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Author Archives: Scott Anderson
Know your constituency: just who are you evangelising?
Some years ago a young man in my congregation used the term ‘Hot Muslims’ for some of his friends. Seeing my puzzlement he explained that they were young people who were dissatisfied with the formulaic Islam of their parents. They … Continue reading
The setting of the Liturgy
In the 1930’s the Kelham Fathers built the Great Chapel for their monastery and theological college near Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire. The architect was Charles Clayton Thompson, and to my knowledge he built no other churches. Yet it is one of … Continue reading
Alpha for Catholics – be just a bit cautious
Just after Christmas a good friend and member of the Ordinariate wrote this to me: ” We have started Alpha training again, I am not convinced that this is the way to bring lapsed Catholics back to church. I have … Continue reading
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Tagged Alpha Course, Catholic Church, Catholic Herald, Catholics, Christian Unity Octave, Messy Church
2 Comments
Back to Church at Christmas: opportunities for evangelisation
There is a story told of an Anglican priest who surveyed the substantial congregation which had turned up for the Evening Service on Harvest Sunday (it was some years ago when they still did). Marching up to the tabernacle and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Catholic Church, children, Christmas, Evangelisation, lapsed Catholics, liturgy, Mass
2 Comments
Our Church Schools are worth fighting for
Why does a section of our society – including some politicians and some teachers – get so angry about Church Schools? Last Saturday’s Question Time had one of the panel asserting that we are a secular society and there is … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Catholic Church, education, family, home, home-schooling, secularism, teachers
1 Comment
Remembering the English liturgy at Thaxted
In my teenage years in the 1960’s I would go to stay from time to time with my aunt and uncle and cousins who lived on the London edge of Essex. On Sundays we would often visit churches which I had heard … Continue reading
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The music of Advent
Compared with the carols and hymns of Christmas, the music of Advent is less well known. Yet it is among the loveliest – and most singable – of the Church’s year. As part of the restrained liturgy of this … Continue reading
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Tagged Advent, carols, Catholic Church, Christmas, Graham Kendrick, Handel's Messiah, liturgy, Music, plainchant
3 Comments
It’s time to work out what love really means
It is difficult to avoid the issue of child abuse, the reports, analyses, recriminations, apologies. But then, why should we want to avoid them? Embarrassment, shame, yes – but above all, a sense of powerlessness in the face of something … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged children, clergy, commercialisation, community, exploitation, family, materialism, nurture, parents, teachers, young people
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Sadly no longer with us
I was at St Joseph’s, Weymouth, for All Souls’ Day, and I am indebted to Fr Stephen Geddes, the parish priest of Weymouth, for this reminiscence. He recalled that in the ‘old days’ the one of the three masses was … Continue reading
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Our Lady St Mary
In the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England (1662) the place of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the scheme of Redemption is commemorated in the Collect and Preface of Christmas. There are Propers for the feasts of … Continue reading
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Tagged 1662, 17th century, Blessed Virgin Mary, Catholic, Jesus Christ, litany, Ordinariate, Our Lady, Prayer, Prayer Book, Protestant Reformation, Thomas Thaherne
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