De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

 

I've had a really busy old week this week. On Wednesday night, I was most pleased to attend the Ordination of a good friend to the Diaconate for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Bishop Alan Williams attended St. John Fisher in Southend along with Mgsr Keith Newton, the Ordinary of the Ordinariate. The atmosphere around Bishop Alan is so different to that surrounding the previous incumbent. The more I see of Bishop Alan, the more I like him. It is a man at ease in his own skin and so naturally mixes with people. Thank God for him! Mgsr Keith is also very easy to talk to and very personable. He is also someone I seem to bump into in all the best places ( see here for further details ). St. John Fisher Michael is just approaching the viva for his PhD, the thesis for which centres around an examination of the neo-platonic philosophical influences behind Tolkein's writings. He is currently head of RE at the outstanding Grammar School, Westcliff High School for Boys...

I had an amazing day last Tuesday...I bet my American readers will love this post! I was asked to go with my 10 year old son's school year group on a trip in honour of the close of The Year of Faith and the month of Holy Souls. We went on the train up to London (about 40 minutes for us) and caught the tube from Bank to Marble Arch, where we visited Tyburn Convent. This is one of those incredible places, easily missed if you didn't know it was there, yet steeped with history of a dark and bloody kind, as Tyburn Field was the site of public execution for London from 1196 to 1783.  Map showing the location of Tyburn gallows along with its immediate surroundings, from John Rocque's map of London, Westminster and Southwark (1746) Originally an Elm tree sufficed as the make-shift gallows at Tyburn, but in 1571 a more efficient structure called the "Tree" or "Triple Tree" was erected on the site. This consisted of a horizontal wooden triangle s...

Fr. Jeff Woolnough praying Holy Mass at the Church of Gethsemane I've just had a lovely surprise! My friend Fr. Jeff Woolnough, a priest of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and the priest in charge at St. Peter's Eastwood just popped in having returned from a quite spectacular trip to the Holy Land with Kimberly and Scott Hahn. Fr. Jeff with the Hahns Fr. Jeff is such a blessing to us here and so enthusiastic, it is such a great joy to know him. He has been a great encouragement and inspiration to me in respect of his incredibly courageous journey home to Rome. Now, in his own words "Becoming a Catholic has opened so many new doors and so now just humbly thanking God!" It sounds like the trip was amazing, and deeply emotional for Jeff, as he was able to do so many things he would not have been able to do before he entered fully into communion with the Church. The wonder of visiting the places we read about in the Gospels was greatly enhanced by...

Fr. Jeff Woolnough at home. A year ago, Father Jeff Woolnough and Fr. Bob White were preparing to celebrate their first Christmas at St. Peter's Catholic Church, Eastwood. They had led about 80 Anglo-Catholic parishioners from Hockley on a spiritual journey from the Church of England to become fully a part of the Church in England. This year they are in the midst of their second Advent season in full communion with the Catholic Church. There is no doubt that this journey took extraordinary courage, leaving the security of a known quantity in terms of finance, living accommodation, a place of worship, etc., and trusting entirely to God's providence, that He would look after them. For me, this is putting your money where your mouth is in an unarguable fashion. This Sunday, Fr. Jeff was interviewed on BBC Essex. I think it's well worth listening to his story, there's perspective from parishioners Pat Salmon from Hockley and Sharon O'Ryan from Eastwood as well...