Discrimination

Here’s the text of an e-mail I sent to Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, who is said to have led the Cabinet revolt against the exemption of Catholic Adoption agencies from the proposed Sexual Equality Regulations:
Dear Mr Johnson
You are quoted in today’s “Independent” as saying: “We reject discrimination in all its forms.” Do you or your party intend to bring in legislation to repeal the Act of Settlement, which declares that no one can be Monarch who “professes the popish religion, or marries a papist” and, if so, when do you intend to do this?
Yours faithfully,
(Rev.) Paul Francis Spencer
-Hoping for a reply!

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To Mount Argus

I will be flying to Dublin tonight for Province meetings tomorrow and Tuesday, returning here on Tuesday night.

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Praying for Christian Unity

On this last day of the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, I want to recall the person who started it all. In an article in The Ecumenical Review, a publication of the World Council of Churches, Dagmar Heller writes: As far as we know, the first proposal for common prayer for Christian unity was made in 1840 by Ignatius Spencer. Father Ignatius proposed conversion as well as unity; all through his life he was an apostle of holiness and, even after he left the Church of England and became a Catholic, he never ceased to be a committed evangelical. This Evangelical Catholic preached the importance of sanctification throughout Europe, begging for prayers for unity but also reminding his hearers that unity comes about when we seek Christ above all things and in all things. For more about the servant of God Ignatius Spencer, have a look at the article written by Matthew Allen for Wikipedia

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Quarant’Ore

We recently celebrated the Forty Hours Adoration at Saint Mungo’s. Nowadays, the adoration is interrupted for the usual public Masses during the day and again at night. Here are some photographs I took on the different days. I took them at times when I knew there were very few people in the church, so as to distract as few as possible; my apologies to anyone I disturbed.

Sunday Night

Monday Afternoon

Tuesday Morning

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Passionist Religious Life Weekend

The next weekend retreat for young men who are interested in religious life in the Passionist Congregation will be held at Saint Patrick’s Retreat, Crossgar, County Down, N. Ireland, from Friday evening, 16 February, to Sunday midday, 18 February 2007. The theme of the weekend is taken from a phrase written by Saint Paul of the Cross in his Preface to the Rule: “The Good God converted me to a Life of Penance”.
If you would like to know more about the retreat or are interested in taking part, you can contact me by sending a comment below. Please remember a prayer for those who will take part, including Fathers Charles, Victor and myself who will be guiding the retreat.

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Blessed Charles Resources

I have added a number of Blessed Charles links to the sidebar under two headings: Blessed Charles on Laus Crucis and Blessed Charles on other Sites.

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Feast of Blessed Charles at Munstergeleen

An e-mail from the Postulator General, Father Giovanni Zubiani c.p., informs us that the Consistory for the Canonisation of Father Charles should be happening soon; after this, the date for the Canonisation will be set by the Secretariat of State.

In the meantime, I received (via the Comments Box) a message from Raymond Frenken about a five minute video he had made at Munstergeleen on the Feast of Blessed Charles; here it is.

Thank you, Raymond, for this excellent record of Dutch devotion to Blessed Charles.

Amy Welborn, at Open Book, marked the Feast of Blessed Charles with this post.

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Thank You

My thanks to those who offered Mass or prayers or who sent messages of sympathy to me and my family on the death of my father. I have offered Mass for the intentions of all those whose support has been with us during these days.

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Requiescat

Please pray for the repose of the soul of my father, James Spencer, who died peacefully yesterday morning in Lightburn Hospital. He was eighty-two years old. The funeral Mass will be celebrated in Saint Mungo’s Church, Glasgow on Thursday, 11 January at 12.15 p.m. May he rest in peace.

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Feast of Blessed Charles

Tomorrow (5 January) is the Feast of Blessed Charles of Mount Argus. He died on the Vigil of the Epiphany, 5 January 1893, at Saint Paul’s Retreat, Mount Argus. The Mount Argus Passionist Community has a summary of his life on their website, which I am stealing in order to post it here (see below); I hope the community will forgive me! If you would like to read something longer, my book on Blessed Charles (To Heal the Broken-Hearted) will be reprinted later this year; in the meantime, our bookshop still has a few copies in stock. You can e-mail mungoshop@gmail.com to buy a copy (£4.50 + postage) or to request information. Here is the Mount Argus text:

Blessed Charles was born John Andrew Houben on the 11th December 1821 in the village of Munstergeleen, Holland. He was the fourth of a family of eleven children born to Peter and Johanna Houben. The family background was simple and Catholic with prayers morning and evening and children taught the Rosary. They worked in a flour mill owned by their uncle.
John Andrew’s childhood was nothing exceptional. He was shy, quiet, pious, friendly and “always bright and cheerful in the family circle”, according to his brother. Even though he found study difficult, he walked the two miles into secondary school in Sittard for ten years. He wanted to be a priest and served Mass and visited the Church every day.
At nineteen, Andrew was enrolled for military service from 1840 to 1845 but only saw active service for three months. He was not an outstanding soldier. He spent too much time in Church! While in the army, he first heard of the Passionists and from that moment he decided to join them.
On returning home he worked in the mill by day and continued to study but this time with greater ease. Troubles came, first with the death of his uncle, who had taken a special interest in the family and then in 1844 his mother died at 52 years of age. With his military service completed in 1845 Andrew, despite the initial reluctance of his father, joined the Passionists at Ere, near Tournai, Belguim. As a student he was remembered as cheerful and good-humoured and was ordained on Saturday December 21st 1850 in Tournai. His father had died in August of that year and none of the family could make the journey for the celebrations.
He never saw Holland again. In February 1852, he was sent to England. Here Fr. Charles first came in contact with the Irish who were emigrating to England in the wake of the Famine. He was transferred to Ireland and on July 9th, 1857, he arrived in the newly-founded monastery of Mount Argus, in Harold’s Cross, Dublin. Dublin had a population of less than a quarter of a million – many of whom were British soldiers. It was not a saintly place, with many official brothels, licensed public­ houses and shebeens. Murders were common and moral standards questionable. Religious knowledge was hopeless.
Charles was not a good preacher. He never really mastered the language. But it was in the Confessional and in comforting the sick that he excelled. He was fond of the Irish. He called them “my people”. He respected their struggle against oppression, he admired the way the Faith was preserved. But he wasn’t blind to their faults. He soon became extraordinarily popular not only in Dublin but all over Ireland and collected money throughout the length and breadth of the country to pay for the new monastery of Mount Argus.
It was his gift of healing the sick which is most clearly remembered. As many as three hundred people a day came to be blessed by him. Fr. Sebastian Keens told of a boy of 12 years old who lost the use of his leg and was brought to him. With no delay he called Fr. Charles and shortly afterwards found the boy walking up and down in front of the house completely cured.
His fame spread and trouble came. Some medical doctors claimed, a claim which later they withdrew, that he discouraged people from going to the doctor. Then others took Holy Water blessed by Fr. Charles and began to sell it throughout Ireland. This was not Fr. Charles fault but he was transferred to England in 1866 and remained there for eight years.
He returned to Ireland on the 10th January 1874, Charles was once more among “his people” in Mount Argus. He remained there for the last nineteen years of his life. The daily pilgrimage of sick and distressed began almost immediately. He went out all over Dublin and into the country blessing people. He started on his fund-raising rounds again, but this time for the new Church at Mount Argus. John Patterson, 6 years of age and blinded by flying stones was blessed by Fr. Charles. The first thing he saw was Fr. Charles with his arms outstretched and on the way home he saw a cow in the field.
During the last years of his life he had many trials. He was also in failing health, was anxious about death. His family in Holland were dying. Old injuries returned to plague him. Towards the end of 1892, it was obvious that the life of Fr. Charles was coming to an end. He said his last Mass on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception 1892. Word of his illness spread through the city, crowds gathered to enquire about him. Just after Christmas he couldn’t eat, lost his sight and was like a living skeleton. At 5.30 in the morning of the 5th January 1893 he passed peacefully to his Maker.
His body was brought to the Church and lay in state for five days. Despite heavy snow, thousands filed past his coffin with the police keeping order. His funeral was said to have been bigger than Parnell’s two years before. Finally his remains were laid to rest in the cemetery beside Mount Argus Church. His grave became a place of pilgrimage where people came daily to pray. When in 1949 his remains were moved inside the Church the Shrine became the place of prayer. Today people come twice each day to be blest with the Relic of Blessed Charles.

You can read a little reflection on Blessed Charles which I wrote for our parish’s Christmas 2006 newsletter here.

Here are some links to posts about him (or related to him) on this blog (-enjoy the photos):
Blessed Charles Pages
No More Inverted Commas
Good News
Waiting
Mount Argus Tomorrow
Soundbits
Mount Argus 1856-2006
Father Charles of Mount Argus

These posts have some more photos of the Monastery and Church at Mount Argus:
Day Trip to Dublin
Mount Argus Celebration

You can listen to nine meditations on the life and spirituality of Blessed Charles here.

Although, in Australia, the feast-day has already begun, Father Gary hasn’t posted anything yet at the Passionist Charism, but I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t do so before the end of the day.

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