Just run that past me again

Non Catholic pastors as Chaplains in a Catholic school?

Worth School in Sussex is run by the Benedictines and is, according to the blurb on their website, in accord with what St Benedict would expect:

Their website  states:-

St Benedict wrote in his Rule, "We mean to establish a school for the Lord's service", and his wisdom inspires our community in all that we do.

One would not expect, however, that St Benedict would approve of two Church of England vicars being on the school's chaplaincy team.

Yet that is what this 'Catholic' school offers. It is unclear as to whether they are there for the benefit of Protestant pupils or whether they are at the behest of all; I suspect the latter.

Here is how the school describes their chaplaincy offer:

"The Chaplaincy seeks to keep Christ at the centre of the School's life and this is achieved by a variety of experiences and opportunities. The School Chaplain is Father Peter and he is assisted by a team of Chaplains from the monastery. In addition,  two part-time Anglican priests - Revd Gordon Parry and Revd Anthony Ball - are part of the team and their presence and work strengthens Worth's ecumenical outlook. A Housemaster and a member of the Religious Studies Department are also members of the team".

It may just be worth reminding those responsible for running this school that there are some major,   fundamental differences of belief between the Church of St Peter and the Church of Henry VIII.

The C of E does not, broadly speaking, accept any of the following:

1. The Sacraments
2. Transubstantiation
3. The sanctity of Holy Matrimony
4. Purgatory
5. Opposition to abortion
6. The Virgin birth
7. The role of Our Lady
8. Sin
9. Priestly celibacy
10. Papal infallibility

It is a religion where its followers may or may not, believe what they like to believe.
And that is entirely up to them.

But, C of E vicars should not be in a position where they can advise and counsel young Catholic minds, that way lies madness and the spread of heresy.

I suppose that we should be grateful for the fact that, as yet, the school does not have an Imam on the staff.

Watch this space!

A 'Catholic' school provides a prayer room for students

Excellent, well done and jolly good show you might say.

But, me, being of the curmudgeonly inclination, I think not.

The very phrase 'Prayer Room' summons up images of a room set aside for the use of Muslim students or, (horror of horrors) the ubiquitous ecumenical room where all sorts of odd denominations hold sway.

Now this particular Catholic School is in a well heeled area, Hove, on the outskirts of Brighton, and I have written about it in the past and of how they hold, or used to hold, ecumenical services.

Not good, in a Catholic school, not really much good anywhere, after all, just what is the point?

Now Cardinal Newman School, for such it is, actually has a rather beautiful and grand chapel; the original prayer room, if you like.

But, instead of using this sacred space they have created a prayer room that looks as if it caters rather more for the Primary rather than the Secondary pupil.

                        

           This is the school's Corpus Christi Chapel but heaven knows what's going on in it!

The video clip on the link below carries the usual silly sort of quotes along the lines of "pupils feel comfortable in it" (the new prayer room).

But really, Bishop Conry needs to man up and squash this whole lunatic concept and drag the school back to sound Catholic practice.

H/T to A & B News Blog (although, I suspect that they think the concept is great).
There is a link to a video on the A & B post.

New competition! Spot the Catholic imprint!

It is not to unreasonable to expect that all Catholic Schools should portray an immediate and unmistakeable element of "Catholicity" for want of a better word ('ethos' tends to be a little over-used and distorted in meaning).

This is a sign of Catholicism!

That sign of Catholicism should be apparent on the school website, notice-board and within the walls of the school itself in the form of crucifixes and statues prominently displayed.

Who could possibly argue against that? Even the most liberal cafeteria Catholic could not possibly disagree - or could they?

So, to determine the extent that Catholic Schools show evidence of their faith I have commenced carrying out a market survey, websites only at this stage, just to see how "Catholic" our schools are, certainly in appearance.

Having outed Cardinal Newman School in Hove it seemed logical to focus on all schools bearing the great man's name.

After all, he lived comparatively recently (as opposed to the sixth century saints), he was propelled into the spotlight by the Holy Father beatifying him in Birmingham in 2010 and he was a convert from the Anglican faith which would seem to give him yet another topical facet.

So, my first port of call was Cardinal Newman School, in Luton.

Well, other than the Headteacher's message, which is the usual guff, there appears to be no sign that the school is Catholic. The Head mentions the word 'Catholic' some three times and then, that's it!
That rates as a zero in my view.

I think that Our Lady would be pleased
to be featured on every Catholic School
website

And  so to Cardinal Newman Primary School, Hersham, Surrey. This also is lacking in signs or symbols of the faith and only mentions that it is Catholic in passing. Another cabbage award!

Up to north of the border and we find the Cardinal Newman High School in Lanarkshire. Well, this one does have a picture of what appears to be a stainless steel representation of Christ on the Cross but very little else to tell parents that it is Catholic and not a sausage (or haggis) with regard to a biographical note on the Cardinal. Shame!

Back down to Wales and CN School in Pontypridd - at last! Amazing! Lots of buttons to click stating things such as "Retreat", "Charitable works", "Holy Week" and "CAFOD" (groan) but you click the buttons and get nowhere, nothing happens, "dim" use as they would say in Pontypridd.

And still there's not a word on their patron saint.

The mission statement (aaargh!) is the usal bland claptrap but carries the subtitle "Heart to Heart Speaks" - OK I know what they mean.

And, finally, (this is getting tedious), but please stay with me - to
Cardinal Newman High School in Warrington.

I could lay out a sum in folding money and challenge one and all to try and find a religious symbol on this site.
It does not have a mission statement but it does have a vision statement the meaning of which, is beyond all human comprehension.

This is how it begins...

"Jesus was a teacher, His Gospel message was concerned with the whole person and the whole of society.  In Cardinal Newman High school we believe that the Gospel is relived in daily life and God is experienced as a reality......"

All of these schools claim that their aim is to imbue their pupils with the Catholic faith (in a variety of words) - the thing is, dear reader......are they telling the truth....or are they telling porkies?

I leave you to be the judge.

'Catholics' final episode and some more on the Schools issue

Last night BBC Four screened the final part in its mini series, 'Catholics'.

I watched with as charitable an eye as possible, it had been previewed as being about women in the Catholic Church which I interpreted to be about the issues of participation in a liturgical sense whereas it seemed to focus on women in the church volunteer sense. So be it.

There was some good and some less than good; the programme showed up the beauty and wonder of the "Mother Church" of English and Welsh Catholics, Westminster Cathedral, a place that, during my childhood seemed ever clad internally in scaffolding (no, they were not building it silly, I am not that decrepit, they were finishing the mosaic ceilings).

But the views from the women interviewed, for the most part, were those of Cafeteria Catholicism, they disliked the rigidity of the Church in the 40s and 50s, they disapproved of Catholic teaching on contraception and some of them had quite muddled interpretations as to doctrinal affairs.
It did appear, rather, that when the cameras were on bright, forthcoming young mums, the questions regarding doctrine were held back and saved for others that were featured.

I will not single out individuals as that might be unkind but the programme was probably a pretty fair summary of what modern Catholic women (and men) believe as regard Catholicism.

Having left the Anglican Church for
the Catholic Faith, Cardinal Newman
might well be puzzled at the prospect
of joint Eucharstic Services

And yesterday, I posted on Catholic Schools and one in particular that held an Anglican Eucharistic Service for 300 Protestant students who joined with the school in some sort of mumbo jumbo service.
The comments you may read and they are sound but I have also received a comment from a friend who has inside knowledge of the affairs of this school (Cardinal Newman School, Hove). Hence, my friend must reamin anonymous but this is from their email to me:-

Richard,

Glad you did Card Newman. I think all the deanery clergy are
unlikely to be supportive of Anglican Eucharist. They are good men and
though they wouldn't criticise it publicly they are very concerned
about it.
Especially that it has 300 Anglicans, you can imagine what
impact that has on the Catholic "ethos".To the clergy's credit the school is a constant gripe at deanery meetings, so much so that the bishop appointed the charismatic lay chaplains brother as the PP of Hove, in part to forestall complaints I suspect.
Like most Catholic schools it is Catholic in name only.

And in answer to my question, why do Catholic Schools go down this route when we have such richness at our fingertips?

"It is money, the more pupils, the weaker the faith but the bigger the
budget and the higher the salaries".

Now it is an undoubted scandal that Catholic Schools (most of them) ride roughshod over Church Law and the Teachings of Christ.
It is a scandal that they, presumably, ignore the requests or commands of their local Bishop.

So we just go back to sitting on our hands and tut tutting.

Well, I think not. The time has come for a petition -
"Oh no!" I hear you cry, "Not another bleep petition" ah.....but this one is to Our Lady and all that is involved is that you say three Hail Marys every day until the end of Lent.

And the petiton is: 'Please intercede with your Blessed Son so that the Bishops will intervene and bring all schools under their control into the fullness of authentic Catholic Teaching and liturgical practice'

That does not have to be uttered word for word, the sentiment will do nicely.

And ask your Bishop what he is doing about the scandal, but nicely...it is Lent after all.

Catholic Schools - they just don't get it

I think that just about every Catholic Secondary School in Great Britain is named after the Sacred Heart, Our Lady, a saint or a leading Catholic cleric.

So far so good. But they miss out on a tremendous opportunity to catechise and excite the senses of those in their charge because, they fail to give any details regarding the saint or the personality they are named after.

Do those pupils attending the St John Lloyd School know anything about him?

Or those pupils in Coventry attending the Bishop Ullathorne School, would they be able to compose a short essay on the life of the great man?

But quite obviously, after the recent Papal visit the pupils of Cardinal Newman School in Hove will be au fait with HE John Henry?

Not according to their website, not so much as a photograph or painting of  Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, or a snatch of verse from the 'Dream'.

This would go rather well on their site I thought...

This child of clay

To me was given,

To rear and train

By sorrow and pain

In the narrow way,

Alleluia,

From earth to heaven.

An opportunity missed, a chance to enlighten passed by; and would not a brief biographical note lift the school out and place above others when the time for comparisons came?

But, upon closer inspection of the Cardinal Newman School website I came across something that was, how shall I put it? Not quite the round shilling?

This is what was stated on the website ................

"Anglican Eucharist

On Wednesday February 29th at 10a.m we are having one of our regular Anglican Eucharistic services. Over 300 Anglican students have been invited to attend and we will warmly welcome members of their family who can be there too. Please sign in at reception if you come. The service itself will celebrate the long standing and significant contribution the Anglican community has made to the Christian ethos and the success of Cardinal Newman Catholic School".

Yikes! Thought I, this is not right in any shape or form. Just what is an Anglican Eucharist?

I am reasonably happy for Anglicans to go along holding their own brand of service in the hopes that, one day, God's grace will enter their souls and they will make a move towards conversion to the one true Faith but, in the meantime, I see no merit in holding such a service in a Catholic School.

I have no idea how it all panned out but I have a horrid sneaking suspicion that there may have been a joint "service" with the Catholic priest celebrating Mass and the Anglican Vicar having a Eucharistic Service - just the sort of thing one wants to confuse young minds and encourage indifferentism.

So, a brief foray into Catholic School websites to determine if they had paid their dues to their patron has turned into something even more disappointing.

Perhaps Bishop Conry might like to pay Cardinal Newman School a visit and perhaps all Bishops might like to commission a review of all schools in their Diocese to make certain that they really do portray the Catholic Faith and are, indeed, Catholic.

I shan't be holding my breath.

The ten marks of a Catholic school

What makes a school Catholic?

It's name?

Not necessarily, in fact, I would not regard most Catholic schools in the UK as being Catholic in the sense that they reflect the teachings of Holy Mother Church.

Most do not.
Most employ a large number of non Catholic teachers who cannot reasonably be expected to embrace the Catholic "ethos", if that is the correct word to describe an institution that looks, sounds and behaves as a Catholic school should.
Ambience is not quite right either; and "identity" is a shade obscure, perhaps "spirit" is the word to be used.

Anyone wearing this could not have
attended a real Catholic school!

Does school X reflect the Catholic spirit?

Here are ten points that would entitle a school to claim that it has the "Catholic spirit"

1. Morning class prayers or school assembly
2. Crucifix on the wall of every classroom
3. Weekly school Mass
4. Catechism as the keystone of religious education studies
5. No ‘sex education’ programmes (in the secular sense) taught
6. School choir versed in plainchant
7. Latin in the curriculum
8. School ‘houses’ named after saints rather than animals or (worse) rock bands
9. An ordained priest as School Chaplain
10. A strict but fair regime of discipline



Photo credit: Traditional Catholic and originally from Fr Simon Henry

A great priest who disobeyed his Bishop!

Not just once but several times according to his autobiography. He was, arguably, the last of the traditional Cardinals of England & Wales; he was frequently fighting the cause of Catholic conservatism on a wide range of television programmes, he criticised the USA for being too fixated with communism and not attentive enough to spiritual affairs and he also made the famous riposte to his aide, the then Monsignor Bruce Kent who had, upon driving past a socialist poster, said to the Cardinal: "Better red than dead". "Oh no", came the reply from the Cardinal: "Better dead than red."

He recognised the pitfalls that were opening up after the Second Vatican Council and again made the famous comment (about the Novus Ordo after witnessing the new Mass in Rome): 

"At home it is not only women and children but also fathers of families and young men who come regularly to mass. If we were to offer them the kind of ceremony we saw yesterday in the Sistine Chapel we would soon be left with a congregation mostly of women and children."

So who is this man who, as a priest disobeyed his Bishop and what were the circumstances under which he did so?

It is, of course, none other than Cardinal John Carmel Heenan, Archbishop of Westminster.

I find it intriguing that, as a parish priest, he actually went against the will of his Bishop especially as so many priests today give the reason for not celebrating the EF Mass as being due to episcopal obedience: "The Bishop would never approve".
Never mind that Rome has spoken on the subject!

Here are the circumstances in which Fr Heenan found himself. The Second World War had just come to an end and his London East End parish of Barking had felt the full force of the blitz. Everywhere one looked there was ruin and desolation, whole terraces of houses now reduced to a pile of rubble, hospitals, community centres, churches and schools lay in ruins. And Fr Heenan's Catholic School was among the casualties. He set out with typical vigour, to rebuild the school and build up his scattered flock but his Bishop, being a man of bureacratic leanings, was not in favour of the parish priest's plans.
Here is an extract from the Cardinal's autobiography, covering this episode in his life:-

"...Before the Far Eastern end of the war was over the rebuilding of the bombed school had begun. It was a heartening sight. I was not worried about paying for the building because war damage claims would eventually cover most of the cost. I merely had to borrow a few thousand pounds to keep the contractors happy until 'the war damage' (the colloquialism for the government department concerned) paid the bill. I wrote happily to the bishop for leave to borrow five thousand pounds. He refused on the grounds that I should not have begun to rebuild the school without having submitted the plans to him. He would not authorise me to borrow any money. The building must be stopped forthwith. I wrote in great alarm to the bishop to explain that the building was only a replacement of the damaged section of the school. Strictly speaking, there were no new plans to submit. The bishop was not moved.

It is hard to exaggerate my dilemma. If I obeyed the bishop it might prove impossible to bring back the contractors when the bishop had seen the light. There was, in addition, the devastating effect on public relations with East Ham Borough - as well as the blow to the morale of the teachers, parents, children and the neighbours who, after all the bombing were delightedly watching a building going up rather than down. I did not know what to do. I had never defied the bishop despite all trials but this time I could see no alternative.
Reluctantly I took the bishop's letter forbidding me to borrow the money to the Apostolic Delegate whom I had known both at Ushaw and in Rome. I asked him quite simply to tell me what I must do. I was aware of the principle that it is always safe to obey but I did not see how in this case the principle could apply.
I had come to the Apostolic Delegate because I was genuinely in doubt about my duty. To my relief - and somewhat to my surprise since Mgr Godfrey was an ultra-cautious man - the Delegate's reply was unhesitating. He added that for some time he had been receiving reports of the bishop's increasing loss of contact with affairs.
It was true that I could now go ahead without scruple......"

I admire people who kick against the traces and take a risk for the common good. We need more politicians, teachers and doctors who are prepared to chance their arm in undertaking initiatives aimed at improving the lot of man......and we certainly need more priests and bishops who will do so!

The extract is from 'Not the Whole Truth'

WHY ARE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS SO LACK LUSTRE WITH REGARD TO THE FAITH?

Hmm....I guess we really know why, but I am referring, in this instance, to the way that schools named after a patron saint, fail to inform and educate as to regards the special qualities of that saint so that his or her deeds may be emulated by staff and pupils.


After a recent post on a Shropshire Catholic School that failed to give information regarding Blessed Robert Johnson I did a quick non scientific survey of school websites.
I lost the will to live after 17 schools and the score was 16 no mentions and only 1 school that gave a biographical sketch on its patron. Guess which school that was? None other than our own best loved Cardinal Vaughan you remember, the one that Westminster Diocese wants to command absolutely!

Cardinal Vaughan does it again!

So, in a vain attempt at naming and shaming, here is my list of offending schools...what an opportunity they have missed. It is a fundamental part of the faith (and good marketing practice) to give credit to one's sponsors or patrons.

1. St John Llloyd Llanelli
2. Bishop Vaughan Cathedral School Swansea
3. St Philomena's Carshalton
4. St John Fisher Purley
5. Corpus Christi Cardiff
6. John Henry Newman Stevenage
7. Mount Carmel Archway
8. Cardinal Pole Homerton
9. Cardinal Wiseman Greenford
10. St James Colindale
11. St David's College Cardiff
12. Mary Immaculate Cardiff
13. Newman Catholic College Harlesden
14. St Thomas More Wood Green
15. St Joseph's Wrexham
16. St Thoma Aquinas Birmingham

The headteachers of the above should be ashamed of their neglect of a golden opportunity!

Michel Roux....my kind of service!

The renowned chef, Michel Roux has just completed a television series featuring a group of young people from what one might call challenging backgrounds. The education sector had failed them, some were single parents or had ASBOs (Anti Social Behaviour Orders) hanging over them, all were disenchanted with the working society at this very early stage of their lives.
Roux set out to teach them the front of house skills that go to make a restaurant or brasserie successful. Waiting, wine waiting, serving food at the table, cocktail bar management, Maitre d'hotel experience, meeting and greeting; all of these elements were taught by Michel Roux and his colleagues over the course of a few weeks.

Michel Roux with his 'Service' Group

Apart from making good television, the programme also launched those youngsters into a world that they had previously only dreamed of and those dreams were limited by a total lack of knowledge.
Admittedly, one or two were kicked out; there will always be some who refuse to open their minds, but the rest have all gone on to commence careers at famous hotels and restaurants and good providence to them.
Over the course of the 5 or 6 weeks that the programme lasted they were exposed to the harsh realities of a demanding industry and also given experience of working in some very high class establishments - culminating in a session at the world famous Le Gavroche in Paris.
I have long held the belief that, to turn young people away from disaster and re-direct them on the path of success and goodness, the best therapy is to immerse them in a life changing experience.

Off the coast of wildest Pembrokeshire lies a tide rip of ferocious intensity, known as 'The Bitches'. Now, take a group of what used to be called juvenile delinquents, put them in lifejackets and take them around The Bitches for a day in a rubber inflatable craft. At the end of the day, vandalising a phone box or spraying graffitti on a house wall will seem tame and undemanding to them, they will have been touched by something that exposes an element of life previously unthought of.

Picture: Thousand Island Expeditions
The Bitches, a life changing experience

I do not even mind if a Council or Charity wants use public money to send a serial teenage thief to work in Africa for a month, it will be a life changing and life enhancing experience, for most.

Now, stay with me please for another second or so, switch over to a *Catholic Secondary School (one not in the Cardinal Vaughan mould) and take a group of Sixth Formers. I am not for one moment suggesting that these young people are society 'drop outs' but I do believe that most of them will have apostasy writ large on their foreheads, sad but true. Another truism is the fact that they will only have a rudimentary knowledge of the faith and even less interest.
Take this group and place them in a French Monastery for a week where they have to observe the hours and work in the fields and maintain silence. Then take them to Rome and show them where their faith came from and where it is going. Next stop, a 2 week stint in an FSSP Seminary, sitting in on classes, joining in the liturgical programme and, finally, perhaps a week in a Catholic hospice.
When they are finished, my belief is that you will have a core of potentially  vibrant young Catholics who will begin to blossom in their faith and from whose ranks a few vocations will sprout.
This should not be beyond the whit of man. Parents these days are used to stumping up large sums of folding money for their pride and joys to go skiing or to New York to see the art galleries. With a bit of ingenuity the experience could be stitched into The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme or any other public spirited initiative that may be operated locally. The results would be interesting to say the least.
 Is there a Bishop out there who might pick it up and run with it?

* Catholic Teachers - please do not berate me. This is a generalisation based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence; I am sure your school is a model of excellence. Phew!