Issue 15 - The Pilgrim - April 2013 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

Issue 15 April 2013
From
Argentina
to Rome
Who are the
Jesuits
Pages 6-7 Page 8 Page 8
Pope Francis and
the media
Be protectors of God’s gifts
• the 266th pope
• the first pope from outside
Europe in 1,000 years
• the first
Latin American
• the first Argentinian
• the first Jesuit
• the first to take the
name Francis

Editorial The Pilgrim April 2013
the
2012Pilgrim
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December 2011/ January The newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark, covering s
The Archdiocese of Southwark
Archbishop Peter Smith
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www.rcsouthwark.co.uk
Area bishops
Kent
Bishop John Hine
01732 845486
jhine@absouthwark.org
South-West London
Bishop Paul Hendricks
020 8643 8007
bishop.hendricks@gmail.com
South-East London
Bishop Patrick Lynch
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Archbishop Peter Smith
“Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum;
habemus Papam.” Like many people round
the world I was watching the television
waiting for these words on the evening of
Wednesday 13th March, having seen the
pictures of white smoke billowing out of
the Sistine Chapel chimney.
When the words came, I, like many
others, then spent some moments working
out who had been chosen. The speculation
of the TV pundits had missed the mark:
Pray for Pope Francis
the new Pope was Francis, who was until
only shortly before the Archbishop of
Buenos Aires in Argentina.
I am delighted that the conclave has
chosen Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to be the
266th successor of Saint Peter. His
election opens a new chapter in the life of
the church, and brings us new hope for
the future of the Church and her mission
throughout the world.
It also brings about some historic
“firsts”: the first Pope from the Americas,
the first non-European Pope in over 1000
years, the first Jesuit to be Pope and the
first Pope to take the name Francis.
Among his first public requests as Pope
was: “I ask you to pray to the Lord that he
will bless me”. So as your Archbishop I
encourage you to honour this request so
that we keep him in the forefront of our
prayers in the days and weeks ahead. He
will be prayed for at every Mass, but I
would also encourage you to remember
him in your own prayers every day.
May God bless him in his task and keep
him always in his love and care.
Endings can be beginnings
Bishop Paul Hendricks
In the few weeks since Pope
Benedict announced his
retirement, we have all been on a
sort of a journey, as we adjust to
this new situation and reflect
upon what this will mean to him
and to us. I found my thoughts
turning naturally to the different
ways in which stories come to an
end, whether in books or films.
Page 2
I remember very clearly coming
to the end of the six books by
Anthony Trollope. The author
looks back over the series and
sadly says goodbye to the
characters, who have become like
old friends to him.
I found the books totally
absorbing, conjuring up a world
now long departed, which still
somehow felt very real. The
people in the story had begun to
feel like old friends to me as well –
and, though I re-read the books in
later years, that first experience
could never be repeated.
There is a similar feeling of
sadness at saying goodbye to Pope
Benedict. He has been very much
a part of our lives – close to us in
one sense, even though
geographically at a distance. In
future he will still be around, but
no longer in the same, very public
role. It certainly does feel like
saying goodbye.
Many novels are in the form of
a love story, ending in a wedding.
In one way or another, the
message is, ‘They all lived happily
ever after’.
The novel ends, but we are left
to imagine the lives of the
characters continuing into the
future – and often this is sketched
out in the final pages.
In the life of the Church, the
story certainly still goes on. Not
only is a new Pope elected, but
there has also been a lot of
interest in how our Emeritus Pope
will live in his retirement.
Ghost stories are an interesting
contrast. They often end with a
twist, which takes you by surprise
and makes you look at the whole
story in a new way. For example,
in the film, there is a scene at
the end, where we suddenly
realise that the characters in the
story, whom we thought were
being haunted, are actually
ghosts themselves.
Well, Pope Benedict certainly
took us by surprise. When he
announced his retirement, it
didn’t make us look at his
pontificate in a totally new way,
but perhaps it did highlight his
humility and his spirituality in a
very particular way. ends
triumphantly, but there is also a
feeling of sadness.
The victory has been won,
Frodo has completed his quest,
but at great cost to himself. He
has come very near to death and
suffered a wound that cannot be
healed. In the end he joins the
elves, sailing into a sort of
afterlife, beyond the boundaries
of this world.
It would be too dramatic to say
that our Emeritus Pope has suffered
an incurable wound – and yet it
seems to me that we are becoming
more aware that his ministry as
successor of St Peter has been at a
considerable cost to himself.
So endings are often sad,
occasionally surprising and
sometimes hinting at the future
that lies before the people in the
story. The mystery of Holy Week
and Easter reminds us that there
is something very similar at the
heart of our faith. The Cross leads
to the Resurrection. What looked
like the end of the story turns out
to be just the beginning.

The Pilgrim April 2013
News
Herne Bay school
facing closure
St Philip Howard Primary School in Herne Bay
looks set to close because of the lack of funding
and low pupil numbers.
Just 90 children attend the school, with only
five more expected to join up in September.
The school was hoping to receive funding from
a private finance initiative but the it needed to
be filled to capacity to pay it back.
A consultation process about the school’s
future was launched on March 11. It will gather
the views of the local authority, the diocese, MP
Sir Roger Gale, along with parents and children.
Chair of governors Mark Nash, right, who has
three children at the school, said: “It is gutting,
Priests meet in France
Sixty priests from Southwark gathered in a
retreat centre in northern France to
reflect on the Year of Faith.
The priests met at the Maison Diocesaine
D'Accueil in Merville for the first of
three such meetings organised by
Archbishop Peter.
The meeting included a day of
recollection, an exploration of Catholic
stewardship in parishes, and a question
and answer session with Archbishop Peter.
The next gathering at Merville will be on
10th - 14th June. For more information
please contact Fr Paul Mason at the
Ongoing Formation Office.
especially given the fact the school has turned a
corner in the last six months.
“A lot of people seem happy here but the
simple fact is not enough local parents have
chosen to send their children here and in today’s
world, low numbers means a lack of finance.
“It is a very small school and as a consequence
it has a very close-knit feel. A lot of parents send
their children here on that basis. It has a
community family feel.”
Parish priest Father Mark White said: “It is
dreadfully sad. The school is a very important
part of our parish life and there is great sadness
at this loss for the children, parents and staff.
“It will be the loss of the whole ethos of our
school. The faith and life that we try to lead and
encourage is going to be missing. It appears there
is no hope. Regrettably that is the way it is.”
The diocesan Education Commission has
worked closely with the governing body and Kent
Education Services to support the school over a
long period of time but accepts the reasons put
forward for consulting on closure.
Director Dr Anne Bamford said “Everything that
could be done has been done to support the
school over a long period of time to maintain
St Philip Howard as a viable option for parents in
the area.
“We are saddened that a Catholic school
should close but we are working in partnership
with St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in
Whitstable who will endeavour to provide places
in September for Catholic children who wish to
transfer there”.
Bishop Pat meeting those who will be
received into the Church at Easter.
Rite of election
Over 500 people who will become Catholics at Easter took part in
the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion at Saint
George’s Cathedral.
The 231 catechumens and 221 candidates from 79 parishes
gathered with their god parents, sponsors and families.
Archbishop Peter presided at the service, assisted by the
auxiliary bishops and the vicar general. Canon Alan McLean and the
diocesan choir provided the music and, the altar servers were from
the parish of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus, Morden.
New Charismatic centre opens
Archbishop Kevin McDonald, the Emeritus Archbishop of Southwark,
celebrated a Mass to open the new centre for Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
The new centre is housed in the crypt of Our Lady of Dolours Church in
Fulham Road, the location for the first Catholic Charismatic Renewal
office in the 1970s.
It will house the editorial office of Good News magazine, as well as
having a prayer room and a meeting room.
Page 3

News The Pilgrim April 2013
Lewisham students shape
Parliamentary report
Three students at Christ the King Sixth
Form College in Lewisham have
contributed to a Parliamentary report into
the financial education of young people.
Caroline Da Costa, Avision Ho and
Jeneba Charm were invited last autumn
to Portcullis House in Westminster to
meet members of the All Party
Parliamentary Group on Financial
Education for Young People.
During an informal one-hour meeting,
the students responded to a variety of
Ann Widdecombe to
speak about
persecuted Christians
Former MP and Government minister Ann
Widdecombe is to speak in Croydon about the
worldwide persecution of Christians.
The event is organised by Aid to the Church in
Need and will take place at 7 pm on April 23 at St
Mary’s Church in Wellesley Road.
Ms Widdecombe is Aid to the Church in Need’s
special envoy on religious freedom.
Sports hall blessed
Archbishop Peter has visited St Thomas the Apostle College,
Nunhead, where he presided at Mass and blessed new and
refurbished facilities.
These include the reception area, sports hall and
classrooms. He also blessed the new crucifixes, which are to
hang in the classrooms.
questions relating to their experiences
of financial education, both at school
and at college. Following the meeting,
students and staff were given a guided
tour of the Palace of Westminster.
The Financial Education in Further
Education report is currently being
considered by government ministers.
Caroline Da Costa, who studies
politics and economics, is featured on
the first page of the report. She said:
“It was a really inspiring event and a
good opportunity for youth to
collaborate with society and for MPs to
take our opinions into account.
“We suggested that they introduce
financial education at an earlier stage,
such as at primary school, and gave
them examples of how to do it. A lot of
young people don’t understand how to
manage their money and use savings
accounts and credit cards responsibly.
I think financial education is really
important.”
Dover school placed in
special measures
St Edmund’s Catholic School in Dover has been placed in
special measures by Ofsted.
Inspectors said the overall effectiveness of the school,
pupils’ achievement, the quality of teaching and the
leadership and management were all inadequate, and the
behaviour and safety of pupils required improvement.
Following the resignation of executive head teacher Chris
Atkin in December a management team from St George’s
C of E Foundation School in Broadstairs was brought in.
The report said, “Despite very recent improvements,
leaders, managers and governors have not addressed the
shortcomings identified in the previous inspection and have
not significantly slowed the decline in the school’s
performance.”
St Edmund’s celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.
Pupils hit the right note
Pupils form Coloma Convent Girls’ School in Croydon and The
John Fisher School in Purley delighted a packed house at the
Performing Arts Centre at Coloma when they performed an
evening of music.
The evening featured the two schools’ choirs, together with
the community choir, and included numbers ranging from
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen to Tchikovsky’s 1812 Overture.
Cafod seeks London
Marathon runners
Cafod has a small number of charity places
in this year’s Virgin London Marathon on
April 21. It is inviting runners to apply for
a place on its waiting list to join the team.
Runners are asked to raise at least £2,500
in sponsorship for Cafod.
Year of Faith
document for
primary schools
The diocesan Education Commission has
developed a document called Year of Faith
Activities for Primary Schools. It aims to
offer inspiration for primary school
teachers with ideas for activities and
projects that the children can take part in.
The document is available on the
resources section of the website:
www.educationcommission.org.uk.
Deputy head
teachers’ conference
The deputy head teachers’ conference
will be held on 26 April at Ashford
International Hotel. Hosted by the
diocesan Education Commission, it
provides an opportunity to listen to
inspirational speakers, share experiences
and meet colleagues from across the
diocese. Bookings can be made on the
Education Commission web site.
Dover pilgrims
visit Tyburn
Pilgrims from the Dover deanery have visited
Tyburn Convent on Bayswater Road to venerate
their local martyr Blessed Roger Filcock.
Blessed Roger Filcock was born in
Sandwich and executed at Tyburn on 27th
February 1601. He was beatified by Pope
John Paul II in 1987.
Ramsgate
celebrations
A special Mass at St Augustine’s church in
Ramsgate marked the first anniversary of
its establishment as a shrine.
During the Mass, Abbot Cuthbert Brogan
of Farnborough Abbey placed a relic of
Pope Saint Gregory the Great in the Pugin
chapel. It was Pope Gregory who sent
Augustine to evangelise England in AD 597.
After Mass, Abbot Brogan carried out the
opening ceremony of the church’s cloister
garden, which had been reset and
restored after years of being overgrown
and in a state of disrepair.
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Page 4

The Pilgrim April 2013
What Vatican II said about Latin
In the third of his series for the Year of
Faith, Father David Gibbons, Director of
the Centre for Catholic Formation,
analyses the various documents of the
Second Vatican Council.
Last month we looked at the Constitution
on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum
Concilium), and three of its major themes:
the Liturgy as the source and summit of
the Church’s life, the call for active
participation by all the faithful, and the
noble simplicity of the Roman Rite.
A fourth important theme of the
Easter reflection
“Rend your hearts to say with the Psalmist:
“we have sinned.” “Sin is the wound of the
soul: Oh poor wounded one, recognize your
Physician! Show him the wounds of your guilt.
And given that our secret thoughts are not
hidden from Him, make him hear the groan of
your heart. Move Him to compassion with your
tears, with your insistence. Importune Him!
document is the restoration of the Word of
God: “the treasures of the Bible are to be
opened up more lavishly so that a richer
fare may be provided for the faithful at
the table of God’s word.”
Allied to this was the emphasis on the
homily as part of the liturgical action:
the homily “is to be highly esteemed as
part of the liturgy itself.” The Council
decreed that Mass on Sundays and
Holidays must always include the homily
except for a serious reason.
The Council spoke of the two parts of
the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word and the
May He hear your sighs, make your pain reach Him so that, in the end, He can
say to you: The Lord has forgiven your sin. This is the reality of our human
condition. This is the truth that can bring us closer to genuine reconciliation
with God and with men.
It is not about discrediting self-esteem but about penetrating the depth of our
hearts and of assuming the mystery of suffering and pain which has bound us
for centuries, thousands of years, always.
Rend your hearts, so that through that crack we can really look at ourselves.”
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., Buenos Aires, 13 February, 2013
Liturgy of the Eucharist, as being the
two parts which together make up the one
act of worship. The restoration of the
Word of God, in the scripture readings,
along with the homily which expounds the
scriptures just heard, has been one of the
most significant features of Mass since
the Council.
Although the readings aren’t always
easy to understand, and they aren’t
always proclaimed as well as they should
be, the Word of God is a part of Mass
which has become very valuable to and
valued by the People of God.
The homily, likewise, has become an
integral and even popular part of Mass (at
least if the preacher doesn’t ramble on
too much!). The ‘treasures of the Bible’
indeed nowadays provide much fruit for
our prayer and enlightenment.
The fifth point is somewhat more
controversial. Many people think that the
Council dramatically changed the Liturgy
by insisting on the use of the vernacular
instead of Latin and by making other huge
changes.
But let us look at what Sacrosanctum
Concilium actually says: “the use of the
Latin language … is to be preserved in the
Latin rites.” It then goes on to state that
the use of the vernacular in the Mass or
other Liturgies “may frequently be of
great advantage to the people” and so “a
wider use may be made of it, especially in
readings, directives and in some prayers
and chants.”
The document also allows that “providing
the substantial unity of the Roman Rite is
preserved, provision shall be made … for
legitimate variations and adaptations to
different groups, regions and peoples,
especially in mission countries.”
Features
As well as allowing local languages (and
modern art as well), Sacrosanctum
Concilium also says that Gregorian chant
should be given “pride of place” and the
pipe organ is to be “held in high esteem”.
The controversy over the last 50 years
has centred on two things. One is whether
the wholesale abandonment of Latin in
the celebration of Mass is truly in accord
with the Council Father’s teachings, and
whether subsequent changes to the Mass
have not, in practice, gone far beyond
what the Council Fathers envisaged.
The second controversy is over how far
‘legitimate variations’ may go; these days
we would call this inculturation.
Questions for this month: In what ways
do the scripture readings and homily
enrich our celebration of Mass The Liturgy
has all too often become a source of
division rather than unity; how can we
sustain the unity of Mass without losing
legitimate diversity
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Page 5

Behind the scenes The Pilgrim April 2013
The Pope from
of the earth
The life of Pope Francis
1936: born on 17 December in Buenos Aires. He was one of five children born to
Italian immigrant parents. His father was a railway worker.
He gained a degree in chemistry at the University of Buenos Aires.
1958: entered the Jesuit novitiate.
He finished his studies in humanities in Chile
1963: obtained a degree in philosophy.
1964 to 1966: taught literature and psychology at the Immacolata College in
Santa Fe and then at the University of El Salvador in Buenos Aires.
1969: ordained a priest.
1970: gained a degree in theology and then completed his formation in Alcala de
Henares, Spain.
1973: elected as Jesuit provincial for Argentina, a role he held for six years.
1980 to 1986: rector of the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel
and pastor of the Patriarca San Jose parish in the diocese of San Miguel.
1986: completed his doctoral thesis in Germany.
1992: appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires.
1998: became Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
2001: created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II.
2005 – 2011: served as President of the Bishops' Conference of Argentina.
2013: March 13, elected as the 266 successor of St Peter.
He was a member of: the Congregations for Divine Worship and Discipline of the
Sacraments; for the Clergy; and for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of
Apostolic Life; He also served on the Pontifical Council for the Family; and the
Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
Argentina facts
• The name means land of silver.
• It is the second largest country in South America.
• It gained independence from Spain in 1816.
• The population is 42 million.
• The main cities are Buenos Aries, Cordoba and
Rosario.
• The military took power in 1976, which led to
thousands being killed or “disappeared”.
• In 1982 Argentina went to war with the United
Kingdom over the sovereignty of the Falkland
Islands.
• Democracy returned in 1983.
• In the 1986 World Cup quarter final Argentina
beat England 2-1, thanks to Maradona scoring
what became known as “the hand of God” goal.
• The musical Evita, written by Andrew Lloyd
Webber and Tim Rice, tells the story of Eva
Peron, the second wife of President Juan Peron.
• Empanadas, pasties stuffed different fillings,
are one of the country’s most popular foods.
• There has been a Welsh community in Patagonia
for nearly 150 years. A number speak Patagonian
Welsh.
Page 6

The Pilgrim April 2013
Behind the scenes
the ends
The Church in
Argentina
Catholic missionaries arrived in the
16th century during the Spanish conquest.
92% of the population is Catholic, although
Mass attendance has been declining sharply.
The patron saint is Our Lady of Lujan.
Pope John Paul II visited Argentina twice,
in 1982 and in 1987, when he attended
World Youth Day.
The country is divided up into 14
archdioceses and 50 dioceses.
Before becoming Pope Francis, Cardinal
Bergoglio was Archbishop of Buenos Aires,
which contains 182 parishes and around
2.5 million Catholics.
There are six Catholic universities.
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Page 7

Features The Pilgrim April 2013
How will Pope Francis use the media
Greg Watts
The way the message of the
gospel is heard by most people
today is not by going to church
but through the media. And sadly,
all too often it’s a negative one.
So, for Pope Francis, one of the
most pressing things in his in-tray
is to look at how the Church can
use the media more effectively
than it has been doing.
He will be conscious of how
Pope Benedict’s pontificate was
marked by a number of easily
avoidable gaffes, often followed
by hasty clarifications issued by
the Vatican press office.
One example was his address at
the University of Regensburg in
2006, where he quoted a
Byzantine emperor who claimed
Islam was violent and irrational.
Predictably this produced furious
reactions amongst some Muslims
around the world.
Another PR disaster occurred
after he lifted the
excommunication of the
Lefebvrist Bishop Richard
Williamson. Pope Benedict’s
statement was released only 48
hours after Williamson had
appeared on Swiss TV and said
that he didn’t believe gas
chambers had existed and that
millions of Jews had died.
Understandably Jewish leaders
were outraged by the news of
Bishop Williamson’s rehabilitation.
They had reacted similarly when
changes to the Good Friday Prayer
for the conversion of the Jews
were announced. These changes
were swiftly revised.
There were many more
blunders. I remember doing a TV
interview about comments made
by a cardinal over the sexual
abuse crisis. During the break,
the presenter, a Catholic, leant
across the desk and said with
incredulity, “Who on earth is
advising the Vatican on PR”
By all accounts, as Archbishop
of Buenos Airies, Cardinal
Bergoglio did not have a
reputation as someone who was a
natural in using the media.
Yet when I watched him on the
evening of his election talking to
the crowds below, he came across
as someone spontaneous and at
ease communicating to a large
audience.
And his homily when he
celebrated Mass in the Sistine
Chapel with the cardinals –
journeying, building, professing –
was a model of clarity and
conciseness.
In that same homily he quoted
from French novelist Leon Bloy,
underlining his love of literature.
He taught it in the 1960s at the
Immacolata College in Santa Fe
Who are the Jesuits
Pope Francis is the first Jesuit to become
pope. So who exactly are the Jesuits
The Jesuits were founded by St Ignatius
Loyola, a Spanish soldier, in the sixteenth
century.
After being injured in battle in 1520, he
decided to dedicate his life to God. While
staying in Manresa in Catalonia, he began to
write his Spiritual Exercises.
He went to study at the University of
Paris, where he established a community. In
1540 Pope Paul III formally established the
Society of Jesus. The Jesuits’ motto is “for
the greater glory of God.”
Ignatius died in 1556 and was canonized in
1622. By then there were already several
thousand Jesuits.
Today, the Jesuits are the largest religious
order in the Catholic Church, with around
20,000 members. At one time, they drew
most of their vocations from Europe. Today
the largest province is India.
To become a full Jesuit takes around 14
years. Jesuits have a reputation for
intellectual rigour, education and finding
God in the things of everyday life.
They are often found on the front line of
culture and science. For example, Jesuits
run the Vatican Observatory.
Famous Jesuits include astronomer Angelo
Secchi (1818-1878) English poet Gerald
Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) and
paleontologist Pierre Teilhard Chardin
(1881-1955).
The Jesuit mission to England began in
1580, during the Reformation, and several
priests were martyred, including St Edmund
Campion.
The Jesuits British province headquarters
are in Mount Street, Mayfair, next to the
Church of the Immaculate Conception.
They have a long history in Southwark.
They run the parish of the Scared Heart
School in Wimbledon, although this is soon
Page 8
to be handed over to the diocese, and
Wimbledon College.
They have also have house of formation in
Brixton and a community in Clapham.
Elsewhere in London, the Jesuits run
three other parishes and a school; Heythrop
College, part of the University of London.
and at the University of El
Salvador in Buenos Aires.
The Vatican communications
operation, which includes a TV
station, radio station and press
office, has often been slow to
take advantage of the
opportunities modern media
the Jesuit Refugee Service; and a centre in
Southall for inter-religious dialogue.
In addition, Jesuit Media Services run
Pray-as-you-go, a daily prayer format for
people travelling to and from work to
download on MP3 players, and Thinking
Faith, an online journal of faith and culture.
offers and poor in communicating
the Church’s message to not just
a secular audience but also a
Catholic one.
Seasoned Vatican experts, such
as the highly regarded John L.
Allen of the National Catholic
Reporter, are forever
complaining about how slow
things move and the lack of
information.
The general view amongst
journalists covering Church
affairs is that Father Lombardi,
the Jesuit who is head of the
Vatican press office, tries his
best, but all too often has been
kept waiting in the corridor
twiddling his thumbs when
decisions with media implications
have been made.
Had sufficient thought been
given to how certain
announcements might play out in
the media, then damage would
have been prevented.
Because of this, the reforms
that many anticipate Pope
Francis will introduce into the
way the Roman curia runs the
Vatican need to also address
communication.
In an age of 24-hour news,
Facebook and You Tube, using
encyclicals and other documents
as the primary way to put across
Church teaching is unlikely to
have much impact in the wider
world.
To communicate the gospel
effectively to a twenty-first
century audience requires
twenty-first century methods.
However, simply going on You
Tube or Twitter is not enough.
What is needed is imagination,
creativity, the use of simple
language, and an ability to read
the signs of the times and
respond accordingly.
St Francis of Assisi and St
Ignatius of Loyola – who,
interestingly, both appeared at a
time when the Church needed
renewal and reform -
demonstrated all these qualities.
Something tells me that Pope
Francis, Franciscan in vision,
Jesuit by training, may well turn
out to be full of surprises in what
he says and the way he chooses
to say it.

The Pilgrim April 2013
Why we
should pray
Features
Should Catholics
support the
European Union
John Pridmore
Not long after I’d found God, I
was backing my car out of the
car park under a block of flats
in East London when a guy in
a Range Rover blocked my exit
and refused to move.
“Come on, mate. It’s
Christmas. Goodwill to all
men and all that,” I shouted
good-naturedly out of the
window.
He didn’t smile. Instead, he
got out and started waving a
baseball bat at me. There was
no way I was backing down.
Leaping out of my car, I
opened the boot, whipped out
my machete and advanced
towards him. He jumped
straight back into the Range
Rover and screeched away.
Turning my attention to God
after being involved in so much
violence and crime was a real
battle at first. Over the years,
I’ve learned that prayer is at
the heart of our relationship
with God.
Even now, I have to admit
that I still go through periods
of dryness, when I wonder if
God hears me and if prayer
really matters. But as
someone once said, we should
seek the God of consolations,
not the consolations of God.
In the same way that a car
needs petrol to run, we need
prayer to function. I believe
that if we don’t pray, we lose
God.
A priest I know once said to
me when I asked him why he
prayed so much, “When I
pray, I’m a nice person; when
I don’t pray, I’m horrible.”
When St Therese of Lisieux
was dying in the convent
infirmary, one of the sisters
found her awake and gazing
upwards.
“What are you doing You
ought to be trying to sleep,”
said the sister.
“I can’t, Sister, I am
suffering too much for that,
so I pray.”
“What do you say to Jesus”
“Nothing. I just love him.”
The best way I’ve found of
beginning a prayer life with
God is by going to confession.
When we go to confession we
take down the barriers we
have erected through our sins.
For me, confession, or
reconciliation, has been a
source of terrific healing and
grace. God’s forgiveness is
there for us again and again
and again. The popular Divine
Mercy devotion, which Pope
John Paul II advocated, speaks
only of God’s unending mercy
for us.
Two men once went to meet
Mother Teresa. When the first
asked her how much he should
pray, she asked him what was
his job.
“I’m retired,” he said.
“Pray one hour a day,”
she advised.
“How much should I pray”
asked the second man.
“What do you do”
she asked.
“I’m a stockbroker,”
he answered.
“Pray two hours a day,”
she urged.
“Why should I pray two
hours a day when you have
recommended that my friend
prays just one hour a day He
has a lot more free time than
me. I work ten hours a day,
five days a week, plus
weekends sometimes.”
She looked at him and said,
“The busier you are the more
you need to pray.”
One of the things I have
learned is that we have to
pray how we feel. If we are
feeling at peace, we should
tell God. If we feel angry,
then we should tell God
we’re angry.
But I have to be honest and
admit that I’ve tried every
way of getting out of prayer.
But I’ve realised that if I don’t
pray, I don’t have peace in
my life.
Fr Ashley Beck, assistant priest at
St Edmund of Canterbury in Beckenham
and lecturer in pastoral ministry at
St Mary’s University College, Twickenham,
continues his series exploring Catholic
social teaching.
Did you know that the European flag
honours Our Lady It depicts the twelve
stars of her crown. The Prime Minister’s
announcement about a possible
referendum on British membership of
the European Union means that Europe
is a good issue to examine in the light of
Catholic social teaching.
In 1999 Blessed John Paul II wrote
these words:
‘Thus may Europe grow! May it grow as a Europe of the spirit, in
continuity with the best of its history, of which holiness is the highest
expression. The unity of the continent, which is gradually maturing in
people’s consciousness and receiving a more precise political definition,
certainly embodies a great hope. Europeans are called to leave behind
once and for all the rivalries of history, which often turned the continent
into a theatre of devastating wars. At the same time they must work to
create conditions for greater unity and co-operation between peoples.’
This quotation is from the decree declaring that St Catherine of Siena, St
Bridget of Sweden and St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross were to join St
Benedict, St Cyril and St Methodius as patron saints of Europe.
These six saints all have a message for the peoples of Europe, of the
qualities we need to emulate if we are to build a united Europe rooted in
the Christian faith.
The young Karol Woytyla (and indeed, the young Joseph Ratzinger) had
been moulded by the Second World War. After the war, unity was essential.
Blessed Pope John Paul shows that Catholics should be committed to
European unity and that there is no place for political Euro-scepticism in
our Church.
The original European institutions were founded by men who were
imbued with Catholic social teaching, particularly the French Foreign
Minister Robert Schuman and the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
The principles we looked at last month helped to guide them in the
initial treaties behind the European Coal and Steel Community and the
European Economic Community.
Nations chose to do something new – to share their sovereignty, in the
interests of the wider European common good. British politicians and
opinion-formers are incapable of understanding this basic ideal, rooted in
Catholic teaching.
Another reason we should support European unity is Church history: the
rise of the nation state in Europe helped to cause the Reformation, the
sundering of Christian unity. Nations which had shared a common faith
across Europe were now at odds with each other.
This does not mean that everything which the EU does is right. We are
rightly concerned that EU institutions are more “secularist” than in the
past, but they merely reflect the secularism of EU countries, including
our own.
If you look at the history of the Euro, you can see that it reflects the need
for currency stability in a common trading area. That ideal does not vanish
because of the problems being experienced now, and European Catholics,
including our own bishops, were enthusiastic when it was launched.
Commitment to European unity offers us a good opportunity to
understand Catholic social teaching more deeply and share it with others.
Fr Ashley is author of Europe’s Soul and Her Patron Saints (CTS, 2007)
and Christians and the Euro (Faith in Europe, 2009).
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Page 9

Features The Pilgrim April 2013
The mystique
of monastic life
School days:
Theresa (“Tree”)
Behrens
Greg Watts
Monastic life holds a
fascination for many
photographers.
Francesca Philips is
the latest to take her
camera into the
cloister.
Her black and white
photographs capture
the monastic day in
three Trappist
monasteries in Spain.
“I have always been
intrigued by monastic
life, especially
enclosed orders,” she said.
Persuading the abbots of the three
monasteries to allow her in wasn’t
easy, she added. “It took some
persuading, but when the first abbot
did finally agree it was on condition
I didn’t make any portraits, close-up
or otherwise.
“Little by little, as trust grew, this
was taken away. I think that the
following two abbots felt
comfortable that I had already made
photographs in another monastery.”
What did she set out to achieve in
portraying monastic life “I wanted
to try and reveal the mystique of
monastic life, what seemed to me
the enigmatic otherness of monks. I
hoped that the curiosity I myself had
about enclosed monastic
communities would very possibly be
shared by others.”
She didn’t ask any monks to pose.
“Within some areas I wandered
freely and in others I was
accompanied by the prior or another
monk just for a few minutes.”
Francesca grew up in Kensington,
but moved to Gran Canaria in Spain,
where her husband is from.
“I hoped that by photographing
the monks many of my questions
From the Archives
Volume 9 – Diamond Jubilee Special
about God and spirituality would be
answered. They were, but it also led
to more.”
Her photos were recently
exhibited at Holy Trinity Church in
Sloane Street. They will go to
Wolfson College, Oxford, from May
6th - 24th 2013.
Home I grew up in
Northampton, but I now
live in Whitstable.
Job I work for Southwark
Catholic Youth Service and
Cafod as a multimedia
resource co-ordinator.
School Little Houghton
C of E Primary School,
St Mary’s RC Middle School
and Thomas Becket
Catholic School,
Northampton.
Favourite subject I really
enjoyed psychology at
A-Level. I wasn’t very good
at it, but I loved reading
the textbook. I also loved
playing the trumpet in the
school band.
Worst subject I’m
hopeless at maths, which is
really awkward because
one of my aunties is a
maths teacher. Thank
goodness she never had to
teach me.
Favourite teacher Mrs
Taylor. The whole English
department was brilliant,
but Mrs Taylor was a star.
Mr McLennan was a legend
in our school too, widely
respected, and feared. He
was regarded as very strict,
but I could always sense that
smirk under his moustache.
Favourite school dinner
Jacket potato. I remember
the chocolate bomb was
very popular in middle
school, and curly fries
featured heavily in upper
school.
Guilty secret In primary
school I only went to
recorder lessons to avoid
the rain at break times.
On the last day of 6th Form
my friends and I strung
wool up all over the staff
room. It was everywhere.
My lasting memory of it
will be watching Mrs Cook
weave her way to the
coffee machine like
Catherine Zeta-Jones in
Entrapment.
What lessons about life
did you learn I learnt that
some people have to work
really hard to do well, and
some people seem to do
well without trying. The
trick is not to be bitter, but
to focus on the things you
enjoy; then at least you’re
having fun!
What do you wish you had
been told That winning
the Year 9 inter-form chess
tournament wouldn’t give
me the scholastic acclaim
for which I hoped, and that
winning the citizenship
award' at the end of 6th
Form was all the
recognition I needed.
What did you do
immediately after school
I studied photography at
university and then did a
gap year at St. Vincent’s
Centre in Whitstable.
What career advice would
you give to a young
person The same my dad
gave me: do something you
love, and it won’t feel like
work.
This is the ninth volume of From the Archives and in order to commemorate the
60th anniversary of the Queen’s Accession to the throne we dedicated half of the volume to a
collection of rare photographs of British and foreign Royalty dating from Queen Victoria’s
Diamond Jubilee in 1897 through to our current Queen’s coronation. As well as photographs
of the young Queen we also included images of the old “extended royal family” who added
such a colourful, dignified and sometimes eccentric presence. The photographs in this collection
aim at capturing the spirit of those days, and breathe some life into these now almost
forgotten figures. Alongside the Jubilee special images we have retained the
Catholic nostalgia for which the volumes have become prized and once
again we invite you to glimpse a lost world and see the thousands of people
who devoted their lives to the service of Holy Mother Church.
PRICE: £5.00 (INC. P&P) 56 PAGES
TELEPHONE 0161 214 1213
Page 10

The Pilgrim April 2013
Feature
Simple truths and Easter eggs
Nana Anto-Awuakye
“Mummy, you can’t eat that
bacon sandwich. Bacon is bad,
it wraps itself around your
heart’.” And so bang goes my
Saturday morning treat after selfdenial
all week.
My son had picked up this
healthy eating advice from the
radio. He is becoming a lot more
aware of and receptive to
information outside of his junior
world.
I have tried to shield him from
the information of the adult
world, but he picked up on the
Pistorius murder case in South
Africa and rushed in to tell me
that the Olympic blade runner
had shot someone with a gun.
And on another occasion he
officially announced to his Dad
that Rooney was leaving
Manchester United, which caused
a momentarily panic as dad
rushed to the PC to find out if
this latest piece of information
had any truth in it.
He has become our own inhouse
broadcasting network, as
information seeps into his young
junior life.
Munching on my bacon
sandwich, I explain that it should
be fine if I have my bacon butty
as a once in a while treat. I’m
bluntly told, “That’s not what the
doctor said on the radio.”
When I joined the BBC back in
1989 I remember that we didn’t
all have our own PC, but had to
share, and not everyone was
entitled to have the magic
password that gave you access to
the internet.
We’ve come a long way from
controlling the ways in which we
access information to today’s
daily snow storm of information
on our mobiles, personal PCs, and
via the radio and television.
It is a task filtering out what it
is that we really need to hear or
read. It’s also very addictive. I
have to confess that I like
scrawling through my Twitter feed
and spotting interesting pieces of
information to share more widely
with my tweeter followers.
I have to admit to being a bit of
a news junkie. When I get the
chance I like to fall asleep with
the radio on and to be finally
lulled to sleep by the rhythmic
prose of the The Shipping
Forecast and woken up every
morning by BBC Radio 4’s Today
programme.
I wrote a recent Easter
reflection for Cafod based on the
Gospel Luke1:1-4, 4:14-21. Like a
good news article, I feel that
Luke is asking us to stop, think,
and be prepared to see life
differently or even maybe be
prepared for a life changing
experience through God’s
presence in the Word.
I was so pleased to hear and
read in the media reports that
Pope Francis held a press
conference for the world’s media.
He certainly seems to be aware of
the importance of communicating
his message to a wider world.
Many journalists in their
commentary noted that his first
words from the balcony in St
Peter’s Square were said in Italian
not Latin: “Buona sera.”
It is the simplicity of his words
that brings me to Easter. My son
so keen to get to Easter Sunday
and feast on his chocolate egg,
but not quite understanding the
complexities of the Easter story,
And who would expect an eight
year old to get their head around
empty tombs and appearances in
the flesh of someone who was
dead
It took me some time and lots
of life experience to come to
understand the Easter message
as: the resurrection gives my life
meaning and direction, a chance
to start over.
I told my son, “Easter simply
means that God loves you no
matter what.”
“What, even if I eat your Easter
egg”
I smiled. “Yes. Even if you eat
my Easter egg.”
Page 11

The Pilgrim April 2013
Focus on faith
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‘Women of Faith’
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Amigo Hall, St George’s Cathedral
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Refreshments on arrival. No charge, but please register in advance with the CCF.
11 April – Sr Dr Finbarr Coffey, HC
Bernarda Heimgartner and the light
for female apostolic religious life
18 April – Sr Sheila Moloney, DMJ
Women in the New Testament
25 April – Ms Marie Mann
St Teresa of Avila
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Places on this tour are limited to 40 at this special price.
There will be a Papal Audience with Pope Francis
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2 May – Mrs Molly Styant
St Mary Magdalene
9 May – Dr Anne Inman
St Hilda of Whitby
16 May – Sr Dr Vitalis Chigbu,
DMMM
The Canaanite Woman
Why I sought God
in Spiritualism
Leonard Tatt, a student
for the priesthood at
the Beda College in
Rome, describes how he
got involved with
Spiritualism only to
return to the Church
after an illness.
I was ordained a deacon
in June 2012 in Rome.
It is an honour and a
privilege to have taken
this step, but it is one
that seemed very unlikely 25 years ago.
After the breakdown of an unhappy relationship I
had some time away from the faith. During this
difficult time I felt that I had received little
support for the situation that I found myself in and
eventually I stopped going to Mass and began to
question my faith.
I wanted to have all my questions answered.
What was life really all about Where was God
during this difficult period Did the Church really
have all the answers
This search led me to investigate what was
outside the Church; the answer, I felt at the time,
must be there. I never doubted that God existed,
but I had no purpose in my life and I wanted to find
some meaning to the pain that I felt and the
loneliness that I was experiencing.
This inevitably led me to investigate absolutely
every pathway that had been trodden in Man’s
search for ultimate meaning. I began to search for
God wherever I could. I studied eastern meditation,
looked into Buddhism, Hinduism, and every
religious thought that the world has produced.
Although I found many things that were
interesting or comforting, there always seemed to
be something missing but I could never quite put
my finger on what it was. Each of these seemed
incomplete in some way - not having all the
answers that I so earnestly sought.
I soon became fascinated by strange or
“supernatural” phenomena and became involved in
Spiritualism and what has been called New Age
spirituality.
Here, though, I found a disturbing lack of
humanity amongst the “spiritual” experiences on
offer. There was too much of an emphasis on being
out for what you could get, and in the end it left
me as cold and as empty as when I started out on
my quest.
The turning point for me
came when my father began
to get ill. I started to pray
the Divine Office with my
mother.
At first I thought this was a
way of sharing something
with her but now I realise
that in spending time with
God, and slowly but surely
being transformed by God’s
grace, what I had been
searching for was being
revealed to me.
I had searched for God in
the things of the world and
in man-made mistaken
understandings, and yet the
Lord had been there in the
background all the time,
waiting for me to accept his
call.
The grace that came from
that experience slowly built
within me and enabled me to
walk away from the false
spirituality with which I had
become involved. All that
had actually been holding
me back in my life disappeared and I was able to
focus, once more, on my relationship with God and
his Church.
I came back to the Church with great vigour,
though slightly ashamed of my past - mostly
because what I had always longed for had actually
been there all the time. If I had realised that
earlier, I would have saved myself, and those
around me, a great deal of heartache.
When my father died in 2005 I was moved to the
depths of my being by the care and love that was
shown to him by the parish priest who came to
minister to him on his deathbed.
I saw in him what I had always looked for:
selfless devotion to another human being in a way
that was not done for reward or favour, but purely
and simply because it was the right thing to do.
When old family friends suggested at the funeral
that I might think about the priesthood myself, I
was shocked. The idea seemed appealing but I felt
I still had so much to put right in my life that it
seemed like a pipe dream.
Two years later though I plucked up the courage
to see Fr Stephen Langridge, the vocations director
in Southwark, and thankfully received great help
and support.
Slowly but surely I was drawn deeper and deeper
into a profound relationship with the Lord, which
has led me to the point that I am now at.
I was accepted by the diocese for training for the
priesthood and to continue discerning my vocation
at the Beda College in Rome.
Suddenly, in really studying the faith, I was
amazed at the depth and the clarity of the
teaching on offer. I wondered at times why I had
never been taught some of the things that now
were poured out in my lectures.
Knowing our faith, and studying the teachings of
the Church is more than an intellectual challenge,
but a means of deepening our relationship with
the Lord.
All this meant I realised very quickly that I was in
the right place and that the Lord was – and is –
calling me to serve him as a priest.
The diocese has shown great faith in my sense of
a priestly vocation, and I pray that God finishes the
work that he has begun in me so that I can now
help others avoid the mistakes that I made.
And I realise that in the Catholic Church we
really do find all the answers that we seek. I know
from personal experience that when I doubted that
it was because I listed too much to views of the
Church, and not the voice of the Church herself.
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