Curé of Ars: Transforming the Hearts of So Many

(Picture of the Curé of Ars outside his childhood home).
Having time to reflect on my time in Ars this weekend has been a great joy and privilege. While I was there, I was able to finish the book The Grace of Ars by Fr Frederick Miller. It was a wonderful read and a reminder of the ascetic life of St John Vianney. In the book, priests are warned of three great temptations: for stuff, honour (especially craving the episcopacy), and building a personality cult. The story of his life is amazing and his ministry was second to none. One can feel the love of the Saint while visiting the small quiet village. Ars is about reordering ones private world in order to bring us back to the basics; the basics of labouring, not for ourselves, but for the real purpose of seeing hearts and lives transformed to the truth of Christ's love. Pope Benedict XVI wrote the following when announcing the Year for Priests that I was able to feel and experience in that most holy place that became filled with the love of Christ because that loved flowed from the heart of this wonderful saint.

In his time the Curé of Ars was able to transform the hearts and the lives of so many people because he enabled them to experience the Lord’s merciful love. Our own time urgently needs a similar proclamation and witness to the truth of Love: Deus caritas est (1 Jn: 4:8). Thanks to the word and the sacraments of Jesus, John Mary Vianney built up his flock, although he often trembled from a conviction of his personal inadequacy, and desired more than once to withdraw from the responsibilities of the parish ministry out of a sense of his unworthiness. Nonetheless, with exemplary obedience he never abandoned his post, consumed as he was by apostolic zeal for the salvation of souls. He sought to remain completely faithful to his own vocation and mission through the practice of an austere asceticism: “The great misfortune for us parish priests – he lamented – is that our souls grow tepid”; meaning by this that a pastor can grow dangerously inured to the state of sin or of indifference in which so many of his flock are living.[30] He himself kept a tight rein on his body, with vigils and fasts, lest it rebel against his priestly soul. Nor did he avoid self-mortification for the good of the souls in his care and as a help to expiating the many sins he heard in confession. To a priestly confrere he explained: “I will tell you my recipe: I give sinners a small penance and the rest I do in their place”.[31] Aside from the actual penances which the Curé of Ars practised, the core of his teaching remains valid for each of us: souls have been won at the price of Jesus’ own blood, and a priest cannot devote himself to their salvation if he refuses to share personally in the “precious cost” of redemption.

This is practical for all those baptised into the priestly ministry of Christ. Priests and laity alike face the spiritual temptations that St John Vianney faced. So much of the ministry of winning souls is something we are all called to do together. The warning that the Holy Father gives via the Curé of Ars can speak to each and every one of us. What St J Vianney's life modeled is something everyone is called to live as a baptised member of Christ and his Church.

Returned From Pilgrimage to Ars

The pilgrimage to Ars was a wonderful experience with three faithful priests of Christ's Church along with myself. What a wonderful time had by all. One of the many highlights was Fr Gerard Hatton being able to use the chalice of the Cure of Ars when Mass was offered at our initial visit to the Shrine. What a privilege that was that we experienced. All who have been to Ars know what a holy place it is. It was very quiet and peaceful while we were there and at one point in one of our evenings in the Basilica, we were the only ones present. We had the Cure to ourselves. We ventured out each afternoon after our morning prayers, Mass, adoration and rosaries. We had the privilege of staying and eating with the seminarians. More will come later, but I offer the link to the pictures that I have posted on flicker. If you have any trouble viewing them, please do let me know. All readers of this blog were remember at the Shrine.

UPDATE: I am not sure why these photos are not showing unless I sign in and the public cannot view them. The only thing I can think of is that my membership is so new. So, if you would like to see them and regularly visit this blog, please friend me on facebook and you can see them there. Also, if you have not signed up to "follow" this blog on the right hand column, please consider doing so and suggest it to others. Thank you!

Off to Pray With the Curé d'Ars

Well, the day has arrived when I will be setting off for the next week to seminary in Ars, France to pray with St John Vianney. I am devoting my week to an increase in vocations of priests and religious. I shall bring all readers to the Shrine of St J Vianney for your intentions. I shall specifically be praying for all the priests in the Archdiocese of Westminster as well as our seminarians of the diocese. I will also be remembering those Anglicans who are making the journey in the caravan called the Ordinariate along with their people. I have had a devotion to St John Vianney for quite some time and I am very much looking forward to the pilgrimage this week. It will be especially a joy to be with three friends: Frs Gerard Hatton, Terry Martin, and Stephen Hardaker all of the A & B diocese.

Due to my work in school, it has been just over a year or so since my last retreat and I am in great need of this refreshment and time of personal discernment for my life and the life of my family. Please remember me this week in your prayers as well. I shall return on Friday and will probably not blog again until I return with pictures and hopefully some stories to tell. May God bless you all this next week! St John Vianney, pray for us!

Religious Education in the English Baccalaureate

Religious Education has been excluded from the list of 'approved' subjects for the EB and is therefore significantly at risk of being sidelined, downgraded and perceived to be worthless. Pupils will be discouraged from opting for RE and later from Theology and Philosophy courses. This is already evidenced in some schools and further by the significant reduction of places for RE Trainee Teachers across the country (only last academic year RE was considered to be a ‘shortage’ subject). It is our belief that RE is not only an academically rigorous subject but it is also pivitol and is vital to a well-rounded education. The rise of religious extremism around the world and in the UK means that a good understanding of all religions is essential.MP Stephen Lloyd has forwarded an Early Day Motion to have RE as an approved subject for the EB and we are totally committed to supporting the place of RE in the curriculum.

Sign the Petition

The New Missal: Beauty and Practicality

I am really looking forward to seeing the new missal when it is completed. We have begun thinking about how to get our school children and staff ready for the new missal when it arrives on the altars for full use in Advent. Go to the CTS site to see what is happening with the new missal.

Beauty and PracticalityCTS is working with highly-skilled printers and binders in Italy to ensure a high quality of craftsmanship in the finished volume. The choice of paper, binding, marker ribbons and leather page tabs has been made to ensure ease of use and durability over many years.

For the interior, colour illustrations have been sourced from medieval illustrated manuscripts, and decorative elements from skilled contemporary artists and from volumes in the British Library.

Please continue to support the CTS
CTS is investing heavily to ensure that this new Missal will serve well the needs of the Catholic communities both here in the UK and in Australia, and that it will enhance the beauty of the liturgy.

We eagerly look forward to the time when the Bishops will officially release the Missal for use in the service of the Lord, hopefully at the end of this year.

Fr Ed Tomlinson Announces His Intention to Resign from the C of E to Join Ordinariate

After consultation with the Bishop of Rochester, and with his blessing, I can now publically announce that it is my intention to resign as vicar of Saint Barnabas in Tunbridge Wells on Palm Sunday and to cease public Anglican ministry from Ash Wednesday.

I will then undertake a period of preparation to enter the Roman Catholic Church as a member of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham alongside my family and the majority of my current parishioners.

Your prayers are encouraged at this time.

Fr. Ed Tomlinson

Fr Ivan Aquilina and Dcn James Bradley Announce Their Ordinariate Plans

Christ is the human face of God; the fullness of Revelation. He lives in his church and operates through the baptised who are his hands, his feet and his merciful face. What the Church believes across all nations, by everyone and down the centuries is his unmistakable voice. With the recent developments in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion I have increasingly found myself in a situation where I cannot preach the Gospel of Christ and celebrate his sacraments with any integrity.

It is the generous offer of Pope Benedict XVI in the form of the Ordinariate that gives me the joy of continuing this faithfulness to this Gospel. The move to the Ordinariate also gives me the opportunity to offer to you the greatest witness I can possibly give you.

For this reason I have written to the Bishop of Rochester notifying him that I intend to resign from this Parish in order to become a Roman Catholic in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.Fr James has notified the same bishop that he intends to resign for the same noble reason.

God willing, our last Sunday with you will be the 6th of March. On Ash Wednesday, a group from this parish will start the journey to be in full communion with Pope Benedict and received in the Catholic Church during Holy Week.

Now that the time of reflection is over, the time of the parting of friends has come. Parting is sad, but it will be healed by love. We need to make sure that this is truly a parting of friends with generosity from all sides.

This is not the time to say goodbye. I am sure we will have the opportunity for that during the next few weeks. Today is the time to hold each other in prayer and give thanks to what we have received and given to each other.

I will always hold you in my prayers and will always be available for you from within the Catholic Church in the Sevenoaks Ordinariate Personal Parish.

Fr Ivan D Aquilina
13th February 2011

See announcement here.

As a result, Sevenoaks blog has ceased but they have an Ordinariate Blog.

Pope Pius X and Our Modern Ideologies of What Makes a Good Society

After reading the papers this morning and the headlines where leaders of western society speak of morality, I began to wonder what some mean by morality. Where does it come from? Where is it going? How do we measure its 'good' for society? While reading the headlines and the direction of the Western world and comments made by the leaders of these ideals, the notion of the philosophical question of being defined by what makes a unified world forced me to ask all sorts of questions and to visit papal teachings at the turn of the 20th century and what response to this ideology the Catholic Church was giving. On the Papal Encyclical site, I found a very interesting Encyclical given to the French bishops on 15 August 1910. It addresses a French movement referred to as the Sillon. The document is called Notre Charge Apostolique. What is interesting is reading this now in 2011 juxtaposed to our modern philosophical worldview that drives the new 'morality' of the west. Have a read of this and perhaps we can have an open dialogue about how we engage this thinking.

Alas! yes, the double meaning has been broken: the social action of the Sillon is no longer Catholic. The Sillonist, as such, does not work for a coterie, and “the Church”, he says, “cannot in any sense benefit from the sympathies that his action may stimulate.” A strange situation, indeed! They fear lest the Church should profit for a selfish and interested end by the social action of the Sillon, as if everything that benefited the Church did not benefit the whole human race! A curious reversal of notions! The Church might benefit from social action! As if the greatest economists had not recognized and proved that it is social action alone which, if serious and fruitful, must benefit the Church! But stranger still, alarming and saddening at the same time, are the audacity and frivolity of men who call themselves Catholics and dream of re-shaping society under such conditions, and of establishing on earth, over and beyond the pale of the Catholic Church, "the reign of love and justice" with workers coming from everywhere, of all religions and of no religion, with or without beliefs, so long as they forego what might divide them - their religious and philosophical convictions, and so long as they share what unites them - a "generous idealism and moral forces drawn from whence they can" When we consider the forces, knowledge, and supernatural virtues which are necessary to establish the Christian City, and the sufferings of millions of martyrs, and the light given by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the self-sacrifice of all the heroes of charity, and a powerful hierarchy ordained in heaven, and the streams of Divine Grace - the whole having been built up, bound together, and impregnated by the life and spirit of Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God, the Word made man - when we think, I say, of all this, it is frightening to behold new apostles eagerly attempting to do better by a common interchange of vague idealism and civic virtues. What are they going to produce? What is to come of this collaboration? A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human exultation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity. It will be a tumultuous agitation, sterile for the end proposed, but which will benefit the less Utopian exploiters of the people. Yes, we can truly say that the Sillon, its eyes fixed on a chimera, brings Socialism in its train.

We fear that worse is to come: the end result of this developing promiscuousness, the beneficiary of this cosmopolitan social action, can only be a Democracy which will be neither Catholic, nor Protestant, nor Jewish. It will be a religion (for Sillonism, so the leaders have said, is a religion) more universal than the Catholic Church, uniting all men become brothers and comrades at last in the "Kingdom of God". - "We do not work for the Church, we work for mankind."

And now, overwhelmed with the deepest sadness, We ask Ourselves, Venerable Brethren, what has become of the Catholicism of the Sillon? Alas! this organization which formerly afforded such promising expectations, this limpid and impetuous stream, has been harnessed in its course by the modern enemies of the Church, and is now no more than a miserable affluent of the great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for the establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas, nor hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would bring back to the world (if such a Church could overcome) the reign of legalized cunning and force, and the oppression of the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer.

We know only too well the dark workshops in which are elaborated these mischievous doctrines which ought not to seduce clear-thinking minds. The leaders of the Sillon have not been able to guard against these doctrines. The exaltation of their sentiments, the undiscriminating good-will of their hearts, their philosophical mysticism, mixed with a measure of illuminism, have carried them away towards another Gospel which they thought was the true Gospel of Our Savior. To such an extent that they speak of Our Lord Jesus Christ with a familiarity supremely disrespectful, and that - their ideal being akin to that of the Revolution - they fear not to draw between the Gospel and the Revolution blasphemous comparisons for which the excuse cannot be made that they are due to some confused and over-hasty composition.

We wish to draw your attention, Venerable Brethren, to this distortion of the Gospel and to the sacred character of Our Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, prevailing within the Sillon and elsewhere. As soon as the social question is being approached, it is the fashion in some quarters to first put aside the divinity of Jesus Christ, and then to mention only His unlimited clemency, His compassion for all human miseries, and His pressing exhortations to the love of our neighbor and to the brotherhood of men. True, Jesus has loved us with an immense, infinite love, and He came on earth to suffer and die so that, gathered around Him in justice and love, motivated by the same sentiments of mutual charity, all men might live in peace and happiness. But for the realization of this temporal and eternal happiness, He has laid down with supreme authority the condition that we must belong to His Flock, that we must accept His doctrine, that we must practice virtue, and that we must accept the teaching and guidance of Peter and his successors. Further, whilst Jesus was kind to sinners and to those who went astray, He did not respect their false ideas, however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but He instructed them in order to convert them and save them. Whilst He called to Himself in order to comfort them, those who toiled and suffered, it was not to preach to them the jealousy of a chimerical equality. Whilst He lifted up the lowly, it was not to instill in them the sentiment of a dignity independent from, and rebellious against, the duty of obedience. Whilst His heart overflowed with gentleness for the souls of good-will, He could also arm Himself with holy indignation against the profaners of the House of God, against the wretched men who scandalized the little ones, against the authorities who crush the people with the weight of heavy burdens without putting out a hand to lift them. He was as strong as he was gentle. He reproved, threatened, chastised, knowing, and teaching us that fear is the beginning of wisdom, and that it is sometimes proper for a man to cut off an offending limb to save his body. Finally, He did not announce for future society the reign of an ideal happiness from which suffering would be banished; but, by His lessons and by His example, He traced the path of the happiness which is possible on earth and of the perfect happiness in heaven: the royal way of the Cross. These are teachings that it would be wrong to apply only to one's personal life in order to win eternal salvation; these are eminently social teachings, and they show in Our Lord Jesus Christ something quite different from an inconsistent and impotent humanitarianism.

This is a very strong response to a philosophical ideal that is shaping the the western world. I am curious as to what the readers think about this in light of where we are today in society.

Preparing for Pilgrimage to Ars

I have been prayerfully preparing myself for my first pilgrimage to Ars next week. Part of this preparation includes my reading of Fr Frederick Miller's book The Grace of Ars with a forward by Archbishop Raymond Burke. There is so much to learn from the life and ministry of St John Vianney. One such lesson is his terms of Jesus' Sacred Heart that for him describe the priesthood. Quoting from Fr Miller's book St John Vianney said,

The priest continues in the word of redemption on earth... If we really understood the priesthood on earth, we would not die of fright but of love... The Priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.

I am very grateful to be making this pilgrimage with three priests with whom I can pray and have wonderful fellowship during our stay in Ars. It is my prayer that a renewed zeal for teaching and living the Catholic faith will become a fuller personal sanctity of my life in every area where I move and have my being. And so, I prepare meditating on the words from St John Vianney that describe the Eucharist as the gift of Christ's love and happiness for humanity.

Without the Holy Eucharist there would be no happiness in this world; life would be insupportable. When we receive Holy Communion, we receive our joy and our happiness. The good God,wishing to give Himself to us in the Sacrament of His Love, gave us a vast and great desire, which He alone can satisfy. In the presence of this beautiful Sacrament, we are like a person dying of thirst by the side of a river — he would only need to bend his head; like a person still remaining poor, close to a great treasure — he need only stretch out his hand. He who communicates loses himself in God like a drop of water in the ocean. They can no more be separated.

Quite a Week and No Time to Blog and Some Exorcism

It has been a very busy week this week and I have been so tired in the evening after coming home from work that I have not felt like doing much other than read my book The Rite. It has proved a very interesting read. I should have it finished by tomorrow and look forward to seeing the film. Though, I already see where Hollywood, as it traditionally does, takes artistic freedom in creating characters a bit different from the book. More on this to follow. Here is Father Barron on why he thinks exorcism fascinates the film industry and people in general.

Pope Benedict XVI: The Tasks of Pastors

Commenting on the Gospel reading from today's Mass, "The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few", the Pope said: "Although it may seem that a large part of the modern world, of the men and women of today, turn their backs on God and consider faith as a thing of the past, there is still a longing that justice, peace and love will finally be established, that poverty and suffering will be overcome, that mankind may find happiness".

"Today's liturgy", he went on, "gives us two definitions of your mission as bishops, as priests of Jesus Christ: that of being labourers in the harvest of world history with the task of healing, of opening the doors of the world to the lordship of God that His will of may be done on earth as in heaven; ... and that of co-operating in the mission of Jesus Christ".

In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke illustrates "the fundamental elements of Christian existence in the communion of the Church of Jesus Christ. He writes: 'They devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers''. These four major elements of Church life also describe the essential task of her pastors", the Pope explained.

"Devotion, constancy, is part of the essence of being Christian, and it is fundamental for the role of pastors, labourers in the Lord's harvest. ... Intrepidness, the courage to oppose the trends of the moment, are an essential part of a pastor's duties. ... Only where there is stability can there also be growth".

Referring then to the second of the "pillars" of the Church, "communion", the Holy Father highlighted how "by being in communion with the Apostles, by abiding in their faith, we ourselves are in contact with the living God. This is the goal of the ministry of bishops. May this chain of communion not be broken! The essence of apostolic succession is to maintain our communion with the people who visibly and tangibly met with the Lord ".

"Help to ensure that joy in the great unity of the Church remains alive, joy in the communion of all places and times, in the communion of the faith which embraces heaven and earth", the Pope told the new archbishops.

The third fundamental element of ecclesial life is "the breaking of bread", said Benedict XVI. "Breaking the bread - the Blessed Eucharist - is the core of the Church and must be the core of our being Christian, of our priestly lives. The Lord gives Himself to us; the Risen One enters my intimate self and wishes to transform me, bringing me into profound communion with Him".

"Let us seek to celebrate the Eucharist devotedly, with ever deeper fervour; let us seek to organise our days around it and to allow ourselves to be moulded by it. Breaking the bread is also an expression of sharing, of transmitting our love for others. This social dimension, this sharing, is not some moral appendix added to the Eucharist, but an essential part thereof".

Commenting then on the fourth aspect of ecclesial life, "prayer", the Pope noted that, "on the one hand, prayer must be highly personal, a union with God in my most intimate being. ... However, it is never an exclusively private affair regarding only my individual self, disassociated from others. Prayer is always essentially an activity we undertake together as children of God. Only in this 'us' can we be children of our Father, to whom the Lord taught us to pray. ... Thus, in the final analysis, prayer cannot just be an activity like any other, a little corner of my time".

"'Duc in altum' the Lord is telling you today, dear friends", the Holy Father concluded. "You have been called to play roles that concern the universal Church. You are called to throw out the nets of the Gospel into the stormy seas of our time, to obtain the adherence of men and women to Christ, so as to draw them out, so to speak, from the salty waters of death and from the dark where the light of heaven does not reach. You must bring them onto the earth, to live in communion with Jesus Christ".

HML/ VIS 20110207 (800)

Pilgrimage to Ars, France

I am very much beginning to look forward to a pilgrimage I will be taking to Ars, France on 21 February. This is my first visit and I know it will be a wonderful experience of grace. I have ordered Father Frederick Miller's book The Grace of Ars to read before I go. In an interview for Ignatius Insights, Fr Miller has the following to say:

Ignatius Insight: What are some facts or observations about St. John Vianney that most people don't know? What are some things about him that you like to point out to those just starting to learn about his life?

Fr. Miller: Three things come to mind: First of all, Vianney grew up during the worst years of the French Revolution. He experienced a Church under siege--a Church suffering bloody persecution. He received his first Holy Communion in a barn under the shadow of night. The fidelity of his family to the gospel and to the One Church of Christ helped to form him in his own dedication to Christ and the Church.

Second, although most of his time as a priest was spent in preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments, the Saint initiated and led various works of charity in his parish. He cared for many poor people--giving away his own food to feed them. He started a school for the poor of the parish and an orphanage for young girls. The orphanage known as La Providence was the pride and joy of his priestly life. His care for unwanted children places Vianney among the special patrons of the pro-life movement.

Third, three times during his 41 years as pastor of Ars, Vianney, feeling the call to a life of hidden prayer, abandoned his parishioners as pastor of Ars and "ran away" to join a monastery. On all three occasions, he turned back to his post in Ars, recalling the mission he had been given by his bishop: "There is not much love of God in Ars. You will bring some love there". This fact consoles many priests who feel the burden of parochial ministry and sometimes feel like "running away" too!

Ignatius Insight: What are some lessons that priests can learn from studying and reflecting upon the person and life of St. John Vianney? What about lay people?

Fr. Miller: I wrote this book for priests, seminarians, and the lay faithful. During this Year for Priests Pope Benedict will name Vianney the patron saints of all priests--not just parish priests. I believe the Holy Father has decided to do this to remind all priests that the essence of the priesthood is in the proclamation of the Word, the administration of the Sacraments, and in the pastoral love they show to God's people. I hope the book will inspire all priests and seminarians, both religious and diocesan, to live the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience in a more radical way for the sake of pastoral charity.

In the book, I urge priests to make the pilgrimage to Ars, to stay at the seminary in Ars, and to recommit themselves to priestly life and ministry in the presence of the Cure of Ars. I hope the book convinces priests that they do have their own specific spirituality defined by the demands of pastoral love for Christ's flock. I am praying that the book will help young men to appreciate the beauty of the priesthood and to hear and follow Christ's call. Finally, I hope that the book will help the lay faithful, many of whom have been scandalized by the behavior of priests in the recent past, to see and reverence Christ living and acting in the person of their parish priests.

I recently gave my sixth retreat in Ars to 42 priests and seminarians from Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. As in the past, I returned home more convinced than ever that there is a strong medicine in Ars to cure the ills of the priesthood in the United States at the beginning of the 21st century. In short, I know that there is a Grace of Ars for the whole Church.

I am very much looking forward to praying for the Grace of Ars to enter into my soul on this visit. I am being accompanied by three priests from the A & B Diocese: Father Terry Martin, Father Gerard Hatton and Fr Stephen Hardaker. I am confident that this will be a wonderful week of grace. Please pray for us as I will hold all of you in my prayers on this pilgrimage.

Buying Books But No Time To Read

This week has been some kind of a week. I have not been home before 10:30 except for one evening this week! I have been to meetings that have lasted until late in the evening on Monday; on Tuesday travelled to Redhill immediately after school and attended the wonderful ordination of Fr Gerard Hatton; immediately after school on Wednesday I travelled to Weybridge to attend the first Mass of Fr Gerard; Thursday I came home and fell asleep at 7:50 pm; and Friday night stepped off the bus, gathered my son Caleb who was waiting for me with his mother and we went to Holy Trinity Brook Green for the annual Guild of St Stephen dinner with the Bishop of Northampton as the honoured guest.

As I write this, I am looking at the stack of books that have come in the post in the last week that I have not had the time even to read the contents pages. The new books are: Mariology: A Guide For Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons; The Teachings of the Church Fathers by John R Willis, S.J.; Theo-Logic I: The Truth of the World; Theo-Logic II: Truth of God; Theo-Logic III: The Spirit of Truth; The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist. There are so many more books that I need to collect for my library as I am hoping to get into some writing of short articles for publication in the near future. The problem one consistently comes up against is space for the books. I am always willing to accept Catholic books from those who wish to downsize their Catholic theological/liturgical libraries. Also, I have a wish list in the right column: ;-) Do contact me if you wish to find a new home for them. I can't have too many weeks like this last one if I am going to read them but I do hope that time will soon come for some serious reading.