On Wednesday 3rd March, His Eminence John Cardinal Foley conferred the Ministry of Acolyte on our Seminarian Alan Burgess, along with six of his second-year colleages from the Pontifical Beda College.

Unlike temporary commisioning of Extra-ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, this is a permanent ‘minor order’ authorising Alan to “aid the deacon and minister to the priest in liturgical celebrations … to distribute Holy Communion as an auxiliary minister (in the usual circumstances) … to expose and depose the Blessed Sacrament for Adoration” and to instruct altar servers and others in their temporary liturgical duties.

Alan is excited about his Acolytate and looks forward to his second pastoral placement this coming summer (elsewhere in our diocese). While visiting us at his diocesan base here in New Malden, he will now be able to assist in these ways and in taking Communion to the housebound and hospitalised.

The next major step for Alan, God willing, is his Candidacy for Ordination to the Diaconate which normally takes place in November of the third year of semiary formation (ie. 2010).

The Parish congratulates Alan on this second step on the road to Priestly Ordination. We continue to pray for him, and for our resident potential seminarian, Philip Andrews who is away from us this weekend, in Retreat at St John’s Seminary, Wonersh, in preparation for attending the Selection Conference next month.

3rd Sunday of Lent

In today’s first reading we hear God speak from the midst of the burning bush: “I have seen the miserable state of my people in Egypt. I have heard their appeal to be free…” So begins Israel’s long journey to freedom in the Promised Land.

While we all know the story of the Exodus, we often forget that God’s people had a particular reason for their journey into the desert. Moses says to Pharoah:  “We must go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord God…” In other words, the freedom Israel sought more than any other was religious freedom – all other freedom is built on this.

Today, we live in a country where religious freedom is under threat. This may sound melodramatic, and indeed, we are not living in slavery as the people of Israel were. Yet basic liberties of conscience can no longer be taken for granted. Only last week, Ed Balls, the Schools Minister, declared that, if the Children, Schools and Families Bill currently before Parliament becomes law, Catholic shools will be compelled to teach secular dogmas contrary to the Catholic Faith. As he said:

If you are currently a Catholic school … you could choose to teach only to children that contraception is wrong, homosexuality is wrong. That changes radically with this Bill.

And he went on to spell out exactly what this would mean in practice:

They must give both side of the argument. They must explain how to access an abortion. The same is true on contraception as well.

Rather bizarrely, the secular media has portrayed the controversy over the Catholic, Schools and Families Bill as some sort of victory for the Catholic Church, as the Government has conceded that matters such as abortion, sexual activity and so on can be taught ‘in a way that reflects the school’s religious character’. Mr Balls comments, however, reveal how little such a concession is worth. Notwithstanding their ‘religious character’, faith schools would have to teach their pupils where they can acces abortion, would have to demonstrate how to use contraception and would be obliged to teach about civil partnerships as a form of ’stable relationship’ equivalent to marriage. Clearly schools obliged to teach in this way would no longer be Catholic – they might still be allowed to hang a crucifix in the classroom, but they would no longer be teaching the Catholic Faith.

It is still possible that this particular Bill will be rejected by Parliament, and we should all pray that this happens. But, in the current climate, further threats to our religious freedom are bound to arise. This is a time for all of us, as a Catholic community, to reflect deeply on the gifts of faith – to remember that, five centuries ago, brave men and women died to keep the Catholic faith alive in this land – and to ask whether we too are prepared to stand up and be counted. The Gospel reading today warns that God’s patience is great but not endless: like the fig tree in the parable, we must begin to bear fruit – or we will be judged and found wanting.

2nd Sunday of Lent

Transfiguration is at the heart of Lent. God longs for us to be transfigured into the likeness of His Son. Jesus gives the three Apostles a glimpse of His glory, not only to sustain them through the coming suffering and perplexity of His passion and death, but to deepen their longing to share in His new life and His glory.

Our Lenten exercises should help to deepen our love of the Lord, give us time and opportunity to draw closer to Him, to hear His Voice, and to respond to His call to each one of us individually.

Are we conscious of journeying towards Heaven – or of moving away from the things of God, and remaining earth-bound?
Do I sincerely seek the life of Heaven here and now?

Everything we think, do or say (or what we don’t think, do or say – our sins of omission) either moves us a step nearer to God and to the life of Heaven, or a step further from Him and from Heaven…

It is logically impossible to move forward without first being freed from the things which hold us back. We need to be released from all that impedes our progress. Our selfish sinfulness restricts us from finding and fulfilling our God-given destiny. We have marred the image of God in us (in whose likeness we were created) and need to be transfigured by Him who longs to restore us to the likeness of His Son.

We try to fool ourselves if we think that we can do without the God-given gift of forgiveness which, as physical beings, we need to be made tangible, real and assured. Only in the Sacrament of Confession (sometimes called Reconciliation or Penance) can this forgiveness be experienced in its fullness and assurance.

The Catechism (No. 2042) sees Confession, not just as the obligatory means of being absolved of serious sin, but as one of the habitual and necessary means of spiritual progress; while the Compendium to the Catechism (No. 432.2) makes no mention of the need for serious sin but formulates the precept as: “To confess one’s sins, receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation at least once each year”. We need to remind ourselves that the deadly (ie. mortal) sins are seven – pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth – and that each poisons the soul in its own way.

Finally, the obligation to annual confession aids us in combatting the sin of presumption before God’s judgment.  (Zenit)

Confessions at St Joseph’s are every Saturday: 10.30-11.30 and 5.15-5.45pm

Week beginning 21st February, 1st Sunday of Lent

Cardinal John Henry Newman (21st Feb – Day of prayer of his Beatification) – We commemorate the great convert Cardinal, who did so much to defend the faith against the tide of scepticism and rationalism.

Chair of St Peter (Monday 22nd). This Feast celebrates the unity of the Church, which is based around the ‘See’ or ‘Chair’ of St Peter the Apostle – in other words, around his teaching authority. We think of the words of St Leo the Great, who wrote:

Throughout the Church Peter still says daily “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God”, and every tongue that confesses the Lord is inspired by the leadership of his voice.

1st Sunday of Lent

The Lenten season is often compared to a journey. Just as, in the Old Testament, the People of Israel travelled for 40 years to reach the Promised Land, so duing Lent the Church collectively journeys towards the feast of Easter – Easter itself holding out to us a promise greater than that given to the Israelites – the promise of Eternal Life, won for us by Jesus. Just as the Israelites had their problems on the journey – weakness, disobedience, discouragement – so too our own Lenten journey is rarely straightforward! But it is important we never lose sight of the destination, and persevere.

In the City of Rome, from earliest times, this imagery of the ‘journey’ was taken very seriously. Lent began (as it still does) with the Pope going in procession to the ancient basilica of Santa Sabina high up on the Aventine Hill, there to distribute the blessed ashes. Then, every day in Lent was assigned a ’station church’ – each day the people would gather for Mass in that particular place, gradually wending their way through the whole city, until at last Easter was celebrated with great solemnity at St John Lateran, the Pope’s cathedral.

Originally the Pope himself celebrated every ‘Station Mass’. This is no longer possible, but still, every day, groups of the faithful meet at the station churches – the major relics of the place are displayed and venerated, Mass is sung and the celebration normally ends with a procession.

Such a custom is very suited to the holy city of Rome, with its innumerable chuches – it would be rather more difficult to adopt in England. But the idea of the ’station’ (literally ‘stop‘) can still be useful to us in our Lenten observances. How often we start Lent full of good resolutions, only to find we slip back into our old ways very quickly! On Ash Wednesday we are full of fervour, but all too soon our good intentions have mysteriously faded away…

Hence it is a good idea to ’stop’ at regular intervals – perhaps every weekend – and simply asses how Lent is going for us. Have we made progress? If not, what has gone wrong? Can I put it right next week?

Don’t be discouraged – God is always prepared to give a second chance – but do be prepared to persevere, even when things are hard. After all, Our Lord himself fell three times on the way to Calvary, but he carried on to win us our Salvation.

Many family groups have expressed concern at the undermining of the rights of families in the Children, Schools and Families Bill which is currently before Parliament. If made law this bill will make Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE, including sex education) part of the National Curriculum.

“Too Much, Too Soon – The government’s plans for your child’s sex education” is one of the excellent commentaries on this bill which can be downloaded at www.famyouth.org.uk, where Norman Wells gives information about the pressure groups which have been involved in campaigning for the bill. In the section “Parents’ views not sought”, he reaches the conclusion:

The government’s decision to make PHSE, including SRE [Sex & Relationships Education] a statutory part of the National Curriculum was therefore made without any consultation with parents (page 35).

Concern over this bill is not just a religious issue:

• It is about parents having the right to bring up children according to their own values
• It is about school governors (accessible to parents) losing their powers over PSHE
• It is about protecting young people from being exposed to materials which are inappropriate for their age.

Concerned parents are encouraged to check the website mentioned above.