Remembering Vatican II and moving forward
Fifty years ago on this day in 1962, Pope John XXIII inaugurated the Second Vatican Council - a great assembly of the Roman Catholic Church from all across the world to attempt a great work of re-sourcing Christian theology and identity in the…
Archbishop Rowan: contemplation and evangelism
Archbishop Rowan is in Rome for three days. Yesterday evening he addressed the Synod of Bishops. He chose as his theme the importance of contemplation as the foundation of evangelism. The Archbishop's springboard was the hope engendered…
Ice cream and discipleship
Buon giorno e Roma!
People say there is less of the Bishop of Sheffield than there used to be. It's about a stone less to be precise (and still going down as of last Saturday). This is partly due to Ann becoming very fierce on the matter…
New Evangelisation: humility, respect and silence
This morning the Synod began to listen to the contributions of the Synod Fathers. Each speaks for five minutes only on any aspect of the topic or agenda and each is allowed only one contribution during the main plenary sessions.
The contribution…
Around the world in 80 minutes
The Synod heard contributions from five different continents today. Each speaker had 10 minutes to paint a picture of the need for the new evangelisation and what was already happening.
My listening was inevitably subjective. Some of…
The Synod begins: confessio et caritas
The Synod of Bishops held its first session this morning and began, as expected, with prayer and an address from Pope Benedict. About 400 Synod Fathers, experts and fraternal delegates are gathered in the audience hall, a tiered auditorium.…
What is the New Evangelisation?
We had a great Diocesan Development Day today in Sheffield on the theme of learning to be salt and light in our communities. 500 people came together from all across South and East Yorkshire. Ann Morisey was our main speaker. There was…
The Synod Process
The process for the Synod is very different from anything I've experienced in the Church of England. For one thing the programme is in Latin. My ancient languages are stronger than my modern ones so that's not so much of a problem. My…
Preparing for the Synod of Bishops
Welcome to this new blog. A bit of an experiment. We'll see how it goes.I've started blogging because of an invitation to go to Rome in a few days time for something called the Synod of Bishops.
The Synod has been called by Pope Benedict.…