tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-309945622024-03-06T06:29:44.780+00:00Fr Peter's BlogThoughts, opinions and ramblings from a Stoke-on-Trent priestFr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.comBlogger158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-33509739834039312822021-09-22T21:13:00.003+01:002021-09-22T21:13:45.006+01:00Stoke in Barcelona<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz2bLhx1t65-hZP4gPxmoCaZI-CjT3UTbU9Q64tPWBHxod2dAkf-6BjBO_u_xX5OZMsbiUvTHAlenevoCG5JrhnRuQtuoR-I-fQg446ANp8EMIX-mnB3RZ36yCq6-MMT90aUax/s2048/CLI%25CC%2581NICA+PODOLO%25CC%2581GICA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1777" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz2bLhx1t65-hZP4gPxmoCaZI-CjT3UTbU9Q64tPWBHxod2dAkf-6BjBO_u_xX5OZMsbiUvTHAlenevoCG5JrhnRuQtuoR-I-fQg446ANp8EMIX-mnB3RZ36yCq6-MMT90aUax/s320/CLI%25CC%2581NICA+PODOLO%25CC%2581GICA.png" width="278" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Graffitti seen in Pasaje Montserrat De Andrés, near Plaça d'Espanya, Barcelona 19 February 2016. <p></p><div><br /></div>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-59827041771466866602016-01-22T20:32:00.001+00:002021-04-20T07:56:53.864+01:00Saying goodbye ...<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">Immediately after Easter I will be leaving the Potteries after 23 years. </p>
<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="CarolService2015.jpg" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2OoByMMSykU/VqKRvlY2oJI/AAAAAAAAYIs/etu1wQQ-QxM/CarolService2015.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="CarolService2015" width="300 px" border="0" /></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">We all moved here in the Summer of 1992 when I became the Church of England Vicar of St Werburgh’s, in Burslem. We arrived with our five children, aged from 3 to 14 years. At that time Stoke and Vale were both in the newly formed Division Two. It was the first year of the Premier League: yes it is<em> that</em> long ago!</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">Since then I have become a Catholic, trained as a teacher, trained teachers, been ordained priest, served as parish priest of Bentilee, Hanley and Fenton, spent a little time as chaplain in hospitals, a prison and schools , given 10 years as Dean of North Staffordshire, and during all this time seen our family increase by 18 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">So, as I now creep closer and closer to my sixtieth year, the Archbishop of Birmingham feels I am “ready for a new challenge” and has appointed me the parish priest of St Mary’s, Cannock. (Mercifully at least, still in Staffordshire). </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">What will I miss most? someone asked me recently. I thought about this. The answer may be a little surprising. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">Of course, I will miss some special places. This wonderful location in Hanley - so close to the Coachmakers, Robertos’s, Jaflong and the Venus Fish Bar each of which I have frequented perhaps a little too often. I will miss the charming beauty of Our Lady's Church, at Fenton, and the magnificent glory of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Hanley, the most stunning in the City. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">I will miss the annual carol service at Hanley, our exuberant celebrations of Pentecost, the Fairs, and the Pea-and-Pie suppers.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">I will miss Our Lady's School in Fenton, which I have served for the past five years, and the group of nine schools in the Newman Collegiate in the north of the city: so many dedicated teachers and enthusiastic children, who have been a great joy to know. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">I will miss so many people in numerous other parishes too: the ones I got to know during my years as Dean and who still great me with warmth and affection. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">I will miss my occasional articles for The Sentinel, the interviews on BBC Radio Stoke (usually early in the morning!) and the staff in the local media who have always been so supportive and helpful. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">I will miss the volunteers who give extraordinary amounts of time as school governors, fund raising, managing Church resources, and leading parish activities.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">I will miss meeting again the children I have baptised, the couples I have married, the bereaved I have accompanied through sadness - and parishioners who I have laughed with, learnt from, preached to, infuriated and sometimes, perhaps, even inspired. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">I will miss colleagues: priests, our parish deacon, and the sisters of the Immaculate Heart; and also others: teachers and other school staff, doctors, nurses and care assistants, funeral directors and cemetery attendants and yet more, too many to count, who have become more than colleagues. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">Of course, all these I will miss, yet this might be said by any priest in any location moving on to a new post. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia; min-height: 17px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">But what I will miss most of all is the richness and diversity of this wonderful city, and Hanley, itself, which can never be matched wherever I may go. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">I will miss the ordinary folk of this city, and the tremendous diversity of those who have made their home here. I will miss those who bring the 25 or so different languages to our current community: the ordinary Potteries folk with their warmth and humour and deep roots in the city; the Filipinas for their wonderful culinary contributions to our celebrations; the Nigerians and other Africans for their piety and devotion; Zimbabweans, Ethiopeans and the Keralan Indians for their kindness and generosity; the Eastern Europeans - Czechs, Slovakians; and the priests of the Polish and Ukrainian communities who I have been privileged to work with so closely. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">To be sure, the diversity of our city certainly brings its challenges, but also, for a priest some small rewards: I have helped an Eritrean woman get a visa for the United States, appeared before a tribunal to plead for an Iranian man to be given the right to reside in this country, and supported many applications for Citizenship. I have helped get children of asylum seekers into schools. I have heard harrowing stories from people who have suffered persecution and violence and who have fled to this country for refuge. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">“Do you prefer being here?” I said a little sceptically to one family of Roma (gypsys) who had moved here from Eastern Europe, where they are a persecuted minority. They were living in far from ideal conditions, crammed into an unpleasant flat in the City Centre, with little more than the mattress they slept on. “Oh yes,” said the Father, “in my country, people shout bad things at us, and spit on our children in the street: but never in this country. ” </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;">I will miss Hanley. I will miss Stoke-on-Trent. Love your City and North Staffordshire. It is a great place to be, to live, and to be valued. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Christmas Eve 2007.jpg" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4KhC27_vnRZ09tB2sPf0jpBSkuTWLaGieNBuMEqrL02WCCgomuCeGBeE0GkNx3SU0ln_HO4EvWA-KFw3x2wGYwKdonwS0NffSlTxKMvD0p-b_FHruAwpfHmrgbP5zWGCcaGZt/?imgmax=800" alt="Christmas Eve at Sacred Heart, Hanley" width="490" border="0" /></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Constantia;"> </p>
<p><em>This was originally written for publication in the Sentinel newspaper on 20th January 2016. This is a slightly expanded version of the article.</em></p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-17760368032036486612015-10-27T11:12:00.001+00:002015-10-27T11:30:05.195+00:00The Northern Powerhouse, the Pilgrimage of Grace, Our Day Out, and Downton Abbey.<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="NewImage.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mu7YwOazJJE/Vi9e81K88KI/AAAAAAAAYBg/4AyJhg5qZIU/NewImage.png?imgmax=800" alt="NewImage" width="299" height="187" border="0" />We have been hearing a lot about the “Northern Powerhouse” recently.</p>
<p>Please forgive me if I am more than a little cynical about the whole thing. The North-South divide is acute and has long been so - and it is welcome that there should be a particular focus on the woes of the North of <em>England</em> (because of course, this debate is in no way about Scotland, nor indeed about Ireland or Wales).</p>
<p>It echoes the late, great Margaret Thatcher (forgive now, the transparent irony) who spoke of a focus on the cities and, I vaguely recall, was delighted about winning “the Boltons” (as if they were “the Carolinas”). </p>
<p>However, Mr Osborne, and the Tories in general (if they are to take up Osborne’s baton), will have a tall order. A report today indicates that the North-South divide runs far deeper than just a few years of economic decline. Children aged under five from poor families in the north of England perform less well than even the poorest children in London, according to a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34642754">report from The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR)</a>. </p>
<p>But it goes even deeper than this. The North-South divide is by no means only a recent phenomenon.</p>
<p>Some of us are old enough (just) to recall when the North was, literally, the Powerhouse of the Nation - in the days of manufacturing, of coal, and steel - the days before (here she is again) Mrs Thatcher. </p>
<p>But even in these “powerhouse” days, there was a North-South divide. Poor children in the North were being educated only as “factory fodder”, as the teacher Mrs Kay states in Willy Russell’s 1977 television play <em>Our Day Out - </em>and by the time the play was turned into a musical ten years later, the teacher adds <em>“but now the factories are closed”.</em> </p>
<p>These days, the 1980s, saw the emergence of “Loadsamoney”, when the Chelsea supporters waved their bundles of notes to taunt the fans of Newcastle United. </p>
<p>But this was just a manifestation of the same, very old divide. Its goes back at least 450 years.</p>
<p>In the 16th Century the North of England rose against the South and was brutally tricked, defeated and smashed. The uprising against Henry VIII is known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, and was at the time in no way framed as a social uprising nor even a geographic one, but was a revolt against the religious changes enacted under Henry VIII. The outlines of what happened at that time are well known, but perhaps only in a superficial way. </p>
<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="NewImage.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-w6N0Tztglj0/Vi9gOMfmuKI/AAAAAAAAYBs/lvW1KwEv1KM/NewImage.png?imgmax=800" alt="NewImage" width="269" height="244" border="0" /></p>
<p>Henry VIII declared his independence from the Pope. He refused to accept the authority of Bishop of Rome over any matters in his realm. </p>
<p>But that in itself is too simple a reading of what happened. Henry’s revolution had very little to do with religious belief (he always considered himself to be a Catholic), but was much more to do with greed and egotism. It was in fact radically secular.</p>
<p>Henry’s reform did not mean the rejection of the power of Rome, but rather the assumption of the Church’s power into the Monarch. It was therefore the abolition of any countervailing power in the nation, and the removal of any court of appeal over the actions of the King. The relationship between society and Church was certainly ready for reform, but this was no reform, but rather a concentration of power that was formerly distributed. The Constitution was radically changed, and without even a referendum (such things were unknown, of course!) England moved suddenly <strong>out of Europe</strong>, and any checks on the authority of the state were eliminated. </p>
<p>The Monasteries, certainly wealthy, but also centres of employment and learning, of health care and charity, were dissolved. Ancient treasures and manuscripts were destroyed, hospitals and almshouses closed, and centres of employment vanished. Henry took the land and property to himself and much was sold at low prices to a new class of wealthy individuals. It was <strong>massive privatisation</strong> which led to the destruction of an effective welfare and educational system, and an extra-ordinary increase in unemployment, in poverty and in vagrancy. </p>
<p>In the wake of these changes, the North rose up, not perhaps yet aware of the social consequences of what was taking place, but certainly alarmed by Henry’s egotism and greed.<strong> The rebels were offered a compromise, and a willingness to listen to their concerns</strong>, then tricked and crushed in a brutally unrestrained manner, with no one to enjoin restraint or moderation.</p>
<p><em>All sounds a bit familiar doesn’t it? </em></p>
<p>And so the subjugation of the North of England to the south was established, and is rooted deep into the fabric of England. It took about 400 years for the state fully to embrace the responsibilities formerly undertaken by the Church and the monasteries of mediaeval England. </p>
<p>Which is why, deep in the North of England, those posh people live in Downton <em>Abbey. </em></p>
<p> </p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-33239436744099893772015-10-26T17:56:00.001+00:002015-10-26T18:32:27.769+00:00Tax Credits: Who is the more representative - the Lords or the Commons?Tax Credits: Who is the more representative - the Lords or the Commons?<br><br>I am not a statistician, but I am interested in the strength, persuasiveness and validity of arguments. In recent days it has been argued in connected with the debate on Tax Credits, that the view of the Lords lacks legitimacy - it is unrepresentative. But is this actually the case?<br><br>No doubt the most important arguments in this debate are around fairness, justice for the lowest paid, and the injustice of increasing tax relief for the rich while removing it for the poor.<br><br>But in the midst of this debate - which, given the resolve of the Tories is unlikely to have much impact on the final outcome - is a constitutional argument, about the role of the House of Lords in possibly holding up what is described as "the will of the Commons". The unelected Lords are not supposed to stop any financial measure from passing through parliament. This is a convention, not a matter of constitutional law - like so much in our British uncodified Constitution - and even though this measure was not included in the Conservative Manifesto earlier this year, and it seems was even explicitly excluded as an option during the election campaign, convention (it is argued) decrees that the Lords must not frustrate the measure, as it is a financial measure, and the unelected Lords cannot stand in the way of an elected Commons on the principle of no taxation without representation.<br><br>The argument raises many questions, and no doubt many cynical observations, but just one struck me. Having been, for so many years, aware that the Lords had sat alongside the Commons with a large inbuilt Conservative majority - which had been reined in, from time to time, by these very conventions - I had not fully grasped that the Conservatives no longer have a majority in the Lords. The rather limited changes to the Lords which had taken place under Labour, and the consequence of the practice of appointing peers, had led to something of a lag in the manner in which the Lords reflects the membership of the Commons.<br><br>In many respects of course the Lords is very unrepresentative. By age, definitely, by its very design. And also by gender. Certainly also by social class. And - given the refusal of the Scottish Nationalists to appoint to the Lords - it has also become unrepresentative of the political composition of the UK.<br><br>It would also seem that the party make up of the Lords, too, is out of sync with the nation. After all, the LibDems have a huge number of peers (112) yet only 8 MPs, and UKIP, who gained a similar percentage of the votes in the General Election has just 2 peers. Of course, the Lords is not designed to be a proportionately representative chamber - but when there are such extreme variations, one might suppose that the argument that the Lords has no right to stand in the way of the Commons has particular validity.<br><br>But is this so? I wondered. And I looked at the figures. The results are a little surprising. Making a little allowance for the incompatibilities of the various systems, it would appear that, on this particular issue at least, far from being less representative of the electorate, in fact the Lords is closer to the expressed will of the electorate. <br><br>In the 2015 General election, with a clear programme for austerity (even if its details were kept unclear) the Conservatives gained the votes of just 24% of the electorate, which translated into 39% of the vote. Of the 61% who voted otherwise, the great majority supported parties with a much less enthusiastic approach to deficit reduction. This 24% of the electorate translated into 51% of the seats. They won. They have a mandate - but hardly an overwhelming or enthusiastic one.<br><br>By contrast, the Conservatives hold 31% of the seats in the Lords - less than their popular vote but still greater than their proportion of the electorate, and much closer to their actual support in the country. Similarly, Labour have just 26% of the seats in the Lords, against 36% in the Commons, but again this is much closer to the election result. Even for the LibDems, the "huge" number in the Lords (14%) is closer to their actual percentage of the vote (8%) than their handful of MPs in the Commons (1%). Of course, for other parties there is less of a correlation, but if we just consider the issue of Tax Credits, the Lords looks more representative than the Commons.<br><br>The numbers themselves, and a simple bar chart are below.<br><br>Suffice to say that whatever the arguments may be over the rightness of this measure (that's the REAL point), and whatever parliamentary convention may properly dictate, and however the parties may decide to act on these principles, if the argument comes down to whether the Lords lacks the legitimacy to block the measure because it is unrepresentative, it should be very clear - the Lords has greater democratic legitimacy (on this matter at least) than this Tory Government. <br><br>And that is why - irony of ironies - the Tories are talking of taking legislative steps to rein in the Lord's - steps threatened in the past only against Tory dominated Lords. <br><br>Note: Voter turnout in the General Election was 66.1%. "2015 % corrected" indicates the proportions of the entire electorate, not only those who cast their votes. <br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4qbuN9Pg25O1e0-ZSl5Ac5H6EJu4uLNrmrcenAsfN424HOPvomIiJiNOcAqr8F1RMh5Na3G5xHnKDhIJiVtlMA6WLAXdL-j_uz7lZGAO3fV24u-x0XrtTPwPaKptjQoY0m8G/s640/blogger-image--321392135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4qbuN9Pg25O1e0-ZSl5Ac5H6EJu4uLNrmrcenAsfN424HOPvomIiJiNOcAqr8F1RMh5Na3G5xHnKDhIJiVtlMA6WLAXdL-j_uz7lZGAO3fV24u-x0XrtTPwPaKptjQoY0m8G/s640/blogger-image--321392135.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><br></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOLlpWRQB2WoTkPfPXwdvMqM7N91X6D0f4fe2pLH1VaaAqMCxn6QZT56J8jtIakegdYKUAspjwLKiYhYREM_5wp71vEG5D4fyKR2f8z2rYep9-SIAuSvl2In3Tg89CTioi8mz/s640/blogger-image-570730091.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOLlpWRQB2WoTkPfPXwdvMqM7N91X6D0f4fe2pLH1VaaAqMCxn6QZT56J8jtIakegdYKUAspjwLKiYhYREM_5wp71vEG5D4fyKR2f8z2rYep9-SIAuSvl2In3Tg89CTioi8mz/s640/blogger-image-570730091.jpg"></font></a><br><br><br><br><br> <br><br>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-8756923136911414102015-10-12T18:21:00.001+01:002015-10-12T18:25:41.446+01:00The Death of Song ...<p><em>For publication in the Staffordshire Sentinel on October 14th 2015</em></p>
<hr />
<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="Jez.png" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKlksYxkYZiXlTbcdFconfl5dgGocIgC0iqYjZmgw_-JiikWontA2B5Fh34Rya0i0ZwnsSnlgDUwfIvIDRqNdS_imdcYesq1-X0briNy1DXxKtAGfPZmFeWgFp_JsoxCYh2NTW/?imgmax=800" alt="NewImage" width="300 px" border="0" /></p>
<p>When the newly elected Leader of the Labour Party did not join in the singing of the National Anthem recently, it caused a bit of a stir.</p>
<p>But how many people are there who know the anthem off by heart? How many people even know it has three verses? Wayne Rooney, the England football captain, has admitted he has never sung the anthem, because he never learnt the words. Gary Linker too - who played for England 80 times - says he never joined in its singing.</p>
<p>And this his has nothing at all to do with patriotism. Most people can’t sing the National Anthem, because most people never sing. Like Wayne Rooney, they never learnt to sing. Communal Singing is a practice which is in danger of dying out.</p>
<p>We still hear crowds singing of course - Delilah at the Brittannia, The Wonder of You at Vale Park, Swing Low Sweet Chariot or Cwm Rhondda at Rugby matches - but even then we hear only a few words. These are hardly “songs”, they are more like ringtones - short distinctive snatches of song. <br />Even Christmas Carols lack the hold they once had. Few people could give you the second verse of Away in a Manger. Carol singing, round the streets from door to door, is now a very distant memory almost of a bygone age.</p>
<p>As a priest I am very well aware that singing is in serious decline. Though they want to, people struggle to choose songs for weddings and funerals - they just don’t know any.</p>
<p>Yet many of us remember when every school day would begin with choral singing. Every music lesson was filled with melody. Often these were Christians hymns - but there were plenty of other songs too. Oh yes, mischievous children would devise disrespectful and sometimes rude lyrics - but not because they didn’t enjoy singing - but because they wanted to make it even more fun. In the churches, especially the Methodists, so much part of the history of North Staffordshire - everyone sang with great gusto. And it wasn’t just churches: everyone enjoyed a sing-song. Men would sing in the pubs and farm workers would sing in the fields. There were bawdy songs, and ballads, and songs of protest familiar to Trades Unionists too. People grew up knowing shanties, and lullabies and carols. Melody helped memorise the words of poetry and verse. Generation after generation had this great heritage of shared song.</p>
<p>Not any more though.</p>
<p>Just like the boarded up pubs, and converted chapels, the heritage of communal song is rapidly becoming a distant and even quaint memory.</p>
<p>There are of course still some great choirs. We are lucky in North Staffordshire to have The Ceramic City Choir, the Daleian Singers, Wetley Rocks Male Voice Choir, and many others, including the Lorna Spode Consort who will be singing at our Annual Carol Service at Sacred Heart, Hanley this Christmas. Yet for all their skill and expertise, these are enthusiasts - communal singing is not an everyday activity.</p>
<p>And yet, it is such a great irony, that while we live in a world which is bombarded by recorded music of all kinds, it is mostly soloists, and hardly ever choirs that ring out their songs.</p>
<p>It will be a very sad loss to our culture, and our future, if communal singing is to continue in this sad decline.</p>
<p>Singing together helps foster friendships, cement communities, and bring happiness to so many people. It celebrates both our joys and our sorrows, expresses our hopes and affirms our identities and allegiances. You don’t even have to be good at it: in the larger choirs and congregations, the odd growler can even add a little texture and variety to the sound. Song lifts the spirit, and fills us a sense of belonging. And for religious people, it is singing - singing together and with others - that raises the heart to God and provides the most basic religious experience.</p>
<p>“He who sings well, prays twice,” said St Augustine, seventeen centuries ago. And so here is a thought - if we live in a society where song dies, perhaps we will never learn to pray.</p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-7686964409604681652015-07-13T09:34:00.001+01:002015-07-13T14:48:52.630+01:00The Greatest Day?<p style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><em>For publication in the Staffordshire Sentinel 15 July 2015. </em></p>
<hr style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;" />
<p>Some might think that the life of a Priest is dull and boring and not a little humourless. Not at all. At least not if you are able to laugh at yourself. </p>
<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="Watch - Greatest Day" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BPgD-d9iIhg/VaN4BIItlfI/AAAAAAAAXl0/dODx1rjVUsk/%25255BUNSET%25255D.png?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2274" width="156" height="195" border="1" /></p>
<p>Let me explain …<br />Just a week ago, the second week in July, I celebrated a wedding in our lovely Church of the Sacred Heart, Jasper Street in Hanley. <br />The Bride is a regular at Mass, and over the time of preparation for their big day, I have come to know the couple well. Just a few days before the ceremony, we had the rehearsal and all was set for this wonderful day. Guests had travelled from as far afield as Zambia, and there was an excited, expectant air in the Church.<br />The Bride entered (almost on time) to the traditional Bridal March, and there were, during the service, the usual couple of hymns. Bride and Groom also asked for some recorded music, two pieces. The first,a song by Elbow, during the signing of the registers, and the second by Take That, as they processed out of the Church. I try to accommodate wishes if the music doesn’t detract from the prayers and worship itself, which these choices certainly didn’t.<br />So, fancying myself as something of an expert with technology, and possessing some of the latest devices, I downloaded the music requested, and set up both pieces to play on my smart phone, which I duly connected - by cable - to the Church’s sound system. <br />Now, my most recently acquired device, which I wear about my wrist, does several amazing things. One of these is telling the time (I know, astonishing isn’t it?). Another is that it acts as a remote control for my phone. <br />Great, I thought. Rather than walk to and from the sound system, I can control the music for the wedding from my wrist. <br />So, after the exchange of the vows, we moved to a table, in Our Lady’s Chapel inside the Church, to sign the registers. As rehearsed, I tapped the watch, and the music came in on cue. I could adjust the volume from my Wrist, pause and repeat the track if necessary. It worked perfectly. <br />After the registers, we returned to the main body of the Church to sing “Shine Jesus Shine”. The weather outside was a bit blustery, but in the Church there were plenty of smiles shining on the faces of family and friends. <br />The singing completed, I wished everyone well, congratulated the couple, encouraged a generous donation to the work of our Church - all the usual stuff - then gave God’s blessing to all those assembled.<br />The couple now linked arms, and waited for the Music - ‘The Greatest Day” by Take That - which would accompany their procession out of the Church. <br />Smiling, I tapped the face of the device on my wrist. <br />Silence. <br />I looked at the watch, grinning a little less, and tapped it again. <br />Still silence. <br />The couple smiled, indulgently. I shrugged my shoulders, apologised, and began to walk the short distance to the sound system, where the phone was connected. <br />There was a low muttering in the Church<br />And then - the music started to play. Relieved, I turned to the couple. The bride smiled with relief and then together, arm in arm, bride and groom turned to face the congregation and begin their procession. <br />It was at that point that a voice sang out through the sound system, loud and clear, not Take That, but Band Aid: “It’s Christmas Time …”<br />My embarrassment was complete, my face flushed, though thankfully the Church rang with laughter. <br />I rushed to the equipment, corrected the error and soon Take That were restored to their rightful place.</p>
<p>And the moral of tale (not that there need be one)? The Greatest Day? It's Christmas Time!</p>
<p></p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-81711496663775362512015-04-14T13:14:00.001+01:002015-04-14T13:14:36.767+01:00Do Dogs go to heaven?<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="IMG_0138_1024.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-yXrEOkKQdAE/VSzoo9q8ooI/AAAAAAAAVwo/ICQ0Saf8PS8/IMG_0138_1024.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 0138 1024" width="300 px" border="0" /></p>
<p><em>For publication in the Staffordshire Sentinel 15 April 2015. </em></p>
<hr />
<p>On Good Friday, our dog, Ben, died. A sad irony, you may think, that a Catholic priest should suffer a loss on the day of the death of Christ himself.</p>
<p>Ben and his surviving brother, Joe, Cavalier King Charles, have been part of our household since they came to us as tiny, cute, charming puppies almost 10 years ago. <br />We will miss Ben very much. If you have lost a dear pet you will understand this. From a youngster with boundless energy, and appetite to match, he grew and grew and became comfortable in his easy routine of meat, treats and snoozing. Cavaliers snore very loudly, so we always knew where he was. When the Archbishop came to visit I didn’t think it would matter that the two were asleep in the room where we met - until we tried to make ourselves heard over snores more characteristic of hippopotamuses than small dogs. Whenever we called Ben’s name his tail would be heard banging loudly on the floor - no need for him to run and meet us (far too much effort). He would lie still on the floor, raising only his eyelids to spy the scene with cautious curiosity. No point in putting himself out …<br />Unless of course, it involved food, not just the meals which were set before him, nor the far too many snacks and treats, but also food left for his brother, scraps which had tumbled to the floor, cooked meats deep in bags of shopping and even - when young and lively enough to manage it - the leftovers in the kitchen bin. <br />He wasn’t the brightest dog ever. If his water bowl ran low he would turn it over and scratch at the floor to search for more. Not much a problem-solver, our Ben. <br />Yet of course, we loved him - especially my wife, whose dog he really was - and we remember him now with great affection, and of course sorrow. <br />For those who have never shared their lives with companion animals it may be hard to understand. Yet if you have had a pet, you know very well the pain of loss, which is not so very different from a human bereavement.</p>
<p>So what can I, as a priest, say about this?</p>
<p>After all, when we lose a loved one, faith provides a reassurance that there is a hope of life beyond this life, that love is greater even than death. Isn’t this message of Good Friday? And Easter Day? That however great the loss, even greater is the power of Love, the power of God?</p>
<p>So do dogs go to heaven? Do animals have souls?</p>
<p>Here is a theological controversy in which my wife and I take different sides.</p>
<p>With St Thomas Aquinas I say No. Only human beings have rational souls. Only human beings sin, only human beings need to be redeemed.</p>
<p>My wife, on the other hand says Yes. Dogs do have souls. They do go to heaven. (Of course).</p>
<p>Though our views aren’t so far apart.</p>
<p>Many people find it hard to believe in the Resurrection, which Christians celebrated on Easter Day, because they see it in much too narrow a way. A person dying and coming back to life? These things just don’t happen - or if they do there is some kind of rational explanation. How can this be the basis for a whole religion?</p>
<p>But the Resurrection is much more than the anniversary of an historical event. Resurrection is not just about one human being, or even every human being, but about the whole of creation. The Resurrection is Jesus “making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). The power of Love is so strong, that death and sickness and pain and suffering and wickedness and loss are all overcome.</p>
<p>So yes, for once my wife is right: you will find dogs in heaven.</p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-44439234648843281762015-01-12T10:01:00.001+00:002015-01-21T22:17:56.183+00:00Can't they take a joke?<p><em>Published in the Staffordshire Sentinel on 14 January 2015. You can find it on their website here: http://bit.ly/1yfulvj</em></p>
<p>The shocking events in Paris last week, particularly the attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, have caused great outrage. We are sadly familiar with terrorist attacks, but this assault on a publication which makes jokes, pokes fun at public, political and religious figures alike, is especially abhorrent.</p>
<p>And while the terrorists in no way represent any religious tradition, they have claimed to be doing so in the name of their god. But why attack a satirical magazine? Do religious people in general lack a sense of humour? Do they look down on fun and frivolity, and feel threatened by comedy, especially satire which pokes fun at their beliefs and their practices? </p>
<p>To be sure, humour can be cruel and offensive, though even the most outrageous ridicule could never justify such heinous violence.</p>
<p>Yet it is true that religious people often seem solemn and sombre. Some Muslim scholars see jokes as fine for children, but not for more serious adults. And there are many examples of Christian disapproval of fun and levity: the Puritan ban on Christmas, in the 17th Century, for example; the Victorian crusade against leisure activities on Sundays; the Temperance movement, against alcohol, of the late 19th and early 20th Century, and the condemnation of particular films, television and popular music since the 1950s: all these left their mark. All too often religious people just seem opposed to anything that looks like fun. </p>
<p>Yet this is far from the truth. </p>
<p>In Christianity in particular there is a long tradition of unsettling the powerful and poking fun at those who think they are important. <br />"God scatters the proud-hearted and casts the mighty from their thrones," says the Mother of Jesus, in words which are sung every evening in Cathedrals, and convents throughout the world. </p>
<p>And God scatters the proud in word and jest far more often than by gun or sword. </p>
<p>Jesus gave His disciples nicknames to pull them down a peg or two: Peter was 'the Rock' - big on words, but a coward when it mattered; James and John, hotheads, were ‘Sons of Thunder’. </p>
<p>And many of Jesus' stories look remarkably like satire. He spoke about judges who gave justice only after being pestered repeatedly, businessmen who amassed riches only to die the next day, and about priests too precious to help a man who had been beaten up. He talked about people who gave stones in the place of bread, and saw the speck in the eye of another but ignored the log in their own eye. He talked about the blind leading the blind. He called the holy men of his day "whitewashed walls". He even ridiculed the idea of the Messiah itself, entering the Holy City, riding not on a charger, in armour with his standards and his battalions, but on the back of a donkey, cheered along by a crowd waving only branches from the trees. This is satire. This is Charlie Hebdo. </p>
<p>And when he was arrested, and his followers wanted to take up swords protect him, he told them to lay them down. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says "The word of God is alive and active; it cuts more finely than any double-edged sword." <br />This is precisely the point. The Word is mightier than the sword. And a good deal more powerful, for while swords may break bodies only words can form minds. </p>
<p>So humour is essential - to the religious and non-religious alike. To be able to joke is to be free. <br />The Islamic scholar Al ibn Ahmad Al Faraheedi expressed it perfectly when he said: “People would feel imprisoned if they did not joke.”</p>
<p>--</p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-76946989357037526662014-11-23T18:31:00.001+00:002014-11-23T18:39:31.888+00:00Playing Hamlet<p><em>Published in the Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) 19th November 2014<br />(Note: this hasn’t really got anything to do with Hamlet!) </em></p>
<p><em>---</em></p>
<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="NewImage.png" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTx6XtkR1BZPfYNXoDha38JeNbqzj4it5ggTIxY661LJnV9Nmwaex-DnfRzourTzeAZJi0WN0x3snZ_3IEL6qUGeCuZsfp3sUyzGNwtJWj_oOnRsm8xCeORUodR_squb3cAIiz/?imgmax=800" alt="NewImage" width="300 px" border="0" /></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">When I was a child "playing 'amlet" was something my Dad used to berate me and my brothers for when we were whining. It was only much later in life, and long after I had studied Shakespeare for O and A level that I realised that this phrase, so familiar from childhood, was spelt with an 'H' - playing Hamlet - and referred to the whingeing prince of Denmark. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px; min-height: 21px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">I came across Hamlet again when I was preparing for our Christmas services. Here are words from the first scene of the play, about Christmas Eve: </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px; min-height: 21px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"><em>Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes</em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"><em>Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,</em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"><em>The bird of dawning singeth all night long:</em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"><em>And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; </em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"><em>The nights are wholesome; </em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"><em>then no planets strike, No fairy takes, </em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"><em>nor witch hath power to charm,</em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"><em>So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.</em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"><em><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"><em><span style="font-size: large;">(<span style="font-size: 15px;">You can find this on Spotify here: </span></span><a style="font-size: 15px;" href="http://open.spotify.com/track/4fuQvkfMkuWqj3ZiDkGCJt">The Young Tradition – Prologue From Hamlet</a><span style="font-size: large;">)</span></em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px; min-height: 21px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">This got me thinking. Shakespeare speaks of an extraordinary day which cuts across the calendar and disrupts the familiar order of life. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px; min-height: 21px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">And here we are, in a season of seasons. We are approaching Christmas. Yet we have also had other commemorations: Bonfire Night and Remembrance Sunday (particularly poignant this year), also Halloween, and the Christian celebrations of All Saints and All Souls, commemorating the holy and the beloved dead. And soon there is the Christian season of Advent, and Jewish Hannukah, and Hindu Diwali, and then New Year and Epiphany. It is why Americans greet one another with the words "Happy Holidays" because there are so many wintertime commemorations. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px; min-height: 21px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">Yes, these are familiar enough to us, but are we celebrating ideas, or are they special days, "hallowed and gracious times" which cut into our normal routine? They used to be. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px; min-height: 21px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">I remember, as a child, shivering on dark, frosty November 5th, huddled around a bonfire of burning leaves and fallen branches. There were potatoes wrapped in foil, treacle toffee, sparklers and perhaps a few roast chestnuts. Fireworks too! A rocket, a Catherine Wheel and a few Roman Candles. Then the next day, in school, we'd exaggerate the extent of the incendiary extravaganza our fathers had provided, competing over the size of our rockets and the colours of the firework smoke. Yet nowadays, Bonfire night is not one night but lasts weeks, from mid October to the middle of the month of November itself. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px; min-height: 21px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">Hallowe'en too was strictly restricted to October 31st, and was a modest matter of apple bobbing (certainly no trick-or-treat, which was unheard of). If we bothered with it at all, it was inconceivable that Hallowe'en could take place - as now - over a period of days - and certainly not after the first of November, All Hallows Day itself. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px; min-height: 21px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">Now Christmas, I will admit, was anticipated a little in advance, by Carol Singing, crackers and jelly. And by Nativity plays, with crying angels, reluctant Josephs, and animals with uncooperative rear ends. Yet, even so, the time of preparation was a time of excitement. We opened our Advent calendars eagerly each morning to reveal the picture (no chocolate!) with keen anticipation. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">We were waiting, hoping, yearning for the big day itself. No such things as gifts in advance, nor presents on demand. Christmas Eve was certainly magical, a <em>hallowed and gracious time.</em> Even if we children waited more for Santa than for the Christ-child, the surprise of the morning was joy indeed. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px; min-height: 21px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">What has changed is much more complicated than the practice of faith. We seem to have lost the ability to celebrate any days that require preparation, and which disrupt our routine. </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px; min-height: 21px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">We recognise only seasons of celebration, not unique days, which cut into our daily lives; we know how to feast, but not how to fast; we have forgotten how to prepare and anticipate, how to wait and to hope.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;">---</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 17px;"><em><span style="font-size: large;">The Picture is of Laurence Olivier in the role of Hamlet, (the Film of 1948) in perhaps the most familiar pose from the play. </span></em></p>
<p><em><br /></em></p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-7961962053087826542013-03-23T09:42:00.001+00:002013-03-23T09:43:52.597+00:00Blessings and Convalidation<p><em>I've not written much on my blog in recent times, so I thought I should make an effort. </em></p>
<p><em>From time to time I am asked interesting questions of a general kind which I give written answers to (generally by email). I used to include such "answers" in our weekly bulletin. It might be worth including these occasional questions and answers here.</em></p>
<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="NewImage.png" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYPRj4cnGXcFys6ceW3luF1Ij0tEwk6W1kwQFLyVNe4x9znnUz0-HczgBSaUW6VassahdOuH5OPncucUIscvbbdyQ_apcksrgGkNAr59uDomu_7A4Mb9VzR0SpEZxXTghYTW-G/?imgmax=800" alt="NewImage" width="300" border="0" /></p>
<p><strong>Question: </strong></p>
<p>Consider a Catholic couple marrying at a register office. They then ask for a blessing in church. <br />I just don't understand why they would ask for a blessing afterwards. If they wanted the church's blessing why wouldn't they just marry in church in the first place? <br />If there was a reason they were unable to do that isn't it hypocritical of the church to give a blessing afterwards?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Answer: </strong></p>
<p style="font-size: 17px;"><em>First, I ought to say that I am not an expert on Canon Law, nor indeed civil law - so any corrections or clarifications a reader might give will be welcome. Please don't take this as a definitive guide!</em></p>
<p>I presume that you are speaking of the UK where marriages can be contracted according to civil law during a religious ceremony. In most parts of the world (including Italy!) the civil marriage takes place before the equivalent of a JP, usually the day before the religious ceremony. In these cases the civil and the religious ceremonies are always separate, so your question does not really apply. In the UK and places with the same practice, a "blessing" would therefore be the names given to some kind of a Church ceremony which takes place after the civil marriage and which would have no (civil) legal standing. </p>
<p>I know that in the Church of England it used to be common for people to ask for a "blessing" after a civil marriage when the Church's law prevented a marriage taking place in the Church, almost always because one or both of the parties had been divorced. I think the Anglican practice has changed a lot now so that such unions can take place in Church. It may be the case, of course, that the same procedure may be followed in the near future for same-sex couples, where the Vicar is inclined to bless such a "marriage". </p>
<p>I have never come across public ceremonies of this kind in the Catholic Church. If someone cannot get married in the Catholic Church, then many priests may be prepared to pray privately with a couple, and even bless the wedding rings, if not the wedding. </p>
<p>In fact, the whole idea of a separate "blessing" of a marriage is wrong, from a Catholic viewpoint, as the Church's role in a wedding ceremony is precisely to bless the marriage after the couple have exchanged their vows. It is the exchange of vows which makes the sacrament, and the nuptial blessing "seals" it, in a sense - so you can't "bless" a marriage which can't take place in Church. </p>
<p>The kind of ceremony which you speak of is properly called a "convalidation", rather than a "blessing".</p>
<p>A catholic who marries outside the Church without a dispensation is irregularly married. Provided there is no bar to marriage, (such as divorce) such a marriage should be "convalidated" for it to be fully recognised by the Church. A person who is irregularly married ought not to approach the sacraments until a convalidation has taken place. This does not mean - strictly speaking - that the Church does not recognise the marriage (sometimes people say "not married in the eyes of God"). Clearly the Church does recognise it in a certain sense, if not then it would have no impact on the admissibility to the sacraments. </p>
<p>In the situation which I guess you presume, there's a simple short answer:<br />If a couple who have contracted an "irregular" marriage, approach the Church to "regularise" it, then provided there is nothing preventing it, a priest would be wrong to refuse.</p>
<p>So in these circumstances the "blessing" (convalidation) is not only permitted, but is to be encouraged.</p>
<p>Hypocrisy raises a few other issues.<br /><br />The circumstances in which may have led to such a request being made obviously might vary, and it is not always easy to speculate on motives. There may be many reasons why a Catholic might have married in a registry office. It might be because of (perceived) cost. Or sometimes family circumstances - such as difficult relationships between family members. In times gone by it might have been because the bride was pregnant, or because the families disapproved of the union (and the couple went to Gretna Green). Frankly it's unlikely that a couple would ask for a "blessing" (convalidation) on a whim. <br /><br />In many cases the request for convalidation follows a long time of absence from the practice of the faith. In such circumstances this is a cause for joy, hardly hypocrisy. (No more hypocritical than the prodigal son, you might say). <br /><br />More difficult nowadays is when a couple want a wedding at a smart hotel, or on a beach in the Dominican Republic, rather than in Church, then approach the Church shortly afterwards, or even before such a ceremony. In those circumstances the Church generally refuses to give a dispensation for the marriage to occur outside the Church (allowable circumstances would be in the Church of the other (non-catholic) partner). We do not encourage such arrangements, because the marriage should be seen as a public religious ceremony, indeed a sacrament, not just a moment of private and family celebration. These arrangements - like the practice of "living together" - make the partnership/marriage a private matter, rather than a public declaration of commitment. <br /><br />However, even in these circumstances I don't think a priest should refuse, and I don't think the Bishop would normally refuse to give the necessary permission for the convalidation. Bear in mind that the convalidation is generally a very quiet matter and rarely an occasion for all the extravagance of a wedding.</p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-59972529018986749232013-02-17T01:10:00.001+00:002013-02-18T09:57:04.251+00:00Keeping up with the times ... (The resignation of Pope Benedict)<div><em>This article is written for publication in the Staffordshire Sentinel on February 20th 2013. </em></div><div> </div><div><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="NewImage.png" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-XQDhJqYMBds/USAvfwaGeiI/AAAAAAAAHac/jujx7LmBFPo/NewImage.png?imgmax=800" alt="NewImage" width="300" border="0" /></div><div> </div><div>You don't need to be a Catholic, or even a religious person, to have been surprised at Pope Benedict's decision to stand down from the Papacy. It is an almost unique event in the 2,000 year history of the oldest continuing institution in the Western World. Longer lasting than the Roman, Mayan or British empires, older than the oldest church or chapel in the world, with a history more extensive and more colourful than any nation or culture, the Papacy has had a unique role already in the history of the planet. </div><div> </div><div>Including Benedict XVI there have been 266 Popes. Fifteen, beginning with St Peter, were martyrs, executed for the faith. Some were men of great Holiness, such as John XXIII (died 1962), others were also great scholars, such as Pope Leo the Great (died 461). Some Popes were great reformers - such as Pope Gregory XIII (died 1585) who introduced the Gregorian Calendar which most of the world uses today. Some Popes were great patrons of the Arts, such as Sixtus IV (died 1484) after whom the Sistine Chapel is named. </div><div> </div><div>Throughout its history, the Papacy has changed and adapted in an extraordinary manner - the first bishop of Rome, St Peter, was a Jewish fisherman, far from home, who led a small and persecuted church. The papacy became by steps a key institution in the later Roman empire; </div><div>the unifying force in the culture of medieval Europe and the centre of a powerful empire itself; a driver of missionary activity; in the 19th Century, a shrunken power and prisoner of new nations; in the twentieth century, the tiniest state in the world, yet a vigorous promoter of human rights and social justice. </div><div> </div><div>It amuses and saddens me when I hear people speaking of the need for the Church to bring itself up to date, to catch up with the modern world, and to make changes which are said to be essential for the Church's future. Pope Benedict - so this argument goes - has been inflexible, traditionalist, old-fashioned, and resistant. A new Pope, they hope, will allow women priests, approve of gay marriage, remove the ban on abortion and much more. </div><div> </div><div>Well, they are entitled to their opinions, but not to their ignorance of facts. </div><div> </div><div>First, let us look back in history and see which Popes were most "up to date". Certainly not the martyrs, who bravely stood alone against the power of the day. Probably not the saintly Popes, who are often held in contrast to the times in which they lived. No, the most "modern" Popes were perhaps those of the 16th Century - Pope Julius I (died 1513), the Warrior Pope, <em>"Il Papa Terribile"</em> - who pursued an aggressive foreign policy - he was certainly a man of his time. And his predecessor, Pope Alexander III (died 1503), who had multiple mistresses and bribed his way to the Papacy - he too conformed to the age. We judge them harshly nowadays - not because they failed to keep up with their times, but on the contrary, because they did not resist them. </div><div> </div><div>And Pope Benedict XVI, this gentle scholar, man of charm and sensitivity, now become frail and elderly, is so often judged harshly by the media of today, because he follows the way of the saints and martyrs, rather than the course of the aggressively ambitious. In his humble and courageous decision to step down, we see the evidence of his desire to serve and not to rule. </div><div>--</div><div>At Sacred Heart Church, Jasper Street, Hanley on Friday 22nd February at 12 noon, there will be a Mass of Thanksgiving for the Pontificate of Benedict XVI. </div>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-31372301365360680442013-02-08T22:17:00.001+00:002013-02-08T22:23:13.534+00:00Retreat to Valladolid and Pilgrimage to Segovia<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="IMG_0022_2.jpg" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Jji-N9CtCoRSCvSdqurTPafri79WOwVhu5SulQoubflxsYGHaMqZuMtfX6OfNpMzV_vSq_27hOH4YY6gGm9AAz3FybM9dibK6QIluwdqwYOz-ilOZmTJ6zJ1sfFP9OmQjvvp/?imgmax=800" alt="The Chapel of the English College, Valladolid" width="400" height="89" border="0" /></p>
<p>I have just returned from a wonderful week on retreat at the English College in Valladolid, Spain, which included a pilgrimage to Segovia, where lies the body of Saint John of the Cross. </p>
<p>The retreat was organised for clergy of the Deanery of North Staffordshire. </p>
<p>The English College is a seminary, that is to say a place of training for those preparing for ordination to the priesthood. </p>
<p>For those who do not realise the joys of the Catholic Faith, the beauty of our places of holiness and the sheer enjoyment of living the faith, (and for those who do) have a look at my photo galleries of <a href="http://bit.ly/Valladolid-feb2013">Valladolid</a>, and of <a href="http://bit.ly/Segovia-130207">Segovia</a>. </p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-1043126008291929522012-08-08T18:22:00.000+01:002012-08-08T18:22:00.263+01:00The British Summer<p><em>This is a talk given as part of the BBC Radio Stoke "In Praise of God" programme. This was recorded on 23rd May 2012 and broadcast on Sunday 15th July 2012. Its broadcast was preceded by some of the worst (wettest) weather many of us could remember. It was followed by a gloriously mini heatwave.</em></p>
<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="NewImage.png" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIvnvAqDluuEfU5F7t5r8Q8qviZMorj255zhDVCnWEM10mPdoPnTmeWO8m9TqM6ldqgs5kKCWNiOdCiR6oQ73bFDXNEH9mVyXu4FoO2mSm1e5OhYapT_JDVUCyyjHiMR2p9tT/?imgmax=800" alt="NewImage" width="300" height="199" border="0" /></p>
<p>We British have a very ambivalent attitude to the Summer.</p>
<p>On the one hand we crave the summer weather. We have this idealised picture of summer days, the village green, cricket matches, warm beer. Wimbledon, strawberries and cream, barbecues in the evening. We love it so much, that at the first sign of the sun, the meerest hint of a cloudless sky, we take off jackets and shoes, don tee shirts and shorts, and rush outside to lie on the grass and soak in the sun. We love it so much that people stand under artificial sunlight or even paint themselves, just to make it look as if they have been in the sun.</p>
<p>And yet, like so many other things, when sun does appear, and the temperature rises, we find plenty of causes for complaint. It is too hot, or too stuffy. We suffer from hay fever, or midges and gnat bites. Milk goes off if left out of the fridge. Chocolates melt quickly and get on our clothes. We look out of the window in some frustration if we have to work - or if we are free we get stuck in traffic, and the car overheats and we complain about the number of people who have had exactly the same idea as we have had and flocked to the beaches and made it impossible to find somewhere to sit.</p>
<p>And of course - biggest complaint of all - it never lasts! Busy one day and unable to enjoy the sun, we are sure that will be able to enjoy the outdoors over the coming weekend or the bank holiday, when of course it rains.</p>
<p>And I am sure that you, like me, have plenty of memories of summer days blighted by cloud and wind and rain. As a priest I've conducted Weddings on cold and blustery August days, yet seen glorious sunshine in the autumn and spring. I have many child memories of day trips to Chester Zoo, Rhyl and Southport, sat under rain shelters eating soggy sandwiches - you know the ones where the tomatoes have soaked through the bread, the whiff of the egg overwhelms you when you unwrap it from its foil. I remember not being able to sit on the beach or the play equipment because it was wet or cold, wearing a plastic rain mac which became claustrophic and sweating, and determinedly trying to make sandcastles out of sand-mud.</p>
<p>There were nice days too - lots of them - but somehow its the wet and windy ones we seems to remember.</p>
<p>Yet none of this ever deterred me.</p>
<p>We have such a great love of the outdoors - such a yearning for the fresh air, the beach or the field, that people still rush outside partly dressed, even if the temperature doesn't quite justify it.</p>
<p>Our lives can be so built up, so hemmed in, especially in the towns and cities, that we yearn for something different. We love greenery. We adorn brick buildings with ivy and hanging baskets, and paved yards with planters.</p>
<p>However much our lives are regulated, heated or cooled by machinery, enclosed by shops or offices, there is nothing quite like the fresh air, nature. It is where we come from - and it is where we will leave this life - covered by grass, bordered by trees, strewn with flowers. It speaks to something deep within us. We yearn for nature. We thirst for it.</p>
<p>Yes, even the water which dashes and splashes through our days out is the source and sustenance of life itself. The Bible begins with a world enveloped with water, and ends with a vision of the heavenly city surrounded by water. We thirst for water as we yearn for nature. <br />--</p>
<p>Our love of the summer, of warmth and sunshine - and even the memory of blustry days, is something which is rooted deep within us. It is where we come from.</p>
<p>And for religious believers, Christians, but not just Christians, the wonder of the world is evidence for the existence of God.</p>
<p>The beauty of a sunset, the rhythm of the tides, the intricacy of DNA, the calm of a slow river, the soft calls of song birds, the majesty of the stars, the sweetness of newly picked fruit, all of these and so much more, move us to admiration, inspiration, awe.</p>
<p>There is something just so wonderful about the natural world, that we know it cannot be constrained into the dry words of chemistry, physics or biology. Science, in all its glory, leads us to reflect even more "why", and "wow".</p>
<p>The writers of the books of Scripture we well aware of this. In the book of Genesis, where we hear the tale of the creation of the world, we are told again and again not about processes and methods, but that it was "very good".</p>
<p>Jesus himself speaks of the glory of nature: <br />"See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these."</p>
<p>Nature is, as the Americans say, "awesome". When we are struck by the wonders of the world, we may seek factual explanations, but even the most detailed and most accurate, can never take away that "wow" factor.</p>
<p>Nature makes us stop and think.</p>
<p>And Jesus takes it a step further:<br />"If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you?"</p>
<p>Jesus invites us to take a step. And it is not a small step. If God is so wonderful in making the world, he says, won't he care for you even more? The beauty of the world is not just a reason for wonder, marvel, glory - it is also a reason for hope. We know about all the negatives, but it the heart, he made it very Good. And if the creation is Good, then he wishes only good for us, whatever ill may befall.</p>
<p>It is a big step. But as we admire the glories of creation, deep down we know that there is some great power, some extraordinary person, Someone who has made us. And loves us.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p><a href="http://www.kittybrownphotography.co.uk/images/traf_sq_record_shop_tunnels_etc_298011.jpg">Image Source</a></p>
<p> </p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-30108980583832613672012-08-07T18:10:00.001+01:002012-08-07T18:10:06.550+01:00Never mind the Olympics - what about School PE?<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';">
<div>
<p><em>This article was written for publication in the Staffordshire Sentinel on Wednesday August 8th 2012. It is adapted for my <a href="http://weeklyhomily.blogspot.com/2012/08/18th-sunday-of-year-homily-sermon.html">homily of Sunday August 5th</a>. </em></p>
</div>
<img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="NewImage.png" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh140toBAGMM7R73UajJrDnoGKZqNGqNcfDPdgux6sddOF3cMFLK9QlfG-OAtDXPSti9-f5ZB1pdvsWGSUYl0d1wF8tJvgE0WfpW0AxCXPG7IpBydR9G4X4s7ladfdFbb-E9o3r/?imgmax=800" alt="NewImage" width="500" height="304" border="0" />
<div>Never mind the Olympics, Usain Bolt's 9.63 seconds and all those medals for Team GB - what do you remember about your own participation in sport - School PE lessons? </div>
<div> </div>
<div>I think for most of us, me included, it was a mixed experience. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>At primary school there was sports day, our own little olympics. I was allowed a go at the egg and spoon race or the sack race, but being rather large - even then - my most important contribution was less exciting: I had to lie flat on the wooden benches so that they would stay in place when the fitter, more athletic children crawled underneath in the obstacle race. I loved playing football, and was proud to be chosen for the school team - only to be dropped a week before we played in the final of the Congleton Primary Schools' cup. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Secondary School was sometimes better. Being big and heavy, such a disadvantage in football, proved a positive asset in Rugby. However, I detested swimming (I just couldn't do it - and still can't). And Cross Country? I was terrified that I'd arrive at school to discover it was Cross Country day and I'd forgotten the undated note from my mother saying I had a cold and am unable to do PE. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>The Olympics have provoked renewed debate about schools and sport. It has been noted that many of our medal winners were educated not in state schools but in the private sector. There have been calls for more funds for school sports. It is not so simple, though - after all, its unlikely that state schools would ever be able to teach sports such as sailing or dressage. And let's not forget that many medal winners are from state schools, including Mo Farah, who arrived here as a Somalian refugee and asylum seeker. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Political points aside, everyone seems to agree that sport has an important role to play in education. And that is very significant.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Education is not just about the intellectual. Education means “growth” and we grow not just in our minds but in our bodies too. Of course, some people are more practical, others more intellectual. Some excel at both, many are more inclined to one or the other. But no one is all mind, no one just body, both are essential - and we know only too well that if we are ill, then it affects not only our body, but our concentration, our attitudes our general well being. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>This idea - that mind and body, thought and action, physical and spiritual are one - is a Christian insight. It is rooted in the belief that Christ is Word made Flesh, the perfect unity of the spiritual and physical. It inspired the ancient monasteries and universities, great centres of academic study, where physical work accompanied prayer and study. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Christian ritual, the pouring of water, the smearing with oil, the eating of bread and wine, makes clear that the action of the body goes hand in hand (literally) with the communication of ideas. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>If we lose this insight we make serious mistakes, perhaps supposing that high intelligence can be developed in "ivory towers", remote from everyday life and without compassion, that faith is irrational and that belief is the release from the pains or struggles of daily life. Or at the other extreme, we may suppose that the books and reading are a waste of time, that the physical world is complete in itself, that science can answer every question and solve every problem. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Neither view satisfies. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Intelligence must serve humanity, prayer inspire action, sport infuse education.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>And PE should be fun!</div>
<div>--</div>
<div style="font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://www.search.windowsonwarwickshire.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=860"><em>Photo: Group of boy gymnasts and instructor in the gymnasium in Dunchurch Hall prep school. 1900s</em></a></div>
<div> </div>
</div>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-8265071886272227242012-03-02T21:18:00.001+00:002012-03-02T21:28:31.355+00:00Visit of the Papal Nuncio<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="NewImage.png" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KHRlGKFoQUE/T1E5OeuNmSI/AAAAAAAADFQ/_Nb31fmrqC4/NewImage.png?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="NewImage" width="185" height="320" /></p>
<p><em>Today the Papal Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Antonio Mennini paid an informal visit to North Staffordshire. After Midday Prayer in Holy Trinity, Newcastle, I was asked to say a little about our Deanery, its heritage, its social and economic circumstances and its spiritual life. Here follows the text of my talk. </em></p>
<p>Talk for the visit of the Papal Nuncio</p>
<p><br />Welcome</p>
<p>Your Excellency, as Dean of North Staffordshire, I warmly welcome you to our Deanery and indeed to our county. It is an area rich in history and with a strong heritage in the Catholic faith, yet with the many challenges which are characteristic of the age in which we live. I speak for our Deanery, and also with his permission on behalf of the Dean of Stafford, Canon Michael Neylon, who is unable to be here today but who will be at St Chad's Cathedral later.</p>
<p>It is a special blessing to welcome you to this area on the feast day of St Chad, patron of our Diocese and missionary in the southern part of this county. You may know that St Chad was especially renowned for his practice of travelling throughout the area under his care, and we are delighted that you should be following his most estimable example.</p>
<p>Local industry</p>
<p>Staffordshire has been been of the industrial powerhouse of England, providing many of the raw materials of industry and some of its greatest creative products. The Coal Mining industry was an important feature throughout the county, as in this area was also the steel industry and of course the pottery industry, which combined production with high artistic and creative standards. Internationally famous names such as Wedgwood, Doulton, Spode, Minton and many others, stood alongside many smaller concerns throughout the area. These industries provided abundant work, if often dangerous and not always well paid, and gave the region a stability and a continuity that led to the consolidation of close and steady communities.</p>
<p>Sadly much, almost all of this industrial economic background has gone.</p>
<p>Outside the urban communities agriculture has remained an important industry and small employer, but not without its challenges. But the mines have all gone, and the pottery industry is just a vestige of its former self, despite its extraordinary heritage. The largest employer in the City of Stoke-on-Trent is the local authority, the second largest the Hospital. Outside the public sector, employment is sporadic and fragile. There has been a rapid growth in large retail outlets but smaller family run businesses have found it hard to compete. There has been large investment in terms of regeneration projects, many funded from EU funds, but some areas remain among those of the highest deprivation in the country. Further south in the county there has been expansion along of the M6 corridor of container centres, occupying former agricultural land. Aspirations, and educational achievement remain low.</p>
<p>There has been much immigration into the area - in earlier decades into the industries - but more recently into the lower paid work, often outside the formal and regulated economy.</p>
<p>The Church</p>
<p>Against this challenging background, Your Excellency, the Catholic Church lives and operates woven into the peoples lives. <br />There is an extraordinary history of Catholic faith in the county which I will try to summarise.</p>
<p>Prior to the reformation there is evidence of a Church deeply rooted in the life of society and the faithful. There is evidence of Anglo-Saxon Christian community in Stoke. In the middle ages there was a Cistercian abbey at Hulton, which was apparently a place of pilgrimage, and also at Dieulacres near Leek and Croxton Abbey, and most notably of course the Church at Lichfield, the original home of the shrine of St Chad.</p>
<p>The Reformation brought a dark and difficult time for the faith in this country, and Catholic life was marked with hardship and indeed martyrdown. Amongst the martyrs associated with this area were Blessed William Howard, the first Viscount Stafford, and Blessed William Southerne, a Catholic priest who served communities in the county and who was hanged drawn and quartered not far from this very spot on 30 April, 1618.</p>
<p>It is reported that his execution was delayed as the court had difficulty finding a hangman williing to do the job. Such is the enduring affection of the people of Newcastle-under-Lyme for visiting clerics!</p>
<p>During the intervening centuries it was difficult for all but the landed Catholic gentry and their servants to maintain the faith, but the history of areas indicates a stubborn of the people for the old ways. There were some places, such as Painsley and later Cresswell where mass was celebrated and priests housed. The established Church never quite embedded itself amonst the people as elsewhere, and when religious revival came to the are in the 18th/19th Century it was Methodism which first found a ready hearing amongst ordinary people.</p>
<p>As elsewhere in the country, it was first Catholic emancipation and then waves of immigration into the new industries, which led to great revival of Catholic life. In our area Churches were built at great expense by sometimes very poor communities. Wealthy and generous benefactors assisted this development. Religious orders returned to the area and supported priests and parishes. Notably the Dominicans set up houses in Stoke and in Stone - it was in Stone that Blessed Dominic Barberi based his mission.</p>
<p>Your Excellency, you have heard I know while at the Cathedral, about the current commemoration of the 200th anniversary o the birth of Pugin, the great architect of the Gothic Revival. We are rightly proud to note that in our deanery we have the Church that is by common assent considered his greatest work, "Pugin's gem", the Church of St Giles at Cheadle.</p>
<p>At the opening of that Church, Blessed John Henry Newman - then still a layman - sat amongst the congregation. He stayed for a time at Cotton, a church and school where many priests began the education which led to the priesthood. It was here that Frederick Faber founded the community which became the English branch of the Oratorians. St Charles of Mount Argus also lived and exercised his priesthood from there.</p>
<p>From this time the Church enjoyed an unprecedented growth and sense of self-confidence unknown since the reformation. Communities were consolidated and substantial investment made into Catholic education, which became and remains a model of excellence for the wider community.</p>
<p>After the second world war there was again rapid growth in the Catholic community. There was a new wave of immigration from Europe, especially Ireland, Italy, Poland and elsewhere, including the Ukraine, which enriched the Church in this land. Many new churches were built amongst the new housing estates, almost always preceded by schools for the children of the faithful.</p>
<p>In more recent times there has again been immigration which has enriched our communities. Again from Eastern Europe, and now also from the Philippines, and Kerala in India, and parts of Africa, most notably Nigeria.</p>
<p>We find ourselves now which many blessings, many opportunities and many challenges. Many of these are very familiar, some have a particular impact on us here in Staffordshire.</p>
<p>The rich heritage of the area, means we have many churches and many schools. The schools are popular and successful. There is great demand for baptism and first holy communion, but it is difficult for us to connect families and young people with parish life, where the communities are smaller than they were, and more elderly.</p>
<p>We have a good number of priests in relation to the number of those who practice their faith by coming to mass, but now many more church buildings than we really need. Yet people have great affection for these buildings which have formed their communities and their lives of faith. The kind of rationalisation which has taken place in local industry and even housing is not what one we want to copy wholesale into the Church, urgent though action is. <br /><br />As elsewhere, we find ourselves dealing with a highly secularised society where many of the values and patterns of life are highly at variance with the faith. Dysfunctional family life, the decline in marriage and alternative forms of living are situations we routinely encounter. Levels of petty crime and vandalism, drug abuse and relative poverty also have their impact, upon some more than others.</p>
<p>However, there are many bright lights amongst what is too easy to paint as a dark sky.</p>
<p>Our schools, far from being a problem, are another jewel in the crown, greatly valued and sought after, always reckoned amongst the most outstanding in our communities. We are fortunate to have a good and increasing number of deacons who support priests and people in their parishes. We have had a steady stream of vocations from our area, though we very much hope that will increase. As local vocations to the religious life have declined, we have been blessed by the African sisters who now form part of our Catholic Communities. Many parishes have supported their people in training as catechists, and we have run courses for catechists for parishes throughout the Deanery. We are especially fortunate here in North Staffordshire in that we have a lively and active Area Pastoral Council which organises events and activities of a spiritual and catechetical nature.</p>
<p>And as priests we have strong bonds of mutual support which we are keen to strengthen and develop. Perhaps because many of us are geographically close to one another and serve a number of relatively small communities, we often collaborate in activities and events.</p>
<p>So we are delighted to welcome you amongst us, and trust that your short visit may be happy and rewarding!</p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-5339626054140433522011-12-21T23:01:00.001+00:002011-12-21T23:01:35.078+00:00Christmas Anecdotes<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" title="IMG_2701.JPG" src="marsedit://pending/F80A95E0-87DE-411C-BACD-F3CE86048138/" border="0" alt="Sacred Heart Hanley in the snow 18th December 2011" width="300" height="225" /></p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk">Staffordshire Sentinel </a>asked me for some stories from parish life at Christmas for a piece on Saturday (Christmas Eve). Not so easy! I've no "Vicar of Dibley" stories about Christmas Dinners, nor can I think of funny incidents at Christmas Services (though there must have been some). However, here are a few things I did think of.</p>
<p>(Photo - Sacred Heart in the snow, 18th December 2011 © Peter Weatherby)</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>My 6 year old granddaughter said to me recently, "Grandad ... I know who you really are!"</p>
<p>A bit surprised, I said to her, "Who am I then?"</p>
<p>She said to me "Well, you've got a fat belly, and a white beard, and I've seen a lot of presents in the room upstairs."</p>
<p>Pause.</p>
<p>"… YOU'RE SANTA CLAUS!".</p>
<p>I was lost for words.</p>
<p>Then she added, "Please ... will you come to my house first on Christmas Eve?"<br /><br />---</p>
<p>I've often been asked to play Father Christmas at schools. I've always been reluctant to do so for a very good reason.</p>
<p>Many years ago I was asked to be Father Christmas for a party at a local primary school. I wanted to be nice and friendly and helpful, but I felt very self conscious as I put on the costume somewhat awkwardly (it was a bit small), and the false beard was uncomfortable (It was necessary equipment, because in those days my own beard was brown and not white).</p>
<p>When the signal came, I walked out into the school hall. There was a moment of hush, then suddenly one of the children shouted out "it's the church man!".</p>
<p>My cover was blown.</p>
<p>I never played Father Christmas again!<br /><br />---</p>
<p>A few years ago, I baptised 12 children at Sacred Heart, Hanley on Christmas day.</p>
<p>It was during the main mass of Christmas morning. I thought it would be a charming and appropriate way to celebrate the birth of Christ.</p>
<p>However it was totally chaotic, hectic, and difficult to manage! The children were noisy, the families confused and the congregation perplexed!</p>
<p>Before even the service was over, I decided never to do this again!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>---</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-62197141462565821572011-10-18T11:58:00.001+01:002011-10-18T11:58:30.846+01:00Changing the Wallpaper<p>A couple of weeks ago I decided to change the wallpaper on my computer.</p>
<p>Now, when I log in, I see a stern and determined, bearded face staring intently towards me. There is no doubting the resolve in the eyes. It is a face which invites trust, but also has a certain edge. It is a face not to be denied, not to be resisted. And a left hand touches the chin, the edge of the beard, as if to indicate both thought, and decisiveness.</p>
<p>It is, what they call, an ‘iconic’ image.</p>
<p>But it is not a religious icon. It is not a picture of Christ or one of the saints. It is a black and white photograph, taken in 2006. It is an image of a man who died on October 5th 2011, the technological inspiration and entrepreneur, the founder of Apple, Steve Jobs.</p>
<p>So why would I, a religious man, a priest of the Catholic Church, have a picture of a business man - even a successful one - for his computer wallpaper?</p>
<p>Well, firstly, and I must be honest here, it is because I love the stuff he created. First it was an iPod, then when my old computer needed replacing it became an iMac, then an iPhone … It almost embarrasses me to continue. Like a religious convert, I have become an Apple geek and, in my worst moments, look down with technological snobbery on run-of-the-mill laptops and mobile phones. In my defence, I have to make clear that these are not just the most beautifully designed gadgets, gadgets which have broken new ground and have been widely copied, but also ones that work extremely well and without doubt help me in my work.</p>
<p>But in addition to the worldliness of my purchases, the devout might also complain that Jobs is an unworthy hero for a Christian minister. After all, he could be ruthless in his determination. Even his admirers admit he could be difficult to work with. And his own religious beliefs seem far from Christian. He became a Buddhist, and said “Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.”</p>
<p>In a sweet irony an evangelical pastor in the United States summed up the dilemma. He tweeted that Jobs, an unbeliever, would now be suffering in the fires of hell. Unfortunately (for the pastor) he forgot to delete the automatically inserted conclusion of his message: “- sent from my iPhone”.</p>
<p>I, despite my adherence to dogma (which Jobs so clearly rejected), cannot share the cruel certainly of the American pastor. For good reason. God’s judgment is precisely that, and is not for me to pronounce.</p>
<p>I do believe what my Church teaches, that on death we proceed not straight to heaven, but immediately to God’s judgment. And he is a just and merciful judge who rejoices in human achievement and laments human frailty. In Catholicism we recognise that there may be those who come before God not in soaked in wickedness, yet not ready to enter immediately heaven. We call this sensible dogma “purgatory”, an occasion for preparation for eternal life.</p>
<p>And I also believe that those who do not embrace the Christian faith, may nevertheless in this life have a glimpse of its truth.</p>
<p><br />In a moving biographical speech in 2005, Jobs said:</p>
<p><em>“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”</em></p>
<p>Or as St Paul wrote “Death where is your victory? Death where is your sting?”</p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="NewImage.png" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-xN2L5b4WE7A/Tp1b1Kqa2JI/AAAAAAAACrA/vq4JbIJ4X7g/NewImage.png?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="NewImage" width="400" height="364" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-84994732799413620982011-08-14T18:49:00.001+01:002011-08-14T19:00:09.007+01:00I can't believe it!<p>The "EXPLICIT: PARENTAL ADVISORY" warning on iTunes is intended to indicate abusive or inappropriate language - you know, the very bad, generally very short words that seem to be normal discourse of rappers and some comedians, and I don't really know who else (as I don't really interest myself in these offerings). It is also used for violent or sexually explicit content. Just as some will avoid this material, I guess there are also those who look out for the warnings.</p><p>If so, they may be in for a surprise, just as I was, this afternoon, when searching for a version of "I'll sing a hymn to Mary" which might be suitable to be played at a funeral tomorrow. When I saw one version was marked with the warning notice, I was at first a little sad - some blasphemy put out in the name of art or comment I guessed … But when I saw that the artist was the Choir of the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Wantage, then I went from sadness to astonishment.</p><p>Sure enough, their album <em>Walsingham Way</em>, a collection of hymns and songs to the Blessed Virgin Mary, popular and traditional in the Catholic Church, receives the warning notice, as do most of its items. This has to be seen to be believed:</p><p><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/choir-of-ss-peter/id375094166"><img title="screenshot.png" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Ykr-tjNUzE4/TkgNJUHaqDI/AAAAAAAACpw/yy3g2VyiNuA/screenshot.png?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="Screenshot" width="400" height="341" /></a></p><p>How could this have come about? Some mischievous technician or editor?</p><p>Or, given that not all the songs received the tag, could it have been caused by an automated system flagging up a particular word … Such as "Virgin"?</p><p>We should be told.</p><p><em>(Note: Click on the image to go to the page - which may now have been updated!)</em></p><p> </p><p>(Click on the image to go to the page - which may now have been updated!)</p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-14169559142816667262011-08-09T07:22:00.001+01:002011-08-09T07:22:50.127+01:00Back to the 80s …<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-FzHVeBdZNI4/TkDOg2D6eWI/AAAAAAAACpM/EyQF_Mdnw9E/Photo%2525209%252520Aug%2525202011%25252007%25253A06.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-FzHVeBdZNI4/TkDOg2D6eWI/AAAAAAAACpM/EyQF_Mdnw9E/s500/Photo%2525209%252520Aug%2525202011%25252007%25253A06.jpg" id="blogsy-1312870941028.2188" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="250" align="center" alt="http://t.co/oWdAShV"></a></div><p>If, like Rip van Winkle, I'd fallen asleep 30 years ago (1981) I'd now be waking up and marvelling at all the things which have changed. </p><p>Mobile phones. Handheld computers. Multi-channel TV. Marathons are now called Snickers. </p><p>Yet so much is the same. Tory Government (sprinkled with a few 'Wets' to provide minimal reassurance). Cutting back to 'pay our way'. A pointless foreign war. Weak political opposition. Disaffection and destruction in our cities. Violence directed towards police and property. Young people wrecking their own communities. </p><p>But the most extraordinary is that this time the riots begin in London ... Not in Liverpool. </p><p>Now that's worth thinking about. </p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-51004695566600993842011-08-08T23:01:00.001+01:002011-08-08T23:06:00.810+01:00Thou shalt have fun!<p><em>This article was written for publication in the Staffordshire Sentinel on Wednesday August 10th 2011. </em></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMW-nIlwEnE6VG6NpiXScrh0wjxqy0iEKWdJAjg4hlUdNvtCFOGe_XPizqRHuFKa7aK0T8asJn6oBV_gbSMwNsoDIYTu1SjBmWBxIOYAqMNSqDBgPgNL__dnyG2hg1JQKF7VK2/" target="_blank" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMW-nIlwEnE6VG6NpiXScrh0wjxqy0iEKWdJAjg4hlUdNvtCFOGe_XPizqRHuFKa7aK0T8asJn6oBV_gbSMwNsoDIYTu1SjBmWBxIOYAqMNSqDBgPgNL__dnyG2hg1JQKF7VK2/s200/Photo%2525208%252520Aug%2525202011%25252022%25253A44.jpg" id="blogsy-1312841134064.1045" class="alignleft" alt="" width="200" height="176"></a></p><p>It's holiday time! While the news revolves around riots, and global economic collapse, phone hacking and massacres, most of us are focussed on getting away from it all. Holidays are, of course, a complete waste of time. That's what we enjoy! While politicians may be criticised for being on holiday when crisis arises, and a Prime Minister forced to return home, most of us would rather sit by the pool or feed the seagulls. </p><p>Many of our fondest family anecdotes centre around holidays, whether it be Hi-De-Hi or Benidorm: fish and chips on the beach, ice creams, candy floss and seagulls, city sight seeing, cruises and all-inclusives, wet days at the seaside and sunburn in Disneyland, sand and sangria, airport delays and traffic jams, caravans and cable cars, stunning views. All of these frame cherished memories. </p><p>Have you ever wondered who invented holidays? It's not such a difficult question. </p><p>The word 'holiday' itself is just a shortening of 'holy day'. Holidays originated in the celebration of holy days, saints' days, religious festivals. <br/>The first holiday of all has come to us from the Jewish tradition, with the weekly holy-day of the Sabbath. Yes - holidays are written into the Ten Commandments! For the Jewish people every Saturday commemorates the creation of the world. The Christian church took the idea and made Sunday, the day of Christ's rising from the dead, the day of the new creation, the weekly day of celebration and recreation. </p><p>The feasts of saints became also times of special celebration. The days after Christmas were piled up with saints - St Stephen (December 26th), St John (27th), Holy Innocents (28th) - to prolong the fun and frivolity!<br/>Many parish churches - surely by deliberate choice - had saints days which fell in the summer months: Barnabas (June 11th), John the Baptist (24th June) Peter and Paul (June 29th), James (July 25th), Bartholomew (August 24th), and most important of all, Mary, August 15th, a day commonly known as "Our Lady in Harvest". The evening before the Church festivals there was a vigil of prayer - known as a 'Wake' - and so the time of partying on or after the festival was called the Wakes Week. </p><p>And this is probably the ancient origin of the 'Potters Holidays' - the first around the feast day of St Peter, the Patron of Stoke, the second in August, near the feast of Mary, Our Lady in Harvest. </p><p>In a time when there were no trades unions, or health and safety regulations, minimum wage and employment laws, it was the Church who stepped in and insisted that rest and recreation are an essential aspect of human life. It was time wasting made compulsory by order of the Church. The festivals established a basic human right that we cherish even today. </p><p>And there's an even more important reason. </p><p>It is all too easy to think that life is about getting and spending, having and consuming, working and being 'productive'. We live in a society which focusses on growth and the economy, which sees education as a preparation for work rather than for life, which knows the price of everything, but the value of very little. We measure traffic accidents in terms of journey delays rather than their consequences for life and limb. We talk of cutting waste and restructuring, rather than measuring effects on people and their families. Yet life is so much more. </p><p>And God says this: thou shalt rest. Thou shalt waste some time (once a week). Thou shalt have a holiday. Thou shalt have fun!</p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-835202880006522602011-07-18T23:40:00.002+01:002011-07-18T23:49:19.514+01:00Is religion a force for good?<img alt="Stuart George" border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq7O1J4D0QViUUcaGzya9xH9CRzS3NQy2hqWKcn-JPN4M1A6Gk8cDZOJZjHL5Ie0oKwZuSX48xWLNFW_HAqU0V9F_e85KyKqu8-p42Ao547g0nIsuSTRrDSQJogjjZ9yVOf6CZ/?imgmax=800" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em;" title="p001d7jm_178_100.jpg" width="178" /><br />
I was interviewed this morning on BBC Radio Stoke on the topic of 'Is Religion a force for good in the world'? Or some such. This was during the morning programme of Stuart George (pictured). I only had about an hour's notice of the interview and I was broadcast live just after saying Mass. I had little notice of the questions - though they were quite predictable, but challenging all the same.<br />
<a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/48417/Podcasts/RadioStokeReligionGood.mp3"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Click this link to hear the interview.</span></b></a><br />
I was standing outside the Church in the rain! (You can hear traffic and some noise from the wind on the mic)<br />
<br />Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-69794033721479866322011-06-19T02:15:00.001+01:002011-06-24T16:37:44.486+01:00BBC Radio Stoke: In praise of God<p><em>On Sunday 19th June, I am fronting the BBC Radio Stoke Programme "In praise of God" which was recorded just a couple of weeks earlier.</em></p><p><em>Here follow my words, or at least the draft of what I said. </em></p><p><em><a href="http://sacredheart.podomatic.com/entry/2011-06-23T13_37_03-07_00">You can listen to the full programme here</a></em></p><p>Sacred Heart is a very popular name for a Catholic Church - we have three in North Staffordshire alone (Silverdale, Tunstall and Hanley) - but it is one you hardly come across elsewhere. In fact post to our Church is often addressed to the "Scared Heart" - which conjurs up all sorts of strange pictures, in my mind at least.</p><p>So today I want to explore how this image of God's love, so characteristic of Catholics, is something which really all Christians can share.</p><p>---</p><p><img style="float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-leftt: 1em; margin-top: 1em;" title="heart.jpg" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyC_COEf5q6IAeH6PjMLBghHlDdqxUPY8FxuHJbVVjEc_jlXnyOoYk4inxsTcRn4t8Rpd_OLooOa3BV0I7-hI-z8fsM0z-Vx714yLIqKjVejhP5kdB4PwrH2IV6u22HD9F-Vpv/?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="Heart" width="200" height="155" /></p><p>Don’t you think its funny how we describe people and things by just by referring to parts of the human body?</p><p>We might say to someone “I’ve got my eye on you” or tell them “You haven’t got the guts”. If someone is “cheeky”, “mouthy” or “nosey” we may say they are “a pain in the neck” or that we “hate their guts” or that they need a “kick up the backside”.</p><p>If someone “gives you the elbow” you may need “a shoulder to cry on”. You could feel “fed up to the back teeth” or you could just decide to “take it on the chin”.</p><p>And some of these sayings come from religion itself. To “turn the other cheek” comes from Jesus’ teaching in the sermon on the mount; to “get down on our knees” is a reference to confession and prayer.</p><p>And sometimes these expressions go far deeper. We feel fear in the pit of our stomachs - we really do. St Paul spoke about being moved in his bowels with affection for the Churches (a phrase usually translated more delicately in modern Bibles).</p><p>But he part of the body understood by everyone as the seat of the emotions and symbol of love, is of course the Heart.</p><p>Lovers carve their names around a heart. Cities advertise their attractiveness with a heart. It is a simple shape to draw and one which is instantly recognised.</p><p>Why? Because without the heart they can be no life, and without love, human life is dry and fruitless. When we fall in love the heart beats faster. When we moved with emotion, the heart races. Our feelings our rooted in our hearts. This is not just a symbol - but a truth.</p><p>And the expression is found in scripture too.</p><p>The prophet Jeremiah tells us “the law will be written on your hearts”.</p><p>The old man Simeon warns the young mother, Mary, that a “sword will pierce her own hear too” - and Jesus himself says “ I am meek and humble of heart”.</p><p>The heart is the greatest symbol of love - of human love and of God’s love, because it tells us that this is not an ideal, a principal or a law - but flesh and blood. Not an idea to be understood - but a life to be lived.</p><p> </p><p>-------</p><p> </p><p><img style="float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em;" title="\20\2041\24X4D00Z.jpg" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhcFHHGeP-b-qLJwfJ_3MTkG-bxuIhdKKCrMu4B-NZiejbdT7zbMfMkHyEPITz6mA_POPDp0175m9DT31DmKDr-RguPDfuI6QQSjxR4zmec72pByNxlibHUVy1QzLL-Xq-_69v/?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="Sacred Heart of Jesus" width="150" height="186" /></p><p>One way to tell that a house is a practicing Catholic home will be that somewhere in that house will be a picture or statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. To those who aren’t Catholics it may seem very odd - it is clearly a traditional representation of Jesus, but he also seems to be pointing to his open chest and his beating heart. Not without reason have some, a little disrespectfully, seen the statue or picture and surmised that Jesus is saying “look at my operation”.</p><p>But this image of Jesus expresses something much deeper, of course than this first reaction. It is an image of God’s love - using the physical expression of the heart with which we are so familiar.</p><p>The reason why Catholics bless their homes with the Heart of Jesus is because this is not simply a symbol of the Love of God, as if it were some abstract idea, some principle or theology, or some wishfulness of prayer.</p><p>We worship God in this way because - as St John puts it - “The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us”. The love that Christians talk about is no abstract idea, but a principle of life.</p><p>When Jesus teaches us about God’s law he makes it very simple - love God and love your neighbour - and these are not two loves, but the same love.</p><p>We believe in a God whose clearest and fullest expression is one who not only stilled the storm, and fed the 5,000 but even more importantly who suffered and died for us. Our God is one who shared our lives and who knows not only physical pain, but also the pain of desolation and sorrow as his followers deserted him. Christ, the Son of God, Word made flesh, is also the one who said ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me’?</p><p>He is a God who loves us, and love embraces joy and sorrow, plenty and poverty, sickness and health, fortune and adversity. Love is what we need more than anything when things are difficult. And this is no abstract idea, because this is what we mean when we speak of his Sacred Heart.</p><p>It is a heart which beats for us, a heart which suffers with us, a heart which bleeds for us, the Heart which loves us.</p><p>-----</p><p>Matthew 11:28-30</p><p><em>‘Come to m</em><em>e, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’</em></p><p> </p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-64226130965468592442011-06-07T00:11:00.001+01:002011-06-07T00:11:24.861+01:00A good man ... and the international language<p><em>Submitted for publication in the Staffordshire Sentinel for Wednesday 8th June 2011. </em></p><p><img style="float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em;" title="barks.jpg" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWFPDGMwdyOqjNWyENjDFGgUovT3B_GpAxUwin0jK2nfc3moarxuY631QjGQMmLvfCC2NTkTX3JRNm29mrT2DbB1gJbrhLAdRV-QqRgpc9kFtWvVlaMZxlE2YY4FDzepGXIUXB/?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="Barks" width="211" height="286" /></p><p>I’ve always had a fascination with language. It was given particular stimulus when I learnt the international language, Esperanto, as a twelve year old at Sandbach School, Cheshire.</p><p>Our teacher was <a href="http://www.thepotteries.org/federation/061_barks.htm">Alderman Horace Barks</a>, who had been Lord Mayor of Stoke on Trent almost twenty years earlier. To us boys he was a most eccentric figure. Old and grey, stout and moustached, he was rather like Hercules Poirot with a potteries accent. His curiosity was increased by the weekly sight of him riding into school (all the way from Smallthorne) precariously balanced on his moped.</p><p>It is amazing that any of us took the subject seriously - but I did, and became a friend of Horace till his death in 1983.</p><p>Horace introduced me to a language to overcome misunderstanding and confusion, an ideal to bring people together rather than drive them apart, an aspiration for human unity in diversity, rather than division and distrust.</p><p>And thanks to what I learnt, I was able to travel throughout Europe and converse with French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Hungarian, Japanese, Swedish, Finnish and many others at the same time and in one language.</p><p>I could always give a good answer to those who thought that Esperanto had “already died out”, though I suppose the idealism of Horace Barks, who had been a stretcher bearer during the Great War, who saw so much death and destruction in his own youth, never quite found its fulfilment in the universal language.</p><p>Though it did inspire me. I developed a fascination for languages. I found an interest in words, their origins, their meanings, how they can make things clear - or obscure.</p><p>And as my faith grew, so did my awareness of the place of language for belief. Christian scholars expend much time and ink arguing over the meaning of words. Muslims hold that the Koran can never be translated from the Arabic, but only interpreted. And in the Catholic Church, we are now anxiously preparing for a major new English translation of the Latin Mass. There can be much hot and holy air exhaled over the printed word!</p><p><br />Two stories in the Bible deal with the diversity of language.</p><p>The first is in the book of Genesis. We read of the arrogance of the people of Babel, who built a great tower, believing that nothing was beyond them. But their society fell apart in a babble of languages.</p><p>By contrast, in the Acts of the Apostles, we read how, 50 days after Easter, the timid and fugitive apostles suddenly emerged into the crowds of the city of Jerusalem and, in many different languages, told the story of hope in the Risen Christ to the astonished pilgrims.</p><p>The tales tell us all we need to know about languages. They can create and consolidate division, cause misunderstanding and drive people apart. Or, they can be an illustration of the colour, vibrancy and dynamism of human life.</p><p>The second story is commemorated by Christians all over the world this weekend as the day of Pentecost, the final day of Eastertide, when the gift of the Holy Spirit drove out fear and division and inspired the Apostles to teach the whole world in its many languages.</p><p>In our Church in Hanley, this coming Sunday, we use many of the 20 plus languages spoken by our congregation for our readings, our prayers and our songs of worship in a great celebration of the Feast of Pentecost.</p><p>It is a moment of joy in the unity of our faith. Our languages do not divide us - but they express the wondrous diversity of God’s creation, our Hope in Christ, and I believe, express something of the idealism of that good man Horace Barks.</p><p><br /><br /><em>(The Pentecost celebration is at Sacred Heart, Jasper Street, Hanley at 11am on Sunday 12th June - followed by a party!)</em></p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-36423929084650103172011-04-27T08:20:00.000+01:002011-04-27T08:20:00.835+01:00ITV ... wiser than you'd think<p class=""><a href="http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c669c53ef00e553c94c518833-320wi" target="_blank"><img src="http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c669c53ef00e553c94c518833-320wi" id="blogsy-1303888805911.153" class="alignleft" alt="Lewis & Hathaway" width="217" height="217"></a>I've just downloaded an episode of Lewis which didn't get recorded while we are away on pilgrimage. Apparently it's about the murder of a woman bishop. (No irony there, then). <br><br>I had to get it from iTunes - and pay for it (!) - because the itv player only supports flash. Do they realise that if their site used HTML5 - and so supported the iPad- that I would be able to watch it for free? <br><br><strong class="strong rangy_1">Mm. Perhaps they do. </strong><br><br><br><br></p>
Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30994562.post-3573529458848043132011-03-07T19:20:00.001+00:002011-03-11T23:30:42.117+00:00Ash Wednesday - and school budgets<p><em>This article is my submission to the Staffordshire Sentinel to appear in the "Yours Faithfully" column on March 9th 2011.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>To read the published article <a href="http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/Yoursfaithfully/article-3306845-detail/article.html" target="_blank">click here</a>. </em></p><p><a href="http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/03/07/2000.jpg"><img style="margin: 5px;" src="http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/03/07/s_2000.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="281" height="186" align="right" /></a></p><p>Today Christians celebrate Ash Wednesday. It is not a "festival", but a rather sad and solemn day which marks the beginning of the season of Lent, a time traditionally focussed upon sin and forgiveness as we prepare for Easter, the high point of the Christian year.</p><p>For many Christians, Lent is a time for giving something up, making a special effort for recollection and reflection. For Catholics, the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday, has a special place as a day of fasting and abstinence, a time of cutting back, doing without, in a more particular way.</p><p>And there is also the custom that gives the name to the day - the celebration of the ashing, when ashes are smeared on our foreheads with the sign of Christ's cross..</p><p>Ashes are a sign of destruction, and of human weakness, and of the end of all things. They may seem quite negative. But as the ceremony to begin Lent, they also mark a beginning: the beginning of a struggle against evil; the start of a journey bearing Christ's cross; a journey which ends with the victory of Easter.</p><p>The importance of Ash Wednesday is such for the Catholic community that these ceremonies will be taking place not only in our Churches, but also in our schools. And it is this that gives me special pause for thought.</p><p>Ironically, we are celebrating the Ashing at a time when Schools are undergoing especially difficulty. Those who will be taking part in the ceremonies this week, are also looking long and hard at the recent tough budget settlements and considering the consequences. As we wear ashes on our foreheads, another kind of dissolution and destruction faces us: the reductions of hours, ending of temporary contracts and even enforced redundancies.</p><p>And of course, these anxieties don't only affect faith schools. These are worrying days for all those involved in education. Staff are concerned about their own livelihoods, and also how the work which needs to be done in schools will continue to be done.</p><p>It would be easy, and rather glib, for me as a priest to draw a very simplistic comparison. I could portray these severe cutbacks as just like the ashes of our religious ceremonies which will lead to new growth, a temporary destruction which might engender new opportunities.</p><p>It may be the case and I hope it will be, but it is all too simple.</p><p>For those who are caught in the midst of this difficulty - those who have mortgages to pay, those who will be forced out of jobs which provide a sense of purpose and social usefulness, those who no longer will get the full help and support which they truly need - for these the promise of better days later is cold comfort.</p><p>No, hope of the type which says "what goes around comes around" is no hope at all. It would make a mockery of the people and institutions affected.</p><p>Yet whatever difficulties the bankers and politicians may be plunging us into, there is still much cause for hope. Not hope because of the difficulties faced, but in the commitment that exists despite them. We should be optimistic not because of the contraction and cut backs, but because good people who care about children and families and their education strive to overcome them. We can take confidence in the determination of teachers and educational leaders to pursue their vocations whatever obstacles might be thrown their way.</p><p>I truly admire that. And perhaps, after all, that is the message of Ash Wednesday: not despairing in human weakness and frailty, but gathering the strength to overcome it.</p>Fr Peter Weatherbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11999604618871073417noreply@blogger.com0