Please act now to protect family life

Our Catenian motto declares our determination as an organisation to "strengthen family life".  Well, family life is now under threat in a way it has never been before.  I am talking about the Government's proposed legislation to legalise same-sex marriage.  A draft bill could be published imminently so the necessity for us all to take action is urgent.

Yesterday I had the good fortune to attend, along with another member of St John's Pro Life Group, an Information Day for clergy and laity organised by SPUC.  These Days are being held around the country with the aim of informing us about the issues involved and suggesting concrete ways in which we can help the campaign against this bill.  Please do visit our Pro Life website here for more details of what we learned, but in brief some of the main points raised were:

- Gay marriage does not just affect those involved.  No man is an island.  There can be no concept of some sort of "justice" for individuals without taking into account the wider rights of all members of the community.  Gay marriage, which has no procreative potential, breaks down the many familial bonds and responsibilities which result from natural marriage, to the detriment of our social structures and of our self-identity and security as individuals;

- Marriage is not just a religious or social concept.  It is a natural reality which precedes both religion and society and upon which both (throughout the ages) have been structured. No government has the right to arbitrarily redefine it;

- Far more abortions occur outside of marriage than within it.  Therefore marriage has a foundational role in protecting the unborn child (one reason why SPUC has got so involved in this campaign);

- Despite the Government's protestations about freedom of conscience, it cannot be guaranteed under Human Rights legislation that once the equality of all sexual relationships is enshrined in law, professionals such as teachers or pastors who refuse to positively promote same sex marriage will escape monitoring, legal penalties or even the loss of their jobs, as indeed we are beginning to see already;

- What do we want our children taught in schools?  "Gay sex ed" is already creeping insidiously into curricula via an image here, a phrase there, all of which begin to create a certain mindset amongst young people.  Once same sex marriage is legalised this process will escalate;

- Civil unions already provide gay couples with the same legal protections vis-a-vis inheritance and property rights that married couples enjoy.

There are several positive actions we can take and I would suggest that, as Catenians faithful to our motto, we should seriously consider doing so.  First and foremost, lobby and/or write to your MP.  If you haven't yet signed the Coalition for Marriage petition, please do - they are aiming for a million signatures.  Consider leafleting local houses (leaflets available from SPUC here together with useful briefing notes to use when contacting MPs).  We should soon be receiving, in our parishes, postcards issued by the Bishops for parishioners to send to their MPs; could you organise a table at the back of your church where people could sign these and which could then be sent off or hand delivered en masse (to save people putting them down at home and losing them, or being unwilling/unable to pay the postage)?  Parents and grandparents might want to contact their schools.

And of course, above all, pray, pray, pray!

Thank you so very much, from myself and also per pro Bro President Edek.

Hail to all, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation

This being the blogsite of an organisation dedicated (as I love to repeat) to "strengthening family life through friendship and faith", we cannot let the Solemnity of the Annunciation go by without a mention!  This day marks the beginning of the Incarnation and of our final, definitive salvation - and that salvation takes place within the context of a family, the Holy Family.  What clearer indication do we need of God's will, not only that the family (based on the marriage of a man and a woman) should be the foundation of our society and of our growth as individual Christians, but that "family" is the context in which we should see the Church and all Christian organisations?

So - to my brothers and sisters in Christ, a very Happy Feast Day!

Ladies' Night

Last night was Ladies’ Night for the Crawley Catenian Circle!  Bro Mark will no doubt make his own posting on this including photographs, but being a lady I felt eminently qualified to write something too - as well as taking the opportunity to say thank you to the “boys” for a lovely evening out. 

It was of course Ladies’ Night in a very profound sense, because we celebrated the annual Mass for deceased Catenian wives.  Fittingly they came first; the evening began with Mass at St Theodore’s Church in Gossops Green and included the mention by name of each wife.  I am more than sure they were all with us as we celebrated the Mass... that is the beauty of the Church as a place of timeless communion whose walls encompass both the living and the dead.

We were all delighted to welcome Fr Terry Martin as our celebrant.  Those of us from Horsham parish were particularly thrilled to have the chance to worship with him again and to exchange a few words.

After Mass we nipped round the corner (braving a sudden downpour) to Goffs Park Hotel, the usual venue for the Catenian Circle meetings.  The men took themselves off to do... um, whatever men do at a Catenian Circle meeting, whilst the ladies gathered to enjoy a glass or two of wine and have a chat.  The ladies’ get-togethers are always a nice opportunity to catch up with people you haven’t seen in a while.  We don’t all move in quite the same circles (or even live in the same town) and so it’s nice to let this particular Circle gather us in.  Amongst other things there was much talk about children and grandchildren, stressing the fact that the Catenians are far more about family and friendship than about some sort of gentlemen's club-type gathering (despite the secrecy surrounding the meetings, but that might just be because somehow I’ve never pinned Bro Edek down to give me a blow by blow account of what happens!).

Whatever men do at a Catenian Circle meeting was obviously particularly exciting last night, because we managed to get through a fair amount of wine and chat before they finally piled out. I know they had the pleasure of welcoming visitors from other parts of the Catenian world and I’m sure Bro Mark will tell more.

The evening finished with a meal which was unanimously pronounced to be very good and I daresay everyone slept rather well afterwards!  Thank you to all for an evening of family, faith and friendship which included those who, whilst no longer with us in one sense, are still very much here in another and still very much loved.

Kindred Spirits

Whatever you may have read to the contrary, and despite the faults and flaws of the fallen human beings who belong to it, the Catholic Church is alive, well and thriving! Lay organisations like the Catenians are a great sign of the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Church and it’s good to know there are many such movements out there, each with their own charism and particular area of ministry.

One movement that has a good deal in common with the Catenians is Equipes Notre Dame (“Teams of Our Lady”). It’s an international organisation known in Britain as Teams GB and exists to support married couples as they live out the sacrament of matrimony with all its implications. Catholic in origin but by no means exclusively Catholic in membership, Teams was started in France in the 1940’s by Fr Caffarel and has flourished so much that there are now 10,000 Teams across the world with over 100 in Britain. Just over a year ago Fr Terry Martin, parish priest of St John’s, founded a Team in Horsham – known, logically enough, as Horsham 1 – to which Edek and myself belong.

The “Teams method” of living out married spirituality consists of attending monthly meetings and of following a flexible rule of life on a daily basis. At the meetings four or five couples meet together with a chaplain to eat, share the highs and lows of their lives, pray, read Scripture and study a spiritual topic. The meetings are relaxed and joyful affairs in which we experience support and spiritual sustenance alongside friendship and, inevitably, loads of laughter! The rule of life consists of a set of “Endeavours”: essentially encouragements to help us pray and read Scripture daily and sit down regularly with our spouse to really talk.

I can’t over-emphasise how valuable Edek and I have found Teams GB. Marriage is as much a path to personal sanctity as the religious or clerical life and it’s good to be reminded of that and helped in our efforts. Marriage and family life are enormous blessings but we all know they ain’t always easy! I do feel that the Teams movement has loads in common with the Catenian Association – they are kindred spirits in that both share the aims of “strengthening family life through friendship and faith”. Our witness to the love of God as expressed in the commitment of marriage is much needed in a world that often has difficulty understanding either.

Sadly, as Fr Terry moves on from his post as Horsham’s parish priest, he is also unable to continue being Horsham 1’s chaplain and so we have a vacancy to fill... Last night he attended his last Team meeting and here you can see him with the Holy Family icon we presented to him as a token of our (very great) appreciation.

You can find out more about Teams GB at their website, www.teamsgb.org.uk.