Welcome to my Diary  
-  Occasional thoughts, personal Ruminations &  happenings - as they arise
To go to an entry click on one of the file names below - arranged in date order - the first item being the most recent. 
Email me if you wish to be added to or removed from my Family & Friends emailing list. My occasional emails always contain a Remove Me link - but this can be done at any time!

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Wedding 2011 ] [ Corpus Christi ] [ Crab Apple Jelly ] [ Spike ] [ Pope ] [ Tomato ] [ Celebration ] [ Alliance ] [ On The Way home ... ] [ hens ] [ troglodyte ] [ communion ] [ BACK AGAIN ] [ WOLVES ] [ Days Like This ] [ Crab apple jelly ] [ ardglass BBQ ] [ Family South ] [ Athletic Hope ] [ Technical Communication - VHS to PC ] [ Email from Sister Anne ] [ Recent Communications ] [ Sharon ] [ renovation ] [ Dundee ] [ Yahoo! Scam ] [ The Crucifixion ] [ Chinese New Year ] [ Christmas Card 2003 ] [ BT & Broadband ] [ Conception & Birth ] [ Me 'n Cardinal Arinze ] [ gerryanderson ] [ speakin'norn'irelan' ] [ Cartoon Visitor ] [ Back to Future ] [ Thing of Beauty ] [ Happy Event ] [ Lifting My Soul ] [ Poor Old Church ] [ Homosexual Union? ] [ homophobic ] [ Sister-in-Law's Brain & Son's Visit ] [ Intensive care Party ] [ Smoking Seriously ] [ Singing Horses & Dying for Drugs ] [ Good Friday Meditation ] [ Iraq & Saddam ] [ Faith Guardians ] [ Unmetered telephone Access ] [ Canaries Holiday ] [ Domain Purchase ] [ Family Tragedy ] [ New Castlewellan School ] [ New Web design ] [ Amazing ] [ CV George Bush ] [ 2nd June ] [ DIY Death ] [ two letters ] [ The Rising ] [ Oisin ] [ Pete ] [ Transport of Joy ] [ Life Like a Mayonnaise jar? ] [ Brother gerry ] [ Austin ] [ Children on Love ] [ Mushrooms ] [ Maya's 5th Birthday ] [ more visitors ] [ Summer's end? ] [ Summer Goes On ] [ Summer ART ] [ Summertime ] [ Anthony Kerr ] [ a death or two ] [ I weep in my heart ] [ Conor's First Fag ] [ Tobacco Toleration ] [ Belfast International Airport ] [ Christmas ] [ A Great Time of the Year ]

Pope's Visit to UK - September 2010

The most startling moment for me during the Pope’s visit was his welcome to Westminster Abbey, 500 years ago a Benedictine Abbey. Unbelievable! Given the history of the church. 
(Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I would be astounded: all that fuss over a man unable to generate a male heir, the immediate cause of the Protestant reformation in England.)
    Astounding! 
    And the greeting by the Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury was so obviously genuine, despite the history and the fact that the pope had recently made it easy for groups of CoE clergy, their wives and congregations to convert to Catholicism.
    What an historic occasion! 

    I was equally impressed by repeated moments when Benedict expressed his sorrow and shame at the paedophile activities of some priests and religious. His sentiments were obviously heartfelt, truly genuine.

         I was deeply heartened by the welcome given to Benedict by young people from England and Scotland . 

It was clear that Benedict too was visibly cheered by the enthusiastic greeting of 2,500 children and young adults as he stepped out of Westminster Cathedral following the Mass celebrated there on the 18th.  
    For the first time I became aware of the warm humanity of the man as he responded to the greeting by Paschal Uche, the 21 year old from Stratford.  I was delighted to see that Benedict could chat with him in a normal human way.

Despite the warmth of personality revealed during Benedict’s visit I still have issues caused by his 30 years at the centre of  Catholic Church government – 25 as Head of Doctrine and Faith and 5 years as pope.

It would be churlish to list my concerns here, but they are a source of continuing unease among all reasonable people, so much so that (presuming that I may numbered among the reasonable) I have written and published a small booklet titled “A 21^st Century Reformation of the Catholic Church”.  
    It is not a diatribe. It is a personal analysis of an uncomfortable situation that exists and will not go away. 

    If I were not a pensioner on a limited income I would offer it free to the universe, as a contribution to a continuing discussion. But I cannot afford to do so. The modest £3.50 cost (available on Amazon.co.uk ) is worth it, I believe, and will hopefully enable me to clear the Credit Card I used to pay for publication! You can also see pretty full in formation on amazon.com (the US Site)

If you have a mind to you can also read a short extract, in English, German or French, at www.o2cbooks.info.