21 June: Taking pictures of toy cars in the rain

These battered vehicles from my childhood are playthings for my grandsons today. The yellow one was designated an AA road rescue van by Abel, and has cut out stickers to make this clear. I mention that as an instance of how children can be creative with very little. The real story today is a continuation of Refuge Week.

Eric A Clayton is a press officer for the Canadian and American Jesuits and has a blog, ‘Now Discern This’. Earlier this year he went with a companion to see the Jesuits at work on the Mexico-U.S. border, helping migrants, refugees, from Latin America.

Among the people he met there was a nine year old boy named Jésus, who had two toy cars with him.

Read on for a fascinating story of a child’s creativity, resilience and hope, not dissimilar to what we read from Anne Frank yesterday.

18 June: Refugee Week: Our Home.

• Please visit the Refugee Week website.

“To me, a home is where you feel loved, safe, and cherished .”- Malala Yousafzai

We share a post for Refugee Week. The theme for Refugee Week 2024 is “Our Home”. From the places we gather to share meals to our collective home, planet earth: everyone is invited to celebrate what our Our Home means to them.

Home can be a place of refuge, a feeling or a state of mind. It can be found in smells, tastes and sounds. From the clothes we wear to the words we grew up with. It’s in food, music and arts. It’s in our cultures and in our landscapes.

Home can be more than one place and finding it can be a journey, as it is for so many of us who have to leave our countries and rebuild our lives. Sometimes we can find home in a single person. Other times it’s in a whole community. And often, it’s in a single gesture of care and welcome.

What would happen if this Refugee Week we extended our warmth and hospitality beyond our own homes and made entire neighbourhoods more welcoming? Simple acts like having a chat, walking together, or sending a message of welcome can help everyone feel like they belong. Together, we can work in solidarity to ensure all our neighbours, new and familiar, have safe and welcoming homes.

Our home is also global. We are interconnected; we share the earth’s resources, climate and its challenges. As we speak, millions of people are being displaced from their homes because of the climate crisis. But, exchanging knowledge, both new and traditional, can help us in practical ways to build hope for the future.

Together, this Refugee Week let’s practice our solidarity and make Our Home a more welcoming, safe and sustainable place for all.

14 June: We are what we eat? II, where have all the mealtimes gone?

Let’s take another look at eating together. This happy picture is not the norm for many people, who have lost the joyful habit of eating together, eating well.

The war in Ukraine showed how vulnerable our food supplies can be; perhaps this insight will help us to see how life can be difficult in places like Sudan, Yemen, or Syria, where long-term fighting and climate change can devastate crops by preventing sowing and harvest.

Meanwhile in Britain we see an endless procession of efforts to persuade people to eat better for their health’s sake. But there is a false god in the background: Mammon, or in modern English, Profit; profit for the big corporations that manufacture food products.

Manufactured food – ready meals, take-aways and precooked ingredients – deskill those who buy them and use them. If people lack confidence in preparing meals from scratch, that means more profit for the manufacturers.

This gives rise to something my relatives have reported in families across the UK, and I have witnessed with my own eyes: the loss of the family meal around a table. Children arrive at primary school never having learned to use a knife and fork. The grammar of table manners is lost to them; eating is not an event with rules and conventions. One mother I knew described meals in her house as ‘movable feasts’ but there was little festive in the way her teenagers ate as and when their hunger struck them, with scant regard for her or their younger siblings.

How can such people come to Christ’s table when they do not eat together? Let it be remembered that never did I visit without being offered a cup of tea and a biscuit …

11 June: Custodians of this Planet.

The Pope’s enduring efforts to reach across religious traditions serves as a reminder that faith is not a catalyst for division but a mainspring for unity. Indeed, in Islam, we are taught that the “Earth is green and beautiful, and Allah has appointed you his stewards over it.” From the concept of “tikkun olam” in Judaism, to the ancient teachings of Hindu dictums and the scriptures of many other religions, we see similar values of reverence for nature and concern for the future of our home.

Regardless of the differing beliefs we live our lives by, we share a collective duty as custodians of this planet. We inherited it from the generation that came before, and our shared goal is to pass on a sustainable one to the generation that comes after. And by working between faith traditions on the climate crisis, we double our gains. Not only do we make progress in addressing the great challenge of our era, but we also build respect, friendships and compassion in the process.

This is an extract from an article for The Tablet by Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London on the occasion of his being invited to a meeting with Pope Francis on the future of the planet. Mayor Khan points to the common belief that we are custodians of the planet and should work together, both for the planet and for the future of human society. The full article can be read here.

9 June: An Uneasy Yoke?

We follow yesterday’s post on breaking the chains of modern slavery with an example of this; one which implicates all of us who use mobile phones and other technologies. This extract is shared from the United Reformed Church’s Daily Devotions; this post is by Dr Anupama Ranawana of Christian Aid; the link brings you to the full article and a reminder from Isaiah that we have to take responsibility for our benefiting from others’ suffering.

Mobile phones are ubiquitous, an extension, almost, of one’s self and life. Our smartphones connect us, for better, and for worse. Without WhatsApp, my mother cannot check in on her itinerant daughter and, for me, that little green icon tethers me to family, wherever I am in the world. And yet, what is tethered, or shall we say ‘yoked’ to that mobile phone? 

What yoke do we hold when we pick up our mobile phones? Do we hear the cries and the demonstrations of the workers protesting these conditions and conflicts, asking for their lives, land, dignity, and a peaceful existence?

31 May: Vocation comes through formation

Following neatly on John Henry Newman’s practical view of the fear of the Lord, the Deputy Director of the Catholic Union, James Somerville-Meikle, writes:

The proportion of people in England and Wales who are married or in a civil partnership has fallen below 50 per cent for the first time. The figure dropped to 49.4% in 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This statistic is just one of a number of indicators that points to people living more individualistic lives, fearing making a commitment to anything or anyone.

It is into this headwind of individualism that the seeds of vocation to so many callings are being blown off course. We see that not only in the declining marriage rate, but in the problems that some Catholic schools are having in finding good teachers, and in the number of empty rooms at our seminaries.

In a recent interview with the Catholic Truth Society, Fr Nicholas Crowe from the Dominicans said that what we face is not a vocations crisis, but a “formation crisis”. The headwinds we face to the mission of the Church are unlikely to subside any time soon. All of us – young and old – will need to redouble our efforts to be formed and be formators of our faith so that we can say “yes” or “I do” whenever God calls.

A rather battered prayer card given to friends at our wedding on this day, 1980. Ad multos annos!

29 May: Faith in Action – a year with the Columbans and refugees.

Columban Faith in Action Advert 2024-25

Let’s put faith into action! The Columbans in Britain are excited to once again be recruiting young adult volunteers to embark on a year of personal development and growth as part of their unique Faith in Action Volunteer programme. Read more

24 May: Columban Pilgrimage

Sadly, I am not yet back to walking very far, and certainly not to undertaking a four day pilgrimage with my L’Arche friends. That happens next week. This year, Mrs T and I can at least help with catering – or should I say with cake? Cake is the fuel for our pilgrimages! Here’s a message from the Columban Missionaries, inviting us to walk ”united as brothers and sisters.” Follow the links when you’ve read this page, and pray for our L’Arche pilgrims, following Augustine’s journey from Thanet to Canterbury – he whose feast was yesterday! Missionary Society of St. Columban May 2024 A year ago this week, nine Columban companions walked, as pilgrims, in the footsteps of St. Columban in Cornwall listening to ‘the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor’ through the voices of St. Columban and Columban Missionaries around the world. This summer, we invite you to walk as we did “…united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of his creatures…” (Laudato Si’ 92). Design a walk near to where you live, walk an established pilgrimage route, or organise a retreat or recollection day for family, friends, your parish or community. Be a pilgrim for Christ! Read ‘Be a Pilgrim for Christ’ on our website Download the Columban Way Pilgrimage booklet, full of prayers and reflections for you to use as you wish.A quick look back…Let’s look back on last year’s pilgrimage. Chapter 1: The Journey Begins  Let us pray… Click here to donate Visit our website View this email in your browser Charity nos: England and Wales 221594, Scotland SCO 38948 St. Columbans  Widney Manor Road Solihull West Midlands B93 9AB 01564 772096 office@columbans.co.uk Unsubscribe from this mailing list.

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20 May: the Month of Mary

We saw Mary with the disciples yesterday at Pentecost. It’s really about time we mentioned that this is her month in the devotion of the Catholic – and other Churches.

Thank you to Father Anthony Charlton for reminding us. He writes as follows.

May is the month of Mary. It is a long-standing tradition of the Church to encourage a specific devotion for each month of the year, and May is the month dedicated to Mary.

Our Lady has a special place in our Christian faith, she is a specific feature of Catholicism (and Orthodoxy) and her veneration has been regarded as a stumbling block in the ecumenical dialogue with Protestant and Reformed Christians. Protestant advisors at the Second Vatican Council warned the Council against including a chapter on Mary in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church; the Reformed Theologian Karl Barth referred to Mariology as a tumour that has to be excised. Let’s see now why Mary is so important to us Catholics.

Mary is important because it shows we humans can cooperate with God in the work of salvation. No Mary, no Jesus. At the Annunciation Mary gave her, fully human, contribution to God’s salvation. This contribution was necessary and required. Every time we do good and make an effort to build up the kingdom of God on earth, we are giving our contribution to God’s work of salvation and redemption of all creation. Mary shows that such contribution of ours is not only possible, but it is also needed.

Mary mediates between God and us. We have only one mediator between us and God, and that is Jesus Christ his son. However, Jesus wanted to give us his mother as our mother so that she can pray and intercede for us. At the Wedding Feast of Cana asked Jesus to intervene to spare their hosts’ embarrassment. Jesus granted this request even if ‘his hour [had] not yet come’.

Mary has arrived already where we hope to go. At the end of her earthly life, she was assumed body and soul into Heaven. This shows that our destiny is indeed to enter Heaven. She is the first, and so far, only human who has entered Heaven body and soul. Still, her Assumption validates our belief in the resurrection of the body and the life to come.

Mary, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Plowden Catholic Church of St Walburga, Shropshire.

13 May: The Impact of L’Arche, II.

Once again we share an interesting and topical post from the Catholic Union on a matter very close to our heart.

The Holy Father and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences met last week to discuss ‘Disability and the human condition’. The President of the Catholic Union, Baroness Hollins, addressed that plenary session; and the work (outlined below) of an award-winning organisation led by one Scotland-based subscriber to our Weekly Briefing demonstrates the vital contribution our laity undertakes at the praxis of these important issues.

Chris Gehrke, Director of L’Arche Highland, writes:
Earlier this month, in a speech to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Pope Francis commented on the stuttering progress made by the international community in acknowledging the rights and dignity of persons who live with disabilities. Our “throwaway culture”, he said, discards people with disabilities by failing to recognise their contributions to the shared project of human flourishing.

Pope Francis is right about this. Today, we excessively value qualities such as autonomy and efficiency. And no group is more acutely excluded by this than people with learning disabilities.  The Pope’s remedy is to seek out “forms of social friendship that include everyone”.  If you want proof that such friendships are not just utopian fantasy, I suggest a visit to L’Arche Highland, in Inverness.

L’Arche is a Community movement, bringing together people with and without learning disabilities in equality and mutual respect.  Our shared life is a joyful rebellion against a society that’s often unfair and unkind to people with learning disabilities.  The form of inclusive social friendship we have in L’Arche is neither utopian nor perfect. But it is real – in the stories and daily life of individual people, with and without disabilities, who come together in our Community.