Pope Francis' insight into Our Lady

Our Holy Father's love for Mary is remarkable in both in its generosity and its depth. His first act as pope was to visit St Mary Major's to show his filial love to her and ask her blessing. His vigil for Syria before the ancient image of Salus Populi Romani seemed to avert a threatened invasion. We think also of his words during his consecration of the world before the statue from Fatima on October 17th. His own personal devotion to Our Lady 'untier of knots' places him in a Marian tradition of the richest and most ancient heritage. 

It is, however, his last words in the recent apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium that are noteworthy for us in the parish (emphasis mine):

"At that crucial moment, before fully accomplishing the work which his Father had entrusted to him, Jesus said to Mary: “Woman, here is your son”. Then he said to his beloved friend: “Here is your mother” (Jn 19:26-27). These words of the dying Jesus are not chiefly the expression of his devotion and concern for his mother; rather, they are a revelatory formula which manifests the mystery of a special saving mission. Jesus left us his mother to be our mother. Only after doing so did Jesus know that “all was now finished” (Jn 19:28). At the foot of the cross, at the supreme hour of the new creation, Christ led us to Mary. He brought us to her because he did not want us to journey without a mother, and our people read in this maternal image all the mysteries of the Gospel. The Lord did not want to leave the Church without this icon of womanhood. Mary, who brought him into the world with great faith, also accompanies “the rest of her offspring, those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus” (Rev 12:17)".

On one level, there seems nothing new here; this is all traditional stuff. For those with eyes to see, however, Pope Francis has taken a significant step along a path begun by Bl. Pope John Paul, but curiously sidestepped by Pope Benedict. He has taken up the Conciliar motif of Our Lady as 'Mother in the order of grace' (Lumen Gentium 61) and perhaps he will develop it...

...Will Pope Francis will be the one to draw this to its conclusion and  proclaim a fifth and final Marian dogma? By formally proposing to all the faithful that Mary is Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate, he would: 1) clear up all apparent ambiguity in the eyes of other Christians concerning Mary's true place, 2) reveal the true nature of Our Lady's agency as a model for all Christians and 3) unlock her maternal power for the world by effectively directing all people to her maternal mediation. It would in turn have a historical impact that echoes and even surpasses that of the preceding four Marian dogmas: "The papal definition of Mary as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate will bring great graces to the Church." (Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta)  

This is of note to us in the parish through the significance of our patronal title. The Holy Father's words quoted above provide a useful summary of the meaning of "Our Lady of All Nations".

Dominic's ordination to the diaconate

 One of Fr Chris's younger brothers was ordained a deacon yesterday at St John's Seminary, Wonersh (near Guildford). It was a beautiful occasion with all the other seminary staff and students present.

It is at this Mass that the candidate makes the promise of celibacy and obedience to the bishop. Dominic is set to be ordained a priest at Clifton cathedral (Bristol) in July; he belongs to Clifton diocese. Please remember him in your prayers.

St Michael's School trip to Rome 28th - 31st October

Our expedition comprised 16 students, 2 teachers and one priest. We left for Bristol airport when the superstorm was threatened but with people's prayers we only encountered clear skies and roads.

We stayed near St Peter's, which was excellent in some ways, but meant quite a bit of walking all the way to the Circus Maximus and Colosseum - not to mention the Pantheon and Trevi fountains. Unlike the adult pilgrimage in September, no-one got lost the whole time!

 

This is where the Holy Father leads the Stations of the Cross each Good Friday (although we now know that probably no Christians were martyred actually in the Colosseum).

 Although we had to get up early for the papal audience and had to wait for a couple of hours, this is how close we got!

On our last day, the inspirational Sr Emanuela (from Wigan) of the new religious order of the missionaries of divine revelation gave us a free guided tour of the vatican museums, showing us how certain artists tried to teach great truths of our faith.

SVP mass for the housebound

We are blessed with a very strong St Vincent de Paul Society in the parish. It organised an afternoon mass for all those members of the parish who can never normally get to Sunday mass. Then there was tea in the church hall. It involves a fair bit of logistics with all the lifts.
Whilst it might be a few years since some have been able to get to church and meet some of their friends, others have never in fact been inside our church, so all-in-all, it is quite a powerful event.
Of course we also get some great cakes...

New bishop of Plymouth

Monsignor Mark O'Toole has been appointed our new bishop. He has been rector of Allen Hall seminary in Westminster diocese. We wish him a warm welcome to the South West and pray that he will be a courageous and holy bishop for us all. There is more information on the bishops' website

Watching the creation of our new school building

For the past year BAM construction has been beavering away opposite the church. In a month or so St Michael's school should have its new building complete, providing state-of-the-art chemistry, physics and biology labs, art room, music room (with practice rooms), design and technology suite and kitchens complete with cafeteria canteen.

The workmen have faced a challenge with recent weather, but it certainly hasn't stopped them.

More photos here!

Photos of our 150th are now posted

Well it has taken nearly four years to put these photos up, but if you check this link, it might bring back a few memories...

'Praying always and never losing heart'

Following Jesus' words in the gospel, we had the example in the homily of the extraordinary Catholic mother Eliza Rolls (1810-1853) and her intense life of prayer:

"For nearly twenty years it was her daily practice to spend an hour from five to six in the afternoon in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament asking this favour that God would call every one of her children to serve Him in the Choir or in the Sanctuary".

She died tragically after the birth of her youngest son John. But of her children, her five daughters all became nuns; of her eight sons, six became priests and of those four became bishops. One was Cardinal Herbert Vaughan who founded the Catholic Truth Society, set up the Mill Hill Missionaries and laid the foundation for Westminster Cathedral.
You can read a little more about her here

The chapel where she prayed.

Parish Pilgrimage to Rome 18th - 25th September

Fr Chris plus eleven pilgrims from our parish went, with Fr Dylan James and eleven pilgrims from Shaftesbury parish in the far east of the diocese. We stayed in the Casa Fatima on the Gianicolo Hill near St Peter's. The weather was very warm and sunny thank God.

Outside the basilica of St John Lateran - the cathedral of Rome

Sampling gelato was taken seriously

Fr Dylan points out the St Angelo bridge

Waiting to see pope Francis

Yes...so?

In the entrance to St Peter's basilica

Outside the pantheon

The Trevi fountains are always a little crowded...

This the church of 'Quo Vadis' - where St Peter met Jesus and turned back to Rome

And here we are outside the lovely Basilica of St Paul's-outside-the-walls where St Paul is buried.

A historic day of grace

Sunday 27th April 2014 will be the first time two popes have been canonised together - in the presence of two living popes.
It will especially focus the world's attention on the feast-day of Divine Mercy.
In 1937, St Faustina recorded Our Lord's prophecy that a spark would come from Poland to prepare the world for the last times.
The 'Polish Spark' will be doing precisely that in a marvellous way from his place in heaven next April with the extraordinary combined witness of three other popes.

Here are the last printed words of Bl John Paul II, prepared for the crowds gathered to celebrate the Divine Mercy feast in 2005 as he breathed his last breath:
"To humanity, which at times seems to be lost and dominated by the power of evil, egoism and fear, the risen Lord offers as a gift his love that forgives, reconciles and reopens the spirit to hope. It is love that converts hearts and gives peace. How much need the world has to understand and accept Divine Mercy!”

A young parishioner's expedition to Malawi

Jade Hanson, with her younger brother and sisters, has served faithfully every Sunday at Mass in Redruth since she was little. Recently she has been away at University in Plymouth. This summer she funded herself to undertake volunteering work in one of the world's poorest countries. You can read her report in our parish newsletter.

Here is Jade with the usual local means of transport - the njinga.

With help from parishioners, she was able to buy 8 brand new models of these taxi-bicycles for families of orphans so that they will have self-supporting businesses. Documents were signed with the chiefs of the local villages to ensure the njingas are used for their proper purpose, and not sold or left unused.

This boy (an orphan) has just been given some new shoes.

 

This is the new orphanage. Jade helped paint some of the new school buildings.

Here are the youngest schoolchildren (3 - 5 year-olds) having their lunch.

The children might not have much, but they do have big smiles.

Getting lost in translation (accidentally on purpose?)

It seems even the Catholic media are rather quick to see things in Pope Francis' words that aren't quite there. This cartoon says it all (click on the image)...

...always best to read the Pope's actual words for oneself (preferably via a reliable translation!).

International Day in honour of Our Lady Of All Nations

There are many national days of prayer now held throughout the world in honour of Our Lady Of All Nations, from Ivory Coast to Bangkok and from Argentina to Romania. 

However, there is generally one international day each year. On September 13th this was held in Dusseldof, Germany with Cardinal Meisner. 

These are astonishingly beautiful events, not least for being so well organised: the music is led by the Family of Mary.

People from so many nations participate and everything is translated instantly via radio headphones.

 It would be great if a contingent from the parish could attend one year...

Parish Retreat at Buckfast Abbey 21st- 23rd June

Once again we were able to have the use of Southgate Retreat Centre for our weekend residential retreat. It is a superb place in which to stay; it has its own chapel with the Blessed Sacrament reserved, its own refectory for breakfast and supper, a comfortable sitting room, a lecture room and a garden. It is also away from all the noisy visitors.

This year, there were no visiting speakers: Fr Chris gave a talk on Jesus as the fulfilment of the sweep of Creation. There was also one of the films in Fr Robert Barron's catholicism series. On Sunday there was mass with the monks in the Abbey Church which is gleaming with all its clean new stone inside.

Hannah's Well (Cara Coweth Waters)

In April, Monica Biscoe led a group of local people to see the wonderful work that has been done to build a well in Kafayea, Sierra Leone. 'Cara Coweth Waters' (formerly 'Crystal Clear Waters') is the name for the Stithians-based charity that was set up by Monica. The well has been named in honour of Hannah Haynes RIP (hence the photo they're holding). Fundraising so far will allow for a second well to be built, bringing clean, safe water to the villagers.

The parish blog wakes up!

It's been well over a year since we've had any posts on this blog.

Well nothing's happened has it?
Apart from the resignation of a pope; the appointment of a new pope; the crisis in Syria; the imposed 'redefinition' of marriage in our country; World Youth Day in Brazil...

...Confirmations; a parishioner's well-building initiative in Sierra Leone; a parish retreat in Buckfast; a successful first new year for our Catholic Free School and a parish pilgrimage to Rome.

Perhaps some of these things should make their way into posts on this blog? (If there are items that might be of interest to the parish, why not contact us through the website).