Being followed by the Foreign Office

london 004

When I led the 99 names of Allah Prayer Vigil at Westminster, it was noticeable that across the Piazza some sharp-suited types were discreetly taking photographs so I flattered myself that I had made it into a file somewhere at MI5. It was nice to find out today that I am being followed on Twitter by @foreignoffice. This is probably because they gave me press accreditation for the Papal Visit - a kind gesture of the FCO who considered that some Catholic bloggers ought to be included as well as "bona fide media organisations." Mind you, they are following nearly 15,000 other people which goes to show that HMG is not slow in adopting new technology.

All of which means that if our spooks at some time in the future become engaged in implementing a restoration of the former Government policy of hunting down priests, I probably won't be in with much of a chance. This reminds me of a conversation reported to me by a fellow seminarian many years ago, during the "Militant Tendency" years in his native Liverpool. (You have to supply your own Liverpudlian accent):
Trot: Come the Revolution, you'll be one of the first strung up a lamp post.

Non-Trot: Come the Revolution, mate, that's the best place I'd like to be.
Of course, none of us knows how we would shape up if it came to that - you would need pretty heavy dollops of grace for sure. I like the quote in the sidebar of The Crescat:
"She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick"

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