Church defends decision
to move Pope's Mass to Birmingham
Jun 25 2010
The Catholic Church has defended its decision to move the venue of a beatification ceremony from Coventry to Birmingham when the Pope visits the UK this autumn.
Pope Benedict XVI was scheduled to hold the open-air Mass at Coventry Airport, but the service will instead take place at Cofton Park in wouth Birmingham, which has a capacity of up to 80,000.
It is thought that the airport site could hold around 150,000, but a Catholic Church spokesman said the new venue had been selected because of its "historical resonance" and close association with Cardinal John Henry Newman, the 19th century clergyman and Catholic convert who will be beatified on the final day of the papal visit.
Alexander des Forges, spokesman for the Catholic Church, said: "As a Church we have asked Birmingham City Council for Cofton Park to be the venue for the beatification of Cardinal Newman on September 19, the last day of the Pope's visit.
"I cannot comment at all on Coventry, but I can say that a significant number of pilgrims will be able to attend the beatification at Cofton Park."
The spokesman said organisers were expecting around 80,000 pilgrims to attend the Birmingham service.
He added: "With Cofton Park you have a very close association with Cardinal Newman because it is immediately adjacent to Oratory House in Rednal, where Cardinal Newman found a place of retreat for quiet reflection. And most particularly, he was buried in Rednal Cemetery.
"Choosing Cofton Park as a venue for the beatification will also enable the Pope to pay a private pilgrimage to the rooms of Cardinal Newman at Birmingham Oratory.
"It was very much about tying into the life and death of Cardinal Newman, and the historical resonance of Cofton Park. The real key to this is the association with Cardinal Newman."
But a spokesman for Coventry City Council said the authority was "extremely surprised and disappointed" by the venue change.
He added: "While we understand the Catholic Church had specific reasons for changing the Pope's itinerary, we believe the event at Coventry Airport would have been the highlight of his visit and we're sorry that thousands of people will miss out on the opportunity to take part in what would have been a very special day."
The Pontiff's four-day trip will begin on September 16 in Scotland, where he will be received by the Queen in Edinburgh before travelling to Glasgow for an open-air Mass.
The Pope will then travel to London where he will meet the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams at Lambeth Palace and pray with other church leaders at Westminster Abbey. His itinerary will also include an address at Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament.
One must note again that the justification' given for the venue change is lame and almost pathetic. If 'association with Cardinal Newman' had been the main criterion for choosing a site, Cofton Park would have been the first choice, to begin with, not the substitute it has now become - only because, for some reason, the Church is unable to arrange to use Coventry Airport as originally planned.
For the UK's biggest Catholic event in centuries to be 'demoted' to a secondary and much smaller location speaks poorly of the Church in England and Wales, to say the least. Is there no anonymous Catholic big-pockets out there who could contribute the few million pounds that the Church may need to get the Coventry site?
Pope to have important meetings
at Catholic college in Twickenham
By Chris Wickham
25th June 2010
Pope Benedict XVI is to visit Twickenham in September.
Earlier this year the head of the Roman Catholic Church confirmed he would be coming to the UK - the first papal visit to the country since 1982.
It has been revealed he will visit St Mary’s University College on the morning of September 17.
The detailed itinerary states:
On the second day of the visit, Pope Benedict is going to St Mary's University College, Twickenham, where there will be three aspects to his visit.
The first is that he begins the day praying with representatives of religious congregations - particularly those who have a charism for education and a history of education.
He will then go and meet about 3,000 young people - schoolchildren, students - to celebrate Catholic education.
From there he will then meet with religious leaders and people of religious faith.
He will discuss with them religion and belief in our society.
The Pope is expected to stay in the Apostolic Nunciature in Wimbledon Village, home of his representative in Britain, Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz, when he visits.
It was also used by Pope John Paul II during his visit almost 30 years ago.
[St. Mary's University College was founded in 1850 by the Catholic Poor Schools Committee to meet the need for teachers to provide an education for the growing numbers of poor Catholic children. Since 1975, it has expanded its offerings beyond teacher education and it now offers college degrees as a College of the University of Surrey. Its main campus is in Twickenham, a large suburban town about 10 miles southwest of central London.]
Pope will speak to
thousands of pupils
By Anna Arco
25 June 2010
The Pope with children from the UN International School at the UN in April 2008.
Pope Benedict XVI will address thousands of school children during his visit to Britain in the autumn.
During an event at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, near London, Pope Benedict will speak to around 3,000 primary and secondary school children from around the country.
Called the “Big Assembly”, the event is due to take place at the racetrack on the campus, and pupils from across Britain will take part.
One plan for the event includes the suggestion that Pope Benedict would bless all the schoolchildren in Britain for the start of the academic year, broadcast to schools via interactive whiteboards.
Places for schoolchildren to take part in the events will be allocated to the dioceses, which in turn hand them out to schools. The Catholic Education Service (CES) has launched a blog called “link in the chain” after a meditation by Cardinal John Henry Newman. The blog carries news updates about the Big Assembly and PowerPoint presentations about the papal visit to be shown in schools.
Mgr Andrew Summersgill, the coordinator for the papal visit, said: “Yes, we are planning a gathering with schools to take place on the Friday morning of the visit. And the Catholic Education Service, both in England and Wales and in Scotland, is now in touch with schools authorities in the dioceses to seek representatives from the dioceses to come to be with Pope Benedict.
“There are about 800,000 young people in Catholic schools throughout the country. Now clearly they can’t all be in the one place. So somewhere in the region of about 3,000 young people will be invited to come along to represent their schools and their fellow pupils and to celebrate education, and particularly Catholic education, with Pope Benedict when he is here.”
Students from Holy Rosary and St Anne’s Catholic Primary School from Leeds and Maria Fidelis Convent School from north London are expected to sing at the event.
Kathryn Carter, the headteacher at Holy Rosary and St Anne’s in Chapeltown, Leeds, said: “We are absolutely ecstatic. It’s such an honour.”
The primary school, which is in one of the most deprived parts of Leeds, learned that its choir would be going to the Twickenham event just after the spring bank holiday. Oona Stannard, the director of the CES, went up to Leeds to hear the children sing soon after they were invited to take part in the event.
Mrs Carter said: “The children are over the moon. It’s a chance of a lifetime for them and they’ve put a lot of hard work into the choir and their reputation as a choir is beginning to grow. We are hoping to make this school the Leeds Cathedral choir school. We are due to become the first state choir school in Britain and so the children have been working very hard. But this is the pinnacle of their work.”
But Mrs Carter also said that she was worried about whether she would be able to raise the £5,000 to take the choir, which consists of 50 children, to Twickenham for the event. She said that most of the children at the school come from the 10 per cent most deprived areas in Britain and that she would need to raise a lot of money to transport them. The sum covers transport costs and two nights accommodation.
“If anyone would like to send cheques, make them out to Holy Rosary and St Anne’s School Fund,” she said. Maria Fidelis Convent School in Camden, a secondary girls school, won the BBC Songs of Praise School Choir of the Year competition recently.
Cardinal John Henry Newman “will feature prominently in ‘the Big Assembly’”, according to the blog. The organisers have linked the event to the beatification by focusing on Newman’s “importance in education”.
The first principal of St Mary’s College was an Oratorian like Newman. Beginning as a Catholic teacher-training college in 1850, St Mary’s educated teachers to sense the growing numbers of poor Catholic children in need of schooling.
By 1899 the Vincentians took over the college. In 2006 it was given the status of a university college. Sources close to St Mary’s said they were delighted about the papal visit.
They have great expectations for the event because St Mary’s has “gone from strength to strength, having gained the university college title three years ago and is continuing the campaign to become the first Catholic university in this country”.
Vatican has reportedly
turned down BBC offer
by Tim Walker
26 Jun 2010
So keen was Mark Thompson, the BBC's director-general, for Pope Benedict XVI to appear on Radio 4's Thought for the Day that he made a personal approach to the Vatican.
Sadly, Mandrake hears that the efforts of the Jesuit-educated Roman Catholic have come to naught.
"The Pope has not taken up the corporation's offer," announces
The Tablet, whose editor, Catherine Pepinster, is a regular contributor to the three-minute religious slot on the Today programme.
Thompson had hoped to time the broadcast to coincide with the Pontiff's visit in September.
Mark Damazer, the Radio 4 controller, left the negotiations to his boss. He said: "I think Mark Thompson is better qualified than me on two grounds: being director-general, and his religion."
The slot is pre-recorded, meaning that the Pope would not have had to make an early morning visit to the Today studios. It is open to speakers of all faiths. The Archbishop of Canterbury delivers a message at least once a year.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/06/2010 14:24]