CONNECTIONS AND CONFLICT:

On April 16th Pope Leo, during his visit to Cameroon, denounced a “handful of tyrants” ravaging the world and he also spoke out about leaders who use religion to justify war, saying they drag “that which is sacred into darkness”. Interestingly, he was able to point out that the speech had been written two weeks prior to the public attacks on him from the White House. I think we all feel that the horrendous circumstances facing many people across the world help to put our own problems into some sort of perspective, but, for all that, each of us has to cope with conflict from time to time. This got me thinking about a period of serious stress in my life after I left Redemptorist Publications in 2006 and which led to me writing Take Heart, Expand your Vision of God (published by Redemptorist Publications, 2009). On my day off yesterday I opened the book again and reminded myself of how the wonderful insights and advice of so many people over the years helped me shape my understanding of what the Lord wants of you and me. You know that I often refer to the Scripture Course with Fr Marty Palmer SJ in Omaha, USA, in 1989 and how he shaped my understanding of salvation: he insisted that our definition of what Christ is saving us from and for must be able to fit every conceivable situation: in other words one that would cope with imagining ourselves in Gaza as well. Accordingly, we were asked to note Paul’s insistence that we must root out divisions for Christ had come to heal the hurt and piece together a fractured world and would not give up, literally loving us to death.

This was the driving force behind all my work among those whose marriages had failed. Even when a relationship has irretrievably broken down, I believe the Church must search for ways of reaching out and embracing those who feel abandoned. Doing that work I met a wonderful priest, Fr John Daley, who served the parish of St Joseph in Leicester until three months before his death at the age of 88 two years ago! I thought of him because I was with him during this week in the Church’s liturgical year. He pointed out that all week we are listening to the wonderful missionary work of Paul and 

that the liturgists seem to think it is too much of a scandal to share with us what happened before the chapter finishes. So on Saturday we go straight to Chapter 16, missing out the fact that John Mark, Barnabas’s cousin, had abandoned them and wanted to return and Paul would have none of it. We are told: “After a violent quarrel they parted company, and Barnabas sailed off with Mark to Cyprus. Before Paul left he chose Silas to accompany him and was commended by the brothers to the grace of God.” There is no suggestion that Paul and Barnabas worked together again. So there we have it: sometimes with the best will in the world conflicts cannot be resolved and we have to learn to live peacefully with that fact too. And, as an addendum, there was another connection with Fr Daley. He was a Rosminian and my father was taught by the Rosminians at Ratcliffe College!

MADELEINE McCANN

I am conscious that this Sunday marks the 19^th anniversary of the day Madeleine went missing. We assure her grandmother, Sue Healy, and all the family of our continuing prayerful love and support.

A MOMENTOUS WEEK

As I prepare these few thoughts on a beautiful warm Friday morning, a calm pervades Bishop Eton after all the activity surrounding the events of the past week, culminating in Fr James Casey’s funeral yesterday. In my recorded message yesterday evening I felt moved to follow in Fr Provincial’s footsteps at the funeral and use a remarkable article that  Fr Jim wrote for our former parish magazine, BE Alive, in the wake of his operation for oesophageal cancer in July 2016.

If you would like to read the full article, we are putting it on the website as a special item this weekend.

Towards the end he expressed his gratitude for all the support and concluded: “We were a power to be reckoned with. As we lived through this experience, grace, normally thought of as a theological truth, became a lived reality – became words of encouragement, a warm embrace, little acts of service, a willingness to wait and watch and listen and love. We were a grace-fuelled community and we were the winners.” Firstly, I could not help but reflect that often we don’t know what is really going on inside another person’s mind and heart. Fr Jim could often be taciturn: like many men of his generation, he did not readily share at the emotional level. Yet in this article you receive an insight into someone whose life was shaped by the Gospel of hope and love and ultimate redemption.

It says everything I want to share with you as we continue to strive to build up what I would call Team BE: a community of people of faith seeking to enable each one to share his and her gifts for the good of all. This was illustrated as last Saturday’s event to honour the memory of St Gerard Majella unfolded. It was an extraordinarily grace-filled day and the feed-back has been wholly positive. What fascinated me was the way that all the different elements of the day merged to make the whole such a rewarding experience.

There was something similar about yesterday’s funeral: the Requiem Mass and the reception required a lot of careful planning and so many people worked tirelessly to ensure it would be a blessed memory for Fr Jim’s family and friends. This I believe is the call to synodality in action. That said, ‘synodality’ was not a word that captured Fr Jim’s imagination and he constantly questioned others’ ways of pronouncing it, so let him have the final say to you on how we should celebrate the past week: “As they say daftly on television these days: ‘Why don’t we all give ourselves a big round of applause?’”

POPE LEO AND PRAYERS FOR PEACE:

So finally, let us thank God for Pope Leo and the way he is courageously speaking out in condemnation of war and calling upon all of us to resist the tyranny which is holding the world to ransom. He is studiously refusing to be entangled in a political wrangle: rather he is proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 CELEBRATING THE GIFT OF SAINT GERARD MAJELLA:

Even before the event this Saturday, I want to thank the large team which has prepared so meticulously for the occasion. I am conscious of the amount of work that has gone into ensuring that it will be a fitting thanks to God for St Gerard and the remarkable influence he has had and continues to have in bringing the gospel message of the sanctity of life and the Lord’s healing ministry into so many people’s lives. The musicians and singers have joined forces and were practising for a couple of hours on Wednesday night; meanwhile parishioners of all ages are coming together to ensure that we offer an hospitable welcome to everyone who visits Bishop Eton on the day.

I hope and pray that this will provide a springboard to spread the message of our Shrine ministries here, both to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and to St Gerard. As I was preparing for this Saturday a natural connection between the two occurred to me when I realised that our traditional hymn to St Gerard was written by Fr Francis Hall. When in 1866 news that the Redemptorists were being entrusted with the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour, Fr Hall was in this community and although only 30 years of age, appeared to be dying. The community prayed fervently to our Lady under this title, and he made a dramatic recovery and lived for another 31 years. Hence the fact that the first copy of the icon to leave Rome came to Bishop Eton and the community recompensed the Augustinians for the original. And now, for good measure, we have an Augustinian Pope, Leo XIV.

 FR JAMES CASEY’S FUNERAL:

We will receive Fr Casey’s body into the church at 5.00pm on Wednesday with a Vigil Service and Evening Prayer, and his Funeral Mass will be at noon the following day, Thursday, 30 April. Thank you for so many good wishes and promises of Masses and prayers for the repose of his soul: we have been deeply touched by your kindness.

Aside -  SCALA NEWS - the news website for the Redemptorists worldwide posted an obituary to Fr Casey, you can read it at In memory of Fr James Casey, CSsR (1934–2026) | english

 CELEBRATING THE GIFT OF SAINT GERARD MAJELLA

I hope you all know by now that next Saturday we have a day in honour of this remarkable saint, a gift to the Redemptorists and to the Church. He was born 300 years ago this month and all over the world people are marking the occasion with prayers of thanksgiving as well as continuing to petition him to intercede for them for their different intentions. I am pleased to say that across the country special events have been arranged in the different dioceses and ours is this coming Saturday. I am extremely grateful to the team who volunteered to plan the events and I sense it is going to be a grace-filled day.

Archbishop John Sherrington will preside at the midday Mass and I hope as many of you as possible will participate in that and/or share in the variety of opportunities which will culminate with the Taizé Service.

 FR JAMES CASEY, CSsR RIP:

May I ask your prayers for the repose of the soul of Fr Jim, who died peacefully last night here in the monastery. You know that I am always looking for connections and thanking God for those providential signs of his goodness and love. Fr Jim’s death was a perfect illustration of that providence. The last few days have been challenging as we tried to determine the best way of helping Fr Jim whose health was deteriorating. He was due for more tests this very day (Friday), but events overtook us.

Fortunately, Emma W who manages our Care Team and the District Nurse Team moved heaven and earth to provide the support we needed and everything was in place should he have survived a little longer. Happily, on Thursday evening Anna, his niece, a Missionary of Charity in Portugal, was able to speak to him on the phone just before  Fr Andrew and I prayed with him and gave him all the blessings the Church offers. Soon after the Lord called him. May he rest in peace.

 AN IMMENSE SENSE OF RELIEF AND GRATITUDE:

I must confess that I reached Easter Monday with a huge sigh of relief, but also with an immense sense of gratitude for the wonderful response from you all, which helped to make the Triduum and Easter ceremonies so memorable. I watched in admiration as the different teams ensured that the church was prepared and each occasion was fittingly celebrated. Furthermore, the size of the congregations exceeded my expectations. After the Easter Vigil joy radiated around the church, as it did at each of the Masses on Easter Sunday. In the midst of so much tension and anxiety across the world, our faith offers us another perspective. Led by Pope Leo, we can continue to pray for the grace to bring that joy, together with the hope and peace that Christ offers us, to the wider world. This is the synodal vision of the Church today: we are all walking together and working together as the Body of Christ, with a mission to evangelise the world. There is talk of a revival of faith and I sense that there may be many more people who would love to share our vision. It is in this context that I suggest we all try to be more proactive in encouraging others to join us in this modern crusade. Unlike our forebears in the Middle Ages who believed that Christianity had to conquer the world with violence, we know that Christ is calling for us to imitate him and never give up on loving. ‘The Journey in Faith’ programme will begin again in the autumn. Let us see whether we can encourage more people to come and explore the mystery of Christ with us and in due course be baptised or received into full communion. So, once again, thank you for all the goodwill and encouragement and may we continue to celebrate the Easter Season with renewed hope and confidence. The season ends with the Feast of Pentecost when we will ask for a further outpouring of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, which, in turn, will help us to share the Fruits of the Holy Spirit with others.

 A VERY HAPPY EASTER

AND ALL THE BLESSINGS OF THE EASTER SEASON

FROM THE REDEMPTORISTS AT BISHOP ETON

As I prepare these few notes in good time for the weekend, I am conscious that all the ceremonies of Holy Week and Easter are going to be something of a challenge for us this year with the health problems we now face in the community. Nevertheless, we are confident that with your support and prayers all will be well and we will celebrate the Resurrection with the joy and hope that surround this, the most important Feast in the Christian calendar. If ever we and the wider world need to hear the message of Salvation, it is surely now? The international scene is fraught with tension and wars are raging across the globe.

In the face of all this Pope Leo XIV gave a remarkable homily on Palm Sunday, leaving us in no doubt about where our prayers should be directed. Let me share some of what he said with you:

“We turn our gaze to Jesus, who reveals himself as King of Peace, even as war looms around him. He remains steadfast in meekness, while others raise swords and clubs. He is the light of the world, though darkness is about to engulf the earth…

Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood’ (Isaiah 1.15). As we set our gaze upon him who was crucified for us, we can see a crucified humanity. In his wounds, we see the hurts of so many women and men today… Christ, King of Peace, cries out again from his cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your weapons! Remember you are brothers and sisters!”

Accordingly, as we rejoice in the Resurrection of Christ and his promise that we too will rise with him, we unite our prayer with all men, women and children of good will and pray that goodness will triumph over evil. I pray that Christ’s peace and joy may fill you and your homes this Easter.