De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Yesterday's Vortex was particularly excellent I thought, one of those episodes which speak directly to so much that seems so obvious about being an active Catholic today. People are utterly dismayed with the lack of Catholic in the Catholic Church. This comment probably sums it all up: Do you want to be Catholic with Max? If so, good luck with that. It's not an easy thing to do in the Catholic Church today. In fact, it can get you into quite a bit of trouble! I have spent the last year or so trying to work in service to the Church, but despite a strikingly successful track record in business and management and a degree in Catholic theology (or perhaps BECAUSE of these things) I have found myself rejected at every stage (even being appointed to a senior position in Westminster Cathedral, only to be told Cardinal Nichols wanted the appointment withdrawn a day or so before I was to start). A number of clergy have forwarded and backed me for numerous positions within th...

I'm still catching up with blogging about last week really! I feel I have to write something about the incredible event we attended as a family last Saturday, 10th October. We travelled up to London on the train and met an incredible 3,000 other Catholics at Westminster Cathedral for the Rosary Crusade of Reparation. We had no idea that there would be so many people in attendance. We walked all the way to Brompton Oratory, singing hymns and praying the Rosary with Our Lady of Fatima being carried in the lead. Is that Tom Kennedy helping to carry Our Lady? The inspiring nature of this event was made more joyful when social media allowed me to realise that many friends were also in attendance, some from my own Parish even! Other people I only see rarely at Catholic events, and some famous bloggers ( Fr. Ray Blake for example) were also in attendance! There were prayers and Benediction at Brompton Oratory at the end of our march and the Basilica was absolutely packed to...

Well, what can you say? Except thank God for Fr. Marcus Holden! This should really go around the world so that everyone knows the faith is still strong in England, thanks to priests like Fr. Marcus. Fr Marcus Holden is a priest of the Archdiocese of Southwark. He was ordained in 2005 after six years of seminary at the Venerable English College in Rome. He became parish priest of Ramsgate and Minster in 2010 after serving as assistant priest in Balham (2005-2008) and Royal Tunbridge Wells (2008-2010). He holds several academic degrees in theology including a Masters from Oxford University and a Licentiate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Among his many publications are the Evangelium Course and the Saints of the English Calendar. He is co-founder of the Evangelium Project and the British Confraternity of Catholic Clergy and regularly works with the media on behalf of the Catholic Church and in the production of documentary films on faith and religion. He is a p...

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...