Ecumenical Fruits

Good news about the SSPX excommunications being remitted at the end of Christian Unity Week. There is still a long way to go and I'm sure that members of the Society will be divided over the path that lies ahead. As it happens, I spotted the cassocked figure of Bishop Fellay in the newsagents at Fiumicino airport on Monday as I was waiting for the plane (and struggling to carry the bottles of digestivi I had just bought from 'duty free'), so I thought something might be in the air!

Let us continue to pray for the unity of the Church.

A Defender of the Faith - RIP

Fr Tim has noted on his blog the sad news of the death, at the age of 75, of David Foster, a tireless champion and teacher of the Faith. I feel I should pay tribute to him here. I counted him as a friend and when we met I was never aware of the age gap between us. He was young at heart and wore his learning lightly; despite having quite firm views about the Church and the world, he never rammed them down your throat and loved to expand his knowledge. He had a great love for Chesterton and Belloc (sharing their appreciation of good old English pubs) and passionately followed cricket and Burnley FC (he had offered to take me to a match, which I regret not taking up).

I first met David in 1992, when I attended the 'International Summer School for Catholic Youth' that he founded. This was (and is) held each July and comprised a series of lessons and talks on a wide range of subjects, everything from Thomistic theology to music, from literature to Greek, all taught from the perspective of a 'Catholic world view.' When I first went along at the age of 16 I wondered whether I would really enjoy it but I returned the subsequent two years and made many friends. David's vision was a key influence in rekindling my interest in the Church - as a result my faith was strengthened and, with it, my sense of a priestly vocation. There were about 30 or 40 students 'in my day' and out of these two became secular priests and one a Dominican nun in Australia. I owe David a lot and feel very privileged to have been asked to be the chief celebrant at his funeral on 13 January (Brentwood Cathedral, 1pm).

Credit Crunch

Since everyone is currently talking about politics, especially in the wake of the American election, here is Chicago's Fr Robert Barron on the current financial crisis:

Another English Grand Master!

Good news from the Order of Malta today:

Frà Matthew Festing, 59, an Englishman, becomes the 79th Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, elected this morning by the Council Complete of State (the Order’s electoral body). In accepting the role, the new Grand Master swore his Oath before the Cardinal Patronus of the Order, Cardinal Pio Laghi, and the electoral body. He succeeds Fra’Andrew Bertie, 78th Grand Master (1988-2008), who died on 7 February.

The new Grand Master affirms his resolve to continue the great work carried out by his predecessor. Fra’ Matthew comes with a wide range of experience in Order affairs. He has been the Grand Prior of England since the Priory’s re-establishment in 1993, restored after an abeyance of 450 years. In this capacity, he has led missions of humanitarian aid to Lebanon and Kosovo after the recent disturbances in those countries, and with a large delegation from Britain he attends the Order’s annual pilgrimage to Lourdes with handicapped pilgrims.

Educated at Ampleforth and Trinity College Cambridge, where he read history, Frà Matthew, an art expert, has for most of his professional life worked at an international art auction house. As a child he lived in Malta and Singapore, where his father, Field Marshal Sir Francis Festing, Chief of the Defence Staff, had earlier postings. His mother was a member of the recusant Riddells of Swinburne Castle who suffered for their faith in penal times. He is also descended from Sir Adrian Fortescue, a knight of Malta, who was martyred in 1539.

Frà Matthew served in the Grenadier Guards and holds the rank of colonel in the Territorial Army. He was appointed OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by the Queen and has served as her Deputy Lieutenant in the county of Northumberland for a number of years.

In 1977 Frà Matthew became a member of the Order of Malta, taking solemn religious vows in 1991. As well as his passion for the decorative arts and for history, for which his encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of the Order is legendary, as is his very British sense of humour, Frà Matthew spends any free time possible in his beloved Northumberland countryside.

Death of the Grand Master

Of your charity

please pray for the repose of the soul of

His Most Eminent Highness

Fra' Andrew Bertie

Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

who died last night in Rome

fortified by the Rites of Holy Mother Church.

+ + +

Fra' Andrew Bertie, a distant relative of the Queen, was the 78th and first British Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order. He was an alumnus of Christ Church, Oxford and formerly an officer with the Scots Guards and a teacher at Worth Abbey School. RIP.

Britain - a Catholic Country?

The headline in the Sunday Telegraph would have pleased the likes of Cardinal Wiseman and Pugin: Britain has become a 'Catholic country.' Apparently. This is more to do with the decline of the Anglican Communion and the number of Catholic immigrants than any deeper conversion of the national psyche.

A survey of 37,000 churches, to be published in the new year, shows the number of people going to Sunday Mass in England last year averaged 861,000, compared with 852,000 Anglicans ­worshipping.It is part of the changing face of churchgoing across Britain in the 21st century which has also seen a boom in the growth of Pentecostal churches, which have surpassed the Methodist Church as the country's third largest Christian denomination. Worshipping habits have changed dramatically with a significant rise in attendance at mid-week services and at special occasions - the Church of England expects three million people to go to a parish church over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In an attempt to combat the declining interest in traditional religion, the Anglican Church has launched radical new forms of evangelism that include nightclub chaplains, a floating church on a barge and internet congregations.

Bishop Hollis told the Sunday Telegraph: 'we don't want to be seen to be scoring points over the Anglican Church as we are in no way jealous of its position as the national church, but of course these figures are encouraging. It shows that the Church is no longer seen as on the fringes of society, but in fact is now at the heart of British life.'

Of course, post-Blairite Britain shows few other signs of being 'Catholic', especially with the high abortion rate, recent laws permitting same sex partnerships and euthanasia by neglect, and the secular, politically correct Big Brother nature of government. Reports such as these show the positive aspects of Tony Blair's 'conversion.' This is a great opportunity for the Church, as people will undoubtedly be curious about the 'Catholic thing.' It would be a pity if all they saw in the Catholic response was condemnation and negativity.

Blair Becomes a Catholic

So Tony Blair was received into the Church last night at Archbishop's House, Ambrosden Avenue. He had, according to reports, been receiving instruction in recent months from an RAF Chaplain (Fr John Walsh) and the Cardinal's Private Secretary (Mgr Mark O'Toole).

Whatever our opinion on Blair's decade as PM or our reservations on the timing of his conversion (why now and not when he was in the office?), this is good news - because it's always good news when someone follows the call of God and come to the fullness of faith. In the words of the Church's current Advent 'campaign' in this country, Blair has 'come home for Christmas.'

It would be un-Christian to assume, at this stage and without any real evidence, that his conversion was insincere. After all, in the short service presided over by the Cardinal last night, Blair would have solemnly declared, after reciting the creed: 'I believe and profess all that the Holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God.'

We trust that Blair will be able to clarify where he now stands on moral issues such as abortion, on which he had such a poor voting record in his pre-Catholic days. SPUC has referred to him as 'one of the world's most significant architects of the culture of death - promoting abortion, experiments on human embryos, including on cloned human embryos, and euthanasia by neglect.' Following last night's Reception into the Church, we should presume his sincerity and repentance for past sins and hope for a new beginning.

Blair's conversion is, indeed, historic and constitutes the most high-profile recent conversion in this country outside of the Royal Family. He will now be in a unique position to live out the lay apostolate and bear witness to his Catholic faith through his words and actions.

As a friend of mine put it in an e-mail: 'it's got to be good news. Mr Blair, make it so.' In the meantime, we can join the Cardinal in saying that our 'prayers are with him, his wife and family at this joyful moment in their journey of faith together.'

Papal Image Change?

The BBC is currently running an irritating story about Zeffirelli's recent suggestion that Pope Benedict needs a makeover of his 'cold' image and 'showy' clothes. When people talk about the Holy Father's 'showy lifestyle' I really don't know what they mean - just because he has restored some of the traditional parts of his wardrobe (most of which were worn by the 'great reformers' Bl John XXIII and Paul VI) and occasionally wears trendy sunglasses (which were probably a gift) apparently makes him extravagant and out-of-touch. Surely a plain white cassock, worn day-in, day-out, is the height of simplicity, especially when compared with other world leaders?

An image change would be confusing, unnecessary and potentially disastrous. Paul VI apparently considered replacing the white cassock with a 1970s-style all-white suit. He had one made and realised how ridiculous it would look. Deo gratias!

Anyway, shouldn't we be pleased that a twenty-first century Pope is willing to engage in a spot of recycling when it comes to personal attire (such as Bl Pius IX's mitre, which was worn at the recent consistory)?

Readers are encouraged to post a comment on the BBC website.

A Champion of the Faith - RIP

I was very saddened to hear of the death, today, of a great English champion of the faith - Denis Riches, the Founder of Family Publications and the husband of family and pro-life campaigner,Valerie Riches. He had been battling cancer since August 2005. On 6 October this year he and Valerie were invested as a Knight and Dame of the Order of St Gregory (see picture), in recognition of their great work, and they also recently published their autobiography, Built on Love.

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As someone who has been involved with several of his publishing projects, I met Denis on numerous occasions and always benefitted from his wisdom and enthusiasm. He was a true Christian gentleman. Say a prayer for the repose of his soul and the solace of his family, who can be sure that his legacy will continue for many years in Family Publications.

Requiescat in pace.

The Last Acceptable Prejudice

In an age when political correctness is enforced by a bewildering list of new laws, it has become blatantly clear once again that anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice in this country. It seems absurd that same sex couples can have the same rights as married couples and that unmarried couples who have been together for over two years may soon be able to go through a sort of 'divorce' if they split up and yet Catholicism still remains an impediment to the Royal Succession.

Peter Philips, the Queen's oldest grandson and tenth in line to the throne, has announced his engagement to a Canadian Catholic called Autumn Kelly - not the most Catholic of baptismal names, perhaps, but Mrs Kelly has said that her daughter's proud to be Catholic and therefore unlikely to change her Faith. Hence Mr Philips (who has no royal title) may be required to renounce his right to the throne due to the 1701 Act of Succession.

Of course, Mr Philips is not the first modern royal to be affected by this law - Prince Michael of Kent renounced his right to succession on marrying the Catholic Marie-Christine Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz, as did two children of the Duke and Duchess of Kent: the Lord St Albans (when he married a Catholic, Sylvana Palma Tomaselli) and Lord Nicholas Windsor (after his 2001 conversion).

Some readers might think this a techinicality but it reminds us that Catholicism is the only religion explicitly discriminated against in UK law. Both the Cardinals of Westminster and St Andrews and Edinburgh have repeatedly criticised the lingering constitutional anti-Catholicism, and the convert MP John Gummer has said: 'it is inhuman in the 21st century for anyone to demand this'. Whether or not Gordon Brown agrees, time will tell.

Blair in Rome

Some interesting photos of Tony Blair at the English College, Rome on Hermeneutic of Continuity. It's strange to see the PM in the refectory where I ate for four years! Apparently it was a free weekend, which explains the otherwise suspicious absence of seminarians.

Whatever one thinks of Blair or his links to the Church (in spite of his poor voting record on moral issues), his visit was historically unprecedented.The young Gladstone visited in 1838 together, if I remember rightly, with the future Cardinal Manning, but Blair is the first serving PM to visit our national College in the Caput Mundi. Moreover, it is interesting that Blair chose the Vatican as the last stop of his farewell tour and gave the Holy Father, as a parting present, three period photos of Newman (a beatus-to-be?).

Perhaps the announcement expected on Blair's departure this Wednesday will reveal what he was up to.

A Modern Martyr

It was sad to read of last Sunday's murder of Fr Ragheed Aziz Ganni, a 35 year-old Chaldean priest, and three deacons as they were driving away after Mass in Mosul. A friend e-mailed to say that he was a student at the Irish College during my time in Rome, but the name didn't ring any bells.

However, when I saw his picture on the front page of this week's Catholic Herald, I recognised him from my six month stay at the Irish College in 2000-01 (when the Venerable English College was closed due to Legionnaire's Disease). Though I didn't know him well, I remember he always wore a clerical shirt and that he was proud of belonging to the Patriarchate of Babylon!

At his Ordination in October 2001, Fr Ragheed predicted that he wouldn't live more than two years as a priest. According to Asia News:

The target of a series of threats stretching back to 2004, he witnessed the pain of relatives and the loss of friends, and yet he carried on to the very end remembering that there was a sense to be found in that suffering, that carnage, that anarchy of violence: it was to be offered up. After an attack on his parish, on Palm Sunday last April 1st he said: “We empathise with Christ who entered Jerusalem in full knowledge that the consequence of His love for mankind was the cross. Thus while bullets smashed our Church windows, we offered up our sufferance as a sign of love for Christ”. “Each day we wait for the decisive attack – he said just weeks ago – but we will not stop celebrating mass; we will do it underground, where we are safer. I am encouraged in this decision by the strength of my parishioners. This is war, real war, but we hope to carry our cross to the very end with the help of Divine Grace”. And in the midst of the daily difficulties he himself marvelled at a growing awareness of “the great value of Sunday, the day we met the Risen Lord, the day of unity and of love between his community, of support and help”.

We honour the martyrs of the past - the martyrs of the catacombs or the English and Welsh Martyrs - but there are also martyrs amongst us. Bishop Rino Fischella used to read out in his Fundamental Theology lectures at the Gregorian University the names of alumni who had been martyred over the past twelve months. Fr Ragheed is the latest of these modern witnesses - and a new martyr of the Irish College, to join St Oliver Plunkett and his companions. Requiescat in pace!

New Auxiliaries for Melbourne

Perhaps to mark the Feast (in the New Calendar) of that great liturgical pope, St Pius V, the Holy See announced today the creation of two new Melbourne auxiliaries: the Salesian Timothy Costelloe and Mgr Peter Elliott. The latter will be known to many readers - especially priests and MCs - as the author of Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite and Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year, a sort of novus ordo Fortescue published by Ignatius Press.

His elevation means that the Australian Bishops' Conference not only has a good liturgist amongst its number but also, in addition to Cardinal Pell and Bishop Anthony Fisher, O.P., another Oxford graduate. Elliott studied theology amidst the 'dreaming spires,' during which time he was received into the Church.

Ad multos annos to the new titular bishop-elect of Manaccenser (a titular see which became vacant just a few weeks ago with the death of the Westminster Auxiliary, James O'Brien)!

An Angel at the Vatican?

When a retired Cambridgeshire police officer, Andy Key, returned home from a holiday in Rome, he noticed a strange 'angelic' form on one of his photos, taken on his Kodak Easyshare camera. The photo was taken inside St Peter's while the Holy Father was giving an address (though no information is given as to the occasion). The papers say that photographic experts are 'mystified' by the image.

It would be lovely to think that this an angel - or perhaps a saint - though I suspect it may be an optical illusion (note the strong rays coming through the window). Sorry to be cynical, but tomorrow is April Fools' Day! What is particularly interesting, though, is that for once the Pope gets a positive mention in the secular media. The press normally disregards the words of the Pope, but in the papers today it is actively suggested that a 'guardian angel' hovers in the vicinity of Christ's Vicar on Earth as he addresses the crowds. Now that's the kind of Ultramontane hyperbole that you'd expect to read in the writings of Cardinal Wiseman! Mr Key himself does not claim to be religious but says:

I didn't see anything but when I looked at the picture it looks just like an angel above the Pope's head. It can't be a trick of the light because I can't see what the light could bounce off. You don't even have to squint to make it out - it looks just like an angel.

Rome TV Agency

Just to remind readers of Roman Miscellany to visit the new online Rome TV Agency, which has regular reports on Vatican/Catholic news (in English). The Agency was founded because

In several countries, the audiovisual information offered on the Pope and the Holy See is far below the audience’s request. There are relatively few broadcasting units that have a correspondent in Rome: there is practically no coverage in Asia, Africa, Oceania, or in many other nations of Central and South America.

And the same can be said for the UK, where most news from Rome is cast in a negative light (as we saw with the Regensburg Lecture episode). The programmes are professionally made and seem to use mostly British voices!

The Kraken Awakes

(Tsunemi Kubodera/AP)

'And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good' (Genesis 1: 21, ASV version). Fantastic creatures can often be found in mystery plays, pantomimes and films at this time of year - but here's a real life monster. A live giant squid has been caught on camera for the first time, in the Pacific 600 miles south of Tokyo. The female squid was comparatively small - a mere 24 feet long - but these creatures can grow to a length of at least 60 feet. The Giant Squid has often been considered semi-legendary, but the recent catch shows that they probably exist in large numbers at the depths of the ocean! For the full story, as reported by the Telegraph, and access to the amazing footage, click here.

Benedicite, cete et omnia,

quae moventur in aquis, Domino!

In Memoriam

I heard yesterday that Dom Bernard Orchard OSB, monk of Ealing Abbey, died on Tuesday, aged 96. I met him a few times as a University student and consulted his books of Biblical scholarship as a seminarian. He was a great promoter of the primacy of St Matthew's Gospel (as opposed to that of St Mark) and compiled a synopsis of the Gospels in Greek and English. He was also general editor of the celebrated Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (1953) and in 1981 was named titular Cathedral Prior of Canterbury. His passing constitutes an end of an era - he was clothed as a novice at Downside way back in 1932 by the great Dom John Chapman, author of the Spiritual Letters and the maxim, 'pray as you can, not as you can't.'

Uniquely, another member of the Ealing community died on the same day as Fr Bernard. May they rest in peace.

Arinze in London

Cardinal Arinze was in town recently to inaugurate the Nigerian Catholic Chaplaincy (the national chaplain lives on the same floor as me) and to celebrate the Academic Mass at Westminster Cathedral (see the splendid photo above). In his homily he meditated on the meaning of faith:

My Catholic faith gives unity and meaning to my life. Otherwise the various things I do, or bear, or receive or hope for in life would be like scattered mosaics without a unified meaning. My daily duties would be one monotonous and dull detail after another, without connected meaning. I would be facing heat, cold, traffic jam, insistent telephone calls and endless office meetings which make every new day saluted with lack of enthusiasm, if not with a sense of boredom, meaninglessness and growing tiredness.

On the contrary, my Catholic faith is a dynamic and bright lantern for my path in life. It shows me Jesus as the way, the truth and the life (cf. Jn 14:6). It harmonizes my duties as a citizen and as a Christian (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 43). It excludes all divorce between my Sunday Mass and my duties on Monday to Saturday. My plans and hopes, my achievements and failures, my pains and aches as one grows older, and my joys and celebrations of milestones in life are all given a vital synthesis and sense of direction. I do not live with a pessimistic melancholy outlook on life. I have no temptations to suicide because such are often based on seeing no meaning in life. With St Paul I can humbly say that I know in whom I have believed and I have every reason to put my trust in Christ Jesus (cf. II Tim 1:12).

The Cardinal went on to talk about the position of a Catholic in a pluralistic academic institution:

It is a risk to try to meet people of other religions if one does not have a clear idea of one’s Catholic identity and a calm insertion in it. A country does not send as its ambassador a citizen who cannot distinguish the flag of his country from two other flags, who has forgotten the name of the President or King/Queen of his country and of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and who cannot sing the National Anthem!

A Catholic who is not well inserted in our Catholic faith and community is threatened by many dangers in the academic community. There is the error of secularism which lives or wants to conduct society as if God did not exist, as if religion were a private property which must not be allowed to show its face in public. There is religious or theological relativism which denies objective truth in any religion, which assumes the attitude that one religion is as good as another, and which is practically saying that your religion is true for you and my religion is true for me, as if sincerity were the only virtue and were the objective criterion of truth! Every teacher knows that sincerity is not enough, otherwise all students would pass the mathematics examination. Practical materialism can become equivalent to implicit or practical atheism when only material things are taken seriously and the existence of God is denied or ignored. The error of liberalism, which can sometimes approach indifferentism, is that of people who regard themselves as superior to all considerations of adherence to a definite religion or set of beliefs and who look on all religions with indifferent and benign compassion.

The full text of the homily can be accessed here.

Spiritual Warfare in Glastonbury

Interesting article in the Times today about a clash between Catholics and Pagans in Glastonbury (the wicca HQ), during a Youth 2000 festival (cleverly named 'lightswitch @ glastonbury').

Bad vibes in Glastonbury after Catholics turn against pagans

by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

BY THE light of the full moon, witches in Glastonbury will tonight be casting a “circle of protection” around Britain’s centre of mysticism after a group of militant Christians cast salt at them in an attempt to “cleanse” the town of paganism.One Roman Catholic was fined and two cautioned by police after the “alternative Hallowe’en” festival in Britain’s centre of magical mysticism turned into a spiritual battle between Christianity and paganism.

Now even the local Catholic priest has told his fellow Christians that they are not welcome in the town. The Christians were visiting for the Lightswitch@glastonbury festival, the eighth such event organised by the Catholic charity Youth 2000. Promotional material tempted them there with slogans such as: “Has the light on your halo gone dark? Have your wings gone a bit grubby? Just want to switch your faith back on?” Organised with the co-operation of the Catholic Parish Church and Shrine of Our Lady St Mary in Glastonbury, it was intended to be the Hallowe’en of choice “for those who have grown tired of tatty fancy dress and the Blair Witch Project”.

But police were called after militants told locals that they wanted to cleanse the town of paganism, cast salt around to exorcise “evil” spirits and called one woman a “whore witch”. Yemaya Pinder, a witch and a member of the Pagan Federation who owns The Magick Box store, said that she believed the Christians should be prosecuted for a religious hate crime. Mrs Pinder, a mother of two and grandmother of four, and whose sister is an Anglican vicar in Basildon, described how a group of Catholics had entered her shop and abused her. She said: “It was as if we had returned to the dark ages. They told me they wanted to cleanse Glastonbury of paganism. They said they had lighters and were going to come back and burn us down. When the police asked them to apologise, they refused.”

She said there were no plans to put a curse on the Christians. “But we are doing protection for ourselves and the shop and the town. We are working magic for the healing and the damage they very nearly did between us and the local Roman Catholic church.” She said that the town’s witches had begun to work their magic, starting the protective circle on Samhein, the Celtic new year, last Tuesday, and planning to finish it using the “high energy” of tonight’s full moon.

Dreow Bennett, the Archdruid of Glastonbury and leader of the pagan movement, said: “To call the behaviour of some of their members medieval would be an understatement. I witnessed a pagan being called a ‘bloody witch’ and being told, ‘You will burn in hell’. “Apparently this man was not a diligent follower of the teachings of Christ. It was my understanding that Christ taught compassion and tolerance rather than
hatred and ignorance.”

Father Kevin Knox-Lecky, the Catholic parish priest at Glastonbury, said: “I was utterly appalled by the disgraceful behaviour, language and threats that were apparently made to members of the local pagan community by a small fringe group that attached itself to the Youth 2000 retreat last weekend in Glastonbury.” He said the militants were “unChristian and unrepresentative” of the majority of the 350 young people at the festival. He had since met Mrs Pinder and Mr Bennett. The conversation ended in “mutual embrace”. He said: “We have agreed to keep in touch with each other and to support each other in the event of negative attention from any extremists from whichever faith. I have frequently found evidence of rites performed on my church steps.”

Youth 2000 is a registered charity which aims to forge links
between young Catholics through retreats and events. Charlie Connor, the managing director of Youth 2000, said that aiming “blessed salt” at pagans was in direct contravention of the spirit of Youth 2000. “For the avoidance of doubt, Youth 2000 does not condone or encourage this kind of behaviour from anyone. We fully agree that differences on matters of faith cannot and should not be resolved by any kind of harassment.” But he added: “Youth 2000 would also like to place on the record that many young people at the retreat were harassed, sworn at and even cursed by people. One incident included the taking of photographs of young people, including children, and numbers plates by people present in the town. They were forced to move on. Regrettably, Youth 2000 will not be running a festival in Glastonbury next year.”

Avon and Somerset police said: “The neighbourhood beat manager was on patrol on Saturday and was alerted that there was an incident at the Magick Box shop. The officer arrested a man for a public order offence. He was later released after being issued with a fixed penalty notice. Two women were also given cautions and words of advice about their future behaviour.”

The article has a picture (sadly not online) of a Blessed Sacrament procession through the hallowed streets of Glastonbury, led by ex-gangster John Pridmore ringing a bell and several members of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. It's unfortunate that tempers were raised and that Catholics behaved so badly. However, I wouldn't dismiss as 'medieval' the attempt to put Christ back into Glastonbury by holding a Youth 2000 festival. After all, Glastonbury has so many associations with the saints - including SS Joseph of Arimathea, Patrick, Columba, David and Blessed Richard Whiting - and yet the town has been 'overtaken' by practitioners of a very alternative belief system. Surely Catholicism has an honoured place in modern Glastonbury?

British Bomb Explodes in Bavaria

Whilst I was on retreat, my German friend, Jan, sent me an e-mail about a story that dominanted German news last week. One of 'our' WWII bombs expoded next to the motorway between Frankfurt and Nuremberg during road works, tragically killing one worker. What makes it so alarming is that the 250kg bomb wasn't detected when the motorway was built in the 1950s and, since then, millions have driven along unaware of the danger. As we wear our poppys in preparation for Remembrance Sunday, this story reminds us of the ever-present scars of war.