Fr Michael O'Connor - 50th Anniversary

50 years ago yesterday, Fr Michael O'Connor was ordained a priest at St Charles Borromeo Church, Hull. Last night, at that very same church, Fr Michael celebrated his Golden Jubilee with a Mass attended by hundreds of Catholics from across Hull and beyond.

Fr Michael was my parish priest for several years during my childhood. Before 1997, St Francis of Assisi parish church was a portakabin, with leaks and graffiti on the outer wall. For a time, Fr Michael lived in a caravan before a bungalow was built.

When my uncle was seriously ill with cancer in the early 1990s, Fr Michael provided fantastic pastoral care. He helped to raise money for Uncle John to get treatment in Switzerland and then prayed with the family regularly whilst he was over there. This is just one of the thousands of stories people have of Fr Michael's 50 years of dedicated and devoted ministry.

Last night, there were 476 years of priesthood on the altar at St Charles amongst about 12 priests, young and old. It was a real celebration of priesthood.

At the end of Mass, Fr Michael was presented with an apostolic blessing from Pope Benedict XVI. On presenting it to him, Fr Stephen Maughan, curate at St Charles, spoke about the reaction had been getting in the past few weeks when asking whether people were going to the Mass. "Of course," most people said. "I remember when I was ill in hospital and Fr O'Connor came to visit me." Another said: "I remember when I needed to get over to Liverpool urgently: Fr O'Connor was there to give me a lift." Now that is the Beatitudes in action.

Afterwards, we had the privilege of giving Mgr Anthony Bickerstaffe a lift back to St Catherine's home, where many elderly Catholics of Hull reside. Mgr himself has 54 years of priesthood under his belt. On the way back to east Hull, Mgr and my dad talked about the Marsden family, those still with us and those who have gone to the Lord.

All that remains for me to say is: Fr Michael, ad multos annos.

Ampleforth Summertime

Most of the Middlesbrough Diocese group at Ampleforth

We got back from Ampleforth on Thursday. The event itself was four days of "faith, fun and adventure" for teenage Catholics between 10 and 14 years old. Groups came from Scotland, Lancashire, Hull/East Riding of Yorkshire and Middlesbrough.

There were four talks and a seminar. They were addressed to two different groups: primary and secondary school age. Here's a brief overview:

Talk One focused on how do we know that God exists? Everything in the world is caused by something else. Humans are caused by their parents, for example. We know that man developed from apes. But creation must have started somewhere. Scientists tell us that the universe began with the big bang. But who caused that? The answer must be a supreme mind who is outside of time and space. This we call God, who is the uncaused cause.

Talk Two focused on man. Human beings are different from the rest of the animals as they are more intelligent and can do things which animals can't do. You don't see, for instance, a monkey sit down at a computer screen and type out Shakespeare plays. In the same way, chimpanzees can't go into a kitchen and cook egg and chips. The reality is that humans do more activities than are essential to survival. Man is a spiritual being as well as physical. Just as birds fly and fish swim, people pray. Even atheists can turn to some form of prayer if they are in a crisis. God is our environment.

Talk Three was about sin. If God is all powerful, all knowing and all loving, why is there so much evil in the world? God didn't want us to be like robots obeying Him. He wants us to have a deep and personal relationship with Him and to know, love and serve Him. When Adam and Eve turned away from God, they effectively said "I will choose what's right and wrong, not God who made me." The consequence of this, and of the fallen angels turning against God, is original sin, inherited by all human beings.

Talk Four provided an answer to the hurt of sin: Jesus Christ. Even if man hadn't turned against God, Christ would have still become man so we could see God face to face as one like us. But Christ's mission on earth took on a second significance, that of healing the wounds of sin and division by sacrificing Himself on the cross, bearing all the sins committed since the Garden of Eden.

The last talk was a seminar, given by two young adults in each age group. They tackled the question of where we can meet Jesus now: in his Church. They emphasised the Mass as the closest we can get to Jesus on earth.

Ryan Day delivering his seminar talk

Nicky Welsh's talk

As usual, there was an essay writing competition for the two age groups. The kids had to summarise the talks in their own words and the top three essays (as voted by the priests) won cash prizes. Both competitions were won by lads from Hull.

One of the highlights of the event is "Ask Father", a kind of game show which seeks to answer questions from the kids which they write down during the week and place in the Question Box. It was presented by Fr Scott Deeley, who, in my opinion, could give any TV game show host a run for his or her money. He read out the questions and asked various priests to answer them. The questions ranged from "Why we have to go to Church" to "If human clones were created, would they have souls?"

Two of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal came for the first two days. They led a powerful guided prayer session in the Abbey Church, including Benediction. Part of Exposition consisted of a procession with the Blessed Sacrament around the steps of the altar, where the children, helpers and priests where invited to kneel in turn and meet Christ face to face and to touch the humeral veil of the priest carrying the monstrance.

We had Mass every lunchtime in the Abbey Church. I MCd which was very enjoyable.

On two of the nights, we joined the monks for Compline before our group walk down the valley.

There was plenty of free time, which consisted of football, rugby, cricket, Frisbee throwing, skipping and much more. On the second afternoon, we went to nearby Flamingo Land theme park, one of the most enjoyable moments of the week for the children. Many of them went on lots of rides (or shows, as the Scots call them) whilst others went to the zoo:

The third afternoon was set aside for football and swimming.

As is tradition, the last evening included a short reconciliation service, giving all the children a chance for confession. As well as the 8 priests on the week, a number of the monks also heard confessions.

Father Abbot Cuthbert Madden answers questions

Just before leaving on Thursday, the Abbot of Ampleforth, Cuthbert Madden came to welcome us and answer any questions about the place and about monastic life. One of the most interesting questions was "Who was Alban Roe?" Most of the activities took place in Saint Alban Roe House but the kids knew little or nothing about the man himself. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales and was a Benedictine priest. He went to the English College in Douai, France, but was chucked out for a disciplinary matter. He eventually became a Benedictine priest at Dieulouard, France. Born in Bury St Edmund's, he returned to the English mission and was arrested and exiled several times. Abbot Cuthbert said it was believed that St Alban played cards on the night before his execution at Tyburn with his fellow prisoners, showing great resilience in the face of being hanged drawn and quartered. Sounds like one of those characters you want to learn more about.

Ampleforth

Sorry I haven't been blogging recently. I've been trying to sort out things prior to my job starting a week today.


This lunchtime, I'm leaving for Ampleforth, along with about 35 teenagers and quite a few young helpers to the annual Faith Summertime. It's a four day break for Catholic teenagers. They come from Yorkshire, Lancashire and Scotland. The week includes a series of four or five talks on the existence of God, Who is Jesus Christ, the nature of Man, and the Church. These are followed by thought provoking activities. There's a lot of sporting activity, a trip to Flamingo Land (a fun park near Pickering), daily Mass and Compline with the monks. The kids always say they enjoy it and can't wait to come back the following year.


Please pray for the success of the event, particularly that the youngsters will grow in their faith.

A full report and pictures to follow at the end of the week.

The dangers of global warming fanaticism

Many who have seen me recently may have heard me rant about my scepticism of global warming fanaticism. Like most people, I think it’s important we take steps to protect God’s creation, the environment which He has entrusted to the care of man. I use my bicycle a lot and have done for many years – not particularly because I feel guilty of my carbon emissions, but because I enjoy it and it keeps me fit. Nevertheless, it’s good to know you’re emitting next to nothing when on your bike.

I must admit, however, that every time the word “global warming” is heard on the television in our house, a groan usually follows. It’s relentless stuff. The green movement seems to be the new religion.

In the past few months, I’ve been saying there’s another, more sinister agenda lurking behind all this militant eco-freakiness. Last week, my suspicions were confirmed:

The Optimum Population Trust (OPT) - one of the UK’s leading population control lobyists – has called on the government to institute a public campaign in an attempt to limit couples to two children each. The reason for this alarming proposal? “Each new UK birth, through the inevitable resource consumption and pollution that UK affluence generates, is responsible for about 160 times as much climate-related environmental damage as a new birth in Ethiopia, or 35 times as much as a new birth in Bangladesh.”

A press release accompanying their report, called Youthquake, says: “Governments may be forced to introduce compulsory limits to family size if urgent action is not taken to restrain population growth through voluntary family planning.”

One-child policies, such as that now operating in China, are generally counter-productive and liable to discount human rights, the report says. But “in extreme situations, where states or regions may be almost uninhabitable through environmental damage, [they] may become unavoidable.”

Amongst its other recommendations, OPT says there is a “vast unmet need” for contraception worldwide. One of the other conclusions is:

· A “stop at two children” (“replacement” level) or “have one child less” guideline for couples in the UK should be introduced by the Government, backed by schools, the media and environmental groups

Although I actually agree with them on the need to counter the numbers of teenage pregnancies (although it wouldn’t surprise me if their advise just want to put free condoms in every schoolchild’s locker) the rest of their recommendations are dangerous and illustrates the vehement attack on the family which comes from some eco-freaks.

As I tried to explain earlier, I’m not condemning efforts to make the environment more free of pollution and greenhouse gasses (after all, we all want a healthier environment for our children – if indeed we are allowed to have them at all in the future!) I’m simply trying to expose the dangerous link between population control and the global warming obsession.

Yesterday's nightmare

Yesterday morning, I set out to Northamptonshire in the car. The plan was to park it somewhere in a village off Junction 16 of the M1 and then meet up with Fr William Massie, who would give me a lift the rest of the way down to Folkstone to attend Fr Roger Nesbitt's 40th Anniversary Mass (see The Hermeneutic). This would allow me to get a lift back up the next day, to rejoin my car, in order for me to stay around Northants and look for places to rent for my new job.

The day ended in disaster, as I didn't even get as far as Nottingham! On returning to the car during a toilet break at Tibshelf services, I eventually discovered the gearbox had packed in. Fr Massie called into the services on his way down, but had to leave shortly after to make good time down to the south coast. There was also a mix up with the RAC, as they turned up and said I wasn't covered with them. After initial panic, my dad sorted it out. The Post Office, with whom my insurance is with, forgot to inform the RAC of the details. Therefore, initially, it was my uncle's (whom we got the car off) name on the membership. But, luckily, dad sorted it out and the RAC was very apologetic.

So, after about three and a half hours, a local contractor finally came and toed me and it (the car) back to Hull. We got there just in time to drop it off at the garage, which very kindly stayed open a few minutes past five to take it. But it won't be ready until Thursday, which puts back my flat searching plans. Never mind, these things happen.

Anyway, congratulations to Father Nesbitt, the co-founder of the Faith Movement. I heard it was a good occasion and was very sorry (and annoyed) that my transport prevented me from attending.

Ampleforth: Springboard

Yesterday after 9:30 Mass in the parish, I whizzed up in the car to Ampleforth Abbey for the annual "Springboard" event for kids in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Middlesbrough. The Mass took place in the Sports Hall as opposed to the Abbey Church. I'm told there was a good reason for this, although I don't know what it is.

The setup in a sportshall for Mass is less than ideal. It is uncomfortable, and therefore, the kids get restless and start chatting. I also found the clapping and swaying during various hymns - including Walk in the Light - cringe-worthy.

After the Mass, there was a barbacue, football, tennis, swimming, a Cafod workshop, open-mike and disco, amongst other activities.

This event has been going on for several years now. Yet there seems to have been little attempt to introduce some Catechesis of some form. I remember when I went to the event whilst at school. I got little - if anything out of it - apart from a decent day playing football. Youngsters from the various schools tend to keep to their own groups and make little effort to meet new people, despite the valiant efforts to encourage them of Fr John O'Gara, Fr John Paul Leonard and Mgr Gerard Dasey at the Mass.

During the afternoon, I went in the Monastery to meet Father Sebastian, a friend of ours who joined the Middlesbrough Diocese for World Youth Day in Cologne. I was asking him and a couple of other monks about Blessed Nicholas Postgate's hand. They said that Postgate allegedly has about three rights hands! But they did say that the had believed to be genuine has been used to bless people, including a guy with a spinal problem. Many thought this was a miracle, but I was told the case fell about three or four hurdles short of the requirements for a miracle investigation.

I left Ampleforth just after 5pm and got back to the youth group at St Joseph's. It's a great group of more than a dozen committed young Catholics in the city. We have a pizza supper followed by a talk and discussion ending with Benediction.

I had the joy of watching the first Briton for 20 years winning a Wimbledon title (Jaime Murray in the mixed doubles final) before starting.

The youth group was slightly different this time around. We watched the Witness to Hope video, a very powerful documentary about the life of Pope John Paul II. It has many messages in it, such as the struggle between good and evil, the worth of every human individual, and an inspiring example of discernment and openness to Christ.

After giving one of the youngsters, Chris, a lift back to Beverley, I went back to St Joseph's to meet again with one of the new seminarians from the Diocese who are starting this summer. James Wilson from Redcar, will fly out with Phil Cunnah at the end of this month to Rome, where they will learn Italian for eight weeks in Tuscany before starting at the English College.

Postgate Rally

A WOMAN KISSES THE RIGHT HAND OF BLESSED NICHOLAS POSTGATE

Last Sunday, I drove myself and Ryan Day up to the beautiful village of Egton Bridge for the annual Postgate rally. We arrived an hour and a half early and went to The Postgate (the local village pub) for a scrumptious lunch. After some early rain, it brightened up and we were able to sit outside.

Here's Ryan eating his lunch:

Fr John Paul Leonard turned up to join us in the beer garden before we went down the road to St Hedda's Church. Here is my report on the event itself:

Hundreds of Catholics venerated what is believed to be the right hand of Blessed Nicholas Postgate during a rally last Sunday at Egton Bridge, the North Yorkshire village of his birth.

The relic, wrapped in a small red veil, was delicately touched and kissed by members of the congregation after a Mass in honour of the martyr, who was hanged, drawn and quartered at York in 1679 for being a “popish” priest during penal times.

A small, bone crucifix that he was wearing at the time of his martyrdom was also venerated.

The annual Mass was celebrated at St Hedda’s RC Church, presided over by Mgr Gerard Dasey, Diocesan Administrator of the Middlesbrough, which is currently without a bishop since the resignation of Bishop John Crawley in May.

Blessed Postgate, who was executed in his early 80s, is one of the 85 martyrs of England and Wales beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987.

He is most renowned for his ministry in the Esk Valley and Pickering areas of North Yorkshire, where he posed as a gardener. He celebrated Mass in various locations, advertising them by putting white sheets on hedges in a nearby field. By 1665, he is said to have increased the regional Catholic population by 2,400.

He was arrested whilst celebrating a baptism at Redcar.

In his homily, Father Colin Battell, Prior of Ampleforth Abbey, North Yorkshire, said: “His was a long and fruitful ministry.

“His great character, his great love, his holiness of life led to a rich oral tradition of stories about this lone figure who traversed the difficult moorland tramps to bring the sacraments to faithful Catholics.

“Fr Postgate died for his faith – a true martyr. He died rather than see the faithful denied the sacraments.”

“This village has so many reminders of his presence and, not least, the little oratory discovered in the Mass house in 1830 with everything ready for Mass except that the priest who had prepared it had been hanged in York 150 years earlier.”

Fr Battell said the martyrdom of priests was not a “thing of the distant past only”. He referred to the killing of Father Ragheed Ganni and three deacons, who were shot dead by Muslim extremists in Mosul, Iraq, last month as they drove away from a church after celebrating Mass.

“And less we think that is an isolated incident we should know that since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, half of Iraq’s 1.2 million Catholics, that is 600,000 thousand have fled the country,” he added.


Afterwards, we joined the west Hull parishes and St. Clare's, Middlesbrough, groups in Whitby for Fish and Chips. Fr William Massie insisted we went for a walk to the beach - in the pouring rain.

Needless to say, we didn't think it was safe enough to go onto the beach. On the way back, we stopped off in Bridlington at Fr David Grant's place. He was happy to see us. On the way back to Hull I spontaneously swerved to avoid killing a deer which jumped out onto the road. Ryan's heart was in his mouth. Then a few miles down the road, a rabbit appeared. I saw it early and was on course to miss it - until it decided to make a successful suicide attempt by jumping into my left hand front wheel. Many animals are dippy.

Annutio vobis gaudium magnium!

As many of you will know, I have been looking for a journalism related job for a year (since graduating last July). It has been disappointing and frustrating and has involved many interviews. But I can now announce that this afternoon I had a job offer confirmed and have accepted it.

The Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph is getting a new trainee reporter! I will be based in the Corby office and will start at the end of this month.

Firstly, I would like to give Our Blessed Lord thanks and praise for helping me through these difficult and uncertain times. The past year has given me an insight into the life of an unemployed person - despite the fact I've been doing quite a bit of freelance work - and especially how difficult it is for graduates to get into a particular profession. Unemployed or semi-unemployed people are in need of our prayers and I thank everyone who has offered them up for me.

This is a new and exciting venture for me, but also a nerve wracking one. Going to live and work in a place you're not familiar with and where you don't know anyone is challenging. The work of a reporter is also pressured but rewarding. But I'm sure everything will be fine with God's help. Corby is only around 2-2 1/2 hour's drive from Home, which is a blessing.

If there are any readers of this blog who live in Northamptonshire (or know any good Catholics that live there) your help would be much appreciated. Obviously I've got to find somewhere to live (rented flat or something) and I've got to find news stories! Please comment after this post. The beauty of being a Catholic is that you can go practically anywhere in the world and can feel at home with like-minded people.

I would be grateful for your continued prayers and support at this challenging time.

Baptism

This Saturday, the three month-old daughter of Lovingit, Leona, was baptised. It was at St Joseph's, west Hull, celebrated by Fr William Massie.

I've never been to a baptism (on its own) before (except my own!) although I've been to plenty during Mass. It was surprising how long the ceremony is (40 minutes). Leona kept asleep for most of it. It was a great occasion and was attended by many family members and friends of both parents. Here's James and Ella, Leona, and Fr Massie:

St Francis: 10th Anniversary

Last weekend, my parish, St Francis of Assisi, east Hull, celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the opening of our new church. We had a 5pm Mass on the Saturday evening followed by the annual parish barbecue.

Here's my dad (right, with red guitar strap) and his band playing some Shadows stuff to entertain the guests:

And here's some of the revellers:

The parish has been going since the 1970s. Our original church was a portakabin, which, at one point, had a swastika graffitied on the outer wall. The presbytery was originally a caravan until a bungalow was built.

We no longer have a parish priest to ourselves which is a pity, but, is the reality of the difficult times we live in.

Many say the church shouldn't have been built - it wasn't needed. I have some sympathy with that - but I was too young to understand the pros and cons at the time it was being built. The structure itself is impressive. It has Franciscan simplicity about it. There are three decent meeting rooms and a cloister with nine stained glass windows depicting creation. However, unfortunately, the actual church is an absolute liturgical nightmare.

Now this will get the trads amongst you shaking your head (at best):

As you can see, the church is semi-circular (as you would probably expect with a modern church). When we host the Christian unity week service, you get the Methodists and the C of E ministers saying "how wonderful it is, gathering around the table". But the altar and lectern are made of marble from Assisi which is "nice" isn't it? Probably why the church cost as much as half a million to build - a debt we are not keeping up to scratch with.

There's a nice organ - donated by St John of Beverley - but the problem is, it's never used. The music group on a Sunday play near to the lectern since a certain bishop (I think) suggested the youngsters couldn't see what was going on at the Mass. This pushed the altar servers (I'm MC at the moment) to the back of the church, about from where this picture was taken. So I say we are servers, and not altar servers, since we sit nowhere near the altar! We end up galloping back and forth to the sanctuary.

I can hear you saying - "where's the tabernacle then? No - that can't be it behind the screen can it? Next to those flowers?" Indeed it is:
The tabernacle itself is in a separate Blessed Sacrament Chapel. I spoke to a Canon Lawyer about it and he said it breaks every rule in the book - "break" being the operative word. First of all it's made of glass, isn't it? A tabernacle needs to be unbreakable - to protect Our Lord who dwells in it. Secondly, it's see through. In recent times, the ciborium has been veiled. But, for about 10 years under a previous parish priest, it was a glass sacred vessel (oh, and we also used to reserve the Precious Blood).

Whatever the official rules (comments clarifying them are welcome), the positioning of the tabernacle has had a detrimental affect on people's understanding of, and devotion to, the Blessed Sacrament. If it were positioned centrally, people would not be confused as to what the focus point of the church was - the physical presence of Our Lord. Instead, in this case, we have a situation where the tabernacle is not only to the side, but in a separate chapel behind a screen (bear in mind, the church only seat just over 200). I was once told off for genuflecting towards it in the main body of the church. They said I should treat the screen as a brick wall. Well, if the architect wanted it to be like a brick wall, why on earth didn't he build a brick wall?

I can see the tabernacle, therefore I genuflect. And, in any case, at World Youth Day 2005, priests were filing out of the sacristy at Bonn Cathedral after one of the big opening Masses (held outside) and genuflecting towards the rough direction of the tabernacle. They couldn't see it, but they knew the Lord was there.

At St Francis, we have a situation where 70 per cent of people don't bother genuflecting and, when they do, the chances are they may well genuflect towards the general direction of the altar or the cross or wherever! Many of the extraordinary ministers don't even genuflect when taking the ciborium back to the tabernacle. Some of them also pick up and carry the pixes containing the Sacred Host like they've got sweets in them or something. I sometimes wonder whether some of them have an ounce of an understanding of what they are assisting to distribute. And, another thing, there's a "Eucharistic Service" tomorrow night in the absence of our parish administrator. Needless to say, I won't be turning up.

However, I must say, in spite of the liturgical shambles of the actual church building, the parishioners themselves are a great community and I have a lot of good friends there. You might not be terribly keen on your parish church, but you just have to grin and bear it.