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Marriage – Boris Johnson
Last week Boris Johnson was married at Westminster Cathedral in a full Catholic wedding. You may have been pleased, puzzled, amused, angry. When did he undergo the marriage preparation course? When had he followed the baptism preparation course for the baptism of his latest child – also in Westminster Cathedral? Were we witnessing a new…
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Rev Fr John – Health Update
At 1.15 pm on Tuesday 18th May I was finishing work at my desk before going into church for prayer at 1.30 and mass at 2.00 pm. After mass I would be back in the house and ready for the phone consultation at 4.00 pm from the hospital. Over the months these phone conversations had…
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Pentecost 2021
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The Solemnity of Pentecost reminds us that everything which exists, every person and the whole of creation, is a gift of “God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.” God our loving Father creates and continues to give life to the world through His Word, Jesus Christ, in…
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Suffering And Brutality
It has been another heart-breaking week. The Covid-19 pandemic continues its ravages in many, mostly poor, countries, the Palestinian Israel conflict has worsened, other ethnic and tribal conflicts continue (Yemen, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Chad, etc.), a priest due to be consecrated bishop in South Sudan on 23rd May was shot – and three of those arrested…
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World And Faith
In our part of the world education, democratic rights, careers and work, opportunity and equal pay seem to be open to everyone, but we know it is an illusion: privilege is everywhere – private education, old-boy networks, favouritism, etc. Before the Education Act of 1944 there was no opportunity for secondary education except for those…
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A Strange Dream
During the week I had a strange dream… … Dear Fr John, I was having a few jars with Jurgen and Pep and some of the lads, talking about the crowds coming back to watch football. You know the excitement. We also talked about that idea of a Super League – and the fans were…
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Church Vocations
Would you consider being a priest if you were allowed to marry, if invited even though you are married, if invited though you live in a loving same-sex relationship, if you were willing to live alone as is expected of priests at present, except in the areas of the Church where priests have their women…
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God’s Mercy
For four years I was a member of the National Conference of Priests, chosen by the priests in the East Anglia diocese, and then voted on to the committee where I served for four happy years. Each year the committee asked me to go to the Irish conference to represent us, and they were wonderful…
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Our Easter Deeds
Our Holy Week and Easter are complete. We have shared in prayer and memory the sufferings of Jesus, his death and resurrection. We rejoice at the faith that allows us to look towards him in sorrow and joy – and to share God’s love as he did. Holy Week and Easter are complete when we…
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I, Daniel Blake
If someone were to ask who rules the United Kingdom, would you answer “The Queen, the Government, the Parliaments, the Civil Service”? That’s a good answer, recognising the various authorities. The question that follows is harder “Who has the power?” Of the Church we ask “Who rules?” – Pope, Vatican, Bishops. Who has the power?…
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After The Pandemic!
1962, seventeen years after end of World War II. There had been strong growth in the Church – vocations to the religious life, the priesthood and missionary religious orders, the building of new churches – but only until the late 1950’s and then a decline became noticeable. In the Nottingham diocese in 1962, 72,000 people…
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Was Jesus Right or Left-handed?
He was right-handed. When he wrote on the paving stone of the Temple (in the story of the woman guilty of adultery) what did he write? Nothing. He did not need to. The act of writing-on-stone is what the Bible calls “a parable-inaction” where no words are spoken but the action is the message. We…
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