The beauty of God's plan.

For the first time at the Youth 2000 Prayer Festival, one of the Masses was celebrated in the ancient Priory grounds. Twelve hundred young people walked the Holy Mile singing songs of praise to the Holy Trinity and in honour of Our Blessed Lady. This was the high point of the Festival this year; the Church on the move is a something that is both visible and attractive.

The column of young people just kept coming from the Festival site by the Slipper Chapel, following the ancient pilgrim route, some of them barefoot, as they approached the 'Holy Land of Walsingham'. The enthusiasm was tangible.

As the young pilgrims passed through the old Priory gatehouse on the High Street, to the open lawns where the original Holy House had stood, and where now an altar had been set up for this Mass, I could suddenly see how Our Lady Herself is writing the history of the New Evangelisation of this country, through these striking events at Her Shrine in Norfolk. In drawing these young people to Her simple Shrine at Walsingham, She is drawing them to Her Son, in whose gentle, but life-giving presence, we are formed into the Church.

The beauty of conversion.

At The Youth 2000 Prayer Festival in late August in Walsingham, about 1200 young people from across the country came together and spent for and a half days in the close company of the Blessed Eucharist enthroned in their midst. 

This year's Festival marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of Youth 2000. This movement, founded in England, but represented now in many countries, has held a summer Prayer Festival for young people in England since the early 1990s. In August 1999 they first set up the Festival next to the Slipper Chapel at Walsingham, and for fifteen years now they have drawn an enormous crowd of young people to engage in time of joyful encounter and growth, awakenng them to the person of Jesus and to the new life of grace which he gives. Lives are changed, light is received, purpose is engendered and vocations are born.

For the priests who come to serve the Festival it is a time of great joy as we see young people drawing life from the Saviour and becoming established in His Church. Youth 2000 was born from World Youth Day in 1989, which that year took place in Santiago de Compostella, and mirrors those prophetic events: Christ at the centre surrounded by a community of disciples. The building up of the Church in this country lies at the heart of the mission of Youth 2000. The whole event takes place under the care of Our Lady of Walsingham, to whom we entrust the Christian formation of this generation.

And of course, when you are camping out in the open fields of Norfolk there is always space for a paella!

 

A living fraternity.

At the beginning of August I was in Ars for nine days, taking part in the Summer Session of the Society of St John Vianney. This session incorporates the feast of the saint, when hundreds of priests come and join us for the solemn Mass on 4th August. The photo above shows some of us after the Mass.

The theme of our reflections this year was priestly fraternity; bringing to the fore this essential dimension of the priesthood and enabling it to be lived within the Diocesan priesthood. What a tremendous grace this Society is!

However, the Society of St John Vianney does not see priestly fraternity in the sense of a caste or privilaged status, but rather, it is the humility and weakness of the priest which is the source of our brotherhood, set in relief by the sacrament of Ordination.

When you look at St John Vianney, you know what the priesthood is. He doesn't lead to a particular priestly spirituality, and for this reason he is the model for all priests. St John Vianney was all for Christ, and so claiming him as the model is actually opening ourselves to a universal model. St John Vianney is the answer to all the critics of the priesthood over the past fifty years.

It is the missionary witness of this Society which first attracted me and drew me to become a member, for it witnesses not so much to the man who is a priest, but to the reality of priesthood itself.

Our days in Ars were divided up between celebrations, trips out and time spent together with the Lord, and in reflection. One day we even went rowing on the River Saone at Lyons. It is a mighty river and I was surprised that no one fell in. I took this photo of the river before we embarked; boats and cameras don't mix well!

Defence of the realm.

When will England be open to God's plan?

Defending itself against the truth has been been its predominant attitude for almost five hundred years. So long that you almost want to fall in line. From women bishops to guarding cyclamen against slugs, it is as though we must see ourselves, in this island, as competent in all fields, including most importantly, overriding the beauty of God's plan.

Wearing herself out across the past five centuries, and yet God's plan still shines with beauty.

Set in relief.

The New Evangelisation sets the Christian life in relief; this is becoming clear as this new era in salvation history gets underway. I became very conscious of this during Eastertide as we read the Acts of the Apostles during the Liturgy. The movement of the New Evangelisation is causing the Scriptures, the Seasons and the feasts, indeed, the Christian life itself to be set in relief.

Today's feast of St Benedict, the towering Patron of Europe, is an example of this. Monasticism, seen in the light of the identity of the Church today, was and is a gift to the Universl Church, an enabling of its mission.

Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium 262, describes "spirit-filled evangelisers" as those who "pray and work". The ora et labora of a past, golden age of evangelisation is newly seen today as the kernel of the New Evangelisation as its actually is. In the future we will look back and see the truth of the Holy Father's contemporary description of the New Evangelisation. That unity of prayer and activity, rather than mere talk (or blogging), seen again, through the prism of the New Evangeisation for its tremendous value. A Church which is unself-consciously engaged in prayer and work is a Church which will mark this age that we are living in, not through any desire to achieve self-importance, but through the transformation which grace alone acheives.

St Benedict, lead us to live under God.

Paella above Hartlington.

Just in case you were wondering what cooking a paella on the hillside above Hartlington looked like.

The other vision of reality.

Campion College Australia, where I worked for two years as its first full-time Chaplain has, this year, recorded its largest intake of new students. Forty one first year students brings the student roll to one hundred.

I applaud the College in its work; it was such an extraordinary privilege for me to have been asked to be its Chaplain. The new students, at the start of the year, were introduced to the vision of the College which is founded upon two great Englishmen: Edmund Campion and Christopher Dawson. I wonder how many people today in England would have heard of either of them.

Edmund Campion is the pearl of the English Renaissance. He lived in the 1500s, became a Jesuit priest and is now a Saint. He, better than anyone in his day, enunciated the call to live the Christian life. He was executed at Tyburn, London, on 1st December 1581.

Christopher Dawson, a Yorkshireman (1889-1970), enunciated the same vision, probably better than anyone else, in the 1950s and 1960s. While British and Western culture was going headlong into an empirical-scientific and technological vision for understanding reality, he presented anew that vision of life which is based upon Salvation History.

Salvation History is today disregarded in a peculiarly irrational way, in favour of rationalistic hypotheses about reality. However, not everyone has gone over to looking at the world according to the modern pseudo-rationalistic fashion. Although Campion College is small, its endeavour is genuine and many will, one day, come to reap the benefits of the genuine vision of human life which is being nurtured and explored by the College and its students.

When we see the difference between the two visions of reality; one perportedly scientific, the other attuned to grace, we begin to see the dire state that the Western World is in and, at the same time, the tremendous light that is being mediated by colleges such as Campion College.

I have read some of Dawson's works and I want to read more. His works are tremendously important for our age, and we should not let them be forgotten. The other day I parked up on the hillside behind Hartlington in order to make a paella, and fondly remembered him and his endeavours - which are to enable modern people to see the world as a gift from God, and its renewal through the saving work of Jesus Christ, and to take part in that great endeavour.  

Lying with a saint.

What a tremendous mystery is the Priesthood; to lie in prostration alongside the relics of a priest-saint, awaiting the imposition of hands!

Congratulations to the three men who were ordained on Saturday, the feast of St John Southworth, at Westminster. The relics of this holy martyr priest had been brought into the centre of the Cathedral for the ordination ceremony, and the Cardinal, in his sermon, linked the ordination to the priesthood of this saint. The more we draw on our martyrs, the more we are marked by the Mystery of Christ.

It was a particular joy for me to see one of the former Youth 2000 Mission Team members being clothed with the Priesthood of Jesus Christ.

A celebration of Priesthood.

Last week I took part in the Silver Jubilee celebration of Fr Stephen Langridge, the Vocations Director of the Southwark Diocese. It was a tremendous celebration of the Priesthood; a sung Mass with a great homily by Fr Alexander Sherbrooke.

Following the Mass there was a Hog Roast, outside The Vocations Centre, for the crowd of participants in the celebration.

Celebrations of the Priesthood are not that common but are very important in the Church. Not only do they mark a priest's service, but they honour God's plan for the life of the Church.
Congratulations to Fr Stephen on his 25th Anniversary!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to my 100,000th visitor, whoever you are. You should receive a New Evangelisation medal!

A House of witnesses.

Another site in the village of Chideock which should not be overlooked in Chideock House on the High Street. This house, now a B&B, is the place where the trail of Fr John Cornelius, Thomas Bosgrave, John Carey and Patrick Salmon took place. They gave their witness to Christ in this building before being taken to the gaol in Dorchester, and from there to the gallows.

The pub on the other side of the road is also worth a visit!

A household of faith

No pilgrimage to the gallows site in Dorchester is complete without also visiting the Dorset village of Chideock. Here, the Arundell family kept the Faith through the darkest part of the Penal days. The Arundell family of Cornwall became the ownners of Chideock Castle in 1479. They remained Catholic as the sixteenth century progressed. In the late 1500s Sir John Arundell was imprisoned various times for recusancy and for nurturing a household of Faith in his castle. All the martyrs who were executed at Dorchester had been a part of this centre of formation and evangelisation. The castle was destoyed folowing the Civil War. 

In 1786 the Weld family of Lulworth, also Catholics, bought the Chideock estate and, in 1872, a new Church, honouring Our Lady and the martyrs was opened just north of the village.

This exquisite church is now a beautiful place of pilgrimage, its interior adorned with images of the martyrs of both Dorset and beyond.

The site of the castle, about half a mile from this Church, and entered via Ruins Lane, is now just an open field overlookiing the village. In the 1950s a cross was erected in the centre of the castle site to honour all those who were nurtured in this former household of faith.

The course of the original moat can still be clearly picked out, but there is not one stone standing on another. It is now a very partoral scene with the field given over to ewes with their lambs. However, the site is a wonderful place to pray the Rosary and to ask for the new evangelisation of this island. With such a great cloud of witnesses as our forbears, let our endeavours not fall silent.

 

An everyday matter.

Passing along the South Walk in Dorchester one sees a group of figures whose presence and demeanour do not catch one's attention until one draws near. Suddenly the figures, which seems like a group of friends in conversation stand out from the other people on the pavement.

In fact, these are stautues cast in metal. They are set on the site of the former Gallows, which, four hundred years ago would have stood just outside the old town walls of Dorcehester. They represent the Catholic Martyrs of Dorset, six of whom were executed at this site. The statues depict two people who are facing death, and although lacking a certain comeliness, could in fact, stand for any casual group of people. Therein lies the significance, to my mind, of this memorial. For the people who were executed here for Christ, were ordinary people. What distinguishes them is that they gave public witness to the Mystery of Christ before the people of Dorchester, of Dorset, and of the whole country. This memorial is quite extraordinary, given the culture and attitude of this country today. Its human dimension together with its very public, yet urbane nature, places these martyrs right at the centre of our life and our culture. Before any religious distinctions can cloud the reality, and before any polemic can take away from the directness of their example, six men, gave public witness, before all the authorities and before all the people, to the reality of the saving Mystery of Jesus Christ. What an extraordinary sign for any town in our country to be marked with.

Blessed Thomas Pilchard, priest, hung, drawn and quartered here 21st March 1587.

Blessed William, Pike, layman, hung, drawn and quartered here in 1591.

Blessed John Cornelius, Jesuit priest, hung, drawn and quartered here 4th July 1594.

Thomas Bosgrave, layman, executed here 4th July 1594.

John Carey, layman, executed here 4th July 1594.

Patrick Salmon, layman, executed here 4th July 1594.

Hugh Green, priest, hung, drawn and quartered here 19th August 1642.

Martyrs of Dorchester, pray for us, that the witness we give may also give life to many.

The memorial stands at the south end of a road called Icen Way. This road begins at the High Street where, in former times, the gaol stood.

I took the above photo from the High Street looking down Icen Way, the lane down which the martyrs would have been dragged. The site of the gaol is now a take-away. Much of the town of Dorchester was burned down in the 1700s and therefore very few of its mediaeval buildings remain. It was in this gaol that the martyrs were held before their execution.

 

A centenary approaches.

On 28th July we will observe the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. I hope that it will be a moment when the whole world will stop again and recognise the terrible destruction that this war caused and the incalculable sacrifice which was made by so many. We should never let a single year go by without observing Remembrance Day, and more importantly, without holding up this moment of our history before the Throne of Grace.

The vaunting hopes of that age of technology, science and rationalism came to a unexpected and sudden end in the Battle of Verdun. A century of human advances, hoping for a future in which we would establish firmly the dominance of human reason and resourcefulness over shreds of all the previous attempts to build human civilisation. Such a vast hope was contained with the 1800s and so few saw its weakness - the stone rejected by the builders ... 

The tale of Nineteenth Century atheism should be told again in our day, and the way in which Christian Europe dropped the ball; yet the way in which grace was never withdrawn. This is the most important lesson that we can learn one hundrfed years on, especially at a time when our culture is turning is gaze away from the Divine Initiative and is again regarding confidently the possibilities of human resourcefulness 'set free'.

Apologies for my absence; it was not intended. A holiday, a busy time in the parish and dose of flu are bound to upset regular posting. I do intend to maintain this Blog and will do my best to keep it up.

Roaring like a lion.

Yesterday evening I went with a group of young people to see the film "God's not dead". I really enjoyed this new Christian film. Yes, it is quite American and somewhat implausible in parts. For instance, it is hard to imagine a first-year university student being able to have such a command of the contemporary debate about science and faith in the way that the film portrays. Yet, it was very refreshing to see faith in Jesus Christ so explicitly referenced on the big screen, and to hear grace being referenced in ordinary conversation. We long to hear people speak about grace and the work of God in normal life, yet it hardly ever happens, in my experience. Instead, we confine ourselves to more hollow subjects.

I also applaud the film for the way in which it "took the lid off" the reality of the Christian presence in our society, a presence which, today, tends go unspoken and unexpressed. In spite of this, the whole of life is lived at the interface of grace, and this film went some way to show this and, hopefully, to inspire a more normal public expression of faith in Jesus Christ.
What is of particular note in the film is the way in which masculinity is portrayed. In our era, in which there is a crisis of masculinity, "God's not dead" really does set masculinity in relief. The main character in the film, the young man, played by Shane Harper, expresses the basic identity of masculinity: leadership, service, strength of character and, above all, responsibility for the Gospel. Responsibility for the Gospel is the foundational task which all men have, a role which goes to the heart of today's crisis and one which the film nurtures and expresses quite well.

Christian films are few and far between; this film is a worthy addition and, I think, has been made with both self-confidence and the Gospel as its blueprint. "God's not dead … He's roaring like a lion!" I hope that we will get more and better Christian films as our era progresses.

The whole world is waiting.

The whole world is waiting to celebrate the victory of Jesus Christ. There is a strange expectancy in the Church. After the long Lenten fast and the impacting events of Holy Week, I wonder if we don't all feel as did the first Apostles in the Upper Room, or the souls who had waited for so long in the place of death.

Yet today there is a new ingredient in our pause before Easter; today the Novena seeking the intercession of Blessed John Paul II begins. This Novena will end the day that he is made a saint - 27th April.

Amongst the many needs that we can place before him are surely the ending of contraceptive mentality and practice, and the ending of abortion; these two have brought our civilisation to its knees. The power of this great advocate of grace when he was among us, tells us how powerful must be his prayers now that he is in his Father's House.

I have placed the Novena prayers on my parish website: takenupingrace.wordpress.com

Post mission rewind.

Although this photo was taken last year at the shrine of St Thomas More in St Dunstan's church, Canterbury, and shows the Southwark Mission Team (including a couple of others) at the very start of their life together, I am still reeling from the impact of their missionary endeavour in my parish these last nine days.

I am extremely grateful to Fr Stephen, and to Michael, Anthony, Will, John and Tony for the considerable work that they undertook in giving a parish mission in Ossett and Horbury. The mission was entitled, "Heart speaks to heart, an introduction to living Christianity today". They achieved that very purpose, leading the parish through the basics of the Christian life, bringing people together to live that very vision, and bringing both newcomers and those who have not been a part of this life for some time, to practice the faith with a new openness.

I was sorry to see them leave on Palm Sunday as I would have liked them to stay and consolidate their work for at least another two months! This is a mission which will not be forgotten for many years to come, as a new foundation stone has been given to this parish. It was fashioned for us by the Lord and worked by these men. Pray the Lord of the harvest that he would send workers into his fields … The Southwark Mission Team have been fashioned by prayer and faith-filled hope. May they all go from strength to strength.

Awaiting a mission.

Later today, Fr Stephen Langridge and the members of The Vocations Centre mission team will arrive in St Ignatius' parish, Ossett. Here in the parish we have been looking forward to, and preparing for, this parish mission which they will lead. The mission, which we have called Heart speaks to heart, lasts for eight days during which time we hope that there will be an opportunity both for those of there household of faith, and those not already of this household, but who are attracted by the mission events, to have some contact with this team.

The mission team will be leading events each day in the parish, and you can find fuller details on my parish website: www.takenupingrace.wordpress.com.

Acknowledgements to The Vocations Centre for the above photo, which shows some of the team preparing a car for the journey from Kent to Yorkshire.

The Pearl of York.

It was a great joy, last Saturday, to take part in the annual St Margaret Clitherow Pilgrimage in York. In the photo above the procession is just setting off from St Wilfred's to move through the city.

Fr Richard Duffield preached a great sermon during the Mass, speaking of how she died to protect people such as ourselves, and that, although we come on pilgrimage to honour her, we come firstly to seek her prayers.

We stopped briefly to pray outside her shrine in The Shambles before moving on to the site of her execution on the Ouse Bridge.

This year's pilgrimage was marked by the welcome we received by the Oratorian Fathers who now run the city parish of St Wilfred's; may their life and apostolate be a beneficiary of the powerful intercession of the Pearl of York.

Soldier to Saint.

Yesterday evening I went to see the Leeds performance of Rise Theatre's production of Soldier to Saint. The play is set in 2020 and is based upon what we know of the life of St Alban. Alban was martyred in the year 140 just outside the Roman town of Verulamium for sheltering a priest.

The Rise Theatre production captured the very heart of the drama in which St Alban was entangled: loyalty to Christ in the face of the prevailing culture. The Rise Theatre group portrayed this drama without any dumming down, and showed the human context within which the Christian personality is formed and established. It was a tremendous portrayal by this company of three.

If you are able to see any of their performances in other cities in the land I warmly recommend this play and this performing company to you. As someone who comes from St Albans, I was very pleased to see, for the first time, a dramatisation of the life of this saint, our protomartyr. For more info. visit www.risetheatre.co.uk 

St John Vianney and Confession.

St John Vianney sometimes delayed giving absolution to a penitent, asking that he or she remain some days in his village after which he would give the absolution. He did this not to hold control over the person, but so that the person's heart could grow during those days and so be more able to receive the grace of mercy which God desired for that person. This is one of the ways in which St John Vianney insisted on the goodness of God; that human nature, not God, is called to change, precisely because God is all good at all times.

So often we can respond to our own sinfulness by a feeling of unworthiness, an attitude which closes us off somewhat from the goodness of God. In fact, because God is overwhelming in his mercy to us, my attitude should really be to seek to make reparation to his tremendous love for me.

St John Vianney's own life had been turned upside down, and then modelled upon God's mercy, so that he, as a priest, became a conduit of divine mercy to others. God's mercy is the focus and centre of human life and it is the Confessional that enables all of us to be established upon this true foundation. 

Theology of the Body for men.

Tomorrow, Wednesday 19th March, following the 7pm Mass of the Solemnity of St Joseph, I am giving a session on what the Theology of the Body says about masculinity. This will take place in the Upper Room at St Ignatius' Church, Ossett, WF5 0DQ. at about 7.40pm. For men only.

Insisting on the goodness of God.

St John Vianney's kitchen in his presbytery in Ars is a great sight for any pilgrim to the Cure's village. Here he was sustained in his apostolic mission to his parish. Nonetheless, being faithful to Christ made him a contradiction to the world. His attitude to life - that his life and ministry were united in the Heart of Jesus meant that, in spite of being  aware of his own fragility, he endeavoured never to be discourages by that same fragility - he insisted on the goodness of God.

There is much in the life of the world and in our own lives that seems to say that Jesus is not the Lord of history, yet every baptised person, and especially every priest, is the first beneficiary of the love of Jesus.

The image of the Cure's kitchen, which is, in a sense, a Lenten image, expresses a tremendous spiritual truth - one which St John Vianney lived so manifestly: yes, we are fragile and sinful, but these are the very things to offer to God because God is wholly good, and we should rely on Him for everything, rather than relying on ourselves.

St John Vianney suffered for insisting on the goodness of God, yet he was free for God's love.

St John Vianney is a great mentor for our Lenten journey, for there is so much today that leads us either into self-reliance or into a hopeless defeatism. No, what will really help us is a personal experience of the love of Christ, and it that which we should stake all on.

New website.

Yesterday we launched a new website in my parish, St Igantius' in Ossett and Horbury. We offer this site to Christ for His mission in and through the parish. The site is in the form of a Blog; it's early days yet, but we hope that the site will develop and become a platform for the new evangelisation in this area. Visit takenupingrace.

TOB Intro.

This Wednesday, 12th April, I am giving the first of three presentations of the Theology of the Body in the parish centre. It begins at 7.30pm and will last for about 45 mins. This session will introduce John Paul II's great vision of human personhood. All are welcome to St ignatius' parish for this evening event; WF5 0DQ.

His desire to strengthen.

In my new parish I am about to begin, for the first time here, a time of catechesis for the sacrament of Confirmation. I have been looking at some resources which have been made by another priest of the Leeds Diocese, and have been struck by the beauty of this sacrament.

Confirmation represents the desire of Christ Jesus himself to give this anointing in addition to the grace of Baptism. Christ desires that his followers should have the fullness of the gift of his life.

So, as Confirmation builds upon the grace of Baptism, we can see what the nature of this sacrament is: it is the fullness of the gift of the Holy Spirit for taking one's place within the Church, that is, being able to use one's life for God. And it is the fullness of the gift of the Holy Spirit for evangelisation, that is, for being able to bring new life into the Church.

In a sense, the sacrament of Confirmation represents a new evangelisation of the person being confirmed, and a new awareness within the Church of Christ's desire to transform the reality of human life by letting it come into contact with, and share in, his glorified humanity.

Memories of Buckfast.

The South Devon Abbey built upon the foundations of its mediaeval Cistercian predecessor and modelled on the architecture of the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds, is emerging into the New Evangelisation under the leadership of its Abbot.

I have very happy memories of Buckfast Abbey from my five, week-long, visits there in the 1980s. In beginning to discern a vocation, I stayed in the guest house of the Abbey in 1980 and immediately fell in love with it - I was completely entranced by the place. I returned the following year and stayed for the whole of Holy Week, taking part in the beautiful Easter Liturgies. These years were tremendously formative of my vocation, which I came to realise lay not in a monastic community but in priestly life and apostolate. I am grateful to the monks who I got to know during those visits and who spent time conversing with me, Abbot Placid, Dom Joseph, Dom Sebastian, Dom Stephen, Dom Francis. I returned twice more as a seminarian and again as a newly ordained priest.

My last visit was a flying one: having arrived back from Spain in the year 2000 after my two years of study in Valencia, disembarking from the ferry in Plymouth, I drove straight to Buckfast to pray in the Abbey Church at the shrine of Our Lady of Buckfast, and to give thanks for my newly achieved Licentiate and my safe return.

May Our Lady of Buckfast be a great light to the newly developing apostolate of the School of the Annunciation: may many new-comers be formed by the grace of this beautiful Abbey and its school, and may the Benedictine community receive new vocations, nurtured by Her hand.

A new initiative in south Devon.

Buckfast Abbey is inaugurating a new School of the New Evangelisation: the School of the Annunciation. Check out this new foundation on their website.

The touch of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Father's address to the Congregation for Bishops feels like a grace of the Holy Spirit. Cardinal Pell said at the outset that the Cardinals had chosen a good candidate for Pope; a great grace to the Church will flow from this address.

The annual St Margaret Clitherow Pilgrimage, York.

This year's Pilgrimage to honour the 'Pearl of York', St Margaret Clitherow, takes place on Saturday 29th March 2014. The Pilgrimage begins with Holy Mass at 1.30pm in St Wilfred's Church, by the Minster, and is followed by a procession through the city, passing by the shrine in The Shambles, and returning to St Wilfred's Church for Benediction.

The above photo shows nos 10 and 11 in The Shambles, the shops which have been identified as the actual butcher's shop owed by Margaret's husband. The shrine is opposite these shops.

What is the New Evangelisation?

How are we to understand this expression which is being used so much today. A talk given by Fr Richard Aladics on Wednesday 26th February at 7.30pm in St Ignatius Parish Centre, Ossett, WF5 0DQ. All welcome.

What has happened to love in Europe?

The heart of Christian morality is Christ himself: love me and you will keep the commandments. If we find that we are not living any one of the commandments, for instance, "You shall not kill", then we need to go back to Christ and see how we can live Him more perfectly.

Choose life, choose love.

AWOL

Apologies for the silence from this Blog over the last couple of weeks. Yes, I have been busy, but on top of that my mother has been very poorly and my time has been much divided between work and visits to attend to her. As a consequence the Blog has suffered; I hope to resume posting in due course.

EG, Chapter 5.

Since 1975 the renewal of the Church on the basis of a new evangelisation has been led by the Popes. A desire for renewal in the Church (in the UK and Europe) has not been particularly evident at all during this time. That part of the Church which has so far best responded to the papal initiatives has been the new ecclesial movements.

On the other hand, we have experienced a call for reform in the Church in recent decades, a movement led by some bishops, priests, religious and lay people, a reform which has desired a secularisation of the Church and her accommodation to the world. This movement, although false in its vision, is still apparent forty years on, and has led sectors of the Church into a self-referential, neo-pelagian, cul-de-sac.

The call to a new evangelisation then, on the part of four successive Popes is not without precedent. The Catholic Reformation required at least half a century of Papal enablement just to begin to turn the Church's vision to her goal during that era. 

A growing desire for the Church of the New Evangelisation, by a large part of the baptised in the UK and Europe, is itself an essential element of what presently constitutes the New Evangelisation. The message of Pope Francis in this Exhortation is an important part of the nurturing of this desire.

In my opinion, Chapter 5 is the most important part of the Letter. In paragraph 262 he points to the heart of the New Evangelisation as it currently is: it is prayer and work. What shape the New Evangelisation will have is not yet clear, but it will have at its foundation prayer and work. In the past we have seen monastic and missionary responses from the Church. Today, the response is by a renewal of prayer and work in parishes.

Again, the Holy Father states that the New Evangelisation is not a set of tasks to be carried out, but is the soul of the Church who is called to proclaim the Gospel.

The call of the New Evangelisation is a call to change hearts: we must look beyond our own proposals to the Gospel itself. In order to do this we need a 'new interior space'. And that also we cannot let the prevailing culture set the agenda or the tone for the Church.

Paragraphs 264 - 274 express the concrete reality of evangelisation and time should be given to reading and reflecting on this part.

Then in paragraphs 275 - 280 the Holy Father proposes certain criteria by which, as  baptised people, we can genuinely evaluate our attitude.

The Pope then emphasises the place of prayer of intercession and thanksgiving at the centre of the Church today.

Finally, he speaks very beautifully about the Mother of the New Evangelisation, how we need her, how she is our model. The prayer which ends the Exhortation seeks to bring the soul of the Church together with her soul that they might resonate in unison.

The New Evangelisation is the character and ethos of the Church; may we all be formed by the Church, becoming Spirit-filled evangelisers.     

EG, Chapter 4.

If Pope Francis is turning the Church from being self-referential towards a new engagement with her objective mission, then Chapter 4 of the new Letter does this with broad brush strokes. He sets the New Evangelisation in relief by the way he refers to the poor of the world and the common good. The social dimension of evangelisation is not an 'add on', but is integral to the Gospel.

Just as we can't speak of personal morality apart from social morality, or the Spiritual life apart from the moral life, or doctrine apart from Scripture or Liturgy, so "to evangelise is to make the Kingdom of God present in our world." Indeed, what will generate new convictions about the need to address all forms of social disfuntionality in our world, if not the Gospel!

So, we can see our mission in a limited way by trying to make converts, when at root what we are actually called to do is to witness to our faith.

Or, we can see our mission as evangelism - a 'one off' announcement of the Gospel, when in fact we are called to communicate Christ at all times and in any way.

Or, we can see our mission as trying to fit into the surrounding culture in a syncretistic way, when in fact we are called to dialogue with the culture from the very ground of truth itself. 

No, evangelisation is not an element of the Christian life, but is our primary focus.

(In paragraph 254 in this chapter the Holy Father quotes the Enchiridion Vaticanum. For my part, I don't understand why he put this quote here and would like to see it qualified further.) 

1962 Missal.

Just a note to say that I will be celebrating Holy Mass tomorrow, Monday 27th January at 7.30pm, according to the 1962 Missal. St Ignatius' in Ossett. WF5 0DQ.

EG, Chapter 3.

How does one go about renewing the Church on the foundation of mission? How does one go about renewing the Church in a self-referencial age, an age whose vision is filled with what I like, what I think, what I want? The Holy Father is doing it by gently setting the tone himself.

In Chapter 3 of his Letter he looks at the ways in which the Church evangelises, reminding and suggesting these timeless ways in which we set out to communicate Christ.

In the first part of the chapter he speaks about four ways of evangelisation: through popular devotions, by person to person, through the charisms, and by bringing faith and culture together. There is no doubt that groups and communities will benefit by a reflective reading of what the Pope says here.

He then goes on to speak about preaching in the Liturgy. Following on from Benedict XVI, Francis' teaching on this subject is most welcome. Indeed, a renewed understanding of preaching and the formation of the preacher is taking place in the Church. I am happy to say that this was also the case in the Seminary of the Good Shepherd during my time on the staff. The Holy Father's emphasis in this section is that the preacher should be more concerned to warm hearts than to tickle the imagination.

In the next section the Holy Father speaks about the importance of the kerygma - initial proclamation - and a full catechesis, together with a concern for the 'way of beauty' - opening the person to the beauty of following Christ. Finally he speaks about the art of accompaniment - the way in which we accompany people into the mystery of Christ. Evangelisation is not about buying someone a train ticket and telling them when to get off, but is about going with someone on a journey.
And, as the Holy Father says at the beginning of this chapter, this is the task which belongs to every baptised person.

  

EG, Chapter 2.

In my reading of Evangelii Gaudium, Chapter 2 is the most challenging part for here the Holy Father sits us, as it were, before a mirror, and asks us to honestly critique ourselves. The basis focus of this Chapter is an openness to the Church's reluctance to engage in evangelisation.

The Pope's starting point is Ignatian discernment, which he here uses on behalf of the Church Universal. It is not an easy read. He speaks openly about the many 'reasons' why Catholics find the call to evangelisation a great challenge.

He begins by speaking about the economic situation in the world, a situation which must change in favour of the poor by allowing wealth to "trickle down" through the culture motivated by ethics, and an ethics which is itself inspired by the Gospel.

Then, venturing into the territory of the Church he speaks about how a process of secularisation has entered into the Church, turning our focus away from Christ and onto self, and of how culture itself now inhibits our evangelising fervour. He then lists the ways in which Catholics respond inadequately to the call to evangelise: through retreating into piety, through retreating from modern culture and the culture of the modern city, through retreating into life-styles which conceal our Christian identity, through embracing the tomb-psychology of the "grey pragmatism of the daily life of the Church", and through an attitude of defeatism; all of which lead to pastoral inertia. 

The last paragraphs of this Chapter are perhaps the most difficult of all, for they call each one of us to a prayerful conversion to Christ, and to an honest discernment of the temptations by which I have accepted a distortion of the Gospel, so that I can become newly aware of how God is calling me to live and respond now. For indeed we are called to evangelical fervour.

EG, Section 1.

If we are looking for the Holy Father to give some defined structure to the New Evangelisation in his new Exhortation, we will not find it presented in a systematic way. In Section One of the Letter, Pope Francis does not give us a rationale for the New Evangelisation - this was given by Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI - but rather, he seeks to change the attitude of the Church; that with a changed attitude, one 'sees' the New Evangelisation and the need for it. (Changing attitudes is, as we know from our own lives, generally a slow process!)

However, I am very much moved by Section 1 of this Letter as the Holy Father speaks of the New Evangelisation as a new era of the Church in which she turns from being a Church of maintenance to being a Church of Mission. The Holy Father does give a concise definition of evangelisation, one which is worth using since the very word 'evangelisation' can put some people off. He calls it simply, "communicating Jesus Christ." 

Important elements in the guiding pastoral hand of the Pope are:

Paragraph 21: that "each Christian and community must discern the path which the Lord points out." It is the Lord's vineyard, not ours, so we have got to listen to Him.

Paragraph 23: "Communion and mission are profoundly interconnected." Indeed, these two words describe the Church.

Paragraph 24: "An evangelising community gets involved by word and deed in people's lives", even to taking on "the smell of the sheep." Self-referenciality is already dead in the water!

Paragraph 25: "Mere administration cannot be enough; let us be permanently in a state of mission." Aren't these words of the Pope wonderful!

Paragraph 27: "I dream of a … missionary impulse capable of transforming everything (about the Church) for the evangelisation of today's world rather than her self-preservation." In this part the Holy Father alludes to the need to reform structures in the Church, but we are at the very beginning of the NE and how the Church will look in the future is not clear to anyone yet.

Paragraph 28: The parish must become "nearer to people … environments for living communion and participation, and completely mission-oriented." These are words that just won't go away. We may wriggle and squirm, but the Pope has said it.

Paragraph 33: "Pastoral ministry in a missionary key … seeks to abandon the complacent attitude that says: "We have always done it this way."' And then, perhaps most importantly the Pope says, "The important thing is not to walk alone." Priests, for one, cannot manage alone in the New Evangelisation.

Paragraph 45 is very beautiful with the Holy Father describing the Christian life from the perspective of a missionary heart. This is a paragraph which we should each take into Adoration.

I'll post on Section Two next.

Francis and the New Evangelisation.

The new Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, coming to us only eight months after Francis' Papal election, suggests that the Holy Father's overriding intention for the Church is to enable the Church of the New Evangelisation; to enable the Church to see the New Evangelisation not as another task to be undertaken, but rather to see the New Evangelisation as her primary focus.

I have read the document over Christmastide, and then spent the first two days of the New Year with four other priests and a seminarian, discussing the Letter section by section. There is a lot of content in the Letter and I will need to read it again as a whole, and in its parts. The Letter proposes the vision of the New Evangelisation for the whole Church and, my hope is that the Church will be ready now to respond. I will make some preliminary remarks in this post before returning to post on each section in greater depth.

Although the Holy Father says in paragraph 16 that he is taking up the request of the Fathers of the 2011 Synod to write the Post-Synodal Letter, he also says that he wishes to express his own concerns about the New Evangelisation. It is not clear where the former ends and the latter continues!

Evangelii Gaudium is a visionary document; it builds upon the vision of the New Evangelisation which was given first by Paul VI and then by John Paul II and Benedict XVI. In many ways, Evangelii Gaudium is a response to Evangelii Nuntiandi of Paul VI. But, whereas Paul VI's Letter went somewhat unheeded, it is hard to see how this new Letter could be side-lined at all.

John Paul II, in his Encyclical Redemptionis Missio, called the whole Church to devote her energies to a new evangelisation. Francis' Letter concretely inculcates the Whole Church in this mission.

Bendict XVI repeatedly pointed us to our encounter with Christ and the relationship which is formed in that encounter. Francis' teaching plunges us into friendship with Christ as the very hinge of whole mystery of the Church.

The vision of both John Paul II and Benedict XVI is unwrapped and exposed by Francis to enable a greater participation.

The overall style of the Letter is one which seeks to be attitude-changing. This is not a dogmatic or disciplinary Letter, but rather one which seeks to inculcate a vision by changing the attitude of individuals, communities and the whole Church. I can't see anyone remaining unchallenged, in some way, by what the Holy Father says to us in this Letter. 

The New Evangelisation burst unexpectedly on the scene in 1975 and, during the Pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, sectors of the Church began to respond and to engage in it. Francis now seeks to plant the whole Church Universal in the New Evangelisation, and the renewal that this will cause will be very great and very beautiful indeed.

A fresh start.

On this first day of the New Year I am looking forward to our Winter fraternity session of the SJMV, and to meeting with other priests and seminarians later today. We are going to spend the next couple of days, until Friday afternoon, in priestly fraternity. We will also be opening up together the Holy Father's Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. I particularly look forward to this. I have read the whole letter and find it to be the fullest call, and  description of the New Evangelisation, which we have yet received. It is rooted in, and builds organically from the first announcement of the New Evangelisation which Paul VI made in 1975, and upon the vision of the New Evangelisation which John Paul II and Benedict XVI gave us. We have received decades of preparation for, and tilling the ground in order to prepare us to be the Church of the new evangelisation. My hope is that this call will find the Church more ready to respond.

Its final and very beautiful paragraphs are focussed on Our Lady; the Holy Father tells us that without her we can't understand the New Evangelisation.

I hope to post more fully on the Exhortation soon - I didn't want to preempt the priestly endeavour which I will be taking part in over the next two days.