Southwark Vocations website update


The Southwark Vocations website has had a makeover with some good photos (including some of my parishioners on one page) and the blog integrated into the website.

(When looking at people's website, I often check the page source to see whether any particular tool was used to build it, what the html is like and so on. This one has clean, valid markup and was generated by iWeb-Build so I had a look on google to see what that was. Then, of course, I remembered that Fr Langridge is a Mac man!)

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1962 Missal pdf online

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Erasure releases "Gaudete"

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A brother priest has alerted me to the digital release today by Erasure of the track "Gaudete" which is apparently the first single from a new album "Snow Globe" which is to be released as a CD and download bundle in a couple of weeks. I confess that my knowledge of popular music nowadays is as close to zero as makes no difference so I had to look up the above details from the Wikipedia article on Erasure . This also informs us that one of the duo is a gay icon, which made me hesitate about posting this at all. However, on balance I agree with my correspondent that the problem is outweighed by the possibility of making Christ known to a secular audience at Christmas. It is a good idea to know what singers are singing. This would apply to Lady Gaga's recent celebrated performance: I guess some of those cheering it might be less enthusiastic if they knew what she was actually singing about. So here are the lyrics to Gaudete and a translation to help along ...
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The eternal truths and the threefold remorse of the damned

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"A Brief History of Marriage" by John de Waal

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Family and Youth Concern has produced A Brief History of Marriage as a free online resource for schools. Many adults would find it a useful overview. Here is the summary from Family and Youth Concern: In twelve short chapters, experienced educator John de Waal traces the history of marriage from the ancient world of Egypt, Greece and Rome down to the present day. Along the way, he interacts with the disciplines of literature, theology, philosophy, psychology, politics and sociology in clear and accessible prose. Wide-ranging and varied in style, A Brief History of Marriage includes references to marriage customs, laws and policies through the ages, alongside extracts from love letters and quaint and homely tips given to husbands and wives in bygone days. Attractively produced and well-illustrated, this online resource is suitable for use in PSHE, history or Religious Education classes. Each chapter concludes with several questions which will stimulate further thought and p...
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Saint Gabriel

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The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
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