A busy week


This week is rather busy. I was teaching at Wonersh on Monday morning, spent some time there working on one of the talks that I have to give, travelled over to celebrate Mass at the house of Simon and Margaret-Mary Fitzgerald - it was a good opportunity to catch up with Daphne McLeod and others.

Yesterday I was at Parkminster in the early afternoon and then in Belgravia for the Inn Catholics for whom I was speaking on the theology of the Sacrament of Penance. That went on a bit later than expected because the pub had double-booked the room we were supposed to be using and we had to walk to another pub where they had a room spare.

This morning I was at Amigo House, next to St George's Cathedral for the Council of Priests meeting. We always routinely moan about these meetings but actually it is a good opportunity to get together with other priests from the diocese. At the end of the meeting, I raised the question of whether we should start thinking about some formal reception or other gesture of welcome to the Society of St Pius X in the event that the negotiations with the Holy See are successful and they have a regular canonical status. (We do have three Mass centres in the Archdiocese of Southwark.) The words "balloon" and "lead" came to mind but that may be unfair of me. I did have one or two interesting conversations over lunch.

This afternoon, conveniently as I am already up in town, I'll be going to the reception organised by the Catholic Herald and the Friends of the Ordinariate. Cardinal Levada will be there and I expect there will be many familiar faces.

Tomorrow morning I have a funeral (please remember David and his family in your prayers) and then it is off to somewhere in Berkshire for the Faith Priests Study Day. I'll be speaking on Friday morning on the new (corrected) translation.

A week like this does mean that I run the danger of getting behind with email so do bear with me. I am looking forward to seeing some of you at the meeting of the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma on Saturday at Blackfen.

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