From Conservatism to Catholicism

The Harvest Supper. I thought I’d best pop along, take my housemate Stickers with me. See what its like. As you know the previous event went really well. Nothing could have prepared me for this one.   Having had a lifetime of Tory Party events, you get to know how to have a night out and a raffle. I didn’t dress to the nines. That was my first mistake, the place was packed and everyone looked immaculate. Yes everyone was at least double my age but frankly that’s nothing new and I felt very lucky to be there.  The food was essentially a ham salad with warm potatoes but very nice it was too. Only seven pounds a ticket so I splashed out on six raffle strips with our change. There was wine on the table but I was most amazed at how busy it was.  There was a lovely couple opposite us, Anita and Terry and between us we swapped breakdown stories. I mean automotive breakdowns rather than mental ones !  Prone to overexcitement in the face of post dinner raffles, these ...

 The Queen is dead. Her funeral is today. One day we had a new Prime Minister, the next we had a new King. This cannot be good for our country. How interesting it would be to look and compare country's civil rest/unrest after a change of Monarch. There are always patterns, if we would only think to look for them. Charles, the Prince of Wales as he was. We do all know him and I think that alone will erode much of the 'untouchable' effect that The Queen held. She was the epitome of stability. No one ever called her the ultimate feminist I can't help but notice... For the record I'm very big on the Royal family. Not because of some long seated desire to be a Princess or because they are 'royal'. I love the Windsors because they are a family. One for the whole country to be involved in and to watch the children grow up. Even my daughter said of Princess Charlotte - 'I remember when she was born!' quite funny from a thirteen year old.  One thing that cons...

 If anyone can remember what that is. This is supposed to be a blog of two halves of course but the party is meaning less and less to me. At the time, when I was only sixteen / seventeen it provided an important and welcome moral framework. One which included having your own house. I'd be lying if I said there weren't times that I wondered : Would it not be easier to live in a council house and have everything for free?  Perhaps I'm simplifying it. I'm not though am I? There just isn't the bite on these issues that there used to be. It seems we aren't allowed to criticise anyone anymore, for anything at all ever.  When I first started "in my day" it was fairly clear cut in the Town Council chamber, if you were all for work you were a Tory, if you weren't, you were with Labour who would seemingly vote down any reasonable suggestion purely because a Conservative thought of it. There was one Lib Dem - Sue. Sue was ok, I used to bump into her all over ...

 Let me tell you, you can always make Mass. You simply go to www.mass-online.org  and there will be a Mass happening there and then somewhere in the world. It was around five o'clock in the evening and I was away from home.  Initially I was looking for a 'mass near me' but it was a bit of a struggle and I wasn't entirely sure where I was and was settled and so thought this would be a good idea. Turns out, it was. Dallas, that's where I go for mass online if I miss it here. This man is excellent. At first they were talking about donuts and he is voice is quite frankly hilarious. You simply can't stop listening to it. The church is plain but comes through very well on the screen and they clearly have a multi cam system that also shows the congregation. I did donate ten dollars because its so totally worth it to know that you can just make time for Mass in the evening.    Its not all about God, in many cases its about making time for yourself. You will find God wil...

All this 'going to church' in the week has really been good in terms of 'getting me out the house'. The weather is good and because its around the same time and human's being creatures of habit, I'm noticing the Turkish barbers are always on their Lambert and Butlers, the butchers always on their brooms and there's more than a few big men clipped to creatures they firmly believe is a dog. I suppose they'll have noticed me in the same way although they'd never guess I was going to church. That I am sure.  Quite why I kept going in the week is something which, on reflection, I felt I ought. The church itself as a building has started to bring me so much peace. And like I say, it gets me out.  The effect of Sunday when the roof seemed to disappear has been turned over and over in my mind and then it did eventually dawn on me, its not that we were going up. Rather, God was coming down, to us all. I felt that and further realisation that such a revelation...

 So I was pretty comfortable going to the new church. To be fair, I didn't have to much other than show up and that's been going well. Unremarkable really, at least it was, until today.. In I went slightly earlier than usual and wandered nearer to the front. As I say, its sometimes difficult to hear and even in my schooldays I liked to face the front. Its worth noting here that somehow that church never has a chill about it.  I don't do the holy water on entry or the bowing of the knee and I do need to practice that but after today, I do get it.  Anyway, there I was, sitting by the pillar thinking about nothing in particular and up started the service and again I wasn't really thinking anything, going through the motions if you will.  As you'd expect, time went by and it was bells and bread and wafer starting any second.  Now, communion is a bit of a sad point really for me because I was baptised a Methodist having already been christened by the Church of Englan...

What can I say other than highly recommended. Its got me into habits (not literally) and to me now, mass and everything, the structured prayer and the regular reading of scripture, its just normal. It doesn't seem new. But as I keep saying I was a Christian anyway. This isn't about discovering God, its about entering the Catholic and Ignatian way and applying their terms of worship. It works. The online retreat works. One day I will do one in person but I am so happy with how this has gone and as I say, it just feels right. It's good to take time for yourself and get as much silence as you can. Sociable as one is, at heart I'm a loner and happy alone. If you can get that, you'll find God will soon be beside you in all you do. He has been with me since a very very young age. Admittedly it took me a while to work out just who it was watching and looking over me but it was certainly God in my difficult times as a child. I knew I wasn't alone. I use prayer as ...