Articles
St. Hilda and the General Synod
Today is St. Hilda's day and I'm on a train this morning travelling to London to the General Synod. The Synod is due to debate and vote tomorrow on the Measure to enable women to be made Bishops in the Church of England. The vote has been…
Remembrance in Rotherham
Highlights of the week included a visit to the primary school in the village of Laughton on Tuesday. The school is the oldest school still in existence in South Yorkshire and celebrated its 400 birthday this year. It doesn't surprise me…
A powerful and helpful prayer
Every once in a while I come across a prayer which helps me pray. I normally stay with it for a while, trying to use it every day. Sometimes I paste it into the prayers I say each week. A few weeks ago, I found a prayer of St. Augustine…
Goodbye to Rome
We leave Rome in a couple of hours. The Synod concluded on Sunday morning with a Mass in St. Peter's with the Pope presiding. Pope Benedict spoke from the gospel reading about the healing of Bartimaeus. According to Augustine, the fact…
The Propositions from the Synod of Bishops
So when all was said and done, what was the outcome of the Synod of Bishops? After agreeing the Message from the Synod (the Nuntius - see yesterday's post), the Synod turned its attention on Friday evening and Saturday morning to agreeing…
The Message from the Synod of Bishops
I returned to Rome on Friday morning (this time with Ann) for the final part of the Synod of Bishops here. It's been good to step back in to the conclusion of the process which began three weeks ago. While I have been away the Synod has…
Living the mixed economy: from Sheffield to the Synod
I came back to Sheffield for nine days on Wednesday of last week to fulfil a series of essential engagements in the Diocese here. One part of my attention and prayer has been on what is happening in Rome and I've continued to keep up to date…
Ecumenism, enculturation and the silence of the West
Today is my last full day in Rome. I leave first thing in the morning to return to the other beautiful city built on seven hills (Sheffield). Today is also the last full day of the five minute interventions. We've heard around 160 so far. There…
Of small communities and modern martyrs
The Synod resumed this morning with a series of very fine presentations from many different parts of the world. Two themes came across very strongly to me today. The first was the theme of small ecclesial communities or base ecclesial communities.…