Confirmations

On Monday night eleven young adults were confirmed by Bishop Paul Hendricks. The reception of the sacrament was the culmination of nine months of solid preparation.

Weekly catechesis focused on key apologetic questions that todays youngsters face, pressing moral challenges (particularly in the protection of human life and personal chastity), and the meaning of a personal spiritual life. Each candidate made a plan of life by which they committed themsevles to personal prayer, weekly mass (sometimes daily), confession (at least monthly) and specific daily/weekly sacrifices. After each class there was time for prayer (usually the rosary) and confessions. In May the group made a Marian pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Consolation, West Grinstead. It was therefore with great joy that the parish witnessed their reception of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament. Many thanks to the catechists who prepared them and to their families who have helped to bring them to this stage of their life of faith. Next year we hope to run a post-confirmation group to build on the work already achieved.

The young candidates were joined by Karin Snelson, an adult candidate, who also received confirmation. Congratulations! The parish is very grateful to Bishop Paul Hendricks for his visit, for conferring confirmation and for presiding at the Mass.

Congratulations James & Louise

Congratulations to James and Louise who were married in the Church today. Louise's parents were also married at the Holy Ghost. Until today Louise has lived with her parents in St Bede's, Clapham Park, my first parish. It was nice to see lots of my former parishioners at the wedding this afternoon.

They make a great couple and we keep them in our prayers.

Next Weekend

If you're in London this week do try to take part in some of the events being organised by Spirit in the City. Click on the link to see the details. Spirit in the City is a festival of Christian Faith in the heart of London. It involves times of prayer and praise in the West End Churches and also an exciting street programme to celebrate, reach out and give witness.

During the day on Saturday don't miss the Christian Festival in Leicester Square and in the evening wander over the Soho Square where, after the evening Mass and Adoration in St Patrick's there will be a concert of Gospel music from 8pm until 9pm with street evangelisation. The evening will conclude with a candlelit procession to the Church.

For more information contact Anne Marie.

Vocations Day at the Holy Ghost

Last week we had a vocations day at our parish primary school. Building on the work of Fr Marcus there were special presentations to years five and six. Fr Stephen took two morning classes on priesthood and Sr Jacinthe OP took two classes on religious life. We then spent the lunch break in the playground meeting as many children as possible. The day went extremely well and as usual there were lots of intelligent questions from the children.

Looking after schools can be a major part of a priest's life. Eleven years ago our parish school was deemed by Ofsted to have 'serious weaknesses'. Now, after a lot of work, it is a fantastic school where each child has an opportunity to flourish. It has certainly been well worth the effort. We are blessed to have an outstanding headteacher and a commited staff as well as a dedicated and hardworking Governing Body.

Together for Europe

Maureen Liddy, one of our parishioners, attended the international gathering of Christians organised in Stuttgart recently by the Focolare Movement. This is her report:

This remarkable gathering of more than 9,000 people representing 240 Christian Movements and Communities from all over Europe took place in Stuttgart, Germany on Saturday 12th May. Many Church Leaders and politicians were also present, while others sent very positive messages of support.

The initiative for such a gathering originated in 1998 when Pope John Paul invited the leaders and representatives of the European Movements to meet with him at Pentecost in Rome. There was a huge response and thousands thronged St Peter's Square in a spirit of joyful hope and enthusiasm to celebrate the diverse charisms which the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon the Church. During this historic event the Holy Father expressed his desire that the Movements would continue to build a network of relationships with each other and collaborate with their distinctive gifts to be a Christian witness throughout Europe. There was an immediate response to this request and a current of communion began which led to the first " Together for Europe " event in 2004 where 180 Movements were represented in Stuttgart. A joint declaration was made there, promising to work together with all people of goodwill to build true brotherhood in Europe.

This year's event showed the growth and development of the Movements and their influence on society, particularly in the areas of the Family, Work and Economy, The Poor and Underprivileged, Peace and Justice and the City. Many positive experiences were given to illustrate how the Gospel is the basis of bringing peace and fraternity in every situation. One couple shared a very moving experience of trying to build bridges between the divided communities in their town in Nothern Ireland despite immense difficulties and disapproval from both sides. Their faith in the Gospel message of love for every neighbour sustained them.

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XV1 sent his special blessing in a message which was read by Cardinal Bertone. In it the Holy Father quoted Pope John Paul saying his words were more relevant than ever; " I would like to mention in a particular way the loss of Europe's Christian memory and heritage, accompanied by a kind of practical agnosticism and religious indifference, whereby many Europeans give the impression of living without spiritual roots and somewhat like heirs who have squandered a patrimony entrusted to them by history ". Cardinal Bertone continued, " The Holy Father hopes that the meeting may strengthen the desire for communion which animates lay Movements and Communities of the different Churches; that it may contribute to overcoming prejudices, nationalism and historical barriers, and may urge people to work so that the spiritual dimension may not weaken in the Europe of post - modern times. "

Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, spoke of his joy in seeing the Churches of Europe growing closer together with new attitudes of sharing in a spirit of communion. He said the Gospel gives us the hope and energy to build peace and solidarity in Europe, then to look beyond to the needs of the world , especially Africa.

Bartolomaios, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, said: "The secularized man of our time suffers simultaneously from material saturation and spiritual impoverishment ". He urged all Christians to build a personal relationship with God so we can overcome divisions and see everyone as brothers and sisters: "Let us look for our original Christian roots , so that an inspired desire becomes tangible reality ".

The Catholic Patriarch from Armenia said that this coming togetherof Christians has been initiated by the Holy Spirit ..."in order to give Europe a new heart according to the plan of God, a renewed soul to unify the peoples of Europe in the Spirit of the Gospel ....they will discover every day new ways , new "formulae " which will diminish the significant differences and increase the number of unifying values... The Holy Spirit astonishes us with his initiatives which generate light, joy and peace. "

Messages of encouragement and blessing were also given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams; Cardinal Peter Erdo, Archbishop of Budapest and President of the European Bishops Conference; Cardinal Vlk of Prague ; Cardinal Karl Lehmann, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference in Germany; Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches; Pastor Thomas Wipf, President of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe: Johannes Friedrich, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and many others. The many politicians who supported the day included Jose Barroso , President of the European Commission, Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, and Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister. Romano Prodi, the Italian President, spoke of the challenges facing Europe in the Middle East and Africa which give us a great impetus to grow together to bring unity, fraternity, reconciliation and peace.

The vibrant joy of being part of this collaboration and enrichment gave the participants a new determination to live the Gospel together - " for the glory of God and the good and blessing of all humanity ". However, this was not just an emotional or superficial feeling , for a leitmotiv running throughout the day was a profound sense that the sufferings of Europe's past history and the experience of the present "dark night " can be resolved only through our love for Jesus, Crucifed and Forsaken.
In the final talk Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Focolare Movement, reminded us that it is Jesus Forsaken who is present in every division and suffering of society, and with Him we can overcome them: "This gives birth to and spreads in the world what we could call the 'Culture of the Resurrection' ... Jesus Forsaken, the modern day Crucifix , radiates the light of the Risen Lord and makes us generous in sharing His gifts... we want to give priorty to loving and following our mode: Christ Crucified and Forsaken. In this way, we will be able to take upon ourselves the cry of today's humanity, and through His 'cry' which redeemed everything, build around us that human family for which the world is yearning".

Evangelisation

On Sunday 20th May, Brother Martin from the Fransiscan Friars of the Renewal spoke to Forum Christi on the topic of evangelisation. He gave us a number of examples from his personal experience of speaking to people about Jesus and said that the key things to remember when evangelising were: - Have confidence and trust in the truth of the Gospels - Use personal testimony - even if you think your life has been boring. Perhaps the fact that you play football will be enough to engage you in a conversation with a stranger that eventually leads you to talk about Jesus with them - Pray that God will put you in the situation where you can evangelise and make a difference to someone's life Brother Martin left us with a challenge: he gave us all a miraculous medal at the end of the talk, and asked us to pass it on before we got home. The evening ended with a decade of the rosary, and Theology on Tap at the Nightingale - where at least 3 miraculous medals were passed on.

Trip to Our Lady of Consolation and Chessington

On Saturday 19th May a group of 40 youngsters from the altar servers, Keep the Faith and Confirmation groups went on a trip to the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation at West Grinstead. After watching the new film "The Nativity Story" during the coach journey, we had refreshments on our arrival at the shrine. We then said the rosary outside on the rosary walk, and had Mass where Fr David Goddard told us about the history of the shrine and about the secret chapel, where Mass was said during the reformation. He was very impressed with the prayerfullness of all the children during Mass. After this it was time for lunch and an opportunity for football and piggy-back races, whilst small groups were able to visit the secret chapel and see the relics of Blessed Francis Bell.

After lunch we left the shrine en route to Chessington World of Adventures. There we faced the challenges of surviving the Vampire ride, Dragon rollercoaster, Pirate Ship, Dragon Falls, Rameses Revenge etc. And we even got Fr Marcus on some of the rides! All the group enjoyed the day and we say a special thank you to Fr Marcus for organising the trip, and to the other adults who came along to help.

A Day with Mary

On Saturday 12th May, the Holy Ghost parish hosted 'A Day with Mary'. The Franciscan Friars of Mary Immaculate and about 400 others enjoyed a traditional day of Marian devotions. There was even an impressive procession of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima around Nightingale Square. With so many prayers, hours of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, inspiring sermons and hundreds of confessions, this day has surely brought many blessings to our parish. Our gratitude to all those who made it happen.

Forum Christi explores Ecclesiology

On Sunday 13th May Fr Marcus spoke to the Forum Christi group, giving an introduction to Ecclesiology (the study of the Church). The talk focused on the questions "What is the Church?" and "Where is the Church?" In answer to the former question, Fr Marcus explained that the Church was not just a beautiful building at the bottom of Nightingale Square, or even merely the group of people who attend Mass there but that "the Church is the mystical body of Christ, the faithful united in the true worship of God". He also talked about the Church being on Earth, in purgatory and in heaven. The evening concluded with a decade of the rosary and Theology on Tap.

Stepping out for the Church in Need - London youngsters raise more than £2,500 for Christians in Burma

YOUNGSTERS from south London have put their best foot forward to raise money for fellow Catholics denied the freedoms we so often take for granted.
The 17 young people aged 12 and upwards walked nine miles to raise money to enable poverty-stricken Christians in Burma (Myanmar) to build a chapel in a village high up in the mountains.
The group from the Holy Ghost Catholic Church, Balham, have now collected more than £2,500, a significant contribution towards building the chapel in a remote village 130 miles from the Myanmar capital, Yangon (Rangoon).
Established only 10 years ago after a neighbouring village became overcrowded, the new community has had no permanent chapel – until now.
So determined were the 100 or so faithful to create a place of worship, they have constructed a temporary chapel made out of bamboo.
In response to their pleas for a permanent structure, their parish priest has appealed for help and Aid to the Church in Need, the charity for persecuted and poverty-stricken Christians, has offered the necessary assistance.
Christians in Burma are subject to institutionalised discrimination – and sometimes outright persecution.
Even Buddhists – who make up more than 70 percent of the population – are held in suspicion by the military regime, and for minorities such as Catholics, there are strict restrictions on construction of churches and evangelisation work.
Problems for Christians are compounded by the fact that so many of them belong to the ethnic groups responsible for insurrections against the government.
The plight of Myanmar’s Christians touched Father Marcus Holden, assistant priest of Holy Ghost Church, Balham, who organised the walk.
The route they followed from Holy Ghost Church, in Nightingale Square, led them to London’s Marble Arch – Tyburn – the site where many Catholics were martyred during the Penal times in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Fr Marcus described how he and the youngsters completed the walk with a Mass he celebrated at Tyburn Convent, which was established as a shrine in memory of the martyrs.
He said: “The link with Tyburn was very significant. It was fitting that our destination for this sponsored walk for persecuted Christians should end there.
“The walk also provided us with the opportunity to talk about our faith in a very natural way and to have fun together. It was an experience of faith and charity that they will never forget.” By John Pontifex

Every Child is a Blessing

In our parish we are blessed with very many births each year - as anyone who has attended the 10am Mass on Sunday morning will have experienced for themselves! Sometimes, sadly, the great joy of parents expecting a new addition to their family can be turned to distress and heartache when they hear that there is a possibility their baby may be unwell. Often great pressure is put upon them to terminate the pregnancy at an early stage even though, as many of our brave parents have discovered the prognosis itself lacks accuracy. We have many healthy children in the parish whose parents were recommended a termination because their child was diagnosed as having Downs Syndrome or some other disorder.
Not every diagnosis however is so shaky and sometimes the child is indeed unwell. The pressure put on parents to end the life of that child can be unbearable. One mother in our parish was accused of being `cruel´ because she refused to agree to an abortion. It is not unusual for parents to be told that the baby will live for such a short time that 'it´s not worth' continuing the pregnancy. I'm grateful to Fr Tim Finigan for drawing my attention to this short video:

Fr Angelus at Forum Christi

This week Fr Angelus from the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal spoke to Forum Christi about the spirituality of St Therese of Lisieux ("The Little Way").
He told us that St Therese said that she "always had the desire to be a Saint" but found a great gulf between her life and those of the Saints she had read about. So she began to make small sacrifices and acts of charity for the love of Jesus.
This is something we can do in our lives - for example instead of avoiding those people who annoy us we should make a special effort to see them and do something nice for them, even simply giving them a smile, and do this for God.

Sex Education

Recently the press has given a lot of coverage to some research that purports to show that abstinence programmes in schools don't reduce teenage pregnancies. The research itself is open to question but what's really interesting is what isn't mentioned. If abstinence programmes don't work then they are on a par with sex-ed programmes which don't work either - but are very lucrative for those behind them.
For a thoughtful reflection take a look at this article.

The Dawkins Delusion

Fr Philip Miller spoke to the 18-30 group, Forum Christi, last night on "The Dawkins Delusion". The talk was a critique of Richard Dawkins' recent book "The God Delusion", where Dawkins argues against the concept of God, and religion. Fr Philip is well placed to speak on this topic having himself a science background - he studied physics at Cambridge, and then completed a doctorate in astronomy (not, as Fr Marcus stated, astrology!).
The talk began with a list of the points where we could agree with Dawkins, for example disagreeing with fundamentalism and a literal interpretation of scripture (rather than an interpretation, in context, by the faith community). This was followed by a discussion of areas where we would disagree with the book, for example Dawkins alleges that faith is blind following without, or even against, evidence and without the need for thought.
The talk was followed by lively discussion, and the evening ended with a decade of the rosary and Theology on Tap at the Nightingale.

Policies make life hard for families

Zenit, the news service from Rome, carries an article on how families can be put at a financial disadvantage by Government policies. It will be interesting to see whether any political party comes up with concrete proposals to alleviate the discrimination against families. This is the first part of the article:

Marriage and family life in Britain have declined dramatically in recent years and one of the causes is government policy. This is the thesis of Patricia Morgan, in a policy brief entitled: "The War between the State and the Family: How Government Divides and Impoverishes." The study is published by the London-based Institute of Economic Affairs. The number of marriages has fallen notably, while the age at which couples marry has risen and the proportion of births out of wedlock has rocketed from 8% in 1970 to 42%. It is true, Morgan admits, that around one in four women with a child born out of wedlock goes on to marry in the subsequent eight years. But a quarter or more of children now have lone parents, who bear and raise their offspring in one or a series of cohabitations. In addition, cohabitations in which children are born are much less likely to be converted into marriage, and more likely to dissolve than either marriages or childless cohabitations. Moreover, Morgan argues that there is a generally upward trend in the proportion of cohabiting relationships that dissolve rather than turn into marriage. And, after they break up, it takes about two years to form another relationship, often another cohabitation. This decline in marriage is a worrying trend, the study explains, given the important social role of family life. Not only does marriage perform social tasks that are not easily replaced by other institutions, but it is also an important means of bonding fathers with their children. Morgan points out the importance of marriage for men, in terms of connecting them with the community and encouraging personal responsibility. Single-parent families and divorce also have severe negative effects on children that have been substantiated by numerous studies, Morgan points out. Problems include lower educational results, poorer work prospects and inferior health. Adults are also better off being married. "Married people are consistently better off in terms of longevity, mental and physical health, and suffer lower levels of violence and addiction," the study argues. Welfare payments The breakdown in family life has led to a big rise in government welfare spending. Payments related to child support rose from 10 billion pounds ($19.6 billion) per year in 1975 to 22 billion ($43.2 billion) in 2003 (in 2003 prices). No less than two-thirds of this increase was due to the big increase in one-parent families, according to Morgan. The problem with this is that a disproportionate amount has gone to single-parent households. Two-parent families are, in effect, being economically discouraged through the combination of welfare payments and the tax system. Thus, the government promotes a situation that favors the increase in single-parent families, with the consequent social ill-effects. "Anti-family activists have expressly sought to undermine any economic, social and legal need and support for marriage by getting any privileges granted to married couples, including tax allowances, withdrawn, and recognition extended to different types of households and relationships," Morgan explains. In many cases couples with two children would be financially better off if they split up and the mother claimed welfare benefits. For example, if one parent is working full time at the minimum wage, or at average income, the couple is worse off living together than if they were to split up -- to the tune of 260 pounds ($510) per week. Only when joint incomes reach 50,000 pounds ($98,125) a year is there no loss from being a couple. Thus, a combination of payments in cash and in kind raise the welfare available outside the married state by enough to take away economic reasons for forming a conjugal household. While the rise of illegitimacy and the retreat from marriage might not simply be due to economics, it would be unwise to ignore the financial factor that forms part of the environment in which people make decisions about relationships and children. In fact, many people, Morgan admits, will have other reasons that could override economic factors in deciding whether to marry. "But it would be foolish to simply assume that people do not change their behavior in response to the costs and benefits of different directions," she observes. The welfare system encourages lone parenting especially when the earning potential of the father is relatively weak. It does this in three ways, Morgan explains. First, the bias in tax and benefits systems discriminates against couples, particularly single-earner couples. Second, it can encourage single mothers to have children in order to obtain welfare benefits and thus improve their economic situation. Third, the benefits system can bring about labor market conditions that are less conducive to couples making a decision to marry.

Asbos

The article in this week's newsletters about Asbos for toddlers who damage Church property and fines for parents certainly generated a lot of interest. Some people were outraged. Others congratulated us and said it was about time too!

Most people, however, spotted that the date from which the new measures were to take effect was 1st April. So the time has come to own up. It was indeed an April Fool's Day spoof.

The accompanying photograph is, however, genuine and was taken by me in York earlier this year.

Ruth Ashfield at Forum Christi

Ruth Ashfield, an expert in John Paul II's 'Theology of the Body', addressed our Forum Christi group on Sunday. She spoke about the importance of appreciating sexual difference and complementarity between men and women and how this enables a proper understanding of human nature and society. In a very animated question time she dealt with issues regarding true Christian feminism, homosexuality, chastity education, the importance of an exclusively male priesthood. Afterwards the group went on to the Nightingale pub for 'Theology on Tap'!

Last week Ruth had joined Declan Jones in speaking to our Keep the Faith and Confirmation groups about living a life of chastity in the world today.

Comic Relief

The secular media have recently attacked a Catholic school for refusing to participate in Comic Relief fund-raising activities. Comic Relief will state in their offical response to questions from Catholics that none of their money goes towards supporting abortions in the Third World. Strictly speaking that is true. What they don't say is that they do support organisations that promote abortions. It is also clear that they give large sums of money to organisations that explicitly attack the Catholic Church on this issue. For example last year Comic Relief donated £637,054 to One World Action.
One World Action sponsors a report called "Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Central America - an agenda for action". Anyone reading it would be hard-pressed to defend One World Action against the charge that it is both virulently anti-Catholic and aggressively pro-abortion.
for a fuller account I recommend a quick visit to the article posted by Fr Tim Finigan over at the Hermeneutic of Continuity.

Wednesday & Thursday this Week

On Wednesday this week I celebrated the 6.45am Mass and then got things together for a trip to St. Andrew's University in Scotland where I was to address the Catholic Scoiety on the topic of vocations. I had been given the rather cumbersome title of "Where have all the vocations gone and how do we get them back?"

I flew from Gatwick to Edinburgh coincidentally meeting a parishioner as we boarded. From Edinburgh I took the train to Leuchars where I was met by Jamie, the president of the Catholic Society and Chris, from Boston, who kindly gave me a lift into town in his car.

The chaplain of the Catholic Society is also the parish priest. He was away attending the deanery Lenten Station Mass so I was asked to celebrate the Wednesday evening 7.30pm Mass in the chaplaincy. It was good to see the chapel, which can take fifty people, pretty well full. There were people from the parish there but I'd say that the majority of those present were students.

After Mass we had the meeting of the Canmore Society. After the talk there were questions and then the chance for a cup of tea before we retired to a local watering house for something more refreshing.

It was a good trip and I enjoyed myself very much. I was pleased to meet such an impressive number of students and find that some of them are indeed thinking about priesthood and religious life.

Recent Publications

Vocations News
From time to time I produce a newsletter with information about what's been happening vocationswise in the Archdiocese. It began as a newsletter for priests to encourage them to be positive and pro-active about promoting vocations. After many requests we decided to produce it also for parishes. Currently we print about ten thousand which is roughly ten percent of our Mass going population in the diocese. We've not produced a Vocations News for a while and so our latest is a 'bumper edition' running to eight pages with all sorts of interesting news articles.
You may have seen some copies at the back of the Church.

Lenten Reading
Also at the back of the Church there are copies of Walk with Me and My Day by Day for sale. Walk with Me contains prayers and reflections for every day of the week during Lent. My Day by Day contains the daily scripture readings.