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