Advent to Easter

Today, Wednesday 25 March, is a bright moment in Lent when we can look ahead to Christmas and the time when we might have conquered the virus. If today is the feast of The Annunciation then it’s nine months to Christmas, the normal length of a pregnancy. Were churches open then flowers might be making […]

Not so many flowers will be presented to mothers this Mothering Sunday. But we shall be seeking, maybe via phone and email, to help and thank our mothers who have looked after us and, in many cases, worked hard to make home a special place for the coming months. We pray for mothers alive and […]

We know Joseph as the faithful husband of the Virgin Mary. Together they brought up Jesus and watched over his early years. St Joseph’s Day 19 March often passes without much notice in the UK but today we could think of those who usually keep today with much celebration. It is a holiday in Malta. […]

This may be the quietest St Patrick’s Day for many young people as they face a 17 March without a parade in Dublin. Mary Kenny, writing in The Catholic Herald, suggests that “maybe it’s no bad thing, if St Patrick’s Day is a little more focused on Patrick himself, and a little less on pints […]

As we move deeper into Lent many are finding it difficult to attend church due to the threat of Coronavirus. In Rome and Venice there are no services on Sunday or weekdays. Those elsewhere who are able to go will find communion only in one kind and a ban on shaking hands, kneeling and using […]

It’s Fat Thursday today which means that Lent is approaching. Lent starts next week on Ash Wednesday 26 February. Pancakes are the great feature on Shrove Tuesday but Fat Thursday means doughnuts in Poland and Polish shops.

Today’s confirmation that Beales department store in Bournemouth has gone into administration is sad news. The flagship shop on the original site and its many branches remain open but the future is uncertain. Beales in Bournemouth is one of Britain’s oldest department stores having opened in 1881. In 1885, with the shop’s upper floor devoted […]

The village school in Tilney All Saints near Wisbech in East Anglia, which has been awarded a grant to look at the village’s Plough Monday custom, is involved in reviving the tradition. For many years until the 1550s the village’s plough was suspended with ropes from the beams of All Saints Church on Plough Monday. […]

Today would normally be the Feast of St Thomas of Canterbury because on 29 December 1170 Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in his cathedral. Next year is the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom when, thanks to 2020 being leap year, the day will be a Tuesday and much highlighted. But this year 29 December is […]

Boxing Day is St Stephen’s Day when we remember the first Christian martyr. The cost of following Baby Jesus’ teaching can be high. Stephen was a deacon and is the patron saint of altar servers, who with the clergy have brought dignity to our Christmas Day liturgy, and international development charity CAFOD. He is also […]