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I was in Kent this weekend filming for a new course that will be produced especially for the Year of Faith… watch this space! It is geared towards someone who’s just walked in off the street – basic apologetics. Which is different from catechesis, so I had to put my apologetics head on… “Hmm, why do I believe in God?” I asked myself on the train on the way down. It’s good (and challenging) to get back to basics.
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Quick aside about… fashion. It has been raining SOLIDLY in London all week. It really is a drag. A good gentlemanly friend of mine walked me home last night as our umbrellas distorted wildly in the storm. I thought London was a civilised place to live. Fashion is a massive problem in weather like this. I remember reading the fashion editor in The Times deplore women who, otherwise dressing well, throw on a completely inelegant array of kagools and waterproofs as soon as it pours. I am one of these women. I don’t own an elegant Marc Jacobs raincoat, so I have looked like a fashion disaster when out and about, all week. Please, dear Spring, come to London!
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Christian Holden from St Anthony Communications asked me to watch and review one of their latest catechetical DVDs, The Last Things. I aim to do it this week so watch this space! I am looking forward to watching it, as we found in a recent ‘adult formation survey’ that one of the main topics of catechetical interest for Catholic adults is precisely these areas of death, judgement, heaven, and hell.
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Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, and I am trying to pray especially for the Holy Father. Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia – where Peter is, there is the Church. St John Chrysostom spoke of the early Christians: “Look at how the faithful feel for their pastors. They don’t resort to protest or rebellion, but to prayer as an unfailing remedy. They did not say: as we are powerless men, it is useless to pray for him. They never reasoned in this way, but prayed with love.” Let us have the same love for priests, and especially our Holy Father. Maybe we can offer an hour of work or study for them.
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Finally… If Starbucks insist on overfamiliarity by writing our first names on our take-out cups, they might at least get our names right. Yesterday, I was given coffee with “Ana” written on the side. I might try “Miss Vaughan-Spruce” next time and see how they get on with that… 😉
