Happy Christmass!

I managed to get to a little village called Clive to celebrate Midnight Mass. The temperature was forecast as -18 to -20 and it was foggy! Saw very few brass monkeys, but a very enthusiastic and welcoming congregation of about 40. Lovely carols and a sense of peace and the presence of Christ. I wonder where some of us will be by next year?

Days getting longer again!!

I'm pleased that the winter solstice is passed and we can look forward to summer again! Must dust off the sun loungers and clear the snow off the BBQ!

The congregation arrives early for Mass....

The congregation began to arrive early for the Vigil Mass so that they could get home in time for "Strictly Come Dancing"!

Archbishop Bernard Longley to chair ARCIC

Archbishop Bernard Longley is to be the Catholic co-chair of the third ARCIC, or Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission. This is significant because of Archbishop Longley's record as a conservative. Coming in the context of the Ordinariate being launched at about the same time the third series of ARCIC talks will be announced, it shows that Rome is taking dialogue with the Anglicans more seriously than ever in light of recent developments. In other words, the Ordinariate is not a poaching exercise, but a further step along the road in the process overseen by ARCIC.

Creator Alme Siderum

Back to Volume 1 of the Breviary! Next time we use Volume 3 it will be the day after Pentecost Sunday (let the reader understand!).

Marmite thieves strike!!!!

I was amused by this story. I hate and loathe Marmite from the depths of my being!!

Savoury spread giant Marmite has been left £60,000 short of stock after thieves broke into a UK warehouse and snatched thousands of items from this year’s Christmas range.

The Marmite thieves allegedly left the premises with a truck full of limited edition products, including 15,000 bars of Peculiar Milk Chocolate Marmite and over 2,000 products of its Christmas Gifting range, just weeks before the busy festive period.

Police, who are appealing for witnesses, confirmed to Yahoo! News earlier that the break-in occurred on Sunday 14 November at an anonymous location in West Yorkshire. The company, which has been left stunned by the incident, also urges people to come forward with information.

Halal meat in supermarkets

As the great month of binge eating begins it seems a good time to have been alerted to a situation where, apparently most of the meat on our supermarkets is Halal slaughtered but not labelled as such (Morrison’s aside which does not use any Halal slaughtered meat). This has been raised in an article by the Christian Voice e-magazine which you may find helpful for a fairly detailed analysis and report:

http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/Press/press167.html

I flag this up as a matter of real concern, which I was unaware of, since I understand from the article that:

· Such animals are killed by having their throats cut and some supermarkets do not require stunning of the animals, which is inherently cruel.

· Many may object to the use of an Islamic blessing as a necessary part of the slaughter process

· For Sikhs it is totally unacceptable to eat Halal meat

I would value hearing your views on this as I would like to lobby our MP’s but would want this to represent our collective mind on this. Please note that this is not in anyway meant to be anti-Muslim; my concern is that people are appropriately informed so they can choose what they eat, and by implication, how it is slaughtered.