Around our Diocese

The Diocesan Archives

By Oliver Lewis

Greetings from the Diocesan Archives! My name is Oliver and I have been appointed temporarily as Assistant Archivist at our new base in Lenton Business Centre, Nottingham. The archive collection was moved here in June 2021 from its previous home at Willson House near the Cathedral (not currently usable due to various structural problems with the building).

Our archive holds a wide variety of material - mainly from the 20th century, but also dating back to the creation of the Diocese in 1850 (and even earlier in some cases). Of particular importance are the parish registers, recording Catholic baptisms, marriages, confirmations and burials. Like their Anglican counterparts, these records can be a useful tool in family history research. Another significant part of the collection are the records relating to the Bishops of Nottingham: notable among these are the visitation books of Bishop Edward Bagshawe (1874-1901), who, for several years, kept fastidious notes on the state of the parishes (or ‘missions’ as they were then called) that he visited throughout the Diocese. Among the various bishops’ records we also have the ‘Ad Clerums’ which kept the clergy informed about Diocesan news, as they still do today.

The yearbook was inaugurated in the episcopate of Bishop Thomas Dunn, a great administrator whose tenure saw much development in the Diocese. As former Diocesan archivist Canon Garrett Sweeney wrote in an article for the yearbook’s 50th anniversary, Dunn very much desired that news of Diocesan affairs be more accessible to the laity. Reflecting the Bishop’s forwardthinking attitude, the editor of the first 1921 yearbook stated: ‘it is confidently anticipated that as a record of Catholic life in the five Counties comprised in the Diocese it will prove in time as valuable from an historical point of view, as it is bound to be useful from its very inception’. And so it has proven to be. Not only do the yearbooks provide the usual information about clergy, parishes, Catholic organisations, Diocesan statistics (and much more), they also contain all kinds of advertisements for a variety of businesses; these range from altar wine sellers, funeral directors and church candle makers, to tradesmen, coal merchants and chemists. Like those found in historical newspapers and trade directories like Kelly’s and Pigot’s, these advertisements can be useful in researching the history of a local area (as well as being occasionally entertaining!).

Yearbook articles can provide snippets about the lives of particularly interesting figures who once worked in the Diocese (like the Rosminian Fr. Albert Basil, an army chaplain who served with the US Rangers in WWII, won the Silver Star Medal, and later became chaplain at Loughborough College). They also feature news of important milestones in the Diocese, such as the Eucharistic Congress held in Nottingham (1933), and the Diocesan response to the Second Vatican Council and the 1982 papal visit. The general development of the Diocese can also be traced, such as the spate of church building begun in earnest during Bishop Dunn’s episcopate, the surge in new schools under Bishop Ellis (57 new schools built between 1944-1969), the creation of new parishes and the development of both evangelisation and ecumenism.

As the editor of the first issue had hoped, the yearbook has been shown to be an invaluable historical record for all these events, and I’m sure it will continue to be so for future researchers.

A reprint of an article from the 1962 Diocesan Yearbook

There are 397 of us – 150 still alive as priests of the Nottingham Diocese, and the remainder, we hope, among the Church Triumphant. It is not common to speak of the priests of a Diocese as an Order on their own. But the canonical sense of the word needs only a slight two-way stretch to make it applicable. Like the great Religious Orders of the Church, the priests of a Diocese are united under the direction of a single head, to whom they give obedience as promptly as to any Father Abbot. They have their Holy Rule, set out in the pages of Canon Law and supplemented by the Synodal Decrees of their own Diocese. And, when all written rules fail, the spiritual necessities of their congregations summon them to their duties as inexorably as any monastic bell. The achievements of each one of them are a source of pride to them all. There is no jealousy within an Order, for each individual has his own individual talents, contributes what he can to the common stock, and shares in the common glory. The priest belongs to the Diocese, and the Diocese belongs to him. Whether he was ordained for the Diocese, or entered it after ordination by the process of incardination, the priest is wedded to it for life, and he can call upon it to look after his material needs in the distress of ill-health or old age.

Friars Minor, Friars Preachers, Benedictines and Jesuits – each have their own particular work in the Church and each have their own traditions. So also do the priests of each Diocese. The problems of Liverpool can never be the same as the problems of Lincolnshire. The traditions of the Birmingham clergy will always be rooted in the eighteenth century Staffordshire clergy , the legend of Milner and the glories of Wiseman’s Oscott. And the clergy of the Nottingham Diocese - “Our Order” - have their own particular work, their own characteristic stamp, their own roots in a traditional past.

The twenty-one founders

When the Diocese was erected in 1850, its clergy numbered exactly twenty-one. Collectively, they had a character which has never been exactly duplicated. The tempo of their priestly lives had a tranquillity which later generations might envy but could never hope to enjoy. The Industrial Revolution had not caught up with them. They lived largely in country missions. They were scholarly men, and had time to indulge their scholarship. Most of them had been alive to hear the news of Waterloo.

In the wooded seclusion of Hainton, the aged Provost Simkiss – a last link with the old College at Douai – corresponded painstakingly on Newtonian Physics with Fr. Gabb of Worksop. (Fr. Gabb’s Opus Magnum was his “Finis Pyramidis”, in which he found an elaborate significance in the dimensions of the Pyramids). His successor in the Chapter was Provost Waterworth of Newark, whose tastes ran rather to the sources of Dogmatic Theology and resulted in such thick and lavishly-printed volumes as his “Decrees of the Council of Trent.” The two brothers, Fr. John and Fr. James Jones, who had entered Oscott as its first students of Philosophy, both published doctrinal works of more popular appeal – one while at Hassop, the other at Worksop. Worksop seems to have had a lasting literary tradition. It was from that haven of peace that Canon Griffin published his elegant “Sermons for Sundays and Festivals” which went to two reprintings before the turn of the century. Half a dozen other priests of the same period have left behind them a legacy of print, usually in the form of plainspoken controversial pamphlets prompted by a local outburst of anti-Catholic feeling. Between them, the printed publications of these twentyone founder priests outweigh all that has been published by their successors.

The late Victorian era

Never again was there to be such literary opportunity. As the century progressed, the Diocesan priesthood became immersed in the struggle to found new missions and schools in the neglected industrial areas. If a priest was to be successful, he had to be capable of scratching a bare living in dingy lodgings, with a tin shed as a House of God, of improvising a school, and preserve as best he could his own faith and morals amid a poverty-stricken congregation which had already almost forsaken the Church.

The times called for action. “Mechanism without dynamics” wrote Cardinal Manning, “is dead.” An old copy of The Universe for March 1891 embalms the qualities that were then considered admirable in a priest. It eulogizes the Parish Priest of a Derbyshire mining town, who preaches seven times on a Sunday in the open air, led weekly processions to have Rosary in the Market Place, built a school, an orphanage and a house for Male Religious, while the Mayoral

Banquet toasted the Pope with “loud cheers and acclamations.” The Diocesan clergy are seen dimly amid a welter of activity. Amid the distractions of the age, one or two priests like Monsignor Croft clung to the thin thread of literary tradition. Nor were there lacking priests of outstanding holiness of life.

The turn of the century

The clergy had undoubtedly lost some of its cohesion and corporate spirit in the last years of the nineteenth century. Their numbers had been filled up with priests from a kaleidoscopic variety of Colleges and countries, and there were no natural ties to bind them together. This was changed by the accession of Bishop Brindle, and still more by that of Bishop Dunn. Ecclesiastical education was concentrated on three Colleges of ancient tradition – the Venerabile in Rome, Valladolid and Lisbon. By the end of the episcopate of Dr. Dunn (1916-31), each new priest could be sure of finding many among the Diocesan clergy whom he had previously known as fellow-students. A growing sense of unity appeared.

The last thirty years

It must be left for a future historian, seeing Our Order in its true perspective, to identify the peculiar characteristics of the Nottingham Diocesan Clergy of the present day. What is obvious is that the work of the Diocese has become much more variegated, and that the priesthood has become correspondingly adaptable. No single type of priest can meet all the different needs. There are parishes where the pioneering spirit of the nineteenth century can still find an outlet, and where everything has to be built from the ground. There are others so well-established that they need the qualities of a Pastor rather than an Apostle, and where Catholic life can be led in all its fullness of beauty and dignity. The appearance of a Diocesan College has brought the demand for a Teacher-Priest, while a developing Diocesan Curia and various Charitable Works creates a need for the type of priest who can sanctify himself with a typewriter.

The geographical background

Grace has always built upon nature, and the fact of geographical origin has always played its part in determining the characteristics of the Diocesan Clergy. At the present moment, the five counties of the Diocese between them have provided 68 of the 150 priests now living. Since 1850, the Diocese has given birth to 106 priests for its own clergy, and it may be of interest to individual parishes to know how fruitful they have been in vocations. The analysis runs as follows – and the writer must apologize in advance for any inadvertent omissions.

Derbyshire:

Derby – 13; Bamford – 3; Buxton 2; Clowne – 1; Glossop – 1; Hadfield – 3; Ilkeston – 3; Marple Bridge – 1; Shirebrook – 1; Woodseats – 3. TOTAL = 31

Leicestershire:

Leicester – 8; Coalville – 1; Loughborough – 1; Market Harborough – 1;

Melton Mowbray – 1; Shepshed -1; Whitwick – 3. TOTAL = 16

Lincolnshire:

Lincoln – 3; Brigg – 2; Cleethorpes – 1; Corby (Glen) – 1; Crowle – 1; Grimsby – 7;

Louth – 1; Mkt. Rasen & Caistor – 2; Scunthorpe – 1; various villages – 4. TOTAL = 23

Nottinghamshire:

Nottingham – 27; Beeston - 1; Eastwood – 1; Mansfield – 4; New Ollerton – 1;

W. Bridgford – 1; Worksop – 1. TOTAL = 36

Other Counties of the United Kingdom have contributed another 41 vocations to the Diocese, and three of the present clergy were born in Continental Europe. The value of the Irish contribution – 41 among today’s Diocesan Clergy – needs no emphasis. When so many of their parishioners are of Irish extraction, they can hardly be considered as other than native clergy. What is not generally realised, is that no serious attempt to draw upon the riches resources of the Sister Isle was made until very recent years. The first to do so was Bishop McNulty (1932-43) under whom a quarter of Diocesan ordinations were from this source. The proportion during the present episcopate has risen to rather more than one-third.

The tradition of the Colleges

Perhaps the most important single factor in forming the characteristics of any Diocesan Clergy is to be found in the Colleges where priests are prepared for ordination. Ushaw has had as profound an effect upon the Catholic life of

the North as Ware has had upon the Archdiocese of Westminster. It is interesting to find that the Nottingham clergy have their strongest roots in the College of St. Mary at Oscott. Reords are incomplete, and the college of ordination can be identified in the case of only 298 of the 397 priests who have been ordained for the Diocese since its foundation. Oscott, with 60 priests, has produced the largest single contingent for the Diocese. The old Seminary of Our Lady and St. Hugh, in Derby Road, Nottingham, produced 46. Among Colleges abroad, the Venerabile tops the list with 39, the Beda with 22, and Lisbon with 20. Among colleges in England, we find that Ware has produced 13 priests for the Diocese, Wonersh 6, Ushaw 8, and Upholland 3. All Hallows, with 15, has made by far the largest single contribution from Ireland.

These are the formative roots of Our Order. Statistics apart, it is a rich fund of Catholic tradition. It feeds the clergy of today with the unshakeable Englishry of Milner’s Oscott, and with the astonishing heroism of the martyrs who sat on the same benches at the Venerabile, Lisbon and Valladolid. It mingles with the background of local origins, and it reacts in face of the variegated needs of the Nottingham Diocese as it is today to produce a corporate and characteristic spirit in the clergy of which Our Order can be proud.

Ad Limina Reports

By Canon Anthony Dolan, Archivist-emeritus

I wonder how many people, if asked what an ‘Ad Limina’ visit was, would reply that it might be a tour of a soft drinks factory. They would be wrong!

Let me explain. All diocesan bishops, in regional or national groups, are required to make an official visit to Rome roughly every five years. This is known as the ‘Ad Limina’ visit, literally to the ‘thresholds’ but, we usually say ‘tombs’, of Saints Peter and Paul. One of the purposes of these visits is to express and strengthen the unity of the bishops with the chief bishop, the Pope. A meeting with him is another key feature of these visits.

As part of his preparation for the ‘Ad Limina’ visit, each bishop has to send to the Vatican Secretariat of State a detailed Report in answer to a standard set of questions about various aspects of the life of his diocese since the previous ‘Ad Limina’ visit; these answers are an invaluable resource for pastoral planning at local, national and international level as well as for historians. The format of these Reports and the type of questions asked have, understandably, varied over the years since the Restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy of England and Wales in 1850, most noticeably so in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. For example, bishops no longer have to ask permission from Rome to venture outside their dioceses.

The Nottingham Diocesan Archives hold copies or drafts of many of the ‘Ad Limina’ Reports from 1860 onwards. It is impossible, in a short article, to go through each of these, so I will give some illustrations from Bishop Bagshawe’s 1885 Report, the longest of the six we have from his episcopate – in the draft copy it runs to fortyfour sides of foolscap!

One of the first questions asked is about the size and physical characteristics of the Diocese. The Report tells us that the Diocese of Nottingham comprises 5,575 square miles, has about 1700 towns and villages and a total population of about 150,000. It notes that “the country is beautiful and fertile. Derbyshire and parts of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire are hilly: the rest of the Diocese is for the most part flat and level.”

Next the bishop is asked for information about himself – his age, country of birth, where he lives, his sources of income, etc. A further question relates to any ‘special faculties’ he may have from the Holy See. Bishop Bagshawe notes that he has an authorisation “permitting him to make short journeys about England [i.e. outside his own diocese] at his discretion, without special leave from Rome each time.” I suspect that one reason for this rather strange ‘faculty’ was that, in earlier ages, many bishops spent more time outside their dioceses than in them and that the requirement to seek permission to travel was an attempt to eradicate *this abuse. The bishop is then asked for details about his canonical visitations of the parishes (formerly called ‘missions’). Bishop Bagshawe notes that, generally, he visitates a different parish every fortnight and that each visitation *takes the better part of three days. Further questions relate to the Cathedral Chapter and whether there is a diocesan seminary. Here the bishop notes that he is in the process of forming a diocesan seminary (he had begun this process in 1883).

There are sixty-one parishes with a resident

priest. A description of each of these parishes includes not only facts but also the bishop’s observations on these facts; this takes up quite a sizeable part of the Report. A further section of the questionnaire relates to education – how many Catholic schools there are comma instead of semicolon how many pupils attend them, how many of these pupils are Catholics and how many are Protestants. The bishop’s figures are 5669 Catholics and 2551 Protestants. He explains that one reason why some of the Catholic children don’t attend Catholic schools is because of distance and he states that “every effort has been made both to build schools and to induce the children to attend them.”

Seventy-three ‘secular’ (i.e. not members of a Religious Order) priests belong to the diocese six of whom are currently living outside it. Each one is listed by name and various biographical details are given together with a brief comment about him. Thus, the Vicar General, Canon McKenna, is noted as being “able, zealous and pious, hardworking and good-natured.” Many others are described in terms such as “good, zealous and pious”, but one is stated to be “a good priest, of fair ability; [he] has very little to do in his Mission, but perhaps does not find as much to do as he might.” A few priests are stated to be “of weak health”, which limits their work in varying degrees. Bishop Bagshawe’s numbers don’t always add up; thus he has either eleven or thirteen men at various stages of preparation for Ordination.

Six male Religious Orders are represented in the Diocese. Of these, some are involved in education, others in parish work, and one, the Cistercians of Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, are contemplatives. All the Religious priests “wear the dress of secular priests, when they go some distance from home, i.e. the Roman collar, and a coat longer than usual, and differently cut.” There are twenty houses of female Religious from seven Orders two of which Orders, the Little Company of Mary and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, were founded in the Diocese, the former in 1877 and the latter in 1884.

Several pages of the Report give details of the twenty-five ‘Pious Foundations’ or ‘Pious Legacies’ “available for ecclesiastical purposes in the Diocese,” and six “Educational Burses” for students for the priesthood.

One or two other issues are then raised before the bishop is asked finally to “consider carefully the spiritual needs of Christianity [in his Diocese]; to describe them in detail; to suggest appropriate ways of rooting out the errors of the past, and of achieving the greater advancement of religion.” This, it seems to me, is one of the most important parts of the Report. It ends thus: “There is great interest felt everywhere now in the Catholic faith, and there is no difficulty in collecting congregations to listen to Catholic teaching. The faith might be extended indefinitely, if there were sufficient money to open schools and chapels, and to maintain priests. Preaching of missions by the Regulars [= members of Religious Orders] in places which never hear the word of God would do much good, if they were able to find the time and the money necessary.”

As I have read through the 1885 ‘Ad Limina’ Report and earlier and later ones, I have been struck by the pastoral care shown by their authors and by the confidence they exude in spite of all the difficulties encountered. It reminds* me of the following I once saw in a calendar: “I do not fear tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday, and I love today.”

Visit by the Apostolic Nuncio

By the Diocesan Communications Team

His Excellency Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti paid a short visit to the Diocese of Nottingham this weekend. He met local dignitaries, celebrated Mass at the University of Nottingham and was present at the celebration of the Rite of Election at St. Barnabas Cathedral.

The diocese was pleased to welcome the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, His Excellency Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, on 5th and 6th March 2022. His visit opened with a drinks reception at Bishop’s House on Saturday evening, where amongst those in attendance were the

Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, Sir John Peace, Nottinghamshire Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford, and His Honour Michael Stokes, QC, DL. It was a pleasant occasion and provided an opportunity to share something of the life and mission of the diocese with local dignitaries and the Apostolic Nuncio. His Excellency emphasised the role of the Church to be at the service of people in the region and Sir John Peace echoed this, thanking the bishop for the witness and work of the Diocese of Nottingham locally.

On Sunday morning the Archbishop celebrated Mass at the University of Nottingham for the Catholic Community of staff and students. His supportive presence on campus and in the diocese expressed the closeness of the Holy Father. He underlined the importance of universities as centres for building civilisation and the role our Christian heritage plays in understanding our civilisation. His Excellency encouraged those present not to limit their pursuits to only their own time and place, as this results in a localitas rather than a much richer universitas. After a lively Q&A with the students, the University hosted a reception for the Nuncio where he was welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Shearer West. Various local dignitaries, academics and chaplains were present and enjoyed the opportunity to meet with His Excellency and share with him a little of their good work in the University and the wider community.

The Archbishop’s last engagement was to join Bishop Patrick in celebrating the Rite of Election at St Barnabas Cathedral on Sunday afternoon. It was the first ‘in-person’ Rite of Election to be celebrated post-pandemic and was an occasion of great joy. Over 300 people attended the service, those hoping to be baptised and those to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church this Easter, and also priests and people supporting them on their journeys. Some parishes were preparing to welcome into the Church as many as fourteen people of all backgrounds, ages and ethnicities. The Rite was also something of a novelty for the Nuncio, who had not experienced this service in his previous postings across Eastern Europe. He offered a few words of encouragement to those present, thanking them for the ‘extraordinary adventure’ they have embarked upon. He reminded them that ‘Jesus…your friend and brother has been waiting for you for all eternity …and no one else can come and take your place on this journey.’ The Nuncio then suggested to the candidates, that they be grateful and content as they give themselves into the hands of God and to relax as the Holy Spirit ‘does the rest.’ He wished them well as they journeyed towards Baptism and Confirmation and thanked them ‘for the wonderful gift which enriches all our Church and makes us feel that we are surviving and still young!’ Bishop Patrick thanked the Nuncio for his presence in the Diocese and expressed his own gratitude at seeing the Cathedral so full for this joyful occasion.

Check out our photos from the weekend here: https://flickr.com/photos/dioceseofnottingham/ albums

The Golfing Priests

By Father John Joe Maloney

St John (Henry) Newman is alleged to have said: “There is one means to convert England, an ample supply of singe minded, saintly parochial Priests”. All of us aspire to reach such heights.

Soon after Ordination I received a short letter from Bishop Ellis welcoming me into the Nottingham Diocese before adding “pray, visit, visit, visit, and on your day off go to Hollinwell and learn to play golf”. I took his advice. Fr Connell was my Parish Priest at St Mary’s in Grantham and he told me I could have the use of the Parish car on my day off. I bought a second-hand set of clubs and was ready for the new adventure. I arrived at the clubhouse in Kirkby-in-Ashfield to meet the other Priests who had their day off on Tuesdays, was welcomed by them, had a cup of coffee and headed for the first tee and into a new world.

The course opened in 1901, a beautiful heathland course, considered to be the best in the Midlands. Discovering it was a great blessing, not only did we meet a lot of our fellow Priests each week but it got us away from the sound of the cities and the stress of working all week in schools, hospitals, prisons, visiting homes, etc, to spend a day with Mother Nature. I listened to a professor from UCD at Our Lady’s Shrine at Knock speaking on creation and saying, “Creation is the medium through which God reveals Himself to us every day”.

In Hollinwell we had it in abundance. To hear the cuckoo singing by the eleventh fairway in the middle of May lightens up your heart, the skylark and the linnet each waiting their turn in the wings, with the green woodpecker and the kingfisher, and many, many more. If you have an early start you might see the fox taking home a pheasant for breakfast or the wild geese having a feed of young corn on their way back to Canada. When in the rough – as we often were – you could come upon the odd grass snake, while, pasturing in the background are the Hebridean sheep. Such a setting is probably why the Augustinian monks built their Priory at Newstead circa 1170, until Henry VIII confiscated the monasteries, and why the Byron family purchased it in 1540.

Nowadays seven or eight of us turn up at the same time on Tuesdays from the four corners of the Diocese. In the ‘60s twenty or more of us would be there. If we bumped into Bishop Ellis we, without exception, kissed his ring, even if it happened to be on the first tee.

Having teed off, though, we got down to the real business of getting as many pars as we could. One quickly observed how single minded everyone was as we made our way around the course. Having completed our round and having had a shower, we had a meal together in the clubhouse. The staff were always very good to us. Sometimes we ended our day with a game of cards at Cathedral House, courtesy of Canon Thornhill. We had a number of competitions in the course of the year sponsored by various people

and companies, for example The Bishop’s Cup, Canon Gilleran Trophy, Hayes & Finch, Allied Irish Banks and others.

The highlight of the year was in September when the Clergy National Competitions took place. Our first, but abortive, attempt at competing ended when we failed to properly negotiate Piccadilly Circus in Birmingham, missed our start time and had to return home. The competition was played on two courses to accommodate 200 Priests from England, Scotland and Wales. Our Diocese were champions at Leicestershire and Brendan O’Callaghan won the individual championship at Beeston Fields and Walsall.

Tuesdays at Hollinwell were relaxing, challenging, energising, healing, therapeutic – call it what you want – but come Wednesday we were again feeling determined not to let St John (Henry) Newman down in our efforts to convert England.

When Brendan won the National Championship at Walsall he received a little letter from an elderly lady in the North of England congratulating him and saying how lovely it was to read about the Priests from all over the UK meeting for a game of golf. She had read the report in the paper. Enclosed was a Postal Order for 50p. Brendan happened to have met her local Priest at the golf and contacted him. He visited the lady the following week; she was unknown to him. She was reconciled to the Church and he arranged to bring her Holy Communion each month, which he did. When he came to visit her at Christmas with Holy Communion she had the altar prepared and lay dead in the chair beside the altar.

Bishop Ellis was right. The work of SPANNED in the Nottingham Diocese, by Father Frank Daly

These beautiful words from the prayer of St. John Henry Newman succinctly summarise the work of SPANNED (the agency Supporting People with Additional Needs in the Nottingham Diocese) for the past 46 years. Last September, on the occasion of our 45th anniversary as special commemorative book called “Nothing Like This Before” was published and this was a historical snap-shot of years of work and service, which still, in some quarters remains unknown to many people.

When we began our life in March 1976, people with disabling conditions were still very much on the margins of church and society. In schools, they were officially classified as ‘subnormal’, in public most facilities were still inaccessible, there was no such thing as a ‘loop’ system for deaf people, and the presence of people in wheelchairs was often seen as an embarrassment or inconvenience. In church circles, the thrust was on taking people to Lourdes on pilgrimage so that ‘they might be cured’, without any mention of taking them and their families seriously as persons, with rights, choices and responsibilities, who not only were not ‘included’ in our lives nor thought of as potential ‘contributors’ to the life and mission of the Church.

The ground-breaking work of SPANNED then and still today has done much to dismantle these pre-conceptions, to engage, involve and celebrate the lives of those among us who we may have thought needed our care, misplaced sympathy and even pity, and create instead a philosophy of respect in which a person’s life is not considered in terms of what they cannot do, but in terms of what they can do and have done with the right support and encouragement. This philosophy of ‘contribution’ has underpinned all the efforts of SPANNED in so many ways and as such, it is an agency that is unique in Europe, doing a work that no one else has seen the need for and is truly “Nothing Like This Before”.

In the 1980’s we pioneered ‘care days’ for children with disabling conditions on the first day of every half term in the school holidays, which would later become a full-blown ‘Care Project’ during the summer holidays. We have published a quarterly magazine since 1977 and issued many other publications starting from that year, to highlight the situation in which people with disabling conditions find themselves and what we can do about it. In 1978, we created the first ever Faith and Light ‘Celebration’ in Sheffield, during which, for the first time, people with learning difficulties mimed a piece of music (Dvorak’s ‘Largo’) to an extract from scripture (the story of God making the world), which practice has now become common all over the world.

As we developed what would be six groups of people in different parts of the diocese to continue this work, we set up what was called ‘The Pauline Project’ in Nottingham and Derby, going out to lead the Sunday liturgy in various parishes, to the amazement and delight of parishioners and priests alike. These groups each had their own character and approach to ‘contribution’ and would meet regularly to promote it, sharing the delight and happiness of our friends and their families who found that they were at last being included and involved in the life of church and society. Taking part in plays and musicals and in so doing raising thousands of pounds for charity has become a regular feature of our ‘contribution’ and yes, ‘mission’, including that wonderful evening in July 2000 when 169 people ‘danced’ the story of Our Lord’s life to the music of ‘Riverdance’ in front of an audience of 800 people in Derby, and also the specially written musical, “The Balm of Mercy” for the Year of Mercy in 2016.

Our project work each year mirrors the concerns of our bishop, and while there is much attention at the moment on climate change, it is good to note the prophetic contribution of SPANNED which undertook a year-long consideration of this subject as long as 12 years ago.

The ‘proclamation’ of the gospel of Jesus is a constant feature of ‘our mission’ which is undertaken in a unique manner, so that people can ‘hear’ the Word of God in ways they had never done previously. Coupled with this enterprise, we have also sought to include people who are deaf and members of the travelling communities in the Church, and latterly, before ‘lockdown, embarked on a project to support people living with dementia and their families. This has become a great need with more and more people developing this condition now and feeling alone and abandoned.

There are many other challenges too. Despite society claiming to be more enlightened now than 45 years ago, this is not entirely true. Many people with disabling conditions are not provided with the means and facilities to have a working life which, with the right support, they are capable of and the custom of ‘eradicating the problem’ of disability in removing babies’ right to life before they are born because some ‘defect’ has been detected ‘in utero’ remains a spectre of shame which most people now take for granted.

Underpinning this is a notion of the need to create something of a ‘flawless’ and ‘perfect’ society, a ‘brave new world’ if you like, by removing

from it anyone not perceived to be ‘normal’. This is a sinister philosophy which needs to be contested at all times. What its proponents cannot see is the joy, surprise and delight that those among us with perceived ‘disabling conditions’ have brought and still do to the rest of us. This can never be fully appreciated and has truly been a ‘mission’ that has been ‘given to no other’, as St.John Henry prayed.

The purpose of an effort at what we now call ‘inclusion’ is to bring people to full participation and involvement in our lives to the point that no one really notices them and they merge imperceptibly into the work and mission of all of us. The one true Church of Christ, yet to be fully established, is for all people at all times and in all places. It has been the joy of SPANNED to play our part in this endeavour and hopefully will continue to be so.

Healthcare in a time of Pandemic

Homily given at the Mass in Thanksgiving for Healthcare Workers and in Remembrance of the victims of the Pandemic, on Sunday 7th November 2021 at St Barnabas Cathedral, by Rev Deacon David Kight, the Bishop’s Bishop’s Healthcare Advisor, and Senior Chaplain and Bereavement Service Manager, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Today’s first reading from the Book of Kings tells of a poor widow of Zarephath who showed mercy in the form of practical compassion, by sharing her last crust with the prophet Elijah in order that they both may survive, offering the last of her food with the starving prophet. In doing so she gives a very real and practical example of how we should live out our faith, because she did what Jesus expects of us . I was hungry and you gave me to eat,;When I was thirsty you gave me to drink., and in giving without hesitation, and she is blessed in return.

Then we heard in our Gospel about the poor woman in the Temple, who quietly put in her last savings so that God would be properly worshipped. The widow’s offering to the Temple might seem small in the eyes of other donors, but it was whole-hearted and therefore priceless in value. Generosity is not the exclusive prerogative of the rich. We all have great gifts to share too. Whoever gives whole-heatedly of himself/herself to a worthy cause is following the example of Jesus, whether they are aware of it or not. And they have the blessing of God and the promise of His reward.

These readings speak to us about both mercy and of generous giving, or what could be called ‘Practical Compassion’

I am not sure whether the Bishops of England and Wales had these readings in mind when they chose this weekend for each diocese to hold a Mass in Thanksgiving for Healthcare Workers and in Remembrance of the victims of the Pandemic, but they really couldn’t have been more appropriate.

Next month marks the 2nd anniversary of the initial cases of the coronavirus being identified in China, and since then it is fair to say that our

whole way of living across the world has been impacted in some way, but what has also been recognised is the monumental impact this has had on those who are responsible for the delivery of Healthcare, often described as the front-line in dealing with the impacts of the virus.

In our news bulletins over the last 20 months since the virus arrived in our country you will have seen countless examples of healthcare staff tirelessly giving of themselves, under extreme pressure and in extremely challenging conditions, often putting themselves at risk, to care for those the most severely ill patients who had contracted the disease.

From a personal perspective as both a Nurse and a Hospital Chaplain and someone who has worked in the NHS for nearly 35 years, I can honestly say that the past couple of years really have been unprecedented. A word which I do not use lightly. I have witnessed first hand the way that health services have had to rapidly adapt to completely new ways of working; How staff have had to adapt and develop new skills, or rapidly return and re-train to roles they had moved on from.

Short-term emergency plans having to be adapted to become the new normal ways of working. Empty Accident and Emergency Departments as people are too afraid to come to the hospital. Hospitals with empty corridors as visitors are kept away and in contrast wards where staff are unrecognisable with scrubs, aprons and gloves, masks and gowns and a whole array of PPE being worn as they care for some of the sickest patients they have encountered in what were unprecedented numbers. The hospital was and to some degree still is unrecognisable from what it was back in 2019.

What I observed though was numerous acts of kindness, mercy and compassion in the most difficult and challenging circumstances.

I vividly remember the nurse who broke down in front of me saying ‘I just want to see one of my patients leave here alive’ and then a few minutes later donning her PPE and going back to support her seriously ill patients.

I remember the scared staff who were redeployed from the finance and IT departments to help out in the wards at the height of the crisis.

I remember the patient who had been so scared as he went on a high flow oxygen mask, and how grateful he was for all the care he had received when he was finally discharged.

I remember having to say prayers with seriously ill patients via an iPad because it wasn’t safe to enter a ward, and I also remember the first time I went into the Intensive Care Unit after Covid broke out and thought it looked light the set from a Science Fiction movie, and yet being overwhelmed by the care and compassion of the staff working there.

I remember transferring patients in beds in the middle of the night and I remember working with a deep clean team to completely clean a ward areas to make it safe for new admissions.

And returning to nursing, I remember the first day I gave over 100 Covid Vaccines to Health and Social Care workers and the hope this offered to those who gratefully received them.

For me these truly have been unprecedented times!

I know that everyone who works in Healthcare settings will have their own recollections of what has happened during the pandemic, and in this Mass here tonight we give thanks for ALL that they have done, and are still doing.

But we too also remember in this Mass the Victims of the Pandemic;

In one way we are all victims; we have all had our lifestyles altered to keep us safe; been separated from loved ones, not been present at major life events, or had to postpone planned events, possibly suffered a loss of income or employment, felt isolated and afraid and for a time unable to receive the eucharist or other sacraments

In the week in which we have commemorated All Souls, we particularly remember in this Mass all those who have died of COVID since the start of the Pandemic, in our families and in our diocese. We also remember in our thoughts and prayers all those who were unable to say their final farewells and goodbye’s and for whom the grieving process is particularly hard due to the circumstances of the pandemic.

In tonight’s Mass we are therefore both remembering and celebrating the care and compassion shown by our healthcare workers in their many and varied roles, comforting the sick and caring for the dying throughout the pandemic, and showing practical and unconditional

compassion, as the widow of Zarephath did, as well as remembering all those who have died and those who are suffering as a result of the pandemic.

We ask in prayer that all who deliver healthcare may be given strength and fortitude to undertake their work and that all who are suffering as a result of the pandemic may have hope for the future.

I know that throughout the diocese we have all been affected in some way by the pandemic. Maybe over the coming year each deanery could consider holding a special Mass in thanksgiving for all those Health and Social Care staff and Key Workers from across each deanery who have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to provide essential services.

Jesus Caritas Fraternities

We are a group of priests & deacons who meet once a month to share scriptures, review our lives and to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. Our meetings include sharing food and time to relax together.

We draw our inspiration from St Charles de Foucauld [1858-1916] who modelled his life on Jesus in the Gospels, living a simple lifestyle and strove to be ‘a universal brother’. He was a Catholic priest and a hermit who chose to live in Tamanrasset, French Algeria, among the Twareg, who were Muslims. He was assassinated in 1916 by a band of marauders who surrounded his house. He wrote a Rule of Life for others to join him but it was only after his death that an adapted version of his Rule started to be lived by newly formed Religious Communities of men and women. Then, various forms of associations for priests/deacons and laity sprung up around the world, of which the Jesus Caritas Fraternities are one. If you want to start a Jesus Caritas Fraternity, begin with a few friends with an hour before the Blessed Sacrament. Then gather as a support group, gradually working in the values and charisms of the Jesus Caritas Fraternity. For additional information, or if you would like to arrange for a “taster” day, contact: Canon Jonathan Cotton [jonathan.cotton@ dioceseofnottingham.uk.] and Fr John McCay [john.mccay@dioceseofnottingham.uk.] For more information about our British Fraternities, see https://www.jesuscaritaspriests.org.uk. A statement from Edward Hayes, Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Faith in Families, a Voluntary Adoption Agency and children’s charity based in Nottingham and Birmingham-based charity Adoption Focus have agreed to a merger.

Faith in Families is a registered charity and independent VAA, known as Adopt Together. Faith in Families has a long history, beginning in Nottingham in 1948 as the Catholic Children’s Society. Its belief in the importance of family life is as strong today as it was when it first began. Over the last 70+ years it has found new, loving homes for more than 3,000 children, who for various reasons were unable to continue living with their birth families.

Faith in Families is based in Nottingham but works throughout the East Midlands; including Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, to help children find new homes. It is rated as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted.

Formed in 2009, Adoption Focus ( website www.adoption-focus.org.uk) is a Voluntary Adoption Agency (VAA) and charity which recruits, prepares, assesses, approves and supports adopters throughout the adoption process and beyond. It focuses on the preparation and support of adoptive parents and the placement of children. Through Adoption Focus’s expertise, adopters feel valued and cared for. The main Adoption Focus office is Marston Green, Birmingham. The agency covers Birmingham, West Midlands, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Oxfordshire and neighbouring counties.It is rated as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted.

The new agency will operate under the name

Adoption Focus and will become one of the largest Voluntary Adoption Agencies in the country, with more than 60 employees; operating across the whole of the Midlands, from the South Yorkshire border to the M25, and with a combined annual income of over £3.5million.

The merger of the agencies will be completed on 1st January (2022). The Trustees and staff of Adoption Focus and Faith in Families will be fully integrated; building on the strengths, knowledge and practice each organisation has developed.

As Chair of the Board of Trustees for Faith in Families, I wish to thank former Bishop Malcolm and current Bishop Patrick for their support and the Catholic community for the amazing financial support the charity has benefitted from supported by the vital work of its parish box collectors.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of Faith in Families I am certain that this merger with Adoption Focus will allow the excellent work done by our charity over the past 70 years to continue and develop. Our two agencies, both grown from original Diocesan Children’s Societies, share the same values. This creation of a new Midlands-wide adoption agency and children’s support-based charity brings new opportunities and benefits, and ensures that our motto ‘from our traditional roots their future blossoms’ will continue to be the aim of our work for many years into the future.

Taking advantage of the “weather window” offered, after a week of unsettled weather, the 43rd annual Pilgrimage at Rodsley went ahead. Bishop Patrick arrived exactly on time after accompanying the Sherwin Academy walking from Ashbourne, collecting money for Treetops and Bluebells Hospices. Father John Trenchard delivered the homily, making reference to Joan Waste who was burnt at the stake, not far from Saint Joseph’s, for not renouncing her Protestant Faith, in the 16th Century. Reference was also made to the churchgoers in West Africa recently, who were murdered by terrorists for not denouncing the word of God. In both cases, these people, like Saint Ralph, were murdered for their belief in God.

Bishop Patrick concluded Mass by a few moments exposition of the Monstrance in celebration of Corpus Christi. This was followed by Veneration of the relic of Saint Ralph, to the rousing “Faith of our Fathers. Finally, a presentation to Tony Bennett, President of the Sherwin Society, who organise the Pilgrimage, a framed print of the stained glass window at Saint Joseph’s, Derby, depicting Saint Ralph Sherwin in prayer. Before long the clatter of cups, the aroma of coffee and freshly baked cakes, signified Refreshments were available. Where would we be without our Rodsley Tea Ladies ?

New Canons for the Cathedral Chapter

By Father Simon Gillespie

The Chapter of Canons at the Cathedral Church of Saint Barnabas, Nottingham, was canonically erected by the then Bishop of Nottingham, the Right Reverend Joseph William Hendren OSF, on 2nd July 1852, with Reverend Canon J Simkiss its first Provost (senior canon). He was joined in the Chapter by ten further Canons, all installed with him on 2nd July 1852, and being Reverend Canon J Jones (who succeeded as the second Provost in 1856, until 1860), Canon J Gascoyne (who remained in the Chapter until 1863), Reverend Canon J Waterworth (who succeeded as the third Provost, in 1861, until 1876), Reverend Canon T Fauvel (who remained in the Chapter until 1865), Reverend Canon T Sing (who remained in the Chapter until 1882), Reverend Canon T Tempest (who remained in the Chapter until 1857), Reverend Canon F Cheadle (who remained in the Chapter until 1886), Reverend Canon J Griffin (who remained in the Chapter until 1896), and Reverend Canon J Mulligan (who remained in the Chapter until 1872).

Upon Provost Waterworth’s retirement as Provost in 1876, he was succeeded by Reverend Canon W F Browne, who had been in the Chapter since 1869, and who remained Provost until 1880. He was succeeded by Reverend Canon J Harnett, who had been in the Chapter since 1873, and who remained Provost until 1909. He was succeeded by Reverend Canon W Croft, who had been a member of the Chapter since 1869, and who remained Provost until 1926 (making him, at 57 years’ service, probably the longest serving member of the Chapter in its history). He was succeeded by Reverend Canon P O’Donoghue, who had been a member of the Chapter since 1900, and who remained Provost until 1929. He was succeeded by Reverend Canon W Baigent, who had been a member of the Chapter since 1906, and who remained Provost for only one year. He was succeeded in 1930 by Reverend Canon F Hayward, who had been a member of the Chapter since 1914, and who retired as Provost in 1933. He was succeeded by Reverend Canon J McIlroy, who had been a Chapter Canon since 1914, and who retired in 1937. He was succeeded by Reverend Canon J Hadican, who had been a Chapter Canon since 1927, and who retired as Provost in 1955. He was succeeded, very briefly, by Reverend Canon C Restieaux, who had become a Chapter Canon only the year before, and who later that year was appointed Bishop of Plymouth by Pope Pius XII. Thus the

thirteenth Provost in 1955 was Reverend Canon H Wilson, who had been appointed to the Chapter in 1947.

Subsequently the Provosts have included Provost P O’Dowd (who died in office in 2000), Provost B Dazeley, (a member of the chapter since 1985, and Provost from 2001), Provost M Bell (a member of the Chapter from 2008, and assumed the office of Provost in 2011), Provost Jonathan Cotton (a member of the Chapter since 2011 and Provost from 2017), and most recently elected Provost John Cahill, in December 2021, the eighteenth Provost of the Chapter of Nottingham.

Alongside the election of a Provost the Chapter has also been augmented in recent times by four new honorary canons: Canon Malachy Brett, Canon Michael Moore, Canon Michael O’Donoghue, and Canon Christopher P Thomas, in November 2019, as well as teo new Chapter Canons: Canon Paul Chipchase, and Canon Joe Wheat in October 2020.

The Watermead Apostolate

By Alison Kennedy

2019 was an anniversary year for the Watermead Apostolate, in its being 25 years since our first sharing of gifts: a group of parish musicians and singers came together in St Theresa’s church, Birstall, to record our first collection of hymns and mass settings – ‘Our Songs Give Praise’, the title taken from the hymn that began our sharing of gifts. The recording was only meant to be used as a demonstration cassette to help people learn the new hymns being composed from within the parish but, on request, it was eventually taken to a studio to be duplicated and distributed as a commercial recording with many hundreds sold. Alongside that recording we produced our first publications - a book of parishioners’ favourite prayers compiled by members of the parish, now seeing its fifth edition, and the autobiography of one of the apostolate’s founders, Tom Concannon, completed by his widow following his untimely death preceding the recording of that first hymn, for which he had penned the words.

Much has happened since the naive expectations of that recording day in 1994 with hundreds of people joining the Watermead journey and sharing their creative gifts and talents, and for whom we shall always give thanks. Though many are no longer with us, the gifts they contributed - be it music, voices, words, paintings, photographs, stories - are still being shared through the recordings, books, cards and resources that our music and publishing apostolate produces and shares via its shops, as well as at the retreats and events we organise.

Over the years there have been so many people to thank, and especially those in the background supporting our apostolate, helping in practical ways with business advice and resources, accountancy and technical skills. There have been those who’ve encouraged us, appreciating us, seeing the goodness of what we want share, including Archbishop Malcolm McMahon who, as bishop of the Nottingham diocese, invited us to continue our sharing from St Joseph’s, Leicester, when the work could no longer continue from St Theresa’s. There has also been much encouragement from people nationally and from around the world who have been inspired by the gifts we have shared - including letters of gratitude and blessing for the continuation of our music apostolate from three popes, the first one being received from Pope John Paul II following a presentation to him of our first music recording at a General Audience in March 1994.

Since 2001, at St Joseph’s, Leicester, the apostolate has quietly continued to grow and develop with several more recordings, books,

stationery and resources, and there has been further development of our other initiatives including retreats and pilgrimages (to date nearly 3,000 people have joined our pilgrimage journeys to Rome, Assisi, Padua, Stresa, Lourdes, Lisieux, Malta, etc.). In 2005 we completed renovation of the Old Stable Church at St Joseph’s which is now the Watermead Centre, housing our offices and distribution centre and a large Christian resources’ shop, selling not only our own produced items but many religious items, gifts, music, books and DVDs from various suppliers. Some people travel many miles to visit us and we hope that we provide an appreciated service not only for the local Catholic community, but also for anyone who wants to know a little more about the God who inspires our mission.

Our various projects (music recordings and musicals, publications and fundraising initiatives) have seen us work with people from our shared Catholic heritage as well as people from other Christian denominations, other faiths and people of no faith – we shall always work with those who want to journey with us in doing good for humanity. We have also shared our profits with numerous charities, especially wanting to encourage and support the smaller good works and initiatives, and have come to know and work with so many inspiring people over the years. Fr John Daley continues his spiritual direction of the apostolate, writing the background to the Sunday mass readings in our free weekly download newsletter, ‘The Lord’s Day’, whilst being the priest serving St Joseph’s Parish. The necessary day-to-day business side of the work is now looked after by David Kennedy, who when an eight-year-old child designed the original Watermead harp logo.

When we chose the name “Watermead” for our apostolate we were asked why not simply take the name of the parish from whence we came? Many saintly and personal names were also mused over, but the parishioners involved in our first projects settled on Watermead, the name of the parkland area neighbouring our birth parish, as it was felt that what we were beginning was for all who wanted to be involved in sharing God’s love – and as such our title should not imply personal, parochial or denominational ownership. This has since proved to be very beneficial as “Watermead” has become the umbrella under which we have been able at times to discreetly offer the Christian values and message of God’s love in our challenging secular world.

To some Watermead is a shop at the top of St Joseph’s car park in Leicester, to others it might be a hymn sung in church, a piece of music they’ve heard, a CD recording, a verse from one of our books of prayer, a card they have received in celebration, encouragement or sympathy, a pocket devotion, a pilgrimage they have journeyed, a retreat they’ve attended, the address on the back of a sacramental certificate. But, whatever the connection, Watermead continues as it began, sharing the individual inspirations from the faith journeys of the hundreds of people we have come to know through their God-given gifts and talents.

“We share love and faith through our Godgiven talents”

More information from www.watermeadapostolate.co.uk or www.watermead-shop.co.uk

Canonication of John Henry Newman

By Father David Palmer

I had the joy of being in Rome on Sunday 13th Oct 2019 for the Canonisation of St John Henry Newman, and have been asked to write a piece for the priests of the diocese… I toyed with writing “my holiday in Rome” but decided it might be more useful to write about St John Henry Newman himself… because not everyone will have had the same devotion to him as I have had. I am not a Newman scholar (in any shape or form) but he has been a significant figure to me from the days before I became a Catholic, and he was indeed one of the key influences on my journey from Anglicanism to the Catholic faith.

St John Henry Newman was born in 1801 and quickly rose to prominence in English society, by his late 20’s he was known nationally, he was an Anglican Clergyman, a Fellow at Oxford University, a noted and much respected Theologian and the leader of a powerful and influential movement within the Church of England. He was living at a time when the Church

of England was very much the establishment Church, and the Catholic Church was viewed with deep suspicion, its hierarchy in England wasn’t restored until 1850), and only 20 years before Newman’s birth the “Gordon Riots” took place.

To place these in context, in 1778 the Catholic relief act was passed by parliament it was moderate (in the extreme), it didn’t grant freedom of worship to Catholics, it did however allow Catholics to join the army and purchase land if they took an oath of allegiance. So, nothing dramatic. However, among many Protestants this was an outrageous surrender to popery. In 1780 Lord George Gordon called for a repeal of the Catholic relief act. On the 2nd June Gordon led a crowd of 60,000 to the House of Commons to present a petition stating that the legislation encouraged “popery” and was a threat to the Church of England. Anti-Catholic riots ensued lasting many days, as the masses vented their anger. Protests were violent and aimed at Catholic targets, such as homes and chapels, bizarrely they also attacked the Bank of England (not quite sure how that fitted in). Eventually the army had to be called in to suppress the rioting. There were 300-700 deaths as a result.

So, this was the world into which John Henry Newman was born, while Catholics had gained some limited freedoms, the general atmosphere was very hostile to Catholics, albeit gradually moving in the right direction, and the Church of England was very much the Church of the Establishment, and not just in name only, but in reality too.

John Henry Newman was born 21st February 1801 at 80 Old Broad Street in the city of London, his father was a banker and his mother was the daughter of a paper maker.

At the age of 7 John Henry was sent to a private boarding school in Ealing. His upbringing was that of a good respectable Anglican of the time. He wrote “I was brought up from a child to take great delight in reading the Bible; but I formed no religious convictions till I was 15. Of course I had a perfect knowledge of my Catechism”.

At the age of 15 Newman had something approaching an “Evangelical conversion” of a somewhat Calvinistic stripe, he believed that he was pre-destined to salvation. Of course, the other side of the Calvinistic doctrine, that some are pre-destined to salvation, is that others are pre-destined to damnation. Newman later said that at the time he hadn’t really thought much about that, it was his sense of being held in God’s providence that held him. By the age of 21 he had moved out of his semi-Calvinistic phase, and came to regard it as a “detestable doctrine”, yet he always was grateful for the sense it gave him of “making me rest in the thought of two and two only absolute and luminously self-evident beings, myself and my Creator”. For while Newman was to leave his early Evangelicalism far behind, he never lost that sense of God’s divine providence and presence in his life, guiding and sustaining all that he did. Nor was he ever to lose the sense of awe at God’s overwhelming mercy shown to him as an individual.

Newman moved to Oxford University and studied at Trinity college, he didn’t do brilliantly in his first degree being awarded a lower second class BA in Classics. However it was widely believed this was due to his overwhelming anxiety at his final oral examination, as all the previous evidence had led people to expect a much higher result, and this comparative failure caused barely a blip in his academic career. On the 12th April 1822 he was elected a fellow at Oriel college and on Trinity Sunday 1825, in common with many young men at Oxford, he was ordained as an Anglican Clergyman. As an Oxford fellow, and an Anglican clergyman he rose to a very respected and comfortable position in the establishment. He had honour, respect, numerous admirers, and a very comfortable life in his beloved Oxford. Newman along with Pusey (another fellow and Anglican Clergyman at Oriel)

and others came to found what became known as the Oxford movement.

The Oxford movement (so called because its founders came from Oxford) believed that the Church of England was not “Protestant” but the true catholic Church in England, they believed the Anglican Church to be a sort of “middle way” or “Via Media” between what they saw as the superstitious extremes of the “Roman Church”, and the Protestants. Anglicanism was quite clearly the Church as Jesus would have intended it, a delusion that could perhaps be held due to the influence of the British Empire, Britain was the most influential power in the world at the time, so clearly the Church of England must be the best Church…

The idea that the Church of England was not protestant, but the Catholic Church in England outraged many in the Church of England who very much believed her to be Protestant. So the Oxford movement began writing a series of pamphlets or “tracts” arguing for the Catholic nature of the Church of England. Hence the movement also became known as the “Tractarians”. It should be remembered that when they talked of “Catholic” they were not meaning “Roman Catholic” which they would refer to as “The Roman Church”, they would accept that Rome was “part” of the Catholic Church, but she had been corrupted, the Roman corruption on one side, the protestant corruption on the other. The Church of England was the middle way, the Catholic Church in all her pristine glory.

The leaders of the Oxford movement were both feted and reviled, in almost equal measure. Yet as we know Newman was eventually to leave behind his position, influence and beliefs and enter the Catholic Church. What led to his conversion?

Well it’s quite hard to summarise, he himself wrote a whole book (his most famous book, “Apologia Pro Vita Sua” “a defense of my life”) explaining his movement to the Catholic faith. So it can’t be snappily explained, but it seems to me there were at least three major turning points for him.

Firstly the issue of the “Jerusalem Bishopric”, Secondly the “Via Media”, Thirdly the controversy over “Tract 90”. So to explain these in more detail:

1) The Jerusalem Bishopric

The Oxford movement had been arguing that they were genuine inheritors of the Catholic Church in England, they were not Protestants, but had rather retained Bishops and Apostolic Succession, which they saw as essential to their claim to be “Catholic”. They were genuine inheritors to the Church Jesus had founded on the apostles, unlike the protestants who had broken the succession and no longer had Bishops (remember this was before the papal bull Apostolicae Curae was issued by Pope Leo XIII, declaring Anglican orders, “absolutely null and utterly void”).

So, in 1841 Parliament passed an Act called the “Bishops in Foreign countries act”. What happened was that an Episcopal see was founded in Jerusalem through a joint agreement between the Church of England and the United Evangelical Church in Prussia.

Newman was horrified for two reasons, firstly he had always believed the church of England to be the Catholic Church in England, he believed the “Roman” Church to be the Catholic Church in Rome, and in Jerusalem the Orthodox Church was the Catholic Church there. By setting up this Bishopric the Church of England was institutionally declaring that they were something different to these other ancient Christian bodies… there should be no need of a specifically “Anglican” Bishopric in a country that also had an ancient Church, if the Anglican Church was genuinely part of the same Church, here she was in competition.

Secondly be uniting with protestants she was institutionally aligning herself with the one group who had clearly (in Newman’s eyes) broken apostolic succession, Newman and the Tractarians had long been contending that the Church of England was NOT protestant. What now?

2) The Via Media

Newman’s belief in the Via Media took a

serious battering through his study of the early Church and the Church Fathers. What he came to realise was that, time and time again, throughout the history of the Church, it wasn’t the “middle way”, (the via media) that was proved to be right, but rather Rome. So, for example, Rome in her battle against the Arians. Rome, on one side, contended that the divine nature of Jesus was true God from true God, begotten not made, of one being with the father. The Arians, on the other side, contended that Jesus was a created being, not of the same substance with the Father. In the middle were the Semi-Arians, who believed they were steering a middle path, Jesus (or more accurately “the Son”) was of “similar” substance to the Father. Newman realised that the via media in this debate were the semi-Arians… who were also heretics. As he looked at controversy after controversy, he came to the sobering realization that Rome stood where she always stood as she resisted heresy and the groups that took the Via Media were simply a toned down version of the heresy, but none-the-less still heretical. He came to see that in his time Rome was still Rome, the Protestants were (so to speak) the Arians, and the Anglicans were the semi Arians. In other words the middle way isn’t right if it is simply mixing the truth with falsehood. The fact that Anglicanism stood mid-way between the Roman Church and the Protestant Church didn’t make her right. Any more than the Semi-Arians were right because they stood somewhere between Rome and the Arians.

3) Tract 90

The final straw for Newman was the controversy over the publishing of Tract 90… so called because it was the ninetieth Tract published by the Oxford movement. The Tracts were published anonymously on behalf of the Oxford movement, and were written by several authors including Pusey, Keble and Newman. Tract 90 was the final Tract to be published, and is known to have been written by Newman. He had been increasingly struggling to remain an Anglican, and this was (as it were) his final cry from the heart. He attempted to go through the 39 Articles in the Book of Common Prayer, and show that they could all be interpreted in a way consistent with the Catholic faith, in other words, that it was possible to be an Anglican and a Catholic, it was a bold, but futile attempt. The outcry was instantaneous and vociferous. What hurt Newman most was the Condemnation from Anglican Bishops. Newman had argued that Anglican Bishops were true Catholic Bishops in Apostolic succession, and thereby the foundation of the Oxford movement’s claim that the Church of England was catholic, if these very Bishops denounced his catholic understanding of the Church of England, then there could really be no future for him in the Church of England.

I am not saying that there weren’t other reasons for his conversion, but these were certainly three of the key catalysts.

After the fall out over Tract 90, Newman, with a few others, withdrew from public life and at the age of 41 (in 1842) Newman moved to place called Littlemore (on the outskirts of Oxford) to try and set up a small Anglican community a place where he and other like-minded travelers, battered by all the controversies, could withdraw to study and pray.

But even this caused great outrage and scandal in the Establishment, for he was accused of trying to set up a monastery and monasticism was viewed with deep suspicion. Then on the 9th Oct 1845, John Henry Newman bowed to the inevitable, he was visited by an Italian Passionist priest, who had a great love for England called Fr Dominic Barberi, Newman had written to friends saying how he intended to ask Fr Dominic to receive him into the Church, with these words, “Littlemore, October 8th 1845. I am this night expecting father Dominic, the Passionist…. he is a simple, holy man; and withal gifted with remarkable powers. He does not know of my intentions; but I mean to ask of him admission into the One Fold of Christ”.

Newman later relates how Barberi arrived that evening, soaked by the rain and as he was warming himself by the fire Newman knelt before him and asked to be received into the Catholic Church.

For the years that followed, John Henry Newman suffered in many ways, he lost his position, his beloved Oxford and his reputation. To the English establishment he had become a persona non grata, and in his new Church he was often viewed with suspicion, and this once great and admired theologian found himself in seminary classes with teenage boys being lectured by seminary professors who probably knew less than he did. Nevertheless despite all his losses the real presence of Jesus more than made up for them, this was the true treasure he had sought, his true master, he wrote the following to an Anglican friend after his conversion, “I am writing next room to the Chapel – It is such an incomprehensible blessing to have Christ in

bodily presence in one’s house, within one’s walls, as swallows up all other privileges … To know that He is close by – to be able again and again through the day to go in to Him …”.

As you will no doubt be aware Newman went on to become an Oratorian, eventually spending the best part of 40years (apart from a four year spell living in Ireland) living as an Oratorian priest in Birmingham. He continued writing though, his most famous work being his Apologia.

Years later Cardinal Newman (as he became in later life) was recognised as the great Theologian that he was within the Catholic Church too, he had given up family, lands and friends, to serve Jesus, only to be blessed by God in this life and the one to come. He had shown that he had only one master, and this good master blessed him with more than he had previously had. However first he had to go through the wilderness, of stripping himself of all that was not God.

Key themes in his life

The fight against liberalism in Religion, Newman saw himself as having a life long battle against what he called “liberalism in religion”, which is ironic because many who would claim him would consider themselves “liberals”, what he meant by “liberalism” he clarified in (what is called) his Biglietto speech, which he made after being made a Cardinal in 1879. He called it “the one great mischief” against which he had set his face “from the first”.

He explained what he meant in several propositions: Liberalism was then: 1) “the doctrine that there is no positive truth in religion,” 2) “that one creed is as good as another,” 3) that no religion can be recognized as true for “all are matter of opinion,” 4) that “revealed religion is not a truth, but a sentiment and a taste; not an objective faith, not miraculous,” and 5)“it is the right of each individual to make it say just what strike his fancy”. These propositions he saw as being utterly opposed to catholic truth.

Newman is famous for his “Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine” this may be one of the reasons he is sometimes considered a liberal, but this would come from a misunderstanding of what he was saying. To put it simply he argued that divine revelation itself doesn’t change, but our understanding of it grows and develops. So, for example, an oak tree is very different from an acorn, yet everything that was needed for the oak tree was present in seed form in the acorn. Also an acorn can not become an apple tree, only an oak. Development of doctrine cannot actually contradict itself. Newman calls this the “Unity of Type”.

Conscience

“I shall drink—to the Pope, if you please,—still, to Conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.”

This is probably one of Newman’s most quoted sayings. It arose from the declaration of papal infallibility, which many English Catholics (including Newman) were uncomfortable with (not that he denied its truth… rather he saw the declaration as “inopportune”). After the declaration, William Gladstone (who had been Prime Minister, and would be again, but wasn’t at the actual time of the declaration), wrote a pamphlet which argued that such a declaration would force Catholics to choose between loyalty to the State or the Church. That it would force a convert to “forfeit his moral and mental freedom”.

The quote of Newman was in a letter to the duke of Norfolk, a leading Catholic layman, who was also peer of England.

Newman was in something of a quandary perhaps, as he had always argued for the primacy of conscience, yet also the truth and reality of the Catholic faith.

To simplify his argument (if I have understood it correctly) he argues that conscience is the immediate voice that must be obeyed. To deliberately go against conscience, is to deliberately go against that which is the “aboriginal” voice of God in our lives. Newman said, “He who acts against his conscience loses his soul.” Yet though conscience is a “principle planted within us, before we have had any training… such training and experience is necessary for its strength, growth and due formation”.

“The sense of right and wrong”, Newman

explains, “is so delicate, so fitful, so easily puzzled, obscured, perverted, so subtle in its argumentative methods, so impressible by education, so biased by pride and passion, so unsteady in its course, that, in the struggle for existence amid the various exercises and triumphs of the human intellect, this sense is at once the highest of all teachers, yet the least luminous; and the Church, the Pope, the Hierarchy are, in the Divine purpose, the supply of an urgent demand.”

In other words, we must always obey our conscience in the moment, however we should strive to form our conscience in the light of the teaching of the Church, the Pope and the hierarchy. The magisterium.

He however warned against a misunderstanding of conscience, it doesn’t mean just doing “what feels right to me”, rather conscience is the voice of God, the voice of the divine lawgiver, and if we lose that sense of the right of God over our conscience, then conscience comes to mean something else to what it is in the divine plan, it instead becomes “self-will” which isn’t really conscience at all. Therefore, says Newman, “did the Pope speak against Conscience in the true sense of the word, he would commit a suicidal act. He would be cutting the ground from under his feet. His very mission is to proclaim the moral law, and to protect and strengthen that ‘Light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world.’

So.. “If the pope prescribes lying or revenge, his command would simply go for nothing, as if he had not issued it, because he has no power over the moral law.”

The bottom line then is that the Pope can only speak infallibly if he is speaking according to divine law, if he contradicts divine law he can’t be speaking infallibly (by definition) … think back to his doctrine of development.

Newman summarises his letter by saying, “there are extreme cases in which conscience may come into collision with the word of a Pope, and is to be followed in spite of that word.” Hence the quote we started with: “I shall drink— to the Pope, if you please,—still, to Conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.”

Reality in Religion

Newman found in Catholicism a religion that was tangible, physical, or to put it in his word, “Real”. He contrasted his previous Anglicanism as a religion of ideas and concepts, For him Catholicism (whilst also having ideas and concepts) was “real” also. After converting to the Catholic faith I attended a Maundy Thursday service at the Cathedral with another recent convert, as Bishop (then) Malcolm processed with the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of repose, surrounded by thurifers, Acolytes, clergy and the people, I was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense that this wasn’t just a performance, or a show or a re-enactment, but a reality, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the awareness of the real presence of Jesus, but not just Jesus, but the whole company of heaven, I was caught up in a heavenly reality, I turned to my fellow recent convert and said, “this is real religion”, “yes” he said, “it is.”

Just Before Blessed John Henry Newman died he wrote his own epitaph for his grave, it said: Joannes Henricus Newman Ex umbris et Imaginibus In Veritatem

John Henry Newman Out of the shadows and symbols into the truth.

To see him “raised to the Altars” is one of the defining moments of my life so far.

St John Henry Newman… pray for us!

Another view of the canonication of Saint John Henry Newman, by Jackie A Williams, Saint Thomas More parish, Leicester

This wasn’t my first trip to Rome, nor my first pilgrimage. For myself, I define pilgrimage as a journey, both physical and emotional, to a sacred place for a religious purpose whilst tourism is a physical journey to a place for pleasure and interest.

You cannot be coerced into pilgrimage – it has to be taken freely as it is a statement of faith. To be a tourist might be physically demanding but less so emotionally. The preparations for both tourist and pilgrimage can be very similar and demanding practically – from making arrangements for the care of loved ones in your absence to conforming with airline regulations but as pilgrim the spiritual preparation is even more challenging: preparation in prayer with the Novena to Newman and celebrating the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist in the hope that I would be open to the adventure that awaited us in Rome.

As we gathered on Sunday 13th October for the Canonisation of John Henry Newman in St. Peter’s Square there was a great sense of journey from all around the world. Crowds upon crowds of people were patiently queuing to pass through security but as we waited stories were shared – where have you come from and what brought you here today? In the long and slowly moving queue, to our left were a couple from Canada celebrating their 35th Wedding Anniversary. They had arrived unknowing about the Canonisation but delighted to have obtained tickets. He had spent his career in the USA Navy as a mechanical designer and was pondering what Da Vinci would be making out of the carbon fibres of our world today.

To our right was a young French mother carrying a baby. She told us she would tell the baby all his life that he was present in the Square on this day. He will not remember, but I will remember for him, she said. Through the necessary security and we are seated by a Franciscan from the Cameroon and amazingly in a crowd of 20,000 that thronged the square alone, our own parish priest from whom we had previously been separated! The sky could not have been bluer as the sun blazed down upon us as we awaited the start of the Mass of Canonisation.

To my surprise John Henry Newman was not the only person to be canonised during this Mass. There were four women – 3 nuns and a lay woman joining the heavenly ranks of the saints! Giuseppina Vannini, a Roman citizen, foundress of the Congregation of the Daughters of St Camillus; Mariam Theresa Chiramel Mankidiyan from Puthenchira, India, who built a hermitage which became the seat of the community called the Congregation of the Holy Family; Dulce Lopes Pontes, a Brazilian Franciscan Sister and Marguerite Bays, a seamstress from Switzerland who remained single and dedicated herself to her family and her parish and bore the sufferings of Jesus. What unexpected joy for me that a lay woman was to be so honoured!

From the sea of people gathered around and behind us – for the crowds reached from the Square to as far back as the River Tiber – you could sense and almost tangibly touch the universal nature of the Church; being immersed and being part of the gathered crowd was a holy experience in itself. It was a sacred realisation for me in that moment that in listening and joining with those around me praying each in our own native language that our God hears every prayer being prayed in whatever language and that whatever journey we had made, as pilgrim or tourist. To be in this place on this day, was indeed a great grace, privilege and blessing for each and every one of us.

The Canonisation itself was very simple – Representatives from each of the causes requested that Pope Francis declare each individual a saint and he responded. The simplicity of the process seemed entirely appropriate as it was an affirmation of what had already taken place in the life of the individual saint.

In St Peter’s Square, during the Mass, I was able to answer my own question - Do I travel as pilgrim or tourist? I went wanting to be part of an historical day; I came away knowing that something bigger than history was present on this day and throughout the whole journey to Rome. I had been open to the adventure and discovered the Holy in this place; in the people gathered; in the journey and queuing; in my travelling companions; in the sounds and in the silence; in the telling and hearing of stories; in the eating and in the drinking and even in the walking on ancient cobbles - all gracious gifts from God to this humble pilgrim.

By Austin Bryan, Corpus Christi parishioner and Clifton Ringing Master

The Bishop of Nottingham, Rt Rev Patrick McKinney, blessed the peal of six bells at the Church of Corpus Christi on Saturday 1 June 2019. It was fitting that this took place at the weekend for World Communications, as the sound of bells is one of the oldest forms of communication.

Grace Dieu Manor School chapel has a ring of bells but Corpus Christi is the first Catholic parish church in the Diocese of Nottingham, which includes Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire, to have a ringing peal of bells. The installation will raise the profile of the Catholic community in Clifton and provide a team exercise for parishioners and others to partake in. This peal, previously housed at the Church of St. Francis Clifton, the gift of Christine Mills in memory of her husband Brian, The Southwell and Nottingham Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers and Hayward Mills Associates, was generously gifted to the Church of Corpus Christi in an ecumenical gesture by the Church of England Community of Clifton when the Church of St Francis closed. The bells were installed at Corpus Christi in Easter Week 2019 by a team of volunteers under the direction of TLB Services of Collingham.

The installation costs were met by gifts and donations from the parishioners of Corpus Christi and local Ringers, and grants from the Guild of St Agatha and

The Southwell and Nottingham Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers.