Monday, July 29, 2013

Sunday Mass at Westminster Cathedral...

...very crowded, lots of holiday visitors etc. The Cathedral Choir School has closed for the summer, so no young choristers, but a fine men's choir.

I had arranged to meet a young American couple - who had contacted me via this Blog - on the steps. They are visiting London to make arrangements for a longer stay, as work will ring them here for six months starting in September. We  ended up spending a very happy day together - Mass at the Cathedral, a walk around Westminster, then a boat trip to the Tower, prayers together at the site of the More/Fisher martyrdom...all this interspersed with much lively talk and breaks for coffee and sandwiches...they are of the JPII/Benedict/World Youth Day generation in America, for whom things like World Youth Days in Cologne and Sydney and Madrid, the annual March for Life, the local Pro-Life Dinner, are the background and sub-culture of a lively Catholicism.  Newly-weds, they had just come from Rome where they received a wedding blessing from Pope Francis - it was fun to hear about walking through the streets of Rome in wedding-clothes with people calling out greetings and congratulations, and lining up in the hot sunshine in St Peter's...it made me feel rather agreeably aunt-like and mature, married for over 30 years...

2 comments:

Toni said...

Thank you so very much for welcoming our son and new daughter to London! We were very pleased to hear about the delightful day they spent with you and grateful for your kindness and hospitality toward them.

Unknown said...

And we think they are special also.
Loise and bill c