Training Papal Ninjas

An integral part of any Catholic Home Education programme is Papal Ninja training: today one of our senior ninja trainees was fitted for authentic 15th C armour, but but found that it was rather heavier than the crocheted cotton chain mail that we've used to date...

In Blackfen...

... even the snow-women wear mantillas.

‘If we are called before courts, that is our opportunity to give witness’

This thoughtful and thought-provoking interview with Bishop Mark Davies in the Catholic Herald serves to increase my feeling that there is more than a whiff of the saintly about the gentle and courageous Shepherd of Shrewsbury.

Deo gratias for this good and holy servant of God! Please keep him in your prayers. 

+Davies at the celebration to mark the opening of the ICKSP Apostolate and shrine Church in the Wirral, 2012

Out with the old...

...and in with the new:

Happy Feast of the Epiphany!

What my car's contents say about me...

Having one's car (or, in my case, van) stolen is a strange thing psychologically: often when I'm out and about now I think I spot our stolen van. I've actually stalked a couple of vans after initially thinking that they could be ours. That way madness lies, and I've accepted that ours has probably either been [a] broken down and sold for parts, or [b] shipped off to Africa or Asia, or [c] living a new life with false plates as a taxi somewhere several hundred miles away. The police seem think that any of these is equally plausible. 

The admin after an event like this is a major hassle: particularly dealing with insurance companies. I've had to try to remember every item that was in our van in order for the insurance company to value the contents. Thanks burglars: it's not like I have anything better to do with my time. Given that I have four children, and very often have several other people's children along for the ride as well, our van is very fully of stuff. Add to that the fact that we home educate, so that some children are often waiting for others in the van outside music or gymnastics or tennis lessons, and you a recipe for a vehicle full of books and trinkets and toys. 

Happier days: before some misreant broke into our house, stole the keys and drove off in it. 

They say that the contents of a woman's handbag says a lot about who she is; there's even a pseudoscience called "bagology" (no joke) that claims to accurately analyse personality based on handbag contents. My handbag is usually pretty sparce, but reading through the list of our van's contents I reckon that you could get a reasonable picture of life chez Annie-Elizabeth and family. So for no other reason than that, I've cut and pasted this list (minus boring details) which is very possibly unique in the history of insurance claims.

What does it tell you about us?



***************************************************************************

Car contents: I have written these down according to the section of the car they were in.

Front of car:

On dashboard / in dashboard compartments:-Copy of "The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis"  vintage 1952 edition, intact slipcover
-Ladies' Sunglasses, tortoiseshell brown
-Silver Miraculous Medal: sterling silver on chain. 

In glovebox:

multi-phone charger - fits all phones with different ends
several CTS edition biographies of English Martyrs including:

• Edmund Campion
• John Fisher 
• Thomas More
• Margaret Clitheroe
• John Southworth

On passenger seat:
Five Mantillas : Two white ones, three black ones. These look like lacy scarves.Copy of Magnificat (December 2012)Mason-Pearson large brown natural bristle hairbrush
Britax children's booster seat 
Under passenger seat (there's a "hidden compartment" inside the seat: Two sets of jump leads  1 x large format spiral map of  Greater ManchesterA-Z large format spiral Kent Street AtlasA-Z large format spiral London STreet Atlas
A-Z normal format London
A-Z normal format Liverpool and the Wirral
Large detailed map book of France - was either AA or Michelin European 2012 European map book - AA Fold out map of Northern Italy / AlpsAA  Great Britain Road Atlas  - 2012
Various miscellaneous items - pens, screen wipes, ice scrapers, etc.

Around the SECOND ROW OF SEATS:

2 x Children's Car seats of which:
    1 x Maxi Cosi Rodi in Black Reflection - exactly the same
    1 x Maxi cosi Priory XP in Leopard Skin print
2 x storage boxes under seats

Children's books:

• DK "Touch and Feel Kitten" 
• Saint Jean Vianney Book - hard cover 
• A few other younger children's books but we can't remember the titles unfortunately

Mini Boden boy's winter coat - age 3/4 kakhi green thick army style twill

Ladies winter ski jacket 


On floor in front of second row of seats:

• 20kg sack of chicken food
• 15 kg Sack of Rabbit food 

---------------------------------------Items in and around the THIRD ROW OF SEATS:

Two Maxi-Cosi Rodi car seats
2 x storage boxes

Books: on back seat and in storage boxes under side back seats:

• Enid Blyton: Five get into a fix (Famous Five #17) 
• Enid Blyton: Five go to Demon's rocks( Famous Five #19) 
• The Hobbit 70th Anniversary Edition (hardcover edition in slipcover; was Christmas present)
• The Three Musketeers early 20th C edition, red board covers. 
• Jacinta of Fatima: Our Lady's Little Shepherdess  (by Fernando Leite) 
• Jesus Make Me Worthy - Children's Missal (white cover: First Holy Communion gift)
• Lord of the Rings - all three parts, paperback
• Just William book - not sure which one
• Saint Patrick's Summer: A Children's Adventure Catechism 
• Mother Cabrini: Missionary to the World 
• Mystery of the Vanished Prince (Five Finder Outers - Enid Blyton) 
• "Fetch!" Magazine x 2 = Can't find a way to replace these much to my 8 year old's sorrow.
• Saint Kateri Tekawitha colouring book 
• Saint Pius X colouring book 
• Saint Dominic Savio colouring book 

Millets "camping survival kit" in green cylinder with lid
In the boot:

Savic dog cage: "Savic Dog Residence" -  medium sized cage

2 striped picnic blankets

Two large plastic storage boxes:

Safety equipment - 2 x flourescent tabard / jackets, 1 x Triangle, etc.
<ENDS>

Greeting the New Year in the presence of Our Lord

Just back from Benediction and the sung Te Deum at Our Lady of the Rosary in Blackfen: the perfect way to usher in a new year. There was something profoundly moving about the elevation of the Blessed Sacrament in Benediction occurring at the exact moment that the world outside erupted in cheers, whooping and firework blasts - whilst inside was stillness,  beauty, Truth.

As night be expected with four young children, we had our share of drama getting everyone woken up, dressed and out of the house so late at night. Having a puppy driven frantic by the sound of fireworks didn't help either, and for a fleeting mad moment I considered bringing her with us - but didn't (much to everyone's relief, l'm sure). We arrived two verses into the Te Deum: I wonder, do you get 3/4 of a Plenary Indulgence if you miss the first bit? Didn't think so, but at least we did our best.

After a cheery glass of Champagne we headed home with four exhausted children, but the night's drama was not yet over. Before we'd even left the church car park I noticed over twenty missed calls from our next door neighbour in the previous half hour, but my phone had been on silent in church. It rang again and I discovered that our burglar alarm was going off and that the police were at the house. We arrived to find neighbours, two police officers, lots of flashing lights, and a forensic specialist officer at the scene; my heart sank. Thank God it turned it time be a false alarm: an alarmed internal door had prevented from closing tightly by some tinsel the children had wound around the handle, and our cat had pushed it open, triggering the alarm. All's well that ends well and perhaps we will have a quiet year this year after all...

Happy New Year to you all - may God bless you and your loved ones throughout 2013

A.E.

When a High Court judge says that the Third Commandment isn't important to Christian belief, it's time to start looking for the nearest catacomb...

Mr Justice Langstaff ruled on the case of Celestina Mba, a Christian care-worker, who was forced to leave her job after being repeatedly scheduled for work on Sundays despite having her employers having been told before they hired her that, as a Christian, she would not work on Sundays. Despite the evidence that other workers were  able and happy to cover Sundays, and therefore no business case could be made for compelling Ms Mba to work on Sunday, The High Court judge said " Christians have no right to decline working on Sunday as it is not a “core component” of their beliefs"

Presumably he's never heard of the Ten Commandments.

The Telegraph's report says 

Mr Justice Langstaff, who as president of the Employment Appeal Tribunal is the most senior judge in England and Wales in this type of case, upheld the lower tribunal’s ruling which said it was relevant that other Christians did not ask for Sundays off. 

The fact that some Christians were prepared to work on Sundays meant it was not protected, the court said.

So if we can discard the Ten Commandments as being a core part of Christianity, what else wouldn''t count as a "core componant" of Catholic belief in a court simply because lots of people who call themselves "Catholic" do or do not do them?... The mind boggles.

None of this is particularly surprising - if anything I'm amazed that it took so long. I was saying that exactly this would happen only a few months ago to Mr Annie-Elizabeth, and he thought I was sounding paranoid. Ha! I very rarely wish I was wrong (like most wives, I'm rarely wrong - I think almost always being right is a special dispensation of grace that comes to wives with the sacrament of marriage) - but in this case I sincerely wish I was wrong. 

Want to get really paranoid? Look at prime office space in Central London,  lying empty for two days out of seven: it's astounding that there isn't more call for a 7 day business week. The argument would be made,  initially, as it was with Sunday opening (but quickly recinded), that nobody would be forced to work on a Sunday.The NHS is toying with the idea of implementing a 7 day working week, Sunday shopping is the norm, and Sunday is no longer special (or even relevant according to the High Court) then what barrier is there to all businesses slowly adopting an "efficient" 7 day model. Of course people would be given two days off together: they just wouldn't be the weekend as we know it. Childcare? Come on, there's nothing the government would love more than getting their ideological paws on the nation's children for even more hours a week. Think of the opportunities! A seven day working week would allow full-time mothers - those scourges on the nation's economy - to work on the days when their husbands were at home. In time they could be persuaded to synchronise work patterns and give up any loony ideas of influencing their offspring. Hell, the state schools will do a much better job. And yes, I did mean, Hell.

Well, with this pretty picture of dystopia-not-quite-yet here I'm off to dig a catacomb, and it may not simply be a metaphorical one. Isn't it about time you considered doing the same?