Michaelfest

Life has been very hectic in the parish and in my life. We have just finished our second annual Michaelfest at Tetbury Catholic Church. We had a good musical recital on Friday evening (September 24) but the attendance was sparse and the art exhibition was on Saturday with Tetbury Art Society contributing much of the artwork. In church we had an exhibition of the wonderful art of a parishioner Pat Sampson. The festive masses went well with Fr. Paul Lyons from the seminary at Wonersh preaching his theme was on the discipleship that stems from our baptism. The conclusion was an ecumenical Vesper service which included all the churches in Tetbury including St. Mary's Anglican church choir that contributed a psalm and an anthem. Fr. John Wright the vicar preached and without any previous consultation he also preached on discipleship and our common baptism which unites us all. I feel that my Zen work has taken a bit of a back burner with all the time I put in preparing for and at Tetbury for the Festival. My health doesn't seem to have been too good either what with sciatica and the a very heavy cold. But life goes on relentlessly. The Pope's visit went much better than expected and he did well to play to the crowds. However I personally still feel somewhat concerned that there is still the lack of implementation of the Vatican II teaching on collegiality and the power structure of the church to the diminishment of the authority of local bishops. I still feel that the Pope and the bishops have not really taken responsibility for their share in the child abuse scandal or done enough to help the victims. I also feel for all those theologians who have been so censured by the Curia without due process. There still seems so much injustice when we are supposed to be the champions of justice.