Celibacy as political resistance.

There is an excellent article in First Things about the nature of celibacy as an essential part of the Church's freedom "to occupy public space on her own terms". In this article Grant Caplan argues that celibacy is indeed much more than a mere discipline, still less, one that arose out of the Middle Ages. It is a very important point which he makes, one which takes the discussion out of the often subjective and parochial arguments which are made against priestly celibacy. 

Clerical celibacy, he says, "is a spiritual discipline, and papal primacy a sacred office, that contend with secular power for control of our public reality. They point to a body neither circumscribed by national borders nor resigned to being a disincarnate, “mystical” body floating above time and space. This body, celebrated in the Eucharist, puts national boundaries and loyalties in their proper context." 

This article also resonates against the present secular movement which seeks to change the nature of marriage. Secularism seeks to disassociate both the priesthood and marriage from contemporary living and relegate them to an antiquated way of living from which we are now emancipated. This article tells both the Church and secular society that what is at stake is not simply a human endeavour, but a part of God's plan, and that He is the Lord of history.

Images of Christmas.

I took these photos immediately following the Night Mass of Christmas at St Ignatius' in Ossett, in the early hours of Christmas morning. We are very proud of the appearance of the church here, and it did look beautiful. Thanks to all those who made it so.

The Days of Christmas in Ossett and Horbury.

Following Christmas Day the times of Masses at St Ignatius' are:

Thursday 26th December - 10am

Friday 27th December - 9.30am

Saturday 28th December - 12 noon

                              - 6pm Evening Prayer and Carols round the Crib.

Sunday 29th December - 9am and 11am

Christmas Masses in Ossett.

The Christmas Mass times for St Ignatius' in Ossett and Horbury are:

Christmas Eve: 6.30pm Vigil Mass and 11.00pm Night Mass

Christmas Day: 10.00am Dawn Mass 

The Mystery of God.

The third (and last) film which I am screening this Advent - "The Mystery of God": this Wednesday, 18th December at 7.30pm. St Ignatius Parish Centre, WF5 0DQ.

Letters to the Editor.

I applaud John Smeaton's letter in "The Catholic Herald" this weekend; it is very well said.

Happy are we.

"Happy are we" - a 60 minute film for Advent which presents the beauty of the Christian life. 7.30pm this Wednesday, 11th December, at St Ignatius Parish Centre, WF5 0DQ.

A feast for Our Lady.

On the eve of the great Feast of Our Lady, on Sunday evening at 6pm we are holding a celebration for children of Year 7 and older. All are welcome. St Ignatius Parish Centre, WF5 0DQ.

Then on Monday, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Sung Mass will be celebrated at 7.10pm.

Amazed at revelation.

This Advent I am screening three one-hour films in order to give some added depth to our preparation for Christmas this year.

The first film, "Amazed at Revelation", will be shown on Wednesday 4th December at 7.30pm in St Ignatius Parish Centre, WF50DQ. There is open admission and all are welcome.

The other films will be screened on the following two Wednesdays at 7.30pm.

From Sydney to Ossett.

Having made the journey myself, not so long ago, from Sydney to Ossett, what a great pleasure it was, just a few days ago, to welcome in Ossett a group of Sydneysiders. Joe and Julie, Angela and Christine, are all members of the Servants of Jesus Community, based in Sydney, with whom I enjoyed a very close and fraternal connection during all my years working in Sydney. Indeed, I celebrated the Sunday Mass for the Community, more or less every fortnight during those years.

Here we all are, pictured above on the Solemnity of Christ the King, just after the first Sunday Mass in Ossett. This small group from the Community had been on mission on the island of Malta just a week prior to their visit to Yorkshire. I was so pleased to see them again - it was quite difficult for me to believe that they were actually here!

It is always very good to keep contacts, especially with people who are happy to travel even considerable distances in order to proclaim Christ.

Gladness.

Thank you Pope Francis for the gift of the new Exhortation, "The joy of the Gospel". This is a Letter that I have been looking forward to for a long time. I have only been able to read the pre-amble so far, but I look forward to posting on this Letter once I have begun to digest it.

These Apostolic Exhortations have given the Church some of the most important light and direction of recent times; think of "Evangelii Nuntiandi", "Famialiaris Consortio", "Christifideles Laici", "Sacramentum Caritatis" and "Verbum Domini", amongst others - all of which have led the Church to become the Church of the New Evangelisation.

Finally, the chapel.

The old recusant chapel at Ufton Court is in the south-east wing in the top floor. The four-gabled attic in the photo above is the old chapel. The room, which is a lovely space is now used as an office. But in the picture below you can see towards the east window, where the old altar would have been.

Near the chapel is the priest's bedroom, and just by it a small oratory for his use. This still has its original painted paneling, which probably dates from the late 1600s or early 1700s. It is a very small room and would most likely have been used only by the priest. 

This post concludes my presentation of the Catholic life of Ufton Court during Penal times. The house is not now Catholic owned but is run by a Trust. I was struck however, during my visit, that most of the rooms had a small cross in them, and the children who have the pleasure of visiting the house are certainly introduced to its Catholic past.

Just in case … another hide.

This innocent looking triangular panel is the entrance to another hide on the top, attic, corridor of the house. It is a tight fit and, as a pivoting entrance panel, well insulated with wooden boarding on the inside. However, once open the skill of its design and making is revealed.

Although you would have to climb into the hide, the space within, next to the chimney stack, is very amenable. You can just make out in the above photo the bolt for locking the panel from within, together with a (now broken) spring mechanism for releasing the bolt from without. This hide was infact, opened from the adjoining room; all that now remains of the discrete opening 'handle' is a small round depression in the adjoining door lintel, which would have held the release pin. A further spring mechanism was built into the hide so that once the entrance was unlocked from the next door room, the panel itself would be pushed open to enable access to this hide. The remains of this spring mechanism can just be seen in the photo below.

All this was done, and lives risked, by many who fought for freedom of worship when, four hundred years ago, the English tried to suppress the Mass.

Hide or run.

At the north end of Ufton Court, on the first floor, a bedroom has a garderobe next to the fireplace. Under the garderobe there is a hide.

The trap door is not the original, but the hide drops down to the basement of the house.

Looking down into the hide you can see where it passes through one floor level and on into the next. It is possible that this hide was in fact a means of entry or exit from the house, through the basement, and perhaps through a tunnel, and so out into the gardens. If so, this would have provided a very quick and discrete means of entry or escape. It isn't possible now to determine whether this was the case because the outer wall of that part of the house has undergone extensive renewal, even to its support with the building of an external brick buttress.

17.7.1599

On 17th July 1599 Ufton Court was raided again by the English Inquisition (perhaps the worst form of the Inquisition ever devised), searching for priests and for evidence which would incriminate the owners as Catholics. During this search over £750 in cash was stolen and taken away. Government agents seemed to have been aware that a large amount of money was stored at Ufton, money which was destined to give support to Catholics in their plight during the harshest era of the penal times.

During the search a hide was found, from which was recovered £1300. However, a further £750 went missing, thought to have been stolen by servants during the upheaval of the search. No priests were found during this search.

The hide which contained the money (photo above), was entered through a trap door in the floor of the top, attic, corridor of the house. The hide itself is cut into the masonry abutting the chimney stack on the first floor of the house.

This hide, which is about 9 feet deep, is now illuminated within and covered with a strengthened glass window. Inside the hide is the original trap door and the original ladder. Both these can be seen in this second photo below.

Again, the original bolt fastening on the inside of the hide show how well this hide's entrance had been made.

5.9.1586

On 5th September 1589 Ufton Court was raided by Tudor England's equivalent of the Gestapo. A priest, Fr George Lingam was staying there and sought refuge in a hide in the uppermost part of the house.

The hide in which he is thought to have been hidden during the search that took place is next to the main chimney stack in the attic space. The entrance can be seen in the above photo; it is the central wall panel in the photo, the one whose top right-hand corner has been removed so that the panel fits in the wooden frame.

When open a space opens up between the chimney stack and the roof itself and into which a person could easily be hidden.

The original bolt and spring mechanisms, although broken, are still present on the inside of the door. These bolts are ingeniously made and, together with the close fitting panel door, show a level of skill and care in order to provide a secure hiding place.

Ufton Court

South of Oxford and into Berkshire there stands Ufton Court, and Elizabethan Manor House completed in 1576, which still contains the finest run of hides after Harvington Hall.

The house was the home of the Perkins family up until 1769. It is now owned by Ufton Educational Trust, a charity which provides opportunities for children and young people. I wrote in advance to book my visit and am grateful to Rev. Anthony Peabody for taking me on an extensive tour of the whole house.

This second photo shows the south wing of the house. The former chapel is in the attic of the south-east wing - in the left of the photo. The hides, for the most part, are connected with the central chimney stack which you can see in the photo.

The house is a delight, both inside and out. If you wish to visit you will need to contact the Trust at Ufton beforehand.

I shall post now on the various hides which represent the faith of the Elizabethan and Jacobean owners of Ufton.

On the outskirts of town.

At the far end of Holywell Street in Oxford is the site of the gallows where, on 5th July 1589, two priests and two laymen were executed for the Faith. A plaque on the wall above a window (in the left of the above photo) commemorates their offering. I stopped here to ask the intercession of these Blesseds for the Mission of the Church today.

Bl George Nichols, priest; hung, drawn, quartered.

Bl Richard Yaxley, priest; hung, drawn, quartered.

Blessed Thomas Belson, layman; hung.

Blessed Humphrey Pritchard, layman; hung.

In the Castle.

On arriving in Oxford Clergy meeting, my first visit, before breakfast, was to the old castle and the site of the mediaeval gallows.

Near the site of this plaque, on 9th November 1610, Fr George Napier was hung drawn and quartered for being a priest.

I spent some moments here praying for the conversion of our nation.

The Mitre.

While in Oxford the other week for the annual meeting of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy I managed to see a little bit of old Catholic Oxford.

Above is a photo I took of The Mitre public house. Here, in the late 1500s and early 1600s Catholics would meet and even come to participate in the celebration of illegal Masses. These were celebrated in the second floor rooms which you can see in the photo, but which are now let by the pub. It seemed only fitting to have a pint there in their honour, and it was a delight to find a great Yorkshire beer on tap (Black Sheep).

I had previously read about this pub and its use by Catholics during penal times; I had then, expected to find the pub down a dark alley, or on the outskirts of the town. I was wrong; The Mitre is slap bang in the middle of old Oxford. It made me think of St Justin, who set up his School of Aplologetics right in the centre of ancient Rome. 

Sawston again.

Readers of this blog will know that Sawston Hall, the Tudor Catholic house, just south of Cambridge, has been posted on before. Well, it is on the market again for £4,750,000.

I would be interested to learn if there is a project afoot to purchase and maintain the house as a Catholic site, and one to which we could contribute.

There are so few remaining Catholic houses of that era; this one remains entirely as it was, and it contains the 'finest priest-hole in the land'.

Night of Light.

We are holding a children's celebration of the eve of All Saints at St Ignatius parish, Ossett, WF5 0DQ. It will take place next Thursday, 31st October, at 6.30pm. For school-age children only, with proper adult supervision. Activities, treats and ending with a candlelit procession.

Parents can drop off or stay. There is no cost attached. Please don't dress your children up as this is already in hand.

Let's reclaim Halloween for Christ and let our children see the light in the call to be saints.

Live at the Oratory.

On Wednesday of this week the British Confraternity of Catholic Clergy held its Annual Colloquium at the Oratory in Oxford.

I took the above photo towards the end of the day, outside the church, capturing only some of the participants. 

I took part in the Colloquium last year for the first time and was again warmed by the experience of meeting priests from up and down the country; so seldom do we get together. The various speakers helped to give form and content to the day, and I was glad to meet Bishop Jarrett again from Australia.

Thanks go to the Fathers of the Oratory for welcoming us for the day; yesterday the first group of Fathers arrived in York to begin establishing an Oratory at St Wilfred's in York. May both these priestly movements be a source of light today. 

A Western approach.

This is an aerial view of Bunbury, a Cathedral See in Western Australia. The bishop of this Diocese, Mgr Gerard Holohan, has written a tremendous Pastoral Letter on the subject of internet pornography addiction. This letter, he says, is a response to the growing problem of pornography in his province of Australia.

The Letter is extensive in length so I won't paste it here; but it well worth opening this link in order to read it in full.

Addiction to internet pornography is endemic, not just in Western Australia but in the Western world, if not the whole world, yet it is rarely spoken of. Bishop Holohan's Letter then, is extraordinary in the way that it approaches this matter so publicly, so thoroughly, but above all, because it is such a wonderful proclamation of Christ.

The Letter begins by speaking about Jesus Christ as Saviour. It then speaks about the nature of addiction to pornography - once something that was little understood yet now something whose biological and chemical consequences are becoming well understood.

The Letter then returns to speak about the person of Christ, and how by entering into, or seeking to renew a relationship with Him, He is able to transform the woundedness of human personality and psychology.

This is a Letter which should be brought into our culture in a public and unself-conscious way, enabling the subject of internet pornography to come out from the shadows, and to be brought into contact with Christ - Saviour, Healer, the one who, uniquely, can transform human life, in all its interior division, and make a person whole.

God bless Bishop Holohan for his courageous and apostolic attitude in the face of this cultural tsunami. 

Spare a thought for NSW.

Many in New South Wales are praying urgently for rain. You will have seen on the news that bushfires are raging on the Central Coast some hundred miles north of Sydney. The fires are so extensive that the Sydney skyline is now overwhelmed with smoke and ash. 

Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and there has possibly been a death.

During my years in Sydney I did not experience a bushfire, but I feel for those whose homes have been lost and for all those who are anxious and frightened as the unpredictable fires rage around, and as these fearsome skies envelope the city. Rorate caeli ...

A woman at the centre.

Pope Francis has entrusted the whole world to one woman. But she is a person who has surrendered her whole self to God's plan in Christ Jesus. So, if there is one human being that you can trust the whole world with - then it is her.

This is the prayer of Consecration. The certainty and the simplicity which is expressed in this prayer and the act that it accompanies stand in sharp contrast to the secular attitude  of self-reliance and independence:

Holy Mary Virgin of Fatima,

with renewed gratitude for your maternal presence

we join our voice to that of all the generations

who call you blessed.

We celebrate in you the works of God,

who never tires of looking down with mercy

upon humanity, afflicted with the wound of sin,

to heal it and save it.

Accept with the benevolence of a Mother

the act of consecration that we perform today with confidence,

before this image of you that is so dear to us.

We are certain that each of us is precious in your eyes

and that nothing of all that lives in our hearts is unknown to you.

We let ourselves be touched by your most sweet regard

and we welcome the consoling caress of your smile.

Hold our life in your arms:

bless and strengthen every desire for good;

revive and nourish faith;

sustain and enlighten hope;

awaken and animate charity;

guide all of us along the path of holiness.

Teach us your own preferential love

for the little and the poor,

for the excluded and the suffering,

for sinners and the downhearted:

bring everyone under your protection

and entrust everyone to your beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus.

Amen.

"Mulieris Dignitatem" revisited.

The three-day conference which has just taken place in the Vatican on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Pope John Paul II's Letter on Women is a very important element in the formation of our culture. Woman stands at the centre of human life and at the centre of Salvation. It is when woman is truly herself that men know how to respond. It is Blessed Mother who enabled the renewal of humanity to take place in Jesus Christ.

The secular vision of woman, whilst giving woman a sense of her personhood, has at the same time, done much to take her dignity away. The secular vision moreover, implies that the Church is responsible for denying women their dignity. The fact remains however, that it was the Church who gave women their dignity in the past, and it will be so again today.

An important development is that a renewed vision of both masculinity and femininity is emerging from a re-reading of the Theology of the Body; what the Theology of the Body says about men and what it says about women. This now has to enter into culture through the lives of men and women who will allow their identity and their lives to be fashioned by this genuine vision, rather than by secular culture.

I took the above photo in the main hall of Notre Dame University in Sydney. There in 2009 one of the Dominican Sisters from Nashville led an eight-week study on the Letter "Mulieris Dignitatem". Participation by young people in this study was very edifying, and has borne much fruit. I know that the number of young Catholics who are marrying in Church in Sydney has risen, and that a significant number of young women from Sydney are presently testing a vocation to religious life.

Another significant element which took place during this eight-week study was the presence of young men. The majority of the participants were women, but these young men came in order that their vision of women might be renewed. And during the weekly recess for questions and discussion, the men came away from the women's group in order to reflect, from a masculine perspective, on the Pope's teaching. The whole event took place in a most thoughtful way and we would do well enable such reflection to take place wherever there is an opportunity.

Jubilee reading.

In March I posted on the books which I had read since returning from Australia. Well, I have kept up a good pace with reading since then, in this my Silver Jubilee year. These are the titles which I have read since the end of March:

"The Heritage of Catholic York", by John Rayne-Davis, which I found to be a very poor book.

"Evangelical Catholicism", by George Weigel, which, in spite of its journalistic style, is a very important book for our era. This is one which I will read again.

"The quest for the true Cross", by Carsten Theide and Matthew D'Ancona, which I found to be a very poor attempt to chronicle this topic. I almost reached the end of the book, but had to give up.

"Voices of Morbath", by Eamonn Duffy; the presentation of a tremendous history of an English village during the reformation by a genuine historian.

"Prayer: Living with God", by Simon Tugwell OP. This is my second read of this masterpiece on the Spiritual life.

"New Rules", by Daniel Yankelovich. I only very occasionally dip into psycho-babble books, but with hindsight, this 1981 study reveals much about what has been taking place in our society in recent decades.

"The autobiography of an Elizabethan", by John Gerard. Again, a second reading of this tremendous account of Catholic life in England under Elizabeth I. 

"Cardinal Heenan", by James Hagerty. An easy synopsis of the life of this good English bishop, but I didn't learn anything new.

"A Crown of Thorns", by John Cardinal Heenan. An excellent piece of history by the bishop himself. This book will remain an important reference point as our Catholic history develops. 

And I'm presently in the middle of reading two books:

"A man on a donkey", by H. Prescott, which is an old-fashioned and very slow novel about the Pilgrimage of Grace. I'm about a quarter of the way into it and not much has happened yet.

"The fulfilment of all desire", by Ralph Martin. Again, I read this masterpiece a couple of years ago, but it is so good that I am savouring every page.

Oh, and my slow reading of the Summa is still continuing (very slowly).

While I was at seminary I kept a list of all the books which I read, and I have obviously started doing this again. It is quite interesting to look back on what one has read, and of course, to make room for books that one still wants to read.

I took the above photo at the end of August. It shows the site (the green field bordered by trees) of the Carthusian Monastery of Axeholme (Low Melwood Priory), near Epworth in Lincolnshire. It was here that Augustine Webster was Prior. I made a small detour when returning to Yorkshire after the Youth 2000 Festival at Walsingham in order to see this site. Nothing, apart from stretches of the original moat, now remains of this Charterhouse and the site is now farm land. However, a group from my new parish in Ossett go there on pilgrimage each May.

50 years later.

Last month, as a way of acknowledging the Year of Faith, I started reading Fr Ralph Wiltgen's first-hand history of the Second Vatican Council, "The Rhine Flows into the Tiber". I first read this account of the Council when I was at seminary in 1983. It is a very interesting and worthy historical document, written by a priest-observer of the Council, as it took place. He titled his book thus in order to emphasise the influence which the German-French bishops had on the Council, an influence which overtook that of the Roman Curia as the Council sessions were held.

Two things have struck me during this reading. First, the scale and complexity of the organisational and administrative background to the Council's proceedings. With over 2400 Council Fathers taking part, representing the entire Church, to undertake such a Synod as this was quite a feat. Secondly, the number of differing viewpoints and theological movements which were present during the Council, expressed by a multitude of different groupings of bishops, made an already complex situation look untenable. In fact the different voices and opinions which are present today in the Church are, in many ways, a continuation of the discussions and arguments which took place during the Council, both inside and outside the Council chamber.

It is a wonder that, in spite of the human complexity of the Council's deliberations, the voice of the holy Spirit could be heard at all. And that, since today, so many arguments rage on, that the directives of the Council Fathers in the Sixteen Decrees, can be heard above the clamour of voices which claim to speak in the name of the Council.

So too, with the teaching of the present Holy Father, whose words are being dissected both inside and outside the Church, and all sorts of positions being proposed as their genuine interpretation. The Holy Spirit obviously wants to give the Church something through Pope Francis; that is the voice to listen out for and to obey. 

Just plain busy.

Apologies for this last recent gap in my posts, but I have just been plain busy. Moving into a new parish appointment is quite bewildering as there are so many new people to get to know, and so much to learn. Moreover, for three days of last week I was in Bayswater giving some inaugural formation to the new Spes Team. Although there is so much for me to do and learn in my new post these three days with the new Spes Team members were especially uplifting and rewarding. Do remember these young people in your prayers, for God can use their commitment very powerfully. 

Priestly expression.

On our final evening in Kevelaer the St John Vianney Fraternity held a torchlight procession through the town to the shrine where we would make an act of reconsecration of ourselves to the Mother of God. The photo above shows us preparing for the procession in the grounds of the basilica.

More than any other aspect of the Society it is public acts, such as this one, which have drawn me to the Society. Each time we meet we hold some simple priestly act, undertaken unself-consciously in public, in which we, as diocesan priests, express our identity.

On  this occasion we processed from the basilica gardens, vested and carrying lighted candles while chanting the Litany of Our Lady, through the town to the shrine where Bishop Guy-Marie led us in re-consecrating our priestly selves to her.

This simple act, which concluded our week of fraternity, wonderfully expressed the depth of our Fraternity and our mission as priests - in making this act we know where we stand in the world, and in that office we stand together.

Three witnesses.

During the SJMV summer session in Kevelaer we had two trips to nearby places. The first was to Xanten, the town in which St Norbert was born. It is here in the crypt of the Cathedral (photo above) that the mortal remains of Blessed Karl Leisner are buried. Karl Leisner, then a deacon, was imprisoned in Dachau Concentration Camp, and there in 1944 was secretly ordained priest. He died of TB only a few months after the liberation of the camp in 1945. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1996.

The following day we visited Munster, the See of the bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen, where the Cathedral holds his tomb.

The way in which this courageous bishop preached against the Nazi regime is now famous, and we were able to see the pulpit in the church of St Lambert from which he denounced the crimes of the Nazis. He was beatified in 2005 by Pope John Paul II.

The following day we celebrated the feast of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Mgr Guy-Marie preaching about her witness.

These three days of our session together produced a most extraordinary resonance in us; to be touched by the example of these three saints who, in their day, resisted the prevailing culture and who lived and died in order to build, with Christ, the real culture. What was so impacting was to have made these visits with this group of priests, who conscious of the falseness of today's prevailing culture, are living in such a way as to help engender anew the real culture, the culture of grace - the Civilisation of love. May the vision of how we are to live today in the face of a prevailing culture which is destructive of human life become the heart of the New Evangelisation of Europe.

  

The SJMV summer session.

This year the summer session of the St John Vianney Society took place in Kevelaer in Germany, last month. Almost a hundred priests and seminarians of the Society came together in this small town just fifteen kilometres from Nijmegen on the German/Holland border. The heart of the town is a shrine to Our Lady; all the the town's roads converge on the main square, where a small octagonal chapel holds the icon of Our Lady of the Afflicted. The shrine has stood here since the 1640s. It was wonderful to be in a place whose beating heart is not a shopping mall or a row of Night Clubs, but a working shrine to the Blessed Mother.

The photo above shows many of the Society's members being introduced to the shrine by a German guide. The photo below shows the act of homage being led by the Bishop emeritus of Belley-Ars, Mgr Guy-Marie Bagnard after our first Mass together in the Basilica.

This year's summer session of the Society was particularly inspiring for me. The last summer session which I took part in was in August 2007. The membership of the Society has grown since then and it was great to meet the recently ordained members and the new seminarian members, and to reconnect personally with the members: this priestly movement at the heart of Europe is well and truly alive and kicking. I'll post again on this encounter.