Poppies

As I write this we have just had the anniversary of the start of the British Legion Poppy Appeal. I thought the following story might be of interest.

In 1922 my father was on the local committee of the British Legion in the town where he then lived. That year the town council had proposed a ban on the selling of flags in the street: there had been rather too much. My father wondered where this left the sale of poppies.He approached one of the town councillors to find out more about this proposal and where they stood withregards the sale of poppies.The man was surprised but admitted that no one had thought of the poppies.It turned out that the proposal had already been agreed, and the next day would be appearing in the local paper – and it would seem to include the sale of poppies. My father promptly wrote to the papers; head his letter “Is it a flag or a flower?”

The letter questioned that “if the poppy was a flower, would that mean that the flower sellers outside theatres and cemeteries have to stop selling in the street”?   – “did it matter if a flower was real or man made? However, if the man made poppy was classed as a flag and could not be sold on the street, the Council should be ashamed. The sale of poppies was introduced to help the wounded. To give work to some in the poppy factories and help to those who could not work”? The letter did not change things but the publicity certainly did.

With many helpers it was possible to sell the poppies that year in all sorts of ingenious ways- but not on the street. Shops that had private forecourts had people selling there. Some people sold from their front gardens, over the hedge. Some sat inside their front doors or hallways. Some rode the trams, and others knocked on doors. It was all a tremendous success.Not so for the Town Council. They mostly lost their seats at the next election.

There was a follow up to this. The Labour Party accused the British Legion of being involved in politics, something the British Legion has never done. According to my father the British Legion “Top Brass” came down from London to look into this case. When it was found that it had all started with one enthusiastic and concerned local committee member, the accusation was withdrawn and apologies all round. After that, as now, poppies were sold in the street.

Kathy Butler

Group Member Jane Critten explains more:

Lectio Divina: ‘What?’ ‘So what?’ & ‘Now what?’

What?

The term ‘lectio divina’ simply refers to the time-honoured method – practised by monastics since their beginning – of prayerfully reading the scriptures.

Whilst understanding scripture – as theology, literature and history – is important, lectio divina is not as concerned with exegesis as it is with learning to listen in the context of prayer to what scripture has to say to us and to respond prayerfully to what we hear.  As Pope Paul VI wrote so eloquently,

‘Prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that God and man may talk together; for “we speak to Him when we pray; we hear Him when we read the divine saying”.’[1]

To practice lectio divina, we need to set some time apart for this prayer and establish external and internal peace.  Then, asking the help of the Holy Spirit, we begin the first stage:  we read our passage of scripture.  At this stage, lectio, what concerns us is what the passage is saying of itself.  Without paying attention to scripture at this level, there is a danger that we simply manipulate the text to our own purposes, rather than letting God speak through his scripture.

The second stage of the process is meditatio: we listen to what the scripture passage is saying to each of us.  This stage is deeply personal.  This is not a search for something original or clever to say about the text, nor is it a quest for identifying the most objectively important message of the passage.  It requires a listening of the heart: which word or phrase ‘jumps out’?  There is no need at this stage to analyse the reasons for it (indeed there is a risk that if we do so, we may suppress a challenging or otherwise unexpected response to the scriptures), but simply acknowledge that it is there.  Having acknowledged its presence, we go further into our meditation and, through reading the passage again, we ask what that word or phrases means to us.

Having meditated attentively upon the Lord’s word, we move on to the third stage of lectio divina: oratio, or prayer.  What do we say to the Lord in response to his word?

The fourth stage of the lectio divina structure is contemplatio.  As we spend this time in wonder, we pray for the grace to see as God sees and for the wisdom to discern God’s will for us.  David Foster compares this stage of contemplation – or ‘wonder’ – with lingering after sharing a meal with a friend:

We sit and take time to enjoy the food shared, and especially to enjoy the company in which we have shared the food and drink. It is a time for gratitude, humour and togetherness.  So it is good not to hurry out of the presence of God we have savoured in our time of prayer… this is a time just to let God be God, and to let God be God for me. Our own self-offering to God will come naturally out of that.’[2] 

Reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation are the four stages of lectio divina but of course, there is always actio,  for as St Paul says, ‘the love of Christ urges us on’ (2 Cor 5:14).  The impact of our lectio divina in our lives – the caritas (or charity) it inspires – is the true completion of the process of lectio divina.

So what?

Last year, John Huntriss came to St Bernadette’s to give us his lecture series on scripture, ‘The Diary of God’.  A natural follow-on from learning about scripture is learning to pray with scripture.  To that end, Fr Christopher invited Caroline Price to help form a group of seven parishioners in the ways of lectio divina.  The hope is that the group will open up to those who would like to make use of the formation they have received and the seven will take it in turns to facilitate a lectio divina group at St Bernadette’s.

At the prospect of facilitating a prayer group, there was – as you might imagine – a strong sense of ‘we’re not worthy’ among the group, coupled with a fear of coming across as ‘holier than thou’.  However, having journeyed through the formation process under Caroline’s gentle guidance, I am relieved to find that facilitating such a group does not require great knowledge or even holiness.  All we are called upon to provide is an opportunity for a group to read the scriptures in this prayerful manner, handing on what we ourselves have learned.

One might wonder why we bother to meet up to read the scriptures in this way when it is a process that one can readily make use of on ones own.  The answer to this will be evident to anyone who has taken part in the process.  Each week we shared one passage of scripture. Each week, we shared what ‘jumped out’ at us (though please note that sharing is not compulsory – there may be times when sharing would make you cry, or feel uncomfortable in some other way. That is understood and respected).
Sometimes, two or even three of us would have been struck by the same word or phrase, but even so, each person’s response to those words or phrases was always markedly different (this is not surprising when you think about it, because we are all individuals and the scripture passage provides only one side of the conversation!).  For me, listening to those insights from the other members of the group has demonstrated the great value of sharing the scriptures in a group.

Now what?

We are very grateful to Caroline, who has been leading us through our formation process with her beautiful gentleness and humility, and we are now nearly at the end of our formation process.  In the New Year, we hope to open the group up to the wider parish.  I have been challenged, surprised, delighted and have received many unexpected graces through my participation in the group and would highly recommend it!  Don’t just take my word for it, though: Pope Benedict XVI has said of lectio divina,

‘If it is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the Church – I am convinced of it – a new spiritual springtime.’[3]

I warmly invite you to come and share in what we have had the good fortune of receiving.

Jane Critten

In 1902 Rudyard Kipling wrote his Just So stories and within one of these, accompanying the tale of the Elephant Child, he penned a short poem that opened I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who.

Now who would question this wisdom? We all have questions about every conceivable subject, but what about questions regarding our faith?

If you are anything like me, the last time you had any structured education on what it is to be a Catholic it was when you were at school and for
most of us that is more years ago than we would care to count. Let alone the fact that when we were at the receiving end of this education, more often than not we were reluctant pupils who would have rather been out playing football or having some other exciting adventure.

Strange then that as I get older, whilst I still yearn to play football and have exciting adventures, though my body cruelly denies me that privilege, I now  have a self motivated desire to understand more about our rich and fulfilling faith.

I don’t know about you, but for years I have simply accepted certain things to be true, because the Church has taught me that and I have
happily accepted it. But to have a deeper understanding of our belief makes so much more sense.

To really understand why we believe the things we do, to set them in context, to explore the relevance of our faith in the 21^st Century. Now that surely would be an opportunity too good to miss?   Well the good news is you have a fantastic opportunity to partake in a course on our faith called Rooted in Christ. Put together by our own Father Christopher, the course looks into most of the main areas that our Catholic faith is built upon.

The talks will be presented by several qualified speakers and will cover subjects as far reaching as the Holy Trinity and Revelation,
Scripture and Marriage, Salvation and Reconciliation and many more.  The talks will be Free of charge and you will be able to
pick and choose the ones you wish to attend or you can attend them all. There can be no doubt that we will learn many things about our faith that we never knew or sadly have long ago forgotten.

Life should be a never ending learning experience and what could be more important than learning about that central pillar of our being –
our faith in Christ.

The course will commence in the autumn and details of the dates and subjects will be made available well in advance to help with planning. The sessions will not be lecture style but will give us all the opportunity to find the answers to many of those questions that we need answered as well as, and just as likely in my case, answers to questions we haven’t even thought about yet!

We all know the phrase You shall reap what you sow, so why not consider investing some time in learning more about your faith, deepening your knowledge and understanding and developing a greater awareness and love of Christ.

Rudyard Kipling was clearly right, but it is important to use those six honest serving men well and seek the answers from the best sources. Rooted in Christ will be a wonderful chance to do just that. I know I’m looking forward to the course and I hope to see you there.

John Reilly

The New Translation of the Roman Missal

In preparation for the new translation of the Mass we attended four fortnightly sessions in May and June under the guidance of Father Christopher.

We spent the first two meetings using the DVD “Becoming one Body in the Spirit”, which led to questions and discussion within the group. By the third session we were ready to study a printed plan which set out in columns the people’s part of the Mass both as we have it today and also the new translation which we shall be using in the near future. A third column gave us the Latin text of today’s’ Mass which forms the basis of the new translation. The comparisons were interesting.

Throughout these meetings differences were looked at, one of which was “and with your spirit” which replaces “and also with you”. The new translation which is closer to the Latin “et cum spiritu tuo” reminds us that we are praying for the priest who is the recipient of the Holy Spirit by reason of his ordination and that when offering the sacrifice of the Mass he stands at the altar in the place of Christ himself.

In the Creed, we were reminded that “consubstantial” (a little used word in every day English) much better describes the relationship between Jesus and his Father.

These and many other changes were brought to our attention as having authentic scriptural origins and we were encouraged to become closer acquainted with the Bible.

Our fourth session was attendance at Mass which used the new translation. There was an encouragingly large congregation and we all had sheets of the people’s part. Without copies of the priest’s part we had to listen very attentively.

After Mass we were able to talk about the experience with Father Christopher. It was agreed that we all took part with more concentrated attention and listened more carefully to the words. Would this always be the case? Father Christopher suggested that we could decide to attend Mass in the spirit of Cure’ of Ars that one should say (or attend) Mass as if it is one’s first Mass or the last or the only Mass.

There have been objections that the new translation gives rise to a language more stilted and stiffer than the English version we are used to. Father Christopher showed us that the received wording was more accurate and more firmly based on the Scripture. In other Words, it was a language for Mass not necessarily for everyday life.

Appropriately, the Universal Church has a universal language, Latin, on which all the vernacular versions can be based to ensure accuracy and uniformity. This had been done in almost all European countries years ago while English translations had opted for a looser and les accurate translation. Now we are coming in line with everyone else.

In the spring edition of this magazine, Father Christopher ended his article on the coming changes with the words “watch this space”. This space has now been most successfully filled and we look forward to a better and more prayerful understanding as we share in the Sacrifice of the Mass and the celebration of the Eucharist.

Sylvia Woods

Let Natalia tell you more if you are not familiar with this tradition.

Polish Culture is filled with many traditions, especially centred on religious holidays like Easter. Although many of them changed and evolved over time, they are still an important part of our culture. Easter time tends to be overshadowed by Christmas and is usually only associated with chocolate eggs. However, in Poland due to the Roman Catholic religion, it can be said that as much attention is paid to Easter as is to Christmas. The celebration starts with Maundy Thursday and lasts until Easter Monday (Lany Poniedzialek). Despite this being quite typical for the rest of the world as well, in Poland the Easter Monday is celebrated in a unique way, with pouring water over your friends and family or even simply those passing by.

The custom is spread across Slavic culture and is of pagan origin as the water was associated with bringing everything back to life and as a way of fighting any illness, disease or simply purifying the world. In the past t was essential or young, unmarried girls to be drenched with buckets of water as otherwise they would fear that they were unattractive and that no one would marry them! A boy, who liked a girl, often would get access to the house only by arrangement with the girl’s mother, so that he could wake the girls by pouring water over her.

Nowadays, the tradition is mostly water –orientated, without any specific purpose, except to make someone as wet as possible with girls attacking boys just as fiercely. The tradition is commercially recognised and the devices to splash people with water come in many shapes and colours. Mostly, they are in shape of small Easter eggs that you can fill with water and symbolically keep up the tradition. Therefore, as Easter Monday is associated with such activity as splashing water around, it is awaited with much anticipation by the youngest. On the other hand, it must be said that sometimes it is the adults rather than the youngsters that can be carried away by over enthusiasm with practising the tradition. Thus, it is not surprising to find the fathers, uncles, cousins –in- law etc running after each other with buckets of water. On the day, people also play tricks on each other and this may come in different forms; from hiding items belonging to your neighbour to even mildly flooding their kitchen , maybe  letting the fun get slightly out of hand!.It must be emphasised that although everyone always wishes for the sunny and warm weather, as being wet is not the problem, this of course cannot always be guaranteed. However, if it rains it is if nature itself is participating in the tradition!

Unfortunately, sometimes the custom may become dangerous when teenagers throw water from apartment blocks and the tradition takes an unwanted form. This may influence people’s views on Easter and damage this long valued and practised tradition on Easter Mondays.

However, the majority make sure there is fun without causing any serious damage or injury and any mild loss suffered and any bruises or grazes you may encounter is deemed good in preserving the practice of the tradition.

Natalia Sikora

Watching the servers each Sunday, diligently carrying their duties, brings back memories of my time on the altar many years ago.

The church in my home parish (not in this Diocese ), though built some thirty years previously, was not fully completed.The foundations for the Sanctuary and adjoining Sacristy were laid but left unfinished due to lack of funds. A ‘Temporary Sacristy’ space was found at the east end of the church, and the High Altar was placed at the west end of the Nave.

This arrangement was never ideal for carrying out the ceremonial of High Mass in those days. We had a large an loyal contingent of servers aged 8 years (1^st Communion ) to late teens. Great attention was paid to the correct way each server should play his part. Some fifteen or so servers would be present for Sunday Mass. Despite being well trained there were times when things went wrong!

On one such occasion the young Candle Holders were involved. Mass started with the procession from the Sacristy to the High Altar. This included six holders with lighted candles. When they reached the Altar they moved on behind it, to extinguish the candles and prop up the candle poles, this being the only somewhat convenient space for this purpose. The Altar on its rostrum stood away from the back wall. It was surrounded by elaborate turrets and pinnacles made of wood and plaster fixed to a wooden frame opened at its back.

During the Mass the boys returned to the back of the Altar where two older servers would relight the candles in time for them to come out to the front for the Consecration. In the usual hustle and bustle at the back one of the boys set fire to his Cotta! Fortunately the flames were quickly extinguished and no one was hurt, the smoke was covered by the incense flowing from the Thurible . An Acolyte was dispatched back to the Sacristy to bring back a fresh Cotta just in time for the boys to move out. All this was screened from the congregation and Mass continued undisturbed.

On another Sunday the boys were manoeuvring to process back to the Sacristy after Mass. The Parish Priest went to gently guide one who was a little slow in moving. Unfortunately, the boy moved a bit to far, fell on to the one in front and the whole line went down like dominoes!

The back of the Altar cause further consternation. Over time this convenient space was used to store boxes of candles, candle ends, brushes, brooms, polish, etc. The Bishop came at one time for a Parish Visitation. As was usual in those days, after Mass, he would inspect the interior of the church and fittings. Once he had discovered the state behind the Altar he came back to the Sacristy and gave the curate a grilling, in front of the servers, for allowing part of the Altar to be used as a store cupboard! This was rather unfair. The poor man was overworked having run the
parish single handed for a long time while the Parish Priest was away sick.

The Beatification of Pope John Paul

Blessed Pope John Paul II

On Divine Mercy Sunday, 1 May 2011, Pope Benedict XVI
beatified his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.
There were more than one and a half million people who had come to Rome for the event and
countless others watching on television across the world.  Friends of mine were pleased to secure a
place for the Mass of beatification on the packed Via della Conciliazione,
which – being half a kilometre long and outside the Vatican City – gives you an idea of how
large an event it was!

‘It was glorious to be
out there for it’ said one, ‘you
know, they talk about a dying Church… [but] many, many thousands of them were young.  The whole experience was especially
‘electrique,’ given that the beatified soul is very much in the realm of living
memory and the countless people there have personal memories of him.’ That
certainly seems to be the case, doesn’t it?
When you talk of Pope John Paul II, whose pontificate spanned more than
quarter of a century, everyone has something different yet significant that
they will remember about him.

Thinking back six years to seeing those millions present in
Rome in the days following his death, seeing the diversity and magnitude of
world leaders who attended his funeral, one couldn’t help but wonder, what was it
about this man that attracted not just Catholics, but people of all faiths and
none to admire him, to listen to what he had to say and then to pay their final
respects?

I am sure that it was the attractiveness of his
authentically holy life that drew so many to him.  He lived the Gospel – in public and in
private – ‘in season and out of season.’

Pope John Paul II had a particular affection for the young
and they for him.  The World Youth Days
must surely be one of his more spectacular legacies, attracting unprecedented
numbers of youth to hear and see for themselves what he had to offer.

Of course, what he had to offer was what he had been given
himself: the faith of the Church.  To the
Youth of Poland in June 1997, he preached on Peter’s faith as he walked on
water (Mt 14:22-33).

‘Peter’s faith had lacked one essential
element — complete abandonment to Christ, total trust in Him at the moment of
great trial; he lacked unreserved hope in Him. Faith and hope, together with
love, constitute the foundation of the Christian life, the cornerstone of which
is Jesus Christ.’

This ‘complete abandonment to Christ’ was evident in our Successor of
Peter as he sought to live according to his own preaching, fearlessly defending
the Gospel, refusing time and again to bend or dilute the Church’s teaching
simply to give itching ears what they wanted to hear (cf 2 Tim 4:2-3).  He demonstrated that living Christianity is
not just something for calm weather, but also when we know that the wind and
waves encroach from every side and it would be far easier to stay in the
boat.  From his very first encyclical, Redemptor hominis through lower-profile
documents like 1994’s Letter to Families to his more widely cited encyclicals,
like Redemptoris Mater, Veritatis splendour and his (in my
opinion) absolute cracker Evangelium
Vitae and Fides et Ratio, Pope
John Paul always boldly proclaimed the teaching of the Church without selling
us short through omission, trusting that the same Lord who saved his
predecessor from sinking beneath the waves would protect him also.

One can see that trust shining
through the hidden humility of the recently beatified soul in his own Last Will
and Testament:

I express the most profound trust that, in spite of all my weakness,
the Lord will grant me every grace necessary to face, in accordance with His
will, any task, test or suffering that He sees fit to ask of His servant during
his life. I am also confident that He will never let me fail through some
attitude I may have – words, deeds or omissions – in my obligations to this
holy Petrine See.

John Paul II’s example of
entrusting himself in all his weakness to Christ makes Our Lord’s teaching in
John 10:10 (‘I have come that they may
have life and have it to the full’) easier to understand.  One might question the ‘fullness’ of lives
lived in extreme poverty or physical suffering, but Jesus was not promising
wealth, health or even superficial happiness.
More valuable are the treasures of heaven, spiritual health and Christian
joy.  Our late Pope taught us (for
example through his teaching on the ‘love
of preference for the poor’ in Sollicitudo
rei socialis) to care for the suffering and do what we can to alleviate
their wretchedness, but he also taught us – by word and example – how to suffer.

When Pope John Paul spoke to a group of the sick at Jasna Gora, the famous
Marian Shrine in Poland, he not only demonstrated that he saw the intrinsic value
of the lives of those who suffer, but had the humility and wisdom to ask for
their prayers:

‘On His
cross the Son of God accomplished the redemption of the world. It is through
this mystery that every cross placed on someone’s shoulders acquires a dignity
that is humanly inconceivable and becomes a sign of salvation for the person
who carries it and also for others.

I beg you
to make use of the cross that
has become part of each one of you for
salvation. I pray for you to have light and spiritual strength in your
suffering, that you may not lose courage but may discover for yourselves the
meaning of suffering and may be able to relieve others by prayer and sacrifice.
And do not forget me and the whole of the Church, and the cause of the Gospel
and peace that I am serving by Christ’s will. You who are weak and humanly
incapable, be a source of strength for your brother and father who is at your
side in prayer and heart.’

As early as 1984, Pope John Paul II wrote his apostolic letter on human suffering,
Salvifici Doloris, in which he
taught,

‘In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each
man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of
Christ’ (SD 15).

When considering the written works
of John Paul II (whether delivered on paper or orally), we know, of course,
that he would have spent a good time writing and revising and perhaps it is
easier to come across as holy when one has the opportunity of redrafting!  It is, then, the witness of the life he lived
– especially in his latter years – that showed most clearly what we had already
suspected; that with this man there was no ‘mask’ of holiness, no charade.  His life was authentically holy.  He was the same on the outside as the inside;
in public as in private.

Ten years before his death, he commented on his own
suffering, that ‘The Pope must suffer so
that every family and the world should see that there is, I would say, a higher
gospel: the gospel of suffering, with which one must prepare the future’.

…and suffer he did.  Millions
know that, for we could see images of him suffering on the television and in
our newspapers.  Here was the man who
spent so many years setting out what is now known as the ‘Theology of the Body’, who taught that every life is to be rejoiced
in and defended, from conception to natural death.  Here was the man who called for each of us to
recognise that ‘every cross placed on
someone’s shoulders acquires a dignity that is humanly inconceivable and
becomes a sign of salvation for the person who carries it and also for others’.
This very same man then – in phenomenal
physical weakness – showed more powerfully than ever before that it is God’s
love for us that makes us whole and that complete abandonment to Him in all
things is the only way to live and to die.

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!

Jane Critten.

I recently attended a diocesan training day for Foundation School Governors. It was a very stimulating day overall. However, one thing that stuck in my mind was the opening address given by Bishop Malcolm McMahon. He reflected with us in theway that family life had changed over a relatively short space of time from when he was a parish priest 17 years ago in North West London.

I was sharing this with Father Chris, who suggested that I might like to share my reflections on the way family life has changed so rapidly, from the traditional concept that many of us remember to the way things are now.

However, first let me start my looking at what the church has to say about the family. To do this I have taken some direct quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which says the following.

456. What is the Nature of the family in the plan of God?  2201-2205, 2249

A man and a woman united in marriage form a family together with their children. God instituted the family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution. Marriage and the family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children. Members of the same family establish among themselves personal relationships and primary responsibilities. In Christ the family becomes the domestic church becauseit is a community of faith, of hop and of charity.

457. What place does the family occupy in society? 2207-208

The family is the original cell of human society and is, therefore, prior to any recognition by public authority. Family values and principles constitute the foundation of social life. Family life is an initiation into life of society.

458. What are the duties that society has toward the family? 2209-2213, 2250

Society, while respecting the principles of subsidiarity, has the duty to support and strengthen marriage and the family. Public authority must respect, protect and foster the true nature of marriage and the family, public morality, the rights of parents, and domestic prosperity.

Very sound principles I think most reasonable people would agree. However, in the secular society in which we live today many well meaning families whilst holding these values dear are pressured by employers, business, commerce, advertising, their work colleagues, neighbours and just the way society is in the western world these days.

When I was growing up, my Dad went to work, my mother like most of my friends mothers stayed at home and looked after the family i.e. the children. They cooked, they washed, they ironed, they shopped (daily), they sewed, knitted and also when duty called nursed ailing members of the extended family as well. However, there were many rapidly advancing forms of technology, vacuum cleaners, washing machines,  Televisions, the list of what was called ‘mod cons’ have become ever evolving and  part and parcel of everyday life. Harold Macmillan the Prime Minister of the day told us we have never had it so good.  Children played in the street until late; they walked to school or if lucky cycled. Bedrooms were just
somewhere you went to sleep, because they were cold places, the only places that were warm were in front of a coal fire. However, things are now so different, we would not necessarily like to turn back the clock to a more austere way of life (although the way things are economically, we may well have to!).  Back only a few years and Sundays were very different. Now they are like any other day of the week really. We can literally ‘shop till we drop’. The traditional Sunday Lunch, the gathering of the family around the table has disappeared for many families. There are other   pursuits instead that have taken over. Children’s bedrooms are like mini bed–sits these days. They have central heating, TV’s, games stations, computers, iPods, or some such sound system. Their own mobile phones even. 20 years ago nobody had one of those! The family today may share the living space under one roof, but many although of one family unit lead entirely separate lives,  many not even eating together.

Indeed, it is safe to say that there have been many major social and economic trends affecting families. The late 20th Century witnessed many remarkable changes in family life.

In,Western Europe and North America: smaller household sizes, a further shift from extended to nuclear families, a decrease in marriages and an increase in separation or divorce, the appearance of new forms of unions such as unmarried cohabitation and living-apart-together, changing gender and intergenerational relations, and, last but not least, the substantial decrease in the size of the modern family unit. Beginning in the 1960s a number of interconnected economic, technological and cultural factors combined to accelerate and extend those changes in existing family features.

There is also yet another factor which came later that has changed the way in which families function. In 1994 the Sunday Trading Act (England) came into being. The 1990s saw a relaxation of restrictions on Sunday trading and Sunday working throughout Great Britain.

This act, it could be argued was to act as a catalyst to accelerate change for many businesses and employers There has therefore been a knock –on effect which has had implications for family life and religious practice. Like it or not it this permission to allow more economic activity has affected us all.

So, we can only individually, reflect on our own role within our own family and reconcile it with the church’s teaching. For it is indeed true that ‘Family life is an initiation into life of society’.  Let us therefore pray not only for our own families but ALL families.

Bernard Price

It was written and submitted  by one of our newer members to the St Bernadette Family. I found it it very stimulating and I hope you will as well. We are fortuante to have him in our community.

Art and Relgion

There really is no such thing as art. There are only artists, according to the art historian E.H.
Gombrich. Art is one way in which mankind has expressed himself from the days
when men took coloured red earth and drew animals on cave walls. Since those
days art has become the means by which we explore, reflect and create our
inmost thoughts, relationships and beliefs in visual and tactile forms.

Art forms have ebbed between reflections of reality as we see the world, to mystic, devotional
and intellectual expressions. Art has always been the means by which we can
relate ourselves to the created universe, and to its creator.

In earlier times art was very important as a means of education, the explanation of the
unexplainable, or the elevation of the mind to things eternal. Christianity in
particular held the purse strings in western art and the intellectual
expressions of the time, dominating what was painted, carved or illuminated as
well as what was written. Our modern idea that art had to be “original” was not
an approach Chinese or Byzantine masters would have understood. Even medieval
artists had to reflect the sacredness of the subjects in ways that had been
handed down to them, because art had to be devotional and educational; think of
the two dimensional paintings of Byzantine artists and the wonderful expressive
icons of the early Western and Greek churches. They did not have to look
realistic, rather they had to be painted in a particular way, stylised and with
special colours; think of the Virgin Mary, she should always be painted in blue
and white. However there remained enough scope for the artist, in terms of
composition and scale of his her subjects to show whether he or she was an artistic
craftsmen or not. Medieval western civilisation relied upon the artist then to
explain biblical texts and gospel stories without any need to reflect the
individuality of the artist, because the viewers were often illiterate peasants.
This allegorical stylised form of art remained unchanged throughout medieval
Europe. In northern Europe our Churches became full of coloured stained glass
windows telling biblical stories whilst in Southern Europe more emphasis was
put on paintings and sculptures.

With the Renaissance came change, the assertion of the individual became far more
important, through the rediscovery of ancient art forms in literature.

Art still had a role to play in being educational, but grounded in a realism which reflected
the world in which the viewer lived and understood. Individual expression
allowed artists to interpret, explore and heighten our emotional reactions to
the great stories of the past. Think of the sculpture of ‘David’ by
Michelangelo for example. The introduction of perspective and light and shade
to reflect a sense of reality gave art far more penetrating tools. The tactile
quality of sculpture provided yet more three dimensional experiences, think
this time of Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’ in St Peter’s Rome, or the great depth
created by the painting by Caravaggio of ‘Doubting Thomas’.

Today, art can still be educational in a religious sense but the emphasis is upon an artist’s
individual creativity. The importance of an individual’s ideas, beliefs and
expressions are typical of our personal and secular world. Today artists reflect
their personal relationships with God often without recourse to the church as a
whole. My own work as an artist gives me opportunity to reflect God’s glory
through particularly landscape painting which helps to heighten the story of
His creation. Great art should be able to convey something about eternity and
lasting truths of creativity. It should have the power to engage, educate and
enlighten the viewer. That enlightenment helps us all to have an enriched
experience and understanding o f God and His creation.

Michael Long ACSD

Some 200 people representing every parish in Bristol and Bath, as well as parishes from Wiltshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire came together at St Bernadette’s to reflect on how progress is being made in this important aspect of church life here in our part of the World.

It is a sad but true fact that our priests are ageing (just like the rest of us!) and we know that there will be fewer priests actively engaged in full time ministry within our diocese over the coming years, unless there is a sudden and unexpected increase in ordinations.

So it is essential that we work together as a diocese and Catholic community to see how we can best utilise our existing and future resources, particularly how we structure our parishes and obtain the greatest benefit from our remaining priests and importantly what ‘we ourselves’ can do to make a difference.

Following prayers and an introduction from Bishop Declan, the attendees were asked to break out into 16 groups to explore and discuss five key questions;

1. What opportunities does the implementation of the process present?
2. What anxieties are there about the process?
3. What support is needed?
4. How has ‘Parishes in Communion for Mission’ been received in our parish?
5. What is already happening in our parish to implement ‘Parishes in Communion for Mission’?

There was lively debate in the groups and despite obvious anxieties expressed about some of the changes that are being asked of us, generally it was uplifting to see how positive most people felt about the exercise and a keen desire to have an influence in the changes.

Some parishes are further down the path than others and it was good to hear about their experiences of working together. Certainly most of the comments expressed both in the group I was in and then again shared in the Church when everyone reassembled after the breakout discussions, were positive.

Change is never easy, we all know that, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad for us. It is likely that we shall be working much more closely with other parishes in the future and benefiting from each others experiences and knowledge and that sounds good to me.

Whilst it’s inevitable that we will be asked to consider some aspects of change in our parish life that challenge us, it is nonetheless reassuring to remember that over the past 2,000 years since the birth of Christ there have been obvious and truly amazing changes in our world, yet through it all, for the faithful at least, there has been the true constancy of love for Our Lord and for each other and that certainly isn’t about to change!

So it may be good to consider in your own personal thoughts and prayers what and how ‘you’ may be able to support our parish and the wider Catholic community in the years to come. To paraphrase President J F Kennedy, perhaps we should consider this;   ask not what your church can do for you; ask what you can do for your church.