they were speaking only with a robot imposter.

You may think there is a Birmingham Oratory, you may have been there and seen the buildings, read the newsletter and even had a cup of tea after Mass. What you actually saw was a lot like the robot from Doctor Who. The appearance of the Birmingham Oratory is there, but the Oratory community is gone.

The Birmingham Oratory community has been torn up and spread (literally) to the far corners of the earth. What remains are buildings and a few fragments of what once was, all held up on artificial limbs to look like it is still alive - it is not. Do not confuse the buildings with the community.

What remains is a puppet manipulated from afar by cynical politician Bishops, hell bent on bringing the legacy of Cardinal Newman under their control and silencing the dangerously outspoken Oratorians. Oratorians who once forced Clare Short to abandon her speaking gig at a local school, who criticised Tony Blair in the national press...

Are you blind? The press releases are coming from Eccleston Square! Yes, that would be Eccleston We're not really keen on an 'archbishop versus the politicians' headline' Square!

The same Eccleston Square that was paying Jack Valero to "act" as spokesman!

But it's okay, you keep blaming Fr Guy Nicholls - I'm sure he arranged everything.

I'm not a huge fan of TV soap operas and it's been a long time since I saw any. My sister used to be big in to soaps so I used to see bits of them in the background but since I got married I'm pleased to say I'm completely out of touch.

However, judging by some of the emails I've been getting (and some of the comments on this blog) quite a few people seem to be under the impression that I have been getting my soap opera fix from the Birmingham Oratory. They seem to think I care about who said what to who, why it is that so-and-so has never got on with so-and-so, who may or may not have driven who to a nervous breakdown and so on.

Let me spell it out for you: I'm not interested.

This is not about the internal politics of the Birmingham Oratory. It has never been about the internal politics of the Birmingham Oratory!  Do you think I am stupid? Do you really think I would get involved in the internal politics of a religious community from 200 miles away based on hearsay over the internet? I wouldn't even get involved in the internal politics of a religious community if I lived next door!

So why am I getting involved? Because the problems at the Birmingham Oratory are not internal...

For  example: The lastest rumour from the Oratory is that everything is Fr Guy Nicholls fault... I know nothing about Fr Guy Nicholls so let me ask you: Did Fr Guy Nicholls pay Jack Valero to act as spokesman for the Oratory? No. Did Fr Guy Nicholls put Fr Duffield on a train and tell him to have his photo taken outside Eccleston Square?

I can't hear you... What's that? No?

Did Fr Guy Nicholls arrange the exclaustration of Fr Dermot Fenlon? No, that would require "either the direct approval of either the Holy See or the local bishop". Did Fr Guy Nicholls arrange for the recent press release on the new provost to come direct from the Catholic Bishop's Conference? No.

Fr Guy Nicholls is a red herring and the real culprits are getting away scott free.

Now that you've had a bit of time to digest the Birmingham Three Recap you are ready to read the latest press release on the subject from the Catholic Communications Office of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales...

Fr Ignatius Harrison has been appointed Provost of the Birmingham Oratory by the Holy See, following the resignation of Fr Richard Duffield.

Fr Duffield has resigned for reasons of ill-health, at his own request.

Fr Harrison will also be actor and vice-postulator for the cause of Cardinal Newman, who was beatified in 2010.

The most significant thing about this press release is not what it says but who is saying it. The pretence of having a "spokesman for the Birmingham Oratory" has been dropped. This press release comes directly from the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales.

I also hear that Fr Gareth/Sebastian Jones will be made Vice-Provost of the Birmingham Oratory. When I first heard that I thought it was a joke, but it turns out it's for real! No wonder they left that part out of the press release.

More on this next week when I've had a bit more time to digest it myself...

The man who Jack Valero said would be "back soon" has now been in exile for 269 days. Turns out I was right, his exile is to be permanent.

Here's the "official" version of events from the Birmingham Oratory website...

Fr. Philip has been resident at the Toronto Oratory since last September, teaching philosophy and spirituality to the students in the seminary run by that community. He has found this work very satisfying.  Full use has been made of his intellectual gifts in the tasks assigned to him.  He has in consequence asked for a definitive transfer from the Birmingham Oratory to the Toronto Oratory.  The Fathers in Canada,  recognising the contribution he can make to their community’s  life and work, have agreed to his request.

We would like to thank Fr. Philip for his contribution to the life of the Birmingham house over the last twenty years.  We would also like to thank the Fathers of the Toronto Oratory, their Provost Fr. Jonathan Robinson, and Fr. Martin Hilbert and Fr. Daniel Utrecht who were such a support to us in the preparations for the Papal Visit.  Our two houses retain close fraternal bonds and we look forward to continued close collaboration in the future.

[Source: Birmingham Oratory Homepage]

Note the official version contains absolutely nothing by way of an explanation of how Fr Cleevely came to find himself resident in Toronto. That despite being an innocent man, despite twenty years residence at the Birmingham Oratory, Fr Cleevely was not allowed to be present in his own home during the Papal visit.

This is a family blog, so I will delete the last two paragraphs I wrote and leave it there.

Via Matt Doyle...

Please say the following prayer daily for the intentions of:
- The health and welfare of the community of the Birmingham Oratory of St Philip Neri
- The continuity of the tradition established by Blessed John Henry Newman
- The safe return of the three Birmingham Oratorians in absentia

PRAYER TO ST PHILIP NERI
Look down from heaven, Holy Father, from the loftiness of that mountain to the lowliness of this valley; from that harbour of quietness and tranquillity, to this calamatious sea.

And now that the darkness of this world hinders no more those benignant eyes of thine from looking clearly into all things, look down and visit, O most diligent keeper, that vineyard which thy right hand planted with so much labour, anxiety, and peril.

To thee, then, we fly; from thee we seek for aid; to thee we give our whole selves unreservedly; thee we adopt for our patron and defender.

Undertake the cause of our salvation, protect thy clients; to thee we appeal as our leader, rule thine army fighting against the assaults of the devil; to thee, kindest of rulers, we give up the rudder of our lives, steer this little ship of thine, and, placed as thou art on high keep us off all the rocks of evil desires, and with thee for our pilot and our guide we may safely come to the port of eternal bliss. Amen.

Amen.

Pass it on...

From the president of the German International Newman Society...

PRESS RELEASE - ROMAN SIEBENROCK (Internationale Deutsche Newman Gesellschaft)

As president of the German International Newman Society, founded by Günter Biemer (Freiburg), and in the name of a lot of members of our Society, I must express my and our deep anxiety about the situation of Father Dermot.
I met Father Dermot at a Newman-Conference at Milano last year and I was deeply impressed by his personality. He invited me and my son in April to come to the Oratory while we stay for the beatification of Cardinal Newman.
And now this!
I want to express our solidarity with Father Dermot and ask the responsible persons to change this very strange and dolorous situation of this respectable priest.
Sincerely
Roman Siebenrock

Also, Jakob Knab expert on the life of Sophie Scholl writes...

All his life Fr Dermot Fenlon CO has been preaching and fighting for the sanctity of life.

But now his frail health is deteriorating.

Those "structures of authority" are going to ruin his life.

Our Lady of Sorrows please help your humble servant Father Fenlon!

JAKOB KNAB
KAUFBEUREN

Fr Dermot has the support of the president of the German International Newman Society, a leading expert on the influence of Newman in the life of Sophie Scholl, the director of SPUC in the UK, noted journalist Ruth Dudley Edwards as well as many parishioners at the Birmingham Oratory.

Jakob Knab has asked me to tell you that he has taken the first steps of an appeal at the European Court of Human Rights. I wonder if the Apostolic Visitor to the Birmingham Oratory has the stomach for a long, drawn out, very public fight?

Perhaps Fr Dermot could just be allowed to go home now?

I'm sure this is old news to most of you but some of us really have been living a field for the last two weeks and are just catching up.

According to the Catholic Herald Fr Dermont Fenlon the oldest of the Birmingham Three has been "forcibly exclaustrated" for at least five years because, well, there is no "because"...

Under the Code of Canon Law, a priest cannot be exclaustrated for more than three years unless there is a “grave reason”. A prolonged period must also have either the direct approval of either the Holy See or the local bishop, who, in the case of Fr Fenlon, is Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham.

Yet no Church figure has publicly given any reason why Fr Fenlon has been subject to such severe canonical penalties in the first place.

[link]

Read John Smeaton's excellent coverage of this including his list of questions for the Newman Cause spokesman Jack "the Church is not against condoms" Valero.

Jack Valero's recent radio appearance opposite Ruth Dudley Edwards has allowed me to extend my little video...

"They can come back soon", "It's not going to be soon"

Nice one.