Across the Church

Some very interesting conversations about the Pope's visit. He seems to have got through to many, many people. I'm annoyed, really, that the media spun such uncertainty in folk's minds before the visit. But the people tuned out in great numbers, especially on the streets at Edinburgh and London.

Some have been asking me where they can see various parts of the visit again, or read in more detail what the Holy Father said. Well, I'm glad to say that the official papal web-site has it all on its pages. Just go to www.thepapalvisit.org.uk, and you will see it all laid out there in excellent fashion. Did you see the wonderful young guy from Brentwood diocese address the Pope after Mass at Westminster Cathedral? Here he is being thanks by Benedict. 

No news yet on a successor to Archbishop Peter here in Cardiff. A few clergy have been heard to observe that we are doing OK so far without one... I would imagine that if the wheels have been turning fast it would be within the next month; if they have been turning at a more leisurely pace, and taking into account factors such as the Visit, the rather, er, slow Roman summer, the illness of the papal nuncio etc, it might not be until after Christmas...

Settling in and moving on up

Fr Tomy, our new priest, attended his first parish social function this evening. The regular St Brigid's Film Night presentation was "The Glenn Miller Story". I hadn't actually seen it before, and enjoyed it a  lot. Funnily enough I've been sort of getting into 40s and 50s music a bit in recent weeks. I was remembering some of the songs my mother used to sing or hum, like "Stranger in Paradise" from Kismet, or Alma Cogan singing "You me and us" which I always remember as "Peaches and Cream". "Under the Bridges of Paris" was one of Mum's favourites. So I've added "Moonlight Serenade", "String of Pearls" and "In the Mood" to my I-Tunes list now...

Tomy is settling in very well, and very eager to learn. I noticed he sat with some of the ladies from St Paul's this evening - a good start! We're all different, and he's different to Fr James. We're going through the same procedures as with James five years ago. National Insurance, bank account, motor insurance, GP etc etc. It all takes time, as they say.

The photo is one taken deep in the saltmine at Wieliczka in Krakow. Nowadays you move from level to level on very sturdy wooden staircases or stairs cut into the rock. But centuries ago the poor miners had to drag the salt up narrow roughcut steps, and the photo shows some of them. You have to have a posher camera than mine to get a view like that, and its mysterious lighting seems to be saying something about our ascent through life, sometimes clean and sharp, sometimes rough and obscure. Click on the beautiful picture to see it much larger.

Thanks to Paul for the pic

Crumble and pasta

Went in to BBC Llandaff to do my regular slot on "The Roy Noble Show" this afternoon. They are trying to make the show flow more easily from feature to feature, so instead of just doing my slot and scarpering, they now warn you that Roy will attempt to make a link between you and the next item. This afternoon that was the winner of "The Great British Bake-off" a charming baking competition on TV. So - they asked did I bake? No - but we have a lovely housekeeper who does a bit. Any specialities? Well, I just finished last night a very good apple crumble, Mary's apple-crumble. The production staff already wanted to know more about this "Mary's apple-crumble", and when I got home Mary, who had heard the broadcast herself, was delighted, and told me she would wait for the orders to pour in. I said that was fine, as long as it didn't mean she would leave the presbytery to concentrate on her new business!

Talking of businesses, St Brigid/St Paul's parish council this evening wandered from talking about St David's Cathedral to the rumour that Raymond Blanc is going to open a restaurant in the Chapel building opposite. Then we discussed the prices in Jamie's Italian place in the Hayes, and finally someone informed me that there is now a Carluccio's in town too. A lunch for two at Jamie's had cost somebody £52. I myself have had a good Italian lunch in two different Carluccio's, and will give it a shot in Cardiff soon, I hope. I will report back to your good selves!

Of Newman... and, er, me

Pope Benedict's wonderful visit to the UK reached its climax today at the Beatification Mass in Birmingham. Cardinal Newman is probably better known outside Britain than inside, so hopefully all this will spur people on to find out more about this towering presence in the British Christianity of the nineteenth century, whose influence flows through the twentieth into our own.

My last pictures from our Poland pilgrimage are of myself "in action". The first one is me at the shrine of Divine Mercy. At one point in my homily I left the centre of the chapel and moved over to stand below the famous painting. The slightly blurred image is, I think, partly the photographer not using flash, and partly me getting excited to be celebrating Mass in such a special place!

The second picture is during our last Mass, at St Florian's Church in Krakow, where John Paul II was curate. Here I tried to bring together all the threads of our beautiful pilgrmage. Pope John Paul carried the wound of his assassination attempt in 1981; the Virgin of Czestochowa carries three slashes left by an attack by soldiers; Auschwitz leaves a gash across the face of the twentieth century. And Jesus himself had to pass through Calvary on his way to Easter. Yet he took his wounds into heaven, teaching us that our sufferings are part of our journey, and that we must not be deflected by them from our task as Easter People, to bring new life. The war against evil has already been won, but the skirmishes continue to ravage our world and our lives. We can make a difference.

Of Westminster and Wieliczka

As I write today, the Pope's Mass at Westminster Cathedral is being shown again on EWTN. A votive Mass of the Precious Blood, the dedication of the cathedral, the vestments are bright red. With the beautiful music chosen for the occasion, the whoel celebration seems very dignified and splendid. I'm not sure about the Latin for the Eucharistic Prayer, but the visit as a whole continues to be a great success as far as I can see.

One of the most splendid sights in Krakow is the vast salt-mine at Wieliczka. With hundreds of chambers and kilometers of passages, this is an astonishing experience. Every single thing is made of salt. The public descends as far as about 400ft but the mine goes far deeper, and has been worked since the early Middle Ages. There are several chapels down there, including an enormous one carved by three men. My photo shows the lovely Flight into Egypt carved into the salt of the wall there. 

Of Westminster... and Auschwitz

The Pope's visit seems to be going very, very well. With Fr Tomy I just watched Evening Prayer from Westminster Abbey, which was very beautiful. Rowan Williams quoted from Pope John Paul's letter on Christian Unity "Ut Unum Sint", which explored among other things the role of the Pope himself, so it was interesting that he quoted it. This morning I caught part of Benedict's meeting with youth and children, and that seemed very joyful too. I missed the Westminster Hall address, but hope to catch up on that also. So far, it seems all the media searching for headlines has been lost among the peace and joy of the Holy Father's visit.

"Peace and joy" are the opposite of what we felt in Poland when we visited Auschwitz. At Auschwitz I, where the museum is housed in the former prison blocks, we were led by our excellent guide through the exact nature of what Auschwitz was and how it worked. Then we witnessed the piles of hundreds and thousands of shoes, glasses, hair, pots and pans and more... Next we filed through the Block of Death, including the starvation cell where St Maximilkian Kolbe perished, and the terrible, terrible "standing cells" where four people were crammed into a tiny dark cell where there was only room to stand - and left there.

And then finally I found myself standing in the gas chamber and the adjacent Crematorium I. The outside was so innocent-looking, like some warehouse (see my photo). Inside was a place of torment; it will stay with me for a long time.

We then moved on to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, where all is silent and deadening. The famous railway track passes through the gate and fans out into three branches where the "separations" took place as the poor victims spilled out of the cattle waggons. Most went straight to death, the minority to a few months of unimaginably hard labour. As we stood looking in the rain under a grey sky, the rail tracks seemed like the claws of some terrifying, bloodthirsty Bird of Death.

Of Edinburgh and Czestochowa

I watched Pope Benedict's arrival at Edinburgh Airport through to his popemobile drive through Princes Street on the BBC. The BBC did it well, I thought, and the crowds were out in great numbers. Benedict had a nice chat with the Queen, some of which could be picked up on the mikes, and the Pope's opening address was good. I'm going to take a look at Mass in an hour's time from Bellahouston Park in Glasgow. It's looking good for the visit...

The second day of our pilgrimage to Poland took us to the National Shrine of Our Lady at Czestochowa. It was the Feast of Our Lady's Birthday and the place was HEAVING. We had to make our way through the devout throngs in a rather undignified way. Eventually we celebrated Mass in the Sacred Heart Chapel, which slightly resembled an obstacle course for a vestment-wearing, book-carrying, shoulder-bag-swinging priest like me.

A very jolly religious called Fr Simon gave us a great tour of the whole sanctuary, including, of course, the Chapel containing the centre of devotion, the Icon of Our Lady. We had to keep moving through the Chapel, but it was enough to convince me of the very special nature of the place. The photo is not mine, alas, but captures the ebony, silver and gold decoration of this wonderful place. I decided to keep a look out for a copy of the picture which captured what I felt at the Chapel, and spotted one later on in the trip, at Pope John Paul's birthplace. It became the group's gift to me...

Krakow counterparts

So here we are back from Krakow, all safe and sound. Everything went well, deo gratias. Hotel very modern, very good (except for mushy frozen veg!). The group worked very well (nobody mushy or frozen there). Organization was terrific as always with Billy and Rita.

I liked Poland. After the Baltic republics last year, I could see how Poland is further down the westernized route, but you never have to scratch very far to be reminded of its history. So, I'll put some of my pics on here over coming days, starting with a street in Krakow that I couldn't resist - Canons Street. This is where my opposite numbers lived, the canons of Krakow cathedral which is hidden in the Wawel fortress that you can see high up in the background. We had a guided wander through the old streets of the city on our first full day after a visit to and Mass at Lagniewiki, the Shrine of Divine Mercy. I'll say more about that when I get hold of what looks like a very nice photo of me taken during Mass there by one of the pilgrims.

Meanwhile, we are looking forward to the visit of Pope Benedict that starts tomorrow. Please remember to pray for him and for God's blessing on the next few days.

In Him we Trust

So, we are off to Krakow today. Therefore there will be a week's gap in postings. As always, we in the September Pilgrims will take all our parishioners' intentions with us on our pilgrimage. I suppose now I also have to include those of this blog-parish too - so, yes, although I don't know you all, I will be praying for you and your intentions too on this journey of faith.

Bishops have hearts!

Rushing around today trying to get everything organized ready for a) Fr Tomy's arrival tomorrow,  b) my trip to Krakow on Monday, and c) - the consequences of a) and b) coming together!

So here's something different to calm the nerves: some bishops sharing part of their faith stories. As part of the preparation for the Pope's visit, which is on the theme of "Heart speaks unto Heart" from the writings of Newman, someone had the idea of asking our English and Welsh bishops about times when they feel that God spoke to their heart. The results are simple and uplifting. I think it's a very good idea, not least because it makes our Bishops more human. You'll find the videos here. Check out, for example, Archbishop Kelly of Liverpool or Bishop Seamus Cunningham of Hexham and Newcastle, one of othe more recent appointments.

On an even lighter note, do you want to see George Clooney's villa on Lake Como? NO? Well here it is anyway. His villa is the one with the grey roof towards the right of my photo. Further left in the centre of the picture is the second one that he bought... especially for his visitors. Bless.

Ravishing Radnorshire

Something must be wrong - the weather's been great on a Bank Holiday! Definitely time for a day-trip, and the Welsh countryside beckoned. So we took the A470 and zipped up to Brecon in no time. Then we slowed down and took the hill road over to Builth Wells via Upper Chapel, a favourite road with many people, I know. Then time for a coffee stop, and lo and behold "Cosy Corner Tea Rooms" appeared across the road from where we parked. Very nice, too.

Now it was time to venture into uncharted territory for me. We headed east then south, making for a tiny church called Rhulen or Rhiwlen. I found a reference to this in Simon Jenkins' guide to churches, houses and castles in Wales. He didn't let us down, as one lane led to another, and eventually we found ourselves in an idyllic hidden corner of silence in deepest Radnorshire. The church is medieval - humble  and whitewashed in and out. Churches don't come any simpler than this. Vases of flowers stood in the sunlight on the window-sills, and a deep quietness enveloped us. Outside a cow was mooing somewhere, and hundreds of sheep were on the hillsides, doing what sheep do. And the combination of whitewashed walls, bright blue summer sky and astonishingly green grass was stunning. My photo captures some of it I hope.

Simon Jenkins describes the road over the hill from Rhulen to Painscastle as "one of the loveliest in Wales", and again he was 100% right. We parked to look back on the hidden village and its church from high up on the sheep pastures, then a few moments later we had to stop again to take in a jaw-dropping view southwards. It took in the whole stunning panorama from Black Mountains in the east, through the Beacons in the centre, to Mynydd Epynt and beyond to Black Mountain in the west. Definitely into my Top Ten Views.

We were now in need of sustenance, and the Roast Ox at Painscastle soon appeared in our sights. A very pleasant Ploughman's with an enormous hunk of tasty Cheddar was washed down with a pint of Thatchers draught dry cider. Fr M approves. In fact Fr M approves of the whole day - cafe, church, views, pub, good company - what more would you want on a sunny Bank Holiday in Wales?...

Of Pavia, Chartreuse, the Sunday Telegraph and Radio 2

Just looking back over a few postings, and I never got round to putting up any pics from the beautiful Certosa, or Charterhouse, of Pavia, south of Milan. This stunning building was erected by the two big ruling families of Milan, the Viscontis and the Sforzas, for monks of the Carthusian order (and also as a family burial spot!). High point is the dazzling main facade of the church, but there are loads of other beautiful features.

My second pic shows the Great Cloister. You'll notice lots of little houses behind the cloisters. The Carthusians are perhaps the strictest order in the Church. They are so-called "hermits in community", living in those little places, and only coming together for Mass, for one meal a week (vegetarian I think)and an hour or two of recreation together. The rest of the time they are alone. They were founded by St Bruno at La Grande Chartreuse in France, hence their name. Charterhouse is a corruption of the French. They were very popular in Britain - Henry VIII's hatchet men went for them first. They have one house now in England, at Parkminster in Sussex. See their excellent website here (complete with chant).

They also hit the film headlines a few years ago when an amazing film was made about their life at La Grande Chartreuse called "Into Great Silence". Visit the film's own website to find out more here. If you want to borrow the film - ask me!

While I'm giving plugs... here are two more. I've just come back from a lovely family get-together at my sister's, where I discovered that one of my brainy nephews has compiled a puzzle supplement in this coming issue of the "Sunday Telegraph". Look out for Dr Gareth Moore.  Another plug... I've been asked to do a 2 minute "God slot" called "Pause for Thought" on Radio 2 during the Pope's visit - at 1.30am (!) repeated at 3.30am (!) on Friday 17th September. Thank the Lord, it's a recorded broadcast unlike my Radio Wales ones, and I'm going in to Llandaff to do it next Tuesday. 

Of Hungary, Kerala and Florida

I'd like you to meet Fr Zoltan Lendavi, a fellow Catholic priest. Fr Zoltan is from Hungary, and, as you will see, has brought some of the skills he learned as a teenager into his ministry.

I was wondering what some of his moves reminded me of, and then I realised it was the twists and turns we make in life to wriggle out of things...

Meanwhile more twists and turns in personnel here at the 3 Churches. Fr Dennis remains with us for a few weeks, and our new resident priest Fr Tomy Augustine arrives from Kerala on 2nd September. Over in India our dear friend Fr James has discovered that his next appointment is to Florida USA! As we say round 'ere "Poor dab!" I'm wondering whether there are any shrines the September Pilgrims could visit in that area of the world...

Back to Hungary - enjoy Fr Zoltan!

p.s  Apologies to anyone offended by the original soundtrack when I posted this - I didn't listen to the words!  This version has the original voices - in Hungarian...

Only too real

August - that strange month of holidays and what is supposed to be summer. Parish life quietens down a bit, and each year I tend to use it to catch up on things I've been meaning to do for, er, a long time. Very often that includes my canon law work. My learned colleague,  the Administrator of the National Tribunal ( I used his first name in this blog a while ago and got told off!) feeds me a steady supply of juicy morsels for my attention. Chief among them are cases ready for judgement. 

When someone asks us to investigate the validity of their marriage in canon law, we have a procedure which begins and makes its way until we end up with a file that may be between, say 40 and 120 pages. This contains the original statement and evidence of the applicant, of the other party (if they have taken part), witnesses, the Defender of the Bond (whose job is to say why they shouldn't have an annulment), and any other bits and pieces deemed necessary for that particular case.

The application will be on one or more ground, and the judge or judges has to make the decision based on what is in the file, and has to address each ground. If we say "yes" it is checked over by our appeal tribunal in Birmingham; if we say "no" the applicant can appeal it to them. 

As you can imagine, this is the hardest part of my canon law work - you are making a decision that affects the very centre of people's lives. The one I wrote this week was a difficult one, and I remembered one of the lecturers saying in class in Ottawa, "If any of you are going to be the sort of person that loses sleep over these, then best to get out now." Well, I don't think that I lost sleep over this week's case, but I really meant the prayer with which we begin each sentence (decision) "In the name of the Blessed Trinity. Amen." Bring the Lord into absolutely everything, I say - even Canon Law!

Picture shows Fr Frank Morrisey OMI, boss canonist at Ottawa in my day...

Flash fun

Time for a bit of summer fun..

And if you're not familiar with "flash mobs" then hold on. A large number of people have maybe one practice then perform a dance, a chorus or something in a very public place without warning. I love the way ordinary life is going on, and suddenly something completely unexpected interrupts. Then at the end, ordinary life takes over again, and the performers melt back into the crowd.

If your tastes are of a more classical kind, try the Philadelphia opera singing the great "Brindisi" from "Traviata" here

Here's my personal favourite "Doh, a Deer" for 200 dancers at Antwerp station here...

Not quite the same, but several thousand dancing to Black Eyed Peas at Chicago, organized by the Oprah Winfrey show

For more.... put "flash mob" into the YouTube search box.

Popes and Poles

I've just been reading this week's "Tablet" and its report on how tickets for the big events during the Pope's visit next month are going. It seems that in the home dioceses of Westminster and Birmingham where they are being held, demand for tickets is high, but elsewhere not so good... Cardiff archdiocese is mentioned, with an uptake of about one third for its allocation of tickets. Talking to priests, demand in our 3 Churches appears higher than in some other places - we have 29 going to Hyde Park and 12 to Birmingham.

So what's going on with the apparently small numbers? Well there's all sorts of speculation, but I think a lot of it is fairly simple, and not to do with shrinking congregation numbers or the relative charisma of Popes Benedict and John Paul. In 1982, with a much longer visit, nobody was too far from an event, including the Mass and Youth Event here in Cardiff. A few hours to get to London or Brum and a few hours back makes quite a difference, I think. There is a kind of invisible threshold beyond which people perceive a trip as "too much", a kind of glass barrier. We always consider this when planning our September Pilgrimages. On the whole, young people have a more distant glass barrier, but the not-so-young...

Closer to home, Fr Dennis has settled in nicely and his quiet manner is endearing him to the folks. James phoned on Wednesday. He arrived back in Kerala, safe and sound, but the docs there are a little concerned about the cough that was plaguing him, particularly in the last days here. No firm news yet about the arrival of Fr Tomy from Kerala.

As for myself, mention of our September Pilgrimages earlier, reminds me that we are off to Krakow in Poland in just a few weeks (main square right). I better get down to some preparation. After all, we're celebrating Mass at the Divine Mercy Shrine on the first full day, and later in a chapel in a salt mine and other varying churches.  We are visiting Pope John Paul's birthplace and Auschwitz among many other places. The Lord may have plenty to say to us...

A three car send-off

Tuesday - and it seems ages since Fr James left, but it was only yesterday.  In fact it was at 4.30 - in the morning! Always the last minute operator, James was still fussing around doing last minute stuff, so there was no chance of me getting to bed and then getting up to see him off. So I shut myself in my living room and watched a bit of telly off and on until he was due to leave. From 3am various Keralites began to arrive. They were taking him off to Heathrow in a convoy of three cars! Apparently in Kerala when you move from one parish to another, the number of cars that accompany your arrival is a sign of your popularity! So eventually, James' car pulled out of the car park here at St Brigid's, and he was gone.

But three hours  later I was up again to greet a new day - and a new priest, because Fr Dennis, our summer "relief" was arriving later that same morning. He's settled in very well, and we've already had some great chats.

Someone has combined several people's photos of James' Farewell Mass into a slideshow on a DVD, and I just played it for the first time. It brought back vividly that wonderful celebration last Thursday, that moved so many people. The end of five years - strange to think that it's quite likely I'll never meet James again - but, there again, who knows? I think we are moving into very interesting times, when anything could happen.

Meanwhile - here's another of my holiday snaps, this time the view from my hotel room. It's right in central Milan, but as so often in Italy behind the city facades are beautiful courtyards and small gardens. Unlike the clergy at our 3 Churches, most of the view from my room probably hadn't changed in 200 years...

A loving farewell

What a wonderful evening we all had yesterday at St Brigid's. Hundreds gathered to bid farewell to Fr James in the best way that we Catholics can - around the altar, and then socially in St Brigid's Hall afterwards. Everything went beautifully, and it was a real coming together of our 3 Churches - how easily the people mix together nowadays. A little group of us planned the liturgy in our normal 3 Churches way, and the Music Group played at their very best under the leadership of Clare Jackson. We even had a piece, an "Alleluia", written specially for the occasion by Dennis Mahoney.

Fr James presided and I preached then he spoke at the end of Mass, with a standing ovation at the end! Like so many, James is at his best when he speaks from the heart, and yesterday was no exception. We were joined by Fr Joseph, a friend of James who was visiting from Bangalore.

Then we all piled into the Hall where everyone had brought something for a Bring 'n' share buffet. We only just all fitted in - and that was at a time when so many are away, especially familes. The people had made a collection for James, and presented him with a very generous cheque. And he deserves it. So now James is chasing his tail getting ready to leave us on Monday.

For myself I am sad. Five years is the longest period I've had an assistant priest with me. I suppose we make an unlikely pair, but it's been a real joy and I will miss him. Pray for him as he goes home and looks forward to hearing where the Lord is sending him next. And pray for our 3 Churches as we too journey on (see the front page of this weekend's newsletter!). 

And so it will all start over again in September, when Fr Tomy, hopefully, comes to join us.

The work of His hands, and ours

One of the reasons I chose Milan for my holiday this year is its nearness to the Italian lakes. So while I was there I took an organized day trip up to Lake Como. What a beautiful spot! The coach took us to the town of Como where we embarked on one of the ferry boats that criss-crosses it way up the long narrow lake. All along the shores, especially on the west side, is a procession of beautiful villas, many of them owned by celebs. Some of the visitors got, er, quite excited as we approached the village of Laglio, where a certain Mr Clooney has his little place.

Our lunch stop was the famous village of Bellagio, where I took the pic. Sometimes described as the most beautiful village in Italy, it was magic, with the warm summer sun, blue sky, shimmering lake, lovely pasta... ah, yes...

It's great to be able to get away, and be reminded by places like Como of the incredible natural beauty in our world, and then back in Milan to see works of art like Leonardo's "Last Supper", and be reminded of the incredible beauty of which the human race too is capable. 

Back home

So, I came back from my break yesterday, and am already into the swing of parish life and issues.

I had some lovely time with my brother and sister-in-law in Leamington, and the three of us managed to link up with my sister and brother-in-law for a meal in Oxford - roughly midway. The five of us had a very nice family lunch in the restaurant on top of the new part of the Ashmolean Museum. The museum had a big renovation and extension a few years back and the eatery is right on the top floor, with a large terrace area that we went out on for our lunch. Very nice - Fr M approves www.ashmolean.org 

In the middle of my holiday I took off to Milan for a week. I love Italy and have been to many parts of it, but hadn't hit the second city - Milan. The Cathedral, Leonardo's "Last Supper", Michelangelo's "Rondanini Pieta", La Scala Opera, San Siro Stadium, loads of very old churches, museums, good public transport, etc etc. I had a nice hotel with a quaint view over Milan rooftops and little leafy courtyards.

I went out of the city on two of the days. One trip was to see the Carthusian Monastery or Certosa at nearby Pavia, and the other was to Lake Como - but they deserve a posting of their own. Meanwhile here are a few holiday pics to be going on with - the Duomo or cathedral, and inside the nearby Galleria or arcade where everybody strolls and shops, drinks coffee, and watches everybody else...