De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

This is a talk from the Catholic men's weekend in Walsingham, November 2021: "To Be A Pilgrim" - Man and the Call to Pilgrimage, given by Dr. Sebastian Morello, formerly a catechist at the Southwark Diocese Centre at Tooting BEC & a formerly supervised for his doctoral thesis by Sir Roger Scruton, widely considered to be one of the world's greatest contemporary intellectuals. This talk offers some deep insights well worth pondering. Key among them is the observation that we have lost our devotional faith & attempted to replace it with a kind of rationality which seeks to explain & rationalise a supernatural reality we need and long for as part of the truth of our existence. As someone long involved in catechesis myself I am super guilty of thinking 'if only I can explain this the right way, this person will accept it'. At the same time I have always considered that an intellectual approach is only part of the jigsaw puzzle. We have to have rational...

I have long wanted to get to Chartres for the  Paris-Chartres Pilgrimage , which occurs every year on the Feast of Pentecost in early summer, and is a multi-generational, multi-national gathering of Catholics who draw closer to God through the centuries-old act of pilgrimage. The walk is roughly 62 miles over 3 days—beginning at daybreak on the Saturday before Pentecost, and ending with an afternoon mass on the Monday after Pentecost. The trek takes approximately 8,000-15,000 pilgrims from the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, through the French countryside to the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Chartres. Participants brave the weather, blisters, and humble food and accommodations as an act of faith and an act of reparation in these modern times. My good friend Counter Cultural Father does it every year and usually writes a series of blogs recounting his experiences. He hasn't posted this year's yet, but keep checking his page for updates! I am generally excluded from joi...

Ireland's Marian Shrine at Knock, Co. Mayo, in the West of Ireland. Knock Shrine is visited by over one million people each year. The Shrine has had a huge new mosaic commissioned and that mosaic was unveiled at Mass yesterday, 28th Feb 2016. One of the largest mosaics of its kind in Europe, the huge and impressive artwork was officially unveiled by the Most Rev Michael Neary D.D., Archbishop of Tuam during the 12 noon Mass. It is composed of more than 1.5 million individual pieces of mosaic and forms part of a major, two-year refurbishment of Knock Basilica and an overall renewal project at Ireland’s National Marian Shrine, called ‘Witness to Hope’ . At the ceremony on Sunday, 15 local people, some of them descendants of those who witnessed the Apparition in 1879, performed a short candlelit procession to commemorate the extraordinary events in Knock 137 years ago. Those events still draw over one million pilgrims from Ireland and abroad to Ireland’s Marian sh...

Just about to take off for Lourdes. As we approach the anniversary of Ruth's death on the 29th, it is a great comfort to me that the family and I will be in this wonderful place of pilgrimage. Our visit coincides with the diocesan pilgrimage and the BCYS too as well as lots of our diocesan trips. It's like, in some way, England comes to Our Lady at this time of year. If you would like me to pray for you at the grotto, please leave a comment and I promise to hold your intentions before the Blessed Mother.

Gathered together for prayers at the Grotto on Ruth's Anniversary 2014 The week before last was the Brentwood Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes and I must apologise that I have only just managed to finally finish my blog on the trip. This event annually coincides with Brentwood Catholic Youth Service' s annual Summer Lourdes Pilgrimage. The Youth Service goes to Lourdes in Spring too, but Summer is the big pilgrimage, with four coach loads of young people heading off to help our VIP's in whatever way they can. There's a nice bit on BBC iPlayer here , from Peter Holmes' show on Sunday, which features the Bishop , Fr. James , Roisin and my son Michael (amongst others). Both of my oldest sons joined them for the second time, but the pilgrimage also coincided with the 5th anniversary of my daughter Ruth's tragic death and we really did not want to be apart as a family for this day. As much as I want it to fade into ignominy as a date, it never fails to sneak u...

I have spent the last week on Pilgrimage in Lourdes , France. Lourdes is a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, on the border with Spain. The town is famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes which occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous . Lourdes is a very special place for me. It is where I met my wonderful wife in 1989, and has become one of those places which seem central to the story of our lives. I went back to Lourdes last year for the first time in some 16 years, after spending many springs and summers there as a youngster with the HCPT and ACROSS, helping handicapped children and adults. You can read about that here . This year, the Parish went on pilgrimage there and Louise suggested I take our youngest son John. This meant I was in Lourdes without Louise for the first time ever, which was a bit strange. It was also the first time I have been with my dear friend and parish priest, Father Kevin Hale. Also, I got to travel with all ...

The fourth annual pilgrimage by the Latin Mass Society to the ancient English shrine of Walsingham took place over three days in August 2013. Around ninety people took part in the 55-mile walk, with Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form each day, and traditional Catholic devotions along the way. This video is well worth watching as it presents a valuable insight into the friendship, beautiful liturgy, and the Catholic fellowship that abounds at such events. A Journey to England's Nazareth: The LMS Walking Pilgrimage from Ely to Walsingham from LMS on Vimeo .

Brentwood Diocese, purportedly, has the best Youth Service in the Country. This is more than just conjecture, it is the opinion of many people involved with Youth Work I have spoken to over the years, and was certainly affirmed by all who attended Sunday's  wonderful Mass of Thanksgiving at Brentwood Cathedral. Brentwood Cathedral Brentwood Youth Service has been a success due to the involvement of many characters over the years, but perhaps it would be reasonable to say none more so than Sarah Barber and her husband James, here pictured together in Lourdes at a joint Brentwood/Liverpool pilgrimage in 1987. Sarah & James Barber a long time ago! Sarah has been Diocesan Youth Director for twelve years and has made a huge contribution to the spiritual life of young people in our diocese over that time. She has now secured a position with CAFOD, which is very exciting. I'm sure she will continue to make a huge contribution to the life of the Church in her new...