 pointing out that the religious education in most Catholic schools in Britain is dire, and noting that many priests ask whether it is worth spending so much time and energy on school-related matters (school governors' meetings, talks with parents on admission to school, arrangements for school Masses and other events) when there is little or no evidence that it helps to spread the Faith. What to do? No point in saying children should be taught at home by their parents - that way, most won't learn anything about the Faith at all, not even the few prayers and vague notions of Jesus that they get at a Catholic school. And, for many, school is the one place where they meet some sort of structure to the day, rules about behaviour, even some notion of obedience and fair play (though some teachers are in despair - children brought up on endless TV and computer games have very poor attention-span, and many have been taught that adults are there to serve them and attend to their whims, so they are automatically rude and offensive....) If we decide that Catholic schools, supported out of public funds, are no longer useful, what to do? Extended parish catechetics? Many children do enjoy their First Communion classes and there is now a good deal of excellent material available (especiually from the Catholic Truth Society for.... such instruction. But do we really want to assert, definitively, that religion has no place in the schools of our country? FAITH is being courageous in exploring all thisand admitting openly the BIG problems of Religious Education in nominally Catholic schools....
To beautiful village and ancient house in the country, to visit Catholic author Philip Trower, an old friend. The house has been owned by his family for generations, and is a wonderful place, with a Tudor wing where Queen Elizabeth 1 once stayed.....Philip has just moved back after living for many years in Norfolk, and he has a delightful flat in what was once the stable block....we visited the peaceful old church of St James, which has box pews and has no electricity, lit only by candlelight when there are occasional services.....
Back to London for a family supper in Islington. We were meant to meet Jamie's brother and his family to see the Lord Mayor's fireworks by the Thames, but got stuck in traffic. However, we met D, J, and their enchanting daughter, our niece E, in their Islington home for a cheerful family time - E. enthusing that her school, the City of London Girls School, had been part of the Lord Mayor's procession (Jamie led the Guard of Honour one year, when he was commanding some University OTC recruits). E. thrilled with the gift I brought her from America - plastic flask for drinks, with big bendy straw! It was filled with sweets, all with odd names ("tootsie rolls" etc) unfamiliar to us and some looking fairly nasty. But it's all gloriously American and she drank quantities of fruit juice out of it, simply for the novelty of using it.... Jamie's brother D. is a distinguished academic, and in addition to his University work here is always flying off to exciting places to give lectures in various languages.
We made plans for Christmas - I always feel inadequate as I am not very good at domestic things, my mince pies often end up as hard as bullets and I lack imagination when it comes to choosing presents....but I can be useful at entertaining children as I enjoy playing with their toys.
Philip Trower's latest book "The Catholic Church and the Counter-Faith" is just out from Family Publications ( 6a King Street, Jeruicho, Oxon) and looks to be a good read.....
Rushed back from London yesterday, put vegetable casserole in oven (Jamie is on a diet!He claims to have lost a stone by eating only vegetables and fish and Irish soda bread. I don't believe him, but am happy to go on cooking veggies like this if it makes him happy....), tidied house, dealt with phone calls, tackled some letters, and whized out to post the latter, leaving a note saying "Back in 5 mins"....and of course while I was out our guest, Frank, arrived from Ukraine. He teaches English at the seminary there, and is on a vist to London.
I settled him down with a big mug of tea and we swapped news....he drank the tea as if it was nectar. He had had a ghastly journey, because if you own a foreign car in Ukraine, you have to prove (this sounds incredible, but it's true!) that you haven't tried to import it illegally, so every time you leave the country you are expected to take it with you! Which means that when you decide to travel instead by train and air (as he was doing) they stare at your passport when they arouse you from your sleeping compartment in the middle of the night, demand to see the stamp that indicates that you have registered official permission to leave your car behind...and if there is any debate about this, they make you get off the train, and sort it all out.......thereby missing train connections, waiting around at strange stations in the middle of the night, etc etc....imagine! They still have the Comunist-era mindset....
While flying home I had to discard, at Columbus airport, my lovely jar of BEAUTIFUL (Tescos! COst £3.95p!) lavender cream because they thought it might have explosives in it or something.......I discovered later I could have pleaded medical need as it is for the horrible dry skin I get at the back of my neck when I am nervous and the doctor said to use some gentle cream on it......then at Chicago airport I found a little stall selling, quite oddly, ONLY LAVENDER PRODUCTS, all natural, and very inexpensive so I bought a tube of the most heavenly cream, French (Provencal) Bliss...... tonight I used it again and sat and relaxed and read and sipped tea.....
The latest Catholic World Report (Nov edition) is full of good things - it's an excellent, full-colour glossy monthly magazine and this edition has a super pic of the Holy father on the front and features on a wide variety of topics ranging from the West and Islam to the opening of a new college in Australia, from the veil of Manopello to further analysis of the H. Father's Regensburg address. In Britain, you can take out a subscription by contacting WORDS INK PO Box 2001 Petworth Sussex GU28 9YA.
In intervals of housework, rushed to local library to write weekly feature for Catholic Times - they only allow an hour on the computer and it switches off automatically when the time is up, with just a few minutes' warning flashed on the screen beforehand: this is good for encouraging concentration, and I am glad I was trained on busy newspapers where a tough news editor shouted at one to get on and hurry up! If readers of this blog don't get the Catholic Times they are missing out on my weekly column: hurry and get a copy either from your local church (lots sell it at the back of church, just pick one up after Mass) or direct from Gabriel Communications, St james Buildings, Oxford Street, Manchester M1.
Am about to hurry to London for a meeting of St Clare Media, the group established here to develop the work of EWTN. It is going well.....incidentally my TV series for Advent, featuring cookery ideas for the season, starts soon on EWTN....apart from the Christmas pudding coming out a funny colour (should be really dark and black, not gingery-looking!) I found the series great fun and we are planning more....lots of ideas about exploring places of Catholic tradition and heritage here in Britain etc etc...
Hecticv attempts to tidy up at home as we have a friend coming to stay, which means putting up a temporary bed in the study....moving stacks of books....
Phoned Mother. While I was busy in Ohio, and Jamie in Rome, she was marking All Souls with the annual Blessing of Graves in the local cemetery. She walked there ("Oh, I didn't like to nag anyone for a lift....") - it's about two miles and she is 86! - to be at Father's grave. There is a lovely ceremony in which people stand by the graves of family members and the parish priest comes round and blesses each one with holy water.....It is some twelve years since my dear father died, and his memory is still so bright with us: we all loved him dearly.
The house felt cold and a bit bleak when I got in yesterday.... as we have both been away, heating obviously not yet on, tho' weather now (DG!) colder and more like a real November. Soon had the washing-machine going, and this keeps one fairly busy, as it involves rushing to it every five minutes to replace the jam-jar which has to stand beneath the waterpipe conection to collect the drips....yes, yes, we ARE going to get the plumber, but life has been busy.....
Jamie had obviously been home and slept the night but had to go off to work. I collected his shirts etc and got them into the machine.....dealt with a great pile of letters and some phone messages.....discovered that the WRETCHED EMAIL AND INTERNET ARE NOT WORKING.....got on my bike and hurried of to Internet cafe to collect emails....friendly lady there said cheerily that she hadn't seen me for a bit, and did I want the usual latte-with-sugar? Well yes, I did, achingly, but didn't have enough money, so had to pretend I was OK with just an hour (£1.50p