Britain’s Great Rosary Revival

On Sunday April 29, more than 10,000 Catholics will gather around Britain's coast to say the rosary

The total currently stands at 247, but every few hours it increases. By next week, as many as 300 locations could be preparing to host the Rosary on the Coast, which takes place on Sunday April 29. At 2.30pm, Catholics will gather at St Ninian’s Isle in the Shetlands, at Hugh Town on the Isles of Scilly, and all around the coast of England, Scotland and Wales to say the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, along with a selection of prayers and hymns.

“New locations are coming thick and fast every day,” says one of the organisers, John Mallon, who adds that they have been “very strict” about what they put on the map, so there will probably be many more groups. Some sites have 20 attending; some over 100. The minimum overall attendance is estimated at 10,000, “but that’s very, very conservative,” Mr Mallon says.

Read more at Catholic Herald >>

 

Confronting Britain's Vocation Crisis: Shrewsbury Looks to American Dioceses for a Way Forward

From The Catholic Herald (UK)

By Francis Phillips

I blogged some time ago about a book I was reading: Renewal: How a new generation of faithful priests and bishops is revitalising the Catholic Church by Anne Hendershott and Christopher White. The book’s main theme, addressing the situation in the US, is that faithful bishops leading faithful dioceses attract more young men to the priesthood than dioceses where strong Catholic episcopal leadership appears to be weak and which seem to be run by committees.

In support of this contention, the book quotes the retired Archbishop Elden Curtiss of Omaha, Nebraska, who published an article in 1996, entitled “Crisis in Vocation?”, in which he wrote, “When dioceses and religious communities are unambiguous about the ordained priesthood and vowed religious life; where there is strong support for vocations, and a minimum of dissent about the male celibate priesthood and religious life, loyal to the Magisterium; when the bishop, priests, Religious and lay people are united in a vocation ministry – then there are documented increases in the number of candidates who respond to the call.”

Media Can’t Hold Down Pro-Life Message Forever: Lord Nicholas Windsor

Read Part I of the interview with Lord Windsor here.

From LifeSiteNews

By Hilary White

Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor

Lord Nicholas Windsor, the youngest son of the Duke of Kent and cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, came to the pro-life position at the same time as his conversion to Catholicism. He told LifeSiteNews.com in a recent extensive and candid interview that he believes the two are inextricably linked.

Lord Windsor spoke with LSN on February 25th, while attending the annual plenary meeting of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life in Rome.

Born in 1970, Lord Windsor said that his generation, those born to the Baby Boomers, are part of a backlash that looks upon the “calamitous” social and moral chaos of the last 40 years with “horror.”

The life issues, he said, “in a certain respect, are the biggest thing. Because in our house, in the house of the developed world, it’s our biggest shame, it’s the biggest moral weight that we bear. Because in some sense, society has consented.”

“As Christians, as members of society, we have to act in our own small way. It’s clear that the Church provides an enormous wealth of teaching to draw on. The invitation is in front of us, in front of our eyes.”

Still Waiting for Moral Leadership in Britain

Queen’s cousin speaks to LifeSiteNews

From LifeSiteNews

By Hilary White

Lord Nicholas Windsor, the youngest child of the Duke and Duchess of Kent and first cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, told LifeSiteNews.com earlier this month that patience is required from those waiting for true moral and spiritual leadership to turn the anti-human, anti-life tide in Britain.

Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor with one of their two sons.

Lord Windsor sat down with LSN at the annual plenary meeting of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life on February 25th. He spoke at length of his conversion to Catholicism, through the influence of the late Pope John Paul II, and his dedication to the pro-life philosophy.

The hope of turning society away from the post-Christian amorality, he said, lies with the post-Baby Boom generation: “Our generation is the one after [the one] which made these, I think, calamitous decisions. To some extent, our generation looks upon all that with horror.”

He said that “undoubtedly” true leaders will emerge from the generation disillusioned with the social revolution. “There are inspiring people,” he added, but “perhaps not on the national stage … One has to be patient.”

Lord Windsor was received into the Catholic Church ten years ago and became the first ever member of the current English Royal Family to be married at the Vatican and the first since 1554 to be married according to the rites of the Catholic Church. His son Albert was the first member of the Royal Family to be baptized a Catholic since 1688. 

Religious Practice on the Rise in Great Britain

The number of Anglican churches in Britain has risen for the first time in more than a decade, according to new research. 

From The Telegraph

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones

New congregations are being formed to take over old redundant church buildings or to provide more youth-friendly services, helping church membership numbers to rise.

The figures, to be published this week by Christian Research, also reveal that the Roman Catholic Church is continuing to enjoy a rise in attendance at Mass, that the number of Pentecostal worshippers is increasing rapidly and that Baptist churches are also enjoying a resurgence.