Protecting marriage

Sometimes we become aware that just by being Catenians (or Catenian wives!), members of an organisation dedicated to "strengthening family life by friendship and faith", we are witnessing to certain values.  This witness is badly needed just now with many fiercely-fought attacks being waged against Christianity.  The hot topic of the moment, of course, is our Prime Minister's stated support for the legalisation of gay "marriage".  Those speaking out in public to defend the traditional definition of marriage have been subjected to all sorts of vitriol and even death threats.

Why is it so important to defend marriage as "the voluntary union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others for life” (Hyde v Hyde 1866)?  The arguments of our Catholic faith are well known to us: the procreative and unitive aspects of sexual intercourse cannot be artifically separated; sex is meant as a sacramental sign confined to marriage, because marriage was instituted both for companionship and intimacy and for procreation; all sexual activity outside of marriage is not according to the plan of God, and because homosexual acts can never be fruitful they must always lie outside the provenance of marriage and therefore are not licit.

In all sensitivity, we must acknowledge that we are asking homosexual people to make a huge sacrifice... but it is one that will help ground them in the reality of human nature and thus bring greater blessings.

That's all very well if you are Christian, but if not, then the arguments above can be dismissed as "simply theological".  Other, that is, than the one claiming that homosexual and heterosexual partnerships are essentially different and only the latter can be described as marriage.  Marriage, as a procreative and socially recognised union between male and female, is not only a common denominator in all cultures throughout all ages but actually preceded those cultures.  With its stable commitment, its ability to produce children and the familial networks it gave rise to, it preceded any form of "society" and formed the basic building-block for it.

A union of two persons of the same sex cannot do this.  If we try to force a false definition upon same-sex partnerships and call them "marriage", we have replaced an essential foundation stone of our societies - or to look at it another way, an essential glue that holds our societies together as cohesive structures - with a beast of a very different nature.  The only way for children to arise from such a partnership will be through some form of assisted reproduction like IVF or artificial insemination.  This will often lead to children not even knowing who their genetic parents are and will break down the whole structure of the extended family.  The family is already under threat, and we can see the results of its breakdown by just looking around us.

This isn't to say the state of being gay is in itself a sin, or that loving someone is a sin, or that gay people would make awful parents, none of which are true.  Neither is it a question of wanting to callously deny a certain group of people the right to love and intimacy because of some sort of "yuck" factor.  It's saying that homosexual sex can never equate to heterosexual sex and therefore we are dealing with two different partnerships, one of which can be described as marriage and one of which never can. In attempting to place them on equal footing by a false redefinition of marriage, we are denying a natural, fundamental human reality and jeopardising the future health of our societies.  Marriage is never a private matter between two individuals; it is an essentially public bond with wide social ramifications and we do well to remember that.

Just by faithfully living as Catholics, by being Catenians, we do much to witness to the importance of marriage and family life.  To take things one step further, check out the rationally-argued blog posts here and here, and please consider signing an online petition that has been launched by the Coalition for Marriage (just click the picture above).

Proud Parent

Danusia Brzezina

Brother Andrew Brzezina was a particularly proud parent last year after his daughter Danusia was in the news as the lawyer for a young Nigerian girl who had been trafficked and used as a slave for her "family".

Read the full story in the Evening Standard and The Law Society Gazette.

Ladies Night Video

To add to Anneli's report on the Ladies Night here is a short video of the event:

If it's OK...

A chance to indulge yourself before Lent on Sunday 19 February

...I would just like to mention a fundraising drive that we are launching in Horsham for our 16 year old daughter Aila.  I think most Crawley Circle members know that Aila suffers from Friedreich's Ataxia, a degenerative neurological condition that is gradually robbing her of her balance, co-ordination and mobility, as well as affecting her speech and heart.  At the moment her bedroom and the only WC in our house are both upstairs and so we have obtained planning permission to build her a downstairs bedroom and bathroom, as negotiating the stairs is becoming increasingly difficult for her, not to say potentially dangerous.  Unfortunately we have a considerable shortfall in funding for this and - whilst other avenues such as charitable grants are being explored - we are going to have to raise at least some of the money for ourselves.

A fabulous group of friends including members of St John's Pro Life Group have got together and helped us launch "Aila's Fund" which will comprise a series of fundraising events. We are incredibly grateful for the time and energy they are expending to help Aila.  We're starting modestly with a cake and homemade cards sale to be held after 9am Mass at St John's RC church hall on Sunday 19 February so please do pop along!  There will also be a chance to have a professional standard photograph taken of yourself or your family at very reasonable price, upstairs in the church hall on Saturday 24 March.  This is by appointment and details will be available shortly.

You can read more over at St John's Pro Life.

Above all, Aila would be most grateful for your prayers.  Thank you.

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.

St John's Pro-Life Blog

I have added St John's Pro-Life Blog to the blog roll in the right margin. You can see at a glance when the last post was made on any of the blogs in the roll.

Blogging for life

A group from St John the Evangelist RC Church in Horsham, the parish from which many Crawley Circle Catenians hail, has just launched a new blog entitled St John's Pro Life (well, I have no doubt that he is and that he considers the pro-life message an important part of Evangelism!).

The group in question is the parish pro-life group, to which your Vice President's wife belongs. I have put up a link to the Crawley Catenian Association's blogsite on our pro-life group's blog, for an Association which aims to support family life is by definition "pro life".  Being pro life is about so much more than opposing abortion.  Indeed, at its heart it is a "for" rather than an "anti" ideology.  We aim to do our bit in the defence of human life from conception until natural death because we believe passionately in the dignity, sanctity and immeasurable worth of every human individual - in whatever stage or condition of life.  It is our support for each other that makes life worth living, and love that is at the heart of true quality of life.

By promoting the value of each and every person we hope to work towards a society in which families, friendship and faith can flourish.  Haven't I seen talk of those three somewhere before (eyes up)...?!

In short, I believe that the Crawley Catenians and the St John's Pro Life Group have lots in common.  Why not pop over to our blog and judge for yourself?

Christmas Charity: Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund

£200 of the money made by the raffle at our Christmas Dinner was given to the children of St Wilfrid's School to enable them to meet their target of raising £1,000 for the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.

A group of eleven year-10 student leaders here at St Wilfrid’s have been working to raise money for the Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund. We have been given a target to raise £1000 by 16th December and so far, through all commitment and dedication, have raised around £800. This has been through activities involving our school and parish such as raffles, a sponsored walk up Box Hill, cake sales and donations. All the money raised will go to Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund- a charity making Nelson Mandela’s final wish come true. Nelson Mandela’s final wish is to build a hospital in South Africa for children, as there are only 4 children’s hospitals in the whole of the continent, whereas there are 4 in London alone. We would be delighted by any donations and any support you and the circle of Catenians are offering as every penny, every pound counts towards the making of the children’s hospital. Thank you for your kind offering and support.

Visit to Epsom Circle 19th January 2012

Visit to Epsom Circle this week

The fact that we are visiting Epsom Circle later this week has revived memories of my schooldays in Epsom in the fifties.

One thing I remember is being told the story of the arms of Epsom by one of my masters. Before the war, a public competition was held to design a coat of arms for Epsom Council. The master in those days was a young man rather more irreverent than he had since become, so he decided to design a joke coat of arms and submit it to the competition.

"People have only ever heard of Epsom for three reasons," he said to himself. "Epsom races, Epsom Downs and Epsom salts. And nothing has ever happened in Epsom, except that Henry VIII built Nonsuch palace there, which got knocked down centuries ago".

So he designed a shield with horses on Epsom Downs over Epsom salts being swirled around in water, and added a satirical motto "None Such".

Of course he won the competition. Joke on him!

Problem Solved!

I was talking to a cousin of my sister-in-law at a family lunch yesterday. He's the finance director of a major investment bank.  He's a very active Anglican and somehow the conversation got onto the subject of church fund raising. I mentioned that I was in charge of the fund raising for the refurbishment of St John's (whatever form this eventually takes).

"Ah," he said, "you won't have any problem there. I've got a friend who's a Catholic and every time he wants money for his church he just asks the Carthusians and the money is there."

My ears pricked up. I had visions of the monks at Parkminster handing over a few hundred grand to St John's.

"Ask my wife", he said, "she knows the details."

Turns out he meant the Catenians. Be warned!

Christmas Dinner - more photos

Lucy Forster and Louise Martin

Gurudev and Pavitra Lazarus

Laurie Harding

Andrew and Stella Laird

Sajith and Maryen Peiris

Laurie Harding and Peter Mullarky

Peter Newell

Christmas Dinner

Celebrating Christmas the traditional way

Crawley Catenians celebrated their annual Christmas Dinner on Thursday 15th at a new venue, Ghyll Manor in Rusper. We celebrated it in the traditional manner with lots of eating, drinking and singing.

Bro. President wearing the formal Presidential Hat

Here is a fine rendition of the penultimate verse of the Twelve Days of Christmas (keyboard accompaniment by Bro. Bernard Smith):



With many thanks to our Vice President, Bro. Edek Figura for organising the dinner so well.

Crawley Parish 150 Years

Crawley in the 19th Century

As part of the ongoing celebrations of the 150th anniversary of The Catholic Parish of Crawley,1861-2011, The Sisters of Notre Dame joined in a service of the Evening Prayer of the Church and blessing of the graves in the Friary Cemetery on Sunday 20th November 2011 at 3.00 pm.

The congregation were invited to bring along flowers in remembrance of their deceased loved ones,which were brought forward to the altar at the beginning of the service. During the service cards with the names of the deceased were placed on the altar. This was followed by a candlelit procession to the cemetery where the graves were blessed. These included the graves of deceased Catenian brothers and wives, Bill & Dot Gabriel, Michael & Meg Lydon, Dick & Mary Doherty, Jim Naylor, and Shirley Jennings, not forgetting John Blake former headmaster of St Wilfrids School, a very close friend of the Association.

Thereafter everyone was invited to the Friary Hall for refreshments, and Sister Joan Brown of the Sisters of Notre Dame presented the story of the nuns and their significant contribution to Catholic education in Crawley.

Towards Advent Festival - 19 November

This Saturday (19th November) sees the annual Towards Advent Festival in Westminster Cathedral hall. This is a gathering together of a wide range of Catholic groups and organisations to celebrate the Catholic Faith.

Door open at 10.00 and the festival will be opened at 10.30 by Archbishop Vincent Nichols. At 1.30 Monsignor Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, will deliver a talk on 'Joy and Hope in the Church'. At 3.00 there is to be a celebration of Blessed John Paul II in film, drama and music. This includes the documentary film "John Paul the Great" and contributions from the Oxford-based youth drama team who presented the play "The Quality of Mercy". Entrance to these two events will cost £2, but entrance to the festival itself is free.

Towards Advent is sponsored by The Catenian Association, The Knights of St Columba, and The Association of Catholic Women.

Further details see http://towardsadvent.blogspot.com/

Holy Souls

 (This is a bit late for the season, but still well worth reading since we pray for our departed brothers and widows at every meeting - Ed.)

This country is seeped and marinated in the Catholic faith; you do not have to scratch the surface too hard to find those roots and the English devotion to Holy Souls.

The Chantrey Chapels, some still here, or roads and places which still bear the name, the pilgrimages to holy shrines, and the way-side shrines.

And later, thanks to  the effects of the first world war and every conflict since, the reaction of people when Princess Diana died - the flowers & the candles, the need to pray and remember the dead is still very much a part of our culture today.

They all find their meaning in the Catholic faith, they are the symbols that point us to God - but without the church as a leaven they go awry and what we get is Elton John singing Candle in the wind.    

Our duty is also to pray for the souls in purgatory. Purgatory is much misunderstood, but God in all his goodness wants us to be whole and holy, proved by and worthy of the promises of Christ. Yes, we sin; yes, we let our selves and our loved ones down; purgatory helps us to be ready: to be in that union with God. to behold the fullness of his grace and worship him in a new way.

November is a time of life and time of the Resurrection. The colour black is not morbid but the mixing of the colours of the liturgical cycle of colours and they are mixed because our prayer, our work, our preparation in liturgy not only help us to see our goal, but they help those souls to be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

So our prayer this month for the Holy Souls will move mountains and bring people into the banquet of the lamb in heaven. This is our mission if we chose to accept it.

From Crawley Parish Newsletter

Tri-Circle Pig-Racing - 4th November

A pig race in progress

"What do you mean No. 5 won?"

"Tri-Circle what?" you may well ask. But yes, we do mean pig-racing. Furry little battery-operated pigs. The three circles involved were Crawley, Haywards Heath and East Grinstead. Crawley as the holder of both the trophies involved hosted the evening at St Joseph's Church Hall, Pound Hill.

Helen Pettingel (nee Jordan) and Iris Jordan present the Barry Jordan Trophy to Barry Prior of Haywards Heath Circle

Unfortunately Crawley may have been the holder of the trophies at the beginning of the evening, but by the end both trophies had departed. The Barry Jordan Trophy went to Haywards Heath and the Michael Lydon Trophy to East Grinstead. Threats were also heard that Crawley might not be holding the Visitors Cup for much longer either.

Helen presents the Michael Lydon trophy to Jim Fitzpatrick of East Grinstead Circle

After a very enjoyable evening, a total of £500.85 had been raised which will be split between the Presidents' Charities of the three circles.

Enrolment of a New Member

Peter Mullarky, Jim Fitzpatrick, Mike Newman, Damon Holliday

At the circle meeting on 27th October we welcomed a new member, Br. Damon Holliday who is seen in the picture talking with the Membership Officer, Br. Peter Mullarky, while our Br. President (in the yellow tie) looks on.

The fourth person in the photo is Br. Jim Fitzpatrick, who was leading a party of four visitors from East Grinstead Circle. It was very good to see them, and we intend to return the visit next month.

150 Years of The Friary, Crawley

In the beginning...

Mary Scawen Blount was a friend of the Roman Catholic convert Cardinal John Henry Newman, and converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism herself. Her sons, Francis and Wilfrid, also converted in 1852.

Memorial to Francis Scawen Blunt

In 1859, at the invitation of a Mrs Montgomery (a relative of Mary Scawen Blount), Italian Capuchin friars arrived in Crawley. They stayed at her house on the Horsham Road (next to what is now the St.Wilfrid`s School site) and celebrated Mass in its coach-house, which was reordered to make a chapel and dedicated to St Philip.

Soon afterwards, Mary Scawen Blunt died; she asked her sons to found a permanent Roman Catholic church to serve Crawley and the surrounding area and a friary for the Capuchins. In 1860, Francis bought 3 acres of land near Crawley railway station and the town centre and arranged the design and construction of a friary and adjoining church; the builder was recorded as a Mr Ockendon.

The friary formed three sides of a square around a courtyard; the north side was formed by the church, which was dedicated to St Francis. All buildings were in Early English Gothic style and were built of stone and brick, and the church itself had a bellcote on the roof.

The church and friary were dedicated and opened on 12 October 1861.

(From Crawley Parish Newsletter)

Video Interview with Fr Richard

The Real Hallowe'en

It’s that time of year again... no, not Christmas (not quite – give the shops another week to go big on that one) but Hallowe’en!

A few years ago Hallowe’en wasn’t any big deal and apart from the party shops and newsagents, it didn’t make that huge a retail impact. Now plastic pumpkins, zombie costumes and ghoulish recipes abound in every store from M&S to the supermarkets. And probably the pet shops too – I haven’t been in one recently but I daresay I could find my cocker spaniel a trick ‘n’ treat pack and a fetching devil horn headband with matching tail piece.

“So what?” might be your reaction. “It’s a bit of fun for the children and a chance to dress up and have a party. No-one takes the devilish side of it seriously.” Somehow I suspect that therein lies the danger. The things we don’t take seriously might be exactly those that give the Evil One a foot in the door.

In any case, it seems to me that at this time of year we Catholics can often miss the opportunity to have a positive celebration, rather than a not-taking-it-seriously one. “Hallowe’en”, of course, means “All Hallows' Eve” (i.e. the eve of All Saints' Day) and originates from the Church’s taking over a pagan festival and reinterpreting it in the light of its own liturgical calendar. We celebrate the Christian way of relating to the dead, so that rather than lighting fires and wearing scary masks to scare off earthbound spirits, we venerate our brothers and sisters who provided us with examples of Christian living when on earth and who are now with God in Heaven and ready to assist us with their prayers. The forces of evil are hardly anything to celebrate, but the assistance and example of the Saints definitely are. So why celebrate the former when we can celebrate the latter? If we think the ghouls and ghosties are more fun, maybe that indicates that some soul-searching and meditative prayer is in order...?!

The great advantage of partying in honour of All Hallows' Eve rather than Hallowe’en is that it gives us the opportunity to provide our children, or grandchildren, with some painless and enjoyable catechesis. As the performers of medieval mystery plays and designers of magnificent stained glass windows knew, the visual and dramatic are excellent learning tools, particularly for the illiterate (in those days) or the young. What better way of getting children to learn about this great feast of the Church, find out about a variety of Saints and perhaps begin to think about why it’s good to dress up as holy people rather than vampires as some of their friends might be doing...?

For young and old alike, this is a fun way of witnessing to the world about our faith. I would like to commend the “All Hallows in Horsham” party being held at St John’s Catholic Church in Horsham on Sunday 30 October, thanks to an intrepid lady named Celia and her band of helpers. There will be pumpkins, treats, lots of the traditional games and a costume parade, but the dressing-up will be strictly on the theme of saints not spooks. Some fab outfits were worn to last year’s party: much more impressive than your average dripping-with-blood-and-gore get-up! (The photo shows St Lucy, aka your Vice-President's wife, with party organiser St Therese of Lisieux - the aforementioned Celia. The children all looked much more impressive than we did though!) Parishioners can find details in the church newsletter.

Go over to "Five Feet Above Sea Level" to read an excellent posting by Katherine, one of Celia’s team, on the subject of Hallowe’en. And have a very happy All Hallows!

The Marvels of the Rosary

A corner of the office

Our year seems to be speeding away, as we change season, we can't help but think of the past memories of the summer, of time spent with loved ones and friends in the heat of the sun. Now with autumn we find ourselves planning ahead, making provision for the cold, for nights in and for sunny but cold afternoon walks with the crunch of leaves underfoot, picking onions and searching in drawers for jumpers and hats.

Our life of Faith also has times of change and preparation, our prayers develop and grow like the season of our Year, also what is going on in our lives has an effect in and to our prayer. As you know October is the Month set aside in honour of Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Rosary can help us focus in the busy day to day of life with Our Lady's help to see Christ in our lives, in the change and decay of life, in the growth and new beginnings of life and in the waiting and dormant parts of life. The Rosary with Mary’s help, love and aid can help us connect our lives and join them to her Son, who wants us to give him everything.

The Rosary is made up of two things: mental prayer and vocal prayer. In the Rosary, mental prayer is none other than meditation of the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and of His Blessed Mother. Vocal prayer consists in saying twenty decades of the Hail Mary, each decade headed by an Our Father, while at the same time meditating on and contemplating the twenty principal virtues which Jesus and Mary practised in the twenty mysteries of the Holy Rosary. So why not spend some time with Jesus in school of Mary.

 (From Crawley Parish Newsletter)

New Blog for St John's

St John's Horsham has a new blog. You can find it at http://stjohnshorshamrc.blogspot.com/

Here is one of the latest entries:

Crawley Circle Catenians

Many thanks to the catenians of the Crawley Circle for their hospitality at Ghyll Manor, Rusper this evening. We dined on excellent soup and sea bass. Mike Newman, the circle president and a Horsham parishioner welcomed the clergy and sisters. I was privileged to reply on behalf of the guests. We spent some time thinking about vocations. Happy priests inspire vocations to the priesthood and the happiness of priests is in no small part due to the care and concern and love of our parishioners. I think we were all inspired to pray hard for vocations. Mike gave Fr Terry Martin, vocations director for our diocese, a cheque to help towards his work. We were told that the dinner was a thank you to the clergy and sisters for their work. Since Fr Aaron and I have only just arrived we felt rather spoilt so early in our tenure.

From Fr. Terry's blog

Crawley Catenian

Over at Crawley Catenian you will find an informative blog telling us all about the life and mission of the local circle of the Catenian Association.  They're an impressive, generous and likeable bunch.

Once a year, so Catholic are their ways, they invite all the local clergy for supper in a nearby hotel/restaurant to say thank you for their ministry.  Priests, deacons and sisters gathered, together with brothers and their wives, for a lovely dinner and a congenial evening.

Very generously - and it came as a wonderful surprise - the circle presented the Vocations Director with a cheque to support the work throughout the diocese in promoting vocations to the priesthood.  This was a generous and gracious thing to do and every penny will be carefully spent.

God bless you all - and THANK YOU!

News from the USA

Our Immediate Past President, Bro. Dominic Moorhouse, and his wife Emily are travelling around the world. You can follow their adventures on Dom's Blog at http://dommoor.blogspot.com/.

An extract:

Thankfully both we and our Nissan Altima Coupe survived the week intact. It took a while to get used to the initially confusing road sign and numbering system, the ability to turn right on a red light and the habitual lethargic pace of traffic on most of the roads.

Only once during the week did I regret not ticking the GPS rental option - when we looked for and unfortunately, and inexplicably, couldn’t find Harpers Ferry, despite repeated frustrating attempts. Fuel in the USA is an amazing 50p per litre but our 2.5litre V6 automatic made every attempt to guzzle as much fuel as it could even at the slow moving pace, often due to the air conditioning necessitated by the 80 degree Fahrenheit temperatures. Washington was a nightmare of one way streets and poor directions.  We never did find the well sign posted visitors information centre having circumnavigated its supposed location repeatedly from all possible directions, but only once got caught in the apparently infamous commuter traffic that explodes out of the city every evening at a snails pace.

Death By Fatal Murder

Over thirty Brothers and wives gathered at The Capitol theatre in Horsham on Thursday night to enjoy this rib-tickling “Inspector Pratt” murder mystery set in an English country house during the Second World War. Bro Philip Hayden astutely observed that it seemed to be very much in the style of erstwhile TV comedy series ‘Allo ‘Allo and later research has proved that it does indeed come from the same stable! (Well done Bro Hayden, a great future as a theatre critic evidently awaits you.) In fact it even featured an ‘Allo ‘Allo star – Richard Gibson, aka Herr Flick, here again cast as a military man but this time a very charming English Squadron Leader. Also immediately recognisable in a distinguished cast was good old Dirty Den from Eastenders - sorry, I mean actor Leslie Grantham – playing an archetypal amorous Italian by name of Garibaldi.

The star of the stage, however, had to be Christopher Elderwood who gave an hysterically funny performance as the bungling Inspector Pratt and completely failed to solve the mystery of a murdered police constable or to figure out anyone’s real identity (hardly anyone proved to be quite who or what they said they were). Luckily more astute minds were on hand to piece together what really happened and all was finally revealed.

This was comedy at its best and there was scarcely a moment to catch breath between the laughs. An excellent evening, preceded for some of the party by a delicious meal at the China Brasserie across the road. Our thanks to Bro President and Bro Vice-President for organising the outing, and to Bro Gerry Lydon for coordinating the meal arrangements on the night. And of course to Ian Dickinson Productions Limited for an evening of good clean(ish) fun!

Tie Spotting

At this month's Circle meeting we were pleased to see our Bro. President's ties have returned to form.

A detail of the above

His example seems to have effected some other circle members.

Bros. Mike Georgeson and Jim Brophy

The Marne 2014

Mark Forster writes:

I mentioned at last night's Circle Meeting that I had had an idea for raising funds for charities, to include Catenian charities. I have recently returned from the Commemoration of the 97th Anniversary of the First Battle of the Marne in France, and it has struck me that in three years time it will be the 100th Anniversary. I am sure the French authorities, who keep this commemoration going faithfully year by year, will make a really big thing of the 100 year mark.

My idea is to do a sponsored walk over the entire route which my former unit, the 1st Battalion The Northumberland Fusiliers took during the Retreat from Mons, followed by the Advance to the Aisne. My idea is only in the very first stages of development at present, but I am hoping I can get the support of the military and civil authorities in France as well as my own former regiment. I have already got one new recruit, Bro. Mike Newman, who has enlisted as my batman for the duration!

Here is the map of the route taken from the regimental history. I have marked the retreat phase in red and the advance phase in green. Click on the image to see more detail.

Below is a photograph of the British Army monument at La Ferté sous Jouarre, showing the Mayor and other local dignitaries with our party and French standard bearers. The British War Memorial bears the names of over 3,000 members of the BEF who fell at Mons, the Retreat from Mons, Le Cateau, Marne and Aisne who have no known grave.  

Finally here is a link to a French video of the main commemoration at Mondement, where the main memorial to the battle of the Marne is situated.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkxlbo_commemoration-de-la-premiere-bataille-de-la-marne_news

If you want to skip the speeches in French, an extract from the leader of the British contingent's address is at 05.54

The Foley Niblick

Peter Frisby writes:

The players assembling for Niblick 2011

I am very pleased to confirm that we raised £350 last Tuesday during the 30th Playing of The Foley Niblick and I would like to thank those who took part in this most enjoyable day. Your presence and generosity ensured that a great time was had by all and that we raised a significant amount of money to help Fr Chris McGuinness in his ministry. A cheque has been sent to St Patrick's Missionary Society for the above amount to be forwarded to Fr Chris.

Our winner on the day For the Niblick was Phil Gidman. Second was Andrew Brzezina and Third Peter Frisby.

A. Pinder presenting the Niblick to the winner, P. Gidman

The Winning guest was Bob Sparks, second Simon Hulme and third Michael Frisby.

B. Sparks the guest winner

The winner of the Pat McDermott Memorial Trophy was Francis Benham.

John Maher presenting the Pat McDermott Trophy to Francis Benham

Our congratulations to all the worthy winners. They were delighted with their lavish prizes!

We raised £190 through the raffle. Thank you to all who gave prizes for the raffle - most generous.

A big thank you to Manus McDermott for all his help before and on the day and thanks too to David Tillson for his help with the raffle.

Crawley Wins the Visitors Cup!

Mike Newman writes:

Seven Brothers from Crawley Circle all successfully made it to Seaford Circle's meeting last night (12 September). A total of 62 attended the meeting, including 2 visiting gentlemen and 32 visitors. Their Treasurer is now receiving therapy (or would be if they had the funds).

Martin Klust was presented with a cheque for over £500 from the Province in thanks for all the work he has done at Circle and Provincial level since 1968.

The visitors came from Circles from all across the Province so our seven proved to be a sufficient number to enable us to collect the Visitors Cup. Seaford President Paul Allen will present the Cup to George Powell at the Provincial Council meeting on Wednesday.
[In the absence of a photo of the Visitors Cup, your editor has used a photo of a completely different cup for illustrative purposes.]

Arundel and Brighton Diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes 2011

Jim in the Grotto

 Jim Warren writes:


Pauline and I are back from Lourdes, just a month ago now, and on Sunday 4th September the pilgrimage reunion was held at St Wilfrid’s school, an opportunity to share memories and photographs with new friends and old.

There is something about the A & B pilgrimage to Lourdes. People ask if we go expecting to witness a miracle - the 66th miracle of Lourdes was officially recognised in 1999 and this was for a cure which occurred in 1987. 1858 was the year Our Lady revealed herself to Bernadette - so in something over 150 years and with visitors and pilgrims amounting to 6 million a year, no, we don’t go on pilgrimage anticipating a “miracle”. It could be said the biggest cause for wonder and amazement is that the pilgrimage occurs at all. The organization is incredible and all credit must go to the small dedicated team of volunteers who bring it all together. Everything is thought through, right down to the provision of colour-coded labels for our luggage.

Some 750 pilgrims make the journey each year. Of those upwards of 200 or so will be requiring quite a lot of support, and so there is the need for 450 or so helpers including doctors and nurses. Now in today’s secular and egocentric world, a helper is an odd one. He or she gives up a week's holiday, hands over £600 to the A&B Pilgrimage Trust and spends the week helping strangers.

The pilgrimage has the same slot year on year. We  begin our journey on the morning of the first Thursday of the school summer holidays, arriving in Lourdes on the Friday morning, and we leave Lourdes on the following Thursday afternoon, arriving back in England about mid-day on the Friday - so nine days then, during which the helpers have to pretty much stop thinking about themselves and concentrate on making sure fellow pilgrims, sick and disabled, are happy, fed, watered, etc. It is quite a challenge and the wonderful thing is about a third of those helpers have just finished school, 18 year olds, girls and boys, often spending their first time away abroad without their parents. These young people of the “must have it now” generation rise to this challenge and give of themselves in a manner which would amaze those who watched the recent riots on TV.

We all witness small miracles everyday at Lourdes in the caring and love which everyone shows for each other, and there are many who say “why can’t the other 51 weeks be like this?”

Catenians of the diocese share in this love by the support which they give to the pilgrimage, in many cases assisting these young people with the cost and supporting the  Sick Fund, which aims to ensure that all sick people who want to go on pilgrimage with the diocese can do so whatever their financial circumstances.

In Lourdes we said a prayer for all Catenians and their families worldwide, and in that we were joined by many brothers. It is perhaps not surprising a good contingent make the pilgrimage each year.

It will take a time before we come down from the “high” that the pilgrimage gives us, and when we do we start to look forward to next year.

A Warm Catenian Welcome in Sunny Seaford

Edek and I were delighted recently to receive an invitation, via George Powell, to attend a barbecue thrown by Seaford Circle in the hall and garden of St Thomas More Catholic Church, Seaford. The occasion was a “come and see” for local parishioners who were interested in finding out more about the Association.

It was a glorious blue-skied, late summer’s day as we travelled over the Downs last Saturday; the gentle roll of the green hills and that first glimpse of the sea sparkling as one mounts the crest of the downs never fail to prompt a satisfied sigh and stretch! There is just more room to breathe up there...

This sense of relaxation did not abate when we arrived at our destination, however, as we could not have received a sunnier welcome. We found the members of the Seaford Circle to be very friendly. They would also have made excellent PR officers for Seaford’s estate agents or tourist offices as they extolled the virtues of the town to us! Seaford is certainly pleasantly located with a backdrop of rolling downs to one side and the sea to the other, bang next to Newhaven and with Brighton and Eastbourne both within easy reach. (However I am conscious that this is the Crawley Circle blog so perhaps had better finish this particular digression now...!)

George, Edek and I enjoyed our burgers and hot dogs seated at a table with Paul Allen, the President of Seaford Circle, whose wife Brenda (pictured left with Paul) and some other local ladies had greeted us on arrival. It was a pleasure to meet and chat with Martin and Mercia Lamprecht, originally from South Africa; Martin disclosed that he had first been invited along to a Catenian function some months earlier and ever since had kept an information leaflet sitting in his desk at work, where it greeted him every time he opened his top drawer. Hopefully the barbecue will have prompted him to take things a step further.

All in all we had a hugely enjoyable afternoon, meeting amongst others Michael Logan, Seaford Circle Membership Secretary (eyes right), who we trust made some rich pickings! We would have joined! Afterwards Edek and I attended Mass in St Thomas More Church where the welcome was continued by parish priest Fr Niven. We were treated to a presentation at the end of Mass by one of the parish’s young people who had attended World Youth Day: an impressive 14 youngsters had attended from Seaford.

The occasion was an example of Catenian brother (and sister) hood at its best and we would like to say a big “thank you” to the Seaford Circle for welcoming us along.