The Hermeneutic of Continuity

This young man said to me today "My dad reads your blog all the time." So I suggested that dad might like to have see a photo of him on the blog. My warmest good wishes and thanks for reading. Your son is having a great time.

Photo credit: Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk Jimmy Mizen was a young man who went to our nearby Catholic secondary school, St Thomas More in Eltham, who was murdered the day after his 16th birthday, in 2008. From the time of that terrible day, his parents Barry and Margaret have spoken of their faith, their love of God, and their intention to ensure that only good comes from Jimmy's life. Jimmy's mother, Margaret, gave a moving and inspiring talk at Blackfen last year at a Family Day. They have recently set up the Jimmy Mizen Foundation ("Promoting the Good in Young People".) The website is in its early stages with some areas still to be filled out but there is news there of some of the local sporting and other events that have been held to launch the foundation and to raise funds. The photo above from shows Margaret and Barry at a service held last May at Westminster Cathedral to mark the second anniversary of Jimmy's death. An ecumenical event, the servic...

Something to cheer you up on a Thursday morning. A fun video of Paolo and Valeria Manca and their thirteen children.

I am happy to pass on information about a forthcoming Family Values Conference to be held in London: Family Values Conference Baden-Powell House, Cromwell Road. 2nd – 3rd June Our Bishops pointed out in their pre-election document “Choosing the Common Good” that a healthy democracy depends upon much more than the politics at the top. It also rests upon sound values and strong family life reviving society. The Family Values conference is being held as part of National Family Week under the aegis of The World Congress of Families. Those who have already been to one of these big family events will know how impressive it is to hear speakers from different faiths, different disciplines and different countries talking with a united voice on the importance of family. This event is actually being organised by a game woman from the Church of Latter Day Saints who was so taken by the WCF event in Amsterdam last summer that she determined to hold a London event as part of National Family Week...

Robert Colquhoun and Greg Clovis will be speaking on Tuesday 11 May at Farm Street. The evening is being arranged to help parents talk to their own children about the gift of sexuality and the virtue of chastity. 6.45pm for 7pm start. There are full details at Robert's blog "Love Undefiled" at the post Parents' Talk . You can view the powerpoint presentation from one of Robert's previous talks: Finding Love in a Superficial Age ; he has two further relevant articles: Parents as primary educators of their children Teaching parents about chastity

This year's Family Life International Conference will take place at Westminster Cathedral Hall on Saturday 8 May. At the FLI website there is more information . The line-up of talks is: Why Catholics Don't Contracept : Steven W. Mosher (USA) Changing Hearts and Minds Through Education : Jo Tolck (USA) The Church and social action (Same sex attraction) : James Parker (UK) Sexuality and Equality: Catholicism; its Alternative Vision : Simon Dames (UK) The Demographic Impacts of Abortion : Brian Clowes (USA) The Dash to Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia : James Bogle (UK) The page linked above does not give times but there is also a brochure which gives the full programme. (9am-6.30pm)

Last weekend saw the St Catherine's Trust Annual Family Retreat at the Oratory School near Reading (the school founded by John Henry Newman.) This year 150 people attended the retreat which was led by Fr Andrew Southwell. I from the photos see that Fr Crean OP was also there. At the Retreat, the St Catherine's Trust also hosted the first Chant Training Weekend organised by the Gregorian Chant Network . This was led by Nick Gale, Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral and his colleague Mark Johnson, and had 30 participants. The GCN was founded in January 2010 with the support of the Latin Mass Society which financially supported the Training Weekend, the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, Una Voce Scotland , and the Association for Latin Liturgy . The GCN exists to organise and promote training in Gregorian Chant in the context of the Catholic liturgy. The singers participated in the daily Traditional Sung Mass, Vespers and Compline, and a Marian procession through the gr...

I warmly recommend the Family Education Trust (Family & Youth Concern) which campaigns tirelessly on pro-life and pro-family issues. The latest bulletin is now available online. This issue has several articles related to the Children Schools and Families Bill, sex education, homeschooling and the rights of families.

Christmas Day itself I spent with my sister Mary's family - always a great day. After lunch I did actually watch television for a short while. It was an episode of "Shrek" in which the homonymous protagonist has lots of people round to his house, throws them all out, repents, searches for the "true meaning of Christmas", finds it is "everybody coming together", and then invites everybody back again. It was a truly remarkable feat in that as far as I could tell (I was not awake for the whole time, you understand) the entire programme managed to skirt around Christmas without a single reference to the nativity of Jesus Christ. Later, we played " Scattegories " and " Balderdash ": much more fun. The Wiki article says: An oft used strategy in balderdash is to elect your own fake definition in an attempt to give it credibility in the minds of your fellow players. This is referred to as a "downstream balder". You do not score a ...

Our Crib Service today was a heartwarming occasion with little shepherds, angels and kings taking part in a tableau to celebrate the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Some of the older ones read passages from the Holy Scriptures: and some of the younger ones just took part in their own way: One young shepherd was particularly enthused by some of the carols: The Kings made their procession with gifts as described in Holy Writ. It was great that so many dads came along like St Joseph, the "upright and just man", supporting the family occasion: And finally, all the children gathered to sing, to receive a blessing, to be photographed by loving parents and to help us all to enter into the spirit of the feast day:

I have just signed the Manhattan Declaration - it seems fairly straightforward that we should support it. Over 93,000 signatures as at the time of writing but more will always be good for this kind of campaign. Here's the text: Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family. We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are: the sanctity of human life the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife the rights of conscience and religious liberty. Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. B...

Jonathan Sacks (Lord Sacks of Aldgate), the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, has caused a stir with his lecture last week to Theos , the "Public Theology think Tank". Here are links to two articles from the broadsheets: Telegraph Jonathan Sacks's solution to family breakdown Falling birth rate is killing Europe, says chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks The complete text of the lecture has been posted as a Word Document: Lord Sacks 2009 . Here is the passage that drew most attention, I think: Parenthood involves massive sacrifice: of money, attention, time and emotional energy. Where today, in European culture with its consumerism and its instant gratification ‘because you’re worth it’, in that culture, where will you find space for the concept of sacrifice for the sake of generations not yet born? Europe, at least the indigenous population of Europe, is dying, exactly as Polybius said about ancient Greece in the third pre-Christian century. The ...

C-Fam, the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, have a petition to the UN: " International Call for the Rights and Dignity of the Human Person and the Family " in support of the right to life and the right of parents to education their children. They have over half a million responses so far. Sign the Petition here

The Church's teaching on the family is of vital importance in our country today and our Catholic families are at the vanguard of the growth of faith and resistance to secularism. In recent years I have come to understand more clearly how important it is for the Church, and particular, for the parish to promote family life. One simple, slightly chaotic but immensely rewarding way to do this is to have Family Days from time to time - perhaps once a term. Saturday is a good day; you can keep to the normal parish schedule and then build in special things for the middle of the day. We start off after Benediction with an introduction from me, and from one of the fathers. Lunch can either be a shared lunch or, as we had on Saturday, a few volunteers cooking up hot dogs and hamburgers or something. We then have separate activities for parents, for teenagers, and for children. One of the parents gave a talk to the other adults from the Church's documents on the family. Above you can see...

On Saturday 3 October there will be a Family Day at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen. This is a day for all the family to pray together with other families, to support one another in the faith, to deepen our love for Christ and our understanding of the teaching of the Church. Programme There is a parish Mass (Latin, older form, Missa Cantata ) at 10.30am and confessions available during Mass; Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is at 11.30am, followed by the Marian Anthem. The Family Day proper begins with the blessing of roses for the feast of St Thérèse (bring as many roses as you like!) and a talk at 12noon for all in the Church followed by lunch in the Hall. After lunch there will be workshops for parents, grandparents, teenagers and children. 3.45pm Finish with tea, juice and biscuits. There are confessions from 5-5.30pm) and the parish Mass (English) is at 6pm Do come along for this enjoyable and uplifting day. Here are instructions for Getting to Blackfen .

I received today the new booklet from the Catholic Truth Society "Prayer Book for Spouses" to which I contributed in a small way. I am impressed by the range of prayers and reflections that the editors have managed to gather together. The section headings give some idea: Prayer of Engaged Couples Recalling our Promises Open to Life Together Prayers of a Married Couple Prayers for your Children Prayers for your Family Some Favourite Prayers Available from the CTS priced £1.95

The recent lecture given by Terry Prendergast to Quest: Family – norms and ideals for a new paradigm(?) , has rightly caused concern among many Catholics. Prendergast is the Chief Executive of Marriage Care , formerly the "Catholic Marriage Advisory Council." Damian Thompson has written a strong critique of the lecture ( What is Archbishop Nichols going to do about Terry Prendergast? ) and Catholic Action UK points to the criteria for entry in the Catholic Directory which seem to have been very clearly breached. (See: Marriage Care head on homosexual unions .) The BBC reports a response from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, quoting as follows: The views expressed by Terry Prendergast about the definition of family and marriage are clearly not a reflection of the Church's teaching, nor those of the Bishops' Conference. although there is, as yet, no notice of this on the CBCEW website - there is nothing at the Press Releases section and a sea...

Yay! Congratulations to James and Ella Preece on the birth of Joanne Marie Preece the other day. You can get the details of gas and air and things over at Catholic and Loving It

Camilla Cavendish had a good article in the Times: Children are safer with their natural families . In the wake of the torture and death of baby Peter, this is a well-balanced and sensible appeal to stop turning a blind eye to the danger posed to children by family breakdown. Cavendish observes: In Britain, NSPCC research has found that children living with biological parents are between 20 and 33 times safer than those living in any other type of household - despite the NSPCC being inclined to play down family breakdown. And she comments: If the statistics are right, by far the most effective check on abuse is the family. The real family, where the vast majority of real fathers see their first duty as protecting their children. Yet these are the people we have made afraid. We have institutionalised shamelessness among people with no notion of family, some of whom have killed children. Simultaneously we have sown widespread fear of decent, well-meaning professionals among the innocent,...

A correspondent sent me a link to a great picture on the site of the Cukierski Family Apostolate . I was a bit slow in following up and now I can't find the picture. Nevertheless, the site is one of those "goldmine" Catholic sites put together out of love and full of good things. The Cukierskis (Walt and Wendy) have thirteen children and say: Children truly are a blessing from the Lord. When we cooperate with the Lord and allow new life to be created, we have actually given our Lord a gift, too...another soul for eternity! How awesome is that?! They educate their children at home and raise chickens and cows and do organic and hydroponic gardening (don't ask in the combox, look up "hydroponic" on google - I had to!) I liked this bit: Don't worry, you won't find us hugging trees...we worship the CREATOR not the creation! Just good ol' Simple Catholic Living. The site's speciality is hard-to-find sacramentals and there seems to be something for ...