Praying for Westminster Diocese Who Are in Lourdes

Lourdes 2010 Day Two from Catholic Westminster on Vimeo.

St Chrysostom: Zeal for the Flock of Christ

Things are beginning to return to some normality and order in the Steel home. The study is organised (mostly) and the home is almost completely in order. Last evening it was a wonderful privilege to have my SD, Father Gerard Bradley and a dear friend Dcn Gerard Hatton over for a house blessing followed by a BBQ. It was a true celebration indeed! As always, it was wonderful to have some time chatting with my SD.

This morning, I have been able to enjoy praying the office and doing some spiritual reading and ordering some books for further spiritual reading. I ordered the Carthusian series of six books titled Prayer of Love and Silence, Interior Prayer, Wound of Love, Call of Silent Love, They Speak by Silence, and Way of Silent Love. These books will make up some spiritual reading for me over the next several months.

I have picked up Chrysostom's work On the Priesthood again and have begun another reading of it. My aim is to read one of the books per day during the summer holiday. In Book II, Chrysostom offers great wisdom to the pastor or any Christian who is concerned with the heart of a loved one who has lapsed from the faith. The words he uses to describe the posture of the priest for the knitting together of the Church can also be words of comfort to those who are related to the lapsed. Note the gentle patience which is called for!

For the pastor of sheep has his flock following him, wherever he may lead them: and if any should stray out of the straight path, and, deserting the good pasture, feed in unproductive or rugged places, a loud shout suffices to collect them and bring them back to the fold those who have parted from it: but if a human being wanders away from the right faith, great exertion, perseverance and patience are required; for he cannot be dragged back by force, nor constrained by fear, but must be led back by persuasion to the truth from which he originally swerved. The pastor therefore ought to be of a noble spirit, so as not to despond, or to despair of the salvation of wanderers from the fold, but continually to reason with himself and say, "Peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil." Therefore the Lord, when addressing his disciples, said, "Who then is the faithful and wise servant?" For he indeed who disciplines himself compasses only his own advantage, but the benefit of pastoral function extends to the whole people. And one who dispenses money to the needy, or otherwise succors the oppressed, benefits his neighbours to some extent, but so much less than the priest in proportion as the body is inferior to the soul. Rightly therefore did the Lord say that zeal for the flock was a token of love for himself.

Ordering the Private World

Well, it has been a bit of time since I last blogged on anything with substance. I do hope to get some time here really soon. I simply write to update friends and readers who have expressed interest in knowing how our move to London three weeks ago is coming along. I am happy for one to have my wife back with us permanently as she was having to travel down on weekends while finishing out the school year. Happily, that is now behind us and we are all together once again. The children are especially pleased with mom's cooking over dad's!

One of the most difficult parts of the move was having my study in such shambles for three weeks. I am very pleased that, as of yesterday, all of my books are shelved and the study is coming together. I hope to add some pictures, icons and crucifixes to the walls tomorrow.

We are enjoying our time in our new parish church as well (pictured here). The house is almost completely in order and I am hopeful that by the end of the week it will be completely sorted and we can begin to live without boxes and chaos!

I am pleased to learn that my daughter Hannah and I will be attending the beatification of Cardinal Newman in Birmingham this September with our parish. We look forward to the pilgrimage and the privilege of having the Holy Father visiting us in the UK. May God protect him and watch over him during this very difficult time of unjust attacks upon his character. We continue to pray for him each day.

I do hope to be in contact with many friends in the London area over the summer and if you read here regularly and live in the London area, please do get in touch and perhaps we can have a nice beverage somewhere! Thanks for the prayers and continuing to visit the blog. I hope to bring something worthy of discussion here soon.

Thankful for God's Provision and Your Prayers

As it is to be expected, my life has been very busy lately. Settling into the new home, shadowing at my new job, getting six children into Catholic schools, unpacking the house, and running the home without Rhea has kept me away from the Internet all week. Rhea has one more week in school in Durham and then she is home for good. She is home again this weekend and it is a real blessing to be all together again. Can't wait until next Friday when she no longer has to leave on Sunday afternoons!

Thank you to all of you who have been so faithful to pray for us as we have made our exciting journey over the past year. What a blessing it has been for our family! We have been very warmly received into the Westminster diocese and parishes and we are grateful for our new family here in the south. We plan on getting to know our new area this summer and exploring London with the children during this holiday time. Looking back at how God has made so many things come into place is just amazing. I did not see how it was all going to happen when I looked forward this past Lent; talk about God's green light!

I spent a couple of days this week at St Thomas More in Chelsea where I will be chaplain beginning September 1. I am really looking forward to working with the staff and students there and I follow in a tradition of Anglican convert priests that have gone in to work in that school. There is a lot of good promising work that is needed in our Catholic schools and I pray that my labours will be blessed by God as I offer my work for his glory and the good of the Church. Please pray that I will settle into the school quickly and begin a very faithful ministry while there.

My shelves will not arrive until this Friday and until then, my study is filled with boxes of books. I am so looking forward to having this part of the home organised where I can work and return to some substantive blogging and organising my private world. Rhea is here and I must return to working with her and having some fellowship time with the family. Once again, to each and every one of you that have and continue to pray for our family, can I express my humble gratitude to you and to God for your prayers being answered. God bless you!

Archbishop Nichols: Faithfulness, Not Success

This morning I listened to the Hardtalk interview of Archbishop Vincent Nichols. It was so refreshing to see how well he handled himself under the scrutiny of a silly journalism that has occurred since Lent this year concerning the Holy Father. The last statement that he would follow the Pope rather than Tony Blair was fantastic. I am so thankful for Archbishop Nichols and it reminds me of how much we need to pray for him and all our bishops who face the pressures of a society that seeks to pull out the foundation of truth from underneath the Catholic Faith. This whole question and answer session reminded me of a Chesterton quotation where he said, 'Art, like morality has to draw a line somewhere.' This is why the reference to the Church of England was so telling as to why they are not attacked and taken seriously. Conforming to the spirit of the age only shows a lack of substance to the message one claims to deliver as truth but is only counterfeit. That is something that this secularist society is not able to get its head around because it no longer can think logically about truth and its absoluteness. The truth is being attacked at all sides and this is why the Catholic Church is persecuted in the press. The secular media and its bankrupt philosophy can't handle the truth. Chesterton prophetically speaks to today's culture when he said

The fact that a chaotic and ill-educated time cannot clearly grasp that truth does not alter the fact that it always will be the truth. Our generation, in a dirty, pessimistic period, has blasphemously underrated the beauty of life and cravenly overrated its dangers. As for our own society, if it proceeds at its present rate of progress and improvement, no trace or memory of it will be left at all.

It is for the reason of the above quotation that the Archbishop is able to say that we pursue the truth and not what the secularised society wants on issues facing the Church. No matter how small we become, the truth never changes because it is true. In order to know how to see the counterfeit, one must know inside and out what the real thing is. This is why the evangelisation and catechetical instruction of discipleship in the Church must become the heart of our mission once again. People only know the counterfeit because they have never seen the truth. In my opinion, our Archbishop was brilliant in this interview and I thank God for him. I too follow him and the Pope before the Tony Blair's of this world.

Still Settling In But Giving Much Thanks!

This is just a quick note to let all the faithful readers know that we are beginning to settle into our new home in Shepherd's Bush. I am very pleased to be living here and love the area. I hope to be here for a long time to come. I have yet to unpack my books as I am awaiting shelves to be put into what is now my study. Once those are in this week, I can arrange the library and hopefully get back to a "normal" way of life.

So much has transpired over the last year where I am able to look back with much thanksgiving for where God has brought me and the family. Pursuing what I believe God to have placed on my heart for my part in advancing his Kingdom has come together in very surprising ways. Where I was one year ago and where I am today seems like two different worlds. I remember last year at this time writing that I felt like I had been thrown into the Atlantic and told to swim. But when I was put out into the deep, the buoys were there and lifeboats were sent to bring us to the shores across the Tiber and into the city of God. I am a living testimony to God's faithfulness to us as we pursue his will in faith, hope and love. All that I have prayed for and asked God to do in leading me to where I am has happened. It has not always been clear and at times very frightening and I confess to having days where I was lacking faith. It was 'I believe, help my unbelief.' God has not denied himself though my faith has not always seen the hope set before us in God's plans for our lives. But, what a transition the past 13 months have brought for my life and the life of my family!!! It is good to be home and it is very good to be a part of the family in the Westminster Diocese. May my labours here assist in the evangelisation of the faith once delivered to the saints!

Thank you all for your prayers and please do continue to pray for us! If you are in the area, do look me up and we can have a drink...I would love the assistance in pointing me to the good watering holes! I am also willing to put on a good BBQ (American style!). God bless you all and thank you so much!

Absence in Blogging Due to Moving to London

The blogging has been nil recently due to the fact that I have moved myself, and the six children from Durham to London, Shepherd's Bush on Monday. I am absolutely surrounded by boxes and mess...Moving has to be one of the worse stresses one can have. It has only proven more difficult as I get older. All of the stress aside, I am very happy to be living in London now and I am looking forward to a bright new future. God has been so good to provide for us and we are very grateful for all the prayers that we know are for our benefit. Thank you!

Once I get the house and particularly the study in order, I can return to a more frequent blogging. Please do continue to pray for us and particularly for three of our children that still are in need of good Catholic schools. I am very quickly nodding off, but I wanted to let everyone know what is happening. Please pray for me with a specific intention next Tuesday. Rhea will be coming down on Friday and the children are really looking forward to seeing her and having her here permanently on 23 July when she finishes her final teaching day.

Thanks for all the prayers and faithfully reading the blog. More to come soon!!!