How to Become Pope . . .

Thanks to Laurence England for posting this great video on his blog.

Told in an amusing way but nonetheless a very accurate summary!

16 - 20 . . .

I'm over the moon!

Hooray for the Emerald Isle!

It always makes me smile . . .

This is a bit of an 'in joke' for any possible clerical readers of this blog. I wonder how many times you've heard something like this in the last few days.

I certainly have had similar comments several times when I've been out and about in the parish recently. I wonder what people imagine we do for the rest of the year!

It still makes me smile . . .

Day 5 - just for fun . . .

Well, I'm sure you all know the saying. 'When in Rome . . . ' I couldn't resist taking a photo of this little sports car. (It makes a change from all the photos of churches and eating!) It's the only way to travel in Rome.

I think I might make the owner an offer - it would be just the job for nipping around Banstead!

Saint of the Day

I see that today is the feast day of St Peter Chanel. Not, as someone recently remarked, 'the patron Saint of exclusive perfumes' rather the protomartyr of the South Seas.

St Peter Chanel was born in 1803 at Clet in the diocese of Belley, France. He was set on missionary work and in 1831, he joined the newly formed Society of Mary (Marists). In 1836, St Peter was appointed Superior of a small group of missionaries sent to evangelise the inhabitants of the New Hebrides in the Pacific.

St Peter went to the Island of Futuna. He and his companions were at first well received by the pagans and their king who had only recently forbidden canabalism. Although they were intitially very succesful St Peter later came to arouse the anger of the King and three years after his arrival, he was clubbed to death by those he had come to save. Within a few months of his death the entire island was converted to Christianity.

The Church gives us saints to be models and an example for us all in our daily life; they were ordinary people like us, doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way, not that I'm suggesting we all rush off to a distant island where we might come to a rather nasty end!