From the Editor

Fr John writes

Dear Parishioners, Friends and Readers of Oremus

We hear plenty of stories of how our fellow Christians face difficulties in other countries, so I am pleased to include in this edition of Oremus the news of a new cathedral being built and dedicated to Our Lady of Arabia in the kingdom of Bahrain, to serve the increasing number of the faithful living and working there. What struck me most was the necessity hitherto of having 25 Masses between Friday and Sunday to provide for all the people who wanted to come – and we think that we are busy with six Sunday Masses!

Closer to home, Lorraine McAteer writes of the work undertaken in the SVP School Nursery Class both in preparation for Christmas and throughout the year to give the children a firm foundation in the faith from their earliest years. It is so important that this is linked in with families’ own spiritual life at home, since, as St John Paul II was fond of stressing, parents are ‘the first educators of their children’. Dudley Plunkett, meanwhile, tells us of how he was inspired to write a book about the Martyrs of Penal Times in this country, as they risked their lives to keep the flame of faith alight, and I have included as a sort of tailpiece the account of how one martyr, St John Roberts, seized the opportunity to reconcile on the scaffold a criminal due to be hung at the same time.

Bishop Mark Jabalé concludes his description of the Ayabaca Pilgrimage in Peru, noting almost casually that people do die making the pilgrimage, but that it is regarded as ‘an honourable death’. Making a pilgrimage in the reverse direction, the relics of St Bernadette of Nevers are due to follow the example of those of St Thérèse of Lisieux a number of years ago, and come to the UK on tour. With the delayed visit of Our Lady of Walsingham to the Cathedral planned into the diary already, 2022 looks to be a significant year for us.

I have also taken the opportunity to include Cardinal Godfrey’s prayer to Our Lady of Westminster in this edition, since I suspect that it will have fallen out of most people’s memory or consciousness. Not only does it incorporate the prayer to Our Lady of St Edmund of Abingdon (Archbishop of Canterbury, 1234-40), whose altar and major relic are in the Crypt beneath the high altar, but it shows a concern that the sovereign and government should be a particular focus of our prayer in this place. May we renew that concern in our own troubled times.

Westminster Cathedral

Cathedral Clergy House 42 Francis Street London SW1P 1QW Telephone 020 7798 9055 Email chreception@rcdow.org.uk www.westminstercathedral.org.uk

Cathedral Chaplains

Fr Sławomir Witon´ , Administrator Fr Brian O’Mahony, Sub-Administrator Fr Michael Donaghy Fr Hugh MacKenzie Fr Mike Maguire, Precentor Fr Vincent Mbu’i SVD Fr John Scott, Registrar

Also in residence

Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Victories: Sr Celeste, Sr Angelina, Sr Jesuina and Sr Fatima

Music Department

Simon Johnson, Master of Music Peter Stevens Obl. OSB, Assistant Master of Music Marko Sever, Organ Scholar

Cathedral Manager

Peter McNulty

Estates Manager

Neil Fairbairn

Finance Manager

Agnes Dabrowska

Chapel of Ease

Sacred Heart Church Horseferry Road SW1P 2EF