Bishop Alan in Conversation

Last night (18/12/14), Fr Dominic Howarth hosted an evening of discussion with Bishop Alan Williams. The talk focused on Bishop Alan's discernment and journey of faith. 

It was prayerful, entertaining, inspiring and interesting in equal amounts. Fr James Mackay both 'live tweeted' the event and we have recorded our story here:

https://storify.com/iTeachRE/bishop-alan-in-conversation 

The evening finished with informal conversation over fish and chips. Bishop Alan told me that he has taught both physics and RE before. He said "Physics was easy, it's very straight forward... RE that the hard stuff!"

He is very much looking forward to visiting Sacred Heart of Mary Girls' School as soon as his diary allows... and he admitted that he lets someone else look after that as it is so busy!

Fr James has also blogged: http://jamesm79.com/2014/12/19/an-evening-with-bishop-alan/ 

A full video of the evening is found here: http://brentwoodvocations.org/conversation/bishop-alan/

Nuns are FUN!

It is easy to forget that nuns and priests are still real people! They laugh, they cry, they can be happy, they get sad... 

The Daughters of Charity, a religious order who I lived with for 6 weeks in Ethiopia have put together their own 'Happy' video (I think this is their American DoC):

There are some great moments in this; my favourites are the nun dancing with the Pope Francis picture and the face-painted nun!

It's also worth having a look at this site, which has 20 funny nun pictures... <here>

Hopefully this has brought a smile to you face today!

Buy A Priest A Beer!

Monday 9th September marks International Buy A Priest A Beer Day. According to The Catholic Gentleman blog: "On this festive day, faithful Catholics all over the world take their priests out for a beer and get to know them better. It’s a beautiful Catholic tradition that goes back to the time of St. Hopswald of Aleyard, the first man to take his priest out for a beer."

In the write up of this day, it reminds people that priests are normal people too. It suggests inviting your priest out for a beer, or round for dinner. Despite their often hectic schedule, it is often a welcome break for the dedicated clergy.

I'm not sure how well-known this special day is, or indeed St Hospwald of Aleyard is, but it seems like a good reason to pop to the pub with a priest!

Read more <here>.

Priests & Nuns Should Drive Humble Cars!

Pope Francis has said, “It hurts me when I see a priest or a nun with the latest model car, you can’t do this.”

He went on to say, "A car is necessary to do a lot of work, but please, choose a more humble one. If you like the fancy one, just think about how many children are dying of hunger in the world."

Much has been made of Pope Francis' attitude to the poor and the way in which he is living his life (see previous blog post <here>). He has given up some of the trappings of Office including living in a guest house rather than the opulent papal apartments.

Apparently the Pope's car of choice for moving around the walled Vatican City is a compact Ford Focus. He also borrowed Fiat as a popemobile for his first papal visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa last Monday (see above).

Do you think the Pope is right to challenge the clergy on their materialistic attitudes? Do you think by setting an example he is able to change the thousands of priests around the world? Do you think it is too simplistic to say they should be thinking of the staving children?

Read more <here> and <here>

Vocations: On the RISE

Last Sunday was Vocations Sunday in the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales; also known as Good Shepherd Sunday.
In 2010, it made the news that vocations were on the rise (Read more here). This was largely reported just after Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the UK. However many suggested that this very visit would have an impact on the Catholics of England and Wales and prompt more young Catholics to consider a vocation to the priesthood or religious life. This seems to have been the case:

"Entry to religious orders has continued to rise in England and Wales during 2012. For the third year running, the number of women entering religious communities has grown and this year has seen a noticeable increase in the number of men joining as well."
"Last year also saw the highest number of ordinations to the diocesan priesthood in nearly ten years, with 31 priests ordained for the dioceses of England and Wales." (Read more here)

This looks set to grow with with 41 projected for 2013. This is a rapid increase from just 20 in 2011.

Why do you think that this is happening? Does this indicate a bright future for the Catholic Church in the UK? Is the change in the way young people are encouraged to discren their vocation? Is there better support for those who consider this type of vocation?
The National Office for Vocation is found here: http://www.ukvocation.org
They have published a variety of resources for Vocations Sunday here: http://www.ukvocation.org/vocations-sunday-resources
GCSE students may also find this site helpful: http://www.calledtoday.com/

What does it mean to be a Catholic priest?

Many people think they know what it means to be a Catholic priest. It certainly is a 'job' that is above and beyond most others. It is also a calling that increasingly brings with it difficulty and struggle in our contemporary society.  

Fr Stephen Wang is a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Westminster, London. He is the Dean of Studies at Allen Hall seminary, where he teaches philosophy and theology. He was recently asked to summarise the meaning of being a Catholic priest in 1100 words. 

He begins: "The Catholic priesthood is an extraordinary vocation. Every Christian is called to bring the love of Christ to others. The ministerial priest, through the sacrament of ordination, is called to show that love in a special way."


"His vocation is to preach the Gospel and teach the Catholic faith; to lead God’s people in love, as a shepherd, as a spiritual father; and to celebrate the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, ‘for the glory of God and the sanctification of Christ’s people’ (Rite of Ordination). His whole being is transformed, so that he can be an icon of Christ for others, filled with the Holy Spirit, and a minister of grace."

"Catholic priests are ordinary men who never lose their humanity. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. They have different backgrounds and personalities, different strengths and weaknesses. Yet they have all been called like the first disciples: ‘Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men’ (Mt 4)."

"This is not just an ‘external’ call to do something for Jesus, but an invitation to draw closer to him and share his life more intimately; just as the Apostles, before they were sent out to preach and heal, spent time with the Lord in friendship."

After detailing some of the differences between priests in religious congregations, he goes on to detail further, the roles and responsibilities of the parish priest:


"Parish ministry is incredibly varied. In a single day a priest might visit children in the school, bring Holy Communion to the sick, support a bereaved family, help a couple prepare for their wedding, hear someone’s confession, prepare sandwiches for the homeless, and lead a sacramental programme in the evening. And so much of priesthood is simply being with others – sitting, listening, talking, praying."

"The heart of each day is the celebration of Mass, when all these concerns are offered to the Father in the Holy Sacrifice, and the priest leads his people in worship, repentance, thanksgiving and intercession."

"Some diocesan priests work full-time in more specialised ministries, for example, as chaplains in prisons, hospitals, universities or the armed forces. Some even work abroad as missionaries – a reminder that every priest is called to evangelise."

Fr Wang goes one to detail the vows that priests take and what these mean before continuing:


"The priesthood brings incredible joys, especially in seeing God’s grace transform people’s lives, and in the special bonds that are formed with laypeople and brother priests."

"There are also real difficulties and challenges. These can be in the spiritual life, in ministry, or in the ordinary human struggles that afflict everyone at different moments: tiredness, loneliness, stress, failure, sin. Like every Christian, the priest tries to live through his difficulties with faith and hope, staying close to the Lord, trusting in him."

He concludes with advice for young men considering the priesthood in forming their vocation. 

His reflections concisely explain something of what it means to be a Catholic priest, and some of the roles and responsibilities that a parish priest carries out. It is a careful reflection explaining some of Fr Wang's personal views on the role of the parish priest.

Is this what you expected a Catholic priest to say about his vocation? What surprised you about this account? What jobs didn't you realise a priest carries out? Could you sum up the meaning of Catholic priesthood in a few words?

Read it in full here: http://bridgesandtangents.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/the-meaning-of-the-catholic-priesthood/
Buy copies of the leaflet he has written here: http://www.cts-online.org.uk/acatalog/info_LF67.html 

Priest Denies Communion To Lesbian Parishioner At Her Mother's Funeral

A Maryland-based priest is garnering heat in the blogosphere today after allegedly denying communion to a lesbian parishioner attending her mother's funeral.

As The New Civil Rights Movement blogger David Badash is reporting, Father Marcel Guarnizo of Gaithersburg's Saint John Neumann Catholic Church reportedly covered the bowl containing the Eucharist as the woman, who is identified only as Barbara, approached him.

“I cannot give you communion because you live with a woman and that is a sin according to the church," he is quoted as saying.

Badash quotes from an Addicting Info blog written by Ann Werner, who also notes, "To add insult to injury, Fr. Guarnizo left the altar when she delivered her eulogy to her mother. When the funeral was finished he informed the funeral director that he could not go to the gravesite to deliver the final blessing because he was sick."

Werner also notes, "I will tell you a little about the woman who drove that priest from the altar. She is kind, she is smart, she is funny and she works hard promoting the arts. She pays her bills, she cares deeply for her family and she loved her mother and her mother loved her right back. And now she will never set foot in a Catholic church again and who can blame her?"

Ann Werner went on to write:

"It is time for Christians of all stripes to stop and think about the teachings of the Jesus they proclaim to love so deeply and revere so much. I spent twelve years in Catholic school and the Jesus I was told about would never have turned away anyone for any reason and certainly not on the occasion of burying a parent. Fr. Guarnizo has a lot to learn about Christianity and the Catholic Church has a lot to learn about the teachings of Jesus if behavior of this sort is tolerated."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/maryland-priest-communion-lesbian-denial-_n_1304910.html and http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/lesbian-denied-communion-by-priest-who-quits-in-middle-of-mothers-funeral/discrimination/2012/02/27/35412

UPDATE (1/3): More on this news story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-shore/father-marcel-guarnizo-not-the-whole-story_b_1311289.html
Who do you think is right? Essentially Fr Guarnizo is simply upholding the teaching of the Catholic Church. Do you think that Ann Werner is correct in her assesment? How could this situation have been avoided? What do you think would have been a better way for the priest to have handled this?

BBC4: Catholics (Priests)

Filmed over six months and with extraordinary access, an intimate behind-the-scenes portrait of Allen Hall in London, one of only three remaining Roman Catholic seminaries in Britain.

This is the first of a new three-part series directed by award-winning filmmaker Richard Alwyn about being Catholic in Britain today. Each film - one about men, one about women, one about children - reveals a different Catholic world, showing Catholicism to be a rich but complex identity and observing how this shapes people's lives.

As the Catholic priesthood struggles to recover from the scandal of child abuse, numbers of men applying to join have fallen greatly. Just 19 men were ordained in England and Wales in 2010. In this first film, Alwyn meets the men who still feel themselves called to this role, including funk band roadie turned first-year student, Rob Hunt. A cradle Catholic, Rob ignored his faith for years before deciding his life was veering off course. With little education, he thought he had as much chance of becoming a priest as becoming an astronaut. Today, surrounded by boxsets of The Sweeney, he is adapting to seminary life.

Andrew Gallagher is in his final year at Allen Hall. Now 30, he previously worked in a City law firm, but felt he couldn't ignore a lifelong calling - at school, his nickname was Priest.

The film follows the seminarians through a timetable which ranges from Biblical Greek to lessons on how to live a celibate life. Everything builds towards priestly ordination when the seminarians believe they will be fundamentally altered as human beings, only then able to celebrate the Eucharist and perform the act that is central to Catholic life, the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

'I will give you shepherds after my own heart', said the prophet Jeremiah, stating God's chosen method for guiding His people. This film brings rare and moving insight into those who believe themselves to be God's shepherds in the 21st Century.

Watch on iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cl83g/sign/Catholics_Priests/

The reviews of this have been very positive (for example: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9100313/Catholics-episode-one-BBC-Four-review.html)

Have you watched it? Does it help you understand why some men still choose the Catholic priesthood? What difficulties do these men still face?

The following two episodes cover women and children apparently!

Busted Halo: Sacraments 101 Videos

These collection of videos are excellent for revising the sacraments for EdExcel GCSE:

Unit 3: Marraige and the Family

Marraige - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq2RDYlOLrs

Unit 10: Worship and Celebration

Baptism - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05YB2jdHLsY
Confirmation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt32SyDWuW8
Penance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz5-vu6A58E
Annointing of the Sick - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEppjWNO2y4
Eucharist - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdGkTdv4Dt4

Unit 10: Live the Christian Life

Holy Orders - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q904xIwxnSc

Compulsory Celibacy for Clergy

"Christians outside the Roman Catholic church, and very many inside, can see what a nonsense compulsory clerical celibacy is."

Do you agree? This writer claims that it has been a success for Protestant Churches and that the Catholic Church "has just stuck its fingers in its ears and chanted la-la-la".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/jan/20/compulsory-celibacy-clergy-straight-gay?CMP=twt_fd