Peter Blog a few random thoughts

CATHOLICS - The Series 3 x 60 minutes for BBC Four A new three part BBC Four series on Catholic lives starts on Thursday 23 rd  February at 9 pm. Film 1 looks at the lives of ‘Priests’. Filmed at Allen Hall Seminary in Westminster, it presents a portrait of seminarians at the start and end of their priestly training. Film 2 ‘Children’ moves north to the village of Chipping in rural Lancashire and the tiny Catholic primary school where 6 of the 33 pupils are preparing for their First Holy Communion. ‘Women’, the 3rd and final film in the ‘Catholics’ series gains exclusive access to Westminster Cathedral where the Producer/Director Richard Alwyn interviews female members of the congregation, staff and volunteers about what life is really like as a woman in the Catholic Church in Britain today. Catholics – The Series runs for 3 consecutive Thursdays – 23 rd  February/1 st  March/8 th  March “Not to be missed”  says the Archbishop of Westminster...

You cannot and should not erase Christian foundations from the evolution of our nations anymore than you can erase spires from our landscapes” This is a quote from Baroness Warsi which in on the front of the Catholic Tablet this weekend. The question for me is that many would claim that we are now living in a secular country and therefore there is no place for Religion in it. It seems to me that actually it is the other way round. Because we live in a “Secular society” there is a greater need for Religion in society. There has always been a need for God in our lives.  Even Richard Dawkins a well know atheist said in an interview on the Today programme in frustration “Oh God” when asked what the full title of the Darwin’s book The Origin of Species. Within the Gospel today we see that Mark brings us closer to Jesus. We also see three sets of people. Looking up he saw friends and faith looking around he saw critics and negativity looking within he saw faith in some and sin in o...

At the time of Jesus the leper was the group of people that was the out casts of society. They lived on the fringes of society. They were unable to come into the town and were rejected by even their own families. So you can imagine the surprise of the authorities that Jesus went to go out of his way to be with these people and reach out and heal them. We are told that he felt sorry for them. This is actually one of the things that we struggle with in translation in other translations it actually said that Jesus showed compassion for them. This gives us a clearer insight to the person of Jesus than he felt sorry for them. To have compassion means to be able to walk in another person's shoes. To be a Christian is to reach out and touch these people. It is to walk along side and be a voice for the voiceless.   This is very hard to do because we have all our own baggage and sometimes we don't fully understand those people who live on the fringes of our own society So who ar...

This is roughly the way to make the Chocolate cake that I made on Sunday and some of you had at the coffee morning. Instead of the pan of simmering water I use a bowl of boiling water. Good luck and enjoy Ingredients 250g/8oz  digestive biscuits 150g/5oz  milk chocolate 150g/5oz  dark chocolate 100g/3½oz unsalted  butter 150g/5oz  golden syrup 100g/3½oz  dried apricots , chopped 75g/2½oz  raisins 60g/2oz  pecans , chopped (optional) Preparation method Use cling film to line a 20cm (8in) shallow, square-shaped tin. Leave extra cling film hanging over the sides. Bash the biscuits into pieces using a rolling pin. (Put them in a plastic bag first so they don't go everywhere!) Melt chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the broken biscuits, apricots, raisins and pecans (optional). Sp...

There is a huge danger in modern society today. And it is a disastrous disease that is sweeping across the whole of Western society today: that is the danger of doing too much. I know as a priest that there is always something to do, always another place to be. You could unsuccessfully do 12 hour days 7 days a week. And I am not the only profession/vocation that can do silly hours. And so that actually happens is that we are defined by what we do rather than who we are. By doing we feel needed and wanted by those around us. It is something that gives us value in our lives.  The common phrase we find ourselves are “Would love to, Yes of course, I can do that.” They always seem constantly busy and doing things.  But by slowing down and stopping sometimes causes a great deal of guilt for ourselves. We run from one event to another without taking time for ourselves and then we wonder why we always feel under weather or get angry. And sometimes we have in ourselves an inn...