Primacy of Peter

Today we went to one of the most important sites for us Catholics in the world - the place where the papacy was established. With a stunning backdrop of the Sea of Galilee, we celebrated Mass outside the Church of the Primacy of Peter. This is the location where Our Lord appeared to some of his disciples after the Resurrection and told Saint Peter to feed his lamb and sheep.

Like with many of the holy places, the church is fairly modest but includes a rock on which Jesus and the disciples ate their meal together. We sang a hymn that asked God to bless the Pope and we held His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in our prayers. Afterwards we got the chance to walk along the shore where the boat came in after the catching of the fish.

The next incredible experience was a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. We heard the reading on the calming of the storm. The pilot produced a Union Jack and played the national anthem for us to sing! We then went to sample Saint Peter's fish with chips, one of the main things to encounter on a trip to the Holy Land.

Earlier in the day, we went to Capernaum, effectively the birthplace of Christianity, and saw the ruins of Peter's house as well as the site of the synagogue. We're staying at the Pilger House, a lovely place that overlooks the Sea of Galilee. You can tell why Jesus chose this region to exercise his public ministry.

Tomorrow we're going to the place where it all started, the Church of the Annunciation.

Galilee

We've just come off a boat trip on the sea of Galilee.We made our way up here yesterday after celebrating Mass at the Church of the Nativity, the highlight of the week for me so far. We sang Christmas carols during mass in the Chapel of St Jerome before going to visit the site itself.

Bethlehem

It's nearly 8am in Bethlehem and we're about to set off to the Church of the Nativity for Mass and a visit to the Grotto. We'll be singing carols, making it like another Christmas Day. This afternoon, we're moving up to Galilee.

Live from Bethlehem

I'm writing from the Shepherd Hotel in Bethlehem where we are spending tonight, midway through an amazing pilgrimage in the Holy Land.

We've just spent three nights in Jerusalem. On the first day, we went to the Garden of Gethsemane and had Mass at the rock at which Christ sweated blood. You practically had to pinch yourself to realise that you were in such a holy place. As Father Lawrence Jones, the leader of the pilgrimage, said - it was wonderful to be there. For the rest of the first day, we went to the place of the denial of Peter, the place of the Last Supper, and, movingly, we went to the place of flagellation and imprisonment of Our Lord. At the end of the day, our excellent Catholic guide, Amir, took us near to the top of the Mount of Olives and pointed out that we could see Christ's journey from the Agony in the Garden to the Resurrection within view. It was simply incredible.
Yesterday we headed out of the city and into the desert, stopping first at Qumran, the place where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. In the middle of the day, we got to Jericho, the oldest continually-inhabited cities on the face of the earth. After Mass and lunch, it was on to the Dead Sea and the weird sensation of being able to float on water. Father David Grant was the only priest from the group to take a dip, which certainly was entertaining.
Today we had the awesome privilege of following the stations of the Cross up to Calvary. There was Mass at the place where Jesus was condemned. We then prayed each station along the way in amidst the tacky shops and dirty streets. At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there was a long queue to venerate the place where the Cross is said to have stood. There was an even longer line to get into the tomb, that our guide described as the highlight of the pilgrimage, to see the tomb empty.
The group arrived in Bethlehem this afternoon. It is sad to see how the wall around the town has made the birthplace of Christ a virtual prison for the residents, who are, I think, only allowed out twice a year. Before dinner, Fr Grant, myself and David, who is also on the pilgrimage, went to the birthplace of Christ. Tomorrow, we will get a more detailed look with the guide and will also celebrate Mass there.

The group is mainly from the north east and they are a fantastic bunch of people, with a lot of banter taking place between them and myself and Fr Grant (Yorkshiremen).


I'll blog in much more detail next week when I get back to the UK. Unfortunately I left my camera at Fr Lawrence's place in Morpeth but there's plenty of people who are taking photos.

Holy Land

I am just about to set off from Hull to Bridlington to meet up with Father David Grant. He is then driving to Morpeth where we will stay the night before flying to the Holy Land on Monday from Newcastle. It's a week long pilgrimage for young adults (and a few priests) and I'm very much looking forward to it, particularly as it's my first venture outside of Europe.

The pilgrimage is being led by Father Lawrence Jones and we are due to go to Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Tiberias among our travels. I will keep the intentions of all readers of Bashing Secularism in my prayers at the Holy places. I am told there is the odd internet cafe about, so, if I get the chance to post, I will. I'll have a lot to write about when I get back next Monday, that's for sure.

Dawkins' "fetish" over labelling children

Richard Dawkins has been at it again - trying to push religion to the fringes of society and the family. This time, it was an appearance on the BBC's The Daily Politics on Wednesday, where he reiterated his efforts to prevent children from being identified according to the religion of their parents. He clearly got very hysterical and worked up when challenged by the learned politician, Norman Tebbit, about his seemingly insignificant point, which really didn't lead anywhere.

In addressing the question about whether children should be beyond the reaches of religious identification, he said:

"If feel very strongly that it's wrong to label children with the opinions of their parents. Nobody minds labeling a child an English child or a French child or a Dutch child. But you would think I was mad if I started talking about a postmodernist child or a Keynesian child or a monetarist child or a liberal child or a Conservative child. And yet the whole of our society, quite happily, buys into the idea that you can talk about a Catholic child or a Protestant child or a Muslim child or a Hindu child. That's surely got to be wrong - to assume that a child will automatically inherit the opinions of its parents about the universe, the cosmos and morality. This must be something that should be rectified."

He said he was not talking about "state coercion" but "consciousness raising", just in the same way feminists did when the drew attention to the "one man, one vote" phrase. "I want someone to flinch when they start to hear someone talking about a Catholic child, a Protestant child or a Muslim child," he said.
"We even baptise children, thereby condemning them to an assumption that they will inherit the religion of their parents for life."

Back in the studio, he was asked what harm there is in labeling a child. He said it becomes divisive, especially in places like Northern Ireland and the Middle East, where automatically a child belongs to the same party of thought as your parents.

Developing his line of thought, Dawkins said: "You wouldn't talk about an ornithologist child or a stamp collecting child. Why is religion the one thing..."

Interestingly, when asked: "What did you do with your own family?", Dawkins answered: "I'd rather answer the more important question." He described himself as a “cultural Christian” but obviously not a believing Christian.

When asked if there is a problem in making an assumption and labeling children, Mr Tebbit, the Conservative peer, said: "Of course there isn't. After all we find a child who comes ethnically from Africa, who is born in Britain and we call him a British child."

He added: "Dawkins seems to have a problem with the fact that those of us who have grown up in a society which essentially has Christian, Judean values will tend to teach those values on to the next generation. And so we call it a Christo-Judean society. I think that's what we've been living in. It's just bilge to think there's some dreadful sin in describing the child who is a Muslim child or a Hindu child."

Now really on his high horse, Dawkins asked Tebbit if he would refer to a Conservative child or a Keynesian child? "No because that's nothing to do with culture," Tebbit said. "It's a triviality when concerned with the whole of the massive culture. Of course he might reject it in the same way he might accept or reject anything else but I can't see what damage it does." He then went on to say: "I fear that Mr Dawkins has got a fetish [about this]."

Mr Tebbit's conclusion about the whole business seemed rather appropriate. During his five minute rant, I would like to think that few people watching would consider this as a major issue. How many children have been upset by being called a Christian? What is there to get concerned about? However, reading Dawkins' official website and some of the comments in support of his argument, I fear that a large minority actually agree with his dangerous argument.

Of course, the arch-secularist's outrage with baptising children is not a surprise. We Catholics would respond by saying that bringing a child into God's family is the best thing a parent can do. Dawkins needs to realise the parents have a responsibility to bring up their children, and that Catholics have a duty to encourage and facilitate their children's relationship with God. It is unfortunate, though again not a surprise, that Dawkins has again been given the platform by the BBC to promote his quest to eradicate religion from these shores by whatever means possible. But thankfully, he looked pretty pathetic.

Pictures from Stonyhurst

Here are some more pictures from the Faith Conference at Stonyhurst. Most of them come from Father Chris Findlay-Wilson, although a couple are ones that I snapped. Here is the procession as Mass on one of the days:

Here is the journey out to the village for some people on the middle afternoon:

But some stayed in the college to try out their football skills:

Here is the Mass again:

Here is a shot of the chapel from the organ loft just before the Reconciliation Service:

Many of the classrooms in the college are named after English and Welsh martyrs. Most of us had out discussion groups on the middle afternoon in one of these rooms. Our group met in the St Ann Line room down one of the corridors. You'll find her story in one of my 40 Martyr Reflections (which are still not finished, I promise!). We discussed the church's position on married priests, women priests and the theory that Christ was predestined from the beginning of creation:

Here is Father William Massie, the coordinator of the conference, giving the final remarks, thanks and announcements after Father Stephen Brown's talk. Pictured on the left is conference chair, Clare Loughlin: