(link)
Picture by Peter Jennings
Showing posts with label Fr Dermot Fenlon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fr Dermot Fenlon. Show all posts
Friday, 3 February 2012
Requiem Mass for Fr Gregory Winterton at the Birmingham Oratory
Free the B3: Justice for Fr. Dermot Fenlon has had several reliable reports that Fr. Dermot was allowed to attend the Reception of the Body and the Requiem Mass for his friend and brother Oratorian, Fr Gregory Winterton at the Birmingham Oratory on 23 and 24 January 2012.
(link)
Picture by Peter Jennings
(link)
Picture by Peter Jennings
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Fr Dermot Fenlon's 70th Birthday
Today is Fr Dermot Fenlon's 70th birthday.
It is also the 570th day since he was sent away from his home at the Birmingham Oratory.
Fr Dermot, wherever you are we wish you a very happy 70th birthday.
Please be assured of our prayers.
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Enough to make one vomit
Catholic Paterfamilias blog - 28.11.2011
(link)
The Free the B3: Justice for Fr. Dermot Fenlon blog has picked up on this YouTube clip about the launch of a book about a cat.
The video clip that I link to above is nauseating in itself. Placing it in the context of the wrongful and unjust exclaustration of Fr Dermot Fenlon from the Birmingham Oratory and his being homeless as he approaches his 70th birthday really is enough to make one vomit.
But, I'm missing the Nuchurch agenda - three pesky Oratorians who said things about Church teaching that were rocking the bad ship Nuchurch got booted. I would love to have sat in on the meeting that decided "So what if one of them is homeless and soon to be 70 - no one will remember that if we can get a book out about a cat..."
Oh, but we will remember and I think that history will show the Birmingham Oratory to be seriously diminished in the eyes of many in consequence.
(link)
The Free the B3: Justice for Fr. Dermot Fenlon blog has picked up on this YouTube clip about the launch of a book about a cat.
The video clip that I link to above is nauseating in itself. Placing it in the context of the wrongful and unjust exclaustration of Fr Dermot Fenlon from the Birmingham Oratory and his being homeless as he approaches his 70th birthday really is enough to make one vomit.
But, I'm missing the Nuchurch agenda - three pesky Oratorians who said things about Church teaching that were rocking the bad ship Nuchurch got booted. I would love to have sat in on the meeting that decided "So what if one of them is homeless and soon to be 70 - no one will remember that if we can get a book out about a cat..."
Oh, but we will remember and I think that history will show the Birmingham Oratory to be seriously diminished in the eyes of many in consequence.
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Friday, 25 November 2011
Diversionary tactic, smokescreen, sidetrack maneuver, call it what you will.
Pushkin the Pontifical Puss: Tails of an Oratory Cat
St Paul's Publishing
(link)
"PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
When Pope Benedict XVI visited the United Kingdom in 2010 many historic and significant events took place. The head of the Catholic Church was personally welcomed to the United Kingdom by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England; thousands of young people gathered with Pope Benedict in Hyde Park, London to celebrate a prayer vigil; for the first time in history on English soil, the Holy Father declared an Englishman Beatus (Blessed) - John Henry Cardinal Newman. However, for one resident of the city of Birmingham these events were nothing compared with the honour he bestowed upon the Holy Father.
In the Oratory in Birmingham, the former home of Blessed John Henry Newman, lives Pushkin, the Oratory Cat. But Pushkin is no ordinary cat. He is one of many felines who have played an important part in momentous events in history, not only in England, but worldwide.
Pushkin: The Pontifical Puss gives an insight into the life of this extraordinary cat. It details his early life, time spent in Fenton, his encounter with HRH Princess Michael of Kent (in Pushkin's own words, She-who-wears-diamonds) and Pope Benedict (He-who-wears-white).
With the assistance of his Human (Fr Anton Guziel), and illustrations supplied by the Carmelite nuns of the Carmel of the Magnifi-cat, Wolverhampton, Pushkin is delighted to make available his autobiography."
NB: Fellow Oratorians Fr Dermot Fenlon, Fr Philip Cleevely and Br Lewis Berry were not allowed to meet Pope Benedict XVI or to attend the beatification of their founder, Blessed John Henry Newman, in October 2011
St Paul's Publishing
(link)
"PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
When Pope Benedict XVI visited the United Kingdom in 2010 many historic and significant events took place. The head of the Catholic Church was personally welcomed to the United Kingdom by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England; thousands of young people gathered with Pope Benedict in Hyde Park, London to celebrate a prayer vigil; for the first time in history on English soil, the Holy Father declared an Englishman Beatus (Blessed) - John Henry Cardinal Newman. However, for one resident of the city of Birmingham these events were nothing compared with the honour he bestowed upon the Holy Father.
In the Oratory in Birmingham, the former home of Blessed John Henry Newman, lives Pushkin, the Oratory Cat. But Pushkin is no ordinary cat. He is one of many felines who have played an important part in momentous events in history, not only in England, but worldwide.
Pushkin: The Pontifical Puss gives an insight into the life of this extraordinary cat. It details his early life, time spent in Fenton, his encounter with HRH Princess Michael of Kent (in Pushkin's own words, She-who-wears-diamonds) and Pope Benedict (He-who-wears-white).
With the assistance of his Human (Fr Anton Guziel), and illustrations supplied by the Carmelite nuns of the Carmel of the Magnifi-cat, Wolverhampton, Pushkin is delighted to make available his autobiography."
NB: Fellow Oratorians Fr Dermot Fenlon, Fr Philip Cleevely and Br Lewis Berry were not allowed to meet Pope Benedict XVI or to attend the beatification of their founder, Blessed John Henry Newman, in October 2011
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Heresy and Obedience in Tridentine Italy
In the spring of 1972 the layman Dermot Fenlon wrote these moving and humble acknowledgements in the preface to his book HERESY AND OBEDIENCE IN TRIDENTINE ITALY:
“To have finished a book is to be aware of debts and a certain measure of defeat. The debts are easier to recount. (…) There are friends whom I can never adequately thank: my supervisor, whose encouragement and guidance, cautions, queries and corrections, combined with monumental patience and humour, supported me, against the odds, through an education in research, and much more than research; his wife, who generally took my side when it counted; my friends (...) who helped and sustained me, through good and bad times, more than they will ever realise (…)
One’s defeats, like one’s debts, are entirely personal. (…) … but as my mother remarked when I explained the problem, Pole was a man who encountered many disappointments in his own lifetime, and he is unlikely to be much bothered by anything that can happen now.” (Cambridge, 24 March 1972, Eve of the Annunciation, Dermot Fenlon)
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Red Herrings at the Birmingham Oratory
Catholic and Loving it! blog - James Preece - 4.10.2011
(link)
I'm not a huge fan of TV soap operas and it's been a long time since I saw any. My sister used to be big in to soaps so I used to see bits of them in the background but since I got married I'm pleased to say I'm completely out of touch.
However, judging by some of the emails I've been getting (and some of the comments on this blog) quite a few people seem to be under the impression that I have been getting my soap opera fix from the Birmingham Oratory. They seem to think I care about who said what to who, why it is that so-and-so has never got on with so-and-so, who may or may not have driven who to a nervous breakdown and so on.
Let me spell it out for you: I'm not interested.
This is not about the internal politics of the Birmingham Oratory. It has never been about the internal politics of the Birmingham Oratory! Do you think I am stupid? Do you really think I would get involved in the internal politics of a religious community from 200 miles away based on hearsay over the internet? I wouldn't even get involved in the internal politics of a religious community if I lived next door!
So why am I getting involved? Because the problems at the Birmingham Oratory are not internal...
For example: The lastest rumour from the Oratory is that everything is Fr Guy Nicholls fault... I know nothing about Fr Guy Nicholls so let me ask you: Did Fr Guy Nicholls pay Jack Valero to act as spokesman for the Oratory? No. Did Fr Guy Nicholls put Fr Duffield on a train and tell him to have his photo taken outside Eccleston Square?
I can't hear you... What's that? No?
Did Fr Guy Nicholls arrange the exclaustration of Fr Dermot Fenlon? No, that would require "either the direct approval of either the Holy See or the local bishop". Did Fr Guy Nicholls arrange for the recent press release on the new provost to come direct from the Catholic Bishop's Conference? No.
Fr Guy Nicholls is a red herring and the real culprits are getting away scott free.
(link)
I'm not a huge fan of TV soap operas and it's been a long time since I saw any. My sister used to be big in to soaps so I used to see bits of them in the background but since I got married I'm pleased to say I'm completely out of touch.
However, judging by some of the emails I've been getting (and some of the comments on this blog) quite a few people seem to be under the impression that I have been getting my soap opera fix from the Birmingham Oratory. They seem to think I care about who said what to who, why it is that so-and-so has never got on with so-and-so, who may or may not have driven who to a nervous breakdown and so on.
Let me spell it out for you: I'm not interested.
This is not about the internal politics of the Birmingham Oratory. It has never been about the internal politics of the Birmingham Oratory! Do you think I am stupid? Do you really think I would get involved in the internal politics of a religious community from 200 miles away based on hearsay over the internet? I wouldn't even get involved in the internal politics of a religious community if I lived next door!
So why am I getting involved? Because the problems at the Birmingham Oratory are not internal...
For example: The lastest rumour from the Oratory is that everything is Fr Guy Nicholls fault... I know nothing about Fr Guy Nicholls so let me ask you: Did Fr Guy Nicholls pay Jack Valero to act as spokesman for the Oratory? No. Did Fr Guy Nicholls put Fr Duffield on a train and tell him to have his photo taken outside Eccleston Square?
I can't hear you... What's that? No?
Did Fr Guy Nicholls arrange the exclaustration of Fr Dermot Fenlon? No, that would require "either the direct approval of either the Holy See or the local bishop". Did Fr Guy Nicholls arrange for the recent press release on the new provost to come direct from the Catholic Bishop's Conference? No.
Fr Guy Nicholls is a red herring and the real culprits are getting away scott free.
Sunday, 25 September 2011
500 days of exile
But he has prayed 500 days
And he will pray 500 more
Only the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary can understand
Our Most Blessed Virgin Mary is taking Fr Dermot by her hand
But he has prayed 500 days
And he will pray 500 more
He’s been walking the way of the cross
It’s been Loss and Gain, Gain and Loss
But he has prayed 500 days
And he will pray 500 more
And we hope and we pray
That one day
he will kneel down at the Birmingham Oratory door…
And he will pray 500 more
Only the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary can understand
Our Most Blessed Virgin Mary is taking Fr Dermot by her hand
But he has prayed 500 days
And he will pray 500 more
He’s been walking the way of the cross
It’s been Loss and Gain, Gain and Loss
But he has prayed 500 days
And he will pray 500 more
And we hope and we pray
That one day
he will kneel down at the Birmingham Oratory door…
Friday, 23 September 2011
500 Hail Marys for 500 days of exile
Salisbury John writes:
ON Sunday 25th September Fr Dermot Fenlon will have been living in forced exile from his home for 500 days! As Saturday 24th September is the Feast of Our Lady of Ransom may I suggest that from Saturday evening through to Sunday evening we offer up a spiritual bouquet for Fr Fenlon's health and intentions of at least 500 Hail Marys (which is only 10 x 5 mysteries of the Holy Rosary).
Please join us in praying the Rosary for Fr Fenlon, a good and faithful priest, so undeserving of the institutional violence meted out against him. Let's offer up 500 Hail Marys for truth and justice to prevail upon him and peace and charity to be FULLY restored to the Birmingham Oratory.
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Birmingham Three Recap...
Catholic and Loving it blog (link) 20.9.2011
I don't know how many of you are new to events at the Birmingham Oratory in the run up to the Papal visit but it's been a while and it might help if I run through it all again.
It was back in May 2010 that The Tablet first carried the news that three Oratorians had been told to “spend time in prayer for an indefinite period by Fr Felix Selden, an apostolic visitor to the Oratory Congregation”. If the Tablet had stopped there that might have been the end of it - such things are an internal matter and helps nobody to speculate on blogs.
Except in this case it wasn't an internal matter, it ceased to be an internal matter when the spokesman for the Birmingham Oratory picked up the phone to The Tablet and named names. However much he might bleat now about privacy, it was the Birmingham Oratory spokesman and not a blogger who made it a matter of pubic record that Fr Philip Cleevely, Fr Dermot Fenlon and Brother Lewis Berry had been “ordered to go on retreat” by Fr Felix Selden. This is the ecclesiastical equivalent of announcing that somebody has been permanently suspended from work - a very public stain on the reputation of these three men and one which they were entirely unable to defend themselves due to the gagging order placed on them by the Oratory.
As the weeks turned in to months some suggested that whatever the three had done to deserve their exile, it must have been pretty serious. Rumours of bullying and possible sexual misconduct began to surface. Friends of the three men were so distressed at the way in which their reputations were being “trashed” that they began to campaign publicly that the three were known to be good holy men a blog was started and an open letter was sent to Fr Felix Selden.
To suggest that these friends and wellwishers were guilty of gossip is outrageous. It was gossip and rumour that they were seeking to dispel.
It was about this time that BBC West Midlands became interested and Oratory spokesman Jack Valero was quick to play things down... “it's just a time away to cool down” he said “they can come back soon and we can continue as normal”. Only a few weeks later Jack had changed his tune telling Radio Ulster that the three “are going to come back at some point, we don't know, it's not going to be soon”. This is the sort of transparency most people would associate with a brick wall.
To their credit, the Oratory did defend the three men and Ruth Dudley Edwards reported that Jack Valero had “confirmed unequivocally that the Three are entirely guiltless of any wrong-doing whatsoever”. Of course, this only begs the question – if they have done nothing wrong, why are they away? Why can they not come back? This soon became the central mystery of the Birmingham Three. Three men, declared innocent by an official spokesman for the Birmingham Oratory yet exiled from their home for months and looking increasingly likely to miss the beatification of their founder. Why had they been sent away in the first place?
More questions began to be asked, like why is the press officer for Opus Dei speaking for the Birmingham Oratory? Things did't get any less mysterious when it turned out that while Mr Valero is officially speaking for the Oratory he is actually being paid to do so by the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales and reports to Archbishop Nichol's press secretary. Yet more questions were raised about the role of the mysterious Fr Gareth/Sebastian Jones...
Pressure was mounting, blog entries about The Birmingham Three were getting hits from Rome, I had been on the Radio and Ruth Dudley Edwards was writing in Standpoint magazine and had even got the story on TV. The same questions were repeatedly asked: If the three have done nothing wrong, why can't they come home?
Something had to be done and something was, I can't say exactly how much pressure Brother Lewis Berry was under when he agreed to spend next year at an Oratory in South Africa but it's very hard imagine he did so of his own free will. The youngest of the three had the most to lose and with his ordination hanging in the balance the press release in his name had all the credibility of a forced confession. Fr Philip Cleevely issued a remarkably similar press release about how happy he is to be spending the next year in Toronto. It would not be long until the men who Jack Valero said would be “back soon” announced plans to remain abroad permanently.
Which leaves Fr Dermot Fenlon, the last of the three. There has been no press release from Fr Fenlon, no statement that he is happy about being sent away from his home of twenty years at a days notice despite being 68 years of age. So Fr Fenlon has been well and truly stamped on, according to a report in the Catholic Herald Fr Fenlon is being “forcibly exclaustrated” for a period of five years. In the article Simon Caldwell writes that “Under the Code of Canon Law, a priest cannot be exclaustrated for more than three years unless there is a “grave reason” yet Fr Fenlon has officially done nothing wrong. Such a prolonged period must have “either the direct approval of either the Holy See or the local bishop, who, in the case of Fr Fenlon, is Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham”.
And so the questions remain: If there has been no injustice, why not let the three speak to journalists and tell everbody how happy they are with the situation? If the three have done nothing wrong, why couldn't they be present for the beatification?
More than a year later - why is Fr Dermot Fenlon still in exile?
I don't know how many of you are new to events at the Birmingham Oratory in the run up to the Papal visit but it's been a while and it might help if I run through it all again.
It was back in May 2010 that The Tablet first carried the news that three Oratorians had been told to “spend time in prayer for an indefinite period by Fr Felix Selden, an apostolic visitor to the Oratory Congregation”. If the Tablet had stopped there that might have been the end of it - such things are an internal matter and helps nobody to speculate on blogs.
Except in this case it wasn't an internal matter, it ceased to be an internal matter when the spokesman for the Birmingham Oratory picked up the phone to The Tablet and named names. However much he might bleat now about privacy, it was the Birmingham Oratory spokesman and not a blogger who made it a matter of pubic record that Fr Philip Cleevely, Fr Dermot Fenlon and Brother Lewis Berry had been “ordered to go on retreat” by Fr Felix Selden. This is the ecclesiastical equivalent of announcing that somebody has been permanently suspended from work - a very public stain on the reputation of these three men and one which they were entirely unable to defend themselves due to the gagging order placed on them by the Oratory.
As the weeks turned in to months some suggested that whatever the three had done to deserve their exile, it must have been pretty serious. Rumours of bullying and possible sexual misconduct began to surface. Friends of the three men were so distressed at the way in which their reputations were being “trashed” that they began to campaign publicly that the three were known to be good holy men a blog was started and an open letter was sent to Fr Felix Selden.
To suggest that these friends and wellwishers were guilty of gossip is outrageous. It was gossip and rumour that they were seeking to dispel.
It was about this time that BBC West Midlands became interested and Oratory spokesman Jack Valero was quick to play things down... “it's just a time away to cool down” he said “they can come back soon and we can continue as normal”. Only a few weeks later Jack had changed his tune telling Radio Ulster that the three “are going to come back at some point, we don't know, it's not going to be soon”. This is the sort of transparency most people would associate with a brick wall.
To their credit, the Oratory did defend the three men and Ruth Dudley Edwards reported that Jack Valero had “confirmed unequivocally that the Three are entirely guiltless of any wrong-doing whatsoever”. Of course, this only begs the question – if they have done nothing wrong, why are they away? Why can they not come back? This soon became the central mystery of the Birmingham Three. Three men, declared innocent by an official spokesman for the Birmingham Oratory yet exiled from their home for months and looking increasingly likely to miss the beatification of their founder. Why had they been sent away in the first place?
More questions began to be asked, like why is the press officer for Opus Dei speaking for the Birmingham Oratory? Things did't get any less mysterious when it turned out that while Mr Valero is officially speaking for the Oratory he is actually being paid to do so by the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales and reports to Archbishop Nichol's press secretary. Yet more questions were raised about the role of the mysterious Fr Gareth/Sebastian Jones...
Pressure was mounting, blog entries about The Birmingham Three were getting hits from Rome, I had been on the Radio and Ruth Dudley Edwards was writing in Standpoint magazine and had even got the story on TV. The same questions were repeatedly asked: If the three have done nothing wrong, why can't they come home?
Something had to be done and something was, I can't say exactly how much pressure Brother Lewis Berry was under when he agreed to spend next year at an Oratory in South Africa but it's very hard imagine he did so of his own free will. The youngest of the three had the most to lose and with his ordination hanging in the balance the press release in his name had all the credibility of a forced confession. Fr Philip Cleevely issued a remarkably similar press release about how happy he is to be spending the next year in Toronto. It would not be long until the men who Jack Valero said would be “back soon” announced plans to remain abroad permanently.
Which leaves Fr Dermot Fenlon, the last of the three. There has been no press release from Fr Fenlon, no statement that he is happy about being sent away from his home of twenty years at a days notice despite being 68 years of age. So Fr Fenlon has been well and truly stamped on, according to a report in the Catholic Herald Fr Fenlon is being “forcibly exclaustrated” for a period of five years. In the article Simon Caldwell writes that “Under the Code of Canon Law, a priest cannot be exclaustrated for more than three years unless there is a “grave reason” yet Fr Fenlon has officially done nothing wrong. Such a prolonged period must have “either the direct approval of either the Holy See or the local bishop, who, in the case of Fr Fenlon, is Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham”.
And so the questions remain: If there has been no injustice, why not let the three speak to journalists and tell everbody how happy they are with the situation? If the three have done nothing wrong, why couldn't they be present for the beatification?
More than a year later - why is Fr Dermot Fenlon still in exile?
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Everybody welcome in Birmingham except Fr Dermot Fenlon
www.lovingit.co.uk - James Preece on 17.8.2011
Everybody is welcome at the Birmingham Rally for Peace. Everybody that is, except for Fr Dermot Fenlon. Women dressed as Bishops: Welcome. Fr Dermot Fenlon: Not Welcome.
Peter Jennings writes ...
"Under the banner “United Birmingham – One City – One Voice for Peace” the Peace Rally, held in Summerfield Park on Sunday 14 August, brought together people from every faith along with civic and political leaders supported by the Emergency Services whose members come from the families of our multi-cultural community – all citizens of our great City of Birmingham.
...
Having listened to the various addresses made by the speakers, there were recurring and common themes: respect for life and the dignity of everyone created by God; love and care of neighbour; forgiveness and compassion; tolerance and humility; justice and peace. A Creed for us all!"
[Link]
Forgivenes? Compassion? Tolerance? Are those the virtues of a community where a man "entirely guiltless of any wrong-doing whatsoever" can find himself evicted from his home for over a year?
Source image credit: Peter Jennings
At the end of the peace rally this prayer was said...
Muslims, Christians and Jews remember, and profoundly affirm,
that they are followers of the one God
Children of Abraham and brothers and sisters.
Enemies begin to speak to one another;
those who were estranged join hands in friendship;
communities seek the way of peace together.
[link]
Source image credit: Peter Jennings
I wonder, did Fr Duffield pray that prayer?
Did he mean it?
Everybody is welcome at the Birmingham Rally for Peace. Everybody that is, except for Fr Dermot Fenlon. Women dressed as Bishops: Welcome. Fr Dermot Fenlon: Not Welcome.
Peter Jennings writes ...
"Under the banner “United Birmingham – One City – One Voice for Peace” the Peace Rally, held in Summerfield Park on Sunday 14 August, brought together people from every faith along with civic and political leaders supported by the Emergency Services whose members come from the families of our multi-cultural community – all citizens of our great City of Birmingham.
...
Having listened to the various addresses made by the speakers, there were recurring and common themes: respect for life and the dignity of everyone created by God; love and care of neighbour; forgiveness and compassion; tolerance and humility; justice and peace. A Creed for us all!"
[Link]
Forgivenes? Compassion? Tolerance? Are those the virtues of a community where a man "entirely guiltless of any wrong-doing whatsoever" can find himself evicted from his home for over a year?
At the end of the peace rally this prayer was said...
Muslims, Christians and Jews remember, and profoundly affirm,
that they are followers of the one God
Children of Abraham and brothers and sisters.
Enemies begin to speak to one another;
those who were estranged join hands in friendship;
communities seek the way of peace together.
[link]
Source image credit: Peter Jennings
I wonder, did Fr Duffield pray that prayer?
Did he mean it?
Saturday, 16 July 2011
What do Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Britney Spears have in common?
Catholic Paterfamilias blog - 15.7.2011
www.catholicpaterfamilias.blogspot.com
Well, first our man in purple did his "who knows what's down the road" routine and now he's topped it off by allowing Quest to use one of his gaffs for a get together.
What's that got to do with Britney Spears? Well, I just can't get this song title out of my mind when thinking of the good Archbishop.
Other news:
On a Nuchurch Deathstar, far far away in galaxy about which I know little I have heard that one of Lord Vader's trusty lieutenants has a weighty tome entitled "The case against Obi-Wan Kenobi."
May the Nuchurch farce not cause you to lose your sense of humour.....
www.catholicpaterfamilias.blogspot.com
Well, first our man in purple did his "who knows what's down the road" routine and now he's topped it off by allowing Quest to use one of his gaffs for a get together.
What's that got to do with Britney Spears? Well, I just can't get this song title out of my mind when thinking of the good Archbishop.
Other news:
On a Nuchurch Deathstar, far far away in galaxy about which I know little I have heard that one of Lord Vader's trusty lieutenants has a weighty tome entitled "The case against Obi-Wan Kenobi."
May the Nuchurch farce not cause you to lose your sense of humour.....
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Saturday, 18 June 2011
Four hundred days of exile...
Catholic & Loving it! blog - James Preece - 17.6.2011
http://www.lovingit.co.uk/2011/06/four-hundred-days-of-exile.html#comments
Fr Dermot Fenlon has now been exiled from his home in Birmingham for four hundred days.
It's okay though, because he's an old man, so it doesn't matter.
When clerical power authority is used to abuse children sexually we have "safeguarding", but when it is abused to evict an old man from his home we have nothing.
http://www.lovingit.co.uk/2011/06/four-hundred-days-of-exile.html#comments
Fr Dermot Fenlon has now been exiled from his home in Birmingham for four hundred days.
It's okay though, because he's an old man, so it doesn't matter.
When clerical power authority is used to abuse children sexually we have "safeguarding", but when it is abused to evict an old man from his home we have nothing.
Sunday, 15 May 2011
The story in pictures...
With thanks to http://www.smeatonscorner.blogspot.com/
 |
| Birmingham Three Press Conference |
 |
| "If your name's not down you're not coming in!" |
Fr Dermot Fenlon exiled for a year today...and it's still a scandal
Smeaton's Corner blog - 12.5.2011
http://smeatonscorner.blogspot.com/2011/05/fr-dermot-fenlon-exiled-for-year.html
Last year, prior to the Papal visit to England three Oratorians were ordered to "spend time in prayer" at three separate monasteries hundreds of miles apart and indefinitely. Of the three, Father Dermot Fenlon (described by the Oratory's own spokesman as "entireley guiltless of any wrong doing whatsoever") remains silenced and in exile.
It's no insignificant thing to be ordered out of your home. It's not clear whether Father Fenlon will ever be allowed to come back. Nobody other than Father Fenlon knows all the details of what has happened since in the year of his exile, but an unexpected eviction is quite a serious punishment. Especially when you consider that Father Fenlon was sixty eight when he was exiled.
The eviction occurred last year, 13 May 2010, just weeks before the Pope was to visit England to beatify Cardinal Newman, founder of the Birmingham Oratory.
The official line is that this is an internal matter. But that's where things get even more confusing. Jack Valero, spokesperson for Opus Dei, who was made spokesperson for the Birmingham Oratory on this case last year, said that 'healing' was required both for the community at the Oratory and those who were exiled. But the rest of the community hasn't been exiled. The rest of them have been able to continue living at the Oratory, serving as priests. Their healing regime has been quite different to Father Fenlon's. In the words of Ruth Dudley Edwards, journalist and long-time friend of Father Fenlon, his healing process has involved his reputation being trashed and being moved all over the place. It seems that a major part of Father Fenlon's healing has been to be forced to become a vagrant in exile.
According to Jack Valero, the healing was required to resolve things like things like "pride, anger, disobedience, disunity, nastiness, dissention, the breakdown of charity, that kind of thing." So it would seem that something has gone wrong at the Birmingham Oratory. But apparently Father Fenlon didn't do anything wrong. So why he was exiled from his home? Why can he still not come back?
When Ruth Dudley Edwards told Jack Valero that "Dermot Fenlon has lived in that place for twenty years and it was to be his home forever. His reputation has been trashed, all over the place. Where can he go? He’s at the moment, he’s a vagrant.
Jack Valero said: "well it must have been serious, it must have been a very serious thing to have gone on in that house for that to happen. That’s what I am saying, it's very serious things going on in that house."
Jack Valero didn't directly accuse Father Fenlon of anything, because Father Fenlon, as Jack admits, has done nothing wrong. But this association with him and pride, nastiness (and the list goes on) is a further slur on the good man's reputation.
Because Father Fenlon was ordered not to speak publicly, he has never been able to defend himself publicly.
Since then, things have gone pretty quiet. It was a contentious issue within a small corner of the Catholic population last year, but it seems to have really slipped under the radar now.
But Fr Fenlon still can't come home. His suffering is just being ignored really. Forgotten about.
You can learn more on this most pressing and most serious issue within the life of the Church in England here and here.
The story in pictures...
http://smeatonscorner.blogspot.com/2011/05/fr-dermot-fenlon-exiled-for-year.html
Last year, prior to the Papal visit to England three Oratorians were ordered to "spend time in prayer" at three separate monasteries hundreds of miles apart and indefinitely. Of the three, Father Dermot Fenlon (described by the Oratory's own spokesman as "entireley guiltless of any wrong doing whatsoever") remains silenced and in exile.
It's no insignificant thing to be ordered out of your home. It's not clear whether Father Fenlon will ever be allowed to come back. Nobody other than Father Fenlon knows all the details of what has happened since in the year of his exile, but an unexpected eviction is quite a serious punishment. Especially when you consider that Father Fenlon was sixty eight when he was exiled.
The eviction occurred last year, 13 May 2010, just weeks before the Pope was to visit England to beatify Cardinal Newman, founder of the Birmingham Oratory.
The official line is that this is an internal matter. But that's where things get even more confusing. Jack Valero, spokesperson for Opus Dei, who was made spokesperson for the Birmingham Oratory on this case last year, said that 'healing' was required both for the community at the Oratory and those who were exiled. But the rest of the community hasn't been exiled. The rest of them have been able to continue living at the Oratory, serving as priests. Their healing regime has been quite different to Father Fenlon's. In the words of Ruth Dudley Edwards, journalist and long-time friend of Father Fenlon, his healing process has involved his reputation being trashed and being moved all over the place. It seems that a major part of Father Fenlon's healing has been to be forced to become a vagrant in exile.
According to Jack Valero, the healing was required to resolve things like things like "pride, anger, disobedience, disunity, nastiness, dissention, the breakdown of charity, that kind of thing." So it would seem that something has gone wrong at the Birmingham Oratory. But apparently Father Fenlon didn't do anything wrong. So why he was exiled from his home? Why can he still not come back?
When Ruth Dudley Edwards told Jack Valero that "Dermot Fenlon has lived in that place for twenty years and it was to be his home forever. His reputation has been trashed, all over the place. Where can he go? He’s at the moment, he’s a vagrant.
Jack Valero said: "well it must have been serious, it must have been a very serious thing to have gone on in that house for that to happen. That’s what I am saying, it's very serious things going on in that house."
Jack Valero didn't directly accuse Father Fenlon of anything, because Father Fenlon, as Jack admits, has done nothing wrong. But this association with him and pride, nastiness (and the list goes on) is a further slur on the good man's reputation.
Because Father Fenlon was ordered not to speak publicly, he has never been able to defend himself publicly.
Since then, things have gone pretty quiet. It was a contentious issue within a small corner of the Catholic population last year, but it seems to have really slipped under the radar now.
But Fr Fenlon still can't come home. His suffering is just being ignored really. Forgotten about.
You can learn more on this most pressing and most serious issue within the life of the Church in England here and here.
The story in pictures...
Friday, 13 May 2011
Corresopondence to CF News
Correspondence to Catholic Family News - 12.5.2011
Father Dermot Fenlon
A GROUP of Birmingham Oratory parishioners and members of the National Association of Catholic Families email : 'It scarcely seems credible that a whole year has passed since Father Dermot Fenlon, Father Philip Cleevely and Brother Lewis Berry were sent away from the Birmingham Oratory, the Oratory of Cardinal Newman, that had been their home for many years. No adequate explanation for their banishment has ever been given to their dismayed and puzzled parishioners, though we have received assurances that 'they have done nothing wrong'. We still await their return a year later, while Father Dermot's confessional with his name still above it remains empty of his presence.
It is noteworthy to us as parents that these three good men were indefatigable in defending the rights of parents as the primary educators and protectors of their children. They defended the Church's teaching in such controversial areas as the nature of marriage and were not afraid to challenge the homosexual rights agenda when it conflicted with such teaching. Their loss is a personal one to parishioners for whom they were a reliable spiritual guide, but further than that, as parents, we feel considerably more exposed thanks to their inexplicably unjust removal. We believe that an inquiry into the conduct of the Visitation is long overdue. Parents have few defenders of their rights left to them: whether our pastors are restored to us or not, we have only been strengthened in our resolve to uphold those rights.'
Father Dermot Fenlon
A GROUP of Birmingham Oratory parishioners and members of the National Association of Catholic Families email : 'It scarcely seems credible that a whole year has passed since Father Dermot Fenlon, Father Philip Cleevely and Brother Lewis Berry were sent away from the Birmingham Oratory, the Oratory of Cardinal Newman, that had been their home for many years. No adequate explanation for their banishment has ever been given to their dismayed and puzzled parishioners, though we have received assurances that 'they have done nothing wrong'. We still await their return a year later, while Father Dermot's confessional with his name still above it remains empty of his presence.
It is noteworthy to us as parents that these three good men were indefatigable in defending the rights of parents as the primary educators and protectors of their children. They defended the Church's teaching in such controversial areas as the nature of marriage and were not afraid to challenge the homosexual rights agenda when it conflicted with such teaching. Their loss is a personal one to parishioners for whom they were a reliable spiritual guide, but further than that, as parents, we feel considerably more exposed thanks to their inexplicably unjust removal. We believe that an inquiry into the conduct of the Visitation is long overdue. Parents have few defenders of their rights left to them: whether our pastors are restored to us or not, we have only been strengthened in our resolve to uphold those rights.'
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Where are they now? Part 2 - Fr Ignatius Harrison
Catholic Paterfamilias blog - 11.5.2011
http://catholicpaterfamilias.blogspot.com/2011/05/where-are-they-now-part-2-fr-ignatius.html
As with Monday's post, I can't actually say where he is right this minute as he has not let me know (and, to be fair, I did not ask him).
Interestingly, the Fr Ignatius Harrison I refer to is the same Fr Ignatius Harrison who in 1998 wrote an obituary for a fellow Oratorian priest who was HIV+ and was alleged to have sexually assaulted boys of school age. As to the ins and outs of that case and what may or may not have been known by those involved, I refer you directly to the Telegraph and Daily Mail articles on it.
Jump forward from 1998 to this time last year and where is Fr Ignatius Harrison? Well, 13 May 2010 was the date when Fr Dermot Fenlon, Fr Philip Cleevely and Br Lewis Berry were given their marching orders from the Birmingham Oratory by Fr Harrison and Co.
So why were the Birmingham Oratory Three given their marching orders? Well, let's look at the Times report on the issue of 21 May 2010 and what an Oratory Spokesman was quoted as saying:
... the disputes centred around Newman’s beatification but at the heart of it were allegations relating to Father Chavasse. “It seemed better for him to stand down so that the matter could be looked into properly,” he said.
“Around 2½ years ago, in the autumn of 2007, Father Chavasse began to form an intense but physically chaste friendship with a young man, then aged 20, which the Fathers of Birmingham Oratory regarded as imprudent.”
In light of the Times article, it would seem that the three who regarded the friendship as imprudent got the boot. They have not returned to the Birmingham Oratory (other than possibly to collect their possessions). However, Fr Chavasse is back in situ at the Birmingham Oratory (or at least until today this link showed him back in situ). Notwithstanding what the last link might say, Fr Dermot Fenlon and his confrères are not.
It's worth noting that the same Oratory spokesman who fed the information to the Times referred to above also subsequently:
"confirmed unequivocally that the (Birmingham Oratory) Three are entirely guiltless of any wrong-doing whatsoever, including, specifically, sexual misdemeanours or homophobia."
So, to conclude none of this makes any sense at all. Three men who regarded something that was imprudent as being imprudent and are "entirely guiltless of any wrong-doing whatsoever" got the boot - that's an intriguing form of justice.
Dare one suggest without accusation of paranoia that what happened at the Birmingham Oratory last year is just part of a wider agenda? I suppose I could always ask Fr Harrison.....
http://catholicpaterfamilias.blogspot.com/2011/05/where-are-they-now-part-2-fr-ignatius.html
As with Monday's post, I can't actually say where he is right this minute as he has not let me know (and, to be fair, I did not ask him).
Interestingly, the Fr Ignatius Harrison I refer to is the same Fr Ignatius Harrison who in 1998 wrote an obituary for a fellow Oratorian priest who was HIV+ and was alleged to have sexually assaulted boys of school age. As to the ins and outs of that case and what may or may not have been known by those involved, I refer you directly to the Telegraph and Daily Mail articles on it.
Jump forward from 1998 to this time last year and where is Fr Ignatius Harrison? Well, 13 May 2010 was the date when Fr Dermot Fenlon, Fr Philip Cleevely and Br Lewis Berry were given their marching orders from the Birmingham Oratory by Fr Harrison and Co.
So why were the Birmingham Oratory Three given their marching orders? Well, let's look at the Times report on the issue of 21 May 2010 and what an Oratory Spokesman was quoted as saying:
... the disputes centred around Newman’s beatification but at the heart of it were allegations relating to Father Chavasse. “It seemed better for him to stand down so that the matter could be looked into properly,” he said.
“Around 2½ years ago, in the autumn of 2007, Father Chavasse began to form an intense but physically chaste friendship with a young man, then aged 20, which the Fathers of Birmingham Oratory regarded as imprudent.”
In light of the Times article, it would seem that the three who regarded the friendship as imprudent got the boot. They have not returned to the Birmingham Oratory (other than possibly to collect their possessions). However, Fr Chavasse is back in situ at the Birmingham Oratory (or at least until today this link showed him back in situ). Notwithstanding what the last link might say, Fr Dermot Fenlon and his confrères are not.
It's worth noting that the same Oratory spokesman who fed the information to the Times referred to above also subsequently:
"confirmed unequivocally that the (Birmingham Oratory) Three are entirely guiltless of any wrong-doing whatsoever, including, specifically, sexual misdemeanours or homophobia."
So, to conclude none of this makes any sense at all. Three men who regarded something that was imprudent as being imprudent and are "entirely guiltless of any wrong-doing whatsoever" got the boot - that's an intriguing form of justice.
Dare one suggest without accusation of paranoia that what happened at the Birmingham Oratory last year is just part of a wider agenda? I suppose I could always ask Fr Harrison.....
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Marian devotion, Marian vocation
"You get to know Newman and you realize that he is Marian. The story, as I’ve said, of his turning to the Church in the 1830s and 1940s is connected with that Marian devotion. But it doesn’t come out very much in letters at the time and subsequently. It’s in his privacy of his prayers and devotions and his diaries that one sees the very beginning of what became the very Marian vocation of Newman.”
- Fr Dermot Fenlon CO
- Fr Dermot Fenlon CO
Monday, 9 May 2011
Sophie Scholl, the White Rose, and Conscience
From Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation blogspot on 9.5.2011
http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/
Sophie Scholl, White Rose objector to Nazi rule in Germany, was born on May 9, 1921; she was guillotined on February 22, 1943. Scholl is one of the most admired women in 20th Century German history--but what does she have to do with the subject of this blog?
According to this Catholic Herald story from 2009, she and her White Rose compatriots were very much influenced by Blessed John Henry Newman, particularly by his teachings on conscience:
Cardinal John Henry Newman was an inspiration of Germany's greatest heroine in defying Adolf Hitler, scholars have claimed.
New documents unearthed by German academics have revealed that the writings of the 19th-century English theologian were a direct influence on Sophie Scholl, who was beheaded for circulating leaflets urging students at Munich University to rise up against Nazi terror.
Scholl, a student who was 21 at the time of her death in February 1943, is a legend in Germany, with two films made about her life and more than 190 schools named after her. She was also voted "woman of the 20th century" by readers of Brigitte, a women's magazine, and a popular 2003 television series called Greatest Germans declared her to be the greatest German woman of all time
But behind her heroism was the "theology of conscience" expounded by Cardinal Newman, according to Professor Günther Biemer, the leading German interpreter of Newman, and Jakob Knab, an expert on the life of Sophie Scholl, who will later this year publish research in Newman Studien on the White Rose resistance movement, to which she belonged.
The researchers also found a link between Scholl and Pope Benedict XVI in the scholar who inspired her study of Blessed John Henry Newman:
He added: "The religious question at the heart of the White Rose has not been adequately acknowledged and it is only through the work of Guenter Biemer and Jakob Knab that Newman's influence... can be identified as highly significant."
In his speech Fr Fenlon explained that Sophie, a Lutheran, was introduced to the works of Newman by a scholar called Theodor Haecker, who had written to the Birmingham Oratory in 1920 asking for copies of Newman's work, which he wanted to translate into German. . . .
It was through Haecker that the young Joseph Ratzinger - the future Pope Benedict XVI - learned to admire Newman, who died in Birmingham in 1890.
Conscience is a subtext throughout the history of the English Reformation and its aftermath--beginning with Henry VIII's "tender conscience" about having married his brother's widow. Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons centers St. Thomas More's heroism on his defense of the rights of conscience. Blessed John Henry Newman, as I've posted before, defended the rights and outlined the responsibilities of conscience, properly understood, in reaction to English concerns about the doctrine of Papal Infallibility.
http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/
According to this Catholic Herald story from 2009, she and her White Rose compatriots were very much influenced by Blessed John Henry Newman, particularly by his teachings on conscience:
Cardinal John Henry Newman was an inspiration of Germany's greatest heroine in defying Adolf Hitler, scholars have claimed.
New documents unearthed by German academics have revealed that the writings of the 19th-century English theologian were a direct influence on Sophie Scholl, who was beheaded for circulating leaflets urging students at Munich University to rise up against Nazi terror.
Scholl, a student who was 21 at the time of her death in February 1943, is a legend in Germany, with two films made about her life and more than 190 schools named after her. She was also voted "woman of the 20th century" by readers of Brigitte, a women's magazine, and a popular 2003 television series called Greatest Germans declared her to be the greatest German woman of all time
But behind her heroism was the "theology of conscience" expounded by Cardinal Newman, according to Professor Günther Biemer, the leading German interpreter of Newman, and Jakob Knab, an expert on the life of Sophie Scholl, who will later this year publish research in Newman Studien on the White Rose resistance movement, to which she belonged.
The researchers also found a link between Scholl and Pope Benedict XVI in the scholar who inspired her study of Blessed John Henry Newman:
He added: "The religious question at the heart of the White Rose has not been adequately acknowledged and it is only through the work of Guenter Biemer and Jakob Knab that Newman's influence... can be identified as highly significant."
In his speech Fr Fenlon explained that Sophie, a Lutheran, was introduced to the works of Newman by a scholar called Theodor Haecker, who had written to the Birmingham Oratory in 1920 asking for copies of Newman's work, which he wanted to translate into German. . . .
It was through Haecker that the young Joseph Ratzinger - the future Pope Benedict XVI - learned to admire Newman, who died in Birmingham in 1890.
Conscience is a subtext throughout the history of the English Reformation and its aftermath--beginning with Henry VIII's "tender conscience" about having married his brother's widow. Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons centers St. Thomas More's heroism on his defense of the rights of conscience. Blessed John Henry Newman, as I've posted before, defended the rights and outlined the responsibilities of conscience, properly understood, in reaction to English concerns about the doctrine of Papal Infallibility.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)