The Pensive Pilgrim

As the western world seems to nudge day by day slightly further to the right, it should probably come as no surprise that the old debate regarding teaching about LGBT+ issues in school should come to the fore. Once again in the United Kingdom, some parents (often motivated ostensibly by a religious faith, be it Christian or Muslim) are objecting to their children being taught about Lesbian and Gay relationships and gender issues.  The spirit of the notorious Section 28 lives on and casts an increasingly sinister shadow in these supposedly more enlightened days. Education is about the imparting of facts and helping children and young people to process facts and think for themselves. Sex education - so often euphemistically but accurately referred to as 'The Facts of Life' - must always be about the realities of human embodiment, physical attraction and relationship. To suggest that it should not include the reality of same sex attraction is an absurd, irresponsible and alarmin...

At a time when people are generally retiring later and living longer, I guess it could be said that 'sixty is the new forty'. Nevertheless, as I approach my sixtieth birthday, there is a sense in which the turning of the decade has a particular significance. There can now be little doubt that far more of my life lies behind me than ahead of me. In terms of my working life and ministry, I've still got some years to go - God willing - and yet retirement looms on the horizon, bringing with it a welcome release from any vestige of ambition or 'career' anxiety. Plenty of people told me this would happen. I was warned many years ago that I would one day wake up and wonder where all the years had gone. At that time, of course, I simply laughed, just as my younger friends and colleagues do now as I utter the same words of wisdom to them; and more recently friends have warned me that reaching sixty would bring with it a more reflective frame of mind, of which I suspect thi...

"It was happy but not clappy." So said a retired priest who recently attended one of our monthly 'New Fire' Masses, where we aim to combine the Charismatic and the Catholic, the Traditional and the Contemporary.  The comment was, I believe, intended to be complimentary! The term 'Happy-Clappy' is, of course, often used in a quite derogatory sense, usually by traditionalists to describe modern Evangelical or Evangelical-Charismatic worship. I must confess that I have often used the phrase in this context in the past to express varying degrees of disapproval and even disdain. As a classically trained musician and a committed Anglo-Catholic, for many years I poured scorn on all such worship which I saw as being at best banal and at worst positively infantile. Whilst I remain unapologetic in my criticism of any worship that is liturgically illiterate or simply 'dumbed-down' to the lowest common denominator, a broadening (or should that be 'cathol...

'It's like changing from a black and white TV to colour'. So says a friend of mine whenever he's asked to talk about Charismatic Renewal.  It's an analogy that I like - not only because I'm of an age to remember the impact of the transition from monochrome TV to colour - but also because it works on a number of levels and resonates with my own experience. An encounter with the renewing power of the Holy Spirit does indeed dramatically change one's perspective on life in general and God in particular. For me, my faith came alive in an entirely new way and my spirituality was re-energised. This isn't to suggest for a moment that my faith wasn't alive in the first place; I believe - or certainly hope -  that it was very much alive. But suddenly there was a new vibrancy to my relationship with God, and everything looked and felt very different.  The experience was refreshing and invigorating. It is often said that one of the problems with the Chari...

One day, a couple of years ago I had two appointments to keep in London. I was going to have a little time to spare, so I asked myself how I might best fill the time. Some people would probably say that I should have gone shopping; but my itinerary didn’t really allow long enough for a decent shopping spree, and anyway I’m a Yorkshireman, so I didn’t want to spend any money! It occurred to me that I was due to make a confession. What better place to do it than London? With so many famous Anglo-Catholic churches, there was bound to be somewhere with a set time for hearing confessions where I could slip in and out anonymously. Just for interest, I picked up my copy of ‘The Church Travellers Directory 1973’ – which some of my readers will doubtless remember with great affection. It listed the churches in which at that time there was a Daily Mass, indicated by a letter D, where the main Sunday Service was always a Mass indicated by an S, where Confessions were heard regularly at ...

I recently came across the following reflections, which were shared some years ago with the (now defunct) Leicester Chapter of the Society of Catholic Priests. The article describes my journey into 'full faith Catholicism' and pre-dates both my joining the Sodality of Mary Mother of Priests and the re-awakening of my Charismatic spirituality. Nevertheless, the story remains accurate - so far as it goes - and I am still happy to own the points it makes, though I realise some will perhaps be contentious. I am happy to reproduce it here unedited, as a key part of my personal testimony and in the hope that it may be of interest, amusement or encouragement to others. “The Fullness of Faith : My Journey into Catholicism” Paper delivered to the Leicester Chapter of SCP on the Feast of St Joseph 2014 When Lisa originally invited me to speak this evening, she suggested that I should talk about the importance of the living-out of our Catholic faith.   I was somewhat daunted a...