De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Why would a young man be attracted to the priesthood today? It's actually incredibly simple - so why are we finding it so difficult to discern the direction the Holy Spirit is guiding us in? A young man entering seminary later this year tells us about his calling   

In this episode of Catholic Unscripted, Katherine Bennett and Mark Lambert sit down with "radical firebrand" Fr James Altman to hear the remarkable story of his vocation, a journey that led him from a successful life as a lawyer (and MBA) to the seminary, and ultimately to the priesthood. Fr Altman shares how God’s hand was at work long before he ever imagined a collar: childhood loneliness that became spiritual strength, the quiet grace of holy religious sisters, early devotion to the martyrs, years of serving in the Church while feeling “different,” and then a single, overwhelming moment at an ordination that changed everything. This conversation is honest, intense, funny in places, and deeply encouraging for anyone who’s ever wondered: “Is God calling me… and what do I do if He is?” We live in an age that glorifies self-creation, self-expression and self-sovereignty. But Christianity is built on something utterly different: obedience, surrender, and being sent. A priest...

The Rev. Dr. Michael Halsall is the Director of Curriculum Development at Allen Hall Seminary, Westminster and a Priest in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. This means he knows a bit about what it means to be a priest and what it takes to form young men for the priesthood. It also means he knows the ground: he knows what is going on currently in the Church with regard to vocations and priestly formation. He gave a most excellent homily for Good Shepherd Sunday (last Sunday) which I thought I would share with you here: The earliest known image that we have of Jesus, is of a man carrying a sheep over his shoulders, with another sheep standing/following close by. He is dressed very roughly, with a leather jerkin and sandals; no robe, no hat or ring of office. The image was found in the Catacombs which lie just outside the city of Rome, where Christians chose to be buried when it was unsafe to bury bodies in the city during the plague seasons. In our technical, digitally mesmerisi...

The Church in Korea, which is currently benefitting from bountiful priestly vocations, has been further enriched with 20 new priests. Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, Archbishop of Seoul, Ordained 20 new priests on February 5th. The ceremony was attended by large numbers of the faithful, so much so that the celebration had to be held in the huge hall of the Olympic Park in Seoul. The local Church reported that the Archdiocese of Seoul celebrates an Ordination Mass every year, with an average of 30 new priests ordained. Over the past 20 years, Ordinations in Seoul have always been higher than twenty priests a year. The statistics of the last three years are: 21 new priests in 2013; 36 in 2014; 25 in 2015. The ordination Mass takes its theme from Cardinal Yeom’s pastoral Letter, just published, entitled "Teachings of the Church: the compass of the new evangelisation" (GREAT TITLE!!), while the verse reference chosen is "How beautiful is your love ". The wealth...

Since first experiencing the Extraordinary Form of the Mass a few years ago, I have developed a sort of a craving for it. It's a bit of an itch that's hard to scratch, because provision is not great. We have the EF once a month in my own Parish and our 11:30 Novus Ordo is beautiful liturgy, so it's not a huge issue. However, I do feel really drawn to the beauty and transcendence of the EF and will go whenever I can. This love affair drew me to St. James', Spanish Place a few weeks ago as I reported here  for a first Mass of a newly ordained FSSP priest, Fr. Ian Verrier. It was heavenly liturgy; stupefyingly beautiful music, a Mass in which I felt I could really raise my heart and mind to God. But the homily by Fr. Armand de Malleray was the really electrifying and extraordinarily different experience for me. It really sparked my interest in the FSSP. I spotted this interesting interview in the Catholic World Report  from last month. There is a lot of current ...

Perhaps this is the perfect antidote to my last post . 10 priests from the diocese of Arundel & Brighton, UK, speak of their JOY in priesthood as part of the diocesan Golden Jubilee celebrations. Their love for the priesthood is moving and inspiring. Particularly of note is what they have to say about the importance of Confession, both the humbling experience of hearing Confession and the way in which this leads them to their own Confession. This is the metanoia which is at the heart of the Gospel and which we seem to be missing from much of our experience of faith these days. This Greek word is associated with the English word "repentance", but in psychological terms, relates to the process of experiencing a "break down" and subsequent, positive psychological re-building or "healing". When we hear the Good News of Jesus, we "change our minds" and recognise our own need for healing. This awakening to our need for grace drives us to examine...

Bishop Mark O'Toole with Abbot David Charlesworth & Cardinal Pell In huge contrast to yesterday's worrying and nasty blog subject, today I am pleased to bring you something very encouraging! Bishop Mark O'Toole, recently Ordained to Plymouth Diocese, continues to delight and impress with his Catholicity (it seems incredible that I even have to say that of a Catholic bishop really doesn't it?) When I received the LMS Magazine at the weekend, I was delighted to read an interview with Bishop Mark which is available here . In it he articulates a clear plan of action which seems to follow on naturally from his recent excellent Pastoral Letter on Vocation . In that letter, he stated his belief that the challenge faced by the Church today is not a lack of vocations, but rather a lack of responses. The solution to this problem seems obvious to me, and I'm no bishop! Mark O'Toole is, and thankfully he seems to see it clearly. Young men will not answer the ca...

It is so confusing for our children these days as the gay agenda moves forward with unstoppable momentum and screaming "bigot!" as loud as possible at anyone who dares raise a voice of concern or disagreement. This strikes me particularly at the moment with the "Gay Marriage" thing being debated in Ireland as Bruvver Eccles alludes to here . The desperate reality strikes me as I lead forty young people in my parish toward Confirmation. Just their understanding of relationships reveals a quite shocking breakdown in any concept of what constitutes Marriage, let alone Catholic teaching; and these are good, normal, Catholic kids. The plight of our children can only be made worse because the source of clear teaching on these matters, The Church, seems, in places, rather at odds with itself. Sadly, some priests prevaricate on this issue which can ultimately achieve nothing else but to lead their flocks into confusion and dismay. Or they say nothing, which leads par...

That Vocations to the Priesthood are in crisis is an internationally accepted reality. I don't think it is rocket science to work out why either. To be a Catholic today is to be attacked by Catholics. I think Pope Benedict XVI went a long way to sorting this out, by making the essentials of the faith clear and that led many who felt disenfranchised in a community which no longer practised what it preached to feel part of the Church once more. However I do think the fundamental malaise remains and that is that many don't like other Catholics who take their faith seriously, some priests as well as lay people! As Father Alexander Lucie-Smith points out in The Catholic Herald today: "People who oppose Catholic teaching from within the Catholic Church, particularly from within the institutional Church, always feel a huge amount of pain when challenged, and are never reticent about sharing it. They usually ignore, however, the pain they cause to ordinary believing ...

"Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  Ps 119:105 Welcome to this, the forty-ninth of my reflections on the theology of the Sunday readings at Mass. I have undertaken this project, regularly posting background information on the readings at Sunday Mass as part of my own prayer life. I have found it helps me to do a little study before I go to Mass about the readings, what the theme of the week is, how it follows on from the previous week's readings and what is being said. In sharing this, I hope to help you too get more from the Bible and Sunday Scripture readings. Perhaps it might give you confidence in the value and legitimacy of the Bible, or perhaps it might inspire you to pray the Divine Office or investigate the weekly readings for yourself. I see this as very clearly part of what the Church teaches about the Bible: This heaven-sent treasure Holy Church considers as the most precious source of doctrine on faith and morals. No wonder herefo...

Flame ; Twitter is alive with positive feedback about this youth event, which took place on Saturday 24th March, with 8,000 young Catholics at Wembley Arena.  My oldest son, William, went along with his school and had a great time. He also found he knew lots of other people there who were attending with parishes or as part of their confirmation programme this year. I came across this post from a Youth Worker on Twitter.  It struck me as a feeling I clearly remember, returning from an inspiring week in Lourdes or retreat at Walsingham House. Parish worship seems dreadfully drab by comparison, lack-lustre and dull. ​​Thankfully, William returned animated with talk of vocation, and was able to immediately immerse himself in the beauty of the Mass at our fantastic parish Church Our Lady of Lourdes  on Sunday morning...He was then hungry to return to the Church to take part in Vespers & Benediction in the evening, which he raved about afterwards! Th...