Broken bread

Hmmmm. Returned to the Waterloo Gardens Tea House with sister and nephew. Thought we'd try a little bara brith. It was indeed scrummy, but boy was it heavy - I think the densest cake I've ever had. Of course, it didn't help that we feasted at the Mason's Arms carvery several hours before!

Preached on the woman taken in adultery yesterday and took along my pebble from the Sea of Galilee to drop at the appropriate point in my homily when I ask what the next sound you would have heard was when Jesus said "Let him without sin cast the first stone."  I was a bit worried about the posh marbley tiles at C the K when I dropped the stone - but in fact it was the stone that broke instead! Meanwhile a lovely lady of some maturity in the front row almost jumped out of her pew when the stone hit the floor... 

Tomorrow is a big day for the Church in Cardiff. The Archbishop will be meeting with all the city priests to offer his response to our latest consideration of the way ahead for the Church here. This has given me a lot of concern over the last few weeks, in that the proposals as they stand would a big effect on our 3 Churches here. We shall see...

Folks have been asking about the Pope's Pastoral Letter to the Church in Ireland. If you want to read it and have not yet done so, it can be seen on the Vatican website here. Some are saying it should haver gone a lot further, and that may be so. But it certainly goes a long way, I think, as it is. These are very, very deep issues, firstly the damage to individuals, and secondly in what all of it says about our Church as a "system", which sometimes seems to resemble a dysfunctional family. It's certainly not easy for a system to bare its soul, but as I like to say, the foot-washing and crucified Lord will have a humble Church, and if we do not do it, maybe He allows others to do it. "Humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up" (Letter of James 4:10).