Monday 20 November 2017

Walsingham: Confraternity of Catholic Clergy


The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy held it's annual Colloquium in Walsingham last week.
A very enjoyable couple of days. (Facebook page here.) Linked to the Confraternities in Australia, USA and Ireland. I would recommend any priest to join up and keep in touch with the Confraternity.

Bishop John Keenan, Bishop of Paisley, speaking on the importance of Familiaris Consortio and the teaching of Pope St John Paul II on marriage and human sexuality. It was a blessing to have a good bishop with us, celebrating the Mass in a dignified way and giving priests spiritual sustenance by his words on the Priesthood, proving it's possible to challenge us to be better priests without making us feel bad!


Mgr John Armitage, Rector of Walsingham. Calling us to a third spring for England, Our Lady’s Dowry. A "roving statue" of Our Lady of Walsingham is being created to travel the country in order to focus on the message of Walsingham. As Mgr Armitage points out, Nazareth is the place of the home of the Holy Family and so it is the family that is at the heart of the news that Walsingham announces. The basic building block of society and of the Faith so much under threat in our times. Surely, there could not be a time more auspicious for a renewed call to the Church and the world to focus on the beautiful and noble teaching of Jesus about family, personhood and sexuality.

The Mgr has a great vision for Walsingham. It was very encouraging to hear of a priest with a message of hope fro renewing the Faith in our times rather than giving in to the general decline.

Do keep him and Walsingham in your prayers and go and visit! Already - at a practical level - the facilities are much improved.

Tour de force presentation from theologian Fr John Saward on 
Mater Veritatis
the Mother of God and the beauty of Truth. 
Holding on to the Truths of the Gospel and the Church, rather than caving in to the hollow "truths" of the world.


 A few of the brethren.
 

Mass in the Basilica with Bishop John Keenan.







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