Talking heads

Fr Christopher Jamison OSB is in town. He is Director of the National Office for Vocation, and is spending this week in Wales. Yesterday evening he celebrated Mass at our Cathedral, and today he spoke to leaders of our Catholic secondary schools at St David's College in our parishes' area. So I went along to hear what he had to say and to encounter such an eminent gang of. er, talking heads.

I'm glad to say that, on the whole, I found him, and them, impressive. He asked the heads how they saw the Catholic ethos of their schools, and how it shows itself. Then - why do they do what they do? Next, his own talk centred around a proposal to rethink the curriculum in the light of the Catholic ethos, and not just see it as a "bolt on". It was all very stimulating, to hear a notable Catholic speaker and meet with a group of lay Catholics of huge influence for the present and future Church. Tomorrow he addresses the clergy, also, conveniently for me, at St David's College. Catch Fr Chris's project - a National Vocations Framework - here. PS I'm indebted to David  head of our local Corpus Christi High School, for my punny title!

Next - a little blog news. April has seen The Canon's Stall reach new heights in visits. According to Sitemeter, we received more than 2,000 page visits in April for the first time. This excludes my own visits and people who see the current posting on the parish website www.3churches.org, so the real total is higher. It's been a slow and steady increase over the last three years. Thanks, surfers!

Lastly a Fr M weird video entry. Talking about schools, colleges, vocations etc, what is it about young people? I would not do what these Russian youngsters do for a zillion quid, and I don't think I would have done so at their age either. It's a strangely compelling piece, filmed by one of the participants, but comes with a health warning. It may be not a good idea to watch after a good meal!