Corpus Christi Processions . . .

I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in two Corpus Christi processions this year, one in my own home parish and also in the 'slightly' larger procession in central London from Farm Street Church to Spanish Place.

I don't know if it is just my imagination but there seems to have been an increase in the number of these processions lately; a re-awaking of popular piety perhaps?  I have absolutely no evidence for this, it is just a feeling based on the frequency of references on social media  to various processions taking place this year.

Lying in bed on Sunday evening, unable to sleep, despite being worn out from a long day in London, I had the possibly daft idea of trying to list these references just to get a feel for the number of processions that actually took place.

This will just be a fraction of the total number in England and Wales, and beyond, and naturally dependent on the people and places I follow on Twitter, Facebook etc.

If anyone feels aggrieved that their parish has been omitted, do please add a comment, and a link if possible and I will update the list in  a few days' time. Thank you.

I will try and add a link to a photo or  a website where possible rather than try and include lots of photos in this actual post.

Please note some processions took place on Thursday 4th June (no comment! :-)) and others on Sunday 7th June.

In no particular order . . . 

The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street to St James's Spanish Place via the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral

Brompton Oratory

The Church of the Most Precious Blood, Borough

Arundel Cathedral

Buckfast Abbey

St John the Baptist Church, Westerham

St Patrick's Church, Soho

The Dome of Home

Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Leigh-on-Sea

Chelmsford Catholic Community

St Ann's Church, Banstead

St Edmund's Church, Bury

Cardiff Cathedral

The Shrine of St Augustine, Ramsgate

Our Lady of the Rosary, Sidley

I know there are many, many more but this is just  a list of some that I've noticed.

Update on the letter posted here just before Easter.

Having resurrected my blog (sorry, maybe not a particularly apt term given the Liturgical season in which we find ourselves!) to post what I felt was an important letter, I feel I ought to just give a brief update for the sake of my reader and anyone else who might have been on a desert island or in some other way out of touch with things recently.

The letter was published in the Catholic Herald online and you can read it and the full list of names here.  You can also read an update of the situation on Ben Trovato's blog here and here and here.

Both these sites are of course well worth checking regularly anyway for their excellent articles. Plus naturally all the other blogs listed who published the letter and joined the appeal for signatures.

Now, I have been moved to remember how on earth this blog works (it took me a little while to remember how to access certain settings etc.) who knows, maybe I might feel tempted to post the odd item on here in the future . . . ?

In support of our priests, our families and our Church . . .

I haven't posted anything on this blog for 18 months but here is something that I feel can't be ignored  . . . 

Today, this blog and others are taking part in a somewhat unprecedented event. This post is going to appear on a good number of lay blogs in the UK, in an attempt to demonstrate the depth of support among the laity, for authentic Catholic teaching as expressed in the Magisterial teachings of the Catholic Church.

You may have seen the recent letter from more than 450 priests in support of the Church’s teaching on marriage.

We would like to invite you to sign the letter below, to be sent to the press in support of them, and to encourage others to sign it.

To sign, please leave your name and your diocese in the comments box below, or if you prefer email them to me or to one of the coordinators:
Mark Lambert (mark@landbtechnical.com) or Andrew Plasom-Scott (andrewplasom_scott@me.com)

We hope to demonstrate a groundswell of support for the priests who have stood firmly by us and Christ, a love of the Church, and a desire for sound doctrine and catechesis.

The Letter:


Dear Sir,

We, the undersigned, wish to endorse and support the letter signed by over 450 priests in the recent edition of the Catholic Herald.

As laity, we all know from our own family experiences, or those of our friends and neighbours, the harrowing trauma of divorce and separation, and we sympathise with all those in such situations.

It is precisely for that reason that we believe that the Church must continue to proclaim the truth about marriage, given us by Christ in the Gospels, with clarity and charity in a world that struggles to understand it.

For the sake of those in irregular unions, for the sake of those abandoned and living in accordance with the teachings of the Church, and above all for the sake of the next generation, it is essential that the Church continues to make it quite clear that sacramental marriage is indissoluble until death.

We pray, and expect, that our hierarchy will represent us, and the Church’s unwavering teaching, at the Synod this autumn.

Yours faithfully,