De La Mennais Brothers: Making Jesus Christ better known and loved by young people

This one blindsided me. I knew the reviews were good, but what a terrific little film! It takes many of the clichés of this type of teen coming of age movie (the gay friend, the 1980s indie music, the awkwardness of the the socially inept loner...) and makes them feel, genuine, heartfelt and natural.  Logan Lerman as Charlie The writer/director (who wrote the original book on which the film is based) guides the young cast through his own excellent script with a confident hand. Special mention to Logan Lerman in the lead who lights up the screen with his gentle intelligence and sensitivity. He nails the whole film, but especially the final scenes which completely bowled me over and it was all I could do to stop blubbing like a baby. Excellent support from Emma Watson (yes, Hermione) and Ezra Miller ("We Need To Talk About Kevin"... the new De Niro?). Up there with the best trials of adolescence/coming of age movies. Lerman + Emma Watson as Sam ... + Ezra Miller as Pa...

The following article written by my sister on her " Traces Of Hope " blog is nothing to do with my previous article here but is everything to do with her life story... and the article - especially the final paragraph - is quietly wonderful.  "Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of  When Bad Things Happen to Good People , dealt with the personal tragedy of a child who dies of an incurable condition: progeria, the aging disease. This tragedy caused him to rethink everything he had once felt so secure in believing about suffering, prayer, and God.  He writes that prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us, a sentiment that echoes the writing of Christian author and novelist C.S. Lewis. Although God answers our prayers, the answer may not be what we want to hear, or may not be the miracle we hoped for. After his son Aaron’s diagnosis at age 3, Kushner prayed fervently and constantly for a cure.  It didn’t materialize. Aaron died at age 14 weighing no more than 25 pounds, ...

A word of advice to all... don't lock up your one and only road bike in the bike shed at Southampton Airport Parkway railway station. You may never see it again! Such is my situation today having left it there this morning before getting the train to London for the National Vocations Directors' Conference . When I came back tonight the bike was gone (a Trek 1000 with upgraded components all round). The thief/thieves had cut through the thick cable lock and left its remains on the ground as a provocation. Obviously a D-lock would have been more secure... I have one, but the cable lock has served me well for many years. That bike has been on many adventures with me since 2004 (Liverpool to Santiago de Compostela and Lourdes, Southampton to Berlin and Assisi, through the Pyrenees from Mediterranean to Atlantic in August just gone). Kind of in shock right now, even though it's only a bike... Spoke to a nice police officer who has passed on the details to British Transpo...

Our last full day's activities... Our final day saw us take a drive with Frère François to visit a centre that looks after young women who have got caught up in the sex trade. It was set up by a community of nuns who were known to Fr. François from his experiences in the capital Lomé. These nuns used to live next door to the Brothers there. François has helped them to build and fund this young women's refuge. He still keeps in regular contact with them and continues to do work for them. Many of the young women come to the "big city", the capital Lomé, to study or to get a job. But, such dreams turn quickly into nightmares for many young women. In Lomé and elsewhere in Togo there are charities that seek to rescue such girls and young women from the sex trade and then place them in centres like the one run by the sisters.    The welcome ceremony on our arrival at the centre. While we were there we volunteered to clear this rough ground of all the larg...

A text by my sister... The Shadow Self From Hurt to Healing - Mo Artwork by Rita Loyd The Shadow Self There is nothing outside of me to be afraid of any more - it is inside of me. But if it is inside me - I can control it.  If it is inside me - I can repair it.  If it is inside me - I can console it! I can be safe I can create safe I can live safe I can! Sent with Reeder

After all the build up and preparation, it's hard to believe that it's all over. London 2012... what can one say that hasn't already been said? Uplifting, life-affirming, joyous, celebratory... all this and so, so much more. From a personal point of view I have loved every minute of both the Olympics and the Paralympics: the former as a Chaplain at the Olympic Games Sailing Village in Weymouth, the latter as a couch potato supporter back here in Southampton. As a volunteer I was invited to the final rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony. That in itself was one of the most memorable things I have ever and will ever experience.  Here are a few snaps (courtesy of Instagram on my iPhone): And here's a little info about what life was like in Weymouth: There were various other groups of volunteers and salaried workers providing services in the village (e.g. catering, security, recreation, residential operations, IT/computers, polyclinic, etc…). With our room be...

Being outside of my community and my daily routine of prayer and the Eucharist for most of the past month, and being on my own in community for the previous two weeks while Bro. Francis was away has made me realise just how precious it is for me to live in a religious community, especially one where my confrère(s) know me and my story pretty well, know my weaknesses, and yet seem to love me for who I am. As I write this, I am on my own in an otherwise empty presbytery in Weymouth where I have been for most of the past month, working as a Chaplain in the Olympic Sailing Village. I have driven back to Southampton for my days off as much as possible to try and have at least an occasional connection with my normal daily routine. It has taken a lot out of me, but it has been important to make that effort, I feel. I've discovered here, more than at any other time in the last 22 years of religious life, that I most certainly do not have the vocation to be a hermit. I am very bad at ...