De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

You may have seen my post yesterday with the wonderful news of the partnership between Southwark Diocese and The School of the Annunciation, to provide life-giving Catechesis to ordinary Catholics in their diocese. Well, it's not just Southwark. The same course is also being run at Ealing Abbey in Westminster Diocese. This course provides an incredible boost to any Catholic who wants to know more about their faith, but essentially it should be particularly valuable to teachers in our Catholic Schools and Catechists in our Parishes, as well as parents. All of us have a duty of commission, by virtue of our Baptism, to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ: that we are created, loved and redeemed! We all need to be able to transmit these truths in confidence and with joy! You can see from the testimonials above just how this joy is really lived and transmitted through this course. It will allow you to teach your students, or you children with confidence and love. So what ar

Illustration of Lazarus at the rich man's gate by Fyodor Bronnikov, 1886. I've noticed a spate of posts which relate to today's Gospel over the weekend. It is obviously one of those narratives which still has the power to touch us and shock us, as my Parish Priest said in his homily today : the power to embarrass us. It's not just the Gospel though. Last week's consideration of wealth and power is narrowed down today to focus on the specific challenge posed by poverty and riches, and our reactions to both. The Prophet Amos once again depicts the moral bankruptcy of the Northern Kingdom in terms of their luxurious lifestyle. Indulgent eating and drinking, entertainment, rich furnishings and cosmetics, are a measure of the total hedonism in society so turned in on its selfish enjoyments that it is neglectful of the grave political menace confronting it. The Jewish people would soon have to pay the price of the Assyrian invasion and the complete destruction, not

Some wonderful news came from the Archbishop of Southwark, Peter Smith. Archbishop Peter has announced in a Pastoral Letter read out at all Masses today that Southwark Diocese are launching a new Certificate in Catechesis in conjunction with The School of the Annunciation in Buckfast Abbey. Cover of the new Certificate of Catechesis Archbishop Peter Smith and Fr Guy de Gaynesford signed a partnership agreement between the School of the Annunciation and the Archdiocese of Southwark at the end of a Mass for catechists in St George's cathedral yesterday. The School of the Annunciation will deliver the Diocesan Catechetical Certificate, beginning in January 2017. Archbishop Peter states in his letter: This new diocesan course is intended especially for catechists in our parishes and chaplaincies, but it will also be of importance and interest to teachers in our schools , to all who are engaged in faith formation in parishes, as well as parents, grandparents, r

This has been an exciting weekend for evangelisation in the UK as Sherry Weddell, author of the best-selling book Forming Intentional Disciples has been visiting from the US. She was at Ealing Abbey on Friday and Saturday delivering a seminar to a packed hall of priests and lay people entitled Evangelisation: Where to Begin . According to Sherry herself, she was expecting huge kick-back after the book's release and little wonder. In reality it is a factually backed up, damning indictment of the approach and lack of success  in the Church's central mission over the last forty or fifty years: making disciples. In a brave attempt to do something about this personally, and born of an evident and deep love of Jesus, Sherry researched and presented a well rounded study of the reality of Church attendance today followed by a plan of what to do about it. Now, having seen extraordinary fruit in literally hundreds of parishes all over the world, Sherry is one of the "go-to&qu

Here's an opportunity to listen to this fantastic EWTN GB interview with Fr Guy de Gaynesford, MA, BTh, STL Rector of the school, & Dr Caroline Farey BA(Hons), M.Phil(Cantab), STB, STL (Leuven), PhL (Maynooth), PhD (Lateran) Director of Studies from The School of the Annunciation on #CelticConnections  https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/67313872/fr%20guy%20test%205.mp3 A very inspirational interview!!

A few years ago there was a terrific buzz surrounding this book— Forming Intentional Disciples by Sherry Weddell. It seemed everyone was reading it, bishops were buying it for their priests and priests were buying it for their catechists. It begins with some deeply concerning statistics about who is joining & leaving the Catholic Church, why, and where they are going. The Author, Sherry Weddell, reveals what many already are aware of: after working with hundreds of parishes, and personally interviewing a couple thousand practicing Catholics, most of whom described themselves as “active” and “heavily involved” in their parishes, Sherry found that many of them have tremendous gaps in their understanding of the faith. They might be in Church every Sunday: ushers, lectors, parish secretaries, religious ed teachers and so on. Yet Weddell not infrequently discovered many who—upon sharing with her their own experience of the faith—did not believe in the divinity of Jesus, or who inti