St John Vianney Society and the implications of celibacy

Looking at celibacy today means looking beyond present day culture, beyond the violent and the erotic strands of contemporary culture, to the way we respond to God with generosity. It concerns the way in which we place our whole person before the Lord, asking Him to irrigate us with His love. Indeed, Adoration brings about a virginal love for Jesus.

Pius XII in his Letter Haurietis Aquas spoke about the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the kinds of love which that Heart expresses: emotional, spiritual and divine - all these 'loves' are united in His heart. It is this heart which the priest is called in imitate through an integrated interior life. Another way of saying this is "maturity". St Paul describes such a person in Galatians 5:52; a mature person, a person who has integrated Christ into his or her personality expresses the fruits of the Spirit. The Blessed Mother is the first person in the Church who expresses all the fruits of the Spirit in a perfect way. Indeed, Galatians 5:52 can be said to be a portrait of her soul.

What then are the characteristics which a priest is called to live is personality?

Self-effacement. The opening up of pastoral relationships to the presence of God without any possessiveness; being totally attentive whilst at the same time being reserved so that God can enter into the relationship. In other words, the priest is called to pave the way for the spousal relationship between Christ and the Church. So, in a completely real sense, the priest is "Father".

Tenderness. Being totally human in contact with people, whilst at the same time being totally chaste. We see Jesus being like this throughout the Gospel. The whole world saw JPII being like this also. Being tender in our relationships is costly because of our sinfulness; we have to allow God to prune us so that we can better be His instruments. If we are pure in ourselves, then we will better be able to carry other people's crosses. But the fact is that we do have the human capacity to receive Christ and to take Him to ourselves so that His life becomes our life.

Surely this speaks volumes about the renewal of the Priesthood in our time!

St John Vianney, pray for the renewal of priests.

Low Mass in Leeds

A lovely Mass yesterday evening. Thanks to all who took part, and to Mike for this pic.

The HFE Bill

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? "

The Second Coming by Yeats.

Commons vote for hybrid embryos

This evening's Commons vote makes me think of emmigrating. However, there is a great work of reparation to be done. Way back in 1992 the New York Cardinal suggested that a "tomb of the unborn child" be erected in every Roman Catholic diocese in the United States. John Cardinal O'Connor, the Archbishop of New York, spoke about such a monument he had seen at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. He suggested that similar memorials be erected to the "countless victims" of abortion in at least one Catholic cemetery in each diocese across the nation. Cardinal O'Connor said that, whether or not aborted fetuses were actually buried within such tombs, the monuments would "be a good reminder" that they had been "just as human" as others buried in the cemeteries. This surely is something that we can undertake in every Diocese in England.

Another extraordinary occasion ...

This coming Wednesday, 21st May at 7.30pm, I will celebrate Holy Mass in the extraordinary form at St Brigid's, Leeds. If you can come, please do.

You are invited ...

On Monday and Tuesday of next week the HFE Bill reaches the "Committee" stage; the final, third Reading is yet to be scheduled.

We are living at an extremely important time for the human race, for our country and for any concept of freedom based upon human dignity. It is up to you and me to place ourselves humbly before God and to ask that He would save us from all evil.

I invite you to spend some of next Monday and Tuesday in prayer and fasting with the intention of asking God to bring his grace to the British nation and its Parliament.

I am holding two Vigils of Prayer and Fasting in my parish on those days:

Monday 19th May.

7.00pm Holy Mass followed by a Rosary for Life, then Adoration and silent time.

9.00 - 10.00pm Holy Hour.

Tuesday 20th May.

7.00am Exposition and Morning Prayer.

8.00am Rosary for Life.

9.00am Divine Mercy.

10.00am Intercession.

11.00am Holy Mass.

My parish of St Brigid's is on Elland Road in south Leeds, LS27 7QR and you will be most welcome to take part in these vigils.

For Matt

Let God act.

The British Parliament seemily cannot; it cannot wait for God to act, nor is it at all concerned that it is pushing God's hand in a dramatic way in the matter of the HFE Bill.

Rather than allow God to lead the progress and development of those things which would supply our needs today, the British Parliament wishes to place its faith in science and scientists who will provide us, in a scheduled and apparently controlled fashion, with mechanisms and technologies for manipulating human life.

We should not be at all surprised because this is the attitude of the Contraceptive Generation. The British Parliament, arguably, is constituted by a very full representation of the Contraceptive Generation. The promoters of the HFE Bill in Parliament are expressing very clearly the contraceptive mentality - to take total control over human life into our own hands, and not to leave any loose ends unattended.

However, the issues at stake in the House of Commons today, or better said, the persons who are at stake because of the proposed HFE Bill, need the support of as many of us as possible. Their fate should not be left to the judgement of the contraceptive mentality pragmatist MPs who are promoting the Bill. Indeed, human life and human nature could never be adequately understood or nurtured by a pragmatic mentality. The HFE Bill should be put not simply before the House of Commons, but before the whole world.

The HFE Bill is a sign of just how deeply our culture and our psychology is impregnated by the contraceptive mentality, seeking to take all human affairs out of God's reach and remove them from his influence.

Prayer and fasting, lobbying and making your voice heard - we all have much to do here.

Lest we forget ...

It has always seemed very strange to me that resources, and especially video images, of John Paul II's visit to Britain in May 1982 are not available. It is as though his visit were best forgotten. Here is a photo taken during his meeting with Catholics on the Knavesmire at York.

During his address he spoke of the men and women who laid down their lives for the faith they loved "on this very spot". He spoke of Margaret Clitherow and Nicholas Postgate by name. His address was a catechesis based upon his own Letter about the family, Familiaris Consortio. That letter too is forgotten in this island, yet it is the fullest teaching about the family that exists on the planet.

With the Martyrs

Pentecost Sunday and our Parliament prepares to debate the critical issues of the HFE Bill. Thirty people from Yorkshire gather at the site of the York Tyburn on the Knavesmire to celebrate the Mass of Pentecost. The platform where the scaffold once stood by the roadside was a place which witnessed the most powerful offering of life for Christ by so many.

Here St Margaret Clitherow would come, at night, even before she was a Catholic, to pray after a priest had been hung, drwan and quatered - perhaps Blessed William Hart or Blessed Richard Thirkeld. Here Blessed Francis Ingleby, who she had harboured in her house, was excecuted. We came too in order to ask God, through the Mass, that the sacrifice of the Martyrs all those years ago might be effective for our nation and our culture today.


I was grateful to Fr Michael Kelly, also from Leeds, for coming out to join me in offering this Mass. We recalled the three day vigil of prayer and fasting which the Fathers of the London Charterhouse enjoined all those years ago in 1537 when the Oath of Supremacy was put to them, and how it was the Mass of the Holy Spirit offered by Fr John Houghton on the third day which broke the power of evil over them. Becuase of that Mass the whole community was able to witness to Christ with constancy and even joy. This was our prayer also; that the Holy Spirit would break the power of the culture of death in our country.

Thanks also to Mike of the Rudgate Singers for providing the sung chants in Latin throughout this Penetcost Mass.

Pam Stenzel in Leeds 2

Pam Stenzel in Leeds

At last - a break through in Leeds and an opportunity to break the exausting influence of secularism in our culture! Leeds Diocese is hosting an evening given by Pam Stenzel about God's plan for sexulality and relationships. You are invited to Pam's talk at Trinity and All Saints Colleges, the Mary Hallaway Lecture Theatre, Tuesday 3rd June at 7.oopm. Tell others about this event and bring them along. This event is suitable for all.

More information about Pam on http://www.pamstenzel.com/

Gone fishing ...

I'm having a break. I'll be back in a week.

Knavesmire Mass for the dignity of life

The HFE Bill finally returns to the Commons on Monday 12th May. I shall celebrate Holy Mass, open air, at the site of the scaffold on the Knavesmire at York, 3.00pm on Sunday 11th May. Leeds People for Life are organising this Mass and we have the permission of the local Parish Priest.

I invite you to take part in this Mass and join your prayers to those of the Martyrs who gave the most powerful witness to Christ on this site. The Mass will be offered for a complete overturning of this Bill and for the building of the Culture of Life.

Sunday 11th May, 3.00pm, at the Knavesmire, Leeds Road, York. (There is parking at "Park and Ride" at the large Tesco at Accomb, about 3/4 mile away from the site of the York Tyburn.)

Media talk available

The talk I gave in Soho last week, "Building the Civilisation of Love in a media-driven world", is now available on www.communityofgrace.org.uk - via the "Media" button.

This pic was taken a few weeks ago walking along the old city walls of York.

Witness in York

Yesterday, 27th April, was the 40th Anniversary of the day when the 1967 Abortion Act became law in Britain. Leeds People for Life together with Europe Pro-Life held a York Martyrs Pro-Life public Witness in the city of York. We claimed the intercession of the York Martyrs as we sought to give public recognition to the 7 million babies aborted under the Act and to seek to make reparation for this sin, and to ask the Martyrs to help us build a better culture with genuine laws.
The Witness began at 1pm with prayers in St Wilfred's church near the west front of the Minster. We were 150 strong as we filed out into the street to begin our procession through the city, praying the Rosary as we went. Some carried banners, others white crosses, others still, bunches of white and red roses. We followed a route closely associated with York's greatest citizen, St Margaret Clitherow. This next photo shows the procession passing down one of York's most popular streets - Stonegate. Shopkeepers and shoppers alike stopped their Sunday pursuit to take in this extraordinary manifestation of Christian hope in the centre of this hugely secular city.

Crossing the Ouse Bridge we came to the place where the old Toll Booth had stood. It was here in 1586 that St Margaret Clitherow suffered the penalty peine forte et dure for refusing to plead at her trial in which she was accused of harbouring Catholic priests. She was pressed to death close to the steps down which our procession filed. Nothing could intimidate her; neither the State, nor the judge, nor the culture - and she gave her life for Christ, for truth, for the Church.

Here, by the bank of the River Ouse we cast our roses into the river; each one a gesture of love and recognition; each one representing 200,000 babies.

We then passed down Micklegate and were welcomed by the Sisters of the Bar Convent. Originally a house of the Congregation of Jesus, the Bar Convent was founded in the 1760s and is a house of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin. It's "discrete" chapel with Priest Hole also contains the relic of the hand of St Margaret Clitherow. It was 3pm when we packed into the chapel and we prayed the Divine Mercy before venerating the relic of this wife, mother and martyr of Christ.

She was laid on the ground, a sharp stone beneath her back, her hands stretched out in the form of a cross and bound to two posts. Then a door was placed upon her, which was weighted down till she was crushed to death. Her last words during an agony of fifteen minutes, were "Jesu! Jesu! Jesu! have mercy on me!"

Our procession then continued another mile out to the site of the York Tyburn on the Knavesmire. Here I spoke to the pilgrims about some of the martyrs who died here and we entered into a time of intercession, relying on the powerful prayers of the martyrs for an overturning of the culture of death in our country and for grace to build a better culture.

This tremendous act of witness will be organised again.

Y2K in Stone

I've just returned from Stone, Staffs, the town which was evangelised by St Dominic Barberi between the years 1842 - 1849. Youth 2000 is holding a Retreat there this weekend. Many thanks especially to the Leaders and Musicians for their time and dedication to the Mission of the Church and for keeping the flame burning brightly.

Speaking in Soho

On Wednesday I took part in the "Love and Responsibility" series at St Patrick's, Soho, giving a talk entitled "Building the Civilisation of Love in a media-driven world". The photo here shows some of the audience settling in before the talk. A transcript of the talk will be placed on St Patrick's Website, and I shall place an illustrated version on the Communityofgrace website in due course.

Grateful thanks to the SPES team for organising these evenings and to Fr Alexander for his foresight and intuition in creating this series as a focus for young people.

The Holy Father on Education

Fr Terence Henry, the President of the Franciscan University, Steubenville commented on an address given by the Holy Father on 19th April during his visit to the United States. "The most powerful point he made in his entire speech," said the Franciscan, "is that Catholic education is not just a matter of numbers, but conviction. That, in other words, knowledge is not just an intellectual understanding of facts, but it is a lived expression of reality.""That is what I see so present on our campus everyday, that because our students are convicted, they want to bring their whole selves to the playing field. To have three Masses a day packed with 500 students in each one, is a living out of the conviction." Father Henry said the Holy Father also explained, "The fullness of truth opens up for a young person the adventure of life. To see life as an adventure, as something that comes to you, then it is exciting. I think one of the chief causes of death for young people is suicide. They despair because they are drowning in the secularism and materialism." And for those who don't despair, they are bored without knowing the adventure of life with Christ.

Why are we not looking to build this kind of culture in the UK? What are we waiting for?

Just a reminder ...

This coming Sunday, 27th April, is the York Martyrs Pilgrimage and Pro-Life Witness. Starting at St Wilfred's church, just outside the west-front of the Minster at 1.00pm, passing over the Ouse Bridge (the river shouldn't be flooded as shown in the pic), and so on to the site of the Scaffold on the Knavesmire.
27th April is the 40th Anniversary of the day when the Abortion Act became Law in Britain. This will be a very great day. St Margaret Clitherow is, arguably, the greatest person ever to have lived in Britain, and she's a saint. And we can remember too the host of Martyrs who gave their lives at the York Tyburn to Christ: St Henry Walpole, St Nicholas Postgate ...

Strangers and pilgrims in a foreign land

Well, I'm back from Abu Dhabi. I have to say that it has been a tremendous experience. Just thinking about it today, the one experience which I valued very highly was being in a place where faith and culture are so united. Here in England, and in western Europe in general, probably the greatest crisis we have to deal with in the New Evangelisation is the separation of faith and the actual way of life that people lead, that is, their culture. In UAE, whether Christian or Muslim, the people are seeking to live the faith they profess. There is none of the false dichotomy between faith and culture because there is no secularism. Yes, there is plenty of wealth and consumerism. But these stand side by side with a conservative religious mentality rather than going hand with hand with a ferocious secularism, which we take for granted in the west.

One thing which surprised me greatly in Abu Dhabi is the number of immigrants. The indigenous Arab population is less than 20 per cent of the total population, and immigrants coming from south Asia are in the majority. Among these, the populations of Catholic Indians - chiefly but not exclusively from Kerala and Goa - and Philippinos are very visible at all levels of society, and possibly form as much as 10 per cent of the population. Despite this, the social and religious conservatism of the Arab population means that the Christian churches are only tolerated and not given real freedom. This leads to the Catholic Church being made really into a ghetto religion - allowed only one Church within an enclosed compound, right next to the Anglican compound and a larger and more ornate Coptic church. All these churches are kept on one site 'under the protection of', or rather, under the dominating presence of, a larger and more imposing mosque. So while the Catholics, who number several thousand, all attend one small Church, and have to endure Mass in the glare of the Arabian sun, the small number of worshippers at the next door mosque, who are rather spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing where to pray considering that there is a mosque on every street corner, don't allow the Christians forget that they are strangers and pilgrims in a foreign land. The small size of the church in Abu Dhabi hides the vitality and number of the Catholics who form the community there. In Dubai, I understand the community is even stronger, with 60,000 Catholics making their Easter communion on Easter Day this year at one church. That's more than in a number of dioceses in this country. At St Joseph's in Abu Dhabi, there were 7,000 who attended the Easter Vigil alone.

Despite all this, the mainly Indian Catholics who attended the Maryvale Catechists' Course were very well formed, and revealed a real thirst and desire to be deepened in faith. Their questions and comments revealed that the formation of the young people was also great, probably because of the strength of faith and its integration into family life. I was pleased to be able to preach at a youth Mass on Friday morning (Friday is like another Sunday, as it's the main 'day off' in the week), and had a great response from the 300 or so teenagers and young adults who gathered in the Church hall, while the family Mass was taking place in the Church, attended by far more. One 17 year old lad from Pakistan came and asked about my homily on vocation, asking why God would want persecution to be part of the vocation of so many Christians in Pakistan. This was a truly humbling experience.

On the way back to England I had the opportunity to stop off in Qatar's capital, Doha, and see the new Church of Our Lady of the Rosary which I'd seen reported on Zenit news agency. This is the first time a Catholic Church has been allowed in Qatar. While it was dark - and the Church is not yet connected to mains electricity - the size of the new Church surprised me after seeing the rather small church in Abu Dhabi. The catechetical and social centre next to the Church is also very impressive. The only problem with it is that it is in the desert, with no roads connecting it. No doubt, with the expansion of Doha, the city will come out to meet the Church in time. Once again, the Catholic church has been built next to the other Christian churches, and it can be supposed that eventually a mosque will also be built, just to remind the Christians who is boss. But nonetheless, this is a tremendous move forward for the Catholic community in Qatar, who could only dream of this new church a few years ago, when Mass was only offered in private houses. Let us hope and pray that the freedom to have a church will also be extended to Saudi Arabia very soon, a country where the Catholic presence is minimal (despite this, there was a catechist from Saudi Arabia at the course).

Please continue to pray for the Catholic church in the Vicariate Apostolic of Arabia. Oh, and here are some camels...

To be rediscovered ...

Yesterday I was speaking with another priest in Leeds and we suddenly and coincidentally spoke about someone who was obviously in both our minds - the historian and sociologist Christopher Dawson. Now Dawson was a Yorkshireman and a convert Catholic who is buried in the exquisite village of Burnsall in the Yorkshire Dales; he died in 1970. A couple of years ago I was up there in the winter and went to visit his grave and took this photo.

I had come across some of Dawson's books in the nineties and was absolutely amazed by what I found. A social and historical understanding of civilisation from a genuine Catholic perspective. Dawson had been part of the "Sword of the Spirit" movement in the 40s and 50s, a movement to which Pius XII had given his blessing. This group of people had come together during the Second World War in order to consider the rebuilding of European civilisation upon the basis of Christian orthodoxy after the war had ended. I remember hearing how my grandfather had taken part in "Sword of the Spirit" meetings at St Anne's Cathedral, Leeds in the late 40s.

Well, yesterday my colleague was full of insight that Dawson will be rediscovered in a few decades time. I should like him to be rediscovered rather sooner; for too long have we allowed ourselves to be swept along by the post-war syndrome of secularism with its superficial and ephemeral goals. In fact, we need real vision for the building of our culture and not too long ago there was a Catholic movement of significant thinkers who were already pointing the way.

And another thing...

You can read about the great pilgrimage of grace which Fr R and I led to Ars last week below. I'd like to record a word of thanks to all the lay people who supported this, and the other pilgrimage to London. These pilgrimages can be rather pricey, but the reward of accompanying young people in this way is immense. So thanks to the people - particularly the Mercy sisters, co-workers of Mother Teresa, members of Birmingham Charismatic Renewal, and attendees at the Maryvale Divine Mercy Sunday - who donated over £2,000 towards the costs. In fact there is money still left for the other ventures we are planning, including another pilgrimage for young men to Ars. So - MANY THANKS!

If you would like to donate to our Pilgrimage Fund to help pay for a young person to deepen their Faith, then please use the "Donate" button to make a Paypal donation, or drop one of us a line to send a donation.

Catechesis under the shadow of a minaret

Whenever I hear of people jetting off to Dubai for their holidays it has always completely turned me off. The superficiality of the experience of the luxurious hotels, decadent casinos, and designer shops isn't my idea of holiday heaven. And the prospect of temperatures up beyond 40 degrees Celsius, with constant sun, just confirmed my supposition that I would never go to Arabia. Well that all changes next Wednesday. Under the auspices of the Maryvale Institute I'm off to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, not for a sun soaked holiday, but to run a two-day course for catechists. I understand that there will be about 50 catechists from all over the Arabian peninsula taking part, mostly made up of Philippino and Indian Catholics, who form the majority of the Catholics in the Vicariate. The classes will be on Christology, Ecclesiology, and Mariology - so it's really at the core of the Christian mystery. I am really relishing the opportunity to go to a place where such formation is eagerly awaited, and where there is a real hunger for the solid food of Catholic teaching. It will be quite a contrast to the nonchalant attitude of so many Catholics in this country towards formation in the Faith. The prospect of forming catechists living under the shadow of the minaret is also exciting, particularly as religious tolerance in many of the countries of the peninsula is not great. It feels like real missionary apostolate. Please pray for this venture and for all the participants...and that I survive the heat.

This is my first post for months, and Fr Richard has been getting on to me about posting, so maybe this will be me turning a new leaf and getting back to blogging a bit more regularly.

Youth 2000 in the south-west

Last weekend the most southerly parish in the country, Falmouth - Helston, hosted a Youth 2000 Retreat. Many, many thanks go to Fr Jon Bielawski and his coorinator for young people, Jo, for their generosity in bringing together about eighty young people from the south-west to celebrate the Christian Life.

The Hanson-built church of Mary Immaculate was transformed by the presence of Christ as the Eucharist and so many young people with Him in adoration. This Easter-time retreat was a special joy to me; returning from the Pilgrimage to Ars I was so glad to be spending even more time with young people seeking to be a part of the New Evangelisation.


It was a great joy also to have this view in the morning; it is thirty seven years since I was last in Cornwall,and to go their again as part of a mission and to see all of this was a special grace.

The sheepfold

Reading some of Tony Blair's talk which he gave at Westminster Cathedral yesterday evening puts me in mind of St John 's Gospel, chapter 10, about entering the sheepfold through the Gate or by another means.

Blair's simple apologia expressed in these words does not demonstrate that he has renounced his part within the culture of death in favour of Christ:

There is nothing I look back on now and say that as a result of my religious journey I would have done things very differently but that is expressly not to say that I got everything right.

If Faith is here being manipulated skilfully by an architect of the culture of death, to make it appear as something which we can fashion for our own ends, then there will be more darkness. Faith is a grace from God which enables a person to embrace a relationship with Christ, a relationship which coverts, heals and saves. Our appreciation of the Gate to the Sheepfold can never be overstated - in fact, here lies the heart of the renewal of life and culture.

SJMV Pilgrimage to Ars

On Easter Sunday Fr Julian and myself had the great joy of leading ten young men on pilgrimage to meet St John Vianney. Ars was clothed with snow when we arrived and the Foyer Jean Paul II offered us a friendly welcome. It was a grace-filled pilgrimage; we did some prayer, we introduced the lads to the shrine and the spirtituality of the Diocesan Priesthood which is so tangible there, and we spent a lot of time together in real friendship. The presence of the Cure and his powerful intercession was a guiding force during our stay.

This most approachable of all priests is a much sought and very solicitous guide to so many young people and priests at this time. We took the opportunity of visiting his birthplace and the house where he grew up at Dardilly, marvellously preserved after more than two centuries. Our journeys between places gave us time to converse about our own experiences of life and growing up and to realise anew the providential way in which God is leading each one of us to love Him in a particular vocation and state in life. I asked the others after one journey if they had seen flames coming out of our car - our conversation had been so charged with faith and hope in God.

One day we spent in Pilgrimage to Paray-le-Monial where Christ revealed His Sacred Heart to St Margaret Alacoque. This Shrine is intimately related with Ars, since St John Vianney made his life a very medium of the mercy of God given through the opened heart of the Saviour. Here, in the Chapel of St John, we spent an hour silently encountering that Heart given in the Blessed Sacrament. I think that the prayers which each of us made in that chapel, that day, were prayers for grace which will direct our whole lives in the future.

What a great grace it is for priests and young people to go away on pilgrimage together. Fr Julian and myself were very impressed by the calibre of the young men who were with us, their dedication to God, and their hope in the Life of Grace. We'll certainly repeat this Pilgrimage.

Short bloggap

Today, Fr Julian and myself are taking a group of seminarians and young men who are thinking about the priesthood to Ars for four days. After that I'm going to help with the Youth 2000 Retreat in Falmouth next weekend. Back soon.

A great Easter proclamation from Lancaster

Not only has the Scottish Cardinal made a great proclamation today, but the courageous Bishop of Lancaster is also proclaiming the truth of the Resurrection in a tremendous way. Here is his sermon:

1. It was Sunday morning and Jesus was crucified on the Friday. Let us accompany Mary of Magdala and Mary, mother of James, as the two women approach the tomb where Jesus had been laid. Their memories of what had happened on the Friday are still very raw. They had seen his body taken down from the cross and placed in this tomb. Now they come in sadness to the burial place; all that was left was to show how much he had meant to them by anointing his body with spices (Mk 16:1; Lk 24:1).

2. The angel’s extraordinary words terrified them and must have burned into their minds and hearts. One can imagine them repeating the words. In fact, it’s easy to imagine that, for the rest of their lives, they were ready to repeat them to anyone and everyone who would listen:
‘He is not here, for he has risen as he said he would. Come and see the place where he lay; then go quickly and tell his disciples. He has risen from the dead and now he is going ahead of you to Galilee. That is where you will see him.’

3. “He is not here” – not in the tomb – that place of sadness and terrible memories. He is risen from the dead. We hear these words, which are very familiar. But it would be easy to miss the wonder of it all.
The Gospel tells us that the women were ‘filled with awe and great joy’. And that was even before they saw Jesus coming to meet them.

4. The accounts of Easter Sunday pay great attention to the empty tomb. The angel invited them to come and see the place where Jesus lay. When the apostles heard the women’s news, they came running and they ‘saw the linen cloths on the ground’. They saw and they believed. The tomb was no longer a tomb. Is it likewise for us? Are we aware that Jesus is alive and offers hope to each one of us?

5. The Sequence of Easter expresses it like this:
‘Death with Life contended: combat strangely ended!
Life’s own Champion slain, yet lives to reign.’

6. Everything has changed, changed utterly. The one inescapable, inevitable, unconquerable reality - the reality of death - had seemed to defeat Jesus as it had defeated every human being, every living thing on earth. But the reality now is that Jesus conquered death.

7. We must hold on to the hope of these words: Jesus conquered death! We need to hold onto this truth today because death takes on so many guises;
· through legalised abortion – that kills nearly 200,000 children a year,
· through experimentation on the unborn, that has resulted in the deaths of 2.2 million,
· and euthanasia through the withdrawal of food and fluids, here the numbers are countless.
Jesus has conquered death, but the powers of death and evil still strive to overcome the light of love and life.
The tragedy is that the authority and power of Government seem to be behind the greatest threat to the dignity and rights of human life.
As your bishop, I want to join my voice to that of Cardinal Keith O’Brien and others, in protesting in the strongest terms against the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
If this bill becomes the law of the land, it will allow the creation of animal-human hybrid embryos for medical experimentation.
Supporters of this so called ‘medical’ experimentation, justify it by offering the hope that at some unknown date in the future the dissection and destruction of unborn human life will lead to cures for truly terrible diseases, such as cancers, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and M.S.
All right thinking people will agree that we must seek to discover cures for diseases that cause so much human suffering. But compassion cannot result in us exploiting and destroying the life of unborn human beings.
Many in government, the media and research are so strident in promoting research on embryonic humans that they forget to mention that the greatest strides in discovering cures derive from adult stem cell research - not the defenceless unborn.
We need to ask who are these vested interests in the promotion of experimentation on embryonic humans and the creation of animal-human hybrids. I read about them but I’ve yet to find them in person.
The Prime Minister has made it clear that he wants Britain to be the world's number one centre for genetic and stem cell research. He sees it as building up the hi-tech sector of British industry and contributing to economic growth.
It is good to develop British industry and foster economic growth, but not through exploiting and destroying embryonic human persons.
A society that seeks medical cures and economic development at the cost of human rights, human dignity and human life is ‘monstrous’.
It is not the defenceless, human-animal embryo, that is ‘monstrous’; it is we ourselves who have become ‘monsters’ for allowing the exploitation of the unborn for our economic and medical gain.
On this holy night when we celebrate life conquering death, I want to make two appeals as your Bishop:
First, to the Prime Minister and his ministers. Please stop the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Stop exploiting embryonic human beings, and support adult stem cell research instead.
Prime Minister, if you insist on promoting this bill through parliament, allow members of your government and party to vote according to their consciences.
Second, I call on the Catholic community - clergy and laity - to speak with one voice and insist that parliament: protects and cherishes human life.
Pray, Protest, and Petition your Member of Parliament to stop this monstrous medical experimentation on human beings.
Never give up hope, nor allow it to be dimmed, because the light of Christ shines out in the darkness, and the darkness can never overcome Him.
8. We began our vigil outside the cathedral with the Easter Candle spreading its light through the darkness. We processed singing “Christ our Light!” In the Scriptures we heard how God rescued Israel from the Egyptians and how promised to quench their thirst by sending his Word, his Son. Tonight this promise is being fulfilled and we are given a new depth to that truth.

9. Only Jesus can satisfy our thirst and in a way that no human being had ever imagined. Here was a light that the darkness could never overpower. This was something far above and beyond our ways and thoughts.

10. It is so much beyond our ways and thoughts that we think about it with a strange, contradictory set of attitudes. On the one hand, we can take it for granted as if it were, almost something to be expected. We have heard the Easter story all our lives; we know that Jesus rose from the dead.
On the other hand, though we treat it so familiarly, we do not really let the wonder of what we are celebrating sink in. There is no more amazing truth than this, yet how far does it transform our lives and our attitudes?
11. Jesus has passed beyond suffering, death and graveyards into a life which is no longer subject to death. The Lord rescued Israel from the Egyptians, but for us he has done something even more extraordinary; the Lord rescued us from death. We live with him; we live a life that death cannot touch. Death has no more power over us. Death must give way to the resurrection as it did for Jesus.

That is the Gospel, the Good News. The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia!

+Patrick O’Donoghue, Bishop of Lancaster

Pre-Vigil glimpse

I have been waiting for new sanctuary frontals for my church in Leeds - here they are: frontals for altar and lectern, and tabernacle veil. They were made up, excellently, by Ormsby of Scarisbrick.

A stunning proclamation

Visit here to read some of Cardinal O'Brien's Easter Sunday sermon.

What he says is magnificent.

Silence before the Mystery

Today, is the day which "expresses the unparralleled experience of our age, anticipating the fact that God is simply absent, that the grave hides him, that he no longer awakes, no longer speaks, so that one no longer needs to gainsay him but can simply overlook him ... " (B16) Today, Christians are silent in their recollection of the Passion of the Christ. But for our culture, today is another day without God. As B16 has indicated, today is an unparralleled day in which Christian and secular culture seem to coincide: God is dead.

As we have been entering into the Liturgical commemoration of the Passion, a strange parody of this Mystery has been made available by the secularists. BBC's "Passion" documentary drama, put together by producer Nigel Stafford-Clark and writer Frank Deasy, is the secular culture's reaction to the Gospel. Perhaps you may wish to write to the BBC and challenge it and these two men over their work, but do not forget that we live in a moronic culture in a moronic age, in which the secular media is trapped. However, the power of the Gospel remains undimmed to those who seek.

My correspondance

I recently wrote to my MP, Colin Challen, asking him to seek ammendments to the HFE Bill which would favour the dignity of the person. He replied saying:

On abortion, should any bill come to the House I will support the status quo. It is my view that the existing law provides sufficient protection for all concerned and maintains the principle that ultimately it is a woman's right to choose whether to have an abortion of not. ... On the issue relating to human tissues, and indeed inter-species embryos, I support research into the former, but am somewhat nervous about the latter. ... I do not consider an embryo in any sense can be described as a human being. I am concerned about inter-species tissue development, since I personally would prefer that experimentation on animals for human benefit were phased out as we develop better methods of addressing our own health concerns. I will not support inter-species proposals.

Actually, I wonder how prepared most of our MPs are for the kinds of decision-making that goes on now in Parliament. What kind of education did they have to form their understanding of what comprises the basic platform of human existence: human nature, ethics, society, culture, history and law. Anyway, I replied to him with the following letter:

Dear Mr Challen,
Thank you for your letter regarding the HFE Bill and for the indications which you have made to me. I am glad that you don’t want to extend the legal provision for Abortion, but I have to remind you to that it is not possible to say that the Law “provides sufficient protection for all concerned”, for Abortion, as you know, involves the killing of the pre-born child.
Later in your letter you explain that you “do not consider an embryo in any sense can be described as a human being”. This is extremely dishonest of you, since we know from science that a human life begins at fertilisation. Discussion over vocabulary and terminology such as “person” and “human being” is made at a philosophical level, whereas science has already clarified the status of the human embryo. And it is questions of science that are being put before Parliament at this time.
The reason for this Bill is because the UK wants to lead the global scientific community into the unknown. Whereas we should be refocusing our attention on adult stem cell research; not to do so will be a grave injustice to people with spinal cord injuries and other illnesses who could benefit from these technologies.
As for the “right to choose” which you speak about: freedom is not a political category but flows from the right to life. To place freedom before life actually goes against the fabric of political life and will tend to destroy it.
Sadly, I have to say, on the basis of your views, that in an Election I could not vote for you to represent me or any other human beings. Nor, on the same basis, would I recommend that anyone vote for you.

The foundations of Priestly celibacy.

St John Mary Vianney Society culture is a culture which helps priests to be born again each time they go up to the altar to celebrate Mass.

St Augustine asked: why did God not ask Mary to remain a virgin, but rather left her to make a vow of virginity? It was becuase He wanted Mary to choose this freely. Mary's virginity is the model of priestly celibacy and lies at the heart of the new creation. If we look at celibacy from a subjective or psychological perspective we fail to see its full meaning. Mary shows us what celibacy is; she shows us how a celibate person is prepared by God for ministry. Indeed, in Mary we see that celebacy is linked more deeply to the nature of the Church than is marriage.

The reason for celibacy is so that priests can love the Church as Christ loves it; and Christ's love for the Church is found in the Eucharist. This is why B16 has said so many times that the foundation of celibacy is the Eucharist. This is not a pietistical notion; the Church is called to receive the sposal love of Christ. A faithful priest is a necessity for the Church. What a priest accepts as an intimate gift to him - the love of Christ - is something that belongs to the whole Church. This is an objective thing. This is why a priest needs to be born again before he celebrates Mass, and he needs souls who will immolate themselves on his behalf! Here, both consecrated virginity and married spouses have much to offer in order to build up the priesthood.