Fr Peter's Blog

Christmas Anecdotes

2011-12-21T23:01:00.001Z

The Staffordshire Sentinel asked me for some stories from parish life at Christmas for a piece on Saturday (Christmas Eve). Not so easy! I've no "Vicar of Dibley" stories about Christmas Dinners, nor can I think of funny incidents at Christmas Services (though there must have been some). However, here are a few things I did think of.

(Photo - Sacred Heart in the snow, 18th December 2011 © Peter Weatherby)

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My 6 year old granddaughter said to me recently, "Grandad ... I know who you really are!"

A bit surprised, I said to her, "Who am I then?"

She said to me "Well, you've got a fat belly, and a white beard, and I've seen a lot of presents in the room upstairs."

Pause.

"… YOU'RE SANTA CLAUS!".

I was lost for words.

Then she added, "Please ... will you come to my house first on Christmas Eve?"

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I've often been asked to play Father Christmas at schools. I've always been reluctant to do so for a very good reason.

Many years ago I was asked to be Father Christmas for a party at a local primary school. I wanted to be nice and friendly and helpful, but I felt very self conscious as I put on the costume somewhat awkwardly (it was a bit small), and the false beard was uncomfortable (It was necessary equipment, because in those days my own beard was brown and not white).

When the signal came, I walked out into the school hall. There was a moment of hush, then suddenly one of the children shouted out "it's the church man!".

My cover was blown.

I never played Father Christmas again!

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A few years ago, I baptised 12 children at Sacred Heart, Hanley on Christmas day.

It was during the main mass of Christmas morning. I thought it would be a charming and appropriate way to celebrate the birth of Christ.

However it was totally chaotic, hectic, and difficult to manage! The children were noisy, the families confused and the congregation perplexed!

Before even the service was over, I decided never to do this again!

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Changing the Wallpaper

2011-10-18T11:58:00.001+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I decided to change the wallpaper on my computer.

Now, when I log in, I see a stern and determined, bearded face staring intently towards me. There is no doubting the resolve in the eyes. It is a face which invites trust, but also has a certain edge. It is a face not to be denied, not to be resisted. And a left hand touches the chin, the edge of the beard, as if to indicate both thought, and decisiveness.

It is, what they call, an ‘iconic’ image.

But it is not a religious icon. It is not a picture of Christ or one of the saints. It is a black and white photograph, taken in 2006. It is an image of a man who died on October 5th 2011, the technological inspiration and entrepreneur, the founder of Apple, Steve Jobs.

So why would I, a religious man, a priest of the Catholic Church, have a picture of a business man - even a successful one - for his computer wallpaper?

Well, firstly, and I must be honest here, it is because I love the stuff he created. First it was an iPod, then when my old computer needed replacing it became an iMac, then an iPhone … It almost embarrasses me to continue. Like a religious convert, I have become an Apple geek and, in my worst moments, look down with technological snobbery on run-of-the-mill laptops and mobile phones. In my defence, I have to make clear that these are not just the most beautifully designed gadgets, gadgets which have broken new ground and have been widely copied, but also ones that work extremely well and without doubt help me in my work.

But in addition to the worldliness of my purchases, the devout might also complain that Jobs is an unworthy hero for a Christian minister. After all, he could be ruthless in his determination. Even his admirers admit he could be difficult to work with. And his own religious beliefs seem far from Christian. He became a Buddhist, and said “Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.”

In a sweet irony an evangelical pastor in the United States summed up the dilemma. He tweeted that Jobs, an unbeliever, would now be suffering in the fires of hell. Unfortunately (for the pastor) he forgot to delete the automatically inserted conclusion of his message: “- sent from my iPhone”.

I, despite my adherence to dogma (which Jobs so clearly rejected), cannot share the cruel certainly of the American pastor. For good reason. God’s judgment is precisely that, and is not for me to pronounce.

I do believe what my Church teaches, that on death we proceed not straight to heaven, but immediately to God’s judgment. And he is a just and merciful judge who rejoices in human achievement and laments human frailty. In Catholicism we recognise that there may be those who come before God not in soaked in wickedness, yet not ready to enter immediately heaven. We call this sensible dogma “purgatory”, an occasion for preparation for eternal life.

And I also believe that those who do not embrace the Christian faith, may nevertheless in this life have a glimpse of its truth.

In a moving biographical speech in 2005, Jobs said:

“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”

Or as St Paul wrote “Death where is your victory? Death where is your sting?”

I can't believe it!

2011-08-14T18:49:00.001+01:00

The "EXPLICIT: PARENTAL ADVISORY" warning on iTunes is intended to indicate abusive or inappropriate language - you know, the very bad, generally very short words that seem to be normal discourse of rappers and some comedians, and I don't really know who else (as I don't really interest myself in these offerings). It is also used for violent or sexually explicit content. Just as some will avoid this material, I guess there are also those who look out for the warnings.

If so, they may be in for a surprise, just as I was, this afternoon, when searching for a version of "I'll sing a hymn to Mary" which might be suitable to be played at a funeral tomorrow. When I saw one version was marked with the warning notice, I was at first a little sad - some blasphemy put out in the name of art or comment I guessed … But when I saw that the artist was the Choir of the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Wantage, then I went from sadness to astonishment.

Sure enough, their album Walsingham Way, a collection of hymns and songs to the Blessed Virgin Mary, popular and traditional in the Catholic Church, receives the warning notice, as do most of its items. This has to be seen to be believed:

How could this have come about? Some mischievous technician or editor?

Or, given that not all the songs received the tag, could it have been caused by an automated system flagging up a particular word … Such as "Virgin"?

We should be told.

(Note: Click on the image to go to the page - which may now have been updated!)

(Click on the image to go to the page - which may now have been updated!)

Back to the 80s …

2011-08-09T07:22:00.001+01:00

If, like Rip van Winkle, I'd fallen asleep 30 years ago (1981) I'd now be waking up and marvelling at all the things which have changed.

Mobile phones. Handheld computers. Multi-channel TV. Marathons are now called Snickers.

Yet so much is the same. Tory Government (sprinkled with a few 'Wets' to provide minimal reassurance). Cutting back to 'pay our way'. A pointless foreign war. Weak political opposition. Disaffection and destruction in our cities. Violence directed towards police and property. Young people wrecking their own communities.

But the most extraordinary is that this time the riots begin in London ... Not in Liverpool.

Now that's worth thinking about.

Thou shalt have fun!

2011-08-08T23:01:00.001+01:00

This article was written for publication in the Staffordshire Sentinel on Wednesday August 10th 2011.

It's holiday time! While the news revolves around riots, and global economic collapse, phone hacking and massacres, most of us are focussed on getting away from it all. Holidays are, of course, a complete waste of time. That's what we enjoy! While politicians may be criticised for being on holiday when crisis arises, and a Prime Minister forced to return home, most of us would rather sit by the pool or feed the seagulls.

Many of our fondest family anecdotes centre around holidays, whether it be Hi-De-Hi or Benidorm: fish and chips on the beach, ice creams, candy floss and seagulls, city sight seeing, cruises and all-inclusives, wet days at the seaside and sunburn in Disneyland, sand and sangria, airport delays and traffic jams, caravans and cable cars, stunning views. All of these frame cherished memories.

Have you ever wondered who invented holidays? It's not such a difficult question.

The word 'holiday' itself is just a shortening of 'holy day'. Holidays originated in the celebration of holy days, saints' days, religious festivals.
The first holiday of all has come to us from the Jewish tradition, with the weekly holy-day of the Sabbath. Yes - holidays are written into the Ten Commandments! For the Jewish people every Saturday commemorates the creation of the world. The Christian church took the idea and made Sunday, the day of Christ's rising from the dead, the day of the new creation, the weekly day of celebration and recreation.

The feasts of saints became also times of special celebration. The days after Christmas were piled up with saints - St Stephen (December 26th), St John (27th), Holy Innocents (28th) - to prolong the fun and frivolity!
Many parish churches - surely by deliberate choice - had saints days which fell in the summer months: Barnabas (June 11th), John the Baptist (24th June) Peter and Paul (June 29th), James (July 25th), Bartholomew (August 24th), and most important of all, Mary, August 15th, a day commonly known as "Our Lady in Harvest". The evening before the Church festivals there was a vigil of prayer - known as a 'Wake' - and so the time of partying on or after the festival was called the Wakes Week.

And this is probably the ancient origin of the 'Potters Holidays' - the first around the feast day of St Peter, the Patron of Stoke, the second in August, near the feast of Mary, Our Lady in Harvest.

In a time when there were no trades unions, or health and safety regulations, minimum wage and employment laws, it was the Church who stepped in and insisted that rest and recreation are an essential aspect of human life. It was time wasting made compulsory by order of the Church. The festivals established a basic human right that we cherish even today.

And there's an even more important reason.

It is all too easy to think that life is about getting and spending, having and consuming, working and being 'productive'. We live in a society which focusses on growth and the economy, which sees education as a preparation for work rather than for life, which knows the price of everything, but the value of very little. We measure traffic accidents in terms of journey delays rather than their consequences for life and limb. We talk of cutting waste and restructuring, rather than measuring effects on people and their families. Yet life is so much more.

And God says this: thou shalt rest. Thou shalt waste some time (once a week). Thou shalt have a holiday. Thou shalt have fun!

Is religion a force for good?

2011-07-18T23:40:00.002+01:00

I was interviewed this morning on BBC Radio Stoke on the topic of 'Is Religion a force for good in the world'? Or some such. This was during the morning programme of Stuart George (pictured). I only had about an hour's notice of the interview and I was broadcast live just after saying Mass. I had little notice of the questions - though they were quite predictable, but challenging all the same.
Click this link to hear the interview.
I was standing outside the Church in the rain! (You can hear traffic and some noise from the wind on the mic)

BBC Radio Stoke: In praise of God

2011-06-19T02:15:00.001+01:00

On Sunday 19th June, I am fronting the BBC Radio Stoke Programme "In praise of God" which was recorded just a couple of weeks earlier.

Here follow my words, or at least the draft of what I said.

You can listen to the full programme here

Sacred Heart is a very popular name for a Catholic Church - we have three in North Staffordshire alone (Silverdale, Tunstall and Hanley) - but it is one you hardly come across elsewhere. In fact post to our Church is often addressed to the "Scared Heart" - which conjurs up all sorts of strange pictures, in my mind at least.

So today I want to explore how this image of God's love, so characteristic of Catholics, is something which really all Christians can share.

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Don’t you think its funny how we describe people and things by just by referring to parts of the human body?

We might say to someone “I’ve got my eye on you” or tell them “You haven’t got the guts”. If someone is “cheeky”, “mouthy” or “nosey” we may say they are “a pain in the neck” or that we “hate their guts” or that they need a “kick up the backside”.

If someone “gives you the elbow” you may need “a shoulder to cry on”. You could feel “fed up to the back teeth” or you could just decide to “take it on the chin”.

And some of these sayings come from religion itself. To “turn the other cheek” comes from Jesus’ teaching in the sermon on the mount; to “get down on our knees” is a reference to confession and prayer.

And sometimes these expressions go far deeper. We feel fear in the pit of our stomachs - we really do. St Paul spoke about being moved in his bowels with affection for the Churches (a phrase usually translated more delicately in modern Bibles).

But he part of the body understood by everyone as the seat of the emotions and symbol of love, is of course the Heart.

Lovers carve their names around a heart. Cities advertise their attractiveness with a heart. It is a simple shape to draw and one which is instantly recognised.

Why? Because without the heart they can be no life, and without love, human life is dry and fruitless. When we fall in love the heart beats faster. When we moved with emotion, the heart races. Our feelings our rooted in our hearts. This is not just a symbol - but a truth.

And the expression is found in scripture too.

The prophet Jeremiah tells us “the law will be written on your hearts”.

The old man Simeon warns the young mother, Mary, that a “sword will pierce her own hear too” - and Jesus himself says “ I am meek and humble of heart”.

The heart is the greatest symbol of love - of human love and of God’s love, because it tells us that this is not an ideal, a principal or a law - but flesh and blood. Not an idea to be understood - but a life to be lived.

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One way to tell that a house is a practicing Catholic home will be that somewhere in that house will be a picture or statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. To those who aren’t Catholics it may seem very odd - it is clearly a traditional representation of Jesus, but he also seems to be pointing to his open chest and his beating heart. Not without reason have some, a little disrespectfully, seen the statue or picture and surmised that Jesus is saying “look at my operation”.

But this image of Jesus expresses something much deeper, of course than this first reaction. It is an image of God’s love - using the physical expression of the heart with which we are so familiar.

The reason why Catholics bless their homes with the Heart of Jesus is because this is not simply a symbol of the Love of God, as if it were some abstract idea, some principle or theology, or some wishfulness of prayer.

We worship God in this way because - as St John puts it - “The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us”. The love that Christians talk about is no abstract idea, but a principle of life.

When Jesus teaches us about God’s law he makes it very simple - love God and love your neighbour - and these are not two loves, but the same love.

We believe in a God whose clearest and fullest expression is one who not only stilled the storm, and fed the 5,000 but even more importantly who suffered and died for us. Our God is one who shared our lives and who knows not only physical pain, but also the pain of desolation and sorrow as his followers deserted him. Christ, the Son of God, Word made flesh, is also the one who said ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me’?

He is a God who loves us, and love embraces joy and sorrow, plenty and poverty, sickness and health, fortune and adversity. Love is what we need more than anything when things are difficult. And this is no abstract idea, because this is what we mean when we speak of his Sacred Heart.

It is a heart which beats for us, a heart which suffers with us, a heart which bleeds for us, the Heart which loves us.

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Matthew 11:28-30

‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’

A good man ... and the international language

2011-06-07T00:11:00.001+01:00

Submitted for publication in the Staffordshire Sentinel for Wednesday 8th June 2011.

I’ve always had a fascination with language. It was given particular stimulus when I learnt the international language, Esperanto, as a twelve year old at Sandbach School, Cheshire.

Our teacher was Alderman Horace Barks, who had been Lord Mayor of Stoke on Trent almost twenty years earlier. To us boys he was a most eccentric figure. Old and grey, stout and moustached, he was rather like Hercules Poirot with a potteries accent. His curiosity was increased by the weekly sight of him riding into school (all the way from Smallthorne) precariously balanced on his moped.

It is amazing that any of us took the subject seriously - but I did, and became a friend of Horace till his death in 1983.

Horace introduced me to a language to overcome misunderstanding and confusion, an ideal to bring people together rather than drive them apart, an aspiration for human unity in diversity, rather than division and distrust.

And thanks to what I learnt, I was able to travel throughout Europe and converse with French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Hungarian, Japanese, Swedish, Finnish and many others at the same time and in one language.

I could always give a good answer to those who thought that Esperanto had “already died out”, though I suppose the idealism of Horace Barks, who had been a stretcher bearer during the Great War, who saw so much death and destruction in his own youth, never quite found its fulfilment in the universal language.

Though it did inspire me. I developed a fascination for languages. I found an interest in words, their origins, their meanings, how they can make things clear - or obscure.

And as my faith grew, so did my awareness of the place of language for belief. Christian scholars expend much time and ink arguing over the meaning of words. Muslims hold that the Koran can never be translated from the Arabic, but only interpreted. And in the Catholic Church, we are now anxiously preparing for a major new English translation of the Latin Mass. There can be much hot and holy air exhaled over the printed word!

Two stories in the Bible deal with the diversity of language.

The first is in the book of Genesis. We read of the arrogance of the people of Babel, who built a great tower, believing that nothing was beyond them. But their society fell apart in a babble of languages.

By contrast, in the Acts of the Apostles, we read how, 50 days after Easter, the timid and fugitive apostles suddenly emerged into the crowds of the city of Jerusalem and, in many different languages, told the story of hope in the Risen Christ to the astonished pilgrims.

The tales tell us all we need to know about languages. They can create and consolidate division, cause misunderstanding and drive people apart. Or, they can be an illustration of the colour, vibrancy and dynamism of human life.

The second story is commemorated by Christians all over the world this weekend as the day of Pentecost, the final day of Eastertide, when the gift of the Holy Spirit drove out fear and division and inspired the Apostles to teach the whole world in its many languages.

In our Church in Hanley, this coming Sunday, we use many of the 20 plus languages spoken by our congregation for our readings, our prayers and our songs of worship in a great celebration of the Feast of Pentecost.

It is a moment of joy in the unity of our faith. Our languages do not divide us - but they express the wondrous diversity of God’s creation, our Hope in Christ, and I believe, express something of the idealism of that good man Horace Barks.

(The Pentecost celebration is at Sacred Heart, Jasper Street, Hanley at 11am on Sunday 12th June - followed by a party!)

ITV ... wiser than you'd think

2011-04-27T08:20:00.000+01:00

I've just downloaded an episode of Lewis which didn't get recorded while we are away on pilgrimage. Apparently it's about the murder of a woman bishop. (No irony there, then).

I had to get it from iTunes - and pay for it (!) - because the itv player only supports flash. Do they realise that if their site used HTML5 - and so supported the iPad- that I would be able to watch it for free?

Mm. Perhaps they do.

Ash Wednesday - and school budgets

2011-03-07T19:20:00.001Z

This article is my submission to the Staffordshire Sentinel to appear in the "Yours Faithfully" column on March 9th 2011.

To read the published article click here.

Today Christians celebrate Ash Wednesday. It is not a "festival", but a rather sad and solemn day which marks the beginning of the season of Lent, a time traditionally focussed upon sin and forgiveness as we prepare for Easter, the high point of the Christian year.

For many Christians, Lent is a time for giving something up, making a special effort for recollection and reflection. For Catholics, the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday, has a special place as a day of fasting and abstinence, a time of cutting back, doing without, in a more particular way.

And there is also the custom that gives the name to the day - the celebration of the ashing, when ashes are smeared on our foreheads with the sign of Christ's cross..

Ashes are a sign of destruction, and of human weakness, and of the end of all things. They may seem quite negative. But as the ceremony to begin Lent, they also mark a beginning: the beginning of a struggle against evil; the start of a journey bearing Christ's cross; a journey which ends with the victory of Easter.

The importance of Ash Wednesday is such for the Catholic community that these ceremonies will be taking place not only in our Churches, but also in our schools. And it is this that gives me special pause for thought.

Ironically, we are celebrating the Ashing at a time when Schools are undergoing especially difficulty. Those who will be taking part in the ceremonies this week, are also looking long and hard at the recent tough budget settlements and considering the consequences. As we wear ashes on our foreheads, another kind of dissolution and destruction faces us: the reductions of hours, ending of temporary contracts and even enforced redundancies.

And of course, these anxieties don't only affect faith schools. These are worrying days for all those involved in education. Staff are concerned about their own livelihoods, and also how the work which needs to be done in schools will continue to be done.

It would be easy, and rather glib, for me as a priest to draw a very simplistic comparison. I could portray these severe cutbacks as just like the ashes of our religious ceremonies which will lead to new growth, a temporary destruction which might engender new opportunities.

It may be the case and I hope it will be, but it is all too simple.

For those who are caught in the midst of this difficulty - those who have mortgages to pay, those who will be forced out of jobs which provide a sense of purpose and social usefulness, those who no longer will get the full help and support which they truly need - for these the promise of better days later is cold comfort.

No, hope of the type which says "what goes around comes around" is no hope at all. It would make a mockery of the people and institutions affected.

Yet whatever difficulties the bankers and politicians may be plunging us into, there is still much cause for hope. Not hope because of the difficulties faced, but in the commitment that exists despite them. We should be optimistic not because of the contraction and cut backs, but because good people who care about children and families and their education strive to overcome them. We can take confidence in the determination of teachers and educational leaders to pursue their vocations whatever obstacles might be thrown their way.

I truly admire that. And perhaps, after all, that is the message of Ash Wednesday: not despairing in human weakness and frailty, but gathering the strength to overcome it.

Why I would not have joined the Ordinariate

2011-02-15T15:10:00.001Z

Several times I have been asked why I have not blogged about the Ordinariate, this special arrangement Pope Benedict has made for anglicans now wishing to join the Catholic Church. As a former anglican who was received into the Catholic Church in 1994 and ordained a priest in 97, surely I have something to say about it?

Well, yes. And perhaps too much.

There has been some comment - especially in the more conservative catholic blogs - that the Bishops of England and Wales are less than enthusiastic about the ordinariate. I can't comment on that, though I am pretty sure that those like me who became catholics in the 1990s look upon it with mixed feelings. It is also the case that many ordinary Catholics - those who inform themselves and follow Church news - are also somewhat puzzled. I am also told that many anglicans, especially their bishops, are furious about the whole thing.

Now this, admittedly, is anecdotal, though I challenge anyone to produce solid evidence that the contrary is the case.

So - just in case you don't know what the ordinariate is, and haven't already given up on this post, let me explain.

The Ordinariate is a special, indeed unique arrangement set up by Pope Benedict in the Catholic Church to accommodate groups of Anglicans (Church of England and linked churches around the world) who wish to become part of the Catholic Church, but keep something of their common life. It is not a separate 'church' within the Catholic Church (like the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church or the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) but more - in organisational terms, at least - like the Bishopric to the Forces, which crosses Diocesan boundaries but which operates alongside the other bishops. The arrangement raises so many issues, but I want to focus on just two.

Firstly, the Ordinariate is a kind of 'fast track' for anglicans wishing to come into the Catholic Church. Bishops who became Catholics at the end of 2010 have already been ordained priest, and we are told that groups of priests and people will be received together into the Church at Easter, just a few weeks after leaving the Church of England, rather than after a year or longer. The former anglican bishops (a photograph from their ordination to the priesthood is above - more are here) have already been given some of the trappings of episcopacy and will retain a leadership role of the group. Not a few raised eyebrows on the Catholic side over this - though not unsurprisingly much delight amongst those making the journey.

Secondly, the Ordinariate has a common identity which preserves some aspects of the Anglican Patrimony which will be maintained in the Catholic Church. The idea here is that while members of the Ordinariate will have fully embraced the teaching of the Catholic Church, there will be some cultural elements, particularly in the Liturgy, the Church's worship, which they will be able to retain, and be encouraged to allow to flourish.

Now there are some interesting aspects to this whole process without a doubt. The 'fast track' itself raises issues about selection and training of clergy, and also concerning the reception of lay people into the Church.

However, my discomfort really focusses upon the whole idea of the Anglican Patrimony which is supposed to be preserved and fostered by the Ordinariate. I readily acknowledge, that many aspects of the scheme would have been very attractive to me, and others like me, in 1992 when our journey into the Church began. I left full time ministry and had to retrain to find paid employment. I did, and don't regret it at all, but at the time what is on offer now would have been much more attractive.

I feel that those of us who entered the Church in the 90s brought much of our education, experience and outlook, and our approach to pastoral ministry into the Catholic Church. But I am really intrigued to know what exactly is intended by the idea of the Anglican patrimony.

There are indeed great cultural and pastoral riches within Anglicanism. In worship there are the literary and musical riches of the Book of Common Prayer, the Kings James Bible, Anglican Chant, Hymnody, Cathedral Choirs, Evensong. There is also a strong pastoral sense, in England at least, that the Church ministers to the whole nation, and that every citizen is anglican by default and that the parish ministers to the whole community, not just parish 'members'. This is evidenced particularly in anglican schools and other institutions which are seen as part of the church's mission to every member of society. The trouble is that anglo-catholicism mostly rejects the cultural and liturgical aspects and cannot deliver the pastoral ones. Anglo-Catholic worship (in England at least), while more consistently elaborate than Roman Catholic forms, and sometimes ostentatiously self-conscious, nevertheless almost always uses Roman Catholic service books. There might soon emerge an awkward situation when Rome will impose one liturgy for the ordinariate, which, respecting the much larger ordinariates in America and Australia, will be based on the thee-thou language of the Book of Common Prayer, thereby requiring English Anglo-Catholics to embrace something they had previously rejected as 'uncatholic'.

Considering my own experience over almost two decades, I am convinced that what happened to me and others was much better than what the ordinariate might provide. When I took my break from active ministry, I did not fall into some kind of limbo, but was immersed into a Catholic parish and joined in its life. I read at mass, became a minister of communion and helped with the Youth Club and Children's Liturgy. I became very aware of the Irish heritage of much of the Catholic Church in England. I became familiar with prayers and acts of devotion which had not been common amongst even the most extreme Anglo-Catholics. I became immersed in a catholic life which was not self-conscious or strident, but natural and living. I became part of a community which laid great store by particular moral values and precepts which were either ignored by anglicans or set aside with ease. I became familiar with some of the traditional Latin prayers and songs which Catholics still know and sing. And - always having loved Walsingham - I came to realise that that wonderful place is just an outpost of a much bigger world. I went to Lourdes and experienced the internationality of the Church of which I was now a member.

My worry - and I hope to be proved wrong - is that the existence of the Ordinariate will make it more difficult for these new catholics to inculturate themselves into the Church. They will be bringing with them few cultural or liturgical riches, but they may carry with them, by the very nature of the Ordinariate, the defensive and introspective approach to their spiritual life which enabled them to survive during their anglican days, and a suspicion of Roman Catholicism which presumably prevented them from taking this step earlier. While I do not anticipate any antipathy towards Ordinariate priests or groups, it may prove difficult for other catholics to understand them or warm to them and in the worst cases they could find themselves isolated from the rest of the Church.

Don't get me wrong. I am not against the Ordinariate. I don't oppose it and wouldn't consider campaigning against it. In other parts of the world, where these small and geographically isolated anglo-catholic communities have existed I can see its logic.

But here? Well, for those who feel they are jumping into the unknown it may well provide great comfort to do so holding someone else's hand - but once on the other side, there are very many more hands to embrace.

Why I tweet ...

2011-02-11T15:31:00.001Z

StaffsLive (@StaffsLive), a local news website run from Staffordshire University, asked me for some comments on how I feel about being the most followed priest on Twitter in the UK. It set me thinking, so I wrote a whole blogpost about it! More than 140 characters here. When and if they publish anything from this, I'll add a link.

I discovered last year that I - @frpeter - am by far the most followed priest (that is to say, Catholic priest) on twitter in the UK and Ireland. The most followed priest in the world is probably the dutch priest, Fr Roderick Vonhogen, who runs an international catholic New Media organisation called SQPN. He has about 5,000 followers on twitter - I have only around 1,500.

It is a little bit surprising to me that there are very few catholic priests in the UK and Ireland who use twitter. There are a number of excellent bloggers, some of who use twitter to promote their blog, but very few are otherwise active on twitter. In the Church of England there are far more clerical tweeters (they call themselves 'the Twurch of England'), including several bishops. I don't know of any English Catholic bishop who tweets. I know of just one Catholic deacon (@noggerules - a colleague of mine!) though there may be a few more. Even so, it seems that there are just two Anglican bishops and one Anglican priest who have more followers than I.

I think to understand this - and understand why I have so many followers - we need to understand what twitter is. It is not quite the same as some of the other "social media" out there.

Blogs are great for outlining opinions, reflecting on the news or life in general. For many people it feels good to write a blog - it 'gets it off your chest'. In some ways it is like keeping a diary (though rather publicly). In other ways it is like writing a letter to the newspaper. Often it is the blogs with the strongest opinions which gather the most readers. It is fun to read someone venting their spleen even if we don't entirely agree with them.

Facebook (and similar services, like MySpace and Orkut) on the other hand, has a different function. It is more about conversation than opinion. It is also used for announcements, to promote people and events - but most use it to share news about themselves and others - to chat in a way which can be very public (watch out!) and can include lots of people. Facebook contacts are called "friends" (though often they aren't) and it is possible to restrict the circle of people who can read your "posts" (as they are called) so that it has an intimacy which blogs generally don't have.

I know very many Catholic priests who are on Facebook, and they use it to keep in touch with close friends and sometimes parishioners. Some find it a helpful way to keep in contact with young adults in the parish or diocese. Big events, such as World Youth Day and the Papal Visit, have made extensive use of Facebook. The ease with which photos and video can be shared helps with this. I also know (fewer) priests who write blogs. They use this as an opportunity to express opinions about the state of the Church and society. A remarkable number of these go ahead priests are (ironically) very keen on antiquarian worship. Blogs give a very good opportunity to express outraged opinions about whatever it is one is outraged about.

Now, twitter is rather different from both the blog and facebook. It has two striking characteristics which make it so. First, a tweet can be 140 characters and no longer (it is based on text messages which have only 160 characters). Secondly, every tweet is broadcast to the world - they are all public. There are no "friends" on twitter, only "followers", those who choose to read your (public) tweets. If you use twitter, you can choose to read the "public timeline", every tweet from around the world as they are posted (tweeted). It is a confusing experience! Alternatively, you can find your way through the noise by selecting interesting people to follow, and even organise these people into "lists". It is also possible to search for tweets being published in a particular locality. Another way of finding your way through twitter is to search for certain words or abbreviations, and in particular "trending topics" to see what people are talking about now. This last point has brought twitter into the news as people have tweeted during international incidents and protests, disasters, and even during tv events such as X-factor (can they find nothing better to do?) The shortness of the messages makes this an exciting and instant medium.

For me, another great attraction of twitter, although it creates a lot of "noise", is it can can also help to cut through that noise. There are hundreds of news site and blogs out there, but if I can follow someone who I know finds interesting articles or gives useful reflections, I can get to the good stuff quicker. If I want news about particular places or events, then I can find what everyone is saying. You really do not need to post any messages to make excellent use of twitter - it can just be your way of finding out what is new and exciting and now. It is a way of making your own choices about what you want to find and read on the internet.

So - this is my reason for using twitter. It is my gateway to the internet, and not just the the internet, but also to the world. It was on twitter that I first read of the death of Michael Jackson, and of local DJ Sam Plank. It is through twitter I keep up with local news. Church news and opinion comes to me through twitter. I also keep abreast of tech news through twitter. It is my main source of information and it presents me with things I know I'll be interested in.

I can't say exactly why I have so many followers on twitter. They just follow. Many follow me, I guess, because other people have recommended me to them. So I guess it must be because of what I tweet. Many of my tweets are 'retweets' - sending on to my followers stuff I have found interesting. My tweets cover the areas I'm involved in - local news and issues, Church news and issues, some stuff about tech and especially Apple, and occasionally amusing incidents from family life. I guess it is the mix which people like. It is not all religion and theology, though I post links to sermons and things I've read I found especially challenging or insightful. I'll post things about Hanley where I live. If I see something beautiful - like a sunset - or amusing - like a newspaper headline - i'll post that too. Its all a bit haphazard. Sometimes I might post ten times in a day, sometimes I could go for a couple of weeks and post nothing. Twitter is quick and easy - it doesn't take up the time writing a blog does, and it can make you think. And make you laugh.

Yes, I love it!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Llandudno,Wales,United Kingdom

This you must see ...

2011-01-29T21:01:00.001Z

I had no idea that Douglas Adams was writing Detective Fiction just before he died. Dirk Gently, is, well Hitchikers meets Sherlock Holmes (especially the latest, BBC, Sherlock).

If you've not seen this, you can still catch it on iPlayer. Enjoy!

Advent snows

2010-11-30T21:38:00.002Z

This is a piece written for the Staffordshire Sentinel and due to appear in the paper on Wednesday December 1st.

Sacred Heart, Hanley 27 Nov at 8am

What is it about snow?

Yes, we know it causes inconvenience and hassle. It closes schools and business, blocks roads, and makes travel precarious, even dangerous. Snow disrupts our routine, plays havoc with our appointments.

But we can't despise it. We have to admit: it is so beautiful.

It veils the bare trees, stripped of their leaves, and gives them dignity and beauty again. It rests on roof tops and fences, dusting them with sugar from the sky. It dampens sound and gives the busy city streets a calm and peace they rarely have.

And as the days grow short and the light is dim, with its bright whiteness it magnifies the weak light of winter. It makes ordinary scenes enchanting, and fine landscapes stunning. It conceals some features, but it also reveals their beauty.

Yet it is only here for a short time. Here, snow visits us generally for a few days, a couple of weeks at most, and often just a few hours, intruding into the day. Of course, there are places, more familiar with its winter visitation, where it lasts for many weeks, but even then it is seasonal, rarely permanent, soon moved by the spring thaws and the warming sun of the longer days. Like the snowman in Raymond Brigg's cartoon, it provides a short moment of magic, but may be gone in the morning.

Yet for all this, it provides us with glorious scenes in drab days. It lights up dark mornings and refracts the light of the early setting sun. It brings joy and jollity in dim and depressing days. The fall and dusting of the snow reminds us that in the middle of the night there will be a dawn. In the midst of a bleak cold winter, there is beauty. In the midst of hardship, they may be hope. Snow provides a temporary beauty, but it hints at a permanent one.

And so it is with the Christian Season of Advent, which began last weekend. It is a time of looking forward, of excitement and anticipation through the darkness of winter to the light of Christmas, and the longer days which follow. As the Churches prepare for the celebration of Christ's birth at Christmas, they are also expressing a belief in something much more far reaching, much deeper, and more permanent.

Sometimes, and for some people, life may seem like an eternal winter - like the people of Narnia in CS Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Warderobe, a place where it is 'always winter but never Christmas'.

We sit not only in the darkness of winter, but also in the darkness of economic trouble, the darkness of anxiety, the darkness of doubt, the darkness of bereavement and loss. We look, as St Paul says, in a mirror darkly at our lives and the world around us.

And the lights of Advent, and the snows of winter, give us a hint of hope, of an end to sorrow and separation, of an end to uncertainty.They promise to us the fullness of life - not only of the life of a new born child celebrated in song and generosity - but also of the life of a Light which is never dimmed or obscured, a beauty which never thaws nor melts away, but which lasts for ever.

Smile for the newest Saint

2010-09-27T22:46:00.002+01:00

This is the text of an article written for publication in the Staffordshire Evening Sentinel on Wednesday 29th September 2010.

On September 19th I was privileged to be present (with 50,000 others) when Benedict XVI beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman. Or to put it more simply, he named Newman as Britain’s newest Saint.
You may have been surprised by this news. Newman - a Victorian clergyman and academic who converted to Catholicism in1845, half way through his life - is not especially well known, even by many Catholics.
Why? Well, while students of his writings greatly admire them, it has not always been easy for people to warm to the man himself. He seems a bookish figure - a fellow of Oxford university, who wrote learned works on education, philosophy and theology. He lived for most of his life in a community of priests, and appears to some to be rather dour and dull. In the many photographs of him which survive, he is studious and serious. There are no images of him smiling.
But this understanding of Newman misses out so much. He was indeed a great thinker and educator - but he was also a man of great tenderness and compassion, who saw the image of God in all people. Don’t be misled by the photographs. You will search long and hard for any Victorian photograph in which the subjects are smiling - exposure times were too long, and teeth, I suppose, too bad.
No, when he became a Cardinal, he took the motto “Heart speaks to Heart”, for he, the academic from a privileged background, could see very well that God’s heart speaks to the Heart of every single person, rich or poor, educated or illiterate. As an Anglican he moved from the centre of Oxford out to Littlemore to care for the poor in a rural area which was rapidly industrialising. When he came to Birmingham, the already famous Dr Newman set up his new community not in the plush and affluent suburbs, but in a former gin warehouse, amongst the poorest and most deprived of the rapidly growing city. He was deeply loved by the ordinary parishioners who he consoled, encouraged and educated through the schools he founded. When nearby Bilston was overcome with an epidemic of cholera, the local priests unable to cope and others afraid to help in case they too became ill, he went there, oblivious to his own safety, to console the sick and bury the dead.
And though he was no Oscar Wilde (another Victorian convert to Catholicism), neither was he without wit. When a pompous English priest in Rome invited him to address his intelligent and well-to-do English congregation - who would be a much more cultured audience than any in England, he claimed - Newman pointedly but firmly declined “because people in Birmingham have souls too”!
His concern for the ordinary people, and their love of him was most apparent at the end his life. Well into his eighties he walked the several miles from his parish to the Cadbury factory to plead the case of workers there. And just a few years later when his funeral cortege passed through the the city to his grave in Rednal, the streets were lined with more than 20,000 people who had loved this kind and holy man.
Perhaps the course of time, and the many academics who still read and study Newman, have clouded the memory of someone who was not just an intelligent man, but also a warm and saintly one.
His first ever Feast Day is on October 9th. If you wish, join Catholics all over the world and in saying “Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us.”

How not to be interviewed on the Radio.

2010-08-01T17:13:00.001+01:00

Two simple tips:

1. Do not have a coughing fit

2. Do not allow your phone to play "Swampsnake" by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band in the middle of the interview.

For an example of what happens when such advice is not taken, listen here

Tim Vine? Are you having a laugh?

2010-07-13T15:04:00.002+01:00

Tim Vine

Tim Vine is not, perhaps, the most well known talent. His brother Jeremy Vine is much more of a household name. Tim is a stand-up comedian with an extraordinary ability for one liners. In fact he holds the record for the most jokes told in an hour (499). I heard of him first just the other day when some of his creations were read out on the Radio 4 programme “Quote - Unquote”. There are lots dotted around the internet.

I suppose it’s all a matter of taste, but they are instantly funny, quick quips which appeal to children as much as adults and are charmingly old fashioned and innocent. Many people compare the humour with that of Tommy Cooper. I think they are wonderful!

So, here are some I’ve collected (an entirely cut and paste job!)

Beware of Alphabet Grenades… if you throw them, it could spell disaster!

My mate said to me: “Can you tell me what you call someone who comes from Corsica?” I said: “Cors-i-can”!

When it comes to cosmetic surgery… a lot of people turn their noses up.

So I saw this Scotsman and I asked him if he had spots when he was younger. He replied “Achh-neeee”.

One arm butlers – they can take it but they can’t dish it out…

I used go out with an anaesthetist – she was a local girl…

I had a dream last night that I was cutting carrotts with the Grim Reaper… dicing with death!

I was walking down the road the other day and I saw this advert in the window that said “Television for Sale – £1- Volume Stuck On Full”. I thought: “I can’t turn that down”.

A friend of mine always wanted to be run over by a steam train. When it happened, he was chuffed to bits!

So I went to the record shop and I said “What have you got by The Doors?” He said: “A bucket of sand and a fire blanket!”

What do you call a lady with big teeth that sleeps in the afternoon? Siesta Rantzen.

Albinos – you can’t say fairer than that!

(Holding up a notice which says “Future Events”) Tim Vine: “Well, there’s a sign of things to come!”

My mate bet with me that I’d never eat at a barbecque with Matthew Corbett – I said, that’s a Sweep-Stake!

I wanted to be a milkman, right - but I didn't have the bottle!!

I've played football on a plane you know....there I was, running up the wing!!!

Black beauty, now there's a dark horse!!!

So I went into this video shop, and the man asked if I'd like to rent Batman Forever - I said 'No...just for 2 hours!!!!!!'

This man pushed me into a bag of peanuts, so I told the police - they asked me if I was assaulted - I said 'No - dry roasted!!!'

I went to the butchers the other day and the butcher said 'I bet you £5 you can't guess the weight of that meat on the top shelf'. ' I'm not gambing!' I said, 'The steaks are too high!!!!!!'

I was in a Chinese restaurant when a duck came up to me with a rose and
said: 'Your eyes sparkle like the stars'. So I said to the waiter: 'Excuse me, I ordered aromatic duck!!!!!!'

I threw some snow at my girlfriend. She didn't catch my drift.

Did you hear Handel has teamed up with Hinge and Bracket? They've formed The Doors!!!!!

I was taking the motorway out of London. A policeman pulled me over and said: 'Put it back'

I've got a friend who's fallen in love with two schoolbags - he's bisatchel!!!!

A man came up to me and cut the bottom of my trouser leg off and send it to the library. So that was a turn-up for the books.

You know how most barbers' chairs go up and down? Well this one went from side to side. The barber turned to me and said: 'Mr. Vine, get out of the filing cabinet.'

I've got a sponge door....don't knock it.

I've got an auntie, Auntie Aircraft Gun. That woman don't half give me a load of flak.

So I took my dog for a walk and it was really angry - well it would be it's a cross breed!!

I tell you what is close to my heart at the moment. My left lung."

I had a cat called Minton who swallowed a shuttlecock. I said 'Bad Minton!'

I saw a bargain the other day, a TV set for £1. Only problem was the volume
control which was stuck on full. Come on, how can you turn that down?

I used to go shoplifting on the shoulders of a load of vampires. Then I got caught and charged with burglary on three counts!

So I went to Buckingham Palace to cut Prince William's hair. I said to the policeman, 'Can you let me in to the car park, I'm here to cut Prince William's hair?' The policeman said 'Have you got a permit?' - I said, 'No, just a bit off the back!!!!'

I was driving down the motorway and someone rang me up on my mobile to say that I'd been promoted to a director. I was in such a shock that I skidded to the left. Later, they rang back and said that I was now the managing director, so I veered the car to the right. Finally, they rang up and said that I was the chairman, and I drove right into the hard shoulder. Yes, I'd careered off the road!!!

I’ve got a friend who has got a butler whose left arm is missing – serves him right.

I was in the army once and the Sergeant said to me: “What does surrender mean?” I said: “I give up!”

One of my squaddies in my army came up to my bunk bed the other day and had a hairdryer against my duvet, I said: “Don’t blow my cover”

I was looking for the directions for Radio 1 in London, and a guy pointed me in the direction of the building. I said: “That’s not a building, thats a cloud!” He said: “Down a bit…”

I have spent the afternoon re-arranging the furniture in Draculas house… I was doing a bit of Fang-Shui

I want to tell you a bit about myself.. I’m a very quiet and secretive person, and that’s it really.

So I took my dog for a walk and it was really angry -
well it would be it's a cross breed!!

So I said to my Mum 'I'm going to the funfair' -
she said 'Oooooh will you go on the Ghost train?' - I said 'No, I'll walk'

So I went to Buckingham Palace to cut Prince William's hair. I said to the policeman,
'Can you let me in to the car park, I'm here to cut Prince William's hair?'
The policeman said 'Have you got a permit?' - I said, 'No, just a bit off the back!!!!'

Three cheers for rap music!
Hip Hop!

A guy walks into the psychiatrist wearing only cling-film for shorts. The shrink says, 'Well, I can clearly see you're nuts'.

The other day someone left a piece of plasticine in my dressing room. I didn't know what to make of it.

Two blokes walk into a building..........you'd think at least one of them would have seen it.

My friend drowned in a bowl of muesli. A strong currant pulled him in.

A man came round in hospital after a serious accident.
He shouted,'Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!
The doctor replied, 'I know you can't, I've cut your arms off'.

Police arrested two kids yesterday.
One was drinking battery acid and the other was eating fireworks.
They charged one and let the other one off.

A man walked into the doctors, he said, 'I've hurt my arm in
several places'
The doctor said, 'Well don't go there anymore'.

Velcro. What a rip-off!

I don't make jokes about the spanish.. No way Jose!

I went to Millets and said 'I want to buy a tent.' He said 'To camp?', I said [butchly] 'Sorry, I want to buy a tent.' I said 'I also want to buy a caravan.' He said 'Camper?' I said [campily] 'Make your mind up.'

Now you know those trick candles that you blow out and a couple of seconds
later they come alight again, well the other day there was a fire at the
factory that makes them. The fire brigade have tried everything.

So I met this gangster who pulls up the back of people's pants, it was Weggie Kray.

But I'm in great mood tonight because the other day I entered a competition
and I won a years supply of Marmite......... one jar.

When I was at school people used to throw gold bars at me. I was the victim of bullion.

So I went to the doctor and he said, 'You've got hypochondria.' I said, 'Not that as well!'

I used to live in a teapot. I know what you're thinking 'Pour You'

Advent Calendars? Their days are numbered.

I was playing the piano in a bar and this elephant walked in and started crying his heart out. I said 'Do you recognise the tune?' He said 'No, I recognise the ivory'.

I met this bloke with a didgeridoo and he was playing Dancing Queen on it. I thought, 'That's Aboriginal.'

This lorry full of tortoises collided with a van full of terrapins. It was a turtle disaster.

I told my girlfriend I had a job in a bowling alley. She said 'Tenpin?' I said, 'No, permanent.'

I went in to a pet shop. I said, 'Can I buy a goldfish?' The guy said, 'Do you want an aquarium?' I said, 'I don't care what star sign it is.'

I went to buy a watch, and the man in the shop said 'Analogue.' I said 'No, just a watch.'

I met the bloke who invented crosswords today. I can't remember his name, its P something T something R.

I was reading this book today, The History of Glue. I couldn't put it down.

I phoned the local ramblers club today, but the bloke who answered just went on and on.

The recruitment consultant asked me 'What do you think of voluntary work? I said 'I wouldn't do it if you paid me.'

I was in the jungle and there was this monkey with a tin opener. I said, 'You don't need a tin opener to peel a banana.' He said, 'No, this is for the custard.'

This policeman came up to me with a pencil and a piece of very thin paper. He said, 'I want you to trace someone for me.’

I told my mum that I'd opened a theatre. She said, 'Are you having me on?' I said, 'Well I'll give you an audition, but I'm not promising you anything.'

I phoned the local builders today; I said to them 'Can I have a skip outside my house?' He said, 'I'm not stopping you!'

This cowboy walks in to a German car showroom and he says 'Audi!'

I fancied a game of darts with my mate. He said, 'Nearest the bull goes first' He went 'Baah' and I went 'Moo' He said 'You're closest'

I was driving up the motorway and my boss phoned me and he told me I'd been promoted. I was so shocked I swerved the car. He phoned me again to say I'd been promoted even higher and I swerved again. He then made me managing director and I went right off into a tree. The police came and asked me what had happened. I said 'I careered off the road'

I visited the offices of the RSPCA today. It's tiny: you couldn't swing a cat in there.

I was stealing things in the supermarket today while balanced on the shoulders of a couple of vampires. I was charged with shoplifting on two counts.

I bought a train ticket to France and the ticket seller said 'Eurostar' I said 'Well I've been on telly but I'm no Dean Martin.

I phoned the local gym and I asked if they could teach me how to do the splits. He said, 'How flexible are you?' I said, 'I can't make Tuesdays or Thursdays.'

I went to the local video shop and I said, 'Can I borrow Batman Forever?' He said, 'No, you'll have to bring it back tomorrow'

A waiter asks a man, 'May I take your order, sir?' 'Yes,' the man replies. 'I'm just wondering, exactly how do you prepare your chickens?' 'Nothing special, sir. We just tell them straight out that they're going to die.'

I slept like a log last night. I woke up in the fireplace!

I phoned the Football League and said I was interested in running a Sheffield based football team. They said, 'How flexible are you?' I said, 'I can't manage Wednesday.'

A letter to the Tablet, 23rd July 1870

2010-07-09T20:33:00.001+01:00

Here follows the text of a letter written by the first Parish Priest of Hanley, Fr William Molloy to the Tablet, almost exactly one hundred and forty years ago. Fr Molloy was Parish Priest from the creation of the Parish in 1860, until his death in 1890. His great Gothic Church (mentioned below) was opened in 1891, a year after his death.

Hanley, Staffordshire
Sir,
I have appealed now and again during the last ten years for help to carry on the work of this new and struggling Mission. Some have replied generously, some stingily and some not at aIl.

By the timely aid of the former we were enabled to build a serviceable chapel and good large school. The daily attendance of the children is over three hundred. The boys' and girls' schools are separate, and taught by certificated teachers. Both the chapel and the schools are daily growing too small for us; or perhaps I should say, the population is growing too large for them. And I am sure what will shock you a great deal is that, up to the present time, the priests of Hanley have had no house to live in.

We have now, I am happy to say, purchased about an acre of land not more than five minutes' walk from the centre of the town. The purchase money was £900. This we have paid to the last farthing. All this you hare enabled me to do by your generosity.

I make this public statement; first, because people like to see what is done with their money; and, secondly, because I am going to ask you to advance me a little more in the same good cause, if you think I have administered your former trust fairly and honourably.

And now allow me to tell you to what purposes this piece of ground is to be applied, with the approbation of our venerable Bishop. I intend building first a large, well proportioned presbytery; in fact, the work is already begun from drawings by E. W. Pugin, Esq., and is to cost £980; secondly, a large school chapel, to be used hereafter entirely as a school, when sufficient means are found to build our intended Gothic Church: thirdly, a convent of teaching and edifying nuns.

Behold, my dear, generous friends, my scheme of good intentions!

But how are they to be realised? I have the ground, and that is all. I may safely say I have not £50 towards the buildings already alluded to. What then is to be done?

Why just this: put all the old, brassy beggars who are always before the world, aside for a few months and adopt me. Send me a few pounds or shillings, or even a few substantial prizes for my coming bazaar and drawing, to be held in November in this town. No one will be the worse or the poorer.

And Hanley will bid fair to be in religion, as she is in trade and population, the capital of the Potteries.

Yours, etc,

William Molloy

Lies, damned lies ... and evidence

2010-07-09T15:40:00.002+01:00

The following is the original of a short article published in the Staffordshire Sentinel on Wednesday 7th July 2010. You can read the published version here.

There are lies, damned lies, and ... evidence.

No, that’s not the real quote from Oscar Wilde, but it might as well be.

Some recent research looked into people’s opinions and how they were affected by hard, solid evidence.

Two groups with strongly opposing views - the chosen topic was the death penalty - were presented with articles which claimed to show solid evidence that refuted their point of view.

Now, you might have thought that those surveyed would have reconsidered their ideas.

Actually, the researchers discovered the opposite. Far from being shaken in their views, the test groups were more likely to disbelieve the evidence. They hunted for flaws in the articles, weaknesses in the argumentation.

We shouldn’t be surprised. We know very well in our own conversations that strong evidence always has a hard time when up against a strongly held view.

Sometimes we call this prejudice - judging before we have the facts - though this is too simple. People hold to the same views even after they have the facts.

And if we come across this in our daily lives, we see it in public life too.

The last government made a big fuss about ‘evidence based policy’. No longer, it was argued, would gut feeling or traditional attitudes define public policy, but the evidence would be followed. Wherever it led.

But like so many great ideas, so grand and impressive, it only went so far.

When the evidence about drugs policy became uncomfortable, the advisers were sacked. Foreign policy decisions were still based on the old fashioned considerations of alliances and self-interest.

Suddenly “evidence” became less compelling.

But there was a reason behind all this concern about “evidence”. The drive for “evidence based policy” was all about the use of science, especially in those very sensitive areas of life, living things, and death. It was about stem cells, cloning, fertility and infertility, abortion, care of the dying, genetically modified crops - areas where science touches Life itself very intimately. All of these were issues gripped in a morass of opinion which sometimes used the evidence and sometimes didn’t - which sometimes talked about the danger and damage of such procedures and sometimes just talked about “playing God”. If only we could cut through all this - they thought - draw out all the opinion and just follow the evidence ... surely that will be much better. At a stroke the loud and opionated will have the branch taken from under them ... won’t they?

Well, yes ... and no. So long, it seems, and only so long as the evidence goes the right way.

Here’s a recent example. Anti-abortion campaigners have long claimed that the child feels pain in the womb, and unborn babies have even been give anaesthetic ... though recently others have produced evidence that the foetus cannot feel any pain until very late in its development. So, is abortion right or wrong?

The trouble with just following the evidence is that it leaves out right and wrong. Without this evidence is just ... evidence. It is our moral sense which enables us to make the decisions.

Sometimes things are still wrong, because they are wrong, whatever the evidence may be.

This doesn’t mean we can ignore evidence, facts and figures, of course not. But questions about the death penalty, stem cell research, abortion and euthanasia, drugs policy, war and peace, must be always be matters of morality, not statistics.

And oh yes - those people who questioned the evidence they didn’t like? They got it right after all: the ‘evidence’ had been concocted for the purposes of research.

Propaganda and Martyrdom

2010-06-07T07:08:00.000+01:00

Just a short post, but a quotation which struck a chord, which is just too long for twitter.

It deserves perhaps some comment and reflection, along the lines of "this doesn't mean we are or should be (media) martyrs, though we might be". Anyway, here it is.

From today's Office of Readings: Our task is not one of producing persuasive propaganda; Christianity shows its greatness when it is hated by the world. (St Ignatius of Antioch)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The iPad is here! 2. The shortcomings

2010-05-28T14:11:00.000+01:00

I love my iPad. Don’t forget that, because in this post I want to mention some of the negatives - the things I consider to be the shortcomings of the iPad.

There’s been a lot of negative stuff out there and I’d like to comment on it a bit. I should also make it clear that I speak entirely from the viewpoint of my own needs and usage. Of course, like any other device its worth and usefulness will depend upon the individual user.

So first of all I have to say that some of the criticism which I have read is pretty thin. The biggest one appears to be the lack of Flash - but this has had no impact at all on my usage. The related criticism that it has no video it simply not true. I watch video on it all the time. (They meant no flash video, I presume - but there plenty of others). The criticisms about the lack a (front facing) camera is a minor gripe, and the lack of multitasking - another complaint that has little impact on me - will be corrected by the end of the year.

I do have my own criticisms, however, about things which matter much more to me.

The first is a small matter, but a niggle none the less. The ipad has a rounded back, which means it rocks when placed on a flat surface. This makes it impossible to use the on-screen keyboard unless the ipad is held in the hand or placed on a suitable case or riser. A flat back, or even a couple of simple clip out legs of the kind that keyboards often have, would have overcome this difficulty, but as it is the user has to find some kind of workaround.

The second is the screen. Now don't get me wrong, in most circumstances it is stunning. It smudges easily, but wipes clean very easily too. Given this 'feature' I am little surprised that there was no cloth supplied with the iPad (well at least not with mine). The real problem is that in bright sunlight it is very hard to read. This is not so much because of the brightness of the screen, but because it is highly reflective. This, no doubt, gives such impressive results in normal lighting, but if I just want to read in the garden on a Sunny day, it is far from ideal. I’ve dicovered a simple transparent sleeve - which you can buy for pennies from Staples - help a great deal. No doubt someone will come up with a hood or screen cover of some kind that will more elegantly (and more expesively) deal with this problem.

The third complaint is linked to the one which follows, and that is that there is no simple way of printing. Yes, there are 'apps for that' which sort of work, but only sort of. They are using tricks and workarounds, but without an anchor in the operating system itself it is very hard to overcome. An email purported to come from Mr Jobs himself says that ‘print is coming’ but it isn’t here yet.

The fourth complaint is more fundamental, and this is the file system, or lack thereof.
This is a little complicated, but is worth a careful explanation. This is probably only an issue for anyone using the ipad for work. Those using it to watch video, listen to music, surf the net, post to facebook and catch up with emails (perhaps most users most of the time) will be totally unaffected.

The iPad, like the iPhone and iPod touch does not have an open file system. That is to say that you cannot see the folders where the programs and data are kept. Individual applications can save their own files, but applications can't see the files of other applications (this is called 'sandboxing'). Now the iPad has slightly opened up this system. There's a nice feature where a file from one application can be sent to another to be opened. So, an email attachment might be opened and edited by another suitable application. Another feature allows you to send and receive files through USB, but only via iTunes. This is an odd feature in several ways. It only relates to applications which allow it, and you can transfer files from iPad app to computer, or vice versa, but not from app to app. This is oddest in the iWork apps. In Pages (brilliant in so many ways) a document created on the iPad can be 'exported' in either doc, PDF or Pages format. But this just means that the 'exported' document then sits in the iPad Pages folder which is visible to iTunes. From there it can be imported to the PC or Mac. This is odd. It means that I can create a very attractive pdf which I can email to someone or transfer to my desktop computer by USB cable, but I can't read it in GoodReader or try and print it in PrintBureau ... unless I email it to myself, then using Open With ... Dialogue in the Mail app, open the attachment with the desired application. Cumbersome. Sort of manageable on a wifi network, but potentially expensive on pay per gig 3G.

I really hope this will be changed soon, especially as the flatfile system of Pages is already creaking under the 20 or so documents I have already created.

Now, as I say, this is only really an issue if you really want to do some solid work with the iPad. And it is not a fatal flaw in the iPad. There are a number of apps which can read from and often write to services like Dropbox and Google Docs, and even MobileMe, which save your files ‘in the cloud’ and so make them accessible from anywhere, but so far the ‘Office’ apps, while they can do spreadsheets and word documents, they don’t have anything like the elegance or power of Pages, Keynote and Numbers (which, incidentally, can import Excel files but can’t export as Excel). There’s a bit of a gap here which needs overcoming.

There’s is just one more gripe, or perhaps it might be an aspiration. At the moment to use an iPad you must have a Mac or a PC in order to sync and update and deal with some other processes. You can download purchases from iTunes through WiFi, and even mount the iPad as a drive, but you can’t quite do without the desktop or laptop. I’m sure that there are many users out there who would be very satisified with only an iPad, if only that were possible.

Overall, these are, perhaps, rather bitty complaints, and none of them seem insuperable in some software update or app development. I don’t think any of these are what might be called ‘a deal breaker’. I would not agree with those who say that because the iPad is version 1.0, it is not yet complete, an unfinished piece of work. This was true of the first iPhone, but not of the iPad. Certainly there will be apps that appear to do tasks that can’t yet be done. There will be software and firmware updates that plug gaps and enhance functions - indeed we know that OS 4.0 is already on the way, first for the iPhone then for the iPad in the autumn. I’m sure too that there will be improvements on the hardware - a front facing camera, flat back (!), more storage - but I honestly see these as developments, not as an indication that the iPad is incomplete.

My next (and final) post will be about what I have already used the iPad for - and how it works for me!

The iPad is here! 1. The wow factor.

2010-05-28T08:17:00.001+01:00

The iPad is out in the UK today (May 28th), but I have been fortunate (yes, really fortunate) to have owned one for some three weeks.

In a few blogs I thought it might be interesting to give some reflections on this exciting piece of technology.

In this post I'll look at the wow factor. Next I'll consider some shortcomings as I see them, then finally I'll explain how I have already put the iPad to use.

Perhaps the first thing to say is, yes, it is exciting, VERY exciting. Ok, I am an ageing geek, and a recent convert to Apple, with all the fervour if any neophyte. So don't take my word for it. Let me tell you about the reactions of people I have showed it to. People are just wowed by it. My 78 dad has put it high on his wish list. The IT department at the school where i am chaplain took it round the departments demonstrating its potentiality with enthusiasm. People who casually ask for a glimpse are surprised and impressed.

But what is so good about it? After all, isn't it just an extra-large iPod touch, a mega iPhone without the phone? It may look impressive, but is it really useful? What can it do that is not already done by iPhone or Laptop? And aren't there other Slate devices?

Well let me make clear this is not the device to end all devices, just ad the iPhone wasn't the phone to end all phones. But just as most smartphones now have the look of the iPhone about them, so I am really convinced that the iPad has set a new paradigm which will be widely copied.

Why? Well, it’s not that the iPad is perfect (more of that in a later post). But it is very impressive.

Graphically the iPad is stunning. The colours are bright. Images are crisp and striking. It's what people notice immediately when they see the iPad for the first time. Video is really good. I've watched many episodes now of Spooks with great pleasure. Tvcatchup (the iPhone site) streams live TV beautifully, and the new BBC iPlayer beta (released only on 27th May) is similarly wonderful. The YouTube app is great too.

Surfing the web is a dream. The screen size (about A5) gives a great view of a whole page, and zooming in is easy. The text is very readable and photos great. When you surf the web you realise how great a difference the size makes. While the iPhone made the mobile experience of surfing the web manageable, the iPad makes it pleasurable. It would not be an kind of exaggeration to say that this is the best web surfing experience available. If I want to surf the web - this is the device of first choice.

And from that flows some excellent apps which draw content from the web. News apps with a high photo-content excel. IMDB is also outstanding. There are also apps such as Elements, a kind of Cd Rom (remember them?) of the periodic table which combine encylopaedic data with web links to external sites, such as Wolfram Alpha. There is plenty of scope for more, and they will be great.

As a book reader, too, the iPad functions extremely well. The iBooks and Kindle apps work beautifully (iBooks has more features, though Kindle has far more books). Turning pages, leaving bookmarks and notes and even looking up on the dictionary (iBooks) are supported. There is little need to consult help files or installation instructions - the interface is simple, inutitive and effective. There is also an excellent app FreeBooks which draws on public domain titles. It is also possible (using iTunes and iBooks) to create your own books, though I've yet to find an epub book creator that really works for me (you really need the epub format to use book readers well) Perhaps epubs, like PDFs will become standard file types for text editors in the future.

The maps app is very impressive, again illustrating what a difference the screen size makes even with basically the sane set of features as we have been familiar with on the iPhone and iPod touch.

The mail and calendar applications similarly enhance familiar functions from the iPhone and just make them, well, easier and more pleasurable. Though perhaps they also create expectations: I'm probably not the only one who's tried to move from week to week by swiping the screen.

Sitting on the desk, the iPad looks a little like one of those photo frames, and while that may seem to undervalue the device, it also indicates another use of the device which it does wonderfully well. As a way to display your photos, it is just great, and there are already some very powerful photo-editing apps available which mean that as an accompaniment to a photographer on the road - including the professional - it is very usable.

The overall experience is just, well, very impressive. My Dad desribed it as ‘magical’ and I don’t think he’d seen Steve Jobs keynote (I don’t think he even knows who Steve Jobs is).

Prayers and the world cup

2010-05-24T19:49:00.002+01:00

The Church of England has today published prayers for the World Cup.
This seems strange and indeed quaint. Surely there are many competent clergy and lay people who are more than capable of writing prayers for the occasion: do they really need to have official prayers for tournament - official only in England, of course.

It has received seem amused comment in the media - but then when isn't comment about the Church of England in the media amused? In the pack of cards which are the Christians of the nation, it is pretty clear that the media view the Church of England as the jokers and the Catholics as the Knaves.

However, prayers for special occasions are nothing new. Indeed, we Catholics have, in only the past few days had special prayers for Reparation over the child abuse scandals, and there has been issued a prayer card to prepare for the visit of the Pope in September.

But it is hard not to feel that while these subjects for catholic prayer are weighty matters, a football tournament in another land is rather frivolous.

There is another way of looking at this. The Church of England, in its role as established Church, sets itself up as it were as the Poet Laureate of prayers. Every event of national importance must have a special prayer, commissioned, composed and distributed. And never to be heard again. The fact that it will touch the lives of only a very small proportion of football supporters is not the point: the good old C of E, ever Erastian, must for ever show its awareness of the ordinary and exciting aspects of national life, even if for some people football is a great bore (there's a prayer for them too).

Our Catholic compositions are somewhat more introspective (as indeed has been the custom of the Catholic Church in England). They deal with our own concerns rather than popular issues.

But at least they are being used.

Location:Eastwood Pl,Stoke-on-Trent,United Kingdom

Hard Times - Dark Clouds

2010-04-21T12:00:00.000+01:00

The following article is written for inclusion in the Staffordshire Sentinel on April 21st 2010

It is a difficult time to be a Catholic.
It shouldn’t be. We’ve just celebrated Easter, the most colourful and hopeful festival of the Christian year. We also preparing for the visit of the Pope in September. Parishioners are signing up for a great choir for the Mass in Coventry, and rehearsals are soon to begin. It should all be very exciting.
But there are menacing clouds overshadowing our causes for joy, and I don’t mean those drifting over from an Icelandic volcano. There is a darkness which is obscuring the sunshine of our faith and Christian life.
I mean the continuing scandal over the abuse of children - those most vulnerable and beloved by God - which has been perpetrated within what were supposed to be the protective wings of the Church. It is a matter of disgust and shame for all who claim the name Christian, and of utter horror for those who cherish the Catholic Church.
The terrible crimes have of course given great material to those who want to paint religion as a force for evil and not good, who describe faith as something which damages people rather than frees them, and who have a fervent anti-Catholicism, fuelled by the kind of hatred of ‘papists’ long since abandoned by non-catholic Christians.
And it is hard for us to answer. We feel the pain of crimes wickedly committed and the shame of criminals protected out of a desire to avoid scandal for the Church.
And it is not enough for us to point out that the most terrible crimes happened many decades ago. It is not enough to argue that every organisation involved in the care of children has had to face similar scandal. It is not enough for us to list the many caring activities of the Catholic Church throughout the world, often in places where others are afraid or unable to venture. It does little good to point the finger to other institutions, where abuse has been as bad and often much worse. None of it is enough, because the wickedness has taken place. Lives have been damaged, and we do not want to appear to be putting a ‘spin’ on the bad news. We are wounded, disgusted and ashamed.
And the attacks have gone beyond the perpetrators now; they are at the doors of Church itself. A national newspaper promotes a proposal to arrest the Pope during his UK visit - something which would normally be called “crackpot”. They claim that it is Catholicism itself: the priesthood, holy Church, which is the cause of the abuse. Tear it all down - they say - it is rotten to the core.
For the Church receives special treatment: no one blames the BBC because a senior producer was charged with child pornography; nor even today’s Swedish government because in the 50s and 60s more than half the children in their orphanages were sexually abused. The Church is held to a different standard. Child abuse in the Church is perhaps the most reported crime in the world, but elsewhere perhaps not so.
And so perhaps that is right, because Catholics find no comfort in knowing abuse was so widespread. Multiple wrongs put nothing right, and our pain and sadness is not only that these things happen, but also that we were not better, that the Church’s good work was used to do bad, wicked, evil things.
And we carry this as a heavy burden. Explanations might look like an attempt at evasion or excuse. But it is the victims who most of all deserve our prayers and compassion.

Easter Greetings from Sacred Heart (in 23 languages)

2010-04-04T23:09:00.001+01:00

On Easter Day - as has become our custom at Sacred Heart - we wish a Happy Easter to one another in our home languages (and a few others). This year we managed 23 languages!

Click here to listen. (This recording needs a little editing).

You can also see some photos of the Church here.